Bye Bye Beeman

I still enjoy Heroes most every week. This isn’t to say that It doesn’t have its flaws only that at some point I stopped trying to force it to be the show I wanted it to be and began watching the show that was on the air.

The season finally fit that mold perfectly. It wasn’t what I had expected and in some ways I wish it had been, but it was a very interesting show and I’m looking forward to more heroes in the future.

But when i flipped over to Beaming Beeman I discovered something a little sad. Greg Beeman will not be returning to Heroes for season 4. According to the blog this is a purely financial decision. He knows more about the politics of network TV than I do but I suspect that is only mostly true.

Either way Beeman has been a major part of Heroes. As a producer director he effected every show and he directed many of the major episodes. But this is where I back off a little from my sadness.

Don’t get me wrong he has driected some good episodes, but looking over the list not as many as you might think. Four Months ago was good, but I didn’t care much for Duel. So perhaps this is the push Heroes needs to change trajectory a bit.

As someone who has enjoyed most of it i can say that there are things that need to be done to improve the show, and I trust they can be.  In my opinion the most important thing they need to do is to stop worrying so much about raiting and worry about putting on a good show.

Now you may think that these two are related but the truth is that many of the things that people complain about are ratings over story issues. I think the biggest of those is Hiro. I liked Hiro in the first season, and even in the second season he had something to do, but in this season he has been pointless. He isn’t good enough at anything to be useful without his powers and he hasn’t had his power most of the time, so as much as i hate to say it they need to find a way to make him interesting or take the hit and write him off the show.

On the other hand is Sylar. Sylar has been involved with the plot closely but they still make short term choices with him and then get burned by it.

Beeman will be missed on the show I am certain, but all in all if his paycheck being gone would allow us to afford to see the fight between Sylar, Nathan and Peter rather than closing the door then perhaps they made the right decision.

Heroes: I am Sylar

This was an interesting episode of Heroes and one of the few this part of the season that had most of the major characters but is the title implies it mostly focuses on Sylar.

I enjoy Sylar but one of the problems I have had with the character in the past is that he seemed to have no core personality. In the beginning of the show he was the shadow and killer but in one episode he had become president. He has tried to turn good,  tried to turn worse, tried to stop killing people,  worked as an agent with Noah, fell in love and probably more. Unpredictability is OK, but sometimes it felt as if there was no core at all.

Clearly the writers of heroes have noticed the same thing. I hope that giving him the shape-shifting ability was part of a plan to examine Sylar more carefully as he struggled to understand who he is. Zachary Quinto did a good job with this and it makes sense to me. The ability to take powers can be empathic like Peter’s was, but for Sylar who has never cared for the people who have powers its more about being them. Having the power isn’t all that big of a deal when the power is shooting air pellets or melting things.

Bringing back his mother’s death was a good idea as well and the reveal of what was going on with his mother was creepy and funny at the same time so long as they don’t keep going with it for too long.

Long term for Sylar is the real question. There have been discussions since he got Shapeshifting that he was too powerful to remain on the show. I never really agreed entirly but I saw the point, one that I hope most agree the writers addressed in this episode. The side effects of shapeshifting seem high enough to even out most of its strength. He still doesn’t have a center and as the villain of the show he’s growing a bit old because of that.

This leads to the end of the episode. I am certain that at least a few people will question why Dankos knife to the head trick didn’t stop Sylar. I think they set that up really well assuming that I am right that the knife didn’t stop him because the shapeshifting had changed him too much. That tiny point of the brain just isn’t there anymore.

The end was a great set up for next week too. With most everyone either caught or in some trouble there has to be action. So how will the season end? It seems to me that it has to be a confrontation between Sylar and the other characters.

This gives them a chance to answer mayn questions.  If Peter touches Sylar will he get all the abilities? If he borrows the empath ability will he have his old power again? Are the writers willing to allow him to become that powerful once more? Will Peter touch baby Matt Parkman and then just make Sylars powers stop working? Will Ando finally use his supercharging ability on someone this volume? Is there a cost to stopping time? What is up with Danko? Is there going to be a new company?

Lets hope they answer at least a couple of these.

Dramatically Over Analyzing a Photo of Sylar as a Child

It is Joshua Rush in this photo which is from Heroes and on the surface this may seem like a background photo, but we have heard that he will be on the show more in the future so I decided to look at this photo and see what what clues it gives us to Sylar’s past and possibly his future.
1- The red of the tricycle clearly represents blood, foreshadowing the violent future of this young boy.
2. The fact that he is riding a tricycle seems to represent the idea that Sylar was more stable in the past than he is now.
3. Allusions to the shinning. A young boy on a tricycle is clearly a hint at “The Shinning” can we infer from this that Sylars father was driven insane at some point?
4. The Glasses- along with naming his child Noah in the future this is clearly another attempt to connect the characters of Mr. Bennett and Sylar. Does this mean that the two are somehow related? Perhaps HRG and Sylar are really brothers.
5. Blue and white shirt- Along with the red of the tricycle this is clearly an attempt to pull at our patriotic heartstrings but perhaps it is more. Is Sylar still fated to become president at some point in the future?
6. Cracks in the wall – Perhaps representing the cracks in his personality formed by the problems in his early family life?
7. Smiling – Was Sylar happy here? Perhaps he was told to smile by someone, or perhaps this is to show what his life could have been like if his father hadn’t sold him.
8. streamers – We certainly can’t miss the streamers from the tricycles handles. Yellow and red these represent Sylar’s victims in the future. A subtle reminder that many people will die because of this young child.

I’m certain that there is much more hidden in this picture by the writers of Heroes. Anyone else see anything?

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