Overview:
With the help of Angela, Noah and Željko Ivanek, Nathan begins rounding up the superpowered population. He starts with everyone he knows: Tracy (caught in her dressing gown), Mohinder (while driving his cab), Hiro (while playing sidekick) and Peter (after giving his brother a hug). He also apprehends Matt, although Matt’s life was already turning bizarre after Spirit-Usutu told him he was a prophet. After fending off Nathan’s commandos, Sylar continues searching for his biological father. If he knew that the military plane carrying most of the main characters ends up crashlanding, he’d probably be thankful he wasn’t involved in that storyline.
Review:
Welcome back, folks. We begin 2009 with the second volume of Heroes Season Three. It’s a new storyline, a fresh start for the show, and, as you might have noticed, it’s being reviewed in a new blog at HeroSite.
Not that the third of those is in any way relevant to, you know, the show, but I wanted to take a moment to thank Craig and Jon for making it happen, and to reassure our readers that the aesthetic changes will in no way affect the content. The only real difference is that the blog is more streamlined and more elegant, and in turn that the whole thing (hopefully) makes for a more enjoyable experience.
Come to think of it, those differences are surprisingly true of this episode. On we go.
We open at Tracy’s Ice Fortress, and it’s an immediate jolt to the system. Where’s the recap? Where’s the densely-packed montage? Where’s the meandering V.O.? Reassuring from the start, if only because — for once — the promise that new viewers can jump in without knowing the backstory holds up.
“Wait a second,” you’re thinking. “They’re starting a superhero story with … a clock? And a ringing cell phone?” You’re pulled out of your apathy because it’s so unexpected. Where’s the Shenkar wail? Where’s the high-octane chase or the supervirus of doom? The focus on detail — everyday, normal, ordinary detail — is remarkable by dint of the fact that on this show it’s out-of-the-ordinary.
Tracy flips on her TV and sees Nathan being interviewed. It clues us in to the length of time since the previous volume; it establishes the stylistic approach the show’s taking this volume, lingering on borderline-invasive shots of Nathan’s eyes and mouth; and, to the show’s credit, the style of direction immediately speaks to the characters, bringing us right up to the hero-turned-villain’s eyeball …
… and revealing that there’s very little in the way of human emotion behind it.
Based on the first 35 seconds of footage from this volume, this is going to be light years ahead of Volume Three. That much is clear already.
“There are people who are, frankly, stunned by your seemingly meteoric rise in the senate — less than three months and already closely aligned with the President on what many are calling unprecedented access to the average American’s most private details.”
Heroes — Sociopolitical Commentary, Part I: violation of civil liberties.
The interviewer cuts to the chase and asks Nathan if the “threat” he’s talking about equates to terrorism. Nathan rambles on about his “duty to protect and serve the people of America” and the “precautionary measures” he’s planning to introduce.
Heroes — Sociopolitical Commentary, Part II: obfuscation and rhetoric.
Tracy begins stripping down. At the time, you wonder if it’s as gratuitous as it was the last time we saw it. Looking back, you realize it’s there to hit home how ruthlessly strategic Nathan’s operation was. Like the close-up on the eyeball, it’s also to character, because you’re thinking, hey, if Nathan made Tracy his first target — the woman he cared about and the woman who ended up becoming his First Lady in at least one future — he must really be an unfeeling b*****d.
The focus on the open window and the shot of Tracy from outside the apartment work: you get a feel for the whole fly-on-the-wall documentary vibe that resonates throughout the episode, and a sense of Tracy’s exposure.
The first of Nathan’s commandos shows up wearing a leotard that’s impervious to Tracy’s cryo-whammy. Neat detail on a number of levels. If you’ve never watched the show, you’re immediately clued in to what Tracy can do, and you start to piece together the “threat” Nathan’s talking about. You also start to grasp how methodically Nathan thought this whole operation through.
You feel for her. She’s a manipulative shrew and went straight back to Malden after she was done with Nathan, but you can’t help feeling bad for her when she’s barefoot and wearing close to nothing and when half a dozen commandos have barged into her home. With hindsight, it makes you hate Nathan and everyone connected to his operation even more.
Tracy gets tasered, Transparent Goggles removes his mask, and we discover that the leader of the team is none other than Željko Ivanek, which immediately guarantees that this volume will be even more outstanding.
Lair of the Nerds. The costume for Ando was cute, especially the lightning bolt. With Hiro’s financial resources, you’d think there must be a Japanese equivalent of Lucius Fox at Yamagato (or at least a local outlet who could provide Ando with something like this), but the homemade look is part of what makes it so adorable.
Hiro shoots Ando with a GPS tracker without warning.
Heroes Sociopolitical Commentary, Part III: No one can be trusted, and everyone’s watching you.
The password to the tracker turns out to be very sweet, but am I the only one who expected it to be Charlie? Or Ishi or Kimiko? At least it wasn’t Yaeko. Good call, show. Leave those purple flags in the past.
Brilliantly shot. Again with the out-of-alignment camera angle to give the scene a gritty realism; you get the sense that it’s amateur footage from a rooftop, even though it must have been laboriously prepped and thought through. Genius from Yaitanes and Goodman from start to finish, this week.
Peter frantically tries to resuscitate a dead car-crash victim. It looks like he’s going to keep trying for the rest of the volume until his coworker stops him. Peter’s guilt complex rings true, not only because it’s consistent with his pre-Volume-Three character, but also because his recent sense of powerlessness makes this mindset plausible. You can imagine the scenarios running through his head: he could have flown to the scene; he could have ripped the car door open to get to the victim sooner; he could have rewound time by 10 minutes and prevented the crash altogether. The whole “if only” guilt trip’s a stock-and-trade approach to exploring a comic-book superhero’s adjustment to life without abilities, but Milo plays it with enough restraint to avoid sentimentality. Nicely done.
Petrelli Castle. Claire idly leafs through college brochures and considers which amazing college she’d like to attend.
Heroes Sociopolitical Commentary, Part IV: Money buys everything … or at least most things, and Petrelli influence and the occasional Haitian Whammy get you the rest.
Angela partakes in the obligatory Claire-worship: “Claire, you’re an exceptional young woman [actual dialogue!] and you deserve an exceptional education.” I spent most of this scene wondering whose decision it was to inflict such heavy lipstick on Hayden’s mouth, but it also occurred to me that, as generous as Angela’s efforts to get Claire into college might be, they’re kind of deluded. If you’re going to live forever, would a first-rate education be any higher a priority than choosing an old people’s home or writing your will? Even if Angela decided it wouldn’t hurt to get a degree before Claire contemplates immortality, you have to wonder if she isn’t ignoring the larger issue, and if she isn’t deluding herself when she talks about giving Claire a chance for “a normal life.” What’s Claire going to do after she graduates? Get a job and buy a house? Watch everyone she cares about grow frail and die and comfort herself with the knowledge that, on top of being eternally young and pretty, she has “an elite education”? The scene ties in with the other story threads’ preoccupation with supers returning to a normal life, and to be fair, it raises several interesting ideas about how Angela would take it upon herself to look after Claire. But it’s also fraught with issues the show has yet to address — particularly how anyone’s life can be normal if they’re going to live forever — and the first portion of the scene ends up feeling a little rushed and superficial on that count.
