Overview:
Clairvoyant from Usutu’s mystery goop, Matt watches Present- and Future-Peter visit a future where superpowers are commonplace, where Peter’s a renegade and where Sylar’s a family man. Present-Peter absorbs Future-Sylar’s intuitive aptitude hoping it’ll help him avoid screwing up history, but Future-Claire, Knox and Daphne show up to apprehend Peter, killing Sylar’s son and provoking Sylar into nuking Costa Verde. We don’t find out if Sylar’s ability was worth that, but Present-Peter’s already warped enough to scalp Future-Nathan, so it doesn’t look good. In other news, Nathan rescues a suicidal Tracy, Hiro and Ando scuffle over a belt (I’m not kidding!), and Agent Sark is baaaaack!
Review:
For the benefit of fans who haven’t seen this episode, think of it this way: if you take the splitting temporal migraine you had the last time they made this episode and multiply it by around fifty billion, you’ve got a vague idea of the way this one turned out. And a vague idea’s about all you’re left with even after you’ve seen the episode, because it’s so tangled up in its own storyline that it’s difficult to make any sense of it.
I kid you not, folks. Have some painkillers at the ready.
The episode opens at the Apartment of Clairvoyance, where Mohinder updates his voice recorder with an entry about “adverse reactions” to being Fly-Mo. (I wanted to call him FlyMo, but it seems a British lawnmower manufacturer got there first. This may, however, offer some clue to what’s happening to Mohinder.) Mohinder is interrupted by domestic violence next door. He intervenes, clobbers the d*%k who’s beating his wife and feels moderately guilty.
Looking back, you wonder if this scene was set up so Mohinder would have some lowlife to use for research. But the interesting part is how this storyline ties in with Sylar’s (and now Peter’s), the implication being that Fly-Mo’s aggression while Under The Influence overrides his better judgment, and that Normal Mohinder wouldn’t resolve violence with violence. Which somehow struck me as odd because, thinking about it, I can’t figure out how Normal Mohinder would deal with a situation like this. He’s gone from a mild-mannered university lecturer to a gun-toting Company Man wannabe, so it’s difficult to say whether he’d defuse the situation with dialogue, call the cops or tackle this jerkass the same way Fly-Mo did. Not a big deal, but it draws your attention to the lamentable fact that, two seasons in, we don’t understand Mohinder all that well.
We cut to Zimmerman’s home, where we see a family photo, and, whoa:
Was the dog’s DNA manipulated? Does Zimmerman know his son turned into a magnetic maniac? Will Ali have to do a German accent if Barbara grew up with Zimmerman?
We learn that the triplets’ birth parents died, so it seems drunken abusive Hal was an adoptive father for Niki, although whether Jessica’s birth parents were the same as Niki’s is now also a question worth raising.
Ali plays the scene deftly, going for something between shock, curiosity, violation and anger. Ronald Guttman’s performance is more underplayed, probably because — as we gather — he’s had crucial memories Haitian-whammied out of him. It’s worth noting, though, that the scene sets up manufactured abilities as a superpower lottery rather than a controlled science. Zimmerman doesn’t know what Tracy’s ability is, guessing that it might be speed or strength.
Tracy goes semi-cryo on Zimmerman but pulls herself back in time for the guy to thaw out. Cool effect. It’s only later that it hits you: they’re not just using Tracy as Niki 2.0 — they’re using her as Maya 2.0. She discovers a destructive ability, panics and kills a guy, then goes looking for answers. The difference is that she finds more answers in four episodes than Niki did in two seasons, and that she avoids the self-pity and insufferable whining which Maya displayed throughout the second season. Unlike both of those characters, Tracy comes across as independent and resourceful despite how confused and alone she feels. Good writing and good portrayal.
Desert of Clairvoyance. We learn that Matt’s eating goo rather than berries. Whatever. I still don’t buy that the right goo and the right auditory accompaniment will imbue anyone with a power which, until recently, was supposed to be hereditary. But if we’ve gone from hereditary abnormality to adrenal glands to DNA manipulation, what’s a little goo and music for extra measure?
Matt goes clairvoyant and sees …
Beautiful shot. Eerie, surreal, and setting up quite elegantly how this is all a reflection of what could happen until two Peters splash into it and mess it all up.
Present-Peter discovers that Superhero Square has become Superhero Planet.
The sequence with people flying and speeding across the street was well done, but I couldn’t help wishing we could see more. I can’t believe the budget was too tight to show a couple of suits phasing through traffic, or a guy replacing a tire with TK, or someone Parkman-whammying their way out of a parking ticket. It’s a great sequence as it is, but some variation to the abilities would have made it better.
Future-Peter speechifies about how people can’t be trusted, and how they’re weak and jealous and violent. It’s a riff on Claude’s “people suck” speech, and while it’s interesting that Future-Peter eventually reaches the same conclusions Claude did, it’s also a little disheartening to see that Present-Peter — despite his deception by The Company and his manipulation by Adam — is as naively idealistic as he was in the middle of the first season.
Future-Peter: “It’s not safe for me to be out in the open. They’ll be looking for us.”
Crucial Continuity Screw-Up #1. And this not a minute after a scene that echoed the words of Doctor Fantastic, who blessed both of these idiots with the gift of …
Anyone?
*PING!*
*PING!*
They both get Dumb As Awards. It’s not like they knew Future-Claire and the Haitian would show up to find them in a random New York alley, but both of them should have thought to stay invisible if they didn’t want to mess up the timeline even more than they had.
Future-Peter explains that he’s a wanted man. It’s intended to raise questions at the same time as making us say “No, he’s trying to save us all!” The problem is it demonstrates everything that’s wrong with this episode. We know Future-Peter’s trying to avert an apocalypse, but we’re pulled out of the drama by wondering: what did Future-Peter do to make people think he was an extremist and a villain? Is it that he alters his appearance and turns invisible? Is it that he can time-travel and change events? Because if abilities have become the global commodity they’re made out to be here, you’d think there’d be more than a few people who can eavesdrop on conversations and wipe memories and rewrite history. You’d also wonder why anyone would hunt and slaughter and experiment on supers when their abilities are so ubiquitous.
All interesting questions, and they’re so abundant that they pull you out of a story that’s already excessively complex. The preoccupation with “moral ambiguity” means we can’t get behind the characters. We can’t root for Future-Peter because we don’t even know if we trust him; we can’t completely hate the trio at Pinehearst because we don’t even know what they’re working to achieve; we can’t wrap our heads around a world in which Sylar’s a victim because our gut feeling tells us it’s insane. It’s all possible, but without some kind of context to the scenes the audience is collectively wandering through the episode blind, trying to figure out what they’re supposed to feel and who they’re supposed to sympathize with.
Future-Peter tells Present-Peter they need to find Sylar so that Present-Peter can absorb his ability. Because that, apparently, will help the Peters correct history and avert an apocalypse. Present-Peter rightly asks Future-Peter why he can’t do that, earning his future self yet another
*PING!*
Dumb As Award. Why is Future-Peter dragging his present self into this? Future-Peter and Future-Sylar are obviously tight friends, so it would make sense for Future-Peter to absorb Sylar’s ability before he started screwing around with time.
Present-Peter doesn’t like the sound of visiting Sylar. He wants to see Nathan, Claire, Suresh … but apparently not his dear mother. If she’s alive, you can hear Future-Angela weeping with neglect and planning her next sock-stealing escapade.
Future-Claire shows up with the Haitian and puts a few bullets in Future-Peter. The Paire shippers do not rejoice. Neither does anyone who enjoys any semblance of continuity on the show, because the bullets hit Future-Peter in the chest, meaning he should have regenerated the moment the Haitian was out of range.
Present-Peter scurries away, taking a moment to grab a trash-can lid to thwack the Haitian over the head, like, “THAT’S for wiping my memory and sending me to Ireland, a**hole!”
Aaaaaand from way back:
Intentional similarity between the shots? Your call. I choose to believe the director of photography’s a genius even when the writers seem to be idiots. I’d like to think this deliberately recalls the last time Claire lost someone she cared about, because if it is intentional, it says a lot about the way Claire went from being a victim to a killer. On the other hand, it could equally be a lucky coincidence.
Welcome to BEHIND THE PSYCHOSIS, where the villains of the show answer YOUR questions about the life of a villain on Heroes!
This week’s villain: Future-Peter.
How would you distinguish a hero from a villain?
If your heart’s in the right place, that’s what matters. And frankly, I really don’t agree with you using me for one of these installments. Lumping me with the rest of the show’s villains shows that you clearly don’t understand what I’m trying to do.
At what point would you agree with the criticism that Peter’s becoming “too powerful”?
When I’ve turned invisble, wiped my own memory and erased myself from existence. Although I’ll probably erase you first. Making me out to be a villain? Where do you get the nerve?
Describe the worst possible torture anyone could inflict on you.
Trapping me in a perpetual timeloop in which I’m forced to watch myself jumping off a rooftop again and again to see if I can fly. Man, I was dumb.
Will the show’s portrayal of family and family ties continue to change over the course of the series?
I’m not going to answer that question. I can hear what you’re thinking and it’s not appropriate. She’s my niece.
What hurts you?
