"Maybe I am a monster."
Oct. 14th, 2008 02:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
adelineHeroes, 3x05: Angels And Monsters
I need to preface this. I always try to lay emphasis on the positive things I subjectively take away from each episode, but I had stupidly high expectations for this one and alas, they were not met. If you're in full-on squee mode, you might want to skip the following until a few days have passed. As a reference - and this may be a heresy in some parts of fandom - I can honestly say I feel at this point last year, I was enjoying season 2 more.
Or maybe Adam Armus and Kay Foster just aren't catering to my tastes. Their episodes never were favorites of mine.
My main beef is, I feel a lot of potential was wasted on this one. The title of this episode led me to hope we might see an exploration of the distance or lack thereof between heroes and villains, the light and the dark, etc. The names Nathan, Peter, Gabriel, all come with religious connotations and I foolishly thought, maybe, it would have been appropriate at this point to start showing us how the brothers differ in their nature, and/or approaches to their powers and/or status. As for other characters, this might have been an opportunity to draw lines and lay stakes a little more clearly. Maya herself has felt like a monster and sought God's guidance, then her "angel" turned out to be a monster, and now she is facing another. I'm sure there's an existential crisis somewhere in there. Adam and Angela made their choice eons ago - in hindsight, was it the right one for them? Better writers than I could certainly find a thematic link with pretty much every other character. My expectations were very high, indeed, and I was disappointed. (Maybe I should not be looking at future episode titles anymore?Or just get a goddamn life?)
And I wouldn't have minded too much if the end result we got, instead of the above, had been fulfilling for me. It wasn't. Now, let's get more specific about the things I disliked:
- The faster-than-light Nathan/Tracy hook-up. Sheesh, they do have FOUR YEARS to get married, it's not like time is running out. As I said, I don't have anything against the pairing itself, but I do have a problem with sloppy characterization. Wasn't Tracy involved with the Governor of New York, like, two episodes ago? And I need to check my S2 DVDs for the last time Nathan was seen wearing his wedding band, but I do know he made a promise to his sons, which the guy who got shot down at the end of "Powerless" wouldn't have just forgotten about overnight. :/ It's a quite big problem, this one, seeing as he's all righteous and god-fearing at the moment. WTF, writers?
- I desperately want to believe Sylar is still intrinsically deranged, because if he's suddenly absolved of all his mental conditions, that will just not fly (heh) with me. D:
- HIRO KILLING ANDO. WAIT, WHAT??! This one makes me saddest of all. I realize he probably has a plan, and Ando won't actually die so soon, but it couldn't have hurt him to stop time just long enough to forewarn his BFF. Poor Ando-kun. :(
- Needs moar Parkman, Jr!
- Also, Nathan's power being synthetic. :o DO NOT WANT! For a minute there, I thought Angela was going to tag on a reveal that he was not her biological son, which would probably mark the bitter end of me & the show. Thankfully, they did not go that routeyet. (Knock on wood!)
+ However, this could pave the way for some interesting Petrelli family dynamics, if, say, Angela could be swayed to let Arthur and his buddies mess with Nathan's DNA, but (maybe subsequently) not Gabriel's, hence the reason he was given up for adoption. Of course, this is me getting carried away again, and now we know that way lies disappointment.
See, I did still enjoy some aspects of this episode, so let's carry on with them:
+ Maury was messing with Nathan's brain all this time. LOL, I hope that's not an offensive reaction; I'm just not sure I could have dealt with Bible-toting Nathan in the long term. It would make sense for the knowledge that he wasn't born with his ability to shake his newfound faith, and when he finds out he's been manipulated again, hopefully he'll come back to the skeptic side.
+ I'm still loving Peter. Clearly, he's out of control, but his distrust of his mother has been a long time coming and I'm glad he's reached that point where the camel's back is basically FUBAR. I'm not loving that Angela put him in a coma, but then again, it just speaks to her sheer fear of him, and that's kind of mighty.
+ The moral grayness of HRG. Shit, son, it's crazy. Certainly a dark, dark shade of gray at the moment.
+ Daphne, in general. I think she's awesome.
