Since things are slow around here right now, I thought I'd post a link to an interview with Jack Coleman (HRG) that I just ran across today. Especially since he seems to speculate about certain plot details in a confident way that implies insider info.
Feel free to use the comments to speculate yourself, or to post links to other interviews that give clues about the direction of the show. The writers strike will probably result in loose lips, as actors get restless and want to feel relevant.
Some of you may or may not consider this stuff spoiler-y, so use your own discretion when clicking through.
Here's the link ...
http://io9.com/329017
And here are three questions that caught my interest:
So, we've heard that there is going to be a high body count on Monday's episode [the finale]. Can you tell us who dies?
Well, I can't ... but I'll give you good reason why I can't. I think it's left somewhat ambiguous as to whether or not those persons are dead. I'll say it looks really bad for certain people, but it might not end up that way. And it won't be a "brought back from the dead" kind of thing, but maybe what we're seeing didn't come to pass as we think it did.
Speaking of brought back from the dead, do you worry that they've painted themselves into a sort of "no death" corner? With Takezo Kensei/Adam's blood healing Nathan's disfigurement, and Claire's blood bringing you back to life, how can anyone actually "die" on the show now?
Well, that can go away as quickly as it came. I'm sure that's one of the things they'll be addressing, is the idea of rules. What's doable, what's not doable. With mutation and different viruses and different evolutionary processes, it could be that an infusion of Claire's blood won't do you anymore. People have been wondering if I might have the ability to regenerate now, and I don't. It was a one-time fix. But it's entirely possible that her antibodies might not work on anyone else.
Whatever happened to the character who was introduced who could talk to computers [Hana Gitelman]? She seems to have vanished.
I think that literally what happened was that she got another series and we lost her. I think she lives on in all of the online things they've created for the show, they call her Wireless. I thought that was a brilliant idea and she was really good in the part, I don't know if they'll bring her back or not. I know there's been talk about bringing Christoper Eccleston [Invisible Claude] back too.
So there you have it. The end of "Heroes Volume 2: Generations". Before I get to the recap, let me tell you what the one big takeaway from this episode should be for each and every one of us. Stated simply: "Don't Fuck With Mister Hiro". Seriously. The boy has a harsh sense of justice.
Now that that's out of the way ...
There were four main storylines in this finale, which effectively had nothing to do with one another. Yeah, Niki and Mohinder say each other's names a lot, but that's about as much as things intersect. I haven't decided yet whether this bothers me or not. On the one hand, it seems like a step back from how they all came together in last season's finale. But on the other hand, I think this season would have been dull if they were all working together as one. Anyway, here are the four storylines ...
The Big Bad Virus in Texas
This of course is the main event. Matt & Nathan & Hiro squaring off against Adam & Peter down in the lower levels of Primatech Odessa. Hiro wants revenge against Adam, Adam wants to play Old Testament God, and everybody else wants to destroy that pesky virus. The writing is a bit sloppy here -- why does Peter use his telekinesis to rip the vault door off when he and Adam could just phase through it instead? Or teleport using Hiro's power? Anyway, the good guys win in the end, the virus is destroyed, and Hiro shows just how much of a sadist he can be. "My name is Hiro Nakamura. You killed my father. Prepare to be buried alive in coffin forever."
Stupidity Doesn't Heal in So Cal
Claire is all, "My daddy is dead, so I'm going to tell the whole world I'm a freak and my boyfriend's a freak and all these other people I don't even know are freaks, and trust in the historically documented good will of human beings toward things they don't understand, confident that they won't just lock us up and study us like lab rats," and West is all, "Seriously, have you always been this stupid?" and Claire is all, "I hate you!" and Noah's all, "Honey, I'm home!" and Claire is all, "Huh?" and Noah's all, "I got my job back!" and Lyle is all, "Wait. I just figured something out. Claire, do you have powers or something?" and Mr. Muggles hangs himself.
Niki Saves the Day in The Big Easy
Micah talks to cellphones and traffic lights as he and Niki run to the rescue of Monica, who was pretty much useless this episode. Contrarily, it was nice to see that Niki the ex-stripper was able to pull off being both a hero and a bad-ass, even without any powers. And maybe that was the point. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a hero's send-off. She (presumably) dies in the same fire she saves Monica from, and now poor Micah is left parent-less. But perhaps it's for the best -- all the great superheroes are orphans.
Elle Saves the Day in The Big Apple
The million mile journey from Mexico to New York ends with Sylar shooting Maya. And for a few minutes, we're left to wonder if Maya & Alejandro really WERE exactly as pointless an addition to the show as Nicki & Paolo were on Lost. And while I'm still unconvinced that's not the case, Maya gets a reprieve when Mohinder uses some of Claire's blood to heal her. And at that point, I'm left wondering how much I should really worry whenever anybody "dies" on this show, if all it takes is a little of Claire's blood to bring them back to life. Anyway, I digress. Elle shows up, hoping to make her daddy love her again by capturing Sylar, but isn't able to take him down in time. Still, Mohinder convinces her she's a hero for saving them, and she seems to like the sound of it.
As with the last volume, we're left with a teaser when this one ends -- the first scene of Volume 3, which is entitled "Vweelans" ... er, that is, "Villains". Says Tim Kring in a TV Guide interview: "We've introduced a cadre of [villains] over the course of the show and we're going to see them rise up. Just as the heroes have found each other to save the world, the villains will do the same with the opposite intent. The Company has catalogued many of these people over the years. There may be more of them down in that basement than we have alluded to so far." To start things off, we see Sylar "shoot up" the rest of a Mohinder/Claire cocktail, his wounds heal, the virus is gone, and like Luke Skywalker reaching out for his lightsaber in that ice cave on Hoth, he pulls an empty can of spinach to himself.
"I'm back," says Sylar. But not for another few months, at least.
Edited to add: Oops. Completely forgot to mention Nathan getting shot. I think maybe I blocked it out of my mind because it was such a shocking moment! Part of me would like to see Nathan un-die with the help of Claire's Magic Blood. But the other part of me thinks that's kind of a cheat. It takes the dramatic legitimacy out of killing off major characters if half the time they're just going to be magically revived without any side effects (such as vampirism, zombie-ness, robotic appendages, etc.). The big question is: Who shot him? My money is on his not-really-dead father.
I had to deal with some computer problems at work this morning, so I'm going to keep my Heroes recap relatively short this week. These are my favorite bits of dialogue from each character last night ...
Maya: "Oh, Meester Gabriel, you are so wonderful!"
Sylar: "Excuse me while I practice my devilish psycho smile."
Alejandro: "Que?" (Translation: "What purpose did I serve this season?")
Peter: "I absorbed the power to be extremely gullible from my friend Mohinder!"
Mohinder: "You know, I believe that wholeheartedly. I really do."
Adam: "Try dealing with clueless idiots like this for as many centuries as I have. Then see if you don't want to kill off 93% of the world's population too."
Noah: "I'm just glad I finally have a scene with my shirt off. It's like Dynasty all over again!"
Joanna Cassidy: "Hey, why did Flashback Victoria get more screen time than I did?"
George Takei: "And why did Flashback Kaito not look and sound anything at all like Sulu?"
Claire: "Wahhhh!!! My life sucks! Everything heals but my poor broken heart!"
West: "So Claire ... any chance this Haitian dude can make me forget all your whining?"
Bob: "Elle, I need you to watch Claire for me. Think maybe you can NOT fuck that up?"
Elle: "Why won't you just love me, Daddy? Why??? Is it because I electrocuted Mom at childbirth?"
Niki: "Hi everybody. Have you met Doris, my completely boring mom personality?"
Monica: "Look at me, I'm all like Jackie Chan and shit! You know ... before Chris Tucker."
Micah: "I talk to light bulbs and television sets!"
Hiro: "The time has come to go back in time again!"
Ando: "Again? (sigh) Now I know how Journeyman's wife feels."
Lots of twists and turns in Heroes this episode, and some plain old good writing -- particularly the dialog, which we all know has floundered a bit this season. In fact, this episode was so tight, with so many overlaps, that it almost felt like a season finale to me, although I know there are two more episodes and a whole "super virus" plot line to wrap up yet.
Let's start with Hiro. After some soul-searching and time jumping and discussions about how having God-like powers does not give one the right to play God, Hiro defers to his father's wishes and lets him die. In the process, we get some very cute scenes of Hiro squaring off against his younger self, and can almost see the gears moving in Adult Hiro's head as he realizes that it is time to put away childish romantic notions in order to become a man. And in what is a crucial step toward this end, he learns that his own ex-hero -- Takezo Kensei -- has killed his father.
Matt goes the other way, and risks slipping over to the dark side by using his mind powers to push instead of just pull, compelling people to do what he wants them to. His intentions are good for now -- a cop using his ability as a way to get information. But we already know that in one alternate future, he turned bad. So will he be able to pull himself back before he crosses that line in this one?
Along these same lines, Mohinder decides to work with Bob & Elle to betray Noah, who we now know was largely motivated to protect Claire because of the way that Bob used Elle as a guinea pig when she was younger. Like Matt, Mohinder's intentions are good, and he tries hard to stick to his moral guns ... but it's a slippery slope.
Meanwhile, West finally gets halfway interesting this week when Noah uses him to great effect as his wing man. (See what I did there?) They band together to rescue Claire, and Noah's all, "S'up Mohinder," and Mohinder's all, "S'up," and Elle's all, "Gonna zap you!" and West is all, "Wooosh!" and Elle's all, "Why's my feet wet?" and Noah's all, "Science 101," and Elle's all, "Gonna ... ow ow ow!!!" and Noah's all, "Your father sucks," and he calls Bob and Bob's all, "Let's trade," and they go to the beach, and Noah's all, "So West ... what kinda car you drive?" and West is all, "The kind I popped your daughter's cherry in," and Noah's all, "I had a Citroen!" and West is all, "Whatever fuck that is," and the trade goes down and West is all, "Wooosh!" and Elle's all, "Zap zap!" and Claire's all, "Ooof!!!" and Noah's all, "Blam blam!" and Elle's all, "Ow!" and Mohinder ends things by shooting Noah's ass in the eye.
