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trinityvixenCome Together?
First off, I like that I was sorta right about Peter's ability. He couldn't fly without Nathan. I figured it was a two-to-tango deal, and I wasn't far off on that assumption. I don't exactly think they set up the exact nature of his power properly though, since his doodling stick figures of him and Nathan hardly proves he picked up some excess prescience from Isaac. I do like the precog effect, though, with the whiting over of the eyeballs. The actor playing Isaac did stoned-out possessed extremely well, and it looks like the actor playing Peter does a good job at that, too.
Secondly, Peter's story has only just gotten interesting this episode, ditto for Nathan's. The family dynamic between them, with Nathan constantly screwing Peter over for his own good (usually "the greater good" such that he can get away with it), is neat, don't get me wrong, but the "We have powers!" "No we don't!" crap was played out the second they actually flew. But his rushed romance with Simone pulled out of cliche at the last second with her coming to her senses and going "Whoa, three seconds, okay?" and him acknowledging that what he wanted most in the world amounted to him being a rebound bitch. That was refreshingly real and not melodramatic. Nathan showing up The Morning After was priceless, only because Adrain Pasdar is amazing at being able to be both pissed off and skeevily interested at the same time.
He also showed his softer side, and suddenly there was a lot more to Nathan. When he hits on Niki, I didn't get a skeeve vibe at all, which is impressive because that's all he'd been doing since episode one--playing the sleazy politico. I got the sense from the last episode that he was sort of married-in-name-only (his wife being missing from a major fund raiser/rally was suspicious), and when he hit on Niki it seemed more genuine attraction than aggressive libido. He let her leave, after all, even though, if he'd kissed her again, Niki totally would have fallen right into bed with him, willingly. It was sad for both of them that there was natural chemistry--they burned through each of their "play the other guy" tactics and gotten down to earnest appeal on both sides--and she was there to set him up. Maybe that made him seem less sleazy, the fact that he was cheating, sure, but she was tempting him and never going to say no.
Except she did, and Niki 2.0 wasn't having it for the risk to her and Niki. This is where I was a little less pleased. Ali Larter did a credible scary Niki-2, and I believe that Niki-2 is every bit as dangerous as she's been shown to be, but the swap and the ensuing dialogue was cliche. Also, it didn't really prove that Niki-2 is a superpower. It's still playing out exactly like a split personality, an id, specifically. It's nice to see that Niki-2 handles the dirty stuff but she also got to get her rocks off on Adrian Pasdar, so girlfriend's doing all right, I'd say. Niki should just get Niki-2 to tell Micah to stop butting his genius nose into Mommy's dirty business. Kid would listen for a change. That was something that actually broke my heart, the interactions between Niki and Micah because it drove home just how deluded Niki is about her life, which means worse and worse things for the continued unleashing of Niki-2. So, surprisingly, her story, which had sort of bored me for the last couple of episodes kicked up a notch. I guess when you cross the Petrellis with Niki and Micah, the boring angst-fests cancel each other out.
And, duh, do I even need to say I loved Hiro and Ando's cheating? It's a waste of their time onscreen, sure, since Hiro's adventures at least advanced every episode so far and this one stagnated with them in Vegas. Still, you knew it was coming, one of the heroes using their powers for personal gain, and better it should be Hiro who hates the abuse and will learn his lesson right quick than someone like Nathan, who, whenever it is that he figures out how to fly for real, is gonna bitch that power to his ultimate advantage.
Not sure about Future Hiro yet. I don't want a badass Hiro. Exciteable, loveable Hiro is much more fun. I half wondered if it wasn't Mr. Creepy Glasses Man or his accomplice who'd stolen Hiro's powers to freeze the subway car, but it was Future Hiro. I wonder if Ando taught him English or if they finally developed Matt at all as a character (more on that later) to teach him English by sticking it in his brain. I prefer current Hiro. Who got his lights punched out. Poor Hiro-wubby.