Claire lowers her eyes and whispers that Sylar’s “still out there.” Nicely played by Hayden, especially when you figure that Claire’s avoiding the subject for Angela’s sake as much as her own.
Morbid details we’re not supposed to consider: were the dental remains fake? Were the records falsified? Did Sylar lose his teeth and then grow them back? Perhaps more obviously, how did Sylar get that shard of glass out of his head and escape before Primatech collapsed? There are vast tracts of Volume Three that go unresolved in this volume-opener, but this is one of those loose ends that lingers. You’re expected to shrug it off and assume, hey, he’s Sylar, he’s the human cockroach and can’t be killed. But in a volume built on earthbound realism and true-to-life detail, it grates.
“A man who went missing in Memphis.” Nice nod to the graphic novel. Not essential to the plot, but a cute Easter egg.
Claire scoffs at Noah’s “business trips,” declares that “it’s happening again” and that she should be “helping to stop it.” Am I the only one wondering what the it refers to? If Claire thinks that Noah’s again working for The Company, wouldn’t she be glad? Didn’t she figure out in the previous volume that Noah’s work keeps renegade supers contained and prevents superpowered lunatics from wreaking havoc? Does she really still want to “stop it”?
Angela: “It’s over. All of it.”
As with the assertion that Sylar’s dead, Angela says it right to Claire’s face. If she isn’t completely out of the loop, she’s lying through her teeth.
It’s also a little disappointing if it’s true. You wouldn’t think that the Hartsdale facility going up in flames would mean the end of Primatech and The Company as a whole. The Texas facility was the one with the cavernous basement with vaults and relics and trinkets, and you have to assume there were other branches of The Company where anything lost at Hartsdale could be retrieved or rebuilt. The idea that an organization as intricate as The Company crumbled after one outpost burned down is too disappointing, so I’m assuming that Angela — as the boss of the operation — ordered the whole thing to be shut down.
In which case a lot of secret agents are now having to find new jobs. Heroes Sociopolitical Commentary, Part V: Privately funded organizations collapse regardless of the economic climate. This is sometimes due to incompetent management and psychotic superpowered serial killers pumping firestarters full of adrenaline.
Aaaaaand we cut to said psychotic superpowered serial killer at a repair store in Baltimore. I have to say, right now — this set? Unbelievable. From the signs on the windows to the antique cash register to the clocks, everything about this set is flawless. It’s so authentic that I wonder if it’s an actual store the location crew borrowed. Either way, the detail is impeccable. The ticking clocks? Perfect. Inkspots on the record player? Superb. Someone needs a bouquet.
I love that Papa (/Uncle) Gray points his shotgun and threatens to shoot, and Sylar …
… barely makes the effort to look up from the watch he’s casually repairing.
Sylar recounting the “clichéd” story of how Papa Gray deserted his family is brilliantly delivered by Zach Quinto. You can see how Sylar’s feigning disinterest and burying his resentment, but also that he’s taunting a guy …
… who’s clearly stunned to discover that he’s looking at the boy he raised.
Does the reference to Sylar losing his dad 27 years ago jive with the backstory? We’ve seen Sylar tell Chandra about his parents (plural), and we’ve seen Sylar return home and repair a clock that was made by Papa (/Uncle) Gray. I guess Sylar could have been talking about a distant memory of his father when he told Chandra how he wished his parents weren’t really his parents, but I have a hard time believing that Mama Gray left a clock on her wall that now turns out to have been made by a guy who walked out on his family. I also have a hard time believing that Sylar — who’s now in his early thirties — was running Gray & Sons by himself since he was about six years old. There’s probably a good explanation — or at least a flimsy excuse — but something about this revelation doesn’t add up.
Daphne speedyzips back to Chandra’s Crib and finds Matt glaring at her. As we discover, abilities are OUTLAWED in this apartment.
Heroes Sociopolitical Commentary, Part VI: the patriarch makes the decisions.
Daphne: “Are you spying on me?”
Matt: “Maybe.”
I sense a stable, lasting relationship here. And not just because we’ve seen it happen. If Matt hadn’t seen them raising a child in a vision — and if we hadn’t seen it along with him — does anyone actually believe these two would end up together?
Daphne: “We could go to the zoo or something.”
Aw. If Matt won’t take you to the zoo, Daphne, there are plenty of guys who will.
Matt: “I could use my ability to work my way to the top of the police force, but do I?”
Oh, shut up, Matt! Like you didn’t cheat your way into getting a detective badge the very first chance you got.
Daphne: “You’re a bodyguard who makes 12 bucks an hour.”
Again, nice nod to the graphic novels. I can’t help thinking the backstory there would have brought more rationale to this scene: if we were reminded that Matt became the center of attention after using his ability — and that he was desperate not to draw attention to Daphne or himself — it would probably be easier to sympathize with him now. As it stands, you wonder how Matt can act like such an insensitive d*%k: for one thing, he knows that Daphne loves her ability; for another, he only just quit a job where his ability helped him to save someone’s life, so you’d think he’d understand how hard it is to shut an ability off.
Daphne offers to “get” money for Matt to start his own detective agency. Which is deplorable, but still kind of thoughtful.
Matt: “I’m not going to use stolen money to open up a business.”
Oh, but it’s OK to steal $2 million in diamonds and then use those stolen diamonds to buy your wife a new wedding ring? What a hypocrite! Don’t try to tell me he’s changed since those days. I can’t wait for Janice to show up and call Matt on this crap.
Matt: “What’s wrong with trying to live like normal people?”
Daphne: “It’s boring, for one thing.”
Good dialogue. It’s funny for the way it brings out Daphne’s blunt nature, but it also sets up the dilemma that all of the main characters are experiencing: can they go back to a typical life and pretend they don’t have extraordinary abilities? Even if they can, how many of them want to? And if they’ve lost their abilities, can they function without them?
Petrelli Castle. Claire prepares to kiss her grandmother, her “elite education” and her “normal life” goodbye. Good riddance, I say. Then she overhears Angela having a conversation on the phone about an OPERATION and an ARTICLE about the GUY IN MEMPHIS and a TEAM and SYLAR and OH. MY. GOD, could Angela earn this *PING!* Dumb As Award any more deservingly? What happened to soundproofed walls and secret underground offices? Or even cryptic codes, like, “The pink bear knows about the tree house and found the honey in the box — she thinks the ferret has left the woods.” Shame on you for being so sloppy, Angela.
Angela partially redeems herself by discovering Claire. Claire …
… is outraged. Don’t worry, Angela. She gives Noah that look all the time. In three episodes she’ll love you again.
Interestingly, Angela’s expression here …
… is somewhere between sadness, disappointment and regret. You wonder how Nathan roped her into lying to the kid she seems to genuinely care about.
Gray & Sons … without the Sons. Sylar asks his father how a boy without a dad can learn about the hard decisions in life. Like, for example, if you’re lying on top of a hot blonde on a beach, do you really need to rip her head open?
We learn that Mama Gray was unable to have a baby, that the guy Sylar thinks of as Papa Gray is in fact Uncle Gray, and that he bought Sylar from Papa Gray because he didn’t have the courage to walk out on Mama Gray.
Heroes Sociopolitical Commentary, Part VII: adopting a child does not fix a broken marriage, it breeds psychotic superpowered serial killers.
