Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Will the ass kicking never cease?

Heroes just keeps kicking more and more ass.

What an awesome treat, to see Malcolm McDowell and George Takei again, both of whom brought me great surprises. First Takei's revelation to Hiro and subsequent sparring, then Linderman's gruesome finale. What a nasty way to go, but I loved how it looked.

I loved Niki/Jessica's greeting to Parkman: "Didn't I throw you out a window?" And though my heartstrings were tugged a bit when Niki broke through, I definitely gotta say I like Jessica better and if she's gone, I'm sorry to see the last of her.

Here I was wondering what calculated & complex plot Linderman had in mind for Micah, when if I'd just thought about it for a few minutes it would have been a no-brainer. The election-fixing trick did, however, make me wonder how Nathan would have fared without Micah's help. And now, who is Nathan? His brush-off of Hiro & Ando was troublesome, and how is he going to react to Linderman's death? For that matter, how is Mrs. Petrelli going to react to that one? I'm curious to see what kind of hole Linderman leaves.

I am just loving Sylar. He's so wonderfully creepy and all twisted up inside. I kind of doubt New York is actually going to get blown all to hell, but I rather like the idea that if it is going to happen, perhaps Sylar is the one who's going to do it.

An impressive body count for a single episode: Ted the radioactive guy, Linderman's man [Eric Roberts], DL, and Linderman himself. Unfortunately, I think we're going to see Ando added to the list next week. Hiro's father referred to a sacrifice Hiro will have to make, and I really hope it's not Ando, but I suspect it will be.

I'm at the tail-end of a reread of Watchmen and I'm finding myself intrigued by the themes that resonate through both that and Heroes. I think what I've been most moved by are the parallels between generations. Linderman, Mrs. Petrelli, Nakamura Sr., and who knows how many others, were for awhile superheroes, intent on saving the world. They were the Minutemen for the Heroes universe. Now, their children and their grandchildren have become the next generation of heroes, struggling against the machinations of their elders while they just try to grasp what's happening to them. As in Watchmen, one among their ranks turned to the dark side and is using the others to execute his nafarious scheme. Now all are doing their parts, knowing and unknowing, to help or hinder the coming conflagration.

Holy shit, only one episode left.

4 comments:

Alex Colby said...

"I'm curious to see what kind of hole Linderman leaves."

I'd say he left one about the size of a fist.

mpgomez said...

Yo! I finally found yr blogdom.

I just love how this series is leveraging the cred of actors with cult(ish) fame. Casting them as seasoned heroes and villians on the show, as a contrast to the new heroes, is a slick move. There's a a similar thing going on with No.6/Lawless on BSG. It makes me wonder what BSG would have been like if they'd structured the series so that Olmos and McDonnell were not so front-and-center, with a bit more mystique. These shows approached casting very differently.

Have you seen The Lost Room?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_Room

Erica said...

Nice to see you, Mike!

Heh, my first reaction to the idea of less Mary McDonnell on BSG is decidedly negative! But, I know what you're saying. For the most part, I like what both Heroes & BSG did with casting, and I like how those choices work well for specific characters as well as for the respective stories.

I saw most of The Lost Room, though missed parts [probably because some crappy show I'm addicted to was on another channel]. However, I really enjoyed it and I think the concept could make a pretty cool serial. Also, Julianna Margulies is smokin' hot.

Yodood said...

I just couldn't wait for you to post about the finale — what an anticlimactic cop out. The excellence of the series only emphasizes the wtf ending so littered with loose ends and red herring lead-ups. Did Kring imagine himself into a corner and just bail, or what? A twenty-two episode shaggy dog joke!