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'Heroes': The Peter (Petrelli) Principle
I feel like this week's episode of Heroes represents progress of a sort: forward momentum in the story, some good action pieces and more for Adrian Pasdar to do. I'm far from being completely back on board, but the focused approach to this week's main story was welcome despite some of the usual Heroes silliness.
These spoilers can't be reversed.
It's not as if the episode was without flaws -- Hiro and Ando basically spun their wheels until the final scene, and Suresh continued to regret turning himself into The Fly (oh, you sci-fi scientists and your hubris). But spending a good amount of time in the everyone-has-powers future gave us a pretty good sense of mission for this arc.
As Future Peter explains before getting shot by Claire (thereby saving the production some money on Peter-Peter scenes), someone in the present day is making an injection that will give anyone abilities. There's also a rift between those who think this is a positive development and those who don't -- or at least between most everyone we already know and Peter, who's been branded a terrorist in this version of the future for not trusting humanity's ability to keep their new powers in check. Presumably he's taken action in support of that ideology, but it also appears that Claire, who's now working with Daphne and bad guy Knox, is taking her orders to eliminate Peter from someone with ulterior motives.
Future Peter also tells Peter that if he wants to stop all this, he has to find Sylar and absorb his ability to understand how things work. That way, see, he can see all the "variables" in his current predicament and therefore save the world. There is, of course, a catch: Sylar's -- or Gabriel's, as he's once again taken to calling himself now that he's a family man living in the Bennet house with a little kid named Noah (more on that later) -- power also comes with an insatiable hunger to know and have more, which explains all the slicing open of heads.
It's here, for about the millionth time, that we see the Peter Petrelli Principle in action, and one of the big reasons why I can't get fully back on board with the show yet. Peter naively or arrogantly or just plain stupidly assumes that he can absorb Sylar's ability and not suffer from its side effects. You would think two-plus years of unintended consequences in his attempts to save the world would teach the kid a lesson, but alas no.
Claire, Knox and Daphne track Peter to Sylar's location, and an admittedly pretty good battle ensues, with Daphne putting a superfast beating on Peter and Knox drawing strength from little Noah's fear and tossing Sylar/Gabriel about the house.
His last assault sends Sylar crashing into the child, and if we hadn't just met him and he wasn't such an obvious plot device his death would probably have been more affecting. Instead it just provides the impetus for Sylar to go all end-of-season-one Peter and blow up Costa Verde -- which allows Claire to capture and torture Peter a little bit, until President Nathan comes in to talk to his brother and tell him how Congress has approved a "full proliferation" of ability-having people to keep future Costa Verde-like incidents from happening, because, he tells Peter, "one man can't save the world."
Peter responds to this information by ... slicing open his brother's head, then teleporting back to the present to confront Sylar in his Level 5 cell, where he hears (for the second time) that he and Sylar are brothers. So, to review: Future, still screwed; President Nathan, possibly dead; and Peter, still unable to learn from experience.
(Peter's actions in the future, by the way, all play into Parkman's vision-quest story, as he sees his future wife Daphne (good call, all of you who guessed last week that it was her in Usutu's painting) die after not getting away from Costa Verde fast enough. Usutu tells Matt he needs to pick a Jungian totem to help guide him on his quest to find Daphne -- so naturally he picks a turtle to find the speedster. Hoo boy.)
Other notes from Monday's episode:
- Thanks to Tracy's rather illuminating chat with Dr. Zimmerman, we learn that this idea of giving people abilities they weren't born with has been put into practice before. He tells her that she was part of a set of triplets, and that he and folks from the Company manipulated their DNA to induce the now-deceased Niki's strength and Tracy's deep-freeze power. (We have yet to meet the third triplet, Barbara.) Presumably the Company used the formula in this little experiment, so the question now is why such experiments stopped and why the Company elders decided to tear the formula in two and store it on opposite sides of the globe.
