Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
Heroes
*SPOILER WARNING* This post contains many many spoilers about the TV show Heroes. If you are interested in watching but have not seen it, do not read this post.
Virginia has led me to watch the NBC drama Heroes, which follows the emergence of a bunch of individuals with superpowers around the world (well, chiefly the United States and Japan). I just finished the first (and thus far only) season last night; my overall opinion: decent show, decent story, some interesting characters and very interesting powers, but major plot and character development flaws. I really wonder how the writers missed so many of them. For instance:
1) Claire Bennet should not have been alive in the future. By surviving, she ruins the whole "Save the cheerleader, save the world" bit, which is huge in the early story and big in the end as well. My logic: Sylar eats heroes' brains to gain their powers. Claire can regenerate from any injury. If Sylar gains her power, he becomes invulnerable and when Hiro runs him through with a katana, he does not collapse, and thus survives the final confrontation and manages to force Peter Petrelli to blow up New York. However, he has to kill her to gain her power. When everyone thinks she's dead, this works, but as soon as we find her in hiding somewhere, we know that Sylar didn't kill her and therefore didn't gain the ability to regenerate and should have been killed in the showdown in New York. (It is possible that, with Sylar's escape at end of season, he is still on the loose as he was in the Future, and thus can still cause some of the trouble that happened in the Future--but since there has been no explosion in New York, the Future we saw will not come to pass in the same way, so this argument doesn't fly very far without further support, and anyway it becomes, as one of my teachers likes to put it, "a case of intelligent people making good guesses," which means that there isn't really enough information presented in the work itself to draw useful conclusions.
2) Peter Petrelli should probably have begun exhibiting a bunch of random powers, and definitely should have randomly stopped time/teleported. He absorbs the powers of others around him, and he met Future Hiro early on, before he had any control of his abilities, so he probably should have randomly expressed Hiro's powers, just as he did with others he met.
3) There was a fourth (and fifth and sixth) way to solve the "Do I blow up New York" problem. Nathan did not have to die. Peter knows how to fly, and despite his apparent whining, can actually deliberately control his powers, and knows it--he flies to save Claude Raines, he turns invisible at will, he learns to use telekinesis and even perhaps stop time (when attacked by Bennet and the Haitian), and he can regenerate at will now. He has learned the key to mastering his powers. He may not completely have it, but certain ones he knows well already. So even if he can't figure out how to control the radiation power he absorbed from Ted, and I don't buy that he can't, but even if, he can fly under his own power and he can teleport. The latter is a risky option because he has never tried it and doesn't know how to control it, but he has flown under his own will several times, and could easily fly high into the sky, explode, regenerate, and return to earth. And speaking of regeneration, we should remember that he, Claire, and Nathan all know Peter can regenerate like Claire now. Claire, in fact, has regenerated from mortal injuries several times, including one in which an object punctured her brain. She remained dead until the object was removed, at which point, she recovered. Same happened to Peter with the shard of glass. So a little bullet? Shouldn't cause any problem. All three characters in this crucial scene know this fact. Claire can easily shoot Peter to stop his power, then remove the bullet and let him recover, once again calm. Or, to be extra safe, Nathan can fly Peter somewhere far away and safe, or high into the sky, remove the bullet, and leave. Then, if Peter still can't control his radiation power, he can explode safely, away from a major population center.
4) Candace. Future Sylar says that he "met a girl named Candace who allowed him to become president," meaning that he found Candace, killed her, ate her brain, absorbed her power, and can create illusions at will. He also says that he made everyone think that he was the cause of the explosion in New York City by using her powers. The implication is that he covered the fact that Peter exploded, made himself look like Nathan Petrelli or made himself invisible, and then turned that to his advantage. Thus, he has to have met Candace before in order to kill her, and time-wise this seems to have to fall into the space before his battle at the Plaza. But he never meets with Candace, there's no opportunity, and D.L. and Nikki/Jessica take her out almost immediately before they enter the battle. If they hadn't been there, Candace's job was still to guard Micah on the 42nd floor of Linderman's office building, so she wouldn't have left and would likely not have met Sylar. Yes, it is possible that events could happen in another way, but this is a probable unwinding of them.
