SEASON 2 EPISODE 3 - "KINDRED"
WARNING SOME SPOILERS BELOW
Hello blogreaders. Tonight’s episode of HEROES is entitled “Kindred.” It was directed by Paul Edwards, (http://imdb.com/name/nm0250267/) who directed 2 episodes last year, “Seven Minutes To Midnight” and “Five Years Gone” (which many felt was one of our best last year). It was written by JJ Philbin, who is a new writer on the show this year (http://imdb.com/name/nm0679902/). JJ is a great addition to our team. She’s excellent in the writer’s room and was also a strong steady hand on set. HEROES, as you can imagine, is a complex show to drop into – but she has done so seamlessly.
DIRECTOR PAUL EDWARDS
WRITER JJ PHILBIN IN SCRIPT DISCUSSION WITH GREG GRUNBERG
WRITER JJ PHILBIN AND GREG GRUNBERG IN FURTHER SCRIPT DISCUSSION
This episode is a little tricky structurally. It begins to solidify and focus some of the new ideas that were introduced in episodes 1 and 2. Peter, who was discovered alive but without memory in episode 1, begins to fit in and function within the Irish gang and begins to be attracted to Caitlin. His attraction will guide his decisions in the next few episodes. Matt and Suresh begin to realize what they’ve gotten themselves into with the decision to take down the company, and that they may just be in over their heads. Maya and Alejandro’s desperation to get to the USA gets them in trouble – and this situation forces Maya to use her powers intentionally for the first time. Claire and West reveal who they really are to each other and this takes their relationship to a higher level (heh heh). And HRG sees the final painting in Isaac Mendez’s sequence... What he sees will drive him to desperately find paintings #2 thru #7 to try and prevent the events of the paintings from happening - even though the paintings have prophesied inevitably up to now.
I’m sure fans will also be very happy that this episode brings two of last years characters back.
Sylar is rediscovered in paradise – or is he? And what has happened to his powers?
Niki and Micah also return. But what happened to DL? Although shot, he seemed to be fine at the end of the finale. How did he die? And why is Niki turning herself over willingly to the company???
Zach Quinto returned for this episode and he was very happy to be back. He wanted to get back to work and into the stories. Sylar is a great character and a lot of fun to play. And, as you probably can tell by my pix and other sources - we are a pretty happy fun-loving group over here. (If you have any further doubts check out Adrian’s “buckshotwon” videos on YouTube http://youtube.com/user/buckshotwon). Zach was itching to get back into the stories. But we had held off revealing Sylar for a few episodes. We have a lot of new stories to set up, and we wanted people to wonder whether he really had died that night on Kirby plaza.
Of course, the original plan was for Missy Peregrym to reprise her role as Candice. Unfortunately for us, Missy has landed a new job as a series regular on the CW’s REAPER. And REAPER shoots in Vancouver (where Missy is originally from, and I’m very happy for her because I’m sure she’s glad to be back in her hometown.) The writers’ original plan was for Candice and Sylar to have a several episode adventure together - but with Missy’s lack of availability we decided to tie it off in just one. We really tried to work out a way to have Missy do this episode. First we squeezed the story down to where we felt it could be shot in one day. Then we began working with the REAPER production team trying to find a day she could be made available. Missy was great, she was willing to come back at any time – even a weekend to do the episode. But in the end there were reshoots on the new show and they pulled her dates up. (And truthfully our work was never realistically going to be done in one day.) So we reconceived.
Luckily, Candice’s character is one of the easier one’s to recast. JJ explained it all with the dialogue “I used to go by Candice. But ever since I dragged you off of Kirby Plaza, police are kind of looking for my old self. So, I went for a new look. What do you think? Too generic?” Once we could wrap our heads around that idea - the rest fell into place.
Rachel Kimsey came in to read for the newly conceived role and we were all really happy. She brought a comedic sexiness to the part that we all really liked. After seeing her dailies and the first cut of the episode, we discussed whether we could conceive of a way to keep her alive in the stories. But that bus had already left the station. So (similar to what happened with “Charlie” in Paul Edwards other episode “Seven Minutes To Midnight” last year) another great actress will be here for just one episode!
The first scene – where Sylar comes to, and discovers Candice taking care of him - was shot in our parking lot, a huge blue screen surrounding sand and deck chairs. The VFX guys at Stargate had several angles of backgrounds they’d taken in Kauai, but they would have limited us to static shots. Paul Edwards had a shot he really wanted to do where we began on Candice and moved past her arcing around to reveal Sylar and then re-reveal Candice. Stargate had to do some work to “stitch” several backgrounds together. They then added moving clips and birds to bring life to the shots. It made the scene more expensive but worth it.
The transition from the beach to the concrete shed that Sylar is being kept in was also tricky. This shot was sort of a last second thing that Paul thought of on set. It was designed to be a cut, not a dissolve – but he really felt it would look cooler to see the beach fade away in the background. But because of this it was not done on a blue screen. Paul started in very tight on Sylar, and the VFX dudes had to roto the concrete out and the beach in at the beginning of the shot (a frame by frame process.) D.P. Nate Goodman designed a lighting transition into the middle of the shot, he cross-faded hot “sunny” light into cool fluorescent lights on camera. It’s a pretty cool transition, I think!
Also, interestingly, the original structure of the script had the teaser (which is what we call the first sequence of scenes before commercial) ending on revealing Sylar. The first act (the second sequence of scenes) began where we left off and transitioned to the concrete bunker. In the cutting room, Tim Kring put the two scenes together because he felt we went out with more overall impact -- and I think the episode is better for it.
