Heroes: "Hysterical Blindness" 10/12 - Grading & Discussion
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I long ago gave up putting any effort in trying to keep track of these sorts of details or even caring. The show barely can keep my attention with the surface details let alone any subtle ones. Yes, back in season one it was well worth the energy and time to do so but these days why should I when the writers don't.
Peter's ability to possess another's power has never been about being able to feel empathy for another. In the early seasons it was about just being near them and absorbing it. Also back then the writers tried to mirror the ability they gave the character with a particular character trait. In Peter's case he was empathic towards others so they gave him a ability that was similiarly empathic in the sense his gift allowed him to take others' abilities via proximity. And I remember there was some confusion in season one by some fans who thought he could only bring forth one of these abilities by remembering the person or the feeling associated with them but as we saw he was able to use those abilities many times even when he had no memory of the people.
Now it seems he just takes another's ability when touching them like when he grabbed Emma. I suspect he didn't think she had an ability and touched her without taking precautions he might with someone that did.
I liked this episode. A step up from last week's, I thought. As mentioned, it feels like there's been a lot of set-up so far, and while I'm interested to see where it's going, I think it might be starting to drag a little. So hopefully we'll see some (non-sucky) payoff soon.
Didn't like it. A lesbian kiss is really wasted on those two... I think they should have Ali Larter kiss one of the other Ali Larter characters.
I didn't love the Sylar stuff. It was ok, but I don't know... Ernie Hudson starts yelling, pointing a gun at, and arresting a guy because... he's stumbling around hurt? And then he shoots him for... a little crackalackin' electricity while he's holding his arms up? Rodney King! Rodney King!
I'm somewhat interested in the carnival of the damned and all, but I wish T-Bag got more screen time.
But stuff involving anyone with Pitrelli DNA just bores me to tears. Peter and his new sound warrior girlfriend *yawn*. Claire? *yawn*
Also, I'm a bit curious... so the invisible girl from the carnival people is sent to get at Claire... but she's already established as some sorority matriarch... so wouldn't she have to have already been going to the school for say at least a year beforehand to be running the sorority? Did I miss something?
I didn't love the Sylar stuff. It was ok, but I don't know... Ernie Hudson starts yelling, pointing a gun at, and arresting a guy because... he's stumbling around hurt? And then he shoots him for... a little crackalackin' electricity while he's holding his arms up? Rodney King! Rodney King!
I'm somewhat interested in the carnival of the damned and all, but I wish T-Bag got more screen time.
But stuff involving anyone with Pitrelli DNA just bores me to tears. Peter and his new sound warrior girlfriend *yawn*. Claire? *yawn*
Also, I'm a bit curious... so the invisible girl from the carnival people is sent to get at Claire... but she's already established as some sorority matriarch... so wouldn't she have to have already been going to the school for say at least a year beforehand to be running the sorority? Did I miss something?
So the carnival folk are supposed to be the big bad? They want to have a family of superpowered people, so when our heroes turn them down... they'll blow up New York and Parkman will paint it so they'll have to stop it from happening?
I thought Gretchen was going to have a power because she was surprised at how quickly she learned Guitar Hero. Oh well.
I don't like the idea of Invisible Carnie Sorority Chick being the one who killed Claire's roommate. It could've been an interesting (non-dragged out) mystery for Claire and Gretchen to solve.
Because since he joined his men, he's seen shit that'll turn you white.
I thought Gretchen was going to have a power because she was surprised at how quickly she learned Guitar Hero. Oh well.
I don't like the idea of Invisible Carnie Sorority Chick being the one who killed Claire's roommate. It could've been an interesting (non-dragged out) mystery for Claire and Gretchen to solve.
Because since he joined his men, he's seen shit that'll turn you white.
Yawn. Wake me when there's more lesbianism. (Damn stupid timing! Why is there always someone knocking at the door right when the 2 chicks are about to start knocking each other?!)
Sadly, split screen technology has not yet advanced to the point where that could look good.
Sadly, split screen technology has not yet advanced to the point where that could look good.
