There’s a carnival full of people with abilities. It includes T-Bag, Darth Maul and a woman with magic tattoos. They’re unspeakably evil, as evinced from their decision to kill Željko after he locks up a compass and… eats the key. (Not kidding here.)
So, it was about 30 seconds into Samuel’s speech when I wondered whether the show was going to forego the usual recap. Not that anyone really needed an hour-long countdown into this premiere, but I think a recap would have helped. At least, it would have helped me. Most of my recollection of the previous season was tainted by its awful conclusion.
Which is sad. It’s also sad, and somehow quite telling, that when the show selects a montage of images to accompany Samuel’s voice-over, the bulk of those images are from Season One. You can appreciate the reasoning; that the show is trying to go back to its original concept and to what made it special in the first place. The sad part is that if you can move past the Sylathan debacle, the quality throughout the fourth volume was often equal to the first, and it’s a volume that deserved a bigger share of images in this montage.
Will Volume Five be the show’s last? I have no idea. But there’s something reassuring about its opening, and something that suggests the show has an inkling of what made Volumes One and Four the most effective. It’s by no means a flawless premiere, but as with the show’s more successful volume-openers, this one’s focus is aimed squarely at the characters and their predicaments, ignoring the usual plot devices and, in contrast to the third volume, using pyrotechnics selectively to support the character arcs instead of replacing them.
The volume gets off to a brisk start, but the pacing never feels rushed. Everyone’s motives are established, and while several aspects of the plot go unaddressed, there’s a sense of coherent direction to the story. There’s also the alacrity with which the Sylathan issue is resolved, which suggests that at least someone behind the scenes realizes what an abysmal conclusion it was to the previous volume and wants it to play out right away.
We start out with Samuel burying his brother. Welcome, Robert Knepper! For those who didn’t know him as T-Bag on Prison Break, he spent four years playing a deliciously entertaining villain on a show which enjoyed a stellar first season and which drew constant criticism throughout its following three seasons. It goes without saying that Knepper will feel right at home on this show.
Indeed, what’s remarkable about the teaser is how effortlessly Knepper captures our interest and our emotional investment. In the midst of the Shenkar wail and the celtic-sounding bagpipes, you’re captivated by the guy at the center of this scene. His speech harkens back to Mohinder’s voiceover at the start of the pilot and raises the same questions, but also places those questions within a social context, observing that in spite of their aspirations, people with abilities will never be accepted by the outside world, they’ll always be isolated, and the only way they’ll survive is by depending on one another.
What saves this teaser from feeling disconnected from the rest of the story threads…
… is Samuel himself. You get the impression that, even if he hasn’t met the characters in the montage that accompanies his speech, he understands them. The character exudes villainy, but you don’t doubt that he’s capable of compassion. He integrates himself into the show by dint of the fact that he identifies with what everyone else on the show is going through.
Lydia seems to be reeling from something traumatic, but one of the downsides to this premiere is we never get a glimpse of what. Hopefully something that will be established as the season goes on, and hopefully something that won’t be relegated to the graphic novels and webisodes.
Edgar’s more fortunate in the sense that his remorse, his stance on violence and his opposition to Samuel are defined right away. Given Ray Park’s resumé, you’re inclined to write the character off as a glorified stunt man. Surprisingly, the actor makes the most of his scenes and suggests a capacity to progress beyond waving knives and baring his teeth.
Watching Samuel toss a compass into the grave and revealing that he’s terrakinetic? It’s a cool moment, but in the spirit of what makes this premiere great, it’s more to character than to plot. It feels like a secondary detail to the character; secondary to Samuel’s leadership and solidarity. It helps to establish how scary he could be, but you get a sense of why the carnival would be loyal to him — and why they’d be afraid of him — even before you see the ground shudder beneath him.
We cut from the opening sequence to Claire arriving at an unnamed college in Arlington, Virginia. We’re introduced to Claire’s roommate, and between Rachel Melvin’s razor-sharp delivery and some superb set design …
… we’re immediately compelled to despise Annie.
Is it an over-the-top gag? Of course. But as many can attest, it’s also remarkably accurate. People like this really exist; people who naturally deliver 50 words per second; who want to be popular, but whose arrogance, bossiness and competitive streak make them fundamentally unlikeable; and whose wall-mounted Life Trajectories have dotted pink borders which match the color of the tops they’re wearing. That last one might be specific to this instance, but it’s evidence of Annie’s pedantry, and Ruth Ammon and Debra McGuire deserve a shout-out for their attention to detail.
Annie assumes that Claire got a place in a college she didn’t deserve based on family connections. Judging from what we’ve seen, her assumption is almost certainly true. Not that it makes us hate Annie any less, but it’s worth noting that this is one reason why her snobbery is justified. It’s also validated by what comes later, the gist being that Claire hasn’t given any thought to what she wants out of college or what she’s interested in doing while she’s there. Which is something almost every student can identify with, but the point is Annie’s dialogue suggests this is a tough college to get into. In all likelihood, there are students who would have gotten more out of these classes than Claire will. We laugh at the Life Trajectory, but as with Annie’s disdain for Claire’s family connections, it’s compounded with a valid point. It’s a moment that reflects the show’s own track record for short-term thinking, especially when you consider that the scene involves a character who’s potentially going to live forever, and whose immortality has never been fully addressed.
Which is probably digging deeper into a light-hearted scene than we were supposed to, so I’m going to point out how much I loved the moment when Annie reproaches Claire for her “childish” preoccupations, prompting Claire to outstretch a defensive arm in front of her stuffed bears. Cute detail.
The five-story billboard of Hiro and Ando is impressive, but the number of amazing details on the Yamagato set is even more impressive. I’m not even sure I got all of them. The display of Kensei’s helmet and armor in the hall is the most obvious, but among others, there’s the Dial-A-Hero screen saver on Hiro’s laptops, and…
… an illustration of the Dragon of Kiso Mountain. Which no one will notice while the episode plays out, and which all of about five people will appreciate even if they notice it on a second viewing. But it demonstrates serious attention to detail, and again, props to Ruth Ammon for some amazing set work this week.
Hiro launches into expo-heavy dialogue to establish that he and Ando are helping people in need. Which is in no way vague, and in no way a tenuous way to lead into Hiro randomly holding bar graphs in one hand and a 14-year-old photograph in another.
Ando: “Why do you have that picture, anyway?”
Hiro: “No reason.”
^ ^ Actual dialogue!
Yes, I know, he’s keeping his reasons to himself. But when you consider that the CEO of a multimillion-dollar conglomerate is (a) wasting company funds on a fruitless endeavor, (b) devoting his attention to a fruitless endeavor at the expense of a business which his father left him in charge of, (c) distracting himself with photographs of childhood memories while devoting his attention to a fruitless endeavor at the expense of a business which his father le-
I’ve lost track of where that sentence was going, but my point is Hiro’s wasting time and money, and Papa Sulu is probably rolling in his grave. Thankfully, Hiro has Kimiko. Welcome back, Saemi Nakamura!
The overhead shot of NYC before we cut to Peter and Hesam in the car is superb. The show’s decision to bring back Assaf Cohen after his brief appearance in “A Clear and Present Danger” is equally superb. I’d be surprised if it was planned since the character was introduced, but it’s evidence of continuity working in the show’s favor because it roots Peter in the real world and conveys that he’s gone back to a life he was trying to build at the start of Volume Four.
Peter gets a report of an accident 12 blocks away, grabs his boots and cape, runs into the nearest alley and rips open his shirt to reveal his El crest. Or he doesn’t, but given the number of homages to both Superman and Spider-Man in Peter’s storyline this week, he might as well.
The Mohinder-style jump onto the fire escape and over the garbage truck was nicely done, albeit a little mechanical, hinting at either part or all of the sequence being digitally enhanced. I found myself less interested in the effect than the logistics involved in Peter ditching Sylar’s shapeshifting and acquiring Mohinder’s super-strength. It’s probably the most useful ability available to him, even more so than Claire’s Magik Blood or Nathan’s flight. But then, the inclusion of the ability in this episode makes you wonder where the ability’s original owner is. It would have been great to see what Mohinder is doing with his ability. Apparently he’s so peripheral to the plot that he doesn’t deserve anything beyond a borrowed ability and a namecheck. Sad, and perplexing.
Peter climbs onto the crash victim’s car and wrenches the door off its hinges.
“Hi, I’m here to save you.”
Perfect delivery from Milo; calm, friendly, reassuring, with a hint of humor. It’s refreshing because, after a season of furrowed brows and body-switching and Hunger-induced rampages, it’s so straightforward. It’s also refreshing because I honestly can’t remember the last time anyone on the show used their ability to help anyone else without an ulterior motive. It’s uplifting, and it restores Peter’s role on the show — as a protagonist with a straightforward motive, and as a hero we can look up to.
Claire sits in on a linear algebra test, surviving the embarrassment of Annie’s ear-piercing “ROOMIE!” in time to witness both the equation in front of her and the lecturer’s timer on a laptop.
The imagined Goon Squad agents with tasers is played for laughs, and it is funny given the implication that, for Claire, sitting through the next 45 minutes would have equated to being tasered. Behind that, though, there’s the implication that Claire is traumatized by her experiences in the previous volume, and that she’s haunted by what both of her fathers were a part of. Which, in a way, is something that’s handled quite subtly; Claire’s trying to put the past behind her while Peter becomes a workaholic and Matt vows never to use his ability again. The downside is there’s a certain disconnect from Volume Four here that’s disappointing; we see the consequences everyone’s decisions have had — Noah’s loneliness, Hiro’s sickness, everything connected to Sylathan — but this scene is the closest we get to an exploration of the psychological damage caused by events in the previous volume. Not a critical failure on the show’s part and in no way something that drags the episode down, but hopefully something that will be explored.
