Heroes S3 E23 (1961)...
Apr. 13th, 2009 08:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starvinbohemian[Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]!
*Sigh* Well, the awesome streak had to come to an end eventually. I guess. I just wish it didn't end on an episode full of back-story. Angela's backstory, no less.
Hmn. I don't know what it is about the founding generation, but the Heroes writers cannot write anything about them without royally screwing everything up that came before. It shouldn't be this hard. You have a group of attractive, smart, dynamic characters (played by gorgeous, talented actors) with super powers and sexual chemistry to spare. The porn-- err, the story, I mean-- practically writes itself. So how come every time we're given a scene with them or some back-story there's continuity rape or retconning abound? I repeat: it shouldn't be this hard.
Because come on, I hated Season Two just as much as anybody (everybody), but retconning it away entirely is just crazy talk. Adam Monroe was the best thing to come out of that season, so let's not pretend he didn't happen.
Let's start with Camp WTF???
Camp WTF???: This back-story is ridiculous. I get that the writers have run out of ideas on what to do with Mohinder at this point, and it's no wonder considering that they've reinvented his personality depending on what kind of plot device they needed him for each season. But once again, the writers strike with their Time-Traveling Suck Device that goes back into already established canon and rapes it until it's unrecognizable and no longer interesting. This week's victim was Chandra Suresh.
Random Zimmerman shout-out? So, I suppose when Angela said, "Let's erase everyone's memories of us and this place," she meant "Let's employ the bastard experimenting on us to experiment on more people, including my own son."
Since this was the Angela episode, I'm going to structure my meta accordingly:
Angela/EVERYONE: What we already assumed is now confirmed as canon: all the founders were in love with Angela. No surprise there. How jealous were they that she chose Nakamura to have her affair with? Haha, suckers got put in the "brother box." Trust me, there's no getting out of there.
Linderman/Angela: I would never turn down Angela/Linderman leg porn, and I am happy to officially call Linderman-->Angela canon since he knew her a total of two seconds before he inappropriately groped her. That's a record there. I would complain that the actor playing young!Linderman was creepy with the strange accent and constant smirking, but Creepy Euro Dude is pretty much the legal definition of Malcolm McDowell, so I can't really complain.
Though I will complain that Linderman, like Arthur, should not have been included in this little back-story meeting. Charles and Bob, sure, but Linderman already had a link to the Petrellis-- and by extension, the group-- through his meeting Arthur in Vietnam. Him already having a past with Angela stretches believability where they didn't need to.
Charles/Angela: Every time I'm pretty sure I've exceeded the acceptable number of people I can ship Mama Petrelli with, the writers throw me another one. Seriously, how precious were they? I'm excited that we finally learned Charles's power, but why it turned out to be Eden's power of suggestion when there were already suggestions in S1 that he had some kind of dream-related power, I don't know. Nor do I know why he didn't just use that power to let them all escape whenever they wanted.
Bob/Angela: I'm glad that she more or less ignored him the whole time, because this here is one Angela pairing that I must say EWWWW NOOO to. Sorry, Bob.
Socks/Angela: Another example of when the writers should just leave a good thing be. I loved that Angela just stole socks for the sake of stealing something as random as socks. I do not love that even that character idiosyncrasy was ruined as they attempted to tie it into bullshit back-story.
Nathan/Angela: Nathan must be really hurting for some familial love because he was sucking up to his mother big time this episode. Peter doesn't love him anymore, so suddenly it's all, "I understand, Mommy. I think you're totally right even though Peter doesn't. Come sit by me, Mommy, cause I still love you." Oh, Nathan. Never let it be said that your Daddy complex outweighs your Mommy complex.
Alice: *Was pointless?* Is it possible for Heroes to have filler episodes? I thought only anime and Supernatural did that.
Nathan/Peter: As much as I love them, these two were due a nasty break-up. I love Nathan more than any person should, and I still haven't forgiven him yet. So I'm not ready for Peter to suddenly reverse the backbone-growing he's been doing this volume. Make him beg for it, Peter!
Claire: I can't decide if I forgive Claire for once again making everything about her when she's simultaneously admitting to being an idiot. It's a toss-up.
Peter/Mohinder: "I am weak. I am corruptible." Mohinder, you are just BEGGING us to write the fic. Mmn... But once again, Mohinder, you are getting everything wrong. Say it with me now: rounding people up and experimenting on them does NOT equal redemption.
