Heroes Arc Finale Thoughts
Dec. 18th, 2008 10:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sdelmonteThree days later, and no one on my f-list has said word one about the end of the "Villains" arc on Heroes. But there are a few things that could be said about a decent ending to an rather miserable story...
1. Overall, the arc was a mess, especially in regard to the character arcs for Sylar and Nathan. It's a tribute to Zachary Quinto's talents that he was convincing even when he could have phoned it in (as Adrian Pasdar finally did this week). And so many dead ends. All the villains we met in this arc are dead. The SuperMarine was killed almost immediately. Why did they even bother. Nathan gained and lost his religion in ten minutes, and did the same with his dedication to Given Everyone Powers. Mohinder's voyage to FlyLand was pointless. Everything they did here could have been streamlined to four weeks.
2. That said, Jeph Loeb's script for this episode was really good, even if the resolution of things was not great. I know it's unpopular on the Net to say nice things about Jeph (especially about his work for Marvel Comics), but he's a great screenwriter. His characters are lively, the dialogue is clever, and the pacing is always good. Yes, he is to blame for some of the dead ends of the season as an executive producer, but I am sure what the show needed was for him to write more scripts, not less. (BTW, his special issue of the Buffy comic was great, too.)
3. I am surprised no one commented about Michael Dorn's brief cameo as Barack Obama. OK, he wasn't named, but that was all I could think as we saw the Man Who Was Worf playing the president (and setting up the next arc). And then I found myself imagining Worf saying "Yes We Can" in that Klingon warrior voice. (How do you say "Yes We Can" in Klingon?) Followed by a desire to hear Ookla the Mok's song "Mr. W." In any case, this was the latest great cameo on a show that's had a lot of them.
4. That said, if you were president and a brand new freshman senator who got appointed to the job because he was briefly a Bible-thumper came to you and told you that there were people with super-powers who needed to be sent to Gitmo, would you listen? Or would you call the governor who appointed him and ask just how much this nutcase paid for the job? The set-up for the next arc implies that things will continue as scattershot as ever.
5. But I still plan to watch. Because I like Matt and Daphne. Because I want to see how Hiro and Ando handle the reversal of their friendship. Because Zachary Quinto is still worth watching, and because they hired John Glover to play his real (maybe) father. (Yes, he's not a Petrelli, he's a Luthor, and Lionel is here to take him back to Smallville.) Because I still like the Bennets, even if Claire has been painfully dumb. Because we might see Micah and Molly and Monica again. Because Mark Verheiden (an accomplished comic book writer) has left the Galactica to write for Heroes and becuase Bryan Fuller will be returning late in the season. Because I am a sucker for super-powers, even when written badly.
1. Overall, the arc was a mess, especially in regard to the character arcs for Sylar and Nathan. It's a tribute to Zachary Quinto's talents that he was convincing even when he could have phoned it in (as Adrian Pasdar finally did this week). And so many dead ends. All the villains we met in this arc are dead. The SuperMarine was killed almost immediately. Why did they even bother. Nathan gained and lost his religion in ten minutes, and did the same with his dedication to Given Everyone Powers. Mohinder's voyage to FlyLand was pointless. Everything they did here could have been streamlined to four weeks.
2. That said, Jeph Loeb's script for this episode was really good, even if the resolution of things was not great. I know it's unpopular on the Net to say nice things about Jeph (especially about his work for Marvel Comics), but he's a great screenwriter. His characters are lively, the dialogue is clever, and the pacing is always good. Yes, he is to blame for some of the dead ends of the season as an executive producer, but I am sure what the show needed was for him to write more scripts, not less. (BTW, his special issue of the Buffy comic was great, too.)
3. I am surprised no one commented about Michael Dorn's brief cameo as Barack Obama. OK, he wasn't named, but that was all I could think as we saw the Man Who Was Worf playing the president (and setting up the next arc). And then I found myself imagining Worf saying "Yes We Can" in that Klingon warrior voice. (How do you say "Yes We Can" in Klingon?) Followed by a desire to hear Ookla the Mok's song "Mr. W." In any case, this was the latest great cameo on a show that's had a lot of them.
4. That said, if you were president and a brand new freshman senator who got appointed to the job because he was briefly a Bible-thumper came to you and told you that there were people with super-powers who needed to be sent to Gitmo, would you listen? Or would you call the governor who appointed him and ask just how much this nutcase paid for the job? The set-up for the next arc implies that things will continue as scattershot as ever.
5. But I still plan to watch. Because I like Matt and Daphne. Because I want to see how Hiro and Ando handle the reversal of their friendship. Because Zachary Quinto is still worth watching, and because they hired John Glover to play his real (maybe) father. (Yes, he's not a Petrelli, he's a Luthor, and Lionel is here to take him back to Smallville.) Because I still like the Bennets, even if Claire has been painfully dumb. Because we might see Micah and Molly and Monica again. Because Mark Verheiden (an accomplished comic book writer) has left the Galactica to write for Heroes and becuase Bryan Fuller will be returning late in the season. Because I am a sucker for super-powers, even when written badly.
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Date: Dec. 18th, 2008 03:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Dec. 18th, 2008 04:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Dec. 18th, 2008 04:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Dec. 18th, 2008 05:50 pm (UTC):-)
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Date: Dec. 19th, 2008 12:28 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Dec. 18th, 2008 04:31 pm (UTC)I KNOW. Man, Clark so does not need that. But that was also totally my first thought, because apparently, Heroes just can't let go of ripping off Smallville.