Claire: “This class isn’t for me.”
Props to the way that was written, and for the way Hayden played it. No self-pity, no whining, no crying — just a brave smile and a hasty exit.
Meanwhile, back in New York…
Hesam: “You singlehandedly saved three lives. If it was me, I’d be floating on cloud nine right now.”
Peter: “I am.”
Again, nicely played by Milo. The gist in “Jump, Push, Fall” is that Peter won’t get any satisfaction from his accomplishments until he’s racked up rescues enough to balance the scales, but you could equally argue that Peter’s enough of a hero to keep his sense of accomplishment to himself instead of parading it around the way Hiro would. I think there’s also something to be said for Peter’s sense of loss and frustration after his bout of near-omnipotence, because from his perspective, if he’d managed to hold onto his full selection of abilities, he’d probably be saving a lot more lives right now. Since it’s Peter’s naivete that cost him his abilities, you could in turn argue that what’s eating away at Peter is the way his willingness to trust people allowed Papa Petrelli to rob him of his chance to help people. Which probably ties in with his reluctance to spend any time with Hesam after his shift ends, and why the guy who was once the most empathic character on the show suddenly seems reluctant to form any human attachments.
Hesam: “Dude, you got there faster than humanly possible. If I was a religious man, I’d think it was a miracle.”
Peter: “A miracle…”
Subdued, indifferent, contemplative. Looking back, after everything Peter’s seen, rescuing someone from a car crash probably seems like the most unmiraculous thing he’s ever been involved in.
In Tokyo, and in a similarly unmiraculous vein, Ando is tasked with climbing a pipe to rescue Muffin Man from a ledge. Which, aw. And before anyone chides me for falling for this saccharine attempt at humor, I know. But between this, the belt-wrestling, the Mystery Goop, the spitball in a bowling alley, the giant frying pan and the stick of bread, I found this surprisingly tolerable.
We cut to another exquisite establishing shot — this time of D.C. — and I have to issue praise to whoever decided it was time to go back to the Season One color scheme, because that cold grayish-blue helps to set this part of the story apart from everyone else’s very effectively. I’d love to know if that was a writer’s or director’s choice or whether Nate Goodman and Charlie Lieberman made the call, but it’s phenomenal, for the shift in tone and for the shift in mood, from the light-hearted humor in the Hiro thread to the cold, emotionless emptiness in the Noah, Angela and Sylathan threads.
Angela: “It’s been six weeks, Noah. I’ve given you time to put your personal affairs in order, and [Sylathan] says you’re avoiding his phone calls.”
It’s startling, partly because you wouldn’t expect Angela to take the no-nonsense tone with Noah after he turned a blind eye for her, partly because, if she knows about Noah’s divorce — well, what an insensitive b**ch. The upside is Noah now calls Angela on the dumbest decision of her life. It’s telling that Angela repeatedly falls back on referring to a decision which they made — as opposed to a decision which she made, which Noah supported and which Matt was bullied into enabling — but it’s also telling that Angela now seems visibly rattled by Noah’s regret.
Noah: “I made an emotional decision because I didn’t want to see you lose your son, but it was wrong.”
You can hear the collective “YES!” from viewers across the nation. Noah goes on to exposit that for 50 years, The Company “avoided emotions” in order to avoid situations like this. While that may sound like a generalization, it does explain why Angela was so eager to recruit a super with an affinity for green-blooded logic. The flipside is it’s awfully patronizing of Noah to point it out to one of The Company’s founders, especially when you consider that while Angela was busy setting up The Company, Noah was busy with this.
Noah: “I can barely look him in the eye, knowing who’s under that skin.”
Good dialogue, and dialogue that reinforces everything the show ignored at the end of the finale last season; that Noah supported a plan which inadvertently helped the guy who killed Claire’s biological parents, who broke into Noah’s home and ripped his daughter’s head open, and who made overtures to his daughter and puppeteered her into suffering through it. THIS is why Noah should have killed Sylar the moment he had the chance, and THIS is why it made no sense for him to go along with Angela’s plan. And while it’s too late to undo that storyline, it’s a relief to see several characters acknowledge its insanity and its incomprehensibility.
Noah climbs into his car and takes a looooooooong glance at an article about mysterious drownings. There aren’t many moments in the episode that feel like the show is insulting our intelligence, but this was heavyhanded. I think we could have drawn our own conclusions without the aid of a newspaper article that we saw in last season’s finale.
Tracy doesn’t waste any time trying to drown the guy who once posed as her fiancé. You could critique a few of the practical details: was Tracy waiting in liquid form under the hood of the car? If the ground was dry when Noah got into the car, did Tracy rise up through a drain beneath it? Can Tracy’s body mass supply enough water to flood an entire car from top to bottom? Wouldn’t Noah have one of these installed in his car?
It’s all mitigated by the coolness factor, though. The way Tracy ices the doors to ensure they won’t open, the way she floods the car with such brutal efficiency, and the way she doesn’t give Noah an opportunity to respond with his usual Bennet Crafty Scheming.
The bullet smashes the window, the water seeps out and the door opens.
Nicely shot, and nice symbolism for the guy whose resourcefulness was just trumped by one of the supers he locked away.
Welcome back, Željko! We’re glad you survived the previous volume, and we’re glad you’re alive to continue your role as one of the most vicious vill-
Oh. Wait.
Željko: “Just because the government stopped hunting these people doesn’t mean I have.”
Cryptic. It doesn’t explain how he wound up with the key in his stomach, but at least it sets up that Željko somehow wound up with the carnival’s compass. I also like how the show uses this instance to establish that Željko’s obsession with wiping out supers always extended beyond work.
Claire strolls through the college campus, picks up a cheerleading flyer and never notices…
… the way Gretchen DELIBERATELY adjusts her pace to match Claire’s.
I’m calling it now: SHE’S EVIL. If she isn’t, she’s still the one who pushed Annie out the window. And even if she didn’t, she’s definitely working for someone who assigned her to watch Claire.
I had a gut reaction the moment Gretchen showed up, and it hasn’t changed. There’s something wholly incongruous about her. She’s shy and neurotic, but at the same time we’re expected to buy that she just happens to strike up a conversation with Claire. She just happens to be from Texas. She advises Claire to change her name in order to keep a low profile, then just happens to know how to prove Annie’s murder by risking a scandal that involves swiping cadavers and throwing them out a window.
And the moment Annie’s bed is vacant, Gretchen just happens to be there and ready to move in.
I don’t buy any of it, and although I didn’t buy Gretchen from the outset, it was only later that I realized why. It’s because there’s no depth to her. Almost every line she delivers involves a question, and almost every statement she makes is deflected back at Claire. The outcome is that Gretchen ends up revealing NOTHING about herself and learning EVERYTHING about Claire.
Which is one reason not to trust her. Another is that the show evidently wants us to trust her. The way the story’s set up, we’re actively encouraged to hate Annie and, by default, to like Gretchen. Gretchen comes across as the lesser of two evils, which in all likelihood means she’ll inevitably turn out to be the greater.
Then there’s this:
Claire: “I wanted to be Claire Bennet again. And I thought people might forget.”
Gretchen: “No, girl, Google’s your enemy.”
Girl? GIRL? Even if you let that slide as part of an occasionally clunky script, there’s still the Google reference. It basically means that Claire’s anonymity is at risk whenever anyone goes to Google and types in “CHEERLEADER MURDER BLOOD SCALP SAWED OFF.” For the minority of freaks who’d type in something like that, yeah, sure, Google would be Claire’s enemy. But the fact that Gretchen knows who Claire is and then attributes that to Google implies that GRETCHEN TYPES STUFF LIKE THAT INTO GOOGLE!
See? Evil!
Finally, there’s the fact that if you skip over the following scene involving Hiro restoring time in Tokyo and inadvertently freezing himself, we go straight from her scene…
… to THIS!
^ ^ Common villainy! Underhanded editing!
OK, I admit, that last one isn’t the most persuasive part. But I think you’ll agree that the rest of it is sound.
Nicely done. To see Nathan’s warm expression replace Sylar’s clinical stare only drives the knife further into the wound, but judging from Angela’s expression at several points in their conversation over sushi…
… Angela’s as bothered by it as we are. Whether that’s a case of life imitating art is unclear. Judging from the rate at which Sylar seems to be reemerging, I’d say it’s a safe bet that Pasdar’s role on the show in any capacity is drawing to a close. The only consolation I can find is the way the actor mines every scene and every line for all they’re worth.
The focus on the sushi was a neat detail, but even more admirable are the details in Pasdar’s performance: the way he cautiously chews on the fish, the way he enunciates “interesting,” the way he weighs each sentence and articulates each thought with the same care that Quinto always takes playing Sylar. At the same time, there’s something vacant and generic about the character, which seems like a deliberate effort on Pasdar’s part to convey that his own character is gone.
I’ll sound like a broken record, but it has to be said. The whole Sylathan storyline? Awful. Pasdar’s performance throughout it? Masterful.
Sylathan: “Look at the kind of person I’ve been. The kind of father. The kind of brother. The kind of son to you.”
It’s heartbreaking to hear, mostly because it’s true and because Nathan should have been the one to deliver these lines.
Angela: “You’ve been just fine… under the circumstances.”
Sylathan: “No. I have been a jackass.”
Well, yes. But an opportunistic, treacherous and spineless jackass, as opposed to, say, a psychotic, serial-killing and fundamentally irredeemable jackass.
Sylathan: “I’m gonna change all that. I’m gonna reconnect with everybody in my life who’s important. And this time, I’m gonna be a better me.”
We heard Nathan give a similar (albeit drunken) speech to Claire in “Into Asylum,” and it was somewhat moving.
This time, given that it’s a shapeshifting parasite and given that he’s smiling with a deranged twinkle in the eye, it’s not so much moving as it is terrifying.
