Heroes

[HaemishM]

Doesn't NBC put their shows up online the next day? If so, I think I'll Tivo the House episode and catch Heroes online.

[Signe]

Look at your avatar!  Is that a book cover pic?

[Samwise]

Doesn't NBC put their shows up online the next day? If so, I think I'll Tivo the House episode and catch Heroes online.

I'm pretty sure both shows are on Hulu these days.

[Cyrrex]

Saw it.  Did not hate.  They are obviously trying to restart the whole series, but it is going to be hard to forget some of the shit that happened the last two years.

[kaid]

When you cannot possibly think of any way to make your story make sense going with carnies is clearly the best way out.

[ahoythematey]

I can't help but see Mia from Californication everytime Claire's college friend shows up.

So far my reaction is middling.  It's not going to be as awesome as the first season, and Matt Parkman is still a whiny bitch.  At least there was much less Mohinder, hope they stay that way.

[Bunk]

Hiro: It is my code! I must never change time again!

ok, just one time...

I have a new code! Yatah!

 

[Lakov_Sanite]

Yay for ando getting a piece of that...


but yeah, the whole premiere was a resounding 'meh'  let's go through this piece by piece in no particular order and fuck spoilers, heroes doesn't deserve them.

1. Setting up water-girl and bennet for a partnership and possible romance? Eww?

2. Why the fuck wouldn't parkman use his powers? They were never a burden and he never used them for evil, in fact only good ever came of them afaik. Just a cop out reason to bring sylar back and once again turn parkman into a wuss, taking him back to square one from being almost prof. x

3. Sylar...wtf, i love the character but seriously just let him go. The act is played out and he's turned from seriously evil and scary into a saturday morning cartoon villain.

4. Claire, oh claire.  How many times are we going to have someone accidentally find out she has powers? Also, wasn't there a running gag somewhere that the only thing her powers were good for was being a crashtest dummy?  Honestly they couldn't have telegraphed her scenes in a more obvious way than they did.

5. Peter was actually someone I didn't mind. Seemed to be level-headed and doing something useful, moving forward with his life. I expect them to fuck this over royally.

6. Last but not least we have hiro and the gang of carnies.  First off I also dislike the hiro's whole code of non interference was thrown out the window.  I do think it was possible but not in the way they portrayed it.  Basically the carnie was trying to tell hiro you could still change little things in the timeline if you wanted but big events(like diner waitress dying) could never be changed.  I really don't think they wrote this well.  I understood and even agree with the concept of what they were doing but it came out badly.

[Cyrrex]

Yay for ando getting a piece of that...


but yeah, the whole premiere was a resounding 'meh'  let's go through this piece by piece in no particular order and fuck spoilers, heroes doesn't deserve them.

1. Setting up water-girl and bennet for a partnership and possible romance? Eww?

2. Why the fuck wouldn't parkman use his powers? They were never a burden and he never used them for evil, in fact only good ever came of them afaik. Just a cop out reason to bring sylar back and once again turn parkman into a wuss, taking him back to square one from being almost prof. x

3. Sylar...wtf, i love the character but seriously just let him go. The act is played out and he's turned from seriously evil and scary into a saturday morning cartoon villain.

4. Claire, oh claire.  How many times are we going to have someone accidentally find out she has powers? Also, wasn't there a running gag somewhere that the only thing her powers were good for was being a crashtest dummy?  Honestly they couldn't have telegraphed her scenes in a more obvious way than they did.

5. Peter was actually someone I didn't mind. Seemed to be level-headed and doing something useful, moving forward with his life. I expect them to fuck this over royally.

6. Last but not least we have hiro and the gang of carnies.  First off I also dislike the hiro's whole code of non interference was thrown out the window.  I do think it was possible but not in the way they portrayed it.  Basically the carnie was trying to tell hiro you could still change little things in the timeline if you wanted but big events(like diner waitress dying) could never be changed.  I really don't think they wrote this well.  I understood and even agree with the concept of what they were doing but it came out badly.

