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Tue 10 Mar, 2009 09:27 pm
I enjoy the show. I don't think it's great, but I enjoy it. It's a guilty pleasure. I think Season 1 took a wrong turn that, in my opinion, was made worse in Season 2, and in the most recent episode of Season 3 they did it again.
Season 1 began with a painting of New York City blowing up, and since Issac's paintings always come true, the whole season was a build up to that cataclysmic event... except that the disaster was averted in the last five minutes of the season finale. Turns out the future is not set in stone. Great--lesson learned.
Early on in Season 2, Peter accidentally travels into the future and finds himself in a nearly deserted New York City. Some survivors tell him that a deadly plague wiped out most of the world. Traveling back in time, he finds that this plague was instigated by Adam Munroe and is able, in the last five minutes of the season finale, to avert the disaster. Again, the future is not set in stone. As if to reinforce the point, there was also that episode early in the season where Noah finds the last of Isaac's paintings and finds that the last one is a picture of himself, dead at Suresh's hands. Sure enough, Suresh shoots Noah in the head at season's end, but through a transfusion of Claire's blood he lives.
Season 2 got awful ratings, largely due to the writer's strike, but I think another problem is that the show lost the ability to scare us with ominous pictures of the future. It appears that the more disastrous the omens, the less likely they are to happen.
I had hoped that in Season 3 they would stop relying on threatening glimpses of the future, so I was dismayed in last week's episode to see Matt's painting of the White House in flames. And sure enough, in the most recent episode the crisis gets averted by a simple, last-minute intervention.
Can't the show's writers get some new plot devices? As I said, I love the show, but it's getting harder and harder to enjoy it with each episode.
@Shapeless,
I like it, too...no real complaints with the first two seasons, which we watched on dvd. I can never commit to a regular TV night, and there's so much going on in this series that if you miss even one show, you're sunk...so watching this year's season that way is a no go for me.
I'll wait and pick up the third season once it's out. I'm not worried about spoilers -- I'll never remember them by the time I get my hands on them, but I'll be disappointed if the show doesn't live up to its promise.
I'm currently watching 24. Halfway through Season 3 and thinking I won't bother with the rest. Mr Joe went out on a limb and bought 3 seasons at once, otherwise I'd have packed it in already.
Current favourite: Dexter.
@Joeblow,
I was pretty disappointed with Season 2, though I understand that many of the problems were caused by the writer's strike. Mostly what was unsatisfying were the many story threads that didn't go anywhere. Peter loses Caitlin when they accidentally travel into the future, and for an episode or two he seemed intent on going back to find her, but then he gets preoccupied with other things and seems to forget her completely by season's end. Maya and Alejandro are a major thread for the whole season, but in the end all they really did was give Sylar a ride to New York. And there was a bit of intrigue about the gang who kidnapped Monica--one of them talks mysteriously of the "boss" and his instructions--but we never find out what that means.
Take heart heroes ............. you can view all episodes at hulu.com
If you are addicted to kyle xy he is here also ..... search the database
@Shapeless,
You’re good…. I’m struggling to remember half of the characters…I found Maya really irritating now that you mention her. Sylar was a hoot. Is he still a bad guy? I still have questions about The Company, too.
I vacillated between merely hating Nikki and wanting to squish her head between my fingers (which I occasionally did from a distance).
Damn it, I’m trying to remember Monica and the intrigue of the “Boss.”
Sorry. I got nothing.
Lost is another one that had tons of loose ends, though I hear they’re starting to pull it all together now (that’s another one I prefer on dvd). Maybe Heroes will clean up this season, too. I think you’re right…the strike really threw a wrench in things. They may have to spend this year fleshing it all out.
@Joeblow,
Quote:Sylar was a hoot. Is he still a bad guy?
There's an interesting stretch of three or four episodes in Season 3 where Sylar actually becomes good, or at least not a serial killer. He even learns how to take other people's powers without killing them. But now he's back to evil, more or less.
Quote:I vacillated between merely hating Nikki and wanting to squish her head between my fingers (which I occasionally did from a distance).
Ditto. I won't even try to explain the ridiculous plot twist involving her character in Season 3.
Quote:Damn it, I’m trying to remember Monica and the intrigue of the “Boss.”
