The Heroic Life

when kensei’s sword pierced your flesh
i was supposed to be happy, since you’re the bad guy.

but my happiness came upon seing that
blood streaked street, knowing you had lived
to fight another day.

my hopes were confirmed when you, mended,
appeared on the beach of season two and soon
ate another brain.

but alas!

the power was not yours!

this, however, did not make you any less powerful
for your courage carried you out of that jungle and into
the hands of the bane of my existence: maya y alejandro!

you endured their collective idiocy with the patience of a stone.
you listened to their foreign words, knowing they were talking about you.
you hit that stupid kid in the head with a stone.

and then:

like an old sage you showed her the strength within,
and risking your own life, taught her to control her gift.
(concealing the strings all the while)

alejandro, in his ignorance, tried to thwart your seduction,
but like a young king arthur in reverse you sunk your sword
into his gut and he sank like a stone, an action which
proved you the true heir of the heroic.

rejoice! as your mouth tastes that
of the still living, still naive sister!

rejoice! as her powers will soon
be yours!

rejoice! as you reclaim your seat
of glory!

rejoice!

want to know what’s going to happen in the season finale of heroes, but don’t want to wait until monday? well, friend, you have come to the right place! here are my hauntingly accurate predictions for next week’s episode:

• maya finds out that sylar killed her brother. after an initial reaction of anger, she soon realizes that she never really liked alejandro either. she sends sylar an e-thank you card.
• niki sets out to save monica from the street gang. at first, they refuse to speak to her. but then she says, “nah, it’s aight. i was married to a black man. he got iced a few months ago by some cracka.” a serious discussion ensues about the negative portrayal of women in gangsta rap, the use of the ‘n’ word, and the sense of satisfaction one can receive from helping others. eyes are opened. lives are changed.
• elle’s ability to shoot electricity from her hands fails to impress millions of viewers.

• an epic battle occurs between peter, nathan, matt, hiro, and adam. this becomes the single greatest moment of my life.
• the single saddest moment of my life juxtaposes and subsequently eradicates any previous happiness i felt as i realize there will not be another new heroes episode for almost a year =(

quite a fitting episode title, as it’s how i feel at this point. cursed writers. didn’t they know they had chosen a profession that would inevitably lead to poverty? in fact, starvation feeds creativity. whatever. here’s the synopsis and the commerical spots:

“Deep below Primatech Paper in Odessa, TX, Peter’s reunion with Nathan turns violent when the brothers, Matt and Hiro all clash thanks to Adam and his pursuit of the deadly Shanti Virus. After watching his heroic cousin captured by a street gang, Micah turns to the one person who can help him save Monica — his mom. Meanwhile, Maya tragically learns how much of a monster Sylar really is during his kidnapping of Molly and Suresh. Meanwhile, Elle decides to play hero to get back into her father’s good graces.”

WARNING! SPOILERS! AND WIT!

boring episode, with a few highlights. namely i’m referring to the final 8 minutes and the commercial for the new american gladiators series. oh, and half of maya/alejandro has died, which is absolutely fantastic. several storylines were glossed over, without too much plot movement. frankly, i expected more from the second to last episode of the arc/season. it definitely doesn’t feel like it’s about to climax (that’s what she said).

peter and adam travel all over in an attempt to recover the mutated strain of the virus. it’s painful to see peter petrelli played so hard. i mean, honestly, he needs to get some powers of intuition from someone. he’s so painfully naive. also, i was befuddled once more by the fact that adam says that they cannot regenerate if their heads are blown off. yet, they can evidently regenerate if they undergo a nuclear explosion. it would seem to me that such an event would do MORE damage to one’s head. bah. i give up trying to figure out this one.

speaking of getting played, maya makes out with a wet and half naked sylar only feet away from her brother’s corpse. i am pleased that sylar finally accomplished what i have dreamt about and hoped for ever since the season premiere. but i do hope that they take sylar in a different direction, so that it doesn’t feel like we’re repeatedly stuck in the first season.

monica humiliates heroes everywhere with her sad attempt to use her powers to enter a house and steal a back pack. she then gets caught by what looks like a gang of many of my students in the future. i really do hope sylar kills her soon.