Again, this was some wonderfully tricky writing, full of red herrings. Just as we're convinced that there must be some trick to the future that Dead Isaac spelled out in his paintings, things end up playing out exactly as he portrayed them in his final two pieces. Mohinder shoots Noah in the eye and Noah dies. Sort of. Because in the final scene, somebody infuses him with healer blood, bringing him (and his eye) back to life again. Was it Bob? Or was it Adam? Both have something to gain for their own particular agendas by keeping him around for the knowledge in his head. Or was it Mohinder, who decided that the only way to save Noah was for the Company to think he was dead? So many choices? Who do you think it was? Who un-shot HRG?
Okay, so we're back in time again, 4 months ago. (Although it's really more like 6 months ago for us.) Remember how crazy things were crazy back then? The war in Iraq was still in full swing, Kanye West was tearing up the music charts, Britney Spears was being accused of child neglect, teenagers were always pissing their parents off, and the weather was doing some weird unseasonable shit or another, wasn't it? Good times. Seems like just yesterday.
After last season's finale, Nathan gets burned up while flying Radioactive Peter up into the stratosphere. Peter explodes, then takes Nathan to a hospital, where he (Peter) is promptly captured by Bob & Elle, who take him back to The Company and convince him to be locked up. Over the new few months, Elle brings Peter some power-dampening pills every day, and exhibits some shockingly bad behavior. (See what I did there?) Peter's next-cell neighbor is (of course) Adam, and because nobody thought to soundproof the cells or monitor them in any way, Adam is able to convince Peter to escape. Which they do, using D.L.'s phasing power.
Back at the hospital, Nathan is still looking a bit extra-crispy, while Mama Petrelli convinces his wife that he's delusional, all the while touching and stroking her in a creepy way. Which leads Freakgirl and I to think we've finally figured out what her power is -- persuasion, by way of touch. Think about how touchy-feely she is, how she convinced Claire to go to Paris, how she ran Nathan's campaign from behind the scenes, and how in the future, she grabbed Peter by the face and suddenly he was able to heal some of his memory loss. Makes sense, right? Anyway, Peter and Adam show up, give Nathan some of Adam's super blood, and not only do Nathan's burns heal completely, but his hair follicles also become so supercharged that he grows a 6-month beard in only a few short weeks.
Down in Central America, everybody is all, "Arriba, arriba! Alejandro eez getting married!", but Maya is all, "Weddeengs make me cry," and she ends up crying the entire wedding party to death, and afterward she's all, "Ay dios mia, soy la meurte!" and Alejandro is all, "Que?" and she's all, "MEURTE!" and he's all, "Que?" and she's all, "Es usted estupido? Muerte! Muerte!" and he's all, "Que?" and when she runs away to become a nun, Alejandro turns her into the cops, she cries again to save herself, and thus begins their 5 year mission to reach the United States. Even having seen their flashback, I still really don't care about them -- I would rather have seen Sylar's story.
Hey, did I mention that it turns out D.L. didn't die from his wounds after the season finale? Well, he didn't. Instead, he went on to become a better husband, a better father, a fireman, and an actual hero ... just so that Gina, Niki's new whore personality, could skip off to Los Angeles to party. D.L. goes there, finds her, and before he can bring her home, some sleazy douchebag in a nightclub shoots him in the back. Which is the point when Niki decides to give herself over to The Company. Which makes the ubiquitous Bob very happy.
Back to Peter and Adam ... after they heal Nathan, they're leaving the hospital, and Elle and the Haitian get the drop on them. They're forced to split up, and Adam gets away. But the Haitian snags Peter, takes his shirt off him, handcuffs him inside a shipping container, and wipes his memory to give him a fresh start, apparently as payback for some kindness that Mama Petrelli did for him in the past. Peter ends up in Ireland, then Montreal, then The Future, then back in Montreal, gets all of his memory back, and now he and Adam are going to save the world.
Whole lotta shakin going down up in Heroes town this week (finally). Four of Isaac's paintings come to life, we bounce around through three timelines, I only vomited in my mouth twice while watching the Claire/West scenes, and yes ... Hiro is back in 2007.
Working backward from the future, Peter stumbles around through a June 2008 NYC where 90+% of the world is dead from a virus. He talks to his mom, gets some (all?) of his memory back, and returns to the past with a mission to stop the virus from happening. Oh, and he forgets to bring his Irish girlfriend back with him. D'ohhh!!!
At Company Headquarters, the Nightmare Man runs wild, driving Niki crazy with visions of poor dead D.L. Matt ends up channeling his own inner bad-ass, freeing Molly, and locking his father in his own nightmare. But not before Niki is driven to inject herself with the virus that I'm guessing is the one Peter saw the results of. Suresh tries to save her, but he can't. And Nathan just walks around a lot, not flying, and showing off his new hairdo.
For Claire & West, it's business as usual. West is all, "You're schmoopy," and Claire is all, "No, YOU'RE schmoopy!" and West is all, "Does it get you hot when I say 'horn rimmed glasses'?" and Claire is all, "Um. No," and West is all, "HORN RIMMED GLASSES!" and Claire is all, "I said no," and West is all, "No, he's here! Horn Rimmed Glasses Guy!" and Claire is all, "Please stop saying horn rimmed glasses!" and West is all, "(wooosh!)" and Claire is all, "But ... popsicles ..." and Dad is all, "Honey, I'm home!" and Claire is all, "Um. Popsicle?" and Dad is all, "Liar!" and Claire is all, "Liar!" and Dad is all, "Whore!" and Claire runs to her room and she's all, "(tap tap) R U there?" and West is all, " ".
Back in Japan 1671, Yaeko frees Hiro from an opium haze and they escape. Hiro returns to destroy all of White Beard's guns, and after a big showdown, turns Kensei into a human-sized charcoal briquette in the process. Then, having repaired the timeline, he returns to Yaeko and finally does what he knows he should have done before -- leaves her, and returns to his own timeline. Ando nearly pees his pants, and breaks the news that Hiro's father is dead. And now we know who killed him -- Adam Monroe, a.k.a. Takezo Kensei.
As many on the interwebs had suspected, Adam and TK are one and the same. According to Midas Bob, it was Adam who first brought the Old Schoolers together. Then he got a God complex, and they had to lock him up. Linderman and Nightmare Man were two of Adam's disciples. Anyway, somehow he got free, and now seems to be out for revenge.
Presumably next week we'll learn what Adam's plan is, how he got involved with Peter, and everything else that happened immediately after the season finale, in an episode called "Four Months Ago". Then there's just three more episodes after that before the show goes on mid-season hiatus. Or will it be the season finale? ...
Strike Fallout: Heroes Prepping Season Finale!
Say it ain't so! Not when the show's just getting great again!
Looks like the writers strike has claimed its first casualty ...
NBC Shelves "Heroes" Spinoff Amid Strike Fears
It's the Heroes moment you've all been waiting for ... The Juander Twins (not my joke) & Sylar finally cross the border into the United States! Although it's really not all that exciting. Maya cries the border guards to death, Alejandro gets mad, and Sylar says some creepy shit that Alejandro doesn't understand. Now begins their 5-year mission to reach New York. Wish them luck!
Claire & West are also back this week, and their heroic mission is to get Claire onto the cheerleading squad, so she can continue using it as a lie to make out with West. But the head cheerleader -- let's call her Bitch -- is not a fan of her tryout. Bitch is all, "Next!" and Claire's all, "What?!" and the brunette girl's all, "What?!" and Bitch is all, "This is not a democracy, it's a cheer-ocracy, and I am the cheer-tator!" and Claire is all, "Hey, I love that movie. I was in Bring It On 3," and Bitch is all, "I know, I saw it, NEXT!!!" and Claire's all, "Waaahhh!!!" and West is all, "Stop asking about my parents, of course I have parents, why wouldn't I have parents, you and your parent questions all the time," and Claire is all, "More me now!" and West is all, "Okay, I have a plan," and so later that night, Bitch is all, "(glug glug glug) I'm a stereotype!" and West is all, "(whoooosh)" and Claire is all, "Eeek!" and West is all, "Oops," and Bitch is all, "Peed my pants!" and long story short, Claire gets on the squad, and she and West have a big laugh about it, and brunette girl is all, "Claire, you're the poo!" And everybody stops to take a big whiff.
Back in time, we see much more action in Hiro's storyline than we did last week. He and TK rescue the swordsmith, who tells them about Whitebeard's evil plan to take over the Japanese Empire using guns. Then Hiro accidentally reveals his powers to Yaeko, who realizes she loves him. Aw. TK sees them kissing, feels betrayed, and hands them all over to Whitebeard. So those of you who hate the 1671 storyline better buck up -- I don't think Hiro's leaving any time soon.
In New York, Suresh trains Monica, and Midas orders him to inject her with an experimental virus that will either take away her powers or kill the entire human race. Suresh can't bring himself to do it, so he smashes some shit up instead. Midas relents, sending Monica back to New Orleans with a video iPod loaded up with every kind of action she might need to mimic. Which is a cool idea ... as long as he didn't accidentally give her the iPod he uses to watch porn during business trips. Oops! Meanwhile, we get the impression that Midas doesn't entirely relent, because he assigns Niki to be Suresh's liaison, the implication being that she's there to keep him in line.
At one point, Suresh runs across a file with the name "Adam Monroe" on it, and determines that this is who Midas is hunting down. Later in the episode, Peter & Caitlin arrive at the building in Montreal from his painting, and find a note from Adam there, saying that they were right about "The Company", the world is in danger, and it's up to them to save it. Sounds familiar. So who the hell is Adam? His name makes me wonder if he's somehow the first hero? Maybe his power is to be immortal? Anyway, we're led to believe he was involved with Peter during the summer break, and if so, then I'm sure we'll find out more about him in the "Four Months Ago" episode coming soon.
