The show has lost its’ direction, its’ heart, and most damningly of all, it’s lost its’ point.
- May 4th, 2009

Ever wanted to mourn something but just couldn’t? That’s about how I felt Friday afternoon, when the word got out: Goodbye, Heroes.

Really, nobody should’ve been surprised. Not to wish anybody out of a job, but really this show should’ve been canned after the conclusion to Volume Three, when its’ last really intriguing idea – dueling Companies – sputtered to a halt after a year when … well, when Mohinder almost turned into The Fly. That about sums it up. And it’s worth noting that we ended our reviews and Roundtables for this show in the middle of last season because readers were asking us to ditch it for FlashForward – which is a whole other matter, one we’ll discuss on Thursday. For now, though, we gather the ‘Table again, not to praise Tim Kring, but to bury a vision that started out with a lot of promise, only to see it buried in waves of privilege and peroxide.

Your first reaction to the news?
Andrea: “Oh.” Nothing more, nothing less. Because there was nothing left to the show…or I reached the last stage of mourning over it. I accepted that it was crap by Tim Kring’s design.
Mahsino: Well they’ve been threatening to cancel it for a while now, so my reaction was “Finally”.
jen*: It’s about time. That and wondering what ZQ will be doing next. (Star Trek 2 isn’t coming out fast enough for me.)
Diana: Meh. Whatever.

Which was the jump-the-shark/all-downhill moment for you?
Andrea: The show’s been a blur of Grand Canyon-jumping as soon as the second season started. With some triple-jump action over Mt. Everest when they kept killing off/letting go of characters of color, which I felt started in earnest in the second season.
Mahsino: I think the most wtf point was the fact that Peter never went back and saved Caitlin from that apocalyptic future. The whole season was based on him trying to rescue this girl he was “in love” with and by the end we were supposed to forget all about her. Also, once I started to realize that future-Hiro was never going to happen.
jen*: I second the future-Hiro realization. But I think the moment they lost me was when they killed D.L. I never could get over that. I’ve just been along for the ride ever since.
Diana: For me it was when they turned Sendhil into a bug. That was so not sexy and totally unnecessary.

What, if anything, could have saved this show?
Andrea: Tim Kring could have been an adult and apologized when the fans (especially the fans of color) pointed out that the show was climbing in the handbasket when it jainked on the storylines. Instead Kring wanted to blame the fans for setting the standard so high for his creative team. What sealed the show’s fate, IMO, was when fans of color (IIRC) stated the characters of color were disappearing, Kring’s blithe response that the show was “about the Bennetts and the Petrellis” anyway…what’s that adage about karma being a bitch?
Mahsino: If they had gone back to what made it so successful: a diverse cast of everyday heroes with extraordinary abilities. I think they were supposed to change out the characters seasonally, and that could’ve avoided the whole Benetrelli fiasco.
jen*: If they’d cancelled it at the end of last season. Then, at least we’d have fonder memories. This year it seemed they wanted to shoot, maim, and torture the shark, just to make sure we got the point. (I mean, seriously, carnies and sorority girls? did they forget what the show was about?)
Diana: John Cho. But seriously, there was nothing that could have saved it once they lost the mojo that made the first season so compelling. I think if they focused on the stories as foreshadowed during the first season, rather than going on so many tangents, the show would have been much better.
Arturo: I’ve always said that, if this show really wanted to ape X-Men stories, it really should’ve just gone for it after the end of the first season. You had all the characters lined up in the same site, with similar-enough motivations, to really pursue the story of them trying to better the world around them. Instead, every year they ended up in the same pissing matches for the first 12 episodes before finally coming to some semblance of competence.

Parallels between this show and FlashForward?
Andrea: Besides the questionable writing, which led to a lot of boring episodes, both shows couldn’t quite grasp the concept of locale. When both shows wanted to convey the action was outside of the US, they went for some of the most stereotyped ideas about various countries: the power-hungry superstitious Somalians (FF) and Haitians (Heroes); the homogenous, uncreative Japanese (FF); lazy costuming to signify characters being in China (FF); oh –and let’s not forget the jangling sounds of “La Cucuracha” blowing from the car horn in Mexico (Heroes).
Mahsino: Both have main characters (Peter and Mark) that I couldn’t really give a hoot about.
jen*: Hmm. Echoing Andrea’s comment about the writing, the big season opener, snooze-fest, and then big season finale path that FF is on is quite Heroes-esque. Maybe network patience ran more thinly for FF because their initial season didn’t grab people the way the beginning of Heroes did.
Diana: FF did not hit its groove quickly enough and Heroes did not maintain its flow. Both shows’ writers needed to listen more to their fan base which can get fickle with a quickness.

Open Mic!
Mahsino: So my brother still watched it, and from what he told me, they ended at a reasonable place, so good for them, I guess.
Andrea: At least Adrian Pasdar had a good run. And James Kyson Lee got some love … though, from what I understand from the director of Akira’s Hip Hop Shop, he got more Racialicious lurve from starring as Akira than as Ando. (Shirtlessness help…just saying.) And I discovered that modern-day Adonis, Sendhil Ramamurthy. Again…shirtlessness helps.
jen*: I loved this show. I did. And I was very forgiving for a long time – even after D.L. But when the powers that be don’t care about fan opinions, the end of the road is on the way. I’m not sad to see it go, although I would’ve liked to see a finale where Sylar actually blew up the world or something cool like that. Oooohhhh – even better, if that vortex dude came back from the parallel universe I assume he sucked people (and himself) into, and brought back alterna-world versions of past heroes that have bit the dust or otherwise just been dropped from conversation [like Molly, or Monica] and everybody came together to wipe out that one horrible carny-dude … and Danko if he’s not dead. Shirtless Mohinder could help.
Diana: Whatever. I’m glad it’s over. Now James and Sendhil are free to be shirtless elsewhere.

This is the end, my beautiful friends, the end.
- The Doors, “The End”

Keep the cameras on me.
- Lady Claire Hilton Be-Be-Benetrelli

The ratings make it increasingly likely that “Brave New World” was Heroes’ last stand. Though there’s still “hope” for a Dollhouse-like reprieve, pulling 13 million less viewers than Two And A Half Men doesn’t bode well for the show. But first, let’s catch up a bit. As they say on tv, Previously On Heroes:

* After getting mind-schtupped and finding, then losing, Charlie, Hiro survives brain tumor surgery thanks to his mom.
* After permanently winning control of his body, then going to Claire for answers, Sylar asks Parkman to purge him of his powers, but gets trapped inside his own mind.
* After burying his brother, Peter learns that his new girlfriend might be responsible for a massacre. Gaining further insight through his mother’s ability, he journeys to Parkman’s home to rescue Sylar – the only person who can save her – and ends up reconciling with him.
* After briefly joining the Carnival and reconciling with Gretchen, Claire discovers Samuel arranged for Lydia’s murder as part of a bigger agenda. She and Noah are then trapped underground in a trailer by Samuel.

What follows is an example of the series’ depressing consistency – “World” is long on blondes but desperately short on action. Backed up by Doyle and buoyed by an unwilling Emma, Samuel finally stops lollygagging and sets out to “announce” the metahuman presence by killing a gaggle of people in (sigh) New York City, including a suspiciously-curious local press corps. Perhaps the newsies saw Samuel’s “family” and thought the Knicks were having an open practice.

Unfortunately for him, he proves to be more Dr. Evil than Magneto, as his plan breaks down with ridiculous ease: Claire & Noah break out of his “50 foot” dirt-trap – seriously, how would anybody but Claire know what falling that far feels like? – thanks to Tracy & HRG’s new (and, of course, blonde) GF Lauren; nouveau Superfriends Sylar and Peter free Emma and subdue Doyle and Samuel; and said family ditches him, fleeing to safety thanks to Hiro and Ando.

Hiro is at the center of the episode’s other storyline, as he finally – and do we mean finally – learns to get over losing Charlie and stop mucking about the timestream trying to “fix things.” Not because his powers nearly led to his death, mind you, but because he learns that she did the human thing and moved on with her life. Even then, his initial reaction is to mewl, “My hero’s journey has come to an end” – because, you know, Hiro was always in it to get a date. It’s the lowest point in Hiro’s nearly series-long descent, a sad moment for anybody who wanted to see him grow into his heroic future self. Instead, he only appears in NYC because Bennet had the good sense to call for back-up. (Not to brag, but we figured it would get this bad almost a year ago.)

All of this, of course, serves as little more than a prelude to Claire outing herself as a meta-human to the press corps against her father’s wishes. You’d think that Claire-Bear would remember Nathan was once shot in the process of doing this, and that she was rounded up as part of Nathan’s federally-funded campaign against superhumans. You would also think Claire would remember she’s waffled between wanting to be in the public eye and wanting to be a “normal person” for most of the past four years. But apparently, you would be wrong.

Or perhaps, the creative team hopes you’ve also forgotten these things. Because as long as the NBC brass keeps publicly praising the series, there’s a chance it might return. Because, you know, there’s always room for more blondes.

If you think that Racism and Sexism are thematically integrated in HEROES then you may want to check your intelligence before worrying about it being insulted.
- Jim Martin, Heroes writer and assistant to Tim Kring, on a (since-deleted) tumblr post

Dear Mr. Kring,

It’s been about a month since I stopped watching your program. As you’re no doubt aware, my friends and fellow reviewers at this site and myself are far from the only ones who have left Heroes behind; just look at the ratings, right?

But I’m not writing to gloat about your commercial and critical misfortune. I’m writing to suggest that your staff isn’t helping the problem. Consider the statement from Mr. Martin’s tumblr. Sure, he deleted it, but you know us sneaky internet people – we’ll save things when you’re not looking and remember them, and share them.

So consider this a tip for your future endeavors (because Heroes is almost assuredly ending this season, isn’t it?): You want to continue engendering good will from your fanbase? How about you work with people who won’t issue statements like this:

* Anyone who thinks they can do better… I dare you. Go ahead. I’d love to see it.
* Look up the diversity programs for writers in tv. Ask anyone in the tv world. There is a distinct disadvantage to be a white male when trying to be a staff writer.
* I’m fully aware of what you are referencing, but I don’t think its a problem on Heroes and I don’t think white privilege is an issue in Hollywood at this point.

Clearly, Mr. Martin hasn’t been reading Fade In Magazine. But his lack of understanding pales in comparison to the rantings of your coordinating producer, Foz McDermott. In the interest of full discretion, I’m posting this entry from his tumblr in its’ entirety, starting with the quote he’s responding to from a thread on Mr. Martin’s page.

“The idea that white privilege isn’t a problem in Hollywood at this point is an idea coming from a privileged standpoint.”

Holy crap lady… if you are indeed a lady… that is hilarious. In a business that is scared of and run by pussy organizations that are so scared of being sued about everything, being OVERLY PC is the actual problem. Being a white male in the business of Hollywood is NOT easy. There are programs and incentives to help everyone except white males.

certain projects, films, movies, corporations will actually get money paid back to them if they hire a woman, a minority, hell double jackpot if you hire a female minority… that’s twice the money!!

that is an extreme case. But they do happen, I have seen it. Now… there are rules in place where some places require you to have a certain ammount of minorities on staff at all times. There are set up and funded “diversity programs” that are put in place as well.

Let me be clear: I have no real problem with helping anyone. I think that certain people and groups have been crapped on for a long time, and making ways to help people were necessary…at one time. I don’t personally believe in it at all now. I actually think it has gone too far. Like when you have to fill a position and you have 3 candidates and the best person is the best for the job, and the one that is not the best fit is forced upon you because of diversity quotas and not their skill. that actually makes me sick. It is nothing BUT racism. Not reverse racism, that term doesn’t even exist. making a choice and hiring anyone for any reason BECAUSE of their race IS racism.

I am from South Philadelphia, where I come from, I AM the minority. I am not saying that equals being a slave or coming from a family that had a generation that survived or worse… didn’t survive the holocaust, I am just saying that I WASNT picked for things BECAUSE I am white. It made ME work harder. It is a small scale, but i can relate a bit…. A BIT… I never thought I was deserving of something because I am white. That is bullshit. But what I have done is talk to my friends about it, a lot of whom are of color, and most are sane and have something to the effect of “ya, its fucked up, but I’ll take it.” Yes! I agree! take it!! I am not mad at anyone that can take advantage of a flawed system. Go For It…hell if there was an italian discount on Ferraris, I would be doing it.

The only comment that I hear is that irks me is the (and it is seldom) “hey, you guys kept us down for so long, its only fair you are paying for it now.” woah…really? #1 “us” is definitely not you, you grew up with Nintendo and Hot Pockets, nobody ever owned you…. and “You guys” is absolutely not me… THATS RACIST! the oldest person I can trace my heritage to in this country on either side of my family is 1948. My mother is first generation here kids… My ancestors never owned a slave, never lived the high life, and most certainly never “kept anyone down” in fact when My grandfather came here they were treated like 2nd class citizens… pretty fucking bad actually…

All I am saying is: “Where is MY diversity program?”

In Mr. McDermott’s defense, at least he was happy when Masi Oka won a diversity award. Mr. McDermott might be better-served skipping the diversity program in favor of some anger-management counseling, given both that screed and this rant against Kristin Dos Santos.

I will also commend Mr. McDermott’s loyalty to you and the show; how else to explain this post, which answers a number of legitimate complaints about the show’s direction with a pithy, “The idiocy of some people really makes me sad sometimes”? Or should we file that post and this statement under “it’s just the f-cking internet”:

Note to Actresses coming in for auditions: Wear clothes. if you look like a whore, you will be treated like one.

I ask you, Mr. Kring, because, since these are members of your staff, they’re representing you and the program – whether they accept that responsibility or not – when they make these kinds of statements. Compare the statements by Mr. McDermott and Mr. Martin to, say, Greg Grunberg’s Twitter. And try as I might, I can’t spot any instances where people who worked on, say, Dollhouse or Battlestar Galactica tossed about the word “whores” as a prejorative. Funny thing, though – even if the former was recently cancelled and the latter is off the air, those shows didn’t antagonize its’ fanbase the way Heroes has.

