Four major series wrap-up their seasons. Spoilers below. I mean it: Real spoilers. No way to discuss the shows in any meaningful way otherwise.
HEROES: After 22 episodes of build-up, “Heroes” was faced with the almost insurmountable task of providing a climax that on the one hand is surprising and unexpected, but at the same time conforms to the many visions that we’ve already had of what will happen (Peter going thermonuclear, Hiro killing Sylar, the Cheerleader’s being saved resulting in saving the world, etc.)
In my view, they came about ninety percent of the way toward pulling it off.
The episode was by turns compelling, gripping, and rife with unexpected moments. Ando survived, which was a relief, because as high as his coolness factor was, I wasn’t looking forward to seeing our Hiro transform into his future version courtesy of Ando’s demise (although one wonders, considering how easily he saved him, how the alt future Ando wound up dead.) And I was taken with the notion that saving Claire resulted in New York’s salvation, not because of any physical action she took, but rather because of a compelling emotional presence she presented.
Still, I find myself left with disturbing questions. If the solution to the problem was something as simple as taking Peter into the stratosphere so he could detonate there, why couldn’t he just fly himself? Is he only capable of using a single power at a time, and because he was heating up, that precluded his using other powers? Okay, I can buy that, but it would have been nice if they’d spelled it out. Did Peter survive the explosion? If so, what’s to prevent the same thing from happening again? For that matter, since Sylar survived, there’s nothing to stop HIM from going nuclear as well. When you give it some thought, nothing was really resolved; merely delayed, like “The Terminator’s” Judgment Day. I’m just saying that, after a season of time invested, it would have been nice to feel like I’d witnessed something other than a stopgap measure. Which doesn’t mean I’m at all deterred from tuning in next season. Hiro jumping back three hundred years really does seem to be underscoring the idea that he’s under the control of some sort of unseen hand of destiny, moving him around to various points in time where he’s needed. I wonder if we’ll ever actually see that hand.
LOST: High marks for turning the season around. I pity folks who tuned out months ago and have missed out on a series that has totally recaptured its mojo in the past seven weeks. The season ender was no exception, accomplishing with even more confidence that which “Heroes” was a bit hit-or-miss on: Addressing what seems inevitable while simultaneously surprising and shocking.
Milking what appears to be the long-established formula, “Lost” contrasts the castaways seemingly doomed-to-fail escape attempt…because if they get off the island, one figures, the show’s over, so it must be hopeless–with yet another flashback, this time focusing on a dissolute, suicidal Jack. It’s only in the brilliant final minutes that we realize, oh my God, it’s a flashforward, as we learn that Jack, Kate et al have in fact escaped the island, and he’s literally “Lost” even though he’s returned home. How tired are we of promos that claim “This episode, everything changes,” but this time out the episode lives up to the advance billing.
Only downside: The death of Charlie. Now I’m all for the notion of “Ha! We defied fate!” only to discover that, crap no, fate will have its way. But the way in which it happened made no sense. Faced with an imminent explosion and flood, Charlie slams the door to the communications chamber with HIMSELF on the INSIDE? It was like watching Daffy Duck sawing off a tree branch to drop it on Elmer Fudd, only to realize that he’s sitting on the section of the branch that’s going to fall. Two seconds for Charlie to step to the other side and pull the door shut behind him, and instead he locks himself in with impending disaster? It was one of those awful moments that comes from writing necessity rather than intelligent character action (as we saw Hurley display earlier, nonchalantly saving the day.) In a series as clever as “Lost” has proven itself to be, one wishes we’d seen such cleverness displayed regarding Charlie’s fate. He deserved better.
SMALLVILLE: “I know you’ve had a rough year,” Mom Kent consoles Clark. Yeah, like this year is different from any other. Events of the season rocket toward an unexpected conclusion, and once again the fates of a half dozen regulars is left teetering on the brink.
The only thing I find disconcerting is that, after numerous season cliffhangers, I find myself kind of going, “Okay, yeah, but two or three episodes into the next season, the status quo will be reset.”
Ohmigod! Lana’s dead! Killed in a car explosion! Yeah, except Chloe–a far more disposable character considering she doesn’t appear in Superman continuity–had a whole house blown up around her, and she survived. Notice that a delivery truck blocked Lana from Lionel’s view at a crucial moment. My guess? Her seeming “death” was arranged by the neo-JLA, the truck driven by Cyborg, the explosion courtesy of a concussive arrow, and Lana whisked away by the Flash. In one stroke they get her out from under Luthor’s thumb and set Lex up to take the fall for her supposed death.
Ohmigod! Chloe’s passed out, maybe dead! Well, probably not.
Ohmigod! Lionel’s in danger of imminent demise! Well, probably not.
None of which detracts from the fact that this has been one of the best seasons of “Smallville” thus far, as Clark takes more steps toward a destiny of superheroing that STILL makes no sense since in this continuity, people will take one look at Superman and say, “Hey, that’s Clark Kent” unless he manages to totally change his face somehow.
And I will say that they definitely got me with the end. I did a 180 as my initial thought of, “Oh jeez, ANOTHER iteration of Evil Clark Kent” gave way to, “Wait…Bizarro?! How cool is that!” I’m definitely aboard for next season, even though I’m still expecting the restore status quo button to be pushed.
