The Racialicious Roundtable for Heroes 3.4

Hosted by Arturo R. García

Greetings, citizens! Arturo here, with the first installment of our weekly discussion of Heroes. Joining us will be:

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Robin, a host and producer for Vocalo, a Chicago-based radio and web community.
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Erica, who blogs at Mental Hygiene
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Clara, who blogs at Cornell A3C
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Mahsino, whose design work can be seen at Blamoh.com.

This week, I figured, since you heard from me earlier in the week, I’d shut up and let our panelists give their takes on a few questions. Enjoy!

Peter — is he dumber than a rock, or dumber than a bag of rocks?

Erica: Bag of rocks. From day one, Peter and Mohinder have had a contest to see who can be misled and manipulated the most. Of course, the cleverest people Peter is up against are generally at the small-pile-of-rocks level, so he’s not totally out of his depth; however, it’s worrying to see the fate of the world in those hands. The confused awe with which he approached life in the first and second seasons is beginning to change into more of a determined pitbull approach. (The lack of innocence is also coming with an intriguing Keanu Reeves acting style and voice.) If any character ever NEEDED Sylar’s ability to understand…!

Mahsino: First and foremost, somebody has got to work with him on that whole monotonous Keanu Reeves thing he’s got going on with his voice – it’s like he’s gotten worse since his Gilmore Girls days…
While I’m no geologist, I’m gonna venture to say Peter is dumber than a box o’ rocks, I make this argument thusly: Wikipedia states that rocks are “usually the result of weathering and erosion sculpting the existing rock.” – meaning shit impacts them over time – unlike Peter Petrelli, who doesn’t learn. Anything.

Season after season, he gets manipulated by something or someone in the future telling him that only he can save the world- and each season finale it’s not even him that does the real saving- it’s Hiro. Hiro was the one that incapacitated Sylar at the end of season one and Hiro was the one who buried Adam at the end of season two after he tried to warn Peter that Adam was evil.

Even a rock would probably go, “Hey, each time I time travel to an apocalyptic future – Hiro just fixes everything for me anyway – so lets just hand it off to him.”

Also, whatever happened to that Irish chick? Wasn’t his whole quest last year trying to save/ bring her back from the future? It’s like he just forgot about her, I mean come on guy, I know you forgot about Simone in like, a day, but way to stay committed to your crusade.

Clara: It seems like future-Peter didn’t really learn anything about survival. If he shouldn’t be out in the open, then… why did he put himself AND his present self on the street, in the open? I mean, the guy can travel through time and space. If he wanted to show present-Peter the state of the future, he could have just popped in for a few seconds and then immediately moved elsewhere, anywhere. I’m also extremely annoyed by characters not heeding the warnings of others. Sylar TOLD HIM that the desire component of his power would consume Peter. Peter doesn’t listen. Result: he kills his brother. Granted, I’m sure future-Nathan will survive somehow, but still…

One thing I noticed about the fight scene in Costa Verde–the (white) women and the black dude were pitted against the two white dudes. This sort of emphasizes the newly discovered BROTHERHOOD between future-Sylar and present-Peter (if only because they suddenly need to fight against a common attacker) and it’s the screwed over demographic versus the privileged one.

Robin: Is Peter dumb? I think not, actually. I think Peter is a character who demonstrates how traits that could be strengths, in excess become weaknesses. Peter’s strength comes from his compassion and his great empathy. But his trusting nature and desire to do right by and protect the people he loves gets him into big trouble. If I were Peter’s life coach I’d tell him, hey, you’re a sweet kid, don’t ever change. Just trust people a little less. Be a little more skeptical. Haven’t you learned by now that even your MOM can’t really be trusted?

I’m really digging future Peter’s wardrobe. No one in the future is schlumpy. They all have slick hair and leather pants and cool facial scars. Except for Suresh, who started melting and then turned into a cross between Golum and The Fly. I can’t wait for the future.

Hiro — you’d think we’d start to see more signs of the badass Future Hiro by now, wouldn’t you?

Erica: I’ve always been a huge fan of the interplay between Hiro and Ando. His story really has character DEVELOPMENT, as he lets Charlie go, faces Sylar, lets his father die, and all the Kensei stories. After all that, I expected him to be more mature. Not quite crazy dark moody Future Hiro yet, but less
foolhardy and impetuous — or at least capable of understanding the stereotypical “great powers, great responsibility” mantra.