And, Mr. Kring, as you are the man in charge of Heroes, and these are the people who work for you, then you’re the one responsible for them. You’re the one who has presumably signed off on their sentiments, if not their statements. And the character breakdown in the chart provided above has progressed under your watch.

And under your watch, you have noted that the cast has “gotten too big,” even as you’ve introduced more and more new characters each season, with a, shall we say, curious preponderance of blonde white females. And under your watch, we’ve gotten to see The Haitian go three whole seasons before he was identified by an actual name. And your questionable statement that the series was really all about the characters we know here as the Benetrellis. And losing, then getting back, then losing Bryan Fuller. And, one word: Usutu. As you’re probably aware, these are not the only reasons viewers have left your show. And they’re not the only reasons several readers of this site are not coming back. Your staff isn’t helping.

Arise Magazine has an interview with Jimmy Jean-Louis. Jean-Louis, a model/dancer/actor is best known stateside for portraying “The Haitian” in Heroes. From what I can remember of the Heroes recaps, quite a bit of the snarking revolved around the shrinking role of PoC on the show and the falling ratings. So I was amused to read:

Jean-Louis continues to brood mysteriously on our small screen this autumn as season four of the hugely successful sci-fi drama goes on air. “We are shooting it now, and it’s going great,” Jean-Louis says. So what fantastic superhuman twists and turns can we look forward to? Naturally, his lips are sealed, but you can be sure The Haitian won’t be far from the action. A fixture on the show since the beginning, he’s an ambiguous figure who uses his superpower – an ability to erase people’s memories – sparingly and wisely.

Really? I think I need to check with Arturo on this one…

At any rate, some of the behind the scenes details were revealed:

The role now seems to suited to the 41-year-old actor that it’s hard to believe he first tried out for DL Hawkins (Leonard Roberts). “I auditioned for DL three times, and the producers said ‘No, no, no.’ It was only later, while I was in Africa promoting the film Phat Girlz, that they called my manager and asked me to audition again for another role,” he recalls. “He told them I wasn’t even in town, even after I got back to Los Angeles, until they finally offered the part to me without seeing me, which is unheard of in TV.”

The part was originally meant to be from New Zealand and called The Kiwi but was changed to The Haitian to suit Jean-Louis’ roots. “We went through a few names, but the reaction from the audience to the Haitian was so great that they kept it. And you know what – I like it because it helps me promote Haiti. Heroes has made me a reference for Haiti and has inspired me to go back and help Haiti.”

SPOILER ALERT

There goes the neighborhood: for the first time in what feels like ages, three POC characters were directly involved in the key goings-on in Heroes – and all of them lived!

At the center of the big twist, including the salvaging of what Roundtable member x called the Claire Gone Mild plot, was Rebecca, who, it turns out, has been making Gretchen look more murderous than creepy, in an effort to push Claire-Bear into the open arms of The Mysterious Samuel and the Carnival.

Now, you might ask: isn’t it an amazing (expletive) coincidence that Sam and Rebecca not only knew Claire was going to attend Barbie Arlington U., but had the foresight to establish Rebecca in a position of authority at the Jumpa Da Sharka sorority? In a word, yes. But Tessa Thompson’s evil smirk won me over, and it added a nice layer of surprise to the Claire/Gretchen reveal. Nice to have an honest-to-goodness villainess on the show again, what with Mama Petrelli and Tracy now seemingly back on the side of good.

Speaking of the side of good, that’s where we met Dr. Gibson, who set out to help the newly amnesiac Sylar figure out who he was before the cops, led by Captain Lubbock – and hey, it’s always good to see Ernie Hudson – figure out his identity.

The finish, of course, was ridiculous: Samuel knew exactly where to take the Carnival to swoop in and save Sylar from police pursuit, and looked like a complete goon waving his arms for Sy to join him. The Carnival vanished without a trace (an extension of Rebecca’s power, perhaps?) and the cops just packed it in without even checking for residue or giving Lubbock his David Caruso moment. Blah.

As an aside, the episode featured a short film/advert on “Responsibility” featuring Masi Oka, and it was pleasant enough seeing him do the Hiro thing … but the ending, where the Token “Hot Girl” (Olivia Munn) is so impressed that she gives him his phone number? Trust me, that ish was the most sci-fi moment in the whole hour.

You know it’s sad when even the good episodes of Heroes spur a lukewarm response. Somewhat amazingly, there’s actually a campaign going to save the show from cancellation – no, really. More tellingly, even the little bits of good on the show don’t hold much water anymore, as we’ll see here …

Like I said in the review, the Hiro & Tadashi storyline was very strong when it could’ve been very badly handled by other writers *cough*TimKring*cough* … what’d you make of it?

Mahsino: It made me crack a smile a bit in spite of myself. I wish he would’ve thrown in the towel a bit sooner, but that’s just me. Unfortunatley I feel that at this point, any glimmers of good writing are just a horrible set up for a bad filler episode. Remember, for every decent story, there’s about 6=2 0episodes of filler-y crap.
Diana: Quite frankly, I wanted to go through my tv screen an push Tadashi over the edge myself. This could have been an opportunity to make Hiro’s character grow more seriously, but frankly the source of Tadashi’s “shame” was so trivial it mad me ill. Maybe it was an effort at humor, but I didn’t think it was funny. I would rather they had spent more time on Hiro confronting his sister over his illness.
Andrea: Diana, I’m with you—and Tadashi’s “shame” of getting fired over photocopying body parts plays into a persistent stereotype, namely that Japanese people are quick to commit suicide, which plays into a developing stereotype in the US of the “unhinged” Asian guy who quick to kill, himself and/or others. Hiro self-killing-under-the-guise-of-time-traveling is just a variation of that “suicidal tendency”—which is why I find this particular part of the character’s development downright disturbing.
jen*: Ditto Mahsino on the filler-y crap. And if this is what we’re accepting as “strong” storyline – my how our standards have fallen. A guy who keeps photocopying his butt at the company party? I thought that plot device went out in the 80s. I *did* like this ep better than last week’s, but I don’t even know what that says…

Anybody else wondering when Hiro’s condition was going to kick in? Methinks the countdown to Charlie’s return starts now …

Mahsino: I hate drawn out deaths. at this point I honestly wouldn’t be sad if they just killed him off mid time travel- at least that would be interesting and make them stop with this ridiculous pretense of diversity. And isn’t Charlie busy with Glee? Imjussayin maybe she might want to stay with a show that still has decent ratings and storyline.
Diana: I’m with Mahsino on this one, sad to say. They have compromised Hiro’s story so much it really doesn’t matter. Except that he and Ando seem to be the only source of melanin on the show.
Andrea: Ditto. And Ando is the sole source of swagger on the show.
jen*: Seriously – how was this trying-to-change-the-past-to-fulfill-my-destiny an illness-free pass until the end of the ep? Convenient. But maybe this is the ultimate method of killing off the last characters of color. Cuz once Hiro is gone, Ando and Kimiko can disappear a la Lyle, and Noah’s soon-to-be-ex. And the carnies can be different enough to stand-in for COC like Andrea talked about last week. You called it Andrea!

Samuel, of course, was not interesting – until we saw him cringe at the mere image of Noah on Lydia’s back. Anybody else think this makes it even more likely that Noah gets offed this season?

Mahsino: Come on, they can’t kill Noah Bennet, who else is going to drop everything to save Claire-Bear from horribly=2 0thought out actions? Peter’s too busy with his own issues, and Lyle and Sandra have been sent to their proverbial rooms never to be seen or mentioned again.
Diana: Nope. I think HRG is here to stay.
Andrea: Unfortunately.
jen*: I don’t think Bennet will actually die unless Jack wants to quit the show. Maybe Charlie can get him a walk-on on Glee?

As the time of submission, this post is just in time for Claire’s Big Kiss. Is there any way this could not go wrong?

Mahsino: Nope, it’s going to be as bad as expected, but then again I’m not really a fan of Katie Perry-esqe faux lesbianism for the sake of being edgy. I’m planning on wathing this on Hulu so I can skip that mess.
Andrea: I’m with Mahsino—this just comes off so “Girls Gone Mild” for ratings grab. So it’s so far gone on the wrong that….yes…. it’s heading to the ramp and…wait….is that a shark fin I see?
Diana: No. It would only be good if Claire still had her wig and it exploded during the Big Kiss.
jen*: Um. I’m still totally skeeved out by SWF Gretchen. And…just…no. Maybe the folks would recognize this for what it is if Claire’s old wig was actually on a shark that kissed Gretchen…with that “grr-argh” sound effect from the end of Joss Whedon shows – that’d be great!

Open Mic!

Diana: This show is on a fast track to nowhere.
Andrea: … so I tracked on over to Flash Forward to see how it’s going. I’m still at John Cho giving Gabrielle Union some glow and those two devastating the hotel bed. This I approve of.
jen*: Finally we got to see some on-screen connection! 20I was SO waiting for that. They’re a cute couple, but I need Cho to be getting more exposition – his storyline is way more interesting to me. And work everything out, cuz I think their couplehood is the new hotness. Overall, the mystery is a compelling story for me, and they’ve got me for at least this season. But wait – you were meaning about Heroes – oh. yeah.

Previously: Racialicious Heroes Archive

Finally, Fuller, not filler.

Could you tell it was Bryan Fuller writing “Acceptance”? What was your first tip-off? The lack of boredom or the narratives that actually moved people along in recognizable characterization? It’s too soon to call this a turning point, but at least we got to jump into this season’s Big Reveals in satisfactory fashion, with nearly everybody getting the wrong end of the stick for the right reasons.

The biggie, of course, is the apparent undoing of SyNate, the victim of his own goodwill after ‘fessing up to his mother’s role in covering up the accidental death of former girlfriend Kelly. An admirable move, usually, but not when Kelly’s the daughter of Angela’s best frenemy, Millie. Faster than you can say “Break yourself,” “Nate” gets jacked out of his car and shot and left for dead.

He wasn’t the only one trying to fix past mistakes; as we rejoined Hiro, he kept getting delayed from starting his Bucket List by Dial-A-Hero’s newest customer, Tadashi, a poor schmuck recently laid off from Yamagato Industries. What could have degenerated into Groundhog Day-style histrionics instead turned into a wake-up call for both men – and a potential sign of worse times for Hiro, who vanishes just after telling Kimiko the truth about his condition.

While Hiro and Nate took a turn for the worse, Noah and Tracy got closer to each other to fine, even if Noah needing a pep talk from Claire, of all people, probably just scared him straight more than anything else. Whatever the reason, Noah’s subsequent heart-to-heart with Chilly Jilly (along with the influence of Micah, perhaps?) steers her away from reclaiming her *ahem* “politics”-as-usual gig with Governor Malden. As an unfortunate aside: it appears Roundtable reader Tamara’s theory was shot down, and Tracy is not related to The Mysterious Lydia. But Tamara, thumbs up for suggesting a twist that might’ve been interesting.

Which brings us to the episode’s final image: the honest-to-Spock Sylar emerging from the ground following his assault. It’s tough not to interpret the scene as symbolizing any number of things: the triumph of a man’s true personality against forced conditioning; the unfortunate but irrefutable resilience of evil; or, perhaps most hopefully, Sylar crawling head-first out of the dirt stands in for certain other creative parties digging their heads out of … you know.

The Racialicious Scorecard:
Hiro, Ando, Kimiko & Tadashi: Yet again, the Nakamuras and friends deliver the most genuine emotion in an episode. Like I said earlier, this could’ve turned into a really bad series of caricatures, but thank goodness it turned out differently. Also, take note: Akihiro Kitamura, who played Tadashi is a writer and director in his own right – and he’s on MySpace. Cruise on by and give him props, won’t you?

Images and character bios courtesy of HeroesWiki
Previously: Racialicious Heroes Archive

“Ink”? The way this week’s episode slogged along, it was more like molasses.

The story, such as it was, mostly revolved around the Delusional Duo: Claire and Peter, who each found themselves being courted and, as usual, fell for it. In Claire’s case, not only did she tell the increasingly creepy Gretchen about her powers – not that she had much of a choice after her swandive out the window last week – but invited her to become her roommate, arguably just days after her former roommate was found dead outside her window.

A note of further explanation: the character of Gretchen has been crafted so ham-handedly it’s hard to get anything other than a Single White Female rip-off out of her interactions with Claire. If Gretchen is meant to ultimately be a villain, the surprise was lost long ago. If she turns out to be a quirky sidekick or a heroine, it’s liable to ring hollow after nuggets of dialogue like “some things are inevitable.”

As for Peter, at least his manipulation was carried out more skillfully, as The Mysterious Samuel, posing as an injured beneficiary of Pete’s Speedy Samaritan policy, ingratiated himself to Peter for reasons yet unknown. Apparently Sam wants Peter to replace his dead brother at the helm of the Mysterious Carnival. In a curious touch, Samuel follows up on Peter’s advice and visits his posh childhood home, where he’s turned away because the current tenants are having a party. You’d think that a guy as cunning as Sam would figure out that even non-carnival folk aren’t going to just let a guy in the door. But because he’s EEEVIL and Mysterious, he instead throws a sinkhole-sized hissyfit, while branding Peter with the Mysterious Compass Tattoo. At least it was on his wrist and not his lower back.

Along the way, we meet another new character – and thank goodness, because we don’t have enough people to keep track of on this show – in Emma, whose hearing impairment begins to evolve into an advanced form of synesthesia, as sound waves begin to look like waves of light to her, leading to a sweet Sprint advertisement moment where she can play the cello by following the colors in the chords.

Once again, it was up to Sylar to make the proceedings watchable, as his continued harassment of Matt Sr. during a stake-out and questioning of a suspect provided not just the episode’s only source of tension, but the unintended blessing of a perfect idea for a buddy-cop spin-off:

This detective’s new partner isn’t just in his ear – he’s in his head! Tune in for Two Of A Mind, Mondays on NBC!

C’mon, with Heroes’ ratings falling even further this week, you have to admit: that couldn’t be any worse than what we’re seeing now.