AMERICAN IDOL: Someone named Jordin won.
PAD
• 
Robert Fuller wrote: Why is shooting Peter in the head even an issue for Claire, when he can just regenerate? That was an incredibly lame climax. And Sylar’s not even dead!”
I think shooting Peter was an issue because he specified the spot in his head where the glass had gone in, “killing” him during his previous battle with Sylar (the same spot where the tree branch had gone into Claire’s head when Brody had attacked her. In both cases, they remained dead until someone removed the foreign object in their brains). They may have concluded that a bullet, which does more damage than either a shard of glass or tree branch, would result in irreparable damage. Their Achilles Heel, so to speak.
Again, Peter was very specific about where to shoot him. Whether he was right that it would kill him permanently remains unknown, but he believed it, and so did Claire.
Are we sure Sylar’s not dead? Yes, he could have crawled off, but someone else could have dragged away the body for “study.”
Rick
Smallville: Hasn’t anyone noticed that they’ve written Martha Kent out of the show?
Linda
Ok, Am I the only one who thought Smallville seriously jumped the shark with this episode?
Magic krypto tears?
“I’m Like you, only more bizarre”?
My wife laughed out loud at that line. I understood what they were trying to say but god, worst line ever.
If next season does not pick up – Smallville will be dead for me.
“Why is shooting Peter an issue for Claire”
Because she’s a highschool girl being asked to shoot, possibly kill, one of the few people in the world she trusts and looks up to?
There’s one thing about intellectually knowing he will likely heal…then there’s emotionally knowing.
PAD: I’m concerned over your lack of knowledge about American Idol.
Marvel just killed Captain America because he doesn’t watch NASCAR…what will they do to you when they learn about this!!!
Didn’t know about Chloe’s magic tears. Must have missed the episode in which they were introduced.
Nope, you didn’t. While they dropped the news that Chloe had a kryptonite-induced power earlier in the season, this was the first time we saw what, exactly, that power was.
To comment on a few previous comments regarding Heroes:
A friend of mine and myself came up with the theory that Sylar did NOT resist Hiro’s powers…Hiro’s self doubt caused his powers to wane, because he felt he could not kill Sylar.
Also, I am subscribed to the newsletter that the show sends out, under the guise of Hannah? (The one who controls the electronic/wireless transmissions)…and in the email directly following the finale, she reveals something regarding Hiro’s anscestors in that 1671 era. I believe she is alluding to the fact he is going to meet a long-ago relative (and my assumption/personal belief is that its that guy who was on by his lonesome against the army of warriors)
Michael
Jeff, Paul, THANK YOU. I was beginning to think I was the only one who’d noticed that little item.
At the VERY least, it would appear (to the world at large) that someone violated a bunch of international nuclear above-ground test ban treaties. If not an outright atomic attack on the U.S. Either way there’d have to be some serious, er, fall-out from that. I hope they don’t just sweep it under the carpet and hope it goes away next season.
I thought they spelled out pretty clearly why peter couldn’t fly. When nathan came up to him he said something along the lines of “I can’t think of anything else”. Back in the episode with the invisible man when he first started using powers of people he wasn’t near I thought there was a line or an indication that he had to think of the person with the power to be able to conciously use it. (some powers like claire’s regeneration or the dreamtime power he seems to use unconciously)
Comic-Geek Question: If Sylar did take Peter’s power, would he only gain Peter’s absorption ability, or would he also gain all the powers Peter has already absorbed?? 🙂
Comic-Geek Answer: Depending on what was needed for the story, either way. Rules are rules until they get in the way of the tale.
Nytwyng,
Well, I missed the episode in which viewers learned Chloe had Kryptonite-induced powers, which pretty much comes to the same thing. That she had any special ability caught me by surprise.
Though, in retrospect, it shouldn’t have. Any denizen of Smallville could conceivably turn out to be a latent “meteor freak.” That doesn’t mean I like the idea, however.
On another note, in my first post, I wrote: “As to Hiro, maybe I was right, and he’ll turn out to be the legendary figure his father told him about as a child.
“On the other hand, according to something I read, one of the person is already there in that field.”
That, of course, should have read, “that person is already there in that field.”
We now return you to your regularly scheduled Cowboy Pete thread, already in progress.
Rick
Hmm, anyone else getting a Quantum Leap vibe from this thought? “Hiro Nakamura, theorizing one could travel through time, concentrated really hard… and vanished! He awoke to find himself trapped in the past, facing a civilization not his own.”
This comment has a “put right things that once went wrong” factor of 3 out of 5…
Between the Heroes homage(?) and the NBC rip-off Journeyman that is set to debut this fall, if anyone wanted to do a Quantum Leap style series, why not just revive the original?
BTW: Any idea what happened to the Sci-Fi Channel produced reunion movie with Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell that was supposed to wrap up the original series and set the stage for any potential continuation sequels?