claire grieves for HRG’s death. oh, the dramatic irony. while this storyline was rather boring, it became very entertaining in the final segment. i completely LOLed when elle spilled the slurpee on herself while she fumbled for her keys, and then i spoke a “huzzah!” aloud when claire unleashed her righteous indignation upon elle. granted, i’m nearly certain claired’s going to continue her stupid streak, along with suresh.

hiro is reunited with his sword after discovering that adam is trying to release the virus again. the 1972 version of kaito was quite hilarious with his vocal imitation while being a complete visual mismatch. luckily, for the greater portion of america, all asians look alike.

and so i shall leave you with this:

nathan just CAN’T wait to give it to peter!

only two episodes left until the end of volume ii and possibly season 2! here is tv guide’s description of the next one, followed by the US and canadian previews:

“Peter travels to Primatech Paper in Texas with his new friend to destroy the virus, which will kill 93 percent of the world’s population in the future — or so he believes. Niki returns to Micah with bad news. To right a wrong, Monica puts her abilities to the test while Hiro goes after his father’s killer. Meanwhile, Matt uses his mental abilities to track down the last person in the Company photo. In addition, Nathan learns his brother is alive. Outside of New York, Maya must choose between Alejandro and Sylar.”

prediction time!

• monica will put her abilities to the test, but the audience will be too busy trying to remember who she is to pay attention.
• hiro runs into peter when tracking down adam. hiro shows him the error of his ways, and together they vanquish evil. and suresh. and maya/alejandro.
• nathan discovers peter is alive and begins working on a rad collage that illustrates their brotherhood AND friendship throughout the years, which he will present to peter as an early birthday present (to be pictured in a later post).
• niki’s bad news to micah is how difficult it will be for him to grow up as a multiracial individual in today’s society. which bubble will you fill in on official forms!?
• maya discovers that her black tears are, in actuality, very dark chocolate. everyone celebrates and laughs at previous misunderstandings. sylar’s desire for her power intensifies greatly.

if the quality of an episode of heroes is measured by the amount of times i giggle to myself with excitement, then this was a high quailty episode (despite its lack of peter petrelli). overall, i think i enjoyed it because it developed/complicated many of the relationships. and, WHAT a climax! elaborate, you say? i shall!

west has won me over. following his angsty aerial tantrum (which made me want to punch MYSELF in the face), he finally managed to prove himself. i was very impressed with the heroic swagger he showed in assisting HRG and taking claire to safety. furthermore, the playing out of the typical father-teenage daughter relationship in the context of our heroes plot proved rather clever.

hiro returned to the past to attempt to save his father, but then realized he cannot play God. but i ask, why not? i say, go for it, hiro, play God. see what happens. sure, it didn’t work out with charlie, but what are the chances that TWO people you are trying to save have a brain aneurysm? regardless of my rant, however, it is interesting to see the limits of our heroes’ powers. he can’t change the past, but evidently he can change the future. last, he stopped time which i ALWAYS love, because it is badass.

matt develops his powers and can now control people. all i could think when he discovered this was, “man, he’s going to get so much tail.” and i’m sure his thoughts were quite akin to mine, if not a bit more thorough. i think we can all guess that revealing his true inner monologue at this moment probably would have had the censors in a veritible uproar. plus, he’s kind of pudgy, so none of us really want to picture that. interesting to note that he did use his power to find out the final woman’s name from angela petrelli in the face of her assertion that to do so would make him just like his father. many of our heroes seem to be slipping to the darkside…

elle’s character is developed much more with HRG’s revelation that she was tested to an inhumane amount by her father, and then that she had her memory removed by the haitian. i found myself feeling rather sympathetic for her, and eventually rooting for her to join the light side. the resentment she displays towards bob in that final scene could foreshadow her eventual turn (or so i hope). all in all, i feel that she is a wonderful addition to the cast.

as for that climax: my, oh my! however, all i’m going to say is that suresh better have some gigantic act of redemption coming up in these final two episodes.