Claire's story is never going to get interesting, and the previews make me despair at being able to stay watching the show. "Save the cheerleader, save the world"? Gah, kill me. Or her. Again, anyway. Talk about abuse of power... Really, she was just killing a rapist, so it's okay! Bor-ing. Again. Claire's melodrama and obsession with ignoring every little thing that threatens to put a damper in her sunshine-y outlook (since nothing can put a dent in her otherwise) is like the worst part of the Petrellis' saga. I hate the straw-victim they threw in for Claire to justify trying to kill the teenage rapist or how disgusting they made him in this. Like his being a rapist wasn't disgusting enough, they had to have him crowing about it after the fact? He ought to be keeping it mum, given that he knows his victims. Logic says what? (Logic: "What?"). It was shoddily written, and it's another useless waste of time. At least the actual rape attempt forwarded Claire a little--it made her harder, tempered her towards using her ability to right wrongs, which builds her to an inevitable future in heroism (or vigilantism, really). Giving her a background as a victim is a trope, sure, but they could have left it at that. The only true emotional response after that whole ordeal was the part with her crying on the stairs. Contrary to what NBC would have us believe, rape victims don't plot revenge and feel immediately better. There needed to be more of that Claire, not the chippy cheerleader Claire.
And there needed to be more Matt, damn it. Look, he's my second favorite, and I know I'm biased, but what's the point? Greg Grunberg (hee, I learned his name!) has somewhere else to be, I guess. Matt wasn't in the pilot, he wasn't hardly in this or the last two episodes. He's exposed, almost from minute one that his ability comes upon him, so his getting snatched up by Mr. Creepy Glasses Man makes perfect sense, I won't argue otherwise. And the show wants to keep Mr. CGM's agenda and whatnot a secret, okay. But if we don't get to see Matt, we don't care that he's been snatched up and is going to be stripped of his ability or whatever. As![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
arcane_the_sage pointed out, Matt has tremendous potential to be every bit as world-shaking as Isaac or Hiro, but he just isn't being allowed to develop as a character nor is his superpower, so that probably won't happen. Unless Mr. CGM/BBG boosts his power by trying to learn the basis of it. Stupid waste. Gah.
Where is Sylar this week, might I ask? He's slipped through the first three episodes and is nowhere here. He's not Niki-2, I'm sure of that. I was tempted to believe he might be Mr. CGM, as he's creepy enough, I could believe he gets his kicks pinning people to walls and ceilings with stuff. Now I'm wondering if it's his accomplice, the bald black guy instead. At the very least, BBG can block Matt's telepathy and is responsible for raping Matt's mind and erasing a lot of it (as we're given to understand). If he can steal powers, like Peter only permanent, then maybe it explains why Sylar has thirty different abilities.
I guess Sylar just isn't important to the show any more. Even Suresh is giving up on him, even though he suspected Sylar killed his father. Then again, he also thought that Mr. Creepy Glasses Man killed his daddy, and he never followed up on that either. Suresh is a whiny baby. "My daddy's research is right! Look! Proof! Nah, not really. Now I hate him for his genetic craziness! I give up! Ooh, this Petrelli guy is still worth stalking. Or maybe not. I can't make up my mind--my super power!?!?"
Shorter TrinityVixen: "I don't dislike the Petrellis or Niki's stories any more, but I still hate Claire, still love Hiro and Matt, and Suresh is powerful boring. Where the hell does this show think its going?"
First off, I like that I was sorta right about Peter's ability. He couldn't fly without Nathan. I figured it was a two-to-tango deal, and I wasn't far off on that assumption. I don't exactly think they set up the exact nature of his power properly though, since his doodling stick figures of him and Nathan hardly proves he picked up some excess prescience from Isaac. I do like the precog effect, though, with the whiting over of the eyeballs. The actor playing Isaac did stoned-out possessed extremely well, and it looks like the actor playing Peter does a good job at that, too.
