Category Archives: heroes

Saving Heroes

Posted on by under heroes, tv, writing

In the November 16th issue of Entertainment Weekly, show creator Tim Kring fesses* up to the problems with Heroes that have made Season 2 abysmal. He seems to have turned around a bit from when he was interviewed at the end of October, if one can believe journalism at all.

The problem is that, in EW, he sometimes fingers the wrong reasons for the show’s problems. He cites the romances as dragging down the story, but fails to note the numerous plot holes that crater each episode like a lunarscape. The romances are not bad: in fact, those of us who love Hiro get squishy inside thinking of our Favorite Co-Dependent Time Shifter getting a girl. The time Hiro spends in Japan is worth every moment — unlike the time we spend with the dopey Tar-Eyed Twins. (This week’s episode has a case in point: How could any reasonable human being assume they’re responsible for the sudden death of an entire wedding party? So many things about those characters just don’t add up at all.) I’m even a fan of Claire’s teen romance, despite its Electra Complex overtones and highly suspect beginnings, because it gets into the idea of whether or not the future is changeable. I love that Claire’s father is trying to avoid the future shown in Isaac’s paintings while everyone around him is trying to change it for entirely different reasons. How many Heroes does it take to change the future of a light bulb? I’d like to get more into the physics and philosophy.

(My love of X-Men is peeking under my hem, eh?)

So, if I had his ear, I’d say, Tim, please fix the goddamn plot holes. Your Pulp Fiction approach didn’t pan out as you noted. We spent weeks of WTF? waiting for what should have been the beginning of the season. And introducing Adam to Peter before the trip back to medieval Japan would have been infinitely more powerful. This week’s episode (which was also riddled with plot holes) proved that it’s so much stronger to build the story line linearly for this show.

And there you have it. A rant.

*Just thought I’d mention that “fesses” in French means spankings. And they are deserved here!

I Don’t Wanna Be a Hiro

Posted on by under heroes

I really enjoyed Season #1 of Heroes. I loved the idea of Stan Lee’s universe interpolated as real-world events rather than a world one step aside with spandex and capes. I’m all about that — the grumpier, unshaven version of fantasy.

But, man, does this season stink.

First, I want to kill Molly. The little girl who plays her looks like she’s on the verge of giggling in every scene — even when she’s asleep, for fuck’s sake. I want to remove that midget smirk with a frying pan. It kills every scene she’s in.

Ditto for Micah. But he’s probably just laughing at his own dialog.

And then there’s the bickering between Mohinder and Matt. (Oh, how cute! The three M-skateers!) They sound like a couple of old biddies screetching melodramatically about who gets to scrub the pots. The dialog, the acting, everything just comes off like poo on the pavement.

Don’t even get me started on the so-called Texan family “hiding out” in Southern California in a house that clearly no Kinko’s flunky could ever afford with kids whose voices twang like Dolly Parton’s bra strap. And what about the semi-incestuous thing Claire has for Flying Man #2? Anyone? And does anyone think they didn’t meet under highly suspicious (or badly plotted) circumstances?

Also, someone tell me that Flying Man #1 doesn’t really believe his brother is dead?!? I thought Flying Man #1 was the one who couldn’t regenerate and therefore got blown to bits at some point in the season finale. I guess I gots me all those special hill-bilities confused, then, yep!

Of course, I totally bought Sylar crossing hundreds of miles in the wilderness with a wound that just made him stagger and gasp like an old man having a heart attack. Oh, yeah. Hit me again, Mr. Incredulous! I can’t possibly go bust!

I like Hiro and Ando no matter what they do to them. So, that part doesn’t suck too much. But I’m not sure they can keep with the truly terrible writing of this season.

Oh Génépi, Sweet Génépi

Posted on by under genepi, heroes

Whoever wrote this Wikipedia article on Génépi is out of his mind. I had some last night for the first time and it was simply divine from the first taste. Delicate with a sweetly herbal taste that warms the mouth, I fell completely in love. I’d seen variations on sale in Avoriaz of different colors and with herbs like lavender added. I asked The Frenchman, “What is this liquor sold in delightfully attractive packaging?” He replied, “It’s a specialty of the Alps.” And that was about all he knew about it. I then came down with the Alpine Death Flu and thought not about it again one whit.

It’s threatening to topple absinthe as my favorite liquor. It is that good. Even better than Calvados, and that’s good shit, as they say, but a wee bit overpowering compared to Génépi.

We gave back the television last night that we’d borrowed. You know the time is getting close. We’ll now have to watch Episode #19 of Heroes on our computers. ::sulk:: But I got in some good time with friends and practiced my rusty kitteh squeezing skills. I came home covered in kitteh fur.

Back to the insanity.

Censoring "Heroes"

Posted on by under cemetery dance, heroes, holy horrors, mother jones, ring, salon, slate

The Frenchman and I have started watching this series. I just accidentally got a spoiler when reading a Salon article. Dammit! No more spoilers! We just saw Episode 7. There is much potential spoilage.

I have my ring back! It’s shiny and gorgeous like it was when I first got it. Maybe more so.

Meanwhile, I’m plugging away at getting out of here and writing at the same time. Oy! This afternoon I’m sending out “Though Thy Lips are Pale” to Chris Cervasco at Paradox. His reading period opens tomorrow. I do think this is the best fit, especially since he’s the first person I thought of when the story fell in my head at the Cluny.

As I was getting bounces from Slate’s submissions email address, I had an epiphany about the France article and immediately dug into it. It’s not only leaner by a thousand words, it’s much meaner. That thing comes out swinging now. We like that. I also realized that Mother Jones is an excellent place for such a thing. I’ve retitled it, “The Other France: Sex, Guns and the Sarkozy Presidency.” Titillating, ain’t it?

Hopefully I’ll be getting some news either way about a couple of other stories. We’re standing on the lip of June and no word yet from Matt about “Saturnalia” for his Holy Horrors anthology. No news is good news. And as for the story I sent Cemetery Dance…well…it’s been a year and a month. I know it passed the first reader and sits with Richard Chizmar. I can’t get an update for my life, so what’s a gal to do?

Back to the grindstone.