+ Adam "-azing Aweso-" Monroe! Any scene he's in is basically brilliant! ASDKHLJA;'DSHL; I ♥ HIM!
+ Mohinder was really, really, really pretty in the park, omg. *_* <3
+ Angela's new nightmare of doom! o_O
+ Talking of Angela, I liked that Nathan once more told her to go to hell, and how vulnerable and desperate she looked right then and there. I almost felt sympathy! Damn you, Cristine Rose. :p
Things I'm looking forward to:
× The resolution of Mohinder's storyline, because, honestly... lolz.
× Oddly enough, Daphne's and Matt's first encounter.
So. All in all, not my favorite episode. Aside from the thing about Nathan's marriage, which I've mentioned before, I really think it might be a writers thing, though. If not for that, I might ruthlessly mention the possibility that sharks may be looming in nearby waters. We'll see next week. I must stress that this would truly sadden me, as I love the show very dearly. I do feel maybe they've bitten off more than they can chew with this volume, but I guess it's a bit soon to tell. And in any case, I'm definitely sticking with it for the rest of the season.
Polls to come some time this evening. :)
I need to preface this. I always try to lay emphasis on the positive things I subjectively take away from each episode, but I had stupidly high expectations for this one and alas, they were not met. If you're in full-on squee mode, you might want to skip the following until a few days have passed. As a reference - and this may be a heresy in some parts of fandom - I can honestly say I feel at this point last year, I was enjoying season 2 more.
Or maybe Adam Armus and Kay Foster just aren't catering to my tastes. Their episodes never were favorites of mine.
My main beef is, I feel a lot of potential was wasted on this one. The title of this episode led me to hope we might see an exploration of the distance or lack thereof between heroes and villains, the light and the dark, etc. The names Nathan, Peter, Gabriel, all come with religious connotations and I foolishly thought, maybe, it would have been appropriate at this point to start showing us how the brothers differ in their nature, and/or approaches to their powers and/or status. As for other characters, this might have been an opportunity to draw lines and lay stakes a little more clearly. Maya herself has felt like a monster and sought God's guidance, then her "angel" turned out to be a monster, and now she is facing another. I'm sure there's an existential crisis somewhere in there. Adam and Angela made their choice eons ago - in hindsight, was it the right one for them? Better writers than I could certainly find a thematic link with pretty much every other character. My expectations were very high, indeed, and I was disappointed. (Maybe I should not be looking at future episode titles anymore?
And I wouldn't have minded too much if the end result we got, instead of the above, had been fulfilling for me. It wasn't. Now, let's get more specific about the things I disliked:
- The faster-than-light Nathan/Tracy hook-up. Sheesh, they do have FOUR YEARS to get married, it's not like time is running out. As I said, I don't have anything against the pairing itself, but I do have a problem with sloppy characterization. Wasn't Tracy involved with the Governor of New York, like, two episodes ago? And I need to check my S2 DVDs for the last time Nathan was seen wearing his wedding band, but I do know he made a promise to his sons, which the guy who got shot down at the end of "Powerless" wouldn't have just forgotten about overnight. :/ It's a quite big problem, this one, seeing as he's all righteous and god-fearing at the moment. WTF, writers?
- I desperately want to believe Sylar is still intrinsically deranged, because if he's suddenly absolved of all his mental conditions, that will just not fly (heh) with me. D:
- HIRO KILLING ANDO. WAIT, WHAT??! This one makes me saddest of all. I realize he probably has a plan, and Ando won't actually die so soon, but it couldn't have hurt him to stop time just long enough to forewarn his BFF. Poor Ando-kun. :(
- Needs moar Parkman, Jr!
- Also, Nathan's power being synthetic. :o DO NOT WANT! For a minute there, I thought Angela was going to tag on a reveal that he was not her biological son, which would probably mark the bitter end of me & the show. Thankfully, they did not go that route
+ However, this could pave the way for some interesting Petrelli family dynamics, if, say, Angela could be swayed to let Arthur and his buddies mess with Nathan's DNA, but (maybe subsequently) not Gabriel's, hence the reason he was given up for adoption. Of course, this is me getting carried away again, and now we know that way lies disappointment.
