Here is No Why

<-So, What the Fuck Was All that About? |Main|I've Got Nothing->

"The Kindness of Strangers" or "Setup Takes Forever"

October 16, 2007 1:52 AM

e're only four episodes into the season, so we have to expect some episodes where there's not a lot of action. Things have to get set up for later in the season. That work has to be done, and it's always a challenge to keep things interesting even though you're mainly just setting the board up for the rest of the game. That said, I think this episode did an adequate job. It had some pretty decent revelations and some nice character development. Here's what I thought, organized in the most logical way I can think of:

Claire
I have to admit that West is growing on me. I mean, the guy flies! But, more importantly, he also seems like a decent guy. Yeah, the whole hovering outside Claire's window thing was kind of creepy, but people have done creepier things. Anyway, he seems ok, which I know is just setting myself up for when we find out that he's actually working for the Company or something. I liked the scenes between him and Claire. Honestly, a little romance isn't a bad thing. I wonder if the windchime thing meant that West saw who Claire's dad is.

As far as Claire, though, I wish that she and her father would have learned from last season. First off, didn't Mr. Bennet prove beyond all doubt that he'd do anything for his daughter and that she can trust him? Second, didn't he learn not to lie to his family and keep everything from them? Good crap, the Haitian's even back! These people have very short memories, apparently.

Parkman and his dad
Huh. So the guy that's worse than Sylar isn't the Haitian. Interesting. Moving on.

Nathan
Thank God he shaved. That whole hobo thing wasn't working for him. Anyway, it's nice to see that he's not a complete jerk anymore. And I like him working with Parkman. They have a lot of things in common--especially now that they're both apparently children of founding members of the Company. I wonder if there are any other familial revelations in the works.

Micah and his cousins
Ugh. I really, really, really don't care. As far as I can tell, his cousin's power is that she learns or understands quickly. Isn't that Sylar's power? I didn't mind the whole repeat powers thing at first, but if this girl does have Sylar's power--or some variation thereof--I'll be kind of pissed. I mean, they didn't seem to be out of cool power ideas last season, so I don't know why they seem to have run out. It doesn't matter, though, because I just don't care. I hope they all get wiped off the face of the Earth.

Sylar and the Mexicans
I know that Maya and Alejandro aren't Mexican, but whatever. Anyway, this part was interesting, but only because Sylar was in it. Of course, I want to know what happened to him and his powers, and why he can't get any new ones. But I just really hate Maya and Alex. They're just so fucking annoying. And if they're twins who are apparently incredibly fucking close, how is it possible that Maya knows English but Alex doesn't?

Anyway, as a setup episode, this was ok. It was definitely interesting, and I love the backstory revelations. All in all, I'm happy with the season and happy with how things are developing so far.

One thing I'm not happy about is the lack of both Peter and Hiro in this episode. I know that sometimes characters have to take a week off. That's cool. But, goddamnit, it's just not fair to deprive me of both Hiro and Peter in the same week. I hope that doesn't happen again.

3 Comments

Vice said:

When Maya and Alejandro's car stopped for the man that had fallen at the road, I was practically screaming for it to be Sylar. I pretty much flipped my shit when it was. Suddenly I was rooting for Sylar. Brains -- eat some brains! Fresh, tasty, dirty, worthless, seemingly incestuous, plot-sucking brains!! If this plot thread ends with Sylar not sucking one or both of their brains out, I will shit upon the television.

Also, some things about the Parkman's dad revelation. PH and I discussed this, and although I'm pretty okay with the rather ridiculous amount of familial connections (since it seems the ability to develop powers is inherited - see the Petrellis and both parents, Claire and both parents, Hiro and his father). However, what I'm not pleased with is how there was no setup whatsoever for there to be an issue with Parkman and his father. There wasn't any sort of reference, even in passing, to Parkman's father until this episode, where we discover he's some important evil guy. Can't something be said for foreshadowing? For instance, Luke Skywalker missed his father his whole life, and had been led to believe that his father was this noble, legendary Jedi. Then he found out that his father wasn't dead, and that, while he had been a legendary Jedi, he was now the biggest supervillain in the galaxy, and Luke's arch nemesis. Here...you've got Parkman, and he's got some inadequacy issues in season one, then the writers are like, "Boom! Daddy issues. Go." There could have been a whole moral conflict built up, like Parkman the cop, protector of the innocent, versus his deadbeat, corrupted criminal of a father. But it doesn't seem like that's happening.

Maybe they're taking it in a totally different direction, and that's fine. But if not...

October 16, 2007 11:25 AM

frank x. said:

As far as the wind chime thing, it seems to happen every time the Haitian comes to see HRG. Also, Micha's cousin's ability is photographic reflexivity . It means that you can repeat any action you've ever seen without practicing it. That is why she didn't score top tier on her exam, because she only learns actions instantly, not information. Lastly, when Sylar killed the idiot, there a was a cockroach similar to the one seen at the end of season 1 when Sylar crawled into the sewer. I don't know if it means anything, but still, it was there.

October 17, 2007 8:44 AM

Ismael Tapia II said:

Mr. Vice,
I absolutely hope that Sylar--or someone--kills the fucking Mexicans. They're just so fucking annoying. Their power--whatever it is--sucks. The black tears? Alex's ability to undo whatever Maya did? And Maya's stupid whiny and superstitiously religious babble makes me really angry. I just hate those characters. Also, I've heard a lot of talk abou thow Maya is hot. I must be missing something--I don't really think she's attractive at all.

As far as Parkman's dad being involved with the Company and the guy that Molly's afraid of, I also had that same initial reaction--just how small is this universe? But think about it. Having a power is genetic. More importantly, people with powers probably form a very small subset of the Heroes universe. It's just that, because the show is centered on them, we get a very skewed perspective. So, it sort of makes sense that there would be a lot of connections between super-powered characters and, yes, even between those characters' parents.

As for Parkman's sudden daddy issues, I'm willing to ride it out. Last season's story was so centered first on Matt's domestic issues and then his quest to bring down the Company that we didn't really get a chance to learn a lot about Parkman. He never got a chance to talk about his dad, really, so maybe we just never got to see it. I also thought I saw the start of a good son-bad dad thing going on. I think it'll be fine. How believable it is from here on out will depend on how the writers handle it. Let's hope they handle it well rather than in a "How to Stop an Exploding Man" sort of way.

Mr. X.,
Whatever Micah's cousin's power is, I hope it's completely ineffective at keeping her alive through a few more episodes.

As for the cockroach, I did see that. We've seen cockroaches a lot in connection with Sylar. There was one when he was being held in the Primatech compound, for example. I wonder if they'll ever do anything with that.

October 17, 2007 4:47 PM