Heroes 1x21 The Hard Part
Tue, May. 8th, 2007 06:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterWhy yes, I was at work at 4:30 in the morning... (I plead that as my excuse for anything incomprehensible, ha).
Huh. Well, that had some moments, but I think everything's just moving into place for the end of the season. Also, it's hard to beat giant apocalyptic AU episodes.
Well. Those were some mother issues now, weren't they?
Most obviously, there was Sylar's mother (now confirmed to be Ellen Greene from Little Shop of Horrors -- ha! I sort of recognized her voice). There was a fun moment when she went on about Sylar becoming an investment banker and then making him a sandwich when he didn't want one; I thought, "Hey! That's my mom!" and burst out laughing. I suspect that may not have been the effect the writers were going for.
But yes, Sylar clearly has a dysfunctional relationship with his mother; how much the show is blaming his insane psychoticness on her is a little up there. I can sort of read it as a completely smothering relationship, but (as the resemblence to my mother demonstrates) one does not have to get "I will now be special by being an insane psychotic eater of braaaaaiiiiinnnnns" out of that. It was fairly interesting that becoming a giant exploding nuclear bomb did disturb Sylar morally. And I am extremely amused that the first person he called in his time of distress was Mohinder, whose reaction, like most people's, was something like, "Ok, then why don't you decide to not murder tons of people?"
On a side note, the Sylar's mom bits had some gorgeous shots, from the insane snowglobe moments (Edward Scissorhands! Hee!) to the nuclear explosion literally writ in blood, and I did actually feel some sympathy for Sylar, largely because dude! No one should be pushed into being an investment banker! (that part is probably completely idiosyncratic though)
I am now wondering a little about Sylar's dad; was he a special? Is that why his mom immediately freaked and called him the devil?
But there was also Jessica/Niki and Micah.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
katie_m mentioned that she doesn't believe for a moment that Jessica would stand around and need prompting from Niki to rescue Micah, and I completely agree with her. On the other hand, I liked that DL is continuing as the good father on a race note, but that's somewhat lessened by the fact that the fathers on this show have been coming off a bit better (I am on the fence about this, but this episode is tipping it over in favor of the fathers). I also liked that Candice is not "innately motherly" somehow; she likes Micah, but it's not being portrayed (imo) as a motherly instinct type of thing.
And then, to round it all off, there was Angela Petrelli and Nathan and again with the mothers urging their sons toward the bombing of New York. Though in Sylar's mom's defense, she couldn't possibly have known that. Thankfully, Mama Petrelli comes off as less "completely neurotic and overbearing" and more "power hungry and in cahoots with Gen 1.0." I liked the not-so-subtle hints that she knew a lot more than was going on. On the other hand, hello gunning for mass murder! I am also a little confused on a plot note -- if she's in cahoots with Linderman and Gen 1.0 and company (also, am irked that all the powerful people in 1.0 are white men, though the show could be setting that up as an interesting intergenerational, interracial conflict), why did Bob the Haitian take Claire from one arm of the Company to another?
On the father note, Sylar's dad is conspicuously absent; there seems to be some sort of odd friction between him and his mom over that and the watchmaking and the "that clock of your father's is trash." Mr. Bennet gets a touching reunion with Claire, and DL shows nice fatherly support for Micah. Nathan, on the other hand, gets the "Bad Dad No Cookie" award for not only abandoning Claire, but also bringing in his other family and lying to their faces! Dude! Not cool! (Though I loved Claire's "That is so cool" reply to learning that Nathan can fly.)
I have to say, I was somewhat amused by DL being offended by Linderman manipulating him and Niki for their offspring while Jessica shrugged it off; it's a funny glance askance at the usual "we will take over the woman's ovaries for science" plot. On the other hand, I think Niki will be much more horrified than Jessica, and I'm not sure if the writers meant that, but I am glad that DL is just as horrified at his reproductive abilities being used as well.
On the non-mother gender note side, I am somewhat irked that both girls who purportedly can stop Sylar do so passively -- Claire via not having her brain eaten and Molly via finding him. Obviously Molly is not going to go out there and kick Sylar's butt, but now it is two girls who had to be saved by men (Claire did get to do stuff in "Homecoming" though) and are valued for their non-active ability to stop Sylar.
And now, the not-so-sporky stuff!
