As for your reviews of the new season…i like them. I was p_____ when we had yet another episode of Hiro stuck in the past, and the Wonder Twins still stuck in Mexico(yeah, i know it is a large country, but i’m reminded of the annoying decompression in Season 1, where Ando and Hiro took what? 4 or five episodes to get to Las Vegas or New York). Anyway, Sylar’s subplot is very interesting indeed…and it seems to be confirmed that Candience was killed by him. Talk about deserving a “Dumb As Award”…wouldn’t the Company warned her about Sylar’s behavior and abilities?

The Peter subplot was equally frustrating;Open the d@@# box already and get this show on the road! I think the writers of the show should give Peter some type of limit to his abilities. I mean, after all, The Legion of Superheroes had Ultra Boy, who had all the abilities of Superman, but could only use one at a time; X-men had the Mimic, who i think had a limit on how many powers he could copy.

I eagerly wait to get the “Golden Age of Heroes” story, i.e. the backstory of the Heroes who formed the Company. Also wouldn’t mind more nods to comic conventions. We have seen a time-travel story last season…maybe we’ll get an Earth-2-esque story arc, or maybe even Earth-3? I know it sends a chill down many a fans’ spine, but what can i say…i’m a fan of superhero comics:).

I really don’t think Peter would run–it’d betray his entire need for the box. Asking Caitlin just wouldn’t seem right–she’s Ricky’s sister; Peter couldn’t ask her to do that. I doubt Peter would even make it to the door, and it’d take only a couple of seconds for Ricky to destroy the box. Besides, that’d be really risking it. On the matter of his feelings of right or wrong, with Peter almost killing a person, and Peter doubting himself, I’d say his sense of right and wrong is really skewed. Besides, he’s desperate.

Actually, I was talking about distracting the guards initially. Sorry for the flawed language. He did, in a sense, get rid of the guards with his distraction, before they could do anything about the theft. Perhaps I’m stretching the language here, but…

I dunno, I’d think any thief would be pretty happy about gaining that kind of money. Regardless of how they laughed though, there wasn’t an actual mention of taking it for themselves. I know the writers have made their mistakes, but I seriously doubt they’d forget about McSorley (and I believe McSorley may be one of the original 12).

Well, who’s to say they didn’t discuss this in the four month period we missed? It’s not like their combined knowledge would have any profound effects on either character. So Claire figured out how and why she was adopted? I think who she came from was a bigger issue.

True, true, Bennet knows about Ted’s radioactivity (either that, or he figured that Ted’s ability over radiation would logically extend to EMPs). Still, Claire herself supposed to her father what she could do, but Bennet only warned her that the Company would try and test her limits.

I don’t think we should pass judgment on this until we’ve seen exactly what’s going on with Peter.

Just because it doesn’t so long lasting damage, it doesn’t mean that memory wiping is something Claire or the family would be gung-ho for. Besides, I’d think the Haitian would really have to lay low, or he may be off doing things involving taking down the Company. And even if West’s memory was wiped, they’d probably still have to run.

For one thing, West only saw something through her window, and he himself said he was intending to give her the book. Not breaking and entering, and barely creeping. Besides, pressing charges would involve lots of people and officials. That’d be the exact opposite of laying low.

Annoying Claire was the whole point, so I suppose you’re right, but West’s intent wasn’t to directly insult, just force her to come clean.

West really only antagonized her during that single science lesson, and she only completely viewed him negatively during that one episode. Earlier on, I do feel I saw some attraction. Anyways, I don’t think it was jackass-ish. It’s attitude-ish, sure, but the intent was still kind. As for the flying and Claire’s forgiveness, let’s break it down. West, aware of Claire’s specialness to some extent since first meeting her, has been trying to coax her into being who she is. Claire, while wanting the same, also is forced to hide it from everyone. She’s even forced to do so when West sees her pedicuring her toe off. When West has to take harsher methods, Claire finally admits it, but cannot partake in the joy of being herself for once, as she thinks she’s confessing to someone who’ll turn her in. However, West’s gesture of flying shows that he is not going to do anything to her, that he trusts her enough to show his own secret, and that Claire has found someone who she can completely be herself. She doesn’t have to pretend to be stupid, or incapable of doing a backflip, or that she doesn’t have a power. As such, she forgives West, because he wanted all this time was for her to be herself, something she’s wanted ever since she went into hiding.

Well, just because you have a gift that you want to help others with, doesn’t mean you can’t just relax and talk about it every once in a while.

Glare? Claire just looked a little conflicted. No way she’s going to hate him or anything. Just, now, she has conflicting loyalties. Two people she really cares about, and them meeting face to face (speaking of, West and Bennet never got a good look at each other–not sure if you already know this, just saying) would make things really, really, bad.

Actually, Hiro mentioned to Kensei after he discovered his father that they needed to rescue Yaeko’s father. I know Hiro’s not Yaeko, but the issue is definitely not forgotten.