The thought that my mother was stealing socks a month before she knew I’d explode.
What would you want to be written on your gravestone?
“Here lies Peter Petrelli. He had heart.”
What do you think will be written on your gravestone?
“Here lies Peter Petrelli. He tried.” That, or possibly “His heart was bigger than his brains.”
Are there any actions that people have judged to be villainous and which you’d like to clarify?
Yeah: dumping Matt in Africa. Guy bugged the crap outta me. He can follow that damn turtle from Tunis to Cape Town for all I care. Also? Get over Caitlin, losers! I ain’t savin’ her any more than I’m savin’ Simone!
In a future where everyone has special abilities, what makes you stand out from the rest?
I’m cuter than they are. You can screw around with adrenal glands but you can’t beat genetics.
What message would you want to leave to the superhero population?
Long live the super-revolution!
Future-Claire dumps Future-Peter in the Pinehearst morgue. She’s joined by Future-Knox –
?!?!?
– and Future-Daphne –
?!?!?!?!?!?!?
– and gaaaaaaaaaaaah! WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO DAPHNE’S HAIR?! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT GO AWAY!
The Future Villainous Three apparently work for an alternative Company, and their orders are to “kill Petrelli.” They don’t specify which Petrelli. Given the rate at which new Petrellis are popping up on the show this season, I’d say they’ve been issued a pretty tall order.
Crucial Continuity Screw-Up #2: Future-Claire and the Haitian mysteriously locate both Peters in a random alley, but somehow finding the one who got away proves a lot harder. I can’t figure out why, but OK. In the midst of the pathos of Future-Claire killing her uncle (who, from what we know, should already have instahealed) and working with Knox (who, from what we know, would die before he followed anyone’s orders) and Daphne (who, from what we know, doesn’t do anything if she doesn’t get paid for it) at an alternative Company (who we know nothing about) … This scene is confusing enough as it is, so worrying about the arbitrary need for SuperGPS on some occasions and not on others is the last on a long list of inconsistencies.
We cut to The Basement, where Hiro and Ando have been transferred from a Level 5 window cell to an isolated Level 2 cell with no guards outside. Regrettably, we still have to listen to him whimpering “LEEETTTE me AAHHOOOOOWWTTE!”
We’re going to make this short and brief because I don’t think any of this comedy with the vent needed to be here, and I think we could have gone from this shot of Hiro and Ando in the cell to Angela telling Hiro he needs to find The Formula. Hiro admits he’s disturbed by the prospect of Future-Ando zapping Future-Hiro, which we already knew. Future-Ando insists he would never hurt Hiro, which he’s already said several times; but also that he’s starting to understand why he might hurt Hiro, which we can understand more than he knows. Finally, Ando berates Hiro for acting like a d*%k, and we wholeheartedly agree.
Petrelli HQ. Nathan gets his aide to choose a desk from a selection of digital images. Linderman hovers in the background looking useless. It’s great that Malcolm McDowell’s back on the show, but if it’s only for a handful of episodes, shouldn’t he be doing something more memorable? The actor can make playing chess and choosing desks more ominous than anyone, but I wish this part of the plot could move forward less cryptically.
Maya visits the Apartment of Clairvoyance and cleans. I couldn’t help feeling sorry for Maya here. Not because she’s again doomed to [Facet #4] naive infatuation, but because she’s genuinely trying to help Mohinder. She’s dumber than Dumb As Mohinder so it’s not like she can help with much in a lab, but the fact that she tries to clean and persuade him to take a break for his own sake says a lot. You could argue that it’s bad continuity; that Maya forgot she had a lethal ability which needed curing, that her brother was killed a week ago and that his killer was on the loose. But at the same time, she’s trying to help Mohinder the only way she can, and she’s trying to look after a guy she genuinely seems to care about. And for once, there’s no Crying & Dying involved. This is one of the only scenes so far where Maya bordered on sympathetic.
Future Apartment of Clairvoyance. Neat transition with the dictaphone, and well done to whoever brought the cockroach back.
Peter shows up to ask Future-Mohinder for help, which is Crucial Continuity Screw-Up #3, because Present-Peter never knew Isaac’s loft was converted into a lab for Mohinder. It shouldn’t be a crucial screw-up, but it shows how the plot’s being pieced together without much regard for internal consistency.
Sad. You know he’s remembering how she was and lamenting what she’s become, but it’s also sad for us to remember how fresh and inspired the show felt, and how long ago it now seems.
Future-Mohinder appears, but he’s so ghastly that we only see him with a hood in the shadows. There’s some growling and wheezing and slithering involved, so I think there’s a lot to be said for the theory that this isn’t actually Mohinder but in fact a mutated form of Lizard-Mohinder.
Peter pulls Future-Sylar’s location out of Future-Mohinder’s head and moves to teleport out of there.
Peter’s becoming the Boogeyman! Nice foreshadowing. Again, plot holes and overly entangled storylines aside, this episode has some superb visual work tying in with the character arcs.
Peter shows up at Future Canine Central. The blue-pyro as a defense mechanism was a neat touch. Not a big deal and not forced into the plot, but it makes sense for him to use the ability when he isn’t sure what to expect.
I can’t comment on this. The image says it all.
I will, however, point out the sheer brilliance of the “Hail to the Chef” apron, which trumps even Mohinder’s “World’s Best Dad.”
And I will point out the ditty little march on the soundtrack, which captures the ridiculousness of the scene perfectly.
And Future-Sylar’s glasses, which look like they were picked to maximize his dorkiness.
And the shift in Zach’s mannerisms, from the usual steely glare to a goofy grin, from choosing and enunciating his words so carefully to slurring them in a casual conversational tone.
Whatever you think of the premise behind this episode, there’s no denying that Zach Quinto owns it.
“What’s the magic word?”
“Ab-wah-ca-dab-wah.”
“Well, that’s a magic word.”
Adorable. Saccharine and calculatingly sentimental, but adorable.
Peter glares, enough for L’il Noah to become uncomfortable and Sylar to twig that something’s up. So Sylar cuts a piece of the waffle (aw!) and tells L’il Noah that the grown-ups are going to have a chat in the next room.
The scene starts out awesome: Future-Sylar figures out Peter’s not the Peter he knows as quickly as Angela did. In character, particularly for a character whose ability involved a high level of perception.
Then we go from awesome to suck: Peter discovers he and Sylar are brothers. The reveal itself is well played by both actors, but it comes across as an off-hand “by the way” reveal rather than “brace yourself, this will blow your mind.” Even if it was set up the same way, I think Angela needed to be there when this scene played out.
And from suck to suckier: Sylar won’t give Peter his ability. Continuity Screw-Up #4, because since when did an absorber have to ask permission before taking an ability from an absorbee? Is intuitive aptitude some kind of high-grade ability that needs an instruction manual and advanced classes? Peter struggled to control his ability, but it’s not like he ever struggled with the principles behind it: (1) stand next to a super, (2) absorb their ability, (3) think really hard about the way they make him feel or get into a situation where their ability comes in handy.
“There’s a hunger. To know more, to have more. I couldn’t control it. It turned me into a killer.”
The Melancholy Sylar Piano begins, so we know they’re not kidding us with this. We’re genuinely expected to buy into the idea that, all along, Sylar’s been a victim of his ability. As opposed to, you know, A POWER-HUNGRY B*****D WHO WILLINGLY MURDERED PEOPLE EVERYWHERE SO THAT HE COULD FEEL SPECIAL. The reveal that Sylar’s a Petrelli was bad, but this is worse: this implies that becoming a serial killer wasn’t Sylar’s fault. It was. It was his fault when he cracked Brian Davis’s head open, and it’s still his fault. Suggesting that two seasons of murder was the work of a man who’s good on the inside despite his urges isn’t something I’ll believe. Ever.
And yet, the show drags itself back to awesome:
“Every day is a struggle. Every hour. But I fight it …”
It’s good dialogue, it’s well delivered, and if it was taken out of context the show probably wouldn’t have a problem making a reformed villain a metaphor for a reformed drunk. The problem is this doesn’t just devalue Sylar’s stature as the villain of the show. It retcons the pleasure Sylar took in killing people and gaining their abilities, from Dale to Isaac to Candice, all the way to nearly scalping Elle this season. It’d be less implausible if he felt bad about it; you could point to the “Forgive Me Father” scrawling in “One Giant Leap” and argue that he did feel bad to begin with. But the show now seems to be saying that Sylar didn’t actively take pleasure in taunting his victims and didn’t delight in robbing them of their abilities for his own benefit. We know he did.
Peter persuades Sylar to paint the future so that he’ll see why it’s so important to change the past. Sylar gives a nervous look towards L’il Noah in the kitchen.
“Don’t let him see me.”
Aaaaaand we’re all the way back to awesome again, because regardless of the context, it’s hard not to be moved by the thought that went into these scenes. Sylar was so afraid of relapsing that he placed an Ability Embargo on the house. Putting aside the obvious questions — is L’il Noah actually Sylar’s child? Who’s the mother? Does the kid have an ability? Does he know about Sylar’s ability? — the interesting question is why Sylar banned abilities from the house. In order not to tempt himself, probably, but it could be that Sylar’s trying to delude himself into thinking he’s changed and that he can live out an unspecial life. And in a world where abilities are like cell phones, it’s probably the most special thing Sylar could wish for.
