Villain Profile: Doyle

Eric Doyle is a villain who first showed up during Heroes season 3.  He has the ability to control people like puppets.

Though not a main bad guy like Sylar or Sullivan, Doyle shows up multiple times over the last two seasons of the show.  I like that he has a creative power that isn't seen in to many other places, it's not your typical flying or super strength.  Doyle is one of the bad guys who escapes from level 5 in season 3.  He is an interesting character, actually one of my favorite bad guys on the show.

He has a thing for Claire's mom (biological mother) Meredith and is pretty vicious the first time he is encountered by Claire and both her bio mom and adoptive mom.  He takes control of all three of them and makes them play Russian roulette.  I don't even know what his end game was here.  He comes across as kind of a rapist/creepy type but then seems delighted when he thought of Meredith dying (even though he seems to be infatuated by her).  That whole situation just makes him that much more demented, that even if he has a crush on someone he still enjoys seeing them suffer.

Unfortunately for Doyle he runs across Sylar multiple times (sometimes off screen) and battles it out.  He always loses in the end but does better in their last confrontation.  Doyle attempts to reform during the course of the show, or at least claims he will reform, but then in the same episode gives Claire a smirk like he was just saying that to get help when he needed it.  In the end he ends up at the Sullivan Brothers carnival working as a puppeteer.

While at the carnival we see that he has somewhat reformed but everyone at the carnival seems willing to kill if they feel it's needed.  He is also very protective of Samuel Sullivan, even attacking Claire who had previous helped him.  This guy is actually one of the more powerful specials out there and could take on just about anyone short of Sylar and a few others.  Against regular humans he has been shown to be able to control at least three people at once and I do not know what his limit actually is. 

Many other characters in the show had their powers advance over the show and it would be interesting to see if Doyle's powers ever increase in some interesting way as well.  The last we see of him is when he is tied up by Sylar, after that his whereabouts are unknown.  I do like that Doyle made several appearances but wasn't overused.  He has interesting powers and is just the right amount of unstable.

Heroes season 4, ep 1: Orientation

Today I am going to start reviewing the tv show Heroes, starting with season 4 because that is the season I am currently watching on DVD.  I have already watched the first three seasons but I like to write reviews directly after watching an episode so my feelings and thoughts on that episode are fresh.  After I am finished with season 4 I will go back and rewatch the first three seasons again. 

The first episode, entitled Orientation, is a double length episode.  This episode is really good and really bad. 

The Good:

We are introduced to some new characters from a carnival.  Lead by the mysterious and creepy Samuel Sullivan, they intend to find a replacement for Samuel's dead brother (he died off screen so we have no idea how he died or why).   We don't know exactly what they are after or what their end game is but they seem a little shady and we know they are willing to kill people to meet their ends.  These character have interesting (and mostly new) powers.  Finding out what exactly these characters are up to is an interesting mystery that starts this season off with some anticipation. 

Peter is back to work as a paramedic, savings people's lives using the powers he acquired from Mohinder (he is basically like Spider-man minus the webbing). Hiro has started a business with his friend Ando called "Dial a Hero".  Things go down hill quickly though when we find out something is wrong with Hiro and he is no longer in control of his powers fully.  Instead of stopping time, time is stopping him. 

There are several stories going on that involve the ever popular Sylar.  Nathan (actually just Nathan's memories in Sylar's body) is starting to have powers manifest he never had and he doesn't understand why.  Elsewhere, Matt Parkman is starting to see visions of Sylar, whose consciousness is trapped in Matt's mind, causing him trouble. 

Noah and Danko (the villain from the second half of season 3) have to deal with Tracy who is out for revenge against them for their plot to round up all people with abilities.   

The Bad:

All of this is pretty interesting and you may be asking yourself, what is so bad?  One name: Claire.  Her story line of starting college and having an annoying roommate seems completely useless, pointless and distracts from all of the other interesting stories going on.  It seems like everything with her was thrown into the show because her character is popular with teenage girls.  It also seems like her annoying story line gets more screen time than any of the other stories.  This may not be the case, it could just be that her story is so bad and slows down the pace of the show so much it just seems like an eternity.  Her character probably should have been written out of the show after season 3 (or at least reduced greatly). 

This season does feel a little different, more like the 1st season (which is a good thing) and it does show promise for an interesting season.  It has my curiosity peaked. 

I give this episode 3 out of 4 stars (it would have been 4 out of 4 without Claire's storyline bringing it to an annoying crawl constantly).