And last but not least, over in Russia, Noah's moral compass is spinning wildly. He visits his (and Claude's) old mentor, Ivan, also known as Peter Parker's landlord from the movies and as every other Russian guy in every movie you've ever seen. The Haitian keeps wiping away selective important memories until Ivan finally tells them where Isaac's paintings are -- in the warehouse where they first "abducted the Liquid Man" (???). Noah then shoots him dead and burns down the house. Guess it's a good thing Ivan wasn't lying to them? Anyway, they find the 8 paintings, and this is the run-down (courtesy of HeroesWiki.com) ...
1) Kaito in a pool of blood after being pushed off the roof (CHECK!)
2) Claire lying dead on the steps (CHECK!)
3) Somebody holding a vial of clear liquid (Midas this week? CHECK?)
4) A blonde banging at a metal door (Niki?)
5) A man with a scar (Peter?) looking scared, in a jail cell with somebody else (Adam?)
6) Hiro & Kensei fighting with swords
7) Mohinder with a broken nose, having just fired a gun
8) Noah (or somebody with glasses), shot in the eye, Claire kissing somebody in the background
Sorry folks -- no Maya & Alejandro in this week's episode of Heroes. If you're wondering what's happening to them, my sources tell me they've moved 1.5 miles closer to the United States since last week. Claire & West were also a no-show, but have been spotted floating over portions of Southern California, boring so many people to tears that Governor Schwarzenegger has considered declaring a state of emergency.
Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, Matt & Nathan pay Matt's father a visit. It doesn't end well. Turns out Dad has the same power as Matt, but it apparently grows more powerful as you get older. The first upgrade, which we see Matt use by the end of the episode, is the ability to project thoughts into somebody's head, as well just read them. And then at some point, you become Nightmare Man. Dad invites Matt & Nathan into a back room, then throws both of them into a nightmare state, Matt in jail fighting a gibberish-speaking guard, and Nathan on the post-apocalypse rooftop fighting a burned-up version of himself. They unknowingly fight each other for a while, and by the time Matt figures it out, Dad is already gone.
Unlike some, I've actually been enjoying the Hiro stuff so far this season ... but not this week. It's almost as if the writers went out of their way to give us absolutely NO action or conflict or intrigue at all with that storyline in this episode. Hiro narrates for us/Ando how he and TK performed all these heroic deeds since last episode. And we see them getting ready to perform some big heroic deed next episode. But all we get to see is them putting together a map puzzle and smiling goofily at each other. Not a single sword fight, time freeze, or wound healing. Why even bother?
Since Claire isn't around this week, we'll have to settle for the new blonde on the block, Elle, whose power is ELLE-ectricity. Get it? Anyway, she comes to Ireland, working for The Company and looking for Peter. She goes to the shipping yards and is all, "Are you sure this big container is empty?" and Leprechaun #1 is all, "Aye begora!" and she's all, "What?" and he's all, "Where be me shamrocks?" and she's all, "Whatever," and he's all, "Magically delicious!" and she's all, "I need a drink," so she goes to the bar and Leprechaun #2 is all, "What's the craic, boy-o?" and she's all, "Um, haggis?" and he's all, "Stew and stew and stew!", and she asks about Peter, and he's all, "Och no, the divil a one, innit?" and she's all, "What? Is that even English?" and he's all, "Fecking roight lassie," and she's all, "Please stop talking gibberish," and he's all, "Aw, g'wan ya gack, yer only coddin me," and she's all, "Zzzztttt!!!" and he's all "(smolder smolder)" and she's all, "But Daddy, I couldn't help it! He kept talking Irish at me!" My guess is that this is her father ...
Meanwhile, Peter opens his box, and doesn't find any answers about his past. Just a photo of him and Nathan -- who he doesn't remember -- his passport, and a plane ticket to Montreal. Then he gets an urge to do some super-painting, and luckily, Caitlin happens to be an artist. He paints a vision of what looks to be the two of them standing in front of a door in Paris. Then they go back to the bar, and find Caitlin's extra-crispy brother.
Against Noah's wishes, Suresh takes Molly to The Company for treatment, and while there, tasers a rampaging Nessica. Later on, he tries to set her free, but she tells him she's there willingly, hoping to be cured. Does anybody remember when these two met last season? Because it's completely eluding me. Anyway, then The Company sends Suresh to New Orleans to recruit Monica, who is now obviously on their radar. Repeat three times fast: "Mopey Micah says Monica is a muscle mimic." So she's not quite the same as Charlie, whose powers seemed more mental in nature. My guess is that Monica is poised to really shine next season, when -- according to rumors -- the bad guys will be Doctor Rope, The Dark Tomato, and Kommander Keyboard.
Forgot to mention this in my weekly post ...
G4 -- a cable network best known for "Attack of the Show" and various other programming involving video games, comic books, sci-fi, and all things geeky -- has bagged the syndication rights for Heroes. They'll be running a full Season 1 marathon the weekend of October 27th/28th, and on November 3rd, they'll replay all of the Season 2 episodes starting at 5pm. After that, they'll replay the current week's Season 2 episode every Saturday at 10pm, followed by an hour-long post-show with interviews, behind the scenes footage, and assorted other extra content.
So if you haven't bought the DVDs and are looking for a way to get caught up, this is a good way to do it. Mark your calendars and/or empty out those TiVos! Here's more info ...
No Hiro or Peter on this week's Heroes. Which is fine, because it left more time for something everybody's been eagerly awaiting ...
Claire and West go on their first date!
But first, Claire has to find an excuse to get out of the house. At the dinner table, she's all, "Library!" and the brother's all, "Internet!" and Noah's all, "Hmmm," and the mother's all, "MISTER MUGGLES!" and Claire's all, "Leaving now," and turns the corner and West is all, "Did I mention that guy with the horn-rimmed glasses fifty times yet?" and Claire's all, "More flying, less talking," and he's all, "Whooosh!" and Noah rounds the corner and is all, "Hmmmm," and West is all, "The Hollywood sign?" and Claire's all, "I like heights," and he's all, "Might as well jump," and she's all, "Jump!" and he's all, "Go ahead, jump," and she's all, "JUMP!" and she jumps, and he catches her, and (I got the Haitian to delete the next two cheesy lines of dialog and the kiss from my brain), and he drops her off, and he's all, "Lie about me to your father, but don't suspect me of betraying you later, which I probably will," and she's all, "What did you just say?" and he's all, "Never mind," and she goes home, and Noah's all, "Boys!" and Claire's all, "Cheerleaders!" and Noah's all, "Hmmmmm," and Claire's all, "Bed now!" Then the Haitian arrives, and he and Noah begin to plan their romantic Texas getaway, and we're back at Season 1 again, with Claire and her father lying to each other all the time.
Oh, guess what? Maya & Alejandro are still in Mexico! But at least they finally do something interesting -- if not unintentionally stupid -- when they find Sylar unconscious in the middle of the road and decide to give him a ride. This of course ends badly for the un-super kid driving the car, but since he stole the car from Claire to begin with, we'll just chalk that up to some delayed karma. Now our merry band of three is heading for New York to find Suresh, and you can almost see Sylar drooling at the prospect of getting his hands on Maya's black tears power. But for now, he still seems to be neutered.
In New York, Mama Petrelli confesses to killing Kaito Nakamura, and Matt enlists Nathan's aid to clear her name and find the real Hero Killer. This leads them to a photograph of what I'll call "The Twelve" -- a group of old-schoolers that includes Mama & Papa Petrelli, Hiro's father, Simone's father, possibly Simone's mother, the Midas Touch guy, Linderman, a blonde woman (Victoria Tennant?) next to Linderman, a Hispanic man (possibly M&A's father?), a white-haired man, Joanna Cassidy(?), and ... Matt Parkman's father (cue the Dramatic Prairie Dog). Which definitively establishes that genetics have a lot to do with whether or not somebody gets powers.
Matt brings the photo home to his wife ... er, Mohinder that is. Then he shows it to Molly, hoping she'll be able to use her power to help him find his father, only to learn that his father is (cue it again) ... The Nightmare Man! Not to be confused with The Night Man. After some gnashing of teeth and a surprising lack of empathy on Matt's part -- you know, since he's a telepath and all -- Molly agrees to use her power to find TNM. She tracks him down to an apartment in Philly, at which point, TNM somehow traps Molly inside her own head, effectively putting her in a coma. Nice parenting there, Matt.
Meanwhile, down in New Orleans, WHERE HURRICANE KATRINA HAPPENED (in case you hadn't already read the newspapers or weren't paying attention to the dozen or so mentions of it in this episode), a new hero is added to the mix. Her name is Monica, she's Micah's cousin, she works at a burger joint but just can't get a break, and let me tell you friends, she's got dreams! Someday, somehow, she plans to shake the dust of this crummy old town off her feet and see the world. "You'll be swell! You'll be great! Gonna have the whole world on a plate! Startin here, startin now --" Um. Yeah, anyway, she'll probably get her wish, because it turns out she has some kind of visual learning power, either the same or similar to what Charlie the Waitress had. Should be interesting.
Heroes is all over the world again this week ...
In Ireland, Peter helps commit a robbery, but helps prevent a murder, gets shot and heals, gets a tattoo that morphs into the helix before it fades away entirely, kisses the Irish girl, and decides that he doesn't want to know who he really is. Probably for the best. He's liable to remember his old haircut. Or doing that Rocky movie.
In Mexico, Alejandro tries to steal a car in broad daylight by bashing in the window, and gets arrested as a result. Clearly, his power is NOT super-intelligence. Maya breaks him out of prison with her death tears, Alejandro neutralizes them, everybody un-dies, and blah blah blah, we saw this scene last week. Then they hook up with a guy who has a car. Which means they might actually make it to the U.S. in another 10 episodes or so.
