Posts Tagged ‘heroes’

OK, folks, Armchair Script Doctor Does "Heroes Finale," take two.

The rest of the show, I would change only two things. 

DL is lying, dying, in Linderman's office while NIKI urges him up, as before. Make this bigger, he has to get up and get them out, the guards will be there any second, so he finally drags himself up and PUSHES her through the WALL. NIKI turns, exhuberant, to see that it was his last act to get her safe. Only half of him made it through before he died.

And in the Sylar/Hiro standoff earlier on, I would do this:

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SYLAR
So we'll just have to see if you can go through time faster than–

HIRO disappears. SYLAR whips back around to see ANDO gone. 
==================

The way it was done, Sylar had all the time he needed and more to kill Ando. The director is showing us too much, it gets harder to accept that the other people in the shot don't have the same time to react. 

And then the final scene, with as few changes to the original as possible:

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SYLAR turns away from where he's just returned PARKMAN's bullets.

PETER and SYLAR face off. 

SYLAR
You can't stop it, you know.

PETER
But I'm going to.

PETER makes the first move, GESTURING. SYLAR backs up a step, hurt, but SMILES and GESTURES back. PETER staggers; SYLAR is better at this.

PETER goes INVISIBLE.

SYLAR reacts, looks around, then gets an INVISIBLE PUNCH in the face.

NIKI is holding the kids next to PARKMAN. BENNET is trying to get a clear shot at SYLAR. MOHINDER is trying to help PARKMAN while marveling at the display of powers.

NIKI
What the hell is going on?

BENNET
The end of the world.

SYLAR gets hit again, then we IRIS in on his ear as he LISTENS. Quick as snakebite he THRUSTS his hand out to the side and we see PETER appear, hurtling through the air and then STOPPING, hanging in midair and choking. PETER gasps and clutches at his neck.

SYLAR
Let's try this again…

SYLAR lifts his finger and starts to do his cutty thing, but a PARKING METER catches him upside the head. NIKI SWINGS it around and brings it down on him but SYLAR throws an arm up and the parking meter STOPS a foot away. NIKI pulls it back and SWINGS it down again; it stops but BENDS a little from the impact. SYLAR is sweating, now, he's not used to holding out against that kind of strength, but he manages to hurl the meter away, NIKI going with it.

SYLAR gets up. We see PETER, still coughing, kneeling a few feet away. SYLAR steps forward… and HIRO appears in front of him. 

SYLAR grabs at him but HIRO's gone already. SYLAR HEARS a rustle and moves to the left in time to avoid HIRO's sword coming at him from behind. SYLAR dodges wildly as HIRO pops in and out dozens of times, all around him, badgering him until, dazed, SYLAR faces PETER, who decks him.

PETER
(yelling)
Everybody get out of here! He could still go!

SYLAR looks up from the ground. He chuckles.

SYLAR
You don't understand, do you? I've seen it. The explosion. It's you.

SYLAR stands up and GRABS PETER's arms.They struggle. PETER reacts to the proximity of so many powers in one person; we see him losing it and we see him realize he's losing it. Maybe different aspects of the abilities happen around him. He's starting to GLOW.

SYLAR
I'm the hero!

SYLAR lets go of PETER, who falls to the ground, revealing HIRO behind him. Before anyone can react, HIRO stabs SYLAR. 

SYLAR curls up, flinging out an arm. HIRO is thrown away and VANISHES. SYLAR collapses; his EYES turn WHITE and we see images flashing across them, ending in himself lying there.

NIKI, MOLLY, MICAH, and BENNET approach. PETER is glowing more brightly now and obviously in pain. He SCREAMS and tries to LAUNCH himself up but only gets a few feet before dropping again.

PETER
I can't hold it! I can't…

The same destructive, radioactive glow we saw Ted release in Bennet's house begins to emanate from PETER and everyone scrambles back from him. BENNET raises the gun but can't see PETER clearly.

BENNET
Dammit, I can't–

CLAIRE
(coming from behind him)
I can.

She grabs the gun from a surprised BENNET's hand and RUNS towards the maelstrom. PETER sees her.

PETER
(screaming)
DO IT!

CLAIRE raises the gun, crying. Her skin starts to REDDEN and PEEL. Her finger tightens on the trigger.