- I'm not sure if it was intended as comedy, but I had to chuckle at the awkward small talk between Tracy and Nathan after he interrupts her suicide attempt. "So ... you can fly?" "Yep." Their ensuing makeout session apparently leads to Tracy becoming first lady in the future, and when the couple makes their statement about Costa Verde, they're standing in front of something called Pinehearst Corp. We'll be hearing more about that in the coming weeks.
- Hiro and Ando once again have little to do but bicker over whether Ando is truly a loyal friend because he kills Hiro in the future they're trying to prevent. Angela, fortunately, gives them something to do in their quest to reacquire the formula: They dig up Adam Monroe, who is not at all pleased to see Hiro. It wasn't a bad scene, but any shock value was pretty well drained by seeing David Anders' name in the opening credits.
- Did anyone else take a measure of satisfaction in seeing Suresh reduced to a hoodie-wearing recluse in the future? Given the seen-it-all-before nature of his story line so far this fall, it seems like a fitting punishment.
- So, future Sylar: Who's Noah's mom, and how is it that he's come to live in the Bennet house? It feels like we'll be circling back to this pre-explosion future soon enough, so it'd be nice to find out what's going on there.
Your thoughts on this week's Heroes? Is Peter ever going to learn anything of value from his various attempts to save the world. And who do you figure is behind Pinehearst?
I think this show is simply fantastic. Can't wait to see where it goes next week, also who is the surprise return? It's not Mr. Petrelli is it, and now that Adam is dug up, who knows what's going to happen and whose manipulating the Heroes?
Tim | Oct 6, 2008 9:37:30 PM | #I had thought (probably from her appearances on Friday Night Lights) that Brea Grant was a teenager. But according to imdb she's actually 27. So I guess a union between her and Parkman is ok.
Billiam | Oct 6, 2008 9:40:48 PM | #I confess.
I was totally ecstatic over Mohinder/Gollum's predicament.
I'm having the same problem this season as I did last. With the time travellers who can go back and change events, plus Claire's blood (and presumably now Peter's and Sylar's) capable of bringing others back to life, plus Linderman's healing power, there's no permanence to any events. Plus I really don't care what's happens years in the future, especially when it's not going to actually happen. I'd much rather they keep the storyline focused on events in the present. I love the characters on this show, but the plotlines seem to be getting more and more contrived.
Jessie | Oct 6, 2008 11:01:23 PM | #Okay, I understand that real life relationships have no bearing on a fictional world, but did anyone else besides me giggle a little bit during Future Claire's torturing-Peter scene? Because in real life, Milo and Hayden are going out:
"This is for forgetting my birthday!" /cuts with scalpel
Anyway, so it looks like Mohinder's formula is NOT the one that gives everyone in the future abilities. TBH, I don't like this idea that the Company tested the formula on half of the main cast; part of the appeal was that these things happened to ordinary people, and they were connected by fate. But now it's looking like they were never ordinary, but part of a huge science experiment :( At least this explains alot of last season and how people ended up with duplicate powers.
So here's what I was originally thinking during the Costa Verde scene; Claire was Lil' Noah's mommy - creppy I know, but it would explain that "bizarre intimacy" feeling I got when Sylar played with her brain in the season premiere. However, the callous indifference to the house and what might've been her kid leads me to think it probably was not.
And since I brought it up, WTF is with this season echoing Season 1? I mean, it's like they're trying too hard to remind us how good this show USED to be with some kind of wierd wish-fulfillment of "Season 1 things that never happened" - Sylar took Claire's power, Sylar goes nuclear, Nathan becomes a Senator (and President). Let's just bring Richard Roundtree back from the dead, while we're at it!
Sean | Oct 6, 2008 11:14:39 PM | #ok, this is the deal,
I like this show,
but I have to cringe every time
they show the future!!!
paradoxes writers, paradoxes
#1 rule of time travel,
in any medium (books or comics)
NO talky to yourself, avoid yourself
otherwise the universe will collapse
in itself!!!
