Not a bad episode. Thank goodness. Not a great episode either, unfortunately. It did fill in a number of gaps, but in most cases, those gaps weren't that significant. The biggest revelation is that the relationship between Peter Petrelli and Kensei/Adam came about via legitimate means, as opposed to the amnesiatic manipulation of Peter I (and presumable other viewers) assumed Adam/Kensei was undertaking.
Other things learned this episode: Amada Petrelli has just about no redeeming qualities, viciously lying to Nathan's now-walking wife like that. She's just cruel. And what the hell is her power, anyway? The power to sow discord? Sorry, any two-bit soap actress can handle that in a pinch. We do need more of Nathan's (ex?) wife, however.
Veronica Mars/Lightning Lass is just your garden variety unstable psychotic. I was hoping for more.
Did I miss something? When was it established that the Haitian could dampen other supers' powers? I only remember seeing him steal memories prior to this episode.
The los Gemelos De la Maravilla background is kinda interesting in a melodramatic sense. So the sister caught the brother's bride screwing an ex-boyfriend in the middle of the wedding reception, and goes all black oil on them, wiping out the entire wedding party. Oops. The sister seems far more self-centered than is healthy, and the brother far more forgiving (hey, if my sister wiped out my new bride, family, friends and whatnot on my wedding day, I think I'd be a hell of a lot more pissed at her). This family dynamic is so messed up, I can't see them surviving to the end of the season. For all of that, they're still a mere shadow of the wonderfully conflicted Ted/Radioactive Man from season one. Come to think of it, all of the secondary characters this time around are a lot more shallow than those of season one. Interesting.
It should come as a surprise to nobody that the absolute worst storyline revolved around Niki/Jessica. Firstly, we have the utterly pointless reveal that D.L. (aka Walk-Through-Walls-Guy) survived the gunshot wound from the season 1 finale, only to be killed in a LA nightclub by... a gunshot wound. This came after he was clever enough to desolidify when his killer tried to punch him. And Niki/Jessica isn't anymore. Instead, we have Niki/Gina. Gina being a self-centered party girl. Joy. The entire D.L./Niki subplot this episode is a steaming example of writers not only making meaningless changes for the sole purpose of being able to say "Fooled You!" to the audience, but changes that laboriously strive to maintain the status quo. And will somebody please explain to Tim Kring that multiple-personality disorder is not a super power. I'd thought that her actual super power was super-strength, but apparently that's not the case, since it took Niki/Jessica/Gina something like 20 minutes to break down a simple wooden door in last week's episode, whereas your average firefighter or police office would likely kick it in with about five seconds' worth of effort.
Fortunately, the narrative momentum has picked up--that's two back-to-back episodes that were at least watchable. We haven't gotten any dramatic, tension-filled "Save the cheerleader, save the world" moments yet, but if Kring is indeed taking advantage of the writer's strike to embarking on a mid-season course correction, then there may be hope for the show.
Now Playing: Electric Light Orchestra Afterglow
Veronica/Lightning had a good line, though: "The said I was a paranoid sociopath, but they were just out to get me because I said I'd kill them."
ReplyDeleteIndeed. Best line of the show. The addition of Veronica Mars is the best reason to watch Heroes this year.
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