Still, that’s really the only thing I would change. Then again, this was the first episode of Heroes I actually saw on air, and it was stunning enough to get me to immediately go buy the DVD set the moment it was released. So again, potential favoritism.

One thing I have always wondered about is this: you can’t tell me that, despite the apparent deserted condition of the business district, that ALL of The City That Never Sleeps was completely dead at, I don’t know, midnight or so. You can’t tell me that somebody besides the eight on Kirby Plaza wasn’t watching the skies. SOMEBODY, SOMEWHERE in New York was looking up. Somebody wondered. Somebody else somewhere knew that something huge had happened. It makes you wonder what they thought of it all.

I agree with you on the final episode, that I enjoyed it but it frustrated me.

My fervent hope for Sylar is that he got stabbed on purpose. It’s possible, in the way that Heroes always has amazing twists, that Sylar chose to get stabbed, rather than have to fight the assembled super friends. I’m hoping he’s got plans still.

One thing that bugged me though, that I was surprised you didn’t mention, was everyone’s reluctance to shoot Peter. He REGENERATES. One bullet, nuclear powers go bye, and then he’ll be back in 10 seconds, just like Claire in “Company Man”. Hell, slug him in the brain so he goes cold, and leave him out cold long enough to get him somewhere safe, where can go nuke, then remove the bullet and he’ll come back.

Just some thoughts, Cheers!

Do you read the graphic novels on the official Heroes site? No spoilers for any who will read this post, but in the final two novels of the official season, there’s a Hana (Wireless) storyline that suggests the writers aren’t going to completely ignore issues of death and the soul:

http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/novels/index.shtml?novel=33

http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/novels/index.shtml?novel=34

To me, the best way to handle it would be the Hamlet scenario…

…To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life…

http://www.artofeurope.com/shakespeare/sha8.htm

If Claire, Peter, or another regen character reveals that they dream when they die, it leaves room for ambiguity:

It’s metaphysical, and the Higher Power allows the dreamscape to function as Heaven.

It’s metaphysical, and the Higher Power, allows the dreamscape to function as a holding area for temps only (regens, coma victims, etc). The permanently dead go somewhere else.

It’s physical/chemical, and the dreamscape is the brain’s way of coping.

One explanation covers the situation and offends no one, leaving the regen characters room to be suitably mysterious in mixed company.

My memory’s fuzzy, but I think there was also a reference in one of the early online comics, either in Isaac’s first vision or from the stories Mohinder heard as a kid (or both…).

Mohinder’s early comic had Kali in it. Uluru was in Isaac’s First Time in a drug induced vision.

I gather that Nathan will be back next season, which is great. I just can’t help thinking it’ll take something away from the moment when he flew Peter into the sky. I hope there’s a twist which we haven’t thought of, besides flying away at the last second and reaching a safe distance from the explosion.

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Did you read that on E? If not, check out the spoiler tidbits there. She says one of the characters will have amnesia next season. I have a feeling it’ll be Peter or Nathan. If Peter, the physical survival would be great juxtaposed against the mental/psychological damage.

It would be even more effective if it were Nathan, however, precisely because he’s the morally gray one. It will be interesting to watch Nathan confront the situation and his part in it from the outside in. Plus, it gives the writers a chance to build whatever relationship he and Claire will have from the ground up.

Usually, I find amnesia storylines boring, because of the clip episode syndrome and because it’s usually a given that memory will return, eliminating suspense. However, it will be different on Heroes by definition:

First, the show hasn’t been on long enough for clip syndrome to get out of hand. Second, a key player having amnesia would be a logical springboard into the Generations backstory, as events were explained to the character. They can keep the amnesia longer, creating the suspense and defying expectation.

http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/detail/index.jsp?uuid=62a29792-b3f3-401a-be08-4c90b16e2bf8

Raissa, the one-season mini-series deal is intriguing; I can’t imagine how the show would have wrapped up the Petrelli/Linderman/Nakamura/Deveaux backstory; but you’re right, it might have brought a greater sense of closure. Let’s be thankful it wasn’t just a one-season hit!

