Heroes Season 4 Thread: Superpowered Carnies Unite!

[Batman]

Soooo ... after the steady decline of the past few seasons, is anyone still on board? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
This wasn't bad, although some people will probably poke quite a few holes in it.
The superpowered carnies seem like the major baddie this season. Hiro's powers are on the fritz again (yawn). Sylar is having an out of body experience, but is somehow still stuck as Nathan (WTF?). HRG macking on Ali Larter (ewww). Yet another "paint the future" character, this time as a tattooed (but hot) carnie chick.

There were a couple things I liked, though:
1) Claire's new friend. She definitely seems like a stalker. As long as she doesn't have powers (fat chance), that storyline has potential. I'd rather see her deal with a "normie" as a villain than the superpowered baddies.
2) I don't like the concept of the Sylar storyline, but his mind****ing of Parkman is awesome. Quinto is so creepy that it should be fun to watch that for a few episodes.
3) Peter seemingly having his full range of powers back. Or is it just Suresh's? I lost track. Either way, the knife fight with the carnie was fun and it's good to see him with a set of powers that make him the badass he should be.

 

[outofplace]

I only saw parts of it. Just didn't have it in me to invest 2 hours in this show. I think I am finally all the way out.

 

[JakeandElwood]

I think I'm the same oop. I realized when I got to work that I had forgot to tivo Heroes and House. I only was disappointed about one of them.

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

This wasn't bad, although some people will probably poke quite a few holes in it.

I have no idea what you're talking about . . . . .

Seriously, I thought it was pretty solid.

- Liked the Carnies, mostly because it's cool to see T-Bag from Prison Break (very interesting power) and Darth Maul as his henchman. Unless the "Ray Park" name in the credits played someone else? I'm not too down on this use of paintings; it's not like Season Two, where they clearly had no other ideas. This is a nice twist, and is not necessarily paintings that tell the future. Yet.
- Claire stopped talking through her teeth! I liked the college stuff because it didn't involve Claire hanging with some douche new boyfriend. The party was OK, though her new friend cannot act. She looked like she was going to have a video game-induced seizure while playing Guitar Hero. And why would they have Guitar Hero III at a college party? That's like, three editions of the game ago.
- Where was the college sequence shot? Looks like UCLA.
- Still wonder why they keep Ali Larter around, and my thoughts on Sylar are well-documented. At the same time, I liked the idea of Ali Larter being a renegade who was picking people off. I don't get why Bennett and Angry Bald Military Dude weren't tops on her list, though. Would have retained the element of surprise, from her point of view, and eliminated the ringleaders.
- I thought it was cheap when they changed Larter's story so quickly to out her back on the side of the Angels. Such a lethal renegade Hero would be a nice twist. But they've shown that they are very resistant to that idea.
- Really hoped they would have Nathan be perfectly normal for a couple of weeks, then start having him slowly realize that something isn't right. Hell, it would be even better if he were normal for an entire season, introduce a new villain (daddy Petrelli had such great potential), then they cliffhanger with him changing back to Sylar (If they're not gonna kill him off, they can do certain things).
But they just don't have the patience to let a plotline fester and reach a boiling point. I guess by the fourth hour (two weeks from now), Sylar goes full baddie.
- Thought it was intriguing to see Sylar as a part of Parkman's brain. But again, a plot they couldn't wait to get rolling on. It would be nice if they would lull us into a false sense of security once in a while, even for a week or two. Like they think they're doing with Peter Petrelli.
- Sylar was right: as a detective, Parkman would do well to drop about 20-30 pounds.

- Where is Suresh? Is he dead? I forgot . . . .

Yeah, I'll watch again. Maybe my faith will finally be rewarded. Or I'll get to have more Mystery Science Theater 3000 fun with the show.

 

[Batman]

I'm OK with the carnies, too. Carnies just amuse me, and the thought of superpowered carnies is even funnier.
The carnie leader also had the right touch of skeeviness that I expect from someone who lives in a beanbag toss booth, probably hasn't showered in two weeks, and bilks little kids of their hard-earned money. They might make for some good villains.

 

[outofplace]

I'm OK with the carnies, too. Carnies just amuse me, and the thought of superpowered carnies is even funnier.
The carnie leader also had the right touch of skeeviness that I expect from someone who lives in a beanbag toss booth, probably hasn't showered in two weeks, and bilks little kids of their hard-earned money. They might make for some good villains.

I only saw a quick bit with them, but it sounds like another X-Men rip-off. One of the first X-Men villains, the Blob, was with a circus when he was first introduced.

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

I finally quit this show tonight.

I was enjoying this season, even if the last few episodes felt like nothing was building. As in, at this point, they should feel like their building toward a climactic reveal or event, and it just felt like chess pieces being moved around the board, with a couple of interesting new pieces added.

