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"Four Months Later . . . " or "Well, that Didn't Suck"

September 24, 2007 9:30 PM

eedless to say, I was a little apprehensive as tonight's Heroes episode started. But--perhaps because my expecations were extremely low--I liked the episode. It wasn't groundbreaking or excellent, but it was a decent way of showing where the characters have gone since the debacle at Kirby Plaza, and I think that most of the characters are set up to have really interesting story arcs this season.

We start with Mohinder giving a lecture about a plague that's killing only those that have special abilities. Again, Heroes is ripping off storylines from the X-Men comics. The first time they did this--when Hiro traveled into a dystopian future where special people are persecuted, mirroring the classic Days of Future Past X-Men story--I thought it was a nice little homage to Heroes' comic-book heritage. Now I think it's just kind of lazy. Still, I'm sure that Heroes will take it in a different direction, so I'm willing to take a wait-and-see approach. Anyway, Mohinder gets recruited by the Company (now officially called that in the show, apparently) and we find out that he, Parkman (who's still alive) and Mr. Bennett are all working together to bring it down. This storyline will be fun to see develop, I think.

Parkman, Mohinder, and Molly Walker are all living together in New York City in some sort of "I have two daddies" scenario. And Molly's having some nightmares about that guy she talked about before--the one that's worse than Sylar. Also, Parkman divorced his wife, which was a great move on his part and which will really free up his character, but hadn't he and Janice reconciled? And wasn't she pregnant? Is that still going to figure into this year's story? I mean, it's called "Generations," right? Or are they just gone?

Nathan apparently survived his heroic--though perhaps unnecessary--flight with Peter, but he's not doing that great. His wife and kids left him, and he's apparently not a Congressman. Maybe the plan to rig the election was discovered and Nathan lost his seat. In any event, he's looking pretty scruffy and hittin' the bottle pretty hard. But at least he's got the balls--or the liquid courage--to tell his mom that she's evil. And he's looking after Peter's stuff. I liked seeing that.

Hiro's still kicking it in Japan's Edo period--and he's discovered that the famous Japanese hero Takezo Kensei is actually a cowardly British con man. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. Is it going to turn out that Hiro is actually Kensei? Is Hiro going to do the swordsmith's daughter? What about Charlie? And why doesn't Hiro just go back to the future?

Claire's having trouble adjusting to her secret identity. And she's got a new boy--who has super powers. In fact, he's the first person we've seen who has a duplicate ability that I can remember. How strange is that--both your dad and your boyfriend have the ability to fly. In any event, I didn't really like the new guy until he used his flying ability to creepily watch Claire through her window--a scene lifted directly out of Superman Returns.

Then there's all the stuff with Angela Petrelli, Mr. Nakamura, and Linderman's other associates. That whole thing, I think, is going to be really interesting.

I'm not sure how I feel about the new characters, Alejandro and Maya. I was actually wondering when they were going to get around to introducing some Latin-American charcters. But, seriously, what is their deal? Maya said "God" just a few too many times for it to come off as not stereotypical--I mean, really, a devoutly religious Latin-American? There's something original. And what's her power? She can kill tons of Mexicans in a single blow? Great. I just don't think that they should make a character's power the mystery. Remember what happened when they tried that with Niki? Yeah, that sucked.

Peter's alive and... I'm not going to say "well," but he's alive, in a shiping container in Ireland, and apparently without memory. This could either suck or be cool. Let's see how it plays out.

But, best of all, no Niki, DL, or Micah. Awesome move, writers!

So, all in all, a solid start. I'm excited for next week's episode, so that's a good sign.

Other new shows I watched tonight:



3 Comments


lily said:

See, I really liked Journeyman. I don't find that the concept is a little used that troubling (I loved Kyle Chandler in Early Edition, and I love him in Friday Night Lights, and it turns out I like whatshisface in Journeyman, too). People are fascinated by time travel, and I think that there will be plenty more time travel tv shows to come. And I think that the twist at the 40 minute mark was awesome!

September 25, 2007 12:44 AM



TheExpat said:

I might consider this Journeyman show, if you hadn't told me that the protagonist uses an iPhone as a plot device. Jesus Jiminez Cristo, what a lame product placement. Back to the Future had the Delorian, but the manufacturer still went out of business, mostly I think because the Delorian looks like a time machine anyway. But still, it's pretty cheap, even for a TV show, to make such an overture to an advertiser. Does it have ringtones featuring artists on a label owned by the network's parent company? Gag me.

September 25, 2007 8:50 AM



frank x. said:

I didn't bother to watch Chuck or Journey man. The Chuck character annoys me. He seems like a reject from The Office, which is a show that I like because they lead mundane lives, not because they are being chased by whoever. As for Journey Man, I used to like Quantum Leap, but then I got bored with it when I tried to watch it as an adult. I don't need to see NBC's take on a show I got tired of. As for Heroes, I really like this episode. I really like seeing that Takezo Kensai was a Gaijin and not the noble hero talked about. Since the point of the show was normal people with amazing abilities, I'm glad they didn't lose that angle in the past.
Something interesting though, is that Hiro has a previously undiscovered power. He can speak in the dialect of Japanese used during Feudal times. Amazing. To think that Hiro can be transported to ancient times and speak and understand Old English (I assume we are hearing Takezo Kensai speak as Hiro speaks it) even though he just got a handle on modern English, and Old Japanese, which apparently even uses Kanji that modern scholars don't understand. Amazing!

September 26, 2007 11:01 AM



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