Heroes / Heroes Reborn: Discussion Thread

[Skin]

What is this episode supposed to prove? How basically everyone is either too stupid or naive to know who their enemies are? Come on.

[Toups]

I thought Volume 4: Fugitives got off to a great start. The best episodes are when all (or almost all) of the Heroes are together instead of being isolated in their own stories. I know a lot of people think the this arc (the government going after the heroes) is very much like X-Men, but I didn't read the comics, so I don't care if it's similar.

Oh and I like the addition of Zeljko Ivanek.

[Sylph]

I haven't been watching so has Bryan Fuller's episode aired?

[JackPeyton]

if by similer you mean a damn near complete rip off, then yes i think they are similar. lol

however i dont care either. it works.

i dont like it when they are all together, but i dont like them all isolated either.

[Skin]

I appreciate what they are trying to do atleast in theory, but to me this just all seems like a "Lost" rip-off and it seems like Claire and Peter just seem to lose even more brain cells as time goes on.

[Toups]

Fuller won't show up until the last half of Volume 4.

So far the only change, credit wise, has been the addition of Mark Verheiden as Consulting Producer.

[Sylph]

Thank you, Toups!

Hmm... Verheiden. The Smallville guy? Interesting.

[Toups]

Yup, he was there for the first couple of seasons of Smallville and he was previously at Battlestar Galatica. He also wrote Dark Shadows tv pilot a couple years ago.

[DavidEvanSmith]

Hated this episode. They once again took Tracy's character out of the action immediately, there was about 40 minutes of nothing really happening, and then at the end all the Heroes were kidnapped, and rather than working together and each using their abilities to save themselves and each other, Peter tries to play the hero by stealing everyone's abilities, not knowing how to use them, and causing a plane crash. Mohinder should have had a moment to use his ability on the plane, Tracy Strauss should have used her abilities to kick ass, but the whole episode was a Peter/Claire vehicle and neither of them are likable anymore.

Does ANY show understand that the key is in the ensemble, not hand-picking three actors (Peter/Claire/Sylar) to push as the "stars" that everyone else just stands around and supports?

Heroes, listen up:

1. In your third season now, people's eyes turning white as they draw the future is not a valuable visual element anymore. It does nothing for the story, and where it was once used as a teaser to give the viewer something to look forward to, with the trite storytelling, it just makes the characters look like morons when they don't see something coming, like Matt Parkman's taser to the neck. And it's not believable that clairvoyance is an ability so easily obtained every season, when you have so far used Isaac Mendez, Peter Petrelli, Sylar, The spirit walk man (whatever his name is), Hiro Nakamura, and Matt Parkman to display the ability. It's done. Played out. Stop using it.

2. The Heroes characters have lost their connection to anything resembling a real world. So the gimmick that made this series stand out (ordinary people in an ordinary society learning they had extraordinary abilities) is dead. Seeing Mohinder driving a cab, seeing Peter performing CPR, and HEARING that Matt is a bodyguard or Daphne is a bike messenger is just ridiculous. It's not realistic to think of these people earning an honest living anymore, and it's obvious that the Heroes themselves ALL have a "hunger" like Sylar, for something bigger. Claire ran away from her college choices just to tell Peter and Matt that SOME kind of plot was formulating against them. Yet she had no idea what it was. Peter is a fool to still trust ANY hug from Nathan after all the lies, deceptions, and selfish acts Nathan has performed in recent episodes.

3. Speaking of Nathan, if the show's not giving the audience any scenes to show Nathan as trustworthy or human, we're just going to think Peter's an idiot for believing he is, and you've ruined both Petrelli brothers in one fell swoop. When the Petrellis were originally one of the best, most complex, and most compelling families in the series, they have been stripped of relatable connections, redeemable qualities, and rooting value. So why am I supposed to care about ANY of their shifting alliances and doublecrosses?

4. Meanwhile, the other core family, the Bennets, have had little interaction and I've forgotten if they are even connected anymore. Claire is now holed up with Angela, Noah is kidnapping Mohinder (which I saw coming from a mile away) and Sandra and Lyle are completely MIA for a WHILE now. Sandra and Lyle were a vital component of this blended family and NON-HERO characters are important to keeping this series relatable. Without his wife and son, and chasing Claire but rarely interacting with her, Noah has lost his throughline as a character who does EVERYTHING for his family. If the family is eroded and not shown to the audience, how can we get behind, or even understand, the motivation for anything he does?

5. Sandra Bennet, Lyle, Simone Deveaux, Nathan's (now-ex-)wife Heidi, Matt's ex-wife Janice... these are the characters that were the skeptics, the voices of the audience, the characters whose reactions and involvement in this world was a reflection of what ours would be if someone we loved discovered they had a "power". Heidi, as well as her and Nathan's sons, vanished with little explanation. Janice and Matt's marriage dissolved off-screen between seasons, Simone was killed, and Sandra/Lyle are in limbo. It's a valuable element, our non-powered characters showing that their heart and soul made them heroic, as a contrast to those whose superhuman powers helped them fight evil. Losing all the humans, and empowering other ones (Mohinder, Ando), the audience is left with no "ordinary joe" to relate to.

There is so much that still needs fixing on this show. From the cast to the story direction to the pacing... I want to love Heroes, but Heroes isn't lovable right now, IMO.

[DavidEvanSmith]

Is anyone still watching this show?

I think it's been... two? episodes since my last post and the show is still disappointing me. What the hell happened in this episode? Basically everyone is still where they were at the end of the last episode, only Mohinder is kidnapped again. And we know Angela is pulling the strings with Noah to work against Nathan. And Daphne's alive (which I prefer, since I just started warming up to her, but it really only matters if you liked her). Other than that NO story moved. No Claire & UnderwaterBoy, No Sylar & the Boy Wonder, No Tracy Strauss...

It's really just everybody running, and every episode someone gets caught again. Is that all that was established in the episode-planning meetings?

[Sylph]

No, I am not watching.

I am waiting for it to end so that I can watch it from start to finish. Perhaps it will look better that way.

[Toups]

I'm still watching, but what is there to talk about?

Tim Kring should be fired and the show should be given one more volume to see if a new showrunner can turn this show around.

[Sylph]

LMAO! So true. He is incompetent.

[Sylph]

[Toups]

At least we get another season....now all that needs to happen is for Tim Kring to be fired. Give the show to Fuller, NBC!