Heroes: Don't Look Back Looking at last week's premiere and this week's episode, I'm not sure why NBC didn't go ahead and run them as a two-hour premiere. Both episodes are solid enough on their own, but I think taken together you get a better idea of what and where the series is going.
If "Genesis" was about introducing us to the world of
Heroes, then "Don't Look Back" was about expanding that universe and starting to put some pieces into play that I assume will factor into not only this season but the series as a whole (should it make it a second season). In looking at the various plotlines, I was left with a whole lot of questions about the various characters and their situations.
One of the biggest was about Niki (Vegas Internet strip-tease lady). In watching her plotline unfold, I had to wonder just which personality is the real Niki--is it the one we see on-screen or is the real Niki the one we see in the mirror. And when Niki drove the bodies out into the desert to the designated spot to dispose of them, we found out there are other human remains there. So, the question I have is--has Niki done this before? And is she, perhaps, not necessarily one of the titular Heroes of the show? Or does she just need to learn to harnass and control her powers. And if that is true--who can help her do it?
Another thought I had was in relation to Mohinder plotline. OK, so the man is so paranoid he attacks anyone who comes into his apartment but yet he completely trusts the cute neighbor who knew his father? Seems to me that the big bad guys behind whatever is going on might send cute neighbor girl in as a spy. Would it be that difficult to set up things so that he could be a hero, chase out the completely obvious spy attempt and then send in the far more subtle spy attempt to get the information they need? Of course, maybe I'm reading far too much into it other than the girl is there to serve as the role of
Dr Who companion--someone for the hero to explain what's going on to the audience. I guess we'll have to wait and see where this all goes.
The most intersting plot of the show was, again, Hiro. His jumping forward in time was a great trick and a great way to give us the timeline for how the doomsday scenario we've seen predicted will play out. Hopefully now, Hiro can begin to find the rest of the Heroes and they can start working toward stopping the end of the world as we know it.
To top it all off, we got the serial killer thread introduced. I've heard some theories that it could be Claire's adopted evil daddy who is the serial killer, but that seems a bit too obvious. Espeically this early in the game.
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: The Focus Group After two weeks of focusing on Matt, Danny and Jordan, Studio 60 begins to open up the world that it is creating. We get a bit more about the supporting cast and their various roles within the
Studio 60 universe. I have to admit, so far I love Steven Weber as the jerk head of the network.
One thing you have to love about Aaron Sorkin is he just brings in back history without feeling like characters are stopping for an exposition dump. The scenes where we find out the conflict between Ricky, Ron and Matt was nicely done. Also, I liked how Danny used the focus group to challenge Matt. Maybe it's just me, but I never figured out who put the question on the focus group test until Matt did.
All of that said, this one didn't have the same energy the first two episodes did. It was good but not quite the home run the first two were. Of course, last week would be pretty hard to top so I guess it's silly to expect they would week in and week out. That said, I do love that we're expanding the universe of the show and I am hopeful we'll see some of the minor characters rise to prominence as the show evolves.
And there are some interesting things setting up here. One of the biggest being Simon introducing Nate to the groupie and Nate's not seeming to respond to her. That could be interesting to see if and how that develops.
posted by Michael Hickerson at 10/03/2006 12:05:00 PM |
|
