I don’t have firsthand knowledge (I don’t know any cops), but Law & Order seems pretty realistic to me. The cops on that show aren’t action heroes, when they go into a confrontation or a hostage situation (like Parkman had in his exam) there are pretty specific and common sense steps they take. Barging in and shooting everybody isn’t one of them. If that really WAS a hostage situation, the hostage would be dead as soon as the cop barged in and started shooting everyone.

I liked Mr Bennett as a villain and never really bought his transition to morally tortured family man so I don’t have much sympathy for his character either.

I can forgive a lot of dumbness in writing if the characters appeal to me or if something just feels right about a show, and in this case, I can’t say it does. I don’t have much hope for the show–last season I stopped watching midway through but kinda picked it up again because most of my friends were watching it. We’ll see how it goes this season.

I think you’re being a little harsh here. Like I said, I’m not the type to judge an entire season on one episode. The first season had its problems, but currently the balance sheet is tipped in favor of “worth watching,” so I’ll be tuning in next week.

I agree that the writers should probably dial things back a bit and try to be a little more realistic. After all, half the appeal of the show is that extraordinary powers are intersecting with ordinary people. That said, do you really think Law & Order is the place to go for realism?

I also agree that Peter’s amnesia is, well, dumb. First, the type of amnesia you see on TV, what professionals would call transient global amnesia and what I would call “Gilligan Syndrome,” almost never happens. Real life cases are exceptionally rare, and there’s always some controversy as to whether the patient has a reason for faking it. Second, it’s a total cliche. I’m not saying I could write this show better, but total amnesia? Really? It was decided that this was the best of all possible ideas? Come on.

And I’m willing to say I enjoyed Bennett’s confrontation with his boss, simply on the grounds that it allowed Jack Coleman to be completely awesome. He makes anything good. Contrast that scene to Mohinder’s silly looking stairway slam with the guy from The Company.

Off the top of my head, how about Matt Parkman’s little police “exam”? Where the job is apparently to storm into the building and shoot everybody he sees. And how, when there are two (apparently) unarmed people and it’s not clear who the bad guy is, there is a “correct” answer about which one to shoot?

These things are very “comic-booky”, in the most derogatory sense of that term. Excellent comics artist Eddie Campbell famously remarked about X-Men artist Jim Lee, “the artist is drawing people in suits but he doesn’t appear to have ever actually seen a suit.” These people are writing this stuff based on the most ridiculous, cartoony, make-believe versions of them. With Heroes being on NBC, you’d think they could skip over to the Law & Order writers’ room and get some feedback on whether this police stuff bears ANY relation to the real world.

And the “teenage” stuff is the same way. That little “robots & aliens” thing was definitely meant to be charming in an offbeat way, but it just sounded dull.

Also–if Mr. Bennett’s boss does NOT immediately fire him, call the cops and have him arrested, then this show might as well call itself “La La Make Believe Fantasy Land In Which People Behave Nothing Like Any People You Have Ever Met”.

And, for the dramatic conclusion to this week’s Very Special Heroes–AMNESIA!

The most reviled, ridiculous, cliched plot development in the history of serialized drama. 24 didn’t even really get away with doing the amnesia bit, but that was the first season so it’s somewhat forgiveable.

Maybe next we’ll get Claire in the woods menaced by a cougar!

Good lord this show is dumb :)