Heroes 2x01 Four Months Later

[oyceter]

Er, I was actually not that enthusiastic about watching this because I had known about David Anders being cast as Kensei and have been rolling my eyes at that for quite some time.

Thankfully, I was very happy with this! And to start off: EEEEEEE! Ando and Mr. Bennet in the credits!

WOC in the cast, whoo! I roll my eyes a little at the illegal immigrant aspect coupled with being Latino, but at least they are fugitives of an entirely different sort. Also, I am a complete sucker for sibling relationships. One of the things that I forgot I loved about the show was how much the focus is on non-romantic relationships. Also also, it seems as though they're fairly educated when not on the run, given that Maya was reading a book on evolution and whatnot in English (I am guessing it is in English, as I seriously doubt Chandra Suresh managed to sell international rights to the thing).

Awwww! Claire and Mr. Bennet! I love the entire scene in front of school, complete with car giving! So cute! And of course both Claire and Mr. Bennet fail miserably at blending in. I continue to adore Claire and her instincts to protect and help people and to take risks. New flying guy is creepy and I don't like him, despite his obvious role as the romantic interest. I'm guessing that he'll end up endangering the lives of the Bennets/Butlers. Also, Mrs. Bennet and Lyle know everything now, right?

Nathan is bushy! So what happened? Heidi and the boys left him? I feel that doesn't make that much sense, but oh well. I continue to be wary of Angela as the pushy evil mom, but I guess we'll see.

Ando and Mr. Nakamura! Ando calling him "anata" made me blink at the screen; it sounds so weird to be calling someone who is your elder "you." Um, but maybe I am projecting too much and that is not true in all cases. Anyhow, Ando! So cute! I love how his response is, of course, "No, I'm not going away, you are stuck with me," because that is so very Ando. It's hard to believe how much he's changed from the Ando in the pilot.

Is Mr. Nakamura really dead? It's so hard to tell with this show, particularly because we didn't get a look at his face. Then again, who knows?

I particularly loved the Mr. Nakamura-Angela Petrelli face off and EEEEE! Discussions of the previous generation! So Mr. Petrelli was superpowered too, interesting.

And big reveal of Peter, sans emo bangs, in Ireland! With no memory!

I groaned at the scene with Mohinder and the glasses guy, only to cheer at his phone call with Mr. Bennet. Yay, not falling for the same old tricks! And that makes the whole lecture tour thing make so much more sense; I can't really see Mohinder going around attempting to convince the world of the existence of superpowers normally. I sort of yelled during the "Look! You tried to kill Sylar! That is exactly the same as us eliminating people before they become threats!" because dude! Taking out an insane brain-eating mass murderer who has killed a lot of people in the past and clearly intends to keep doing so is NOT THE SAME as deciding someone's talent is too dangerous. I am sure Mohinder didn't mention that to keep the guy dangling (please?). Also, I love that both Mohinder and Matt are taking care of Molly; that is so cute.

Oh Matt. Janice divorced you, huh. At least there will be no more scenes of unworking marriages, though I'm still feeling the lack of women on the series.

That said, my favorite part of the episode was actually the Hiro-Kensei moments, which was surprising, to say the least. As mentioned above, I was really skeptical about it, but right now, I'm willing to give it a shot. I'm hoping that Hiro somehow becomes the key to Kensei-as-legend, which would greatly mitigate the "What These People Need Is a Honky" aspect.

Also, it was funny!

Oh Hiro! You are awesome! I forgot amidst the action-action-action of the finale, but oh, I missed his optimism and belief in things and his decidedly fun view of the world. The moment when he put his glasses on again to stare at the unmasked Kensei was priceless. (Also, David Anders' accent is painful.) I love the new "Yatta!" moment, his little speech to Kensei while everything was frozen in time, and "Oh no, I broke history!" So cute!

