Unqualified Offerings

The Spider at the Center of a Web of Fucking Crime

7 Responses to “The Spider at the Center of a Web of Fucking Crime”

1. Comment by Hesiod —
   October 16, 2007 @ 11:37 am

   OT: Heroescommenting.

   My theory about who is knocking off the elder heroes was bolstered by last night’s episode.

   And, Parkman’s father is a red herring for the murder conspiracy.

2. Comment by Gary Farber —
   October 16, 2007 @ 4:05 pm

   “OT: Heroescommenting.”

   I was out much of the day, but, in fact, specifically intended to leave a comment here poking/asking Jim about the absence of Heroescommenting.

   I say we commandeer this thread, until Jim offers a better alternative. Bwa and ha and etc.

   Of course, now I forget what I was going to say about the last couple of episodes. Maybe after late lunch.

   One point: Claire is still acting stupidly; can’t say they’ve not been consistent about portraying her as thoughtless, though.

   Will Kristen Bell turn out to be — now that we see how unimaginative the writers are about repeating powers — an analogue of Peter? Or is she the one he picked up the previously displayed lightning type powers from? It’s clearly stated here:
   

   that Peter’s cool new electricity power was something he’d absorbed from someone he’d met in the four months between seasons 1 and 2. Will he meet this person again later this season?”

   She’ll come looking for him. That’s all we can say.

   So my first guess is Kristen Bell.

   The use of Dr. Suresh’s book seems a little heavy-handed to me (gosh, everyone finds it so conveniently), but I guess I can live with it. I also a little weary of Sylar (or “Gabriel,” if you prefer) continuing to have the blessing of the writers in making everyone he encounters an idiot, so he always succeeds for idiot plot reasons, but, again, I can’t complain about lack of consistency in this.

   It also occurred to me to wonder how it is that Molly is living with Suresh and Matt: wouldn’t they maybe, like, be wanted for kidnapping? Harboring a minor with no legal authority? Something like that?

   Also, Matt sure seems to have a lot of spare time for a guy who just started with the NYPD less than 4 months ago, and already is on the SWAT team, and yet seems to have absolutely no job obligations whatever, or, um, hours on the job, other than a few convenient minutes, so far this season, and also apparently no social life with any other police — whom I’m assuming he’s keeping the kid secret from, as well.

   Oh, yeah, and Claire made clear that she feels pain: I don’t buy it. Even if she felt only a tenth as much pain as a real person, for only a minute or two, we’d see her screaming in agony each time, not just wincing and looking grossed out; moreover, as I previously pointed out, she had no injuries at all within seconds after being in the fire in the first episode of the first season — that was a *specific plot point*, emphasized by the fireman.

   This one has to go under “conventions of tv,” but it bothers me that what’s stated on screen as canon is so unbelievable; suspension of disbelief works a lot better when the writers help out a bit. They didn’t have to state that she feels great pain.

   I’d like more sophistication and subtly on the part of the writers on points like these.

   But, hey, it beats Mr. Terrific and Captain Nice.

3. Comment by Gary Farber —
   October 16, 2007 @ 4:18 pm

   Oh, and if anyone was worrying about the likely WGA strike:
   

   We’re shooting episode 11 – and should have up to at least episode 14 written by November 1, 2007.

   Odds are high, I think, on no new scripts after that for a couple of months, at least. But I’m just guessing.

   Oh, and I assume everyone noticed the cockroach after Sylar killed the driver guy by the phone.

   I thought this interesting:
   

   [...] Marti likes the addition of Kensei and wants to know, “Is Kensei a kind of prime hero? He can heal, but can he do other stuff as well? Is it possible for one man to spawn an entire world full of heroes?”

   That’s a great question. We’re not going to answer it.

   Maybe a red herring, but these two guys frankly don’t strike me as particularly subtle.

   The story about cutting out his heart and giving it to the dragon, and the rest of the legends, are obviously important, as well.

4. Comment by Eric Scharf —
   October 16, 2007 @ 5:59 pm

   Hesiod: My theory about who is knocking off the elder heroes was bolstered by last night’s episode.

   IIRC, your theory is that Nathan is the killer, yes? And the scary reflection in the mirror is to suggest that he’s somehow picked up the Niki/Jessica syndrome? Works for me, although I don’t think this trope is especially helped by complicating with Nathan’s (alleged) alcoholism.

5. Comment by Gary Farber —
   October 16, 2007 @ 6:16 pm

   Heh, I hadn’t noticed this one before. Junior Senator? I thought Nathan was running for the House of Representatives! That’s what we generally mean when we refer to “running for Congress.” Didn’t they say “Congressman” repeatedly?

   For that matter, the same site, his “election site” says here that “He left his post in the District Attorney’s office for his campaign run in the 30th District where he hopes he can help shape the laws that he spent so many years enforcing” and of “his desire to better the district.”

   Screw-ups. That, or Nathan couldn’t keep track of which office he was renouncing (you can’t resign before you’re sworn in).

6. Comment by kishnevi —
   October 16, 2007 @ 10:19 pm

   Hijacking the thread back to the main post:

   I propose that “fucking” be classified as an ejaculation.

   (Yes, that is a real grammatical classification, although not necessarily used often in modern times.)

7. Comment by Gene Callahan —
   October 17, 2007 @ 2:26 am

   Pinker engages in a typical rationalist discussion of a social norm — if he can’t see the reason for the norm, the norm is atavistic.

   The fact is, humans have a need for words to use to show that they are really, really pissed off. If you try to remove the “taboo” around those words, then all you will do is render those words useless for the task mentioned above, and force people to find other words to fill the gap. (E.g., the “N” word has now replaced the “F” word as unspeakable in polite company.)

(Comments automatically closed after 21 days.)