Instead, he’s if anything worse. (Perhaps he caught Super Dumb As Rocks power from Peter.) It was funny when they were opening the safe, started getting a bit old when they confronted Daphne in Paris, and by now is wearing very thin. If Ando gets a power, it’s definitely because Hiro drove him to it. Grownup Hiro should be sitting down to say, “Hey, Ando, I saw this horrible future, but I know you and I are good friends; Let’s work together to stop it.” Instead, he’s shrinking away; I’m reminded of a kid on a playground wrapping himself around a ball and screaming “MINE MINE MINE!” Regardless, Ando is still standing by his friend, and ya gotta love him for that.

Clara: I was wondering where future-Hiro was, too. His present self definitely has a lot of growing to do. Crossing my fingers that we see Badass Hiro and hero-ified Ando next episode!

Robin, Knox seemed to have a good outing. At least he’s a semi-capable villain. What’s your take on his progress?

Robin: Even in the morally ambiguous world of “Heroes,” where everyone thinks they’re saving the world even if they’re not, every good villain needs an emotional back story that helps us understand why they’re driven to do wrong. (Unless you’re the Joker, perhaps the most terrifying of all villains, because he’s driven by nothing but the sheer pleasure of terrorizing people and messing with Batman.)

We’re introduced to Knox as one of a host of bad guys behind bars in Level 5. They stage a jail break, and like good villains, head off to rob a bank after torturing some innocents at a gas station.

Now, Knox has joined a new, ahem, gang, future Evil Brunette Claire’s posse of villains. (See, she’s evil now, cause she’s a brunette.) Knox’s power – feeding off of people’s fear and using it against them – is a compelling one. I found myself wondering at the symbolic significance of his power right away. Is it a subtle commentary on society’s fear of black men? Or is that giving Tim Kring too much credit? Sadly, maybe his character will resonate with some precisely because of those existing fears.

But really, what is Knox’s deal? We know Claire is physically invincible but emotionally vulnerable. She “acts out,” and learns to “take care of herself” once she gets away from her over-protective father. Daphne is a mercenary who seems ideologically disconnected from the larger battle of good (Hiro, Ando, and in this case the Company) vs. evil (the mysterious forces trying to re-assemble the formula), although we don’t know what’s motivating her to join forces with Knox and Claire.

But we really don’t know anything about Knox yet, aside from the fact people are afraid of him, he runs with a bad crowd, and he spent some time in jail. Is he a blood thirsty beast like Sylar? A vindictive and delusional megalomaniac like Adam Monroe? A damaged sadist seeking daddy’s love and approval like Elle? I could think of a dozen cool back stories to give a character like Knox, but that’s the writers’ job. I just hope they follow through and actually give him one, so that he can become a more fully realized character, and not just a cool accessory. I also hope they won’t rely on some of the ugly stereotypes that pigeonhole black men as criminals you’re right to be afraid of.

Erica pointed out, via HeroesWiki, that the Mystical, er, mysterious Usutu is actually from Botswana, even though it’s not acknowledged. We still don’t know anything more about him, though, do we?

Mahsino: Considering I’m still ticked off at the whole “Africa is a big place too”comment, I don’t even want to see that rehashing of an African mystic again unless they can inject some sort of logic or basic geography in the little bottom titles. I could’ve sworn he said something like his sole purpose was to guide Parkman; of course I was zoning out by that time so I could be wrong, so that’s pretty much solidified him as the first official magical Negro of the series for me. But good news: the Haitian’s back, so one vague foreign, black person with an accent should be interchangeable for another, right?

Erica, do you think the “Heroes” creators are assuming too much that we’re following the online stories?

Erica: That’s a good question. The central material of each episode can stand independently; TV episodes are the most “canon” of the official materials produced (and while there have been a few contradictions, they’re rare). However, some characters get much fuller backgrounds via graphic novels (the Haitian’s got a few devoted to him, for example, and Hana Gitelman has a HUGE plot despite only a handful of on-screen appearances). There are even characters which have never shown up on screen. Usutu’s background is even further removed from canon than that, however; there’s no graphic novel concerning him, just the “Heroes Evolution” website, which is the Company’s tracking system for evolved humans. And that doesn’t have any details besides the location… which I’m hoping means there will be further on-screen development for him.

