"Ah, Renfield, you disappoint me so...."

[sinanju]

Those were the last words Dracula (Frank Langella) spoke to Renfield before he broke the poor SOB's neck and killed him for the crime of having (murderous) designs on Dracula's would-be girlfriend, Mina Harker.



I feel rather the same way toward this show after last night's underwhelming episode. Taking things in no particular order...

Monica has been in Mohinder's ultra-tech lab long enough to have been working for a long while at learning new things (including Olympic level* gymnastics) but not long enough to know where she is? I'm sorry, do these allegedly dramatic cut-scene transitions happen IN-STORY too? She didn't have time enough to ask where they were going between opening the door at her home to see Mohinder and driving/flying/whatever from NEW ORLEANS to NEW YORK CITY and then getting from the airport to the Super Sekrit Lab? Or was she too incurious to bother asking? And does she always just run off halfway across the country with some stranger she just met?

Mohinder--did you really think the company wouldn't ask you to do things you found unethical? Really!? And Bob--I'm sorry, but were you just phoning it in today? I'd like to think that you're conflicted and that's why your argument for giving Monica the power-sapping drug was so unconvincing. But I don't. I think it was just a half-assed bit of writing. As was having you say, later, "I'm sorry for asking you to behave like Dr. Mengele, Mohinder--I'm just having a bad day. You understand...."

Sorry. Not buying it. Not even MOHINDER (who, let's face it, is not the sharpest crayon in the box) was buying it. And why he's keeping Molly there I don't know. So far they've done nothing (that we know of) that any ordinary hospital couldn't do for her. She's in a coma. She requires nursing and probably IV fluids and whatnot. Yeah, only a Super Sekrit Lab run by the The Company could handle THAT.

And, hey, Mohinder--instead of having a tantrum and smashing a medicine cabinet, why not inject good ol' BOB with the power-sapping drug and see if he still feels like it's "for the greater good."

Or give Monica a big ol' dose of saline solution (given that you can have frequent cell phone conversations FROM THE LAB about how you're secretly a mole, changing out the syringe you're using without being detected shouldn't be all that difficult) and then tell Bob that, "nope, the altered virus doesn't work!" Then have Bennett fill Monica in (on the QT, of course) about who she's dealing with.

Clark Kent: "Luthor's out of prison?"
Jimmy Olsen: "...yeah, when they called Superman to testify [at Luthor's parole hearing], the big guy was nowhere to be found. How much do you think that pisses Superman off?"
Clark Kent: "A lot."

How much does it piss me off that Nikki/Jessica, who seemed have largely overcome her MPD last season, seems to have regressed to her S1 status again? To quote Clark Kent: A lot.

I'm glad to see that Yaeki (or however you spell her name) isn't a complete dimwit. Given personal experience of Hiro's teleportation ability, she is able to draw the correct conclusion. Yay! And now the love triangle comes into full flower. Yawn. (And a word of advice to Takeshi. Hiro can stop time and teleport. You KNOW he can stop time and teleport. If you're going to stab him in the back metaphorically, then STAB HIM IN THE BACK. Or take his head and with it, his power!. Don't just knock him out and leave him for dead. That trick NEVER, EVER works and Hiro is far too dangerous (if written intelligently) to betray and leave alive! Plus, this will not win you any brownie points with the woman you love, you know. I'm just saying. If you're gonna rat out your rival for her affections, don't do it where she can find out about it--much less SEE IT HAPPEN!

Claire, you're an idiot. You don't think the tale of the cheerleader who saw a flying guy pick you up, drop you and kill you, only to find out you're alive and unhurt won't get back to dear old dad? And it's a good thing that, unlike REAL people who are killed by falling onto concrete stairs, you don't bleed or anything. Blood stains on the stairs might be hard to explain away as part of Cordelia's Head Cheerleader's alcoholic delusion. I also fully expect Cordelia HCL not to take this lying down. I don't imagine that she's written with enough depth to think of this as a wake-up call about her alcoholic tendencies; no, I fully expect her to start nosing around with the intent of a) finding out how Buffy Claire pulled this off, and b) exposing her, thus c) regaining her rightful place as queen bee.

(And can Sylar pleeeeeeease make a quick stop in Costa Verda to eat West's brain before heading up to New York City?)

