Heroes: Landslide
May. 16th, 2007 09:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sdelmonteThe votes are in, and "meh" and "wow" pretty much tied this week, despite some really good moments. A runoff in the form of the season finale will have to decide the race.
The "wow"? It has to begin with Geroge Takei wielding a sword. Memories of Sulu and his fencing sword in "The Naked Time" surely came back to Trekkies everywhere. And this time, no one needed to give him the Vulcan neck pinch. The enitre Nakamura and Son sequence was quite engaging, if a little too pat. (look, instant skills!!) I really hope that this time, the hero's father really turns out to be on the right side. (I still don't know what to make of Mama Petrelli's allegiances.)
The scenes with Bennet and Parkman were very good, if too short. I really hope that Parkman survives next week since he's just starting to come into his own. Greg Grunberg deserves a second season. (Well, so do a lot of other actors, but they've had their moments and he hasn't.)
The death of Linderman was well done, even if the rest of that scene was not so great. Still, Linderman got what was coming to him. And killing two of the villains in one hour? That's unusual.
Sylar on the roof, setting up the finale. Chilling.
Claire, making sense of it all better than almost anyone else has, and thinking about going on patrol. Glad to see someone besides Hiro wants to do some good for the world.
Nathan facing his demons, and losing. For now. He's the pivotal player more than anyone else. I am sure only he can stop his brother from exploding. But can he find his way back from where he was when he told Hiro that the fight was over? Did it hurt him to be called a villain? Or did Linderman's last gift steal Nathan's allegiance forever?
Micah's comic books, including a copy of "Hulk: Gray" by Loeb and Sale (also an appropriate comic for Niki's son). And the sword shop being owned by a man named Claremont.
The meh? Let's begin with sloppy things like Sylar somehow being at Kirby Plaza at the right moment to hear things? Was that something he saw in a vision? If so, it would have been nice to see that. We have a lot of that in this episode. People seem to show up somehow - Hiro's father in sword shop, Matt's former FBI partner in New York - and we don't get any explanation.
There is the matter of Linderman's plan. Let's ignore the fact that I don't expect to see e-voting in New York for another decade. Aren't there easier ways to steal an election that don't require eugenics, kidnapping and using a boy wonder? Indeed, if he really wanted Nathan to win, he could have just dumped tons of money into the race and discredited all Nathan's opponents. It's a needless multiplying of entities, and it will still be suspect that Nathan got that much of the vote when the polls said he was trailing by five points. (In fairness, Candace really botched that one. She's not very birght, is she?) This tells me that no one at this show gives much thought to what it means to run for office. Nathan running was merely a plot point, and part of me hopes Nathan doesn't actually serve, as they would do a lousy job depicting it.
And speaking of Linderman, all that planning and his security can't stop anyone! Never mind that his security for Molly was one man. Again, this all seems to be merely setting up things, vis a vis that not very dramatic showdown at the end with Meander, I mean Mohinder and Bennet. (The Molly subplot? Yawn.)
The resolution of the cliffhanger. What was the point of "oh my god, I'm going to explode" if it immediately becomes "never mind?"
And finally, we get the results for the election in broad daylight! Yes, this is a nitpick, but I think that everyone who pays any attention to things knows that we get election results at night, and that polling places stay open till 8 pm in most places (and 9 pm in NY). That little bit of sloppiness was more jarring than anythng else we saw. As I said, the election itself is irrelevant. (Though I have long since stopped expecting them to tell us what party Nathan belongs to.)
In the end, though, I am still stoked for the finale. I am just not getting my hopes up too high. After 22 episodes, I have reason to believe it could be amazing, and have reason to believe it could be a letdown. We will soon see...
The "wow"? It has to begin with Geroge Takei wielding a sword. Memories of Sulu and his fencing sword in "The Naked Time" surely came back to Trekkies everywhere. And this time, no one needed to give him the Vulcan neck pinch. The enitre Nakamura and Son sequence was quite engaging, if a little too pat. (look, instant skills!!) I really hope that this time, the hero's father really turns out to be on the right side. (I still don't know what to make of Mama Petrelli's allegiances.)
The scenes with Bennet and Parkman were very good, if too short. I really hope that Parkman survives next week since he's just starting to come into his own. Greg Grunberg deserves a second season. (Well, so do a lot of other actors, but they've had their moments and he hasn't.)
The death of Linderman was well done, even if the rest of that scene was not so great. Still, Linderman got what was coming to him. And killing two of the villains in one hour? That's unusual.
Sylar on the roof, setting up the finale. Chilling.
Claire, making sense of it all better than almost anyone else has, and thinking about going on patrol. Glad to see someone besides Hiro wants to do some good for the world.
Nathan facing his demons, and losing. For now. He's the pivotal player more than anyone else. I am sure only he can stop his brother from exploding. But can he find his way back from where he was when he told Hiro that the fight was over? Did it hurt him to be called a villain? Or did Linderman's last gift steal Nathan's allegiance forever?
Micah's comic books, including a copy of "Hulk: Gray" by Loeb and Sale (also an appropriate comic for Niki's son). And the sword shop being owned by a man named Claremont.
The meh? Let's begin with sloppy things like Sylar somehow being at Kirby Plaza at the right moment to hear things? Was that something he saw in a vision? If so, it would have been nice to see that. We have a lot of that in this episode. People seem to show up somehow - Hiro's father in sword shop, Matt's former FBI partner in New York - and we don't get any explanation.
There is the matter of Linderman's plan. Let's ignore the fact that I don't expect to see e-voting in New York for another decade. Aren't there easier ways to steal an election that don't require eugenics, kidnapping and using a boy wonder? Indeed, if he really wanted Nathan to win, he could have just dumped tons of money into the race and discredited all Nathan's opponents. It's a needless multiplying of entities, and it will still be suspect that Nathan got that much of the vote when the polls said he was trailing by five points. (In fairness, Candace really botched that one. She's not very birght, is she?) This tells me that no one at this show gives much thought to what it means to run for office. Nathan running was merely a plot point, and part of me hopes Nathan doesn't actually serve, as they would do a lousy job depicting it.
And speaking of Linderman, all that planning and his security can't stop anyone! Never mind that his security for Molly was one man. Again, this all seems to be merely setting up things, vis a vis that not very dramatic showdown at the end with Meander, I mean Mohinder and Bennet. (The Molly subplot? Yawn.)
The resolution of the cliffhanger. What was the point of "oh my god, I'm going to explode" if it immediately becomes "never mind?"
And finally, we get the results for the election in broad daylight! Yes, this is a nitpick, but I think that everyone who pays any attention to things knows that we get election results at night, and that polling places stay open till 8 pm in most places (and 9 pm in NY). That little bit of sloppiness was more jarring than anythng else we saw. As I said, the election itself is irrelevant. (Though I have long since stopped expecting them to tell us what party Nathan belongs to.)
In the end, though, I am still stoked for the finale. I am just not getting my hopes up too high. After 22 episodes, I have reason to believe it could be amazing, and have reason to believe it could be a letdown. We will soon see...
