Makemashita

Happy Thursday! Today was EXCITING when I found Heroes season 2 disc 1 among the new DVDs I was locking up. Prestreet! Let me start over.

When last we met, I had just started to dig into this...phenomenon known to the world as Heroes. My opinion of it was ambivalent--literally. I thought that what they had to say was very compelling, but I thought that the way they were saying it was very weak. I hoped it would improve.

It did.

For the most part, anyway. You'll still get episodes that retell details from other episodes so that the new plotline will make sense, and you sometimes get characters saying and doing incredibly childish things because the writer wants to get at a particular point that he/she can't do in a tasteful way. Both of these are consistency problems, as if the writer of any given episode has taken great lengths to not know anything about the previous episode. This is not great. But it doesn't happen very often.

On the other hand, the story gets more complex without becoming muddled OR nonsensical. People fracture into groups, have limited (and often incorrect) information, and act on what they know, not what we know. This leads to very natural conflicts and epiphanies for individual characters when they cross paths with someone who believes or knows differently than they do. Characters have arcs! Secrets are not only revealed, but are also successfully shocking! Even twists you've seen coming from episodes ago are sweet because you knew it would happen; it just makes so much sense.

One of my first impressions was that some characters where stupid, and most of the powers were mundane. There were some characters I hated, but had powers I enjoyed, and there were some powers I thought were boring in characters I really liked. One of the things I really appreciate in the show is how, over the course of the season, my opinions actually changed. Take Peter Petrelli, prime example. From the first episode, I looked at him with nothing less than derision. Look at this whiny character! Look at his so very common power! There is nothing in this person that I find appealing. Now, now look at him--we're in season two now but I can tell you I've loved him from somewhere deep in season one. Love, people. I love this character. I love his brother. I love his entire family.

He's not the only one. There are characters who seem pretty cut-and-dried in terms of villainous intent. You don't really expect them to break free from their role as "bad guy." But they do. One of them I now hold very dear to my heart, and another had a very very poignant turning point which made it clear that this was not your standard black-and-white evildoer. He's just a guy. And one of the initial bad guys was honestly my favorite character early on. (before the Petrellis became so freaking awesome)

There's even one episode which was so carefully structured, so beautifully tragic that I was frustrated nearly to the point of aneurysm...it made me think of how some shows just really are that dark and depressing, and how much better I felt inside to know that what I was seeing was not the destination--things would look up! But the idea that things could get that bad for these people.....let's just say that I found myself suddenly very emotionally attached.

If by now you're wondering why the heck I'm still talking about this, it's because I'm fairly sure that I've done nothing else this week except for watch Heroes. I think I cooked one day? I worked yesterday and today. I rented the Jumper game and it sucked pretty bad.

The other day I did end up at Carolyn's house, and we watched Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, and then we followed it up with Escape from Guantanamo Bay. The first one is definitely better than the second, although Neil Patrick Harris has a much more valuable appearance in the second (may he rest in peace). John Cho is a terrific actor and now I'm even more excited for the new Star Trek movie! (also starring my favorite Simon Pegg and my good friend Corey Krueger!)

Now that I mention it, I must have also shown my parents Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog at some point, and I was overly pleased to see them love it. If I haven't handed you the link personally yet, I now direct you to drhorrible.com so you can see it for yourself. It's simply the best bit of storytelling you can find on the internet today.

That is all! I hope that you all have a fantastic time!

-Stephanie