Secondly, Peter's story has only just gotten interesting this episode, ditto for Nathan's. The family dynamic between them, with Nathan constantly screwing Peter over for his own good (usually "the greater good" such that he can get away with it), is neat, don't get me wrong, but the "We have powers!" "No we don't!" crap was played out the second they actually flew. But his rushed romance with Simone pulled out of cliche at the last second with her coming to her senses and going "Whoa, three seconds, okay?" and him acknowledging that what he wanted most in the world amounted to him being a rebound bitch. That was refreshingly real and not melodramatic. Nathan showing up The Morning After was priceless, only because Adrain Pasdar is amazing at being able to be both pissed off and skeevily interested at the same time.
He also showed his softer side, and suddenly there was a lot more to Nathan. When he hits on Niki, I didn't get a skeeve vibe at all, which is impressive because that's all he'd been doing since episode one--playing the sleazy politico. I got the sense from the last episode that he was sort of married-in-name-only (his wife being missing from a major fund raiser/rally was suspicious), and when he hit on Niki it seemed more genuine attraction than aggressive libido. He let her leave, after all, even though, if he'd kissed her again, Niki totally would have fallen right into bed with him, willingly. It was sad for both of them that there was natural chemistry--they burned through each of their "play the other guy" tactics and gotten down to earnest appeal on both sides--and she was there to set him up. Maybe that made him seem less sleazy, the fact that he was cheating, sure, but she was tempting him and never going to say no.
Except she did, and Niki 2.0 wasn't having it for the risk to her and Niki. This is where I was a little less pleased. Ali Larter did a credible scary Niki-2, and I believe that Niki-2 is every bit as dangerous as she's been shown to be, but the swap and the ensuing dialogue was cliche. Also, it didn't really prove that Niki-2 is a superpower. It's still playing out exactly like a split personality, an id, specifically. It's nice to see that Niki-2 handles the dirty stuff but she also got to get her rocks off on Adrian Pasdar, so girlfriend's doing all right, I'd say. Niki should just get Niki-2 to tell Micah to stop butting his genius nose into Mommy's dirty business. Kid would listen for a change. That was something that actually broke my heart, the interactions between Niki and Micah because it drove home just how deluded Niki is about her life, which means worse and worse things for the continued unleashing of Niki-2. So, surprisingly, her story, which had sort of bored me for the last couple of episodes kicked up a notch. I guess when you cross the Petrellis with Niki and Micah, the boring angst-fests cancel each other out.
And, duh, do I even need to say I loved Hiro and Ando's cheating? It's a waste of their time onscreen, sure, since Hiro's adventures at least advanced every episode so far and this one stagnated with them in Vegas. Still, you knew it was coming, one of the heroes using their powers for personal gain, and better it should be Hiro who hates the abuse and will learn his lesson right quick than someone like Nathan, who, whenever it is that he figures out how to fly for real, is gonna bitch that power to his ultimate advantage.
Not sure about Future Hiro yet. I don't want a badass Hiro. Exciteable, loveable Hiro is much more fun. I half wondered if it wasn't Mr. Creepy Glasses Man or his accomplice who'd stolen Hiro's powers to freeze the subway car, but it was Future Hiro. I wonder if Ando taught him English or if they finally developed Matt at all as a character (more on that later) to teach him English by sticking it in his brain. I prefer current Hiro. Who got his lights punched out. Poor Hiro-wubby.
Claire's story is never going to get interesting, and the previews make me despair at being able to stay watching the show. "Save the cheerleader, save the world"? Gah, kill me. Or her. Again, anyway. Talk about abuse of power... Really, she was just killing a rapist, so it's okay! Bor-ing. Again. Claire's melodrama and obsession with ignoring every little thing that threatens to put a damper in her sunshine-y outlook (since nothing can put a dent in her otherwise) is like the worst part of the Petrellis' saga. I hate the straw-victim they threw in for Claire to justify trying to kill the teenage rapist or how disgusting they made him in this. Like his being a rapist wasn't disgusting enough, they had to have him crowing about it after the fact? He ought to be keeping it mum, given that he knows his victims. Logic says what? (Logic: "What?"). It was shoddily written, and it's another useless waste of time. At least the actual rape attempt forwarded Claire a little--it made her harder, tempered her towards using her ability to right wrongs, which builds her to an inevitable future in heroism (or vigilantism, really). Giving her a background as a victim is a trope, sure, but they could have left it at that. The only true emotional response after that whole ordeal was the part with her crying on the stairs. Contrary to what NBC would have us believe, rape victims don't plot revenge and feel immediately better. There needed to be more of that Claire, not the chippy cheerleader Claire.
