Four major series wrap-up their seasons. Spoilers below. I mean it: Real spoilers. No way to discuss the shows in any meaningful way otherwise.
HEROES: After 22 episodes of build-up, “Heroes” was faced with the almost insurmountable task of providing a climax that on the one hand is surprising and unexpected, but at the same time conforms to the many visions that we’ve already had of what will happen (Peter going thermonuclear, Hiro killing Sylar, the Cheerleader’s being saved resulting in saving the world, etc.)
In my view, they came about ninety percent of the way toward pulling it off.
The episode was by turns compelling, gripping, and rife with unexpected moments. Ando survived, which was a relief, because as high as his coolness factor was, I wasn’t looking forward to seeing our Hiro transform into his future version courtesy of Ando’s demise (although one wonders, considering how easily he saved him, how the alt future Ando wound up dead.) And I was taken with the notion that saving Claire resulted in New York’s salvation, not because of any physical action she took, but rather because of a compelling emotional presence she presented.
Still, I find myself left with disturbing questions. If the solution to the problem was something as simple as taking Peter into the stratosphere so he could detonate there, why couldn’t he just fly himself? Is he only capable of using a single power at a time, and because he was heating up, that precluded his using other powers? Okay, I can buy that, but it would have been nice if they’d spelled it out. Did Peter survive the explosion? If so, what’s to prevent the same thing from happening again? For that matter, since Sylar survived, there’s nothing to stop HIM from going nuclear as well. When you give it some thought, nothing was really resolved; merely delayed, like “The Terminator’s” Judgment Day. I’m just saying that, after a season of time invested, it would have been nice to feel like I’d witnessed something other than a stopgap measure. Which doesn’t mean I’m at all deterred from tuning in next season. Hiro jumping back three hundred years really does seem to be underscoring the idea that he’s under the control of some sort of unseen hand of destiny, moving him around to various points in time where he’s needed. I wonder if we’ll ever actually see that hand.
LOST: High marks for turning the season around. I pity folks who tuned out months ago and have missed out on a series that has totally recaptured its mojo in the past seven weeks. The season ender was no exception, accomplishing with even more confidence that which “Heroes” was a bit hit-or-miss on: Addressing what seems inevitable while simultaneously surprising and shocking.
Milking what appears to be the long-established formula, “Lost” contrasts the castaways seemingly doomed-to-fail escape attempt…because if they get off the island, one figures, the show’s over, so it must be hopeless–with yet another flashback, this time focusing on a dissolute, suicidal Jack. It’s only in the brilliant final minutes that we realize, oh my God, it’s a flashforward, as we learn that Jack, Kate et al have in fact escaped the island, and he’s literally “Lost” even though he’s returned home. How tired are we of promos that claim “This episode, everything changes,” but this time out the episode lives up to the advance billing.
Only downside: The death of Charlie. Now I’m all for the notion of “Ha! We defied fate!” only to discover that, crap no, fate will have its way. But the way in which it happened made no sense. Faced with an imminent explosion and flood, Charlie slams the door to the communications chamber with HIMSELF on the INSIDE? It was like watching Daffy Duck sawing off a tree branch to drop it on Elmer Fudd, only to realize that he’s sitting on the section of the branch that’s going to fall. Two seconds for Charlie to step to the other side and pull the door shut behind him, and instead he locks himself in with impending disaster? It was one of those awful moments that comes from writing necessity rather than intelligent character action (as we saw Hurley display earlier, nonchalantly saving the day.) In a series as clever as “Lost” has proven itself to be, one wishes we’d seen such cleverness displayed regarding Charlie’s fate. He deserved better.
SMALLVILLE: “I know you’ve had a rough year,” Mom Kent consoles Clark. Yeah, like this year is different from any other. Events of the season rocket toward an unexpected conclusion, and once again the fates of a half dozen regulars is left teetering on the brink.
The only thing I find disconcerting is that, after numerous season cliffhangers, I find myself kind of going, “Okay, yeah, but two or three episodes into the next season, the status quo will be reset.”
Ohmigod! Lana’s dead! Killed in a car explosion! Yeah, except Chloe–a far more disposable character considering she doesn’t appear in Superman continuity–had a whole house blown up around her, and she survived. Notice that a delivery truck blocked Lana from Lionel’s view at a crucial moment. My guess? Her seeming “death” was arranged by the neo-JLA, the truck driven by Cyborg, the explosion courtesy of a concussive arrow, and Lana whisked away by the Flash. In one stroke they get her out from under Luthor’s thumb and set Lex up to take the fall for her supposed death.
Ohmigod! Chloe’s passed out, maybe dead! Well, probably not.
Ohmigod! Lionel’s in danger of imminent demise! Well, probably not.
None of which detracts from the fact that this has been one of the best seasons of “Smallville” thus far, as Clark takes more steps toward a destiny of superheroing that STILL makes no sense since in this continuity, people will take one look at Superman and say, “Hey, that’s Clark Kent” unless he manages to totally change his face somehow.
And I will say that they definitely got me with the end. I did a 180 as my initial thought of, “Oh jeez, ANOTHER iteration of Evil Clark Kent” gave way to, “Wait…Bizarro?! How cool is that!” I’m definitely aboard for next season, even though I’m still expecting the restore status quo button to be pushed.
AMERICAN IDOL: Someone named Jordin won.
PAD
• 
You’re a lot more forgiving of Heroes’ flaws than I was.