Howdy, folks! Nate P here! Can you believe I’m dead? I know! How could they? I spent all of last volume committing unspeakable acts of cruelty and betrayal, all in anticipation of my redemption in this volume. And then they killed me!
I want you all to know that I’m not bitter, and that I’m doing just fine. I’m not sure where I am, exactly. I haven’t seen anyone with a pitchfork, but it’s really dark here, and it’s hot as… well…
The accommodation is appalling, the food sucks, and the TV reception down here is unacceptable. For some reason, whenever I try to tune into NBC, all I get is Jay Leno. I’m keeping my spirits up, though. That freak up there who thinks he’s me was rambling on about what a jackass I am, and you know what? He’s right. I’m tired of everyone looking at me like I’m a two-faced up-to-no-good SOB. I want to change. I want to be a hero. And if I can’t make it happen up there then, by God, I’m going to make it happen down here.
I know what you’re thinking: there’s not much point now that I’m dead. Damn you, Kring. Damn you, NBC. Damn you all!
Sorry. I don’t know where that came from. I’m not bitter, really. But I don’t think I’m quite myself, either. It’s like there’s a part of me that’s… still out there, if you know what I mean. Everyone else down here seems to know what I mean. You wouldn’t believe how many folks have stopped by since I got here. They all want me to deliver messages. I just had a visit from that old Japanese guy who used to fool around with Ma behind Dad’s back. He wants his son to know he’s appalled at the way he’s running the family business into the ground. He says he likes the bar graphs, but the Sprint ads need to go. And that his boy needs to stop letting his big sister walk all over him. And that if he wants to fix his mistakes, he can start by saving his dad from the maniac whose armor he’s got on display at the office.
I miss my idiot brother. Can you believe that the woman he was with in his apartment a year ago is down here? The one Isaac shot? And there’s another one with an Irish accent who’s furious with him for some reason. They both say that his antics at the hospital won’t mean squat until he does something to help them out of here. I personally think he should make saving me his top priority, but I’m trying to be more selfless these days.
Dad’s down here too. He wants to know what Ma was talking about when she told that impostor about a sports car and a younger woman. I find this more than a little absurd as well. I mean, Dad liked his dog racing and solitaire, and he was pretty much a deranged lunatic, but I never saw anything to suggest a mid-life crisis. What did you mean by that, Ma?
Well, that’s everything from me for now, folks. I hope you all had a great summer. See you all next week, and remember to Vote Petrelli!
Angela phones Matt and pleads with him to re-Parkman-whammy Sylar, and once again you have to admire the way the two locations have been lit, because Angela…
… is in the same grayish-blue as Noah’s apartment, and Matt…
… is in the kind of warm, golden sunlight that used to define the Bennet story thread. Which could be an indication that Matt has temporarily taken the Family Man mantle from Noah. The way it’s set up, though, with Angela alone on a street and separated from the camera by a window, I’m inclined to think the show’s using every visual trick it has to ensure we sympathize with Matt. Which isn’t hard, given that Angela’s reason for calling Matt is the same insane reason she needed him in the first place.
Angela: “We have a problem.”
Again with the we. Cleverly written, because it’s evidence of how desperate Angela is to share the responsibility between herself, Noah and Matt and to assuage her own guilt.
Angela: “You need to fix it. You need to patch it up, upgrade it… Whatever it is you do.”
Well written, well delivered. You can hear Angela’s disdain for mind control, which goes all the way back to Arthur whammying her into silence while he arranged for Nathan to be killed, and which ties in with Angela’s scorn for Maury in “Cautionary Tales.” It also reinforces how horribly this predicament must be eating away at her.
Angela warns Matt that Sylar “could emerge at any minute.” Matt’s response is to tell Angela to go to hell. While this is understandable, it’s also incredibly dumb, earning Matt the volume’s first *PING!* Dumb As Award, because even Dumb-As-Parkman Parkman should realize that burying his head in the sand won’t make the problem go away, and that as soon as Sylar’s free he’ll come after the guy who fooled him into thinking he was Nathan.
Another establishing shot of the Capitol Building shows a flag billowing in the wind. Little details, but you have to admire how much care went into creating them.
Again, flawlessly played by Pasdar. You get a sense of his initial confusion, then his panic, then his curiosity. You have to wonder what’s going through his mind, first when he TK’s the mug…
… and then when he goes Ellectric. It’s not as if anyone could conceive of anything as bizarre as the truth, but it’s possible Nathan attributed this to a synthetic ability. Alternatively, it’s possible he assumes that Angela’s using the new Company to refine The Formula, and that he unwittingly became the first test subject.
Claire returns to her dorm room to find Noah learning that his daughter “could be a really above-average student if she just applied herself.” Looking back, I wonder whether Annie’s murder could have been a group effort, especially after it’s now established that Annie excels at GUITAR HERO 3 and hey it’s cool to be so good at GUITAR HERO 3 and can you believe they’re about to play GUITAR HERO 3 and Oh. My. God.
Seriously, show. If it was a Hiro scene, I’d understand. I’d expect Claire bursting into tears after 10-year-old Hiro shot spitballs at her and screamed “Yatta!” because he just beat Sylar at GUITAR HERO 3 who was distraught after morphing into Aunt Gray and having a conversation with himself after wrestling with Ando over a belt and conking him over the head with a giant frying pan while Hiro declared that it was his DESTINY to win at GUITAR HERO 3 because it’s part of the HERO’S PATH to fulfill his DESTINY.
But this isn’t Hiro’s idiot storyline. It’s Claire’s, and I expected better.
If you can get past that plug — which I appreciate is a big if — this scene is kind of momentous. When Claire tells Noah that she “likes telling the truth,” Noah doesn’t even flinch. I guess it’s evidence of Noah conceding defeat and accepting that his ability to control Claire is long gone, but it’s also evidence of the trust between Claire and her father, because the fact that Noah trusts Claire to “tell the truth” and to decide how honest she wants to be with people reveals remarkable faith on his part. Knowing Claire, it’ll inevitably turn out to be misplaced faith, but if nothing else, it’s a hopeful sign that the Love-Noah-Hate-Noah-Forgive-Noah merry-go-round has come to an end.
We cut to the carnival and get a delightfully revealing shot of Lydia and her tattoos. I feel obligated to express my sincere hope that the inspiration for Lydia’s character did not — as has been theorized — come from this. Come on, Heroes. We’re trying to take you seriously.
Cool effect. The likeness to Željko? Terrible.
How does the tattoo thing work, exactly? Samuel pricks Lydia with the Magik Ink, prophetic tattoos appear on Lydia’s skin, and Lydia can somehow sense the backstory behind the tattoo? Or is it that the tattoos are a physical manifestation of what Lydia’s already sensing, and is the ink just regular ink? Dawn Olivieri mentions in several interviews that Lydia is empathic, but whether that extends beyond the Magik Ink and whether Lydia’s ability is closer to Angela’s or Isaac’s than it is to Peter’s will hopefully be a question that’s addressed in dialogue. I’d say it’s to the show’s credit that the whole prophetic-painting concept hasn’t been wholly ripped off as we feared it would be, but this is a key component in the carnival storyline, and it needs to be clarified if the show wants to avoid making Lydia look like a walking plot device.
Samuel tells Edgar that he needs to ask a favor of him. Edgar closes his eyes with dread. He’s clearly been asked to do many favors in the past, and he’s clearly grown weary of it.
Edgar expresses concern about killing when he doesn’t need to, gives Samuel lip about Joseph’s death, and Samuel pricks him with ink, which…
… ends up throttling him in the form of a Magik Ink Fist?
I’m delighted that the show gave Edgar some semblance of characterization by establishing that he doesn’t necessarily enjoy his dazzling knife-wielding antics, and I think we’d be remiss if we didn’t wonder why knife-waving Edgar doesn’t just slice Samuel open and be free of this tyranny. But the Magik Tattoo Fist of Coercion? That’s a little too bizarre.
We’re at the first Troah scene, aren’t we? I’m going to say this right now: this didn’t work for me at all. I love these characters. I just don’t love them together. There’s chemistry between the actors and the characters, no doubt about it, but TROAH?
Oh, yes.
Oh, yes, indeed.
Don’t go there, Heroes! You know you don’t want to go there! Noah loves his wife, and he’s not going through a mid-life crisis. Tracy… probably doesn’t love Nathan, but she’s played by Ali Larter, and the unspoken rule is that any character played by Ali Larter falls for Nathan. Can’t we just leave it at that? Can’t they share scenes without someone behind the camera saying, “Wow, look at that chemistry! We MUST write a romance for them!” It doesn’t make sense. Noah would NOT make eyes at the first attractive superpowered blonde who came to him for help. Tracy would NOT go from reconstituting particles and hellbent vengeance to making eyes at the guy who masterminded her incarceration. This isn’t redemption, show. It’s character assassination.
I want to believe I’m overreacting, and that it’ll be a subtly-written platonic friendship. At this point, it’s easy enough to fool yourself if you want to. When we get to the heart-to-heart and the clam chowder in “Jump, Push, Fall,” it’s more difficult to ignore.
There’s subtlety in this scene if you look for it. Wendy and Lisa do a beautiful job of incorporating a variation on the choral theme from Tracy’s cryo-assault in “Cold Snap,” and the suggestion that Noah wants to rethink his approach when it comes to apprehending supers is a sign that his current professional slump is about more than marital strife. My problem is the scene’s merit is overshadowed by a heavily implied romance, and by a shift in Tracy’s motives that seems to come out of nowhere. There was nothing to dissuade her from killing Noah as soon as she had the chance. Even if she believed his good intentions when he told Željko he was starting over, Noah’s no less guilty than the previous four agents Tracy drowned.
