HEROES: Losing My Patience
October 23, 2007 by Kath Skerry
I didn’t know how strongly I felt about last night’s HEROES until I put my fingers to the keyboard. Forgive my babbling, but when I’m fired up, I’m fired up.
So last night was the long anticipated debut of Kristen Bell as Elle on HEROES. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t feel Veronica Mars-esque (well Veronica Mars without all the witty dialogue). But damn that girl knows how to light up a screen. It’s sad that I’m already more into Elle’s story that most other characters on the show. I’m dying to know who her daddy is. Of course my my mind went right to HRG, but that’s a little too obvious, right? Then again, HEROES isn’t too big on subtly these days so you never know.
Again I was left disappointed and underwhelmed by HEROES. I started this post with Kristen Bell because she was the only highpoint of the show last night for me. Everything else was just a big let down. The past few weeks I’ve felt like I’ve been watching HEROES out of obligation rather than for my own personal joy. What happened? Is it me losing interest or does the fault lie with HEROES.
Personally, I think there are just too many characters on the show and it’s really hurting their ability to tell compelling stories. With so many heroes fighting for screen time there’s no chance to get invested and interested. Hell, I even forgot Ali Larter was on the show until she showed up for a pointless scene near the end. Is she off filming a movie or have the writers realized she plays a pretty boring character and stopped writing for her all together? No Claire, no West, very little HRG. No bleeding ink eyes Mya. No Sylar. And what a waste of time the Ando/Hiro bit was. That entire storyline with Ando taking Hiro’s scrolls to be inspected should have landed on the cutting room floor.
The Micah/Monica storyline is boring me to tears, but the issue I’m having with that storyline in particular plays into the larger issue I’m having with Heroes this season. It’s too convenient and easy. Claire meets one person her first day of school and oh geez he just happens to be able to fly. Here we have Monica that realizes one day that she has this amazing super power that can change her whole life, and about an hour later she’s ok with it and learning martial arts from Bruce Lee. Remember in Season One when Claire, Matt, Nathan, Peter, Hiro and the rest were coming to terms with their new found powers? There was confusion and angst . I thought that was pretty compelling stuff. Monica freaked for a few minutes and then was on to play some double dutch. If Monica can learn something just by watching it, as The TV Addict wrote, perhaps she should “re-watch the first season of HEROES and start churning out new episodes.”
I’m not sure what’s going on with HEROES these days, but it seems so scattered and all over the place. The budget cutbacks are obvious and can be seen in the horrible special effects that have plagued this show since the beginning of the season. I guess that’s what happens when you have a cast of 200. I understand the need to bring newbies on board to spice things up and breathe new life into the show, but you don’t normally have to do that in the second season?!
I need one of you diehard HEROES fans to explain to me what the H-E-double hockey sticks was going on with the whole Nathan/Matt fight? Was I supposed to get that? That scene was so confusing that I had no idea what was going on. I wanted it to end in the hopes that they would explain something…anything. Did you get it? Oh and Matt Parkman once again gets the dumbest cop of the year award. So he meets this father, who he knows (a) has powers and (b) is just tad bit evil, right? He puts him in handcuffs and tells him he wants to know everything he has done in his whole life and talk about every single person he’s even met (yawn, how about some good dialogue), but whatevs, that wasn’t my real issue. My real issues was that Evil Dad tells Matt, the cop, that he’ll tell him everything just as soon as he takes off the handcuffs. Right…because you can’t possible talk with handcuffs on. But Matt does it, because he’s a dumbass. I know it’s a small point to be fired up about, but it just added on to my growing frustration with the lack of attention to detail on the show. Everything has just become WAY too convenient this season.
I’m still enjoying the Peter Petrelli storyline (although I’m glad it seems they are going to push it forward a bit next week). I’m ready to see what Sylar is up to because I really missed him this week. And bring on Mama Petrelli – it seems she has some answers we need. Just give me something, anything to get me loving this show like I did in season one.
So that’s my two cents…I’m fully prepared to be bashed be HEROES fans all over. What was your take on last night’s episode and where HEROES has been this season?
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Filed under Heroes, Heroes Recaps
Ive dropped the show like a hot plate.
I just walked away from the TV after the 2nd commercial break and never came back.
Sure I love Kristen Bell as much as the next guy, but even she cant save this sinking ship.
Heroes was never a show i was truly invested in, it always seemed like it was missing that SPARK good tv shows have.
Heres hoping Kristen Bell rethinks her decision to join the cast of Lost, at least ill be able to sit though the scenes shes not in.