1.  I think the water girl think made okay sense.  But if they turn it into a romance, then yeah, fuck that.
2.  I do not agree.  He did a few things that were a bit naughty and didn't sit well with him.  The thought of him having major regrets about what he did to Sylar are perfectly reasonable.
3.  Somewhat agree.  I'll like what they're doing with him for one episode and then hate him the next.  You're probably right that they need to dump him.
4.  Heh, yeah. 
5.  Agreed.  I found that the angle they're taking on Peter right now is perfect.  They'll have screwed it well up by midpoint in the season, though.
6.  I'll wait to see how the carnie thing plays out.  Fast knife guy was kinda cool.  I don't mind Hiro being wishy washy about his code, because when has he not been?  The part that bugs me about it is that he doesn't consistantly apply when he will alter things versus when he won't.  All in all, though, the Hiro/Ando parts are still entertaining.

[DevilsAdvocate25]

Not sure if anyone else noticed, but the "fast knife guy" is Ray Park of Darth Maul fame.

Decent episode, but disjointed and really slow in parts. A lot of the foreshadowing was really, really obvious.

[Bunk]

I actually thought he looked familiar, but didn't clue in.

I also find it funny that I recognized Robert Knepper (the guy with paintbrush) from being in Carnivale.

[HaemishM]

Overall, I liked this episode a fuckload better than the last two seasons. Peter was definitely the best part of it, but then I've always liked him as a character - when he's not being whiney emo Pete. The biggest problem I think they'll have this season is unfucking the bad choices of the prior 2 seasons. Claire's story wasn't terrible, but they just really can't seem to find a good use for her or her powers. The continual dismantling of the most powerful characters is annoying, because it shows they overreached. Sylar is great, but he can't be the boogie man forever, and the whole "Let's not kill him, let's put him in Nathan's body" copout from last year is going to weigh this season down. I knew I recognized knife guy. The best part of the episode was watching the goddamn knife fight - that's the shit I expect to see on a show about people with powers. MORE OF THAT, GODDAMNIT.

It was good enough to keep me watching.

[Nevermore]

I also find it funny that I recognized Robert Knepper (the guy with paintbrush) from being in Carnivale.

I recognized him from Prison Break.  It's going to be hard not seeing the really fucking annoying T-Bag whenever he's in a scene.

[Tebonas]

I was supremely annoyed by both the Californication chick and T-Bag in their respective series. I hope that doesn't carry over to Heroes and ruins it for me.

Matt is whiny again and I thought we were over that. Hate that development. As I do the Claire parts. She can go now. And the news on the Japanese front? Wary about that, also Hiro is the biggest pushover in history. He is like a ferret on Caffeine, he changes his never changing code more than his underwear. Enough with that already, at least cut down on the "My Code" speeches that rub our noses in your hypocrisy!

Holding out on the Bennet sublot (minus the new friend of her ex and the Ice chick romance parts). Liking the new Peter. And the Carnies idea, despite it feeling like Carnivale redux.

[Samwise]

I like the carnies BECAUSE it feels like Carnivale redux.   

[Tebonas]

You have a point there. Maybe they could sneak in a conclusion to the Carnivale storyline. "You see old Timejumper here? He loves to tell us stories about the Great Depression. You know, there was a great fight between some farm hick and a fortuneteller from this very Carnivale. God bless grandma..."   

[Tale]

I stopped watching back when Daphne got shot. It was dumb beyond my tolerance. I don't miss it. In fact, I'd forgotten Heroes exists.

[HaemishM]

One other thing bugged me, though - the goddamn prophecy seeing the future angle. Can this show really just NOT live without a fucking deus ex machina foretelling that manipulates everyone into doing something? Fuck's sake, ENOUGH WITH THE WE CAN DRAWZ DA FUTUREZ plot points.

[Nevermore]

One other thing bugged me, though - the goddamn prophecy seeing the future angle. Can this show really just NOT live without a fucking deus ex machina foretelling that manipulates everyone into doing something? Fuck's sake, ENOUGH WITH THE WE CAN DRAWZ DA FUTUREZ plot points.

What was the prophecy this time?  I must have blinked and missed it.  I know T-Bag has his whole 'we need someone who can travel through time so we can 'fix' currently undefined events that happened in the past' and there's the magic meta-detecting compass MacGuffin but I don't remember a prophecy.

[Lakov_Sanite]

One other thing bugged me, though - the goddamn prophecy seeing the future angle. Can this show really just NOT live without a fucking deus ex machina foretelling that manipulates everyone into doing something? Fuck's sake, ENOUGH WITH THE WE CAN DRAWZ DA FUTUREZ plot points.

What was the prophecy this time?  I must have blinked and missed it.  I know T-Bag has his whole 'we need someone who can travel through time so we can 'fix' currently undefined events that happened in the past' and there's the magic meta-detecting compass MacGuffin but I don't remember a prophecy.

