I don’t think any of them are aware that Adam was in fact Takezo Kensei. He’s always been something of a fairy-tale figure. But then again, who knows?

Either way, they must know at least that Adam has gathered a great amount of knowledge over his time, including increasingly dark ideals.

I don’t see how Hiro’s attempt to save either of them differ. Hiro was in denial of the present in both situations: he couldn’t accept their deaths in the here and now, not when he had the chance to save them both. As such, being a time-traveler, he irrationally sought a solution in the past to fix the present.

But the thing is, it’s not a matter of simply letting Kaito die just because he wants to. Being punished is only an aspect of Kaito’s decision. There’s also the fact that Hiro is coming from a future where Kaito is dead. To try and change that is to be trying to change what is already written in stone. Saving the future, as Hiro so implies, is what God gives us a chance for, but the past is not for mortals to meddle in.

Oh, I agree that the Company must’ve done at least some good, as the tsunami turned snowstorm has proven. But at the moment, I think we’re going to have to take everyone’s word that they did start out doing good. This season is really more about their sins catching up to them. Of course, if there’s ever an episode or two showing us the previous generation of Heroes battling evil and global disasters, I’m all for it.

“He thought that they were being punished for their sins, but he was in fact about to be killed by someone who had committed the greatest sins. This is assuming that Adam, as the founder of the Company, did many terrible things in his centuries of life.”

Yeah, but none of the Original Twelve were especially virtuous, so it’s not as if there would have been anything ‘fitting’ about being killed by any of them, even the “less sinful” ones (my emphasis). I see your point, though, because being killed by the most murderous of the lot of them undermines Kaito’s sense of divine justice.

It’s interesting that you assume the rest of the group knows about Adam’s past. If it took them a while to discover he was immortal, I’d say there’s a good chance the chronicles about Adam in Bob’s office are cobbled together from bits and pieces they discovered only much later. I’m still wondering whether Kaito even knew that Adam was Kensei. Angela establishes that they knew he was 400 years old, but it’s still unclear whether they know exactly who he was and where he’d been over the centuries.

“In trying to stop his father’s death, [Hiro] was only trying to change the past, like he tried to do with Charlie.”

I’m not sure; Hiro was in denial and trying to change the present he was experiencing — the one where he was attending his father’s funeral and beginning to grasp the psychological scars he’d be forced to live with for the rest of his life.

What I can’t agree with here is the idea that giving up on saving a parent’s life in order to respect their wishes and honor their memory is the “grown-up” solution. Hiro had the option to teleport his father away from the rooftop and back to Japan, where Kaito could have lived out the rest of his life and helped his son and all of the superpowered population to avert the next disaster — and the next, and the next … THAT is redemption for past “sins,” and THAT is a son using a gift he’s been given to help his father achieve it.

Does Kaito “deserve” to die? I think that’s a separate argument, and that’s where the whole “Do-we-have-the-right-to-play-God?” debate plays into the story. I think it’s possible The Company has done a LOT of good; we already know they’ve prevented a tsunami, but there are probably plenty of other instances when they’ve averted global disasters, which would arguably tip the whole “The-Company-is-Evil-Incarnate” angle. I’m not saying I agree with that point of view; just that, if the show wanted to put a spin on the face of The Company by showing that they really did come together to do good — and that they really did succeed in that for a time — I don’t think it would be all that difficult.

Finally, I think we’ve seen enough “sins” to know exactly why Kaito thinks he deserves to die. The Company has kidnapped many people–even children, and undoubtedly performed vivisections on many of those people. There’s also the countless people who’ve probably died by the Company’s hand. People like Claude and Bennet, who’ve been disillusioned by the Company’s work really drive in the darkness of their doings. Since Kaito is a founding member of this Company, and now he’s no longer a part of it, this seems to suggest that all of these are what drive Kaito to give up.

Yeah I think Bob either sees Elle and The Company as being intertwined like you said or Elle is probably a means to an end for The Company.

Does he really care about his daughter? I’m not so sure considering that like Bennett said, Bob was the one who led the charge on those experiments on Elle when she was a kid. No wonder she’s got some serious issues.

I like how Bennett sees the evil within The Company and is willing to do anything (a bit extreme no doubt) to save his daughter from the same fate as Elle.

EMMY FOR COLEMAN!!! EMMY FOR COLEMAN!!!

Eric, the BTTF reference is EXACTLY what I was thinking of!

To be fair to Smallville, I think their flying sequences are getting better: Kara flying into orbit and nearly colliding with a plane were both really nicely done.

With the virus, I’m really hoping the show’s going to make Maya and Alejandro a part of the solution. I don’t know if it would rescue their story, but it would at least give them a “purpose” in the broader picture.

Susan, I think it’s Coleman and Cristine Rose’s immense talent which begets great writing. But I’d say that’s true for all of the cast. I think Grunberg in particular has shown he can work with great material. If he couldn’t, I don’t think his story would be generating as much debate as it is.

With the whole lack-of-attention-to-the-ElderSupers-backstory issue, I’m thinking it’s a casting predicament: logistically, it’s probably close to impossible to get McDowell and Roundtree and the others together for any extended period of time. The alternative is a flashback with younger actors, but we’d probably end up dissecting their performances and finding reasons why they’re bad choices for Young Linderman or Young Deveaux. It’s a pickle which I hope the show will find a way around, but at the same time I’m not sure how it can.

Michael, I agree that Angela’s not “innocent” the way Molly is, but does that justify Matt’s actions? Isn’t the “questionable-methods-for-noble-goals” issue the same one the show explored with the plan to blow up New York? I agree that Matt’s intentions are good, but as Louie mentions in his post, do you think it’s going to be long before Matt crosses a line and goes from good intentions to “morally gray”?

I like the question you raise about Kaito’s involvement in the experiments on Elle: do you think he was involved with it, or had he already pulled out of The Company by then?

Michael, Daniel P: I think perhaps Kaito’s “I never expected it would be you” line makes sense if we speculate that he managed to antagonize EVERYONE in The Company. He seemed pretty good at striking a nerve when he talked to Angela.

Wings4Music: “Mohinder or Bennet?” is an impossible choice — that’s why the show forced us to make it.

I think West is gradually getting less fake as the story goes on. If he sticks around beyond this volume, there’s hope.

SriRam23, thank you for the compliment, and thank you for reading.
My nod to Lieberman was based on his involvement in the hostage scene at the beach; Beeman mentions in his blog this week how Lieberman and Yaitanes looked at the set at different times of day and decided when and how to shoot it. Since he is listed as this week’s DOP in the credits, and since this scene was the crowning moment of the episode for me, I felt he deserved the nod.

Gord, thank you.
With Molly, I’m not sure whether Mohinder planned to reveal his presence in Costa Verde at all; it seems like the original plan was to “take out” Noah and bring Claire back to NY very swiftly, and since Noah assumed all along that Mohinder was still in NY, I think Mohinder could have been intentionally vague about his location. I’m not sure … What do you think?

Me (heh!), word on an Emmy being long overdue for Coleman. Do you think Bob’s more focused on The Company than on Elle? I think the compelling part about this story is that Bob sort of sees The Company and Elle as intertwined. It’s why he’s a sharp contrast to Noah, who always kept The Company and Claire as far apart as he could.

Louie, I think Matt’s grin in the scene when he coerces Fuller is telling. I think it shows that Matt’s enjoying this power, and that already now his motives aren’t completely altruistic. That’s why I say Grunberg’s managing to do a lot with his material; I think he’s intentionally setting the character up to become drunk on power. And I agree, that’s a lot more compelling than anything he got to do last season, which is great.