The separate story threads mostly exist to give the avid fan extra things to sink his teeth into. But, it also means that little things about primary or secondary characters may never be noticed by the majority of viewers –
those who may be fans, but not fanatics. And my guess is that the diversity of on-screen characters isn’t as wide as the diversity of graphic novel characters, although I’d have to actually count to make sure.

Open Mic – What’d you like? What’d you not like?

Robin: Since someone on Racialicious pointed out that the black and Latino characters tend to stay dead, while the white characters are given infinite chances to come back to life if not outright immortality, I’ve been a little obsessed with how stupid and unfair that seems; not just because it’s totally racist, but because it’s bad for the show. They’ve gotten rid of a lot of good characters, and extended the lives of some who may be better off dead. (I don’t want Micah to be orphaned! Where is he now, anyway?) Bits and pieces of racsim and sexism in the series have really bugged me. Two of the strongest female characters from season 1 – Claire and Nikki – were a cheerleader and a stripper. Monica works in a chicken shack. Although I’m glad they have a more diverse cast of characters than is typical for a scripted network drama.

Erica: I’m disappointed every time I see Maya. First her accent vanishes, and now she’s doing nothing more than play sexy foil to Mohinder’s self-induced mutation. Apparently Alejandro’s power was not to counteract Maya’s poison eyes, it was to give her an interesting background and plausible plot contribution; now that he’s dead …

Mahsino: So, um, Mohinder hangs out with Maya for what, a day and they get it on? Way to knock out the sexless Indian stereotype with the sexy, dumb, Latina stereotype, NBC. And why the hell was she so clingy on the last episode? Be cool, you just met.

Clara: Things I was wondering at the end of the episode: Who is the mother of future-Sylar’s son? What happened to her? Also, can the show please explain what is up with Linderman from the dead (sort of)? Maybe I missed it but I still don’t understand why he’s back on the show.

Robin: One last thought: domesticated fatherly Sylar? Sexy! Zachary Quinto can make me waffles any day.

That’s it for now, True Believers. Join us next week for more questions, more theories – and hopefully, less plot holes to have to wade through.

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Comments

  1. cecil wrote:

    i love discussing heroes and race. keep up the good work!

  2. studpoet wrote:

    What I would ask is that you never blog about heroes or any television show. You all take the fun out of it. Seriously.

    Normally, I’m feeling alot of the things the site posts about race. But stop taking my favorite show and making it an examination of race & racism.

    Sometimes we, as people of color (and white folks) have to just let go of our anger, angst, distrust, fear, biases etc. and just enjoy ourselves. So please please just stop.

    Thats all I’m asking.

  3. bustyourwindows wrote:

    This show will fail. This will be the last season of Heroes.

  4. ding wrote:

    looking forward to the weekly de-briefing!

    maya? ugh. seeing her and her total irrationality makes me grit my teeth. i compare her to monica and maya just keeps coming up short – she’s way too dependent on men for her ‘protection,’ she (like others) just doesn’t seem to have the ability to learn from anything (least of all the lesson of her brother’s death) and she’s not thoughtful, period.

    monica, at least, seems to have an interior life and i hope we get to see more of her – without her going all dumb! (the dumbness is like a disease, is it not?) when it comes to the female characters or the characters of color, i’ve been noticing that they tend to lack such interiority. there is no inner landscape and my interest wanes as a result.

    but kudos to the writers for finally giving us really *dumb *men to gawk at – way to break gender stereotypes! whoo!

  5. Renee wrote:

    On the whole Mohinder and Maya thing, I have to say that I liked it. I understand that as a woman it problematic because it turned Maya into a thing that could be used but on the other hand it really humanized Mohinder.
    He has been this crazy geek just trying to keep up with nothing for himself until that moment. It made him more real to me to see him express a perfectly normal desrire. Now I will admit that I have a bias cause I think the man is hot as hell but still it was nice to see a different dimension.

  6. Erica wrote:

    Nitpicky request — it’s hygiene, not higiene, so my link is messed up :-)

    @Robin — I like your point about the occupations of the female characters. Even New Nikki Tracy Strauss, while appearing to be a political force to be reckoned with, is sleeping first with the Governor of New York, and then Senator Petrelli — subtly calling her competence into question with an unspoken implication that she’s slept her way to power.