It definitely looks like Sylar’s whole couldn’t-care-less pretense is coming apart:
^ ^ Moist eyes? Wouldn’t be the first time Sylar pulled that trick, although it seems like the truth affects him and that he’s not putting on an act just to get an address out of Uncle Gray. It’s also telling that Sylar checks himself and decides not to slice Martin’s head open. The way the camera lingers on Sylar’s hand and the extended forefinger, you know he’s thinking about it. The fact that he opts not to kill this guy is an indication that at least something came out of Sylar’s storyline in “Villains.”
We cut to Milo looking contemplative at the crash scene while his coworker packs up the ambulance. I’m guessing the anonymous coworker’s role was only for this episode, which is a shame because he brought a lot of charisma to the part, and when he mentions how afraid he is for his family, for his sake you’re almost relieved that he’s wrong.
Heroes Sociopolitical Commentary, Part VIII: catastrophic foreign policy and prejudice.
Claire phones Peter on his cell phone. With scant evidence that Nathan’s planning to “take down” Matt and Peter, Claire tells Peter she’s going to help Matt. It’s odd that Claire doesn’t mention the part about Nathan planning to “take down” PETER, and that she pretty much lets him walk into his brother’s arms and get caught. It’s also telling that Claire proactively tries to warn Matt he’s in danger, and that Peter’s pretty much, “Eh, maybe I’ll ask Mom what this is all about.” Did he really think Angela would provide an honest explanation and come clean about the whole plan?
HEROSITE RECONSTRUCTION
INT. PETRELLI MANSION — NEW YORK — DAY
PETER
Mom? Are you and Nathan rounding up people with abilities?
ANGELA
Of course not, Peter. Why would you think something like that?
PETER
Claire told me.
ANGELA
She’s mistaken. I don’t know why she thought that.
PETER
Well, you have to admit, you’ve done some crazy stuff in the past.
ANGELA
Those days are long behind me. From now on, it’s strictly crochet and sock-stealing.
PETER
[Relieved] OK. Good. I’m glad we got that cleared up.
[A telephone rings. The answering machine comes on. We hear NATHAN's voice.]
NATHAN
Hey, Ma? Good news: this plan to round up everyone with abilities is going really well. Everyone here’s so supportive. We’re planning on taking down Peter and Matt today. I’m stopping by for lunch but I might be home late. Could you leave the oven on? [Hangs up.]
[PETER looks stunned. He turns to run. Camera pulls back to reveal THE HAITIAN, who places his hand over PETER's eyes.]
PETER
AAAAAAAAARRRGGGH! [Falls to the floor and looks disoriented.] Mom? What happened?
ANGELA
You fell and hit your head. What’s the last thing you remember?
PETER
[Confused] I was working, then I came to see you.
ANGELA
[Delighted] That’s lovely, dear. Now, why don’t you go for a walk and come back later. Your brother will be here and I’m sure he’d like to say hello.
PETER
Oh, OK.
[Exit PETER]
Peter flags down a cab, and the driver turns out to be none other than …
And he’s not just smiling because he’s a deranged bug! He’s smiling because he’s happy!
They’re both smiling! They’re both happy! It’s the pilot episode all over again!
Yes, it’s a forced in-joke. Yes, it’s self-parody. And yes, the only real reason it’s funny is because you’re thinking, “Ah, those were the days — look how messed up everything got since then.” But the flipside is it’s a moment of reflection for both characters: looking back, were they arrogant to think they were “meant to do something extraordinary”? Has harsh experience taught them that it’s better to not even try? Beneath the set-up and the dialogue, it’s a profound reunion, not least because Sendhil brings a lyrical cadence to his dialogue that helps Mohinder to resemble the rational guy he was in the pilot. There’s something calm and contemplative in the way he delivers the lines: Mohinder was a thinker and a skeptic, but like Peter, he was also a dreamer and an idealist.
Mohinder rambles about Nathan and pretty much extols his attempt to clamp down on people with “uncontrolled” and “unrestricted” abilities, forcing me to withdraw my statement that Mohinder is rational and making me wonder if the future in which Mohinder became an advisor to the president is still set to happen. It also again raises the debate about whether Sylar or Nathan put the course of events in that future into motion.
Peter diplomatically asks Mohinder if he’s lost his mind, and whether he realizes what the repercussions will be. Heroes Sociopolitical Commentary, Part IX: segregation.
Mohinder: “We’ll agree to disagree.”
Chalk up a *PING!* Dumb As Award for the master, because only a man of unquantifiable stupidity challenges the word of a guy who’s traveled forward in time and witnessed numerous apocalyptic futures.
Mohinder waives the cab fee and bids Peter goodbye. It’s a charming enough riff on the pilot, and although the joke felt heavyhanded, the idea behind it — “Look how much these characters have changed, look what they’ve been through, look how differently the conversation plays out now compared to back then” — was elegantly realized.
Mohinder welcomes his next passenger with the same “Where to, my friend?” that he gave back in the pilot. In a way it’s sad, because you realize that this is Mohinder’s life and that he’s trying to stay as positive as he can despite everything he’s seen and done. It’s also incredibly funny, because the gag keeps going: you’re waiting for Coleman’s voice in the back to say, “JFK, please.”
Željko aims his revolver at the back of Mohinder’s head and directs him to the top of a parking garage.
At this point, you really start to notice how flawless the camera work is: Yaitanes’s trademark rearview-mirror eyes — when Mohinder’s driving, and when Noah rescues him — and now the rooftop ledge in the corner of the wider shot of the parking garage. It’s as if it’s filmed by one of the commandos peering over the ledge, and it drives home how clandestine and off-the-books the whole operation is.
Amazingly shot. So simple, but you immediately grasp where it’s going. Željko catches on too, which speaks to the character; you realize he’s keeping up with you, so he can’t be as slow as the Company lackeys in the past.
Was any part of this scene intended to be funny? I don’t think Mohinder using the taxi-cab door as a shield from the taser darts was meant to be funny, but there’s something comically resourceful about it.
Noah shows up in his [PRODUCT PLACEMENT] Nissan and demonstrates the astounding maneuverability and traction of his rescue vehicle. Interrogating Mohinder in the car plays out believably: he’s assessing how much his target knows, formulating what actions to take, establishing whether Claire’s in any danger. So brief, but enormously to character. Again, superbly written.
Noah apologizes before he tasers Mohinder. Hilariously, after Mohinder staggers out of the car, Noah’s expression …
… in no way reflects a guy who’s apologetic. If anything, it screams, “You like that? That’s for shooting me in the eye, a**hole!”
Petrelli Castle. Peter (possibly freshly Haitian-whammied) finds Angela gone and Nathan waiting.
Exquisitely shot. Remarkable for the way the brothers’ defensive postures match so symmetrically, but also for the distance between them and the way the light falls behind them and between them.
Nathan: “You know the media. They like new and shiny.”
Subtle jab, but it plays.
Nathan: “I’m doing what’s necessary.”
Peter: “No, what you’re doing is turning your back on your own kind.”
Great dialogue. Nathan’s conviction, Peter’s sense of responsibility for everyone with an ability, and echoes of “Five Years Gone” when Sylar-as-Nathan told Peter that his brother “turned on his own kind.”
