Heroes 1x13 The Fix

[oyceter]

Yup, we're gearing up again for another arc! Not that much exciting stuff happened in this one. Well, except for the thing with Hiro's dad! And Claire's mom!

Lots of stuff about parents in this episodes -- Niki deciding to go to therapy for Micah, DL struggling with being a single dad, Claire and her father's relationship, and then Hiro and his dad. I'm wondering how their relationship is! Also, I giggled at the "GULP!" subtitle. And, of course, Matt and Janice are on the verge of parenthood; I guessed the pregnant thing maybe five seconds before she said it. I'm hoping it gets handled in a non-sporky way; I usually hate pregnancy storylines.

The other thing that I liked a lot was the handling of marriage on this show. Not Mr. Bennet's, of course, given the brainwiping, but DL and Niki, and Matt and Janice. Matt and Janice were not soul-suckingly boring, thank goodness, and I actually found the "guess what's on my mind" thing sort of cute. I'm again happy with how little "No! You don't believe me! Woe!" misunderstandings there are. But I'm really hoping that both the marriages will be long-term things. I don't mind conflicts within the relationship, but I'm sort of sick of TV couples going on again and off again and never really committing (psst, Joss, yes that's you). Yeah, there's drama in that, but I think there can be good drama and character development within a relationship as well.

Oh Micah! That is so wrong! I keep thinking of the poor people trying to check their accounts, only to find five hundred dollars missing or something.

Of course DL can visit Niki! Duh. Should have thought of that before! I really like how Niki doesn't cave to the guilt trip, though in terms of feminism, it is still problematic that she's entirely motivated by Micah. Megatrouble wrote on the problems Heroes has with regard to this, particularly with the history of women being diagnosed with hysteria and Niki's stay in a padded room. I'm hoping that having DL be just as motivated by Micah somewhat alleviates this, and that the show seems to be concentrating on both father figures and mother figures alike.

This will be particularly interesting when Claire and her mother end up meeting. Was the shot of her mother supposed to be significant somehow (famous actress? Someone from the show I should recognize?)? I figured out the casting bit for Hiro's dad just a while ago; I haven't seen Star Trek so I wouldn't have got it.

So, parents on this show:
Mothers: Niki (motivated totally by concern for her son, active figure), Mrs. Bennet (somewhat insane through no real fault of her own, passive figure), Janice (just found out, not sure if she's passive or active, though I'd classify her as more passive than Matt), Meredith Gordon (will find out more about her), Mrs. Petrelli (somewhat insane, doesn't act much), Nathan's wife (not much on screen), Mohinder's mom (not much on screen)

Fathers: DL (motivated totally by concern for his son, active figure), Mr. Bennet (strongly motivated by concern for his daughter, active figure), Matt (active figure), Mr. Nakamura (active figure, I'm guessing, given that he has henchmen), Mr. Petrelli (dead), Nathan (not portrayed much as a father), Mohinder's dad (dead, not much on screen, but strongly influences Mohinder)

Hrm, actually, that doesn't look like such a great balance anymore.

Race-wise, I continue to be happy with Hiro and Ando getting to speak Japanese to people. It's a small thing, but really, not being able to speak a language well takes away so much power. I'm glad that Hiro and Ando tend to remain on their own ground most of the time, so that when they do burst into broken English, we (or at least I) sympathize with them.

Also, on a totally side note, I have so much Hiro love for him climbing back over the fence and asking them to let the unspecial Ando go. "That's the way we roll." EEEEEEE!

Isaac and Simone sadly disappear again from the screen, though it looks like Mohinder gets a little more to do. It's too bad Invisible Man is white as well. I cheered for the black psychiatrist though.

On non-political notes, Claire and Zack! Yay! And lots of nice, meaty hints dropped about Peter and his powers! And Sylar is on the loose!

ETA: Oh, how could I forget! The windchimes! Total callout to the X-Files and X!

Comments

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

I think it's great that Claire found her biological mother: since the other cheerleader died, she's pretty much only been interacting with men: Zach, her father, and the memory-eraser, with her mother barely present and unable to contribute to advancing the story.

And this makes... five women with superpowers? Charlie's dead, Eden's dead, Niki, Claire, and now Claire's mom. No women of colour yet, though. Well, Mohinder's sister, who died before the story began. I'm wondering when the character from the webcomic is supposed to show up.

