AdrianPasdar-related stories
Posted Oct 20th 2009 1:55AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E06) If there was a theme this week, it's about nurturing and guiding people with abilities. We followed up with Sylar, now in the nefarious embrace of the Sullivan Brothers Carnival, as well as Peter and Hiro, and by extension Emma. The quest to save Hiro's life from the brain tumor that's killing him even affords Noah the opportunity to atone for his cold past by providing support to a former kid he and the Haitian had "visited" back in his Company days.
We got some very nice character moments this week. I like Hiro in the role of mentor to Emma, as it gives him a focus for his crazy optimism. Plus, we got to see how stopping time makes a magic show even more awesome -- I know that's the kind of crap I'd be doing with that ability. Screw saving the world, watch me make this woman vanish.
Continue reading Heroes: Tabula Rasa
Posted Oct 6th 2009 1:19AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E04) What are you doing with your life? Are you happy with what you do every day, 40 or more hours a week? If not, then you're not truly living
your life, you're living someone else's. Only when you realize that this life is a gift and it's so much shorter than any of us can possibly realize, can you truly start to live for yourself. Take a risk. Do what you want. Do what makes you happy.
That's pretty heady stuff, but it was apparently on the
Heroes writers' minds tonight, because that's exactly what this episode was about. And it turned out pretty well. There were moments of true growth for several of our characters, some good and some probably not so good.
Continue reading Heroes: Acceptance
Posted Sep 29th 2009 1:20AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E03) Let's talk candidly. After all, it looks like you and I are the only ones left watching this show. Remember the good old days when
Heroes was the top-rated show on NBC and all the talk at the proverbial water coolers? It feels like it was only three years ago.
It's a shame that it looks like this ratings erosion is a permanent one, as tonight was a good installment. Unless things turn around immediately, it's a pretty safe bet this will be the last volume of
Heroes. They need to sneak in some stunt casting or film a live episode or whore the stars out to all the talk shows relentlessly if they want to save the show.
If they want to.
Continue reading Heroes: Ink
Posted Sep 22nd 2009 2:45AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E02) Things are definitely getting interesting again. I'm glad
Heroes went with a two-hour premiere, because it wasn't until the end of this hour that we had enough to really grab our attention again. As expected, Samuel Sullivan and the Sullivan Brothers Carnival are right at the heart of the mystery right now.
There's another mystery brewing at Claire's college. Or maybe there isn't. Could what happened with Annie be as straightforward as everyone seems to want us to believe? But now that's the least of Claire's problems, due to her little impromptu experiment.
This episode focused primarily on four main storylines, and it progressed very smoothly for it. It wasn't too confusing, and I came out if it with a sense of confidence that there's a plan for the season. I'm still not sure if it's accessible enough for new viewers, but you never know. Maybe people are smarter than I give them credit for.
Continue reading Heroes: Jump, Push, Fall
Posted Sep 22nd 2009 2:12AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E01) Volume Five - "Redemption"
A new volume and new faces ... on the show, that is. At this point, I think it's a bit of a pipe dream by NBC to think they can nab new viewers. And as much as I was hoping they'd make this as accessible as possible, things are still pretty hopelessly complex. The situation with Nathan/Sylar alone is enough to make any new viewer change the channel. Maybe see how
House is coping with
life in the asylum.
On the other hand, Robert Knepper has joined the cast as Samuel, the leader of the Sullivan Brothers Carnival, and I couldn't be more excited. No matter how ridiculous
Prison Break got over four years, Knepper was just deliciously villainous as T-Bag. And he's just as enigmatic on camera here.
Tonight's premiere is a two-hour extravaganza, including the first two episodes of the new season. Look for my review of the second hour in a separate post.
Continue reading Heroes: Orientation (season premiere)
Posted Jul 26th 2009 12:42AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Heroes, Reality-Free, Comic-Con
Remember when
Heroes was about ordinary people with extraordinary abilities? Well, after the last few seasons of time travel, daddy issues and government interference,
Tim Kring and the team are taking Heroes back to basics. They'll have regular jobs an regular lives. In other words, they remembered why we liked the show in that first season, so they're trying to recapture lighting.