ZACH AND RACHEL RELAX IN THE WARM GLOW OF A BLUE SCREEN
PAUL AND SCRIPT SUPERVISOR VAL NORMAN DISCUSS THE SCENE WITH ZACH AND RACHEL
Meanwhile, over in Claire’s story – West (the is-he-creepy-or-is-he-cool? boy from her school) has spotted her excessive toenail clipping. They reveal their powers to each other, fly around the beach cities of southern California, and make out. Yay!! Claire has a boyfriend!
Nicholas D’Agosto plays West. He is one of the many new characters who have joined our show. This was a very tough part to cast. In the first two episodes he was portrayed as dark and mysterious, but we knew he had to evolve into her boyfriend. We read A LOT of young men for the part. Some were too soft (i.e. too “non-threatening”) some were too dark (i.e. TOO threatening.) Some were too old. Some looked great but couldn’t act well enough. We knew that whoever we cast, they had to hold the screen with Hayden Panettiere, who is a very strong actor. Nicholas was one of the last we saw, and I think we all blew a sigh of relief when he left the audition. He seemed to have it all. http://imdb.com/name/nm0194900/
There’s a little movie called ROCKET SCIENCE that Nicholas is in that I totally recommend. It’s a great, unexpectedly told movie that he has a big part in. It’s very good.
Well, let me say, Nicholas is a great young man. Nice, polite – the kind of guy you’d be happy to have your daughter go out with. He’s very happy to be here, with such an important part on HEROES. (I know, you’ll probably think, “who wouldn’t be” – but you’d be surprised.) He’s especially good at the fast-talking comedic aspects of the character. On set, when Paul Edwards was directing the scene at the high school (where Claire tries to play off what West saw as a pedicure and spilled toenail polish) Paul kept telling them to talk faster – “It’s like Pat and Mike” he said. I don’t think either of these kids had any idea what that reference meant, but they both played the scene very fast, yet with clear enunciation. It’s a scene that makes me laugh. That’s one of the things that I love about our show. It’s got a lot of funny parts. Of course that makes it harder to find directors and writers – because as we all know – dieing is easy. Comedy is hard.
NICK AND HAYDEN FLYIN' HIGH
(MAN, THERE'S A LOT OF BLUE-SCREEN ON THIS EPISODE)
The writer’s have written the Bennet’s story this year in the city of “Costa Verde.” Of course Costa Verde doesn’t really exist, but we’ve imagined it as being similar to Palace Verdes, which is a beach town just south of Los Angeles. We, in production, were very happy when we heard that one of our storylines was actually going to be set in L.A., where we film the show. Of course, inevitably, this became harder than it sounded at first. The beach cities near L.A. are actually hard to get to, expensive to film in and restrictive to film production (meaning, most of them won’t let trucks drive in until 8 AM and you have to be gone by 10PM - a minimum HEROES shooting day is 12 hours, plus pre-calls for makeup - so that wouldn't cut it.) We ended up finding the town of Costa Verde in pieces. We found the high school in Panorama City, which is about as far from the beaches as you can imagine. But it’s a brand new school, with very graphic and colorful architecture. We wanted to go as far away from the stark structures of the Odessa Texas School as possible. The exterior of the Bennet house we found in a community near Magic Mountain – which is even further from the beaches. But Tim Kring wanted to find a planned community where all of the houses looked alike, to emphasize the anonymity of the family’s circumstances. The interior is built on stage in Hollywood... But of course, to sell beachy California we also have to go to the actual beaches. So, in classic form, in this one episode and one storyline we had to spread the Bennet storyline over four locations all very distant from each other…. Ah, the HEROES way!
In Hiro’s story, Hiro finally convinces Takezo Kensei to "man-up" and be the hero he is supposed to. First of all, when we were filming feudal Japan in Ventura California, last August, it was about 105 degrees. Very hard to be heroic under those conditions. Especially in Samurai armor.
Even though there were several scenes with a lot of page count in the Japan scenes - I felt that the work was relatively easy for us - just people talking in a day exterior. There were no stunts, visual effects or other complex scenes. I challenged Paul Edwards to try to do all the scenes in one day, which would by him time to do more elaborate work in other areas. He took the challenge and succeeded. I think we did four scenes and eight pages that day, which is still a record amount of work for us.
The one scene that wasn’t done at that time, was when Hiro and Kensei blink in and face off against the 90 hungry Ronin. On this scene, we all made some compromises in pre-production, which we all agreed to. Originally what was written was that the Ronin came running down the hill and the first clash of battle happened on screen. We gave that up and agreed that we were going to just cut away with the Ronin running down the hill the moment before the battle. We agreed the Ronin’s castle would be CGI, but we were going to build elaborate gates and the lower part of the stairs.
I’m not sure how the rest of the producers feel, but for me I feel like this is one scene which, because it was confusing conceptually, and because it was inherently expensive, and because it's inherent-expensiveness meant it kept getting dragged on and on in prep with many meetings where nothing really got decided – the scene became kind of an orphan. I feel like I (and we) kind of took our eye off the ball on this one. It wasn’t until we got into the cutting room that I said, “Hey I thought we were going to build a huge set of blue screen stairs so we could have a closer angle of the Ronin running with swords drawn right at us.” But nope, somewhere along the way, we agreed that the Ronin were going to be all digital creations, which meant that they had to be really tiny on screen. The only live action shot is one really quick one of about seven Samurai raising their swords and grunt. To make matters worse, the original concept was that they were the 90 “hungry” Ronin. But the way Hiro pronounced it, made you go “Huh?” And then we all started asking, “Why the hell are they hungry? What’s so scary about that?” Apparently there was some elaborate backstory about the fact that White Beard was starving them in their castle and they became cannibals. But that was never on screen anywhere. So we changed them to “Angry” Ronin – which seemed scarier. We even went back and re-voiced “angry” instead of “hungry” into the description in episode 2. Oh well -- it all goes by fast.
I do think the CGI of the castle is quite good though!
