Heroes

So, because I am both a TV whore during the summer and I have a new-found crush in Zachary Quinto, I decided to watch all three seasons on Heroes in about three weeks. It turned out to be better than I thought it would be considering that so many people told me that post-season one Heroes was awful. Here are some thoughts (kind of spoilery/probably won't make sense if you haven't kept up):

Season 1:
Solid story telling. This show's strength is in plot and not character development, so having a clear overall story arc for season one was its biggest strength. While there are a few loose ends by the end of the season, it wraps up nicely with goals accomplished and several of the main characters meeting.

Clair is one of my favorite characters since she remains skeptical and manages to mostly pull off any pseudo-romances they throw at her. Also, Noah--way to go with the complex motivations.

Season 2:
The biggest problem I had with this season was that it was cut short (thanks, writers' strike). I'm not sure what the point of this season was since no real end goal was accomplished.

Lowlights: the wonder twins, Hiro in ancient Japan, and ditching that poor Irish girl in time.

Highlights: David Anders (aka my favorite non-British British actor) saved Hiro's story line from making me commit harakiri. Peter's hair is finally cut and Sylar's hilariously creepy attempts to be seductive. Matt and Mohinder and a little girl--it was like a sitcom (PS what happened to her? She's probably lost with Irish girl).

Sylar in his Gabriel Gray cardigan talking to Hiro. Adorable.

Season 3:
The first half of this season is rough. Like I mentioned before, this show is kind of terrible at character development, and unfortunately they tried to develop characters. In this case, the big loser was Mohinder. Not only did he make some weirdly rash decision to inject himself with worst-character-ever-Maya's adrenaline and somehow fall in love with worst-character-ever-Maya, he also gets these weird scales all over his beautiful face. In my head, I called his plot Mohinder Suresh and the Order of the Phoenix, his emo coveting of powers was so out of place. And then Matt falls in love with Daphne, which was weirdly fast (like her--zing!). The only strength of this part of the season is the Sylar/Elle (yay Kristen Bell) story where Sylar is humanized quite a bit you start to root for him. I love my villains to be complex.

How do you ruin this face? With terrible character development. Glad you're back to being pretty, Mohinder.

Anyway, once Volume 3 closed and Daddy Pattrelli dies, then we get at new story line that I thought was interesting and pretty good with some heavy political overtones: terrorism, stripping constitutional rights, internment camps, and torture all in one story! Plus, it's got some great Sylar moments. The only bad thing is that I'm still confused about the virus and what it did to some of the characters' powers. Hurrah for loose ends.At least they brough Micah back (that Rebel storyline ia lot of fun). And shoutout Ali Larter who seems to only play fairly loathsome characters on this show, but does a great job at it. At least she finally got rid of The Three Faces of Eve story for a character slightly more in control of her life in this season.

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Overall, I think the show is at its best when the characters have a goal and they're working toward it. When it skips a few months into the future to start a new part of the story is great for the show since it gives the audience something to wonder about and doesn't force us to watch awkward hook-ups. But my absolute favorite episodes are the ones that take place years in the future and years in the past and we get to see how the characters change. It's fun to see how certain elements began or how things might turn out. The only downfall is that time travel isn't strictly defined in the Heroesverse. It doesn't look like time travel or precognition does any good except cause confusion and depression. Whatever. It's a pretty good fluff show that's only annoying when you have to read subtitles during a Hiro/Ando story.

As long as they do brilliant stuff like set Sylar's father issues to Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain," I'll probably keep tabs on the show in the fall.

Zachary Quinto should get awards for pulling off ridiculous lines so well. Love it.