The Racialicious Scorecard
Nobody: At least not in the core cast; The Haitian got name-checked by Noah – as “The Haitian,” of course. We saw POCs as props and exposition points in the forms of Peter’s partner, the guy who served Pete his process from Samuel and Matt’s partner, but nobody of substance.

While we’re here, let’s bring in the Roundtable for their thoughts …

So, gang, just how bad was this episode? Has the shark truly been jumped?

Diana: Really bad.
Andrea: Diana, I was already a-cussing when they showed highlights from the boring-ass premiere–I really didn’t need to review my boredom. But I knew this show was aiming for the ramp when, yes, neither Samuel or his tatted synchophant, errrmm, girlfriend couldn’t tie a necktie. The show just went ::Bronx cheer:: from there.
jen*: I contemplated just cutting it off early, but instead I played games on facebook for most of the ep. After a fairly strong season opener [as compared to snoozers from most of last season], they immediately dropped back into the formula: Big Start, filler, filler, filler, Big End. Now, I only watch for the Roundtable.

As you know, I’m not a fan of how Gretchen’s character is being presented. But let’s get your thoughts on her.
Mahsino: Ugh. I’m not a fan. That is all.
Diana: She’s like every girl I tried to avoid in college.
Andrea: Ya know, I was sort of sympathetic towards Gretchen at first because she’s came off as socially awkward, even with her boundary-pushing comments about what happened to Claire in Texas. (How many of us haven’t done something similar in a social setting?) My opinion turned in this ep when Gretchen used her struggle with bulimia in order to manipulate the truth–and trust–out of Claire. That–and Gretchen–just aren’t OK with me now.
jen*: I knew she looked familiar! It’s Gracie from The Nanny. Just…not as cute anymore. And way more annoying. I feel like she’s only Claire’s friend right now so she can die in a later episode. Which I’m looking forward to. And no, I wasn’t really into her being a catastrophe-groupie of Claire-Bear’s, either. If these two end up kissing, I think it’s gonna be really skeevy.

On the bright side, as ever, is Sylar. Is it me, or is his quest for a body inadvertently turning him into a more sympathetic character?
Mahsino: Full disclosure time: Sylar, in that episode, is the same brand of asshole I am in real life, so the scenes between him and Matt warmed my cynical heart. The issue I had with the whole “kidnapper” plot was: who cuts out letters for ransom notes anymore? I mean really.
Diana: If he knew the perp was in the closet with a gun, he should know where his body is. I’m just sayin. Sylar gets no sympathy from me.
Mahsino: I think Sylar knows Matt pulled the ol’ switcheroo with his and Nate’s body, but he might not know where Nate is or necessarily how to get back to his old body.
Andrea: Hmph. The only thing I thought while watching him on-screen was, “Zachary Quinto? Don’t you have a Star Trek sequel to film or something?”
jen*: Andrea, I’m with you – Sylar’s in way more of this season than I expected…and I’m liking it way less than I expected. Maybe it’s because he’s in scenes with Parkman. I much prefer his time with/as Nathan. It was nice to see him messing with Matt, but then I felt like my time was wasted with all ‘body-in-the-closet’ business. I could’ve been watching last week’s episode of Psych that I needed to catch up on. (Dule Hill, Kenan Thompson, and Jaleel White? Hello!) However, I kinda like the moments of pure Sycrazy, like when Parkman sees Sylar’s reflection in the mirror, pulls his gun and whips around – as though he’s actually going to shoot him.

And then there’s Samuel. Who knew he was so emo?
Mahsino: Yes, that’s exactly what this show needs: another Hot Topic reject. At least he isn’t sporting the man-bangs to show how deep and complex he is.
Diana: Now, that’s how to leave a party. He may give Sylar a run for his money for the Heroes top body count.
Andrea: Emo? Really? See, what I got was an class stereotype–the embittered working-class stiff with attachment to/rebellion against the ruling class. And Samuel’s vague brogue just adds an air of “exotica” to the upstairs/downstairs/outside dynamic.
jen*: I was just getting the air of ‘spoiled-child-syndrome’. I suppose they’re going to stretch this Carnivale thing out as far as it will go – too bad they haven’t tried getting any of the writers … But carnie-tatt-girl still seems like more of a prop than a person. With such rich subject matter, so much more could be done. Instead, Sam imploded a house. Spectacular – but with no exposition? Still boring.

Open Mic!
Mahsino: I don’t get Emma’s character. Last time I checked, seeing sounds isn’t a special supernatural ability. I feel like she’s another possible love interest for Peter in which case I would tell her to ask him where Caitlin is.
Diana: Yes Emma’s character is a bit dicey. But it does look like she’s going to be Peter’s new love interest. He was quite enraptured by her fiddle playing. I was disappointed by the lack of melanin and the overall story line. FAIL.
Mahsino: I will say, there was a lot of color (albeit in the background) this episode. The extras were almost reflective of what I’ve been told New York is like.
jen*: Really? Another blonde girl? I think it’s super-cool that she can see sound – she should get her own show and forget all these crazy-Carnietrellis. Peter’s partner is probably the smartest character on the show, right now, and I hate that he realizes he’s been cast as the chauffer for Speedy Petey. But is the synesthesia supposed to be a power or not? Cuz It’d be kind of a downer to go from Speedy Petey to … musicvision. But wait – does Peter have Sam’s sinkhole ability now? They touched – right?
Andrea: My irritation with this show is how much it’s going the way of the X-Men flicks, namely the powers themselves are the stand-ins for all “difference,” including race and ethnicity. So, Kring and Co. can dismiss the actual characters of color because it’s taken care of via the abilities and the white people who have them. That’s how the behind-the scenes team think they’re getting away with this sham. As much as Kring & Co. may even feel they’re giving props to deaf communities with Emma, I wouldn’t be surprised if she suffers a mortal or vanishing fate like Mohinder, Micah, Monica, and the other CoCs because deafness may be too “real” for the Heroes creatives to handle. I echo Diana: total FAIL.

Images and character bios courtesy of HeroesWiki
Previously: Racialicious Heroes Archive

Heroes begins its’ fourth season Monday night in the throes of identity crises on- and off-screen: the show’s name doesn’t really fit anymore – almost none of the titular core cast wants to be “special” anymore, let alone superheroic – and its’ most important plotline centers around Sylar, a brain-scrambled villain.

Previously, of course, the Big Bad was brainwashed into assuming the identity of Nathan, and subsequently assuming control of a federally-funded successor to Primatech, headed by Noah. In a rare bit of storytelling elegance, this set-up isn’t too far removed from the future Hiro encountered in Season One’s classic “Five Years Gone” episode. The upshot of this figures to be more time watching Adrian Pasdar and Zachary Quinto play opposite/with each other as SyNate.

Otherwise, there’s not much heroism going on: Matt Sr. is not just dealing with the psychic residue of Sylar, but guilt over his role in covering up Nathan’s death. Peter, Claire, Noah and Angela, we’ve been told throughout the summer, are “trying to get back to normal life” – but nobody’s asking for them to be those people again; only for them to have grown beyond that point, and aside from Noah and Angela, we haven’t gotten that consistent character development.

The poster child for the series’ stagnant development, Hiro, might fare better, albeit because his character will be forced to deal with his power threatening his health. Hiro, along with Ando, will reportedly be trying “to help people” back in Japan as the season opens. What, Noah and “Nate” couldn’t spring for Mohinder to run a few tests? (Also, anybody else concerned at the lack of Mo in the preview clips so far? That can’t be a good sign.)

The fly in everybody’s ointment this year figures to come from the Mysterious Carnival – we know they’re Mysterious because they dress in dark colors and their leader, Samuel (Robert Knepper) seems to speak like an old-time … well, carny. They also figure to be at the center of the season’s payoff, as a preview clip shown at San Diego Comic-Con showed them shooting and burying SyNate … and Sylar emerging from the ground.

Whether Heroes itself can pull off that kind of resurrection is, honestly, doubtful. In fact, you could argue that the show’s original premise – regular people doing good for others – has been kept alive most faithfully not on tv, but in the Rebellion online comic, where Micah has expanded his REBEL identity into the Rebellion, a group out to protect metahumans. If the series’ current incarnation can’t pull out of its’ rating doldrums, the Rebellion might provide Tim Kring & NBC a ray of hope: move the whole franchise to SyFy, make the kids the focal point and start all over. Wouldn’t Heroes Reborn fit in nicely alongside Stargate Universe? Just sayin’ …
**********

As the rest of the Algonquin Snark Table prepares to dig into Heroes, here’s capsule looks at the other shows they’ll be keeping an eye on this season:

Diana
I love watching Sons of Anarchy on FX. It’s like The Sopranos, but instead of mobsters it features SAMCRO (Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original), a motorcycle “club” which engages in all manner of nefarious activities to earn cash. It’s a guilty pleasure because the show is so un-PC. The club members use racial slurs and profanity as a matter of course, gang rivalries break down along racial lines (the Nords who are skinheads, the One-Niners who are black, and the Mayans who are Hispanic), police are corrupt, full-on debauchery is a routine past-time, and violence, including murder, is a given. Hard to believe the show is supposedly loosely based on Hamlet. Something’s definitely rotten in Charming, California where the show takes place. The offensiveness is just so over the top that it’s fun. The characters say really bad things like, “Bad things happen to greedy whores.” They do really bad things like when Katey Sagal, who plays Gemma, the matriarch of the clan, hits a young thing in the face with a skateboard for sleeping with Clay, her husband and SAMCRO president, played smoothly by Ron Perlman.

Jax (Charlie Hunnam) is Gemma’s son, Clay’s stepson, and the “Hamlet” of the story. Last season, as SAMCRO was heavily involved in running guns, Jax was seen reading the journals of his late father, who originally founded the club, and questioning the direction Clay was taking it. This season it appears that Jax is stepping up to challenge Clay more directly and asserting his own authority. Since the feds have essentially shut down their gun-running business, SAMCRO will be getting into the porn industry. They also have a new rival in a white separatist group lead by Ethan Zobelle (Adam Arkin) and his thug (Henry Rollins) who in no uncertain terms have told SAMCRO to stop dealing guns to “coloreds.”

There is so much fodder here for any “-ism” you may wish to discuss, season two is surely going to be a bumpy ride.

Andrea
I couldn’t believe how utterly normal Flash Forward is, racially speaking. I say that with this caveat: John Cho deserves top billing over Joseph Fiennes, if we’re going by sheer star power because the man did appear in two wildly popular films in the last year…wait, let me correct that: Mr. Cho appeared in two wildly popular film franchises in the last year or so, one of which he was the star. Whereas, his co-star who did get the top spot on this new primetime sci-fi show hasn’t had stateside hit since Shakespeare in Love in 1998. Plus, Cho just has more sexy-funny charisma that’s needed in these end-of-days shows. In that “situation normal—all fucked up” sense, Flash Forward is not only normal, but typical.

Simultaneously, the show is also normal in the way that doesn’t make a big racial-moment deal about Cho or Courtney B. Vance as the head of the FBI investigation unit to whom Cho and Fiennes report their surveillance activities before they, everyone else in multi-culti looking Los Angeles, and the rest of the world have a collective blackout. Everyone awakens to smoke pouring out of skyscrapers, massive car pile-ups, major and minor injuries, and, in the case of the (white) teenaged babysitter who was having sex in Fiennes’ home while his (white) daughter slept upstairs, a prophesy by the child about there being “no more good days.” I, however, think Flash Forward has a few good days ahead…if the lead actors were switched.

Mahsino
I would’ve written on Project Runway, but since moving to Lifetime the show has gotten so boring, it’s not worth it. It’s almost as if they need to sandwich it between commercials of Real Housewives and the Rachel Zoe Project in order for it to be more interesting than it is. And on a technical level, the final products all seem like a steady parade of mediocrity trotting down the runway. There are no “wow” worthy dresses, and a lot of them look like they could’ve been designed by almost anybody. Last week they finally got back to using unconventional materials, but I think it’s saying something about a show when 2 of the main judges have been MIA for the past 3 weeks.

So instead, here are some scattered thoughts on the awesomeness that is Glee:

Choreographed dance, singing, and a lovable gang of misfits is a recipe for pure gold in my book. Yes, I’m aware of how incredibly dorky I sound whenever I talk about any sort of musical, but I like shows where I don’t have to think too much and there’s a happy message at the end. It’s why I watch Ugly Betty, and honestly, this is about as cheesy as Ugly Betty with snazzier musical numbers. It’s like the people at Fox were like: okay Mahsino, we know we took King of the Hill away from you, here’s our peace offering, we’re cool now, right? And while me and FOX aren’t totally square, I’m willing to ignore Brothers.

I realize that in terms of racial portrayals, to say that the stereotypes are troublesome is putting it mildly, but considering my favorite musical of all time is West Side Story, it’s safe to say I’m willing to put up with some cringeworthy moments in the name of a jazzy dance number (also see: my addiction to America’s Best Dance Crew). This isn’t to say that I don’t have my limits (it’s not like I’m about to pop in Song of the South) or that the portrayals of Mercedes (sassy Black girl) and Tina (silent Asian girl) don’t make me hang my head in shame, but at least Glee is getting better, which is more than I can say by looking at the previews for Heroes. In last weeks episode Mercedes and Curt got some depth. Now, I would like to hear Tina get to have a complete sentence worth of lines, but if I can stick with Heroes for 4 seasons, I can stick with Glee for a little while longer.

And really, who doesn’t appreciate a cappella renditions of New Jack Swing?
**********
Erm, not touching that one. But hey, tell us – what are you watching this fall? And stay tuned, so to speak, for more Heroes dissaction in its’ (final?) season!

By Special Correspondent Arturo R. García

These have truly been depressing days. Bad enough that the past few weeks of summer television hasn’t given us anything to rave about. But not even the bad stuff was inspiring – there was nothing that brought out the sweet, bileful taste of anger.

So thank you, Fox, for bringing Glee back into my life.

Like the Tea Party protests its’ parent network supported, this show is an astroturf “grassroots phenomenon” – not just a rip-off of both every other high school comedy you’ve ever seen but every recent musical Disney and Nickelodeon have shoved down our throats, but the new pet cause of a fanbase that can’t wait for Randy, Ryan and Simon to drive your parent’s pop hits further into the ground.

