Heroes 305: Angels and Monsters

• Looks like someone is spreading The Wire love, as Andre Royo, aka Bubbles, appears in this episode as Vortex man. Let's get Lance Reddick in, too, please!

• I don't like Parkman (Jr.), I don't like Daphne; but when you combine them, I like them both. What an interesting chemistry equation!

• Maya earned some smart points when she left Suresh's apartment quietly, after she saw the blood tracks. Then she went all horror-movie heroine by coming back alone.

• Hiro piercing Ando with a sword just like that? Completely out of character.

• I thought maybe the writers forgot Sylar's super-hearing. They certainly didn't show it, but somehow he knew what was going on with Noah, Claire, and Bubbles. So was it the ears that tipped him off?

• I like how Meredith thinks she can do anything because she's got sweaty palms.

The writers have yet to grasp that there is so much you can do with these characters without forcing 2-4 plot twists every episode to keep us interested. I really can't keep up with all the machinations.

Heroes 304: I Am Become Death

Being a Heroes watcher but not avid follower & theorist, I am having a lot of difficulty keeping track of the various futures. At least all of us who thought the woman in the paintings resembled Daphne were correct, and some watchmakers/watch repairers out there are pretty psyched.

As for Sylar, sweet Sylar, I have one word for "Gabriel" kissing his dog: ROFL. I suppose there was no way to keep the bad boy a villain forever, because he is pretty much unstoppable. He had to have survived the Costa Mesa explosion if Claire did, but I'm not sure we're returning to that future again.

I have a suggestion for Peter. Since he can absorb anyone's powers, why doesn't he just (1) absorb, (2) cut open his own head, (3) look into a mirror and figure things out, and then (4) heal himself. That way he can satisfy his hunger into learning how things work, plus not hurt anyone. If he wants to understand more than just powers, I can't help him there, but what more does he really need? He can read minds. He can dissect his own brain. If he's still hungry, he should lick the brain of a McDonald's "cook."

Heroes 303: One of Us, One of Them

The myriad characters that inhabit this world are not all interesting; some are downright annoying--like Daphne. French fries are more French than that girl. But without all these characters, how can the writers ensure that as little happens as possible in each episode?

Nice, though, to see Jamie Hector, aka Knox, aka Marlo Stanfield from The Wire. Having absorbed the realism of The Wire, I was unable to watch certain shows that I started right after, such as Veronica Mars (Veronica was such a user and yet remained popular, despite her declarations to the contrary) and Prison Break (I was told this was a great show if you can suspend your disbelief, but I just wasn't able to). Speaking of Veronica Mars, I don't mind seeing more of Elle, though I guess there's no more Weevil/Jesse to see.

Sylar is still the main attraction. I wish the writers would stop humming "It's a Small World" and make everyone related. And Sylar's "hunger"--some powers just seem a bit unnecessary given the ones he already has. Does he need a sonic boom voice when he can effect the same strength with telekinesis? Perhaps if he's bound but not gagged. He has forgotten about some of his abilities, too, or perhaps he's on the road to recovering some still. We don't see him using his super-hearing ability or his paint-the-future ability.

Painting the future was always one of the shittier abilities, not necessarily in a story sense but in an imagine-if-I-had-a-power sense, but now we have discovered an even shittier one--being able to paint the future of only Parkman. And since when does this finished product . . .



require this startup . . .



? Where are my beautiful black blots in the final painting? We need to see more care in the production of this once-interesting show.

Heroes 302: The Butterfly Effect

The Good Tracy's ruby red lipstick Maya's body Telepathic turtle English as universal language Claire's brain (good enough to carry over to this episode)	The Bad Sylar incapacitated yet again Strange subtitle placement Time travel General weirdness*
The Ugly Removable warts Elle's wig Motherly love The desire to now watch Ashton Kutcher's The Butterfly Effect

I kid; I like the Butterfly Effect movie.

*General Weirdness

1. Claire's birth mother, instead of hugging Claire, said hello by exhibiting a flaming palm? Hugs first, explanations later, please.
   
2. Claire's adoptive dad, Noah, claimed he was so worried about Claire, but didn't bother checking up on her first?
   
3. Future Peter cannot teleport himself until he has taken a few steps forward and is asked where he is going. Save yourself the energy and leave already.
   

Why am I still watching?

Heroes 301: The Second Coming

I would like to nominate Heroes for best set decoration. If not for the jars containing the green, yellow, red, and blue liquids, I might not have believed it to be a real lab.

Season 2 was so horrendous that I only started watching Season 3 to see how the writers might attempt to salvage a train wreck. One thing they did right is to bring back Sylar. Despite (or perhaps because of) his overacting, Zachary Quinto's villain always sends me chills. However, there may be no quick fixes; even a title that begs you to forget Season 2 won't do it. Bad dialogue and borrowed plotlines are still abound. Dr. Suresh, Jr. injecting himself with powers? Done better in 4400. Too bad 4400 was canceled. Still, check it out--better late than never.