We cut to Future Chandra’s Crib, where Future-Matt and Future-Daphne argue over whether or not to use Molly to pinpoint Present-Peter’s loca-
Whoa, Matt and Daphne? MATT AND DAPHNE? Way to go, Matt!
Welcome back, Adair Tishler! Does she look four years older? I’d say yes; if she was around eight in “Don’t Look Back,” she looks around 12 here. It helps that she’s playing an angsty teen who hides from her parents’ bickering by putting on earphones.
Matt mentions having “a spouse who’s worried if you’re gonna come home alive.” Which is a little oblique, but if Heidi and Caitlin get as much as Janice just did, I’ll be happy.
Future Canine Central. Future-Sylar paints the splitting globe we saw in the desert and on the warehouse and in the alley. It’s turning into the new double-helix. There must be a lot of clairvoyant artists out there.
Whoever came up with that deserves a bouquet. It takes us all the way back to the day he took on the name, but it’s also amazing that the hands have stopped at seven minutes to midnight. You see a detail like that and you wonder how this show can be written so brilliantly one moment and so abysmally the next, and how they remember stuff like this when they miss stuff that’s so much more obvious.
Peter TK’s the components around a bit, puts them back into place and repairs the watch, and Sylar gets …
… the eeriest look when he tells Peter how sorry he is. It’s part remorse, part horror, part fascination. Again, as much as I might complain about the premise, Zach’s performance in this episode was flawless.
L’il Noah calls out to his dad to let him know there’s a L’il Hostage Situation in the kitchen. And I realize this really is nitpicking, but how long did it take for the Villainous Trio to get from New York to Costa Verde? Unless Sylar’s painting took four or five hours — in which case L’il Noah deserves a LOT of waffles for waiting in the kitchen the whole time — I’m assuming Daphne came speeding to Canine Central with Knox and Claire in tow on rollerblades.
Sylar: “Peter — teleport out now.”
Indeed! Or FREEZE TIME. Or TK THE GUN OUT OF CLAIRE’S HAND AND PIN THEM ALL TO THE CEILING. Sylar’s inaction is understandable; he’s too afraid for his son, and after years of inhibiting his ability he might not even know if he can access it fast enough.
But Peter? He’s dumb. Dumb.
*PING!*
*PING!*
*PING!*
And that, ladies and gentleman, gives us the HeroSite Dumb As Peter Award for Heroes Season Three.
Claire points her gun at L’il Noah, which brings back the disturbing image of Matt pointing his gun at Sandra and Lyle at the end of “Unexpected” and kind of makes me hate Future-Claire. It’s made worse by the fact that Claire is …
… smiling as she’s holding a kid at gunpoint?
Well, hey, if they think they can redeem Sylar, they probably think they can redeem this too.
Peter: “You’re gonna kill me?”
Claire: “One bullet in the back of the head should do the trick.”
Sylar heard that, right? Glad we got it straightened out this week. One inconsistency we can tick off the list.
Peter: “What happened to you? How did you get this way?”
Nice echo of Future-Peter’s words in the premiere. It’s a little sad that, four episodes in, we’re no closer to an answer than we were back then, but it’s also quite moving how Claire gets a quiver of the lip when Peter asks.
Present-Peter absorbs Future-Daphne’s superspeed and gets into a superspeed-smackdown with her. I would have pegged that as an ability that needed a little practice before you turn pro, but it is an impressive sequence.
Knox beats on Sylar while Sylar philosophizes about power, strength and fear. Then Knox channels L’il Noah’s fear and kicks Sylar across the ground so hard that he sends Sylar and a broken table smashing into the kid.
And this is gutwrenching.
Not that the show dwells on it much, because we jump from Peter looking horrified and Daphne looking a little sorry to …
… Sylar ready to go nuclear.
OK, back up. I realize it’s Sylar, that the episode needs to make 42 minutes and that these villains aren’t going to stand around to accommodate a lengthy mourning scene, but Sylar’s transition from devastation to fury is very sudden. The show should have lingered with it a little longer, at least long enough for the audience to acknowledge what happened. It jumps to Sylar going berserk so abruptly that we don’t have a chance to register what happened: we don’t feel for Sylar as much as we should and we don’t hate Knox as much as we should. It’s an emotional rollercoaster that’s so fast it robs us of the emotions. So all we’re left with is a rollercoaster. And Sylar incinerating 200,000 people.
Now, here’s the REAL kicker. How do they follow up a scene as intense as that?
You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding. Me.
Cutting to the gold bars after Elle went Ellectric on Level 5 was bad, but cutting to Hiro and Ando wrestling over a belt and Hiro getting a leg up to a vent? When Sylar just nuked 200,000 people? Seriously, Heroes, ARE YOU %@*#ING KIDDING US?!
Ando uses the belt to pull the vent open and basically tells Hiro to have a nice life. And is it me, or IS HIRO CONTENT TO GO ALONG WITH THIS?
Does anyone remember when Hiro used to talk about a code of honor? Because it doesn’t seem like he’s intentionally being written as a villain — just a total douche who’s lost all concept of right and wrong.
We cut to the Apartment of Clairvoyance, where Mohinder’s looking through a microscope and cursing under his breath to let us know that What He Knows Is Too Complicated To Explain. So we’re left with sticky fingers, a visit from the violent neighbor, and what may turn out to be some cannibalism humor.
Tracy returns to the Ice Fortress to phone a detective and tearfully turn herself in for Katt’s murder, only she freezes the handset before she can get the words out. Clever, and well executed. I love how Tracy finishes the confession even after the phone’s frozen, like admitting the truth to herself is as important as turning herself in.
Tracy takes the time to type up and print out a resignation letter for Nathan before jumping off a bridge. Which might point to Tracy being the kind of control freak who can’t stand leaving loose ends before she kills herself, or it might point to Tracy wanting a pretext to see Nathan one last time. Or it’s just a device to put Tracy and Nathan together so Linderman can cryptically tell Nathan it’s his destiny to rescue her.
Nathan catches Tracy after she jumps and brings her back to the Ice Fortress.
I love how nonchalant Pasdar is in this scene, and how Tracy takes a nervous sip from her drink before she freezes it. Nice effect; you even see steam rising from the glass.
Having revealed her ability, Tracy looks like she’s not sure if Nathan’s going to freak out, love her less or regret catching her from the bridge. Our answer is given in the form of …
Gah! What are those things over her eyes? Call the fashion police!
We gather that Future-Nathan becomes president, that Future-Tracy becomes the First Lady, and that President Petrelli apparently has some close connection to Pinehearst, which has double-helixes in its logo and a giant Kirby Plaza-esque double-helix sculpture at its entrance.
It seems that Present-Peter and Future-Claire’s charred remains have regenerated. We’re given to believe that Claire subdued Peter long enough for the Haitian to arrive at the scene and stop him from freezing time, teleporting or speedy-zipping away before anyone could haul his ass from a West Coast crater to the East Coast Pinehearst facility.
Future-Claire wonders if Present-Peter’s trying to teleport away. “That’s not going to work with my friend here.” Nice echo of Noah’s words to Matt in “Collision,” and nice way to show history repeating itself. Claire blames Peter for Sylar nuking Costa Verde, which seems a little unfair because it’s no more his fault than it is Knox’s or Sylar’s, but it leads to Claire using a scalpel to slice Peter open [Insert your S&M jokes here] and vowing to make Peter feel the pain of every victim one slice at a time. So, two down, 199,998 to go. It’s a good thing these two don’t age, but will the Haitian live long enough for Claire to make good on this vow? Even if he doesn’t visit the men’s room every once in a while, he’ll drop dead before Claire gets beyond 50,000 cuts and Peter will teleport away. This plan wasn’t very well thought out.
Nathan walks in on this torture and seems …
… oddly unemotional about it.
If you didn’t need those painkillers before, you’ll need ‘em now.
The fact that Nathan doesn’t flinch at the sight of his dead present-brother next to his daughter slicing his past-brother open with a scalpel tells me one of two things: either this is a regular occurrence for these two in the future [Add more S&M jokes here!], or Nathan has become such a jerk that the sight of one relative taking a scalpel to another doesn’t faze him. If it’s the latter, I’m inclined to think Future-Angela would be beaming with pride at her son right now.
Nathan tells Peter that what happened at Costa Verde is reason enough to authorize a superpowered army. I’m not sure who they’d send that army after, but the important point is how Present-Peter seems to have screwed the future up even more than Future-Peter screwed the past up. Which shouldn’t be a problem because once Present-Peter returns to the present he can undo all of it, but this plays out with a lot of earnestness, which seems to suggest it’s another event in history that’ll take place no matter what.
Nathan wearily pulls up a chair next to the dead future version of his brother. Which, again, implies either that this is an everyday chore for him, or that Nathan’s an unfeeling b*****d. Pasdar does seem to be channeling a lot of the mannerisms and inflections he used for Sylar-as-Nathan, so you have to wonder.
Nathan offers to let Present-Peter read his mind, which Peter does, and then, dun-dun-DUN!:
It’s not enough that he won the season’s Dumb As Award. Peter’s turning evil!
