Commentary: Heroes 3x08 - Villains

[brighteyedjill]

Mohinder voiceover is back! Flashback to Chandra and other Season 1 awesomeness! Remember when we were all so young and hopeful? Apparently wacky paste is the new time-travel device… Instead of actual time travel. Because characters who could travel to the past or future would just be wacky! So we'll just feed everybody crazy dung paste instead. I mean, since just writing "Six Months Ago" isn't a viable option anymore...?

I couldn’t be happier about a Petrelli party scene. I mean, there was absolutely nothing in that scene that wasn’t awesome. Nathan/Peter interaction. Emo bangs. Arthur and Linderman plotting. Angela in a red dress. Awesome.

Flint and Meredith are brother and sister? Now this show is just inventing ridiculous family ties. They do have related powers, but uh… I don’t know that that’s necessary. Thompson creepiness ahoy!

Gabriel is suicidal! Oh, poor baby. I feel more sorry for him every episode. But I love that Kristen Bell and Zach Quinto have more scenes together. Srsly. Love it.

Oooo, the eclipse is a crack in the world this time. And Heroes are now Villains!

Elle’s all compassionate and shit! She’s been in therapy before, she knows talking about your problems is important. And now: Mr. HRG presents your weekly science lesson. The punchline: Pie pwns all.

Meredith and Thompson. Yawn. They get a lot of use out of that Company cell set. And out of plain gray wifebeaters.

Who’d have pegged Arthur as a gardener? Nathan looks so much younger when he’s all clean-cut and buttoned up. See, even Arthur thinks so!

Reprise of one of the best scenes ever: the hospital scene! Peter really can handle everyone in the family when he wants to. Did you see him pull Nathan off, then fend off the parents and diffuse the situation? Kid’s not useless, I swear. At least, not all the time.

Here’s a question: why are all of Hiro’s visions of the Petrelli family? Somewhere in his drugged-out dream, is he wondering, "Should I be seeing visions of Kaito or something? Or at least a turtle?"

Arthur, you shouldn’t try to mislead Angela. Or, y'know, outright lie to her face. She will fuck you up. No, seriously.

I like that Thompson and Meredith abducted this homeless guy in broad daylight. I hope the Haitian was around to clean up the memories of several dozen tent-camp dwellers.

Elle is not such a great actress. Trying to be nice not so well aktully. Of course Gabriel’s apartment is all lined with books. And his furniture has plastic covers on it. And he has a twin bed. Aw. I guess this apartment looked different when "Father forgive me" was scrawled all over the closet. Did anyone else think Gabriel was going to stick that fork in Elle’s eye or something?

Thompson: “Put this guy in cell nine. Where your beloved yet stupid brother will inevitably be imprisoned.”
Gordon: “Ohai thar Flint!”
Flint: “An invisible man tackled me in an alley.”
Me: “Now where was that scene? Go away, people with inconsistent and annoying southern accents! I want me some Claude!”
[Two minutes pass. Gears turn.]
Me: "WAIT! Claude done got shot and left the company, like, 7 years ago, so I doubt he tackled Flint in an alley. WTF, show?"

Elle and Gabriel luff each other! And HRG’s being a jerk about it. Elle doesn’t show a lot of emotions, Noah, so you should probably encourage her when she shows some positive attachment to someone other than Bob.

Arthur. Linderman. You should probably be a little more careful where you talk about your nefarious plans. Angela rolls a 19 on her will save, but it’s not enough to override Arthur’s epic-level bonuses. Damnit! But I think she’s still gonna get hers. Because somehow, Arthur ends up in Jersey with a tube in his throat. That’ll teach him to fuck with Angela.

Hiro is apparently very susceptible to inhaled drugs. Good thing.

Train fight? Okay. Not the best action-packed Heroes fight. Let us shuffle awkwardly around these packages! And fail to taze people! And then shuffle some more! Oh the drama!

