Letters to the Editor
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Peter Power
OK, so maybe it's a dumb question, but if Peter can absorb the powers of those around him, then why didn't HE fly up into the air to explode? (I realize that would negate the sacrifice of Nathan, but still, it bugged me.)
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Have you ever watched/read Spider-Man?
Your quote:
"They're not do-good web slingers, but complicated individuals who fall all over the ethical spectrum."
leads me to believe that you have never read or watched Spider Man. Marvel Comics, led by Stan Lee, pioneered the genre of superheroes who are complicated and struggle with real-world ethical dilemmas. And the peak of San Lee's success within that genre has to be both Spider-Man and X-Men.
Although done very well, Heroes is built solidly on the shoulders of Marvel Comics' success.
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Letdown
Yes, I, too, question why Peter couldn't fly out into the stratosphere on his own. I love "Heroes" but the episode didn't really answer any questions or prove as exciting as previous episodes. It felt as if it was just treading water until next season.
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Do-good web slinger actually kind of complicated
As another poster commented, Spider-Man is actually known for being far more complicated and human than a lot of other comic book heroes. There have been a number of times in the comics in which Peter Parker is depressed, lonely, scared, ambivalent, and all sorts of other things that can't be fixed with the proportional strength of a spider.
/comic book nerd
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Huge fan, and yet...
As comic book fans, Heroes has been appointment television for me and my wife since episode 1. Last night's twists and commercial cliff hangers literally had us squirming. However, I can't help but feel a little let down at last night's finale.
Starting at the end... I respect the story element of Nathan's redemptive sacrifice, but WHY was it NECESSARY exactly? Claire, HRG, Nathan AND Peter (and most importantly THE AUDIENCE) knew that Peter could survive the explosion. He could also fly... so FLY AWAY ALREADY.
Maybe Peter could only manifest one power at a time. OK, wouldn't switching eliminate the explosion BY DEFAULT?
Then there's Peter's insistence that Claire shooting him would solve everything. A head shot would certainly shut him down temporarily, and past episodes suggest that Claire's ability would start his healing as soon as the bullet from that high caliber gun exited his skull. Again, explosion averted and Nathan can still serve his country.
Lastly, I was a bit put off that Sylar didn't need Claire's ability to survive the stabbing. I can buy that his telekinesis combined with his intuition ability allowed him to repair the internal damage, but future Hiro's "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World" message was predicated on Sylar NOT gaining Claire's regenerative ability... and he survives ANYWAY?!?
Eh bien, I still love the show... will anxiously await H:O and look forward to Molly's "worse boogieman" who is obviously a major antagonist for next season.
Anbody else think that Hiro has been set up to be Kensei OR that his father's ability is extreme longevity? Also, Mama Petrelli has got to be PISSED; will we finally see her powers? DISCUSS...
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Hero to Zero
"Heroes" is hardly exhilirating. It's turtle paced storytelling dumbed down to attract a larger audience.
A majority of the "powers" are exposition devices designed to clue in more and more and more viewers into the many go nowhere storylines.
My gay, nerd posse have come to hate the show. We call it "Zeroes".
The "heroes" make ridiculous choices. Claire (the oftmentioned cheerleader of the motto that shalt never again be said) trembled with tears as she pointed a pistol at friend/uncle/side-mouth-talker Peter? SHOOT HIM. Of anyone, she should know he'll spit the bullet out. Makes no sense.
Peter and Nathan's smoldering brother-love finally lights up the night sky... Soooooo gross.
Just when we thought the herd of character actors was being culled, looks like people are surviving and *sigh* dead ones are coming back in dream sequences. Stop it. Kill them. No more new characters unless its Rose and Bernard.
Cliche, cliche, cliche, cliche. I won't even fault the creator if he hasn't picked up a comic book. But has he even been to a super hero movie in the last decade? Mutant strangers being hunted by a omnipotent entity? ... 'nuff said.
And the big payoff of the season? One smack by a parking meter, four punches and a single thrust of a samurai sword do NOT make a finale showdown. In light of the fights of "Buffy" and "Alias" you cannot skimp the superhero smackdown and expect your core audience to stick around.
Finally... next season I demand more Mr. Muggles. Give him a power or atleast a web comic.
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Heroes
Far and away my favorite show on television, especially since BSG's weak season.
As for Peter, we can only speculate that he can't control his powers at that point.
Also, he has absorbed not just his brother's power of flight, but also all of Sylar's powers for which we don't even know what they all are, Claire's regen, Nikki's strength, Hiro's time powers, Issac's future-sight, invisibility, and more that we don't even know about.
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Peter
I think it's understandable that Peter couldn't fly at that moment. He couldn't control his powers. So I give the creators a pass on that. I'm assuming Nathan doesn't come back, and dissapointed to see him go. I'm curious to see if Peter comes back. In some ways he shouldn't. He's a little too powerful, it's unclear what if any limitations he has...
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No disrespect to Spiderman
I'm only a low level comic book nerd, but I was thinking more that the "Heroes" have done some much more morally shady things -- cheating at cards, seducing politicians, stealing.
And I noticed those plot inconsistences last night too -- I figured Peter only could have one power at a time, so if he flew away he'd just explode somewhere else later.
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So TV is a little slow on the uptake, what else is new
"The 'Manchurian Candidate' school of parenthood." That's a great line.
Yes, yes, Marvel Comics featured angst-ridden superheroes over 40 years ago. That still shouldn't take anything away from "Heroes" accomplishment in putting together a compelling package of story, character and style. I hope they can sustain the originality in the second season.
It's easier for a series to sustain its producers' original vision in its first season, when it's somewhat Under the Radar of network creative and ad executives. When it becomes a hit, and a hit at a desperately underperforming network at that, the pressures on the corporate suits to meddle with a winning formula can get to be too strong to resist. We'll see.
Network television is incredibly schizo right now. With parallel trends of identical race-to-the-bottom "reality/game/serial humilation" series, multi-season narrative spider web dramatic series and Viral Alphabetic Franchise series (L&O, CSI), the networks are grasping at the next marginal success.
Given this mess, we should be grateful that the networks do as well as they do in giving birth to a "Heroes," and grateful that cable services can sustain the kinds of budgets that allow expensive series like "Battlestar Galactica" to survive in a small-audience environment.