His tattoo on the girls back was claire and sylar's faces. Thus he has magical future tats.

[Tebonas]

Since he used his Tattoo power to strangle the Speedster, it may very well not be future sight. He also asked her who the people from the Tattoos are, so her power seems to be more divination related than his. It could be something as simple as mutant detection for possible recruits.

[Nevermore]

His tattoo on the girls back was claire and sylar's faces. Thus he has magical future tats.

I don't know.  Both their powers were so vaguely defined it's hard to say what exactly was happening.  I took it to be more of a magical tattoo yellow pages for finding people.  How did he know who to look for?  No idea.  But it doesn't seem to be a prophecy like the other painting guys.

[MrHat]

Since he used his Tattoo power to strangle the Speedster, it may very well not be future sight. He also asked her who the people from the Tattoos are, so her power seems to be more divination related than his. It could be something as simple as mutant detection for possible recruits.

Thought his power was telekinesis since he moved the earth the beginning too.

Would explain moving ink around under the skin too.  Er, maybe.

[Cyrrex]

Good catch, had forgot about that earth moving thing.  But then why do that weird strangle thing, especially to a speedy guy (who admittedly just fucking takes it for some reason)?

[HaemishM]

By prophecy, I just mean some kind of telling the future vibe. I got the same vibe from the African painter dude who died too quickly, the Issac comic book and the mythical missing Issac comic book from season 3. Every goddamn season there is some from of automatic drawing of TEH FUTCHUR! and it is really starting to bug me since it's really just a plot device to make the characters clash.

[Pennilenko]

Jeesus christ people, heroes isnt designed for the type of people who frequent this board. You guys are picking apart the bullshit entertainment they slap togather to keep the masses enthralled with "teh new shiney".

[Cyrrex]

It's a show about super heroes.  I submit that it actually kinda is geared to people like us. 

[CmdrSlack]

I ate popcorn and watched it. It's kind of like a popcorn movie, which can be nice. If NBC aired a show that made me really engage my brain, I'd be worried that I'd somehow slipped into bizarro land.

I thought it was good for Heroes. This show should have really been on HBO or Showtime, if only because then they could do more without having to run crap past network censors and stuff. It would give more of a point to having Ali Larter on the show, I guess.

[ahoythematey]

I don't particularly mind it having to conform to NBC's standards, but I agree it would have flourished better somewhere else, like showtime or HBO, or maybe FX.  All the freedom in the world wouldn't matter, though, if their writers continue to suck.

[NowhereMan]

Honestly for a season opener I just found it really meh. The Carnie thing (Zomg! A community of people with powers what has been around for years and seems to know everything about people with powers but has never come into contact with the company or any of the other powered folks) just seems like a desperate attempt to restart the plot. The Sylar/Nathan thing would interest me if I thought it had the potential to be handled even moderately well as an opportunity for Sylar to genuinely reappraise himself and come to terms with 'who he really is', a chance for a fresh start for the character. Instead it's going to be him eventually breaking out and going murder happy on Angela, Bennet and Parkman. As other people have said the best part of it was Peter who is going to end up being a whiny bitch when he gets to a couple of accidents too late to do anything and decide he's useless and doesn't want anything to do with anyone anymore just as they need his help to defeat Sylar/Carnies/Polar bears in armour that want to get their hands on the compass.

[Reg]

I'll watch anything that has polar bears in armour!

[Threash]

I'll watch anything that has polar bears in armour!

You might be slightly dissapointed.  I like where this new season is going, if only because its not going the same way as the last two.  This might be the first episode since the first season where i dont wanna kill Peter.

[Lakov_Sanite]

I take away all I said about claire's storyline, if it keeps going like this....

[Tale]

It's a show about super heroes.

It's not about superheroes. I's a melodrama about people with superpowers.

[DLRiley]

Reap what you saw my friends. If you had largely ignored Heroes for the majority of season 1, like I did, then the show would have never reached season 2. Now its what season 5? Expect season 10 to roll by with half the ratings and double the funding. Heroes was never like Smallville which had a strong beginning but faltered and down right became awful later on as season dragged into season. Heroes was horrible in the beginning redeemable only at the tail end of season 1 and never picked up steam since then. Peter, Hiro, Claire all annoying characters from day 1, yet the fanbase grew to the point that this show isn't coming off no matter how shitty it is.