Some thoughts:
HEROES: A decent ending. I had predicted (and someone with *way* too much time can look through past posts here to see my having said it) that Nathan would help by flying Peter off to safety (though I had thought the distance would have mitigate the power absorptions). I wasn’t bothered by Peter panicking: He had been in a total panic as soon as his hands started glowing, and he was probably focused so much on “holding it in” that he didn’t think of flight. My money says Nathan survived, as he could have easily flown away. (BTW, does Peter now have the powers of Molly and Micah, since they were near him? Or Jessica’s super strength? And what about Sylar’s power? Remember, initially his power seemed to be figuring out how to solve a problem: He knew instinctively how to fix watches, and he knew instinctively how to take out part of the telekinetic’s brain to access his power.)
I was a little disappointed that Hiro just ran up to Sylar and stabbed him. Did Hiro slow time enough to move before Sylar could react?
LOST: So we’re back to the future! Overall, a good episode. Quite a few regulars were killed, plus we now have a new potential menace on the horizon. (Though even if the helicopter wasn’t sent by Penny, who does that make them evil? Ben doesn’t want anyone leaving the island, and the Dharma Initiative already knew where the island was.) It was great to see Hurley taking initiative instead of being the fat comic relief/punching bag again, and Charlie’s death was really heroic: He knew what was coming, and he sacrificed himself instead of getting Desmond killed. Even his final act was to pass on information to help the othe– er, his fellow castaways.
SMALLVILLE: I agree with PAD: Barring people leaving due to contract disputes, everything will be back to normal in a few episodes. That said, was Chloe’s big mystery meteor freak power was to save someone at the cost of her own life? And it’s ironic that with Bizarro, someone finally figured out to bring kryptonite against a kryptonian — and it backfires. D’oh!
mister_pj
Overall, it was a great season for LOST. I know there had been a lot of noise about it jumping the shark but, aside from the Nicki/Paulo episode I found the season wonderfully entertaining and February ’08 seems way too far off!
(just using your post as a touchstone here…nothing personal)
I wonder if the people who are didn’t like the Nicki/Paulo episode of LOST people are the same people who didn’t like the Jonathan episode of “Buffy”?
For the record, I thought both were a hoot.
I haven’t read any of the other comments yet, but I did have a question about Lost. A coworker of mine said that the woman in the car accident on the bridge where Jack was was acxtually Kate and the boy with her was her son. I didn’t get that out of the episode at all. Can anyone confirm that?
Also, another coworker said that the person in the coffin had a J at the beginning of their name. It could be James Ford (Saywer), John Locke, or Jin Kwon. Any theories?
My roommate posed this theory for a possible Nathan survival:
The last person’s power that Peter absorbed was Niki’s, and the show has been vague about how the Niki/Jessica dynamic works. If Jessica is just a split personality, then that’s one thing. But what if Niki’s real power was abosrbing the essence of her dead sister (who herself had the potential for super strength), king of like the way Rogue had completely absorbed the powers and personality of Carol Danvers? Probably not, but would be interesting if we see Nathan start looking back at Peter in the mirror.
Will, can’t be because Kate showed up at the end unharmed- I don’t think the timeline advanced THAT much by the end of the episode, because the lady in the car was very banged up …
I agree Peter was just too confused to use his power to fly, but they could have made it clearer (and should have).
I vote for Sylar’s corpse being dragged into the sewers, rather than crawled.
The person I’m surprised survived was the illusionist holding Micah. I figured Jessica would remove her head when she found out.
Generally a great episode.
Smallville: Haven’t seen the ending, but Chloe isn’t a dispensabe character, she’s the main reason I watch. Why Clark would pick drippy Lana over her, I cannot fathom.
As for the Lost Funeral scene, I missed the “J” bit, but the best theories I have come up with so far are:
1. It was the funeral of John Locke or
2. It was the funeral of Michael
If every surviving castaway makes it off the island in the next few seasons, the only people who have lost the love of their fellow beach dwellers are Michael and Locke. Any other death among the survivors …someone would have made an appearance at the service.
John and Michael both seem to have no family, that is if something happens to Walt.
Jack seems to be the type of guy who would have been there for either, as he likely feels as if he failed them, in some way.
Kate’s reaction “Why would I go” (to the funeral) seems to say she had no love for the deceased.
Biggest giweaway here is that Jack (who was earmarked for death in the Pilot episode)and Kate will indeed have 3 more seasons without the threat of getting whacked… No more cliffhanger endings that will be believable if they are involved.
Heroes…. kind of a let down, but as the last few episodes played out.
1. Ted being knocked off by Sylar, opens up a new and exciting career opportunity for the actor….I hear they are doing a Geico Caveman
sitcom.
2.Maybe, just maybe Greg Grunberg’s Matt Parkman may survive, unlike his pilot character on Lost.
3.Maybe the Eclipse we see in the teaser for Season 2 is the birth of the Genetic changes we know are coming.
4. Did anyone else think for a split second that the body falling into the grass at the end was Peter Petrelli?
Last thing I can say on both shows….It’s gonna suck waiting to see what happens next.
Ps. quick question for Mr. David……I have seen some names that I recognize doing work on the Heroes online graphic novels. Any chance we’ll see your name on one of them?
Thanks,
Pete C.