Mohinder! Being useful!rachelmanija pointed out to me last night that he uses an Indian word for "political thugs" to describe Linderman and co. (Rachel, you will have to spell it; I can't remember the pronunciation), which is a nice small callout to his being Indian. And I cheered when he told I-forgot-his-name that they needed him a lot more than he needed them. Also, Shanti! Re-mention of Shanti! I am still hoping that she will turn out to be not-dead; I would like more women of color on the show, please (it would be nice to not have the race issues and the gender issues so very neatly divided, as amazingly there are people out there who get to deal with both at the same time).
I completely handwave and ignore the science that even I can poke holes in.
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
vonnie_k points out that Molly is totally Prof. X + Cerebro! And so continues the Heroes tradition of taking old X-Men characters and gender-swapping them (I think so far my list is Kitty Pryde/DL, Rogue/Peter, Wolverine/Claire and I can't think of anything right now because it is still 5 in the morning).
Micah! In the painting! WTF?! Also, yay to the return of Micah's cleverness!
The Petrellis have sort of been in limbo for a bit, despite the bad Peter/Claire chemistry like whoa. I miss burning-house Claire; she's out of her element here and uncertain, and it shows. On the other hand, I loved, "The universe cannot be that lame."
And then, my favorite part of the show -- Hiro and Ando! Whoo!laurashapiro, our Hiro completely repudiates future!Hiro! rachelmanija mentioned that Hiro draws his philosophy from whatever pop culture he knows, from bushido to comic books to video games. I'd be irked at the bushido mention if he just went on about it, as "clearly his knowledge of bushido is taken entirely from Blade of the Immortal" (says Rachel).
I still want more manga-reading and anime-watching people to watch this show, because Hiro is so totally a manga character! In the actually-read-manga sense, not the stereotyped-view-of-manga sense! Just the "Believe!" from Ando last episode is completely manga!
The protests about killing Sylar, particularly when he's asking for forgiveness also strikes me as completely manga (you are all sick of me yelling, "SO TOTALLY MANGA!" I know. But I have evidence now that Masi Oka is working stuff in!). And aawwwww, the sword broke =(. Woe to the breakage of presumably priceless artifacts!
Also, I would like to note that after all his protests about killing Sylar, the thing that tips him over the edge is the fact that Sylar kills Ando in the future. Hiro/Ando, I love you guys so much.
I am now waiting to see if Hiro can actually stop Sylar by convincing him to join the forces of good; that would make for a really nifty S2. I think Hiro's real superpower is his optimism; look how he even affected Nathan!
(Also, how does Sylar get past the time freeze? Is that some other special power?)
And now, will Peter explode or not? I am guessing not, as it is two days too early and shooting him will traumatize Claire too much. Oh yeah, I completely forgot about the Bennet-Parkman-Sprague team. Ted! You can start cars, how awesome! Also, I loved the Matt-Peter double take.
Also also, I completely forgot but this ep. write up is getting insanely long, but there were lots of interesting things going on about destiny and fate. Peter clearly believes in destiny and fate, though he believes his destiny is to change fate or something, which I find amusing. Claire seems to be anti-destiny and anti-fate; given the pretty short end of the stick she keeps getting, I don't blame her. Hiro usually seems to be pro-destiny, but like Peter he thinks his destiny is to change fate (of course, he's got the best chance to do so, given the time-space powers). Nathan -- I got no clue. And of course, Gen 1.0 seems to think they can alter fate. I'm now really curious to see if there was some alternate timeline that they're trying to avoid by exploding New York. DL, Niki, Jessica, and Matt don't seem interested in fate and destiny at all; they just want their families to work again (also ties in toheresluck's point about class and the freedom to play with powers instead of trying to just get through the next day).
And here's my summary of the census up at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
bobthehaitian.
Huh. Well, that had some moments, but I think everything's just moving into place for the end of the season. Also, it's hard to beat giant apocalyptic AU episodes.
Well. Those were some mother issues now, weren't they?
Most obviously, there was Sylar's mother (now confirmed to be Ellen Greene from Little Shop of Horrors -- ha! I sort of recognized her voice). There was a fun moment when she went on about Sylar becoming an investment banker and then making him a sandwich when he didn't want one; I thought, "Hey! That's my mom!" and burst out laughing. I suspect that may not have been the effect the writers were going for.
