Heroes

[MJanke]

What, is no one else watching this one? I figured it'd be a huge hit with you guys.

Easily my favorite new show of the year. Next Monday's episode should be a good one if they reveal all that is promised in the previews.

[Aaron]

I've watched bits and pieces but I'm usually at work on monday evenings.

[Josh Powell]

Love it. Now that Lost is gone for a few months, this is probably gonna be my favorite currently airing TV show.

[dgp11776]

I kind of wish I watched it, but it's on the same time as Monday Night Football.

[enemy anemone]

I had a Yatta! avatar earlier. gotta love Hiro!

[Brenden]

I'm interested in watching, but I don't really feel like making the effort to jump in midstream like I did with Lost.

With Lost I wasn't working every Monday. I'd end up having to record Heroes and find time to watch it the next night.

Is there any way to watch online? Then I could keep up better, like I do with The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, South Park, and Robot Chicken.

[Josh Powell]

YES, you can watch it online on NBC's wesbsite.. http://www.nbc.com/Video/rewind/full_episodes/?show=heroes

Or you could torrent it.

Josh

[MJanke]

DVRs, kids. DVRs. They're the best invention since the microwave.

[Brenden]

Thanks, Josh!

[dgp11776]

DVRs, kids. DVRs. They're the best invention since the microwave.

Wife & kid, sir.  Wife & kid.  They're the reason why I don't watch as much TV as I used to.  Thank goodness.  I have a DVR, but only use it for the few shows I watch.  There's just not enough time.

[Josh Powell]

DVRs, kids. DVRs. They're the best invention since the microwave.

Torrents, kids. Torrents. They're the best invention since DVRs!

Josh

[Aaron]

[Brenden]

peekvid.com

It has all the episodes there.

I am now officially hooked.

[murlough23]

I had a Yatta! avatar earlier. gotta love Hiro!

And I have one now. So original of me!

I love this show. I'm sometimes frustrated with the absence of characters/storylines that I care about from particular episodes (though it's interesting to note that series regulars don't appear to be credited for episodes they don't appear in), but pretty much everything that's going on intrigues me, and I understand that with so much storyline unfolding in several different geographical locales, they won't get much story told in a single episode if they have to address all of 'em.

Right now I'd say it's my #3 favorite show, behind Battlestar Galactica and Lost. Thus far this season it's better than Season 3 of Lost, but Lost overall is still a better show, and we'll see how Heroes holds up if/when it gets to future seasons (it probably will). Once they all manage to converge and "save the cheerleader, save the world", they're gonna have to come up with another quest for these guys and ways to keep their superpowers from becoming stale and predictable. This will probably mean introducing new characters (and probably kill old ones), and it's gonna be tricky to make this not seem routine after a while.

Thus far my favorite characters are Hiro (obviously), Claire, and Officer Parkman. The Petrelli brothers kind of bore me sometimes and I'm not sure how I feel about the whole Nikki/Micah/DL storyline. Seems kind of contrived that both Nikki and DL have powers, which made it obvious that Micah did, but his powers seem completely unrelated to theirs, so... WTF?

[AldaForPresident]

I kind of flip-flop on what I think of this show I've never seen. On the one hand I am intrigued, but on the other, "Save the cheerleader, save the world"? That's just annoying. I'll probably rent the DVDs.

[murlough23]

On the one hand I am intrigued, but on the other, "Save the cheerleader, save the world"? That's just annoying. I'll probably rent the DVDs.

Yeah, I have to admit that ad campaign is getting on my nerves. They have yet to establish in the series how saving her affects the fate of the world in any way. Plus, her body heals its own frickin' self and she's already gotten up off of an autopsy table once. How exactly can this girl be killed in the first place?

[Brenden]

Yeah, I have to admit that ad campaign is getting on my nerves. They have yet to establish in the series how saving her affects the fate of the world in any way. Plus, her body heals its own frickin' self and she's already gotten up off of an autopsy table once. How exactly can this girl be killed in the first place?