A CAR comes hurtling around the corner and blocks her. NATHAN jumps out, pushing an incredibly pissed off ANGELA and rushing both her and CLAIRE to relative safety with the others.

ANGELA
You can't do this! This has to happen! You're throwing it all away!

NATHAN
Have to, mom. Like you said, the city needs me.
(winks at CLAIRE)
I love you.

NATHAN turns towards PETER, who reacts.

PETER
No, Nathan, you can't–

NATHAN FLIES over, grabs PETER, and rises incredibly quickly into the sky.

ANGELA
(screaming)
NATHAN!!!

Now we're with the brothers in midair, at incredible speed. NATHAN's skin is BLISTERING fast.

PETER
No! You'll die!

NATHAN
But they won't. You won't.
(gasps in pain)
Love you, bro. Tell Heidi and the kids I–

Explosion.

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Fill in whatever dialogue I forgot that seems appropriate. Close with some of the heroes getting away before the cops arrive — how the heck are they going to explain this? Why wasn't everyone hauled off for questioning? And I've heard rumors that Nathan appears next season so the closing bit would have to accomodate whatever hanging plot points might exist that I don't know about.

But, same general plot, paced better and with fewer "why doesn't he just…?" questions. We get to see various heroes work together. We get to see Angela's reaction to Nathan's sacrifice, which frankly I felt cheated out of. And we don't have people wasting time on emotional goodbye scenes when there's a freaking bomb about to happen.

Obviously your opinion (and Mr. Kring's) will vary

Last Monday night on NBC's breakout hit "Heroes" we learned some amazing things about HRG ("Horn-Rimmed Glasses" man, AKA Claire's father, AKA Bennet, AKA the creepy guy who's maybe evil, we think) in an episode that had me on the edge of my seat from the excitement, the revelations, and the total absence of Niki. This complicated, multi-layered show has mastered the art of answering a question by revealing three more while limiting itself, unlike ABC's "Lost," to no more than 15 flashbacks per show.

But what's coming up? We know that, for some reason, people have been exhibiting strange powers since at least 15 years ago. We know that there is at least one organization (whose members include HRG) working to collect and control these people. We know there's some rich guy in Vegas named Linderman who is somehow connected to many of them. We know the funky RNA-ish symbol probably means something, or doesn't. We know that it has been foreseen that New York will be destroyed in fire and that someone needs to prevent it. And we know that Hiro is, like, the coolest geek, ever. But what's next?

Major, major SPOILERS ahead, or there would be if I had any clue what I was talking about. But these feel right. In the upcoming story arc that ends the season, we will finally see that:

Claire the unbreakable cheerleader, running from her father's mysterious organization, will look for Peter "The Absorbing Emo" Petrelli by heading to either New York or Vegas because those are the only two places anything ever happens. Oh, and maybe India.

Hiro Nakamura, the plucky and irrepressible Japanese nerd who can bend space and time to his will and who must therefore be kept wandering, both to embody Campbell's "Hero's Journey" and so he doesn't inadvertantly end the show too soon, will get distracted when he realizes that with his awesome abilities he can attend every science fiction convention ever held.

Viewers will be shocked by the horrifying return of something no one expected: the annoying Mohinder Suresh narration.

The cast will be joined by a new character, Chloe Sullivan, who left Smallville desperate to find a hero she didn't want to slap silly.

Matt (The Amazing Kreskin) Parkman will escape the Primatech Paper holding facility during a riot caused by Primatech employees demanding to know why their delivery trucks always seem to have bodies in them.

Claire's friend Zack will discover his own ability to restore lost memories by getting his own back and, incidentally, find out to his surprise that he was gay for the first 10 episodes.

Niki/Jessica the super-strong schizo goes off to fulfill the job given her by her boss, the mysterious Linderman, namely to assassinate the man the mysterious Linderman previously had her sleep with for extortion purposes, Nathan "Flying Man" Petrelli, who is also connected to the mysterious Linderman, but she is thwarted by Claire, who is the bastard daughter of Nathan and, for all I know, the mysterious Linderman. Nathan, currently running for Congress, is clearly slipping in the polls since his brother was arrested in relation to a brutal cheerleader slaying and it didn't even make The New York Post.