But I stuck with it, because I was intrigued by Carnival Dude, thought they finally stopped writing Claire like she is an idiot, and wanted to see how the Parkman/Sylar plot ended since it was becoming a drag. Well, during last week's show, it seemed to end. The Sylar personality had control of Parkman's body, and was committing murders and other heinous acts to let Parkman know who was in charge.

So Parkman duped Sylar into committing suicide by cop - get confronted by a bunch of cops, act like you're pulling a gun, get shot dead - and I saw this as a moment that the show finally came full circle and was good and gutsy again. Anyone could buy the farm, anytime. And now Parkman was dead, but a hero in the final evaluation.

Then they showed the preview for this week's episode, in which Parkman is revived, I guess by the Super Blood.

I've let this show waste my time for a long time. That's quite enough.

 

[Batman]

So they go too fast and it's no good. Then they slow it down and build like they did in the first season and it's still no good?
Just can't please some people, I guess.

I've been enjoying this season. The Sylar-Parkman plot was better than I expected, and they are building toward offing Nathan for good. There's even been a few nice little side plots, like the bonding session between Claire and Tracy tonight. HRG coming home and seeing a severed foot on the table, and not even freaking out, was a nice touch. Another one was Hiro going back to save his waitress girlfriend, and running around like crazy to keep all these little pieces in place so as not to screw up the timeline.
There's been some good character moments this season. About the only negative I can see is the deaf Dazzler wannabe. I guess she's a love interest for Peter, but she seems pretty worthless at the moment.

Oh, and Parkman was saved by Peter. He obtained a healing ability to use in his paramedic job and used it to heal Parkman.

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

So they go too fast and it's no good. Then they slow it down and build like they did in the first season and it's still no good?
Just can't please some people, I guess.

No, that's not what I said at all.

It is wise to let a story fester, especially at the beginning. But there also comes a point in a season when you can perceive events building toward a climax. I wasn't complaining about the fact this season didn't feel like elements were converging, but yes, I noticed it. It didn't scare me away from the show at all. I kept watching, while wondering where they were going with it. Of course, genuinely wondering what was next was a nice feeling to have with Heroes.

Agree on Dazzler wannabe. That story is going absolutely nowhere, and doesn't seem to have the potential to.

Hiro's story was intriguing, but I lost track of what was happening after Carnival Dude took Charlie.

No matter how Parkman was healed, it is just another example of this show being unable to cut dead weight. I would have preferred they have Parkman off into the sunset with his family this season, but oh well.

I gave up comic books years ago, largely due to "comic book death." The same thing has finally pushed me away from this show, two years after it first threatened to with the advent of the Super Blood.

That said, I'll catch this week's on Hulu, I'm sure. But my expectations are once again where they were before this season raised them again.

 

[outofplace]

As a comic book reader, I tolerate the joke that is the "comic book death," but Heroes abused that too much even for me. I finally gave up and haven't watched an episode this season. I will usually take a few minutes to read the episode recaps on Newsarama.com, but that's about it. Maybe I'll watch an episode or two later in the season when I have more time, but I doubt it. Sad, because I really loved this show and I stubbornly stuck with it through two very disappointing seasons, hoping it could bounce back from suckitude the way Smallville did. No such luck.

 

[Batman]

So they go too fast and it's no good. Then they slow it down and build like they did in the first season and it's still no good?
Just can't please some people, I guess.

No, that's not what I said at all.

It is wise to let a story fester, especially at the beginning. But there also comes a point in a season when you can perceive events building toward a climax. I wasn't complaining about the fact this season didn't feel like elements were converging, but yes, I noticed it. It didn't scare me away from the show at all. I kept watching, while wondering where they were going with it. Of course, genuinely wondering what was next was a nice feeling to have with Heroes.

See, I felt this week's episode finally moved the story forward a good bit and built toward that climax.
They finally revealed why Samuel (the head carnie) was roping in all these people and took a big step toward resolving the Nathan/Sylar/Parkman storyline.
Heroes always seems to have that one episode that just launches the season into warp drive for the last two or three episodes, and I think this one was it.

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

The old dog has been put out of its misery.

http://tv.yahoo.com/heroes/show/39435/news/tv.tvguide.com/tv.tvguide.com-nbc-cancels-oncemighty-heroes

 

[JakeandElwood]

Too bad. Had a lot of potential at the start but it had just gotten so bad.

 

[apeman33]

This thread is probably all the evidence you need to support the case of the decline of the show. No posts for over 5 months. Sad.

I got season one to watch on DVD because I can't every be home on Monday nights to watch it. I haven't watched it because people taking about its decline have made me hesitant to watch a show that I know will tank.

My roommate was an avid fan. She even tolerated season 2 but gave up on it at the start of season 3. I doubt she'll know it's been canceled until I tell her when she comes back from her trip on Monday.

 

[JakeandElwood]

Season 1 itself is very good. If you can watch it without getting invested in the plot and having to watch the other bad seasons, it would be worth your time.