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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…

First off, I have to admit how much I loved the stuff with Parkman and Petrelli after their first scene together. Their first scene seemed way too forced, and the dialog was so bland that there was nothing the actors could do with it that wouldn’t make them seem like they were acting in a Star Wars movie. After that though, this episode should’ve been entirely about them, maybe with some Peter-”Veronica Mars” stuff thrown in to break it up, but it was really captivating. Confronting Parkman’s dad played out so well, having us constantly guess which side of the fence he was on, until the trap in the other room. The fight that ensued was the best thing that Heroes has had to offer all season. Well-shot and edited, well-planned-out, it was something that showed what Parkman’s dad can really do, how far Parkman can actually take his powers one day, and also added a bit of character psychodrama, if you will, something that maybe this show should try a little more often. I guess the “fight” part of the title (and presumably Mohinder’s monologue at the beginning of the episode) was about the fact that they went to confront Parkman’s dad, and more literally, that they ended up slugging it out with each other. I do like that fact that he gave a slight bit of exposition, but as we learned from Verbal Kint, maybe everything he said was a lie. Why did he lock them up and run away? Did he fake the picture, or is there someone else out there trying to kill the twelve Originals? Why not let Molly go now that Parkman and Petrelli found him?

Peter’s story represents the “flight”, not literally, but him running away from the people that were going after him, namely one AC/DC. For the little time that Kristen Bell was on screen, I dug this character. So many different aspects to her personality; so many unique line-readings, and choices as to where she (through the line readings) took the scene. She jumped from normal, to totally innocent, to spoiled-superpowered-girl. It always kept me on my toes trying to figure where she was coming from, even though it was incredibly predictable where it would end up. Bell totally brought a new energy to a show that had been completely lacking as of late, and this is coming from someone who hasn’t ever seen an entire episode of Veronica Mars. Peter’s scenes weren’t all that gripping, but what happened in this episode is an actual impetus for change for the character, which is very helpful to the plot. Ten bucks says that the French streets are in Cajun country. The question the show wants us to be asking is, “Is Needlenose Ned Ryerson Elle-Bell’s dad?”, but I really don’t care, I just want to see her in more scenes.

Speaking of the Louisianna, I’m pretty disappointed that they made Monica’s superpower so broad. It would’ve been so much cooler if she had to watch it on TV, but now it’s “Just watch someone else do it”? Isn’t that pretty much Peter’s power? Do you think it applies to superpowers as well? In any case, I guess it was nice that they showed off that Micah kid’s piano-playing skillz, which he did a few times on My Wife and Kidz, but it seemed like the character serving the plot and not the other way around. After all, have we ever heard that he’s a Dewey-level piano genius before? Was there even a piano in his other house? It seems kinda random for the character to be doing that. Also that double-dutch sequence was really lacking, and the whole “It runs in the family” scene again had terrible dialog, like they weren’t trying to do more than get a few points across in the most obvious ways. And Suresh just showing up at her door? How random (maybe coincidental, considering he just left Nikki, and her kid’s at this house) was that? The people at the company know that the people have powers before they themselves do? I find that a little hard to believe. Is he making an HRG-like run to kidnap her like Noah himself did to West?

Thankfully there was no Claire or the Honduran Death Dealers, but was there any reason at all to show Hiro? Nothing, and I literally mean NOTHING happened with this character. Until they actually want to devote the time or thought to a plot that actually has this guy doing something, it doesn’t belong and all it does is take us out of the other story. In fact, I’d venture to say that the most pointless story in these last four or so episodes has been Ando recapping Hiro’s adventures, giving the writers an excuse to have Hiro narrate the whole story instead of telling us through dialog or action. Ando really isn’t doing anything worthwhile, considering he can’t change any of it. And one more thing (time-travel theory alert)… when Hiro eventually decides to return, why wouldn’t he return to the time that he left from instead of four or more months in the future? These few minutes could have instead been devoted to fleshing out the other three storylines even more, but rather, it’s another case of how trying to tell this expansive of a story has come back to hurt the show. Somehow The Wire manages to tell like 8 stories per episode and still have individual episode arcs that don’t feel stifled by time/creative constraints? Why can’t they give us three solid stories?

Heroes, I’m throwing down the gauntlet this week, and using your own title against you. Now’s your chance. Fight or Fly.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 8:12 am and is filed under Heroes, NBC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.