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Heroes: The Fifth Stage

*sigh*

Back in season one, Nathan Petrelli was one of my favorite characters. He was so cool, so ambiguous, so difficult to figure out – and yet, he was tremendous fun, too. ("Flying man!") Adrian Pasdar was awesome. I loved him.

And then they started screwing around with the character, and they just didn't stop. I don't know why they felt they had to make Nathan deluded/the enemy/whatever, but it never worked for me; it clashed with his extreme heroism and his love for his brother. So yes, I was sad to see Nathan go. But in truth, the Nathan I loved has been dead a long time.

So anyway. They did do a few things right. Peter's violent and bloody confrontation with Sylar, complete with crucifixion by nail gun, was surprising and cool, and made me think that maybe we will get that death match this season. Nathan falling to his death from the same building where it all started in the pilot was fitting, and sad. And I liked Milo Ventimiglia's performance. But I should have cried, and I didn't. It was too little too late.

Meanwhile, Samuel the benevolent brother-killer managed to win Claire over. Gee, the carnival is such a wonderful place, with people telling happy children stories, and carnies meting out financial karma to bad customers; it's even turned Doyle the nasty puppeteer into a human being. Samuel is finally starting to intrigue me, mostly because Robert Knepper is doing such a terrific job giving him dimension and oomph.

Let's see, what else?

-- I rather liked Doppelganger guy.

-- I'm starting to wonder why Lauren has been introduced; she's cool and all, but she doesn't have a show dog and that limits my interest in her. Is she secretly evil, or something?

-- The popcorn thing reminded me of the Greek myth about having to come back to Hades if you eat the food there. ("Don't eat the popcorn, Claire!")

-- I didn't care about Gretchen eating the popcorn. Although please don't bring Gretchen back, just because she ate the popcorn. Maybe it doesn't work on normal people.

So much for the mid-season finale. Heroes returns January 4, and since it's actually continued to get better, I suppose I'm going to continue doing these half-assed reviews.
---
Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

9 comments:

  1. Billie,

    Where do you think this show went wrong from Season 1? Every time I see commercials for it I think I used to watch it once, maybe I will again.

    However, your review reminds me of why I can't go back. I consider you (and the other reviewers) to be the person(s) to read when I want to discover a new show, catch up on something I messed, or even to delve deeper into what I've watched. And if you can't do a long review for it, then I know it's not worth my time to look at this show again.

    Monday nights seem empty even with Heroes on. I wish this show could make a turn around. It had so much promise.

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  2. How the smeg do these powers work?

    Renés (Haitian) power is to block everyone elses power. And it does so involuntarily, because not long ago he told "Nathan" to stay away from him, so René wouldn't expose his secret.

    Peters power is to copy the power of others. But if he's near René, that power should be blocked, right? So he shouldn't be able to copy that power.

    And after Peter beat him up, Nathan/Sylar wasn't able to regenerate, but was able to change his face...

    This is bad writing!

    Also, Nathan falling to his death didn't work for me at all. Not ten minutes earlier we see him regenerate his nailing wounds and now we're supposed to be feeling... what? Afraid he'll die? No! Not even for a second! But he actually does! Bovine excrements!

    I know all that was supposed to be symbolical. Him giving up the fight and all. But it was way too much symbolism (crucifixion earlier?).

    And it was pointless! When Sylar took over last ep., it was a much stronger moment.

    Also, somehow I doubt this was the last we see of Nathan. If heroes get's another season, I'm sure of it, but even with the few episodes left, I really think he'll come back in one way or another.

    I just saw the episode and maybe I should've slept over it before commenting, but it made me rage so much I needed a place to let it out. Sorry if I'm too harsh.

    It's just... I loved the first season so much and this season it seemed like they were finally getting back on track a little. But this episode... wow... this was bad!

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  3. Jane, I think Heroes went wrong when they started screwing with their characters. Let's make Nathan a huge hero one season, and a villain the next, with no rational reason why he changed. Ditto with Angela. And the writing got so repetitive. We must have someone doing prophetic art, so if one character goes, someone else has to do prophetic art. If New York blows up this season, we have to make it the world next season.