The series’ rise to prominence is especially disturbing when its’ characters of color make Long Duk Dong look nuanced. Mercedes (Amber Riley) is not small, calls co-protagonist Finn (Cory Monteith) “white boy” and “Justin Timberlake” compares herself to Beyonce – what the hell is wrong with Kelly Rowland? – and sings Aretha at her audition. Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) is Asian, Hollywood “gothy” and … well, that’s about it. At least she has hope for development in the future. And Principal Figgins is a relentless cheapskate, which I normally wouldn’t worry about except for the role being played by Iqbal Theba, who was born in Pakistan. But hey, at least Figgins isn’t driving a cab.

I really don’t want to be this skeptical, but when every character on the show is a damn caricature, and presumptive “hero” Will (Matthew Morrison) is an irresponsible manipulative wuss (he cons Finn into joining the team; he’s willing to leave his job without having another one lined up, despite his being a father-to-be), that’s the kind of reaction this show inspires – if you can’t root for your protagonist, you can’t trust your characters.

The musical selections are almost as played-out as the character types. The first episode’s finale, set to Don’t Stop Believin’, was bad enough in that it sacrificed what could have been good underdog stories about these kids learning to be a real choir for the sake of iTunes. But what really chops my hide is what’s to come: renditions of “Gold Digger” and “Push It” where Finn appears to get “funky.” You have been warned. And I’m rooting for Jane Lynch and the Jocks.

Man, that felt great. Let’s see, what else has been on?

* Bollywood Hero could’ve been fun, if it had really been about Chris Kattan, rather than “Chris Kattan.” Instead of CK honestly making a go of it in the Indian film market, though, we get a fish-out-of-water comedy about a B-lister in the sun. Bollywood is positioned as the Other Industry, and though Neha Dhupia, Pooja Kapur and Ali Fazal acquit themselves best (Rachna Shah, alas, gets turned into a “spiritual being”), this mini-series was surprisingly mundane for something shown on IFC.

* I don’t know what The T.O. Show was supposed to be, but it ended up being
unintentional (?) comedy gold. From Terrell Owens’ introduction every episode (“the most unstoppable force in football”? HAHAHAHAHAHA!) to the premise (How to re-humble a historically unfocused locker-room cancer? Move to L.A.!) to the “surprises” (Ex-girlfriend #whatever shows up at the wedding? No Way!), this show proves Owens would be better off competing with Mario Lopez than Larry Fitzgerald. At least in a dressing room mirror T.O. can see someone he loves every day. But, not ’til this season’s done – I drafted him for my fantasy football team. Go 4-points-per-reception stat-padding!

* Dating In The Dark offered a cringe-worthy moment in its’ fourth episode, when two POC contestants, Amit and Misty, reacted unfavorably to each other: Amit seemed to have a “Wow, you’re black!” moment, but in the end, his lack of height was too much for Misty to overcome. Interesting stat: apparently the women did more rejecting than the men by a wide margin.

* Now, here’s some good news: The Comic’s Comic reports that Tehran native Nasim Pedrad, a UCLA grad and member of the Upright Citizens Brigade comedy troupe, has been named to the cast of Saturday Night Live. Whether that means good characters for her remains to be seen. And, as you might have seen advertised on TV, George Lopez has his own talk show on TBS, debuting Nov. 9. As someone who’s watched the rise of Jimmy Fallon in horror, I can’t help but wonder if Lopez’s show will serve as a litmus test for future POC late-night hosts.

* And one final note for fans of the Roundtable: Heroes returns Sept. 21. That sound you hear is the sharpening of snark.

You didn’t think we’d forgotten, did you?

Actually, this is the perfect time to revisit Heroes, since Monday marked the efforts of Fens Of Color United, an effort to bring to light sci-fi’s continuing struggle with positive POC characters. (Props to Roundtable member Erica for the tip.) Here’s more about it from The Angry Black Woman:

As RaceFail 09[*] continues, it has become clear that there are those who are hellbent on marginalizing and silencing people of color. In the past few months, minorities have been denigrated by bigoted authors and publishers who have also asserted that Fen of Color are rare and pratically non-existent. Despite numerous discussions and attempts to enlighten on the fact that POCs are fans, writers, artists and just as integral to this genre as our white counterparts, we are continuously dismissed.

On Monday May 18, 2009, we are asking anyone who identifies as a POC/non-white to post this banner, their speculative short stories, artwork, poetry or simply write a post on their favorite fandom on their blogs as an act of protest to show we will not be silent or invisible. The day of protest is entitled Fen Of Color United or more aptly, FOC_U.

White allies can also show solidarity for this event by posting this banner and expressing the need for diversity and speaking out against the bigotry in the genre, through posts and/or their creative work as well.

With that in mind, we join our Friendly Neighbourhood Roundtable’s season-ending chat, already in progress …

Diana: Oooh, I hate the stanky leg
Andrea: speaking of stanky … shall we talk Heroes?
erica: nice tie-in
arturo: brilliant segue!
jen*: sho nuff
Diana: ok
mahsino: if we must
Andrea: i try, y’all. i try.

arturo: Well, let’s start at the beginning: what’d everybody think of the ep?
erica: bleah
Diana: C-
Andrea: zzzzzzzz.
erica: D+
mahsino: i’ve become so acclimated to the bad, i just don’t know anymore
jen*: i’m just mad about fake Nate.
arturo: how come?
Andrea: i feel you, jen. Go first.
erica: I was mad that they got my hopes up by actually stabbing him dead … and then couldn’t leave him dead for more than five minutes.
mahsino: that was frustrating
jen*: I hoped so long. It was my great wish for the finale.
arturo: but Nate *is* dead
mahsino: called it
arturo: yes you did

erica: The logic for resurrecting Sylar into Nathan was pretty weak.
Diana: That was a weird story twist. Does that mean we won’t see Quinto anymore?
arturo: depends; when does Star Trek 2 start filming? ha
erica: it hasn’t started filming yet?
Andrea: well, according to Entertainment Weekly he’s in the franchise for 2 more films.
mahsino: and yet they had the foresight to plan for his replacement
jen*: yes – but bewitching Sy for this – eh. It’s so obviously his Trek-out.
arturo: actually, E! reported that we *will* see Sylar next year — kind of a Fight Club thing, if you saw that flick
Diana: He can do both. Really he’s one of the few I like to see.
Andrea: I have to disagree, Diana. He bores me.
Diana: So they are going to do a dual personality thingy?
arturo: I imagine so — Sylar struggling to reclaim dominance and such.
mahsino: They’ve overworked Sylar
erica: I like to see Sylar in moderation.
Andrea: And Sylar’s gonna ooze out of Nathan. Already the man’s changing clocks.
Diana: I like it when he is really bad. They wasted time changing his personality.
arturo: Erica, I must say, I bought Noah’s rationale — if Sylar became a news story, metahumans would definitely be in the crosshairs.
jen*: maybe we could get the male version of Jessica and Niki
arturo: oh, just wait for that first “mirror” scene
erica: I want to see a scene like from Alien, where Sylar bursts up from Nathan’s ribcage and goes EEEEEEEEEE at all the Petrellis’ …
jen*: YES
arturo: And then he pops up and does a song?
erica: yes yes yes!
Andrea: LOL

mahsino: What was up with that creepy Claire scene?
Andrea: with sylar?
erica: OH GOD, that Claire scene thoroughly pissed me off
erica: What is the obsession the damn writers have with putting Claire in rape scenarios, though?
mahsino: but he was all over her like a bad episode of Law and Order: SVU
jen*: I’m tired of all the ladies being assaulted and it just being ok
Diana: I almost forgot the scene
erica: seriously, this much violent sexual imagery surrounding a seventeen-year-old is unhealthy.
Andrea: yep.
Diana: Claire should have figured Sylar was not Nate
mahsino: doubtful
arturo: She seemed to with the left-hand thing, but she was presented as being trapped there
erica: Claire has been put through literal and figurative rape way too many times, and it is getting seriously disgusting and creepy.
jen*: @ erica – totally with you – it’s creeping me out
jen*: why is everyone just believing people are who they say they are – because they SAY they are
erica: it’s bad enough doing it to all the other women on the show, but the minor?
Andrea: jen, the show has no logic….no goals….no storyline of note….
Arturo: Claire still can’t figure out what she wants to do from show to show. She has no role.
Andrea: except to be the blonde everyone wants to rescue or rape. Especially tim kring.
jen*: so – she’s a prop
Diana: they do compromise Claire too much
jen*: but HRG asked Claire if she was herself and she said yeah,and he just says, “ok.”
Diana: she needs therapy
arturo: they *all* need therapy
mahsino: except Ando

Andrea: Lawd jebus … can we talk about Mohinder?
erica: XD
Diana: I could see Mo in a UPS Brown uni
arturo: “What can Brown do to you?”
Andrea: or just nekkid.
jen*: heh
Diana: nekid is goood
erica: I was rolling my eyes yet again at “oh hey you’re a doctor” directed at Mohinder … he’s not that kind of doctor, for pete’s sake.
arturo: But, hey, he diagnosed Hiro by just looking at his pupils!
erica: it’s interesting to know that unevenly dilated pupils means “special power rejection” — I totally mis-diagnosed my spouse that one time he had a concussion.
Diana: yeah, poor Hiro
mahsino: what does he have a degree in, anyway?
erica: molecular biology, I’d imagine, since he’s a geneticist
mahsino: it seems to change from PhD to MD depending on the need
Diana: rabbit hole degree
jen*: I didn’t think it was MD, tho
Andrea: MD, PhD….whatever on this show, right?
arturo: a BA in Voice-overs
Andrea: Sexy Voice-overs at that.
mahsino: he does do a nice voice-over
arturo: That last VO sounded like some self-help ish
Diana: his voice is smooth
jen*: yeah – but it seems that’s all he’s doing lately
arturo: and getting captured
jen*: oh – forgot that
mahsino: and blamed for stuff
arturo: I didn’t spy any POC on the gurneys, did you?
Diana: No POC and don’t know where they were running off to
arturo: maybe off to a Wizards game? Plenty of good seats still available …
erica: hehehe
mahsino: zing

A brief aside about Tracy:
erica: but frankly I’m only hoping that so we are that much closer to getting rid of Ali Larter forever
jen*: naw – that’s Tracy
arturo: they’re not gonna ditch Larter — she’s a movie star now!
erica: bah. ruin my hopes …
mahsino: we still have Barbara to get through
Andrea: or another multiple-birth sister.
jen*: Oh for the days of Nikki and Jessica
mahsino: co-staring with Beyonce does not a star make
Diana: Yes, exactly
arturo: Mike Myers can tell you about that
mahsino: or the other Destiny’s Children

Andrea: Should we watch anymore?
jen*: I think I probably will
mahsino: i’m going to see it through til the end
arturo: judging by the finale review thread, I guess I keep having to. ha.
Diana: only to snark
mahsino: it’s entered that level of bad – only surpassed by grey’s anatomy
erica: yeah, I have no interest in seriously supporting it, I only want to complain
jen*: since we’re starting over at season 1, maybe it’ll be good again
jen*: except there’s no D.L. anymore.
Andrea: only to snark. but the promise of Heroes was that it had PoCs rocking the storylines.
jen*: I got folks on my facebook talking about how Kring crapped on the POCs of Heroes
arturo: actually, he didn’t just squander [that promise] — he publicly turned his back on it with that “it’s always been about the Benetrellis” statement
mahsino: i never bought he gave a sh-t
Diana: The Benetrellis are crap
mahsino: to him, i think POC’s were just filler characters, easily expendable in order to provide growth and development for the Benetrellis
arturo: but at least their own subplots — Hiro’s hero quest, Mohinder’s quest for the answers — were compelling on their own. And in year one, it seemed they were mixed in with the two families better, like Future Hiro’s encounter with Peter
jen*: but they’re not growing
Diana: that’s too bad. the diversity and interconnectedness made it refreshing
Andrea: after a while, yes, that’s how Kring shook it out.
mahsino: which makes it worse

Andrea: any more questions, Arturo?
arturo: Yup: PREDICTION TIME!
Andrea: like Indiana Jones, everyone goes off into the sunset.
Diana: Tracy drowns all the Heroes, the end
Andrea: Diana wins!
mahsino: Sylar returns, and somehow so does Nate. Claire gets almost raped. Hiro learns a lesson. Mohinder runs a test. repeat.
erica: my prediction: we suffer through another few months of dreck … or would you like something less serious
jen*: Hiro and Ando go back to Japan and find his sister in charge of the company – and then they find that she has powers and there are way more Japanese heroes than anyone thought
erica: “hiro learns a lesson” — what would possibly make you think that?
Andrea: not again!
Diana: I marry Ando and have an affair with Mo
mahsino: um, Diana, that would be difficult seeing as in make-believe world I’m totes already married to Ando
arturo: I’d like a Mexican Hero
mahsino: would you? Imagine how bad a Mexican hero could be
erica: … actually you probably wouldn’t want a Mexican hero … remember just a scene IN Mexico?
arturo: I know, I know
Diana: that Mexican car horn started going in my head
Andrea: right.
mahsino: didn’t they have that soccer-playing dude from the web-series?
arturo: but, hell, if every other country is going to get wrecked, in the name of unity, I want in.
mahsino: i see your point
Diana: swine flu tie in, ya’ll
jen*: they should have the dead POC heroes haunt the Benetrellis
mahsino: it’s time for them to recycle themselves by now
Andrea: i stand my my suggestion: Heroes need to go porn.
arturo: talk about a Crimson Arc
Diana: porno, yes yes
jen*: bam chicka bow wow?

And on that slightly lascivious note, we close out this season’s worth of snark. As I mentioned here, upon reading the results of the recap thread, I’ve decided to endure stick it out with this series. Thanks to everybody who’s been reading so far — now stay tuned for the ‘Table talking about something that doesn’t stink!

Previously: Racialicious Heroes Archive

—-
*Latoya’s Ed Note: Trying to write about Race Fail ’09 is like trying to jump into an increasingly complicated game of double dutch when you aren’t wearing your glasses.