In Japan 1671, Hiro shoves some notes into the sword, which Ando finds and reads in 2007, and which somehow nobody else who ever had that sword in their possession in the past 300+ years ever stumbled across. Maybe because it said, "ANDO open." Archaeologists tend to respect privacy in cases like this. Anyway, it's really just a silly plot device to have Hiro narrate what's going on with him in the past, his adventures with Kensei, and that wacky time when he shoved him into a fight with 90 angry Ronin. We think for a moment that Hiro might blink himself back to the present, his work in the past done. But then he looks over at the girl, and -- like Peter -- his "sword" gets the better of him and he decides to stay.
Now some sad news. Turns out that D.L. is dead (as far as we know). Niki and Micah visit his grave one last time, then leave Las Vegas and head for New Orleans, where Niki drops her son off with Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), who is ... I'm not sure who. We met D.L.'s mother last season, and it wasn't her. I guess she's old enough to be his grandmother? Whoever she is, I hope she has powers. Anyway, then Niki calls The Company and says she wants to be "cured" ... I'm not sure of what. Her powers? Or is she sick like the Haitian? Or is she working with Noah and Mohinder and Matt and we just don't know it yet?
Meanwhile, Mohinder finds the eighth of eight Isaac paintings, which shows Noah on the floor with a bullet through his eye and Claire(?) being comforted by somebody in the background. To date, Isaac's paintings have been very accurate, so things look bleak for old HRG. But who knows. What has me most curious is why Noah would be killed along with a bunch of people with powers. Does he have a power or not? And if so, what is it?
And now for the "He Said / She Said" portion of our show ...
The morning after the peeping incident, West is all, "I saw you cut your toe off," and Claire is all, "Did not," and he's all, "Did so," and she's all, "Bottle of nail polish!" and he's all, "Whatever," and she's all, "Whatever," and he's all, "Wanna see my power?" and she's all, "You've got me? Who's got YOU?!" and he's all, "I'm awesome," and she's all, "Can you read my mind?" and he's all, "No dumbass, that's the cop," and she's all, "Motion sick now!" so they land on a tropical island, and "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" is playing, and he's all, "Don't talk that way, Sandy," and she's all, "Who fuck is Sandy?" and he's all, "Never mind," and tells a story about how a few years ago, some guy with horn rimmed glasses jumped out of some bushes and gave him a hickey, and Claire's all, "Gulp."
Further down the beach, Sylar wakes out of a dream where he was a cockroach, and some redhead says to him, "Hi, my name is Michelle. Perhaps you remember me from such roles as Candice," and he's all, "Yeah right. You're not even the same actress," and she's all, "Duh. I'm a shapeshifter," and he's all, "Yeah but you usually only change shape to imitate somebody else," and she's all, "I saved your life you know!" and he's all, "I liked Missy Peregrym better," and she's all, "Look, she got a job playing the shape-shifting girl on Reaper, so just drop it okay?" and he knocks her out, and he's all, "Nom nom nom" on her brains, but he still doesn't have any of his powers, and the camera pulls back, and we see that he's on the island from Lost. Which explains a lot.
Another awesome episode of Heroes this week. I'm really enjoying the pacing so far, and now that most of the main characters are already established, I like the way it jumps around from one storyline to another. Anyway, let's get into it ...
Hiro pretends to be Takezo Kensei to save the swordsmith's daughter by using his freeze frame power, then resigns himself to taking on a Cyrano role with the white TK, who is suddenly all excited about the prospect of being a hero ... if it means he'll get the girl and the glory. His excitement doesn't last long, however, before he's the victim of a walk-by arrowing, which he survives because (wait for it) he has healing powers, like Claire. Which now makes the second repeated power we've seen this season.
Speaking of which, Claire decides TO CUT HER TOE OFF!!! Sorry. I guess I could have prefaced that statement by saying that Claire gets all jazzed learning about lizards in class, and Flyboy is all, "Isn't Biology cool???" and she's all, "Yeah whatever," and he's all, "I have this awesome book!!!" and she's all, "Fuck's my car?" and he's all, "It's about POWERS!!!", and she's all, "Sorry Dad," and Dad's all, "Hey look, it's my Haitian boyfriend," and Claire's all, "Dog shows suck," and Mr. Muggles is all, "Damn, I'm hot," and Claire's all, "Wonder what would happen if I cut my toe off?" So she does(!!!), and we all barf, and it grows back, and Flyboy peeps in through the window and sees it, and Claire rushes outside, and Muggles goes apeshit trying to tell her, "Look up, dumbass!"
As for the Haitian, Mohinder finds him in Port Au Prince, sick with the hero virus, injects some of his blood into him ... and proceeds to have his mind wiped by a now-healthy Haitian. Who then, as mentioned, rushes to be by his beloved Noah's side. Seriously, these two need to get a room or something. I'm starting to suspect that Mrs. Bennett is a "beard," and that half the times the Haitian wiped her mind in the past were because she walked in on the two of them "examining each other's DNA". Anyway, the healing and losing of the Haitian all plays into Mohinder & Noah's attempts to build trust with Midas and "The Company".
Over in Ireland, Peter -- who still doesn't remember who he is -- is tied to a chair, and gets beat up by some thugs (one of which used to be "Malcolm" on Enterprise) who think that he stole their iPods. My guess is that the iPods have some killer Pogues and U2 bootlegs on them that the thugs forgot to back up to their computer? Anyway, without meaning to, Peter pulls a D.L. and slips out of his ropes and begins to escape, but goes back to rescue one of his captors, a girl who was nice to him, and uses Niki's powers to beat up some guys. The main Irish thug comes home, knows Peter's name, and convinces him to help perform a heist by showing him a box that presumably holds more details about his identity.
Meanwhile, Matt Parkman is now on the case of the dying Old Schoolers. He questions Ando, and I have to wrack my brain confirming that these two have actually never met before. Then he questions Mama Petrelli, who figures out that he's reading her mind, and is all, "Get the fuck out of my head!!!" Then he questions Nathan, and around that time, the electricity in the police station goes off, and somebody tries to kill Mama Petrelli. Somebody who disappears without a trace. Which leads me to believe it might be Claude, the Invisible Man from last season. Although maybe that's a red herring. Apparently, Isaac foresaw the killings of the Old Schoolers, and created a series of seven paintings depicting them. Which Noah has one of, and is actively looking for the rest.
Down in Mexico, Maya cries black tears that kill people. And has enough blackness in her to "kill the Devil". And her twin brother apparently has the ability to neutralize the tears. And ... that's pretty much that. Kind of like the Wonder Twins, but without the whole "form of ... an ice dildo" aspect. Or Gleek. Curious to see how both of their powers will figure into the larger plot line. Can Alejandro neutralize other powers, or only his sister's? And isn't Maya pretty much doomed to be a "vweelan" with a power like that? Or a great assassin, I suppose.
So what did you think of this week's episode?
Four months have passed in the Heroes universe since last we saw it. The writers are expanding things a bit -- introducing international characters, a worldwide virus, a storyline 300 years in the past, and another storyline involving the old school heroes, Papa Nakamura and Mama Petrelli.
Here's what's happening ...
Hiro is still in the past, in 1671 Japan, trying to make a hero out of his hero, Takezo Kensei, who is a gaijin (white boy)! Seems like either Hiro will end up performing all the good deeds that TK historically gets credit for, or he'll eventually succeed in bringing out TK's more noble nature. And one of them will get to bang the swordsmith's daughter, of course. I smell a "three for the road" scenario coming on, possibly.
Claire & "Noah" (still hard to think of him as having a name) are laying low in California, trying their hardest not to seem at all "special". But both are having a tricky time of it, thanks to Mean Girls and retail bullies. Claire is starting to crush on a guy named Wes, who unbeknownst to her is the perfect fulfillment of Freud's theory that girls are attracted to their fathers. Which is my long-winded way of saying that he can fly ...
Just like Nathan, who has pulled an Eddie Wilson move (don't get the reference? look it up!), and has apparently been skulking around town in a beard since Peter's "death". Presumably, he's not running for office any more, and his wife and kids have left him. As for Peter, he's actually NOT so dead, but does have a bit of the amnesia, and is handcuffed inside a storage container in Ireland. No idea why.
Matt Parkman is also not dead, but he is divorced. He's become a detective, and is now the guardian of Molly, who is presumably being stalked in her nightmares by the "worse than Sylar" bad guy she alluded to at the end of last season.
Mohinder, while trying to convince people that the genetic world is not flat, is approached by some dude with a Midas touch who works for an organization that sounds like the one Noah worked for. But I can't quite tell if it is the same one. Regardless, we find out at the end of the episode that this contact is exactly what Noah and Mohinder wanted, and that it's all part of some master plan they have to take the organization down.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Central America, newbie Maya and her brother Alejandro are trying to get to the U.S., presumably to find a cure for her power -- the ability to kill people by making their mascara run. It remains to be seen yet whether Alejandro is immune to this ability, or if the reason she doesn't use it when he's around is because he keeps her calm. Maybe it's her own tears that kill people?
And now, an appeal to the writers ... PLEASE DON'T LET SULU BE DEAD!!! Any chance his power is to heal himself, like Claire does? Or maybe Hiro can go back in time and prevent the death ... after he comes forward in time from Japan that is. Because I'm sure he won't be happy about it. Anyway, so who the hell is it that's coming after the old school heroes? And why?
Anyway, I was very happy with the episode. What did you think?
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
I've been trying to come up with an adjective to describe last night's Heroes season finale. Because with action/drama shows like this, I've grown accustomed to finales being over the top and adrenaline filled, with at least a few "Holy Fuck!" moments interspersed throughout. But last night's finale was ... "solid" would probably be the best word I can come up with. From an action and suspense perspective, Tim Kring certainly could have pushed the envelope much further. But he stuck instead with the balance of action and character development that has kept the show strong all season. And in this case, that meant giving all of the main characters a bit of long-needed closure.
