Mr. Spock is an absolute badass
After watching Zachary Quinto’s performance in season one, I was pretty sure that this guy couldn’t act his way out of a paper bag. He was stiff, he delivered his lines like he was reading off paper and his eyebrows scared me. Fast-forward a few years, go beyond a stellar performance as our favorite Vulcan and stop at Heroes: Season Three and I would just like to take this opportunity to apologize to Mr. Quinto; I am very sorry for doubting you (I’m still scared of your eyebrows).
In the third season of the hit show, Sylar gets a ton of depth added to his character. He developed well as a serial killer and pushed forward as a pseudo savior to the rest of the clan of heroes. Season three is almost solely built around Sylar’s intentions and I wouldn’t want it any other way. The writers of the show put him in different roles; he starts as the killer, converts to a recovering killer, falls in love and ends with a bang. This happens all in one season and what’s more frightening is that it happens almost perfectly. Quinto’s Sylar is everything that you would have expected him to be in the first season; he’s the biggest, worst nightmare of a monster you could imagine.
With that said, Sylar’s character is driven by a motivated story that is solidly established to keep him moving. The first part of the season deals with the separating of the characters; Heroes vs. Villains. The Petrelli’s get quite a shock in the story when Peter’s future self comes back to prevent Nathan from telling the world that he’s a hero (in the super power sense). When Peter does, it sets off a shockwave that sends the group of heroes into a split. Added to that is the return of the Petrelli’s long lost father, Arthur. Arthur helps to keep the two sides from each other and gives motivation for one side to stop the other. Arthur also provides motivation for Nathan to flip sides and start some major trouble in the government. Nathan Petrelli ends up turning against his family and friends by creating a government task force that rounds up known people with ‘special’ powers. Of course, his plans go haywire when the people he’s rounding up begin to turn on their would be captors. This fuels the fire for normal folk vs. non-normal folk. I’ll end there because if I tell you anything else the season will be ruined.
The pros of season three start with Sylar. Like I said in the above paragraphs, Sylar is the sun surrounding the entire storyline. He begins the trouble; he ends the trouble. He’s amazingly important for the story’s overall strength and continuity. Quinto takes this importance and turns in one of the most sinister characters that I’ve seen on television; this man will give you chills when you see him in action. Outside of him, you get deeper into the storyline about how the Petrelli’s, and heroes in general, came to be. You delve deeper into the ‘company’ and you get introduced to a different perspective of the two brothers. The end episode is possibly one of the strongest as you get to see everyone in action against our man Sylar. The fight is pretty epic and the resolution extremely quick. Unlike the first two seasons, you also get a very solid look into Noah Bennet’s family and you see more of the mom and a unique side to Claire. Almost all the characters in this season get a better, clearer story and purpose. This is why season three is quite possibly my favorite out of the three. Don’t get me wrong, the first season was really quite good, but in season three you get to see more comfortable actors with a more solid story. It’s traditional that a television show gets better with age.
The cons of this season are few, but they are important nonetheless. The first is the most obvious; it’s simply no fun not to have more Hiro and Ando in the story. I do realize that season two was really just about them (with 11 episodes it’s tough to stray away from more than one storyline), but I wanted to see more of the boys in action. This time around they seemed very much beside the story instead of in it like the others. That was my biggest disappointment in season three. The other cons are just minor story glitches. The turning of Nathan from good to bad to good was way too shallow. It’s certainly excusable because the other storylines distract you from this notion, but it is still there. At the end of the story I really liked how Nathan ended up, but I still felt like the turn from different sides was much too quick. My last complaint is about Arthur Petrelli. (TURN YOU HEAD IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW!) He comes in with such presence and power and leaves like a fart in the wind. When Arthur kicked it the first thing that went through my head (outside of how much I needed more coffee) was, “What a waste of a good character.” Indeed it was a waste of a good character. (COME BACK TO THE PACK!)
The most glorious part of this season was that it came packaged on blu-ray. I love blu-ray! I love it, love it, love it! For a former video guy and editor, I can’t help but love how Universal Studio treats its property and how well they translate it to HD. They simply do it better than anyone else. There are no flaws in this blu-ray; it looks perfect. There is no graininess in the picture and it just reminds you of why you wanted blu-ray in the first place. Added to this is how great the audio sounds, which is perfect for this show. There is plenty of action here and the sound benefits from it.
As for features, here’s what you’re looking at:
– The Super Powers of Heroes
– Completing the Scene
– Genetics of a Scene
– The Writer’s Forum
– The Prop Box
– Tim Sale Gallery of Screen Art
– Alternate Stories
– Pinehearst Commercial
– Hero Connections – Network
– Deleted Scenes
– BD-Live
– Season 4 Sneak Peek
– Building Coyote Sands
This BD set is loaded with goodies! This is how a television show on blu-ray should come packaged. My lord, I can’t wait until next season is over and I can get it reviewed on blu-ray.