Heroes: Parasite, Part One
I'm not going to say a whole lot about it, but this episode really bothered me on a meta level.
David and I had a very good conversation about heroes, archetypes, and the importance of certain structures in classic myth tales. I understand that the story has picked up pace and that we are accelerating toward the conclusion, however we both feel betrayed ... actually, everyone in real life with whom we've discussed it has felt disappointed and betrayed.
What bothers us is Mr. Bennet getting found out almost immediately. He made this huge sacrifice ... the kind of sacrifice that most of us never have to face. It was genuine heroism from a father protecting his child. He wasn't superpowered, he didn't have any sort of super healing or telepathy: he just did what he had to do to save his daughter.
To us, it cheapened the sheer magnitude of what he had done to be found out so quickly. I mean, yes, eventually, I expected his organization to find out, but having made such a valiant effort really deserved more time in the storyline. Compressing it like that damages the tale, in my opinion. It weakens certain essential elements of the heroic tale. It is crucial to something in our psychology that extreme sacrifice be worth it, and you tamper with that structure at your peril. You have to be a very good writer indeed, I think, to tweak that structure and have it still work. I'm not saying it isn't doable: sometimes things are very effective when our expectations and perceptions are turned upside down. However, you also have to know when to play it straight, and I feel this just didn't work very well given the preceding events in the story arc.
So, how long will it be before Mystique Faith bites the dust? Given her name, her look, and her behavior, I consider her character to be the second Buffy homage on the show, and it will be both appropriate and awesome for Buffy Claire to wipe the floor with her.
At least Ando is back. That made me happy. Of course, that, too, is part of one of the classic hero myth structures. Frodo and Sam, Batman and Robin, Londo and G'Kar ... true friends don't leave. There, at the end of everything, they will follow you into the dark and face whatever comes with you.
David and I had a very good conversation about heroes, archetypes, and the importance of certain structures in classic myth tales. I understand that the story has picked up pace and that we are accelerating toward the conclusion, however we both feel betrayed ... actually, everyone in real life with whom we've discussed it has felt disappointed and betrayed.
What bothers us is Mr. Bennet getting found out almost immediately. He made this huge sacrifice ... the kind of sacrifice that most of us never have to face. It was genuine heroism from a father protecting his child. He wasn't superpowered, he didn't have any sort of super healing or telepathy: he just did what he had to do to save his daughter.
To us, it cheapened the sheer magnitude of what he had done to be found out so quickly. I mean, yes, eventually, I expected his organization to find out, but having made such a valiant effort really deserved more time in the storyline. Compressing it like that damages the tale, in my opinion. It weakens certain essential elements of the heroic tale. It is crucial to something in our psychology that extreme sacrifice be worth it, and you tamper with that structure at your peril. You have to be a very good writer indeed, I think, to tweak that structure and have it still work. I'm not saying it isn't doable: sometimes things are very effective when our expectations and perceptions are turned upside down. However, you also have to know when to play it straight, and I feel this just didn't work very well given the preceding events in the story arc.
So, how long will it be before Mystique Faith bites the dust? Given her name, her look, and her behavior, I consider her character to be the second Buffy homage on the show, and it will be both appropriate and awesome for Buffy Claire to wipe the floor with her.
At least Ando is back. That made me happy. Of course, that, too, is part of one of the classic hero myth structures. Frodo and Sam, Batman and Robin, Londo and G'Kar ... true friends don't leave. There, at the end of everything, they will follow you into the dark and face whatever comes with you.