Heroes 3x23 "1961" Discuss and Grade

[Yoda]

Mr Light wrote:

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The dorky guy with the glasses was Bob Bishop with the Midas Touch who was Kristin Bell's father. I didn't mind the black & white flashbacks. When I think 40s/50s/60s I think black & white not color. Color wasn't invented until the 70s

Yep, now let me kick back and enjoy the original black and white Star Trek run from 1966-1969

[Vic Sixx]

Dull and lifeless story. Melodramatic soap. Hated it.

[Mr Light]

OK, let's set the color barrier at 1965 then I guess Vietnam was in color for the most part...

[Lt. Trull]

Yoda wrote:

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Yep, now let me kick back and enjoy the original black and white Star Trek run from 1966-1969

i remember those episodes... black on one side of the set white on the other... then all of a sudden it'd be the exact opposite......

[Temis the Vorta]

This may be overly critical of me, but I'm only giving it an Average. It's useful to have some backstory for the old timers, but this particular backstory didn't have me rivited, exactly. Not at all like Six Months Ago and Five Years Gone.

On the plus side, the characters are still in character, and the repair job is continuing as well as can be expected. But things have been a bit slow in the action-jackson department. I'm up for a big ole honkin FIGHT!

Some nice continuity nods, even though I'm not entirely sure everything fits perfectly (but I don't think anything is outright contradictory to established history, so it's probably okay).

I didn't think Chandra Suresh was old enough in S1 to synch up with being about 30 nearly 50 years ago. Maybe his superpower is amazingly youthful appearance? Also, he struck me as some guy who was pursing a looney theory, not a guy who knew his theory was correct and was just looking to re-discover the evidence. For instance, he knew about a mass slaughter decades ago, wouldn't he be leery about publishing a book and revealing that he's still around and being snoopy about things? Good way to get himself killed, which he did, but not for the reasons he should have expected.

And explaining the socks was just dopey. That was never anything that required explanation - it was just a sign that Angela isn't quite all there - which isn't surprising given the backstory we knew before now.

I loved the last scene of everyone eating together & talking.

That's the scene that makes me think my Average is too harsh. It's the kind of thing this show really needs, to get back on its feet. That scene had the "core family" of this show - but all the major characters are family in the sense that they're now learning that they have to depend on each other or individually they are screwed.

It's not just the narrowly-defined Petrelli clan that needs to get its act together. It's great to see acknowledgment that the people in charge of this show know what it's about at its core, that it's about something more than frantic running around and kewl plot twists.

Maybe they could call it The Family since they were going on about how they're a family not a company

"The Family" would be a very creepy name.

As for Charles' power - I thought it was prophetic dreaming, same as Angela's. Did they change that and I didn't notice?

[Aragorn]

Temis the Vorta wrote:

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I didn't think Chandra Suresh was old enough in S1 to synch up with being about 30 nearly 50 years ago. Maybe his superpower is amazingly youthful appearance?

Well, if you want to get nitpicky with EVERYTHING you've seen on the screen, old Suresh in person looks nothing like old Suresh on the flap of his book the first time you saw the book.

"The Family" would be a very creepy name.

The Petrellis Plus One.

[Temis the Vorta]

No Nielsons discussion? Heroes bounced back to its level before last week (down because of Spring Break?)

04/13/09 - 6.80M - 3.2/ 8
04/06/09 - 6.11 M - 2.6/6
03/30/09 - 6.42 M - 3.1/7

Is word getting out that it sucks 100% less now?

[Sakrysta]

Oh, I meant to mention about Dr. Suresh too - from earlier seasons I got the impression that Mohinder grew up in India - that his father only came to the States later, basically not long before the story of Heroes started - a year or two. Am I alone in that perception?

[Checkmate]

The implication is that Dr. Suresh's memories were completely wiped of everything dealing with the specials. That's why he was so excited when he "re-"discovered the gene sequences and whatnot. So it's fairly likely they wiped his entire experience in the United States if his sole purpose for being there was to investigate them.

