lethargicperfectionist

So, you might have noticed that I have not been submitting my usual reviews- but suffice to say that I am trying to get back into the groove of things after a couple of rough weeks. Rest assured, I will be getting those earlier reviews up for your reading pleasure- but for now, let’s see what happened this week…

“The Dying of the Light.”

Doesn’t that sound like an overly-dramatic title?? Or perhaps there are too many personal associations for me that cause this distress, or at least some questioning of the writers’ ability. But aside from quality of the title, what does it refer to? A science-fiction book by George R.R. Martin concerning how a civilization faces decline and destruction? Or from a verse of a poem by Dylan Thomas that addresses death (“Do not go gentle into that good night.”)? Or maybe all of this has to do with  Peter Petrelli….which I might add I did not see coming- but let’s review what happened shall we?

• Pinehurst…or more accurately, Daphne, are all over the place. The collection of the titular villains is nearing completion, and I think it’s cool that we’re finally seeing some organization take place amongst the supers. In any case, Daphne meets with Sylar, frees Fire dude (Flint) from Section 5, gets weirded out by Mohinder, and has some fascinating conversations with Parkman. Busy Busy girl. But I must say that Daphne has become one of the highlights of Season 3, and is definitely the best new character that the show has seen in awhile. Apparently, Pinehurst has something pretty powerful over poor Daphne’s head, and it seems that Parkman will be trying to save her. Maybe he’ll bring along his turtle- that was funny and cute all at the same time. Great!
• Hiro didn’t really kill Ando- I mean come on? Hiro conveniently used his powers to go back into the past, switch up swords (for a play sword), and told Ando before hand. Hiro (and Ando) are sent on a mission to capture the precog from Africa who had been helping Parkman- Hiro calls him African Isaac (heh), and of course, the two fail in immediately apprehending someone who “can see you coming.” But they eventually wait for their target to arrive, who has drawn a new image with four faces- the faces of the villains.
• Mohinder is turning into a real scary guy. While he has taken care of Maya (I guess she’s dead???) he continues to mutate, I suppose into a bug of some sort. Anyway, Tracey and Nathan go to Mohinder for help about their powers (in denial I guess…we need to get over this particular story-line soon), but he instead uses his drugs and their trust in him to knock them out. Daphne zooms in cuz Pinehurst is interested in Mohinder, and she discovers his room of horror, along with Nathan and Tracey strapped on some tables. She calls him a monster, then zooms out before he can do anything. Tracey tries to use some reverse psychology on Mohinder- and perhaps almost touches that which remains human inside of him before using her powers to cause him some frostbite & which also helps to release her from the straps. Tracey goes to free Nathan, when a pissed off Mohinder throws a table their way. Hmm.
• My man Eric is quite the freak, eh? He apparently has the power to control people like the marionettes he designs, and has control over Claire’s biomom, Meredith. So that means that Claire and her other mom, Sandra, have to go to the rescue. They are all caught, naturally, and we then have an exciting game of spin the gun, Russian roulette style. There is a lot of drama, until it’s Sandra’s turn to spin, and she shots Claire- who will of course survive the gunshot. She knocks a gloating Eric out, and is the hero of the day. Claire still is upset with Noah, but Noah and Meredith might partner up it seems.
• Ok, so I guess that brings us to Senior Petrelli, who has taken control of Pinehurst, and is the main villain of season 3 it seems. And what a whopper of a power he has. He demonstrates his ability on a poor, poor Adam Monroe- rest in peace. Arthur- or Pa Petrelli, has the ability to take the abilities of other heroes (like Peter and Sylar), but this in turn leaves the other person either without powers, or in Adam’s case, dead…as Pa Petrelli took his immortality and regenerative powers (watch out Claire). Pa Petrelli (via the Linderman image) sends Daphne to scout for potential allies in whatever end-game scenario is still coming up (everyone has super powers?) Daphne goes to Section 5 and tries to talk Sylar into escaping with her and Flint back to Pinehurst, but Sylar says he has changed and is no longer a murderer (since when?) Daphne leaves the Pinehurst card with Sylar and splits, and it seems that Sylar first goes to Ma Petrelli, and then to Peter. The two have their usual banter, though Sylar does show a lot of patience with Peter and tenderness towards Ma Petrelli. Ahhh….anyway, Peter recognizes the image on the business card (the double-helix image that has been around since the beginning), and intends to go find out who is the mastermind behind the attack on his mom. Sylar wants to help- Peter still has his hang-ups when it comes to Sylar, especially when sylar says that he and Peter are brothers. Peter gets all pissed off, and the two get into a rather subdued fight. Sylar is pummeled, and Peter screams something about him being the special one or something (Sylar’s power really has gotten to Peter’s head, heh?). Peter arrives just as Knox, Daphne, Flint, Maury Parkman, and Pa Petrelli are gathering for a group pic (I kid), and threatens to use his vast array of powers on the lot of them. But then he sees his formerly dead father, and decides, “hey, just because my dad is the leader of an evil organization, doesn’t mean I can’t give the old man a hug!” And that’s when Pa Petrelli takes ALL of Peter’s powers…or at least the lightning powers.