    I also think that Knox will get a back story eventually. Remember, it took quite a while to fully realize Parkman’s daddy issues. And have you noticed how many characters have daddy issues? Matt Parkman, Mohinder Suresh, ELLE (with a capital ISH), Claire Bennet, Hiro Nakamura, the Petrelli boys, Gabriel Gray (who didn’t want to be “just a watchmakers son)… Mama Petrelli has a lot of work to catch up to all that, but she sure seems up to the task.

    @ding — I thought this might be the week (we’re four episodes in!) but no joy. Fingers crossed for next Monday.

  7. StayingStrong wrote:

    I continue to enjoy this show despite it’s obvious problems. I recently sent this e-mail to the weekly BEYOND THE ECLIPSE newsletter where writers often answer fan questions:

    Greetings!

    I love, love, love the show. I doubt this question will make it to the BTE newsletter but perhaps it will give the writers some food for thought:

    Q: Where are the black female heroes?

    I’m devastated to see that not one black woman has remained. First, Simone died but she had no power. Then you cast Nichelle “Uhura” Nichols but did nothing fun with her character. Further, you spent quite a bit of time introducing Monica and now she’s disappeared.

    This season we meet the speedster (a probable track star) who is…another blonde! Yeah, yeah I know that blondes are supposed to have more fun but now it’s getting ridiculous. Please stop drinking Hollywood’s Kool-Aid and remember that, as quiet as it’s kept, many black women are sexy, kick ass, smart, etc. Can’t we be heroes for more than one day?

    P.S. My pet tortoise is pissed that he didn’t get to audition for the role of Parkman’s totem. (Note that it’s a tortoise he’s following, rather than a turtle. Just ask the hare.) I really look forward to seeing how this storyline plays out.

    All the best,

  8. Lola wrote:

    I don’t like Maya, DL needs to come back, I never liked Nikki, Sylar rocks, Mohinder is eye candy, Linderman should stay dead, Adam should stay buried, like Hiro, love Ando.

  9. mohammed wrote:

    this show is all over the place… with vanishing accents and vanishing characters (irish chick?, monica?)…also the selective use of powers (hiro, peter)…

    but damn it, if i dont miss an episode… i hate this show so much but at the same time i cant stop watching it… its a love/hate thing with heroes…. i think im just going to stop racking my brain tryin to make sense of it all and just enjoy the show…. and if mohinder doesnt want maya, send her over my way!

  10. Latoya Peterson wrote:

    @studpoet –

    Someone else approved your comment, but let me be clear – this is a website about the intersection of race and pop culture. You don’t want to discuss that, you can go somewhere else. See comment moderation policy, point number 8.

  11. jen* wrote:

    Looks like I might have to become a fanatic, and go on the Heroes website, so I can find out more about what’s going on with these characters. Or maybe I’ll just go check it out one time. [It seems like I have less and less time, though, so I'll have to find some time and squeeze it in.]

    If only they could squeeze character exposition into the actual show.

    But I was struck by part of Erica’s first comment about Peter:
    The confused awe with which he approached life in the first and second seasons is beginning to change into more of a determined pitbull approach.

    Never before had I seen the similarities between Peter “box of rocks” Petrelli, and our own fearless leader, W, questing to save the world.

    Looking at things from that perspective does make things a lil more interesting, but…I’ll stand by my previous wishful thinking: all the Petrellis should die.

  12. Atena wrote:

    Sorry studpoet. I must disagree.

    Keep it up, y’all! I look forward to your weekly debrief/deconstruct more than I look forward to the show now. Especially after realizing that this is yet another vehicle for the tired old tradition of “The Black Man (or Woman) Will Die before the Story Ends.” Man does that bug the hell out of me! It’s also not good for my daughter to see me get so upset at Mohinder for being a class act dumbass.

    So while my husband eagerly waits for the next installment of the show, I’ll be waiting for this. Peace!

  13. Clara wrote:

    Oh wow now that I’ve read what the other panelists have to say, I feel like I need to step up big time on my own commentary. Awesome everyone, this was fun!

    I like how both Erica and Mahsino pointed out the Keanu Reeves-esque characteristics that Peter seems to have embraced.

    I definitely think the Heroes producers are assuming too much on the watchers regarding the online stories. I felt extremely bitter about Bridget in the first episode. In her 30-some seconds of screen time, I actually thought she was shaping up into a cool character. “Oh!” I thought, “another POC character! And a woman too! Let’s hope she doesn’t get killed off.” Alas, I was so naive. I groaned very loudly when she was killed off without further adieu. I looked her up later and she features in the Heroes online canon, so apparently she at least has some sort of background story.

