"Powerless" or "A Good End to A Subpar Story"

December 4, 2007 6:00 AM

onight was the finale of Heroes's second volume, titled "Generations." Even after the completely underwhelming finale to the first volume, I was really pumped for the second one because the writers kept talking about how much we'd get to learn about all of the different characters' backgrounds and stuff. Can you say "backstory"? But, in the end, we didn't really get a lot of worthwhile information. We know who founded the Company, but they're all mostly dead. Except for Parkman's dad, who's disappeared, Angela Petrelli, who's a supercrazybitch, and Bob, who's just a bad father. And Adam, of course--let's hope he doesn't come back. We did get to learn a little more about the history of the Company, but most of that stuff is useless now, and it wasn't very interesting to begin with. We met some new characters, but they were almost uniformly lame, and a lot of them are dead or just gone now, which is good, but now all the time we spent with them just felt wasted.

In the end, this volume was pretty mediocre, but the finale did an excellent job of wrapping up the various lame plots that were floating around and positioning the characters for the next volume, "Villains." And it did so while being entertaining and exciting. So it was a good way to go out, even if a lot of the tension was missing.

I'll do this by plot rather than by character, since that seems to make more sense this time around.

The virus.
I never feared the virus. It never seemed like a real, immediate threat the way that the destruction of New York did. Perhaps it's because this volume was half as long as the first one and so did not have as long to build suspense and foreboding, but it just didn't resonate with me. And it didn't help that it was a completely rehashed premise. Because of all of that, this whole part of the volume--and, therefore, of this episode--seemed rather forced and perfunctory to me.

It was nice to see Peter and Nathan reconnect, and I bought that Peter would believe his brother over Adam. I'm glad that the fight between Hiro and Peter wasn't too drawn out--I don't like seeing two of my favorite characters fight. On the other hand, I don't like that the confrontation between Adam and Hiro was so muted--some sort of confrontation, even if it was just heated words, would have been an improvement. They didn't even scream at each other. And I don't like Adam's fate for two reasons: First, he's not dead, and there's a possibility that he could come back someday. That's not cool because I just don't want him to come back. I wanted something more final. Second, burying him alive potentially forever is an extremely cruel thing for Hiro to have done--far worse than killing him. But that doesn't make sense--Hiro's not cruel, and he was never excited about killing Adam. It was just something he felt he had to do. I never got the sense that Hiro was looking forward to it--it was more that he was resigned to his destiny. More importantly, Hiro's just not a cruel person. Remember how hard it was for him to commit to the idea of killing Sylar? It just didn't make any sense.

Then there's Nathan. I loved him in this episode. I loved seeing him take the lead with the whole putting a stop to the Company thing. He finally became the person we all knew he could be--he was strong, self-assured, but also caring and sympathetic. And he was willing to sacrifice everything for the greater good. And then he got shot. I don't know if he's actually dead, but I didn't see that coming, and it was a really cool moment. I hope he's not dead.

Also, on a side note, Parkman didn't seem to know that Sylar was with Molly. So, what, Parkman just left her alone in the apartment while he went off with Nathan? Strange.

Oh, and the scene where Nathan and Parkman land after what was presumably a really long flight was really good.

Sylar.
God, it was so awesome when Sylar shot Maya. Mr. Vice and pH--who watched the episode in my newly presentable apartment--and I were giddy. It was so not awesome when they used Claire's blood to bring her back. That was such bullshit. I was really, really happy. And then sort of annoyed.

I didn't care for this part of the story. I mean, having Maya only realize that Sylar's a completely crazy, creepy fuck when he's waving a gun around threatening to kill people makes her look incredibly stupid. And having her cry out for Alejandro over and over again just makes her look weak. On the whole, she continues to be worthless.

Sylar might be cool, though.

And it might also be cool to have Elle in the company of good guys like Maya and Molly. I'd say "and Mohinder," except that he's still a piece of shit as far as I'm concerned.

Niki and her family.
Oh my god, I hope she's fucking dead! I hope she's fucking dead as all fucking shit. God, I just hope more than anything that she's dead.

The Bennets.
So what's Claire going to do now? And what about Mr. Bennet? And West's gone because he's an unsupportive, selfish douche. Well, I guess that's what he's got to do. These guys are set up to be interesting next volume, too. So let's see what happens.

All in all, this volume has seemed rushed, forced, directionless, and largely pointless. During the first season, it really seemed that the writers had come up with a complete, cohesive way of putting together their ideas. And those ideas were, if not original, then at least put together in an original way. This volume, however, was marked with mistakes, misfires, and miserable writing. Almost every new element of the show--the Mexicans, West, Adam--failed in one way or another. This time around, the ideas were even less original, and they were strung together almost without any regard for plot and believability. More importantly, the writers seem to have completely lost their way with some characters, Hiro being the prime example.

Still, this is probably the most entertaining hour on TV. Although Chuck is damned good, too.

3 Comments

frank x. said:

It was HRG that shot Nathan. I am sure of it.

December 4, 2007 7:53 AM

estefanita said:

i'm commenting on a lot of your blogs here, on the one i didn't read....sorry we have that show here in france but it is dubbed and a season behind you....
try not to be depressed things always have a way of working out and maybe you should expand your job search to include things you haven't considered before.
if ana is who i think she is i completely understand and sympathize with what you went through but like you said it makes you stronger and in the face of something like her unemployment is nothing;)
I know the feeling of missing your family...although i was actually in nogales this year for thanksgiving, yea, christmas will be hard this year.
and for your poll i'd like to add a write in: I hate feeling obligated to buy everyone and their mothers gifts.
anyway try to keep your spirits up....it's hard when it is dark at 4pm and you grew up with desert sunshine....but you pull through

December 5, 2007 3:50 AM

Ismael Tapia II said:

Frank,
That totally makes sense given what was going on with the Bennets, but do you have a more specific reason for thinking that? Also, does Mr. Bennet know that Nathan Petrelli is Claire's biological father? No, right?

Estefanita,
I was wondering where you had gone.

I'm not worried about how I'll ultimately end up doing, I'm just worried about things in the immediate future. As for applying to things I haven't considered, I've thought about that, but the fact is that I really, really want to be a lawyer. And I want to be a specific kind of lawyer. And, frankly, while I could probably be ok at any area of law, I don't have the qualifications for a lot of stuff outside of what I want to do. But I have expanded my search geographically--I never thought I'd apply for a job in Springfield, Illinois.

I'm sure you know who Ana is--you knew all those people, too. You for sure know who my roommates were, so you know everyone else.

Ha! Nogales. I haven't been there in... you know, I can't even remember the last time I was there. I think it's been almost four years. It must be even worse for you, though--at least I'm in the same country as my family.

Anyway, thanks for all the kind words. And I hope you had a good Thanksgiving.

December 5, 2007 4:00 AM

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