So far, not that much analysis, given that everything's still being set up. Looks like we'll see Niki, DL and Micah next week, yay. And Sylar! On the beach, being skanky! Why am I not surprised? I bet he sends Mohinder anonymous sketchy text messages: "I R lookin at boobies! I winz!"

Off to find everyone else's write ups and to add links to bobthehaitian, which I have sorely neglected during the summer!

Comments

[marfisa.livejournal.com]

Considering that "Kensei" was going around wearing that lacquer mask most of the time, it could turn out that Hiro will actually wind up taking over his identity and becoming the Kensei of legend himself--or at least impersonating him long enough to perform some of his more heroic deeds.

Did I miss some reference last season to the alleged plague which deprives people with the metagene (or whatever it's called in the Heroesverse) of their powers? Or was that whole spiel just a red herring Mohinder cooked up as bait to attract the Company's attention more easily to his bogus lecture tour?

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

just a red herring

The Company seems sufficiently well-connected and informed that I don't think Mohinder could cook something up like that and have the Company believe it without supporting evidence.

[oyceter]

I am seriously hoping that Hiro becomes Kensei, or that Yaeko does, as per other people's suggestions. Yaeko as Kensei would be the best!

I think they mention the plague vaguely in S1 wrt Shanti, but other than that, that's all I remember... Then again, my plot brain sort of sucks, so I wouldn't rely on me ;).

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

I really felt like I ought to be grumpy about Kensei, but DA was funny. So. And I liked the daughter, too; she wasn't spunky, she was irritated. I generally much prefer irritated.

I roll my eyes a little at the illegal immigrant aspect coupled with being Latino, but at least they are fugitives of an entirely different sort.

Yeah. Oh, HEROES: Of course the Latinos are illegal immigrants! But as you say, at least they don't just happen to be that way--they're going to the US for a plot-related reason.

OTOH, I really thought we did the Powerful Woman With No Control last year with Niki.

Also also, it seems as though they're fairly educated when not on the run, given that Maya was reading a book on evolution and whatnot in English (I am guessing it is in English, as I seriously doubt Chandra Suresh managed to sell international rights to the thing).

No, I'm pretty sure the title was in Spanish. Don't ask me. Maybe Chandra was secretly really rich and printed it as a vanity project.

[oyceter]

DA was funny! And Hiro + DA were awesome! Though I will be sporky if Hiro ends up empowering DA instead of becoming Kensei himself. I very much liked the daughter so far, and am hoping we'll see a lot more of her!

Also, yes and yes to Maya being retread Niki. Also, pls to be having no more sexual violence toward women on this show?

Oh, hrm, didn't catch the title. I am now completely amused by Chandra's vanity project!

[onthehill]

Just a small icon-worship comment, as i havent seen it yet. Will come back later.

[oyceter]

Hee, thanks!

[desdenova.livejournal.com]

Maya: Sadly, my enthusiasm for her appearance was soured by the way she was introduced. Oh look! New female character! Oh look! She's being portrayed as a helpless victim! Oh look! Threat of sexual assault! Oh look! Can't control her power! New cliché, please, we've been here and done this. (And yes, of course it's recoverable, but is it really too much to ask for a female "hero" to be introduced with a heroic attitude--somebody who is inspired by their powers to help people, a la Hiro or even EmoBoy Pete.)

Bennets: I love the "totally fail at inconspicuous" thing. And, Claire's potential boyfriend is totally skanky.

Nathan: is clearly in a self-destructive skid, so it would not surprise me if over the previous 4 months, he acted out to drive Heidi away. Unfortunately, we never really got to see enough of her to get a feeling for how she'd react to her suave politician spouse resigning and growing a mountain-man beard, so I can't speculate on her motives.

Hiro: His plot has the potential for so much stabby (and not in a good way), but he's Hiro! I am hoping against hope that they pull that story off without being dumb. (And, I do like the Kensai character, but it's not clear why he has to be a *white* Han-Solo type.)

Pete: No memories *and* wearing what looks like Bob's necklace!!!