Cutting out her brain, perhaps? We've never seen her regenerate whole organs, though Wolverine, who she shares powers with, healed from having his body reduced to a skeleton in the comics. That seems silly to me, so hopefully the limitation of her power would be having limbs cut off or organs removed.

I mean, her ribs stuck out of her side until she pushed them in, and her chest was cut open but didn't heal until she moved the skin together.

As far as characters, the only story I don't really like is the Niki/DL/Micah storyline. I'm kind of bored with Niki, DL seems like he might be an interesting character, I haven't made up my mind with Micah. Don't much like Peter Petrelli either.

[MJanke]

Cutting out her brain, perhaps?

Yeah, that seems to be the key, as related to why previous bodies were de-brained in quite gruesome fashion. Somehow the brain is the center or key to the powers that everyone has.

Hiro is also my favorite. He's hilarious, and so darn likeable. I love the heroin/artist guy's abilities, though, as they relate to Hiro. Seeing him live out the comic and continually make references to it was pure gold.

[murlough23]

Cutting out her brain, perhaps?

Yeah, but there's no sicko in this story who would do something like that...

Oh yeah. 

[Josh Powell]

Yeah, that seems to be the key, as related to why previous bodies were de-brained in quite gruesome fashion. Somehow the brain is the center or key to the powers that everyone has.

Hiro is also my favorite. He's hilarious, and so darn likeable. I love the heroin/artist guy's abilities, though, as they relate to Hiro. Seeing him live out the comic and continually make references to it was pure gold.

I agree. Hiro is my favorite. The mind-reading cop is my second.

Josh

[murlough23]

I agree. Hiro is my favorite. The mind-reading cop is my second.

My only problem with Matt Parkman is that he makes the rest of us guys look bad! When he was using his wife's thoughts to win her back, I said to my wife, "See, this is so unfair, because this is what every woman expects her man to be able to do." It's like, a totally unattainable ideal, like how a woman feels when she sees an airbrushed Playboy model with huge implants.

Anyway, I wonder if there's gonna be a point in the future where Hiro's all like, "Oh yeah, there's something I gotta take care of", and he jumps back to have that conversation with Peter on the subway (does this mean he can "unfreeze" other people in time?) Kinda like when Bill and Ted had to remind themselves to wind the watch. What if Hiro totally forgets to do that and then previous events change?

I love that Hiro went and got himself a girlfriend. (And that it's not the stereotypical "Asian character can only date other Asian characters, unless it's an Asian girl, then a white guy is OK".) The only thing is, she doesn't have any special powers at all! Talk to most women; they remember everything and know exactly the worst time to bring it up and use it against you. She seems cute now, but this relationship is gonna be hell on Earth in a few months, once enough arguments that she never, ever forgets have accumulated.

[enemy anemone]

When he was using his wife's thoughts to win her back, I said to my wife, "See, this is so unfair, because this is what every woman expects her man to be able to do."

here I was thinking that the wife was so dense to not be suspicious and creeped out about how all of a sudden he can seemingly read her mind.

It's like, a totally unattainable ideal, like how a woman feels when she sees an airbrushed Playboy model with huge implants.

unattainable ideal? my thought is more like "gross and incomprehensible" (why anyone would want to look like that and why men want a woman-object to look like that.)

the cop is cool, but I can never remember his name and can only think of him as "Greg Grunberg! I love Greg Grunberg!"
his delivery cracks me up. "what's the bad color?"

Talk to most women; they remember everything and know exactly the worst time to bring it up and use it against you. She seems cute now, but this relationship is gonna be hell on Earth in a few months, once enough arguments that she never, ever forgets have accumulated.

I love Charlie! I hope Hiro saves her! (I haven't seen the previews, if they give anything away.)

maybe the "save the cheerleader, save the world" thing is a red herring. Hiro from the future who informed Peter from the present only knows it because Peter from the present telephoned Hiro from the present to tell him what Hiro from the future told him. I don't get how any information in this cycle can actually be meaningful. but I guess Hiro from the future would have known by then whether the info he's giving Peter is right or not. eh, I've never been good at figuring out time travel loop things. 