Milo gets to deliver two of the episode’s best lines: “You’re a self-loathing hypocrite,” and then, “What advice could I possibly give you besides ‘Kiss my ass,’ Nathan?” Priceless.
Nathan: “Just out of curiosity, what can you do these days?”
Peter: “What’s the last thing you saw me do, Nathan?”
You can interpret it in two ways: either Peter’s saying he hasn’t met any other people with abilities since Pinehearst exploded — meaning he hasn’t absorbed any new abilities — or he’s saying that the last power he absorbed is the only one that’s currently available because these days he can only hold onto one power at a time. I want to believe it’s the first of those, but I’m guessing it’s the second; that something’s seriously different about Peter’s ability, and — crucially — that it hasn’t been established clearly enough in this episode.
The implication seems to be that Peter’s empathic absorption has changed after he shot himself up with The Formula: he now needs to touch the person he absorbs an ability from, and apparently he can only hold onto one ability at a time. That’s fine, and in the long term it’ll probably help the character, if only because it’ll prevent the kind of scenarios that the writers forced him into over the past two volumes. My problem is this wasn’t as clear as it needed to be, a lot of viewers ended up having to guess what was going on, and the confusion over Peter’s ability ended up undermining the tension towards the end of the episode.
It’s not an error, but it’s a gaping chasm of a plot development that’s never addressed, it starts right here, and it leads to a large portion of the audience going “Huh?” Bottom line: Peter’s ability in this episode is drastically different to the way it was before Arthur sucked it out of him, and that difference needed to be established before it became a pivotal part of the plot.
Anyway, we cut back to Chandra’s Crib, where Spirit-Usutu shows up to tell Matt that it’s basically his destiny to be the show’s new Isaac. While I feel extremely sorry for Grunberg for having this storyline foisted onto him, I’m even more sympathetic to Ntare Mwine, who now has to deliver lines such as, “It’s an illusion, like life,” “There are things you’ll come to know along the way on this journey,” and — best of all — “The world needs you to tell them the future.”
Why, show? WHY? What does this accomplish? It was cool when Isaac painted the future, it was sorta cool when Peter and Sylar imitated it, but by the time we got to Usutu it felt like an overused device, and when you kill off Usutu and transfer the ability to yet ANOTHER character, it ends up feeling like a ridiculous contrivance. There comes a point when you have to call a moratorium on the whole painting-sketching-or-dreaming-the-future plot device. Enough is enough, show. I want to believe the outcome will justify the contrivance, but at this stage it feels like a really false attempt to create a sense of tension, and it doesn’t work at all.
Sorry. Had to vent.
Lair of the Nerds. Hiro finally gets hold of Ando, locks onto his location, and discovers that he’s mentally undressing three extremely attractive ladies at a strip club. Because apparently, the Ando-cycle’s a chick magnet. I personally think the chicks would dig Ando even more if he showed up with one of these, but that’s just me.
Hiro blah-blahs about how Ando should be using his power for good, then gets pwned by Nathan’s commandos.
Heroes Sociopolitical Commentary, Part X: there is no limit to what a covert branch of the government can achieve, including tracking the billionaire CEO of a multinational conglomerate to a disused firehouse in Tokyo and abducting him without igniting an international conflict.
But, hey, seriously, who’s thinking about that when Ando immediately ditches his strippers, forgives Hiro for the GPS implant and speeds off to rescue his friend? Aw.
Claire arrives at Chandra’s Crib and wakes Matt from his clairvoyant trance. Matt grabbing his gun was an interesting detail. Looking back, you wonder why he didn’t try to read the thoughts of the person behind the door. You could argue that it’s part of his effort to shut down his abilities, but when he’s alarmed enough to pull his gun out of the drawer, you’d think he’d make an exception.
Claire: “Did they come?”
Uh, yes. They came. They had tea and biscuits and cooed over the turtle. Then they left. What do you think?
Trivial detail:
Someone in the Props Department deserves high praise.
Apartment of Hospice-Nurse-turned-Paramedic Luxury. Peter returns home to find Nathan waiting for him.
Nathan: “You need to know, what I’m doing is hugely important for this country … for the world.”
It sounds insane on paper, but the way Adrian delivers it, with those incredibly earnest eyes and that robust “look at me, I’m a man of principles” jaw …
… you’re hard-pressed to call him a liar. Crafty b*****d.
Most appalling part of it all:
That sleazy politician’s smile — the one he used to give at the start of the first season. It brings back the memories of the d*%k he was back then, and it’s compounded with the fact that he’s now betraying the people who loved him and looked out for him.
The hug was a neat way to create consistency in the family. I’m not sure it supports the “Nathan’s-possessed-by-Arthur” theory, but it’s evidence that the custom ran in the family, and that Peter’s weakness will always be his willingness to trust his family.
Heroes Sociopolitical Commentary, Part XI: loyalty to the cause outweighs blood ties.
As with Uncle Gray’s store, beautifully realized. The narrative’s essentially progressing through the visuals. Papa Gray’s taxidermy speaks to the nature of his character — and most likely to whatever ability he’ll end up possessing — but it also evokes the overwhelming atmosphere in this scene. You can taste the acrid air when Sylar enters the apartment. You can sense the decay.
It’s hard to believe he was once a kid; that someone bought him that shirt and those glasses and was proud of him; and that he had hobbies and interests that didn’t involve slicing people’s scalps off.
That whole reaction was designed, of course, but you’re only dimly aware of that when the commandos plow taser darts into him. You don’t really think about why you’re suddenly rooting for the villain, just that you do. Nicely done, and, perhaps ironically, a more effective play on our sympathy than the bulk of the attempts throughout “Villains.” We feel bad for Sylar, even after everything he’s done. The entire sequence coasts on the strength of the TK/EllectroBolt coolness factor, but on some level it’s also oddly poignant that Sylar ends up becoming the one who’s hunted, and that he has to use his abilities in self-defense.
Nathan, Noah and Željko converge with their captives at a hangar. The hoods, orange jumpsuits and chains are appropriately inhumane, and add to the idea that restricting the captives’ abilities dismantles a part of their identity. Heroes Sociopolitical Commentary, Part XII: violation of human rights and illegal incarceration.
Is Željko taking orders from above Nathan? He came across as such a slick operative throughout this episode, so I’m tempted to think he was ordered to bring Sylar in alive, and that’s what screwed the whole plan up. I can’t wait for the show to dig into this character’s backstory. How was Željko recruited? How was he dragged into this world of special abilities? What’s his ultimate agenda if it isn’t just following orders? Part of that’s the way the character’s been written with such a distinct personality and style, but I think it’s mostly Željko Ivanek’s flair and mystique, which tends to be the appeal behind most of the characters he’s played over the years.
Željko pulls up another captive for Nathan to see. When it turns out to be his daughter …
… Nathan’s expression is even more devoid of feeling than it was when he watched his brother getting tasered. It almost compels us to feel bad for Claire on Nathan’s behalf.
Claire: “I hate you.”
Nathan: “I know.”
Again, you’re not sure whether to laugh or cry. Don’t worry, Nathan. She tells her other dad she hates him all the time. You’ll get used to the routine.