HRG/Mohinder: That was one hilarious exposition storm. Literally. My impression of HRG: I AM GOING TO YELL ALL THIS INFORMATION TO YOU FOR A LONG TIME EVEN THOUGH THE AUDIENCE HAS ALREADY HEARD IT AND THIS PRETTY MUCH VIOLATES THE RULES OF GOOD TELEVISION STORYTELLING!! You get all that, Mohinder?
The Company 2.0: Well, counting Pinehearst, Building 26, and every other off-shoot that has failed spectacularly, I guess it would be Company 4.0-and-some-change. I love how Angela tried something slightly different for all of five seconds before deciding that they needed to go back to the old system. Call it what you want, Peter, family or company, but it's still going to end up evil. I don't like where this is going one bit. Not when it involves my incorruptible Peter. And Claire. I guess.
Sylar!Nathan: Well, this just proves my suspicion that Nathan never had to run to Mexico to begin with. Only Danko saw him fly and his ass was already fired. In essence, all he had to do was stick around and make sure that somebody took care of Danko, but he didn't do that because that would make actual sense.
*Sigh* Well, the awesome streak had to come to an end eventually. I guess. I just wish it didn't end on an episode full of back-story. Angela's backstory, no less.
Hmn. I don't know what it is about the founding generation, but the Heroes writers cannot write anything about them without royally screwing everything up that came before. It shouldn't be this hard. You have a group of attractive, smart, dynamic characters (played by gorgeous, talented actors) with super powers and sexual chemistry to spare. The porn-- err, the story, I mean-- practically writes itself. So how come every time we're given a scene with them or some back-story there's continuity rape or retconning abound? I repeat: it shouldn't be this hard.
Because come on, I hated Season Two just as much as anybody (
Let's start with Camp WTF???
Camp WTF???: This back-story is ridiculous. I get that the writers have run out of ideas on what to do with Mohinder at this point, and it's no wonder considering that they've reinvented his personality depending on what kind of plot device they needed him for each season. But once again, the writers strike with their Time-Traveling Suck Device that goes back into already established canon and rapes it until it's unrecognizable and no longer interesting. This week's victim was Chandra Suresh.
Random Zimmerman shout-out? So, I suppose when Angela said, "Let's erase everyone's memories of us and this place," she meant "Let's employ the bastard experimenting on us to experiment on more people, including my own son."
Since this was the Angela episode, I'm going to structure my meta accordingly:
Angela/EVERYONE: What we already assumed is now confirmed as canon: all the founders were in love with Angela. No surprise there. How jealous were they that she chose Nakamura to have her affair with? Haha, suckers got put in the "brother box." Trust me, there's no getting out of there.
Linderman/Angela: I would never turn down Angela/Linderman leg porn, and I am happy to officially call Linderman-->Angela canon since he knew her a total of two seconds before he inappropriately groped her. That's a record there. I would complain that the actor playing young!Linderman was creepy with the strange accent and constant smirking, but Creepy Euro Dude is pretty much the legal definition of Malcolm McDowell, so I can't really complain.
Though I will complain that Linderman, like Arthur, should not have been included in this little back-story meeting. Charles and Bob, sure, but Linderman already had a link to the Petrellis-- and by extension, the group-- through his meeting Arthur in Vietnam. Him already having a past with Angela stretches believability where they didn't need to.
Charles/Angela: Every time I'm pretty sure I've exceeded the acceptable number of people I can ship Mama Petrelli with, the writers throw me another one. Seriously, how precious were they? I'm excited that we finally learned Charles's power, but why it turned out to be Eden's power of suggestion when there were already suggestions in S1 that he had some kind of dream-related power, I don't know. Nor do I know why he didn't just use that power to let them all escape whenever they wanted.
Bob/Angela: I'm glad that she more or less ignored him the whole time, because this here is one Angela pairing that I must say EWWWW NOOO to. Sorry, Bob.
Socks/Angela: Another example of when the writers should just leave a good thing be. I loved that Angela just stole socks for the sake of stealing something as random as socks. I do not love that even that character idiosyncrasy was ruined as they attempted to tie it into bullshit back-story.
