Four episodes down on BBC2 and I'm loving it. But should I really like Heroes so much, after all there are several reasons why I shouldn't? They are as follows.
Claire Bennet: Almost every character she comes into contact with kills her. I know she's invincible but why am I shown this every episode? It's not like I've forgotten. She must be the unluckiest teenager on the planet. No wonder she has the need to be invincible if she's in danger of being killed that often. And will she ever change out of that cheerleader's costume, it must be getting grubby by now?
Matt Parkman: He can hear people's thoughts, and gets arrested when he can't explain how he finds a girl hiding from a serial killer. When he tells the FBI agent who arrested him he can read minds instead of packing him off to the funny farm she asks him to join the FBI, and immediately places all her trust in him; like you do.
Niki Saunders: Is she the only one who doesn't know her husband is innocent of killing people and stealing $2m, and that her alter ego is in fact the one responsible? And why does her son never question why he has to sleep in the back of cars while she buries chopped up bad guys? He's supposed to have a high IQ after all.
Mohinder Suresh: His father is friends with a serial killer and then gets killed (that's just asking for trouble really, isn't it?). Mohinder jacks in his job and moves to New York to find his dad's killer with out a single mention of immigration and having to apply for a visa to live and work in the USA.
Nathan Petrelli: His father committed suicide, his mother shoplifts and his brother nearly kills himself because he thinks he can fly, yet he still gets elected to congress in later episodes. I don't know if that is a comment on the political situation in the USA, or how it actually works.
So why is the show so watchable? I think I have narrowed it down to three things.
1) The way not only each episode, but each scene, shows us a little bit of each character and always leaves us with a hint that there's more to know. That way we have to hang around to find out, and when we do learn some information, again more is hinted at. The episode cliffhangers are giant hooks compelling the viewer to come back next week for more.
2) The dialogue is genius. When Hiro is being dragged back to his work station by his supervisor, his friend shouts out, "use the death grip, Spock, use the death grip."
3) The characters and the emotional connection you can identify with. For example, Hiro is the sci-fi geek in everyone of us committing himself to his mission with the wide eyed enthusiasm of a five year old child.
I'm hooked.
8 comments:
Regarding Niki I didn't realise either, to be honest. Mohinder's journey was a problem which the writers took the longest to fix I think.
Regarding Matt and Nathan, however, all will be revealed at a later stage.
I watched many episodes.
That is all I'm saying.
Take from it what you will.
Ahem.
Blog syncronicity: I posted today about Claire Bennet's "I am invincible, therefore I must die every week" syndrome.
See also Captain Jack Harkness, Wolverine, and the main offender, Captain Scarlet.
Or my blog post.
Also... in a less blog jacking style...
Mohinder is a scientist, but most of his science seems to come from a bloke down the pub.
Bad science from his opening speech: We use all of our brains. 10% at any one time. But all of it is used. And cockroaches would not survive a nuclear blast, they'd toast with the rest of us.
And yet, also, I'm hooked. It's Hiro.
Claire Bennet Update: How many cheerleading outfits does the girl have? So far in four episodes she's burnt one, had one ripped off her before being thrown in a river and now she's crashed a car which no doubt will render another one useless. And why doesn't her mum complain about all the bloodstains when she does her washing?
I'm still very much hooked.
Give me Girls in cheerleader's costumes over logic any day!
And doesn't Monhinder's view of eveloution sound a hell of a lot like intelligent design?
That's it. You're all dead. Dead I tell you. Just wait. And be scared.
Maybe you can't be killed Dom - and you won't know until you are 89 or something.
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