"you should have gone with verizon": a very special heroes review
- So everything on this show really is some variant of incest, isn't it? I mean, Sylar's creeping on Claire and she's angsting in Peter's arms and he's being gruff over Nathan and Angela's conduct towards Sylar frankly creeps me out. Meanwhile, Mohinder shoots himself full of Maya's bodily fluids and then hangs from the ceiling* until enough blood has rushed to his head to make shooting Maya full of his bodily fluids seem like a good idea. Ick. Let's just hope they used protection, though from the new and interesting STD he appears to have, I'd assume not.
- Meanwhile, Elle faceplants her way into a drastically different new life and some complementary sudden-onset PTSD. With her Company ties severed and Bob dead - because, let's face it, he was an emotional abuser as much as she was a physical one - I'm hoping for some real growth. However, because of rumors of a new Bennett sidekick (because Bob the Haitian has apparently dropped off the face of the Earth, or perhaps he's wandering around somewhere in Africa too), I'm afraid she's going to end up the +1 to the man in the horn-rims. Couldn't she team up with Maya instead? That would be so much cooler.
- Speaking of faceplants, let's talk about Matt. Actually, no, let's not talk about Matt, as he's as useless as ever. Instead, let's talk about the awesome African guy who gave him water and told him to switch his cell phone coverage. OH MY GOD AWESOME AFRICAN GUY IS AWESOME. PLZ 2 B NOT DYING, KAY?
- So, is the premise this season that everyone's playing Musical Powers, or is there some sort of deep reincarnation thing at work? (And if there is, why did they reincarnate Niki?) Awesome African Guy (whom I will refer to as such until they give us a name that better not be Gumbo or something similar) has Isaac's; Niki has one of Sylar's; and just what is going on with Linderman, anyway?
- On a more serious note, I just loved the Claire storyline this time. They're actually taking the problems they had during the last two seasons - namely, that she was made a victim over and over again and addressing them, without making her story any less meaningful, poignant, or full of twists and surprises. I would chat out a rambly little summary of my thoughts, but tju_tju_tju_tju does it so much better:
"It's all very obviously connected with the idea of rape, of course, but didn't Sylar sort of rape her, in a way? Picking at someone's brain (literally) has to be a million times more intimate and more of a violation than sexual rape ever could be. I thought that was very interesting. And the poor girl can't feel anymore. I think her plotline is going to be very interesting this season."
- Also, bad taco line? Just - no.
- Hiro, stop beating on poor Ando. You know he's only ever wanted to do good, even if it is mostly for himself. Besides, you're the comic-book geek, you know that hating on your sidekicks makes them evil.
- Nathan's storyline: just, wow. Good wow. I honestly cannot see where they're going with this, but it looks incredibly interesting, and the God angle is such a surprising choice, but now that I've seen it, I find myself agreeing with the writer's decisions. It's good. For now, at least.
*You just know that as a kid, Mohinder read all the Adventures of Spiderman and did the little web-shooty thing whenever Chandra turned his back.
**I want Awesome African Guy That-Is-Not-Gumbo icons. Does anyone know where I can get some?