Hey Peter-
I definitely agree with you on the ending for Heroes as being a lesser payoff than previous episodes. Unless there’s some good explaination later on in the series, the Petrilli’s sacrifice doesn’t make sense. If Peter can use multiple powers, then everyone could have been saved by Claire shooting Peter, stopping him from exploding, and the invincibility would have allowed him to awaken later. As far as Hiro’s backwards in time thing, at first it put me off seeming like a scene from Evil Dead. When they showed the eclipse (being it is the title credit), it made me want to know more about it.
On the Lost front, I also agree that fans should have stuck around. Although season two could almost be removed from the series with no loss, season three has recaptured what we loved about Lost. It will just be hard only getting 16 episodes each year for the next three years. Still, it will be less time than waiting for movie sequels.
Smallville still has me on board. After six seasons, it still hasn’t lost steam in my eyes. Even though my DVR malfunctioned and recorded Ugly Betty instead of Smallville on it’s season finale night, I was able to find it on YouTube before they took it off. Yes, I think no one was fooled as to the fate of Lana. I have loved how they have evolved Lois over the last three seasons. The only thing I didn’t like was when they killed Johnathon Kent (I would much rather have seen Lana go). This season has been better for Lana, but she still seems to suck anybody’s good feelings they might have when she is around. I loved to see more of the Martian Manhunter. We know have one more JLA on board! I wholeheartedly agree the last scene’s flash of Bizarro had me panting, waiting for next season. I admit, I was put off by the show when it first aired, in that their motto was they wouldn’t have any costumes. Only on DVD did I find the joy of watching it from the beginning. I also liked that they put Lex in a position where he can realize his full evil potential (feeling alienated from everyone).
Thank God there is still a few shows to look forward to next season. Maybe even 24 will realize it’s mistakes this year, and be good again next season.
Smallville: I agree with the Lana save. And the ending was the best part of the show. I love the line “I’m you, just a little more bizarre”.
I haven’t been following American Idol (thank God) but you are entirely right about the other shows. I think Smallville only works if it as viewed as the story of Clark Kent – not THAT Clark Kent, not necessarily – coming to terms with his powers and responsibilities. If we accept that we know how he’s going to turn out, it just doesn’t work. Far too many people would know right away that Superman is just old Clark in a blue suit, and the meetings in Smallville with so many characters belonging to Superman’s adulthood pose a lot of problems. Of course, a 30 year old Tom Welling/Clark and nearly 29 year old Erica Durance/Lois pose problems of their own. Welling is almost believable as 20 year old alien, but Durance will never be believable as a human just past childhood. Well….I like it, so it’s fine.
I think the explanation for Charlie’s actions lies in the fact that Desmond was charging toward him like a madman. If Charlie hadn’t acted to shut that door IMMEDIATELY – meaning, not taking the time to step out, turn around, slam the door, and get beaten to a pulp by Desmond – Desmond would have charged right on in past him to see Penny.
I thought that Charlie’s seemingly unnecessary death was a deliberate act on his part–the “prophecy” specifically said that he would have to die or Claire and the baby and everyone else would not escape. Yes, he could have tried to get the best of both worlds, flood the hatch and escape but he had every reason to think that this would result in nobody escaping. It was a heroic act and it doesn’t take much to see a Jesus parallel in there, especially with him making the sign of the cross as he dies.
On Lost, the Flashforward idea was brilliant. One thing that intrigues me about it is when Jack tries to fill the prescription. It’s from his father’s pad and the hospital pharmacy was going to call his father’s office. Does this mean his father isn’t dead? The hospital pharmacy would have known that he was dead but they were going to call his office to verify the prescription? Hmmm.
The Charlie thing didn’t bother me at all. I saw it completely as intelligent character action. Charlie knows how Desmond’s visions work. If something changes, it changes the outcome of the vision. Charlie knew if he didn’t drown it was likely that it would change the outcome of Claire and her baby being rescued. He had already come to terms with what he was going to do to save Claire so he did the selfless thing.
Posted by Moon Man at May 24, 2007 08:11 AM
Thank God there is still a few shows to look forward to next season. Maybe even 24 will realize it’s mistakes this year, and be good again next season.
What about 24 exactly was it that you didnt like?
Just wondering
Regarding Peter not trying to fly and Charlie not thinking of getting on the other side of the door –
unlike a lot of other heros we read about, these guys don’t have a Danger Room.
That is to say, they arn’t trained to think of how to handle emergencies, like superheros, or for that matter cops and firemen – when the pressures on the paniced just enough that the solution that the “obvious” outs might not occour.
that said – loved both finales, i’m uber-glad I was wrong about Ando working for Linderman, and Hurley JUST KICKS ÃSS!
Regarding Peter not trying to fly and Charlie not thinking of getting on the other side of the door –
unlike a lot of other heros we read about, these guys don’t have a Danger Room.
That is to say, they arn’t trained to think of how to handle emergencies, like superheros, or for that matter cops and firemen – when the pressures on the paniced just enough that the solution that the “obvious” outs might not occour.
that said – loved both finales, i’m uber-glad I was wrong about Ando working for Linderman, and Hurley JUST KICKS ÃSS!
Regarding Peter not trying to fly and Charlie not thinking of getting on the other side of the door –
unlike a lot of other heros we read about, these guys don’t have a Danger Room.
That is to say, they arn’t trained to think of how to handle emergencies, like superheros, or for that matter cops and firemen – when the pressures on the paniced just enough that the solution that the “obvious” outs might not occour.
that said – loved both finales, i’m uber-glad I was wrong about Ando working for Linderman, and Hurley JUST KICKS ÃSS!