He could still be alive! But somehow that’d ruin the symmetry of Future-Peter going back in time and killing Present-Nathan, only for Present-Peter to come forward in time to kill Future-Nathan.
OK, my brain has now officially fried. I need someone to re-read that and tell me how anyone can make sense of this show anymore. And the show still claims that new viewers can jump on-board anytime they like. Who do they think they’re kidding? This is so messed up that I wonder how devout fans follow it, let alone casual viewers who tuned in to see what’s going on. It’s surreal: Future-Nathan calling the shots at an alternate Company where Claire and Knox work, where Future-Peter’s body doesn’t elicit so much as a whimper from the guy’s brother and where Present-Peter slices his future-brother open to find out how his brain works? I’d say it must be some kind of alternate universe, but that’d be too straightforward for this episode.
Present-Peter returns to The Present Basement to find Present-Sylar, who he blames for Future-Sylar letting Peter take his power. Sylar realizes that Peter’s aggression stems from The Hunger, presumably setting us up for a scenario in which Peter goes on a serial-killing rampage while Sylar adopts a kid and learns how to make waffles.
“Moral ambiguity”? It’s in there somewhere, but it’s buried beneath a storyline that tripped over itself one too many times and finally fell flat after losing any sense of coherence.
Future Chandra’s Crib. Daphne shows up …
… and dies in Matt’s arms. Which, aww, even though there was no real reason to buy into the two of them being together in the first place.
And Matt finally wakes up. Am I the only one who forgot this all took place in Matt’s head?
Matt remembers that the woman in his dream was named Daphne and makes it a priority to find her. Which I guess is the second priority after escaping the desert, but also raises the question of whether Matt saw everything we just saw. If he did, you do have to question the priorities of a man who resolves to find his mystery blonde before looking into the potential destruction of a town, the deaths of 200,000 people and the prospect of a near-invulnerable superhero taking on an ability that’ll turn him psychotic.
That’s true love.
Usutu tells Matt to follow his spirit guide.
How long do you think it would take Matt to follow this turtle from Tunis to Cape Town? However long, it’ll be faster than the pace this story thread’s moving at. When Matt’s storyline consists almost entirely of dreaming about what other characters are doing, something needs to change.
Angela brings Hiro and Ando to the Midas Study and tells them that “they” have both parts of The Formula, and that Papa Sulu was wrong about Hiro growing up to be a great man. We don’t feel inclined to disagree with this, and neither does Hiro, who lets his head droop so low that you wonder if it’s possible for shame to induce narcolepsy.
Ando resuscitates Hiro long enough for Angela to tell them there’s someone “powerful” and “hidden” out there, and that Hiro’s the key to finding him and solving this mystery. Hiro’s solution to solving said mystery is to dig up Adam. Because, between 30 years in a Company cell and a couple of weeks in a coffin, there’s a chance he might know something. At this point, I’ve given up trying to make sense of the episode. I’m not even going to wonder how Hiro and Ando could be stupid enough to release Adam without the Haitian there to negate Adam’s instaheal and put a bullet through his head the moment he runs.
In the end, it’s hard to complain, because …
SAAAAAAAAARK!
It goes without saying that this episode has a lot in common with “Five Years Gone”: present hero meets future counterpart, sees how everyone’s changed, witnesses a disaster and returns to the present to avert it all. On paper, it’s straightforward enough. And, to be fair, this episode displayed a lot of the brilliance that “Five Years Gone” did: the concept was engaging, the effects were superb, and we’re left wondering how the characters will become so screwed up.
The difference is that while “Five Years Gone” told a coherent, streamlined story, “I Am Become Death” is a mess. An often brilliant mess, but one that loses its brilliance because of its messiness. The questions we’re left with aren’t intentionally enticing so much as regrettably unresolved: Linderman’s pulling Nathan’s strings, but we don’t even know if he’s Linderman; Future-Claire’s a trigger-happy mercenary, but we still have no idea why; Matt and Daphne are together, but it seems like it’s more for the sake of arbitrary drama than because it makes sense for them to be together; and Hiro’s dredging up the previous season’s villain on the off-chance that he’ll illuminate them — and us — about anything going on here.
It’s not just that the logic behind the plot falls apart the moment you think about it; it’s that the episode is so elaborate that it loses sight of what it wants to say. For all its scope, “Five Years Gone” had a core idea: it explored how each character reacted to New York’s destruction and its aftermath. “I Am Become Death” confuses mystery with obfuscation and lacks a core idea. The backbone of the story is Peter hoping Sylar’s ability might help him alter history without completely messing it up, but since we don’t know what we’re supposed to make of that — whether it’ll work, or whether we can even trust the guy who came up with it — we don’t know what we’re supposed to make of the episode. It’s not so much enjoyable as it is bewildering.
3 out of 5
As tragic as L’il Noah getting squished, because it should have been a 5.
I loved the episode. Thought it was phenomenal.
Partly because I think they are showing us how these characters become their future incarnations in the present (the 3×05 press release seems to confirm this, and Matt on a quest to find Daphne does too.)
As for Sylar, I don’t get the problem. In S1 he does take joy taking abilities, and he seems to in early S3 too… but at the same time, it seems gratuitous - he isn’t doing them for some greater reason, he seems to be doing it for the sake of it. Look how many tertiary abilities he’s taken (Melting, Precognition) that he rarely uses - it seems to me that he’s always been the equivilient of a drug addict looking for a fix. That’s not to say he’s all good and that he didn’t enjoy it, but he never really had anyone who’d sit down and help him understand his ability. It’s not about him being ‘good’ inside, it’s about us finally getting a good look at the Gabriel who existed before Six Months Ago. He was creepy and had a desire to be special then, but at the same time before he met Chandra he seemed to be harmless. So having someone who can help him understand and control his ability in Angela seems, to me, to put Sylar on an ambiguous trip. He’s not good, but he doesn’t have to be bad either.
About Future Peter’s death, I think the idea is that if Peter or Claire dies while the Haitian is nearby, neither of them wil come back to life when he leaves.
There might be a good reason for digging up Adam. Remember, Angela can see the future. We’ll have to wait until the next episode.
The Company formed in 1977 (in February Victoria discovered The Shanti Virus), and Adam was locked up in November. It seems to me like most the problems (and breakthroughs) took place during those 11 months, so I think Adam would know a fair bit about the Formula. Maybe he’s even the test subject.
So am I the only one who doesn’t get what the HECK the title of this episode is supposed to mean??? What the CRAP is “I AM BECOME DEATH”??
Personally, though, I liked this episode. There were a lot of continuity…umm, ‘errors’ is too nice a word…I’ll go with continuity horrors instead…and many of the scenes were rushed or put in precisely the wrong place (ex. the transition from L’il Noah’s death and the ensuing (hurried) BOOM in Costa Verde to the “You always sucked at tug’o'war” disaster). Nonetheless I thought that other parts were fan-freakin-tastic (”Hiro, you son of a bi–” and the seven minutes to midnight detail among them).
Future Peter’s death is probably brought about by the Insta-Heal Soft Spot–doubtless Claire put a bullet in the back of his head as soon as Past-Petey took off. She has TERRIBLE aim for a Pinehearst mercenary though–honestly, Pete was running in a STRAIGHT FREAKIN LINE and she couldn’t hit him! Pitiful. A disgrace to Evil-Claire’s rep. Isn’t she supposed to have been at this for like, five years? Is she SERIOUSLY still so sucky with a weapon?
Also, if Matt DID see everything that happened in the future, is this possibly the new “92%-of-the-world’s-population-is-dead-but-I’m-gonna-scream-CAAAAAITLIN!!!!” storyline? Blech. Daphne’ll probably end up in some timeline that doesn’t exist and get completely forgotten–pity, she was a fun character.
And finally: MATT’S SPIRIT GUIDE IS A TURTLE!!!
Cue guffaws.
I don’t think the continuity issues with the Haitian and Mohinder’s lab are necessarily issues. After all, we don’t know if the Haitian’s presence completely negates any chance of recovering, given enough time. Sure, Claire and Peter managed to revive once the objects embedded in their brains were removed, but their brains were mostly intact, so they likely still could recover, unlike the Haitian’s ability negation and a bullet to the head.
As for Mohinder’s lab, it could be possible that Matt told Peter during the time the two were together back in Odessa. Granted, having to make such a large connection in logic is unnecessary and the fault of the writers.
Regardless, I think, for the most part, this episode was great. True, the episode was really vague on a lot of stuff, but I suppose that’s what it was going for. And we did get to see a little of how Claire got to where she was–Sylar’s supposed influence on her, stemming from his attack no doubt. As for Knox and Daphne, that’s the mystery then, isn’t it?
But in the end, I see where you’re coming from Otto. Hiro’s story is pissing me off too. It’s understandable that they’re trying to return to the fun of season 1, but I think it would make it much more meaningful to see a slow progression to a very serious Hiro. Give us a bit of humor to remind us of who he still is, but right now, it seems like Hiro is running in place.
You know, Otto, I didn’t hate the episode. I thought it was, for the most part, engaging, suspenseful, and the concept admirably high. Yeah, the Peters didn’t think to go invisible, but when the writers saddle themseles with multiply-abled characters, such inconsistencies are almost unavoidable. As much relish as Hayden must have taken in playing her, I despise this future-Claire. I think we’re meant to. The Future-Claire in FYG was jaded, but still sympathetic.
