Heroes 2x08 "Four Months Ago"
I am, in no particular order: bitter about DL (though how much do I love it that he became a firefighter so Micah would be proud of him? Thiiiiiiis much), baffled as to why we needed to see so much backstory for Maya & Alejandro (I don't feel that I learned any significant new information, and it's a bit late in the game for insignificant new information), skeptical that even Nathan could have grown that dreadful beard in three weeks, and generally confounded by how little has happened (in terms of either straight-up plot or emotional import) in eight eps compared to the first eight eps of the first season.
Part of my problem, I think, is that I'm questioning the value of this episode: did we really need an entire ep of flashback, and did we need it now? Last season's flashback ep had two distinct functions: it kept tension relatively high after a climactic episode by postponing the aftermath for a week, and it filled in emotionally important information about characters I'd come to care about. This ep... didn't really do either of these things, and it blocked some of the momentum I felt last week's ep picked up, especially re: Adam. I'm not sure whether this is a complaint about the episode itself or about the placement of the episode in the season or about the pacing of the season up until last week; if we were just four or five eps in, I don't think I'd be so antsy about... everything.
I do think it's interesting that Angela Petrelli's power (of persuasion?) was not-terribly-subtly telegraphed as being linked to (or amplified by?) touch; it's a nice irony given her prickliness and tendency to be rather, well, distant, and it casts some of her scenes from last year in a new light, at least for me. And while Peter's empath reading of Elle was heavy-handed, to say the least, I was intrigued by his willingness to use his insight to manipulate her.
Part of my problem, I think, is that I'm questioning the value of this episode: did we really need an entire ep of flashback, and did we need it now? Last season's flashback ep had two distinct functions: it kept tension relatively high after a climactic episode by postponing the aftermath for a week, and it filled in emotionally important information about characters I'd come to care about. This ep... didn't really do either of these things, and it blocked some of the momentum I felt last week's ep picked up, especially re: Adam. I'm not sure whether this is a complaint about the episode itself or about the placement of the episode in the season or about the pacing of the season up until last week; if we were just four or five eps in, I don't think I'd be so antsy about... everything.
I do think it's interesting that Angela Petrelli's power (of persuasion?) was not-terribly-subtly telegraphed as being linked to (or amplified by?) touch; it's a nice irony given her prickliness and tendency to be rather, well, distant, and it casts some of her scenes from last year in a new light, at least for me. And while Peter's empath reading of Elle was heavy-handed, to say the least, I was intrigued by his willingness to use his insight to manipulate her.