DAVID ANDERS AND MASI OKA PLAY PAPER-ROCK-SCISSORS TO SEE WHO GETS THE FIRST CLOSE-UP
One last thing – Milo Ventimiglia directed some short films and we all went to see the premiere! Milo has always been interested in directing and directed the WB's image campaign for 2 years. The first year he was 1 of 4 directors and the next
year he was 1 of 2. He got a gig during the hiatus to do some shorts called “MALL WORLD” for American Eagle clothiers. You can see them on line at http://www.ae.com/web/77e/mall-world/143/ He did a great job. Check them out! Anyway – during episode 4 he had a first rate premiere at the Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles and many of us came out to support him.
MILO’S PREMIERE – IT WAS A BIG SCREEN EVENT
MILO’S PREMIERE – MILO’S CREDIT
MILO AND DIANNA AGRON WHO PLAYS CLAIRE’S CHEERLEADING NEMESIS – SHE’S IN MILO’S SHORT FILMS TOO!
(WHAT A COINCIDENCE!)
JACK COLEMAN AND LEONARD ROBERTS SUPPORT MILO
JEPH LOEB AND HAYDEN PANETTIERE SUPPORT MILO
JAMES KYSON LEE AND DATE SUPPORT MILO
SENDHIL AND HIS iPHONE SUPPORT MILO
Okay that’s enough for this week. Next week, Claire and West go on a unique date to a scenic L.A. landmark. Sylar hitches a ride. Nathan tries to straighten his life out. And a major new storyline unfolds in post-Katrina New Orleans!
Until then…. MORE PIX:
ADAIR TISHLER AND THE HELIX!
ME AND FUTURE CLAIRE AT COMICON
PAUL EDWARDS LINES UP A SHOT
PAUL AND DP NATE GOODMAN LINE UP A SHOT
BECAUSE YOU DEMANDED IT – MILO WITHOUT HIS SHIRT ON
posted by Greg Beeman @ 10:27 AM
98 comments
98 Comments:
Sorry to say this Greg but that was the worst episode ever. The plot moves at a snail pace and the only interesting part was Sylar's story. I don't care about Claire's, Hiro's and Peter's story.
ME ENCANTA HEROES!!! SIN DUDA ES LA MEJOR SERIE QUE HE VISTO!
Aún no he visto este capitulo, pero me imagino que debe ser excelente igual que el resto!
saludos desde Chile!
Romy
Wow that was awesome. I can't wait to see if Milo's Irish lady is the one with the "shocking" power (or maybe another ability). Plus the foreshadowing of HRGs potential demise.
Is this the new mid-season cliffhanger teaser, like "save the cheerleader, save the world"?
I disagree with the first person... I thought the episode was great! I'm having a lot of fun with most of the storylines and really enjoying myself. David Anders is doing an AMAZING job as Kensei, I can't stop giggling most of the time when he's on the screen. Maya and her brother still kind of freak me out. Is it weird that I care a lot more about West now that I know Nick is from Omaha (where I'm from)?? Hahaha, but yeah, his storyline with Claire got a lot better in this episode. :) And well Peter... I love that the Irish girl's name is the same as mine, that's for sure! LOL Can't wait for next week!! Great job.
I don't like Peter's story. Please move him out of Ireland already.
Claire's story was equally boring and makes me wish that West would just go away.
I actually like Maya y Alejandro but their storyline moves too slowly.
Sylar better not get Candace's power. That will be so lame. Then everyone will think that someone in an episode is actually Sylar in disguise.
Thank you for the comments about Milo directing. I hope to see him direct an episode of Heroes one day :)
I thought this was a pretty good episode. We're finally starting to see the main plot elements come together, and most of the characters have enough cumulative screen time now that the audience can start "getting" them now.
I'm guessing that, like last season, it will be chapter 5 or so before we really know what the main direction of the volume is. Here's hoping we can start seeing heroes coming together again and saving the world (and hopefully Jack Coleman along with it, terrific actor!)
THANKS FOR THE MILO PICTURE WITHOUT SHIRT!!! you're great! hehehe =)
I come from Spain. My english is not very good but I want to expres my congatulations! I Love Heroes and Milo, jejeje!
Thanks a lot for your words!
Couldn't disagree more with the jaded guy from the first post.
This was without a doubt the bets of the three so far.
I liked it but thought they were trying to weave in too many storylines. Sylar is soooo boring, does he do anything other than just take people's powers? Who cares? Also, what is up with DL??? LOVED Leonard Roberts, he deserved better than no death scene and a headstone!
Do you know how stupid it is not to put Sylar in every episode?
Please, insert Sylar in every scene, as a background extra or posing as a coat rack or whatever. I just want to see him, K? Thanks.
Don't listen to the haters. Anyone who watches episodic, arc-driven television understands that this is ONLY the beginning, and while some episodes may be better than others, it's all a cohesive story, every episode is just 1 part of the whole volume.
I love everything you guys are doing, please don't listen to the dissenters.
Same mistakes as other creative and interesting shows
This episode had couple of good points to keep people interested, but the overall stories are developing too slow and other ones are getting a bit difficult to watch (still don't like the whole identity crisis of Peter and his gang..I mean, he went from trying to save the world to stealing money in order to get a box that contains his identity..and he's still doubtful of everything).
Bennet seeing his future is interesting because he'll have to push his tactics and planning skills to a maximum in order to avoid getting killed.
That was the only interesting point of one hour, and it was almost at the end of the episode.
It is starting to feel like the plot will be developed really slowly (thinking that his keeps people interested in the story and its twists) where as the reality is that the show becomes annoying and difficult to watch. (The people who made LOST did this and payed with loosing fans in its 3rd season..the reason..too many mysteries and not many answers).
