“Where did Micah learn to play?”

In think it was just an excuse to show off Noah Gray-Cabey’s real piano skills. I just chalk it up to him being a smart kid like he is in real life. I mean he’s a freshman in High School when he’d normally be in 5th grade.

Micah’s character descriptions is also called “abnormally intelligent”, so why not.

One thing stood out to me though, and it’s so shallow: Ali Larter would have made a *great* Sarah Connor. Though I guess she’s already played the “super protective of her son, mom role” with Micah last year.

I have no idea where they are going with Niki. I don’t even know if they know… she seems so in the background.

I definitely like Hiro’s story myself (the homage to Japanese cinematography is particularly interesting). Still, I also agree that the whole “video game quest” thing was a bit hard to swallow, and I’m really itching for a big fight. Of course, by the looks of it, we’ll get that soon. And the final five episodes of the volume? Don’t even get me started. I’m bouncing with excitement.

That’s my problem with S2, so far, though. All the pieces are in place, and God knows the actors (bless them) are still giving us everything they’ve got, but it feels off. Imo, it feels like the writers are phoning it in. It’s like they’re teasing us with little or no follow-through, and it isn’t just that the early eps. are set up, either.

It’s like Kring and Co. are trying to please everyone — those who want global scope, those who want returning favorites, and the advertizers all at once. The effect is that we’re getting nods to characterization and narrative, but strangely flat actual characterization and narrative. Nothing is sufficiently explored. For example, I have a sinking feeling that whatever West’s deal is in the end, NA, HP, and JC will be relying almost solely on performances to convey any real sense of fall-out, if the scripting up to this point is anything to go by.

As for the “token scenes,” they said in the commentary that they were meant as transition. I can believe that of the HRG one, but the intent falls way short in the Kensei scenes. Those feel like fanwank to me, otherrwise why include the curator? Those scenes felt all about the curator to me, and not enough about our trio in the Land of Sark.

My one big fear is that the Writers’ Strike, whatever form it does or doesn’t take, has also added pressure, as these scripts were written more hurredly than they would have been in order to accomodate that November 1st deadline.

Will I end up liking Elle? Hah! I think you’ll hate her before I like her, but we’ll see. I’m holding off judging her until we see more, but I felt like I needed to give an intitial reaction here, and I honestly didn’t see what all the fuss was about.

She might turn out to be a sympathetic character further down the road. If they could do it with HRG, they can do it with Elle.

With Hiro: I really don’t know. I think, if you follow spoilers, it’s easy to see why the show thought it was important to establish the friendship between Hiro and Kensei. I don’t think I’ll ever look back on the Feudal Japan arc fondly, which is sad, because a lot of thought and hard work probably went into it. But I think the story which emerges from it — the stuff we’ll see later this season — is going to be amazing, so maybe it was a necessary story to trudge through.

Raissa: I KNEW you’d love the Yamagato curator showing up! Do you think they’ll show the rest of the professors too? It’d be hilarious how this tiny portion of the audience would be getting such a kick out of a bunch of anonymous academic types showing up.

I’m curious about your “token scene” idea; do you think the show does that for the fans, or for the sake of the story and just with the fans in mind? I think it’s great that TPTBs seem to gauge the general reaction to characters and stories, but somehow I’d rather believe they trust their own vision for each episode, and that nothing’s thrown in purely for the sake of placating a portion of the audience. Shirtless Peter doesn’t count, obviously, but I think Noah phoning Noah made sense, and I think the idea of Hiro and Kensei finding the Hidden Fortress tied in with the episode’s whole theme about confrontation.

Nichelle Nichols — oh, WORD. Maybe we’ve been spoiled by Takei’s importance in the story, but I really thought Nichelle would have a bigger chunk of the Monica plot. It’s a nice cameo, but I hope she gets a chance to leave more of a mark on the role.

KellyH: I agree, it’s interesting that Claire finally sat out an episode. I don’t know if it’s totally a bad thing; more Matt, Mohinder, and Nathan is fine by me.

With Katie Carr, do you think it’s just the shorter list of credits? Kristen’s a better-known star, so it’s understandable that the show marketed her as a reason to tune in. What bugs me is the way she became the sole reason to watch this episode, like, “Watch this episode BECAUSE VERONICA MARS IS IN IT.” There are other marketable opportunities to pull viewers in; some of them were in the promo spots, like Janice appearing and Peter facing his past, but they were dwarfed by Elle’s introduction.

I don’t know if I agree with you about Caitlin, mostly because I think she’s serving a function in the plot the same way Simone did. But I agree, Caitlin’s likable. I’m still not sure if Elle was meant to NOT be likable, but I argee that all of the guest stars deserve a more equal amount of media exposure for their roles.

Susan, great point about Peter’s need for direction triggering his clairvoyance. It could definitely be a part of how the ability works.

Nathan’s bandage: yeah, I liked that detail too.

On Hiro’s story needing an action sequence: absolutely. I don’t know why it hasn’t happened. I can’t believe it’s budget or schedule constraints, or even a lack of creativity. One scene showing Kensei as Japan’s legendary swordsman doesn’t have to take the focus away from the characters, it just helps to establish how history remembered Kensei this way.