Something I read along the way since the final episode was the theory that Peter was concentrating so hard on not exploding, that he was not able to use his other powers. (It was clear in the flash forward episode that he was capable of using more than one power at a time.)
“What about 24 exactly was it that you didnt like?
Just wondering”
This year of 24 just didn’t work for me. Don’t get me wrong, I thought the previous five seasons just kept getting better and better, with Season Five as a standout. This season (6) felt like a retreading of things that had been done better in earlier seasons. I think they need to have a season where the white house isn’t involved every time. Wayne Palmer was not a believable President, was the starter for bad things for me this season. The nuclear explosion in the early episodes just felt forced and I didn’t care. In the very first episode of the season Jack is kidnapped by the main bad guy, and when he escapes he doesn’t try to take him down right then. Every other place in the show he has no problems taking down even twenty or more men on his own. So right off the bat, it felt like the show was artificially keeping the story going. I know they tried to change the direction of the show towards the end, but the last episode made it a little too little, a little too late. “Ricky” Schroeder showed off his bad acting skills, and sported a haircut straight from his Silver Spoons days. Who cared Chloe was pregnant in the last episode? Then there was these love triangles flying a hundred different directions at CTU that just didn’t make sense. There were several elements that didn’t live up to the great 24 tradition right at the beginning of the season. I was glad Heroes was there to give me something to look forward to on Monday nights. I will watch 24 again next year, and hope for more of the glory that came before. Now that the show has fallen hard for a season, it will be hard (not impossible) for it to leave that taint behind….
Peter, I have to agree with your thoughts on the climax to Heroes: as soon as Nathan arrived, I thought, ‘But Peter has Nathan’s powers; couldn’t he just fly out by himself? And if he can in fact survive the detonation, should he boil up again in the future, maybe having a latte in Starbucks, he would just excuse himself, fly into the stratosphere, detonate and end up somewhere else. Of course there’s all that fallout to deal with, but you can’t have everything.
Looking to the future, I’m looking forward to the ‘Minutemen’ flashback, in which we see the previous generation’s super-folk, including Linderman, Peter and Nathan’s mom, the Richard Roundtree character and a few other characters I’m sure I’ve forgotten.
Regarding the Lost finale, I took was very pleasantly surprised, especially the scene of Hurley improbably coming to the rescue in the VW van. And I was totally on board with Sawyer blowing away the last of the Others on the beach; not only did it provide the audience with a much-needed emotional catharsis, as Sawyer quite rightly points out, you can’t trust these guys. And Formerly-Bearded-Guy (Mike?) had it coming.
As for Charlie’s sacrifice, I read it that when the grenade blew open the wall, he basically sealed the connecting hatch, thus preserving the structural integrity of the facility and saving Desmond at the same time. Didn’t anybody else see it that way?
And finally, I’m not sure I agree with you regarding this season of Smallville, Peter; I found it wildly uneven but with some pretty cool stuff scattered throughout the season. And since just about every season has ended with one or more characters seemingly dead/buried/blown up/vanished, I never accept any character as dead unless I see the corpse. And not even then…
It looked clear to me that future Peter could not use more than one power at a time. When rescuing Hiro, he turned visible to use strength to throw the first goon, then TK? then warping space to get away.
I was convinced that he’s Ultra-Boy. Even though flying away was the obvious solution all along, I don’t think he could once he was losing control of Ted’s power. If Claire had killed him to shut it down, he still could have regenerated if the bullet could be dug out without doing too much damage.
Peter being safe from blowing up later I’m fine with. He was in a super high pressure situation and he lost control. All he has to do is avoid facing down serial killers until he can learn to control his powers better and he’ll be fine. Considering the massive amount of improvement in power control he’s made recently, I’m OK with that. Even in the future they made no mention of him blowing up a second time, so I have faith in him learning to control his powers, even if they didn’t spell it out.
Sylar living was lame. Not just because he could blow up again, but because a great villain deserves a great ending. They spent the whole season proving that the only way to stop Sylar is to kill him, and now they’re back to where they were for most of the season, Sylar on the loose.
Or maybe Sylar will mope in a basement for a few months and then crawl out as one of the good guys.
On the subject of the invisible hand of fate.
PAD, early on in Heroes you wrote a round up that mentioned the coincidence of so many heroes showing up in Vegas at the same time. At the time, you were right, that did seem a bit coincidental. However, we’ve seen now that it wasn’t just coincidence, Linderman was pulling the strings of many of those characters. He’d actually been controlling their lives for years, planning out various ways in which he could use them to affect each other.
Now you’ve mentioned the invisible hand of fate putting Hero where he needs to be at the end of the season finale. That makes me think of another little bit from the episode. Locator Girl mentioned someone worse than Sylar, someone who looked back at her whenever she looked for him. Perhaps there’s a connection? Perhaps there’s some master manipulator out there. Either way, I thought it was neat that they laid that seed for the future.
One last note, I loved when Mr. Bennet said, “Call me Noah.” I hadn’t even realised that I’d gone the whole season without knowing his first name, and it was a really nice little character moment.
IF there is a big baddy out there manipulating all of this, maybe Sylar is still dead but the uber-evil took the body. If Sylar can get his powers by sucking them out of people’s heads, its possible the bigger bad dude could to.
Personally, I think what we saw in the first season was a battle in an ongoing war (various allusions have been made to that, most notably Mr. Nakamura telling very specific tales to Hiro.) There are two sides trying to manipulate things (the big baddie, and ? – Primatech may have been the good guys once but derailed at some point). Following this logic, it would be interesting if Sylar was being manipulated, thinking he had to steal all these powers to save NY, when all the time he was collecting for someone else. (Fits into the Sylar as eventual good guy theory too).