    But honestly, how much does the online content matter when the Bridget character herself exists within the space of the TV show solely for the purpose of being Sylar’s breakfast? It’s one thing to give an extensive background story online for the Haitian (even though these background stories still don’t give him a name), who is a regular character, but it’s another to give it to a character who shows up little to not at all in the TV show itself, which signals that that character doesn’t really matter in the end.

    I’d be interested in other takes on this.

  14. diza wrote:

    I just wanted to say …

    Sylar named his son Noah (after claires dad maybe)

    Maybe if everyone stopped trying to save the world the world wouldn’t need saving

    Why is Peter so dumb

    Why does Nathan always get deluded

    If Claire cant die why did she need saving in the first season

    Peter got Claires powers in the previous seasons so why did he die

    Can they please stop bringing back villains and instead introduce new ones

    Africa isn’t a country its a continent. When Hiro transported to Japan we weren’t told he was in Asia, we were told he was in Japan. Why can’t we be given this countries name.

  15. EagerReader wrote:

    As we saw in Season 1, if there’s an obstruction in her brain, Claire is “dead” until it’s removed. FuturePeter will stay dead until someone removes the bullets lodged in his brain.

  16. Pantyhoselover wrote:

    @ diza

    “Why is Peter so dumb?”
    Maybe he is a more serious version of Keanu Reeve’s character Ted, from Bill and Ted’s excellent adventure.

    “Why does Nathan always get deluded?”
    Nathan believes in God and remember, this is Hollywood, anyone who believes in God is usually portrayed as a dumbass. Although not all religious people are stupid, look at Dubya Bush, he graduated from Yale and some other college, heck even Rush Limbaugh has his own radio show (I’m just saying this for satire.)

    “Why does Claire and Peter need saving?”
    A bullet to the brain is sufficient enough to kill an immortal, remember? Something in their brain lets them use their powers. There was that first season episode when Peter got that glass shard stuck to the back of his head and into his brain and he stayed dead until Claire pulled it out.

    As for the villains, they have introduced new ones, like Knox who gains strength from fear, Jesse who can scream and cause hypersonic destruction or whatever and there is also The German, I forgot what he does but I’ve seen him punch someone to death, apparently.

    As for the country in Africa, maybe the writers can’t even pronounce it’s name, they probably have trouble saying Zimbabwe, Uganda, Liberia, Nigeria, or heck, even Somalia and Ethiopia.

    BTW, the show has got to put some pantyhose on Ali Larter or Clair, that would be hot, I think pantyhose is coming back into fashion.

  17. Erica wrote:

    Nathan was easily deluded before his religious experience as well — which may not have been all that religious anyway, since I have a hard time picturing Linderman as an angel in any religion — and it was a central part of his choice between The Company’s plot to make him President or to save his brother. It looks like this season may by Nathan Delusion Redux (he took last season off to be burned, lose his family, get drunk and be emo).

  18. Pantyhoselover wrote:

    Maybe the shows writers are trying to tell us something about politicians, I mean what has Nathan done that was good when he was in a seat of power? Future Hiro and Future Peter tells/shows us that things get worse after he becomes president; heck he even gets killed by Sylar after becoming president in one of the alternate futures. BTW, just what are Nathan Petrelli’s experiences in politics or in any other area that show us just how well he would do as president or as a congressman, I’ve only seen him give speeches on the stump and tell everyone that his brother is suicidal(both from season 1).

  19. Zora wrote:

    I find the discussion fascinating (thanks y’all!). As someone who fits Erica’s description of fan, but not fanatic, I’m frustrated by the fact that the show seems to be relying a bit too heavily on online content to flesh out new characters who aren’t blond. (I say this as someone who doesn’t read the online content, just occasional commentaries about the content, so, of course, I could be wrong!) I also keep hoping against hope that somehow, they’re actually going to *debunk* the Mystical Negro stereotype, but although they were gesturing toward that a little bit with the whole Carl Jung bit, I think by and large they’re just going to be reinforcing it. Sigh. I have such hopes for this show, and at least as far as gender and race go, it so often disappoints.

    I had my students watch and analyze the portrayals of race in an episode of Heroes last season, and many of them ran along the lines of “Well, on the surface it sometimes looks like it’s critiquing racism, but then if you look deeper, here are the stereotypes it’s reinscribing.” And you know, I kind of wish I could just focus on that surface-level diversity, because I find the more I think about the show, the more disappointed I become.