6) Peter Petrelli, nice guy with cool powers, is not handled well. His power is to mimic the powers of those around him, and to be able (eventually) to recall these powers at will. He first exhibits this power in a very uncontrolled fashion, flying w/o meaning to while his brother is present, regenerating when Claire is around, reading minds next to Matt Parker, but being unable to restrain or direct any of these abilities, or even recall them consciously later. (This power is a very nice mirror to Sylar's absorbing power--Sylar's is violent and predatory; Peter's is symbiotic, or at the least commensalistic.) Initially, Peter cannot choose whose powers to absorb, and cannot choose how or when to express those powers. Throughout the series, it is stated that "heroes" are emerging all over the place, and implied that many are keeping themselves secret due to fear of prejudice or scrutiny or danger. Conceivably, Peter could wind up near to one or several such people without realizing it, and absorb powers from some unknown source, rather than simply absorbing plot-relevant powers from plot-relevant characters. Why doesn't he? Also, Peter learns awfully quickly to control his powers somewhat, but then, in the final showdown, he seems to feel that he cannot handle himself. From a character standpoint, I understand some of this--he has always been the little brother, always relied on his older brother and his parents' support. But if you show him growing out of that successfully, as is done with Peter after he meets Claude Raines, you cannot suddenly take it back when it is convenient for a plot climax, as was done with the season showdown.
Execution:
Sylar should not have lived. He was done as a character, in my opinion. And he was stabbed through the stomach and then sliced open across the belly. And we know he's vulnerable now that he has not had access to Claire's abilities. & Why didn't Hero finish the job?
Virginia has led me to watch the NBC drama Heroes, which follows the emergence of a bunch of individuals with superpowers around the world (well, chiefly the United States and Japan). I just finished the first (and thus far only) season last night; my overall opinion: decent show, decent story, some interesting characters and very interesting powers, but major plot and character development flaws. I really wonder how the writers missed so many of them. For instance:
1) Claire Bennet should not have been alive in the future. By surviving, she ruins the whole "Save the cheerleader, save the world" bit, which is huge in the early story and big in the end as well. My logic: Sylar eats heroes' brains to gain their powers. Claire can regenerate from any injury. If Sylar gains her power, he becomes invulnerable and when Hiro runs him through with a katana, he does not collapse, and thus survives the final confrontation and manages to force Peter Petrelli to blow up New York. However, he has to kill her to gain her power. When everyone thinks she's dead, this works, but as soon as we find her in hiding somewhere, we know that Sylar didn't kill her and therefore didn't gain the ability to regenerate and should have been killed in the showdown in New York. (It is possible that, with Sylar's escape at end of season, he is still on the loose as he was in the Future, and thus can still cause some of the trouble that happened in the Future--but since there has been no explosion in New York, the Future we saw will not come to pass in the same way, so this argument doesn't fly very far without further support, and anyway it becomes, as one of my teachers likes to put it, "a case of intelligent people making good guesses," which means that there isn't really enough information presented in the work itself to draw useful conclusions.
2) Peter Petrelli should probably have begun exhibiting a bunch of random powers, and definitely should have randomly stopped time/teleported. He absorbs the powers of others around him, and he met Future Hiro early on, before he had any control of his abilities, so he probably should have randomly expressed Hiro's powers, just as he did with others he met.