Here are some places to read more:

A short summary of the first major event
“Race Fail ’09″
“Race Fail ’09: This Hurts Us All”
The Race Fail ’09 Wiki
Entry on Mammoth Fail

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

A note about this week’s especially tardy report: Monday morning I had to undergo an emergency wisdom tooth extraction. The procedure required more than the usual amount of local anesthetic to prep me, because for most of the previous 10 hours, I’d felt like the tooth had grown flaming tendrils designed to stream shards of glass down my jaw and up my temples, despite my efforts to contain the pain; literally, I was popping antibiotics and pain relievers at a rate that would give Hollywood starlets pause, and it didn’t help.

I tell you all this because the experience was less frustrating than the latest season finale for Heroes.

True, “An Invisible Thread” did give us a pair of sincere OHMYGOD moments. But even when it’s good, this series can leave you dissatisfied. Why all the filler between the killer? The best and worst aspect of the episode was, it made stuff like 1961 look even more pointless in retrospect. And it brings other uncomfortable questions to mind:

1. Will less episodes mean more good episodes?
Advertising Age recently reported that the show is getting trimmed from 25 episodes to 18-20 eps next season. From the examples given us by British television, that could bode well.

At the very least, it could mean we don’t have to wait for months while the Benetrellis and friends run around in circles before finally getting their crap together in the proverbial nick. This time, the First Family ended up outwitting Sylar before he could fulfill his Presidential aspirations.

Again, though, let’s stop and think for a sec: exactly why did Sy want to usurp President Worf’s form? If his motivation had been to follow through on Micah’s idea to repeal the persecution of metahumans, that might have made things more interesting. As it was, we got a solid 40 minutes of Zachary Quinto getting his Snidely Whiplash on – which, hey, the guy is good at. But we’ve been here already.

This time around, the Heroes’ victory was costlier than usual. As Roundtable member Mahsino predicted last week, Nathan and his eyebrows were cut down by Sylar and his eyebrows. The scene and its’ aftermath, with Angela losing it at the sight of his body, were each gruesome in their own ways. But Angela’s and Noah’s idea to “save the day” — using Parkman to brainwash Sylar into believing he is Nathan, was, admittedly, clever in its’ own ugly way – it’s the kind of f’d up gambit the two old pros are used to after 20 years in the life, although Parkman, still very much a do-gooder, is already chafing under the guilt. But HRG’s explanation is the right one: Sylar becoming a news story would only have made things worse for everybody with powers, and their families.

So, in the next volume, “Redemption,” one can expect to see Mr. B and Mrs. P try to both keep SyNate under control and guide Primatech’s rebirth as a government agency. But, see, consider one thing about these past few grafs …

2. What will the series’ POC characters matter in the grand scheme of things?
Now more than ever, the answer seems to be: not much. The overarching plotline would seem to not feature any POCs. And in Volume IV, remember how Rebel and his mission – shepherding metahumans to safety – was seemingly so important early on? As soon as we saw it was Micah, the character and the story were dropped, aside from last week’s run-in with Sylar. Previously, Claire and Hiro had received communications from Micah; do their cell phones not have a Reply button? And this is without bringing up the rest of Micah’s family being brushed off over the course of the series.

In “An Invisible Thread,” Hiro manages to get his own mini-arc, as he defies the pain his powers are now causing him to “shut down” Building 26 and free Mohinder and the other imprisoned superhumans. He also saves Noah from getting betrayed by Danko. But witness the cremation scene: only Hiro, Mohinder and Ando are still part of the main ensemble, three characters out of a POC group that numbered seven in Season One – nine, if you count Charles and Kaito.

And of these three, only Hiro has been mentioned as having a subplot in the upcoming season, as he continues to struggle with his powers. Some predictions: next season, Hiro’s going to go through a Flowers For Algernon-like journey designed to be “emotionally wrenching.” Ando will get his own costume. And Mohinder will get manipulated by somebody while providing the voiceovers.

3. Why should anybody stick with this show after the past couple of seasons?
Honestly, I couldn’t tell you right now. And coming from a guy who was positively enthralled by Heroes’ first season, that’s a tall statement to make. The show that seemed to be on a path to expand racial dynamics in sci-fi on tv isn’t even a very good sci-fi show anymore – let alone a positively diverse one. The show has lost its’ direction, its’ heart, and most damningly of all, it’s lost its’ point. It has been passed by, creatively and/or commercially, by the likes of Lost, Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica, and, hell, arguably even Dollhouse.

So we come to you, dear readers, and ask: should we even care about recapping this show anymore? Several people at The R have written in that they don’t even watch Heroes anymore, or only watch it because they want to snark at it with our Roundtable. That is the saddest commentary of all on a show that once held so much promise: that it’s just around for us to laugh at. Much like my Monday morning, after the pain and the frustration, the season and this series have only left me numb.

Next Week: A special chat with the Racialicious Roundtable
All images courtesy of HeroesWiki
Previously: Racialicious Heroes Archive

One episode left in Heroes’ season, and the major players are coming together again in order to … uh, save the country from themselves. Or something. We’ve got villains riffing on the Obama campaign, a family pledging to work together for about two minutes, and one brave Roundtable willing to make sense of it all for you. So here we go!

Forget saving the country; with Tim Kring writing the closer, can the Heroes even salvage their season?
Mahsino: No. It’s like we aren’t jumpin’ sharks anymore, we’re jumping humpback whales. This show half-past ridiculous, how many times can we say “this changes everything” in one episode?
Jen*: I don’t see Kring saving anything. An hour’s not long enough, anyway. Something Arturo said was on my mind as well though – every series doesn’t have 10 sucky ep’s to have 2 good ones – why is Heroes like this?
Andrea: Ever since Kring went on his blame-the-fans campaign, I felt he lost interest in saving this show, and this season was another example of his neglect. I’m surprised NBC let him get away with this, considering how rough network TV’s having it these days.
Diana: There’s nothing to save. They didn’t even keep with the theme of this chapter. It’s just been a hodge-podge of crap all season.
Erica: The only possible salvation is that overused classic — it turns out it was all a dream and we can ignore it all!

Let’s talk terminal! Who do you see getting offed and why?
Mahsino: Nate’s getting offed. This show isn’t big enough for both Nathan and Sylar’s eyebrows.
Jen*: If wishes came true. I’ll take the obvious choice: Danko.
Mahsino: Somehow I manage to forget about his presence as soon as he’s not in the shot. I second that recommendation.
Diana: I’m with Jen on this one. Once Sylar pulled that knife out of his head, my thought was, “Danko the troll is gonna get it now.”
Erica: Yeah, Danko goes bye-bye. Sadly, much as I wish Nathan would finally give up the ghost, he’ll be sticking around to give Peter somebody to whine at.
Andrea: What? As much as we carry on about her, no one wants Claire offed? Or better yet, the show’s wigmaker? (The former ’cause she has to be about the most useless main character, and the latter…well, look at what zie’s been putting on the former’s head.)
Mahsino: Much as I might wish it to be so, I just don’t see her biting the bullet- that would just make too much sense.

Was anybody else half-wishing Hiro and Ando would ask Matt, “Hey, aren’t you gonna tell your wife about Daphne?” Or am I just mean?
Mahsino: Janice looks an awful lot like Daphne when you look at their faces. And my, my, Matt forgot about Daphne real quick.
Jen*: I was just thinking that he had an awfully short memory to forget Daphne so quickly. Especially with all the cheese of a mock trip to Paris in his arms – how many eps ago?
Diana: You’re right, Matt really isn’t acting like a man who lost the love of his life and that makes him really flaky. To be fair, in this episode, he didn’t have time to have a heart to heart with Janice. And honestly, would we care at this point?
Erica: Care? No. Matt’s certainly not the man he was a few seasons ago (hell, he’s even forgotten about Tortoise; WHO IS FEEDING TORTOISE!) and while I still find him one of the most likeable guys, the competition from other male characters is pretty crap.
Andrea: But, honestly, y’all, Daphne was a pretty forgettable character, so I’m not going to fault Matt for that lapse of memory. Hell, I forgot about her … but then, I own my meanness, too.

So are we supposed to believe that Hiro is FINALLY over it as far as Ando’s powers? And what do you think of “The Crimson Arc”?
Mahsino: Okay, so I know this is really kinda out there, but the Crimson Arc totally seems like a euphemism for menstrual cycles.
Jen*: Please don’t say it. Don’t say what I’m thinking. You did! You said it. AAGH.
Mahsino: Come on, it was sooo awkward and obvious. Hiro even called it unfortunate.
Jen*: Of all the names. Why Crimson?
Diana: Mahsino, you are so right. LOL I have to pop a Midol just thinking about it.
Erica: Gah, THAT’S why it weirded me out, hahaha! We just learned there aren’t a lot of female writers on staff at Heroes … (Oh, and Hiro’s just finishing his usual “I learned something” cycle, which he completes every 28 days season.)
Andrea: Which, Erica, brought on my usual eyeroll.

Open Mic!
Mahsino: So on the plus side: Danko finally took the damn shot.
For the negatives (and there’s lots of ‘em), the whole implied “all Asians look alike and therefore interchangeable” bit is getting a bit tired. It wasn’t cool when Dollhouse did it, it isn’t cool when Heroes does it.
And through this whole Sylar arch I was thinking to myself: is Sylar supposed to be Norman Bates 2.0? I about turned it off when we played the “interacts with ghosts card”. Some might recall, that’s what made me jump the Grey’s Anatomy ship. The only thing saving Heroes at this point is the Roundtable. And just how did they find Mo’, but not the Benetrelli’s in the desert again? Do the cameras only pick up colored presence?
Jen*: I wanted a Sylar/Micah dream team SOOO bad! Sylar can work things out with his dead mom a la Psycho, but a live boy with awesome techno-powers? Can’t get along. Eh.
Mahsino: Really? I thought Micah had a distinct Magic Colored Boy Who Brings A Conscience to the Troubled White Fella feeling from the whole ordeal.
Andrea: Co-sign, Mahsino.
Jen*: I can see that – but could they not have been a bit awesome together? Maybe I just want Micah to get more screen time, but, they could’ve really sewn some things up. Considering Micah seems to have locs on all the relevant heroes. Also, I’m dreaming of someone throwing a knife into the back of Nathan’s head. That’d make the finale really sing.
*I’m not sure how we were supposed to take Sylar-as-Nathan’s speech about the president and “change”, but it felt really weird to me. I’ve always felt more comfortable when Heroes stays in more of a fantasy world, and doesn’t try to make comments on real life. This was…can’t-put-my-finger-on-it…uncomfortable.
Mahsino: But him meeting the President “changes everything”. Plus, I’d rather Micah just not get dragged down with this ship at all.
Jen*: But you know he still has some weird connection to Tracy – who *Is* coming back. Somehow. So, there’ll be that.
Mahsino: Either her or Barbara, the triplet/quadruplet (since I guess we’re supposed to have forgotten about Jessica.)
Jen*: I wondered why they listed them as triplets and there was no Jessica. Sometimes I think the writers didn’t watch the first season.
Diana: I really wish someone would tell Nathan he can’t fix jack *&@!! and then punch him in the face. And what was that Sylar/Nathan channeling Barack Obama change speak? Can the writers on this show come up with anything remotely original? On a more positive note, I did like the the Sylar-Micah interaction. Micah has the ability to tame a psycho with his purity of heart–that was a nice touch. But with Sylar, nice can only last for so long. At this point, I’m thinking they should just scrap Heroes and have two spin-off shows:
1. The Adventures of Hiro and Ando; and
2. The Sylar Chronicles. The little boy who plays Micah has his career ahead of him and should find a better vehicle for his talents.
Erica: YES, I want to see Micah in other things too. (Preferably not The Sylar Chronicles, though. I’m thinking an hour of all-Sylar would get dull quickly, despite the fact that I like Zachary Quinto.)

I think Sendhil R.’s expression here is pretty fitting for the season so far. Time to Caption The Pic!
Mahsino: he’s totes doing the whole MySpace “angles”. I could totally see him thinking “This is gonna be my Profile pic” as he took it.
Jen*: I’m getting a flashback to the “Whasssssssssssssssup!” commercials…
Diana: Look at me, I’m so pretty.
Erica: Mmmm… I’ll lick your ear if you lick mine!
Andrea: Ummm…..uuuhhhh……excuse me, Roundtable. ::leaves computer and grabs vibrator::

And on that uh, romantic note we’ll let you go for now … This week, the big question: Who still has any patience for this show anymore?

Top image courtesy of Greg Beeman
All other images courtesy of Heroeswiki
Previously: Racialicious Heroes Archive

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Give credit where it’s due: writers Adam Armus and Kay Foster took a premise that could have imploded big-time – Sylar coming unraveled – and turned “I Am Sylar” into a taut, capable lead-in to next week’s season finale.

Tying it all together, of course, was the Big Bad’s stumbling all over his new power. The story starts 18 hours before the final shot of “1961,” as we see the implausible occur: the Man with the Plan losing himself so badly in his new shape-shifting power, he wakes up wearing the face of a recent victim. Things get so bad for him he actually takes advice from Danko, who wants nothing more than for his heaviest hitter to keep racking up the metahuman notches.

Along the way, though, an equally unlikely voice emerges on Gabriel’s other shoulder: the much-missed Micah. Whereas maybe even a few weeks ago, Sylar would have shredded Micah like so much confetti, his state of confusion allows the kid to urge him toward something better. That appeal gets Micah a reprieve and an assist from Gabriel, but it opens up a whole other can of worms.

See, Micah’s pep talk seems to lead Sy toward dreaming big – like, Presidency big. It also, however, references Sylar being the one to ultimately stop the superhumans from being hunted. And here, in a very nice touch, is where the Benetrellis rejoin the story, with Nathan promising to stop his newfound doppelganger on his own. So now we face two questions: who’s the bigger dead man walking between Nate and Danko, and is there a chance Sylar could (gulp) sincerely want to do the right thing here?