    Corak, I completely, sympathize. :)

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  4. Corek,
    Heroes has been so inconsistent over the years that these little "wait...that wouldn't work" moments slide off me. You brought up some great points but I just don't think the writers care which makes for poor science fiction/superpower stories.

    At one point, my roommate yelled out, "Wait, that nail gun would have to be plugged into an air compressor." I just laughed because that's Heroes. Why wouldn't Peter have just completely lobotimized (or just killed) Sylar once he realized Nathan wasn't coming back? Why wouldn't Nathan have offed himself in a way that Sylar wouldn't have been able to come back from if he really cared about everyone he's leaving behind. However, I think your question about Renee and Peter's power not working around him is probably the most glaring flaw.

    I think the writers are doing a better job than they were with season 2 and 3.0 but it still is very difficult to watch. Jane, I think they screwed up right at the end of Season 1 when they didn't kill Sylar off. I adore Zachary Quinto but they've made Sylar way too powerful so they have to neuter him every few episodes which ends up butchering his character.

    Sigh.

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  5. I think what happen with heroes to make it less interesting is the creators and NBC probably loving Quinto so much that they think if they kill him off they'll lose all storyline. They Have like twenty heroes (who have also all been bad at some point besides maybe Hiro which is a little funny). So glad they didnt kill him off I just wish he would have turned good so he could have some scenes with the other heroes. Turn others into Villians and kill them off. Whenever a character gets boring they should just have syler waiting around a corner to kill them. CLAIRE. NATHAN. Also before I stop typing this I NEED a question answered. What happened to that red headed Irish Chick that peter brought to the virus version of the future? Did I miss an episode? Did they forget about her. Its been bothering for awhile. Thanks.

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  6. I think what happen with heroes to make it less interesting is the creators and NBC probably loving Quinto so much that they think if they kill him off they'll lose all storyline. They Have like twenty heroes (who have also all been bad at some point besides maybe Hiro which is a little funny). So glad they didnt kill him off I just wish he would have turned good so he could have some scenes with the other heroes. Turn others into Villians and kill them off. Whenever a character gets boring they should just have syler waiting around a corner to kill them. CLAIRE. NATHAN. Also before I stop typing this I NEED a question answered. What happened to that red headed Irish Chick that peter brought to the virus version of the future? Did I miss an episode? Did they forget about her. Its been bothering for awhile. Thanks.

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  7. Hi, David:

    As far as I know, Caitlin (the Irish chick) was abandoned in that terrible alternate future that never happened. Is she still stuck in that future or did she wink out of existence? Is she back in Ireland? They never told us. Big dropped thread.

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  8. "That Irish chick" was supposed to be elaborated on but because of the Writer's Strike they cancelled the 'Exodus' storyline, so they just dropped her and forgot about it.

    Corak, it's said that the Haitian's powers are involuntary, yes, but it doesn't mean he can't control it. It's just like how we breathe, we do so involuntarily, but we can also make ourselves hold our breaths and all. So if the Haitian wants, he can control his powers to specifically allow some people to use abilities while blocking others.

    I for one honestly think we won't see Nathan in any other form other than a flashback or some sort of vision Peter might have. Heroes has a reputation for terrible inconsistent writing sometimes but I do think they've gotten their act together a little. I liked this episode, but...I wasn't as sad as I should have been about Nathan. Watching Nathan save the world in Season 1, now that was emotional. This time, I did think they acted well, but no tears. It's just not the same I guess...

    When I saw Samuel say Claire and Gretchen could leave after finishing the popcorn, somehow I thought it was magical popcorn that wouldn't run out :P

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  9. I agree completly. Nathen's charactor went all over the place, especially in volume 4 were no explanation was given for his actions. They mucked with his charactor and everyone's and I'm glad he's gone to be honest.
    They won't kill off Sylar. He's the best in it and I actually find myself whishing he'd hunt down Claire. When your on the villians side the show is in trouble. I don't get it; they have quite an esemble cast but half of them; Ando, Angela, Mohinder, Nathen, were pretty forgotten about this series. And lets face it, with the possible exception of Peter and Matt none of the ones we saw were exceedingly interesting (Claire and Noah were a bore fest imo). I guess they are worried without Sylar they loose the only interesting charactor they have.

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