Well, he does have motivation. The Fire Scroll contains information about Whitebeard, who’s holding Yaeko’s father. Naturally, the Fire Scroll would help Kensei defeat Whitebeard. Besides, Hiro forced it upon Kensei, so what choice would he have? Still, I’m not sure or not if the Fire Scroll’s purpose was already mentioned in the show or just in Heroes 360–I suppose that’s a problem.

True, Alejandro saving those men those kind of save Maya from committing a dark deed, the fact remains that Maya was willing to risk their lives for her own gain.

With the painting, you may not be looking at the best image. Try THIS one. I could be wrong, but it definitely looks to me like Claire’s kissing Mystery Guy.

Daniel P, thank you for your feedback. I really appreciate the care that went into your post.

I think it’s inevitable that some people will think I’m too harsh and some people will think I’m too lenient. Everyone responds to the show differently, and I can’t write a review that caters to every response. All I can do is give my honest reaction and hope it isn’t unfairly harsh or lenient.

You make some great points, and I’m going to tackle them in order.

What other choice did Peter have but to go along with the plan? I’d say he could run, he could ask Caitlin to help him get the box (probably wouldn’t happen, but it’s worth a shot), or he could grab the box and either make it out of the pub and get to freedom or get pinned down by the gangsters and become agitated enough to channel his abilities. Either way, it’s preferable to taking part in an armed robbery; Peter’s lost his memory, not his sense of right and wrong.

You’re right, Peter got rid of the guards by TK’ing the car. But was that part of the original plan? It’s not like Ricky & Co. were expecting the first guard with the box to activate the alarm. So was Peter along for the heist in case something like this happened? I think if we need to speculate and make assumptions like that, it’s a sign that the scene wasn’t especially well thought through.

Were Ricky & Co. going to hand the money over to McSorley? I didn’t take those laughs to be “Now we can pay off our debts!” laughs. They’re more “We’re filthy rich! Cheers!” laughs.

You’re right, Noah knows nothing about Meredith — but Claire doesn’t know that Noah knows nothing. Without it devolving into a “Company Man” recap, I would have imagined that Claire would want to know how she was found and how she was adopted.

Is it obvious that Noah knows nothing about regeneration? You could have argued that he knew nothing about Ted’s radioactivity, but he seemed to understand it much better than Ted did in “.07%.” The Company clearly has extensive research on a number of abilities, and Noah was offering Claire the opportunity to ask him questions about how her ability works. I’d still say the questions I posed, while intended to be humorous, were all valid.

Why bother trying to locate Peter with the tracking system? Well, why NOT bother? Nathan doesn’t believe he’s dead, and Claire is in contact with Nathan, and since Angela was convinced that Peter would regenerate after the explosion, why not try to make sure he isn’t dead? Probably something that will be explained later, but I thought it was a point worth making.

The Haitian wiping West’s memory was intended as a joke, but even if you look at it seriously, the implication is that it takes a LOT of memory wipes to damage someone. Sandra repeatedly had her memory erased. I think West would be safe after two memory wipes.

Claire’s response to West: it strikes me as odd that she goes with the defensive “But, but, but…it was a pedicure!” approach. She could equally have gone with “Stay away from me or I press charges for attempted B&E.” Probably wouldn’t work with West, but it might scare him enough to keep quiet.

The hypothetical question about a lizard mating with a human and producing a lizard-girl offspring seemed about as direct an insinuation as you can get. I’m not sure how Claire could hear that and NOT find it offensive.

The “Shut up” thing was intended to reassure Claire, I agree. But don’t you think it was a jackass-ish way to reassure her? And don’t you think the flight was just a dramatic way to overlook the way West treated her up until that point? It seemed to brush aside a lot of West’s behavior, and that struck me as a little false.

I agree, Claire’s conversation with Noah about helping people isn’t negated by the skydiving jokes. But it seemed like a step back, especially when Claire would remember the Haitian warning her to use her gift accordingly. This was supposed to be light-hearted, but it came across as irresponsible, at least to me.

As you say, it’s not like West’s dilemma is unimportant. I think that if Noah’s going to get the kind of glare he got from Claire at the end of this episode, though, it should be for something he really deserves to be hated for. On the totem pole of crimes which Noah deserves to be held accountable for, traumatizing a guy who acts like a jerk doesn’t strike me as especially innocuous.

With Yaeko wanting to save her father: she needed Kensei on board, sure. But a reference to her father would have been nice while she was sitting in the forest and contemplating the mystery behind her great love and enjoying the cherry blossoms. One line of dialogue wouldn’t make for heavy-handed exposition; it would be good continuity.

Kensei retrieving the Fire Scroll would definitely make him stronger, I agree. He’ll be more determined to embrace his destiny, and he’ll probably be a better swordsman after this. The problem for me is that Kensei had absolutely no motivation to go through the ordeal. He didn’t know why he needed to get the scroll. Because of that, I have a hard time buying into the idea that he’s now embraced his destiny to save Japan. He needs to understand why he’s being hacked to pieces or he won’t have a reason to fight.

