Heroes 4x01 and 4x02
In the battle of House vs. Heroes (for which to watch live on TV), Heroes won. Partly because it was a two-hour premiere and partly because my TV was already on NBC and my cat knocked the remote to the floor somewhere behind the table and so I figured it was a sign that I was meant to watch Heroes tonight.
Let's keep things basic tonight. It was pretty decent, or at least there wasn't anything that stood out to me as too WTF, and there were actually some pretty neat things going on. But that's the thing with Heroes: it's always been good at beginnings, at hinting at mysteries and bigger things to come. It's always later in the season that things fall apart. Heroes is good at origin stories but not so good with the follow-through. Will the show still be this kind of quality a few episodes from now?
The Good
1. Not a lot of Peter, and when he was on he wasn't nearly as grating as in the past. He's obviously developing some sort of complex with his obsessive need to save everyone, though, so we'll see how long he remains tolerable.
2. I didn't hate Tracy. In fact, I liked her in this. Goes to show that she can be an interesting character if the writers manage to pull it off.
3. Lots of Matt, yay!
4. The episode wasn't overwhelmed by Sylar. I've come to appreciate Zachary Quinto a lot more since the new Star Trek movie, but Sylar's never been my favorite character. But he mostly brought it tonight in the few scenes he was in. Snarky, disruptive head!Sylar wasn't tedious like I'd feared, and actually made the character fresh again.
5. No matter where Claire goes, the crazy people just gravitate toward her.
6. I'm not even going to begin to guess where the whole carnival storyline is going, but I loved the feel of the carnival scenes and all the people's weird powers. It was very dreamlike and urban fantasy-ish, which sort of sums up carnivals anyway. Nicely done there.
7. Hiro and Ando were cute again, but see below.
8. Danko is dead! I was getting sick of him.
9. The Sylar-in-Nathan's-body thing might actually be interesting. Maybe someday I will stop feeling bitter. Someday.
10. There weren't a billion new characters introduced this time around. I'm so glad we finally seem to be sticking with the characters people fell in love with in the first place!
The Hmm
1. Looks like there's going to be time travel shenanigans again. While I'm not set against time travel shenanigans, Heroes doesn't have the greatest track record when it comes to them. I wish they would stop using it as a crutch.
2. Also, I wish Hiro would stop being an idiot. How many times is he going to have to learn that messing around in time NEVER leads to good things? It's getting so old.
3. The Petrellis are back to being sort of menacing but not in any active or interesting way. At least not yet.
4. Where was Mohinder? I kind of hate the character but it was just wrong that he wasn't the one giving the rambling monologue at the beginning. Who does this Samuel guy think he is, stealing Mohinder's superpower like that?
You know, there really wasn't anything that struck me as bad, at least not on first viewing. So overall verdict: Cautiously pleased. We'll just have to see how long they can keep it up.
Also, I need a new icon. This one's from last season.
Let's keep things basic tonight. It was pretty decent, or at least there wasn't anything that stood out to me as too WTF, and there were actually some pretty neat things going on. But that's the thing with Heroes: it's always been good at beginnings, at hinting at mysteries and bigger things to come. It's always later in the season that things fall apart. Heroes is good at origin stories but not so good with the follow-through. Will the show still be this kind of quality a few episodes from now?
The Good
1. Not a lot of Peter, and when he was on he wasn't nearly as grating as in the past. He's obviously developing some sort of complex with his obsessive need to save everyone, though, so we'll see how long he remains tolerable.
2. I didn't hate Tracy. In fact, I liked her in this. Goes to show that she can be an interesting character if the writers manage to pull it off.
3. Lots of Matt, yay!
4. The episode wasn't overwhelmed by Sylar. I've come to appreciate Zachary Quinto a lot more since the new Star Trek movie, but Sylar's never been my favorite character. But he mostly brought it tonight in the few scenes he was in. Snarky, disruptive head!Sylar wasn't tedious like I'd feared, and actually made the character fresh again.
5. No matter where Claire goes, the crazy people just gravitate toward her.
6. I'm not even going to begin to guess where the whole carnival storyline is going, but I loved the feel of the carnival scenes and all the people's weird powers. It was very dreamlike and urban fantasy-ish, which sort of sums up carnivals anyway. Nicely done there.
7. Hiro and Ando were cute again, but see below.
8. Danko is dead! I was getting sick of him.
9. The Sylar-in-Nathan's-body thing might actually be interesting. Maybe someday I will stop feeling bitter. Someday.
10. There weren't a billion new characters introduced this time around. I'm so glad we finally seem to be sticking with the characters people fell in love with in the first place!
The Hmm
1. Looks like there's going to be time travel shenanigans again. While I'm not set against time travel shenanigans, Heroes doesn't have the greatest track record when it comes to them. I wish they would stop using it as a crutch.
2. Also, I wish Hiro would stop being an idiot. How many times is he going to have to learn that messing around in time NEVER leads to good things? It's getting so old.
3. The Petrellis are back to being sort of menacing but not in any active or interesting way. At least not yet.
4. Where was Mohinder? I kind of hate the character but it was just wrong that he wasn't the one giving the rambling monologue at the beginning. Who does this Samuel guy think he is, stealing Mohinder's superpower like that?
You know, there really wasn't anything that struck me as bad, at least not on first viewing. So overall verdict: Cautiously pleased. We'll just have to see how long they can keep it up.
Also, I need a new icon. This one's from last season.