See, I did still enjoy some aspects of this episode, so let's carry on with them:
+ Maury was messing with Nathan's brain all this time. LOL, I hope that's not an offensive reaction; I'm just not sure I could have dealt with Bible-toting Nathan in the long term. It would make sense for the knowledge that he wasn't born with his ability to shake his newfound faith, and when he finds out he's been manipulated again, hopefully he'll come back to the skeptic side.
+ I'm still loving Peter. Clearly, he's out of control, but his distrust of his mother has been a long time coming and I'm glad he's reached that point where the camel's back is basically FUBAR. I'm not loving that Angela put him in a coma, but then again, it just speaks to her sheer fear of him, and that's kind of mighty.
+ The moral grayness of HRG. Shit, son, it's crazy. Certainly a dark, dark shade of gray at the moment.
+ Daphne, in general. I think she's awesome.
+ Adam "-azing Aweso-" Monroe! Any scene he's in is basically brilliant! ASDKHLJA;'DSHL; I ♥ HIM!
+ Mohinder was really, really, really pretty in the park, omg. *_* <3
+ Angela's new nightmare of doom! o_O
+ Talking of Angela, I liked that Nathan once more told her to go to hell, and how vulnerable and desperate she looked right then and there. I almost felt sympathy! Damn you, Cristine Rose. :p
Things I'm looking forward to:
× The resolution of Mohinder's storyline, because, honestly... lolz.
× Oddly enough, Daphne's and Matt's first encounter.
So. All in all, not my favorite episode. Aside from the thing about Nathan's marriage, which I've mentioned before, I really think it might be a writers thing, though. If not for that, I might ruthlessly mention the possibility that sharks may be looming in nearby waters. We'll see next week. I must stress that this would truly sadden me, as I love the show very dearly. I do feel maybe they've bitten off more than they can chew with this volume, but I guess it's a bit soon to tell. And in any case, I'm definitely sticking with it for the rest of the season.
Polls to come some time this evening. :)
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no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 11:04 pm (UTC)As for Tracy, her world has been turned upside down in a matter of days. Learning you were a triplet injected with powers that can kill people can do a number on a person, haha. And people deal with trauma in varying ways - I think she's escaping hers by sleeping around. She needs to be protected, and so she finds that solace in the beds of powerful men.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-16 06:22 pm (UTC)Back in the first season, I would have agreed with you. But since, we've been shown several times how family plays a key role in determining how he behaves. Granted, that's mainly Peter, as far as we've seen, but even still, Peter clearly didn't approve of Nathan's infidelity and Nathan wasn't exactly proud, either. It seemed to me that Volume 2 redeemed him somewhat, from a ~self-centered uppity jerk~ to a ~broken selfless hero~ (in broad strokes, obvs.) And at the core of this change were his ties to family: the ~sins of the parents~ as the writers put it, his drive to do right by Peter, followed by his search for Peter (lol he fucking flew to fucking Ireland), and a promise he made to his sons that he'll be coming home.
"And what do Petrellis do when they make promises?"
"KEEP THEM!"
I'm not saying Nathan is the ~speshul snowflake~ of politicos (though he actually is, lolz, but that's way besides my point), nor can I blame you or anyone for holding that opinion of them to start with, but though what you say may well be true and apply in the real world to a certain extent (and what a world, eh?), I just personally don't see that that's how Nathan has been written, as an individual character, up to this point. And, again personally, I can't rely on generalities to justify the choices of one character. Real-world social trends should be entirely irrelevant. I feel that, for writers to rely on supposed "rules" in characterization is sloppy writing, and to be frank, unjustifiable, especially when they go against the target character's history as I feel is the case here.
Now, add his heightened religious faith into the mix, and what do you got? Insult to injury.
Ha, I'm sorry for the rant. Nathan is (was?) my favorite character, so this is naturally something that upsets me beyond the might of a "lol, Heroes" rationale. XD Honestly, at this point, I'd be willing to believe the Haitian removed all memories of his (ex-?)spouse and younger children, but if that's what the writers would like us to believe and accept, I wish they would at least allude to it on the show.