Hey I noticed a plot hole last night; shocking, I know. Peter has Mohinder's powers. Peter touches his mother and kisses her on the cheek. Peter still has Mohinder's powers. Peter glancingly touches Emma. Peter has Emma's powers. Why didn't he get his mom's powers? Because it wouldn't have been convenient to the plot
Hey I noticed a plot hole last night; shocking, I know. Peter has Mohinder's powers. Peter touches his mother and kisses her on the cheek. Peter still has Mohinder's powers. Peter glancingly touches Emma. Peter has Emma's powers. Why didn't he get his mom's powers? Because it wouldn't have been convenient to the plot
He also hugged Claire a few episodes ago and didn't get her powers either.
Peter actually had the knife wielding carnie's speed ability that he acquired in their confrontation a few episodes back--Suresh's ability gave Peter spider abilities like jumping real high, superstrength and climbing walls. And for all we know Peter did acquire Angela's ability but since he didn't have time to take a nap before running into Emma we didn't see him have a dream vision.Hey I noticed a plot hole last night; shocking, I know. Peter has Mohinder's powers. Peter touches his mother and kisses her on the cheek. Peter still has Mohinder's powers. Peter glancingly touches Emma. Peter has Emma's powers. Why didn't he get his mom's powers? Because it wouldn't have been convenient to the plot
I'm not sure but I do think Peter takes an ability these days by touching someone on the hand so I'm not sure he actually touched Angela or Claire's hands.
Above Average
That's all I really have to say this week. Oh, the lesbian kiss was good.
That's all I really have to say this week. Oh, the lesbian kiss was good.
I was wondering about that, too. You don't just appear one day and become sorority rush chair. This smells like a typical ill-considered plot twist cooked up in the writers room. As in, they planned for it to be Gretchen (which makes sense as she is also a freshman and is sort of out of place), then somebody decided that was too obvious and switched it to another character without explaining how that is supposed to work.
The Heroes-esque explanations would be: a) the carnies have a mind controller, who re-wrote the memories of every single person in the sorority and came up with fake student records for her, or; b) They somehow knew via precognition, long before Samuel's brother died, that invisi-girl needed to be an agent in place at a school in Virginia, for some at-the-time unknowable reason.
But yeah, probably not.
Hey I noticed a plot hole last night; shocking, I know. Peter has Mohinder's powers. Peter touches his mother and kisses her on the cheek. Peter still has Mohinder's powers. Peter glancingly touches Emma. Peter has Emma's powers. Why didn't he get his mom's powers? Because it wouldn't have been convenient to the plot
I was figuring Peter can hold back on absorbing a power he doesn't want to - but only if he is aware that somebody has a power to be absorbed. He didn't know about the deaf woman's power, and that, combined with the close contact with her, was enough to trigger the old-style subconscious absorption.
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At this point, I think they are deliberately trying to drive away viewers. How painfully dull can they make this show?
At least there was no Nikki and little Hiro, which helped things a bit.
Claire - snoooore.
Peter - I usually like him, but man oh man, the pretty colors are wearing out their welcome, fast. The cello scene demonstrated that the colors are lovely and magical; there's no need for extended scenes that make the same point.
Once again, the writers cannot focus and stick with a character arc before their ADD sabotages everything. Peter's story this season is that he is harming himself by coping with his powers by relentlessly focusing on being a hero to an obsessive degree. Good, that's interesting and a reasonably new take on the character. How about actually taking that plotline to some sort of conclusion or crisis point?
But no, Peter - and the writers - are easily distracted by pretty colors. Why isn't Peter livid that he accidentally had his speed power supplanted by some idiotic light show, which will be useless for saving people?
The expected "what this dumb power is good for" showed up at last - the colors make things go boom - real imaginative there.
Not that it makes any sense.
Sylar - Real imaginative, part two. They give him amnesia?!? I guess it's intriguing to speculate who, exactly, has the amnesia (Nathan rather than Gabriel) but why not let him retain his Nathan identity but with his shape reset to Sylar, which will weird him out something awful till he realizes he can "set things right" with this strange new shapeshifting ability he seems to possess.
