HEROES Follow Up

Okay, my batting average for last night (prediction wise) wasn't terrible...

• Peter did get his powers back;
• Nathan and Peter ended as enemies;
• there was a knockdown dragout fight (or two);
• they DID try to use Doyle to take down Sylar but that lasted all of a minute;
• they did thin the herd (geez, let's see: Meredith, Knox, Flint, Arthur [confirmed dead], Doyle, metal-arm guy, and possibly Sylar [yeah right]);
• and time travel is apparently off the menu (yay!).

As for stuff I didn't predict (or got wrong):

• Hiro did not get his powers back, but was retrieved from 1992;
• Ando got powers;
• PrimaTech is history;
• Angela was NOT ready for Sylar;
• the Mendez scrapbook was much less annoying than I thought it'd be;
• the way they retrieved Hiro was clever;
• and Kat and I both loved how Hiro punched out Tracey.

Among the miscellaneous, Spider-Mo is healed (and probably still has powers), Tracey is looking for a new job, and nobody but nobody is going to be using Papa Petrelli's magical jello except his son and Ando. (And apparently at least one Marine, per the ad for "Heroes: the Recruit" webisodes.)

What do we see for the future? Apparently Nathan convinces the President (Michael Dorn, aka Worf) that the heroes represent a danger and must be contained at an isolated facility (shades of DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, anyone?). Some of the heroes are on the run (hence the chapter title FUGITIVES), others have been captured and are presumably on their way to some American gulag. Beyond that, I imagine we'll see some of the heroes drafted into government service in different capacities as the talents are weaponized.

And so it goes. HEROES returns on February 2, folks.

UPDATE! Argh--forgot to give the chapter finale a grade. Having watched it a second time (and really enjoying the Sylar voiceover opening!), I'm giving this an A-/B+. Far more entertaining than the close out of either previous chapter and actually has me curious about the next volume.

HEROES "Villains" Overview

Tonight is the last episode of this chapter of HEROES. "Villains" has been in many ways a relaunch of the series, fixing points where the series had gone astray in Season 2 (and boy, had it gone astray). Whether it worked is debatable: fan reaction is mixed; ratings have declined; and two executive producers have been let go.

So what's my take on the whole thing? Cover your eyes, kids, 'cause there are spoilers below.

1. Bromance is dead. Peter and Nathan are ending up enemies after this chapter; it's pretty clear that Nathan has drunk the Petrelli Kool-Aid and is going to further his dad's scheme to distribute powers to "the worthy." The fact that he thinks he can judge who's worthy and who isn't is a stamp of villainy in the making.
2. On the other hand, Isaac Mendez just won't die. It's not Santiago Cabrera's fault; hell, I'd love him to be back on the show again. A junkie painter-prophet? Gold! But his damnable "missing issue" is a cheap McGuffin.
3. And Arthur Petrelli might not be dead. Okay, Sylar allowed Peter's bullet to pass through Papa P's cranium. Is he dead? Well... Claire bounced back after a chunk of wood was lodged in her brain stem for awhile, so I'm not counting Papa P out just yet.
4. Matt Parkman finds love. I'm thinking Matt and Daphne might have something that lasts (until next year, anyway). Unfortunately, Elle and Sylar... not so much.
5. No love for time travel. This is one comic book cliche that needs to be buried once again. Honestly, every last friggin' thing is about saving the world from some future disaster. I'm pretty damned sick of it. How about saving your job from a bad evaluation? Sure, you can fly... so what? You'll be the flyingest guy in the unemployment line. More slice of life stories, less cataclysm-of-the-season please.
6. HRG is back. Jack Coleman acts his ass off in that scene last week with Claire, where she tries to convince him NOT to let the Company experiment on baby Claire. "Claire bear, huh?" is a great new quotable for the show.
7. Thinning the herd. About frickin' time. Maya's gone (for good?), Elle is gone (kind of a shame, 'cause I like Kristen Bell a lot), Arthur Petrelli may be gone (see above), and y'know, it's a good thing. We only have so much time and attention to give, so a sprawling cast is not helpful.
8. Predictions. It looks like PrimaTech drafts puppetmaster Doyle to take on Sylar, though I'm guessing this is only the overt move; odds are good Angela has another trick up her sleeve and is ready for her not-really-son. I'm also betting Peter gets his powers back and we see a powerhouse knockdown fight in tonight's ep.

That's where I am, folks. I'd grade this season as a C+ with moments of pure A. Far better than the D+ of last season, but it has a ways to go before it recaptures its lost glories. Will the show be renewed? NBC needs hits desperately, so if pilot season produces something phenomenal, HEROES may be the victim. Then again, Bryan Fuller is coming back on board, so the next arc ("Fugitives") might be the shot of pure awesome the show needs right now.

New Wild Cards Site Live!

This just in-- Tor has launched its official Wild Cards site! The home page includes an introduction from George R.R. Martin, with pages for the new characters, the writers (and links to their websites), Q&A, and a whole lot more. If you're a long time fan or a newcomer to the series, this site has LOADS of stuff you'll want to see. (And if, like me, you subscribe, you can open the link to GRRM's description of how Wild Cards came to be... which is a great story.)

Check it out!

HEROES: WTF?