I like Peter. when I think of his power to pick up others' powers I think of Charlie from Lost trying to hold Turniphead close to Saywer. I can just picture Peter trying to follow around other supers so he can do stuff. yeah my brain thinks weird things.

[Brenden]

I can just picture Peter trying to follow around other supers so he can do stuff.  yeah my brain thinks weird things

His powers resemble those of Synch from Generation X. This is an interesting thing, because Synch was sometimes able to use the powers of the mutants he copied better than the mutants themselves.

So, Peter does have a handy gift, but he's a fairly dull person.

[MJanke]

Anyway, I wonder if there's gonna be a point in the future where Hiro's all like, "Oh yeah, there's something I gotta take care of", and he jumps back to have that conversation with Peter on the subway (does this mean he can "unfreeze" other people in time?) Kinda like when Bill and Ted had to remind themselves to wind the watch. What if Hiro totally forgets to do that and then previous events change?

Actually, there doesn't. Because now that Hiro went back and told himself that info he is acting in a new manner and forming a new timeline so future events are already different than they would've been. So Hiro in the original timeline went back to old-Hiro, and future-Hiro ceases to exist because old-Hiro has changed future-Hiro's path.

Right?

[murlough23]

here I was thinking that the wife was so dense to not be suspicious and creeped out about how all of a sudden he can seemingly read her mind.

I think it's called "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth". Even if it's a Trojan Horse.

unattainable ideal? my thought is more like "gross and incomprehensible" (why anyone would want to look like that and why men want a woman-object to look like that.)

I don't know, but same thing with women expecting men to read minds. (I'm kind of trying to be funny, so don't take this analogy too seriously.)

I love Charlie! I hope Hiro saves her! (I haven't seen the previews, if they give anything away.)

Um, you mean Claire, right?

maybe the "save the cheerleader, save the world" thing is a red herring.

This isn't Lost, so it damn well better not be!

Hiro from the future who informed Peter from the present only knows it because Peter from the present telephoned Hiro from the present to tell him what Hiro from the future told him. I don't get how any information in this cycle can actually be meaningful. but I guess Hiro from the future would have known by then whether the info he's giving Peter is right or not. eh, I've never been good at figuring out time travel loop things.

Perhaps if something bad happens to Claire, Mr. Bennett will go psycho (I mean, more than he already is) and that will start a chain of events that leads to New York blowing up.

I kind of think Ted the nuclear guy is going to be the one who threatens to demolish New York, actually.

[murlough23]

Actually, there doesn't. Because now that Hiro went back and told himself that info he is acting in a new manner and forming a new timeline so future events are already different than they would've been. So Hiro in the original timeline went back to old-Hiro, and future-Hiro ceases to exist because old-Hiro has changed future-Hiro's path.

Depends on whether you have a deterministic (everything you go back and "change" was actually already that way) or "branching time" view of time travel. The "branching time" view always seems to be a little bit inconsistent, because the timeline changes around certain characters who are oblivious, and yet those who travelled back and forth and actually affected the changes remember the old version from a timeline that is now not their own. If the timeline's been changed so that Hiro never has to go back (after getting a super-cool goatee and learning perfect English) and warn Peter, then Peter in that timeline never has to pass the message on to present day Hiro, so then the event happens that future Hiro wanted to prevent. It's like a temporal Mobius Strip or something.

[enemy anemone]

Um, you mean Claire, right?

um, isn't the waitress's name Charlie?

[murlough23]

um, isn't the waitress's name Charlie?

Yeah, my bad, I thought you were getting names from Lost mixed up.

So who watched last night? Entertaining episode, but it was also full of crap. This kid Mohinder's been after is just an apparition that he conveniently sees and some random guy in the crowd can conveiently point him too, all for sme metaphysical "you already have the answer you seek" B.S.? Thanks a lot, kid, you're about as helpful as backwards Walt. And how exactly was the world saved by saving the cheerleader? All it took was a fall from some random precipice to stop the fight with Sylar? WHAT-EVER.

