It can be heart-rending, shocking and deeply distressing. And it happens all the time.
You think you know somebody.
After spending many hours together through all sorts of intense emotional trials, you think you know whether he’s basically a good guy or not.
You should know after all that time together if he’s sincere. Also whether or not he can fly, move at the speed of light or hear supersonically.
We’re not talking David Letterman here. That rather insignificant personal embarrassment does not rise to the level of shock.
We’re talking prime-time personalities of the sort that haunt our dreams.
You think you are used to his quirks, the way he sometimes falls into dark moods and then tosses people across a room without breaking a sweat. You’ve grown accustomed to his face, the way he peers out from prominent eyebrows to make you wonder what he’s really thinking.
Then all of a sudden, it’s as if you never knew him. He changes into someone you don’t recognize, with sensitivities and a gentle modesty you wouldn’t have imagined existed in him.
He claims he’s “feeling everything for the first time.” He’s so alive and appreciative of the little things. So polite to a female doctor, so childlike and needy. And you wonder if maybe you’ve misjudged him.
For more than three seasons, Sylar (Zachary Quinto) has been the seriously bad, mindlessly murderous villain on “Heroes,” the NBC comic-book-style, sci-fi-inflected superhero drama. With this week’s installment of “Heroes,” Monday at 7 p.m. on KUSA- Channel 9, the story is retooled and sent down a new path.
The characters now take a turn, as the super-talented folks with curious extra-human abilities begin to strive to recapture their ordinary lives.
Claire (Hayden Panettiere), for instance, is chasing normalcy. So what if she is impervious to pain and can instantly heal her lethal injuries? That’s so last season. Now, as a new season begins, she finds drinking chocolate milk in a college dining hall with her new roomie to be exhilaratingly normal.
Carnival ringmaster and creepy cult family leader Samuel Sullivan, played by Robert Knepper (the unforgettable T-Bag on “Prison Break”) continues to be the most riveting addition to the cast.
The question is whether the new direction comes too late for “Heroes.” Ratings have been sinking, newer sci-fi adventure dramas popping up — like “FlashForward,” “Stargate Universe” and even “Fringe” and “Dollhouse” — have stolen some of the buzz.
Can “Heroes” find itself again, coming “full circle,” as the producers promise?
There’s promise here. Check it out for yourself and see if the new Sylar, in particular, is too hard a turn.
Wanda Sykes’ stand-up.
She’s outrageous, profane and, mostly, hilarious: Wanda Sykes takes on race relations, politics, aging and much more on her new stand-up special, “I’ma Be Me,” premiering Saturday at 8 p.m. on HBO. The actress/comic successfully walks comedy’s fine line. Just when she’s about to be inappropriately disrespectful, irreverent or obnoxious, she veers into funny.
Sykes explains the difference between coming out as gay and coming out as black, and she talks about her wife, who is French. “I like to say she’s French because it sounds better than white.”
The show was taped at the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