Even if he doesn't recall the truth about his past, he's gotta be smart enough to start worrying that he's not really Nathan at all. You have this guy who's sure he's Nathan, yet clues are piling up that he's not who he thinks he is. How is amnesia remotely as interesting a development, or interesting at all? Have they forgotten that they've already used that tired shtick?
The Carnies - Okay, I'm starting to worry about these guys. The writing is showing signs of the usual sloppiness and lack of thought. They act sweet and reasonable towards each other, yet commit homicide without blinking an eye. Are they a cult? Do they think of themselves as superior to normal humans? Were they hunted and abused by normals and are seeing revenge? The writing for them just doesn't synch up.
Matt - Where the frak is Matt? Not only could he possibly liven up this slog of a show, he should be desperately trying to locate "Nathan" to get rid of head-Sylar before he tricks him into doing something truly horrible. He should already be in DC, pounding on Angela's door when he realizes Nathan isn't around.
So hopefully, more Matt next week and does Peter have Hiro's teleportation and (groan) time travel ability now? Regardless of the poor writing, having Sylar and T-Bag in the same scene is worth tuning in for that alone.
Ratings news: Apparently viewers like to be bored because ratings have stabilized and the show is still one of NBC's best performing dramas. My theory is that viewership is now down to the droolers - people who will watch till they bitter end just to see certain favorite characters (I'm not excluding myself) and therefore quality no longer matters.
At least there was no Nikki and little Hiro, which helped things a bit.
Claire - snoooore.
Peter - I usually like him, but man oh man, the pretty colors are wearing out their welcome, fast. The cello scene demonstrated that the colors are lovely and magical; there's no need for extended scenes that make the same point.
Once again, the writers cannot focus and stick with a character arc before their ADD sabotages everything. Peter's story this season is that he is harming himself by coping with his powers by relentlessly focusing on being a hero to an obsessive degree. Good, that's interesting and a reasonably new take on the character. How about actually taking that plotline to some sort of conclusion or crisis point?
But no, Peter - and the writers - are easily distracted by pretty colors. Why isn't Peter livid that he accidentally had his speed power supplanted by some idiotic light show, which will be useless for saving people?
The expected "what this dumb power is good for" showed up at last - the colors make things go boom - real imaginative there.
Not that it makes any sense.Sylar - Real imaginative, part two. They give him amnesia?!? I guess it's intriguing to speculate who, exactly, has the amnesia (Nathan rather than Gabriel) but why not let him retain his Nathan identity but with his shape reset to Sylar, which will weird him out something awful till he realizes he can "set things right" with this strange new shapeshifting ability he seems to possess.
Even if he doesn't recall the truth about his past, he's gotta be smart enough to start worrying that he's not really Nathan at all. You have this guy who's sure he's Nathan, yet clues are piling up that he's not who he thinks he is. How is amnesia remotely as interesting a development, or interesting at all? Have they forgotten that they've already used that tired shtick?
The Carnies - Okay, I'm starting to worry about these guys. The writing is showing signs of the usual sloppiness and lack of thought. They act sweet and reasonable towards each other, yet commit homicide without blinking an eye. Are they a cult? Do they think of themselves as superior to normal humans? Were they hunted and abused by normals and are seeing revenge? The writing for them just doesn't synch up.
Matt - Where the frak is Matt? Not only could he possibly liven up this slog of a show, he should be desperately trying to locate "Nathan" to get rid of head-Sylar before he tricks him into doing something truly horrible. He should already be in DC, pounding on Angela's door when he realizes Nathan isn't around.
I interpret that as Angela not just being concerned but also nervous as hell about Nathan - if she doesn't watch him every second, who knows what could happen that could blow the whole scheme wide open. Sylar would probably want to kill her, and Peter wouldn't be much more forgiving. At the very least, it would destroy her relationship with her sole surviving son. And that plotline has now been set in motion, so her nervousness is understandable.
So hopefully, more Matt next week and does Peter have Hiro's teleportation and (groan) time travel ability now? Regardless of the poor writing, having Sylar and T-Bag in the same scene is worth tuning in for that alone.
Err uh...time travel! Or maybe Samuel's got a precog working for him? You're not sposed to notice stuff like that!
