HEROES: The Line

All Claire did this week, was fight for a cheer leading position??? Where was her storyline evolution??? Nothing of consequence occured, and her powers are becoming a parody like Mr. Bill from the original Saturday Night Live show--as she now gets eviscerated every week, without fail, good reason, or not. What a waste of the viewers' time.

I am agreeing very much with this review. So far this season, all we are seeing is a re-hash of season one. I remember toward the end of season one, there was all this talk that season two was going to feature an entirely new cast because the whole premise of the show was about ordinary people discovering extraordinary abilities. When I'd first heard that I was really disappointed because what's the point if we keep on getting introduced to new people and never get to see them grown to full potential, to become "Heroes." Well, at this point I'd much rather have had a whole new cast than watch the original characters re-hash the same baby steps they took last year. An ongoing series should be defined by character growth rather than character stagnation -- which is all we are seeing so far. Hell, everything is so damn predictable too. Like Peter's amnesia. That is a such an old and tired plot device to even put into a show that started out so strong in season 1. It's as if the writers have been told to keep the most powerful characters spinning their wheels to restrain them from really doing what their supposed to be doing at this point and using their powers like “heroes.” Come on, aren't you guys making enough money by now to splurge on special effects rather than stifle the most powerful characters?

Well, first off Claire wasn`t killed last week or the week before, so I have no idea what you`re talking about. Secondly, yes, there is another threat but its not just in New York. Read the flyer he picks up again. It is not just a city wide threat but possibly a global or at least national threat. Last season it was just NYC being blown up. This time it is much much bigger. I don`t see how that is necessarily a rehash. This time the stakes are much much higher.
Anyway, I liked this episode, but it seemed a little more all over the place than usual. The best part of the episode was the scene with Sylar telling the dude who doesn`t understand or speak English how he was going to kill both of them and take their powers. Last season, you knew Sylar was bad and you got a slight glimpse into why and maybe felt a little sorry for him, but the fact is, he is truly truly just plain evil. You have to believe if there is a Devil, he is it. In the first season I thought that Sylar and Peter were kind of polar opposites, like Smith and Neo, but Peter has done some bad things. He is no way as good as Sylar is bad. And I guess Peter also has Hiro`s powers too. That`s cool.
I also think that now DL is dead they have found Nikki/Jessica a new role. She seems to have embraced her powers and will most likely end up as a bad guy working with the Company, with Micah being her only saving grace.
What I am also enjoying about the show, is how we really don`t know what side if there are sides, the Company is on. Bennett seems to think they are evil for what they have done, but if they now have "new directives" we don`t really know what their agenda is. Sylar again could be the one who spread sthis disease in the future or it could be the company using that strain of the virus. Either way, it will be interesting to see what develops.
Claire`s storyline is kind of like Nikki`s last season, boring. Although that ass of a boyfriend said things this episode that leads me to believe that he is some sort of future Magneto, talking about how they are "better" than anyone else because they have powers. If that`s not a "power corrupts" attitude, I don`t know what is.
And who the hell is this Adam Monroe guy? Again, some of you just miss the point of the show, but hey some people want to see "marvel/dc" type action and I just like the direction it is going now. I guess its a matter of preference. I don`t think the show would last too long if they went that route every week.

"And who the hell is this Adam Monroe guy? "

Wasn't he the guy on 'To Close for Comfort' played by the great thespian Jim J. Bullock ?

I actually stayed awake for this episode for a change. I hope they start moving things much more quickly as the show goes along. Hiro's storyline in Medieval Japan has already worn out its welcome. Hiro is my favorite character and having him stuck in a plotline that is long and dull brings the whole show down.

I agree that Skylar should kill the brother and sister and hopefully do it before Skylar is written out of epsiodes so the actor can do the new Star Trek movie. These two characters just do not interest me.

Overall, I hope the show starts picking up the pace before the audience loses interest.

ponyboy, I am glad someone else caught the headline. The paper said 93% of earth's population was dead. This is the second review I read (IGN being the first) that limited the calamity to New York. I am sure Peter teleported/timeshifted to New York because that is the city he is most familiar with.

I do agree that the season has not had as many "ah ha!" moments as last season, but it is still better than most of the drivel that is on.

I enjoyed this episode. IMO Claires storyline is just developing her love/trust in this guy who is going to be, like ponyboy said, a future Magneto character. I'm guessing he's the one that killed Hiro's dad. I do hope the writers give us a good chase/fight scene between Claires boy and Nathan or Peter.

Ok episode, but again it seems like I really didn't almost half of it.

This season I find myself really only interested in Matt Parkman, Peter, and Bennet.

As much as I liked Hiro from last season, I am kind of disliking his storyline this season. It seemed like it had a chance at first but now it seems clearly set as filler or a time waster to keep Hiro busy. It is also pretty predictable.

A lot of people seem to hate the Mexican Wonder Twins of Death, while I don't think they are great, they don't bother me. They don't incite that irritation that the addition of Nikki and Pablo in Lost did for me.

I really can't stand West, Claire's new beau. The guy just seems smarmmy and unlikeable. Maybe her Texas pal will develpe some powers too and they will meet up. It seems people gain/access their abilities at different times, so its always possible.

Now, I know things may have changed since this was originally announced, but I'm fairly certain that the current storylines (particularly regarding the virus threat teased at the end of the The Line) will all be resolved LONG before the season finale. This season was designed to be broken up into three separate volumes: the first volume called "Generations" is the longest, and will run 11 episodes and end with the last episode before the mid-season hiatus. This seems to jive with what the current promos are indicating when they say that the heroes will come together to fight the virus over the next five episodes. Following the hiatus, we'll get two shorter volumes before the end of the season. The showrunners took this approach since they indicated one of the lessons learned from Season 1 was that a buildup over a full season created unrealistic viewer expectations that were very difficult to payoff. I only bring this up since I keep getting the impression from reviewers that they seem to be expecting a similar season-long story arc this season, which seems to be coloring the reviews and comments. Of course, recognition of the more-compressed volume may increase rather than decrease criticisms, as it seems that it should lead to more accelerated storytelling.

Having recently rewatched much of Season 1 over the weekend during a G4 marathon, I must say I find many of the complaints about this season difficult to agree with, in that I was struck by how little actually happened in most episodes. Usually, it was just 1 or 2 "events" per episode, and that pattern didn't begin until a number of episodes into the season. For the record: this is not a knock against the first season. Rather, it is an appeal for a more reasoned approach to viewing this season. However, I realize that everyone is different and mileage may/does vary.

Regardless, I continue to look forward to Heroes each week and consider it one of the few shows that constitute "appointment viewing" for me this season.

I had West pegged as a future Magneto from episode 1. This episode had me thinking of the 80s movie "Heathers". I seriously expected him to pick up the Mean Girl and then drop her then tell Claire she "slipped out of my hands".
I think the Hiro storyline is actually picking up with Kensai's betrayal. Am betting that he is "Adam Monroe". After all, we have yet to learn his English name.

The Twins/Sylar storyline is hitting overdrive. Loved Sylar's speech to Alejandro.

All in all, the best episode this season.