Hiro finds Ando, saves him from Sylar, then takes him home and out of harm's way, making it clear that it is Ando who has taught him what it means to be brave. In a hugely symbolic scene, Niki and Jessica come to blows ... and even though we find out that it was really Candice she was fighting, it ends up being enough to finally let Niki claim her own strength. Peter loses Claire, and has some strange Christmas Carol moment where (I think) he goes back in time and is invisible all at once, and learns from Simone's father that he is special and valuable, even though his mother has never treated him as such. For Matt, protecting Molly seems to remind him of why he was a cop, and thoroughly separates him in our minds from the douchebag he became in that alternate future. Claire realizes what a bunch of nutbags the Petrellis are, and embraces her adoptive family and father ... WHOSE NAME IS NOAH!!!
Action-wise, here's how the final scene breaks down (more or less) ...
Peter and Sylar stand off against each other. Sylar pulls the TK first on Noah, then on Peter. Matt tries to shoot Sylar, but Sylar turns the bullets back on him. Niki whacks Sylar over the head with a parking meter, and gets close enough to Peter that he's able to absorb her strength. Peter pummels Sylar, but it's still not enough. Hiro shows up, Sylar turns, and Hiro runs him through with the sword, just as Isaac drew it. Hiro tries to help Peter, but Sylar throws him into the air, and Hiro has to wink himself away before he hits a building. Adrenaline pumping, Peter is unable to control his Ted powers, and begins to go critical. Claire, crying, is ready to pop a cap in Peter in order to save New York. But at the last second, Nathan shows up, they waste some time saying meaningful things to each other, and Nathan makes the ultimate sacrifice for the greater good by flying his brother up into the atmosphere, so that he can blow up "harmlessly" ... thereby giving Nathan his own, very extreme bit of closure.
By way of epilogue, we see Matt loaded into an ambulance, not quite dead yet. We see a blood smear trailing off into a manhole, on top of which a cockroach is crawling, which tells us that we have not yet seen the last of Sylar. (So did a bunch of cockroaches carry Sylar into the sewer? Or did Sylar turn into a cockroach?) And in the first scene of "Volume 2", we see Hiro fall out of the sky, Army of Darkness style, and land in a field ... in Japan ... in the 1600s ... just as a total eclipse begins. (So will Hiro end up being Takezo Kensei, his own hero?)
Oh, and earlier in the episode, we learn from Molly that there may be somebody even scarier than Sylar out there -- somebody she is afraid to "locate" using her powers, because whenever she does, the person can "see" her. Very creepy and foreshadowy!
So what did you think?
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
Just when you thought that Sylar slicing off the top of somebody's head was the nastiest way you could think of to die, D.L. has to go and turn Linderman into a ventriloquist dummy. Seriously, if D.L. lives, I can't wait for the next time he's fighting a bad guy and says, "Dude, in two seconds, I'm about to go Charlie McCarthy on your ass." Yet oddly enough, the more shocking moment in that scene for me was when Jessica willingly stepped down and let Niki take control, so that she wouldn't be tempted to take Linderman's offer. That tells me there is hope for Nessica yet.
Anyway, the heroes are all in New York City now. Ted is arrested by the FBI, but never makes it to prison before Sylar kills him and takes his power. Peter and Claire run around being useless most of the episode. Before dying at D.L.'s hand (get it?), Linderman heals Nathan's wife, thereby (seemingly) cementing Nathan's loyalty to the cause. Hiro appeals to Nathan, is rebuffed, calls him a "vweelan", then receives unexpected sword fighting lessons from his father, who has yet to reveal his own superpower. Ando gets bored, and decides to run off and kill Sylar on his own. Candice and Micah rig the voting machines so that Nathan will win by a landslide, and Candice implies that beneath the illusions, she's probably fat and/or deformed -- which is no doubt a ploy on the part of the writers to make us sympathize with her just before Sylar kills her next week. Young Molly gets her groove back, and before Suresh can use her to find and stop Sylar, Bennet and Matt arrive on the scene. Bennet coldly kills Eric Roberts, finds Molly, and Bennet and Suresh get themselves into a kind of Mexican standoff.
Next week ... the season finale!!!
Meanwhile, have you heard about this? ...
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=0&id=41492
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
Well, I guess now we know that Sylar comes by his delusions of grandeur honestly. Freakgirl and I half-expected that his visit to his mother would be a self-serving one -- that maybe she had a power he needed to suck out of her brain. Turns out, he was just looking for some kind of redemption, or maybe even hoping she would talk him out of his present course of action. Using Isaac's power, he knows that he might be responsible for the deaths of millions, and this isn't something he can justify as part of his philosophy of "natural selection".
Unfortunately, Sylar's mother is a bit loopy -- she first fuels his sense of self-importance, then rejects him out of fear when she learns just how "special" he really is. She ends up dead by her son's hand, and Sylar then goes completely over the edge, fully embracing his explosive destiny as he fingerpaints with her blood on the floor.
Meanwhile, Linderman & Mama Petrelli seem to have no scruples at all about their plan to blow up millions of people for the greater good. Mama keeps Nathan in line when his conviction begins to waver, and they even bring in Eric Roberts (whose character's name I can never remember) to ride herd on him as well.
Unaware of all this, Mohinder has grudgingly jumped on board the PrimaTech train, with a clear goal to find and defeat Sylar. But ER quickly distracts him with the task of saving the life of Molly Walker, who as it turns out is PrimaTech's ace in the hole to find Sylar ... and any other enhanced person on the planet. For the X-Men fans out there, this makes her a much cuter version of "Cerebro". Molly has the same disease that Mohinder's sister died of, and as it turns out, his own blood contains the antibodies needed to create a cure.
Back from the future, Hiro and Ando track Sylar to Brooklyn, and Hiro makes a half-hearted attempt to kill him, but despite Ando's best efforts, Hiro's heart just isn't in it. Sylar freezes his magic sword, and breaks it in half, and the two of them teleport away before he can kill them. My guess is that Hiro's choice will end up being the right one, though -- that waiting the 2 days to match things up with Isaac's comic will result in something happening that wouldn't have if Sylar died too early.
In a swank Manhattan apartment, Micah is being held captive by Candice. He figures out that she isn't really his mom, and we learn (or have it confirmed) that her power isn't so much shapeshifting as creating illusions. Which is how she keeps him from escaping. Meanwhile, back in Las Vegas, Niki convinces Jessica to work with D.L. to rescue Micah, and they end up in Linderman's inner sanctum, where they learn that he's been keeping tabs on both of them their entire lives. Not only that, but D.L. seems to suspect that theirs was an "arranged marriage" of sorts, perhaps designed to create a hero child. If so, then how many more of these marriages have Linderman and the other "First Generation" heroes arranged over the years?
Over at the Petrelli Mansion, Uncle Peter convinces Claire not to go to Paris, and after swapping some information, the two of them go looking for Nuclear Ted, who Peter now realizes has the power that will cause him to blow up the city. So what's Peter's plan? Give Claire a gun to shoot him in the back of the head with, in case he absorbs Ted's power and starts to blow up. A better plan might have been to NOT GO ANYWHERE NEAR THE GUY WITH THE NUCLEAR EXPLODEY POWERS. But this is Peter, and we all realize by now that he's not the sharpest knife in the hero drawer.
The episode ends with Claire & Peter meeting up with Bennet, Matt, & Ted, and -- big surprise -- Peter's hands start getting all glowy as he begins to absorb Ted's powers. It's still 2 days from the projected apocalypse, so I assume he'll either find a way to control himself or Claire will shoot him in the heart or something, to temporarily incapacitate him. And then it's game on. Because I think all the heroes are in New York now, right? Except for Nessica and D.L., of course ... but they're on the way.
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
Five years in the future ...
Future Hiro has taken up arts and crafts in the name of history. Future Peter has a nasty scar across his face, and has taken up with Future Niki, who is stripping again. There is no Future Jessica, Future Micah is dead, and Future D.L. is in the Hero Protection Program, which is run by Future Bennet, who along with Future Hana is hiding Future Claire, who is a brunette waitress in Future Texas and is getting married soon. Future Matt and Future Haitian are fascist asshats. Future Ando is dead. Future Mohinder works for Future Nathan, who is President, but who is really Future Sylar using Dead Candice's shapeshifting power.
Future New York City has looked better. According to Future Hiro, Sylar was the bomb that exploded five years ago. But according to Future Peter, HE was the bomb, and Nathan/Sylar has been protecting him all this time. Regardless, Future Hiro had hoped to prevent this outcome entirely by going to back to that subway car to tell Peter to "Save The Cheerleader" -- one of two critical points in hero history. Future Hiro's reasoning is that he had an opportunity to kill Sylar just before the "the bomb" went off, but couldn't, because in that timeline, Sylar possessed Claire's healing ability and couldn't be killed. So Sylar -- who had killed Candice at some point -- blew up NYC, took Nathan's identity, and went on to become President. (It's not established when or how Nathan died.) President Sylar has since created a police state built on fear, where anybody with powers is considered an outlaw and/or terrorist.
Regular Hiro and Regular Ando arrive in the future on the fifth anniversary of the explosion. They hook up with Future Hiro, Regular Hiro gets captured by Future Matt, and long story short, Future Peter and Future Hiro kick some ass and help Regular Ando get back together with Regular Hiro. Future Mohinder follows the cue given him in Dead Isaac's final comic book -- along with some gut instincts -- and decides to betray President Sylar's orders, knocking out Future Haitian, and giving Regular Hiro and Regular Ando the opportunity to escape back to Regular New York. Regular Hiro knows now that he has to kill Sylar, not only to save the world, but to save his best friend Ando, without whom he will completely lose his sense of humor.
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
Peter and Sylar finish their showdown. At first, it looks like Peter might have the upper hand. But as everybody knows, YOU CAN'T BEAT CRAZY! Peter ends up "dead", while Mohinder knocks out Sylar (but doesn't kill him for some reason), then takes Dead Peter to the Petrelli house, where Mama Petrelli and Nathan cry and gnash their teeth ... then Claire shows up and says, "Um. Did you guys try just pulling this piece of glass out of his head?" Et voila, Peter is alive again.