But yes, Sylar clearly has a dysfunctional relationship with his mother; how much the show is blaming his insane psychoticness on her is a little up there. I can sort of read it as a completely smothering relationship, but (as the resemblence to my mother demonstrates) one does not have to get "I will now be special by being an insane psychotic eater of braaaaaiiiiinnnnns" out of that. It was fairly interesting that becoming a giant exploding nuclear bomb did disturb Sylar morally. And I am extremely amused that the first person he called in his time of distress was Mohinder, whose reaction, like most people's, was something like, "Ok, then why don't you decide to not murder tons of people?"
On a side note, the Sylar's mom bits had some gorgeous shots, from the insane snowglobe moments (Edward Scissorhands! Hee!) to the nuclear explosion literally writ in blood, and I did actually feel some sympathy for Sylar, largely because dude! No one should be pushed into being an investment banker! (that part is probably completely idiosyncratic though)
I am now wondering a little about Sylar's dad; was he a special? Is that why his mom immediately freaked and called him the devil?
But there was also Jessica/Niki and Micah.
katie_m mentioned that she doesn't believe for a moment that Jessica would stand around and need prompting from Niki to rescue Micah, and I completely agree with her. On the other hand, I liked that DL is continuing as the good father on a race note, but that's somewhat lessened by the fact that the fathers on this show have been coming off a bit better (I am on the fence about this, but this episode is tipping it over in favor of the fathers). I also liked that Candice is not "innately motherly" somehow; she likes Micah, but it's not being portrayed (imo) as a motherly instinct type of thing. And then, to round it all off, there was Angela Petrelli and Nathan and again with the mothers urging their sons toward the bombing of New York. Though in Sylar's mom's defense, she couldn't possibly have known that. Thankfully, Mama Petrelli comes off as less "completely neurotic and overbearing" and more "power hungry and in cahoots with Gen 1.0." I liked the not-so-subtle hints that she knew a lot more than was going on. On the other hand, hello gunning for mass murder! I am also a little confused on a plot note -- if she's in cahoots with Linderman and Gen 1.0 and company (also, am irked that all the powerful people in 1.0 are white men, though the show could be setting that up as an interesting intergenerational, interracial conflict), why did Bob the Haitian take Claire from one arm of the Company to another?
On the father note, Sylar's dad is conspicuously absent; there seems to be some sort of odd friction between him and his mom over that and the watchmaking and the "that clock of your father's is trash." Mr. Bennet gets a touching reunion with Claire, and DL shows nice fatherly support for Micah. Nathan, on the other hand, gets the "Bad Dad No Cookie" award for not only abandoning Claire, but also bringing in his other family and lying to their faces! Dude! Not cool! (Though I loved Claire's "That is so cool" reply to learning that Nathan can fly.)
I have to say, I was somewhat amused by DL being offended by Linderman manipulating him and Niki for their offspring while Jessica shrugged it off; it's a funny glance askance at the usual "we will take over the woman's ovaries for science" plot. On the other hand, I think Niki will be much more horrified than Jessica, and I'm not sure if the writers meant that, but I am glad that DL is just as horrified at his reproductive abilities being used as well.
On the non-mother gender note side, I am somewhat irked that both girls who purportedly can stop Sylar do so passively -- Claire via not having her brain eaten and Molly via finding him. Obviously Molly is not going to go out there and kick Sylar's butt, but now it is two girls who had to be saved by men (Claire did get to do stuff in "Homecoming" though) and are valued for their non-active ability to stop Sylar.
And now, the not-so-sporky stuff!
Mohinder! Being useful!
rachelmanija pointed out to me last night that he uses an Indian word for "political thugs" to describe Linderman and co. (Rachel, you will have to spell it; I can't remember the pronunciation), which is a nice small callout to his being Indian. And I cheered when he told I-forgot-his-name that they needed him a lot more than he needed them. Also, Shanti! Re-mention of Shanti! I am still hoping that she will turn out to be not-dead; I would like more women of color on the show, please (it would be nice to not have the race issues and the gender issues so very neatly divided, as amazingly there are people out there who get to deal with both at the same time). I completely handwave and ignore the science that even I can poke holes in.
vonnie_k points out that Molly is totally Prof. X + Cerebro! And so continues the Heroes tradition of taking old X-Men characters and gender-swapping them (I think so far my list is Kitty Pryde/DL, Rogue/Peter, Wolverine/Claire and I can't think of anything right now because it is still 5 in the morning).Micah! In the painting! WTF?! Also, yay to the return of Micah's cleverness!