Noah ambushes Željko at the shut-down remnants of Goon Squad Central and reveals his secret weapon. Welcome back, Jimmy Jean-Louis!
It’s good to see older characters reintroduced, but you have to wonder why the Haitian would stop by to whammy Željko and then disappear, leaving Noah to be slashed open by Edgar and to bemoan his lack of superpowered support to Tracy.
Sylathan calls Peter and begs him to return his calls. Sylathan’s impulse to snatch up the receiver instead of finishing the message on the loudspeaker is heartfelt, so much so that when you watch him reaching out to Peter by way of an answering machine and ending his message with “please”…
… Sylathan or not, you feel bad for him. Even if he isn’t real, his confusion and his anxiety are.
Peter’s Wall of Miracles manages not to look like an overly egotistical equivalent to Annie’s Life Trajectory. If anything, it comes across as proof that a guy can achieve exactly what Hiro and Ando are trying to achieve. As becomes apparent in the next episode, the difference — and the reason why this doesn’t come across as egotistical — is that none of the people in these articles know who saved them. It’s subtle, but I think it ends up making Peter look like an obsessive workaholic instead of simply obsessive.
Željko returns to his apartment. Tracy opts not to kill him after concluding from his blank expression that his memory has been wiped. It’s a redemptive moment for Tracy, but it struck me as a little too convenient a deductive leap. I guess you could speculate that Tracy connected this to the time she met a suspiciously amnesiac doctor, or that she knew about the Haitian’s memory-wiping after that time she hung out with Team Primatech. But those are about the only ways to explain how Tracy immediately draws the correct conclusion, and they’re asking a lot of casual viewers’ memories.
Edgar shows up to wave his knives around, and…
Wait, that’s the end of Željko? But we never got to hear the Angola story!
Goodbye, Željko! You were the most complex and unwaveringly vicious villain the show ever created, and you were played with extraordinary flair by Željko Ivanek! The moment when you were upstaged by Angela while she slurped down oysters remains one of the most memorable of the series, and I find it sad that Alena will now never be reunited with Jakob. We hope to see you in many flashbacks and dream sequences! Farewell!
Tracy getting her face slashed off and reforming on instinct? Very cool.
Tracy’s little smile of satisfaction when she grabs hold of Edgar’s arm and starts to freeze him? Even cooler. I can’t decide whether her intention was to kill him or incapacitate him, but there’s something about the way she discovers a new aspect of her ability that makes you root for the character.
Claire finds Annie monopolizing GUITAR HERO, and it’s not even GUITAR HERO THREE! They play Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition,” which is on GUITAR HERO FIVE! Oh, show. If you’re going to be absurd, at least be accurate about it.
It could have been worse. They could have plugged Guitar Hero 5 and then used a song from Guitar Hero 3.
Anyway, the important thing to note is the way we’re again encouraged to like one character and hate another. They might as well have captions next to them.
^ ^ “LIKE ME! I’M THE UNDERSTANDING FRIEND!”
^ ^ “HATE ME! I’M THE FIERCELY COMPETITIVE B**CH!”
Which, call me crazy, kind of makes me even more suspicious about Gretchen, and makes me feel a little sad for Annie.
In a reversal of Hiro’s wheelbarrow trek, Ando wheels a frozen Hiro back to Yamagato, then discovers that a bit of a shake will wake him up. Ando probably should have tried that earlier.
Hiro now abandons all attempts at slapstick comedy and emotes, and given that this is typically a once-in-a-season event, I feel I should set aside scorn in order to appreciate it.
Kidding aside, Masi Oka does a terrific job of selling the part of the man who’s facing death and refusing to save his life by breaking his code and altering history. Hiro’s insistence on not rewriting history is probably the safest option, but I can’t help thinking he could fix several problems at the same time. If he wrapped up his trip to feudal Japan back when he originally planned to, it’s possible Kensei would never have gone berserk, would never have become Adam, would never have brought the ElderSupers together and would never have killed Papa Sulu. It’s also possible that if Hiro had never opened that damn safe, Arthur would never have had the chance to recreate The Formula, would never have robbed Peter of his abilities, would never have forced Hiro to become a pee-pee-dancing 10-year-old, and, crucially, would never have had the opportunity to suck Hiro’s abilities out of him.
Which I guess would have altered significant parts of this show’s canon and curbed the writers’ recent (and admirable) efforts to de-power Hiro and Peter. But it would also have eliminated several tedious story arcs and annoying characters. So, on balance and for the sake of Hiro’s dignity, I advise Hiro to take a stab at it.
Hiro might not agree with me, but it seems his ability does, because it immediately takes him back to the Night of the Slushy Incident, apparently prompting a chain of events that involves Lydia producing a tattoo of Hiro, and Samuel calling on his own time-traveler to send him back to meet Hiro in the past.
The carnival’s time-traveler isn’t as exuberant as Hiro, but he’s also far less annoying, so I hope we see more of him. Judging from Samuel’s reference to his “weak” condition, I hope that’s sooner rather than later. I’m also intrigued by the character’s backstory, because based on Samuel’s familiarity with time-travel, the implication is that he and Arnold have altered history considerably over the years.
Claire returns to her dorm room and discovers that Gretchen has orchestrated Annie’s suicide. And, yes, I might have incorporated my own theory into that last sentence, but believe me when I say that time will prove me right.
Goodbye, Annie! We barely knew you, but you were goal-oriented and upbeat, and if there are any upcoming flashbacks or dream sequences which you really want to appear in, we’ll manage to avoid them. Farewell!
Matt’s scenes intercutting with Sylathan’s was evidence of some smart editing. It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, but it’s especially cool to see that as soon as Sylathan stops making a concerted effort to tap into his abilities…
… those abilities tap into themselves.
Matt panics after he finds Baby Matt’s crib empty, and…
… Dun-dun-DUN!
Which is when we go to commercials, when my fingers cramp up and wave little white flags, and consequently when I’m drawing the line between the first and second episode of the volume and pausing to judge the opener. For the most part, it’s a slick, well-written, well-acted and well-conceived start to a new story. You can poke holes here and there: a carnival of supers with motives and abilities still in need of development; Troah; GUITAR HERO 3. But then, the Sylathan situation is dealt with quickly and effectively, the carnival is full of compelling characters, and besides Mohinder’s conspicuous absence, no one’s story thread suffers from a lack of attention or a lack of momentum.
Special praise goes to the show for once again making Peter a likeable central character, for once again portraying Claire as competent and perceptive (if directionless and unacademic), and for balancing out Hiro’s slapstick comedy with moments of surprising thought and feeling. Props also to Pasdar for an outstanding performance as a character who has no idea who he is or what’s happening to him, and to Robert Knepper for establishing a formidable presence within a smattering of scenes.
A promising beginning to a new volume and a fresh start.
4 out of 5
You are always so spot on… and funny. Bravo. Pasdar gave me the same feeling - this is not Nathan, but is and no it isn’t, the scene with Angela was just creepy. And what was amazing about Angela’s scenes was the layering, as you mentioned, and the fact that Angela’s armor is cracking and Rose so delicately showed us that. What was interesting to me was it would appear they went back and reshoot those scenes. In the Comic con trailer we saw a more cool and collected Angela in the back of a car, of course we didn’t see the whole scene. This scene of Angela pacing in front of the restaurant (Very telling body language) if re-shoot, I do wonder if it was for the flavor Cris was playing here was of a rattled women. She has created this monster because she couldn’t bare to lose her son and here are the consequences. It was a dumb decision, but Angela rarely makes them - it shows a interesting chink in the armor of her character. I think if she had lost Nathan, and after her sister and from what appears from four seasons of Heroes - Nathan’s death appears an unfix-able chess piece. Everytime the future is changed, it seems to pull itself back on course - and perhaps Angela has been trying to stop Nathan’s death since the day he was born?
It also fits into the Samuel’s idea - what he poised to Hiro. Changing the small things… which to me sounds a lot like Angela and Linderman in season one. They felt the bomb (like Nathan?) is inevitable - but what happens next wasn’t - they could mold that. So, with the themes of family and righting your wrongs, so firmly placed in this first episode - and the huge popularity of Adrian Pasdar, mean the real Nathan will be “saved” some how? Will they find some other way to let Pasdar work. Flashbacks? It really is beyond my thinking that a volume called Redemption would be minus the flying man. But still I am presently surprised by the effectiveness of the premiere - the characters talking about character issues - it may just be back to being a drama again.
Of course talk to me when we get to the non Fuller eps… Still he did break the entire season arch, so we may be in luck.
Excellent work, Otto, and welcome back!
I strongly concur that Gretchen is hiding something and killing Annie would seem to be the most obvious thing to hide. Her meeting Claire was not an accident.
When Gretchen tells Claire Google is not her friend, I assumed she meant like if someone just googled “Claire Bennet” they’d get all the murder at union high stuff.
I didn’t hate Annie , so–sorry show–I was disappointed to see her go.
I don’t get the carnival–I guess at this time that’s the point–but I find the lack of definition annoying rather than intriguing.
Regardless, it’s a good start to the season. Bravo!
Welcome back, Otto! It’s good to read your reviews again.
On initial viewing, I was underwhelmed with it.
I loved Peter’s storyline for the most part. Although, I think he was a bit off at times, such as how cheerful he seemed when he went with HRG to the bank. Then again, maybe that’s the point. He is a bit off right now, even though he is back to saving people.
HRG and Peter were great too. I like how HRG gave Peter advice. Their interaction seemed real and genuine. Peter’s probably the only Petrelli HRG can stand to work, let alone interact, with right now.
I’m liking Samuel and Edgar and neutral on Lydia. Robert Knepper is very good and Ray Park is RAY PARK!
lol Really though, it’s great to have someone who can actually do stunts on the show. Maybe we will get more of them. As for Samuel’s power with the ink and earth moving, what is ink made of? If there are no earthy properties to ink, maybe it’s a special mix. As for how Samuel’s power combines with Lydia’s, maybe he just provides the ink and it’s actually her skin the comes up with the picture? Didn’t Samuel just sit back and watch once the ink was “injected”? I don’t remember at the moment.