Monica is the young Louisiana girl, Micah's cousin, who can learn physical feats just by watching them being done. The first time we see her powers, she catches a glimpse of a cooking show where the chef is carving a tomato into the shape of a rose, and she is able to do it perfectly. She also learns the piano by watching Micah play, and foils a robbery at her diner by walloping the crook with a wrestling move she saw on TV.
@Joeblow,
Joeblow wrote:Current favourite: Dexter.
Dexter is fantatic! I love it.
Heroes is also pretty good, but I'm getting a bit tired of it. In my opinion, the big mistake they are making is introducing too many characters. The "future vision" thing is an annoying plot device, but not as bad as turning the show into a series of 4-minute mini-clips about each group of characters. I don't think this show knows where it's going. I got the same feeling from "Lost" and stopped watching it after the first season.
Battlestar Galactica is still the best show on network TV (Dexter is on SHO).
@rosborne979,
Quote:Heroes is also pretty good, but I'm getting a bit tired of it. In my opinion, the big mistake they are making is introducing too many characters. The "future vision" thing is an annoying plot device, but not as bad as turning the show into a series of 4-minute mini-clips about each group of characters. I don't think this show knows where it's going.
Yeah--I get the impression that the show can't decide how much they're trying to appeal to the sci-fi and comic book crowd, and how much they're to reach a wider audience. Most of my friends of the former type seem not to be bothered by the ever-expanding cast of characters, since that is what comic books often do too. Most of my friends of the latter type tend to get impatient that that sort of thing. As Joeblow mentioned, if you miss one episode you become hopelessly lost. I have not yet decided which of these categories I fit into.
In the latest episodes, for example, I stopped caring about Hiro and Ando after they traipsed off to India--it was just one more thread to follow. I also didn't care a whole lot about Sylar finding his father. I admit that I'm still a little curious who "Rebel" is, though.
@Shapeless,
I'm firmly in the sci-fi crowd; and the things you mention don't bother me in the slightest.
Why? Because the coolest part of the series is the super powers and their usage. The story itself is really immaterial.
Cycloptichorn
OK, what is Dexter?
We upgraded our U-Verse service to include Showtime, Encore, etc. (No HBO or Cinemax), and I can watch Dexter on demand.
Should I?
...but what is it?
SF alone does not guarantee a watchable program (nearly the opposite, IMO, much as I like SF).
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all its spinoffs. Xena. What're the new ones? Dollhouse? Fringe? Blech.
@DrewDad,
Dexter isn’t sci-fi DD. My fault for introducing it.
It’s about a serial killer (Dexter). Very well done.
Non-SF is not a problem. Finding a decent show is the problem.
@DrewDad,
DrewDad wrote:
Non-SF is not a problem. Finding a decent show is the problem.
It's decent, very good actually.
Cycloptichorn
@DrewDad,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_(TV_series)
Quote:Dexter is an American television drama series that airs on American premium channel Showtime. It is based on the novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay and adapted for television by Emmy Award-winning screenwriter James Manos, Jr., who wrote the pilot episode. Set in Miami, the series centers on Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), a serial killer governed by a strict moral code who works for the Miami Metro Police Department as a blood spatter analyst.
On October 21, 2008, Showtime renewed the series for a fourth and fifth season, each consisting of 12 episodes. Production is slated to begin in early 2009, with season four presumably airing late in 2009.[1]
(Sorry Shapeless - back to Heroes!)
i caught a couple of episodes of the first season and thought it was interesting enough to buy the box set
haven't even finished watching it all, and i bought it when it came out, didn't do it for me
now lost, finally got into it, two years late, and love it, burned through the first three seasons, four episodes a night, until i got caught up, loving it
Serial killing vigilante, eh?
A lovable Lecter.
@djjd62,
I came to Lost a little late, too, and got caught up via DVDs.
They almost lost me last season, with the frozen donkey wheel.
@Joeblow,
Quote:(Sorry Shapeless - back to Heroes!)
Not a problem! I'm actually on the lookout for new shows as well, so I'm listening in with interest. I have not seen a single episode of Lost, but one of my best friends, someone I consider to be a true connoisseur of pop culture, says that the first five minutes of the first episode of Lost are some of the best television he's ever seen.
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