NBC
(Season 3, Episode 4)
In tonight’s live-blog of Heroes, I told the others I need a storyboard or Heroes 101 course to figure out what’s going on. I completely understand the writers’ goal of giving us something to ponder and talk about over the water cooler. On the other hand, there must be some midway point between a show that’s mind-numbingly dumb and one that’s too complicated to follow at the end of a long day.
A few thoughts on tonight’s episode:
I’m already tired of the Matt-in-Africa storyline. I’m just not on board the whole painted-face, communing-with-turtles, seeking-spirit-guides thing at all. It reminds me of Hiro in ancient China, which I didn’t like either.
Niki is the least appealing character out of all of them, and now we have more than one of her? Please. Although as Bob Sassone noted in the live-blog, her freezing power could come in handy for cooling drinks on hot summer days. Nice.
Also, the flash-forward showed Nathan as President, with Niki as First Lady. So even though she left him tonight to find out what’s going on (didn’t she?), apparently, they got back together. The time-jumping sequences are confusing to me. If you miss the two seconds at the beginning of the scene where it says “Peter, Four Years in the Future,” you’re screwed.
And about Peter, we’ve got Future Peter and Present-Day Peter, sometimes in the same scene. What happened to the thing last week, where Peter was in the body of the guy during the bank hostage? And someone please explain why the other heroes were after Peter tonight? I know it’s a major plot-point, but they lost me somewhere along the way.
Mohinder’s Franz Kafka transformation is creeping me out, and I have no idea where that’s headed. And thanks to Bob Degon for my new line whenever anyone does something stupid: “That’s Mohinder-level stupid.”
They’ve just introduced Daphne the speedy chick, and yet we jump into the future and she’s formed a family with Matt and Molly, and they have a new baby. I’m just not that into her.
And seeing Sylar as a good guy in the future with a son (named Noah, no less) is just not right. You know you’ve got some sort of Superman-opposites thing happening when Sylar is good, and Claire turns bad and threatens to shoot a child.
It’s bad enough when you’ve got the flash-forwards to deal with, but when you’ve got more than one possible flash-forward, it’s even more confusing. I agree with Kona, who noted in tonight’s live-blog that it seems like Heroes is getting too complicated for its own good.
What are your thoughts on tonight’s episode? Are the writers trying too hard, or are you on board with the complicated storyline?
Clacked by Jane Boursaw 
on Oct 06, 2008 @ 20:46 EST5EDT
Is anyone else blown away by the fact that the supreme villain from the last two seasons is not only playing house, but has a son of his own now. Just who is Noah’s mom?
This episode really blurs the line between right and wrong. Just who are the real villains?
And are the paternity/maternity issues from the last two episodes going to come to a head next week?
…so even though [Niki] left [Nathan] tonight to find out what’s going on (didn’t she?), apparently, they got back together.
Huh? Did you miss her suicide attempt where Nathan flies in to save her? She left to kill herself by jumping off that bridge. Saving her is how they got back together again.
Yah, that and the “how did Peter get out of the body” comment make me think the reviewer should spend a bit more time watching the show and a little less time live blogging it …
My main goal right now is to try to figure out which of the heroes are genetic and which are man-made.
Glad I’m not the only one. I was wondering if the reviewer has just fallen asleep at the 30 min mark of all the eps. She appears to have no concept of the storyline. So much for getting a review…all we get are a bunch of questions we already know the answer to since we actually paid attention to the episode.
Future Peter put present Peter in Jesse’s body in level 5 to keep him locked up while future Peter went to kill their brother to keep him from spilling the beans about their abilities. Everyone is after him in the future because he was going into the future and trying to save the world but made some mistakes. Future Peter was telling present Peter not to make those mistakes and that he needed Sylars help right before Claire Bear killed him.
I haven’t seen the second half of last night’s episode, yet. Do they explain what the hell “I am become Death” means? The double verb doesn’t make sense.
I originally thought it was Mohinder’s formula that started the plague, but since he is looking pretty creepy, I’m willing to bet he didn’t share his stash.
Since some folks are natural and others are man-made I originally thought that Adam must be one of the first naturally occuring Heroes. But, then it occurred to me that someone could have wiped his memory and put him back in Fuedal Japan if Hiro and the Haitian (does he have a name?) were working together for example.
Did watching too many Rachel Ray cooking shows rot Sylar’s brain? Why couldn’t he stop time, teleport or melt Claire’s gun to diffuse the situation? He still had the caveman’s ability to go nuclear so he wasn’t neutered.
I’m confused, but it’s a fun kind of confused!
@emland – “I am become death” is the first half of a line from the Bhagavad Gita (a Hindu poem) that Robert Oppenheimer said he was reminded of when he saw the demonstration of the first nuclear weapon in 1945. In this case, it’s a reference to Sylar/Gabriel.
Thanks!
*POST AUTHOR*
This is why I need you guys in the live-blog next week!
Randy and Meatball – I hear ya, but in order to keep the kids fed and a roof over their heads, I produce on average about 35,000 words a week – reviewing some 15 shows, writing a dozen movie reviews, interviewing celebs, yada yada yada.
With a complicated show like Heroes, I can use all the help I can get!
Scott – Thanks again for that explanation. I wondered about that myself.
Vacelts – Yeah, Sylar’s Ward Cleaver turnaround is creeping me out.
Thanks for the comments, All.
Hey jane,
No worries, I understand now. :)
I’m not entirely convinced you’re watching the show. This review is no good and I’m really disappointed. :/
Jane,
I agree with you that Heroes is becoming too complicated and, more importantly, too disjointed. It appears that others must feel the same way since the ratings for this episode have fallen to a new all time low. I’m not ready to give up yet but I wish they would concentrate on a handful of storylines at a time. NBC should probably move heroes to a different time slot as well or I see cancellation in the near future.
It’s not that the storyline is getting too complicated, it’s just that the writers are getting lazy. They’re breaking their own rules about what characters can and can’t do, they’re violating their own storylines (what’s all this Sylar’s hunger crap they’re going on about? They’d already established that he did his serial killing out of a psychological need, not some stupid curse), and they’re starting to write things in a cliched manner. “We’re going to make everyone related, even characters we just introduced. Everyone’s going to be able to see and paint and dream and piss the future in the snow. We’ll make our characters in the future extremely angry with Peter for no apparent reason and then not give any hints why until probably near the end of the season.”
They need to get it together because this isn’t working out. I don’t think they have any idea what they’re doing any more.