Personally, I was a little disappointed in the Finale per se, but they did tie up MOST of the major loose ends.
One I couldn’t track. What happened to HRG’s wife and son? At one point they were in a hotel, he came back, thought he was talking to wife and it was Candace, which means wife was moved. I don’t recall seeing her after, and in the 5 years ahead ep she wasn’t mentioned, was she?
Lost — The flashback got me at the end. I see Kate pull up and think “He’s known her from before the crash?” which would have been shocking in itself only to discover it is a flash forward. I wonder if they will be doing flashforwards next year instead of flashbacks. (Or worse, they pull an Alias and next season is several years later).
It does raise questions about his father. Twice he brought his name up as if he was still alive.
I was expecting to see Walt and Michael in the finale. Not sure if that was really Walt or just a vision. THey have to show up somewhere, no one makes it off the island..
Eric
I came in late to the whole Heroes thing, as I was never home when it was on and nobody would loan me tapes. Anyway–watching the finale, watching the Petrellis fly into space, if I remember right, all you see is a flash after they go out of sight. So, they might NOT be toast. Sylar might not be alive, just somebody Morlock-style took his body into the sewer. I got a whole Children of the Corn Blue Man thing forming in my head with Sylar, or his body, at least.
Anybody else see Petrelli and think of the Fratellis from The Goonies? No? I guess it’s just me. Hello? Where’d everybody go? My, those crickets are loud for the middle of the afternoon.
This isn’t my idea but I thought I’d share:
What if the remaining 3 seasons/48 episodes of Lost all took place off the island in the “present” and the flashbacks were of their rescue? Is that what was being teased/hinted in the finale?
I don’t watch Smallville, but your Heroes and Lost thoughts are spot on.
Regarding Heroes, I think Peter did try to do something but couldn’t. When Nathan shows up and they are mentioning finding another way Peter says “I can’t control it. I can’t do anything.” The way I see it, it hasn’t been that long since he learned of his powers and the training with the invisible man only gave him some control over it. But the radioactive power was just too much for him to handle and sent him in to overload. Either way, I’m assuming he wasn’t able to fly himself. I do wish they had made it slightly more clear though.
For no good reason, I rewrote the ending of the finale of “Heroes” with the same events, more or less, but with different pacing.
http://cabridges.livejournal.com/52776.html
I think it would have worked much better had we
a) had a sense of urgency, rather than assorted heroes just strolling up to Sylar
b) a sense that Peter couldn’t do anything besides barely control the explosion
c) a sense that the explosion was going to be as dangerous as, say, Ted blowing up the Bennet house, which looked way more menacing than Peter’s flashy lights, and
d) less drawn-out emotional scenes when there’s a frickin’ explosion imminent.
Jack challenged the other doctor to call his father and see who was more drunk. With the episode ending the way it did, that becomes the most interesting line of the show.
So let us assume that Christian Shepard is alive. That’s why his casket was empty. Did the island resurrect him or did he fake his death?
He is directly responsible for two at least two people being on flight 815 – Jack and Ana Lucia. Also, the psychic that gave Claire the plane ticket later claimed to Eko to be a fraud. Did Christian have something to do with that as well? Did he buy Claire’s ticket?
In the (seemingly throwaway) episode where Nikki and Paulo died, Hurley said that the main villian on Expose was revealed in the fourth season to be someone you knew all along. I’m thinking Christian is that guy.
Also, did anyone else think that Jacob’s voice sounded like Jack’s dad?
PAD: “…this has been one of the best seasons of “Smallville” thus far”
Umm…PAD, are you enjoying that crack you’re smoking?
This has been the season that has made me (and many of my friends) give up on the show.
I just could not take another second of the Lex and Lana show. “Justice” was pretty cool, but that’s the one high note of the season.
On the Lost finale:
Anagram for Hoffs Drawlar (funeral home) = FORWARD FLASH
I was also a little disappointed in Peter not just flying into the sky, but I rationalized it as him needing all of his control to not explode. I was willing to spot them that for the emotional “logic” of Nathan giving up everything (his life, fame, the Presidency) for love of his brother. “No greater love” and all that…
As to whether Peter can use more than one power at a time, I’m pretty sure that he can. In the training scene where Claude beating him with a stick to prompt Peter into calling up one of his powers, Peter is invisible the whole time and still manages to use Sylar’s TK to protect himself as well. Once again, I figure that Peter was too busy not-blowing-up.
The Lost flash-forward had me entirely taken in. Even when I had spotted “anachronisms” like Jack’s phone looking like a too-recent model, I figured it was just a production glitch. That made the end a total mind-f***. I didn’t even make the connection of all the Pacific maps scattered over Jack’s apartment from his attempts to locate the Island. So, is Jack’s father alive?
So, who was in the coffin? Who would have had nobody (not even fellow castaways) show up at the viewing? They would have had to literally drag Locke, Rose and Bernard off the Island, so I’m going to disqualify them. Everybody loved Hurley and he still had family so I can’t really believe that he’d die so unremaked even he managed to lose his incredible wealth. Sawyer wold normally be a good guess, but I’m going to with the obvious conclusion that Sawyer is the “he” that Kate referenced, so I’m counting him out. Claire could have stayed in LA to raise Aaron, but Kate was way too dismissive of going to the funeral. Claire was too popular for that. Desmond might have managed to alienate everyone in his life again, especially if his role in helping Charlie go on a suicide mission came out. Juliet is my prime canidate. Kate in particular might have been unwilling to go to her funeral. Granted she’s got a sister and a neice…unless Ben lied about the her being cured and faked the tape he showed her. I also had a brief moment to wonder if it was Michael in that coffin. He’s got a mother and Walt, but if he managed to get estranged from them, I can see how none of the survivors would expend to effort to piss on him if he was on fire. Plus it could be an avenue to get Walt back in the series while explaining his growth.