With Maya, I agree that the thread’s moving faster than Niki’s. I think that’s to be expected given the shorter length of the volume and TPTBs emphasis on not repeating their mistakes in the previous season, but I think the “murder” scene lost a lot of its impact because we knew Alejandro would come to the rescue.

Okay, I really do believe you’re going way too harshly on this episode, and you seemed to have missed some things.

Peter obviously isn’t very confident in his abilities, indicated by his (fan-servicey) attempts at shooting lightning. What other choice would he have but to go along with the plan? And as for the plan, Peter did get rid of the guards before they could do anything, and they (excluding Caitlin) certainly didn’t know about what Peter could do. The dialogue definitely could’ve been fixed to make it more obvious, but I think the intent was clear. But is how the robbery played out really that important? As for the robbery itself, the whole editing thing? Will and Tuko were busy with the box, and perhaps Ricky was distracted as well, though I doubt it. Still, him sparing the guy was a nice way to go. And would it really have mattered if the guy was knocked out or not? He already saw them.

The gang was just amazed at the amount of money they managed to take,and made a toast to it. There was no implication that they were going to take it for themselves (save for Will).

None of the questions you supposed Claire would ask could actually work. Bennet knows nothing beyond Meredith simply being her mother, and that she’s pyrokinetic. They probably discussed this, but how far could they possible go? As for the healing limits, it’s obvious Bennet doesn’t know either, especially since he keeps warning her of how her limits would be pushed beyond. Peter? Everyone thinks he’s dead. Why bother trying? I’m also pretty sure that Bennet has learned his lesson about abusing the Haitian’s ability. At least, he would take it in moderation. Just because someone loses their memory, doesn’t mean they’ve saved themselves. Full precautions, I’d imagine.

As for West, wouldn’t Claire’s first concern HAVE to be convincing a guy who saw her toe grow back? Especially when bringing police into the equation would make things even more complicated? Besides, it’s not as if the creeping thing wasn’t addressed.

West wasn’t insulting Claire’s parents or her. After all, lizards were a subject of importance to Claire, and served as a parallel, so why not bring it up as such?

I thought at first that Claire was crying after school, though it’d be a stretch. Nonetheless, West telling her to shut up wasn’t in a jackass-ish way, even if the whole “I take it…” thing wasn’t the most kind thing to say. It’s just that he was putting to rest any notion of Claire’s that he would turn her in. And the flying was West’s own way of showing that he was confiding in her. All Claire’s ideas of being turned in and not being herself were smashed to pieces when West made that gesture. I think it was a very natural way for the plot to progress.

The better power conversation doesn’t mean that her desire to help people isn’t negated. It’s just some innocent teenager talk, except about superpowers. Also, just because Claire had seen her dad do worse things, it doesn’t mean that West’s dilemma isn’t important.

I really don’t see how the recounting of Hiro’s adventures is so bad. I mean, skipping it would kind of just make things confusing, and they certainly didn’t abuse it. Besides, who knows what could be in the rest of those scrolls?

As for Yaeko’s father–he isn’t forgotten. Hiro and Yaeko NEED Kensei to help rescue her father, so of course they have to spend their time getting him to come around. I also disagree on Yaeko’s character taking a step back. She obviously wants to trust Kensei, from the very beginning. When he didn’t do anything, of course she’d be pissed and try to take matters into her own hands. “Kensei” proving his heroism by rescuing her from Whitebeard would obviously regain her affections.

Kensei’s development from the battle feels natural, even as the problem of skipping it all persists. I mean, fighting through all those men for the scroll (which contains the secrets of Whitebeard) must make a man stronger–especially for one who’s always fought dirty.

Maya did something greatly different from previous episodes. She used her powers on purpose. A major step up from Niki, who didn’t even use her power until episode 12. What’s more, she was actually willing to harm, and possibly kill, others for personal gain. Alejandro may have been there to fix things, but just because a solution was found, doesn’t make Maya’s willingness to risk other’s lives any less dark.

I don’t think Claire is kissing Mystery Guy. The shadow area of his form seems to extend above her head outside the frame. Plus, Claire isn’t leaning up out of frame for a kiss, as the short HP would have to do when they recreated the scene on camera. She looks like she’s actually leaning into or being held against his shoulder.

I didn’t think it was ambiguous. But, I’m an English major, who reads context clues very easily — 2.1 establishes the virus as a theme, 2.2 continues in that vein. Therefore, it is logical to conclude that a character in search of a cure in 2.3 is also dealing with the virus. In fact, I think Sylar is dealing with the virus, too, in a way. My theory is that the Company developed the virus originally as a power inhibitor to keep useful specials like Sylar on a leash when necessary. The virus then mutated over time and became fatal