So you've got our cast trying to live regular lives after all the excitement they've been through. Add in a traveling carnival with an earth-moving leader luring other people with abilities into his troupe and you have the premise for at least the start of the season.
Oh, and that lesbian-esque relationship between Claire and her new college roommate we've been hearing about. Well, have to get buzz somehow, right? And make Claire interesting. Nothing else worked so let's try girl-on-girl action.
Continue reading Heroes returning characters to their "normal" lives
Posted Jul 11th 2009 10:05AM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: Spoilers Anonymous, Reality-Free
This is
Spoilers Anonymous, a weekly column here at
TV Squad where we supply you with the dirt on some of the more popular shows on the air. We'll never put spoilers up here on the main page in order to help the reformed stay unspoiled. If you have anything to add to the group, feel free to step up and let yourself be heard, either with our
tips form or by emailing us at
tvsquad at gmail dot com, or call and leave a message at
(775) 640-8479. Your anonymity is guaranteed, if you wish to remain as such.
Note that over the summer,
Spoilers Anonymous will be published every two weeks due to production hiatus for most TV series. Weekly columns will resume in August.
This week we have spoilers for:
Big Love, Brothers & Sisters, CSI: Miami, Desperate Housewives, Fringe, Glee, Gossip Girl, Heroes, Law & Order: SVU, NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, One Tree Hill, and The Mentalist. (SPOILERS FOLLOW!)
Continue reading Spoilers Anonymous
Posted May 6th 2009 7:30PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Heroes, Reality-Free
Star Trek's new Spock isn't ready to abandon TV just yet. Zachary Quinto is slated to return for season four of
Heroes.
We're still not sure if Quinto will return as a full cast member or a recurring player on the show, but he will be back.
Click through for minor spoilers for the next season of
Heroes, plus major spoilers for last week's season finale (which is more than a week old so every
Heroes fan on Earth should have watched it already!)
Continue reading Yup, Zachary Quinto will return for Heroes' fourth season
Posted Apr 28th 2009 12:20AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E25) In my
early look at this finale, I laid a pretty broad hint as to the major twist at the end of this volume, and I was impressed with some of the deductive abilities of our readers. And the fact that one of you got it exactly right. Now that we've all seen the final cut of the closing chapter of the "Fugitives" volume of
Heroes, we can really look back at it and see how we think things have gone.
What was needed was to wipe the slate clean, resolve as many of the dangling plot threads as possible, and establish a tabula rasa for "Volume Five." Or as much of one as we can this far into a series. After all, these last two volumes have left some pretty sour tastes in many mouths. The set up for interesting things to come next year was definitely well done. I'm more interested in what's going to happen in "Redemption" than I was excited about what happened in this finale.
Continue reading Heroes: An Invisible Thread (season finale)
Posted Apr 25th 2009 6:30PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Heroes, Early Looks, Reality-Free
After watching the penultimate episode of "Volume Four: Fugitives" on NBC's
Heroes last week, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised when a dashing young man in a FedEx uniform delivered a surprise package to my doorstep later in the week. Inside was a rough cut of "An Invisible Thread," the season finale of
Heroes. Now this wasn't nearly as rough as the
X-Men Origins: Wolverine debacle floating around the interwebs, but neither was it the completely polished version we'll see this upcoming Monday at 9:00 PM ET.
Overall, I found myself a little disappointed as I've been with every volume finale we've had since the very beginning. And admittedly, I might just be wanting something a little bit more than what we're able to get here. As for deaths and new beginnings, those we do get. I'll tell you this: one person who I felt certain was going to die didn't. One person who I thought as a possibility to die did ... but sort of didn't. But really did. The only hint I'll give you is
Marvel's first Exiles series.
Continue reading Heroes: An Invisible Thread (season finale) -- An early look
Posted Mar 3rd 2009 1:55PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E18) Now that's how you do it.