Okay, I think Mohinder's marrow-deep stupidity is infectious. That's the only explanation for a bunch of bad decision-making on last night's episode.
Let's recap [spoilers!]:

• Mohinder is responsible for reviving Noah... and then bitches him out, saying that Noah being shot in the eye was all Noah's fault (my logic professor would love to see that diagrammed out!);
• Micah tells his worthless, greedy cousin that he has valuable comic books (I can excuse this one, 'cause he's a kid);
• Peter and Adam go after Victoria Pratt and Peter does pretty much one dumb thing after another (and even Adam isn't too bright if he let her blast him with a shotgun--guess regeneration limits one's peripheral vision);
• BTW, what the hell power did Victoria have, other than toting a shotgun?
• Claire goes after Elle, who watches the scattering of the ashes while working a Slurpee, even after Elle knocked her and "West the flying boy" out of the sky last week;
• Peter chooses to side with Adam over Hiro at Primatech (okay, in what universe does THAT make sense? Didn't Peter get a hint that Hiro was one of the good guys last time?);
• and finally (the whopper), Maya chooses "Gah-bree-yell" over her own brother because a) they're BOTH murderers (wow! what an insight!), b) her brother Alejandro "hates" her for killling his unfaithful wife (something we've never seen even suggested) and c) apparently Maya is not only gullible and guilt-stricken but she's horny too. Probably doesn't hurt that Sylar's a good looking guy.

So we see a HUGE amount of stupidity last night. Was this...

1. because of the hypercompressed season?
2. an example of "we need Outcome X so people have to do Stupid Things 1 through 15"? or
3. a show bottoming out in its sophomore season?

You be the judge, friends. Comment below.

INSIDE STRAIGHT: the next generation of Wild Cards

I've been a fan of the Wild Cards books since they started coming out in 1987. The premise is simple and elegant: an alien virus is let loose in 1946, killing nine out of ten infected, transforming nine out of ten survivors in a random but bizarre fashion, and leaving that final one-in-a-hundred seemingly untouched... yet endowed with some amazing superpower.

There have been 17 books (from three publishers) in the series, edited by George R.R. Martin (visit his site!) and Melinda Snodgrass (visit her site!). The series grew out of the authors gathering to play a superhero roleplaying game and finally deciding that, being writers, they'd better make some money out of this time-consuming hobby. Publication of the titles trailed off, with the last two releases in 2002 and 2006.

Now, however, the Wild Cards are back.

INSIDE STRAIGHT is the new mosaic novel (collection of interwoven short stories) by this writing group, which includes a handful of new writers amid the veterans. It begins with an assassination in Baghdad, zips to the other side of the world for the debut of a wild cards-based reality show, and ends on the bloody killing fields of Egypt.

Although there are cameos from established characters (such as Golden Boy), the stories introduce a number of terrific new characters:

• Jonathan Hive (aka Bugsy), a blogger who can turn into a cloud of green wasps;
• Lohengrin, a knight armored in "ghost steel" who answers the call of duty wherever it leads;
• Rustbelt, an ironclad Minnesotan who faces a monstrous injustice... and makes a momentous decision;
• Amazing Bubbles, whose career lies in ruins after her wild card turns;
• Drummer Boy, a superstrong and six-armed joker who fronts a rock band;
• Curveball, the "girl next door" who plays to win;
• Lilith, a mysterious British ace; and
• Stuntman, a kid who never quite measured up to his athlete dad's expectations, but has an opportunity to become the first American Hero.

Also featured is John Fortune, stripped of his uncontrollable powers by his father Fortunato, who now wants to gain back what he's lost. He has a shot at it, thanks to an amulet given to his mother Peregrine (a famous wild card known for her beauty and her huge white wings). Putting it on opens a world of possibilities... and takes him into the path of terrible danger. Backed by Bugsy and Lohengrin, Fortune chooses to embrace his destiny and heads for Egypt, where the Living Gods (jokers who resemble the Egyptian pantheon) have asked for his help.

You see, as mentioned, the adventure begins with an assassination. The Caliph, ruler of a multi-state Muslim empire, is murdered and a joker terrorist group is framed for the crime. This leads to a horrifying retaliation against Egypt's joker population, a situation that at first seems to be a background element but takes center stage very quickly. (Long-time readers of the series will get an Easter egg, of sorts, as the Caliph is a well-established character from a long time back.)

Up front is the debut of reality show American Hero, pitting 28 aces (divided into four teams) against each other and judged by aces Digger Downs, Harlem Hammer and Topper. Situations are created and the teams must react--with failure meaning each losing team has to "discard" a player. (Yes, the card imagery is still in full force herein.)

The show provides a snapshot of aces in 2008 America. Many of them are celebrities because of what they are (that is, superpowered), not who they are; Bugsy blogs about this at length in the very opening of the book. This becomes an extremely important point, as the entire book turns upon one question:

What is a hero?

As the book splits between the trio (or quartet?) in Egypt and the dwindling cast of AH in Hollywood, the importance of the question grows more clear by the page. Each character has a moment of truth, when they can be a hero or not. Some of these are exceptionally poignant, as a handful step up; the others either fail this test of character (one spectacularly so) or opt out entirely.

A small group of ace volunteers joins Fortune, Bugsy and Lohengrin in Egypt, as two armies converge on Aswan and the masses of joker refugees taking shelter there. There's a Magnificent Seven quality to this final act, which ends in desperate battle and none left unchanged (and several dead) before it's all over.

It's an ambitious book with a lot to say. Wild Cards as a series hasn't shied away from social commentary (in the context of alternate history), but this is perhaps the most head-on tackling of real world issues and the theme of heroism that the series has yet attempted. In a way, it harks back to "Witness" by Walter Jon Williams, one of the very first WC tales. That was about the Four Aces, a team assembled by an altruist and set loose on the world stage in the 1950s; now, the stakes are higher, but the underlying problem is the same: can wild card powers solve world crises? Can those with power stand aside and do nothing while terrible things happen?

What is a hero? By the end of this book, the true heroes are revealed--and a new age dawns for the children of the wild card.

What can I say? I loved this book.

Look for the SFRevu review in January 2008.