And there needed to be more Matt, damn it. Look, he's my second favorite, and I know I'm biased, but what's the point? Greg Grunberg (hee, I learned his name!) has somewhere else to be, I guess. Matt wasn't in the pilot, he wasn't hardly in this or the last two episodes. He's exposed, almost from minute one that his ability comes upon him, so his getting snatched up by Mr. Creepy Glasses Man makes perfect sense, I won't argue otherwise. And the show wants to keep Mr. CGM's agenda and whatnot a secret, okay. But if we don't get to see Matt, we don't care that he's been snatched up and is going to be stripped of his ability or whatever. As
arcane_the_sage pointed out, Matt has tremendous potential to be every bit as world-shaking as Isaac or Hiro, but he just isn't being allowed to develop as a character nor is his superpower, so that probably won't happen. Unless Mr. CGM/BBG boosts his power by trying to learn the basis of it. Stupid waste. Gah.Where is Sylar this week, might I ask? He's slipped through the first three episodes and is nowhere here. He's not Niki-2, I'm sure of that. I was tempted to believe he might be Mr. CGM, as he's creepy enough, I could believe he gets his kicks pinning people to walls and ceilings with stuff. Now I'm wondering if it's his accomplice, the bald black guy instead. At the very least, BBG can block Matt's telepathy and is responsible for raping Matt's mind and erasing a lot of it (as we're given to understand). If he can steal powers, like Peter only permanent, then maybe it explains why Sylar has thirty different abilities.
I guess Sylar just isn't important to the show any more. Even Suresh is giving up on him, even though he suspected Sylar killed his father. Then again, he also thought that Mr. Creepy Glasses Man killed his daddy, and he never followed up on that either. Suresh is a whiny baby. "My daddy's research is right! Look! Proof! Nah, not really. Now I hate him for his genetic craziness! I give up! Ooh, this Petrelli guy is still worth stalking. Or maybe not. I can't make up my mind--my super power!?!?"
Shorter TrinityVixen: "I don't dislike the Petrellis or Niki's stories any more, but I still hate Claire, still love Hiro and Matt, and Suresh is powerful boring. Where the hell does this show think its going?"
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no subject
Date: 2006-10-17 06:01 am (UTC)I really hope they don't kill Matt off this quickly, that would piss me off. And with such a powerful ability, it'd be ridiculous for the writers to waste it.
Perhaps with the absence of Sylar, they're just excluding him for now to make you wonder what he's up to. As for Mohinder... give him a break, he's torn between idolizing his father and hating him for what he did.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-17 02:26 pm (UTC)Just, you know, point of clarification, they're not twins :) I can see some of that slash stuff going on, but the incest part gives me the squick. I sort of do wonder, though, if the fact that both Peter and Nathan got laid in one episode is a beard for them both...
Nah, their family dynamic is fucked up enough as is.
I really hope they don't kill Matt off this quickly, that would piss me off. And with such a powerful ability, it'd be ridiculous for the writers to waste it.
Especially as Matt was like Hiro in the last episode, kind of excited and learning how to use (and abuse) his power, and that was incredibly cute. He's also entirely likeable, like Hiro. He's not super good looking or rich like some of the others, he works and can't get ahead in life, he's struggling just to achieve peace in mediocrity, and I like that. He's going to be in so much shit when wifey catches up with him (if they don't mind-wipe him!!! Or kill him! NO!!).
Perhaps with the absence of Sylar, they're just excluding him for now to make you wonder what he's up to. As for Mohinder... give him a break, he's torn between idolizing his father and hating him for what he did.
I think that my problem with Mohinder is that he does the crazy stupid voice over. I'd prefer just to watch the show without the moralizing, mock-ironic voice. Though the actor does have the most lovely Indian accent...
no subject
Date: 2006-10-17 03:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-17 03:12 pm (UTC)