Before this, Linderman persuades Nathan to become president by showing him an Isaac painting of ... Nathan as President. The hitch? .07% of the world's population has to die, including perhaps Peter. (Although after Peter un-dies, Nathan seems to feel better about this.) How will Linderman pull this off, when Nathan is currently down in the polls? By kidnapping Micah, of course, and using him to rig the voting machines. Nessica will NOT be pleased.
Meanwhile, Sylar and Isaac have their date with destiny. As a very calm Isaac himself predicted, Sylar slices off the top of his head ... but not before crucifying him to the floor with some paint brushes. And not before Isaac babbles on cryptically about finally being a hero and saving the world. My guess is that this claim has something to do with the final issue of his comic book and/or his sketchbook, which he sent out with that courier just before Sylar showed up. Is there a message to Hiro in those pages perhaps? Maybe some vision he had about how to stop Sylar and/or the explosion?
Regardless, Sylar has Isaac's painting power now, and his version of Nathan as President is not nearly as flattering. Nathan looks twisted and evil in it. Although I'm wondering ... is it really Nathan? Seems to me we have Candice the shapeshifter out there. So what if Sylar killed her, and took her power? President Sylar, anyone?
As for Hiro and Ando, they're still 5 years in the post-apocalyptic (for Manhattan) future. Rather than simply jumping back to the past again with no more information then they had before, Hiro has decided to first find out what went wrong. Clearly he's learned a little something about time travel since his failed attempt to save Charlie. They go to Isaac's workshop, and find there a full timeline of events before and after the explosion. And then Future Hiro finds them. (Although in this context, it's probably Present Day Hiro.)
Over at PrimaTech, Bennett helps Matt and Ted escape, then they go to the diner where Hiro met Charlie. We learn that Linderman is indeed "the boss" of PrimaTech, and then they all head for New York. (I don't remember why.)
In between the cracks of this massive storyline, we learn that Linderman has a superpower -- the ability to heal flowers ... and presumably other things too. And Mama Petrelli heavily implies that she has a power as well. (So maybe Papa Petrelli had one too?) In fact, according to Linderman, there are a bunch of them from "back in the day" who had powers, and used them to do good. I'm guessing Hiro's father is one of these too?
In the webcast that was held last night, Tim Kring revealed that Season Two of the show will be called "Volume 2: Generations" (the current season is "Volume 1: Genesis"). So if that's any indication, we'll probably learn more about the previous generation of heroes next season, if not sooner.
Anyway ... I'm so glad this show is back!!!
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
It's all coming together now, with plenty of twists and turns and characters overlapping all over the place ...
Peter is especially mobile this episode, first dodging bullets at Isaac's, then eavesdropping on Nathan's meeting with the FBI, and finally ending up at Mohinder's. Where, in one of the funniest "meta" moments in television history, Sylar slices off the long bangs that have apparently been driving Milo Ventimiglia insane for months. But I'm getting ahead of myself ...
Hiro reunites with both of his buddies again. Nathan helps him reach the sword in Linderman's vault, and Ando prevents him from getting caught while swiping it. Then he and Ando jump ahead into a future in which they have NOT yet succeeded in preventing NYC from being blown up. Well duh -- they clearly need to hook up with Peter and the others before that can happen.
Nathan hooks up with Niki/Jessica again, but under much different terms. This time, she/she is a hitman instead of a call girl. Jessica kills two feds, then Niki takes over, warns Nathan that Linderman is on to him, and tells Nathan to knock her out. He does, then confronts Linderman (played by Malcom McDowell) with a gun, intending to kill him. But Linderman dazzles him with his knowledge about the heroes and the promise of a presidency, and Nathan backs down.
Claire dislikes the idea of being Canadian SO much that she escapes from the Haitian, and somehow makes her way to Peter's apartment in New York ... where the Haitian and Grandma Petrelli are waiting for her, speaking French to each other ... without subtitles. (Any French majors out there who can tell us what they were saying?) So just how deeply connected is Grandman Petrelli anyway?
Bennet still forgets what happened to him, but apparently gave his wife all the details before he was mind-wiped, and she reminds him. Playing dumb, he accompanies the particularly diabolical shapeshifter Candice to New York to clean up Isaac's mess. Then Bennet plays REALLY dumb, forgets Candice is a shapeshifter, and spills everything to her, believing it's his wife. (By the way, this is why I'm hoping to see Candice die soon -- it's exhausting to always be wondering if somebody really is who you think they are!)
Which brings us to Mohinder, who figures out that Zane is really Sylar, drugs him up, takes some spinal fluid, and begins using it to build a new list. Like Bennet, though, he's been way too sloppy. Sylar gets control and pins Mohinder to the ceiling just as Peter arrives. Peter loses the aforementioned bangs, and ... the credits roll.
Tune in on April 23rd to see how the last five episodes of the season play out. Can't wait!
Here's an interview with Greg Grunberg, my secret boyfriend.
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
Wow!!! I defy anybody to "meh" that episode. We got action, flashbacks, history reveals, parallel storytelling, and the most brutal Claire-healing yet. Okay, so no Sylar, no Petrellis, and after two weeks, still no sign of Niki. But the focused storyline was well worth it to get so much information and closure in one episode.
Fourteen years ago ... Bennet was hired into The Company by Eric Roberts, and immediately partnered with Invisible Claude. Eric Roberts' boss is Nakamura, Hiro's father, who gave an infant Claire to a reluctant Bennet to raise as his own, with the proviso that if she ever manifests powers, he is to give her back to The Company. (This of course raises the question of whether Hiro was similarly adopted by Nakamura at some point.) Soon after, Bennet was introduced to a teen Haitian, when his wife needed her first of what would be many mind-wipes. Partners Bennet and Claude became friends, but it all went wrong seven years ago, when Claude developed a conscience and hid a fellow hero (any thoughts on who that might be?) from The Company. Bennet was then ordered to kill his partner, and seemingly did. But I'm guessing that Claude survived by holding on to the edge of the bridge while invisible.
Which brings us to the present, where Ted and Matt hold the Bennet family hostage. Matt quickly learns that it's a big mistake -- that Ted is too volatile -- and with Bennet's voice in his head guiding him, he moves to control the situation. At one point, he shoots Claire in the gut, trusting that she'll heal from it. She does. While Matt and Bennet go get help, Claire gets caught trying to help her mother and brother escape, Ted burns her, and her mother learns just how special she is. Matt and Bennet return with the Haitian and a sedative, Eric Roberts shows up and shoots Ted, who starts losing control of his powers, everything gets crazy, and Claire gets roasted to a crisp while sedating Ted, who is now strapped down in the basement at PrimaTech, along with Matt.
Somehow, Bennet convinces Eric Roberts that the Haitian was the one hiding Claire's powers, not him. But on his way to drop Claire off at The Company -- as per the agreement 14 years ago -- he hands her off to the Haitian instead ... at the same bridge that he "killed" Claude on. To complete the ruse, the Haitian shoots Bennet in the gut, then wipes his memory, all while Claire bawls her eyes out, suddenly aware that her father is far more noble than she believed. Then Claire leaves with the Haitian for points unknown. It remains to be seen who he's working for. Any guesses? Claude? Linderman?
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
Hana the Human Web Surfer finds Ted, who now wants to blow up Bennet, whose wife is dying because of too much mind-wiping by the Haitian, who accompanies Bennet to NYC to try and capture Claude, who is saved by Peter, who thanks to Claude is now able to better control his powers, which he uses to fly he and Claude to safety and to confront Isaac, who is now a narc for Bennet and who unintentionally kills Simone, who dies in the arms of Peter, who is becoming increasingly aggressive (like Sylar?) and who Claude is pissed at for revealing his not-deadness to Bennet, who Claire is pissed at for making her mother sick and who has been injecting radioisotopes into people like Hana and Ted and Matt, all of whom invade the Bennet house with guns to get justice, which is what Suresh tells "Zane" he would like for his father, who was killed by Zane/Sylar, who also kills the Mechanic with Super-Hearing, whose powers he steals, which gives him a Super-Headache and probably makes him wish that everybody talked in subtitles, like Hiro and Ando, who almost get killed by Hope, who shoots at Hiro, who unwittingly uses his powers to rewind time and stop the bullet from hitting him and who tells Ando to go home in order to protect him and who boards a bus driven by Stan Lee, whose awesome cameo was completely spoiled by the opening credits.
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
Ando and Hiro return to Vegas, where they plan to steal the sword from Linderman, who some tall chick named Hope claims to know as she seduces Ando, who steals a pink bag for her against the wishes of Hiro, who gets socked in the nose by Hope, who locks him in a storage room and tells Ando he's with Linderman, who has hired Jessica to kill some dude, who stole 2 million dollars from Linderman and who -- despite Matt's best efforts -- ends up dead, just like the Metal Melting Guy, who Sylar got to before Mohinder, who is now going to recruit "Zane", who he doesn't realize is actually Sylar, who is the reason the Haitian & Mr. Bennet had to wipe the memory of Mrs. Bennet again, which is why she can no longer remember Mr. Muggles or Claire, who once again visits her real mom, Firestarter, who extorts $100K from Nathan and lies about the amount to Claire, who throws a rock at a teary-eyed Nathan, who Jessica has now been hired to kill.
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
Okay, first a quiz question for the uber-geeks out there:
What was the license plate number of Hiro's father's car, and why is it important?
With that out of the way, let's fast-forward through the rest of the episode. Unlike Hiro, I can't stop or slow down time, and there's a lot of work on my plate today ...