I think that having diverse story lines speaks well of the intense work and creativeness of the people behind a show like this. Having multiple story lines is not the problem, the pace is what makes an interesting story a really good story.
I was shocked to see that this episode's director was the same one of '5 years gone', since this episode had nothing special (5 years gone was really good..the whole episode ).
The first season was interesting to watch, every episode was interesting, and that special thing that every episode had it's been missing so far.
It seems like you're treating this season as if there were no link to the previous story.
If you read this comment, I thank you for your time.
Still a fan...
Mister N
Wow... I'm surprised to see so many negative comments on this episode. Of course it wasn't the most groundbreaking episode of the series, but it was a good quality episode, and I can see that the storyline is moving steadily forward.
Greg, should you read these comments attached to your blog, I just wanted to thank you for making such a fantastic show. Here in New Zealand, we are all eagerly awaiting the second season (which apparently will be screening within the next month *does a little dance*). Right from the pilot episode, I, and many of my friends, were hooked to the show and I just wanted to thank you, all the crew and the cast for making a wonderfully enjoyable show and hope that the show continues for many years to come.
Gael Garcia:
Actually, Sylar told us flatout in last season's future episode that it was with the "help of a woman he met named Candice" that he was able to become President in Nathan's skin.
I can't help but wonder if we'll still see that future come true now that we know Sylar's still on the scene.
Excellent show, Greg! I got my wife and kids hooked on it with marathon viewings of season 1 last week. Can't wait to see what's to come!
The episode needs more Nathan. I was waiting until the end but was disappointed to see that he doesn't even get a screen time in this episode. :(
I am a huge Heroes fan. I pre-ordered season one on DVD the moment it was available. However, I am a bit disappointed with the beginning of this season. I am finding most of the storylines not terribly interesting.
Every scene with the twins is vitually the same and I was truly disappointed that West's power was flying and that Milo has amnesia. Please don't turn Heros into Dallas. Also, the pacing seems a bit slow.
I do like the storyline about the older generation of Heroes. That has a lot of potential.
Still a big fan,
Matt
I'm sorry if I sound a bit blunt but I've been really frustrated with these 3 new episodes of the new season.
1. There are too many new regulars. I thought Tim mentioned in one of the interviews that you guys understand that most of the fans want to see the continuation adventures of the original characters. I thought that's why you guys created "Origins". So you guys can still experiment with new characters but don't have to bring them into the main show. It's fine if they're just supporting characters but they are not and they are taking screen time from the original regulars.
2. The time allocation that each character gets is very uneven. Claire, Hiro, and Peter get the major share of the screen time and I don't think it's fair. I mean Niki has just appeared after absent from 2 episodes and when she appears you only give her one measly scene. Meanwhile, we have seen Claire vs. Cheerleader squad, Claire being bratty, Claire cutting her toenails, Claire losing her car, Claire and West getting it on. And not surprisingly, she's also on next week's episode.
3. In relation to point 2, you guys have been talking about how you'll feature some characters in one episode but not in others. In theory that sounds wonderful but in practice, it does not work. You guys can't seem to put Claire, Hiro, and Peter aside even for an episode. Is this mandated by NBC or something? If that's the case, I wish you'll go back to S1 format where you try to squeeze everyone into the episode. It's just ridiculous that these three gets so much screen time and yet others get so little.
4. My point is that you guys wondered in late season one why certain characters are not popular with fans. Well, how can they be popular when you guys don't give these characters interesting storyline and enough screen time?
i have to say i laughed out loud on the last photo. the peter fangirls must be rejoicing right now.
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I have to agree with some of the others, I've been less than impressed with the first three episodes. It seems almost to be a dumbed down version of the show we loved last season. The plot is moving at a incredibly slow pace.
Hiro's storyline is cute but isn't following what I thought would logically happen- that he is to become Kensai and do his hero's deeds-and he seems unwilling to leave. HRG's death threat wasn't too much of a shock (especially after he said the kiss of the death "as long as I am alive I will protect you") and Peter's amensia? What is this? 1970? And couldn't he have just used his powers to escape and grab the box to begin with? He's used them in front of a multitude of Irish, so I doubt they are blocking them in some way. As for the wonder twins-every episode shows them doing the same thing. Can't they just get to the US already? Do I need 20 minutes each week of them killing and walking? Claire's story is okay, but a little boring...unless West is Adrian's bastard child as well.
It seems like some of the plot is coming to together-or will next episode-but why did it take so long? Season one started fast and we kept up-why does this have to be so slow? I promise Heroes fans suddenly didn't become dimmer over the summer.
What makes it extra fustrating is how good it was last year. We know it can be that good again!
i am super pyshced that sylar is back. can't wait for him to escape that wilderness. heh.
meow,
aliah
Now, why is it that J.J. Philbin is also a co-executive producer? I know it's easy to be billed as such, but really, a new writer on the team? It kinda screams nepotism on her father's part.
She wrote some pretty absurd episodes of The O.C. from the (weak) second and third seasons. Heroes shouldn't get to be so eye-roll inducing like this episode with the West/Claire stuff. Color me worried, because I want this show to survive.
I'd rather see more Sylar without his shirt on. ;P
Seriously, do you guys realize what a gem you found in Zachary Quinto? Speaking of extraordinary. Wow, that guy is good. I'd watch him read the phone book cover to cover.
Thanks for the blog. You guys are terrific about connecting with the fans.
Although I still like the show, it's becoming pretty obvious that the hardest thing for the show to overcome now is it's success.
This year's storylines are all over, and they really don't seem as interesting as last year's. The new characters are almost all sub-standard or uninteresting. The pace is way too slow. I know a lot of people who watch this show, and they're all starting to say the same thing. Get to it already.
The twins' stuff is my least favorite, just like last year it was the Nikki stuff. I hope the writers know what they're doing, but after 3 episodes now, confidence is starting to lag. It's just not as good.