The Petrellis have sort of been in limbo for a bit, despite the bad Peter/Claire chemistry like whoa. I miss burning-house Claire; she's out of her element here and uncertain, and it shows. On the other hand, I loved, "The universe cannot be that lame."
And then, my favorite part of the show -- Hiro and Ando! Whoo!
laurashapiro, our Hiro completely repudiates future!Hiro! rachelmanija mentioned that Hiro draws his philosophy from whatever pop culture he knows, from bushido to comic books to video games. I'd be irked at the bushido mention if he just went on about it, as "clearly his knowledge of bushido is taken entirely from Blade of the Immortal" (says Rachel).I still want more manga-reading and anime-watching people to watch this show, because Hiro is so totally a manga character! In the actually-read-manga sense, not the stereotyped-view-of-manga sense! Just the "Believe!" from Ando last episode is completely manga!
The protests about killing Sylar, particularly when he's asking for forgiveness also strikes me as completely manga (you are all sick of me yelling, "SO TOTALLY MANGA!" I know. But I have evidence now that Masi Oka is working stuff in!). And aawwwww, the sword broke =(. Woe to the breakage of presumably priceless artifacts!
Also, I would like to note that after all his protests about killing Sylar, the thing that tips him over the edge is the fact that Sylar kills Ando in the future. Hiro/Ando, I love you guys so much.
I am now waiting to see if Hiro can actually stop Sylar by convincing him to join the forces of good; that would make for a really nifty S2. I think Hiro's real superpower is his optimism; look how he even affected Nathan!
(Also, how does Sylar get past the time freeze? Is that some other special power?)
And now, will Peter explode or not? I am guessing not, as it is two days too early and shooting him will traumatize Claire too much. Oh yeah, I completely forgot about the Bennet-Parkman-Sprague team. Ted! You can start cars, how awesome! Also, I loved the Matt-Peter double take.
Also also, I completely forgot but this ep. write up is getting insanely long, but there were lots of interesting things going on about destiny and fate. Peter clearly believes in destiny and fate, though he believes his destiny is to change fate or something, which I find amusing. Claire seems to be anti-destiny and anti-fate; given the pretty short end of the stick she keeps getting, I don't blame her. Hiro usually seems to be pro-destiny, but like Peter he thinks his destiny is to change fate (of course, he's got the best chance to do so, given the time-space powers). Nathan -- I got no clue. And of course, Gen 1.0 seems to think they can alter fate. I'm now really curious to see if there was some alternate timeline that they're trying to avoid by exploding New York. DL, Niki, Jessica, and Matt don't seem interested in fate and destiny at all; they just want their families to work again (also ties in to
heresluck's point about class and the freedom to play with powers instead of trying to just get through the next day).And here's my summary of the census up at
bobthehaitian.
(no subject)
Tue, May. 8th, 2007 03:44 pm (UTC)rip-offhomage just makes me laugh and laugh.I'd forgotten about Sylar calling Mohinder for advice! That was just so surreally hilarious, especially how earnest Sylar was while Mohinder was all, "WTF are you on about, you murderous wacko?" Heh.
For some reason, the gender issues didn't bother me as much as they did you and Mely. It was probably because I have stars in my eyes where Claire is concerned and this one had A LOT of Claire. Even though she was being a bit passive, she was speaking her mind and giving Peter attitude and so forth. Mama Petrelli, despite her nefarious motivations, was being all take-charge and proactive, and Candice is starting to develop some personality beyond the smirky naughty schoolgirl facade, so I liked that as well.
(no subject)
Tue, May. 8th, 2007 04:30 pm (UTC)I really wanted Claire to have just a wee bit more to do, though her reunion with Mr. Bennet in the end and all her little comments to the Petrellis were awesome. I also hope Candice will get more stuff now, though for all we know, character development will mean she will bravely and tragically die soon!
Ah show. I love you, and yet...
(no subject)
Tue, May. 8th, 2007 07:06 pm (UTC)