The episode also took promising steps in bringing more of the major players back to the nation’s capitol in the name of the right thing: Hiro and Ando, er, the Crimson Arc make their way to Building 26, where they hope to … uh, it doesn’t seem like they even know what they’re doing. Worse yet for them, just before they stage their assault or whatever, Hiro’s power shorts out, hinting at more than just emotional damage. And seemingly not far behind is new papa Matt, whose sense of duty pulls him back into action, and away from his seemingly reborn family ties.

And not far behind any of them are the rest of the First Family, who are sure to figure in next week’s proceedings, for better or worse. The biggest question I had coming out of this episode was: why do we always have to go through 8-9 weeks of mindless chaff with this show before a (usually) passable end to the Volume?

The Racialicious Scorecard:
Micah: Ask and we shall belatedly receive, I guess. The upside to Rebel’s sporadic appearances is, he’s not around enough to be damaged by the creative team. His breakthrough with Sylar, however implausible, was a feel-good moment and provided a nice counter-balance to the “talks” Gabriel was having with his interpretation of his dead mother.

Hiro & Ando: Another week, another adventure toward couples therapy. This week, we learned that Hiro is apparently “a little fascist.” Well, yeah, the guy is short, but Ando might have been over-swinging there. As Hiro learns (again) to get over Ando’s own heroic ambitions, though, his time-freezing power glitches, hinting at deeper problems ahead. Oh yeah, one more thing: can somebody write Hiro to call more people BY THEIR FIRST NAMES?!

Mohinder: Doing the voiceovers and getting shot and captured. Some things just never change, right, Mo?.

Next Week: Tim Kring’s writing the Volume IV finale – what could go wrong?

Micah & Sylar image courtesy of Comic Book Resources
All other images courtesy of HeroesWiki
Previously: Racialicious Heroes Archive

Oh boy, where to begin with “1961″? With the awkward, Forrest Gump-ish approach to reframe the Heroes canon into pre-Civil Rights Act history? The needless retconning of two previously admirable minority characters? The continued hammering over the head with how “special” the Benetrellis are?

Actually, this time we’re starting off with a different type of Open Mic; Roundtable member Andrea had expressed some concerns with me about the imagery dredged up by the family’s digging through the metahuman camp. I wanted to give her the space to elaborate, and then get our other members’ responses.

Andrea: As I told Arturo and Mahsino in emails, I’m really sick and tired of the show playing hopscotch with events surrounding human-rights violations and figures–and doing it in such a contrived way. From namedropping (Harriet Tubman, Che Guevara) to framing their struggles with the gub’ment (Abu Ghraib), these pop nods are, I suppose, to show the show’s profundity and relevance, of showing the creative team’s understanding the ramifications of societies dealing negatively with difference, but it just feels shallow…and pushes the show to further irrelevance. And it’s kinda ironic, considering how the writers push the characters of colors further to the peripheries of the storylines with each season, if not outright killing them. ::sigh:: And this week, we get images of internment camps/mass burials wrapping around the poorly done story of Bennetrellis and the Company’s origins. I was really put off.

Erica: I hate it when historical tragedies are given trite treatment like this. Japanese internment camps deserve more respectful coverage than, “Oh, by the way, something similar to our current fictional portrayal happened before, and it was bad, so this is bad.”

And yes, Peter, Angela could have told you all about this in a restaurant, but then how would she have desecrated the graves of dozens of victims (including her parents and, to the best of her knowledge, sister) of a paranoid government? “Oh, Nathan, while you’re digging there, be sure to get your grandfather’s watch, I’m sure he wanted you to have it.”

Mahsino: You know, this whole thing probably could’ve been made interesting if they brought in Hiro and Ando. At lease with them there, it wouldn’t have made the reference to Japanese internment camps seem so out of left field.

Diana: They are definitely trying too hard. The show was much more interesting in Season 1 when we were getting glimpses of the future which was a whole other reality. They’d be better off if they created another reality with its own rules and quirks. This following the topics of the day is unimaginative, lazy and just makes  the show more soap-opera-ish.

jen*: This ep really pissed me off. A filler episode dealing with internment camps? Angela’s treatment of the memory was none too respectful, either – considering those bodies were supposedly of her family. Then, after the dust literally settles, it’s all buried again.  No more bad memories – let’s make a new company!

I didn’t buy the resolutions for either Chandra or Mohinder — the former looks like a weasel and a liar compared to his S1 self and the latter is wallowing in even more self-pity than usual. Your thoughts?
Andrea: The only bright spot was when Alice told Chandra that he had a funny accent and he snapped on her: “So do you.” The. Perfect. Shutdown. Other than that, I felt conflicted about him: I always felt the story about Chandra was that he let his science get in the way of his compassion and, perhaps, morals. I would say Chandra was more complicit more so than duplicitous. Just like his son.

Erica: This is what I truly hate about retcons. A character that we formerly respected is now portrayed as a complicit jerk. I have to totally change my conceptions and try to reconcile Young Jerk Chandra with Concerned Scientist Chandra, and it doesn’t fit well and I’m getting peeved. (NOT a good way to keep the fangirl happy, Heroes.)
Jen*: Shoot. I’m starting to wonder if the writers are actually going for new viewers, and don’t care about those of us who’ve been watching from the beginning.

Mahsino: Was it just me, or was this week’s episode really anti-Asia? What bothered me the most was the implication (from Alice’s reaction to Mohinder) that all Indian brown men look alike and are evil (sounds mighty familiar). And I thought Chandra Suresh didn’t have any concrete knowledge of people with special abilities until his daughter was born (which would probably been after this whole deal).

Erica: I also had a sneaking suspicion that Chandra was inserted to make this look less like the fault of Americans. Americans wouldn’t put people in camps for experiments! Look, here’s this foreign doctor, HE’S running the tests!

Mahsino: I was just about to say that, great minds…

Erica: Maybe the writers are retconning their own idiot prejudices. Heroes writers wouldn’t discriminate, LOOK at ANGELA dancing with CHARLES! Oooooh!

Mahsino: Which makes the j-bomb even more ridiculous. With that whole racist fry-cook scene, I probably would’ve been able to handle Charles’s slip up if the fry cook had called him the N-word instead of pussy-footing the authentic racism of that time period.
jen*: Yes. That. The 60s in the Midwest and the cook is the only person who says something?
Diana: Chandra and Mohinder both come across as tools, constantly being manipulated and co-opted by those seemingly in charge for the moment. They don’t have a backbone and are just plain uninteresting. At least Hiro and Ando are enjoyable to watch. If they are not going to let Mohinder do something more interesting than chasing down pointless rabbit holes, they can at least let him spend the time shirtless. Give me something to work with, pleeeeeeaaaaase!

Jen*: Chandra sure didn’t seem that much [or even any bit] older than Angela in the first season.  Is the show an exercise in discontinuity, or what? I’m just mad that Mo’s the only one who seems to be affected by the gravity of what happened at Coyote Sands.

What in the HELL was with Charles using a slur?
Andrea: I thought, “Oh no that Negro didn’t!” I know a commenter said the slur would have fit the times. But then that argument could have easily justified using the k-bomb, too. No, just as I thought the writers could have had “Americans and Japanese” come out of Charles’ mouth, they could have had him say “Nazis and Jews.” It was too much racial epithet reverb going on, esp. since the writers thought they snatch a major piece of Japanese-American history for their own silly-ass storyline.

Erica: I agree. It isn’t inconceivable that a 1960′s teenager might have chosen to use that term. But who cares? It didn’t add anything to the scene (indeed, that ethnic slur detracted from Charles’ point that there was a strong pattern of abusive detention of innocents). It didn’t add anything to the character of Charles Deveaux, who is well-known to be dead and therefore not in much need of development. So there was nothing positive from including that, and a lot of potential negatives. It’s hardly the first time I’ve been infuriated by the narrow-minded idiocy of the writing staff, but I had hoped the “shakeup” in staff would have changed things.

Mahsino: When I first heard it, I winced. Weird thing is, it took me until Thursday to realize that they have two Japanese characters on the show- which made it even more offensive. Those guys still have to show up for work knowing that there are some writers who think it’s cool to throw that term around all willy-nilly. Also, I’m interested to see how Charles and Hiro’s dad got along with that attitude – oh, wait, I think we were supposed to throw continuity out the window.

Diana: I think the writers think we are totally stupid. There was no need to use that slur coming out of anyone’s mouth, especially out of a black male. Anybody with half a brain knew just by looking that it was an internment camp and did not need to be beaten over the head that it could be compared to internment of Japanese-Americans. Duh, already, damn.

Jen*: Erica’s right about it not being inconceivable, but coming out of a young [handsome] Deveaux’s mouth it was all kinds of wrong [for the character, the writers, the show, etc.].

In honor of this week’s dull-as-dishwater episode, let’s get EXTREEEME with Nathan & Matt in Caption The Pic!
Erica: (Matt) You got peanut butter in my chocolate! (Nathan) You got chocolate in my peanut butter!

Diana: I’m too distracted by Matt’s hat to comment. Definitely a fashion no no.

Mahsino: (Nate): THAT HAT MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE A TOOL WHO’S DESPERATELY HOLDING ON TO HIS YOUTH . (Matt): NO IT DOESN’T IT MAKES ME LOOK HIP AND COOL.

Andrea: So this is how Tonsil Wars goes.

Jen*: Oh if only we could see the invisible battle between their breath (imagine wispy smoke trails holding foils). Nathan: I had an onion bagel – take that! Matt: Hello! Sauerkraut wins!

Host’s note: I’m jumping in on this one!
Arturo: Matt and Nathan debate the defining question of these tumultuous times: Astronauts or Cavemen?

Cristine Rose’s performances have been a saving grace for most of the past few weeks. But Angela came out looking pretty bad here, too, wouldn’t you say?
Erica: I was quite pleased with Alice’s departure… a simple “no” and flying out the door. You go, girl! Unfortunately, we had to suffer through 40 minutes of emotional drivel and implausible drama. I would have loved to see more Alice in future shows, though — refreshing to see a female character without makeup and a tidy, complicated hairdo.

Mahsino: So, mama Petrelli had an affair with Hiro’s dad, she married Peter’s dad, and now we know she had a thing with Charles Deveaux (which makes me wonder if Peter’s relationship with Simone may have been a bit incestuous- which I wouldn’t put past the writers). What’s next, was she Elle and/or Matt’s real mom? Their parents were in the original Company.

That being said, the Petrelli women have an awesome hair game. Kudos hair and wardrobe- now about Claire …

jen*: I also got to thinking about Simone after this ep. I wondered about her origins, but also – shouldn’t she have had a power? Alice does. Looked like their dad did [wasn't that him with the wavy power coming from his hands?]. So how come Simone didn’t have one? Supposedly they *gave* one to Nathan, so even if she’d been born w/out a power you’d think … eh that’s far enough on that tangent.
Diana: With all that lead-in, I was pretty sure that Mrs. Petrelli had actually killed her sister. She’s so good at toying with people as an adult, I would have thought she’d be at least a little less of a model child. With that said, I wish Alice had turned out to be more bad-ass instead of looking like she lived with a thousand cats. Wild hair doesn’t have to mean crazy.

Jen*: Angela came off as a complete jerk to me. Just expecting a sisterly reconciliation after FIFTY years [nevermind that they don't seem old enough for that amount of time] by saying, “Hey, sorry! Let’s go home.” – that doesn’t sound like Angela. Then, after seeing that her sister is a lil bit crazy – she decides to tell her the truth anyway? THAT doesn’t sound like Angela, either.

Later This Week: Set phasers to Kick-Ass! President Worf returns!
Nathan & Matt image courtesy of Greg Beeman
All other images courtesy of HeroesWiki
Previously: Racialicious Heroes Archive

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

“You could have told us all this in a restaurant.”
– Peter Petrelli

It’s never a good sign when Petey’s argument makes the most sense. But he’s exactly right — “1961″ was, quite the pointless trip in the wayback machine, an ostensible origin story for the Company wrapped around a maudlin effort at “reconciliation” for the Benetrellis.

Picking up from last week’s events, the family comes together at Coyote Sands — the site, it turns out, of a metahuman relocation camp and some sort of subsequent massacre involving the members of Angela’s family. But the vacation’s not all fun and tomb-raiding; the former Angela Shaw is there looking for her sister Alice, who was apparently so traumatized that she’s been living in a bunker at the camp for more than 50 years.

Think about it for a second: a firefight involving superhumans at a government facility, and the site is still wide-open? And, there’s evidence of spontaneous weather patterns generating in this one particular zone and nobody – not even Primatech — sussed out something weird was going on? And the camp can’t be as remote as we were led to believe if the nearby cafe has been able to stay in business this whole time. Surely somebody would have noticed a weird woman wandering around town?

For all the (literal) Sturm und Drang kicked up here, none of it ultimately matters a lick in the bigger storyline. Alice disappears (or something); Claire and Noah make up (for now); and so do the Petrelli boys (for now). Until their next pissy argument erupts; then it’ll take them four more months to figure out that, hey, the world might be going to pot again.

It’s not literally until the last minute that we get a bit of plot development: Sylar has somehow taken on Nathan’s appearance – have they even met? — and is impersonating him in front of the media. Wouldn’t all that time spent chasing ghosts in Arizona have been better spent preventing this from happening?

The Racialicious Scorecard
Charles Devaux: Who’s the handsome black chap callin’ people Ja-Shut your mouth! … For the most part, the young Mr. Devereaux we saw here was a complicated man (though Angela seemed to understand him). But seriously, that out-of-nowhere slur scripted for him was completely at odds with the serene, sympathetic Devaux we met in season one. (Not quite as jarring but also incongruous: Roy Orbison’s “Crying,” featured in the episode, was actually released in July 1961, months after the events depicted therein.)

Chandra and Mohinder: Like father, like son, in a bad way – we didn’t get a satisfactory resolution for either character. We saw Chandra conducting interviews and holding up a gnarly-looking syringe, but writer Aron Coleite pussy-footed around any hard evidence that the elder Suresh himself was doing anything harmful to the people at Camp Notanxmenripoff. Worse yet, after spending most of the episode in disbelief that his father would do such things, Mohinder begs off when offered the chance to actually confirm his suspicions. Instead he separates from Peter and company with some vagaries about seeking “Redemption.” Since that’s the title of Volume 5, it’s likely we’ll find out more about Mo’s quest next season – but what a lackluster way to seemingly write the guy out.