I’m cautiously optimistic. Can’t wait to see how Peter’s story line plays out, along with HRG’s and, sort of Hiro’s, as long as it doesn’t end up being all about comic relief.
Good to have you back, Otto.
Good to have you back, Otto.
As usual, I agree on most of your analysis, so here are my pros & cons
Pros:
Peter. Wow. Easily the best storyline of either episode. While it’s sad to see him so isolated, he’s doing what he wants to do, in his way. He always wanted to be a hero, and that’s exactly what he is. I loved the scenes with him and Hassan, and I hope they have more of them.
Claire. I’m glad she’s at college and taking the next step in her life, and she’s not trying to be freaking Columbo, hunting specials down with tazers.
The visual with Matt, which segues into the scene with Sylathan was brilliant. You could see Sylar’s frustration, and the very subtle change in facial structure. Then for a split second, he was Sylar again, only to look in the mirror and see Nathan’s face. You couldn’t even hear the shifting; it just happened. Very suspenseful, and beautifully filmed.
Tracy. I wasn’t a Tracy fan initially, but Ali really does bring it as her character. Even if she’s not going to be a full on villain, she’s definitely bad ass.
Samuel is a great potential villain. Looking forward to seeing more of him.
Cons:
Hiro. Wow, this storyline sucks. There’s just no other way around it. I didn’t care about any of it, but one minor detail annoyed me. Basically, Kimiko (Hiro’s sister) has hated Ando all this time because he spilled a drink on her when they were kids? Really? I sincerely hope that they elaborate more on that, because if that’s the case, then Kimiko just lost some points with me. I don’t care if she is the acting CEO, she’s about as deep as a puddle.
Other stuff:
Sylathan. Hmm. Well played by Pasdar, but I don’t know if I’m upset that the Nathan facade is ending so quickly, or glad. Because it was a bad idea to begin with, I should be glad, but once Sylar emerges, (and that will be very soon) what are they going to do with him? His head slicing has gotten old, so what now?
Tracy & Noah: Yea to a partnership, No to the inevitable romance. And it will happen, Otto. SPOILERISH: They pretty much gave it away with Tracy’s “You don’t want to be alone” line.
Uh-oh. I give it 3 episodes before they’re hitting the sheets.
Gretchen/Annie. I don’t think such an analysis of Annie’s behavior was necessary (I do know people like her) but I do agree that Gretchen’s appearance is too convenient. She’s very off-putting, and if I were in Claire’s shoes, I would be creeped out by her. Who the hell talks about dead bodies and attempted murders only minutes after meeting someone? Gretchen definitely had something to do with Annie’s death.
Am I the only one who couldn’t imagine Sylathan calling himself a jackass? It seemed very undignified, and not like Sylar or Nathan.
Whoever does the tattoos needs work. They made Danko look like J. Edgar Hoover.
I don’t think that she still held a grudge over the soda- I think that the soda incident colored her views of Ando’s later
actions.
^ ^ This was my take on it too. It’s a childhood experience that leads Kimiko to automatically think the worst of Ando. Unfair, perhaps, but believable.
“For the minority of freaks who’d type in something like that, yeah, sure, Google would be Claire’s enemy. But the fact that Gretchen knows who Claire is and then attributes that to Google implies that GRETCHEN TYPES STUFF LIKE THAT INTO GOOGLE!”
Thank you!
I was AP back in the day, so I understood Annie. Unfortunately, she really wasn’t a chariacature.
Per my email, I still say the Parkman addiction allegory was heavy handed.
I too am queasy about Troah. If they had invented a character from scratch, I think I’d be taking it better.
I LOVED that Tracy said “People like us” and corrected herself. She voiced a sentiment that I wanted to hear articulated about Noah for years. He IS one of them — Batman to their X-Men. I’ve always felt that a good many of his issues in *any” timeline or storyline would be resolved, if he and the Specials all came to terms with that.
Yes, Raissa! I loved that too! Heroes is X-MEN with a Batman
Hey Otto! Glad to see you’re back, and as perceptive as ever. I agree with a lot of your points made, but I do have a couple of things I want to address.
I don’t think Gretchen is at all evil. I’m sure she has ulterior motives, but of a different kind…
Also, I think Troah could end up going well. But so as long as it’s not portrayed as a healthy, lasting relationship. They’re thrown together by circumstance, and they’re both feeling very lost. I can see them getting together briefly out of expectation and loneliness, but given their very flawed personalities and desires outside of their relationship (Noah’s family, Tracy’s career), it can’t possibly (or shouldn’t) go farther than perhaps a brief sexual fling. That, or things stay platonic. I think either way is a smart way to handle the storyline, and both seem pretty possible from my perspective.
Great review Otto.
And I call it now, Gretchen can manipulate emotions. She talked Annie into committing suicide.
Welcome back Otto, and great review, as usual :).
Will wait until the 2nd part to comment specificly, but I was kind of dreading this premiere, which actually nicely surprised me. Not stellar, because of some things that dragged it down, but great, which is a lot considering most of S3’s quality.
Again, welcome back.
First of all, can I express my deepest relief that Heroes is back on? My Monday nights were getting boring. With that out of the way, I’d like to say thank you to Otto for three years of wonderful reviews. Honestly one of my favorite parts of the Heroes “experience”.
As a long time Peter fan - finally! He is getting back to the person he once was, a hero, selfless, devoted to saving others. I love the angle they have taken on him though, with his quiet crusade. It is clear that this is a result of three seasons worth of disappoint and failure and betrayal, most often by the people he trusts most. I mean, not only were his family guilty, but Simone, Isaac, Adam, Mohinder….You get the picture. It’s no wonder he’s given up all attachements.
On a second, saddening note, did anyone catch the deliberate echo of Peter and Nathan’s conversation in the Pilot: “Something is happening to me, and I get the feeling that you’re the only person who can understand.” And yet I could hardly appreciate it, because of the whole Sylathan debacle. Please, writers, fix this soon, and clue Peter in on what happened so he can properly mourn his brother!
Well, Good job. I enjoyed the episode overall, and while I pretty much hate Sylar on general principles, the Sylar-in-Matt’s-head leading him to the Dark Side is kind of interesting. Much more so than the possibility of the Sylathan recovering his memories and becoming the all-powerful and all-annoying original Sylar.
I’m not sure if you’re giving the writers enough credit vis-a-vis Gretchen. I kind of think we’re supposed to be suspicious of her. Claire is meant to be taken in, for a while. But I think the over the top obviousness of Gretchen is a little peek behind the curtain teaser for the viewers.
Sigh. Hiro…what to say. Ando with Kimiko is interesting though. And I’m thrilled about the possibility of Hiro finally managing to do something to help poor Charlie who remains one of my all time favorite characters. I’d love for the actress to slip out of WM High once or twice for a guest spot. Charlie rocked, and her relationship with Hiro was one of his defining character elements. I have hope to see her again, blood clot or no blood clot.
I’m wondering if Peter’s powers have evolved beyond the only one-at-a-time, or if they’re going to.
I love the Carnival, and the shady grey moral aspect of its characters, and their humanity, might just be one of this season’s saving graces, as it will allow for a storyline that draws the characters together, for once without an overarching vasty nasty government or shadow government conspiracy. Much coolness going on in the carnival. Can’t wait to see more.
Thanks for the review.
K
Charlie’s coming back! http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/08/23/jayma-mays-returns-to-heroes/
Welcome back Otto!
I had mixed feelings during the preview…due to the fact I was a bit over-spoiled…so next tip for next week: don’t see/read spoilers!!!
I liked most of the plots. Carnies are ver interesting and was Ray Park just a stunt before this? I liked his acting very well, as evilish Robert Knepper. Claire was starting to be likeable as in the past, but she can’t avoid silly girls or creepy stalkers in her way, although I like Gretchen and I still don’t know what happen (well, I know, but I don’t want to hear a word about that kind of fun for girls…), but she is stalking Claire.
Cris was perfect but Angela is starting to annoy me like Matt trying to get a life without powers…and he is bearing Sylar too ;)…without power…that’s dangerous. I loved HRG finally thought that Sylathan was not a good idea. BTW, poor Sylathan, you don’t have a clue about who you really are.
Peter and Tracy with Noah where coherent, although the changing sides of Tracy as well as HRG’s divorce was too fast. I am open to a romance….but if it takes form slowly,…because it’s some kind of reasonable: Tracy tells HRG his truths, so he does, HRG loved his family but I am not sure about his wife…he was loyal, but if he would have totally loved her, they would have gone to any place where erasing sessions weren’t available. In any case, Tracy was OK and there was character development for her, although her change was not totally explained and Peter as a watchmen Spiderman was totally right for me.
The only problem where Hiro and Ando…I can’t believe they changed the past…any butterflies?>:) Please, invite Doc Brown as guest star, so he can explain Hiro that he should stop making alternative futures.
So 3 of 5 to me
Ah! I almost forget it! Noacy sounds better than Troah…
Hi, Otto!
Sent you a very brief email yesterday and was checking for the review all day, and then I got busy last night and tired this morning, and that’s when you put up the review and so many people have already weighed in!
Anyway, is there any indication that Sendhil Ramamurthy has left the show? I don’t recall seeing anything like that over the summer, and yes, I did notice his guest spot on “Psych.” What is up? For Mohinder Suresh to be absent from a volume premiere?….it’s almost unthinkable. Is there evidence that he shows up later on?
Also, I was EXTREMELY annoyed that there was no title chyron for the second hour. That is the first time that has EVER happened, and if NBC was responsible for deleting it, it’s unforgivable. Please, producers, make sure it shows up in the DVD.
