Tuesday, October 10, 2006

On the table

Spoilers for, in order, "Heroes," "The Class" and "How I Met Your Mother" -- all of which built up to surprise endings -- coming up just as soon as I pull this sharp stick out of my head...

Ho. Ly. Schnickes. I was enjoying "Heroes" for most of the first three episodes, but it wasn't until we got to that final shot of Claire on the autopsy table that I knew I was in for the long haul. Any show willing to vivisect a cheerleader on network TV, I'm in favor of. Tim Kring may not be much of a comic fan, but he and his writers keep coming up with these great cliffhangers. I was ambivalent about the pilot until Adrian Pasdar flew, was planning to only watch the first half of my episode 2 & 3 DVD until Hiro realized when he was, and now this.

Outside of the biggest challenge a healing factor has faced since Wolverine had to regenerate himself from a single drop of blood, the highlight for show three was, of course, Hiro (and the return of his buddy Ando). I'm curious exactly how long this comic book is supposed to be; it looks like the standard format, which would mean it's going to run out of pages long before Hiro finishes whatever this quest is. And wouldn't Isaac be freaked to realize he was drawing his own apartment (and, possibly, his own corpse) in a comic book? He always freaked out about his paintings after realizing they had come true, but none of them involve him.

The other scene I loved was Peter at the playground. When I saw him standing on what seemed to be the edge of another building roof for the third episode in a row, I wrote in my notes, "Oh, come on!" Then they pulled back to do the jungle gym reveal, not to mention the little kid in the red cape, and I laughed. That the show already recognized how ponderous some of those Peter scenes had become is a good sign.

Well, now I know why CBS was being so vague in its press releases about what character Sara Gilbert was going to play on "The Class." Not wild about the show going to the adultery well twice in four episodes (or, if she's not Richie's wife, just plain cheating). Even less wild about the continuation of the joke about Holly and her husband not understanding Kyle's boyfriend's perfectly clear English, which is actually about 12 times lamer than the joke about Holly's husband being a not-so-secret flaming queen (or else second cousin to Lyle, the Effeminate Heterosexual). The only really funny stuff this week was Duncan becoming bestest buddies with Yonk. After some marginal improvement in each of the last two weeks, this was a big step backwards.

"How I Met Your Mother" also recycled a recent device, with the series of flashbacks that were repeated twice with the same dialogue but different meaning, but it was a funnier joke to begin with and the entire episode didn't depend on it. (I was starting to suspect that Barney was standing in for Ted around the time Robin talked to the bouncer.) My only major complaint: how do you have Marshall go back to the club and not show him dancing? Even for two seconds? Total missed opportunity.

What did everybody else think?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Heroes" owns my soul.

As long as Syler doesn't turn out to be the cheerleader's father, this is the best show on television.

That being said, it'd be even better if they killed off Ali Larter's character. She contributes absolutely nothing to the show.

Anonymous said...

I think Hiro's comic book is over now -- I could have sworn I saw a "To Be Continued ..." in the lower righthand corner of the page that shows them going to Las Vegas. Or did I imagine that?

I thought it was a solid episode, but it had a few problems. I laughed at the shot of Peter on the jungle gym watched by the kid in a cape too, but I still think Peter's a little too self-important. Who tells a dying man's daughter that you're meant for something bigger than caring for him? Niki's storyline was pretty weak too -- the scene at her mother-in-law's was really badly written. I've been enjoying the Niki stuff but this week she did seem kind of pointless.

I loved this week's cliffhanger, though. Poor Claire -- she just wanted to be normal, but how will that be possible now? I also liked Officer Parkman's encounter with Sylar and his scene in the bar.

K J Gillenwater said...

I am really quite bored with the flying brothers.

Still curious where Ali Larter's character is going. I don't quite understand what's up with her. Is she somehow related to her husband being missing? Did she somehow aid in killling these gang members without knowing it? There's enough questions there that I am willing to stick with it. The only thing that really bugs me is her son. I hate smarter-than-they-should-be kids. Kids who act like adults. But, luckily, the kid hasn't had a huge role (yet).

