What I’m Watching: Heroes Reborn

Heroes Reborn: Season 1, Episode 6 “Game Over” (C)

I hadn’t realized that the one goal of the good guys on this show was to free Hiro, but it makes some sense that they would want to try to go back in time and stop June 13th from happening as everyone experienced it. Given the original show’s horrendous understanding of time travel, I’m not optimistic about things working out well or coherently (definitely not both), and I was surprised that Hiro wasn’t so eager and energetic as soon as he was freed from the video game fortress. This show has proven itself to be considerably darker than its predecessor, though it still lacks a sense of finality and seriousness that I think would help it considerably. It also seems determined to stick to its comic-book roots, with Tommy discovering a new issue in Paris, thanks to Emily’s apparent interest in and knowledge of books being sold along the Seine, that proclaims him the next big hero. Malina saving Luke from drowning after they both tried to steal candy bars with their powers was an admittedly clever way of getting them to meet and realize that Luke knows exactly where Tommy is, a fortunate fact since he’s just the person Malina is trying to find. Carlos drinking something without really knowing what it is wasn’t smart, but I assume Captain Dearing wants his money back and will actually do what Carlos wanted. Miko ceasing to exist because she was only a creation of the video game is a strange twist, and I assume she’ll be back in some form eventually. I do hope that, whatever events Hiro and Noah succeed in undoing, it doesn’t mean reviving Quentin, who couldn’t have met his dark end at the hands of his sister sooner.

What I’m Watching: 30 Rock

30 Rock: Season 7, Episode 9 “Game Over” (B+)

With this show headed swiftly for its final hour in less than three weeks, it’s refreshing to see an episode as funny as this one. It was fun to see Chris Parnell, who I watched moments earlier on this past week’s episode of “Suburgatory,” pop up once again as Dr. Leo Specimen, who ended up in Westchester despite Liz’s deliberate efforts to avoid him and promptly got promoted to surgeon general. It was great to see another snippet of “Celebrity Homonym,” which has to be the best fake TV show ever created. On the guest star front, Megan Mullally’s return appearance as the adoption agent was brief but amusing, highlighted by her sarcastic assertion, echoed by the next agent Liz called, about her remembering Liz because she only deals with one person. Octavia Spencer certainly had fun parodying herself as an extremely difficult star for Tracy to contend with, and she had many great lines, like changing Tubman to Tubgirl. The best part of her appearance was the fact that her assistants were named Mizz and Dotgov. It was entertaiting to see Steve Buscemi’s Len Wosniak again, who really went undercover for his latest job and seems to have found a whole new life as an engaged woman. Chloe Grace Moretz’s Kaylie Hooper and Will Arnett’s Devon Banks will eternally be fabulous nemeses for Jack, and it was great to see him trick Kaylie after realizing that she would trick him. It’s just like Hank to emphasize something like the notion of a happy birthday wish only counting on your actual birthday, and Jack’s well-timed birthday card turned out to be a triumph. Two of my favorite lines from the episode were Kaylie’s description of pleasure as “the name of a pony I hate” and Jack’s response to Liz’s insult of “You’re off the rails,” which was “thanks for the compliment; train travel is for hobos.”