Heroes 1x06 Better Halves

[oyceter]

I have to admit, I half watched this because I was attempting to keep the ninja rats from escaping and because most of it was on Niki, who I'm still not that interested in. On the one hand, yay, DL is not evil! More points for good racial politics on the show and multi-racial relationships! On the other hand, boo for still not so wonderful gender politics. I keep wanting to slap Niki on the head, and oh, I felt so, so sorry for Micah seeing that last fight. It could almost be a metaphor of divorce turned real.

I am also growing strangely fond of Claire's dad, creepy though he may be. A very large part of this is because Claire obviously loves and trusts him and because he really does seem to love Claire. I felt so bad for her sitting there with her bio-parents.

The Hiro-and-Ando show continues to rock, especially with Hiro's remorse over not being able to save people. You know, usually I like taking apart tropes, but I love how straight Hiro and Ando play the superhero thing. Hiro really, sincerely wants to help people, and that is why I love him so much.

Though him geeking out over having a sword in the future didn't hurt either.

But my favorite part was Hiro telling Ando that you don't have to have superpowers to be a superhero, and that of course Ando was one, and that it was clear Hiro thought Ando was one the entire time. I am so, so glad the term "sidekick" never got mentioned.

Mohinder, alas, still has no plot, despite his hotness, although he does get some nice sarcastic moments. He has the nicest voice.

Perky girl Friday is thankfully evil, which makes the perkiness more forgivable.

Also, I missed the crucial last cliffhangery moments.

Comments

[oyceter]

I am hoping that DL won't have killed Niki, and I was giving a bit more leeway just because the writers seemed to be setting him off as a sympathetic character (and I was so, so scared that he was just going to be a stereotypical deadbeat dad blah blah blah). But yes, you are very right about the hired muscle/bad guy/escaped convict thing. Mostly I am hoping that because of the multiracial cast that there will be more black male roles that break the stereotype later on.

I'm more leery about the gender politics than the racial ones, but I think a good deal of that is because my current expectations for good racial politics in genre TV is so low that it really doesn't take much to make me happy. That is rather sad, actually =(.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sure Niki's not dead -- she's a main character, after all.

The gender roles are problematic, particularly in the way that both Niki and Claire, while having superheroic abilities, are so passive: neither has control over her gifts. But for some reason, the race stuff is sticking out more to me, probably because the show has such a determinedly multiracial cast.

I'm glad that Eden is in league with the bad guys. Maybe she will eventually have a personality and some agency, too.

[oyceter]

Argh, yes, the gender roles. And then there is poor Simone, shunted off to the side while being a part of a romantic triangle...