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Heroes: Building 26

Sylar: "You've really got to stop trying to be my friend, or I'm going to have to kill you."

There was good stuff. There was "why are they even bothering" stuff. And there was stuff kind of in the middle, where they were setting future stuff up.

It's always a bad sign when the villain is the best part of an episode. Sylar made me laugh several times while still remaining true to his evil self. This road trip is already a lot more fun than the one with the super-twins. I still don't like Luke, but I did like Sylar's lecture on the proper way to use evil powers, as well as his excuses for rescuing Luke in the end. Interesting little tidbit: Sylar's father apparently sold him. To the Company, I suppose, who then set Sylar up with the Grays?

The second best part of the episode was the way too short scene where our secret Heroes platoon (Peter, Matt and Mohinder) kidnapped Noah. I liked the idea of the guys working together and having an actual plan and everything, and I wanted more of that. Next week, I guess.

The "why are they even bothering stuff" was the after school special let's stop a wedding in India sequence. The best part of it was that wild-looking pink and green wedding cake with the elephants. (I want one of those. Seriously.) Yes, not-special Ando is now special and Hiro is not. Yes, Hiro can still be a hero without powers. You know, I used to love Hiro, but now I find him somewhat boring. I think the Kensei plotline last season just wore me out. Come to think of it, this India thing had Kensei vibes.

The Building 26 plotline and Abby Collins from Homeland Security was apparently just to show that there's a limit to the bad things Nathan will do. Maybe it was supposed to be a current events parable about torture and constitutional rights and people with abilities as terrorists. Whatever. Danko is itching to capture Claire. Noah is certain Claire is in serious danger. Maybe she is.

It was nice that Claire told Sandra the truth, even if it broke her parents up. I certainly can't blame Sandra for throwing Noah out; she certainly put up with way more than nearly anyone would. And I did sort of like Alex, the comic book guy that Claire saved. Although I thought it was odd that he had Sylar-like eyebrows, while Luke doesn't look like Sylar at all. Maybe Daddy Mysterious visited Costa Verde at some point twenty some years ago. Whatever.

Bits and pieces:

-- Alex's power is to breathe under water. I always wanted that one.

-- They hinted that Ana-whatever, the reluctant bride, was in love with her partner at the bakery shop. A lesbian sub-theme. That was nice.

-- Mystery Dad is into birds. I think Sylar is hoping Mystery Dad is a serial killer, so Sylar will have someone to blame himself on.

-- Sylar's road music was "Born to be Wild" and "Psycho Killer." A bit obvious, but still fun.

-- I've mentioned it before, but what is with Claire's hair? Did Hayden Panettiere get a buzz cut or something? Whatever it is, her hairline looks so fake that it distracts me. Maybe Claire's plotlines have worn me out, too.

Quotes:

Sylar: "I'm not a serial killer."
Luke: "Well, you've got a pattern, you go after specific victims, you collect mementos..."
Sylar: "Okay, technically I'm a serial killer."

Noah: "I know you're lying."
Claire: "Well, I did learn from the master."

*sigh*

Billie
---
Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

5 comments:

  1. Sylar's "dad" was supposedly his adopted father's brother. When the watchmaker told Sylar his real father was his brother, it didn't set off his lie detector. Sooo to him as far as he knew, Sylar was his nephew when he began to raise him.
    Sooo even once we find Sylar's real dad...who was his mother?
    Did I mention that Sylar's father is a taxidermist which just reminds me of Sylar=Norman Bates?

    I've said it before, didn't really dig the repeat of "Claire's College Trip" that scene(s) were redundant.

    Oh and speaking of redundant, Hiro came to the conclusion before that he didn't need powers to do the right thing. Why do we get recycled scenes?

    Sylar owns this show.

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  2. The villains road trip was definitely the best part of the episode. The most boring part for me was probably the Bennet family drama - haven't we seen this like three times already? The Indian wedding sequence was a little better in this respect - it was boring as well but at least it was new...

    Oh and Tracy would have to be exceptionally stupid to freeze that guy in front of the DHS lady - she knew that Abby was trying to shut the operation down because she saw Tracy as an innocent victim, and then she goes and does this right in front of her. Yeah, that makes total sense!

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  3. Yes, just what Michal said. It bothered me during the episode and ever since... how bad has the writing become that they take a character like Tracy who is written to be a savvy politician, and make her do something so obviously stupid? Come on, guys. That was totally out of character.

    I didn't have a problem with her taking the opportunity to try to escape (even though she was smart enough to smell a set up), and for her to use the guy as a hostage. I mean she's in a desperate situation. But for her to deliberately kill him in front of the DHS woman who was clearly going to help her was utterly idiotic. There is no way she would do that. If she's smart enough to see a set up, she's also smart enough to know her best bet is to keep that woman on her side by continuing her role as a victim, not a dangerous prisoner.

    What they could've done if they wanted the situation to still play out like that was for Tracy to panic and lose control of her power--accidentally killing the hostage. Same consequences, but at least you aren't assassinating a character in the process.

    Sigh. These days, most of us could do a better job writing this show than its actual writers are. And I'm sad to be able to say that, since I loved season 1 so much. Between stuff like the Tracy thing, Hiro's complete lack of character development (really, he thought you HAD to have powers to be a hero? sigh), and Matt sitting down while on the run to draw and color some pictures (because apparently you can't have a volume of heroes without the story crutch of seer paintings), I am pretty disappointed in this show.

    I just hope Brian Fuller's involvement makes it shift drastically for the better.

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  4. there is one thing though that keeps me bothering...

    it is Claire and her attitude... *and she is my fav in this show*

    we are tired to know that if Noah is involved somehow it is to protect her from something... she always has to be against him or condemn him somehow to see later what it is really about or to regret sth and then she shows the I love you Dad...

    Or treats like yeah i know you are doing this for my own sake but you are using me as an excuse bla bla bla...

    just saying that this got me real tired and i wish they could move on....now that her get away of jail card has expired.

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  5. Billie,

    Hayden Panettiere cut her hair into a bob a while back. It suits her so I don't know why the Heroes PTB don't just let Claire have short hair. Or just a better wig. Possibly they're worried about the Felicity effect. Just thought i'd share.

    ReplyDelete

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