Hiro's father gives an ultimatum to Hiro, who explains his mission, which is dismissed by his father, who tears up the T-Rex painting, which saddens Hiro, who convinces his father to instead hire his sister, who is so happy that she hugs Hiro, who now doesn't have a painting to give Linderman, who has for some reason arranged to free Niki/Jessica from jail, where Niki's psychiatrist was tasered to death by Jessica, who is now home and once again in control of Niki, who once (as Jessica) slept with Nathan, who it turns out is the father of Claire, who skips school to meet her real mom, Firestarter, who learns about Claire's power and shares her own with Claire, who then heads home, where she doesn't realize that an escaped Sylar has been trying to kill her fake mom, who in the nick of time is saved by Mr. Bennet and the Haitian, who for probably the fiftieth time wipes Mrs. Bennet's mind, which keeps her from remembering the previous conversation about manatees that she had with Claire, who doesn't yet realize that she's the niece of Peter, who is at that moment getting lessons on controlling his power from Claude (who Mr. Bennet knows and thought was dead), who tries to convince Peter that he can't live his life for others and can't trust Simone, who goes to see Isaac, who loves New York and wants to save it from being blown up by Peter, who invisibly peeps on a special moment between Isaac and Simone on the roof, off of which Claude then pushes Peter, who doesn't fly but does heal from the fall and realizes that thinking of a hero with a particular power is what activates that power in him, which gets him too over-excited as he's explaining it to Claude, who then knocks him out with a sucker punch before he goes into another coma.
Does that about cover it?
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
In this episode of Heroes ...
Hiro is still looking for his sword, and in the process, he and Ando get kidnapped by some men in a van, who it turns out work for Hiro's father, George Takei ("Oh MY!"). Of course, the fact that the NBC marketing department already revealed this casting weeks ago took all the steam and surprise out of this particular plotline for me. I wonder when the networks will figure out that people who watch TV shows actually LIKE surprises?
Claire is still looking for her real parents, and after some research, finds her mother, who -- according to Mr. Bennet -- was supposed to be dead. And who seems to have the power to create and control fire. My guess is that she unwittingly started the fire that "killed" her at a time when she didn't have much control over her power, and that her ability to start fire also protected her from it. As for Claire ... well, we've already seen her survive one fire.
Peter is looking for the invisible man, and finds him ... then loses him. But when Nathan teams up with Isaac to stage an intervention for Peter, he manages to escape with the help of that same invisible man, who is presumably now going to help him learn how to control his powers, a la Obi Wan Kenobi.
D.L. is looking for a way to break Niki out of the looney bin, so she can help raise Micah. But Niki is looking for a way to integrate her split personality, and tells D.L. to step up, be a father, and learn to set boundaries for their son. Who is at that moment busy stealing money from every ATM machine in town. Oops!
In other news, Matt gets suspended from the force for six months, his wife is pregnant (but whose kid is it?), and over at the paper factory, Sylar escapes from captivity by playing dead. Oops!!!
Tune in next week to see what Hiro's dad is so pissed about, find out who Claire's father is, and to see if Sylar will slice off the top of her head before she gets a chance to find out herself.
Any thoughts on what this week's title referred to?
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
Two weeks of show time have passed since the last episode of Heroes. During that time, Peter has been in a coma, Niki's been in jail, Matt has been staking out Primatech Paper in search of Sylar, the radioactive guy has been practicing his powers, Claire has been pretending to not have a memory, and Hiro has been looking for the sword that will help him regain full use of his powers.
Some of the heroes are really starting to work together now, and seem to be recognizing that their fates are intertwined. Even Nathan the skeptic has let himself be pulled into the mystery, and his scenes with Hiro continue to be priceless. ("Flying Man!" "Billan!") The heroes also seem to recognize that faith in each other is critical -- which is perhaps why Isaac, Simone, Nathan, Hiro, and Ando all take off together for Vegas, to track down Hiro's sword, which is in the oft-mentioned Linderman's possession.
Meanwhile, Claire is having a hard time processing everything that's happened lately -- all the moreso because she has nobody to share it with. The Haitian is a less-than-engaging confidante, and he's made it clear that he's unable to reverse the wiping of Zach's memories. So she sets out to recreate the magic of her deleted friendship with Zach by going back to where it all began in that first episode -- making him videotape her jumping off that catwalk ... without the cheerleader outfit this time.
Unaware of Claire's actions, her father easily foils Matt's attempt to raid Primatech. Then he has a meeting with Mohinder, who has just recently learned about Eden's death. Bennett tries to recruit him -- along with Papa Suresh's master list -- but Mohinder isn't biting. So Bennett goes back to "the paper company" and checks in on Sylar, who at this point is either in a vegitative state or is trying really hard to absorb the powers of a cockroach.
As for Niki, I was intrigued to see how fluidly she now seems to be moving back and forth from Niki to Jessica. And by the fact that she was able to use her super-strength (to break the nightstick) as Niki, and not as Jessica. I've always suspected that she'll eventually be able to integrate her "Bruce Banner" and "Hulk" sides, and this seems to indicate that she will.
And then there's the matter of the invisible man that Peter meets (best known to some of us last season's Doctor Who). Peter has seen him in visions of his apocalyptic moment, and knows that he can help him in some way. But how exactly? I guess we'll find out next week.
[guest posted by GeekBoy]
In this episode of Heroes, Matt the Cop finally joins the fray, interrogating both Peter and Claire. Unfortunately, he's frustrated in both instances. Peter's power mimicking ability creates some nasty telepathic feedback for him, and Claire and her father are under the telepathic protection of "The Haitian". Who, by the way, needs a name already. Seriously. Unless maybe he has one, but has wiped it out of the heads of everybody who's ever heard it?
Speaking of the Haitian, what's his agenda anyway? Why didn't he wipe Claire's mind? Is he maybe a "good guy" who -- like Eden -- has become disillusioned with whatever organization Claire's father works for? And if this is the case, is there any chance his power is reversible, and that maybe he can give poor Claire her only friend (Zach) back to her at some point?
After injuring Micah, Niki's maternal instincts kick in, and she finally starts to get some control over Jessica. She turns herself into the police for murder, and this seems like a step in the right direction for her. Once again, I wonder if she'll eventually be able to integrate the two sides of her personality and maybe tap into her powers as Niki?
I particularly enjoyed the little self-referential conversation this week between Hiro and Ando about how to parse their mission statement. Is it, "If you save the cheerleader, you save the world," or is it, "First save the cheerleader, then save the world"? Meanwhile, Hiro and Ando finally meet "Mister Isaac", who learns that he actually can paint the future without drugs. And he doesn't even have to make the poop face to do it. And dudes, he painted Hiro fighting a T-Rex with a sword! "Gureto Sukoto!" What's that all about?
Eden goes rogue, and after helping Isaac escape, comes up with a plan to make Sylar kill himself. Unfortunately, the plan goes rogue too, Sylar pulls Eden through the plexiglass, she ends up dead, and Sylar is presumably on the loose again now, possibly with Eden's persuasion ability. Oops. No doubt Claire is at the top of the list of heroes he's going after next -- partly to get her healing factor and partly just to piss her father off. So there may be another chance for everybody to "save the cheerleader" very soon.
Last but not least, there's Peter's vivid vision. My take on this is that he ends up coming into contact with Nuclear Guy. But unlike Nuclear Guy, who's had at least a little time to control his power as it's gotten stronger, maybe Peter's just going to get it all at once and not know what to do with himself? Regardless, where is Peter getting these visions from anyway? Is this another aspect of his powers? Or is he mimicking the power of somebody nearby that we don't know about yet? Because neither Isaac nor Future Hiro seem to be anywhere near him when he collapses.
So ... is it January 22nd yet?
[guest posted by Geekboy]
Six months ago, on Heroes ...
Eden had long hair. Peter became a male nurse. Nathan regretted buying a convertible. Claire received the cheerleader outfit that she wouldn't take off for six months. Matt ate a dozen doughnuts. Hiro couldn't save the waitress he had grown to love. Niki the recovering alcoholic took on her dead sister's personality as an alter ego. D.L. wasn't in jail yet. Papa Suresh wasn't dead yet. And Isaac apparently wasn't even born yet.
But Sylar was. I'm still not entirely clear on how Sylar does what he does, but it seems to involve popping the skull caps off of heroes the way he used to pop the backs off of watches. So is that his power? Can he "sense" the powers of others, then absorb them by physically sticking his hands into their brains? Or does he not even need to touch the brains -- maybe the whole skull chopping thing is just part of his psychotic Hannibal Lecter persona? And do we have any evidence that he's actually absorbed anything other than the telekinetic powers of Bryan Davis yet?
As for Papa Suresh, we're still in the dark as to how exactly he created his master list of potential heroes. Does the fact that Charlie the Waitress had a brain tumor play into things at all? Did Mohinder's sister die of the same thing, and in the process of researching that, Papa found a genetic indicator for super powers?
Still so many mysteries to resolve yet. But I wasn't really expecting or would have wanted them to be so easily resolved in a single hour-long episode. It was great to have some dots connected, though.
[guest posted by Geekboy]
In this week's Heroes, Sylar pointed his finger at somebody's head and starting slicing the top of their skull off!!! That was awesome. You know, in a really sick way. It was just that annoying other cheerleader anyway, so it's hard to feel bad. This episode is what I imagine the X-Men movies would look like if John Hughes wrote them. The popular girl who accepts the freaks & geeks (& gays) becomes the homecoming queen. But the bitchy homophobic popular girl is punched in the eye and gets scalped. (Cue Simple Minds song, "Hey hey hey HEY ...")
Meanwhile, in a twist that I think we all kind of saw coming, Peter almost dies, but mimics Claire's powers long enough to heal himself. Part of me is wondering why he didn't mimic Sylar's telekinetic powers too -- but in hindsight, he really wasn't in close proximity to Sylar for very long. Or who knows, maybe he did, and that's how he'll end up eluding arrest the next time we see him.
As for Sylar, I'm very curious to learn more about him in the flashback episode next week. Because dude never talks, and seems to behave in an overly-focused robotic Terminator kind of way. Freakgirl thinks maybe somebody else with a power is controlling his actions. Could it be Eden with her Jedi Mind Trick ability? Because there was something shady about her final scene. I can't help but think she's not exactly in line even with Claire's father's agenda. So is Sylar just a puppet?