Had a thought on the whole Peter thing. Unlike most of the Heroes powers, Ted’s seemed to fluctuate with his emotions more so.
If thats the case, then Peter losing control as events got more charged makes more sense as does his brother being the one to save him, as he always seemed to be able to steady Peter down.
That led to another thing that bugged me. Given this was New York post 9/11, it seems curious that reaction was so calm to what was basically a backpack nuke exploding in the sky. There seemed to be a lot of paramedics available for what must have appeared to be some kind of shooting (we’ll allow that Primatech still has enough connections to do some basic damage control).
Also, assuming Nathan is dead, I wonder how they will explain the Senator elect missing without a trace (Free idea to the writers – Peter survives and steps in to take his brother’s place, secretly wracked with guilt.)
Jeff, it’s a minor nit-pick but Nathan was “elected” to a House seat, not the Senate.
I’ve seen people speculate on the Television Without Pity board that Mama Patrelli, who is obviously still part of Linderman’s organization, would use Candice to assume Nathan’s role and exert influence that way.
re: Heroes…why didn’t Peter fly off himself…
What part of “lost control of his power” is not being understood by people?
On “Heroes” – Did I miss it? Or has no one mentioned that when Hiro jumped to the past at the end of the episode – “Kensei” (the lone Samurai) – looked an awful lot like Daddy Sulu? Just how long has he been waiting for an heir to “ascend” – I think he said?
And what’s with the cockraoches throughout the season?
And I think Sylar was dragged to the sewer. (To be with the cockroaches?) In his eyes – you saw Issac’s power showing images up until Sylar’s death. Wasn’t that how Isaac’s power worked? He couldn’t see past his death? And when the future was changed by the stopping of Sylar – he no longer saw himself as “Nathan” in the White House.
And mark me down as one who thinks Peter – at least at this point – can only access one power at a time. At least until Dr. Who returns to complete the training.
Love this show!
HEROES: Two things practically RUINED the episode – Peter not using other powers and Sylar’s body gone. Could have been fixed by having Peter TRY to fly, can’t use a second power, now even makes shooting him doubtful (what if he’s NOT invulnerable right now?) say, or indicate the powers weren’t there. Heck a little bouncing in the air and flickering invisibility would have done it. Unfortunately the show was muddy at this point and that’s VERY SAD. The whole scene was anticlimactic and wooden. Poorly directed, I’d say.
Sylar gone? Stupid. They would have at least made sure he was dead. I’m not objecting to the body being gone, I’m objecting to not even seeing our Heroes TRY to secure it…
LOST: Tons of good stuff here. Jack vs Ben, giving Ben the walkie-talkie, what an idiot, but at least beyond that point Jack gutted it out. Hurley, saves the day, OH YEAH! Others blown up real good, YEAH! Sawyer’s “I didn’t believe him” OH YEAH, YEAH, YEAH! Locke killing the girl was WEAK. So was telling Jack “you’re not supposed to do this”. Jack’s response should be “WHY THE HÊLL NOT?”
The flash forward is fun, but I don’t think it works long term. So getting off the island ISN’T the goal, the end all? Now, what, Jack needs a happy ending? I feel like I just got served a heaping second helping of something I was doubtful about finishing the first helping of.
Oh, and Charlie offed himself to insure the vision came true. He didn’t have to die because it was unavoidable, he “had to die” to insure that the vision came true and the rescue would come off as “planned”.
SMALLVILLE: Lana’s not dead, noone buys it. And if Chloe healed Lois so much does some of Chloe’s caring for Clark come with it? Bizarro Clark is great – I was actually thinking Eradicator before the Evil Clark showed up, but this is better. Here’s hoping they don’t just stick with generic clone villain and get more into the “damaged, alternate Clark” aspects possible with Bizarro.
Actually, in Heroes, I kinda appreciate that they don’t always spell things out – at least, not right away. The episode where Bennet mentions the new tracking system that “doesn’t use isotopes or satellites; it just finds you” – – it took me a couple days before it dawned on me: it’s the girl who can find anyone! Of course, at the start of the next episode, the “previously on Heroes” summation makes it obvious, so the confirmation was nice.
Actually, for the longest time I thought both Peter and Sylar could each only use 1 power at time. I’m still of the belief that’s true for Peter; Sylar has since demonstrated multi power use.
Comic-Geek Question: If Sylar did take Peter’s power, would he only gain Peter’s absorption ability, or would he also gain all the powers Peter has already absorbed?? 🙂
Chloe’s Kryptonite ability manifested itself in the finale; everybody seems to be overlooking this point. It brought Lois back from death, or at least the brink of death, and immediately Chloe became unconscious. Mayhap her soul or her mind was somehow transferred into Lois? This could help Lois become the reporter that she is “destined” to become, and it could also give her new feelings for Clark, that she is also supposed to be “destined” to have. Just a thought, I may be WAY off.
My guess as to who was in the coffin on Lost: It was Sawyer, and the “he” that Kate was referring to, is their son. His dialog last night hinted that he wouldn’t exactly be a stand-up dad if Kate is pregnant. And if he does abandon Kate and baby after their rescue, she may well have avoided his funeral. Just a theory, though.
