"Nobody's THAT heroic!"
Sep. 30th, 2008 05:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
misachanBefore I get to the list, I think this season is off thematically to a very promising start; Villains is not only giving us insight into what makes these characters villains but is also exploring why people choose to be heroes, using Hiro, Claire, and Peter as the heroic case studies. More on that below; on to the impressions!
1) Mama Petrelli’s scene with Sylar was all kinds of inappropriate (in the best kind of way). The seductive undertones were very creepy and effective; I’m still not completely convinced he’s actually her son (I’m at the point where I take everything she says as a lie) but she’s clearly intent on molding him into her creature, which is probably what she considers mothering anyway. I’m dying to get a “Company Man” style episode that tells us how she ticks.
2) I loved Knox flushing Peter out (seriously Peter, learn basic bluffs if you’re going to impersonate someone) and his reaction when Peter told him that he didn’t run for it because he wanted to stop them from causing trouble: “Nobody’s that heroic.” It reminded me of the scene in Homecoming when Peter goes off to save Claire despite having no powers and no back-up because dammit, someone had to do it. He reminds me a bit of Pete Wisdom, one of my favorite Marvel characters, in that way: Pete is always put into situations where he has to do the hard thing because there’s no one else and it needs doing. I have a big weakness for those types of characters; the Doctor frequently falls into that role too.
3) Milo Ventimiglia is doing a really good job with the dual role. It’s more than just the scar; he even stands and talks differently as Scar!Peter.
4) The scene between Claire and Meredith was intense; I was seriously impressed by Hayden’s acting chops and that was easily the best scene with Meredith yet. And the Heroes writers clearly have a thing for morally-ambiguous tough-love mentors.
5) Noah and Sylar teaming up was a riot. I hope this partnership lasts a while because they have some great chemistry; Noah’s expression when Sylar fast-talked the cop was priceless. And Sylar for his part seemed to be getting a kick out of playing the good guy for a change. He was clearly gobsmacked when Noah saved him, too.
That scene was the first time I really thought Sylar might be redeemable. The line “Maybe I am just a monster” echoed not only his earlier line to Mama Petrelli (which sounded genuine to me) but his S1 horror when he thought he was going to blow up NYC (before he decided he’d be cool with that) and all the way back to his crazy serial killer “Forgive Me” room of crazy. Sylar believing that he’s a monster then sinking to those expectations has reoccurred often enough that it’s a character theme for him now, and Angela is feeding that self-condemnation just as much as she’s feeding his power lust. He chose to give into his appetite; if he ever chooses restraint things cool get very, very interesting. I think he’ll always be a monster, but it’s just possible that someday he could at least be a heroic monster. (It makes it all the more interesting that he’s being mentored by Noah, who verges on Heroic Monster at times.)
6) Speaking of: “I’m going to find his weakness, and then I’m going to kill him.” Noah, all you have to do is befriend him, then your awesome superpower of shooting-the-heck-out-of-your friends will activate and take care of the rest.
7) Dammit Parkman, you could have been with Audrey. See? See what your constant screw-ups cost you?!
8) I love Hiro, but I’m at the point where I just want to throttle him. One of people watching the show with us pretty much threw up his hands over Hiro continually calling Daphne his “Nemesis” for no real reason and it just highlighted that Hiro’s biggest character flaw is his utter inability to think he’s wrong. Now Daphne is a pretty solid Neutral as far as alignment goes; she steals because she gets good money for it (and yeah, it’s fun), but she just does her job and doesn’t hurt anyone. But to Hiro, she’s Evil, not even because she steals but because she specifically steals from HIM. Same thing with Ando; he goes to the future and sees Ando attack him, but it never even occurs to him that maybe he’s the one in the wrong. Ando’s against him, so that must meant that Ando’s a villain. And that’s not even touching on last season, where Hiro has yet to admit to any culpability in creating Adam Monroe. Hiro wants to be a comic book hero so much that he engages in comic book morality; he’s the Hero, so everything he does must be Good. Not that there’s any excuse for Adam going all Ra’s al Ghul, but Hiro acts as if he doesn’t have any part to play in that whole mess. Adam was bad because he just was, full stop. It’s so frustrating. (I’m not at all surprised Hiro grew up on Superman, is all I’m saying.)
What I like about these first episodes is that they’ve presented three distinct types of heroes. Meredith was right that Claire’s main interest isn’t really helping people: she wants to punish evil-doers. Peter’s the one whose main motivation is helping people; I can’t think of a single time when Peter’s used his powers for personal gain, and he’s had lots of opportunities. He wants to save the world because then maybe he could see himself as worth something. Claire’s more pragmatic than that and always has been; she has a lot of her fathers in her. That’s why she and Peter balance out so well; he brings out her better nature and she’s there to go, “Whoa, stop. I am not going to shoot you in the head.” And now she’s on a mission like a tiny blonde indestructible Punisher. (How much do I want her to met Claude, another wounded pragmatic character who, ironically enough, used to be a lot like Peter?)
And then there’s Hiro. He wants to be a HERO in big sparkly letters; he wants comic book heroism, where he goes on quests in bright primary colors and has a sidekick and all the villains are punished at the end of the issue. Like Peter and Sylar, he wants to prove that he’s not a nobody---unfortunately, his world isn’t nearly as happy shiny fun time as he wants it to be. Eventually he’s going to have to realize what kind of comic book he’s in.
