Endings and Beginnings

Oooh, that sounds deep, doesn't it? It just refers to the two shows I watched last night: The season finale of Warehouse 13, and the season premiere of Heroes. Dessert before chores, so Warehouse 13 is first up.

Warehouse 13: MacPherson

What I've enjoyed about Warehouse 13 is the hints given to a greater history of the Warehouse, as well as the people involved. From the incredibly enigmatic Mrs. Fredericks (the greatness of CCH Pounder), to Artie's career as an agent and caretaker of the Warehouse, and then the character backgrounds of Pete and Myka. For the last few episodes, Roger Rees has come in as former Agent (turned eeeeeevil!!!) MacPherson, and shown himself to constantly be one step ahead of everybody else on the cast. Tonight, we find out how he's managed to stay one step ahead: he's got a mole on the inside. They managed to turn the old "frame character A and reveal it to really be Character B" trick on its ear thanks to some tricky Artifact action; framing Claudia (the incredibly adorable Allison Scagliotti @allisonscag on Twitter) with the help of Harriet Tubman's thimble (makes you look like another person), and revealed to be Leena, the bed and breakfast proprietor. Thanks to the next-to-nothing we know about Leena, the twist was pretty surprising, although I'm hoping for some more insight into why she done what she done when we get to Season 2.

So as the episode ends (on a dirty dirty cliffhanger), we have Artie possibly (but not really, obviously) blown up, Pete and Myka stranded in the Warehouse, Claudia framed, and Mrs. Fredericks still being awesome. I don't know when Season 2 is supposed to start, but I'm hooked. DAMN YOU SYYYYFYYYY!!!!

Heroes: Redemption/Fall, Jump, Push

Okay, so I was ready to rip Heroes a new one, and watch this Titanic of a show finally go down for good. Unfortunately, the premiere actually wasn't that bad. It was by no means perfect, and it still has many sins to atone for before winning me back, but this episode was a good start. With two hours of show to cover, I'm going to have to scoreboard this one:

The Good:

Peter not being whiny! He's got a job as a paramedic, saving lives with the powers that he's acquired. He helps Noah out on a quick mission, but turns down the offer of a partnership, and reveals that he just did it to gain access to a new power (so apparently he can store more than one again...). That power, super speed, was helpfully provided by:

RAY F'ING PARK!!!

Let me back up; there's a mysterious carnival, staffed by carnies with powers (which one can turn water into meth?), and Ray Park is a speedster with a penchant for knives. There's a chick who can tell the future, an old guy who can send people through time, and their leader, who can do crazy things with tattoo ink. There's also a plot with a compass that only works for people with powers, but that doesn't get explained. There's also a scene with the leader and Hiro, but poor Hiro isn't in this part of the review.

NO MOHINDER!!! WHOOOOOO!!!

The Bad:

Claire. Claire is boring. I don't like her, or her character. Or her storylines. And Hayden Panetierre is so annoying, I want to go to Sea World and shiv a dolphin. Her storyline has her going to college in Virgina and having a really annoying roommate, who dies. Pushed from a window? Or jumped? Claire's equally (but differently) annoying new BFF wants to help her go all CSI on the case, but the only progress made by the end of the episode is Claire (who is retarded) jumping out a window and showing her powers to the only person watching...annoying bestie. Yes, that's right...the only two people awake at night on a college campus are those two. Sigh...welcome back Heroes.

Hiro. Masi Oka, you deserve better. Hiro starts a "Dial a Hero" service, rescues a cat (well, Ando does the rescuing), "freezes", and then reveals that he's dying of some unknown disease. For his sake, I hope it's "refusing to renew his contract", and that the cure involved Masi Oka getting a part on The Big Bang Theory. Anyway, his big act this episode involves going back in time (involuntarily, as seems to be the case with selective time traveling abilities), meeting his younger self AGAIN, talking to creepy carnival leader guy, and changing the past to set up Ando with his sister. That's a pretty good Bro move, maybe Masi will go to How I Met Your Mother instead. Anywhere but Heroes, please.

Okay, one more thing. If I'm a person, and I see another person, and they have blue slushy all over them when I walk into a room...I'M SAYING SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Come on Heroes, we're not 8 years old.

Parkman has Sylar in his head (ala Bones in Search For Spock), Sylar has Nathan in his head, Angela Petrelli is as exciting as a boot to the head.

Tracy and Noah hook up (as a team/friends) by the end of the episode. Not that impressed. Noah has usually been one of the few bright spots every week, but he's been wearing thin, and Tracy will j ust drag him down like the anchor she is.

Honestly, I didn't hate this episode, but there are red flags shooting around all over the place. Some of these storylines feel like they could drag out over the course of months and months. However, some bits were interesting, and if they can quicken the pace (two volumes per season should help with that) then they might be able to pull this show out of the death spiral. If not, I'll be here to throw gas on the flames.

Top Chef tomorrow, FlashForward on Thursday, and I need to find a rerun of Bored to Death. TV is good!