Heroes was founded on the idea of this multifarious cast running all over the place and getting into trouble. We skipped all around, checking in on everyone and the hours just seemed to fly by. After what was a slower outing last week, the adrenaline kicked back into high gear. Rebel made a return appearance, if by appearance I mean more text on various computer screens ... and that is what I mean? Is it Ma Petrelli? Nathan asked her that point blank tonight.
And poor Nathan. You kind of knew the Hunter was going to be a bit much for Nathan to control. After all, Nathan is wanting to round up those with abilities for their own good as well as for the good of mankind. He wants to protect them and the world at large. In a sense, he's doing a "good" thing, if only from his perspective. The Hunter, on the other hand, sees them as a threat that needs to be eliminated. They're dangerous, and after his close encounter last week he's gone and made it personal.
Continue reading Heroes: Exposed
Posted Feb 17th 2009 2:21PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E16) Spoiler Warning! The scene to the right happens in this episode. But don't worry, it doesn't really accomplish much ... for Tracy. It looks like the Justice League is forming under the tutelage of "Rebel." But who is he? We've got another
Heroes mystery on our hand. You know, like the mystery of whether or not HRG is a good guy or a bad guy (that one will be addressed next week) and the mystery of who Sylar's father is. And if Claire will whine and bitch this week. Okay that last one isn't much of a mystery.
We went in three major directions tonight with the plot, skipping one group of "heroes" altogether, and surprisingly not missing them. First we had more drama in the Bennett household, complete with Claire rebelling against her father. It's nice to see that fifty episodes into the series, Claire's character has really grown and evolved into a mature young woman. The same goes for Hiro, who's gone from being an immature man-child with delusions of grandeur to an immature man-child with delusions of grandeur. Hmmm, doesn't sound as impressive when you put it like that.
Continue reading Heroes: Building 26
Posted Feb 10th 2009 1:03PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E15) The second chapter of the newest volume of
Heroes wasn't quite as strong as the first one, but it kept things moving in a positive direction. I guess the writers were wanting to keep the fugitive heroes as weak in power base as possible, based on the casualty we experienced in this episode. In a way, I can say I knew it was coming, but was hopeful that it wouldn't. While I agree that the cast had gotten a little sprawling and out of control at times thorughout the series progression, I never thought this character was a problem.
Continue reading Heroes: Trust and Blood
Posted Feb 3rd 2009 3:30AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E14) Now that's more like it! Yes, we're only one hour into this fourth volume ("Fugitives") of
Heroes, but already we're looking at a vastly improved product. We're no longer fragmented trying to keep track of a million different seemingly unrelated storylines. Everything's connected, there's a very common and familiar enemy that needs to be dealt with, and it's a natural progression from where we've come.
Nathan's progression to the point we see him tonight has been handled pretty well. From the beginning, he was always portrayed as kind of a dick who felt pretty differently than Peter about abilities and those with them. Now we see just how strongly he feels. The addition of Zejlko Ivanek (
Damages) as the man in charge of the hunter squads is a great casting choice. Already he brings an intensity to the role that's much appreciated. It's early to say, but this reminded me so much of the tone and atmosphere of the first season that I think we can declare
Heroes back.
Continue reading Heroes: A Clear and Present Danger
Posted Dec 16th 2008 9:54AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E13) Man, they did it again. Set up a potentially solid climactic final chapter to a "Volume" and then just kind of fizzled out. Sylar's antics bordered a bit on the ridiculous, and I don't at all buy Nathan's character path over the past three seasons as plausible. I was pleased with the continuation and ultimate resolution of Hiro's story as it involved also Ando, Matt and Daphne. As it turns out, while these are by no means the central figures in the plots for this Volume, their story was the best.
Maybe it's because there was a minimum of whining (Peter) or pouting (Claire), and quite frankly there's only so much of that crap you can take. With the end of "Volume Three" tonight, as we've done in the past, we got a sneak peek at "Volume Four: Fugitives." And as has been the case in the past, the few minutes we got on a preview of the next volume was much more compelling than the finale of this current volume. Just like real comic books, you usually get a great build up in these big stories, ultimately leading to disappointment.
Continue reading Heroes: Dual
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