Heroes and some other stuff
*watches commercial* Pirates of the Caribbean car racing game? WTF?
I know toys are quite often questionable - Jesus, the gender stereotypes alone - but I think this wins some sort of prize. "Kids like pirates! And car racing tracks! Let's make a race track based on PotC!"
***
"Now Ashes Rise in My Footprints" has had 17 people feedbacking (not counting the betas) and it's been recced, which means it's by far the most popular story I've written since last year's yuletide fic "Grown Men Do Things Together". I'm insanely happy. So many people have said so many nice things. (And the rec called it "understated" which I'm so proud of it's silly - scared to hell of being anvil girl, me.)
It's probably a good thing I wrote it before my current yuletide assignment, since that one will have no chance of living up to the record "Grown Men..." set. It may seem defaitist to say that when I've hardly even started the story, but there is a difference between writing for a canon you know inside and out and can mimic at will because Steven Moffat is God, and a canon that you love, but... just don't have that relationship with.
Well. Not gonna let worries about the future harsh my squee now.
***
As for the main topic of the post, obviously I had to say something about Heroes, because, wow. How awesome was that episode? I mean, really, that was awesome. After slagging off Torchwood in my previous post, it feels so good to talk about Heroes.
I think what I loved best about this episode was how Nathan's actions and their consequences mirrored Mr. Bennet's.
Nathan destroys the painting to protect Peter from dying and hence the painting from coming true. This is for nothing, since Simone helps Peter, and the painting comes true anyway.
Mr. Bennet grounds Claire from Homecoming to prevent her from dying and the paintings from coming true. This is for nothing, since Zack and Mrs. Bennet help Claire, and the paintings come true anyway.
The meaning of the paintings are different from what both Nathan and Mr. Bennet expected due to something they couldn't have foreseen - their loved ones' involvement in each other's lives that night. Peter saves Claire from dying at Sylar's hand, which enables her to later touch his broken body, thus preventing him from dying at Sylar's hand.
It's bloody brilliant.
Of course, the main difference between the two mirrored storylines is that while both Peter and Simone act knowingly, neither Zack, Mrs. Bennet or Claire herself know that Claire is in any danger.
And I love that the show is, in a way, leaving this storyline open: we don't know if Peter has saved the world, because we don't know if ”the cheerleader” refers to Claire or Jackie. Sure, Claire is the most likely option, but we can't be sure.
My strange paths of association made me notice that ”Sylar” sounds a bit like ”Skylark”, which happens to be a song I know very well, since my double quartet's been singing it. Hence, I immediately started rhyming:
Sylar
Coming now to take my brain from me
Someone has to save me instantly
Give me a Haitian, or my dad
Or that cute Italian lad...
I didn't get any further than that, and maybe that's a blessing.
Claire was a darling in this episode. Sometimes when I'm not watching, say when I'm reading fanfic or whatever, I start thinking, ”Oh, who cares, she's just another blonde teenager on the TV. Hiro's much more awesome anyway.” And then I actually see an ep, and she does something completely fabulous like socking Jackie in the face. Not to mention selling every single emotion in a way that just makes me want to marry her straight away.
Zack was fairly adorable too, what with the little pep talk, and rallying the freak vote for Claire. He can be my gay boyfriend any time.
Peter was certainly being very brave - even if it was pretty obvious to me as a viewer that Claire's powers would stop him from dying on us, he couldn't possibly know that. Though I suppose it could be argued that if Hiro from the future knew him, he must encounter Hiro at some point, and thus couldn't die at Homecoming without having met Hiro. Still. He was being a very brave boy - and it got him arrested. Oy. I'm curious to see how he will get out; if Claire and/or Mr. Bennet will help him, or if Nathan will end up paying his way out. Somehow I doubt that he'll end up spending the rest of the season being raped by some big guy named Bud.
Hey, maybe he could encounter Audrey and Matt. That would be fairly awesome. Also, it would be a way of keeping Audrey even if they kill off Matt. I must admit that I'm rather worried by now that they'll kill someone off soon, and if that happens, I'd prefer it to be Matt, because so far he's not much fun. I wan't to keep Audrey, however, because that's Clea Duvall, and like many other girls who have seen But I'm a Cheerleader, I'm in love with Clea Duvall. In fact, if this show wanted to earn not just my love but by undying worship, all it would have to do is give Audrey a superpower that would make bones grow out of her body in strange angles.