Speaking of Sylar...okay, Alejandro doesn't speak English. Check. But his sister does, and she's NOT THAT FAR AWAY while you're monologuing (have The Incredibles taught you nothing?) about killing both of them and eating their brains powers. Still, I am fully committed to your plan, Gabriel. I only hope that it happens soon. Very soon. (I'm still pissed off, by the way, that Sylar killed Candace and escaped in the most badly-written, ham-handedly contrived escape this show has done yet, and that's a pretty high bar. Candace and/or her bosses showed a criminal--and in her case, lethal--stupidity in the way they handled Gabriel.)

Can I say that I could have done with Peter and Caitlin this episode**? NOTHING happened there. They went to Montreal. yay. (Well, okay, Caitlin showed some spunk. "I'ma cut a bitch!" I liked that. But otherwise...eh.)

Mr. Bennett. Noah. May I call you Noah? This is the storyline where I have no few complaints. Mr. Bennett is hardcore. It was good to see. Though it would have been nicer if, you know, he'd been hardcore enough to WEAR GLOVES while breaking and entering, and then trashing the place to make it look like a home invasion. (I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume they did actually steal stuff.) Nothing like leaving your fingerprints all over a crime scene that you're concerned that your enemies might be worried about. Still, at least there was some actual plot movement here. Bennett wanted the other paintings. Bennett came into conflict with his old boss over said paintings. Bennett interrogated and murdered his boss and got the paintings. And all in a single episode! Holy shit!

Just imagine if the rest of the show moved at such a not-quite-slow-as-molasses-in-January pace! Be still my beating heart! I hope the writers can recover from this breathless pace. It must have been hard on them.

So, overall: I've had my quibbles with this show since the beginning of the season, but too many more episodes like this one and I may flip from "I watch HEROES because it's fun" to "I watch HEROES because it's fun to treat it like an offering Mystery Science Theatre 3000."
*I assume--it would be silly to expose her to anything less.

**Frankly, I was hoping Peter was dead after the first season finale. His alleged hotness leaves me unmoved, not surprisingly. His emo-ness actively annoys me. But most of all, he's Deus Ex Machina man. Who needs any other Heroes when Peter Petrelli is around? (Not the writers, certainly; even they sense the problem--thus we have Peter suffering from a bout of Explosive Amnesia (thank you, Futurama!) and having to retrace his first season steps all over again 'cause if he remembered who he was and what he could do, there's very little that could stop him. Well, maybe this season he'll die. A guy can hope.

Comments

[rjlippincott.livejournal.com]

"I watch HEROES because it's fun to treat it like an offering Mystery Science Theatre 3000."

I'm sorry, but I saw it reaching that point last season...BEFORE the hiatus. I think the final episode for me was the one that contained the flashback with the auto accident where Nathan learns he can fly...and his wife is paralyzed. The cars were racing down the street, I found myself saying out loud "....aaaaaaannnnd the car crashes, leaving her paralyzed..." just a few second before the auto went out of control.

My theory is that if I can figure out on my own what's going to happen next, there's no point in watching.

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

Oh, no doubt--there were MST3K moments aplenty last season too. But I was willing to cut them more slack then. But I have a limited supply of willing suspension of disbelief and they're running through it at an alarming rate this season.

[fikgirl.livejournal.com]

Finally watched it last night, and I said to DH, "You know, it's hard to watch this show with the noise from the aircraft." (You know, the commercial liners flying through the plot holes.)

Unfortunately, my biggest gripe was that Monica answered the door late at night after kicking a known gang banger through a glass window, and let a really cute strange man into her home. In what is probably not the nicest area of New Orleans?

While we're on the subject of Mohinder's impromptu visit, did Micah (who is so well behaved and always does as told and never does anything to attract attention) stay in his room while Mohinder visited with Monica? No peeking out to say "Hey, Mohinder!"

*headdesk*

Fortunately, up until this point, the show did stay fun. Now I just hope that they can get back on track and ....

1. For the love of all that is holy, let Matt clue in to using his ability to "rescue" Molly the way he rescued himself and Nathan Of course, he could be off his game without his precious Mohinder around
   
2. Sylar, Maya and Alejandro; can Sylar even take both powers? Wouldn't there be a reason that the power was split between the two of them? Although yeah, I'm tired of it. Of course I'm tired of Syler as well. Why can't Maya's ability flare up, kill Syler and the car crashes into a cement barricade?
   
3. Peter. Whatever. *yawns*
   
4. Hiro broke history. Doesn't that mean that at some point, Ando should read about Kensei and reveal a different story than the one Hiro told? (Although Ando wouldn't know it's a different story)
   
5. Can we get a guest shot by someone from ST:TNG or ST:DS9? They're running the whole guantlet of the Treks right?