Were we meant to feel bad for the chauffeur? He probably had no idea what was going on in the hangar; he’d probably been told to take Claire back to Costa Verde, and then he got his head kicked into a window. One would imagine he managed to stumble back to the hangar and found a First Aid kit, but imagine how Claire will feel if it turns out this guy bled to death on the runway.
One of the few moments when you see something bordering on actual feeling. The way his head drops when the plane’s gone, you wonder: does he regret what he’s doing? Is he second-guessing his choices when there aren’t any cameras zooming in on his eyeballs? It’s subtly underplayed, and it’s a testament to the success of the show’s mockumentary direction when a character’s most expressive moment comes from a shot that barely registers the look on his face.
Claire sneaks around the plane and randomly lifts a hood off one of the captives. I can’t figure out if I was meant to laugh when she recognized Hiro and put his hood back on. I know, I know, she was trying to keep the guards from discovering she was there. But the way it plays out, it’s like she uncovers Hiro and decides, “Oh, well, you’re not much use to me, I’ll find someone else.”
The ripple effect when Peter absorbs Mohinder’s strength was well done, but it only reinforces what’s wrong with the way it’s revealed. You’ve got this highly charged sequence on the plane, and in the middle of it, you wonder, “When did Peter ever have to touch people to absorb their ability?” Peter wrenches off his restraints and starts cracking skulls, then absorbs Tracy’s cryokinesis and suddenly becomes feeble again. “What’s going on here? Shouldn’t he be gaining abilities instead of losing them?” Then, with one eye still on the screen, you notice — oh, yeah, there’s also A GIANT FREAKIN’ MILITARY PLANE WITH A GIANT FREAKIN’ HOLE FROZEN IN ITS FREAKIN’ SIDE THAT’S ABOUT TO FREAKIN’ CRASHLAND. So while you’re trying to figure out what’s up with Peter’s ability, the rest of the scene’s unfolding and you’re barely aware of it.
Or was it just me?
Poor sucker. And this was? … Someone we never got a chance to meet. Or possibly any one of a number of characters who disappeared over the course of three volumes. Bye, Claude. So long, Monica. Farewell, West.
Plot- and power-related issues aside, the closing montage manages to sustain a lot of its impact. You’d think it would struggle given the confusion over Peter’s abilities. Would he fly if he was blown out of the plane? Even if he didn’t, how likely is it that the show would kill him off in the volume-opener?
I think the reason this sequence doesn’t lose its impact, though, is because there’s something vivid in the way it’s captured. In spite of the surreal slo-mo and the musical overlay, the focus on detail and tone is as visceral as it was at the start of the episode: we see debris blowing past the characters; we see the characters shrieking with terror; we see the characters reacting to the peril they’re in.
More importantly, we share that sense of peril.
And here’s the crux of the scene, and the reason why it works: we care. We actually care what happens. Even if we know there’s no way in hell the show would kill Peter off if he lost his hold on Mohinder, we want to see how it’ll turn out.
That, in a nutshell, is what makes this episode so effective. Beyond dazzling technical brilliance and smart writing, the characters are driving the story, and the story gains momentum and becomes more compelling because of it.
This is a clean slate for the show in the best possible way, but it also taps into part of what made the first season so successful: it presents identifiable characters — ones that we love, hate, feel sorry for, feel intrigued by, and above all whose journey we want to follow.
I’m docking half a point for minor issues: there were a bunch of decisions worthy of Dumb As Awards, there was Matt’s clairvoyance, and there was Peter’s downgraded ability that no one could figure out. That stuff aside, I had to dig very deep into the episode to find flaws, and after a volume spent practically cataloguing them, that’s a refreshing change.
A very encouraging start.
4.5 out of 5
“What happened to soundproofed walls and secret underground offices? Or even cryptic codes, like, “The pink bear knows about the tree house and found the honey in the box — she thinks the ferret has left the woods.” Shame on you for being so sloppy, Angela.”
“Chalk up a *PING!* Dumb As Award for the master, because only a man of unquantifiable stupidity challenges the word of a guy who’s traveled forward in time and witnessed numerous apocalyptic futures.”
“Heroes Sociopolitical Commentary, Part X: there is no limit to what a covert branch of the government can achieve, including tracking the billionaire CEO of a multinational conglomerate to a disused firehouse in Tokyo and abducting him without igniting an international conflict.”
Again, you’re not sure whether to laugh or cry. Don’t worry, Nathan. She tells her other dad she hates him all the time. You’ll get used to the routine.”
Welcome back, Otto.
I agreed with your review. Subjectively, though, I didn’t enjoy the ep. as much as you. Yes, the visuals were cool, but they always are. Yes, the performances were cool, but they always are. On the strictly narrative level, this ep. was a solid, if somewhat pedestrian set-up story. The only reasons I knew I was watching Heroes were the performances and visuals. Otherwise, it could have been an ep. of any other show with this plot line. It seemed, imo, generic. Kring & Co seemed so afraid of losing the viewers they have left that they didn’t take any risks.
First of all, welcome back
and the new blog looks great 
I’ll agree with nearly everything in your review. Anyone who would jump in at this point shouldn’t have too much trouble keeping up. I just hope that the questions usual viewers wonder will get answers (at least some of them).
Looking at this ep, I think we can hope that the show is on the right tracks, but I’m waiting to see more before saying how good the volume is gonna be.
One moment who made me think of your reviews is the Sylar vs. Commando scene. The first *PING* (Jackpot ???) and the suddent change of look on his face was hilarious. But I kinda felt bad for the guys (ninja? commando? Anyone has an idea who they are?) that got their asses kicked. I mean shouldn’t someone have warned them of what Sylar could do ? I’m not really surprised he got over the tasers, and I was actually more surprised to see him throwing Ellectrobols at them (They stopped all those *pings* when he stopped TKing them across the room). Maybe he will leave less blood everywhere when he kill non-powered people ^^.
And well, I can’t wait to see what they’ve got for Zeljko. I just hope he won’t end up like that long list of guest stars who get killed when we beggin to like them (I mean they love doing that, don’t they?) and with question that never get answers.
So, Again … welcome back !
Oh, yes! Heroes is back… REALLY back! And almost as good, Ottos is back… REALLY back! You knocked this one out of the park. I didn’t disagree with a single thing, which - of course - means you nailed it. Great review, Ottos. Thanks.
Great review, as always. I love reading your Heroes episode reviews! Can’t wait for next week’s episode and your next review, of course!
Nice to have you back, Otto. Very good review; funny stuff.
I thought the episodes was hands-down better than the entire last volume. There was actually dramatic tension from beginning to end. I enjoyed the frustration of all these people, even Sylar, just trying to live life and get along, until Nathan, who has become one of the most deliciously sleazy characters ever, plays his Gitmo card.
My Dumb-as Award goes to Peter for hugging his dear old big bro. Maybe it was nice continuity in the storyline, but everyone in MY house was screaming, “No! NO! NOO!! You idiot…” Sigh… Soem people just need a brick to fall on their heads at least once a season.
I, too disliked Matt getting that precognitive art power, apparently out of the writers’ collective ass. There is no way to reconcile it with the established mythos of the show, unless that nasty mush Usutu made Matt eat had a lasting effect. And if it did, why not Hiro, too? I think they feel like they need the precog power as a plot device, especially since they got rid of time travel. I think this was the wrong way to go about it, though. It was the most discordant moment of an excellent episode, for me.