Was the Petrelli brothers’ detonation in the sky, creating a sun in the middle of the night, intended to be a counterpoint to the Heroes eclipse motif?
Pete C: Biggest giweaway here is that Jack (who was earmarked for death in the Pilot episode)and Kate will indeed have 3 more seasons without the threat of getting whacked… No more cliffhanger endings that will be believable if they are involved.
I disagree. You’re assuming that next Season of Lost will pickup after Jack made his call to the Not-Penny’s-Boat. I submit that next season will pick up off the Island and focus on Jack’s and some of the other Castaways’ efforts to get back to the Island. It’s a way to bring run the clock forward to where the characters have aged as much as the actors (especially Walt). They did it with Battlestar Galactica; why not Lost? They could keep their Flashback motif to give all sorts of interesting backstory about what happened in the time between the rescue and the “Present-Time” of the series. I really think that this is the where they’re going with this.
I’m trying really, really hard not to read the Lost spoilers, since it’s still sitting on my TiVo, but I have some input on Heroes:
For weeks, I’ve been predicting that Sylar would live (he’s too good a villain to lose), until FinderGirl said there was someone worse. Then I figured we could lose Sylar. I’d have much rather seen a hint that somebody else dragged him off, rather than crawling off like the roach he is. Of course if he can concentrate on his TK power, he should be able to hold his guts together, right?
I also predicted that Peter had to die — how many Marvel and DC characters have had to be written out (or at least sidelined) because they have the “I can do anything” ability. It’s just too hard, from a writer’s point of view, to come up with scenarios that Peter can’t just fix by himself. I don’t buy that Nathan had to fly him off though. Lame.
But. Peter could survive (I’m reminded of Hulk Annual number *cough* “Bah! Hulk has fallen farther”). Has Peter been around Linderman, who can heal… would Nathan mention that on the way up, letting him keep his brother alive? For that matter, Nathan can go waaaay up, drop Peter, then skedaddle out of range, before he goes boom, right?
Is Heroes trying to say that these people (at least their families) have been tied together for centuries. The logo on the flag that the solitary rider has at the end of the show matches the logo on the sword shop advertisement in the yellow pages where Hiros father was. It was also the same design as the tatoo on Nikkis back when she was present.
“A coworker of mine said that the woman in the car accident on the bridge where Jack was was acxtually Kate and the boy with her was her son. I didn’t get that out of the episode at all. Can anyone confirm that?”
From what I got out of it, was that the woman is Juliet’s sister and the boy (her miracle birth) nephew.
“Also, another coworker said that the person in the coffin had a J at the beginning of their name. It could be James Ford (Saywer), John Locke, or Jin Kwon. Any theories?”
The obituary (which you can see here: http://bp0.blogger.com/_RrObyQ3XzcY/RlUe-1YihSI/AAAAAAAAFkw/ucINFuG1jfo/s1600-h/newspaperclipping2.jpg) is for J. Bentham (Jeremy Bentham, the name of the philosopher who designed Panopticon)
“The last person’s power that Peter absorbed was Niki’s, and the show has been vague about how the Niki/Jessica dynamic works. If Jessica is just a split personality, then that’s one thing. But what if Niki’s real power was abosrbing the essence of her dead sister (who herself had the potential for super strength), king of like the way Rogue had completely absorbed the powers and personality of Carol Danvers? Probably not, but would be interesting if we see Nathan start looking back at Peter in the mirror.”
Great theory!
Pete C.:As for the Lost Funeral scene, I missed the “J” bit, but the best theories I have come up with so far are:
1. It was the funeral of John Locke or
2. It was the funeral of Michael
I’m tempted to go for Locke. Flashfoward Jack seemed to be convinced that they should have stayed on the island – exactly what Locke wanted. I’m wondering if Jack getting them saved in spite of Ben’s meddling, and Locke’s protest resulted in, among other things, Locke’s decline. That would give Jack something to be guilty and remorseful about, even if nobody else particularly cared. Obviously, there’d have to be a lot more going on, but news of a death he might have been responsible for could certainly have been one straw too many.
I kind of like Luigi Novi’s explanation of Charlie’s death. Sure, why not. (Do they still give out No-prizes?)
Re: Heroes – dug it a lot. I don’t know – I guess I didn’t have a problem with be Peter being unable to fly. As far as I recall, that was one of the harder ones of his abilities to access, and like others have said, he was trying his dámņëdëšŧ just not to explode.
Also – anybody watching the commentary tracks on the Heroes website? They’re pretty entertaining/insightful.
I don’t think Peter has ever used more than one power at once in an effective fashion. Even if he is able, it would take all of his concentration to try and contain his nuclear power, so activating a second one might not be feasible. Plus, the kid was just too scared of exploding. I don’t think he was thinking straight.
Sylar is a different case, I suppose, because he was shown to have much more control over his acquired powers than Peter.
The other thing I think people are misreading: it was understood between Peter and Claire that blowing your brains out would prevent regeneration, since the power is in the brain. That was what all the angst was about between the two of them. Peter wouldn’t be coming back if Claire shot him. And Claire couldn’t get the nerve to kill Peter permanently. Plus, he could have exploded if shot! I don’t think that was ever a good plan in the first place.
