Wait, Aren't Abilities a Good Thing?
In lieu of a Round Table this week, allow us the opportunity to focus on a significant issue we have with the third volume of Heroes.
As always, a disclaimer: consider this an example of tough love. We look forward to the show every week, but can't sit idly by while such lazy, illogical story telling takes place. We also invite all readers to respond to this critique in our Comments section. Now, on with it...
Heroes is a show about regular people that acquire special abilities.
The third volume of the series, however, has focused on these individuals going to great lengths to prevent others from acquiring abilities; in other words: Claire, Hiro and company are using their powers to act HEROICALLY... in order to cease the spread of similar abilities because that would supposedly lead to the end of mankind.
But aren't these same abilities exactly what enable our Heroes to act for the greater good?
It's a good thing Hiro can use his abilities to help save the world.
Isn't there a major continuity problem in having someone with abilities use those abilities to prevent others from acquiring abilities. Follow all that? It can't be any more confusing that the story line itself.
We know that Peter saw a vision of the future in which everyone possessed a power and this led to an uncontrollable, dangerous society. Okay, we can buy that. Here's a novel idea to counter that future:
Why not give the abilities solely to a select few? Perhaps those that are well-trained in combat, those committed to protecting America and its interests, those like... the Marines?
Granted, we stole this idea from someone else: Arthur Petrelli.
Indeed, we can't help but wonder: what was so awful about Arthur's plan? Would anyone object to U.S. soldiers possessing abilities that would give them a significant advantage over our enemies? Was it ever explained why Arthur was such a villainous individual, if his grand vision was simply to create an all-powerful army?
If such information were ever leaked, or such powers ever given to the wrong individual, the world would be in trouble. But that's no different than the modern day creation of the nuclear bomb. Is America a world villain for possessing this powerful weapon?
Moreover, the formula can apparently take away the same abilities that it creates. That's the only reason why Mohinder was committed to perfecting it in the first place, right?
So, to review:
- The formula is being given to U.S. Marines;
- We can monitor their progress and take away the abilities if necessary;
- And the entire third volume has been dedicated to the prevention of this outbreak of abilities... by those that are living proof that abilities are often used for heroic purposes.
Does anyone else feel like we've wasted the last three months of our lives watching a story line that never placed the world in danger? Write in. Let us know your thoughts!
Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.
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Sylar: I can't bring Nathan back Peter, but I can sure as Hell swing a sledgehammer.
January 8th, 2009 7:01 PM
time travel "glitches" : let me take an example, i assume most of you have seen the back to the future trilogy yea?? all's well, marty goes back in time, "re-arranges" time comes back and he's got the dream jeep, perfect parents bla bla bla.......
now onto heroes: everythings how it is, all's well"ish", claire goes back in time, "rearranges" time comes back aaaand...... we don't know because we haven't seen it yet, it's not an hour and a half movie where we're gonna wait 5 mins to see what happens before the penny drops, it's a sereis where we're gonna have to wait a bit longer. how many of us waited yrs for back to the future 2 to come out before we seen where the time machine would fly to? did the trilogy make sense in the end? i waited about 15yrs to see the first three star wars movies, after seein the last three first, doesn't make sense does it? now that you've seen all six what did you think??!!
January 8th, 2009 6:46 PM
basically, i think heroes is a very clever serial show, as for what i've seen to date, i've enjoyed it very much and i like the odd twist. all these what if's and what might's and what maybe's that everyone is coming up with just shows that everyone is enjoying it in somekind of way, some say it's goofy, others say it's clever... and so on. so what if a small percentage don't like whats happened in the past few episodes? it's a serial thats going on for seasons and volumes, are you trying to tell me that in most of the movies you all like there hasn't been a 10 minute spell that you didn't like? an average movie lasts 1hr 45mins, so what if 10-15 mins is nonsense, heroes has had 47 episodes so far, times that by 43 mins per episode and thats over 33hrs 30mins, so basically you dont like the same percentage of heroes as you didn't like about dirty dancing or whatever movies you're into, and might i add that you haven't seen how heroes ends, although you did see how dirty dancing ends!!!