I thought it was awesome that the other obnoxious cheerleader got her forehead perforated, though. And that Eden seems to have subdued Sylar (who was it that she summoned, D.L. or the Haitian guy? I couldn't tell.) And as soon as Peter explained his mimicry power to Ando, I called that he was going to get his head cracked open like in the painting, but not die, due to absorbing Claire's powers. Poor Peter. He couldn't even get a decent flight out there. He would have been able to if Nathan had cooperated.

Can't wait until next week's time-traveling Hiro adventure! I call that when Nikki - er, Jessica - shoots D.L., the bullet will phase through his body or something.

Incidentally, the kid who plays Micah is the same kid who found prophecies on cereal boxes in Lady in the Water, for those of you who actually wasted your time with that movie.

[enemy anemone]

just caught up with Homecoming.

at least dreamdude came back, rather than just leave Mohinder wondering what the answer he already knew was. and now he found the list of names and is back on track. I didn't get why he had abandoned his quest abruptly anyway.

Eden (is that her name?) summoned the Haitian dude.  at first I thought "DL?" but Haitian dude has high cheekbones or something about his face that gives him a more exotic look.

last week I hadn't seen the preview for this ep and had hoped it would be about Hiro and his adventures back in time. then I saw the preview a few days ago and thought yay, we'll find out what "save the cheerleader, save the world" actually means. but we still don't know what that means.  not that I ever thought it meant a whole lot anyway.

best line of the ep was from Claire's daddy: "you'll survive".

I thought Ando was going to tell Peter that he should wait for Hiro to get back because then Hiro and Peter could go back in time to save the cheerleader. I did figure that he would absorb Claire's power, but I couldn't figure out why/how Claire showed up where Peter was after he fell; wasn't she supposed to run to where there are lights and people? they were up high on the steps, then she ran off to the side "towards the stadium", I presume, and then Peter and Sylar fell down (so...the steps lead to somewhere people can just fall off the building? or did Sylar teleport Peter to another place where they'd fall and be injured?) and just one minute later Claire ended up back inside the school and downstairs, near where Peter had fallen?

how come Eden's mindgame didn't work with Mohinder? didn't she tell him that he wasn't going to leave? but she gets all "I am not the droid you're looking for" with Sylar and zap, Jedi-mindtricked.

[Brenden]

For fun, I decided to try and link up Heroes characters with characters from the X-Men universe that they resembled.

Claire obviously has similar powers to those of Wolverine.

Nathan and Niki have fairly generic powers, flight and super-strength.

Isaac could be compared to Destiny, whose main power was procognition, in a similar way to how Isaac's powers work, minus the drugs.

D.L. can obviously be compared to Shadowcat.

Hiro is an interesting one. Teleportation is somewhat common, Nightcrawler being an obvious comparison. As far as time manipulation, Trevor Fitzroy is probably the colsest comparison, though that character was a villian. Stopping time was a power of Sway. So, Hiro is one of the more unique characters, with powers relating to other superhero characters, but no one in particular.

Matt is psychic, but he doesn't seem capable of transmitting thoughts. Otherwise, psychic are pretty common in the comic universe in general.

Peter is very similar to Synch, which will make him a more formidable fighter when he gets better control of his powers and remembers to fight with other heroes rather than alone.

Ted, the radiation guy, is similar to a villian turned hero called Radiation Man.

[Brenden]

That was a pretty good episode. Hiro's storyline was sad, I felt so bad for him.

Sylar's origin was interesting, as was the Niki/ikiN storyline.

[murlough23]

BEST. EPISODE. EVER. I love origin stories that go back and fill in details of things that happened earlier.

I totally called that the watch guy was Sylar. Funny how it was Chandra who led him to the identities of all of the other "heroes" that he then set about going out to kill.