And I thought it was obvious that this timeline was not the same as the one Future-Peter came back from at the beginning of the premiere. Shooting Nathan prevented him from revealing their abilities. The future changed from one in which supers were hunted to one in which they were “everybody.” Obviously, Future-Peter jumped back to his time for a while to see what he’d done (Angela had told him that he messed things up even worse) after leaving Level 5 and before showing up to push his past self out of Weevil. This Future-Claire is apparently even more nasty than the one we saw at the beginning of the premiere. Peter didn’t seem to be a wanted terrorist then, remember?
I didn’t have as many issues as you did. Waffle-making Sylar was supposed to be bizarro. I don’t think we’re supposed to believe that this future will ever actually happen. I certainly don’t want future-Claire to “actually” exist.
I think the whole problem with the show right now is that it’s hanging its hat too much on time travel. They set that up in the second episode of the whole show, but all of the alternate futures really are enough to make the head spin.
Hiro really needs to be fixed. Talk about a character who’s been assassinated.
Matt-in-Africa really seems like a small side plot that will soon tie into larger things (unlike the endless Hiro-in-feudal-Japan thing), so that doesn’t bug me too much.
No, more than anything going on with the show itself, two things are worrying me. The first is the ratings. This was the lowest-rated episode EVER. Seriously. I know this would have sounded crazy 18 months ago, but I’d say that “Heroes” making it to a fourth season is seriously in doubt. NBC is struggling, and their anchor show is faltering. More bad news that could possibly turn into good (?) The brilliant “Pushing Daisies” (a show that is running on all cylinders creatively) is tanking in the ratings. Sad as its inevitable cancellation will be, perhaps it will free up Bryan Fuller–he who wrote the show’s best-ever episode–to come back and help clean up the mess.
The second thing that is bugging me is the attitude of the producers and writers. I can’t even stand to read Pokaski and Coleite’s “Behind the Eclipse” Q&A’s anymore, not because their answers are so cryptic–we expect that. It’s because they’re so flip and snarky and almost treat the fans as if they are idiots. They did say that Heidi will show up again, though.
And talk about loose plot ends. Apparently some scenes with Dana Davis were shot, but “didn’t make the cut.” How nice. If you’re going to get rid of characters, write them out. Especially former regulars. Don’t be lazy about it and hope their existence is forgotten. I think that’s what’s pissing everyone off about Caitlin. Not that anyone really cared that much about the character, but they are not even bothering to properly write out a prominent multi-episode recurring who was left to a terrible fate. And if Claire is still in Costa Verde, I guess West ceased to exist? Yeah, I hated the guy too, but he was kind of heroic there at the end. He at least deserves a throw-away line.
Like I said, I don’t want to belabor Caitlin anymore, but I think it’s indicative of the problem with the producers’ attitude when the CBR interview starts by telling us that there were many questions about Caitlin and then reprinting an answer from the summer where P&C were coy, flippant, and annoyingly “wink-wink” about her fate–not to mention completely noncommital.
I’d imagine that they have heard so many questions about it that they know they’ll have to do something in Volume 4–they’re all about pleasing the fans, right? Especially if NBC comes telling them to fix things or season 4 is a no-go. I know they are trying to bury the virus plot as if it were radioactive waste, but if they’re digging up Adam, it can’t disappear completely.
So, yeah. The ratings bug me. The willingness to drop characters without properly killing them off or writing them off bugs me. The flip attitude of the writers and producers, especially Pokaski and Coleite in their maddening CBR interviews, bugs me. But the episode itself, I found enjoyable and engaging and its flaws not fatal. I see what you’re saying, Otto, I really do. But anything wrong with this episode pales in comparison with the problems the show is having both behind the scenes and at the Nielsen box.
But the nod to Janice was nice. The Sylar watch was excellent. That’s all we really need, guys.
I was so relieved after reading this review - I thought I was the only one in the entire freaking world who thought that this episode was seriously subpar. Claire becomes a cold-blooded killer. HOW? Future Peter says that others have branded him an extremist and a villain. WHY? Sylar as a waffle-making suburban dad. WTF?
These changes are so radical that my first reaction is to question why, and when no answers are given I decide that I just don’t care. You can intellectualize it away as a result of jumping around in time, but that’s not an excuse at all when you go back and watch the masterpiece that is Five Years Gone and realize how far Heroes has slipped this season.
I had a lot of the same problems you did. Two things would have helped — making the future plot the sole focus, as with FYG, and putting the events in the companion GN on screen.
Plus, and this is purely subjective, I missed HRG. I realized he was dead, even before I read the GN, because that partly explains F-Claire and goes back to how they die within hours of each other in FYG and how S2 Claire threatens to narc after his death, so that’s continuity. But, HRG being present would have diminished the incoherence/inconsistency factor, somewhat. because HRG is the resident gravitas and exposition guy.
Also, GN or not, we had to know Sandra was dead, because there’s no way that a living Sandra would leave Mr. Muggles with Sylar/Gabriel, semi-reformed or not.
I just thought of a way that Peter could have learned about Mohinder being in Isaac’s loft. Matt could have mentioned it to him behind the scenes in Powerless.
Back to Caitlin. Yes, it’d be nice if they wrapped that up… but it’s a damned if they/damned if they don’t situation.
So you’re major complaint is that they showed you the outcome without explaining what led to it? You really want them to tell you why Linderman is “back”, why Sylar is good, why Peter is a “terrorist,” why they dug up Adam, and why Claire is “a bad actor (oops, I just mean bad)” in the 4th episode? I know this show hasn’t earned it, but some suspension of disbelief is necessary with a serial show.
I fully agree that Hiro is unneccessary. I also agree that there are a ton of plot holes, but have you seen this show, that’s not going to change. I think that this was the best episode since season 1 (not that that’s saying much) mostly because it was focused. It should have been more focused, but it was better than the scattershot storytelling they’ve been pulling.
Honestly, my biggest problem with the episode hasn’t happened yet. I think giving Peter Sylar’s power is going to open up thousands more plot holes because now everytime Peter (read: the writers) forget one of Peter’s powers there will be no excuse. He should understand how to use them all and become an unstoppable force. He won’t though. He’ll still do stupid things and not use all his powers because he’s written as an idiot, just like everyone on this show except for Sylar and HRG.
First, I loved this episode. Although I cannot say this is on the level of “Company Man” or “Cautionary Tales”, still the story made me want to see more.
I will only single out what I think are “legitimate” problems: The Hiro storyline which is getting tiresome, and the actual “Area of Effect” of the Haitian’s power-dampening ability.
So F.Peter took P.Peter into the future, showed him what the world has become and tells him to solve the problem. Why? Why won’t F.Peter do it himself? I think he answered it correctly.. “I stepped on too many butterflies”. It brings to our notice the fact that, although both Peters has the Space-Time Power, they have not mastered it as much as Hiro (or Future Hiro) did. It now falls into the hands of the person “originally” in that timeline to do the rest.
Claire’s transformation from being a bit of a brat into a victim, then into a killer is expected. Common question is “how”? I guess that’s why there is a four year gap, don’t you think? For me, the moment Meredith extracted the truth out of Claire via her fire torture thing, it was the start of her “turn to the dark”.
Daphne and Knox becoming part of the “Pinehearst” isn’t a surprise. But it does deserve a nice roll-out in the next episodes.
MoFly scene.. I really don’t care that much…
F.Sylar was very well acted. Again, the mystery surrounding how this turned out is not something that should be explained in this episode, specially in this type of series, so I am really wondering what’s the fuzz
Anyway, the fact that F.Sylar “won’t let” P.Peter have his ability shows how powerful Sylar had become and how far he understood his ability. “Understanding how things work” is not as “simple” as “shooting electricity”, which can be picked up by anyone who has the same powers as Peter. For the writers’ to tie it to “The Hunger” is absolutely brilliant. It’s human nature: We hunger for more every time, What more if we understand everything?
Li’l Noah’s death is absolutely gut-wrenching. And Sylar’s reaction? perfectly understandable… He never had to be like this before… He was ALWAYS in control… and when the only person that he loved was taken away?… Was there lack of emotion? I don’t think so… the explosion said it all.
Matt and Dahpne… definitely should be explained, but again, not today. There is a reason why this is a “future” episode.
Claire torturing P.Peter… great acting by Hayden here… It only shows how ideals change a person.
P.Peter scalping Nathan. I TOTALLY did not see that coming and my jaw dropped. But it was the perfect cap for the “hunger” thing.
Matt following the turtle is quite unusual, but his storyline, if done properly, could be the one that ties everything up.
Best moment of the Hiro storyline was “Hiro, you son of a…..”
Overall, the story showed how deep the rabbit hole goes (credit: The Matrix:P). And I am more than enthusiastic to say “I am diving right in”.