It’s interesting how some people are speculating that Sylar was dragged away, when there was never any doubt that he dragged his own sorry ášš into the sewer. The producers have obviously made a point of making some kind of link between Sylar and a cockroach, considering there was a deliberate shot of a roach when he was held captive in the lab, and just in case we missed it, they had a roach crawl over the final title for the end of book one. From a production standpoint, the amount of work it takes to capture a cockroach on camera for a single shot is pretty considerable; enough that it had to be hugely deliberate to place one there.
“I had a weird idea that at some point the reveal would be that Jacob and Jack are one in the same. Don’t ask me why, but there is something in the way Locke approached the whole thing with his comment about Jack and the satellite phone, ‘It’s not what you’re supposed to do.’”
Brilliant idea. There was a whole Moses motif going on in this chapter with Jack + Jack’s tattoo — for him to be Jacob makes perfect sense.
Heroes:
I enjoyed the season finale, but it seemed to suffer from some of the childhood diseases that afflicted it early in the season.
1) Annoying, time wasting voice overs by Mohinder, as well as other overly dramtic lines and scenes that did not realy further the plot.
2) Difficulty finding time for all of the characters.
It felt as if they were trying too hard to get all of the heroes to do something heroic in the final chapter, while wrapping up dangling threads, and the result was a rushed feeling while neglect of some character development.
– After all the effort he went to, Hero’s battle with Syler should have had more to it: a better demonstration of his samurai skills and powers, instead of stabbing and being (literaly) tossed away. I think it would have been a good idea if, while training with his father, Hero would have slowed time in order to give him sufficient training time.
– I think Claire also got cheated of her heroic moment. Ever since she left Texas, it seems thatshe has become very passive, being dragged around by other characters. She used to be one of the more pro-active characters. And then, at the moment she’s been preparing for, all she could do was stand there until Nathan swooped in out of the blue.
– Nathan also got cheated, I think. His decision to come save the day felt sudden. I also regreted seeing him sacrificed — dying for his sins — just when he has reached the pivotal moment in his character development. Maybe it would have been better if he swooped in too late to prevent Claire from shooting Peter, leaving him with regret and a task as a father to help his daughter deal with the consequences of her actions. His own ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ moment, if you will. I would have liked to see him in the next season.
– The attempt to wrap up the Nikki storyline, resolve her split personality issues and allow her to claim her super powers, while also letting her in on the big battle also felt rushed to me. I think it should have been handled differently. I’m also not sure I like seeing Jessica go, she had a flare. Maybe it would ave been better to keep the resolution of that story for the next season?
– Peter had to die, at least temporarily. He had to much power. He also had the self sacrificing personality. But being wisked away, followed by an explosion with no body, seems like a crude way to do it. I dd not have a problem with the fact that he didn’t fly away since it is easily explained.
– I also felt that Peter’s time travel was a little wasted. Mr. Devaux should have given us more than a peptalk. A little hit about the organization maybe.
– I agree with PAD that creating the impression that Syler survived somehow undercuts the whole struggle of the season. Had they established that his body was taken by some mysterious party, that would have been more satisfying.
Still, there were also several satisfying moments in this finale. Bennet revealing his first name. Claire jumping out of the window. Nathan struggling with himself. Hiro saying goodbye to Ando. Hiro and his father. Matt Parkman’s role (I hope they don’t kill him).
Future Peter had a scar on his face. If he could always heal, how’d he end up with a scar? Claire was autopsied and healed from that. Claire and Peter always completely healed from their injuries so Peter should have healed any injury to his face.
Joe, I think the cockroach was a metaphor for the show in general (evolutionary survivors), not for Sylar. Cockroaches have been shown several times with no connection to Sylar.
I also felt that Peter’s time travel was a little wasted. Mr. Devaux should have given us more than a peptalk. A little hit about the organization maybe.
I’ll confess that it got me all teary-eyed, and the scene with Ando and Hiro in the office too. Under peril of looking like a totally uncool, uncynical simpleton. I just love it when the underdog outsiders get validated as heroes.
It felt as if they were trying too hard to get all of the heroes to do something heroic in the final chapter, while wrapping up dangling threads, and the result was a rushed feeling while neglect of some character development.
I agree, to a point. Too many characters, too little time, it has always been Heroes’ problem. I read that next seasons will be different, they’ll do shorter story arcs and more episodes focused on indivual characters.
But you know what impressed me most about the last episode? If you re-watch the first two episodes, there is an almost eerie thematic continuance between them and the finale.
LOST: just fantastic. This show has been riveting since mid-season. Incidentally, I missed most of season 2, and don’t feel like I’ve missed anything. A couple of points:
1. I bet it’s Sawyer in the coffin. They’re already starting to show a grudging mutual respect between him and Jack, though they would not be called “friends”, and thus Jack described him as neither friend nor family. This also explains why Jack expected Kate to be there. Why wasn’t she? Some falling-out they have in the future, I’d guess. And when she says “I have to get home to him”, I suspect it’s to her and Sawyer’s son, who Sawyer abandoned in this as-yet-unrevealed future. Also, a freeze frame of the death announcement clearly shows a name starting with J…”James”?