It's great that some still love the show and all, and more power to you if you do... but my interest is starting to lag personally and from the comments here, it's obvious I'm not alone (also obvious from my viewer friends). Please fix this.
Hmmm...I have to say this episode did make me laugh. By the way, whose idea was it to have Matt and Mohinder argue like a married couple? Seriously. If we could just get Sendhil and Milo in more scenes together, I'd be a happy fan. I don't know what it is, but those two actors have great onscreen chemistry together. That said, I agree with everyone who wants Peter out of Ireland. If this goes on much longer, you will alienate most of the fanbase, and the ratings will resemble that of a normal NBC show.
Plase get Peter out of Ireland stat and reunite him with Nathan. I think it's really weird that he won't even open the box. Doesn't he wonder that he might have family who worry about him? I miss seeing him interacting with Nathan. Milo and Adrian have great chemistry together.
While we're on that note, I also think you guys have been neglecting Nathan again. It's bad enough he was only getting 2 minutes worth of screen time in the last 2 episodes. Now he doesn't even appear at all. I think you guys have a really great talent in Adrian and it's a shame that you guys don't give him a great material to work with.
I forgot to mention this but I can't believe that you guys didn't even list Adrian's name in the credit in this episode. One would think that after working in this show for one year, the actor will get appreciated a bit more. *shakes head*
Greg, thank you for writing this blog. Negative or positive, the many comments that this show provokes proves that people are getting drawn into the story. Over at the Television Without Pity forums the discussion is heavy too. Many viewers seem to want to dictate the plot.... we need to just WATCH and enjoy how the stories unfold.
Having said that, PLEASE DON'T KILL OFF HRG! :-) just kidding.
Thank you for a shirtless Peter and Sylar....
Great job, love your show!
nancy
I still love this show and will continue to watch it every week. But.
Where is Nathan? I missed him a lot this week.
And I have to agree with whoever said that Claire is filling too much space. This show is about all the Heroes is not only about Claire.
I critisize because I love.:)
P.S.:Thank you for the shirtless Peter!
I want Peter to be able to use Edens power as he met her once before she died and it is such a great power especially as Peter feels threatened by the Irish gang but is essentially a pacifist.
I wonder if Sylar got Peters power of absorbing other powers whether he would still keep killing.
You guys need to cut down your cast (not keep expanding it) and focus on fewer storylines. When each line gets 5 minutes of screen time and you can't even fit in some characters into an episode you know you're off the tracks.
Honestly, you must resist the urge to keep every character you cast. You guys already screwed up by not eliminating cast members last year. Adding even more this year has not helped the show.
It's not like you pulled together all the story lines last year into a convincing season finale. You didn't. If you think you're going to assemble 9 different story lines into a cohesive plot this year...forget it.
Lose the Ireland story, the accents are horrible and distracting. Either do something with Maya and her brother or lose them. I get that she kills people and her brother brings them back, Saw it last week, didn't need to see it again this week.
I'm pretty bummed with season 2 so far.
I couldn't decide whether to call you people backseat drivers or Tuesday morning quaterbacks so I'll use both. What a bunch of complainers. Boo hoo- your favorite character hasn't been in the show very much. The people who like claire are very happy. The story is building! We're supposed to wonder what's going on with Nathan and Nikki- just like we were supposed to wonder what was going on with Sylar. Greg and co. intended us to get impatient wondering about him.
And to all those people with their 'directions' on what should be done next and who should appear in the next episode- are you serious?
Have a little faith in the people who created the show you all were so obsessed with last year. Let it build...enjoy it. Things are the way they are for a reason. I'm sure a lot of thought got put into the storyines and who comes into the season and when.
Get over yourself.
Maybe the season finale wasn't supposed to wrap everything up.
In response to Rachel- have you ever tried to cross the U.S-Mexico border as an illegal with the police after you?
Any hope to see any pictures of Katie Carr? :) These pictures are amazing, btw!
Snail's pace? Are you kidding?
I love a densely packed narrative.
Great stories this season. I'm having a great time.
Are these people insane ? I didn't think that season two could be possibly as good as season one. I'm really please with the quality of the 2nd season episodes up to now. Hiro's storyline is great, the 3 Ms are working real nice together and Peter's scenes are amazing. I'm just waiting for more scenes with Nathan, which I think is one of the most interesting characters
I think the critiques of the show come from the heart and out of concern, and are not malicious. I have also noticed a bit of a slowdown... I love hearing Spanish, French, Japanese--foreign languages in general, but the two Mexican twins aren't that compelling to me. Last year was fresh, exciting and ... new. This year seems a continuation, not even a real sense of dreaded foreboding to entice patience, just a little girl screaming with nightmares. Slap some substance on those nightmares and maybe I'm more engaged. Still gonna watch, and I like the show, but I can understand the grumbling.
Hey Anon, I am sure crossing the border into the US (esp. as a murderer) is a long, arduous journey but I don't need to see it in real time.
It's just a waste of time that could be spent developing their characters or plot. We know what they are doing, we know how their powers work, we know it is a long trip. Take a break from repeating all that each episode and have us check back in later when they are nearer to the end. Or when something interesting or original might happen.
Hun, I hate to say it but I'm losing interest in Heroes awfully quickly nowadays. I agree with the many people who feel that sidelining major characters (like Niki, Nathan, Sylar, etc...) in favor of Claire (whose storyline is awfully weak) and Hiro (whose storyline is too childish and silly for me to take seriously) just seems unfair and wrong.
Not to mention the introduction of multiple new regulars who need time to develop their own storylines.
As someone who enjoys writing and knows what it takes to write, I do understand why the writers feel the need to introduce new characters and then build on them because, yes, creating new stories from scratch takes time.