Great Review, Otto.
i thought the show was great. but i need to stop visiting this page cuz i can’t stand hearing all nitpicks about stuff. i just watch the show purely for the entertainment and not too much for the continuity. if people think they can do a better job of writing and creating stories, they can do their own show and see if they can fare better
When I first started checking out your reviews, I assumed you to be a fan of the show. Otherwise, why bother to be on a fan site, right? Now, I don’t expect you to agree with or like everything they do on the show; clearly that’s not a reviewer’s, or even a fan’s, job. Still, I’ve read a number of your articles, and it seems to me that you live by the rule, “If you can’t do, critique.” Your reviews are freaking ENDLESS. One assumes that your reader has probably seen the episode you’re reviewing, so how about reviewing it rather than indulging in in the endless expository rehash? Also, d’ya think you could give the sarcasm a bit of a rest? Maybe just one episode a month, pull your snarky-as-hell tongue out of your cheek? Honestly, it’s beyond irritating.
I suggest that you take a look at Triplet’s reviews on Smallville, over at your sister site. Those reviews are well written, give a sense of the story in each week’s episodes, and actually critique them, good or bad, without leaving readers with the feeling that they’ve just read the script for “Mean Girls 3.”
Um…
Caeporte–
I’d say that if nitpicking ain’t your thing, the Otto’s reviews definitely ain’t your thing. And as fans, we have a right to ask questions, level criticisms, and such. That’s what happens when you become invested in a show.
I stand by my prediction that Katie Carr will be hired for something before they’re done shooting Volume 4. Too much fan outrage about the dropped thread.
Oh, and Otto, I forgot to mention another flip response from C&P in that CBR interview–they were asked about the Angela phone call that has been forgotten and made some lame joke about the writers’ strike.
Yeah, people have a hard time ignoring the LAST FREAKIN’ LINE OF A SEASON ARC, for heaven’s sake.
The goals they set for this volume to make it better than season 2 were admirable, and they had a long time to work it out. But I feel that they have to learn that pretending certain stories and plot points never existed is a non-option. I think that dropping the virus storyline may have been network intervention, but like I said, at least tie the loose ends. It’s really kind of depressing that this stuff bugs me so much because I really am greatly enjoying the episodes so far.
Im constantly bringing converting my friends into heroes fans and they have never watched the show before and they have no problem following the story-line and neither do i. why do u continue to watch the show if all you have to do is complain and gripe about how hard it is to understand the show?
i just think for continuity issues, the writers and folks ought to get some slack. thats all. i guess that’s what they get for picking out so many storylines for so many characters, if you listen to the commentaries, even the actors point them out, so its not like it had gone un noticed.
as for the katie’s character, since volume three starts picks up RIGHT when volume two ended, i would like to think she’ll eventually come back. from what it looks like so far, at least a week has passed in volume three? peter just got sidetracked from getting the virus to bumping into his future self about a future worse than the virus outbreak.
maybe it’ll all get explained…eventually
Posted by Siege: “So am I the only one who doesn’t get what the HECK the title of this episode is supposed to mean??? What the CRAP is “I AM BECOME DEATH”??”
Reply: It’s from words spoken by J. Robert Oppenheimer (one of the men who invented nuclear weapons) after the first successful test of an atomic bomb in New Mexico in 1945. The full phrase he quoted was “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”, which is from Hindu scripture.
For those of you who are upset with Otto and don’t appreciate what he does, I suggest you look at some of his reviews from the better first season episodes.
Again, nobody is asking them to get everything right. That’s why I’m willing to forgive nits like forgetting about Peter’s invisibility.
What I’m asking for is for dangling threads to be resolved and for characters to be written out or killed off rather than just ditched.
Maybe I would have more faith in these things being resolved if the producers and writers didn’t act like they were upset that the fans remembered this or that, or if they weren’t so dismissive or snarky. You want snark? Check out Coleite and Pohaski’s exasperating, fan-insulting interviews on Comic Book Resources.
Otto’s reviews include snark that never fails to be funny and NEVER insults intelligent viewers of the show. His “endless expository rehash” never fails to put things in a new light or to be illuminating. He’s not simply re-writing the script here. They involve a lot of thought and organization. I find them unbelievably refreshing and I HOPE that the writers are aware of and are reading them. They may not be your cup of tea, so don’t read if you don’t like. Some of us very much do like.
Ian, I definitely agree that the episode did a great job with the “present-events-informing-future-events” set-up. I think it managed that as well as “FYG” did.
Fair points about Sylar. I hope the upcoming flashbacks establish whether he was a decent guy before Chandra found him. I think the point you make is key: that there were signs he was rotten before he discovered he had a power. That’s kind of why I have a hard time believing it’s all the ability and nothing to do with him. I think it has a lot to do with the person he is (or was), but hopefully we’ll find out one way or another.
Great theory on Adam being the test subject for the Formula, by the way.
Michael — heh, yeah, I came to the same conclusion you and Daniel P did: if the Haitian’s around when the injury “sets in,” the regeneration can’t do its thing later on. I’m not sure if it fits with the brain “rebooting” itself once the shard of glass/tree root/whatever is removed, but OK.
Do you think Angela told Hiro to dig up Adam? Probably true; I can’t see Hiro coming up with a plan like that. But I wonder what that decision must have been like for Angela after the dream in 3.02. It’s almost like she’s letting it come true.
Siege, check out Nathan’s post below for the explanation to the title. Heroeswiki also has a link to the original text that Oppenheimer alludes to, which is really cool.
Hah, “continuity horrors.” I’m pretty much on the same page as you: plot holes and hokey editing aside, the episode had some terrific moments in it. I’m thinking we could write off Claire’s lousy shooting as a subconscious wish to let Peter escape. Maybe?
Daniel P, welcome back.
Great idea by you and Michael about Matt telling Peter where Mohinder’s lab is. I think it’s reaching a little bit; why would that come up in the midst of the Shanti Virus nearly breaking out and Nathan going public about his ability? But fair enough, it works.
I think a little mystery’s a great thing, and I love how the show’s slowly revealing the various parts of the plot. My beef with this episode was the way it was overloaded with questions, to the point where they got in the way of the story the show was trying to tell. That’s just my take, though. If it didn’t get in the way for everyone else who enjoyed it, amen to that.
KellyH, I didn’t hate the episode either; I liked it for all the reasons you mention.
Was the invisibility “unavoidable”? I dunno … If Noah and the Haitian found Claude with bog-standard infrared back in “Unexpected,” there’s gotta be a futuristic equivalent. Then Claire could have shot both Peters while they were invisible and there would have been another Claire/HRG parallel.
I’d speculate that the superpower-persecution unfolds in all of the timelines. There’s always going to be someone who wants to strap individuals down to harvest their abilities, and there’s always going to be someone like Future-Peter who tries to take everything into their own hands. I think it’s the same as Nathan becoming president: one of those developments that takes place no matter what.
With Sylar, I’m on the fence about whether this is The Actual Plan. They obviously set up the scene this week for laughs, but I think they’re serious about portraying him as a guy who can be rehabilitated.
I don’t think the show’s in any danger of not getting a fourth season — or a fifth. It’s still NBC’s flagship, and it’s in the company of a LOT of shows that are suffering this season, so I think a lot of other shows will go before Heroes does. Even if the ratings continue to fall, the show will likely coast through at least another two seasons on the strength of its first-season pedigree. I think they’d thin the cast out and cut the show’s budget before they canceled it outright, but all of those options are a long way off, so I wouldn’t worry about it yet.
With the BTE installments over at CBR: I don’t think it’s Coleite and Pokaski being “flippant” or “snarky” or “coy”: I think they’re doing a great job of establishing a dialogue with the show’s fans. The crux is they need to entice viewers without spoiling them outright. Fine line, and I think they’re generally walking it very carefully. In some cases the writers opted to drop storylines which they thought had hit a dead end. We don’t know if there was a solid plan in place for Monica or Caitlin (for example), and I’m kind of content to trust that they made the right call about leaving the characters’ exit open-ended enough that they could come back but don’t have to. There’s unresolved and there’s open-ended; which ties in with my problem with this episode, which I felt was unresolved. You could argue that it was merely open-ended, and that’s equally valid.
Spencer, word to all of your post. I don’t know if I’d agree that the show has slipped; I think this week’s episode was very ambitious with its story and scope, and I think it collapsed under its own weight. Creatively, I think the show’s as strong as ever.
Raissa, I had the same thought: the present-day story threads could have been worked into 3.03 or 3.05 and this episode would have worked the same way “FYG” did. To me, that’s part of why the episode struggled to find its flow.
I missed HRG too. I think the “I learned to take care of myself” line from Claire at the Bennet house conveyed a lot; my guess is that’s (sadly) another part of the timeline that’ll happen no matter what.
Brian, your points, in order:
(1) No, my complaint is that there were too many question marks leading up to the outcome, and that it’s difficult to appreciate an outcome if it lacks any logical context or rationale.
(2) Yes, I do think the Linderman mystery is dragging on longer than it needs to. That’s just my take, and I respect yours.
(3) No, I don’t think they need to tell us why Sylar’s good. I wouldn’t believe them if they tried.
(4) Yes, I did think they needed to tell us in this episode why Peter was considered “a terrorist.” That’s a big question mark to leave hanging if the show wants us to get behind a storyline that revolves around his instructions to Present-Peter.
(5) No, I don’t need to know why they dug up Adam. I trust the show to explain that later.