2. Random nitpick: Jack is surprised that his oxycodone is out of refills. He shouldn’t be, and the pharmacist comment is similarly misguided; oxycodone is a schedule 2 drug, and never, EVER has refills–you need a new Rx every time.
About Charlie: you are forgetting one major thing about underwater containers with holes in the bottom. They do not flood because of the pressure. If you blow open a hole in the side of the container, the water will come up through the bottom and flood the inside up to the level of the hole.
Charlie may have closed the door thinking to prevent the main area from flooding, thereby saving Des in the process. Assuming he knew physics as well as Beach Boy tunes, that is.
“I read that next seasons will be different, they’ll do shorter story arcs.”
That would be a huge mistake. Look what happened to Veronica Mars/
“I read that next seasons will be different, they’ll do shorter story arcs.”
That would be a huge mistake. Look what happened to Veronica Mars/”
Totally different situation. “Veronica Mars” went to shorter story arcs because it was never a ratings success to begin with and they did it that way to try and improve ratings. “Heroes” *is* a ratings success and they’re discussing shorter arcs as a different way of telling stories.
PAD
“Posted by: Peter David at May 26, 2007 07:24 AM
“I read that next seasons will be different, they’ll do shorter story arcs.”
That would be a huge mistake. Look what happened to Veronica Mars/”
Totally different situation. “Veronica Mars” went to shorter story arcs because it was never a ratings success to begin with and they did it that way to try and improve ratings. “Heroes” *is* a ratings success and they’re discussing shorter arcs as a different way of telling stories.”
I understand the difference. But it seems to me that in both cases it would take away from the shows one of their strongest aspects. In Veronica Mars’s case they were desperate to find a way to get more viewers but acheived the reverse. Heroes is doing well, so I don’t know if the risk is worth it. The experience with Lost taught us that even successful shows shouldn’t take their success for granted. From a storytelling point of view I understand the wish to have character focused stories or shorter arcs, but I think they should strive to do it while maintaining the larger arc. Jos Whedon was pretty pretty successful with that in Buffy and Angel.
Re: Lost
Lost definitely returned to form in last few chapter after seemingly loosing direction, purpose and focus for most of the season. That’s great. But it did cause me to hold a certain distrust toward the show. When I saw the flashback that urned out to be a flashforward (I figured that out pretty fast), my first reaction was to groan. I still am a little suspicious with the way that the show prefers to add more and more twists to the plot instead of addressing past questions. But nevertheless, after not caring much about the show for most of the season, now they got me interested again.
I was happy to see Hurley save the day and sorry to see Charlie sacrificed. I like the underdogs.
I think the problem with Charlie’s scene was more in the direction. I think the idea was that he had only a moment to seal the hatch and save Desmond, and he couldn’t step out. He was supposed to seal the hatch just as the explosion occured. Luigi solution is also good: that Charlie couldn’t close the door from the outside.
I was also sorry to see Naomi die. I like people who are not part of the in group.
I think they were deliberatly trying to be ambiguous about Jack’s father. Jack’s reference to him may have been simply a statement that they allowed Christian to work while drunk when he was alive. But they still have the option to go with the supernatural solution.
The show sure left us with a lot of questions a speculations, and that’s a sign of its success.
– Is Jack the only one to react badly to their leaving the island? Kate’s face was covered with a lot of makeup, which is sometimes shorthand for corruption or trying to hide problems.
– Who is the person Kate wad refering to? From her tone it sounded like a boyfriend or husband who might be unhappy about her meeting with Jack. It also seemed as if Jack was not supposed to contact her. Why?
– Who was in the coffin and why didn’t other survivors attend? Was it because this person was disliked (Ben, Locke, Sawyer)? Or maybe a general reluctance by the survivors to have any reunion? Maybe guilt on taking off the islan d somebody who wanted to remain? Maybe all of above? It also seemed that the funeral occured in a poor neighborhood, and that the deceased was lonely. sawyer or Locke seem like the obvious choices, but you never know.
– What is the story with the rescue ship? Ben seems to have lied when he said that the company looking for the island will kill the survivors, since they were taken home. Or he could have been talking figuratively and refering to the effect of leaving the island’s influence. Naomi didn’t strike me as working for a nefarious organization.
– Why did the communication system of the mirror hook up with Penny immediately when it was disconnected?
There will be enough time to mull about that until Lost returns. I’m happy I want to see it return.
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About 24. I pretty much lost interest with it after season 2 and didn’t watch the current season. The formula felt tired for me and repetitive.
Re: Smallville
This season I caught up to this show by watching daily reruns. It is not a great show. It depends on cuteness: cute actors, cute characters, cute character chemistry, cute storylines, cute references to the Superman myth. But it is enjoyable dispite weak points.
This season was good for the most part, but I felt a little disconnect between the major themes of the season: JLA, Lex’s secret experiments, Kryptonian criminals, and the way they were all combined together in the character of bizarro. I’m not sure why. I am happy to see bizarro. Maybe I don’t think of him as a major end of season villain. It’s just an impression.