I liked the episodes very much, and I much prefer Sylar in Matt’s head to him re-emerging from Sylathan. If the latter DOES happen, please let it be short and sweet, as at this point I can’t believe that even the writers and Kring haven’t realized that it is time for the character to go, for real, and for good.
The Gretchen thing is transparent, and it’s obvious that the writers meant it that way. Ando and Kimiko is kind of cute, even if it flies in the face of that GN way back when that implied some romantic sparks between them at that time–ah, but WHICH time was that??
There is a spoiler out there that an actor from William Madison High School will make a guest appearance. It must be Jayma Mays, and given Hiro’s apparent trajectory, that’s all that makes sense. It wouldn’t make sense for Tobolowsky or Gilsig to show up again (incidentally, my memory of Tobolowsky as Bob really makes me hate the actor’s decision to take that terrible role on “Glee”–the show’s worst character by far). Hey, maybe it’s Dianna Agron showing up to help Gretchen and take revenge on Claire! :-p
Knepper is every bit as compelling as Ivanek was, and if they had to off Danko, at least he’s being replaced by someone just as charismatic. And tying his story into Hiro’s gives the latter the potential to have some real depth.
The bad news–the ratings. NBC had to know that it would be well behind the DWTS and House premieres and even the CBS comedies, but I wonder just how high NBC’s expectations are. They certainly didn’t waste a lot of time on promotion for the premiere like they did last season. It is still heavily DVR’d and watched online, but at this point, I would say that a fifth season is as far from a given as humanly possible…
KellyH - Wendy the make-up lady has tweeted that Sendhil’s returned to the show. I’d imagine he’s being left off-screen for a reveal later on. Heroes will probably have one of their ‘between Volume’ flashback episodes to explain what he’s been up to… and my gut tells me it’s something to do with Peter.
I’m wondering if they altered the schedule on purpose, so they could officially blame the time slot when they yanked the show.
Oh, NBC has every intention of airing all the episodes before the Olympics. The only thing in question is a renewal.
One other thing in question might be the show’s budget. If the ratings continue to freefall (and given the general trend for a show’s ratings to dip after its premiere, they’re unlikely to remain steady), I can see Heroes losing a big chunk of its budget in the final five or six episodes. I hope not, but it might be the only financially viable way to finish the season.
Hi, Otto, nice to see you back. I loved the premiere, i wasn´t sure what to expect, but i think it was really great stuff, both Kring and Armus & Foster really delivered, with two awesome scripts and great directing. I Miss Beeman and Arkush, though.
I loved the opening scene with the montage. It was really well done, i´m not a fan of seeing old scenes in new episodes, but really!, i haven´t stopped watching that sequence online, i never got tired of it.
About Noah and Tracy (i don´t like Troah or Noacy, sorry, i can´t came up with something better), i agree they should stay in friends , it would be weirder that the ink thing.
Hiro? i´m gonna give it a shot, his storyline looks interesting. although, Kimiko hating Ando because he spilled slusho on her dress? FOURTEEN YEARS AGO???!! i hope there´s more then that, i mean………. Really?.
I loved Robert Kneeper, Ray Park & Dawn Olivieri, and the time traveler too, it is mysterious? Yes. Is it intersting as hell? YES!. All the charcters form the carnival looks interesting. I will definitely check out the webisodes.
About Annie, i don´t hate her, i don´t know why, she´s annoying and obnoxious, but i just…. don´t hate her, i thought she was quite amusing; and Gretchen, she definitely wants something with Claire, but i don´t think it has anything to do with Annie (you know, the whole lesbian thing that has made me scratch my head all the summer), and besides, in “Jump, Push, Fall” Claire fell to the ground the same way Annie did, Ergo, Annie jump and splat herself in the ground. Mind Control, Maybe?.
Anyway, i´ll continue in your next review to talk about the rest. Great Review, man. (Fallen Heroes? Too cool, keep making those).
Heroes is back, you’re back, and we, the fans too! It’s been so long, I missed you Otto
This episode was flawless, except the Hiro and Ando moments that left me thinking: “Kill them off” I found “Orientation” really appealing, I liked the way they wrote Peter’s story, and you’re right, Claire is almost as cool as she was in season 1, which is great because I used to look forward to her scenes. Hope it stays that way
Wow, I thought the same thing about Gretchen the first time she showed up: “That’s a psycho b****”
Haha… really, she killed Annie, and now has Claire in her hands, her evil hands!
I bet she has a power too, something like Eden’s (remember her?? <3) maybe she “told” Annie to jump out the window, to make it look like a suicide. I watched the promos of “Ink”, and apparently Claire and Gretchen will fight because of ALL THE INFO ABOUT CLAIRE she has on her computer! She’d be scared to lose Claire’s confidence and use her powers to turn the cheerleader into a temporary lesbian (no mean to offend someone).
Crazy theories, hahh?? I’m thinking so much right now! And call me crazy, but I think the “Troah” storyline would be so so so so so nice! Tracy is always Claire’s step mom! haha, do you imagine THAT relationship? We’ll get scenes (with actual dialogue) between Hayden and Ali, that’s something really positive, so if it’s gonna be, let it be!!
Keep the great work Otto, kisses from south america!
Nice to see you back after a long summer, Otto
Great review by the way
On a personal note, I thought the episode itself, while good, was a little off. I don’t know, but I felt the first hour was extremely slow. Yeah, I LOVE character driven stories, but the first episode, to me, felt like a almost plot less “where are they now” filler. Which is why I liked the second hour much more, particularly Sylar’s scenes with Matt. But at least the show’s no longer “Virus-Formula” ridiculous, and is much more human right now than last season, particularly the disastrous Volume 3 (I know that “OoU,OoT”, “A&M” and “Our Father” were great episodes in the Volume, but those weren’t enough to save it). Right now, the only sci-fish moment is your dreaded “Sylathan” twist (BTW, isn’t it easier to call him “Sathan”?), and at least for me, the twist wasn’t at all AWFUL. I actually loved the “fresh” idea. What I DON’T like about it is that sometimes they get way too “IN YOUR FACE” with it. Can’t they be subtle? This kind of twist works better if they don’t beat us over the head with it so frequently. I would have liked that what happened with “Sathan” with the premiere happened mid-season; it would have made us feel that Nathan was still on the show without heavy handily reminding us it is Sylar (and Adrian Pasdar would still deliver more from his awesome performances to us for just a little bit more). And would have just loved the Matt scenes from “Jump, Push, Fall” to have been the only Sylar scenes, at least for now.
Enough of the mini rant. At least the direction the show’s going is an interesting, much more human direction. And as for ratings, I don’t have hopes for them to recover again after falling way considerably after last season, particularly last season’s premiere. It happened with “The O.C.”, a show that also got a rocky third season. What I applauded about that show is that they left any ratings gimmick and nonsense and only focused on getting the show back on track in their 4th season, despite getting shut off. That show had a strong season because of it, ending on a sweet high note. Right now “Heroes” is in the danger of cancellation if it continues to drop. From 6.27 millions to 5.77 millions in just two episodes? Yikes. Series lows by the way.
So right now, despite the rating gimmick of the lesbian kiss coming up (accept it, it IS a gimmick), the show should just focus on truly returning to season 1 goodness to end on a positive note. Only something truly ground breaking could boost ratings up again, which by this time, much more than half of the original audience is gone. So up until then, I will just watch this season cautiously optimistic, hoping that, if it gets shut off, the show truly ends in “Redemption”. (Pun intended)
P.S.: When is the review from “Jump, Push, Fall” coming up?
Hey, folks. My deepest apologies for the delay coming back to your replies, but thank you so much for the warm welcome back.
PandoraRose, I loved the point you made here:
“What was amazing about Angela’s scenes was the layering … and the fact that Angela’s armor is cracking and Rose so delicately showed us that.”
Yes. One moment I thought Cristine Rose did especially well was the phone call to HRG. You could actually see Angela’s hands shaking. And that moment when HRG hung up on her, and she sorta half-threw her phone onto the table. I think that’s why we got a couple of reshot scenes (as you mention): to convey the toll this whole Sylathan drama is taking on her, and to convey that she isn’t as collected as she seemed to be in the Comic-Con clip.
I like your point about Nathan being “the unfixable chess piece.” To me, her choice to create Sylathan is still borne out of selfishness (understandable selfishness, but selfishness nonetheless). The fact that she makes mistakes quite rarely — as you say — is one small part of the whole storyline that’s effective. But it’s definitely also possible that Angela wanted to keep an of approximation of Nathan around out of an obligation to keep her dreams on track.
Re: the real Nathan somehow being saved: I’d want to see it for Pasdar’s sake, but I personally feel it’s better for the character to be written out. That’s partly why this whole Sylathan twist bugged me. It should have been a clearcut death. Everyone (the characters and the fans) should have either mourned or celebrated, and the trajectory that Nathan’s arc had been headed in throughout Volume Four should have reached its natural conclusion. To bring him back again, after all of the near-deaths and after watching him bleed out in 3.25, would really strike me as a cop-out.
Re: Fuller’s influence:
“Still he did break the entire season arch, so we may be in luck.”
I hope you’re right. My feeling is still that a lot of Season Three was superb in principle and that parts of it only failed in execution. I could be wrong, but it always seemed to me that Fuller’s biggest influence was in the details: a line of dialogue here, a character’s reaction there. I worry that those are the things the show will lose at the point when Fuller bailed. Hopefully his involvement in the creative process was such that his influence will continue beyond that.
Gord, thanks, and welcome back to you too!
Just a thought on the Gretchen question:
“When Gretchen tells Claire Google is not her friend, I assumed she meant like if someone just googled “Claire Bennet” they’d get all the murder at union high stuff.”