great episode tonight with the development of characters and relationships, as well as the coming together of several storylines. i’m still dying to know the powers of angela petrelli and kaito nakamura. at one point, i thought he had some developed ability to control time (as matt’s father had a developed ability to control minds), but this hope was shot down when kaito got all giddy and told hiro he had never time travelled before. although this episode was the same length as always, i find myself with so much more to say this week. all the better for you, though. all the better for you.

sometimes at night i dream of heroes. in fact, i dream entire new episodes of heroes (which i used to do with the simpsons). and sometimes, i dream that i AM a hero. in fact, the other day i had a dream inspired by isaac’s painting:

i took the liberty of photoshopping myself into it so that you could better visualize what my dream was like. basically, this monster fellow was attacking some city (not pictured). for some reason, i feel like we were in santa monica. he kept absolutely laying waste to the buildings, the cars, and such. so hiro came and found me and was all enthusiastically saving, “we have to save the world!” in his cute little japanese accent.

next thing i know, we’re both hoofing it towards the monster and hiro sets off into the sky, because i guess he kicks even more ass in my dreams. following suit, i thrust my right fist into the air mid-stride and find that i, too, kick ass and can fly. unfortunately, the dream ended right before the best part, as they so often do, and i never actually got to save the world.

once again, here’s the description of the next episode along with the US and canadian previews:

“Convinced that the Company is close to finding them, H.R.G. prepares the family to run — but Claire has other ideas. Meanwhile, Hiro returns from the past and learns of his father’s death. Grief-stricken, he flings himself into the past and makes a stunning personal discovery. After a charged first encounter with Elle, Suresh makes a decision that could change lives. Meanwhile, Matt struggles with his expanding mental abilities. Maya and Alejandro’s relationship is tested as they travel with Sylar. Peter meets someone who could unlock his past.”

now, onto the reason you’re here: my unusually flawless predictions.

• HRG kills some more people in cold blood to protect his family. mr. muggles shows him the error of his ways.
• ando throws a party to celebrate hiro’s return to the present. while at the party, hiro disappears once again into the past to try and save his father. partygoers are left standing around awkwardly.
• suresh makes a stupid decision and is really overdramatic about it. our heroes are left to clean up his mess.
• matt deals with his struggles by consuming copious amounts of ice cream. nbc cuts to commercial.
• maya and alejandro will continue to live, because God hates me.
• in the past, hiro discovers who pushed his father off of the building. he returns to the present and enthusiastically insists that ando try and guess the identity of the perpetrator. ando will not participate because he is still sad about the party.

have you any predictions, dear readers?

overall, i felt rather blah about this episode. it started out well, and seemed like a very interesting concept. however, the answers to the questions about what happened immediately following the blast just weren’t that interesting and i was left with a hiro-shaped hole in my heart. perhaps nbc overhyped this one.

nathan, of course, turned into some disgusting burn victim following his brush with peter’s nuclear explosion, as pictured below. i found this sequence to be visually stunning and was definitely the climax of the episode. so much like the metamorphosis, the rest was just downhill. it’s also really been buggin me that i’m still not sure how peter survived this blast. granted, he has regenerative capabilities, but he could not revive himself when he had a shard of glass stuck in his skull. being obliterated into millions of tiny pieces of petrelli seems like it would be a little bit more daunting a regeneration than that shard. but, meh, willing suspension of disbelief, i guess.

peter finds himself imprisoned next to adam (kensei) in the company’s irish(?) jail. after big pimping it with elle, i’m beginning to wonder if there isn’t going to be a female character in this show that does not succumb to his do-gooder charms. think about it: simone, future niki, caitlin, elle. who’s next? angela petrelli? anyways, his escape with adam seemed like it would result in some classic heroic showdown. alas, the haitian had to go around negating everyone’s powers, thereby making this scene very anticlimactic. on the plus side, back in the present peter remembers who he is. needless to say, i am excited for him to be badass again. i still can’t decide if i trust adam, though, after how he treated poor, little hiro several hundred years ago.

nbc’s preview of this episode touted DL’s ultimate sacrifice for his family. a sacrifice usually involves some kind of courageous act wherein one take’s another’s place so that the other may survive. DL was merely shot by some fellow who looked like a pornographer. not quite sure how this qualifies as the “ultimate sacrifice.”

and big surprise, maya and alejandro were still boring three months ago.