3) There was a fourth (and fifth and sixth) way to solve the "Do I blow up New York" problem. Nathan did not have to die. Peter knows how to fly, and despite his apparent whining, can actually deliberately control his powers, and knows it--he flies to save Claude Raines, he turns invisible at will, he learns to use telekinesis and even perhaps stop time (when attacked by Bennet and the Haitian), and he can regenerate at will now. He has learned the key to mastering his powers. He may not completely have it, but certain ones he knows well already. So even if he can't figure out how to control the radiation power he absorbed from Ted, and I don't buy that he can't, but even if, he can fly under his own power and he can teleport. The latter is a risky option because he has never tried it and doesn't know how to control it, but he has flown under his own will several times, and could easily fly high into the sky, explode, regenerate, and return to earth. And speaking of regeneration, we should remember that he, Claire, and Nathan all know Peter can regenerate like Claire now. Claire, in fact, has regenerated from mortal injuries several times, including one in which an object punctured her brain. She remained dead until the object was removed, at which point, she recovered. Same happened to Peter with the shard of glass. So a little bullet? Shouldn't cause any problem. All three characters in this crucial scene know this fact. Claire can easily shoot Peter to stop his power, then remove the bullet and let him recover, once again calm. Or, to be extra safe, Nathan can fly Peter somewhere far away and safe, or high into the sky, remove the bullet, and leave. Then, if Peter still can't control his radiation power, he can explode safely, away from a major population center.
4) Candace. Future Sylar says that he "met a girl named Candace who allowed him to become president," meaning that he found Candace, killed her, ate her brain, absorbed her power, and can create illusions at will. He also says that he made everyone think that he was the cause of the explosion in New York City by using her powers. The implication is that he covered the fact that Peter exploded, made himself look like Nathan Petrelli or made himself invisible, and then turned that to his advantage. Thus, he has to have met Candace before in order to kill her, and time-wise this seems to have to fall into the space before his battle at the Plaza. But he never meets with Candace, there's no opportunity, and D.L. and Nikki/Jessica take her out almost immediately before they enter the battle. If they hadn't been there, Candace's job was still to guard Micah on the 42nd floor of Linderman's office building, so she wouldn't have left and would likely not have met Sylar. Yes, it is possible that events could happen in another way, but this is a probable unwinding of them.
6) Peter Petrelli, nice guy with cool powers, is not handled well. His power is to mimic the powers of those around him, and to be able (eventually) to recall these powers at will. He first exhibits this power in a very uncontrolled fashion, flying w/o meaning to while his brother is present, regenerating when Claire is around, reading minds next to Matt Parker, but being unable to restrain or direct any of these abilities, or even recall them consciously later. (This power is a very nice mirror to Sylar's absorbing power--Sylar's is violent and predatory; Peter's is symbiotic, or at the least commensalistic.) Initially, Peter cannot choose whose powers to absorb, and cannot choose how or when to express those powers. Throughout the series, it is stated that "heroes" are emerging all over the place, and implied that many are keeping themselves secret due to fear of prejudice or scrutiny or danger. Conceivably, Peter could wind up near to one or several such people without realizing it, and absorb powers from some unknown source, rather than simply absorbing plot-relevant powers from plot-relevant characters. Why doesn't he? Also, Peter learns awfully quickly to control his powers somewhat, but then, in the final showdown, he seems to feel that he cannot handle himself. From a character standpoint, I understand some of this--he has always been the little brother, always relied on his older brother and his parents' support. But if you show him growing out of that successfully, as is done with Peter after he meets Claude Raines, you cannot suddenly take it back when it is convenient for a plot climax, as was done with the season showdown.
Execution:
Sylar should not have lived. He was done as a character, in my opinion. And he was stabbed through the stomach and then sliced open across the belly. And we know he's vulnerable now that he has not had access to Claire's abilities. & Why didn't Hero finish the job?
Friday, June 1, 2007
Of Dwarves and Toilets
This weekend I'm visiting my mom, who lives in Maryland, and my sister and her boyfriend, who live in Arizona and are visiting Mom. I meant to leave this morning after renewing my driver's license, but due to delays at the DMV and delays at home (I forgot about a parking ticket and several other things that had to be dealt with before I left), I didn't get on the road until about 3:30 this afternoon, and finally made it down to Mom's house at 10:30 this evening. I hit traffic over the George Washington Bridge, which isn't unusual but is often slow, and I hit traffic going onto the New Jersey Turnpike (toll booth) and traffic leaving the toll booth (merging and construction). Plus I got tired a couple times. So a 5-hour drive became a 7-hour drive, and on the way I had some nice mundane adventures on the john. (Don't worry, I'm not going to tell you about my bowel movements.)