(6) Claire’s a bad actor? I didn’t realize she was acting.
I disagree that the show hasn’t earned our suspension of disbelief. If it hadn’t, I wouldn’t bring it up on the relatively few occasions when it interferes with the flow of the story.
I’m glad you enjoyed the episode. I did too, and you might have noticed that I did bring up a lot of the episode’s merits in this review.
I’d add Angela, Nathan and Sandra to your list of “smart characters.”
Marvin, great post. I agree: the episode made me look forward to seeing where the story goes.
With Future-Peter absorbing Sylar’s ability himself instead of getting Present-Peter to do it: random theory — do you think Sylar got his redemption arc in the timeline Future-Peter came from at the start of 3.01? A couple of people here mention that the timelines have already been altered a lot, so I wonder if Sylar would still be living at the Bennet house if he hadn’t been taken down by Elle and if Angela hadn’t taken it upon herself to help him.
Daphne and Knox: I agree, it’s been set up to be explained.
I didn’t see the death of Sylar’s son as lacking emotion — it’s the opposite: I didn’t think the emotions were played to their full effect. The scene felt rushed to me. Again, that’s something every viewer will feel differently about.
caeporte — hah, yeah, the show does get dissected here. If you’re watching it for pure entertainment, that’s awesome. If you haven’t already, I’d recommend checking out the discussion forums on HeroSite. A lot of viewers go there to say they loved the episode, loved a particular storyline and loved a particular character. A huge number of people who visit our site aren’t interested in analyzing the details, which is cool. We’re trying to cater to every portion of the fanbase, which is why we have one part of the site with one-sentence reviews and one part of the site with scene-by-scene reviews. It just depends on what you’re into.
Kevin, your first assumption is right on: I am a fan of this show. Believe it or not, in-depth reviews do get written by people who love their subject matter.
I’m glad you agree that it’s not my job to give the show a gold star every week. If you loved this episode, respect to you.
My reviews are long, for no particular reason besides (1) the show is complex enough to justify it, and (2) the show has fans who are obsessive enough to want to take it apart. You’ll find reviews for this show all over the web, written in different styles and to different lengths. I appreciate your comments about my reviews; I do tend to throw in little jokes here and there, and if that’s not to your taste, again, I respect that. There are a lot of reviews on the web that will succeed where mine failed.
I generally try to keep “expository rehash” to a minimum, but since my review is essentially a stream-of-consciousness reaction to what I’m seeing on the screen, and since the review covers the episode one scene at a time, what’s happening in the storyline generally dictates the framework of the review. That’s not something I can change unless I review the show backwards without any context to what I’m commenting on.
I have enormous respect and admiration for Triplet over at K-Site, and I’m glad we agree that her reviews are well written. We’re different fans and we approach our shows — and our reviews — with different ideas and perspectives.
KellyH, thank you.
Do you think the Shanti Virus was dropped because of network interference? Could be. I’m guessing it’s just that after a long hiatus the show was looking to start a brand new story. The ethos seems to have been that if it wasn’t a pivotal storyline it took a backseat to the newer storylines. Not ideal, I agree, but maybe that’s the nature of serial storytelling.
jordon, I’m glad you’re introducing people to the show. That might be what saves the show.
I continue to watch the show because for every five things I find wrong with it, I’ll find fifty that I love. That’s true of almost every review you’ll find here, including this one. In any case, keep in mind that it’s just an opinion, and everyone’s entitled to one.
Um,
kells,
i never said i was upset with Otto or his reviews. i just merely stated that i, personally, don’t like all the nitpicking. and you said fans had the right to ask questions and such, well, fans also have the right to beg to differ and ought to put in their two cents. thats all. and i never thought the reviews insulting. maybe a little over sarcastic. whatever.
and just out of curiousity, where did you hear about the writers being upset fans remembering stuff? they took it into consideration that fans weren’t too pleased with the second volume, so they’re just trying to make up for it with the third volume and start fresh. and maybe by starting fresh = dropping some characters. frustrating? yes. but i wouldn’t say its uncommon for a character to disappear from tv and then reappear again a few seasons later. tho i would hope Heroes wouldn’t wait several seasons to rehash Caitlin.
i would assume seeing more of micah, monica, and molly since they still have ties to the main cast. molly cuz of her relationship with matt. and since Niki was a bigger character than micah and monica, they weren’t necessary since niki died, but they would have a connection to tracy. what do you think?
otto: heck yeah i check out the forums!
but i guess there’s something about a good ol’ debate that gets people going!
I missed HRG too. I think the “I learned to take care of myself” line from Claire at the Bennet house conveyed a lot; my guess is that’s (sadly) another part of the timeline that’ll happen no matter what.
Of course it will. That’s part of the tragedy of her immortality, which I hope the writers stick to, and Sylar wasn’t just lying, because the immortality would be S2-related continuity. It was one of the S2 elements (Adam) that made sense.
Oh, Otto. I was so excited about this episode and it seems all I’ve read since then has been negative - people hating the episode, ratings dropping, etc.
Then I came here hoping to have a great review and, while it is entertaining, I was hoping for a more positive one.
Although Marvin’s comments make me feel better. Thank you, Marvin.
Of course, Otto, I agree with you about the good stuff, but all the questions that bothered you either didn’t cross my mind or didn’t seem like problems that hurt my enjoyment of the episode.
Depending on how Peter having Sylar’s ability plays out, I may change my mind about this episode. Then again, based on the summaries for upcoming episodes, I’m mildly optimistic that I won’t have to.
Another contributing factor may be that I’m not as harsh on Peter and how or when he uses his abilities as most other fans/viewers. I don’t think he’s stupid, just completely human … as in not always doing the right thing, making mistakes. Does he have a lot of abilities? Yes, of course he does, but that doesn’t mean he knows what all of them are and/or how and when to use them.
Speaking of Peter, that reminds me that even though Nathan told him to read his mind, I don’t think he actually did. He only used Sylar’s ability. Previously, when Peter read Mohinder’s mind, you could hear what Mohinder was thinking. During the scene with Nathan, there was none of that.
I enjoyed this episode and can hardly wait for Monday’s.
Otto and Raissa:
Regarding Claire–I’m not sure that Evil!Claire is an inevitable part of any possible future. Remember the version from FYG. Despite a boatload of adversity, she was doing her best to make something positive out of her life. Bitchy future-Claire from this season is somebody you automatically just hate (I know I did). I was incredibly sympathetic to the FYG version, and I hope that it shows that her descent into darkness isn’t inevitable.
Nobody seems to be buying into a Sylar redemption arc. Quinto ALMOST convinced me in his performance, and you know I’ve never been an enormous fan of the character. But to me a redemption arc doesn’t seem that far-fetched. Two words: David Boreanaz.
If Angel and Angelus are not the same “person,” then perhaps neither are Sylar and Gabriel Grey. We loathed Angelus but loved Angel, and nobody had more blood on their hands than Angelus did. Who’s to say that we can’t despise Sylar and be sympathetic to Gabriel Grey (past and future). I’m open to it–at least it’s a new direction to take with a character I believed to be played out.
mmmmmm…..aaaaaangeeeel.
sorry. had to throw that in there
but now that you bring the angel reference, you could compare sylar/gabriel to spike. spike changed because he wanted to. angel had no choice.
we still don’t know which path sylar’s going to take. btw….love the buffy/angel refference!
Sylar’s an alias, an illusion. Essentially, it’s a way for Gabriel to escape his life and the truth of who he is. It goes back to 1×11, where he REFUSES to be called Gabriel, because being called Gabriel means facing up to the truth of what he’s done.
As for ‘Sylar’ continuing to be evil in S2 without his abilities, they were taken from him. He wasn’t able to make a choice. If you remove drugs from a drug addict, that person hasn’t made the choice to do it - they have to take the first step, which is what Gabriel is starting to do. He’s making the choice to try and combat his demons, rather than have it stolen from him.
KellyH.
Re: Claire, I agree. I wasn’t saying that Evil!Claire was inevitable, just that Noah’s death was inevitable.
As for Sylar, I love ZQ’s performance, always have, and I see the Angel parallels in his story line. Unfortunately, I was never an Angel fan, so the comparison isn’t a plus for me.
I’m just really, really, really tired of Sylar, and like you, I feel that his continued presence is a factor preventing the writers from going in other narrative directions.
Oh, well. That’s why we have fanfic.
Susan, I really like your point about whether Peter mind-read Nathan. My take on it was that he did. His line a moment later about Nathan thinking he’s doing the right thing seems like more than intuitive observation. The fact that we didn’t hear Nathan’s thoughts might have come down to how much the director thought the audience needed to hear. In this instance, I think Peter didn’t just mind-read a few surface-level thoughts — I think he mind-read everything in Nathan’s head, and Sylar’s ability drove Peter to want even more than that; hence the scalping.
KellyH — what Raissa said. I agree that Badass-Claire isn’t a given, but Noah’s death probably (/sadly) is, and so is Sandra up and leaving with Lyle.
If it’s going to be a fair comparison between Sylar and Angel, I think Quinto will need his own show.
