Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Heroes - 2/2 - A Clear and Present Danger




"So, who am I?", Sylar asks with an excited and, let's face it, lethal twinkle in his eye. Isn't that just the question? Leave it to Sylar to go straight for the heart of the matter. One of the best aspects of this show is the reality that you can find in all the unreality. Our world isn't colored black and white and it seems, neither is the Heroes world. It's a great theme to explore and I just love it when shows decide to put it front and center (ie: see Supernatural's angels and demons). As a rule, the world is made up of shades of gray and just because you're a fictional world, doesn't mean you should be exempt from that rule. As for Heroes, we've watched as our favorite good guys have stomp proudly down the path of the dark-side and we've watched as others also have stumbled, uncertain and unsteady, down that same path. We've watched as our favorite bad guys have dipped their toes into the good-side, shielding their eyes from the bright light and trying it on for size. Some have stayed, enjoying the bright view and some have raised their bushy eyebrows in disgust and moved away, back into the dark, where they believe they belong. Needless to say, people (aka, heroes) change over time and in the end, they all think their cause is the righteous one.



Speaking of righteous, Nathan Petrelli is just hell-bent on tearing my heart out with a spoon every Monday night. The writers could not have chosen a worse hero to turn bad (well, maybe). Seriously, how many times has Peter saved his life and now's he just going to throw him to the wolves? Well, ain't that just brotherly love! Ok, I'm acting surprised, but I'm really not. We knew this was the way it was going to be. What I WAS surprised about was...



HRG!!!!! Now why, oh WHY, would he choose Nathan's side? Well, ok, yes, he worked for the company for like...ever, finding and capturing evil people with evil abilities, but his own daughter is "special"! It's possible that HRG made a deal with Nathan, telling him he would help round up people with abilities if his daughter (and Nathan's biological daughter) would be allowed to stay free. Nathan would agree to that, I think. I guess Nathan's new mission works pretty well with HRG's own beliefs about people with abilities (and it seems Mohinder's also, but by the end of the episode, I'm thinking Mohinder has changed his tune). Still, I'm holding out that maybe HRG is playing undercover-guy and is really secretly helping the captured heroes and not Nathan. But we'll just have to see.



This episode had two great scenes, one of course, centering on Sylar. How could it not? The man is drama gold and no matter how evil he goes, I'd follow him right down to hell, skipping happily along. I watched this whole episode, sighing is resignation and frowning in frustration as each of my heroes were tazer-fied and captured. But when those SWAT wanna-bes got to Sylar, all I did was smile, shake my head and say to no one in particular, "not him". They could try to take down any other hero and succeed, but not Sylar. The man is powerful, there's no denying that and I have to admit to a nice, fuzzy feeling in my stomach as Sylar ripped that team apart. Call me evil, call me twisted, but after seeing those men take all my favorite people...it was nice to have Sylar give them a taste of their own medicine. Yes, I love him, I just can't help myself!



The other great scene was the last scene, the scene in the plane. This was an awesome mixture of action and emotion. More times than not, Claire gives me a headache, what with her incessant whining and strangely straight hair. But I just couldn't help thinking, "you go girl!" while she kicked the poo outta her poor driver, ran to the moving plane, snuck aboard and proceeded to help release and ulitmately unify all the good and evil captures aboard. I'm not saying it was the perfect escape, but it'll do. And let's not forget the "eekkk!" moment as she walks up to find her dad in the cockpit. Ouch, that stings.




Ok, so a couple other minor thoughts:


- "Umm, hello governor". Tracy is a political whore! Maybe a bit cruel, but still the truth. If I had to pick between her and Nicki, I think I like Nicki better.

- The concept of "normal" was in almost every scene. Peter wants to be normal, Parkman wants to be normal and it seems that Nathan and Claire are the only ones who know that that is no longer an option, for any of them. I think the sooner Peter sees that, the sooner he can step up and actually pose a real threat to his brother. Someone's gotta do it and I'm pretty sure a brother vs. brother theme will be just what Heroes needs to step up it's own game.



- I'm loving the idea of Parkman as the new Isaac. Parkman's spirit guide is right, someone needs to paint the future for our heroes and I think Parkman is the perfect guy for the job. He's a good man and there are so few left of them.

I'm getting a serious X-Men vibe coming from this new Volume. It's all about fearing what you don't know or in Nathan's case, fearing what you can't control. I'm not sure what made him feel like he couldn't trust his own kind (perhaps Sylar killing his father?) but the whole thing seems to be moving in a humans vs mutants direction and I gotta say...I'm loving it.


Until next week, Heroes lovers!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

i think nathan lost hope in heroes helping the world when he went to haiti and encountered the haitian's brother, who ruled as a god in his tribe because of his abilities...nathan got freaked out that he used his abilities in such an inhumane way, and also that it required someone else with abilities to stop them...of course, i think he's going way overboard, but i also thought it was interesting how even though the characters have learned more, some of them (i.e. nathan) are still making similar decisions that we have seen their future selves make (if that even makes sense--i get tangled up trying to describe stuff when time-travel is involved ;)

Bufyluver said...

I agree. The only two theories I had regarding why Nathan is doing this, is 1) the Haiti experience and 2) Sylar killing his dad. But I dont think he really cared all the much about his dad, so I would guess #1, same as you. :)

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