Charlie had to close the door from the inside because that was the only way it could be battened down. If it could be locked from the outside, Desmond would’ve been able to open the door, and he couldn’t. Just closing the door wouldn’t be enough against an ocean flooding into the place. If Charlie had done nothing, he still would’ve drowned; this way, at least, he saved Desmond and got him the critical info.
Heroes, I was disappointed in the finale- just didn’t seem “epic” enough- and I thought the same thing about the flying as many you- didn’t add up. Still it was good.
Lost however, I loved loved LOVED! I knew from the moment we saw bearded Jack on the plane that it was a flashforward- (but then I thought maybe it’s a reverse backstory- bearded Jack is in the “now” and the ISLAND is the backstory. Course that wouldn’t work because we saw what was going on with people when Jack wasn’t around …)
Either way, made it really interesting!
Per usual many more questions:
Who’s the dead guy in the “future/now”? Why does Jack want to get back so desperately? Walt? Was he really there? Who does Naomi work for? Is or was Kate preggers? (Now we know why the others kidnapped those three at the end of last season don’t we? Ben was setting up the perfect storm so that one of those two would impregnate her!)
I cheered when Hurly stormed in in the VW bus, when Jack beat up Ben and Sayid snapped that guys neck (bloodthirsty chick, aren’t I?)
So yeah, I loved this season finale! And now we gotta wait til Feb 2008 to get – well some answers at least.
Re: Smallville: I only WISH Lana is truly dead. She works on my nerves.
Re Smallville: Lana’s fine. Not a scratch.
How do I know?
Come on. A truck “just happens” to drive past her car at the crucial moment, blocking Lionel’s view. Can’t be coincidence. Somebody grabbed her and put her in said truck. A coworker thinks it was Bart/Impulse, though I’m not sure how any of the Junior Lifeguard Association would know she was in any immediate danger.
Though I suppose Chloe could have contacted them and asked them to keep an eye on her.
Now, did whomever rescued Lana also put a body in the car in her place? Something appeared to be in there, and presumably the police wouldn’t have arrested Lex for murder if no body had been in the car.
Unless someone on the police force is out to get Lex, that is.
Didn’t know about Chloe’s magic tears. Must have missed the episode in which they were introduced. However, when it appeared that Lois was dead (Jim), for a moment, I thought that maybe PAD would turn out to be right after all, and Chloe would assume the byline of Lois Lane. But that still left the issue (addressed some years back) of why her friends wouldn’t call her Chloe in private. Plus, of course, it wouldn’t make any sense, having introduced the real Lois and started her down the path of journalism.
But like I said, that thought that Chloe would take Lois place lasted just a moment, then the magic tears fell onto Lois, and
She’s alive! She’s alive! (he said in his best Colin Clive voice).
As to Chloe herself, who knows? She’s not part of the original Superman mythos, so she is, to some degree, expendable.
The cliffhanger wasn’t much of a cliffhanger, however. I’m not too concerned about what Bizzaro Clark will do. I’d have preferred to have seen Lex’s army up and about. That would’ve made a better cliffhanger.
Re Heroes: Good overall. It would’ve been cool to have seen Peter and Nathan fly into the air and stayed with them, rather than watch from a ground-based POV.
As to Hiro, maybe I was right, and he’ll turn out to be the legendary figure his father told him about as a child.
On the other hand, according to something I read, one of the person is already there in that field.
On the third hand, it could still be Hiro, just a future version.
If Hiro isn’t this guy, he’ll play a key role in helping him, perhaps he’ll help him find the sword.
By the way, it’s possible that both Nathan and Peter survived. We know that Peter survived in the other timeline, but how can Nathan still be among the land of the living? Simple. They get high enough up that no one on the ground is in danger and Peter tells him to fly to safety.
Did Sylar survive, or did someone drag off the body. Or, if he survived, maybe it was just long enough to crawl into the sewer.
And now it looks like (to use a Buffy term, Sylar was just the Little Bad. The Big Bad is yet to be revealed (Molly’s reference to “someone worse.”)
Re: Lost:
My first thought when I saw the bearded Jack was that it was a flash forward, especially after he reached for the newspaper. I expected to see a 2013 date or something like that. But then, when he told the other doctor to get his father down here to compare their relative states of drunkenness, I thought, O.K, it’s a flashback.
But then, at the end, he meets with Kate, whom he didn’t know prior to the crash. So, was Jack trying to pull off a major bluff? Was he so ought of it that he believed his father was still alive? Or, did the Island, in some way, resurrect his father? The last seems both the most and the least likely.
As to who’s in the coffin, I’m going to guess it’s Ben. But in a typical Lost twist, the “he” Kate referred to isn’t Sawyer, it’s Scott.
Or is it Steve? Whichever one’s still alive. We’ve never had any indication that she’s ever interacted with either, so in true ironic fashion, she’s now in a relationship with one of them.
As to Charlie’s fate, I agree with PAD that it seems odd that he’d lock himself in the room. The only character-based explanation I can come up with is that he feared that if he didn’t surrender to fate, either Claire and Aaron wouldn’t get off the island or, more immediately, that Desmond would die. Not sure how the former would be thwarted, since Charlie had already disabled to jammers, but no doubt he believed it was a possibility.
Jeff Lawson’s theory also makes sense.
For the record, Supernatural was also good.
Rick
I took Jack’s comments about his Dad as the actions of a desperate addict- but then when he said to call him and see who’s drunker- I thought maybe the Dad never really was dead.
