Heroes - Landslide and How to Stop an Exploding Man

My journey through season one of Heroes reaches the end as I tackle the final two episodes. I'm reviewing these episodes as a pair as they fit together so well they could be a two parter. Most if not all of the main supporting characters make an appearance - off the top of my head the extended Bennet family and the Haitian are the most notable of those who don't. Of those that do some are from so early in the season that I forgot they existed. Everyone gets something to do (even if they are meaningless) and a moment to shine. Villains are killed off in the first episode leaving something of a vacuum for the finale which is more than made evident as Syler turns out to be a red herring.

Bennet and Parkman storming of the building is fun as is Niki and DLs rescue of Micah. Nathans redemption is a good moment which if anything is Heroes "free will is not an illusion" moment. However the writing is abysmal, Hiro's season long mission is to stab someone who survives and crawls off into a sewer and the overall conclusion of the explosion storyline doesn't deliver. However there is still enough fluff that it feels like a good ending to the series. Everyone is in the same place for the same time, we have a "will they survive" element for a number of characters and we're left with a number of questions including the future status quo of a number of characters. I rate the episodes 10 and 6 out of ten respectively.

The season as a whole has a number of issues the main one being that its too long and blatantly padded - you could cut ten episodes and lose nothing easily. The writing is poor in particular Niki's storyline after the first few episodes. The show is largely white washed on screen, you can't move for white cis guys and most of the characters who aren't white are killed off or underdeveloped.  

These issues drag the show down to a 7/10 as a whole against it however there are a lot of things to like, the writing does peak on occasions and we get stuff like the future episode and "save the cheerleader save the world". The cast is largely brilliant with notable mentions for Adrian Pasdar, Ali Larter and Santiago Cabrera. Hiro is a fantastic character and fun, he has a lot of the moments that stuck in my memory. 

In short this is a good but not great show with the frustrating caveat that it was so close to being great.

March Football 2021

The new part of the blog continues as I rank the football matches I watched in March from least favourite to favourite. Based on nothing more than my opinion and enjoyment from watching each match.

Liverpool 0-1 Chelsea, English Premier League, I don't like Chelsea :(

Liverpool 0-1 Fulham, English Premier League, I still don't like Chelsea :(

Aston Villa 0-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers, English Premier League, this game happened.

Crystal Palace 0-0 Man Utd, English Premier League, dull, boring and lifeless. Summed up by Utds wayward passing as they struggled to pick each other out in the mist with their white away kit.

Roma 1-0 Genoa, Serie A, quiet game that never got going.

Verona 0-2 AC Milan, Serie A, comfortable win for Milan again rather quiet game. 

Dundee Utd 0-0 Celtic, Scottish Premier League, all Celtic and Dundee fought hard to keep them to 0-0.

Bosnia-Herzegovnia 0-1 France, World Cup Qualifier, a battling Bosnia disrupted France and kept it to one goal.

Real Madrid 3-1 Atalanta, Champions League, Atlanta played against their usual style tried to play cute and Madrid weren't having any of it.

Liverpool 2-0 RB Leipzig, Champions League, Liverpool completely killed the game then put Leipzig to the sword. Fabinho played in midfield where he blonged.

Manchester City 0-2 Manchester Utd, English Premier League, really good counter attacking win by Utd. 

Burnley 1-1 Arsenal, English Premier League, Arsenal went ahead early looked to dominate and then Granit Xhaka set up a Burnley equaliser just before half time and the second half turned into a hell of a match.

Paris St-Germain 1-1 Barcelona, Champions League, all Barcelona with Paris managing to keep them out. Barcelona could have won by four goals, Paris were never able to kill the game and until the final five minutes were always hanging on. 

Frosinone 2-2 Monza, Serie B, good fun game. 

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-1 Liverpool, English Premier League, nasty injury for the keeper at the end.

Everton 1-0 Southampton, English Premier League, a game where both teams were on top at different stages and few chances as defences snuffed out attackers who were reduced to wayward shots.

Wales 1-0 Mexico, International Friendly, a second string Wales pulled off a hard fought win against Mexico who had most of the play.

Brighton 1-2 Leicester City, English Premier League, Brighton play well but even when they get an early goal can't build on it. Very good win for Leicester who were the second best team throughout.

Fulham 1-2 Leeds, English Premier League, fun attacking game with lots of chances.

Napoli 3-1 Bologna, Serie A, a more even game than the score line suggests, if Bologna had made more of their half chances this could have been a draw. 

Ajax 3-1 FC Gronigen, Eredivisie, quiet first half and eventful second half.

Borussia Monchengladbach 0-1 Bayer Leverkusen, Bundesliga, lovely technical game with the home team spending the first half breaking up chances with last second interventions. Leverkusen are the most easy on the eye team at the moment.

Juventus 3-0 Spezia, Serie A, really good play by Spezia who just turn to jelly in the oppositions penalty box, good late against the play goal.

Bielefeld 0- 1 RB Leipzig, Bundesliga, brilliant display from the home team who'd been tonked a few times. Put in a fantastic defensive counter attacking performance and were unlucky the Leipzig sneaked one in just after half time. Leipzig were also very good with the most one sided one goal win I've seen this season.

Man City 4-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers, English Premier League, very good game with Wolves looking like they weathered the storm going in only a goal down at the break and then pulling level. City poured on the pressure and pulled away, good last second goal.

Russia 2-1 Slovenia, World Cup Qualifier, unexpectedly enjoyable match, very even with all the goals coming in a ten minute spell and a good "big man" performance by the Russian striker.

Belgium 3-1 Wales, World Cup Qualifier, Wales without vital players, without their coach and an injury in the opening minutes had some moments going ahead early but were dominated by the World number ones. 

Huesca 3-4 Celta Vigo, La Liga, utter insane back and forth game with both sides ahead at one point.

Turkey 4-2 Holland, World Cup Qualifier, a fantastic qualifying match with chances, cards, penalties, goals and very nearly an awesome comeback, Turkey with a "one for the notebook" underdog performance as Holland were on top for most of the match.

Borussia Dortmund 2-2 Sevilla, Champions League, all Sevilla with Dortmund limited to attacks on the break. Dortmund went two goals up and Sevilla clawed it back on the night but gave themselves to much to do overall.

Armenia 3-2 Romania, World Cup Qualifier, an amazing game where both teams took the lead in a goal filled second half with Armenia weathering the storm and going ahead early only to look like they would be overwhelmed but fighting back with two goals after the 80th minute. Armenia now sit top of their qualifying group ahead of North Macedonia leaving Germany and Romania feeling nervous. 

Norwich City 1-0 Brentford, Championship, a big game match with a big game feel as Norwich went for it like their lives and promotional chances depended on it. Brentford did well to stay in touch.

Juventus 3-2 Porto, Champions League, a huge epic night with Porto going through on away goals after extra time. Exactly what you want from a second leg Champions League match.

Bayern Munich 4-2 Borussia Dortmund, Bundesliga, a glorious game that was all Bayern despite Dortmund getting an early two goal lead. Equaliser just before half time and the fourth goal came at good points for trading.

Wales 1-0 Czech Republic, World Cup Qualifier, utter hell to sit through as 2nd place seeds Wales hosted 3rd seed Czechs fighting it out for second place behind Belgium. The main story being Wales were missing key figures through injury and covid suspensions resulted in a game full of clearances, saves, wasted chances, boots through the TV, two red cards and redemption for Neco Williams and Dan James who have had disappointing seasons.