Sylar Can't Be Stopped

In the latest episode, Agent Danko turns on Sylar and attempts to "kill" him by sticking a knife in the back of the head, the "sweet spot" that deactivates the ability to heal.

While Sylar goes down, he eventually does recover and pulls the knife out of his head. So WTF? As much as I think the show has greatly improved this half of the season over the last season, this new development really sets the show back.

You all know how I feel about characters who are too powerful, and now Sylar, who was already past the line, can't even see the line anymore. The line is a dot to him. With the weakening of Peter and Hiro, nobody is even close to on par with Sylar and now, there really is no way to stop him. The show needs to fix this, and fix it quick. Perhaps they will make all his powers unstable due to his shape-shifting. Whatever they decide they do, they need to do it before the character becomes too ridiculous.

Mohinder at it Again

Mohinder is doing it again. He is by far the stupidest person on the show.

He enters the holding cell of the other heroes. He looks around and states he refuses to help. When he asks Danko why he was brought here, Danko simply replies, "I figured it would be a whole lot easier than carrying you."

This was a classic moment for me. Danko's associate comes around the corner and shocks Mohinder. Seriously, it is comical at this point how Mohinder continues to show how idiotic he is. The only thing that would have proved me even more right would have if he actually agreed to help Danko. At least the writer's didn't go down this path as they need to turn this character the other way. He is supposed to be the smartest guy in the show. Sometimes he is written to be too smart. Not sure why someone who is a geneticist knows so much about medicine but I'm willing to let that one go.

Rebel Revealed

In this last episode, it was finally revealed who Rebel is. It is Micah Sanders.

I have thought for a long time that Rebel might in fact be Micah. for several reasons.

• Rebel's abilities would necessitate that he have powers similar to Micah's
• Micah has always wanted to help others like himself
• He, unlike others, would want to use a cool moniker like "Rebel" as a sort of secret identity.

It became a little more evident as the show progressed and it was clear that Rebel was very interested in freeing Tracy Strauss who is essentially his aunt. While I have written previously that I'm glad that the Heroes cast is smaller than it has been in the past, and even called out that it was good they got rid of Micah, I'm glad that he is back. I think his character has a lot of potential. He has been one character who in the past has not frustrated me with his stupidity. He understands who he is, what his powers are, and how to get things done.

He has now lost yet another relative. Now let us see if they ever bring his missing aunt Barbara around.

Heroes Turns the Corner

I'm back for now. Just wanted to write a few brief thoughts about Volume Four, Fugitives. I am not sure I will write on any regular basis, but I will write when the feeling moves me.

The first thing that strikes me is that the writers have taken a lot of my suggestions and it has gone a long way in improving the show. Here are some of the better things they have done.

• They have essentially leveled the playing field by toning down several of the Heroes' powers. I wrote before, that it was important they did not have all-powerful characters. Peter was a god. He could do almost anything yet he seemed almost powerless at times because his character was too stupid to fully exploit his powers. This became extremely frustrating. Hiro suffered from the same problems and they have corrected that by completely removing his powers.
  
• They have severely cut down on ancillary heroes. No more Micah, no more Monica, no Maury Parkman, no Arthur Petrelli. As I wrote when they killed Maury, they need to focus on the main characters. The Petrelli's, Claire, Hiro, Matt, and Sylar. Doing any more than that is just dilutive to the character development
• They are focusing a lot on their best character, Sylar. Too bad he is evil. But the more they dig into Sylar's past, the better his character becomes
• Claire isn't so useless, and I like the change.
• HRG continues to be a big question mark. Are we ever really going to understand this guy?
• Angela is fantastic. I hope they continue to develop her character more. She is cunning and has lots of depth.
• The pace is faster, which is better. Too much storytelling actually makes things drag. This is an action show, lets not forget that.
  

I do think that they swung the pendulum too far the other way when it comes to toning guys down. While Peter being as powerful as he was upset me, now he is too weak. I'm glad they took away the ability to time travel from Hiro, but now what? Hiro was the best character. Without a power, he is a lot less interesting.

So I hope they continue down this trend. Season two was bad. Season three was mediocre. So far, this volume is looking to be much better.

