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.