Well, that’s a lot to digest I suppose. It was shocking to see the death of Adam Monroe- I guess cuz I imagined that he would have been the leader of the villains, and is instead dispatched rather easily by Pa Petrelli- EL Jefe I suppose. And then he takes Peter’s power(s). It remains to be seen if Peter is now utterly powerless…if so this would help to reconfigure his character away from this uber-powerful egomaniac back to the kind-hearted emo guy from season 1. I hope that he has some sort of power left by the end of this though. It was great seeing Robert Forster again…great in “Jackie Brown”….hmm, I hope that means they can bring Pam Grier onto the show- that would be dynamite. Anyway, Pinehurst is looking quite formidable as an organization- kinda like the Brotherhood of Mutants from X-men, ya know? Now we just need to see the “heroes” come together to organize themselves like the X-men, right? Right? I hope so….

The Petrelli’s are now something like six of the main characters on the damn show: Pa and Ma Petrelli, Nathan, Peter, Sylar, Claire. Pretty soon we’re going to hear that Hiro is in fact the son of Kaito and Ma Petrelli. I think that adding a family element to this mix is interesting, but that doesn’t mean that I want to start seeing “Dynasty: Heroes style!” or something to that effect. I thought that maybe there was some sort of biological basis for the passing of powers from one generation to the next…but it looks like there has also been some experimentation on certain folks like Nathan. It’s hard to tell who was born with abilities, and who was given them after the fact (to be fair, Nathan always had the potential, but his parents apparently wanted to see what that potential would be, without natural development). And I guess that Sylar is now starting to change from the wanton happy-go-lucky murderer of the past few seasons into the kinda goofy, if sober, dad that we saw from a couple of episodes back…if his stated intent of not wanting to kill is true. 

Mohinder man? You wanna be a bug? I am a little put-off by Mohinder’s transformation. Here was a guy who wanted to help people, who rushed in to being a hero without powers (except his keen intellect), and who was once part of the Suresh-Parkman couple who cared for Molly…ok, so they were not really a couple, but they had the qualities of one. And now he’s all gooey, beating folks up, placing them in cocoons, doing who knows what to them. So I guess this means that the Mohinder that we once knew and loved is gone, replaced with this bug-like a-hole who makes people-filled cocoons on the side. I guess he’ll be joining the villains soon- hell, maybe he can give his power to Pa Petrelli or something.

I will say that I am currently pleased with the direction of the show. I hope that Claire begins to develop in some fashion, as it seems that she desperately wants to be a hero, but no one has yet come up the plate to train her sufficiently—maybe Elle will be around to help? And we all know she needs the work. I hope we see more development of the Parkman and Daphne relationship…I wonder why Pinehurst/Pa Petrelli wanted Matt involved with them anyway? Parkman is not a villain, and in fact seems to much more of the quintessential hero then almost any other character, save for an overenthusiastic Hero and a blossoming Claire. I suppose it may have something to do with his mind-reading skills, or maybe Maury Parkman wants to settle the score with his son? Guess this will not be ending well for this couple.

Next week looks to continue the battle between Mohinder and Tracey/Nathan, as well as Pa Petrelli locking Peter up (the dude is always being locked away somewhere). Pa Petrelli is not happy that Parkman isn’t around (which was Daphne’s doing), and sends Parkman’s soul-mate to kill him. Yikes! Ma Petrelli some how communicates with Sylar to help his ungrateful brother out. Oh and we’re in for some more hilarity, staring Hiro and African-Isaac (name is Usutu actually). Can’t wait. Bur for now, I will give “Dying of the Light” a grade of B+. Ciao.

LP

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