Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Heroes: "Angels and Monsters"


Armed with H.R.G.'s old files and a taser, Claire attempts to take down her first target -- Stephen Canfield, a Level 5 escapee with the ability to create vortexes -- unaware that others are closing in. Meanwhile, in horror, Peter flees from all the death and destruction in the future, only to grimly discover how deeply the experience has changed him. Frustrated that Adam Monroe didn't get them closer to "the formula," Hiro takes a stab at becoming friends with Daphne and her new associate Knox, much to Ando's dismay. Later, Suresh's urge to correct research errors puts Maya, among others, in a sticky situation. Linderman advises Nathan to stick by Tracy, seeing that they could accomplish great things together. In Africa, Matt sees his vision of "happily ever after" destroyed. Without spoiling things too much, I can say that the mystery of Linderman is revealed and yet another Petrelli is introduced, resulting in some intriguing possibilities.

After reading numerous online and print sources, it seems to me like the dissent with this series is rapidly building, and as far as I can tell, it's primarily because of the many ridiculous reversals that have been cavalierly tossed into the mix by creator Tim Kring & company, which have shifted the dynamic of the show away from what it was in the beginning. It also doesn't help that the shows writing team really seems to be flailing around without direction, randomly dropping plots or characters that have been introduced from time-to-time, mining certain storytelling conceits repeatedly, and otherwise yanking the chain of their own audience. Morbid curiosity will probably keep me coasting along for a bit longer, but I truly hope that the network executives are paying attention and can apply some well-deserved pressure to the series creators to get their heads out of their asses and fix what wasn't' broken in the first place.

The most obvious problem with the show is their stubborn refusal to write out major characters who have already served their intended story purposes and simply move on. Besides the whole Nikki/Jessica/Tracy thing, Nathan has apparently died twice now, Sylar (great villain, but C'mon, despite his current season story arc) Sylar/Gabriel should have never been brought back. Plus a few others on the show are nothing but turkeys (you pick your own, cause I've got mine).

Who knows, maybe things will straighten out. I will keep my fingers crossed for a bit longer, but the leash is growing shorter.

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