In lieu of a Round Table this week, allow us the opportunity to focus on a significant issue we have with the third volume of Heroes.
As always, a disclaimer: consider this an example of tough love. We look forward to the show every week, but can't sit idly by while such lazy, illogical story telling takes place. We also invite all readers to respond to this critique in our Comments section. Now, on with it...
Heroes is a show about regular people that acquire special abilities.
The third volume of the series, however, has focused on these individuals going to great lengths to prevent others from acquiring abilities; in other words: Claire, Hiro and company are using their powers to act HEROICALLY... in order to cease the spread of similar abilities because that would supposedly lead to the end of mankind.
But aren't these same abilities exactly what enable our Heroes to act for the greater good?
It's a good thing Hiro can use his abilities to help save the world.
Isn't there a major continuity problem in having someone with abilities use those abilities to prevent others from acquiring abilities. Follow all that? It can't be any more confusing that the story line itself.
We know that Peter saw a vision of the future in which everyone possessed a power and this led to an uncontrollable, dangerous society. Okay, we can buy that. Here's a novel idea to counter that future:
Why not give the abilities solely to a select few? Perhaps those that are well-trained in combat, those committed to protecting America and its interests, those like... the Marines?
Granted, we stole this idea from someone else: Arthur Petrelli.
Indeed, we can't help but wonder: what was so awful about Arthur's plan? Would anyone object to U.S. soldiers possessing abilities that would give them a significant advantage over our enemies? Was it ever explained why Arthur was such a villainous individual, if his grand vision was simply to create an all-powerful army?
If such information were ever leaked, or such powers ever given to the wrong individual, the world would be in trouble. But that's no different than the modern day creation of the nuclear bomb. Is America a world villain for possessing this powerful weapon?
Moreover, the formula can apparently take away the same abilities that it creates. That's the only reason why Mohinder was committed to perfecting it in the first place, right?
So, to review:
- The formula is being given to U.S. Marines;
- We can monitor their progress and take away the abilities if necessary;
- And the entire third volume has been dedicated to the prevention of this outbreak of abilities... by those that are living proof that abilities are often used for heroic purposes.
Does anyone else feel like we've wasted the last three months of our lives watching a story line that never placed the world in danger? Write in. Let us know your thoughts!
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36 Comments
December 9th, 2008 3:56 PM
I think they want to stop it because it can turn wrong. Look at Sylar, Arthur, etc... all turned wrong! It's probably to avoid that.
And I don't think I've wasted my time, I still enjoyed it! I love Sylar back as a villain, he's less anoying. Yesterday's episode was a great one for me!
December 9th, 2008 4:44 PM
Was it ever stated for sure that it can remove abilities? I always thought that it was Mohinder being confident in his abilities to reverse the effects once he knew how it worked.
Being that it needs a catalyst to even work at all, wouldn't it need some other sort of similar event to make it able to take them away? Perhaps with a completely working formula Mohinder can figure it out anyway, I guess.
Ignore this if it is already a fact that abilities can be removed via the formula ;)
In any event, the heroes are motivated by a future where the powers escape and get into the public one way or another. Seems like it gets out beyond the marines and 'trusted' individuals, and that is why Peter and company want it stopped, whether or not it sounds like a good idea for America at the time.
My take, anyway!
December 9th, 2008 5:10 PM
Okay, this ties into a comment I made on another page. I read an article… I think it was actually the author behind the new “What If: Spiderman Back in Black” Comic; who said great tension isn’t a Great Hero vs Great Villain but Great Hero clashing with another Great Hero... two people who believe in "the good" but who disagree on the how and why.
It falls back too one of the premises of this volume… When a bad guy looks in the mirror, does he see a bad guy?
Arthur, depending on how you view his motives and his actions to carry out his motives. You may see him as a Hero…. Maybe you see him as a Villain. Fact: the actions Arthur is taking will bring about the end of human kind. Fact: Peter and Hiro have both been to the future and have seen this.
Is Arthur truly an Evil Villain… well that is highly debatable. What isn’t debatable is his actions would inevitably bring about the end. That’s what our Heroes fought against. In Arthurs mind he wasn’t the bad guy, but he was willing to do what it takes to insure the greater good. To a lot of people… this makes him a bad guy.
Character Philosophies aside, I personally feel that Arthur was just poorly written. Not who he was supposed to be, but how they made him come off. I like what they tried to do and make out of this character, I just feel that the execution was poor. Hell I think the execution revolving plenty of things this volume was done poorly.
Either way, that’s my take on the character.
December 9th, 2008 5:29 PM
Mohinder thinks the formula will fix his new eczema/rage issues but leave the nifty aspects, i.e. super strength, agility, wall crawling, love machine stuff.
If you really want to start thinking too much about it (which I admit I do too all the time) then it seems clear to me that the best circumstance would be no powers for anyone. The fact that ANYONE can travel through time is simply too dangerous. I mean, think what would have happened if Sylar from season one had gotten Hiro's power?
The nuclear weapon example is viable. Sure, if it wasn't for the nuke we'd have more little wars. But that's better than snuffing out the whole human race/or some sicko despot getting so much power that folks get enslaved to his every whim.
Here's one question: Mohinder has said that everyone's genetics/body chemistry is different, hence everyone who takes the serum is going to wind up with a particular, semi-unique power. The marine became super strong, but he just as easily could have wound up with the puppet master power or the ability to manipulate probability or the ability to shoot fecal matter out of his ears or whatever. No way to predict. Now THAT sounds dangerous. He could have gotten the radiokinetic ability of Ted Spraque and nuked Pineheart right then and there!