Lana’s death seemed very suspicious, and Chloe’s also. It is difficult for us to even consider it a possibility. But maybd the show felt it is time to release Clark from his connection to Lana and/or Chloe, and push Lois forward even more. Maybe this time the deaths are real? I will regret a little saying either go, but the Lana storyline has been streched way too long. On the other hand it would be interesting to see Lanas as part of the in group.
“in this continuity, people will take one look at Superman and say, “Hey, that’s Clark Kent” unless he manages to totally change his face somehow.”
Yes, I don’t know how they can solve that. The show works so well. The character of Lois, which I was dubious about, fit in perfectly. Yet as the show goes along it undercuts the basic premise of the Superman myth.
I understand the difference. But it seems to me that in both cases it would take away from the shows one of their strongest aspects. In Veronica Mars’s case they were desperate to find a way to get more viewers but acheived the reverse. Heroes is doing well, so I don’t know if the risk is worth it.
Actually, even though Heroes still did very well, the long break that came before the last 5 episodes has hurt the ratings a little.
And from what I’ve read, we’ll still have long story arcs, just not season-long ones. It will be more like 2 or 3 “mini-seasons” per year. The next story arc, “Generations”, will be 11-episodes long, if I’m not mistaken.
And just from the way Season 1 ended, I suspect Heroes will always be extremely serial in nature. Even when you enter a new storyline, it will still be heavily built over what came before. I just don’t see Heroes as the kind of show that has a status quo they’ll keep getting back to, you know? That is pretty much impossible in Heroes.
RE: “24”. Did no one catch the finale’s nod to ALIENS? Buchanan as Bishop – cool!!
I liked the heroes finale but i agree there were some weaker points to the episode. i often wonder what happens in the writing process that makes a writer decide to go with a given resolution because surely they see the gaps as well as the watchers at home?
I interpreted the whole thing as Peter not being able to fly because he was focussing solely on not exploding. Concentrating on another power would have made him instantly lose control. However i wanted them to just shoot Peter. Peter is invincible, shoot him and pluck out the bullet from his head in a remote part of the desert and he’d be right as rain and no one would be in danger.
Still i feel the primary climax of the finale was not so much Peter exploding but Nathan’s redemption. For the most part during the series we’ve been wondering what side he’d eventually choose. Nathan is an antihero, he doesn’t want to be a hero and yet in the end he did what he had to in order to save millions of lives and to stand by his brother. That was the moment that emotionally grabbed me the most.
About Sylar, not sure how i feel about him potentially escaping. While i’d hate to lose the actor it kinda lessened the impact of his supposed death and subsequently Peter and Nathan’s sacrifice.
I hope they will wrap up the nuclear man storyline by having both peter and Sylar lose all the powers they had so far, peter to power burnout and Sylar due to being dead even for a while (but then how would peter survive and we’ve seen Sylar “dead” before without losing powers).
I’m glad we’ve seen Sylar fake death before or it would seem pretty lame that he did so this time around but it makes one wonder why he needed Claire’s power to survive in the first place.
Anyway highly enjoyable even if not 100% perfect in execution.
Predictions for the next season:
*Hiro’s dad is immortal and he is kensei.”.. of all my children ..”
*Jessica is not gone but possesses a new body (Sylar?)
*the illusionist girl takes Nathan’s place as senator.
*Neither Peter nor Nathan is truly dead.
“Hiro’s dad is immortal and he is kensei.”.. of all my children ..”
That’s a really good idea. I like the notion that he has generations of Children.
“Jessica is not gone but possesses a new body (Sylar?)”
I don’t think Jessica exists. Nikki is just a person with multiple personality disorder that has super powers.
“*the illusionist girl takes Nathan’s place as senator.”
Seems very likely.
“Neither Peter nor Nathan is truly dead.”
That’s quite possible. I think we are supposed to assume Peter is alive. But to keep Nathan alive feels like the kind of tired comics trickery we’re always complaining about (see captain America). That was also why I disliked the way the resolved the story with a distant explosion and no bodies (see Lana Lang). I had an image of Syler and Peter’s corpses kept by Primatech in some warehouse somewhere.
“Still i feel the primary climax of the finale was not so much Peter exploding but Nathan’s redemption. For the most part during the series we’ve been wondering what side he’d eventually choose. Nathan is an antihero, he doesn’t want to be a hero and yet in the end he did what he had to in order to save millions of lives and to stand by his brother. That was the moment that emotionally grabbed me the most.”
I liked the transition in complexity of Nathan’s personality, but felt that they killed him just when it would have been most interesting to explore him further.
“i often wonder what happens in the writing process that makes a writer decide to go with a given resolution because surely they see the gaps as well as the watchers at home?”
I sometimes wonder the same thing. I guess writing is (among other things) about choices: should the hero go left or right, wear one color or another, attack or retreat…. There are times where it seems that some writer or director picked the worst option instead of 10 really good options. There are other times where they pick the eleventh option I wasn’t even thinking of, and I wonder how he or she did it. There are times in which there are several really good option, but I’m thinking to myself, what is the option that I’m not thinking of, the one that would be really surprising?