I do hope they're not killing DL. He hasn't done much yet, but I'd love to see more of him. He's certainly a lot more fun than he ever was on Buffy. I love that he didn't know that Jessica existed, but Micah did. Kids are teh smrtz, yo. According to some people, Jessica might be an actual person, like a ghost or something. I can't decide if I want her to be Niki's dead twin (because that's the obvious solution) or not (because it's such an obvious obvious solution). All in all, I feel something needs to be done with Niki/Jessica, because they're becoming a bit one-note. The Niki-in-the-mirror thing was kind of cool, though.
I felt kind of sorry for Ando in this episode. Unlike Hiro and even to some degree Peter, he's well aware that this isn't a comic book world and you could end up seriously dead, and as a result he ends up all alone at a diner drinking so many cups of coffee he should be spazzing by now, if a spazzing Ando wasn't such a very difficult concept to imagine.
Mohinder was... Actually, I think the pity is that there's quite an interesting psychological portrait in there somewhere. Inconsistent, sure, but so is Claire, and we accept her inconsistency because she constantly reminds us that people are inconsistent. I find it both likely and interesting that someone in Mohinder's position would be simultaneously intrigued by and dismissing of his father's theories - discussing why they're very likely at one moment, yet drawing back the moment he sees proof. (Kind of the difference between theoretically believing in God and actually seeing Him manifest before you. I dare you not to think you were hallucinating.)
The trouble (blame the writers, the directors, the actor - it makes little difference) is that Mohinder just doesn't sell the part the way I can see it conceived. He comes off as merely wishy-washy, and one of these days even a pretty face won't save him.
Not today. But, you know, one of these days.
So, next episode will have lots of Hiro, which is awesome, and be set six months into the past, which is kind of agonizing since Peter's been arrested and DL may be shot and wah! On the other hand, Charlie's the first woman on this show I've found truly attractive, so if we get more of her I'm not complaining. (Yes, I love Claire to pieces and want to marry her. Blonde teenage cheerleaders still aren't my type.)
I guess I'll just have to wait and see, no matter how agonizing it is. At least this is one show that isn't on hiatus.
I know toys are quite often questionable - Jesus, the gender stereotypes alone - but I think this wins some sort of prize. "Kids like pirates! And car racing tracks! Let's make a race track based on PotC!"
***
"Now Ashes Rise in My Footprints" has had 17 people feedbacking (not counting the betas) and it's been recced, which means it's by far the most popular story I've written since last year's yuletide fic "Grown Men Do Things Together". I'm insanely happy. So many people have said so many nice things. (And the rec called it "understated" which I'm so proud of it's silly - scared to hell of being anvil girl, me.)
It's probably a good thing I wrote it before my current yuletide assignment, since that one will have no chance of living up to the record "Grown Men..." set. It may seem defaitist to say that when I've hardly even started the story, but there is a difference between writing for a canon you know inside and out and can mimic at will because Steven Moffat is God, and a canon that you love, but... just don't have that relationship with.
Well. Not gonna let worries about the future harsh my squee now.
***
As for the main topic of the post, obviously I had to say something about Heroes, because, wow. How awesome was that episode? I mean, really, that was awesome. After slagging off Torchwood in my previous post, it feels so good to talk about Heroes.
I think what I loved best about this episode was how Nathan's actions and their consequences mirrored Mr. Bennet's.
Nathan destroys the painting to protect Peter from dying and hence the painting from coming true. This is for nothing, since Simone helps Peter, and the painting comes true anyway.
Mr. Bennet grounds Claire from Homecoming to prevent her from dying and the paintings from coming true. This is for nothing, since Zack and Mrs. Bennet help Claire, and the paintings come true anyway.
The meaning of the paintings are different from what both Nathan and Mr. Bennet expected due to something they couldn't have foreseen - their loved ones' involvement in each other's lives that night. Peter saves Claire from dying at Sylar's hand, which enables her to later touch his broken body, thus preventing him from dying at Sylar's hand.
It's bloody brilliant.
Of course, the main difference between the two mirrored storylines is that while both Peter and Simone act knowingly, neither Zack, Mrs. Bennet or Claire herself know that Claire is in any danger.