Over in Split Personality Land, it looks as if Niki has left the building entirely at this point. Jessica -- in full Terminator mode herself -- is in charge, to the extent that hers is the name we saw at the bottom of the screen this week. We've learned that Micah knows about her. And was there some recognition on D.L.'s face when he heard the name?
And then there's Hiro, who apparently jumped a whole six months into the past to save the waitress ... and somehow didn't. We know he was at her birthday party, and we know he "popped out of Charlie's life" a few weeks ago, and we know that Sylar killed Charlie at some point after that. As for the rest, I guess we'll find out next week. Perhaps another Future Hiro told him, "Save the Waitress -- Save Texas." And he put some thought into it, and decided Texas shouldn't be saved?
Just a thought.
[guest posted by Geekboy]
This week on Heroes, Hiro falls in love with a waitress, Photographic Memory Girl. They flirt and bond like crazy, and in the end, he has to go back in time to prevent Sylar from making her a pop-top. So then where are they now? And why did they leave Ando behind?
Meanwhile, over at the paper company, Eden & Isaac seem to have a lot in common -- drug addiction. Is there anybody on this show who isn't effed up in some way? She also seems to have a power. I'm guessing she's something like Jedi Mind Trick Girl? Anyway, Claire's father convinces her to "convince" Isaac to start shooting up smack again, so he can find out what's going to happen to Claire Bear and prevent it. Which proves his love for Claire ... but makes him a bit shady.
Matt & Radioactive Bearded Guy find that they also have something in common -- two days missing and hash mark tattoos on their necks. So what exactly is the purpose behind Claire's father's "catch and release" program and those hash marks? Is he just examining them, or is he boosting their powers somehow? And do we agree that RBG will probably be the one to almost blow up New York City (before the heroes stop him of course)?
And who is this kid that Mohinder keeps dreaming about? Is it himself? Are his vivid power naps his way of manifesting some kind of latent power? And how is the ex who offered him a job tied into everything? Seems hard to believe it's a coincidence that she works for some kind of genetics lab.
By the way, as I was confirming the title of this episode, I accidentally ran across a small spoiler, which some of you might appreciate. It's the title of the episode that will run in two weeks, after next week's "Homecoming" episode. Click to find out.
[guest posted by Geekboy]
Heroes took an interesting turn and slipped away from the Sylar hunt into kind of an X-Files "freak of the week" mode this episode. Based on all the pins we saw on Suresh's map, I wondered if/when this would happen. After all, they can't all be heroes, right? As a mind-reader, Matt is even better suited to be Mulder than Mulder was. But if Clea Duvall isn't going to get more than a guest-starring credit any time soon, I suspect that "Scully" won't live long enough to build up any sexual tension between the two of them.
Meanwhile, we got a confirmation that Micah does indeed have a power. And one assumes it's not simply the power to make broken phones work. Based on the fact that he was working with some kind of circuit board back in the first episode, my guess would be that he has a control over things electronic? What would you call that? Technokinesis? Regardless, I'm really really really hoping it will lead to him having a robot at some point.
Let's see, what else ... Hiro gets his mojo back, and in our first hero team-up, he and DL save somebody's life. Claire's brother finds out about her powers. We find out that Dark Niki's name is actually Jessica ... which is kind of an underwhelming name for such a bad-ass. We find out that Nathan's wife is in a wheelchair ... and that he put her there, presumably as the result of some kind of drunk driving accident. I'm curious to learn if there's more to the story than that and/or how it will play out. And Isaac, Suresh, and Claire's father are all absent this episode.
It occurred to me this week that a lot of the heroes have a non-hero confidante at this point. Hiro has Ando, Niki has her best friend, Matt has the FBI chick, Claire has the geek, Isaac has his ex, and Peter seems a step away from confiding in her as well. So YouTube aside ("YouTube is free you idiot!"), these heroes are rapidly becoming the worst kept secret ever. Which leads me to believe that the writers don't intend to keep them secret from the public in the long run. But only time will tell.
[guest posted by Geekboy]
This week's episode of Heroes confirmed for us that Eden is indeed working for Claire's father. Although his surprised reaction to hearing that the "heroes" have been told to save his daughter made me think for the first time that maybe he's not a bad guy? Is it possible that when everything shakes out, he could end up being the "Professor X" to this group of "mutant" misfits? I mean, he's clearly deceptive and secretive ... but I suppose that doesn't necessarily mean he's bad.
Meanwhile, I've been racking my brain trying to figure where I know D.L. (Niki's husband) from without looking at IMDB ... but I finally gave up this morning. Dopey me, I learned that he was one of Zod's goons in an episode of Smallville that I saw just last month. And going further back, he was one of Riley's Initiative buddies on Buffy. And now he's walking through walls. It remains to be seen whether he's a good or bad guy. But he's got Micah and the two million dollars, and I doubt that Dark Niki will be very happy about that when she wakes up.
Speaking of whom, I guess I'll take back my criticism a few weeks ago that Niki doesn't seem to have any superpower. Because ripping human bodies apart definitely falls outside the range of a simple split personality. Ando should be grateful that he was in the bathroom when she showed up -- not only because he might have died, but because if he didn't, the sight most certainly would have killed his sexual fantasy buzz. Although I wonder, would she have actually killed Hiro and Ando if they were there? After all, Niki knows Ando.
As for Hiro ... him finding out that his future self has a sword? Funniest moment all night.
[guest posted by Geekboy]
One of the many things I loved about this episode of Heroes is how it just went balls up and committed to a large multi-season plot arc in the first five minutes. Essentially, what Future Hiro spells out for Peter is that what's happening now -- "Save the Cheerleader" and whatnot -- is only the tip of the iceberg for all of them, plot-wise. Get past this, and it's a whole new world.
My guess is that it will take the rest of the season to prevent NYC from being blown up, and by the time that's resolved, our Heroes will have actually come together as a team. And then the fun will really begin. We already know that over time, Hiro will become more suave, less enthusiastic, and speak perfect English. Peter will get a scar on his face, which for some reason he won't heal by simply "borrowing" Claire's healing factor -- because she's not around to heal it? because he chooses to keep it as a reminder? because it's unhealable? Hard to say.
That aside, I really wish they hadn't spoiled Nathan flying in last week's preview. Because watching him take off straight up like that, then do a right angle in the air? That was awesome. He's clearly been practicing. Although his landings are still a bit rough. And his scenes with Hiro were priceless. Just when you want to hate Nathan, you see how patient and amused he is with Hiro, and you can see that there's a good guy in there under the dickhead politician. But does anybody have a theory about why Hiro was suddenly talking some workable English in these scenes? That detail bugged me a bit.
The other sniggling detail for me is all the coincidence. Peter being one degree removed from Isaac by way of the girlfriend. Nathan landing at the same diner that Hiro's at. Niki being used to blackmail Nathan. Ando being a customer of Niki's. There's SO much coincidence involved in these characters coming together that I can only guess it's not coincidence -- that maybe Future Hiro or some organization (without initials) has "nudged" past events to make things come together like this? What's interesting is that so far, neither Claire nor Matt has coincidentally intersected with anybody yet. It's just a closed loop of association of six characters: Peter - Nathan - Niki - Ando - Hiro - Isaac - Peter - etc. But I have no idea what that means.
As for Claire, I was somewhat surprised to see just how much her Evil Dad seems to care about her. I'd convinced myself that he probably didn't think of her as anything more than an adopted lab rat, but that's clearly not the case. Meanwhile, Matt is walking a fine line by using his powers to woo his wife back to him, and it's sure to blow up in his face.
[guest posted by Geekboy]
Did anybody else utter a loud, "OHHHHH," as they watched Heroes last night and learned that Peter's superpower isn't actually flying, but mimicking the superpower of whoever's near him? Because I did. This was very clever on the part of the writers. Peter has been built up in the summer-long marketing blitz as the one who can fly. And despite decades of reading comic books, I went right along with that, and didn't even pick up on the fact that he'd scribbled that little premonition picture when he was in the hospital after having been near Isaac. Anyway, this is going to raise all sorts of juicy possibilities down the line.
Meanwhile, I can't tell you how horrified and utterly fascinated I was watching Claire put her autopsied self back together again. "Oh dear, I seem to have left my chest skin open. How embarassing. Let me just zip myself up here." That's some awesome not-safe-for-children television right there! Then watching her drive Date Rape Boy's car -- with Date Rape Boy in it -- into a brick wall? Now THAT's a post-feminist statement. I really love how Claire is starting to embrace her power, although I can see how it might become a problem for her in the future if she becomes TOO reckless.
Speaking of reckless, there's Niki. A couple of weeks ago, I said (quote), "I look forward to the episode where we get to see Dark Niki in action." And now that I have, I have to say ... I was somewhat underwhelmed. I guess I was expecting something a bit "Hulk-ier" or more "Mr. Hyde-ish". Because it seems like all Dark Niki has going for her is the ability to kick some ass and have some sex. Which isn't really a superpower, is it? I mean, those scenes played fine plot-wise, don't get me wrong. But a split personality disorder doesn't quite seem like the next rung on the evolutionary ladder. Still, I'll give the writers the benefit of the doubt here -- maybe we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg with her.
Back to the "did anybody else" department ... who else thought of the movie Rain Man when Hiro and Ando were gliding down the casino escalator in those suits? "I'm an excellent time traveller. Definitely an excellent time traveller." Hiro's another one that I'm already worried is abusing his power, as the gambling plot line bore out. But based on his future self's appearance at the end of the episode, he obviously gets his act together at some point. And learns perfect English. Lots of juicy possibilities with that whole plot development too. Seems to me as if Peter is being established as the "leader" of this group of heroes, doesn't it?
And then there's Matt the Cop. Who is either about to get a very thorough enema ("go deep, and clean him out") or, more likely, something much more sinister. Will that creepy guy wipe his memories? Or his powers? Or worse?
Oh, and for those who weren't aware, Sci Fi Channel is replaying Heroes every week on Fridays at 7pm. Which combined with Doctor Who at 8pm and Battlestar Galactica at 9pm pretty much makes for a geek's dream lineup.