However i wanted them to just shoot Peter. Peter is invincible, shoot him and pluck out the bullet from his head in a remote part of the desert and he’d be right as rain and no one would be in danger.
The two times when Peter and Claire came back to life, they had something lodged into their nape area, sorta “disconnecting” their brains and deactivating their powers.
If Claire shot Peter in the nape in that moment, my understanding was that the bullet wouldn’t just stay conveniently lodged there in the nape. A bullet shot in the nape would burrow through, either allowing Peter to regenerate instantly or causing damage to the brain itself that Peter wouldn’t be able to regenerate from, the same way Claire couldn’t regenerate if Sylar removed her brain.
That was what the angst was about between Peter and Claire. I don’t think Claire would have that much of a problem hurting Peter if she knew he was coming back for sure. The problem was, she didn’t know whether he was coming back from a bullet to the head, and neither was Peter. Remember that the brain is the area that control their powers. Messing with it isn’t like just throwing a switch.
That’s quite possible. I think we are supposed to assume Peter is alive. But to keep Nathan alive feels like the kind of tired comics trickery we’re always complaining about (see captain America). That was also why I disliked the way the resolved the story with a distant explosion and no bodies (see Lana Lang). I had an image of Syler and Peter’s corpses kept by Primatech in some warehouse somewhere.
On the one hand, my comic book reading experience tells me Peter, Sylar, Nathan, Matt, and D.L. will all survive. No dead bodies, no death.
On the other hand, Tim Kring has said some of the deaths in the last episode were for real. Maybe he is messing with us, or playing with words, though.
I thought the one most likely to die was D.L., since he has been shamefully underused most of the season(even though the way he killed Linderman was cool), but he was up and walking about by the end.
Matt, Peter, and Sylar are all obviously alive, though I foresee consequences. Nathan… I dunno. It would be dramatically apropriate for him to have died, but I dunno.
Rene: “The two times when Peter and Claire came back to life, they had something lodged into their nape area, sorta “disconnecting” their brains and deactivating their powers.
If Claire shot Peter in the nape in that moment, my understanding was that the bullet wouldn’t just stay conveniently lodged there in the nape. A bullet shot in the nape would burrow through, either allowing Peter to regenerate instantly or causing damage to the brain itself that Peter wouldn’t be able to regenerate from, the same way Claire couldn’t regenerate if Sylar removed her brain.
That was what the angst was about between Peter and Claire. I don’t think Claire would have that much of a problem hurting Peter if she knew he was coming back for sure. The problem was, she didn’t know whether he was coming back from a bullet to the head, and neither was Peter. Remember that the brain is the area that control their powers. Messing with it isn’t like just throwing a switch.”
I don’t know Rene. The splinter un Claire’s brain was lodged pretty deep, and she was for all intents and purposes dead. So maybe the damage of a bullet is reversable. But my problem was mostly that Claire became redundant by not shooting Peter, while Nathan’s death, unless reversed, removes him from the story just when he reached the climax of his character.
I agree about DL.
I think you’re really reaching in your theory about why Claire didn’t shoot Peter, Rene. There’s nothing in the show to indicate that he wouldn’t regenerate from a bullet to the head. It’s not that Peter and Claire’s brains were “deactivated” when something was lodged in them. They had a huge freaking piece of glass and a huge freaking piece of wood, respectively, stuck in their brains. They were dead. A bullet is not going to be any different (and, even if it were, Claire doesn’t have any reason to think it would be).
The episode would have been so much better if Peter started losing control and Claire just walked up to him and shot him. Instead, we got a lame martyr scene for Nathan that was even sillier than Harry Osborn’s.
There’s nothing in the show to indicate that he wouldn’t regenerate from a bullet to the head. It’s not that Peter and Claire’s brains were “deactivated” when something was lodged in them. They had a huge freaking piece of glass and a huge freaking piece of wood, respectively, stuck in their brains.
I’ve watched Episodes 3 and 4 a couple times, and the more recent “.07%” twice, and both times Peter and Claire had objects stuck more exactly in the back of their necks, more in the brainstem. Moreover, the objects were conveniently lodged there, stopping further regeneration. Would the bullet just stay there or burrow through Peter head and go out the other way? And then he would regenerate right there.
But that isn’t my main objection to this absurdly harebrained plan, but more the fact that neither Peter nor Claire were going nuclear in the occasions they had objects suddenly stuck in their brainstems. Wouldn’t Peter explode if he were suddenly shot?
It is a desperate plan, useful if Peter were going to explode *anyway*. But if there was a way to, say, safely remove him from the city fast, like Nathan did, that must be preferable to inflicting sudden, concentration-shattering pain to the guy that is just about to explode.
It was, of course, much better than doing nothing, but if there is a flying guy there to remove the bomb, I’m surprised that so many people think it would be smarter to just shoot the bomb and pray.
Instead, we got a lame martyr scene for Nathan that was even sillier than Harry Osborn’s.
I understand that some people had a negative reaction to Nathan’s melodramatic scene, but I think this is immaterial to how desperate and dubious the “shoot the bomb” plan was.
“Wouldn’t Peter explode if he were suddenly shot?”
Why would he? He’s a nuclear bomb, not a stick of dynamite.