And I love that the show is, in a way, leaving this storyline open: we don't know if Peter has saved the world, because we don't know if ”the cheerleader” refers to Claire or Jackie. Sure, Claire is the most likely option, but we can't be sure.
My strange paths of association made me notice that ”Sylar” sounds a bit like ”Skylark”, which happens to be a song I know very well, since my double quartet's been singing it. Hence, I immediately started rhyming:
Sylar
Coming now to take my brain from me
Someone has to save me instantly
Give me a Haitian, or my dad
Or that cute Italian lad...
I didn't get any further than that, and maybe that's a blessing.
Claire was a darling in this episode. Sometimes when I'm not watching, say when I'm reading fanfic or whatever, I start thinking, ”Oh, who cares, she's just another blonde teenager on the TV. Hiro's much more awesome anyway.” And then I actually see an ep, and she does something completely fabulous like socking Jackie in the face. Not to mention selling every single emotion in a way that just makes me want to marry her straight away.
Zack was fairly adorable too, what with the little pep talk, and rallying the freak vote for Claire. He can be my gay boyfriend any time.
Peter was certainly being very brave - even if it was pretty obvious to me as a viewer that Claire's powers would stop him from dying on us, he couldn't possibly know that. Though I suppose it could be argued that if Hiro from the future knew him, he must encounter Hiro at some point, and thus couldn't die at Homecoming without having met Hiro. Still. He was being a very brave boy - and it got him arrested. Oy. I'm curious to see how he will get out; if Claire and/or Mr. Bennet will help him, or if Nathan will end up paying his way out. Somehow I doubt that he'll end up spending the rest of the season being raped by some big guy named Bud.
Hey, maybe he could encounter Audrey and Matt. That would be fairly awesome. Also, it would be a way of keeping Audrey even if they kill off Matt. I must admit that I'm rather worried by now that they'll kill someone off soon, and if that happens, I'd prefer it to be Matt, because so far he's not much fun. I wan't to keep Audrey, however, because that's Clea Duvall, and like many other girls who have seen But I'm a Cheerleader, I'm in love with Clea Duvall. In fact, if this show wanted to earn not just my love but by undying worship, all it would have to do is give Audrey a superpower that would make bones grow out of her body in strange angles.
I do hope they're not killing DL. He hasn't done much yet, but I'd love to see more of him. He's certainly a lot more fun than he ever was on Buffy. I love that he didn't know that Jessica existed, but Micah did. Kids are teh smrtz, yo. According to some people, Jessica might be an actual person, like a ghost or something. I can't decide if I want her to be Niki's dead twin (because that's the obvious solution) or not (because it's such an obvious obvious solution). All in all, I feel something needs to be done with Niki/Jessica, because they're becoming a bit one-note. The Niki-in-the-mirror thing was kind of cool, though.
I felt kind of sorry for Ando in this episode. Unlike Hiro and even to some degree Peter, he's well aware that this isn't a comic book world and you could end up seriously dead, and as a result he ends up all alone at a diner drinking so many cups of coffee he should be spazzing by now, if a spazzing Ando wasn't such a very difficult concept to imagine.
Mohinder was... Actually, I think the pity is that there's quite an interesting psychological portrait in there somewhere. Inconsistent, sure, but so is Claire, and we accept her inconsistency because she constantly reminds us that people are inconsistent. I find it both likely and interesting that someone in Mohinder's position would be simultaneously intrigued by and dismissing of his father's theories - discussing why they're very likely at one moment, yet drawing back the moment he sees proof. (Kind of the difference between theoretically believing in God and actually seeing Him manifest before you. I dare you not to think you were hallucinating.)
The trouble (blame the writers, the directors, the actor - it makes little difference) is that Mohinder just doesn't sell the part the way I can see it conceived. He comes off as merely wishy-washy, and one of these days even a pretty face won't save him.
Not today. But, you know, one of these days.
So, next episode will have lots of Hiro, which is awesome, and be set six months into the past, which is kind of agonizing since Peter's been arrested and DL may be shot and wah! On the other hand, Charlie's the first woman on this show I've found truly attractive, so if we get more of her I'm not complaining. (Yes, I love Claire to pieces and want to marry her. Blonde teenage cheerleaders still aren't my type.)
I guess I'll just have to wait and see, no matter how agonizing it is. At least this is one show that isn't on hiatus.