Would you say the structure and format of the two shows makes a difference? Angel was very much a core-group character-driven show, whereas Heroes is a large-ensemble story-driven show. Even if Sylar has the same potential that Angel did for an expansive backstory, the option to explore that here is a lot more limited. Angel managed to nearly every week because it was a small cast and he was the focus of it, whereas Sylar pretty much has to make do with the occasional flashback episode amid about 10 other characters. Taking that into account, I’ll applaud this show if it can develop Sylar anywhere near as effectively.
Nathan–thankee sai [does Hiro's signature grateful bow]. Thou hast been helpful xD
Otto–I dunno how much we can chalk up to Claire’s deeply buried conscience. Let us remember that it didn’t speak up too loudly when she (1) shot future-uncle in the chest, (2) aimed a gun at the irresistibly cute L’il Noah and then grinned (eeeevilly!), or (3) cut into her past-uncle with a scalpel. Granted, this IS the uncle who saved her from the Boogeyman four years ago, but still…regardless, I guess it could be an out. [shrugs]
Anyway, you mentioned in your review that Future Peter is probably only one of thousands of people with the potential to commit terrorist acts with the ability to change time, but perhaps certain abilities are available only through heredity (such as empathic mimicry, time travel, intuitive aptitude, the Parkman Whammy, etc.), while certain other abilities are up for grabs to whomever can get their hands on Nameless African Goo and a Britney Spears CD (glares at Matt). I dunno, just a random theory.
Also, OTHER random theory: possibly the reason that Peter didn’t automatically absorb Gabe’s intuitive aptitude, and couldn’t “take it” from him is the same for Sylar’s resistance to Eden’s suggestion power (either an ability he stole allows him to do so, or his natural ability clues him in to how Peter’s and Eden’s gifts operate, in which case he knows how to circumvent them, similarly to how he understood Knox’s talent in like half a minute and instantly knew how to be invulnerable to it). This, of course, would imply a resistance to the Parkman Whammy, the Haitian’s memory-stealing trick, and other abilities involving more of the brain than the body (or adrenal gland. Pfft.)
Finally, forgot to congratulate you on another awesome review. Keep up the good work dude.
what if peter just didnt’ know how to access it[the intuitive aptitude]? its not like one of those powers that you think ‘fire’ and fire appears in your hands.
and would peter have all of sylar’s other powers? in one of the heroes’ magazines, it showed peter having absorbed all of sylar’s other abilities. so would peter have super hearing and super photographic memory?
First time commentor- Otto always love your review, keep up the amazing work!
I laughed so hard when you suggested that Claire and Knox rode rollerskates with Daphne
About the inconsistency and hanging questions… relax alot can happen in four years!
For the people who are critiscing Otto’s reviews… you dont have to read them and Otto obviously works very, very hard on these reviews.
The invisibilty thing in the alley… If your niece suddenly showed up and started firing a gun at you I’d be pretty startled and would probably forget a few things. Its Future Peters fault if he didn’t tell Present Peter that hey shouldn’t be out in the open
The Adam thing at the end was really cool and hopefully Hiro’s plot will now improve.
Matt and the turtle is funny
In my opinion a mighty fine episode. Thanks for listening to my rambles
P.S I MISS MONICA (and bizzarley… West)
I think the thing to remember with Peter’s power is that he doesn’t appear to naturally have perfect control over it, which means that power use comes either instinctively (healing in Claire’s presence the first time they met, for example), or with very specific concentration (where knowing what the power he’s trying to activate is useful).
The problem then is that there doesn’t appear to be any way for Peter to know when or if he’s gained a new power, nor what those powers do unless he’s seen them in action. So, while he should in theory have all of Sylar’s accumulated powers… he probably doesn’t know about most of them, and thus doesn’t know they’re there to activate.
Finally, there’s the old trope of the superhero genre - character’s forget their powers from time to time. The number of times, say, Superman has not used his heat vision or other useful power when the situation would be perfect for it, are nigh-uncountable. For Peter, whose list of powers is less a catalogue and more a shoebox full of jumbled-up post-it notes, keeping track of which useful powers he has in times of stress is naturally going to be difficult (especially for the sake of narrative convenience).
At least, until now. Sylar never had any problem controlling any of the powers he gained - a happy effect of the innate understanding that allows him to gain them in the first place. It’s possible that Peter’s aptitude with his powers will only increase now that he’s learnt to use Sylar’s gifts…
Siege — could it be that Claire didn’t want to kill Peter right away? Maybe she had a vendetta even before Costa Verde, and maybe she wanted to see at least one Peter suffer before he died? And she figured the present-day version was less menacing than the future one, so something at the back of her mind persuaded her to let him escape.
Yeah, we’re totally grasping at straws now.
I’m really glad you brought up the powers-as-commodities issue: I don’t know if the show will, but I think it’s a really interesting detail. Could the reason why everyone was either flying or superspeeding in that sequence on the street be because those are the most readily available abilities? Or is it really that those are the two most in-demand abilities, more so than TK or mind control or time manipulation? Is something like empathic mimicry an off-the-market royalty-only ability? Or, like you say, is it that some abilities can be replicated and some are hereditary-only? Really interesting point. I hope the show goes there.
Brilliant theory on Sylar’s ability — I like it a lot. It explains a lot of plot holes, especially the scene with Eden in “Fallout.”
caeporte, I don’t think Peter did absorb Sylar’s acquired abilities, just the ability to know how to acquire them. Nathan’s take on it is probably the best counterargument to that, though. I think the way Peter pulled out the TK when he was sparring with Claude is a great example of that point: that Peter discovers abilities when he needs them rather than when he wants them.
Do you think Peter meant to superspeed at the Bennet house, though, or was that an instinctive thing that just happened in the heat of the moment?
James, thank you.
I agree, the twist with Adam was very cool. It sounds like Hiro’s storyline picks up momentum over the next few episodes, so here’s hoping.
Word to missing Monica and West (sort of). If Meredith and Linderman can show up, maybe they can too.
One sentence review:
This show is awesome!
OK;
I haven’t commented here since Season 1…? maybe early season two? It’s been a while.
But yes, I appreciate that you all put your thoughts out there for people like myself who are too lazy to figure it all out…or in this case for this season, people who had their brain fried and got the blue screen of death. I appreciate all of you.
Siege, I liked your post about Peter mind reading Nathan; helped me get a better viewpoint; and explains it better than they did at the forum
I’ll be back next week!
I give it a 5 out of 5, I thought it was fantastic. This review was really hilarious, and I laughed especially hard at the Hatian part. He was gonna die even before Claire finishes 200,000 cuts. I also didn’t remember that it was Matt dreaming of the future
. Besides that, I still give it a 5 star episode.
wow!
I never thought of all those details while watching the episode.
Although I do not agree with all of the loopholes you’ve pointed out up there, still, as you said, it’s all different for each viewer, right?
Anyways, great job, nicely done!
I’m looking forward to see your next review- and the next episode
KellyH,
Matt answered your question on TV Guide.Com
http://www.tvguide.com/Roush/Ask-Matt-Heroes-26348.aspx
I’m pretty sure nobody has said this yet …
Why wouldn’t Peter have used Molly’s ability to find Mohinder? They were both at Kirby Plaza.
We don’t know exactly how much time passed between him running away and finding him, so maybe he just searched all the places he remembered, but I like the Molly theory better
First time commenter; Otto, just wanted to say yours have quickly become my favorite Heroes reviews/recaps. I appreciate that your love of the show shines through yet you’re not afraid of calling it out when necessary. And a little snark never hurt anyone.
Specifically, thanks for pointing out the time on Sylar’s watch; I completely missed that. Like you, it’s details like that, which, while I love them, makes it all the more infuriating when the writers forget other details like which powers Peter has. Because clearly, a detail like the watch’s time shows the writers ARE paying attention, and are just choosing to ignore other details because it’s easier. And that’s more frustrating than if they were just forgetful.
I’m also glad to see I’m not only one irritated by the Behind the Eclipse interviews at CBR; I understand the writer’s can’t divulge everything, but just say “wait and see” or “we can’t say without giving something away” instead of being snarky or flippant. At times, I get the vibe from them that they are irritated by some of the questions being posed, like the Caitlin one. If you get mad that fans are bringing up loose ends, well, maybe you should try harder to not leave so many dangling…
Anyways, keep up the good work.
caeporte, I don’t think Peter did absorb Sylar’s acquired abilities, just the ability to know how to acquire them.
As far as I can tell, Peter must be able to absorb Sylar’s acquired abilities… because Peter has never (to my knowledge) encountered anyone other than Sylar who possessed Telekinesis - and Sylar acquired that power (that was, in fact, his first acquired power) rather than being born with it.
If Peter can absorb Sylar’s appropriated Telekinesis, then he must be able to absorb other, similarly acquired powers… he just probably doesn’t know about them (many of Sylar’s powers, such as his hearing, are perhaps too subtle to observe, while others are minor and rarely used. Other than Telekinesis and Ted’s radiation - which Peter had already absorbed from meeting Ted - Sylar doesn’t really use that many obvious powers).
Do you think the “li’l Noah” Sylar is caring for might actually be Noah, having encountered some kind of age/memory reversal thing?
This theory might be discounted by something but, as you said, a lot of the plot is simply becoming to hold to keep track of in my head.
Thank much for your comments!!