TVGuide Blogs
Oct. 11th, 2006 09:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shipperxSomeone on TVGuide had a few interesting thoughts about Heroes:
What do you do when you’ve been handed a great ability? One response: you can run and hide by trying to blend in with everyone else. Another response: you seek out your destiny- what are you meant to do with this ability? Each response has challenging consequences.
Two characters who seem very different at first brush- the adolescent cheerleader Claire and the ruthless politician Nathan- are actually very much alike as they attempt the first response. Both are basically running from their abilities, trying to “be normal” and be accepted. Claire wants to enjoy life as a popular cheerleader while Nathan seeks to election for a political office. (Who said cliques ended in high school?)
Yet their paths are about to diverge in a big way; I seriously doubt Claire is going to have the luxury of ongoing denial. Once you wake up in the middle of your own autopsy, the time for denial has passed.
Hiro, Peter, and Isaac are taking the second response: try to learn all they can about their abilities and find out their purposes. Hiro put it simply: “It’s our destiny.” Peter put it in a way that any service professional can understand, whether they agree with it or not: it’s nice to help one person at a time, but the desire to have a greater impact is hard to ignore.
Although this response seems noble, it’s not easy. While Hiro clearly enjoys seeking out his destiny, Isaac loses Simone and risks his sanity, and Peter suffers with his brother’s betrayal.
Niki’s shadow side is still a mystery to me, although I’m getting some ideas. This shadow side does the socially unacceptable, morally wrong things that people wish they could do at one time or another.
The shadow side is helpful (although I have to wonder, if the shadow side could put the bodies in the trunk, why couldn’t it bury them in the desert?), but I wonder what its purpose is. Niki’s “real side” is looking uglier too, although we understand that her motives are noble. Why go threaten her mother-in-law like that?
And poor Matt’s ability to read minds shows us one big thing: some things are better left unsaid.
As if all these character questions weren’t good enough, the mysteries continue to deepen. Is Skylar the first person to develop these abilities? Why has he decided to go around killing everybody while begging for forgiveness? Is he working with Claire’s father and his cronies? How will these people come together?
Yet their paths are about to diverge in a big way; I seriously doubt Claire is going to have the luxury of ongoing denial. Once you wake up in the middle of your own autopsy, the time for denial has passed.
Hiro, Peter, and Isaac are taking the second response: try to learn all they can about their abilities and find out their purposes. Hiro put it simply: “It’s our destiny.” Peter put it in a way that any service professional can understand, whether they agree with it or not: it’s nice to help one person at a time, but the desire to have a greater impact is hard to ignore.
Although this response seems noble, it’s not easy. While Hiro clearly enjoys seeking out his destiny, Isaac loses Simone and risks his sanity, and Peter suffers with his brother’s betrayal.
Niki’s shadow side is still a mystery to me, although I’m getting some ideas. This shadow side does the socially unacceptable, morally wrong things that people wish they could do at one time or another.
The shadow side is helpful (although I have to wonder, if the shadow side could put the bodies in the trunk, why couldn’t it bury them in the desert?), but I wonder what its purpose is. Niki’s “real side” is looking uglier too, although we understand that her motives are noble. Why go threaten her mother-in-law like that?
And poor Matt’s ability to read minds shows us one big thing: some things are better left unsaid.
As if all these character questions weren’t good enough, the mysteries continue to deepen. Is Skylar the first person to develop these abilities? Why has he decided to go around killing everybody while begging for forgiveness? Is he working with Claire’s father and his cronies? How will these people come together?