Rick- Supernatural was indeed good and I’m surprised more here don’t watch it …
HEROES: I found it a bit of a let down, mostly in the confrontation between Hiro and Sylar. Even knowing it had (?) to end with Hiro running Sylar through, I expected more of a fight between them before that point. It seemed over too fast and therefore anti-climatic. Actually, I would have liked to see more of the heroes gang-fighting Sylar (a fanboy moment) an then Ando end up being the one to stab Sylar. (The figure in Issac’s drawing being not clearly Hiro to my eyes.)
LOST: Funny thing is, I thought the opening scene of bearded Jack on the airplane was a futre scene. I think it was the longish beard. But for whatever reason it wasn’t until nearly half way through the two hours that I said “Duh! It’s a flashback. They’ve all been flashbacks. What made you think otherwise?”
Soooooo glad Sawyer executed the other. During the Jack/Ben scene my wife and I were practically yelling at the screen for Jack to kill Ben. Why didn’t he pick up the walkie and tell the others “Kill my guys and I kill Ben.” Why didn’t he just kill Ben right off. WHY does he even listen to ANYthing Ben has to say or believe ANY of it?
And why can’t these people ever explain anything. Ben insists Jack is doing the wrong thing, but doesn’t say why. Now for Ben, this make make some sense. He’s a manipulative bášŧárd who likes proving he’s in charge and all must to as he says without him having to explain. (He should be President.) But Locke? Who can’t bring himself to shoot Jack? You’d think he’d make some effort at explaining why, instead of murdering Naomi and threatening to kill Jack. He couldn’t just yell “Stop!” and take a few moments to explain? They gave Ben five minutes. Surely they’d wait a moment to listen to Locke.
The series is much better than it has been, but that ending stil reeks of the creators having to resort to characters giving no reasons for thier actions because the creators haven’t figured out what happens next themselves yet.
Jeff said: “I don’t recall seeing her after, and in the 5 years ahead ep she wasn’t mentioned, was she?”
Claire said to her father that her mother had left him. Also either Claire was given or took her mother’s name.
As far as Peter not flying off, I think it was two things. He had the plan to be shot, that was it, that was as far ahead as he (and apparently a few other “heroes”) thought. By the time Nathan got to him, I really believe he was too close to exploding.
I too think that Sylar was dragged off somehow. I think it very likely he is dead. I can’t wait for the DVDs and I can’t wait for next season.
Peter David: Only downside: The death of Charlie. Now I’m all for the notion of “Ha! We defied fate!” only to discover that, crap no, fate will have its way. But the way in which it happened made no sense.
Luigi Novi: Well, it depends on how you look at it. Look, it had been made perfectly clear to Charlie that he was going to die. He had to die. Not because this particular mission required it, but because, as Desmond put it, the universe did. Three times death came for Charlie, and three times, Desmond averted it. Both Des and Charlie understood that “the universe has a way of course-correcting itself”, and that death would keep on coming for him. Desmond couldn’t go on forever being Charlie’s babysitter, nor would Charlie want one. For whatever reason, Charlie was “supposed” to die. Since the first Charlie flashback episode showed him to be a Christian, maybe Charlie came to feel that it was part of God’s plan. So, knowing he couldn’t escape it, he decided to let death take him, but to do so in a way that had meaning and purpose, on a mission that would save Claire and the others. Certainly doing so in this way had more meaning and purpose than getting hit by a bolt of lightning, drowning while unsuccessfully trying to save Claire (who, if I understood correctly, ended up not drowing through no action on Charlie’s part), or getting skewered through the throat with an arrow from one of Rousseau’s jungle bøøbÿ traps. Remember, Des and that mysterious lady in Desmond’s flashback knew that his visions could be averted, and Des did avert them, but Des told Charlie that Claire would not get on that helicopter if they did so this time. Thus, Charlie made his choice. He wanted to save his fellow castaways, and wanted to rescue Claire. Whether the blinking yellow button was pushed or not, Charlie may have felt that Claire and the others would not be resuced if he survived. So Charlie didn’t die because there was no way to escape. He died because he chose to. Viewed in the context of that motive, it can make perfect sense, IMO.
>I took Jack’s comments about his Dad as the >actions of a desperate addict- but then when he said to call him and see who’s drunker- I thought >maybe the Dad never really was dead.
But note…everybody looked at Jack like he was insane when he said that. At this point, i am far more prone to presuming that they know his father is dead, but his addiction, memories and desire to find the island again is confusing him.
>One thing that intrigues me about it is when Jack tries to fill the prescription. It’s from his father’s pad and the hospital pharmacy was >going to call his father’s office. Does this mean his father isn’t dead? The hospital pharmacy >would have known that he was dead but they were going to call his office to verify the >prescription? Hmmm.
I don’t think that was the Hospital Pharmacy. I think it was a drug store pharmacy.
Reason: They did not notice a difference between Jack and Christian Shepherd. Jack had to point out that the second prescription was supposedly written by his father. I think in fact Jack forged it. If they don’t know who the Sheperds are (and we were not given any indication she did recognize the name) they have no reason to NOT assume Christian is alive. Of course they will suggest they call him.
And going back to the other moment Jack brings up his father, why doesn’t somebody say, “Fine Jack, let’s call him”…taking Jack up on it doesn’t seem like an option…the staff looks confounded that Jack is talking as if his father is alive.
Go Hurley!
