Heroes finale

[alexxkay]

Finally got around to watching the mid-season finale of Heroes. (Possibly the full season finale, depending how the WGA strike goes.)

I think I'm done. Pretty much every character on this show is either an idiot, evil, or, in the case of some over-achievers, both at once. Many of them are likeable idiots, but I can't continue to get invested in plots which would be short-circuited by any of the protagonists actually stopping and thinking for two seconds.

Since I'm stopping here, I'm going to enact my own personal retcon on the last few minutes of the show. Nathan's press conference was *not* so rudely interrupted, and the show took its first decisive steps towards really changing the world. But that press conference was just a follow-up to Claire's.

In my reality, after her dad told her about his latest Faustian bargain, Claire said no, at length. "A normal life? Dad, they can't give us a normal life. Normal died a year ago. We all denied it for a long time, but I faced up to it yesterday. I scattered normal's ashes on the beach. What they offer isn't normality, it's a return to secrets and lies, to hiding and fear. They try and disguise it, but what they really offer is nothing but slavery. Well I've had enough of being a slave. You do what you want, but *I* don't accept this deal. I'm a free woman, and I say to hell with them."

Comments

[dariusk.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was very unimpressed with this season. The characters just did not hold any appeal.

[umbran.livejournal.com]

Well, I agree insofar as the lack of mentation on the part of several different characters annoyed me.

But, let's be clear on something - Claire is hosed no matter what road she chooses. She can live in secrets and lies, or she can live a life trapped either by the public eye, or the US government.

Secrets and lies do have the draw of being able to walk the streets in relative peace - heroes have had secret identities since the inception of the genre for a reason. That makes it a compelling choice.

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

Claire is hosed no matter what road she chooses

I pretty much agree. But the really relevant part of that sentence, to me, is "choose". Claire was about to start making her own choices in the world, and that was completely undercut by her father's return. Did I mention that kestrell stopped watching months ago, because the show is so awful from a feminist perspective? With the occasional exception of Claire, all the women are not just idiots and/or evil, but whiny and powerless or evil. The women routinely screw up in their power usage, in ways that the men just don't (such as how Peter is far more effective with Elle's power than she ever is). Claire's retreat beneath her dad's authority is another nail in that coffin.

Secrets and lies do have the draw of being able to walk the streets in relative peace

I would call that an illusionary peace, since it is accompanied by the constant fear of discovery. But I recognize that I have a more radical distrust of secrets and lies than most people :-/

heroes have had secret identities since the inception of the genre for a reason

But that was never done because it made the characters more plausible; it was done because it made the characters easier for readers to identify with. "My schoolmates pick on me, just like everyone picks on Clark Kent, but I'm really a superhero and they don't know it." As the superhero readership ages, the secret identity is steadily going out of fashion. (With the exception of the biggest trademarks, who tend to be set in stone on a corporate level.)

It's a compelling choice for *writers*, both for the above reason, and because it allows them an excuse to keep running back to the Reset Switch.

[hungrytiger]

Actually, my retcon for Nathan's press conference is slightly different from yours.

In my version, Nathan announces that he has the ability to fly and then, knowing the unbelievable nature of such a statement he starts to demonstrate it. As he attempts it though, he discovers that his powers have vanished (and ditto for Peter and the PsiCop) possibly as a result of being in the room as Peter nuked the virus container.

The version also makes the title of the episode, "Powerless," make a bit mroe sense.

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

Huh. That's certainly more interesting than what did happen. I still prefer mine, though, as I am sick and tired of fake efforts at change that just lead to a Reset Switch.

PsiCop

Heh.