Why the hell did Nathan fly up out of his car? That was the one part of the show I didn't get.

[Brenden]

I thought it was accidental, like his powers first manifested at the point.

[MJanke]

I totally called that the watch guy was Sylar. Funny how it was Chandra who led him to the identities of all of the other "heroes" that he then set about going out to kill.

I agree - best episode yet.

So... is he killing them because he learns/absorbs their power at the same time? I didn't really get that scene, where he killed the first guy. Seemed like he didn't have that power before but then he figured it out, so to speak, when he killed the guy. So he's killing more of them so he can become more powerful himself? That was my take on it but I'm not quite sure.

[murlough23]

So... is he killing them because he learns/absorbs their power at the same time? I didn't really get that scene, where he killed the first guy. Seemed like he didn't have that power before but then he figured it out, so to speak, when he killed the guy. So he's killing more of them so he can become more powerful himself? That was my take on it but I'm not quite sure.

That's probably what we're supposed to think. Whoever he kills, he does something with their brains - either studies them or (ewwww) eats parts of them or something. It'll probably be clarified farther down the road. However, I think Sylar is just going to end up being a pawn in the grand scheme of things. There seem to be darker forces than him at work, considering that he can be so easily subdued by Eden and the Haitian Guy. I suspect that those two will, at some point, turn on Mr. Bennett, who seems to be a baddie but is really just trying to manipulate things around to protect his daughter.

This show's so much fun. A little anvilicious at times (I've gotten used to shows like Lost where the clues are more subtle), but the average episode moves quicker and packs more punch than the average Lost episode these days. Well, except for when Mohinder is on screen (the recapper at TWoP has started calling him "Moyawnder").

[Brenden]

I will be pretty ticked off if the death they advertised next week is just D.L. being shot. He hasn't been around long enough for us to get to know him, so it would actually not be all that interesting, aside from the effect it might have on Niki and Micah. Which could be kind of interesting as character development, but not enough to warrent killing off a character that we barely know.

[murlough23]

I will be pretty ticked off if the death they advertised next week is just D.L. being shot. He hasn't been around long enough for us to get to know him, so it would actually not be all that interesting, aside from the effect it might have on Niki and Micah. Which could be kind of interesting as character development, but not enough to warrent killing off a character that we barely know.

I still think he's gonna phase so that the bullet passes right through him.

As much as I loved this episode, I was annoyed that they felt the need to bother with jumping back to the present, only to show us the exact same cliffhanger as last time. Kind of reminded me of Lost last season, when Adrift ended the hatch situation at the same "You" that Man of Science, Man of Faith ended at, and when The Other 48 Days ended at the exact same place as Abandoned.

NP: "Upside Down", Peter Bradley Adams

[murlough23]

Here's a theory that a friend passed along to me last night. What if, despite Hiro's time-bending abilities, they can't change their destinities? What if the cheerleader who was supposed to be saved was, in fact, Jackie and not Claire? What if Charlie was meant to die and Hiro was powerless to stop it? What if New York is going to blow up, no matter what they do?

If this is true, based on what we've seen in Hiro's visit to New York's future, then we can deduce that the Hero who is lost and gone forever in next week's episode will be Isaac. Which is fine by me; they've kind of exhausted his story ideas anyway.

NP: "Dig", Incubus

[Brenden]

Eden bit the bullet? They killed off the character with the least effect on the plot? Lame.

Otherwise, the episode was interesting. Hiro is going to fight a dinosaur in the future? Peter is responsible for the explosion? Nice.

[murlough23]

Eden bit the bullet? They killed off the character with the least effect on the plot? Lame.

I didn't see it coming. I thought they were gonna off Isaac because his story seemed to be dead-ending. Given how they spent time delving into Eden's previous use of her ability last week, I was surprised that they got rid of her so soon.

Otherwise, the episode was interesting. Hiro is going to fight a dinosaur in the future? Peter is responsible for the explosion? Nice.

I guess at some point Peter's gonna meet Ted the Walking Nuclear Bomb.