Nathan Healed - Again

OK, one thing that continues to bother me about this season that they still have not answered is, how did Nathan heal. This is actually the second time he miraculously healed. This time he came back from the dead.

I probably won't be satisfied with any story the writers decide to tell. First off, they brought back Nathan from the dead. The doctor declared him dead. Doctors don't do that casually. So the writers decided that something can bring him back. I've written it before, and I'll write it again, dead should be dead. Bringing characters back from the dead is just bad storytelling that should be left to Soap Operas. God only knows what will happen if Heroes starts becoming a Soap Opera.

So if I can get past this, they somehow have to come up with another story. Here are the things we know.

• It wasn't Linderman. He is dead and appears to still be dead, thank god.
  
• It wasn't Peter. He was as surprised as anyone that Nathan sprang back to life.
• There was nobody else in the close proximity. We have, as of yet, not seen anyone with the ability to heal someone from distance.
  

I've heard theories that perhaps Arthur Petrelli has some power that could in fact save Nathan from a distance. I find this difficult to believe as I think Arthur Petrelli wants Nathan dead. In fact, I'm pretty sure in this weeks episode, we will find out that Arthur was indeed behind the car crash that that injured Nathan's wife in Season 1 (BTW, where the hell is Nathan's family?)

The only somewhat plausible explanation I can come up with is that Nathan actually has a healing power like Claires. Think about it, it makes some sense. It is believed that Nathan had no powers. This is why his parents injected him with the formula. But it may very well be the case that he just never manifested these powers yet. It took a near death event to awaken these powers. Now I find this very hard to believe given the events of last season when he was burnt to a crisp, but I can at least buy it.

It would even fit into the story somewhat because it would explain Claire's powers. It makes sense that Powers, being part of a genetic code, should be inherited. We even see this now as Peter and Gabriel actually have similar powers to Arthur. All three can in effect, take multiple powers.

So that's all I got on this one. Not sure how or even if the writers are going to address this gaping hole in their story telling.

How Stupid is Mohinder?

Following my last post, can we please have Mohinder killed now. Nobody in the show frustrates me as much as he does. If we are going to start killing off people, my vote is to start with Mohinder. I'm convinced that Mohinder has the ability to always pick the wrong side.

We have now had three seasons of heroes. And in all three Mohinder has essentially picked the wrong side and done something stupid. In season one, he helps Sylar locate those with abilities. Even when he finally figures out Sylar is evil, he screws it up by not killing Sylar when he has the chance.

Season two, it gets worse. He again starts out with "good" intentions but somehow screws it up and starts working for the company he is trying to take down. He ends up shooting HRG and curing Sylar, giving him back his powers.

And now we have Mohinder, the villian. Once again he will choose the wrong side and align himself with Pinehurst. I mean seriously, through random dumb luck, you would expect someone with good intentions to come out on the right side at least once. I'm pretty tired of this character because I think he has been developed so weakly. It is a problem with the show in general, people do too many stupid things, but Mohinder takes it to another level. In my opinion, the show needs to clean this up, and it should start with Mohindher.

The Death of Maury Parkman

In last nights episode, Eris Quod Sum, we witness the the death of Maury Parkman. Maury Parkman, for all his faults, dies in an attempt to save his son, Matt. Maury was a key reason why Arthur Petrelli was able to return. And to demonstrate his gratitude, Arthur Petrelli dispatches of Maury with a flick of his hand. Is this guy evil or what?

What I like about the Maury's death, is that the show seems to be "cleaning up" the long list of characters with abilities. They have already killed off DL, Niki, Adam Monroe, Bob, Maury, and a few other minor characters. Not only have they killed off these characters but they also aren't using several others like Micah, Monica, and West.

I found the use of so many characters to be confusing at times. Worse than that, I believe that a show like this depends on character development and having too many characters is dilutive; it means less time to develop other more interesting characters.

So I hope that Heroes continues this trend. I prefer they focus on only a few core characters like Peter, Claire, Matt and Hiro and limit the growth of the cast as much as possible. And if they feel like killing off a few more characthers, Mohinder jumps to my mind, I'd be all for it.