Heroes Season 3
September 23, 2008 - Television
Overall, I was a bit disappointed in the season 3 premiere of Heroes. My main gripe is that they've stolen plot from The 4400. In a slow-to-develop storyline, Dr. Burkhoff gradually discovers a new neurotransmitter that gives The 4400 their special abilities, and is able to synthesize this new neurotransmitter, naming it Promicin. During the awesome season two finale, he injects himself with Promicin, and no powers manifest until halfway through season three, after he's undergone some pretty hideous crap that almost kills him. In Heroes, it's quick and easy. Why the hell did he go out onto the docks to inject himself anyway?
A Trinity wannabe future Claire and future scarface Peter discuss how the future has stolen the storyline from X-Men, and the "heroes" are all now hunted. It's odd, because it seems there are two separate skewed bad futures - one caused by Nathan telling the world about people with powers, the other caused by The Formula getting into the wrong hands. And that formula got there through two separate means - first, Daphne stealing The Formula from Hiro, and secondly, Mohinder discovering the same formula through Maya. While I've got to say that Daphne is a very cool new character, the new Mohinder just isn't doing it for me. Firstly, how the heck did he suddenly change personalities drastically? He's now a irresponsible horny bastard. Only Nikki/Jessica/Gina/whatever-her-new-name-is is supposed to do that. At first I thought Mohinder was Spiderman, but now I know that he's BrundleFly. I can buy his personality change as a physiological effect of the injection, but what made him so psycho before he did that?
I also didn't like the new repetition of powers. Not to beat a dead horse, but The 4400 did it so much better. They had folks with unique and diverse powers rather than the same ten comic book powers repeated over and over. What happened to Monica from Louisiana? Even Mika had a cool power. Instead, we're left with a second pyrokinetic, a second future-painter, a second vision-dreamer, and a second super-strength guy. (the collecting fear thing is cool though) We already had two healers from last season, and a hint that there was a second "empath". (Peter's power)
Other really dumb stuff includes the petty fight between Hiro and Ando, Nathan's newfound superpiety, and the way they reintroduced Claire's mom. She didn't smile, walk up and hug her daughter. She walked up with no expression and held up fire in her hand. Nice way to say hi to your long-lost daughter. The gesture seemed more for the audience than for Claire.
There was some cool stuff though. Future Peter's ability to put a person into a new body is creative, although I wonder what happened to Peter's body and to the other guy's persona. Claire suddenly feeling no pain is interesting - I wonder where they're going with that. Nikki's new personality having a new power is a cool idea. And I really like the new villains: a second pyro, a guy with Magneto powers, and a guy who collects fear and channels it into his own super-strength. The Linderman who only Nathan can see is interesting too. Obviously there's something going on here - it's got to be somebody's power rather than Nathan honestly hallucinating. I do think that the real Linderman is dead - did Peter ever go near him and absorb his power? I'd thought that Peter was the one who healed Nathan. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Lastly, the humor. There were a couple really good humor moments. Given that the theory that Sylar eats brains was such a big one online, his comment to Claire about how it was disgusting was great. For the record, I never thought he ate brains. As a former watchmaker who liked to examine how things worked, what they did was perfect. Secondly, my favorite humor moment: Matt Parkman talking to the turtle. Thanks, Turtle! I laughed pretty hard there.
I had the same thoughts as Keith about Peter, he has Claire's powers so why is he scarred and why didn't he just heal Nathan with his blood. The whole Linderman thing feels forced to me.
I liked quite a few things from this episode though. Sylar was excellent, back to himself it seems. Not sure why telekinesis is the only power he retained though. Elle going nova was pretty cool. The new bad buys show promise. Speedy chick might be fun if they let her be more than just bratty.
Another of my favorite lines from this episode was "I stop time and teleport. I do many things that you don't see".
I think: Nathan should have stayed dead, Future Peter sucks, Angela is basically Palpatine, Hiro only as comic relief is wasteful, Matt's spirit walk story is wrong for him, Mohinder should have stayed powerless... I can go on and on.
I think the only thing they did correctly was force Sylar upon HRG... but that's going to get messed up when he goes all domestic, if I'm to believe the previews.
OK, I'm being a little too harsh. At least it isn't Smallville (and I continue to watch that for some unknown reason)... I guess I'm just disappointed that TV in general continues to suck and when a show doesn't suck, it gets canceled.
See any one you recognize?
If peter absorbed Clair's powers in the first season, then how come his scar on his face did not heal?
With Power comes an intoxication of sexuality. Kind of like the feeling when one guy gets two woman at the same time. He did say that it was a hormone gland.