So, this evening, I was having a chat with Sara about "Life" and the various aspects of its storytelling, when a tangent got us discussing "Heroes"
I present to you, with Sara's permission, that conversation so that you may all
stare in awe at our smartitude tell us how you think we are both full of horse-hockey join us with your own opinions on the issues and storytelling elements we discussed.
Sara: In a recent interview, Tim Kring says he "regrets sticking Claire (Hayden Panettiere) with a super-dud boyfriend and forcing Hiro to moon over a cutesy princess. 'I've seen more convincing romances on TV,' he admits. 'In retrospect, I don't think romance is a natural fit for us.'"
Sara: I'd argue romance can work fine for them, as long as they have chemistry and time to develop a relationship.
Matthew: Huh. I don't know if I disagree. I thought that the thing with the swordsmith's daughter was that she was more plot device than character and romantic interest.
Matthew: I am DYING to know more about Adam.
Matthew: And West? I just thought of him as Bad Boyfriend, like Faith was for Buffy.
Sara: I think West has been written very inconsistently.
Sara: One episode he seems vaguely menacing, and the next simply whiny.
Matthew: Well, I think West does a great job of being.. incredibly immature with a superiority complex, which nicely covers both "menacing" and "immature"
Sara: And I was unclear before. When I said "I'd argue romance can work fine for them" I meant the show in general, not those couples in particular.
Matthew: oh, yeah. Hey, I was down with Peter/Caitlin already.
Matthew: Even though I seem to be the only one, from some of the journals I've read.
Sara: Peter/Caitlin hasn't been too bad, but I never really felt any serious sparkage happening in their scenes.
Matthew: Oh, I got it from the kiss with the tattoo shift. That was the biggest one for me, other than that, it was sorta subsumed.
Sara: They don't quite have the kind of chemistry that makes you want to put a fire extinguisher next to the t.v.
Matthew: And there was plenty of Guatemala-ness between Eden and Mo-Mo, until Eden got killified.
Sara: Oh yeah, they had some nice zing.
Matthew: pardon, Guatemala-ness = "natural heat" it's a
Birdcage joke
Sara: And I thought Peter and Niki has awesome chemistry in the flash forward ep.
Sara: Or had...
Matthew: Oh god, yes, but it was.. "will have would have had"? it was the hardcore, “we've got nothing left to lose” chemistry.
Sara: True.
Matthew: Good, in its way, but depressing.
Matthew: And I was liking on Mo-Mo/Matt until Mo-Mo just pissed me off way too much for English to express it.
Sara: LOL!
Sara: Interesting thing I noticed about his painting, though—I'm pretty sure those are tears around his eyes as he prepares to pull the trigger.
Matthew: Oh, I don't doubt [Mohinder’s] sincerity, his love, and his good intentions.
Matthew: He's NOT a black hat, or even a gray hat. He's a kite with no string.
Sara: Well, to be fair I think finding out Noah killed the guy in Odessa really shattered Mohinder's faith in him.
Matthew: The one that I want to find out about the most though, is Adam. Because he, when he was "discovering what it meant to be a real hero" with Hiro? was glowing, and beautiful.
Sara: It'd be nice if he actually mellowed over the years and became the hero Hiro wanted him to be.
Matthew: Well, yeah, that hit me hard about Noah, but at that point, he'd already killed Ivan.
Matthew: I mean, before shooting him.
Sara: Gotcha.
Sara: But Bob's right: Noah's letting emotion cloud his judgment; the old HRG would never have left prints.
Matthew: There's something about torture to bring out the information you need, that is both compellingly fascinating in a character, and revelatory of a lost soul. Look at Jack Bristow. On the White Hat side, but will do ANYTHING to serve the greater good.
Sara: Absolutely. I'm just not sure if Noah's working toward the greater good as much as he's just trying to keep his own safe from harm.
Sara: Which is fine, but selfish as well.
Matthew: I think Noah left the prints on purpose: in general he's too.. experienced to make that kind of mistake.
Matthew: I think he's trying to do both, [work for the greater good, and keep his own safe from harm] and it's hard to do two things at once like that.
Matthew: look at Mohinder: fight the power, or save the daughter.
Matthew: I can't say I wouldn't have done the same damn thing he did, either, if it was my baby girl in danger like that, either.
Matthew: so Mo-Mo made a sort of half-arsed effort to do both, pretty decently, for most of two episodes.
Sara: I think, for him, the overriding concern is the Shanti virus; he'll work with whomever he has to in order to ensure that no one dies from it.
Matthew: oh god, yes.
Matthew: that's another factor to consider in his motivation.
And at about that point, around midnight her time, Sara wandered off to pass out, after giving me permission to post this.
Jump in, anybody, if you care to. Looks like we ain't gonna have much more in the way of shows to discuss, I wanna make the most of what we've got.