As for Peter’s power, they definitely needed to put some limits on it. I’d hate for the character to have to go through the sheer hell he went through in the previous volumes just to keep him relevent. But, only one power at a time? I dunno; I think that is a pretty lame power. They could have limited duration; they could have limited it to touch, but one at a time? Hmmm… It also feels a little unbalanced vis-a-vis Sylar, although villanis typically are more powerful than heroes, thus the tension. But that’s a lot of tension. I’ll have to wait and see how it plays out.
Can’t even begin to imagine why Clairebear is so surprised that either of her dads are involved in this stuff. They’re both pretty much bastards, although Noah at least tries to care for his family, as opposed to Nathan, who appears to have become completely amoral (I still think he’s completely cracked). But I did genuinely enjoy Claire this episode (except for the heavy makeup); she moved like she had a purpose.
Plane crash scene was full of the awesome, despite the ambiguity of Pete’s powers.
I’m curious to see what’s really going on with Angela, because I honestly don’t believe she would be a party to permanently imprisoning Peter; not even for Nathan, her “stronger” son. Angela almost always has a secret agenda and I can’t wait to see it.
Take care.
K
Welcome back Otto and welcome back show! The new blog looks great.
I pretty much agree with your whole review, so there’s not much to add. I agree that the ep. was really good and a fresh start. The visuals and writing were great - they usually are when Yaitanes and Kring are doing it. Tracy’s “you want me to beg” line was pretty weird, though. The writers will do anything to sexualize Ali Larter, I guess.
Peter’s power was a bit confusing, but I don’t think it dragged the scene down too much. The more I watched it, the more I realized he really only can hold on to one power at a time. I’ll miss the kick ass version of him we saw in the first half of Volume 3, but I understand the problems with such a character. We’ll see how this goes.
And I, too, thought Charlie would be in that list.
Welcome back Heroes!
Welcome back Otto! The review is great as usual, and the new blog layout is awesome!
I just have one comment on Primatech no longer existing. This is something that I had been thinking about throughout all of Season 3. I’m wondering if with the deaths of Linderman and Bob, the company ran out of money. In Seasons 1 and 2, the company appeared to have infinite resources, with huge amounts of staff and equipment. They also had two plausible sources of funding: Linderman’s empire (both business and underground) and Bob’s gold-making ability.
Then in Season 3, after Linderman and Bob both died, Primatech seemed to have a lot less resources. There were much fewer security guards and staff walking around in the Hartsdale facility, and it seems it was easy for certain characters to break in without being noticed. Throughout Season 3, I was always wondering whether Primatech was going through financial difficulty.
If they were in financial trouble, then it’s plausible that after the Hartsdale facility burned to the ground the Company went under. Or maybe they had to ask for a government bailout, which would explain why the government had to take over their operations, heh.
–Jason
Otto, I’m not sure that Angela deserves a Dumb As award. It’s possible that Angela intended Claire to overhear that phone call for some reason. We’ll find out next episode.
Am I the only person who wonders if Angela’s and Noah’s reasons for going along with Nathan have anything to do with Angela’s visions?
Can you blame Claire for seeing Hiro as useless? He doesn’t have his powers.
I also thought Matt getting the ability to draw the future was a bad idea. What’s the point, since Angela can already dream the future? If we need the Heroes to know about the future, the writers could have had Peter take Angela’s power, or, if his powers don’t work that way anymore, have Angela tell the Heroes about the future while helping Nathan because she’s as duplicitous as usual.
Welcome back, Otto!
Enjoyed the review, as usual, and am glad you liked the episode too.
No, it was not just you. I really enjoyed the episode until the last sequence with Peter and trying to figure out what’s up with his ability. I’m really hoping that he can keep the abilities, but am afraid that is not the case.
Meanwhile, Sylar gets to keep acquiring as many abilities as he can. So not fair. Moving on …
So, no, you were not the only one to expect Hiro’s password to be Charlie, I was really hoping it would have been.
The scenes with Peter and Nathan are my favorite. The tension and the way they played out was just so gut-wrenching. The distance in the first and the closeness in the second really worked. Actually, I’m kind of disappointed you didn’t say more about the second scene. Nathan offering Peter an out that you know he’s not going to take. Not to mention, HRG being there to take him down. Claire’s two Dads taking down her favorite uncle.
Oh, yeah, it was odd that Claire didn’t warn Peter that he was “on the list”.
Oh, yeah, it does grate on me that now Matt has the future painting ability and apparently has lot the mind-reading. Either don’t kill off (or de-power) the people who have a legitimate reason to have the power or work without it.
7:12 on the alarm clock. Seven Minutes to Midnight in-joke!
When I first read your comment, I thought you were being sarcastic… but wow! Even Otto can’t catch this one
Excellent review as always (was giving it a read and now I’m about to link from the main page).
I really liked it. Not too much reliance on continuity or time travel. Yeah, I’m kinda sick of people inheriting Isaac’s power too, but maybe that’ll stop.
The end sequence with the flight alone made it worth the admission. Still, it’s a decent start, though I do worry how the show will reinvent itself ANOTHER time for “Volume Five.”
Great review as usual Otto. It’s great to read these again every weekend. So far I think this Volume is shaping up to be alot stronger than its previous Volume. The most intrigueing points for me right now are 1) Why is Noah working for Nathan 2) What role will Samson Gray play in the overall plot 3) Who is ‘the Hunter’ and what is his connection to Angela/Nathan? 4) How did Sylar escape the Hartsdale building?
With the original Season 1 format in place, I think each question and more will be answered in traditional ‘Heroes’ fashion.
Raissa, I thought the point you made here was interesting:
“On the strictly narrative level, this ep. was a solid, if somewhat pedestrian set-up story … it could have been an ep. of any other show with this plot line. It seemed, imo, generic.”
How do you think they could have fixed that? A more dramatic opening, or a more shocking development? I’m not disagreeing, but I liked the way the focus was less on the narrative and more on the characters. To me, the “talky” portions of the episode made me care about the characters much more when the plane was going down.
Pascal, thank you.
“I think we can hope that the show is on the right tracks, but I’m waiting to see more before saying how good the volume is gonna be.”
That’s my feeling too. I’m definitely a lot more optimistic than I was at the start of Volume Three.
“I kinda felt bad for the guys (ninja? commando? Anyone has an idea who they are?) that got their asses kicked. I mean shouldn’t someone have warned them of what Sylar could do ?”
I’m guessing either Nathan, Noah or The Hunter did. The commandos were probably overconfident and underestimated Sylar’s ability to overcome the taser darts.
Steve, Jeane, thank you.
Kevin, great post. Couple of thoughts:
“I thought the episodes was hands-down better than the entire last volume.”
I’m with you on this, although I don’t want to bash Volume Three too much. In parts, I thought it was excellent. I still recall “OoU, OoT” and “Angels & Monsters” fondly, and I’d still rate “Our Father” as one of the show’s highlights. Generally, though, I agree — this is definitely a step up.
“My Dumb-as Award goes to Peter for hugging his dear old big bro. Maybe it was nice continuity in the storyline, but everyone in MY house was screaming, “No! NO! NOO!! You idiot…””
Hah! I can’t disagree with that. Can you really call Peter dumb for trusting his brother, though? His fatal flaw is his unwavering trust and love for his bro. I don’t know if that’s tragic, dumb, or tragically dumb.
