Heroes: Shades of Gray
In what has become an awesome tradition, I present this week's shout out to Supernatural: The bunny! As Dean would say, "Why does a rabbit always get screwed in the deal? Poor little guy." Rabbits are a huge significant element in SPN fandom. Almost as important as pie. ( Reference: kroki-refur's 10 expressions)
Now, I'm not terribly familiar with taxidermy, but I'm pretty sure that it can't be accomplished in one afternoon. It looks like Sylar's dad's method is kill animal, skin animal, sew raw skin into a bunny shape. Shouldn't there be some preservative process in there? Otherwise, that "present" he left for Danko is going to be pretty freaking gross.
In case we needed further proof that Sylar is not, in fact, a Petrelli, he provided it in spades tonight. Contrary to Petrelli tradition, Sylar refused to be betrayed and victimized by a family member. Well, he played along for a little while, but once it became clear that being dominated by his dad was nowhere near as fun as being dominated by Mohinder, he abandoned the charade. Actually, I think the whole feigned vulnerability thing went very nicely with their talk about hunting easy prey. If you'll pardon another SPN reference, it's like the Benders giving their victims a knife and letting them loose in the woods before a hunt. Just a sporting chance. Sylar gave his dad a chance. He didn't want to kill a weak, defenseless opponent. So, he waited for dear old dad to show his metaphorical teeth.
That analogy would have worked a bit better if Sylar had actually wound up killing him, but we can't have everything. Who wants to bet that Papa Gray doesn't actually fade into obscurity and die after all? I swear, though, if the writers make him able to locate and terrorize Claire based on the description "a cheerleader in California" I will...uh...do something very unpleasant. I will mock them even harder in my reviews.
That was a pretty anti-climactic introduction, though. "I'm here to kill you!' ::dramatic music plays:: "Yeah? Ok."
That whistle-hypnotism power was pretty cool, though. I just started reading a book where a girl can control the wind by whistling. Which is probably not all that interesting to you, but it seems like a remarkable coincidence to me.
Sigh. I took notes tonight, but I wasn't very specific, and now I can't remember what half of them mean. I fail at organization.
When Hiro and Ando showed up at baby!Matt Parkman's house, my sister immediately texted me to ask if he was going to be like Jack-Jack from The Incredibles. We can only hope. I'm a little confused, though, with the sitter taking off and leaving the baby with complete strangers. Shouldn't the mom have to sign off on stuff like that? Where the fuck is Janice? I assume we're going to find out that baby Matt is actually adult Matt's son after all and that Janice lied to him before. Poor guy. If only he could have READ HER MIND, maybe he wouldn't have missed out on all this time with his son. (Also, if I had a son and lied to my ex-husband about it not being his baby, I probably wouldn't name the runt after him.).
Can you imagine the news stories we'd have if a real senator walked up to a guy with a vest full of explosives at an ice rink in Washington D.C. and defused his bomb on live tv? I mean, the media got a good two weeks out of that pilot who landed safely in the river...Nathan's stunt would have to merit at least a month of constant coverage, right? He would not be able to go anywhere without women throwing panties at him. (Which may not be unusual for him???)
Still, it's too bad for Nathan that he didn't inherit that much from his mother. I mean, sure he got her craving for power, but he didn't get her super ability or her intelligence. Declaring war on Danko before it's a foregone conclusion that you're going to win? Bad idea. Next time, talk to Noah first. He's a smart guy.
By the way...are we supposed to forget that Nathan's powers were manufactured, not inherited? That whole conversation between Danko and Angela was kind of weird. She mentions that traits can skip a generation, and it is entirely true in Nathan's case. He did not inherit anything from his parents. Yet, the feel of the entire scene is that she's lying through her teeth. I don't get it.
Claire in the comic store was funny. Too bad she won't be showing up to work there anymore since she's been outed. It would have been nice to watch her get a fast education about the nature of super heroes. Although, technically, I suppose many of them are just as whiny as her. Spiderman is, anyway. Oh! Woe is me! I can lead a normal life, but I have *responsibilities*! It's just so hard! (Yeah, I have a persistent fantasy in which X-Men's morlocks hunt Spiderman down and beat him to death because *at least he has the choice*) Speaking of which, Heroes has yet to introduce a disfigured mutant. Why not make someone blue? Or give them red eyes! (Like Gambit has in the movie!!! Woohoo!!! And the accent is light but not terrible!!!!! Squeeeee!!!!) Ahem. Excuse me. Sorry about that.
Back to Claire. She decides to help the puppet guy - not because of who he is, but because of who she wants to be. Whatever. Yawn. Sure, you're a big damn hero. I can't see why you were necessary, but I'm glad you feel good about yourself. My prediction is that, at some point, Claire will need to be saved from something and, conveniently, she'll be owed a favor by various useful mutants.
Claire opines that she got a free pass for a reason. As if it were fate that left her free from government persecution. Honey, there *is* a reason you got a pass...and it isn't because you're destined for something important. It's because you're the daughter of a rich and powerful Senator!
Seriously, though, why does Rebel have to send anyone to Claire? As far as I can tell, all she did for Doyle was to deliver him some "new identity" paperwork. Doyle was perfectly capable of escaping the agents by himself. (Incidentally, tonight's Idiot Award goes to those nameless agents. What the hell makes you think you can just walk up to that guy and take him in to custody? HE CONTROLS PEOPLE"S ACTIONS FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!) Rebel arranged the new identity. So, what was Claire's role? Messenger? What, Rebel couldn't have arranged for that package to be delivered by UPS or something? Dumb. For the millionth time, Claire is neither powerful nor particularly smart. She does not make a good secret agent.
Heartwarming moment of the night, though, was when the soldiers come for Claire and she's outside flying with Nathan. Awwwwww!!! He can be a good Dad! (...for the kids he remembers) I was expecting to see that she had jumped out her window and was busy un-crunching her ankles while the agents were searching her room. It was so nice to see Nathan being there for her that I will willingly ignore the question about how he got across the country so fast. Petrellis must fly at, like, mach 5. With Ando's help he could probably pull a Superman and fly backwards around the Earth fast enough to turn back time.
Hmmm...this was kind of short tonight, but I'm out of ideas and it's late. Leave me some nice comments so I can discuss things I forgot.
Also, I've been meaning to pimp out heroes_meta which is an awesome community that condenses a dozen reviews into their cleverest bits each week. It's lots of fun. .