Don’t Become What They Are
The other day I was watching “Heroes”, and I realised why I’ve fallen out of love with that once great show. It’s not just because they opened the Pandora’s box that is time-travel without due care and diligence, but also because the are no consequences of being a Hero (or a Villain) for anyone without powers. It’s as if those with abilities are in a different realm from the rest of the ‘civilians’. Take Monday nights “Eris Quod Sum” - Elle (a character who is struggling to control her electrical ability) and Claire (who is indestructible and feels no pain) decide to jump on a plane in order to reach their destination. Naturally, Elle’s ‘powers’ start raging out of control, electricity spurts from her body, and the plane nearly crashes. If this was a rare thing on Heroes then I wouldn’t mind so much, but this disconnection between the main characters and the Universe in which they operate seems is a recurring theme. Not only was it an illogical choice for two supposedly ’smart’ characters to travel by plane in the first place, but not one passenger notices Elle shooting flares from her body! Grr.
My point is, I don’t want “Fringe” to become so hell bent on forcing a point that they forget to keep the show believable. I don’t care how fantastical a premise, a show needs to remain credible (”LOST” is a great example of how it can be done) and the parts - all of the parts - need to work together with the narrative. At the moment this isn’t a problem because Fringe is making room to tell it’s real stories, but at some point I’d like for the civilians in the show to become aware of this “Pattern” that is taking place around them, and have the “series of events” manifest the public consciousness. I understand that the show deals with the idea that the public are told one thing, when in actual fact something far stranger is at work (as Broyles constantly reminds us), but we can’t have containment all of the time. People like Joseph Meegar, the guy who could control electricity, just wouldn’t go unnoticed, he’d be snapped doing his thing and it would be posted up on YouTube. If observation is a theme in this show, then eventually the shows ‘Universe’ and the themes within it need to coexist in a believable fashion. Again, this is in no way a current criticism, it’s more of a hope for future seasons. I look forward to seeing how the writers tackle this potential obstacle.
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You went there :p
~Ruthx
I trace the beginning of the end of “Heroes” back to the killing off of Isaac the Painter. ‘Save the cheerleader, save the world’ gave the show a purpose for a while, but I haven’t got a clue what the purpose is now, other than to showcase the many sides of Peter’s ugly moods. I’m not even sure who I should be cheering for anymore, other than maybe Parkman and Hiro.
The show introduces way too many new characters with way too many ‘abilities’, the majority of whom are anything but heroic. I would prefer to see half of the cast handed pink slips, and get to work on telling a more focused story. Right now, the writers are just throwing storylines into a blender and flipping the switch. Verrrry messy.
Yeah, and in recognition of that they now give us Isaac 2.0! The “Save the cheerleader” thing got old so quickly - conveniently the future keeps changing so they now have a new slogan. I loved season 1 Peter, now just watching him makes me sad. I hate to say it but I can’t stand Hiro thesedays. His decisions don’t make sense (use time-travel in an attempt to out-wit Isaac 2.0, but not to save your father? Really, Hiro??) and his humour makes me cringe. Parkman’s just about OK with me.
Yeah, there’s been far too many characters - thankfully they’re now getting rid of them (Adam, Muaries and Maya - thank GOD!). That said, I think Daphne is one of the best things to happen to the show since we saw Sylar practicing his new-found fireball power on the rooftops!
..and why O why is there a Niki 4.0 in the show?