I think that’s how it was meant, but surely those hypothetical Googlers wouldn’t know the name ‘Claire Bennet’ until *after* they’d found an article about the homecoming tragedy on Google, and surely the only way to come across that article would be either if you knew about the event in the first place or if you were actively looking for a similar tragedy. I guess it’s possible that the news footage Claire saw in 1.12 is evidence that Jackie’s death was heavily publicized, but would it have been national news, and would those hypothetical Googlers have searched for Claire instead of Jackie? Something about this dialogue just struck me as a little off.
Susan, thank you. I think you’ve given Peter’s character arc more thought than I have, so I tread with caution, but to me Peter’s cheeriness would make sense if it was a facade. He was a little cheerier than usual at the bank, but perhaps his general cheeriness is both a reaction to being free from his parents’ manipulation, and (more likely) a defense mechanism to cope with his isolation. You mentioned that it wasn’t a good sign. Perhaps Peter’s good spirit is his way of avoiding the fact that his detachment goes against his natural solidarity. That’s probably also why he was so reluctant to listen to HRG at the bank. If Peter stopped to consider how lonely his life has become, he’d have to admit to himself how unhappy he is in spite of his good deeds.
“Peter’s probably the only Petrelli HRG can stand to work, let alone interact, with right now.”
Very true, although I wonder how much of that is connected to (a) guilt over the Sylathan debacle and (b) pity for the emotionally fragile kid with a heart-of-stone mom and a megalomaniac dad.
B., great post. Couple of thoughts:
“Peter. Wow. Easily the best storyline of either episode.”
Word. I was surprised how much I enjoyed Matt’s storyline in the second half, but Peter’s was exceptionally well done throughout.
“Tracy. I wasn’t a Tracy fan initially, but Ali really does bring it as her character.”
Word again. I hope the show sticks with this personality because it seems to be the one with the most complexity and the one that Ali Larter enjoys playing the most. On a related note, did anyone else notice the clip of one of her personalities in the opening montage? I wondered whether that was Tracy, because something about the hair and the expression seemed different. I wonder whether we’re going to meet Barbara within the next few episodes.
“Hiro. Wow, this storyline sucks. There’s just no other way around it.”
And word again, sadly. I really enjoyed his scenes in the first half, but they were ruined by Kid-Hiro’s “Yatta!” and Present-Hiro’s behavior once Ando and Kimiko were together.
“Am I the only one who couldn’t imagine Sylathan calling himself a jackass? It seemed very undignified, and not like Sylar or Nathan.”
I had to rip it out of the review to get it down to a less-absurd length, but one question I raised was whether Sylathan had visited his family in the past six weeks. I wonder what it would have been like for Angela to watch their father’s murderer look at Nathan’s wife and hug his sons, but I think we also have to wonder whether Sylar-inside-Nathan would look at Nathan’s life differently. Given Sylar’s intuition and Nathan’s general lack of consideration for anyone besides himself, it’s possible Sylar would judge Nathan’s choices very differently. I think that ties in with Sylar’s scene in Nathan’s office in 3.24, because it forces you to wonder whether, with a different upbringing and under different circumstances, Sylar would have become a different person. Which is a roundabout way of saying that, the way I see it, Sylathan calling himself a jackass is more of a “Sylar” moment than a “Nathan” or a “Sylathan” moment.
Raissa, good point about HRG being one of them. I still say that’s part of what made 3.17 a masterpiece; we saw how HRG’s actions and experiences over the years have made him a slave to this life and nixed his shot at a normal life.
DannyP, thank you. With the Troah, I’m very much in favor of a partnership and a platonic friendship. I just can’t go with the romance, though. I appreciate your point about their shared sense of loneliness and despair and their need for atonement. HRG and Angela I could understand, but HRG and Tracy? To me, it’s like putting Angela and Mohinder together and saying it makes sense because they’ve both killed people. That’s not a good enough reason to justify a romance. This is one ship I can’t board.
Ian, Pas, thank you.
E., thank you for the kind words, it’s a pleasure to be back.
“My Monday nights were getting boring.”
Isn’t it weird how empty they’ve seemed for months, and how in the same week we get House, Big Bang Theory AND Heroes at the same time?
Great catch with the dialogue between Peter and Nathan. I hadn’t noticed it, but you’re right. Very clever (of the show and of you! :)).
Kevin,
“While I pretty much hate Sylar on general principles, the Sylar-in-Matt’s-head leading him to the Dark Side is kind of interesting.”
This was my feeling exactly. I think it’s because it’s Sylar with all of the witty viciousness but without the overwrought drama. It’s played as over-the-top, but it flies because of the whole “figment of the imagination” concept, and it’s more about Matt than it is Sylar, so it’s Sylar in small doses.
“I’m not sure if you’re giving the writers enough credit vis-a-vis Gretchen.”
Hah! I hope you’re right and that I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
“Sigh. Hiro…what to say.”
^ ^ This. This says it all. Honestly, that moment when we saw Kid-Hiro barrelling towards Kid-Ando and knocking the slushy out of his hands? Doesn’t that moment just sum up EVERYTHING about this character and his entire story over the course of the series?
With Peter, I think it’s still a one-power deal. I kinda think it should stay that way. Creatively, it allows the writers to let him trade abilities as the opportunities present themselves, and it allows them to craft a story without looking like fools when Peter forgets about the five million abilities at his disposal to get out of a crisis.
Elle, welcome back to you too! “Troah” or “Noacy” — it is a dilemma!
KellyH — welcome back! I’m extremely thankful that you were willing to stick with the show for another season. Guess the “sorta-but-not-completely-dead-Sylar” twist was palatable enough for you to hang in there?
With the 4.02 chyron, I’m guessing it’ll be on the DVD. I agree, though, it wouldn’t have hurt to incorporate it here.
The Glee cast member spoiler is on our spoiler page if you’re sure you want to know. I would have loved to see Debbie and Annie’s verbal sparring. Side note (and mild spoiler): did anyone notice that Rachel Melvin is listed as a guest star in 4.05? I wonder if that’s an error, or if we’re going to see her by way of a flashback or as an apparition.
“Knepper is every bit as compelling as Ivanek was, and if they had to off Danko, at least he’s being replaced by someone just as charismatic.”
Yes. I also thought it was interesting that Danko was killed off in a similar way to Adam, in the sense that he reappeared briefly, then was killed off by the new villain (or the new villain’s lackey) as a way to pass the baton. I just hope this new villain gets the development that Arthur never got. If this is a longer volume and Knepper is in for the long haul as a cast regular, he might.
Sergio, thank you, it’s awesome to be back.
I miss Beeman and Arkush too.
Word on the opening sequence. It was really, really cool. I agree, the whole arc for the carnival and the mystery around them have been set up very effectively.
Majo, thanks. I agree, Claire’s been pretty cool so far. I hope that’s not just Fuller’s influence and that it’ll last the whole volume.
Tracy as Claire’s stepmom? I think my head just went into meltdown.
Alfredo, welcome back right back at you!
“I don’t know, but I felt the first hour was extremely slow.”
This seems to be the popular opinion. I know what everyone means about the recap-expo-filler factor, but for some reason I kinda thought the first hour was the faster-paced one. I don’t know if that’s because of the focus on multiple story threads, but in terms of the number of developments to each character’s story, it felt to me as if the first hour put everything into motion and the second hour focused more on moving a select few character arcs forward.
“… the disastrous Volume 3…”
Hah! I don’t know. Rewatching the whole thing on DVD, it didn’t seem quite so bad. Everything we criticized is still true, and the quality of Volume Four shows up Volume Three’s faults even more glaringly, but I still see lots of elements in it that worked, and it did give us some worthwhile characters (Tracy, Doyle, She Who Has Been Wiped From All Established Canon…). I find it interesting to compare this opening to Volume Three’s, because this was almost the exact opposite: Volume Three started out with the focus exclusively on abilities and catastrophic events, whereas Volume Five has started out with the focus predominantly on the characters and their emotional states, with the abilities serving as a complication to that. To me, that’s why this is a much more solid foundation for a great volume.
“Sathan.” I love it! I’m sticking with Sylathan, but I love it.
Re: the speed of the Sylathan story: I’m glad it’s not dragging on for too long, but I’m curious about this too. I wonder if TPTBs are trying to write their way out of it as quickly as possible because they’re desperate to put it behind them, or if they want it to run its course because they’re planning to introduce an outcome and they want to get to that storyline early on.
Re: the upcoming kiss: I’m keeping an open mind. I get why people have written it off as a gimmick before they see it, but I’d like to think that several writers and directors on the show can express something with it and realize it very elegantly.
See, that they’re building to it makes me think it ISN’T a gimmick. A gimmick is ‘they kiss straight away.’ The slow build implies something more is going on. Which is intriguing.
She Who Has Been Wiped From All Established Canon
If this epithet is being used to refer to Daphne, I really, really disagree. She was given a full farewell and written properly out. Matt did grieve, even if people think it wasn’t long enough. No, sadly, that epithet is ONLY appropriate for a certain S2 character…
and as far as “the kiss” goes, it is a gimmick for this reason. They know that Hayden is the show’s main magnet for the teenage/young adult male set, and they know that seeing Hayden kiss a girl will make them all drool. It may be simplistic and unenlightened to say such a thing, but it doesn’t make it any less true. It’s the same reason that lesbo porn is the most popular genre of porn. It’s all about titillation, from what I can see, not about adding any depth to the character.
Speaking as a… man of the world, I don’t need/want my ‘porn’ to have depth. The fact that the show is investing some time before the kiss, to me, suggests that if it IS a gimmick they’re going about it the wrong way.