“There is no way to reconcile [Matt's precognition] with the established mythos of the show, unless that nasty mush Usutu made Matt eat had a lasting effect.”
I’m guessing that’s it, and you’re right, the show could now equally apply that story device to Hiro. You could speculate that Matt’s mental abilities somehow made him the ideal candidate for precognition … maybe?
With Peter’s ability, do you think whatever drug he was on disrupted his empathic mimicry? It could be that the ability hasn’t changed, but that the tranquilizer prevented him from accessing the powers he’d absorbed since 3.13 (Nathan’s flight, Mohinder’s stength, Tracy’s cryokinesis) and using them at the same time. So, if that theory’s correct, his ability to absorb and access multiple abilities will return when the drug wears off. Just a thought. I prefer the story potential from the limit on his abilities.
“They’re both pretty much bastards, although Noah at least tries to care for his family…”
I wish I’d brought this up in the review. Is HRG working for Nathan because he agrees with his objectives? (In which case, is his argument basically the same as Mohinder’s in the cab?) Does HRG think there needs to be an organization like The Company to police the superpowered population? Or is he planning to sabotage the whole thing from the inside? I thought aligning HRG with Nathan opened up a really intriguing character arc for him.
“I honestly don’t believe she would be a party to permanently imprisoning Peter…”
I dunno — has there been a scene between Angela and Peter since he tried to slice her head open in 3.05? They were in the same room when Angela came out of her coma in 3.09, and she had to tell him to kill his father in 3.12, but otherwise, I can’t think of a single scene, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Angela struggled to look at Peter the same way.
Pete, thanks.
“Tracy’s “you want me to beg” line was pretty weird, though. The writers will do anything to sexualize Ali Larter, I guess.”
This actually worked for me. I saw it as kind of a characteristically defiant “Go to Hell!” on Tracy’s part. YMMV, but she’s been written as a fighter, with or without her ability.
Jason, thank you.
“I’m wondering if with the deaths of Linderman and Bob, the company ran out of money.”
Heroes S/P Commentary: covert organizations won’t thrive without mobster funding or an individual with the Midas touch.
“In Seasons 1 and 2, the company appeared to have infinite resources, with huge amounts of staff and equipment. They also had two plausible sources of funding: Linderman’s empire (both business and underground) and Bob’s gold-making ability.”
True, although I can see there being more than one technopath in the world who could siphon all the funds The Company needed. I can also see Maury walking into a bank, asking to speak to the manager, then whammying the manager into wiring a few million to an offshore account.
Michael,
“I’m not sure that Angela deserves a Dumb As award. It’s possible that Angela intended Claire to overhear that phone call for some reason.”
Yeah, true. If Angela wanted Claire to warn Matt and Peter, though, she didn’t mention them by name — Nathan did. Which means Angela must have assumed Claire would hear the other half of the conversation. Which means she must have counted on Claire to come down the stairs at that exact moment … Yeah, all that’s possible, but it relies on a lot of variables and a lot of luck, and Angela strikes me as the type who’d devise a plan with fewer variables and one that didn’t rely on luck. She’s a pragmatist in that respect.
“Can you blame Claire for seeing Hiro as useless?”
Sure, but how do you think poor Hiro must have felt? “You have no ability and you babble a lot, so you’re no good to me.” What happened to working as a team and helping one another?
“I also thought Matt getting the ability to draw the future was a bad idea. What’s the point, since Angela can already dream the future?”
Yeah, I had the same thought. Couldn’t we have gotten a glimpse of one of Angela’s dreams and seen a surreal version of Matt getting captured? It wouldn’t have to reveal how Angela felt about it or give away her agenda, but it would achieve the same effect as the sketches, and without the plot contrivance.
Susan, thank you. Just a thought on Sylar continuing to acquire abilties: I’m with you on the whole “he’ll become unstoppable” angle, but I like how the show seems to be curbing that omnipotence with the current storyline. It doesn’t seem like he’s all that interested in getting new abilities anymore; he’s more interested in discovering who he is, which doesn’t have to involve getting too many abilities before he finds Samson. It’s a neat detour, although the counterargument is that it’ll turn into Sylar’s feudal Japan/African desert storyline and feel too removed from the central story. We’ll see.
“The scenes with Peter and Nathan are my favorite … Actually, I’m kind of disappointed you didn’t say more about the second scene.”
Sorry!
What you mentioned in your post captures the main points perfectly, though. I think, before I edited down the review, I made a couple of other points: the distance between them (which you point out), the change in the lighting (we went from that golden sunlight to the Heroes-New-York blue) reflecting the change in mood; HRG taking a taser to the guy who saved his daughter’s life in “Homecoming”; HRG betraying the guy he once trusted enough to reveal his first name to. It was a great scene, I agree.
Jonathan, GREAT catch. And no, I didn’t get that one until you mentioned it.
Hey Craig,
“I’m kinda sick of people inheriting Isaac’s power too, but maybe that’ll stop.”
I hope so too, but I’m guessing it’s a stock-and-trade story device they’ll fall back on as frequently as time travel. Hope I’m wrong.
“I do worry how the show will reinvent itself ANOTHER time for “Volume Five.””
Heroes Volume Five: The One With All The Musicals.
“Raissa, I thought the point you made here was interesting:
“On the strictly narrative level, this ep. was a solid, if somewhat pedestrian set-up story … it could have been an ep. of any other show with this plot line. It seemed, imo, generic.”
How do you think they could have fixed that? A more dramatic opening, or a more shocking development? I’m not disagreeing, but I liked the way the focus was less on the narrative and more on the characters. To me, the “talky” portions of the episode made me care about the characters much more when the plane was going down.”
They could have fixed it with…
A. More character stuff
B. No plane crash/another ending
C. No commandos. Commandos are done to death. It would have been in keeping with the show’s mythology if the government ops. were trained by HRG — one of us, one of them. That way, the fear we know evolves into the fear we don’t with more resources. Plus, it gives HRG a chance to justify that training or take the operation down from the inside by using against them.
I love reading these reviews Otto
I think you do an excellent job of not being overly positive or negative. You often point out things I don’t even notice.
Now to my thoughts…
“It was cool when Isaac painted the future, it was sorta cool when Peter and Sylar imitated it, but by the time we got to Usutu it felt like an overused device, and when you kill off Usutu and transfer the ability to yet ANOTHER character, it ends up feeling like a ridiculous contrivance.”
- Completely agree on this point. Why don’t they show us more of Angela’s dreams? It’s still showing the future, just not in the same old boring way.
- That shot of Nathan with his head down in the airplane hangar is beautifully shot. The way the shadows surround him and the fact that you can’t really see his face are excellent details.
- As for Nathan’s behavior as a whole, I like him as a bad guy. I’m starting to wonder though if that mysterious Petrelli “delusions of grandeur” mental illness may actually be real. Schizophrenic perhaps? Or maybe just the ol’ standby option jerkface (keeping it censored anyway).
- Loved the Ando-cycle. It was that good ol’ Hiro/Ando humor coming back….
Overall, I’m hopeful of what volume four will bring. Solid opener.
