Heroes - 1961

It seems people are happy with the Tim Kring penned episode that aired last night. Ooo! It's flashbacky! Those are always good!

Sigh.

While I don't claim to be as witty as this guy, I seem to have become as cynical when it comes to Heroes. Two episodes left, and unless they wow me, I doubt I'll watch the next season.

I think part of the problem has become that the characters, the actors, and the stories have all been too far gone for too long. I just can't bring myself around to caring. Noah still shows some signs of being complex and interesting and smart, especially last week, but he's bounced around so much alliance-wise that it's just getting old. At leaat he's better at it than Nathan.

Anyway, the episode. Last week left us with the question "why are they digging?" This week answered it with, "no particular reason." Matrelli made some blahblahblah about needing proof her sister was dead and looking for a scrap of clothing or something.

50 years, unlimited resources, access to the most powerful people in the world, and you NEVER CHECKED IF YOUR SISTER WAS ALIVE? On top of that, you're getting your family to dig up every grave in the place to look for some evidence one of the bodies is your sister.

Ugh.

Anyway, it doesn't matter, because her sister can control the weather and a storm springs up and Angela discovers her dream is literal... like they've ALWAYS BEEN. I don't know where this bullshit about having to interpret them came from, but there's been no discussion of that in the past.

So, her sister has been stirring up dust storms at Coyote Flats for 50 years whenever she needs to go steal something. Smart move. Again, Angela never noticed the strange, localized weather patterns at the site of her sister's supposed death over the last half century? Give me a fucking break.

The one remotely cool part of that storyline was the explanation for why Angela stole those socks that one time last season or whenever it was. I wonder if Kring really had that part figured out then. I'll go with yes, because he's the creator of the series.

Everyone else's story is unimportant, Nathan, Peter, Noah, Claire, and Mohinder were essentially window dressing for the episode.

Then there's the flashbacks. Okay, the other flashback episodes were good because they involved actors and characters we already knew and filled in questions we already had. How did HRG joing the company? How did he get Claire? How did Claude become his partner? Where'd the Haitian come from? Hey! That's Eric Roberts! And then Eric Roberts shows up regularly. "Company Man" was one of the best episodes of ANYTHING on TV that season. "1961"? Not so much.

See, this flashback episode wasn't needed. It was created from the previous episode. Coyote Flats didn't exist before then. Everyone who was in the flashback except Angela was dead. The only thing that interested me was what Deveaux's power was... and it was nothing new - mind reading and control. Okay, so he was a Parkman? That's just lazy. In fact, the flashback changed the origin story of Linderman.

If you follow the online comics, you'll know that Linderman was a young conscript in Vietnam who met Arthur Patrelli (who had no powers) while part of his company, assigned to kill a girl in a village who could make plants grow really fast. He saved Patrelli's life with his ability and they became friends. This origin had already been ignored and discounte in the past, and now it was taken even further. Sure, you could claim the comics aren't canon, but they're written and published and endorsed by NBC and the creators of the program. This isn't fan-fic or some loosely controlled universe like Star Trek. They've bridged stories from the comics into the series (see: Wireless), and vice versa, but they seem to also conveniently ignore them when they change their minds.

I guess it provided motivation for Primatech, and possibly lays the groundwork for the next season - the Patrelli's start a new "Family" to oversee things. This keeps known characters around and allows the introduction of new ones I suppose.

And Alice had better damned well play a role in the next couple episodes, otherwise this whole episode is essentially useless. Her insansity and perhaps a quest for vengeance could be woven in quite nicely.

The ending, with Sylar as Nathan talking to the press was a nice touch. It easily puts Nathan back in play in DC and could set up a nice "who's who" bit of writing as Nathan and Sylar both try to get the ear of the President. Of course, the writers will make it more like an episode of Scooby-Doo and have them running through various doors in a long hallway instead.

At least the season is almost over. Not that I'm even the least bit curious how it ends (death of Danko, maybe Sylar "dies" for the 3rd straight season finale, and probably one less Patrelli are my guesses).

Oh, and if anyone doubts for a second that baby Matt Parkman will play a key role in shutting down Sylar's powers when all seems dire, you haven't been paying any attention to this show. Or maybe they'll put in the twist and have the baby turn off the good guys' powers! Or everybody's!

Of course, the Haitian could have done that easily, or is he still too busy in Haiti?