Reviews

It's impossible for me to find a rating that reflects the overall quality of the show. It started out strong; the first season was far from perfect, but it had an energy and a message that simply felt good. There were incredibly fulfilling episodes, such as Homecoming, Company Man, Five Years Gone, and heart-warming character moments not just for a few, but for most characters. I felt safe with this show. Anyway, one of the show's biggest problems became obvious in th finale, when all the character came together for a mostly underwhelming showdown. Somehow, Heroes was best when it did not follow closely to a plan, but allowed its characters some room to develop naturally. The best moments and characters of Season 1 are thanks to the writers having enough sense to use the opportunities that opened up. When Noah Bennet proved a more interesting character than previously hoped for, his role became bigger. The same for Sylar. The enmity between Mohinder and Sylar. Molly. It all grew naturally, and lost its momentum only when everything was yanked back into the intended showdown.

The second season put a damper on the mood. What fans wants to wait a whole season only to find out one of their favourite characters died between seasons? I'm one of the few who didn't mind the new characters. They felt fresh and gave new impulses, showed us new perspectives on their power. What really slowed the series down to a crawl was the need to force certain other characters back into the plot, even though they no longer had any purpose, and should in fact have died in the season finale. Since the writers could not think of what to do with these characters (Nathan, Peter, Claire mostly) they simply rehashed their previous story lines. But there was still enough to keep me interested, and I thought that if I could see the problems of Season 2, then surely the writers could see them as well.

Sadly, Season 3 came and was a nightmare, a disaster. Characters were written off, other characters had their backstories and even basic motivations retconned. The once international cast was suddenly down to three (two of which are the Asian comic relief), and all the characters who had already run out of steam by the end of Season 1 were now front and centre, source and solution of the problems. Showrunner Tim Kring now declared that Heroes was actually about the Petrellis and the Bennets. Had I known that from the start, I wouldn't have bothered - I started watching when he described the show to be about "ordinary people across the globe". Instead, Heroes is now about a bunch of upper-class New Yorkers ensuring one another that it's okay they started a genocide. Heroes did the impossible with Season 3: they made a show that bears little to no resemblance to Season 1. They also managed to make Sylar into one of the most obnoxious characters on TV. They shed all pretension of being interested in diversity. Consistency and continuity have been tossed overboard, not just in regard to previous season, but even with things established just an episode earlier.

I chose the rating to reflect this disappointment, too. If I was to judge only the first two seasons, the rating would be considerably higher. But in the end, the complete product shows a disrespect towards the audience, a hatred for its own characters and story lines except a few precious upper-class New Yorkers, like I've never seen it before. It leaves a foul taste in my mouth. As a viewer, you're lost. Can I grow attached to this character, or will he die, or will the next episode forget he existed, will this storyline be dropped or will his entire personality be switched around? Probably. What reason is there to watch?

I'm still relatively new to short films, and I'm amazed at how such a small, short story can excite and fascinate me. This film had me stare at the screen in horror, sitting on the edge of my seat. I must congratulate this film on having had such an excellent effect on me.

Eau de la Vie takes us to a world where the gap between rich and poor is huge and - at least in the eyes of the truly decadent elite - a (poor) life isn't worth anything. In a posh restaurant, a group of people is celebrating a young woman's entering their class. She's treated warmly by all of them - or at least that is the first impression. Then it comes to choosing the "entertainment" for the evening. The choice is left to the heroine, who knows just as little as the audience what this is supposed to mean. She is to select one person out of a group of four intimidated looking people, a middle-aged man and woman, a young, handsome young man and a little girl. She obviously doesn't know what this is about, but quickly picks the young man. As he is then stripped of his clothes and locked into a glass tank, and as the tank slowly fills with water, it finally becomes clear what the "entertainment" is supposed to be: watching a man drown. The heroine's reaction to this situation was quite terrifying for me to watch, since I almost entirely shared her horror. I could not help but feel relieved in the end, but when I came to think about it later, my initial relief couldn't hold. This solution isn't really one, I fear, and if anything, the other characters' reaction in the very end is in fact utterly, utterly disgusting.

This film is really disturbing. It's a bitterly evil, dark satire of society. I was told after this film that it's been inspired by the political situation in New Zealand at that time. Not knowing anything about New Zealand, I cannot judge whether this is correct, and how appropriate such a grim view is... but who cares? Sadly, this film is always on topic, addressing issues that still exist, and will exist, in many places all over the world.

I recommend this film!