January 7th, 2009 8:43 AM
I think their just running out of ideas. The serum idea sucked. It took away from the mystery, I guess I'll just have to adjust the way I view the show from now on. I still enjoy the show, but I am actually hoping for a little bit more action this next volume. I'm a fan of peter's character and hope to see him regain some powers and kick some butt.
Remember, different taste for different people. Its just a TV show and eventually there gonna run out of ideas and fans are gonna get upset.
December 18th, 2008 6:19 AM
also i believe mohinder is now cured, but still with powers as the solution would have corrected his previous error although this like the previous statement is my own little theory...
December 13th, 2008 6:38 AM
Okay, so the show has shown us characters using their powers for good, but Villains has introduced the concept of people who have powers and they use them for evil.
Flint and Knox are great examples. We've not looked into their characters in great depth but we've seen how they have no problem using their powers to hurt people.
Lets face it, how many of us know people who would use their powers for morally grey purposes if they had powers? Whats to stop the powers going to tbe marines heads and using them for evil? How does the rest of the world defend against that? It would probably be likely that in the event of such defection, the government would pressure Pinehearst to reveal the formula to them.
And then what? No doubt certain government figures will give themselves powers. Some might give their wives powers, or their children powers. Personally, I think the world is bloody lucky so far that Matt Parkman and Hiro have turned out to be heroes, because if those powers were i
December 11th, 2008 8:12 PM
Well were up to episode 7 here in NZ and Peter just lost his powers. The great thing I love about this show is it has evolved from the 'Survivior' theme of season one to the
'Good' v's 'Evil' of season two. Now in season 3 the lines have become blurred. Who's right? Who's wrong? Who's manipulating whom? Sylar's struggle with his hunger. The unanswered questions leave so many possibilities open. I can hardly wait to finish this chapter and see what happens in Fugatives.
Kiwifan
December 11th, 2008 6:41 PM
I think it's a bit more simple. I think that Arthur's plan would have worked out fine. The future that Peter and Hiro saw came about because of Peter and Hiro's actions to 'prevent' it. They are the ones that screwed everything up, not Arthur.
Of course, the writers have totally screwed up the time travel stuff. If Claire prevented HRG from taking the baby to receive the catalyst, shouldn't Sylar have just 'killed' her when he took her power in the future since she was no longer 'different from the others'?
That being said, Peter and Claire have both 'died' after getting things stuck in their brains only to regenerate and heal once they were removed. Why can't Arthur be revived if the bullet is just removed from his head? They just aren't doing a good job is staying consistent.
Rank: Guest Star
December 11th, 2008 10:50 AM
jason "maybe he’s clairvoyant" that sounds like something one of the writers would say. (i am pretty sure you were joking, but not completely sure,lol)
he can't of seen the comic because Ando has the only copy.
also has anyone read the last 'behind the eclipse'. are they (Aron Coleite and Joe Pokaski) taking the p1ss out of us. they clearly don't care that nothing that they have written makes sense and when fans ask them honest, genuine questions about the show they just laugh them off. especially when they are asked to explain mistakes.
December 11th, 2008 9:54 AM
hampus
Wow you've totally over thought this... and not in a character developmental, psychological or philosophical way. You definitely brought this too a “to many hot pockets for fanboy” level… And for someone who’s putting so much thought into this you sure are missing a lot.
Q1 – Molly was sent off by Mohinder, They never tell you where exactly but it was “someplace safe”… shes not dead, just written off the show.
Q2 – Elle is dead for good… but not once did we ever get confirmation that Elle was the mother of Sylar’s son, that is just what everyone assumed. So keep guessing if you’d like.
Q3 – No peter did not get any of his powers back. And the Catalyst was already used/infused with the formula. If there was any of the catalyst “left in” Arthur (for lack of better words) it’s safe to assume It died with everyone else’s powers.
Pablo
If Hiro and Claire were able to figure out where to and what time to go to by reading a comic
December 11th, 2008 9:26 AM
Oh, God, you can't be serious.
http://www.antiwar.com/news/?articleid=2444
http://images.google.com.br/images?um=1&hl=pt-BR&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Apt-BR%3Aofficial&hs=xM7&q=hiroshima+dead&btnG=Pesquisar+imagens
And there were no habilities involved. Trying to stop Arthur's plan was the only thing that made sense in this volume.