Current mood:

geeky

My review of this week's "Heroes"
Hmm, this is getting to be a regular Thing. Since cahwyguy mentioned it, I will do another one!

As I've mentioned before, this season's big advantage is that it's not suffering from the pacing problems of previous seasons. It seems like the writers have settled into a formula that works. Starting with a slow but pleasant introduction to the new story, they've been building up momentum gradually. As of the last 1-2 episodes, they seem to have hit a nice turn of speed and the engine is humming along nicely.

But enough car metaphors! What does Tanuki like and dislike about this episode?

1. I've spoken highly of the Carnival and its characters. They continue to do wonders for the show, with their creepy ambiguity, neat powers and unclear purpose. This ties in to my satsifaction with the Amnesiac Sylar plot, which has been the first Sylar plot in about a season-and-a-half I've really liked. The "Hall of Mirrors" sequence and the Ernie Hudson confrontation were very well done and disturbing. I also liked the rifts developing between Edgar and Samuel over the Lydia thing. And you just know the carnies are going to be sorry, sorry, sorry for taking Sylar in...

2. Emma. Emma has given back "Heroes" that warm empathy with the cast that seemed to be forgotten after Season One. In Season One, I didn't just like that Micah could pull money out of ATMs by touch...I liked his complex relationship with his mom and dad. Hiro wasn't just cool for his time travel (which WAS cool) but for his comic-book idealism and gentle goofy geekiness. (Gee, who do I identify with? I'll never tell). That kind of thing has returned with Emma in this season. Her relationships with Peter and now Hiro are really nice to watch. It makes the show seem more its own original thing, and not just an "X-men" or "Watchmen" knock-off. Which is important!

3. Noah. Who'd have thought our favorite killer spy dad could be repentant and still interesting? Mr. Bennett has normally only been likeable when protecting Claire , but having him kind of go to bits after his divorce and having Claire help him realize he needs to change has worked better than I expected. The scenes with the poor crazy healer kid worked very well.

4. We're getting "scream" scenes worked back in gradually. Peter+stopping time+shotgun: Waaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!! That was a kick in the teeth!

Bads (Not so much Bads, but "hmmms")

1. Hiro was great this episode, but they really need to wrap up the brain tumor suspense soon. Get him healed up and back to being the master of space and time. (tap tap tap foot impatiently.) Oh, and let's get some ANDO RED LIGHTING going!!!! (Though I have confidence we'll have more whiz-bang in the story arc conclusion)

2. Worry about next week: I've mentioned while I like the Amnesia Sylar bit, I loathe the Sylar In Matt's Head subplot. Really, I dislike it a lot. We saw some previews with some VERY icky implications. No more Sylar in Matt's head. More Baby Touch N' Go!*

*Pure Speculation: But what if Amnesia Sylar permanently becomes Nathan...and Matt becomes permanently evil? Now that would be kind of interesting. But we still need more Baby Touch N' Go!**

**Ah, they'll never let Zachary Quinto go. Unless "Star Trek" earns him enough to buy out of his TV contract.