It’s not you.. it’s definitely “Heroes” itself. From all the new boring characters who I could care less about to the lack of Sylar to Hiro being in the 17th century I have not been happy recently. Over half of the show is being taken over by new characters who I am not invested and don’t WANT to get invested in because I still care about the people from last year. I care about Elle for the sole only because she’s played by Kristin and I love her.. They really need to get back to what made this show good and bring back the people who already love instead of trying to force new ones on us constantly. I was really looking forward to “Heroes” this year; it’s my #2 show (and still is, i’m holding out hope) – Hopefully they’ll figure it out and get better.
What I gathered from the Matt / Nathan scene was that the father trapped then in their own worst nightmares and they acted them out in that room thinking they were somewhere else (hence the fighting each other).
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I agree that Matt and Nathan were fighting each other with each thinking they were fighting someone in their own nightmare, but I think the key to that scene was that Matt did not read just Nathan’s mind, he projected into it to wake him up. Nightmare Dad did say there was more to it than reading minds – maybe Matt can control them as well.
I never watched Veronica Mars (ducks from the garbage) so I have no investment in Kristen Bell whatsoever. (ducks again) Honestly – based on last night I don’t know what the fuss is about (I’m sorry – I know many of you love her!).
Overall I have definitely been undrewhelmed with the season so far, but I am still holding out hope that it picks up – sweeps are not far away!
I, like you, am just watching this , well, because. I love KB and the Peter storyline. And that’s about it. I don’t like any of the new characters except Kristen. Maybe the head of the Company is her dad? Although, now that you mention it, it would be totally cool if HRG was her dad and Claire’s sister. Oh, and Hiro can drop dead in Japan for all I care. He goes from being one of my favorite characters last year to super blah hero this year.
At least CHUCK was really good!
There have been several moments this season when I’ve thought “What show am I watching?”. It is nowhere near as good as last season and it just seems silly. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who is feeling let down.
I was never a huge fan of Heroes, I just watched it…well, just because LOL But this season is just horrible. I don’t even pay attention; I just have it on in the background while I’m doing something else. The only time it received my full attention last night was when KB was on the screen 🙂
I started watching Heroes, because I saw on this site Kristen Bell was going to be on it this season. So, I bought the first season and couldn’t stop watching it! This season is BORING!
Why does Hiro get every episode?
I don’t even know what’s so great about him – there are other heroes I like better.
I hope they change gears as soon as possible – I hope they read this site, so that they can see what a disappointment it’s been so far.
I was hoping that Kristen Bell would get more exposure and more fans from Heroes, but it looks like Heroes are losing fans fast! It’s just sad to see the creativity dissolve after one season.
I think it all comes down to the fact that there are just too many people. I believe I’ve heard it said that they having to keep having new Heroes b/c there is such a good chance that others can get killed off. Well, if you’re going to kill some of them off (Nikki maybe??) just wait until then to introduce new Heroes. The writers can’t expect us to instantly care about these new people just b/c they’re there. We care about those we have been with since last season. My two cents? Lose the twins, lose Monica, bring Hiro back to the 21st century. And of course, more Sylar is always good! 😉
Amen Kath. I think I’m going to start watching Heroes like I do ER. by fastforwarding only to the characters I like and skipping the rest.
This show is starting to upset me. I didn’t watch last season, but I went and bought the DVD set and was amazed by it so I was really looking forward to this season, but it has been a real disappointment.
Sylar will be on the show less and less because he is filming a movie. I think we need a little more info about Kristen Bell’s character and her power. I hate that Peter is still in Ireland. This show is going way too slow and is boring me.
Hiro needs to get back to the present and get out of the past. It is boring me that he is still there. We need to learn more about what Nathan is going through.
This show is just not what it should be and it sucks. They need to fix it, I don’t want to be watching this show, if it is going to be a waste of time.
I’m with you, Kath. I feel like I’m watching Heroes out of obligation and last night I was barely paying attention except when Kristen Bell was on screen. I think there are just way too many characters and storylines and there doesn’t seem to be a thread tying them all together as strongly as it did last season. I’m hoping it will get better as the season goes on because I think the show still has great potential.
Chuck was VERY good last night!
And Kath I agree with everything you said about Heroes.