But there’s been NO evidence that Claire isn’t into dudes. I’m all for gay characters, but that kind of “conversion” story has bugged me ever since Willow. Writers would be excoriated for going the other way with a character (a la Anne Heche in real life), so why is it OK to “convert” a character who has been portrayed as avowedly and decidedly heterosexual? Seems like a double standard to me. It was false when Joss did it (and told us all that Willow’s relationship with Oz was a lie, which it was NEVER portrayed as), and this would be false as well. I understand that GLAAD will be into this, but how is a double standard a good thing? If it’s impossible to “convert” one way, then it’s also impossible to “convert” the other way.
Otto:
Yes. One moment I thought Cristine Rose did especially well was the phone call to HRG. You could actually see Angela’s hands shaking. And that moment when HRG hung up on her, and she sorta half-threw her phone onto the table. I think that’s why we got a couple of reshot scenes (as you mention): to convey the toll this whole Sylathan drama is taking on her, and to convey that she isn’t as collected as she seemed to be in the Comic-Con clip.
Yes, for sure. And the fact that they wrote ahead and looked back and saw that needed to be reshoot is very hopeful forme.
I like your point about Nathan being “the unfixable chess piece.” To me, her choice to create Sylathan is still borne out of selfishness (understandable selfishness, but selfishness nonetheless). The fact that she makes mistakes quite rarely — as you say — is one small part of the whole storyline that’s effective. But it’s definitely also possible that Angela wanted to keep an of approximation of Nathan around out of an obligation to keep her dreams on track.
I think it may be the most selfish thing the women has done and she has her share of selfishness - for one it would appear depriving her son of his first born child, just to give her (perhaps her only female heir) the life she never had… not that we may find out there is more there and I do thing it is possible, considering what happened with Adam, that Claire really was in danger from the Company - even if she was a Petrelli - after all Arthur was satisfied until his own son was experimented on so he could have a power, why not a grandaugher? But I digress. As much as Angela says she did it to protect others, and it’s not completely untrue - they we’re at that point still on shaky ground as terrorists to the state, Angela did that for one reason and one reason only - to save her son and as Cris pointed out at Dragon con - to save her plans of him saving the world. I think much like HRG pointed out to as why he did it - she was emotional and made a bad choice. What I loved about her scream at the end of last season was it was half mourning mother, half spoiled child who didn’t get what they wanted. After what Angela had been through in three seasons if she lost Nathan I feel she may have had a nervous breakdown.
Re: the real Nathan somehow being saved: I’d want to see it for Pasdar’s sake, but I personally feel it’s better for the character to be written out. That’s partly why this whole Sylathan twist bugged me. It should have been a clearcut death. Everyone (the characters and the fans) should have either mourned or celebrated, and the trajectory that Nathan’s arc had been headed in throughout Volume Four should have reached its natural conclusion. To bring him back again, after all of the near-deaths and after watching him bleed out in 3.25, would really strike me as a cop-out.
Yes, but I can’t see them losing Pasdar. I’m not a huge fan of the Sylathan, but I have to admit it was powerful and drama is drama because it’s not always happy - however like much of Heroes grand ideas - they forget that this isn’t the end of a movie and that next season they have to deal with what they made - and now two of the most popular actors on the show are playing the same character. So, here’s hoping him coming back is creative and interesting and ads to the plot. But with Time Travel back in the show I’m mighty suspicious.
I hope you’re right. My feeling is still that a lot of Season Three was superb in principle and that parts of it only failed in execution. I could be wrong, but it always seemed to me that Fuller’s biggest influence was in the details: a line of dialogue here, a character’s reaction there. I worry that those are the things the show will lose at the point when Fuller bailed. Hopefully his involvement in the creative process was such that his influence will continue beyond that
Absolutely true - that is one of Heroes faults - good ideas BAD execution, and in the end execution is the be all end all of writing. Everyone said a show about white house Politics would be boring, but Aaron Sorkin’s execution made the show sparkle. I know the show will never be great before, and really was it always so great - the last few episodes we’re gang busters season one, but I remember fast forwarding through Nikki’s storyline sometimes, or telling my friends to just watch the storylines they liked and it was a great show. I think writers like Mark V and Rob Fresco can help with the drama and good dialogue. And I’m excited to see Swoozie back again. So I’m gonna be optimistic. But it Rose and Pasdar were gone it might not be worth my time. Still the opener has made me very optimistic.
Otto,
“…I find it interesting to compare this opening to Volume Three’s, because this was almost the exact opposite: Volume Three started out with the focus exclusively on abilities and catastrophic events, whereas Volume Five has started out with the focus predominantly on the characters and their emotional states, with the abilities serving as a complication to that. To me, that’s why this is a much more solid foundation for a great volume.”
It seems like we both share the same state of mind. That’s exactly what I thought, and I’m glad that the show may finally reach its “Redemption” soon.
” “Sathan.” I love it! I’m sticking with Sylathan, but I love it.”
Yay!, glad to hear you loved it. Makes me kind of sad that you’re sticking with the a bit longer “Sylathan”. I think that “Sathan” could be better used for quicker typing and to make fun that the devil is inside Nathan’s body XD (Supernatural shout out BTW). But hey, to each its own
Its actually better than “Nate-lar”.
“Re: the speed of the Sylathan story: I’m glad it’s not dragging on for too long, but I’m curious about this too. I wonder if TPTBs are trying to write their way out of it as quickly as possible because they’re desperate to put it behind them, or if they want it to run its course because they’re planning to introduce an outcome and they want to get to that storyline early on.”
I’m torn with this. For the twist itself, It will be good to see them not drag it, but all I want is good development of it and not a rush job to get it undone. Because it would feel like they are seriously making decisions based solely on fan forum, which is actually blasting the twist. I seem to be in the minority that liked wherever the show wanted to go with the twist. And them responding to fan forum has proven quite bad in the past (they responded the criticism that Season 2 was too slow, and they responded with speeding up things to a fault). So I think TPTB should handle this somewhere in the middle. Making fans somewhat happy but still doing whatever they have planned for it. There’s nothing better than giving creative freedom for a writer to work with whatever they’re comfortable with. They can’t always fully appeal to the best of both worlds (sorry the Hannah Montana pun). As to the outcome and trying to get to another storyline, I’m in, as long there’s good development for it. They already have all the time of the world.
“Re: the upcoming kiss: I’m keeping an open mind. I get why people have written it off as a gimmick before they see it, but I’d like to think that several writers and directors on the show can express something with it and realize it very elegantly.”
As for this, it may actually happen like to what happened with “The O.C.”. In their second season, they made one of the main characters, Marissa Cooper, a temporary lesbian with a relationship with the ex girlfriend of another main character, Seth Cohen. When it started, the reaction was the same as the “Heroes” one, a rating gimmick. But the show managed to overcome that and it actually became one the show’s better developed storylines for the character, as it actually was written as a “Something I never experienced before”. I’ve heard that girls sometimes tend to have this feeling during college, and it could KIND OF make sense for Claire in this scenario. The PROBLEM is the context right now. Claire’s storyline right now is about the suicide of her ex roommate and the pushiness of Gretchen towards the case. Until something else is established (which I hope so), I still don’t see how a lesbian kiss may fit in the middle of the suicide and the crime investigation, but like you, Otto, I have my reservations. Thinking about that in “The O.C.” and seeing that it became something better than expected makes me optimistic about how it may be handled in “Heroes”. It’s just that the scenario doesn’t quite fit yet. And with the horrible decline in ratings of this past 2 episodes (which I hope it doesn’t continue to dip), I still can’t see it rather than a gimmick. But then, optimism is the key word.
Hi Otto. This is the first time i’ve ever tried to put my opinions out after one of your reviews. Let me just say that I loved both these episodes and your review. There are two things I don’t quite agree with you on. The first thing is that I actually sort of like the idea of the Sylathan storyline. It could go a couple of different directions and that is the recipe for an engaging, intriguing story arc. Doesn’t mean i liked Nathan being killed in that way, but still… I mean as long as we’re here.
Also I don’t quite buy the idea that Gretchen is evil adn killed Annie. I don’t think so, because the writers actually made it seem like Annie was the killer by making her attempts to befriend Claire so obvious and forced. So, its reverse-reverse psychology. Or is it just reverse psychology? Dang, I confused myself. Anyway, bottom-line I don’t think any is evil. But then, those are just my opinions.
Sorry. I meant ‘I don’t think Gretchen is evil.’
Hey Otto,
You might remember me from when I used to comment on your review back in the early episodes of Season Three. I drifted off from the show in the middle of Volume Four, round about “Shades of Gray”. It wasn’t any one plot point that repelled me, it was just that I found I was no longer interested in the storylines or characters; to put it simply, I was bored and had more reasons not to watch the show than to carry on watching it. However, when this season began, I thought I’d give it a go (albeit a bit late) and from this opening episode, I’m pretty glad I did. It wasn’t overwhelmingly fantastic, but it felt fresh, new, and exciting - a far cry from the stagnation that I personally saw in Volumes Three and Four.
Each character has a clear storyline, most of which are enjoyable. The carnival is intriguing, with Edgar’s speedy knife skills catching my eye immediately. His fight with Tracy was very stylishly done, although I was sad to see Danko go…he was one of the bright spots of Volume Four. Although I hated the idea of Sylathan when I first heard about it, I loved the way it was handled in this episode, and the way it really bit Matt and Angela in the ass. Peter is, as you said, likeable again, which is always a plus because he’s always been my favourite character. Claire at college is entertaining, but Gretchen has potential to become annoying. And the Tracy/Noah collaboration - I’m not getting any vibe of romance from this episode alone, so I’m looking forward to seeing where it’s going.
That wasn’t to say this was a perfect premiere - Hiro and Ando still annoy the hell out of me, the Guitar Hero scene was the most shamelessly blatant plug for a product I’ve ever seen, and there were points where I felt a little bored again. But overall, I was pleased and am ready to watch on.