Last night, I decided to start lowering my expectations and instead view Heroes as a really fun B-movie serial. Goofy plot twists, reversals, soap opera maneuvers and all. I think it was a pretty dumb episode, really. But I'm still stoked for next week.
December 9th, 2008 5:31 PM
just a few things:
1. i think it would be great if Peter never gets his powers back and he just goes out of it. why not? he doesn't die, he doesn't get lost in time, he just goes off and has a normal life.
2. i still don't like where the show is at at the moment. i don't like all the talk about formulas and catalysts and injections and so on. in season one everyone just found out that they had abilities. that was the point of the show- Normal people with extraordinary abilities. now it seems that anyone can have abilities and it just cheapens the whole show, whereas in season 1 there was something mysterious with much deeper meaning behind it. this season has been far too mechanical.
though in the last episode there were many reasons to think that it was getting better. mainly of course the return of Sylar. (why did they mess with him so much just to have him back where he started?)
December 9th, 2008 5:38 PM
my thoughts on the time-travel problems in the show are as follows:
i don't mind time travel in the show if it is done by accident.
for example at the end of season one where hiro accidently goes back to whenever it was or when he went to future accidently. it should always be something that people can't control. when they can control it it raises far too many questions such as why didn't arthur just use his time-travelling power to go back further and get the catalyst off of hirps mum on te first place and many other questions like that.
with regards to being able to inject abilities into anyone, it takes all ideas of fate out of the show
December 9th, 2008 8:11 PM
I do believe this show sucks and it's witters are morons.
Actually what Hiro does is completely pointless or actually helps Arhur (which he have lost to all parts of the formula in addition to the catalyst). The Haitian and Peter kill Arhur.
Your analogy with America and the nuke is extremely naive actually most likely because the one witting it is extremely naive. To be kind.
There is no comparison.The Nuclear bomb is a total weapon that can be used by humans on very specific circumstances , it is certainly not affected by emotional problems , mental health issues and such .Armies who participate in wars , are humans , and since they as a weapon are unstable and many of them have difficulty adapting to society as veterans.
The one is is a total weapon that it's use is very specific , in the end it may end up serving the greater good , due to fear of Mutual annihilation. Instead of fear however there is also common understanding between powers who have nuclear capabilities because they can predict the actions of other countries.
If the nuke was inside a person , the fear would be much bigger ,the ability to predict and plan , much harder , and so would the problem , imagine terrorists with powers for example to use an americanocentric example for dummies.
In addition to that you made another mistake of megaton stupidity. You compared a private army controlled by two persons with such a thing as a country.
The issue is not simply of who is good or evil , as countries if it is in their interests they may force their armies to do pretty terrible things , though only few of them actually have such capability.
A private army is not only unpredictable , it does not have the duty to serve the interests , of the country it is a part of. It is not a part of a National democracy and it does not serve it's interests. And there are is not a proper foodchain , in the line of command as a result.
Now imagine if a private army had control of nukes instead of countries. Now that i am thinking about it such army if it was powerful enough could attempt to take a country by itself.
And we know how Violent revolution against democracies , or efficient working regimes works.
If one would assume that there would be no private army and the govermends of the world would get a hold of this technology there are the issue i said above , regarding the provlem of making the humans , the weapon. In your bizzaro land oh naive one there are no serial killers ,rapists ? Or are you going to play the naive escalation imagination thing. Let's imagine that the police force is always stronger than everyone else.
Still. my idea is that mutation that makes humans more efficient powerful ,etc is not a bad idea , if it is done with extreme moderation , and their is very small variety in the ability one may earn , and the technology does not exist to give to someone for example timetravel. Or even super strength for that matter. One first makes baby steps and then he wishes to unleash that on the world.
Though the show uses an even more stupid and simplistic possible explanation. Everyone get's powers and some powers are so catastrophic , and uncontrolable it will destroy the world.
Still they did not bother to explain that well.
December 9th, 2008 8:51 PM
i think the main reason this season may not be as good as other could be becuz season one was about discovery and having powers was myterious and new. but having the whole powers to anyone serum is cool but i think they could tone it down a bit. as for arthur i think they made him wayyyyyyyyy to powerful i mean he can take anyones ability away and abosorb them from a distance is a but much. they sould have given the him the haitian's power which by far is extremely powerful and not used as much as power absorbing as three character can already do or 2 character now
December 9th, 2008 11:21 PM
in the episode that arthur took peters powers he said he had no intention of giving the world powers. i think he wanted to be the only power in the world (with his super powered army of course) which would be why he wantwed sylar because he killed people with powers. the problem with the thought of everyone getting powers is there will be your super villains like arthur, angela, and sylar who will mobilize your regular powered people into a world war. powers arent the problem with this human desire to control others would be the downfall. i typed this on my blackjack 2 so sorry for errors
December 10th, 2008 12:48 AM
The only Heroes actually fighting to stop the release of the formula are Peter, Hiro, Angela, Matt and because they saw the future and what happens after its released. The rest of the heroes were simply caught in the crossfire or are fighting for other reasons like Claire just wants to stop villains and Sylar was motivated by questions about his family and past.
Arthur had a grand vision but his vision leads to the destruction of the world (as seen in the future episodes). Everyone getting powers is a bad idea because even if its used in moderation by Pinehearst the injection can still be leaked out to the streets. I also think the marines have the potential of being consumed by corruption ensued by having an ability; using the power for good isn't guaranteed. That's what this season is all about. Everyone that has a power isn't going to have the same views and that'll lead to conflict and later to the end of the world. Defeating Arthur was necessary because he didn't see what he was doing as something wrong or immoral, thats how villains function.