All images courtesy of Heroeswiki
Previously: Racialicious Heroes Archive

What can you get from a first encounter? As our Roundtable demonstrates this week, plenty. We begin this week’s installment with a scene that the show’s creators might not have thought too much of when they wrote it. And about the giraffe … uh, don’t ask.

A friend of mine asked why the Asian trucker Hiro and Ando encountered annoyed me. So here’s the thing: the scene took what could’ve been a poignant (or even pleasant) moment – Hiro and Ando meeting a second-generation immigrant – and reduced it to a cheap “good ol’ boy” punchline. Grafting a stereotypically “white” persona onto a person of color doesn’t make it any less of a caricature. But what’d you make of that scene?

Diana: The funny thing is, I actually knew of an Asian kid in high school that spoke with a very strong Southern twang, so the Asian trucker thing really wasn’t that far-fetched to me.  Although, I will admit that everytime I heard this kid speak, it was always surprising to hear that twang coming out of someone who looked like he did. So aside from the comedy, I thought the Asian trucker character actually forced you to think about stereotypes and assumptions people make based on someone’s looks.

Mahsino: While I see where you [Arturo] are coming from in terms of offense at the trucker being a punchline, but I actually found it kind of brilliant. The longer I think about this, the more I think I liked it because it challenged the Heroes definition of what it means to be American. Think about it, all the characters of color (with the exception of Micah) are imported from somewhere else. I think that’s what was so jarring about the trucker being American, and why it made sense for Ando to assume he was Japanese- because really, besides silent extras one could assume Americans (except the president) are all white and Minorities are all foreign given how the Heroes-verse operates. Long story short- I liked the twist. Now whether I liked the actual lines the trucker got are another story.

Erica: I wasn’t sure about this scene when I watched it, and I’m less sure now. My intial reaction was, “Oh, that’s convenient, they meet a Japanese trucker.” Then he talked, and I said, “ok, my bad, Japanese-American.” I like Mahsino’s explanation of the positive interpretation you can have of this scene, and showing non-Benetrelli Americans can only help this show’s dismal portrayals of reality. But at the same time, it still just doesn’t feel right — and if I’ve learned anything, it’s that something that makes me vaguely uncomfortable has a good chance of outright offending somebody else, so it’s probably not good.

Jen*: I like the actor, so when I saw him (before he said anything) I was like H&A – wondering. The accent got on my nerves a bit, because it seemed forced, and I’m not quite sure about referring to Japan as “the mothership”. But it definitely breaks the monotony of every American being either Black or White.

Andrea: I agree with you, Arturo. As I said on your OP’s thread at The Instant Callback, “That, ahem, ‘Texan twang’ coming out of the Asian-American trucker’s mouth was just awful. The accent missed the mark of a Texan accent and even a Southern accent. It’s as if the director just gave the actor the direction of, ‘Give me your best stereotypical Southern!’ ‘No, more stereotypical ‘hick.’” Nooooo, more stereotypical ‘trucker.’ NO!!!! More ‘Southern Hick Trucker!’” So it wound up sounding like the horrendously caricatured mess that insulted my ears when I watched the ep. And out of that, it was another Asian character to be laughed out, the butt of a joke. Sorta like Hiro (98% of the time) and Ando (60% of the time, 100% of the time this week.)”

Speaking of H&A, even as they got rerouted back toward the main plot (via a car advert), I got this weirdly passive vibe off them. Your thoughts?
Diana: Again, they were used to intersect plot points for the non-PoC and for product placement. ::sigh:: But I enjoyed Ando making those silly faces at the bambino.

Mahsino: Really? I actually hated that Ando was reduced to a walking anime parody. And beyond the wrongness of it all, Hiro could’ve just frozen Ando’s face.
Diana: Given that Hiro supposedly kills Ando in the future, I don’t think freezing Ando for that purpose would have been good for their friendship. LOL

Erica: They’re just there to provide Teh Silliness. I like comedy, but I’m starting to get BORED! They aren’t even making their own choices anymore; last season they were manipulated by Papa Petrelli, this season they’re working for Rebel. (Comic relief pawns… Rosencrantz and Guildenstern come to mind.)

Jen*: I’d love to see a complete weird segment between H&A as Tom Stoppard gives R&G with the coin-flipping/tennis references (Like in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead). Because right now – they seem like they are completely for the service of other heroes. Are they getting extra perks from Nissan? Cuz this seems like a throwback to Season 1 in the Versa, and they’re the only ones involved in car sales.

Andrea: Passive, yeah, Even more, helpmates to white characters’ development, namely giving Matt Parkman someone else to love– his child. We got to see Matt become more complex human being (He has love, compassion, and rage wrapped up in one body! Wow!) and Hiro and Ando as some most excellent babysitters.

One more shot of Hiro, as he’s the star of Caption the Pic!
Diana: I went to Somewhere in Africa and all I got was this stuffed giraffe who keeps giving me the stink-eye.

Mahsino: I’m just going to back away slowly on this one.

Erica: I’m coming to save you, Usutu!
( Diana wins this week’s, I think.)

Jen*: I’ll take your word for it that it’s SFW … but I’ve got nothing on this one.

Andrea: Another -1000 points on the Masi Oka Dignity Scale.

Prediction time: what are the Benetrellis going to find in the Arizona desert?
Diana: Aside from the skeletons we’ve already seen? A spaceship? Bad cheese? The Haitian? (BTW I think that actor is now on Fringe. Hopefully he has a real name and a substantive role on that show.) I hope they find a clue.

Mahsino: I think we all know the answer to that question: we’re going to find a contradictory flashback (are we supposed to forget that Papa Suresh only had proof of people with abilities based on his daughter and theories?).

Erica: Lots and lots of sand. (Oh, and a contradictory flashback. Ignore all previous realities!)

Jen*: Claire’s long-lost great-auntie, queen of the wigs.

Andrea: The skull and the buried-conspiracy talk are red herrings. They’re really looking for ways to salvage their careers.

Open Mic!
Diana: I just don’t understand how Danko has game with the ladies. He looks like a troll. He looks like the back end of a troll. He looks like Gollum sans the CGI effects. [Is that you, my Precious?] Did I mention that I find Danko butt ugly unattractive?
Of all the acting on the show lately, I thought the baby did a really good job. It was cute how the baby Matt interacted with big Matt, but big Matt needs to go ahead and get a paternity test ‘fore he’s on the hook for back child support. Also, I liked how Sylar totally effed with HRG’s head. HRG needs to be knocked down a peg or two. His righteous immorality gets out of whack sometimes.

Mahsino:
* The baby totally phoned it in.
* So in case you weren’t keeping count there were 2 (count ‘em 2) instances where Danko could’ve just shot Sylar and been done with it.
* I was actually moved by the scene between Noah and his wife. Yay for keeping it real?!
* I also love how the heroes have learned nothing about paternity. I would’ve loved to see Matt show a little skepticism about the real lineage of his kid (or was the fact that his name was Matt Jr. good enough?). How quickly he forgot about Daphne though …

Erica:
* I loved the scenes with Noah and Sandra. Is it Sylar? Is it Sandra? Will Mr. Muggles get his pills? It was good drama — HRG is a pretty good actor when he has decent material to work with. (Of course, I don’t really understand why HRG decided to hide out in the middle of Arizona, but that’s the writers’ fault.)
* Matt’s instant baby bonding was a little annoying (as Mahsino said, shouldn’t he have been going, “Uh, no, that can’t be right, where’d you get this baby again?”). But, with the number of bad-relationships-with-daddy that Heroes has, they NEEDED that moment of true parental love. Contrast Matt’s big hug and smile with Nathan’s conveniently-vanished sons, Sylar’s shocking daddy issues, Papa Petrelli, the dysfunctional overprotective HRG-Claire relationship… it was nice to have another rare happy parent scene.
* So, Danko calls his girlfriend up and sobs that his alter ego is “the man he really wants to be.” I’m pretty sure he picked a Russian ex-prostitute specifically because she’s in need of guidance or education (I’ve told you to use English, Alena!), and also is likely to need the occasional rescuing from angry pimps. I don’t buy his “oh yeah I totally want to be that good guy” routine, he’s an ugly person inside and out.
Mahsino: But hey, at least they’re expanding to white stereotypes. Hooray equality! White, Blond, Russian “Escorts” are a network staple (Life, Law and Order, now Heroes).
Erica: whee, equality. So it wasn’t just me expecting Benson & Stabler to walk in.

Jen*:
* Co-sign w/Diana – Danko is butt. I couldn’t figure how the shapeshifter thought he could get a lady [in a club! with actual attractive guys (sans gov't paycheck)] by taking on Danko’s ugga-mug. But whatever – Danko gets ladies, and Hiro doesn’t get anyone since Charlie – and Hiro is cute. More stereotypes, please?
* I still don’t understand why the Benetrelli’s are out in the desert digging up skeletons. Angela and friends took the time to bury people separately, but they couldn’t even get a pine box? And what’s the point of digging them up?
Erica: I was just impressed Angela threw them each a shovel and said “start digging”… and they all did, without any objection. And those were some pretty massive holes!
* Ando should get a prize for that making-Toddler-Touch-n-Go-happy face, and Sandra needs to work on her Sylar – her face kept twitching. And Matt needs to go see Maury.

Andrea: I thought I was wrong for making fun of Danko ’cause I thought he wasn’t getting any. But you all …”Gollum w/out the CGI?” LOL But this week, we now now Darth Vader’s little bro is getting some — from an ex-prostitute. (Though I still not sure how “ex-sex worker” Alena was since the escort service still called her, and she thought Parkman was another client. That situation was a bit mushed for me.) That was trite because not only plays to the idea of Danko “saving” Alena (good call, Erica), but also the idea that no one could love someone so evil except a hooker, as villified and demonized as prostitutes are. Of course, her heart of gold–and total naivete–allowed her to love Danko. Then again, didn’t she get “rescued” again by Complex Matt the Good Cop, complete with new kiddie?

As for everything else on the episode? Well….congrats to UNC and UConn for winning the NCAA titles!

Top image courtesy of Greg Beeman
All other images courtesy of HeroesWiki
Previously: Racialicious Heroes Archive

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Like a bad ’80s thriller or the opening of any “CSI: Miami” episode, “Heroes” wasn’t about business this week. Instead – pause for Caruso Pose – it was personal.

At the center of the grudge matches was the show’s new Dastardly Duo, Sylar and Danko – who, it turns out, does have some game with the ladies. Seems America’s Top Lawn Gnome, besides being married to his job, had himself a girlfriend on the side, a former call girl named Alena (Blonde #2,560,742, if you’re keeping score).

At least, he did until Matt Sr., seeking revenge for the death of Daphne, outed the “Hunter,” a confrontation that leaves both men emotionally broken. Lucky for Matt, not only is he rescued from the wrong end of the gun by Hiro (with an assist from Mohinder), but his mood brightens considerably when Hiro introduces him to a new reason to keep going – his own flesh and blood. The shot of the two Matts in the park, with Hiro and Ando, provided a smile-worthy moment.

While Matt rediscovered his sense of family, Noah saw his start to unravel in earnest, thanks to Sylar, who set out not to kill HRG, but “to destroy him,” personally and professionally. The cat-and-mouse game between the nouveau shape-shifter and the professional paranoid seemed to bring out more sincere evil in Gabriel than even the showdown with his dad a few weeks back.

Credit here should go to the cast members (Jack Coleman, Ashley Crow and Zeljko Ivanek) who aped the Big Bad’s Sylarisms when the occasion called for it, as Sylar’s powers pushed Noah into both a marriage-ending confrontation with Sandra (further props here to Coleman and Crow during a wince-inducing scene) and a career-killing showdown with Danko and some of his shock troops – HRG turns out to be right, but at the cost of the political capital he’d been building for the past few months.

In the end, the former spook is forced to turn to his own family for support, as he joins Angela and the rest of the Benetrellis in bumfu-k Egypt Coyote Sands, Ariz., where, it’s hinted, some heavy ish went down back in the day involving herself and, presumably, the original group of SuperFriends. And as the family digs for answers out in the desert, Mohinder is doing some digging of his own back in New York – it appears his own father was entangled in this web, as well.

Next Week: Everybody into the TARDIS, ’cause we’re going back to 1961!

The Racialicious Scorecard:
Mohinder: Speaking of being involved in stuff that actually matters on the show, the younger Suresh got a couple of nice moments: he not only seemed to finally mend his friendship with Big Matt, but his off-screen phone tip enabled Hiro’s last-second rescue. And his burgeoning quest to find out the extent of Chandra’s involvement with the metahumans of the past promises to make him – I hope – a player in whatever events close out this season.

Hiro & Ando: On the bright side, it was nice (if a bit implausible) to see Team Yatta make its’ way from literally the middle of nowhere to the right place at the right time. At least they mattered again in the proceedings. But their continued politeness just annoyed me this week. It’s one thing for them to be cordial to the “Asian Redneck” they encountered on the road, but after all this time, you’d think they felt comfortable enough to refer to their friends as “Mohinder” or just “Matt.” BTW, about said Redneck? I place him in the same category as the “La Cucaracha” horn and the name-dropping of Harriet Tubman – the less said, the better.

Micah: I want to talk about Micah here because his lack of involvement since being outed as Rebel a couple of weeks back only confirms a lot of folks’ worst fears. One of the season’s most-touted mysteries has seemingly been tossed aside, when it wouldn’t take more than a line or two since then (like Mohinder saying,: “Rebel arranged a flight for me.”) to establish that he is still acting as the Heroes’ agent. After all the emphasis on Micah’s spiriting metahumans to safety via members of the core cast – like, say, Baby Parkman – to not even mention him lately smacks of creative laziness.