Mohinder will accidentally get his father's map of known heroes confused with "The L-Word"'s lesbian hookup chart, with hilarious results.

In a despondent mood, Hiro's abandoned sidekick Ando will get a body piercing in the shape of a familiar symbol to give fans something new to obsess on and so he can get some more screen time.

Claire's mother and brother, devastated by their assault by the glowing radiation guy, will struggle valiantly to find some sort of meaning in it all and a reason to carry on, which will be largely wasted because everyone there will die soon of radiation poisoning because that's how radiation works.

Hana (e-Girl) Gitelman, the Internet-connected hero introduced and explained in NBC's online "Heroes" graphic novels, will be overwhelmed with mental Nigerian spam and collapse before being rushed off to either Primatech or Linderman's hideout, I've lost track.

After their shared love interest Simone dies in their arms, Peter and Isaac the prophetic junkie will turn to each other for comfort and affection and because the show's creators want to see if they can break the Internet.

Hiro's heretofore unseen mother, in an emotional and shocking scene, will turn out to be Nathan, who is also Mohinder's dead sister and Matt's college roommate and Micah's MySpace friend, and who once saw Zach on a bus, which was owned by the mysterious Linderman.

Niki will fight for control of her body so she can tell her intangible husband D.L. and her Speaker-to-ATMs son something incredibly important that I'll miss because I use the Niki scenes for food runs.

Isaac will paint one too many cheerleader paintings and get visited by Chris Hansen from NBC's other top-rated show.

At some point Claire and the Haitian will get picked up by someone in a Nissan Versa because Hiro lost his and the sponsors are getting antsy.

Claude, the invisible guy who was helping train Peter Petrelli and who used to work with HRG, will be joined by Kuron, a new hero whose powers will only make sense to those 4 "Heroes" fans who have decoded his backstory that was encoded on random Kellogg's "Heroes" brand corn flakes box tops.

Hiro will be aided in his cross-country quest by the mythological Three Graces, played by Jeri Ryan, Lucy Lawless, and, what the hell, Sarah Michelle Gellar, who will, as expected, turn out to be the third-cousin-twice-removed of the mysterious Linderman.

Mohinder will be killed by the super-powered serial killer and travel buddy Sylar, who wants to absorb Mohinder's own ability; that of being almost criminally stupid.

Peter's scar, mentioned by future-Hiro, will turn out to be the result of Sylar trying to open Peter's head during the final episode smackdown. Seriously, I think this one will happen.

In a surprising twist, Hiro will travel back in time to actually become George Takei so he can be in the original Star Trek and heroically prevent the "Spock's Brain" episode, saving millions.

Linderman will ultimately be revealed as Nathan's mom (played by Malcolm McDowell, in a wig).

Are you on the save the cheerleader list? Tune in next week and see!

Tonight Heroes returns and we'll find out what's up with Peter's dreams, where Hiro gets that cool sword, and whether or not Sylar steals powers by eating Brain Slushees. Or not. More likely we'll get even more twists and turns, with a few answers leading to more questions as we head into new episodes after the winter hiatus.

Heroes is about a group of people who discover they possess superhuman powers and, using them, work to stop an apocalyptic disaster from happening to NBC. We follow each of them as they deal with their abilities, and the various factions of people and shadowy groups who want to control them. It's well-written, it answers questions faster than Lost, it's guaranteed to have at least one character you really, really hope will die, and is far more compelling than, say, Smallville, which is pretty sad if you think about it. The world's greatest superhero just isn't as interesting as a geeky Japanese guy. Sorry, DC.

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Watching "Heroes"? Why not?

Last night was the "fall finale," a cute way of saying there'd be no new shows for a month and a half. But in a nice marketing move designed to help new viewers get into this densely packed series and help keep regular fans obsessively stop-pausing scenes over and over during the holiday break, they've put the entire first season online for free viewing. All 11 episodes, uncut, with a quick commercial before each one.

And they're worth seeing. There's still enough cliches and "Wha…?" moments to make an old comic book reader like me cringe, but this convoluted saga of humans developing special abilities also has some compelling storylines, some great characters, and enough twists and surprises to keep you guessing even after you think you've figured it out. Go catch up and be ready when the show starts again in January. We'll wait.

I just want to see Hiro get his sword…