Heroes:
Prior to the finale airing, I came up with a scenario whereby Peter could stop Sylar, but it was dependent on Peter’s ability to use multiple powers: Freeze time, which he can do because he’s met Hiro, then–this is nasty–use Sylar’s own power on him, opening his head and extracting his brain.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t recall whether or not Peter could use multiple powers simultaneously in the present, plus there’s the fact that Sylar demonstrated that he was somehow able to resist Hiro’s time-stopping power a couple of episodes earlier.
Since Mother Petrelli is clearly highly-placed in the Primatech conspiracy, and has shown herself to be particularly cold-blooded regarding her own children, it wouldn’t surprise me overmuch if she did have Candice step into Nathan’s place. She was willing to sacrifice Peter, I’m sure she’d have few qualms about letting an impostor move in with her daughter-in-law and grandchildren.
I think Sylar dragged himself into the sewer. The business with the cockroach in the holding cell, back when he was being held at Primatech, suggested that he might be harder to kill than we would have expected.
Didn’t D.L. seem to be handling that abdominal gunshot wound remarkably well?
And, yeah, I would have expected more reaction to that giant explosion high over New York. Frankly, I thought 30 Rock’s “Salute to Fireworks” episode depicted a much more realistic reaction to sudden pyrotechnics in or above Manhattan.
Overall, though, I enjoyed the hëll out of the whole season and I’ll definitely be back to watch in the fall.
As far as Charlie goes; drowning doesn’t mean dead, dead. You can revive a drowned man easier than reviving someone with a bolt in their throat. Plus add in the island’s mystery (Loche was shot.) and Charlie might not be gone.
Nathan isn’t gone. Remember rule-if you don’t see the body, he ain’t dead.
It’s been a good week.
Heroes was a bit disappointing – Sylar should be dead. Letting him seemingly escape at the end really çráppëd up the finale for me. As much as I have loved Zachary Quinto’s work on the series, I just thought the first season should have a clear cut ending and both Peter and Sylar being taken out was part of that.
I think the setup should have been for Mama Petrelli to be the big bad villain in the second season – although that still may be the case. Also, if Sylar got away does this mean Mama Petrelli will use him to impersonate her son?
LOST.
Man, I was waiting for this! This was my must-see television for the week and from the start to the finish I was just compelled to watch.
Locke is back! Yes!
Mikhail?
Is he like Ben and Locke in that he has some special connection to the island that is one of the reasons why he is able to heal? Note Richard commented on the ability to recover (heal) from injury as being indicative of one‘s connection to the island. In this sense Sawyer doesn’t have much of a connection since he’s been very sick on the island whereas Mikhail and Locke have bounced back from a plethora of severe injuries.
I too was really sad to see Charlie die. At first I thought the reason Desmond might not be having any more flashes was because he was going to die – I love both characters to it was a lose/lose situation.
Charlie’s sacrifice just worked so well overall though. Yeah, at first I wondered about the whole locking the door and being on the wrong side of it but, he was locking Desmond out more than anything else and saving him in the process. You had the sense Desmond would be determined no matter what to see his beloved Penny and if Charlie hadn’t locked him out he would’ve died too.
Just another thing to make Mikhail the baddest mofo on the island in many ways. Shot Bea, shot Greta and Bonnie – he’s racked up quite the body count among the others themselves.
I knew five people were slated to get offed in the season ender, I just thought Sawyer would be one of them if only because his character had fulfilled the lifelong goal of bringing the man responsible for his parents deaths into account.
Instead it was Charlie, Naomi, Tom, Greta and Bonnie (plus a bunch of background Others).
I had a weird idea that at some point the reveal would be that Jacob and Jack are one in the same. Don’t ask me why, but there is something in the way Locke approached the whole thing with his comment about Jack and the satellite phone, ‘It’s not what you’re supposed to do.’
Overall, it was a great season for LOST. I know there had been a lot of noise about it jumping the shark but, aside from the Nicki/Paulo episode I found the season wonderfully entertaining and February ’08 seems way too far off!
Re: Smallville
Unsure of the JLA’s involvement, but I do agree with Lana’s death being faked.
In regards to Chloe, she is the one original character in this whole thing and I’d hate to see anything happen to her.
Besides, DC has said she is scheduled to join the Superman comic book continuity the summer after the series ends.
I just had an interesting Heroes thought. Sylar’s real name was Gabriel Gray. I don’t think that name is accidental. I think that Sylar’s emmergence onto the world stage in Season One is the trumpet blast that announces the beginning of the Great Appocolyptic Battle that will come to a head in Season…Three.
I was a bit disappointed with Lost. I mean, it was really good, but the hype had led me to believe I was in for a “wow” ending, but instead my only response was, “What the %$@#?” By now, I really should know better than to listen to hype.
Heroes, on the other hand, was just plain bad, and now I can finally say that the show is not worth my time and put it behind me. I’m sick of the wooden acting, the one-dimensional characters (none of the characters feel real to me, except maybe Hiro and Ando), and the terrible writing in every other episode (ESPECIALLY the finale).
I had a lot of problems with it, but the thing that bugged me most was: why is shooting Peter in the head even an issue for Claire, when he can just regenerate? That was an incredibly lame climax. And Sylar’s not even dead!
Strange that every new show this season turned out to be a big disappointment.
“Don’t ask me why, but there is something in the way Locke approached the whole thing with his comment about Jack and the satellite phone, ‘It’s not what you’re supposed to do.’”
When Jack said, “I know exactly what I’m doing!” I thought they were going to reveal that he’s working for Naomi’s people, and the flashforwards and the mysterious dead person would somehow connect with that. Now THAT would have been a shocking finale!