Fugitives

Four episodes of volume four of Heroes have aired so far, and I’ve caught three of them (A Clear and Present Danger, Trust and Blood and Building 26), and thought it’s about time to share what I think about volume four, after the trainwreck that was volume three.

First of all, I need to say that the “feel” of Heroes, visually, isn’t consistent at all in volume four. The directors of the first episode (Greg Yaitanes) and the third episode (Sergio Mimica-Gezzan) in particular, bring different camera angles and visual points of view to the series, that didn’t exist before, and the switch is highly jarring.

Plot-wise, if you ignore the unexplained motivations behind Nathan Petrelli’s current actions and just take it at face value, the idea of our Heroes getting hunted is not too bad, and the first episode starts off strongly. (Well, coming off volume three, almost anything would be a stronger episode). While the plot isn’t draggy like volume two, it’s also not overly sped up like volume three. That said, there is still very little proper characterisations and in particular Peter, Claire, Mohinder and Matt come off as terrible characters with terrible lines.

The next big problem I have, is the flip-flops of characters. The “I’m doing this for the family” angle of HRG is really tiresome, Hiro’s desire to be a hero equally so, Tracy Strauss’s attempts to be on Nathan’s side, then not, then on again is pathetic, and I can’t see anyone wanting to team with Mohinder after his numerous (and illogical) side swaps from season two till now. None of these issues are solved, and if anything, they seem to be worse in Fugitives.

Finally, some plot points are just stupid. Why would they capture Hiro who has no more powers, and leave Ando running around? Why would Matt, who already foresaw Daphne getting shot, leave her to be standing in the exact spot she was standing to be killed? It’s just utterly ridiculous. Also, now that the heroes are all split up, wouldn’t it be cool if Wireless were still around to be their communications network?

Sylar, however, seems to be back to his badassness and isn’t taking crap from anyone. He’s the only one who the soldiers can’t capture and is proving to be an awesome villain. I can’t wait for John Glover (Lionel Luthor from Smallville) to appear as his dad. He should bring some presence to the show, if nothing else.

After three episodes, my tentative verdict is that Heroes is still beyond hope. I’m watching it out of nostalgic reasons right now and while I do remember the days where I would watch every episode the day it was released, unfortunately those days are long gone, and it’s gonna be an extremely uphill climb for them to get back on track.

This week’s episode of Heroes – episode 9 of volume three: Villains – is definitely the worst episode of this season, and perhaps of all time (it’s a close call, comparing it to season two when Maya and her brother existed). How much do I dislike it? Let me count the ways:

1) Hiro and Ando’s story

Arthur is powerful enough to kill Adam Monroe and Maury Parkman without a thought and punch Usutu’s head clean off, but he chooses to… regress Hiro’s mind? It’s pathetic building Arthur to be this uber-badass, and he chooses to be “lenient” with Hiro, and for the rest of the episode we see Ando convincing Hiro he has powers, basically a role reversal of one of the first few episodes in season one.

Hiro and Ando’s story have been a complete waste of time this season (as well as last season) and while the sides are forming up, they’re left out in the cold.

Sylar - More Teddy Bear Than Terror

2) The absolute destruction of Sylar’s character

Season one, Sylar was a kick ass character. Season two was a waste of his time and season three has more twists and turns in his character than I can keep track of, none of which make sense. When Angela said he was her son, I was like “okayy”. When he “joins” the company as HRG’s partner “okayyy”. Goes to save Peter at Angela’s request “hmmm” and now claiming he’s been feeling remorse the whole time? What a load of bull.

Also, was the point of last week’s Elle/Sylar story simply to have their heartwarming “empathy” moment this week” Because it sucked. Not only was it hardly believable, but I don’t understand the choice to shoot it in the dark. What, Sylar goes in in “darkness” and after getting Elle’s power and the lightning crackles around him, he’s reborn in the “light”?

3) Peter and Claire’s “escape”

Okay what point did this serve exactly? Some uncle/niece bonding time while being chased by two psychos? Not to mention one psycho who maybe doesn’t think it’s a bad idea to shoot fire in a place full of pipes, nevermind whether he knows they are gas or not? It could have been done in one quick scene, but then it gets drawn out and wastes everyones time.

4) Mohinder and the “catalyst”

Mohinder has sucked since season two. And this episode in particular, he has reached new levels of sucktitude (yes, that is a word appropriate for Mohinder). All his science mumbo jumbo was even more aptly explained by Angela at the end, rendering Mohinder a waste of space. I don’t know what deal Sendhil Ramamurthy has with the network, but I hope they axe it quick.

Speaking of the “catalyst”, aren’t we forgetting that at least Nathan and Jessica, Nikki Tracy have synthesised powers? How come they’re alive and well with no side-effects?

5) Nemesis and Matt

Hiro And Daphne - What Could Have Been

I know her name is Daphne, but I liked her when she joined the show as Hiro’s nemesis. Anything’s better than this lovey dovey crap that’s going on between her and Matt. Matt falls in love with her from a dream and she falls in love with him in the span of what, a day and a half? Someone explain to me how that happens?

6) Tracy’s turn

This isn’t a big deal because we don’t know anything about Tracy and how she would behave anyway. But this was yet another waste of time for me. They cut a much more interesting character in Monica for this?!

7) The “assembly” of the sides

I’m sure the final scenes were meant to look like some “cool” standoff, but it was just lame. The Heroes writers need to watch the last four or five episodes of season five of Lost, and understand what it means to move the pieces and characters into play. Not “miraculously” having Matt, Daphne, Peter, Claire and Nathan hit Primatech paper at the same time, conveniently when Angela wakes up.

Does anyone on Arthur’s “team” even have a motive to be there? Knox and Flint are scumbags, Sylar is presumably going to betray the team, Elle went to Pinehearst to remove her powers, not join a team, and Tracy… well, who knows what’s going on with Tracy.

8 ) Absence of characters

HRG - Hardly Reappearing Guy

Speaking of Primatech paper, where’s HRG? His daughter has been running around getting herself into trouble the whole season (not to mention almost killed by Sylar) and he lets it be when in previous seasons he barely lets her out of his sight? What gives?

The one thing – the only thing – I liked was the throwback to Kaito passing Claire to HRG way back when, and using Claire as the catalyst. It was a nice reminder that things used to tie together, when they’re now going all over the place.

At this point, I’m really watching Heroes to see what a trainwreck it’s going to become. With two of the head writers fired, I’m wondering if the series can get any better. It certainly can get worse. My opinion is Tim Kring needs to go, and they need to bring in someone who understands plotting, pacing and characterisation, because all those elements are sorely missing in this comic book superhero genre show.

[Image credits: Sylar | Hiro/Daphne | HRG]