some say it's the best show on television this year...i say...so far...

last week heroes showed just how goot it could be...and also it's major weakness...so far, the show is mostly plot...a to b to c to d...supposedly leading us...and the characters...past the point of revelation...towards a new found actualization...of super-heroic...ness...the real weakness so far is that there has been very little room to develop character...moslty what we have are archetypes...and mostly just different versions of the the same quest hero...hiro is the central exception...but adorable only gets you so far...of course it's no coincidence that last week's episode's major plot point was also the beginning of a new emotional direction for his character...blah blah blah...but there was a small moment...a writers moment, sure...but it was the kind of writing that can turn good entertainment into great storytelling...it was the sheriff's will shortz reference...it was a moment of such...specificity...that it evoked a genuine sense of time and place...a very specific time and place...here and now...that's vital...otherwise...change the costumes...switch the heroin to marijuana...make the cam girl a call girl...and this story could just as well be happening in eisenhower america...or most any other post 1900 eurocentric capitalist civilization...heroes needs more of this kind of writing because a show this sprawling can't actually shoot in, what...six different locations...so we get back lot sets that look like las newinditexafornokyo...and some spiffy cg matte painting...neither of which can communicate a real sense of place...(in english class...and writing workshops...they call it...setting)...better...cheaper...than good dialog...