Previously: Racialicious Heroes Archive
Images courtesy of HeroesWiki

The Algonquin SnarkTable continues to grow this week, with the addition of Jen* and the return of Hexy to our ranks! Did they pick the right week to come back? Well, let’s talk about that …

What’s more improbable: that Nathan & Claire made it from the U.S. to a tourist town in central Mexico unscathed (if broke), or that seemingly the only Mexicans they managed to interact with were a hotel clerk and (presumably) whoever got them the tequila shots?

Mahsino: Just to be devil’s advocate, Heroes never has had a good grasp on geography (see Africa, Somewhere In). That being said they could have easily avoided this mess by sticking to the formula of leaving the location broad- they already set the bar low with the Botswana and Haiti fiascoes. Hell I would’ve bought somewhere near a college campus in southern Texas for believability. And I mean, let’s be honest, having actual Mexicans in Mexico is irrelevant: how else do you measure the quality of a place if not by it’s white-western occupants?

Diana: At first it bothered me that they went to Mexico and only interacted with one Mexican –the hotel clerk–in a country full of PoC. I will say it was priceless when the hotel guy assumed Nathan and Claire were there for some nookie. Gross, but priceless.

Jen*: K, so Nathan flew them to Mexico, with enough cash for 1 night at an hourly motel? Their relationship has always skeeved me out, but now, I roll my eyes with the hotel clerk. Blech. What else would anyone think? That does look like Elle’s hair, though. But wait…Nathan was in the Navy, stationed in the Philippines? That’s a reveal I wasn’t expecting. I also wasn’t really expecting any Mexicans in Mexico. Oh, and I was kinda ticked about how Claire had to take off her shirt to start drinking. How old is she again?

Erica: Heroes showed Patzcuaro as Tijuana (dry dusty streets), or at least what I think Tijuana looks like based on Hollywood’s perception. Doubtless the pictures on the Patzcuaro tourist information website are the “best” of Patzcuaro, but it does NOT look like a desert.

Hexy: Anyone remember when this show not only had a range of POC in it, but had a range of POC as well developed central characters? I’ve never been to Mexico. I would imagine, though, that it does actually contain Mexicans.

Andrea: I’m surprised good ol’ Nathan didn’t have any cash on him. But then again I shouldn’t be, I suppose, considering how deeply he effed up this whole “Get the Powers People” campaign. I was actually more shocked at his ‘do this week. The front looked like it was in perma-windgust. As for the show’s representation of Patzcuaro: the words “lawsuit from the town’s chamber of commerce” comes to mind.

On the flip side, would you call the lack of script interactions (aside from that damn “La Cucaracha” horn) with the native populace “good news”? I mean, at least Nathan didn’t try to seduce anybody like he did in Haiti, right?

Jen*: Shoot, I’m just glad there are no characters known as “the Mexican,” or that they didn’t just happen to stay with Maya’s family – since she’s Latina, and Mexico = South America, right?

Erica: Perhaps we should be happy that Heroes’ stereotypes are expanding beyond people and including whole countrysides — “All of Mexico is dry and full of ‘La Cucaracha’ horns, right?” It’s depressing how much we need to lower our standards to find “good news” on this show

Andrea: I’m *still* pissed off about that **(^*%&% horn.

Hexy: I don’t think I could have handled a second bout of “I’m a US Senator and I can save you!” But then, perhaps the implied offer to rescue Mexicans by taking them back to the US would have hit a different note than rescuing Haitians.

Mahsino: As soon as I heard that damn horn, I knew we were in for a doozy. Actually we don’t know that he didn’t try and “seduce a native”- Claire was asleep for part of that trip. Jussayin’. Also, I sort of took the same attitude I have whenever I see a horrible movie when a POC role is given to a white actor (cough *21* cough). Yeah it sucks, but did we really need to attach an actor of color to such a horrible vehicle?

And as for the assumption of Claire being a hooker, I’m going to have to disagree. Let’s look at the whole situation with a “beginner’s eye”. You have a young girl with a preference for plastered (80′s day glow) make-up and a cheap wig checking into a hotel with a disheveled, slightly-older looking gentleman to whom she bares no familial resemblance… Call me a bad feminist, but I know my hooker-sense would have been a-tinglin’.

Diana: The less interaction the Benetrellis have with random PoC the better. If Nathan or Claire had more significant interaction with the locals, I am sure some stupid nonsense would have gone down.

What did you think about Peter & Angela’s turn toward the spiritual?

Erica: Like my reaction to Nathan’s “deep spiritual experience” last season, I was annoyed by Peter. “Hmmm, my mom is sad, I’ll go argue with this statue” — that scene lacked conviction, and felt contrived and therefore intrusive. In contrast, I was not bothered by Angela’s opinions; she described her relationship to religion (and that cathedral) as long-term, a place where she had often sought solace and tried to reconcile her sins. There was depth there, not just prayer as a last resort.

Jen*: Angela’s lines were thoughtful and interesting. I could believe it. Peter’s angry-at-everybody speech seemed rather childish. And his request for Jesus to “show up” reminded me of church when I was a kid. Peter better watch out. When Jesus shows up – He shows out.

Andrea: The whole sequence screamed of “Acting with Jesus Will Get Me an Emmy Nod/Win.” I’m not going to say that Jesus hung up from the mainline, but I believe He definitely wept at the pathetic ploy.

Diana: I buy that Angela would seek refuge in a Catholic church. It’s sort of gangster. But Peter? Not so much. His character just seems more and more contrived to me. But now that this spiritual edge has been thrown in, there’s more of a good v. evil paradigm.

Hexy: I thought Angela’s Catholicism rang true, and I actually really like the concept of Peter as a lapse Catholic. It makes his guilt complex and desire to be a saviour to the world and to his loved ones a bit less random. I don’t know, however, if I bought his prayer. It seemed a bit contrived and unlikely. And the “hiding in the confession booth while Angela confesses to Peter” thing bordered on slapstick.

Mahsino: Simply put, I don’t. It was there, it wasn’t horrible. As you said in the recap, it was a filler episode so I can only judge it against other useless episodes (most of season 2 for instance). The only thing that bothered me was Peter’s whole attitude of “God owes me”. Now, I’m admittedly not religious at all, but I’m pretty sure that’s not how the whole faith thing works. Really dude? You asked to be extraordinary, and you were. With that extraordinary ability you did the right thing (mixed up with horrible decisions) a few times- do you want a gold-star? That attitude in real people annoys me, so yeah, it kinda irked me when Peter pulled that ish. Now if it were Angela, after her eloquent explanation of her faith, I could have bought it, it just seemed arrogant and forced.

Speaking of Peter, he’s the star of this week’s Caption This Picture!

Andrea: Hugging Chewbacca won’t improve your acting skills, son.

Diana: Peter: Take that Han Solo! The Wookie’s my sidekick now, B-tch!
Chewbacca: Waaaaghhhh! (Help me.)

Mahsino: I know it’s the angle of his body, but I find the position of his hand (parallel to his chin, which one would logically assume to be the center of his body) to be a little problematic. And the face … it’s like everyone in the cast got a lesson on the first day on how to try-and fail- to do sexyface. Scratch that, sexyface generally tends to fail 60% of the time every time, so I won’t single out the Gentlemen of Heroes (a decent calendar idea for a collection of average to awesome-looking guys).

Jen*: “I met a wookie in Rome and we’re getting married!”

Hexy: I want to photoshop in the little red sparklies around his hand that indicate he’s stealing someone’s power.

Erica: Trust Peter to attempt the ultimate fashion faux-pas: wearing real fur. (At least he didn’t kill Chewbacca first.)

Really, could Sylar do a worse job as Top Cop if/when he replaces Danko, and would anybody notice?

Erica: NOBODY could do a worse job than Danko. (Except maybe Claire, who seems bad at everything.) I was rolling on the floor when Danko challenged Bennett with, “You need a win much more than I do.” REALLY?!?

Jen*: I hate Danko. Not cuz he’s a bad guy … just cuz he seems so … flat. Sylar does his homework, so I think he could fool HRG for a couple episodes. Everybody else would be clueless.

Diana: The whole Danko-Sylar cop thing in the nightclub reminded me of a bad episode of Miami Vice, except I don’t know which one’s Crockett and which one’s Tubbs. But you’ve brought up a good point, letting Sylar get that shape-shifting power was probably a bad move on Danko’s part. There’s no reason for Sylar to keep Danko once he gets access to the others.

Mahsino: Sylar already has the pouty-brooding look down, all he needs to do is add a Napoleonic complex and he’ll be set. I actually forgot about the game, I don’t drink, but I totes would’ve downed and Icee in the spirit of the game. I’ll keep it in mind for next episode.

Andrea: The Bad Dude/Worse Dude thing added nothing to this week’s episode, though I do think Sylar would run a tighter ship than “I Ain’t Getting None and Look It” Danko, and without the faux-motivational speeches. Bless Sylar’s hungry-caterpillar eyebrows.

Hexy: Everything in this episode involving Danko and Sylar was awful. Sylar was out of character (or rather, out of whatever little character consistency he’s managed to retain) and Danko’s actions just made no sense at all.

Open Mic!
Diana: Claire’s wig looks better with bangs. That’s the best thing I can say about this episode. BIG YAWN.

Erica: Did Claire have Elle’s hair this week or am I crazy? Also, I hope everyone was playing the Heroes’ Drinking Game along with us this week — as once again somebody has the ultimate opportunity to take out Sylar, but instead decides to have a nice chat.

Hexy: I am glad that someone in the costume department finally figured out that wigs with fringes look a lot more realistic than wigs without. I’m occasionally a blonde for work, and without the fringe my wig would look as ridiculous as Claire’s old one. Also, while I would have accepted Claire’s inability to get drunk simply on the basis that it works for Wolverine, her explanation was stupid. I’d love, however, to see a scene where her mum demands to know when exactly she discovered this side effect of her power

Jen*: I have become a Quinto convert. Need more close-ups! Dude is hot.

Andrea: Who won the NCAA finals, again?

Otherwise, I’m waiting to see Rebel/Micah reveal that he’s been living with his cousin Monica, who’s making a living as a yoga instructor. And she’s about to become famous for doing a perfect copy of Beyonce’s Single Ladies video that Micah posted on YouTube. How many placeholder episodes do we have before another good one?

Mahsino: Elle’s hair was wavier, Claire’s looked more like mine when I try and do that on a humid day. Also for Claire, was it just me or was her drunk acting way more convincing than her normal acting? I know this upcoming episode is supposed to be th episode that explains it all, but don’t they tease us with that every season? I already checked out the spoilers and I’m gonna hope for sunshine and prepare for a downpour of rain.
***********
One final note before we depart for the week: I Just wanted to share this neat little (SFW) video Zach Quinto and some of the cast took part in as part of the New Year’s festivities for the city of Bordeaux, France.

Images Courtesy of HeroesWiki, except for the Peter/Chewbacca pic; I don’t remember where I dug that up (but I do know it wasn’t a furry site. No offense meant to anybody out there who likes to get their Crash Bandicoot on.)

Previously: Racialicious Heroes Archive

By Special Correspondent Arturo R. García
Also Posted At The Instant Callback

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Are people’s expectations really that low for this show anymore?

Going into this week’s episode, the word seemed to be good from my friends: “Heroes ftw” one said on twitter; “we’re on an upswing,” another told me this morning. Really?

I didn’t even mind that this was a placeholder episode; everybody needs those, I get that. But Sylar and Dudley DoWrong playing Law & Order: Superhuman Unit to track down a fugitive shapeshifter was by far the most effective plot in “Into Asylum,” which in itself was nothing more than passable.

Not to say that our latest installment of As The Petrellis Turn didn’t have bright spots: Cristine Rose and Milo Ventimiglia each showed some more welcome shades of humanity in Angela and Peter, respectively; and best of all, no Mexicans were harmed in the filming of the Claire-Bear Goes To Mexico sequences.

In fact, Claire was downright clever in using her regenerative powers to swindle a spring-drunk American coed out of his drinking money. But the ensuing reconciliation between herself and Nathan just felt hollow, because if there’s one thing we’ve learned about this family – and Angela herself copped to this in her confessional – it’s that these folks are always gonna make the wrong choice.

Speaking of bad decision-making, the point of all those shots of Danko shaving and listening to oldies finally came through – the poor grunt is more EEEEEVIL than he is smart, and he finally came undone this week, not only teaming up with Sy but flat-out allowing him to get the power Sylar has been after since early on in the series. What’s the over/under on Gabriel turning on the “Hunter” and taking his shape – and his spot? Two episodes?

Near the end of the episodes, we got what was meant to be a dramatic sequence featuring the Petrellis and Claire walking away from their latest crises of faith and haircare. The problem for the series has been, we’ve always gotten this sequence, or some variant of it, where the First Family suddenly decides to stop practicing cranial-rectal exploration and get down to business.

And by this point, all I can say, again, is, really? After all that’s happened they still need to hit rock bottom? In his monologue at the church, Peter made a compelling case for him honestly wanting to do some good in the world. But heroism, as any comic fan can tell you, is about more than good intentions; it’s as much a job as a calling – with the same demands when it comes to your choices and your skill-set. And if the smartest people you know are manipulators and outright killers, you need to step up twice as hard. Here’s to hoping this latest family turn toward … well, outright intelligence sticks.

The Racialicious Scorecard
There. Now you’ve seen more POC core characters than were featured this week. And, hey, it’s one thing for the show to rotate featured cast from show-to-show; that’s the nature of an ensemble.

But, setting aside for a minute the convenience of Nate and Claire being safer in Mexico Hiro was on his native soil, what struck me most was, for all the talk about making things right, nobody – not even Claire – thought to mention Micah, who has been the most consistent force for good throughout this volume. And consider that last week, not only did Micah stick his neck out for Tracy’s sake, but Hiro and Ando willingly traveled cross-country to save a kid that doesn’t belong to either of them, and Mohinder has sacrificed himself for Matt’s sake a few weeks ago. When the time comes to pay off the “Fugitives” storyline, will the POC characters matter?

Previously: Racialicious Heroes Archive

Title and Claire images courtesy of HeroesWiki
Angela/Peter image courtesy of Comic Book Resources
Hiro/Baby Matt image courtesy of Greg Beeman’s Blog