Peter’s vision/dream/trip to the past: I agree, it’s probably a hint at the hero he’ll become over the series. But in a finale which culminates with Nathan becoming the hero, it felt out of place to me.

Sylar: I’m going to have to disagree with you and Kelly on this — I think Sylar and Zach Quinto are amazing, and I can’t wait to see what the plan is for the character. I just hope the show doesn’t butcher a great villain by messing up a halfhearted redemption arc. I don’t think it will, but that’s the risk.

M&M — oh, you KNOW there’s going to be a future ep where they’re happily married.

Claire shooting Peter: I’d ranted so long by that point that I didn’t have the strength to point it out. But you’re right: there’s no way she was going to get the back of his head at that distance and with that angle.

Candice — not crazy! She’s alternately sassy and b**chy, but that line in “Landslide” suggested there was a character behind that veneer. I was sorry to see an attempt at expanding on the character replaced with an ass-kicking devoid of rationale.

Eric, thank you. If I’m conveying your thoughts, I’m honored for that privilege.

I think Hiro ending up in 17th century Japan is two-fold: being TK’d across the plaza and about to be splattered against the Kirby Building freaked him out, and he lost control of his ability, the same way he lost control of the time-freeze in “Hard Part.” But I think we’re also supposed to buy into the idea that teleporting to 1671 Kyoto — that exact time, that exact location — was destiny.

Johnny, thank you for the kind words.
Kelly, I agree, from a “dramatic structure” standpoint, killing Sylar was the way to go. One of the reasons I adore Heroes is the way it challenges storytelling conventions and turns rules upside down. I don’t think keeping him alive is an act of desperation; I think the show’s telling us it’s not going to follow the “one-Big-Bad-per-season” rule if it’s got a better idea.

The comparison between Sylar and a Bond villain is cool. I kind of hope it’s not true, only because Sylar strikes me as too smart a villain to be dumbed down like that. But in the end, the dialogue in those scenes needed to be there. It would have been less dramatic for Hiro to just teleport into Isaac’s loft, grab Ando and teleport out. Or for Peter to beat on Sylar without any kind of an exchange between them. I think that was part of the predicament when it came to those confrontations. Hiro couldn’t just sneak up on Sylar and behead him without violating the Bushido code he upheld in “Hard Part.” I don’t know what the solution to that situation would have been.

I think Sylar would have wanted Claire’s regeneration to preempt the superheroes he’s going to meet in the future. Regeneration means faster recovery from broken bones, ripped-out entrails, gouged eyeballs. And moving hastily on …

Siege, thank you for your support.
I gather that Nathan will be back next season, which is great. I just can’t help thinking it’ll take something away from the moment when he flew Peter into the sky. I hope there’s a twist which we haven’t thought of, besides flying away at the last second and reaching a safe distance from the explosion.

Uluru was on Micah’s comic in the premiere, and he was mentioned when Micah and D.L. were checking out older comics in “Better Halves.” My memory’s fuzzy, but I think there was also a reference in one of the early online comics, either in Isaac’s first vision or from the stories Mohinder heard as a kid (or both…).

Charles Deveaux being an empath: yeah, this seems to be the popular theory. I saw it more as a way to convey that Deveaux had seen a load of abilities over the years. When he told Angela about the “look” supers get when their abilities manifest — that just seemed another way to convey that he’d encountered a ton of different powers, but thought invisibility was one of the cooler ones.

Interesting speculation. More interesting still is the fact that they temporarily die at all. I mean Claire and Peter have time shares in the Undiscovered Country, whatever that means for them. That’s trippy. I hope the writers address the issue at some point.

I think the only way to kill Claire for keeps is to remove her brain (or some portion thereof) from her body.