1) Mama Petrelli’s scene with Sylar was all kinds of inappropriate (in the best kind of way). The seductive undertones were very creepy and effective; I’m still not completely convinced he’s actually her son (I’m at the point where I take everything she says as a lie) but she’s clearly intent on molding him into her creature, which is probably what she considers mothering anyway. I’m dying to get a “Company Man” style episode that tells us how she ticks.
2) I loved Knox flushing Peter out (seriously Peter, learn basic bluffs if you’re going to impersonate someone) and his reaction when Peter told him that he didn’t run for it because he wanted to stop them from causing trouble: “Nobody’s that heroic.” It reminded me of the scene in Homecoming when Peter goes off to save Claire despite having no powers and no back-up because dammit, someone had to do it. He reminds me a bit of Pete Wisdom, one of my favorite Marvel characters, in that way: Pete is always put into situations where he has to do the hard thing because there’s no one else and it needs doing. I have a big weakness for those types of characters; the Doctor frequently falls into that role too.
3) Milo Ventimiglia is doing a really good job with the dual role. It’s more than just the scar; he even stands and talks differently as Scar!Peter.
4) The scene between Claire and Meredith was intense; I was seriously impressed by Hayden’s acting chops and that was easily the best scene with Meredith yet. And the Heroes writers clearly have a thing for morally-ambiguous tough-love mentors.
5) Noah and Sylar teaming up was a riot. I hope this partnership lasts a while because they have some great chemistry; Noah’s expression when Sylar fast-talked the cop was priceless. And Sylar for his part seemed to be getting a kick out of playing the good guy for a change. He was clearly gobsmacked when Noah saved him, too.
That scene was the first time I really thought Sylar might be redeemable. The line “Maybe I am just a monster” echoed not only his earlier line to Mama Petrelli (which sounded genuine to me) but his S1 horror when he thought he was going to blow up NYC (before he decided he’d be cool with that) and all the way back to his crazy serial killer “Forgive Me” room of crazy. Sylar believing that he’s a monster then sinking to those expectations has reoccurred often enough that it’s a character theme for him now, and Angela is feeding that self-condemnation just as much as she’s feeding his power lust. He chose to give into his appetite; if he ever chooses restraint things cool get very, very interesting. I think he’ll always be a monster, but it’s just possible that someday he could at least be a heroic monster. (It makes it all the more interesting that he’s being mentored by Noah, who verges on Heroic Monster at times.)
6) Speaking of: “I’m going to find his weakness, and then I’m going to kill him.” Noah, all you have to do is befriend him, then your awesome superpower of shooting-the-heck-out-of-your friends will activate and take care of the rest.
7) Dammit Parkman, you could have been with Audrey. See? See what your constant screw-ups cost you?!
8) I love Hiro, but I’m at the point where I just want to throttle him. One of people watching the show with us pretty much threw up his hands over Hiro continually calling Daphne his “Nemesis” for no real reason and it just highlighted that Hiro’s biggest character flaw is his utter inability to think he’s wrong. Now Daphne is a pretty solid Neutral as far as alignment goes; she steals because she gets good money for it (and yeah, it’s fun), but she just does her job and doesn’t hurt anyone. But to Hiro, she’s Evil, not even because she steals but because she specifically steals from HIM. Same thing with Ando; he goes to the future and sees Ando attack him, but it never even occurs to him that maybe he’s the one in the wrong. Ando’s against him, so that must meant that Ando’s a villain. And that’s not even touching on last season, where Hiro has yet to admit to any culpability in creating Adam Monroe. Hiro wants to be a comic book hero so much that he engages in comic book morality; he’s the Hero, so everything he does must be Good. Not that there’s any excuse for Adam going all Ra’s al Ghul, but Hiro acts as if he doesn’t have any part to play in that whole mess. Adam was bad because he just was, full stop. It’s so frustrating. (I’m not at all surprised Hiro grew up on Superman, is all I’m saying.)
What I like about these first episodes is that they’ve presented three distinct types of heroes. Meredith was right that Claire’s main interest isn’t really helping people: she wants to punish evil-doers. Peter’s the one whose main motivation is helping people; I can’t think of a single time when Peter’s used his powers for personal gain, and he’s had lots of opportunities. He wants to save the world because then maybe he could see himself as worth something. Claire’s more pragmatic than that and always has been; she has a lot of her fathers in her. That’s why she and Peter balance out so well; he brings out her better nature and she’s there to go, “Whoa, stop. I am not going to shoot you in the head.” And now she’s on a mission like a tiny blonde indestructible Punisher. (How much do I want her to met Claude, another wounded pragmatic character who, ironically enough, used to be a lot like Peter?)
And then there’s Hiro. He wants to be a HERO in big sparkly letters; he wants comic book heroism, where he goes on quests in bright primary colors and has a sidekick and all the villains are punished at the end of the issue. Like Peter and Sylar, he wants to prove that he’s not a nobody---unfortunately, his world isn’t nearly as happy shiny fun time as he wants it to be. Eventually he’s going to have to realize what kind of comic book he’s in.