Linderman cooking lessons. I never saw Angela as that much of a cook, but apparently she makes a mean stew. Linderman is secretly in love with Angela, isn’t he. That’s why he breaks ranks. I’m not sure how I feel about this characterization of Angela as not knowin what’s goin on. But it sort of explains the socks phase.

Oh, interesting connection to Season One! Meredith started the train fire that makes Claire a local hero! I mean, now that it wasn’t terrorists like they originally meant. Thompson has humanity? Or this is part of a larger plot? If I cared a bit more about this plotline, I might be confused.

Kristen and Zachary are the cutest. I want Gabriel and Elle to get married and live awkwardly ever after!

Oh, not stew. Soup. Italian soup. His mother’s recipe. Damn, that’s cold. Kill the man with his mother's Italian soup. And then she calls on the Haitian. Poor Arthur has a hubris problem. He doesn’t try to run away. Or call Linderman the healer. Or anything. Did you forget that the woman you married is a total badass?

No, Elle! You made Gabriel into a monster! HRG, you won’t think "exposing the entire brain" is so cool when he does it to your Claire Bear, I guarantee.

Why did it take Arthur two scenes to catch on to the fact that she poisoned him? The whole audience was already there. Nathan comes home at the most inopportune times. But even though he knew his dad tried to kill him, he still wanted to save him. That’s what makes him a hero. I heart Nathan.

Arthur’s been dead six months by the time the cab scene happens in the pilot. So uh… timeline problems? And why does Nathan think Arthur committed suicide if Nathan saw with his own eyes that Arthur had a heart attack, and the doctor confirmed it?

Aw, Peter and Nathan are actually sad at the funeral! Despite the fact that they knew Arthur was a bastard. They still love famiglia. Also, they're cuddling in public.

WTF?! Afrian!Isaac! Another actor of color bites the dust unnecessarily. Of course. But Arthur continues the strategy of saving the world by taking away the abilities of people who use their powers stupidly. First Peter, now Hiro. Maybe Arthur is a good guy!

That voiceover and preview was not so good, aktully. However, I am so happy over the Nathan/Peter and Arthur/Angela scenes that even a ridiculously vague and badly-narrated teaser can't spoil my mood. And I love Malcolm McDowell so much. The Gabriel/Elle plot was adorable, HRG was badass, and I don’t in any way care about Meredith. But in conclusion, yea flashbacks!

Comments

[47-trek-47.livejournal.com]

Heh, now Claire has ANOTHER crazy uncle (three now!). I actually have more thoughts on other things, but... yes. That amused me.

[brighteyed-jill.livejournal.com]

I mean honestly: how many Petrellis and near-Petrellis can there be?! ?!?!

[47-trek-47.livejournal.com]

Angela rolls a 19 on her will save, but it’s not enough to override Arthur’s epic-level bonuses.

Bwah. Awesome.

So, yes. They friggin' forgot about the suicide thing. Goddammit, I hate them. I hate them forever. If I could stop watching, I totally would.

... Aside from that, though, um. Yes, it was quite enjoyable. Especially because they actually had Arthur and Angela being sexual with each other, omg. I seriously didn't think they would. But then... this is Heroes. EVERYONE is sexual with each other. But, really. "Get a room," and then they were ON A BED. I realize that it's incredibly bizarre for this to make me so happy, BUT IT DOES. This was on my wishlist way back months before the season started: Angela and Arthur being sexily evil together. And I totally rated it about a 2 on a scale of 10 for likelihood of actually happening.

And Nathan and Peter. OMG, they were, like, cojoined the whole episode. It was amazing. Amazing and inspiring. THEY WERE CUDDLING AT DAD'S FUNERAL. Which actually makes no sense with the previous canon of the suicide and Nathan blaming himself and Peter for it, but... but... CUDDLING.

And they were cuddling at that party. And Nathan was being all badass about prosecuting Linderman, totally to impress Peter (really! that was totally it!). Which totally doesn't make sense with the canon of Nathan telling Peter about the DA wanting him to prosecute Linderman LATER at Peter's party, but... um. Cuddling?

