'Heroes': Answers and questions
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Interesting -- and puzzling -- Heroes this week. If the show is, in comic-book terms, something of an origin story, then Monday's episode, "Six Months Ago," was something of a pre-origin story. We gained some insight into several characters, but at the hour's close we ended up pretty much where we started.
Which is to say, where last week's episode ended, thanks to Hiro's time-hopping.
By far, the biggest reveals were about Sylar -- or Gabriel Gray, the character's birth name. Surely, his six-months-ago resemblance to Clark Kent is not accidental, but I'm not entirely sure what the show is saying here. He talked about always wanting to be different and special, hoping someone would come and tell him his family wasn't really his family. That's more or less the opposite of the Superman story, where Clark's parents eventually reveal to him that he is, in fact, special.
We also see his first kill, which comes after he drinks a little too strongly of Prof. Suresh's "evolutionary imperative" Kool-aid and then, somehow, absorbs the unfortunate Brian Davis' telekinetic ability. He thinks he's "fixing" his fellow super's brain like he fixes watches, but Brian won't be getting any more use of his instrument.
The other insights we got from the flashback weren't of the same magnitude, although it was interesting to see how many of the characters were connected before we jumped into the story. Matt stopped Eden just before the Haitian delivered her to HRG/Mr. Bennet, who spoke to Prof. Suresh just after the professor met with Sylar. Heck, Hiro even talked to himself.
Speaking of our lovelorn time-bender, let's start there with some individual bits and pieces.
Hiro: As they were two weeks ago, his scenes with Charlie were incredibly sweet. More important, though, we learned that he can't change the past. Despite his efforts to warn Charlie of her impending death -- which may have been inevitable anyway; she had a blood clot in her brain -- he jumped back to present-day Tokyo as he was trying to whisk her off to Japan. Whether that's a genuine limit on his ability, something he can't yet control or just a way to make the show's continuity easier to follow, I guess we'll find out down the line.
Niki: Well, now we know who Jessica is, or rather was: She was Niki's sister (a twin, presumably), who protected Niki from the drunken rampages of her father and died at age 11. Her consciousness or spirit (or something), though, appears to live in Niki, popping up whenever her sister feels threatened.
The Petrellis: We see the cause of Heidi's (Rena Sofer) paralysis -- a car wreck caused, presumably, by one of Linderman's people (who, it becomes clearer, is a mobster who had his hooks in Nathan and Peter's father). Nathan flies out of the car a few seconds before the impact -- whether it was on purpose or involuntary, I think, is open to our interpretation (your thoughts are welcome in the comments section). At the same time, Peter wakes from a dream grasping for air just like his brother. And didja notice, in the scene at the hospital, there was something -- a reflection from a light, maybe? -- that looked an awful lot like the eclipse from the pilot?
HRG, Eden and the Haitian: The thing that most disappointed me about the episode was that we didn't learn anything new about who HRG works for, how long he's been at it and what his connection to the Haitian is (and by the way, Jimmy Jean-Louis is giving a pretty effective performance for a character who has yet to say anything). We do know that he found Eden so he could use her persuasive powers to get Prof. Suresh to remove Claire from his list. And either he's immune to her skills, or the Haitian's presence renders her neutral.
With Hiro's return to present-day Texas, we came back right to where last week's episode ended. The cheerleader is still saved, for now, but Peter's still in jail and Jessica's bullet is still headed toward D.L. NBC is promising someone will go down next week, and a big ending to leave us hanging until 2007.
What did you take away from Monday's Heroes? Did anything surprise you? And who the hell is employing Mr. Bennet?
it seems that hiro's teleportation skills are still a bit out of control - as any young man, coming to grips with his manhood would be. all his quivering to stop time and teleport seems to make sense now. now that he's involuntarily teleporting when he's mildly aroused by the prospect of getting a first kiss. it was sad, but funny.
I personally just don't want Hiro or Claire to die. I love alot of characters but those two are the ones I'm mostly attached to and keep tuning in to see. Personally I think it's pretty early to kill of a major character period.
ok.. this show sucked me in like a tractor beam.
I am so connected to all the characters in the show, for one of them to die, would probably devastate me to the point of tears. I personally think that Jessica will discover alot when she tries to kill D.L. Since he can go thru walls, who says that the the bullets won't actually go through him. Ya neva' know. Oh and another thing. Charlie's b-day is the same as I... I just happen to have a photgraphic memory as well, or and healing abilities. What are the odds of that? TTYl!! :o)
Still disappointed the Sylar isn't future peter, it still makes sooo much sense, I don't know how it isn't true.
Besides that, it was interesting to see a less jaded Nathan. Not to much of a reveal for Peter though.
I so loved Charlie and Hiro together. I just kept thinking, "say it isn't so". It was interesting to see the limitations on Hiro, but not at the expense of Charlie. So was she a super at all? Or was it just her medical condition that created her super memory?
I was some what surprised at Chandra's original intent. I thought he had a grander plan then to just let the supers know.
I believe the blot clot was "her" being broken (as per Sylor's way of putting it). The other heroes all "brokenly" in-commen as well, in-turn giving them their super-powers. What I find quite interesting is that Sylor didn't see Hiro nor Peter as being so-called "Broken", and Matt scared the living daylights out of Sylor... see him fly off as soon as the Matt appeared in the ally. Maybe because Hiro "isn't" broken, Peter's super power is NOT active if there are no others around that have "a" super-power and Matt is a future so-called "nucker".. someone to be intimidated by.. huh?
I must have missed something because I got the impression that Jessica is like a split-personality that came out whenever Niki was subjected to her father's drunken rampages. As for Nathan I think his lifting out of the car just before it crashed was involuntary as he was just as surprised as his wife. If Hiro can't change the past it will be interesting to see what happens during the New York apocalypse.
I believe that Matt can become a nucker since he can read minds, he can tap into other cerebral super-powers as well..
Does HRG have to be working for someone? I can't remember whether that's been established or not. Otherwise he could be just collecting his own group of superpowers for unknown but probably not good reasons.
Hiro might be able to change the cir***stances around the "New York Apocalypse", in-turn a possible prevention. He might not be able to change something that has already happened. Although I believe that he might still be able to, he just needs to go about it a different way. For instance, maybe finding out who this Sylor is, and maybe either get to him before his evil "God" complex kicked in. That might actually stop all the killing from taking place all-together. Or maybe get to the scientist (suresh) through connected with Peter, in-turn stopping the scientist from unleashing the future "sylor" from emerging.
I think Sylar thought he was fixing his own brain by killing Brian, not Brian's. Somehow he wired his own Brain around to gain his power.