We Could Be Heroes

Last night NBC threw two hours of season finale action at us. While this post is going to be mostly about the Heroes Volume Four finale, I need to mention how great Chuck was last night. It was a fantastic ending to an awesome season. If this is, in fact, the last we see of the CIA/Buy More crew, I will be sad but pleased with what they gave us.

Unlike Chuck, which has been getting better and better over the past two years, Heroes has been all over the place. Season One was one of, if not the best first season in my memory. After that the show started on a downslide, which might have been caused by the writers’ strike during the second season. Volume Three started this fall and it was more of the same mediocrity. Now for me, volume four was looking like a step in the right direction, but last night’s finale threw me through another loop.

I have always been the guy who says that, in a serialized action show like this, you need to kill people off at times to keep the viewer’s attention. This is something Heroes wasn’t willing to do. Sure they got rid more minor characters like D.L., Isaac and Linderman, but when they kill off Nikki only to bring her back as Tracy, or they kill Nathan at the end of season two only to have him be healed by Claire’s blood it just makes me angry.

So when spoilers for this volume’s finale said that a major character would die, I didn’t think they were going to cop out like they did. -SPOILER ALERT- So Peter and Nathan go in to attack Sylar (which they don’t let Claire or the audience see, bootleg) and surprise surprise, the killer with multiple lethal powers kills the dude that can fly around. After Nathan’s throat is slit by Sylar, and Peter has mimicked Sylar’s shape shifting power, Peter shifts into the form of the President and stabs Sylar with a tranquilizer. Now Peter, Claire, Noah, Angela and Parkman are left with a dead Nathan and a knocked out Sylar. As a political move, and so that Angela doesn’t lose her son, Parkman gives Sylar’s body all of Nathan’s memories and removes anything to do with Gabriel Gray/Sylar.

So there wasn’t really a death of a main character. Sure the real Nathan is dead, but he’s still around in Sylar. And I guess the essence of Sylar won’t be around, but the preview of volume five shows that the new Nathan starts to show Gabriel’s original power of knowing how things work. So we will probably end up with having a half Nathan, half Sylar dude wondering around in the near future. That's not really killing anyone off.

And to top things off, at the very end of the volume five preview we see Tracy again. After shattering herself into a million pieces a while ago she is now back and has some sort of water manipulation power like Alex Mack. Unless this is not Tracy, and is in fact the third triplet, it is more proof that they can’t kill anyone off.

Best 2 Hours on Television

Monday night on NBC is truly incredible. There is no better one-two punch on tv than Chuck and Heroes.

Sure I watch 24 for action, I watch One Tree Hill for romance and I watch 30 Rock for comedy. Chuck is the only show on television that legitimately pulls these three aspects together for an unbelievable hour of non-stop action. If you are not currently watching Chuck, I strongly suggest you start. "And what bands are you in to?"- Chuck

Heroes last night gave us such a wealth of information and made us ask so many more questions. It truly is back from last year's questionable mini-season. Sylar has been unbelievable so far. He names his kid after Noah, awesome. The ambiguity that I am left with about who is good and who is bad during the 'four years in the future' segment is awesome. Isn't Peter always good? It doesn't seem that way. There will be another Ali Larter character after Tracy bites the dust? All in all, Nathan is still my man and I think will always be my favorite character.

Jump the Shark

A couple days ago I asked the Boss if he watched House this week. He said that after it ended his wife asked him if he thought House had 'jumped the shark.' My response was "Huh?" The Boss was very surprised that I had never heard the phrase before. As am I now that I see how prevalent it is in entertainment and television culture. Jumping the shark is a term used when a show has hit its peak and begins to go down hill. The term originates from Happy Days when The Fonz jumps over a shark while water skiiing. Check out this website where viewers vote on what moment 'jumped the shark' in many tv shows, if it ever did at all. JumptheShark.com

I looked over the shows that I am currently watching and have found four cases of jumping the shark that stick out to me.

Desperate Housewives- After the first season this show has gone downhill and stayed there. The mysterious storyline of season one was a bit of a let down at the end and it continued to be unsatisfying as they brought in new uninteresting characters.

24- After the fourth season, which was the absolute best season of 24, it jumped the shark. The President became involved in the terrorism and it just was not nearly as good.

Heroes- At the beginning of season 2, with the introduction of the South American siblings and Micah's distant family, Heroes took a step back. But I wonder if there is a term such as 'Going under the Shark' because Season 3 is back in action and so far has been much better than season 2.

House- As Mrs. Boss presumed, I feel House is potentially jumping the shark this season. The House/Wilson/Private Investigator storyline has been much less than stellar so far this season. We'll see if it continues throughout the year.

Heroes Is Back

This dude who commented on imbd basically says it all...what a fantastic return!

Heroes: The Second Coming

I swear I never jumped on the bandwagon for season 2. Right from the first episode, I felt it was lame. No Tim Kring, the problem was not the pace or the romance, it was the laughable story. The stilted dialogue. The abundance of plot holes.

This was the best episode since "Company Man".

The season premiere just started explosively and never let up. No questions got answered, and a whole lot more were brought up, but what made this opening exciting was the shear unpredictable factor. It was just solid, surprising and engaging storytelling. It felt fresh and inspired, like the first season.

A phenomenal beginning, and definitely a return to form. 10/10

comment by username: Topher-Liam

NBC Mondays

Chuck comes into its second season as my favorite new show of 2007. The Josh Schwartz action comedy made it all the way to number seven in my power rankings by the end of last year. What makes this show great is that there are completely serious issues of murder and national security and Schwartz turns it comedic. As opposed to other shows that try to make every situation totally dramatic when we could care less about what is actually going on. The LA atmosphere and indie music are staples of Schwartz that come from The O.C. but it really is Zachary Levi as Chuck that brings the show to the forefront. Don't get me wrong, my favorite character is Captain Awesome and I love Chuck's sister Ellie, but Levi is fantastic. A ton of guest stars are set to appear in season two, including Michael Clarke Duncan, John Larroquette, Melinda Clarke and Nicole Richie.


I can't disagree with Jaydon more about his feelings on Heroes. It was a solid number two in my power rankings all year long, although season two was not nearly as good as the premier season. The Mexicans story was a bore and I could've done without the mimic girl, but it was still way better than the first two seasons of two of Jaydon's favorites, Sopranos and Wire. Villains sounds very exciting for the name of the third season and I enjoy seeing an evil Claire in the promos for this season.


My Own Worst Enemy is a new show about Christian Slater, who has two personalities. A regular guy, and some sort of spy. It has potential to be good, mostly because it's on NBC and also because Will Scarlett is the man.