CristineRose-related stories
Posted Oct 13th 2009 4:15AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E05) I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but sometimes I wonder if we don't have more people reading TV Squad than
Heroes has viewers. And so I want to keep reminding fallen fans who may have jumped ship over the past two not-so-great seasons that things are going much better this season.
There's a better balance in each episode than there's been. In the past few weeks, we've been sticking to mostly three storylines per week. This time around, we checked in on Peter, Claire and Sylar (after his unearthing last week). They're allowing the characters room to breathe and be themselves, rather than just rushing into the next adventure.
It was character growth and development that I'd missed the most, and we're finally getting it. Zachary Quinto was fantastic this episode, and even Hayden Panettiere showed an inkling of range. Oh, who am I kidding, she was as wooden as ever, but that's why we like her ... right? That kind of looks like a cardboard cut-out up there, doesn't it?
Continue reading Heroes: Hysterical Blindness
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 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 Mar 31st 2009 12:37AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E21) Melancholy, thy name is
Heroes. After an action-packed and exciting chapter last outing, we switched gears, and cast members, for a much mellower sojourn this week. I liked the early days when we got to spend shorter bits of time with the entire extended cast. I'm not sure if it's a budget thing, but these episodes that focus on only a third to half of the sprawling cast just leave me feeling kind of half-fulfilled. It also reveals, sometimes glaringly so, which storylines are a bit duller than others.
You'd think that a Petrelli-focused episode would be full of tidbits and information and secrets. Angela is a walking secret, after all. But despite focusing on Nathan, Peter and Angela, we didn't get any of that. We did, however, get promises of secrets revealed next week. But that's next week. This week was whining about regrets and trying to make amends with loved ones. Oh, and Sylar picking up another nifty new ability and Danko getting in bed with the devil.
Continue reading Heroes: Into Asylum
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 Jan 9th 2009 7:06PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Heroes, Casting, Pushing Daisies, Reality-Free
It looks like Bryan Fuller feels bad for the cast of
Pushing Daisies, so now that he's returning to
Heroes later this year, he's decided to start bringing them with him. First up,
Swoosie Kurtz will be appearing in an episode in April written by Fuller himself. No word on whether the eye patch will be joining her. Considering the generational dynamic established on the show, Kurtz is a great casting choice. Her role will be that of an old society friend of Angela Petrelli. There's already a similarity to Kurtz' character on
Daisies and the way Cristine Rose plays Ma Petrelli.
While casting isn't usually a huge deal by itself, with the way
Heroes has been received this past year, any move on the beleaguered show is being scrutinized. People are cautiously optimistic that Fuller can reinvigorate the show, though why those people weren't watching
Daisies if they loved him so much I'll never know. And with a cast as huge as this, any addition is also scrutinized. Of course, for now this is a one-episode appearance, but Fuller has indicated it's being written in such a way that she could return.
Continue reading Swoosie Kurtz is Pushing her way into a guest spot on Heroes
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
Posted Dec 2nd 2008 9:42AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E11) Well, that was a whole lot of hullabaloo about nothing. I know, I know can't spoil anything before the jump. Can I say that I'm really enjoying Hiro these last couple of episodes? Maybe all he needed was to be a 10-year old boy. In fact, I wasn't too terribly annoyed by anyone in this episode ... except for Mohinder. Come on, dude. Let it go. Do you really think she's still going to be interested after everything that went down?
You just know that Seth Green and Breckin Meyer were just geeking out about getting a role on this show. In fact, we need more
Heroes sketches on
Robot Chicken. Now there's no excuses. As for the rest, the eclipse came and went and all those huge promises about what a big freaking deal this would turn out to be were for naught. Their powers disappeared when the eclipse came. What happened when it left?
Continue reading Heroes: The Eclipse - Part II
Posted Nov 25th 2008 9:51AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E10) We've reached the climax of this volume of
Heroes. With the coming of the eclipse the first time, abilities manifested in our plethora of characters, or at least some of them. Or at least it was a catalyst of some importance. Now Claire is apparently a catalyst of some importance. Because the writers aren't sure how to make her anything other than kind of annoying, but she's the "hot chick" so they have to keep her. But that's another issue. It's time for another eclipse, and this time what havoc will it wreak?
Maybe it can make Peter whine less. Or Claire be less useless of a character. Or Matt more important of a character. Or Mohinder go back to normal or just die already. Things were definitely turned sideways this episode, and I think it was in a good way. I know all they naysayers will keep saying nay, many of them doing so without even watching the episodes (which makes their opinions irrelevant), but things are getting on track. Now if they can just avoid a disappointing conclusion to this volume, I'll be thrilled powerless.
Continue reading Heroes: The Eclipse - Part 1
Posted Nov 24th 2008 3:22PM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Interviews, Celebrities, Heroes, Reality-Free
Though
Heroes has fallen in the ratings, do not despair, my friends. I recently talked with
James Kyson Lee, who plays Hiro's sidekick, Ando, and he assured me that things will pick up in the coming weeks. In fact, the upcoming chapter, "Fugitives," promises to give the series a reboot.
"I know there have been a couple episodes where people got a little confused in terms of the storylines," said Lee. "But overall, I feel like the writing has been really strong, especially the last three or four episodes. I think it's really starting to come together, and we're going to have a very strong rest of the run for this season."
Continue reading James Kyson Lee reveals a few Heroes teasers
Posted Nov 18th 2008 3:10AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E09) It's a shame that nobody's watching this show anymore, because tonight was all about setting the stage for the battle to come. With "Volume 4" coming either in December or early next year, we should be moving fast and furious to the big confrontation between Team Pinehearst and Team Primatech. By the end of this episode, all of our major players appear to have chosen sides. The stage is set, after only nine episodes, to get to the meat of this volume.
Remember when we were told that there was going to be an examination of the generations of
Heroes, and possibly struggles between them. It looks like the Writers Strike swept all of that off the table. Hell, the only people left from the "first" generation are Angela and Arthur Petrelli, and now they appear to be on opposing sides. It took awhile to get to this point, what with wasting all that time on Mohinder and Maya early on this season, but it looks like we're finally getting to the good stuff. Creator
Tim Kring took pen to paper, or more likely fingers to keyboard, to write this pivotal episode. Is there anybody left watching to appreciate his efforts?
Continue reading Heroes: It's Coming
Posted Nov 11th 2008 12:50AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E08) Maybe they should have done this one a little earlier in the season. There was only one scene set in the present era, but it was a good one. The rest of the episode was "One Year Ago," weaving and interlacing with the events we did see during the show's first season, showing us what a lot of the characters we either didn't know or didn't follow then were up to, like Ma and Pa Petrelli, Linderman, Gabriel, Elle and even Claire's mother and uncle.
I remember that the second season was supposed to explore the elder generation, revealing more of their connections to one another and their motivations. We were going to learn more about The Company and what they were up to in regards to Peter and the rest of our main cast. It looks like those aborted promises are finally coming to fruition. It's unfortunate that the last season and so much of the start of this season was so lackluster, as things are really coming together nicely. And we're gaining sympathy for almost every member of the cast by learning more about them.
Continue reading Heroes: Villains
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