  20. J wrote:

    “Way to knock out the sexless Indian stereotype with the sexy, dumb, Latina stereotype, NBC.”

    Mohinder was portrayed as “sexless”? We were introduced to his ex-fiancée in the first season, and he got to kiss Eden. Just that he doesn’t make out with every woman he meets (like Peter) doesn’t mean it was portrayed as inconceivable that the guy has had sexual relationship, and might get into one again.

    And I disagree with the idea of Maya in Season 3 being dumb. Her role right now is to speak common sense while Mohinder doesn’t heed her advice and gets into trouble for it. She’s the voice of reason.
    That doesn’t mean I am completely happy with this storyline… it doesn’t get enough screentime and the two characters have been completely isolated for the first four episodes. It’s probably necessary for the storyline, but it’s just unfortunate, considering how hard the fans have always been on, well, any character who doesn’t have an immediate connection to the Petrellis. Or is female, or not white. (I’m not getting into that fandom ever again…)

    My biggest worry is that the bad reviews of the last season have caused the producers to play it safe, and focus on the most conventionally popular characters, Peter, Sylar, Claire, Nathan, HRG.
    And this doesn’t help the show in the least for various reasons, the simplest being that they go about it the wrong way, too. Introducing future alternatives until the casual viewer is entirely confused, retconning (again!) how Peter’s power works because else it doesn’t fit in the storyline, and coming up with an excuse/explanation for Sylar’s murderous nature… oh, and reviving Nathan after fans have demanded it… and then hooking him up with Tracy, without bothering to point out he still has a wife and two sons that he supposedly loves, but hasn’t contacted yet.

    It feels like an attempt to satisfy certain fan demands (Nathan is popular, let’s bring him back! Future Peter was popular, let’s bring him back! They want Claire “badass”, let’s create future Claire! Let’s reveal Sylar as a Petrelli! Nathan and Niki was hot, let’s hook up Nathan with an Ali Larter character again!). But I fell in love with the show for different reasons and different characters, and I am afraid that it will change too much and turn into something I hate.

  21. Quakerchica wrote:

    Is it me or does it seems that the producers of Heroes have hired everyone from the Wire? I mean in tonight’s episode “Angel’s and Monsters” seem to be a Wire cast reunion or something? Not that I am complaining, since the Wire is one of the best Tv shows ever (in my humble opinion), but if I see Omar, I am going to squeal!!!. Maybe the can rescue the guy who played Michael from the new 90210!

  22. Madame Zenobia wrote:

    It feels like an attempt to satisfy certain fan demands (Nathan is popular, let’s bring him back! Future Peter was popular, let’s bring him back! They want Claire “badass”, let’s create future Claire! Let’s reveal Sylar as a Petrelli! Nathan and Niki was hot, let’s hook up Nathan with an Ali Larter character again!). But I fell in love with the show for different reasons and different characters, and I am afraid that it will change too much and turn into something I hate.

    @ J,

    I wholeheartedly agree with your statement here. I feel the writers are playing it safe #1 and satisfying those fanbases that raised such a stink about season two #2. In a way it’s okay to satisfy them, but at the same time if it’s hindering your vision of the show (you being the writer) then it’s really unfair. There are a couple of these ‘popular’ characters that I deem completely useless and I can see the writers desperately trying to create importance for them just to satisfy popularity for the fans. I hate that. It’s insulting. I hold a number of gripes with this show, but as a poster above said, I love to hate it and hate to love it. *shrugs* I’m inhaling the kool-aid…for now. ;)

  23. Jeremy Pierce wrote:

    Hiro incapacitated Sylar, but the world was saved by Nathan, who flew Peter up into the atmosphere. Hiro removed Adam, but Peter stopped the virus from getting out once Adam was out of the way. It’s simply not true that Hiro saved the world while Peter did nothing. Nathan was the main savior in season 1, and Peter was in season 2. Hiro contributed in both cases, but don’t overstate his role or understate Peter’s.

    I’m a little disturbed that bit POC characters can’t be equal to all the bit white characters. It’s not as if there’s a shortage of white characters who have less than a minute of time on this show. So why is it immoral somehow to have some of the bit parts be minority characters? I guess this is a clear case of the “any stick is good enough to beat Heroes with” syndrome. I’ve been seeing several of those in these threads.