I really glad peter admitting to
screwing up all the time lines
with the butterfly effect...
but my sugestion to watching the show
is to mute the tv when they
go back to the future..and unmute
when they go back to the present...
it will make a lot of sense!!!
and by the way how can sylar
die in the nuclear blast
when he has claire abilities
to never die!!!
I see it coming go to the future
and sylar is alive...oooo...what a plot twist!
I'm sticking around, but I'm still not loving the new season (not yet anyway). All the time travel stuff seems so familiar these days ... Although I do like the idea of seeing so many people with powers. It's an idea that was alluded to in The 4400; here we get to see the idea in action. Speaking of action, the set pieces were pretty good tonight.
I hope the producers focus on Nathan and Ma Petrelli b/c I think they're the most compelling actors. But Hiro, Ando, Claire, even Sylar just aren't grabbing me yet. Loved the first season, but I'm underwhelmed thus far. Staying tuned, though ...
zWulf | Oct 7, 2008 12:31:57 AM | #Ok--confession No. 2.
I was also happy when future Peter got killed
Weezer | Oct 7, 2008 2:02:12 AM | #You've hit on my number one biggest complaint about this show. It seems like if the other heroes dedicated themselves to wiping out Peter Petrelli in all his various future, amnesiac, pre- and post-apocalyptic incarnations, they'd save themselves a lot of trouble in the long run.
Kill Peter--save the world | Oct 7, 2008 3:03:54 AM | #I was bored.
mel | Oct 7, 2008 3:52:04 AM | #although it is fun to watch, it is hard to get invested in these new future-based episodes. They are ultimately filler- none of it will happen. There is only a second of shock in seeing all of the characters you like torn to pieces (episode 2) when you know that future is already changed. It is kind of cheap really. We saw Hiro die twice, but you know he will be ok in the end because someone will step on an ant and thus change the future.
And being petty: future people annpy me to no end. Claire is a total brat- willing to kill a little kid because Sylar somehow displaced her as an example. Peter is even more ridiculous than in present day, and Nicki/Tracey think she is Jackie-o. Add that with the RFK desk and we are teetering dangerously on cliche for the whole "camelot" vibe.
I really do love this show, but sometimes it seems to want to be too clever for its own good. The best episodes are the ones based in real time with events that are not reversible. I know it is sci-fi, but lets try and keep it a little real.
Beth | Oct 7, 2008 4:12:31 AM | #How is future Peter dead? Didn't he absorb Claire's healing powers a long time ago?
Waldo | Oct 7, 2008 4:47:41 AM | #After last weeks show, I told myself I was done with this show. I held to it and didn't watch it. What a great feeling it is to not feel like you've just wasted an hour of your life watching the show. Granted the show isn't the worst show of all time ect.., but there is just to much crap going on and frankly most of it is not for the good.
Scott | Oct 7, 2008 5:29:17 AM | #Waldo, If you leave the bullet or other object in then Claire or Peter will stay dead, which is how she killed him.
I'm liking this season a lot better than last season, but i'm also tired of the time travel angle. They've used it way too much already and as everyone's been saying we all know its not going to happen anyway, so it takes the drama out.
One thing's for sure about this year, they are bringing the hotness back! Claire looked great as a bad-ass brunette and Ali Larter always is great. The Spanish chick was looking pretty darn good too! I do hope to see Suresh in full-Fly mode.
I've watched every episode and maybe I just missed this part, but where are Nathan's wife and children? Did they leave him and he never looked back? I can't remember....or have the writers just overlooked that part? And does Peter seem like a much worse actor this season? Maybe it's the stress of playing both parts? He used to be my favorite, now he's just annoying!
too many questions | Oct 7, 2008 5:53:04 AM | #Nathan's wife left him, although he should probably pay a visit to his kids. Though that probably would be a scene better spent on something more relevant to forward movement.
Billiam | Oct 7, 2008 6:58:23 AM | #Why is 'Heroes' repeating season 1 ?
Not sure why the characters get upset when they see possible future events -- it never happens -- and next time there will just be another 'shocking' possible future to stop....