Really, what it was is that I sat down on the toilet in one of the stalls at the Vince Lombardi Rest Stop (yes, New Jersey names their rest stops--there's one named for Walt Whitman, who probably convulsed in his grave on hearing about it--or, really, given that it's Walt, thought it was fine because life's pretty wonderful)--I sat down on the toilet to mind my business, and after a short while the toilet flushed. "Oh!" I thought, startled. "I hadn't noticed this was an automatic toilet." I adjusted myself a bit for comfort and the toilet flushed again, as if to say "Yup, that's me. Automatic Toilet." I looked over my shoulder at the infrared sensor. No expression. I looked back ahead of me and the toilet flushed again. And again. And again. Then it waited a few minutes and flushed again. And waited. And flushed. And waited. And flushed. All told, it must have drained itself at least 7 or 8 times while I was sitting there--initially an annoying experience, but eventually pretty funny. Now, though, as I think about it, I'm pretty sure the toilet was out to get me.
After I made it to my mom's and had spent ample time hugging people--Auds, who I hadn't seen in a year (:'-(), Santiago (her boyfriend), Grady (mom's close friend and current housemate, and someone who has known Auds and I since we were pre-adolescents), and Mom herself--all of us except Grady were hangin' out in Mom's room and we realized that we had been missing a few of the names of the Seven Dwarves. (Don't ask where that topic came from; I don't remember.) So we remembered a bunch of them. Here a few of the ones we recalled (first, the heightened vocab originals):
Somnolent
Infuriated
Medicinal
Medicated
Prozac
Flaccid (the Dwarf who can't get it up)
Viagra
Vicodin
Froggy (an inside joke referring to a dance Auds & Santiago made up called Froggy on the Moon, which is really quite hilarious if you're me or Audrey or Santiago or Mom or Dad or probably Virginia or Bret, but outside of that group may just seem weird)
Schleppy
Schmo
And on that note, my friends, I am going to write my love a note to tell her I arrived safely and then I am going to bed.
Really, what it was is that I sat down on the toilet in one of the stalls at the Vince Lombardi Rest Stop (yes, New Jersey names their rest stops--there's one named for Walt Whitman, who probably convulsed in his grave on hearing about it--or, really, given that it's Walt, thought it was fine because life's pretty wonderful)--I sat down on the toilet to mind my business, and after a short while the toilet flushed. "Oh!" I thought, startled. "I hadn't noticed this was an automatic toilet." I adjusted myself a bit for comfort and the toilet flushed again, as if to say "Yup, that's me. Automatic Toilet." I looked over my shoulder at the infrared sensor. No expression. I looked back ahead of me and the toilet flushed again. And again. And again. Then it waited a few minutes and flushed again. And waited. And flushed. And waited. And flushed. All told, it must have drained itself at least 7 or 8 times while I was sitting there--initially an annoying experience, but eventually pretty funny. Now, though, as I think about it, I'm pretty sure the toilet was out to get me.
After I made it to my mom's and had spent ample time hugging people--Auds, who I hadn't seen in a year (:'-(), Santiago (her boyfriend), Grady (mom's close friend and current housemate, and someone who has known Auds and I since we were pre-adolescents), and Mom herself--all of us except Grady were hangin' out in Mom's room and we realized that we had been missing a few of the names of the Seven Dwarves. (Don't ask where that topic came from; I don't remember.) So we remembered a bunch of them. Here a few of the ones we recalled (first, the heightened vocab originals):
Somnolent
Infuriated
Medicinal
Medicated
Prozac
Flaccid (the Dwarf who can't get it up)
Viagra
Vicodin
Froggy (an inside joke referring to a dance Auds & Santiago made up called Froggy on the Moon, which is really quite hilarious if you're me or Audrey or Santiago or Mom or Dad or probably Virginia or Bret, but outside of that group may just seem weird)
Schleppy
Schmo
And on that note, my friends, I am going to write my love a note to tell her I arrived safely and then I am going to bed.
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