But that time shouldn't interfere with open ended plotlines from the previous season (IE: Niki, Micah, and DL...etc...). That's not good writing. And it's not fair to fans.
I've yet to see a positive reaction to Claire and have seen very few friendly nods towards Hiro's story. However, I do like Peter's amnesia-in-Ireland story. But please just bear in mind that you have several other main characters from Season 1 who need as much focus as Claire and Hiro do.
Like someone said before me: the writers wonder why fans don't like certain characters (like Niki, Micah, DL, Matt, etc..)? It's because we haven't been given screentime or stories to like them because all of those have been given to Claire, Hiro, and Peter.
Oh, and I'd like to say that I'm MADLY in love with Niki/Jessica and that I will ALWAYS love Niki/Jessica and Ali Larter. I just really want her to play a central role this season but so far she's just been sidelined because Claire's all self-destructive and Hiro's running around in feudal Japan with his hero. Not cool, Beeman. Not cool at all.
All in all, Heroes Season 2 has yet to impress.
I'm really enjoying this season and like the character progressions, except for the twins. I have to agree that their scenes are fairly redundant, and I really think the most noble thing the sister could do would be to just shoot herself. I find it hard to feel bad for her when she keeps getting lots of people killed.
With the exception of, finally, a good cliff hanger, IGN pretty much had it on the money with their review.
"This was by far the most frustrating episode of Heroes we have seen."
http://tv.ign.com/articles/825/825865p1.html
The scene with the flyboy and Claire in the air was one of the most painful things I've watched on TV, my fiancee and her friend just laughed as it happened (it looked horrible), and they both agree wth has happened to Claire. She seemed so strong in the last season, its as though she is a completely different character, and worse for it. Did she just forget that this kid just embarrassed her and stalked her for days practically?
All the storylines are being glanced over besides Claire and now Hiro's painful story-arc. The only exception is Peter's, which is fairly interesting, even if it ignores how Peter acted completely in the last season. He's willing to jump off a roof to show he can fly, but now he's scared to open a box? Did you guys forget what made us like these characters in the first place?
And why would you want to kill HRG? Kill anyone else, like Nikki/Jessica. Its not like its a secret that a lot of fans don't like her at all.
Definitely the worst episode ever. I'm not going to complain about the storylines (well, except Sylar's, it's just plain stupid) because most storylines will do just find if executed well. Last night's episode was full of poor execution. Too many scenes with blue screen, poor acting (most notably the woman who plays Maya), cheesy/predictable lines, and what was with Peter's shirt conveniently being open after he was shot? I could go on.
I hope this was just a fluke and the coming episodes draw me back in.
The Ep moved a little slow... but I'm sure that's because commercials are taking over the universe! I'm really enjoying the season so far... really can't wait until next week.
BTW: Greg, have you lost some poundage... you look great!
~Kels F. - 9th Wonders News
Can you guys please stop being so negative? CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, please! This isn't a place to complain and put them down. They have worked EXTREMELY hard on the show, and I for one think that this season is amazing. If you're going to give negative feedback, PLEASE show some respect and at least name a few things you liked about the episode.
Honestly, I thought that this was an excellent addition to the second season of Heroes. While the season does seem to have a lot of storylines going at once, it still keeps the plot moving, and it's still very bracing to watch! I am DEFINETELY purchasing the second season of Heroes on DVD if this sort of quality continues. Thanks for an amazing episode! :)
What I liked at the start of the first season was that even though characters were separated far apart, they were all linked by 2 common threads: "Save the cheerleader, save the world" and the nuke that was going to explode in NYC. Eventually Sylar was added and he further linked all the characters together. Well, except Nikki and company who felt less interesting as a consequence.
This season, characters are just as separated, but there's no common thread linking them so far. Peter is in Ireland, the Twins are in Central America, Hiro is in another era entirely -- and there's no reason why they should all connect together for a common purpose. No sense of watching destiny unfold like last season.
In the first season, if you worried about one character then you worried about all of them because they were all linked together. This season, if you worry about one character then the others just get in the way of that character's story. There's no synergy. If you care about Peter, what does it matter if Hiro gets the girl or not? If you're curious about the fate of HRG, what does it matter if the twins can find Mohinder?
Now, Heroes is still good TV -- and everything might connect together eventually -- but last season was great TV.
Thanks for posting the pictures - they're always great to see.
I do have to comment though, and I say it out of love, that last night wasn't very fulfilling. Heroes is the best show I've seen in a while and I understand how hard it can be to keep scoring 10's episode after episode but I think this ... meh? feeling is coming from the fact that all the characters are so disconnected now. Peter's off with people I don't care about, Niki is leaving her son, there are no Hiro/Ando antics (although I LOVE the Kensei storyline). I know you guys are setting up the storyarc as something big but I think we fans need something a little more "old-school Heroes" feeling instead of NEW NEW NEW while you're doing it.
Also? I don't think 10 minutes tops of screen time counts as a "comeback" for Sylar. Give the people what they want! ;)
Overall, all you guys are AWESOME. Sorry for the long comment.
"If you're going to give negative feedback, PLEASE show some respect and at least name a few things you liked about the episode."
What makes you assume that the people here don't show respect? Just because they don't say nice, flattery things it doesn't mean that they don't respect the writers. Or are we only allow to comment when we have nice things to say?
If these viewers don't care about the show, they wouldn't even write negative comments. They would just ignore the show altogether like those 3 million viewers who dropped off the rating this week.
When people write negative comments it means that they are frustrated with the way things go and wish things would be different. In other words, they still care about the show.
I'm a blogger myself and I'd honestly rather have my readers give me an honest criticism of my writing than something that is just complete flattery even though it's not true. None of the people here have said something like "Heroes suck, LOST is better". They asked for things, suggested how things could be better.