I dig the show, and I dig the special effects. I'm just not enjoying the constant plot twists. Sylar as a good guy? Really? Sylar and Peter and Nathan are brothers? Really? Peter is a screw up because he has all of these powers and no clue as to how to use them wisely, but why does everyone want him dead? How did sweet little Claire become so dark?
It looks like they are trying to make the plots extra thick so as to justify a season 4 and season 5. I think that they should get back to the basics: Sylar is EVIL, Peter is good but stupid. Let Peter grow up. Destroy Sylar and Adam Monroe, and then the other Heroes who are still good can spend some time correcting the damage that has been done. They can use time travel just to observe the world and the good changes that they have made. If something has not gone quite back to normal, they can simply go back to the present and deal with that issue.
Pete | Oct 7, 2008 7:23:32 AM | #Third triplet Barbara? Are you *sure* that's all they made?
I'm still stuck on Tracey being a clone and not one of "the original triplets" who were supposed to be enhanced humans (stronger, faster, and all that -- subdermal hyperthermia is NOT a human ability).
Small town getting nuked brings about quick schism-causing governmental response; comic book 101.
For some reason, I wanted to see future Mohiner lisp out "I was once... a man." (kudos to anyone who saw the movie)
This season is off to a good start; not as plodding (heh, turtle) as the previous seasons but close.
I do have gripes with dead-Future Nathan. (1.) That was Knox and not Haitian around the corner. (2.) Unless I missed something on the zoom-in, Claire shot FPP in the chest, not the face. (3.) If Parkman saw/dreamt the future and knew that was his future wife Daphne, then wouldn't that instantly change the future?
pakopako | Oct 7, 2008 7:27:27 AM | #The second season is getting better, but writer's seem to have borrowed *a lot* from season 1 and ignored the rest. A bullet wouldn't kill Peter, Claire was shoot in season 1 and her body forced it out. So when they were in the autopsy room and present Peter got his powers back, future Peter should have healed. Parkman following around a turtle is pointless and asinine. Although not as much as Sylar being adopted, that was a terrible story idea.
eva | Oct 7, 2008 7:28:02 AM | #Waldo, The Haitian was there when Claire shot Future Peter, preventing him from healing himself from the gunshot wounds.
| Oct 7, 2008 7:34:30 AM | #Two random observations:
Am I the only one who was annoyed by future Molly being played by the same actress as present Molly and not looking even remotely four years older?
Also, did anyone else think that Sylar's son Noah might be a de-aged Noah Bennet?
John | Oct 7, 2008 7:37:54 AM | #Waldo asked the question earlier...it was the same question I asked myself when I saw future Peter lying on a slab...How is he dead?!?!?
He's had Clair's healing powers since season one. Both future Clair, Peter & Nathan know it...so does past Peter.
Anybody know what's up with that?!?!?
Marcus | Oct 7, 2008 8:03:16 AM | #Yeah, tonight's episode gave me that Season 1-good vibe.
Think Mohinder is gonna go all experimental on the neighbor? Could produce a nasty villain that way. Seeing as the guy already has a violent streak.
Little Noah? Not sure I buy the age-regression idea, but it would be interesting. Maybe HRG takes the formula and that's his power. Heh.
I wish Ando would go to the Dark Side and kick the bejesus out of Hiro. I still like Hiro, but his stupidity is annoying. He was all take action in the past (Feudal Japan past) then he returns to mega-dork mode when he comes back.
And if he says "he" saved the world twice again, I'm gonna pull a reverse Ring and climb through the tv and kick his....
OK, breathe.
oneblood | Oct 7, 2008 8:23:27 AM | #So did Peter lose the ability to absorb powers? Aside from getting Sylar's ability from fixing a watch, the writers have dropped that story line. And what's the point in Sylar taking everyone's powers when this is the first time he's used something besides telekinesis in a *long* time.
eva | Oct 7, 2008 8:27:42 AM | #
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