MagneticMediaFed

Mmmmmmmmm…

My apologies for missing my last post. I’ve been incredibly pre-occupied with the holiday and some other things as of late. The Heroes episode from over a week ago probably ranked as the best of the season, even though that isn’t saying too much. The stories were focused, the acting was great for the most part, the plot moved ahead, and the dialogue was actually pretty good, instead of the usual cliché-ridden stuff they’ve thrown out this year. What made it stand above all the rest though was that it actually had a deeper theme running through it, how the actions of the parents affect the lives of their children. The comparisons and contrasts between the relationships of Noah/Claire and Bob/Elle were the strongest points of the episode. Parkman starting down the dark road to becoming like his dad and Hiro’s story with his father also played on this theme and had something to say about it, without having to unnaturally go into philosophical debate like the scene earlier this year with Noah and Claire at the office supply store. There was finally some real emotional and dramatic build-up and payoff with the characters, and even though you could probably guess where the whole thing was going, it was very easy to actually get wrapped up in it. More after the jump…

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I’m not sure how they manage it, but it seems that Heroes has now built a successful history of having great episodes after really picking up the pace and then setting that progress aside with a flashback/flashforward episode the next week. Last year the story had moved ahead near the end of the season, and they left us on a big cliffhanger, only to keep us waiting on the resolution for two weeks, by setting the next episode five years in the future. Despite how worried I was that this would interrupt the rapid-fire pacing that they had built up over the previous few shows, I was captivated for the entire hour of the “Five Years Gone” episode, and would totally rank it as the best episode of the show, only slightly above “Company Man”. I think it’s safe to say the same thing happened this past week. More after the jump…

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This was finally the episode that most fans have been waiting for. There was little wasted screentime, stories that paid off, season-long ideas that came to a close, the first signs of plots coming together, and a big reveal at the end, that although I saw coming, still completely made sense from a story standpoint, and had been building for the whole season. And there were no terrible effects this week, save for Nikki’s superpunch that sent Mohinder flying into the wall, but only managed to give him a bandaged nose. More after the jump…

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Well there’s good news and there’s bad news. The Good news? The show finally had its “Here’s where we’re taking the season” moment, given to hopefully keep us interested, despite the overall lack of focus of the rest of the season so far. The bad news? Its exactly the same as last season. EXACTLY. The only difference this time was that it was Peter jumping a year ahead to a completely destroyed New York, and not Hiro. This just further illustrates the writers inability to do anything to actually move the show forward from where it was last season. More after the jump…

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Veronica Mars gets all charged up.

It would’ve probably been a more appropriate title had someone actually flown, but “Fight or Flight” seems to fit with where this show is going. Rather than just kinda keeping the snail’s pace that it has been, the powers that be decided to finally start moving things ahead a little bit, with three of the four plots getting much needed boosts by the end. There was a small amount of backstory given, regarding Parkman’s Dad, and they thankfully gave the week off to the stories that weren’t going anywhere (Claire, Wondertwins). It really feels like there are hints that things are starting to go somewhere. We finally got our first really awesome sequence, but also some really lame sequences. There was some stuff that didn’t need to be there at all, but an awesome new character. This might be the episode where things start to turn around (I hope). What was good and what was bad? Find out after the jump…

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Finally, the show is getting kinda good again. Not great, mind you, but pretty solid. It’s almost as if they figured out what was bad about the first three episodes, and in the span of a week, did what they could to rectify those issues. They pared down the number of major plots to a manageable four-ish (three of the four had a few side-scenes with other characters) stories. They moved some things ahead a bit, even if we don’t know where it’s all headed. More after the jump…

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Lost?

I don’t know what it is about this season (maybe the sophomore slump?) but I’m just not digging it this year. If it weren’t for the superpowers and colorful, flashy , and incredibly easy-to-watch cinematography, I’d probably be bailing right now. The storylines are either unfocused and all over the place, or they’re not going anywhere. Out of the five stories that were continued from the last two episodes, only two of them progressed at all, despite the fact the the other three dominated the running time. The return of Sylar was minorly underwhelming, and I don’t really know who was looking forward to Nikki and the kid coming back. More after the jump…

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Why is it that I enjoy watching this show, but, with one or two notable exceptions, never feel like I enjoyed it a few hours later? It’s completely entertaining and engaging, yet seems to never leave its audience fulfilled. Even the cliffhangers, which inexplicably tell us that the story is “to be continued” when we already assume that, don’t seem to make me want to watch next week’s installment immediately, the way that LOST or 24 in their primes did. I think this all comes down to story structure. More after the jump…

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For as weak and unfulfilling as last year’s finale was, this episode was everything a season premiere should be. It took nearly all of the incredibly good-looking characters from last year (seriously, are there any average-looking people besides Parkman and Hiro in this world?) and put them into new and intriguing storylines, with mostly success, and it introduced a bunch of new faces into the mix as well. It effectively created plenty of new mysteries and raised lots of questions, but as we’ve learned in the past, how well they pay off is anyone’s guess. More after the jump…

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