Hereos Season 2: Fight or Flight

Decided can't wait for Sean's blog about it, I'll just link to it at a later date. This is actually more of a rant about Season 2 in general, rather than just Fight or Flight.

Ok, let's get the good stuff of the episode out of the way:

a) Kristin Bell, in her 5-10 minutes of screentime was refreshing in what has turned out to be a dull season of Heroes so far. And now we know where Peter got his electric powers from.

b) Parkman's dad showing off his Professor X/Shadow King powers and having them fight each other.

Now, for the OTHER stuff....

First off all, after 5 episodes, there has been a whole lot of nothing going on in the series. Just like the last 3 or 4 episodes of season 1 could have been fit in 1 single episode, the first 5 of season 2 could have been fit in 1 or 2 at most.

And this is part and parcel of it I am sure, but quite frankly, the writing has taken a HUGE downturn between seasons 1 and 2. And I'm not just talking about the crap pacing of the show, I am talking about the clear lack of logic in some characters' actions from one minute to the other, as well as the frustrating situation that in some cases, some characters basically have the same exact storyline as season 1.

But before I go on, let me just say that I don't think it's a coincidence that the downturn in writing and quality happened when Bryan Fuller, who was a producer and writer for Heroes last season (including the Company Man episode, which was probably the best one of the season), left the show after season 1. All you have to do is look at the show he ended up going to in a similar capacity --- Pushing Daisies, which is the most critically acclaimed new show of the season, and in my humble opinion, the best thing on TV right now --- and put two and two together.

Back to Heroes. If there are 2 characters who really piqued my "lack of logic" peeve in Fight or Flight, it was My Two Dads: Parkman and Mohinder. The previous episode, Parkman basically forced Molly to look for his dad, all convinced that that is what needed to be done. And after she does and his dad forces her to hide in her shell, what the hell does Parkman do? Start having his Macbeth "To Be Or Not To Be" moment. Heyzeus, did I miss a step? He went from being 100% convinced that was what he needed to do, KNOWING the risks involved for Molly, and when the worst case scenario DID happen, THEN he decides maybe it wasn't worth it after all? That's just horrible writing.

And Mohinder, still as stupid as ever. Let's leave it at that.

Now on to the bigger problem (and writing is involved in this also): I think the biggest issue facing Heroes right now is the fact that they have basically neutered their 4 most popular characters.

a) Hiro has been doing a whole bunch of nothing back in time. Sorry folks, but your most popular character has been basically doing filler since Episode 1. And at first, I was a bit annoyed that he did not learn his lesson from trying to save Charlie in Season 1 by going back into time and staying there with disastrous results. Butterfly effect dammit!!!!! But then again, we saw Future Hiro wasn't able to help himself too and went back into time to warn Peter to Save The Cheerleader, Save The World (he could have at least warned Peter also that the writers were gonna go even sillier with "The Box" hype). But there BETTER be a Butterfly Effect from Hiro putzing around in Feudal Japan.

b) Here we are again -- Peter discovering (or in this case, rediscovering) his powers one by one, trying to learn how to control it, how to bring the powers up. It's the same exact storyline from season 1, except this time he has an annoying girlfriend. And it also bugs me too, the lack of logic in his storyline: He was afraid to find out the person he might have been because he COULD have been evil, but he has no problems hanging around and helping gun toting gangsters because of the girlfriend. Whatever.

c) Sylar - powerless, doing nothing, trying to get back to America and he's stuck with the Wonder Twins.

Funny, BTC and I were discussing towards the end of Season 1 how the writers have basically made Peter and Sylar way too powerful compared to everyone else, and they need to find a way to bring them down a bit or address that in some other way or else they'll just be a storyline nightmare. Well, I guess amnesia for Peter and Outward Bound for Sylar was their answer. But end result: still a storyline nightmare because they're boring everyone to tears.

d) Claire hiding her extracurricular activities from her dad, while HRG and the Haitian are off doing their thing, hiding it from HRG's family. I LOVED seeing HRG and the Haitian back together again, but now that it's the same friggin storyline pattern as season 1, I'm not liking it so much.

But there you go, your 4 most popular characters are either stuck in neutral doing a whole lot of diddly, or are rehashing their season 1 plots. It's quite frustrating, honestly. The show is having a full blown sophomore slump right now, and they need to amp it up a bit. November sweeps is right around the corner, I'll be quite curious to see what they have in mind for it.