I'm trying. I'm trying SO HARD.

[brighteyed-jill.livejournal.com]

Heh. Roleplaying dorkiness FTW.

Um...Yeah. Suicide? I mean, Arthur didn't seem depressed. So if the suicide was s lie, was the depression a lie as well? If so, why would Nathan lie to Peter about the depression? I feel that the writers probably need to visit Heroes Wiki or something and get their facts straight.

But... CUDDLING! I mean, there was so much Nathan/Peter cuddling. It was amazing. Supported by previously-establish canon? No. Awesome? Yes. I mean, what were the two of them whispering about at that party? And where was Heidi, if this was pre-accident? Also, love the "Are the rumors true" line when Linderman looks pointedly at Peter and then back at Nathan. Heh.

Why do they need to obey canon? We justify justify justify because of teh pretty!

[miss-miso.livejournal.com]

That’ll teach him to fuck with Angela.

A lesson I'll bet he'll learn again before the season is over. Hopefully!

Did anyone else think Gabriel was going to stick that fork in Elle’s eye or something?

LOL. I thought it was just me! And I so do not blame him for taking down the stupid emo dude. He was breaking all of Gabe's shot glasses! One is quite enough to demonstrate, you weird little freak.

Arthur’s been dead six months by the time the cab scene happens in the pilot. So uh… timeline problems?

I complained about this too, and my (less obsessed) other half pointed out that they never indicated their flashbacks were all occurring at the same time (ie the Sylar/ Elle/HRG one was only a few months ago, the Petrelli one was a year ago, or something to that effect). But it still grated. I think they were trying to be a bit too cute there. But, I suppose I'll give them a pass, because I loved the rest of the episode. I just wish they'd, you know, re-watch the previous seasons a couple of times (like their fans have). And get some sort of consistent timeline in their heads. Because, really, how hard could that be? Just a minor grumble. I'll be over it by next week.

[brighteyed-jill.livejournal.com]

A lesson I'll bet he'll learn again before the season is over. Hopefully!

Yes! Angela is the queen badass, and Arthur will feel her wrath. Just as soon as she stops being paralyzed. Which will totally happen, because Matt Parkman is going to the Company for help! And if there's anyone who can un-whammy Angela, it'd be Matt.

I so do not blame him for taking down the stupid emo dude.
Amen. Take your guy-liner and get out, dude. But here's a question... Have we ever seen Sylar use that power?

I suppose I'll give them a pass, because I loved the rest of the episode. I just wish they'd, you know, re-watch the previous seasons a couple of times (like their fans have). And get some sort of consistent timeline in their heads.

Oh yeah, I totally forgive them. Because there was so much squishy Petrelli goodness in the episode. But uh... I've seen better researched fanfic. Like, a lot of it. Don't they know that if they make mistakes, even little ones, the fans will notice? Right, Peter's passport gender?

[jaune-chat.livejournal.com]

And we know to what madness Peter's passport gender leads. To the Anonymous Kink Meme II... or worse.

So much lovely Petrelli petting in this episode. Totally uncanon, and the timelines were screwed up all to hell and back, but they sure were pretty. I think the directors and writers are learning to wave their prettiest actors around like a shiny object to distract us when canon and timeline fail.

Oh hey, I think that crack in the world during the title card was actually the Godsend symbol. I think. Pretty sure. Very symbolic and stuff.

[brighteyed-jill.livejournal.com]

Symbolic symbol is symbolic. Thank you, oh writers of hit-us-over-the-head-with-your-crazy-subtleties. But uh... I love the Petrelli petting, canon or no. It's like reading a poorly researched but delicious fanfic. Perhaps that's how I will justify the show's inadequacies from now on; I'll pretend it was canceled after Season 2, and I'm now just experiencing some fan projects that don't quite respect canon enough. Problem solved.