The cheerleader, Hiro, and the police officer are my favorites. I love Hiro's sidekick.

The ending was spectacular. I did NOT see that coming. I am wondering now, are all her organs in the metal containers next to her? Is she going to slap herself together? Will someone find her? Interesting that she can remain 'dead' only until the object is removed. That could come in quite handy.

I am also wondering if Mohinder's new little friend isn't bad...or maybe Sylar?! We are imaging that Sylar is a man...but why do we think that? We never saw the person up close. There just is something about this girl that I don't like...

Anonymous said...

Heroes, um, I still love it, right up to the part where I'm really pissed off that our two female leads have been sexually assaulted in three episodes. It's hard for me to get around how much that bothers me.

Anonymous said...

So Claire's been killed twice in about 3 days -- once by having a football player break her neck, and once by falling onto a Huge Pointed Stick during her rape. That's just plain unlucky, no?

Anonymous said...

The cliffhangers on Heroes are top-notch, unfortunately, I find myself being slowly driven crazy by the other 41-minutes of the show. Am I really going to stick around for a series when the only thing the network can promo for the next week is how "You won't believe the next cliffhanger!"? I'd say no, but I'm sure I'll still tune in next Monday... at least until the cheerleader (who, apparently, has no other clothes) gets her torso back.

Heather K said...

I thought the comic book was over too. To be continued and, "Now we're on our own." Or something like that.

I think Mohinder's friend is either evil or just around to get killed and make us feel bad or make Mohinder feel bad.

Totally hooked on this show though, as are my housemates. Love it.

Anonymous said...

Did anyone watching think it was possible that Simone is other than what she seems when she told Peter, "I know" after Peter told her he didn't try to kill himself? How does she know? What does she know? I "know" they don't seem to have chemistry....

I have a feeling we've seen at least one person in these eps who is a "Hero" (good or bad) but we just don't know it yet. Could be Simone or Mohinder's pixie girl.

Anyone else wonder if the cheerleader who's stealing the limelight is going to find herself in a bad way for doing so?...here's to hoping! I don't like that girl anyway!

Anonymous said...

I love Hiro more and more every week. I wouldn't mind if they dropped Nikki so we could see more of Hiro's story. I loved the part where he couldn't understand why Isaac kept hanging up on him, too (I know I'd hang up if someone kept calling me and babbling in a language I didn't speak).

Really looking forward to seeing how Claire puts herself back together. She may not have had her organs removed yet, so all she has to do is pull her skin back together and slap her boobs back in place, poor thing!

I don't know if we've seen Sylar yet, though if Sylar turns out to be Mohinder's pixie pal, I'll be annoyed (she seems too tiny to have been the figure we saw).

Anonymous said...

Anyone else think Sylar was the dude in the bar whose thoughts the cop couldn't read? That was so creepy; I loved it.

So far, loving the whole thing, but the cliffhangers do worry me--I fear this will become like a LOST thing, 41 minutes of dull, dull, dull, followed by two minutes of OHMYGOD.

dark tyler said...

Anyone else think Sylar was the dude in the bar whose thoughts the cop couldn't read?

That's what I was coming here to write. And on top of that, the reason why they're not going to drop Nikki's story any time soon: this same guy is obviously, I mean come on-obviously, Nikki's ex, her annoying kid's father.

As for the whole episode, liked the cliffhanger once more, liked some nice hints about the direction of the story, and loved the feel of the show once again, but sadly Jeph Loeb was writing the episode and it showd- it was full of cliches and bad, bad, bad dialogue. I never liked anything he ever did anyways. Bring on Bryan Fuller, dammit!

Anonymous said...

Too bad Hiro didn't employ the universal language of "cocksucker!" when he was calling Isaac. Sigh, I watch too much TV.

Anonymous said...

Dark Tyler: Ah, a fellow Loeb Hata. There aren't enough of us around, it seems. ;-)