Jack Coleman-related stories
Posted Nov 24th 2009 4:18AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E11) I am thankful that we are finally getting to the meat of this volume. I am thankful that we are inching closer to the inevitable conclusion of this battle between Sylar and Nathan over who will retain control of the body. And I am thankful that Angela Petrelli, the always incomparable Cristine Rose, was back this week.
Also making a return appearance for the Bennett family Thanksgiving dinner was Sandra, along with her new beau Doug. And, of course, Mr. Muggles. It's sweet that Muggs fell in love with Doug's dog, but that doesn't excuse Sandra for dating such a total tool. It's a little awkward to think of going to your ex's holiday, but it's not unheard of. Particularly since she probably already knew Claire was going to be there.
Not to be outdone, Samuel had a Thanksgiving dinner of his own back at the Carnival, but Hiro certainly wasn't thankful to be there.
Continue reading Review: Heroes - Thanksgiving
Posted Nov 17th 2009 10:41AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E10) For some reason, while I was watching this episode I got to thinking: "What if this had been the second season of
Heroes." Would it perhaps still be a top-rated show; one that NBC could rest its laurels and future on instead of Jay Leno? As with that first season, I feel that sense of wonder about what's going on, and things are really coming together.
That said, there is some sloppy thinking on the parts of both Tracy and Hiro this week. But there's also the continuing consolidation of power by Samuel, and finally an explanation of both why he's doing this and what Mohinder's been up to.
I'm going to admit to being wrong now. For weeks I've been saying that I haven't missed Suresh at all; that I would be just as happy if he never showed up. But his return and appearance (and even explanation for his absence) were handled so well, that I liked him all over again.
Continue reading Review: Heroes - Brother's Keeper
Posted Nov 10th 2009 2:20AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E09) This week on
Heroes, the action picked up right where it left off two weeks ago, with Claire and Gretchen facing off against the invisible sorority sister, Rebecca. We also checked in with both iterations of Sylar, the mind one trapped in Matt's body, and the body one hanging out at Samuel's carnival. Only neither was staying put for long.
The remainder of the episode took us back to the hospital where we could hang out with Peter and Emma. Nine episodes into this new season and I'm still not really sure where they're going with the Emma character. As a character, she's just not that interesting, and even less interesting is her ability to see sound as colors. Since they're clearly making no moves toward she and Peter becoming a romantic item, I find myself really wondering why I should care.
Continue reading Review: Heroes - Shadowboxing
Posted Nov 3rd 2009 3:00AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E08) As
promised, this week's episode of
Heroes took us back to the heydays of the first season. Back when this was a world of wonder filled with new and exciting characters and mystery. Their futures lie before them, and it all centered on Charlie, the poor waitress that Hiro failed time and again to save back then.
Now that he's working on his bucket list before he kicks it, the time has come to head back three years and try to undo her death by Sylar's hand. Which means we got to see HRG, Claire, Hiro, Ando, Sylar and even Isaac as they were three years ago.
The question was whether or not he could change the past and save Charlie, when he failed to before. Furthermore, could he do so without changing all the subsequent events that had happened. He'd already had a taste of success with Ando and his sister, but this sojourn had much higher stakes.
Continue reading Review: Heroes - Once Upon a Time in Texas
Posted Oct 27th 2009 3:00AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E07) We'll have to wait until next week to see Hiro try to save Charlie. This week, we stayed with Noah and Jeremy, checked back in on Claire and Gretchen, and saw how Matt was faring with his unwanted head-guest. And things didn't really go well for any of them.
The series is really finding a nice stride, for those of us left to enjoy it. I'm racking my brain trying to think of ways to inject a sense of excitement into the show to lure some of its wayward former viewers back. Who could they cast for an arc on
Heroes that people would have to tune in to see. Summer Glau? Jennifer Aniston? Bill Cosby (he has the power of slow dancing)?
They're keeping things pretty simple now, not stretching us beyond three storylines per episode, and the sense of excitement and wonder really is back in a way I've not seen since the first season. I'll not go so far as to say this is the
Heroes of old, but it's a helluva lot better than the
Heroes of lately.
Continue reading Review: Heroes - Strange Attractors
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 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 1st 2009 4:34PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Heroes, Reality-Free
So...is
Heroes back? Is it as good as it used to be? Beyond repair? Has it always been good and people are just too picky? Seems like fans (and non-fans) of the show all have opinions.
So does Bryan Fuller. He came back to the show after ABC canceled
Pushing Daisies, and while I have always liked the
Heroes, you can tell that the show has turned a corner in the past couple of episodes. The pace isn't break-neck anymore, the time traveling stuff has calmed down, and the storytelling is tighter.
Fuller is interviewed over at SciFiWire, and he talks about how he, as a fan, was frustrated with the way the show was going. He also drops a few spoilers for fans and explains his plans for what's in store for the last episodes of the season.
Continue reading Here are a few Heroes spoilers, courtesy of Bryan Fuller
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 24th 2009 2:02AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Heroes, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E17) Well, the three stooges pretty much hogged up the entire episode, didn't they? In the end, it was Moe who had to come along and save the day because Larry and Curly kept bickering with each other to the point they were both captured. But who stayed captured? And what did they find out that was worth all the throwing around and breaking of mirrors? *yawn* Man, it turns out the stooges aren't nearly as fun to watch as I remembered.
The good momentum established in the first three chapters of this volume were completely squashed as the action ground to a screeching halt in this episode. We did learn that HRG is clearly a loyal lapdog to whatever cause he's behind. We know this because his memories as he sees them are in black-and-white and everyone knows dogs see in black-and-white ... yep, that's right. I just totally wasted your time with that lame-ass joke. You'll never get that time back. Hiro's lost his powers. He also lost the ability to appear in an episode, along with Ando, Claire and even Aquaman (who's still hiding in her closet, I guess).
Continue reading Heroes: Cold Wars
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