Angry Puppy

As usual, there are spoilers beyond the jump, so watch before you click through. This first bit doesn’t have anything you wouldn’t know from previous episodes or the preview clips.

The episode got off to a shaky start. Granted, there are usually Olympus-Mons-sized holes in the plot, but I still generally enjoy watching. After the first 10 minutes or so of Episode 4, however, Marc and I were both wondering if Heroes was about to become The Show We Love to Hate, a bittersweet spot that I’d rather save for the deliciously awful Primeval. By the time we reached the titular plot point, I was back to making allowances and excuses for the series, but let’s address some of the low points first.

The writing was a little too convenient. For instance, in the very first scene, as Mohinder laments that there’s really only one adverse consequence ( a rash) to his having injected himself with adrenal enhancer, he hears a domestic dispute between his neighbors (who we’ve never heard before, even when this was Isaac’s flat). While this gives us a chance to see another side effect (something akin to ‘roid rage), it seems a little forced.

Some of the actors who are now doing double duty as current and future versions of their characters seem to be having a little trouble pulling it off.  Ali Larter has had three seasons to perfect the whole multiple-characters-in-one-episode thing, but it was a pretty hard to watch the Current and Future Peters talk to each other. Future Peter just comes across as such a Star-Trek-Mirror-Universe caricature of himself.

On to the good. I’m fairly intrigued by the distinction being made between those who are born with abilities and those who acquire them. This episode reinforces both that distinction and the fact that made mutants are not as stable as born mutants. Why do I care? Because now we can play a game not unlike Find the Cylon. Here are some of my current guesses:

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Hey, readers!

We’re upstate at Kate Pierson’s Lazy Meadow Motel (and trailer park), so we didn’t get to post about yesterday’s episode. Here’s a quick list of what you’ll find over there.

• Rock Band 2 Party!
• Stuff We Watch (Heroes, Sanctuary, Fringe, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, True Blood)
• Stuff We Don’t Watch (Smallville, Supernatural, No Heroics, Knight Rider, Spaceballs: The Animated Series)
• Review (Tori Spelling’s Cthulhu)
• 13 Favorite Rock Cameos in Sci Fi/Horror/Fantasy

Fringe, or, as we’ve been calling it, The Pacey/Denethor Comedy Hour, has found a place in our regular DVR rotation. I know that some of you lost interest after the first couple of episodes, but here’s at least one good reason to tune back in. Special Agent Astrid Farnsworth is played by out actor Jasika Nicole. [Via DoorQ]

She had me at “Farnsworth”. Maybe it has nothing to do with Philo (or Hubert J., for that matter), but you can’t toss a name like that around in sci fi TV without raising a few eyebrows.

I really hope they don’t redshirt her, but if the writers decide a recurring character needs to be killed off, she’s the most likely candidate. The sparsity of Astrid information on the official site doesn’t allay my fears.

This would be a shame not only because we like to see out actors in our sci fi, but also because Astrid plays an important but underappreciated role in the quirky TV genre: she’s the only character who (so far) acts like a real person and not a caricature. What with Walter Bishop whipping up bathtub LSD and John Scott coming back from the dead, we need a character we can identify with. [Apologies to any of our tripped-out zombie readers.]

On second thought, Astrid did participate in the Chinese take-out movie party with Walter and the cow.

And, Mr. Abrams, we promise to forgive you for only posthumously outing Boone and Mr. Friendly if you don’t kill off Special Agent Farnsworth. OK, we’ll settle for undead as long as it’s still a speaking role.

Fringe is dark next week, so we’re taking the opportunity [read: creating an excuse] to start recapping the episodes (as we do with Heroes). In case you need to catch up before then, those nice people at Hulu have made the episodes embeddable:

Inspired by a recent Rock Band 2 party (and our recent re-watching of Star Trek: DS9), we proudly present our favorite rock-adjacent cameos in sci fi, horror and fantasy.

As always, pick your top three, and if you think we overlooked someone, let us know in the comments. (Oh, and lest you think we forgot, honorable mention goes out to Marilyn Manson for appearing as a porn star in Lost Highway.)

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The third episode of Heroes‘ third season seems to pack several hours of plot and about 3,452 characters into 42 minutes of viewing pleasure. Signs of the potential dark future (the seeds of Hiro’s and Ando’s antagonism, Claire’s vengeful side) are coming into focus, but we’re still mostly seeing a collection of loosely related stories as opposed to one big story arc.

I’ve divided up my thoughts by character subgroups. If the episode is still in your DVR, go watch it, then click through. As always, post any spoilers you want in the comments. The stragglers have been warned.

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