Hi folks,
First time posting. All in all I agree with a lot of what people are saying here. I will continue to watch because I think the producers are going somewhere with all of this mess. Mainly because I believe that for there to be compelling drama in a show like this there needs to be people to kill off. As for some of the plots:
Daddy Nightmare – He’s one bad SOB. I thought it was pretty cool the way he was able to manipulate (ah la Candice) the reality that Matt and Nathan were experiencing. He’s pretty powerful if he can do so to more than one person at a time and from great distances (remember that Nathan has been seeing his burnt mirror image for some time in New York at that). Also, if he can get into people’s nightmares then I think he might also be in Sylar’s too which would explain why Sylar THINKS he can’t use his powers anymore. Being normal is after all Gabriel’s worst nightmare.
Peter and Elle – Well I think we’re meant to draw the conclusion that Peter has come in contact with Elle in the past. I think that it was her that put together the box with Peter’s stuff in it. She intended to smuggle Peter into New York in the shipping container and then have him track down the other person in the photo (his brother Nathan). Although Caitlin and Peter refer to the plane ticket in the box as “the ticket” you can see when he first opens the box that there are two tickets. It seems that Peter and Nathan were meant to travel together to Montreal but they never made it which is why Elle had to show up in Ireland to track him down. As for who her “daddy” might be; I think its Bob. He wears glasses and is part of the company. Together with Elle they represent the antithesis of HRG and Claire.
Finally Niki/Jessica – The whole rampage in the hospital didn’t ring true for me. I think the whole thing was staged by Bob and Niki for Mohinder’s benefit to get his buy in.
Well thats it for now. Just wanted to share these thoughts.
Cheers,
Kaibosh
Welcome Kaibosh. Great comments. I hope you share more in the future.
Wow, Kaibosh! You just said some really interesting things that I had never thought about!! Thanks for posting you thoughts 🙂
I totally agree with you GMMR. They have a huge cast and they don’t know what to do with them. I mean other shows, like The Office have a huge cast (although not as big as Heroes) but they are able to manage to keep us interested in everybody. My husband is still loving Heroes, though not as much as last year, so I’ll keep watching because he’s watching it but I hope this goes somewhere.
I though last week’s episode was great. This one was not quite as good: it did have too many characters, and too many small subplots this episode.
But I thought the Matt and Nathan stuff was great, and I didn’t find their find even a bit confusing. In fact I was just reading another blog (on Zap2it) who was praising the effects during that scene, and I have to agree with him.
And I have no problem with Micah and Monica. You seem to be arguing that because we’ve seen characters be angsty over their powers, that we should then see more characters be angsty over their powers. I’m pretty sure if I realized I could learn anything instantly that I would definately start watching karate and sports and then see how much I could do.
But yes, there are too many unconnected characters. I don’t think that’s any worse than last year, though (remember some of Hiro’s diversion in Las Vegas or how long it took for Niki’s plot to have any bearing on the others). With the exceptions of some great episodes later in the season (Company Man and the apocalyptic future episode, for example), I really don’t think that last season was leaps and bounds better than this one, as so many are claiming. I think you’re putting season one on a pedestal.
I think I’m going to try to offer a different perspective here…
Having recently watched Season 1 start to finish in one shot, I am seeing some echoes in this season. If you forget, Season 1 took a while to get going, because they had to set up all the characters and plots. And while it may feel like we have a lot of characters we are juggling, I had that same feeling at the start of 1. And for all the new characters (Monica, Kristen Bell, the twins), think of who we no longer have from Season 1 (Issac Mendez, whatever that girls name was, Linderman, Ted)…So I feel like the argument for “too many characters” is a bit lost. If I remember correctly, many Season 1 episodes would step away from stories for a few episodes but then hop back to them. In this sense, I agree with the previous poster–It’s easy to put the first season on a pedestal!
That being said, I think the season has been pretty solid so far. That whole “trapped in the nightmare” thing with Matt and Nathan was awesome–I thought it was cool when you finally started to figure it out. And Nathan was rocking some of the comedy…”I’m not a cargo jet”…LOL! I liked the theory that Matt’s dad might be pulling one of these moves on Sylar. I am guessing there is much more to Matt’s power than we originally know, which will be cool to see play out.
HRG is still as elusive and mysterious as always…think we will ever know what side he is really on?
While I never watched VM, I really loved the Kristen Bell introduction. I like the theory that the boss guy is her dad, and that they will be the opposite of Claire and HRG. Now we know where Peter got that crazy power from…OH! And I was really pumped to see the return of the glossy-future painting eyes! 🙂
Hiro will come home soon enough, let him have his fun in Japan, he’s living the dream!
Micah/Monica is cute…I like that he is helping her embrace her abilities. GMMR, you talked about the struggle of all the characters in 1 as they figured out their abilities, but bear in mind most of them were working things out on their own for a good majority of the time.