It's ret-conning at its finest, but at least it's acceptable. As opposed to what they tried doing to characters during season two.

[Hermiod]

Temis the Vorta wrote:

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No Nielsons discussion? Heroes bounced back to its level before last week (down because of Spring Break?)

04/13/09 - 6.80M - 3.2/ 8
04/06/09 - 6.11 M - 2.6/6
03/30/09 - 6.42 M - 3.1/7

Is word getting out that it sucks 100% less now?

Given what Angela's sister can do, though, it's managing to both suck and blow at the same time.

[TheArsenal]

Tough one to grade.

Simply put: I found the flash back sequences to be very good; everything from picking an excellent actress for young Angela to the way went about filling in back ground on the Company's origin. Some of the best writing of the season, easily.

On the other hand, everything about Angela's ill conceived sister in the present, Mohinder's 50th bout of pitiful self torture, and tiresome Claire the Scowling Anger Teen, were too terrible for words.

Average then, I guess.

[Daneel]

Temis the Vorta wrote:

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I didn't think Chandra Suresh was old enough in S1 to synch up with being about 30 nearly 50 years ago. Maybe his superpower is amazingly youthful appearance?

Indeed... Erick Avari, who played Chandra Suresh in Season 1, was born in 1952, so I think we have to assume the character is supposed to be more than a decade older than that if we're to believe he was already a doctor by 1961.

Also, he struck me as some guy who was pursing a looney theory, not a guy who knew his theory was correct and was just looking to re-discover the evidence. For instance, he knew about a mass slaughter decades ago, wouldn't he be leery about publishing a book and revealing that he's still around and being snoopy about things? Good way to get himself killed, which he did, but not for the reasons he should have expected.

Yes, that was one of the things that didn't sit quite right with me. I think the most plausible explanation is that, as some have already suggested, Chandra Suresh had his memory selectively wiped after the events of 1961 (Angela does state that they did this fairly often when they first started the Company, but she doesn't specifically mention any names).

[Temis the Vorta]

Sakrysta wrote:

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Oh, I meant to mention about Dr. Suresh too - from earlier seasons I got the impression that Mohinder grew up in India - that his father only came to the States later, basically not long before the story of Heroes started - a year or two. Am I alone in that perception?

No, my assumption was similar, especially that Chandra Suresh didn't really have confirmation of his wild theories - he didn't act like a guy with total certainty, and he certainly should have been more worried about revealing something he knew to be both true and dangerous. He just charged blithely ahead like his research had never led to such a traumatic and terrible event.

Chandra Suresh had his memory selectively wiped after the events of 1961

That's clumsy writing, and it's bad timing that something similarly clumsy recently took place on Lost...reducing my tolerance level for it even further.

[Vanyel]

Snaploud wrote:

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Four possibilities:

1) They assassinated JFK.

2) They erased JFK's memories prior to his assassination (having nothing to do with the latter incident).

3) They erased JFK's memories and then had him assassinated when the memory wipe didn't take (for one reason or another...including help from JFK-led specials or advisors reminding JFK of the situation)...

4) JFK died before the Company became powerful enough to manipulate the White House.

No CSM killed Kennedy.

[DarthPipes]

Temis the Vorta wrote:

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No, my assumption was similar, especially that Chandra Suresh didn't really have confirmation of his wild theories - he didn't act like a guy with total certainty, and he certainly should have been more worried about revealing something he knew to be both true and dangerous. He just charged blithely ahead like his research had never led to such a traumatic and terrible event.

That's clumsy writing, and it's bad timing that something similarly clumsy recently took place on Lost...reducing my tolerance level for it even further.

My thoughts too. Chandra's work was all theories and was considered a crackpot in his own country because he couldn't prove anything. He came to America to discover these things he had been working on.

It's amazing just how much Heroes has retconned its own past.