I agree with those who think that the writers have added too many new characters and have been unfair in their distribution of screen time. Peter, Claire, and Hiro, especially Claire and Hiro got too much exposure for their own good. Now that their storyline is not as interesting as the first season, people start to feel annoyed with them.
On a more positive note, Sylar's re-introduction have been handled well. At least he now doesn't have her power. Having said that, I think Candace should have been a lot more clever than how she was portrayed in the episode.
Okay. I'm a newbie to the show. I didn't watch it last season (LOST fan - I know, I know, give me raspberries) BUT... I am a total fan now. Completely hooked. My sister gave me her season 1 DVD's and INSISTED that I watch them. I did. Spent the past 2 weeks absorbed in them (while DVRing new episodes.)
I LOVE HEROES!!!
That said... I do want to voice some concerns. There have been a few minor flaws that have bugged me, but I always get over them. Just as a 'for instance' though - why does Sylar need Claire's ability? He fell off that that building with Peter (save the Cheerleader) and survived the fall... Sylar also told Eden that the bullets she was going to fire at him wouldn't hurt him??? And Noah shot Sylar in the stomach, knocking him back against the fridge, when Sylar broke into their house and hurt Claire's mom.
Maybe I'm missing something here, but that just doesn't seem to add up to me. And there are a couple of other minor things (like the subway incident with Future Hiro and Peter -- why didn't Mohinder notice that Peter had suddenly moved to the back of the car when Hiro left and time resumed?) But like I said, I'll get over it. :)
The finale, in my opinion, was awesome. I would have liked to see more confrontation and fighting between Peter and Sylar (because it would have been awesome) but my heart was in my throat when Nathan took Peter up and he blew up. I'm assuming Peter couldn't fly himself because he was concentrating on trying to control the whole blowing up thing. :)
Peter has been my favorite character since episode 1 - I told my hubby that I thought he was special from the beginning. Doesn't hurt that he's cute (thanks for the pic) but I am disappointed that he's been in Ireland so long. How long before we get him back with his family? His chemistry and interaction with Claire and his brother is so good. I miss the old Peter - including his gorgeous hair - I hope he decides to look in that box soon.
But otherwise, good job. I know it takes a while to develop a story that will span 24 episodes of a season... so I'm hanging in there with ya.
Thanks for hearing me out and I'm looking forward to more!
Since people demanded that Milo have no shirt on, could we have Zachary Quinto with lack of clothing, also? It would do the world some good to see a shirtless Zach.
Please, it's an evolutionary imperative!
I realize that the show is starting to build up steam and we can't have everything handed to us immediately, but I have to say that I think the storylines could have been handled a little bit better. I like Maya/Alejandro, but I think their beginning scenes moved a little too slowly. Claire, Hiro, and Peter's storylines are going the same way. I am interested in the Elder Heroes' story and the murder mystery involved, so I'm sure that once we get back into this then things will get VERY interesting.
I would also like to comment on the art direction of S2, which for some reason is giving off a less comic-book feel that the first season did. I liked the "color-coordinating the cities" of the first season, and to me the visual style this year has changed somewhat. I know you are all going for a "fresh, new" look here (and I can understand why you decided to scrap the different color themes), but I miss the look of the old season. The direction is still good, but honestly, I could do without anymore "Superman-esque" flying scenes.
I did really like the cliffhanger at the end of this episode; classic chapter ending there! That's where I started to get the S1 tone again: with another one of Isaac's paintings - RIP Isaac and now DL :(
And it's SO GOOD to see Sylar back again - his return was the best part of Kindred. I'm glad you guys didn't kill him off, he's always been my favorite character. Oh, but I'd like to make one small request of more Mr. Muggles screentime; he rocked the house at the end of Lizards!
Thanks for all your hard work. Heroes is still my favorite show :)
Rachel you live in a dreamworld - season 1 started slow as well and slowly built up. You have the patience of a 15 year old.
I have to say I'm disappointed with the way Candice was killed. Are you telling me that it never crossed the Company's mind that leaving this girl in a cabin in the middle of the jungle with SYLAR of all people might be a bad idea?
I mean, Sylar's loss of powers or not, and Candice's illusion powers or not, he's still a superhero serial killer. And if they thought she'd be safe with her illusion powers, well, then it's even more disappointing that he basically killed her with a coffee cup. Surely a master illusionist would be a little smarter than that.
I don't see why it couldn't just be revealed that Sylar only thought he killed her, and the whole thing is an illusion. If you're going to kill off a character like that, at least have it be done in a way that doesn't make her and her employers look monumentally stupid.
It's a amazing how many children with attention deficit disorder post in this thread.
Go play counterstrike kids, and let the adults watch a clever story unfold.
I hate to be negative, but... Yeah. I have to agree. Peter's storyline is just getting truly dire, between the amnesia (a plot device I confess to hating more than any other ever), the bad accents, and the love interest who seems to exist solely to be a love interest, and thus, has not engaged me as a character at all. Also, it's hard to watch Peter, who, along with Hiro, was the moral and emotional heart of the show last season, fall into petty crime and violence. It feels like a betrayal of the soul of the show.
And, of course, Peter and Nathan being separated is just agony.
On a more positive note, I continue to adore the family dynamic of the Suresh-Parkman-Walker home. Brilliant decision, putting those three together. Heroes is still at its best when it's telling stories about families, both conventional and unconventional, and those three just have wonderful chemistry. Molly in particular has been a delightful surprise this season.
Also, I'm looking forward to seeing Maya and Alejandro interact with their new benefactor. I have hopes that having a new character to play off of, conflict with, and simply struggle to understand (I love the language barriers on Heroes! So cool!) will liven up their storyline. Also, having Claire's car will help them literally move faster! Also a plus!