Ratings news: Apparently viewers like to be bored because ratings have stabilized and the show is still one of NBC's best performing dramas. My theory is that viewership is now down to the droolers - people who will watch till they bitter end just to see certain favorite characters (I'm not excluding myself) and therefore quality no longer matters.
And they're talking about killing someone again...please! HIRO!!!
Ausello says it's a well-respected leading man.
Well that means Peter is safe.
But HRG fans, watch out. 
Ausello says it's a well-respected leading man.
Well that means Peter is safe.
But HRG fans, watch out.
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Heroes has ruined character deaths. It has become a predictable staple that they are constantly pulling out failing to realize that for a death to carry any impact we have to actually care about the character, the character needs to stay dead and that it should be treated as a major dramatic event and not some plot point that has no aftermath i.e. Niki's, Nathan's or DL's deaths.
So frankly this news isn't generating any anticipation or dread from me.
So frankly this news isn't generating any anticipation or dread from me.
Thespeckledkiwi
Vice Admiral
Just like real comic books!
I'm surprised at all the Hiro hate. I like him the most because he adds a little levity to the heavy handed Peter/Suresh/Matt Parkman scenes. I'd love to see one of them leave the show.
Anyway... snooze of an episode. #3 was terrific, but the past two have been a letdown for sure. The pacing is all wrong. You can always tell the episode is ending because it gets slightly more interesting. Can't they be interesting at the beginning of an episode?
Ernie Hudson is a champ.
I LOL'd!
And I might as well add my two bits as a typical male and say that the Cheerleader/Californication lesbian kiss was awesome because Claire. Liked. It.
Anyway... snooze of an episode. #3 was terrific, but the past two have been a letdown for sure. The pacing is all wrong. You can always tell the episode is ending because it gets slightly more interesting. Can't they be interesting at the beginning of an episode?
Ernie Hudson is a champ.
I LOL'd!
And I might as well add my two bits as a typical male and say that the Cheerleader/Californication lesbian kiss was awesome because Claire. Liked. It.
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Hiro was enjoyable enough throughout most of season one although there was that lull in his story arc in the middle of season one. But over the last two seasons he along with Ando have become annoying and goofy. For me, Hiro isn't a lovable goofball--he is a dork and the silly subplots the writers come up with for him aren't humorous but grating a la the worst of the DS9 Ferengi episodes.
That's a problem I've noticed as well and this goes back to last year too. The show can generate intriguing teasers at the end for the next episode then not do anything interesting before throwing another teaser at us. Instead of building and advancing plot in a traditional manner that builds up momentum they choose to basically turn each episode into a standalone story with the ending teasers as merely a tenuous connection.
I strongly suspect your guess above is correct, and if so,And they're talking about killing someone again...please! HIRO!!!
Ausello says it's a well-respected leading man.
Well that means Peter is safe.
.I find myself not caring enough to pick apart the episodes anymore. I let the episode run in the background while doing other things and realize at the end that virtually nothing has happened. It's a testimony to my lack of interest that I was willing to read Temis' spoiler above - I just don't care what happens next, so spoilers aren't a big deal.
I will say I was royally annoyed by the editing this week, particularly the flashback to all the shenanigans Invisi-girl had been up to. They could have communicated all that information in a fraction of the time they spent on it.
As for the girl-girl kiss,
. There were multiple clips on Hulu - music videos, multiple angles, etc. - to the point where it just made a joke of it. "Oooh, look! We're all edgy and envelope-pushy, yes we are! Here boys, go drool over it again!" So stupid.
The problem with Hiro is that he's not actually funny. Just annoying and pointless as a character. Peter and Matt have a genuine purpose in the story and as for Mo, well I guess we will see...
Or just ignore everyone.
I've liked plenty of bad stuff from Heroes that others have screamed their heads off about - Gabriel Petrelli (till they copped out and rescinded it) & the Nathan-Sylar switcheroo. And I still think Mohinder could be refurbished to be a decent character again.It's hard to get past the way he treats life or death situations like a silly little child's game, as though his main motive for living is to satisfy an infantile comic book self-image of being a "hero." Peter's story is very similar (which is why I see no point for both to be in the show) but there's something about it that seems at least nominally grown-up, if still self-deluded and self-involved.
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