Can’t wait to see who is killing off the older generation and why…something tells me that someone is upset that their grand “plan” last year to make NYC go boom didn’t go off as planed…
Ok! END RANT!
🙂
Kristen Bell is the worst part of the episode and you praised it as the best part? She screeches her way through Ireland then pouts like a little girl when daddy orders her to go home. It’s lame and the worst plot of last night’s episode.
“Was I supposed to get that? That scene was so confusing that I had no idea what was going on. ”
If you had been paying attention to the show instead of doing whatever you were doing, you’d have understood that the two were trapped inside an illusion and thought that they were battling something else while in fact, they are actually battling each other in reality.
Rae,
I can only assume you don’t read this site or its comments often because if you did you would know that we aren’t really ok with people being rude. Share your opinion but no need to be snotty about it.
Yes, I did think Kristen Bell was the best part. Clearly you disagree. It happens.
And about Matt/Nathan, I wasn’t doing anything else, I just didn’t understand it.
If this comment were directed at another reader and not me it would have never remained on the site. If you have opinions to share I welcome them, but please remember to be respectful of others.
I think the huge cast is the problem. They continue to introduce more and more characters. Shows like The Office, which has 17 regulars, manages to keep things interesting because they know how to utilize each of them.
While I love Kristen Bell in VM and GG, I actually didn’t like her too much in this episode. It just reminded me too much of VM, what with her conducting an investigation and all.
Oh, and talk about lack of attention to detail!! The most glaring oversight was when Monica referred to “half the people in this COUNTY.” If you’re going to use the storm as a plot device, at least have the courtesy to realize LA has parishes, not counties.
I’m bored with the show, and was even last season. It is the last show I get to on the DVR queue, and sometimes I read with it on in the background. Last week the dialogue was pretty insipid. I love the concept, but it’s not as compelling to me as I thought it would be. I honestly don’t know why I’m still recording it, except that I feel weirdly invested and I don’t want to miss if anything good actually happens. I suppose I could just read the updates!
Hey, Kath – did you see on E! that Kristen posted a spoiler that 3 heroes will die by January? I think this calls for a poll!
So, I am pretty much with Billiam on everything. I have said several times that I am not a fanatic about Heroes, but I do find myself strangely interested in all conversations about it this season, mostly I think because the fans have been so jaded with it and I don’t, as a casual viewer, feel like the quality has declined proportionally to the outrage. Or at all, really. I think by the time the storylines have run their course, if people are willing to give it a chance, that it’ll be satisfying.
Of course, that being said, I think TPTB would be wise to cut their losses on the twins and just let Sylar get his groove back and kill them and let him be the one with the bloody eyes, or not, who cares. And it is time to bring Hiro back to the present. I have the feeling that he’s supposed to be comic relief but what is actually happening is a very Jar Jar Binks situation. But it’s not like there wasn’t some trial and error last season with Simone and Claire’s friend with the video camera, right?
[Deleted – this is not the blog for you to leave rude comments.
I can’t believe you didn’t understand the Matt/Nathan fight. It was so obvious.
I didn’t even have a clue who Kirsten Bell was before I read this article, let alone watched this week’s Heroes. Another blonde actress on Heroes. Meh.
The Hiro storyline is really boring now, it better have a big payoff. There are too many plot strands in this series so far, although I am still enjoying it massively. I think some of you can be so hyper-critical of these things. It’s a TV show, take a step back.
I like the fact that the Monica/Micah storyline is a positive one and it seems like Monica wants to do good things with her power. It’s nice to see someone happy on this show.
I can’t agree more, with my busy life, I’ve not watched heroes since the 2nd season premiere.
Last night I managed to knock off 4 episodes taking me to the 5th of which we are discussing.
Yes, what is with every Tom Dick and Harry being a “Hero”??
Why is Hiro still in the 17th century? What is the point behind that?
This is a prime example of NBC tinkering with a show that had a ton of potential. Lets bring in this guest star, or that guest star, lets add a gazillion characters to the show.
Leave well enough alone…
Also whats with the Star Trek fetish? (I am a fan) They kill of George Takei (when he was on the Stern show he said they had a much richer role for him this season .. yeah rich in Red blood) and then bring in Nichelle Nichols
Love that Nichelle Nichols is Micah’s Aunt? Grandmother?
Anybody else notice subtle commentary on New Orleans? I’ve noticed many shows are getting political without being obvious (Boston legal being a exception).