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

...and Peter Petrelli (of the men with whom Claire interacted). Hm. There was Audrey the FBI agent, ever so briefly, too, I guess.

[oyceter]

Hrm, yeah, that's a good point. Niki's mostly just intereacting with men as well; there don't seem to be many female friendships on this show so far. I mean, there was Niki's friend, but she's dropped off the radar, and I guess Niki and Jessica sort of count as a relationship...

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

Matt and Janice are on the verge of parenthood

You know, if I were Matt, given recent events... but, hey, maybe he read in her mind that she used birth control during the affair.

I cheered for the black psychiatrist though.

I was really interested in my reaction to that, because when she appeared was when I realized I'd been expecting a guy. So it was nice to have that expectation overturned, and I liked the actress a lot. I hope she'll be around for a little while at least, and won't get, you know, murdered by Jessica.

[almeda.livejournal.com]

I LOVE the black psychologist, because she so clearly *cares*.

I don't think Jessica will kill her, because it's been firmly stated that 'succeed in therapy' == 'maybe see Micah again before he goes to college,' and *Jessica* is even more obsessively Micah-motivated than Niki is. Niki at least has a secondary loyalty to DL.

[oyceter]

I know, she was cool! And I like that she doesn't take any crap from people.

[oyceter]

I liked the therapist a lot as well, and I'm hoping that she'll be able to get stuff out of Jessica.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Does everyone think the psychiatrist is what she seems? I was wondering if she was an agent of Shadowy Forces trying to either release Jessica or integrate Niki for reasons of some overall plan.

[oyceter]

Oh, I didn't think about that! I sort of like her good for now, but really, who knows.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

The Shadowy Forces could be benevolent overall, but more interested in saving the world via their Clever Plan either via Jessica or via Niki's mental health as a means to an end, not an end in itself.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

Yeah, when she threatened or semi-threatened Nikki, I figured she had to be a fake. Threats do not make a good therapy relationship.

Although the show's dialogue is clunky enough that I guess it *could* be that.

[oyceter]

That is an excellent point ;). I think I just fanwanked the entire thing in my head and didn't even notice it.

[maeve-rigan.livejournal.com]

Much intrigue in this episode, which, as you say, really was mostly about parents and children.

I appreciate your commentary on the racial & gender roles/balance in the show. I have one comment that may be of interest:

You wrote: "It's too bad Invisible Man is white as well."

Yes, and yet they may have felt that casting a black actor would have been too obvious an allusion to Ellison's Invisible Man--really hitting us over the head with the racism angle. Instead, the character tells Peter he's "Claude Rains," alluding to the actor who played the title role in the 1933 movie The Invisible Man (http://imdb.com/title/tt0024184/), which is more subtle and in keeping with the sci-fi nature of the show.

[oyceter]

Hrm, that's true. Though I suppose they could have cast a Latino or Asian or Native American or Indian as well! Though given the metaphoric nature of some of the powers, I think it could have worked -- Peter's chameleon powers play off his desire to be special and to stand out well.

[vonnie-k.livejournal.com]

Interesting article from Megatrouble -- I share a lot of issues re. Niki/Jessica's arc with the writer, although to be fair, Niki isn't the only one whose power is destructive and treated as an illness. Ted Sprague and Sylar are her male counterparts, and I actually don't mind that we have a female character whose power has a distinctly darker edge.

Even though we have a skewed female/male ratio, Claire's character is so awesome that I can't really call this show sexist. She's complex and fully-realized, and I don't know how that blogger is planning on pinning her as a stereotype and a poor example of feminism in her next article. Ah, well.

[oyceter]

I do like her darker edge, though I think the mental institution thing plays in a lot more to the female hysteria history than Ted Sprague's powers.

I dunno... I mean, one awesome female character is definitely excellent, and I love Claire to itty bitty pieces and think she's one of my favorite characters on TV right now, but there still is a dearth of good female characters on the show. And abovethread, someone pointed out that none of the female characters really interact with each other; they're all mostly interacting with men. So while I think they've got a great start with Claire, there is still some more that can be done. (also, more women of color! That would be nice!)

[almeda.livejournal.com]

I forget where I heard this or who supposedly said it, but I heard that one way of measuring a work as 'feminist fiction' or not was that in 'feminist fiction' women can have conversations with each other that do not involve talking about guys.

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

The Rule (http://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=The_Rule) comes from a comic strip (http://alisonbechdel.blogspot.com/2005/08/rule.html) by Alison Bechdel.