Nathan/Angela: Nathan must be really hurting for some familial love because he was sucking up to his mother big time this episode. Peter doesn't love him anymore, so suddenly it's all, "I understand, Mommy. I think you're totally right even though Peter doesn't. Come sit by me, Mommy, cause I still love you." Oh, Nathan. Never let it be said that your Daddy complex outweighs your Mommy complex.
Alice: *Was pointless?* Is it possible for Heroes to have filler episodes? I thought only anime and Supernatural did that.
Nathan/Peter: As much as I love them, these two were due a nasty break-up. I love Nathan more than any person should, and I still haven't forgiven him yet. So I'm not ready for Peter to suddenly reverse the backbone-growing he's been doing this volume. Make him beg for it, Peter!
Claire: I can't decide if I forgive Claire for once again making everything about her when she's simultaneously admitting to being an idiot. It's a toss-up.
Peter/Mohinder: "I am weak. I am corruptible." Mohinder, you are just BEGGING us to write the fic. Mmn... But once again, Mohinder, you are getting everything wrong. Say it with me now: rounding people up and experimenting on them does NOT equal redemption.
HRG/Mohinder: That was one hilarious exposition storm. Literally. My impression of HRG: I AM GOING TO YELL ALL THIS INFORMATION TO YOU FOR A LONG TIME EVEN THOUGH THE AUDIENCE HAS ALREADY HEARD IT AND THIS PRETTY MUCH VIOLATES THE RULES OF GOOD TELEVISION STORYTELLING!! You get all that, Mohinder?
The Company 2.0: Well, counting Pinehearst, Building 26, and every other off-shoot that has failed spectacularly, I guess it would be Company 4.0-and-some-change. I love how Angela tried something slightly different for all of five seconds before deciding that they needed to go back to the old system. Call it what you want, Peter, family or company, but it's still going to end up evil. I don't like where this is going one bit. Not when it involves my incorruptible Peter. And Claire. I guess.
Sylar!Nathan: Well, this just proves my suspicion that Nathan never had to run to Mexico to begin with. Only Danko saw him fly and his ass was already fired. In essence, all he had to do was stick around and make sure that somebody took care of Danko, but he didn't do that because that would make actual sense.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-15 02:43 pm (UTC)THIS. Sometimes I feel like the writers haven't even read the comics. *le sigh* Although, I do think there is a cool possible explanation wherein Linderman breaks off from the Coyote Sands group - just wanting to live his life, not wanting to be part of a creepy evil shadow organization - and meets Arthur completely independently. That would be a classic Heroes destiny!meeting. After all, if he lost contact with Angela when she was Angela Shaw, the Petrelli name would have no meaning to him. Then, when he comes back from Vietnam and seeks out Arthur in NY - cue dramatic music swelling - Arthur invites him in, and over his shoulder Daniel is stunned to see one Angela Shaw-Petrelli, toddler on her hip and knowing smile on her lips.
Wow, this basically turned into a mini-fic, lol. But I do think it would be cool. And I think their pre-existing bond gives some depth to the obvious affection and loyalty he feels for her despite his allegiance to Arthur.
Regarding Charles's power, my DH had an interesting suggestion. Pairing the scene in the diner with the S1 scene where he sees out-of-time Peter, DH suggested that Charles's power is something along the lines of "seeing the truth of things" (which may also explain part of why he so easily trusts Angela when she claims to have knowledge of the future - he knows she's telling the truth). Then, another element of this ability allows him to alter how other people *perceive* the truth of things (perhaps he manifested early with just the ability to see truth, and by the time of Coyote Sands his power has developed like we've seen in others). So he doesn't exactly have Eve's power of suggestion, it just looks like that (the same way the effect of shapeshifting is the same as the effect of an illusionist like Candace, but they're actually different underlying powers).
Here via
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-16 05:48 am (UTC)To be honest, I don't really see how what we saw Charles do in the diner connects with "seeing the truth of things." The truth of that scene was that the dude behind the counter was a racist ass and Charles made him bugger off. There's some kind of mind control at work, whether it's a version of Matt's ability or Eden's.
But I agree that there's definitely a Linderman fic in there somewhere. ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-16 05:18 pm (UTC)OTOH, maybe I'm giving them way too much credit and they just expect us to forget the part where Charles saw Peter in S1. That's not exactly beyond the realm of possibility, lol.