Heroes Season Finale
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When I saw the first promos for Heroes, my first impression was a cheap X-Men knockoff. Of course, Hollywood has never been noted for excess originality, and I like X-Men enough that even a cheap knock-off seemed to be worth watching.
I was quite delighted to find I had seriously underestimated the series. Yes, one can play "Match-the-superpower" between the two, but that way lies visions of Wolverine wearing a cheerleader outfit. What made Heroes stand out is a vast array of characters who, while their importance might shift, are clearly drawn with depth and human feelings and frailties. One can come to care about these people (well, most of them, anyway), and even to suspend disbelief to follow and enjoy their story.
And it's been quite a ride for this first season, as our Heroes have come to learn about their powers with some trepidation and unease- except for Hiro, a geeky trekkie who is outright delighted to have developed the kind of superpowers he's been reading about in comics all his life. Even when only peripheral to a given week's story, Hiro's scenes have always been intensely enjoyable.
Yes, many of the others do (and even sometimes overdo) the "This is my blessing/this is my curse" bit over their special powers, but so far they've always pulled back before getting into the annoying Super-Whining that Smallville has far too often over-indulged in. Even teen-aged Claire, very conscious of the popular-weirdo demarcation in public schools, managed to realize that there are benefits to being able to heal from virtually anything.
Like most of our superpower-endowed worlds, not everyone with an unusual ability is a hero. The most up-front and immediate less-than-heroic players here is Sylar, who's left a trail of dead super corpses behind him due to his power of absorbing others' powers by cutting open their brains. This doesn't appear to bother him at all, contrasting him with the gentle caregiver Peter who can also acquire new powers merely by coming close to someone who has them.
A less in-your-face (unseen until the last few episodes) villain is Lindermann (Played by Malcolm McDowell, how can he be anyone but the villain?), who has been pulling the strings of quite a few of our heroes. His side's agenda requires the destruction of half of New York- something that the good guys have been striving to prevent ever since Hiro accidentally jaunted a few weeks into the future and witnessed it.
To be safe I had prepared myself for the traditional season-ending cliffhanger- props to producers Tim Kring and Jesse Alexander for not jerking their audience around and actually resolving the Season One story. Of course there were some nice foreshadowings of things to come in Season Two- and that final scene with Hiro was perfect!! Certainly this show is on my Absolutely GOTTA See list for Fall.
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
When I saw the first promos for Heroes, my first impression was a cheap X-Men knockoff. Of course, Hollywood has never been noted for excess originality, and I like X-Men enough that even a cheap knock-off seemed to be worth watching.
I was quite delighted to find I had seriously underestimated the series. Yes, one can play "Match-the-superpower" between the two, but that way lies visions of Wolverine wearing a cheerleader outfit. What made Heroes stand out is a vast array of characters who, while their importance might shift, are clearly drawn with depth and human feelings and frailties. One can come to care about these people (well, most of them, anyway), and even to suspend disbelief to follow and enjoy their story.
And it's been quite a ride for this first season, as our Heroes have come to learn about their powers with some trepidation and unease- except for Hiro, a geeky trekkie who is outright delighted to have developed the kind of superpowers he's been reading about in comics all his life. Even when only peripheral to a given week's story, Hiro's scenes have always been intensely enjoyable.
Yes, many of the others do (and even sometimes overdo) the "This is my blessing/this is my curse" bit over their special powers, but so far they've always pulled back before getting into the annoying Super-Whining that Smallville has far too often over-indulged in. Even teen-aged Claire, very conscious of the popular-weirdo demarcation in public schools, managed to realize that there are benefits to being able to heal from virtually anything.
Like most of our superpower-endowed worlds, not everyone with an unusual ability is a hero. The most up-front and immediate less-than-heroic players here is Sylar, who's left a trail of dead super corpses behind him due to his power of absorbing others' powers by cutting open their brains. This doesn't appear to bother him at all, contrasting him with the gentle caregiver Peter who can also acquire new powers merely by coming close to someone who has them.
A less in-your-face (unseen until the last few episodes) villain is Lindermann (Played by Malcolm McDowell, how can he be anyone but the villain?), who has been pulling the strings of quite a few of our heroes. His side's agenda requires the destruction of half of New York- something that the good guys have been striving to prevent ever since Hiro accidentally jaunted a few weeks into the future and witnessed it.
To be safe I had prepared myself for the traditional season-ending cliffhanger- props to producers Tim Kring and Jesse Alexander for not jerking their audience around and actually resolving the Season One story. Of course there were some nice foreshadowings of things to come in Season Two- and that final scene with Hiro was perfect!! Certainly this show is on my Absolutely GOTTA See list for Fall.
Celebrity Obsession
I agree about the Smallville whining. Not that I watch the show, but every time I flick over and it's on, Clark is whining some more.....boring!
Fun Facts
I'm especially glad that Claire has backed off on the whining - I'd love to have her gift.