Oh, and since you guys are taking requests? (More) shirtless Adrian, please? ;)
The thing I dislike the most about S2 so far is how much Peter has changed. I realize that this is part of the whole amnesia thing, but I loved Peter for his kind heart and earnestness, and this new Peter is alienating. (His tendency to appear shirtless is fantastic, though - way to go on that.)
I'm also not a fan of the twins' story, and like some of the other folks who have commented, would like to see more of a common thread connecting the characters together. But I trust that the writers have something spectacular planned for us, and I'll still be watching loyally every Monday.
Hi Greg.
Loved the bit about location hopping fun in the the Bennet story.
Some people tend to overglamorize the whole tv/film industry and your blog is awesome in illustrating the mundane and wonderful reality of it all.
My wife thinks Sylar is a real d*ck BTW:)
We all like Heroes would hate it to end prematurely.
This episode was horrible. Season 1 had suspense in every episode. This season there is no suspense. Who cares if the character HRG dies(except for great actor being missed)? Last season we were curious about Peter. Amazed by Hiro. Disgusted with Niki. In love with Claire.
What big secrets are there this season? Whats the premise? You just can't rehash the same story. Its 3rd episode and we haven't seen any new powers that we think is "cool". Last season you took your time to set everything up, that worked. But now we already know the basics, you don't need that many episode to set everything up. We already know about plot line, its kind of predictable now. Please bring back the suspense and some good writing. Don't get someone from OC, get some one from House, Prison Break or Manga to write.
I love Heroes. It's my favorite show, but I will join the negative band waggon and say this season has not started off great. My biggest complaint so far? Peter. Our culture is saturated and well-educated within the super hero genre. We can put 2 and 2 together. We can extrapolate what powers can do. For Peter to have just opened a can-o-whoop ass on two thugs using psycho-kenesis and then NOT to be able to get a box out of that guy's hand is just plain poor writing. It was **sort of** explained in the following episode (Peter could not call his powers up on demand) but later in the show he learned to and still did nothing. Or, just jump the guy. If the writers wanted to keep him in Ireland they could have had Peter whoop up on the brother, take the box and then have him hang around because of his interest in the girl. It also looks like the second brother winked at the first brother after Peter nailed him to the wall so maybe his stealing the money was a ruse, and maybe the girl has a power and it's all going to tie together, but even so, Peter's inability to get the box was illogical and just frustrates the core audience.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the first 7 or so episodes are already done. I think that's what he said. So, IF there are going to be any changes, IF the staff takes your comments to heart, and IF they fix the accents, it won't be for a couple months.
Can you guys please put Claire and her boyfriend aside for two to three episodes? I'm starting to get sick of her thanks to the over-exposure. It doesn't help that her new BF is annoying and creepy.
Have we all just become ADD in this society? I have enjoyed the pacing of the episodes. You're taking the time to build a well crafted story. And while you can't please all the people all the time, these characters serve a purpose whether they resonate with us or not.
Thank you for making such a fabulous show and hands down one of the best on tv!
I don't think its the pacing (but there are good reasons for that as well *cough* Wonder Twins *cough) that's getting to most of the people who are getting negative, its how the characters are being handled. A lot is probably just bad writing, esp. in terms of Claire and Hiro.
Dear Greg,
First of all, thank you for making such a wonderful show. I love Heroes, and I look forward to it every week. It's great entertainment and I appreciate all the hard work and effort you guys put into it.
I have to say, though, that I'm disappointed in the storyline you've given to my favorite character, Peter. I think Milo is doing a great job with what you're giving him, but it's one of the most contrived and draggy storylines this season--you seem to have given awesome stories to Matt, Sylar, and Mohinder, but the Ireland plot just makes no sense and is doing no service to the character or the actor. :( It makes me sad, because I miss seeing the Heroes world through Peter's eyes, and I miss the role he used to play bringing all the characters together.
Season one was in no way as slow as this season has been. Just go back and rewatch it or at least read the episode guides. By episode three, we already had learned about most of the "heroes" powers, Claire was waking up in the autopsy room, Mark Parkman was hearing voices and getting arrested, Hiro had been back and forth to Japan, Nikki went from stripper to killer, Peter flys, Nathan flys, Isaac paints the future and dies for the first time, we see Sylar. No to mention meeting all of the side characters and that Mrs. Petrelli, Mohinder, HRG make appearences. It just instantly sucked you in.
I love well crafted television and have high hopes for this season but so far, it isn't quite up to par with the show we all came to love last year.
I am also a little disappointed at some of the personal attacks and rude attitudes there are on this post. Isn't everyone entitled to their own opinon?
I think that this season is going well. I love the characters, but I think that there are getting to be too many. There are so many storylines going on all at once that it is getting difficult to keep up with them all. Also, each character's story can only be developed a tiny bit each episode because they only get about 3-4 minutes screen time each. Other than this, this show is GREAT! I watched last season, and I loved every moment of it. Keep up the good work. =)
I loved this episode!
Cool powers and twists, love, murder...very nice. I thought the Peter plot was the most interesting part, even though you're really messing with people's heads, you're like "Just open the box!"
Ando's power is the ability to know which scrolls to read first - IGN was right about that part. I caught that. I can't believe people that pick apart the reality of a comic book world!
Maybe this is the beginning of my theory coming to life... Sylar realizes that his limitations are all in his head. I think that he's just like Peter, and didn't know that he didn't need to kill people. He just isn't very empathic and doesn't connect with them until he eats their brain.
I'll join the chorus of unhappy folks mostly because I feel that Nathan has been slighted in these 3 episodes. I watch this season in the hope of finding out what happens to him and it's hard to know this when he only gets no more than 2 minutes appearance in the entire 3 episodes. I'm also worried about his storyline, which seems to revolve around mirror. Everyone knows what a disaster the whole Niki/Jessica (J