Sylar: I bet he sends Mohinder anonymous sketchy text messages: "I R lookin at boobies! I winz!"

That totally cracked me up. You're so right.

[oyceter]

Aiiii, yes, Maya.... I was overlooking a lot of that because protective older sibling gets me every single time (well, except for the Petrellis, but that is more because I am grumpy with fandom). But yeah. More threatened sexual violence, non control and killing for the heroines!

Maybe the beard drove Heidi away? I think it'd drive me away....

[oyceter]

Also, where is my brain?! I totally didn't catch Bob's necklace! And of course, Bob erases memories, duh.

[heyiya.livejournal.com]

I was feeling annoyed at Heroes but your post reminds me of the positiveness and the things that might get better... I was pretty relieved at what they did with white-guy-Kensei, too, though I will be almightily disappointed if Hiro doesn't end up taking his place.

As for the Ireland thing... my ears are still hurting from those accents, sigh.

I like Nathan drunk and bearded much more than I liked him as All-American Politician.

[oyceter]

I have been feeling pretty annoyed at Heroes ever since the finale, so it was nice to sit back and enjoy this episode, which wasn't as bad as I had feared, given the casting spoilers I knew. Ah, low expectations...

Hee! I thought the Ireland accents were bad, but I wasn't sure!

[forodwaith.livejournal.com]

The spouse (first-generation Irish-Canadian) and I decided that the accents were as bad as Tommy Lee Jones in Blown Away, which is our benchmark for Worst (Unintentionally) Comic Irish Accent Ever, so.

[oyceter]

Ooo, that is bad. Yeah, I figured if I could pick it up, they must be awful.

[vonnie-k.livejournal.com]

I know I should be pissed off at the producers for tossing us the painfully white David Anders as Kensei (and I was prepared to do so), but... uhm, he ended up winning me over. And I wasn't even that big a fan of his in Alias! He and Masi Oka had a fun chemistry together, and I'm psyched to see where that plotline is going.

I have yet to see a single person who liked West, Claire's stalkerish poseur boyfriend-to-be. If they meant him to be creepy, then good. If he was meant to win us over? Uhm, they better give him some better material, fast. My girl Claire deserves someone who doesn't elicit in me the impulse to smash him on the head with a frying pan every time he opens his mouth.

[oyceter]

I know! I bemoan the casting of David Anders, but I just love the combination of Hiro + cynical worldly person (see also: Hiro + Nathan for the win!). And I'm hoping for Yaeko to have stuff to do.

I am very much hoping West is a not-so-well-concealed fake, because otherwise? The skanky! Ewwww.

[12-12-12.livejournal.com]

I was very much taken by the Hiro-Kensei dynamic, too: though I was amused that they reused the "Cynical Brit punches out idealistic dork" moment from the Claude-Peter scene in Distractions.

After reading the latest graphic novel, I think that (unfortunately) West isn't meant to be creepy. I just hope he grows on me over the next few eps, because I found him mildly annoying in the premiere.

[12-12-12.livejournal.com]

- Hiro + Kensei was awesome. I loved it. And I'm a huge fan of David Anders already. Hiro's "Yuck!" when Kensei tried to touch him with his icky-pee-pee hands was priceless.

- Claire was awesome, as usual. I love that she did the back tuck off the tower just to prove to herself that she could do it, even if there was nobody else watching. That's my girl.

- I also adored her phone-call to Nathan. "I miss him, too." Aw! She misses Peter! I wasn't expecting so much continuity because they were going on about letting new viewers jump in, so that was an extra-awesome surprise.

- And Peter in the box: he was wearing the Haitian's necklace! I really hope that this isn't how he lost his memory, because the mindwipes are permanent as far as we know, and that would be terrible.

[oyceter]

I liked Hiro-Kensei too, but I'm still really wary of what may happen of it, particularly given all the "What these people need is a honky" movies and tropes out there with samurai (Why Tom Cruise? Why??).