When peter injected himself with the formula, then flew at Nathan and carried him out of the burning builiding - he was flying before he touched Nathan - so I can’t believe that the formula did something odd to him…I wish they would stop changing the rules
Actually, if you re-watch “Dual”, Peter clearly grabs Nathan before flying. He kinda leaps toward him, but doesn’t actually fly yet. In the end of this latest ep., it’s pretty clear Peter only has one power at a time. He is totally pwned after unwittingly absorbing Tracy’s freezing. So the rules really aren’t changing (although the show def. has built up a history of doing so).
I’m still hoping that the only reason the guard got the upper hand was because of Peter having to adjust to the new power, especially since he didn’t take it deliberately.
(Is denial really a river in Egypt? lol )
I dunno — has there been a scene between Angela and Peter since he tried to slice her head open in 3.05? They were in the same room when Angela came out of her coma in 3.09, and she had to tell him to kill his father in 3.12, but otherwise, I can’t think of a single scene, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Angela struggled to look at Peter the same way.
I think she realized what had happened to Peter and, since he was then powerless, realized he was back to the boy she loves. Peter is her favorite, so I have issues if she was fine with Nathan locking him up. Of course, Nathan does have a good argument for locking him up, but I wonder if Angela may have seen something … like Peter leading the revolution … that made her go along with it. I’m hoping she has some hidden agenda behind all this.
I hope so too, but I’m guessing it’s a stock-and-trade story device they’ll fall back on as frequently as time travel. Hope I’m wrong.
From the commentary for the episode, it sounds like this is something they are planning to continue. I sure hope they change their mind on that. Isaac’s death was important to the character and the story. If they wanted to keep Tim’s paintings/drawings (which I can’t fault them too much for that), I really wish they would not have had Sylar or Peter get stripped of it in the first place. Hiro may very well be the next “prophet”. In fact, I really liked the aspect of Peter being able to draw like he was toward the end of Volume One.
The more I re-watch this episode, the more I wish we would have had just one episode of them living their lives as normal as possible, but with the underlying threat Nathan was creating with his plans to round them up. (Of course part of this is just because I want more Paramedic Peter! It doesn’t help that I just read this fic from the POV of Peter’s Paramedic partner.) An episode like this may have worked with showing how our Heroes were trying to get on with their life then cutting in Nathan working out the details of his plan to round them up. With Heroes, they could have either pulled it off amazingly well or screwed up. I’d like to think they could have made it work. Then again, they were probably afraid to start too slow.
As for Peter’s powers, I’m okay with him having to touch people to get the ability. I’m not okay if he doesn’t keep them.
What you mentioned in your post captures the main points perfectly, though. I think, before I edited down the review, I made a couple of other points: the distance between them (which you point out), the change in the lighting (we went from that golden sunlight to the Heroes-New-York blue) reflecting the change in mood; HRG taking a taser to the guy who saved his daughter’s life in “Homecoming”; HRG betraying the guy he once trusted enough to reveal his first name to. It was a great scene, I agree.
Thank you. Yeah the lighting was great, but then it usually is on this show.
These two scenes with Peter and Nathan have become my favorite of the show. Seeing how Adrian played the second one, Nathan really wanted to save Peter from this. Just look at his face during that hug. 
It was like he was saying goodbye to him and he wasn’t happy about it. I’ve read some comments about Peter being stupid to hug him. Why? Sure he hugged him, but he was a bit more wary of it. Look at Peter’s face during it. (In the commentary, Kring says it’s Peter’s fatal flaw.) I think there will always be a part of Peter wanting to believe Nathan and/or believe in Nathan. It’s who he is. Lastly, I loved Nathan’s “don’t hurt him”, awww.
Actually, at the end, I would have liked to see something more in regard to Peter and Nathan. What exactly, I don’t know. Although those outfits made it nearly impossible to tell who was who.
Welcome back Otto!!
I totally agree with you about the ambiguity of Peter’s powers taking something away from the plane crash scene yet the scene is still effective. The fact that Peter seems freaked out by the propect of getting sucked out of the plane, though honestly flying powers or not who wouldn’t be, seems to suggest the one power at a time theory. I’m like you, I don’t mind him having to touch people to get the abilty but I don’t like the idea that he might not get to keep them.
Chalk up a *PING!* Dumb As Award for the master, because only a man of unquantifiable stupidity challenges the word of a guy who’s traveled forward in time and witnessed numerous apocalyptic futures.
I thought the same thing. Peter’s seen the numerous ways the future plays out so maybe just maybe we can take his word for it.
Thank you. Yeah the lighting was great, but then it usually is on this show. These two scenes with Peter and Nathan have become my favorite of the show. Seeing how Adrian played the second one, Nathan really wanted to save Peter from this. Just look at his face during that hug. It was like he was saying goodbye to him and he wasn’t happy about it. I’ve read some comments about Peter being stupid to hug him. Why? Sure he hugged him, but he was a bit more wary of it. Look at Peter’s face during it. (In the commentary, Kring says it’s Peter’s fatal flaw.) I think there will always be a part of Peter wanting to believe Nathan and/or believe in Nathan. It’s who he is. Lastly, I loved Nathan’s “don’t hurt him”, awww. *
How funny is it that you and I loved the same parts of the episode. I got the impression that Nathan’s stance was that Peter being taken was necessary even though he waas really trying to avoid that. Milo and Adrian really do play well off of one another.
Yeah, I got that impression. Nathan telling him “so I can provide the protection you need” was an interesting choice of words.
As for Adrian and Milo, yes they do play well off of each other. I just wish the show appreciated it more and would stop splitting them up for so long. Actually, Cristine and Jack could be added into this mix too.
Re: Peter’s powers… as I saw it, the change in Peter’s power is a consequence of them being artificial instead of natural. The power still works along the lines already laid down in his genetics (his power being fundamentally very similar to his father’s)… but isn’t anywhere near as developed, possibly because it’s still “new”.
We know for a fact that some powers can grown and expand with time - Matt’s telepathy has grown considerably from basic (rather uncontrollable) mind-reading into something bigger, and Sylar’s power is one of exponential growth (as I see it, Sylar needs to understand how a power works to be able to replicate it; for all intents and purposes, when it absorbed Elle’s power, he did it by figuring out how Peter’s worked. Looking at the brain is a short-cut, nothing more). With that in mind, perhaps this is how Peter’s power started out in the first place. We don’t know when his empathic mimicry started to manifest (as we only get to see the end result of that power - the powers he’s mimicking - which took him a long time for him to be able to do consciously), so there’s nothing to rule out this “one power at a time, physical contact required” version of Peter’s ability being the undeveloped, nascent form of the power we’re more familiar with.
That has crossed my mind, so I really hope it’s true.
Unfortunately, I’m scared the writers are going to keep him this way since they don’t seem to know what to do with him otherwise.
To had up with some points most of you mentionned :
- Matt as a precog is probably what bothered me the most : At first they killed Isaac. Then his works kept coming up (season 2 seemed okay but the last comic seemed a bit too much - but possible). Then Usutu showed up … and got killed too. If they absolutely want a precog in the show, ripping their heads off (partly or entirely) and pass the ability along doesn’t seem that necessary.
- About HRG, well I wouldn’t be surprised if he was purposely working with Nathan and co. After all, the whole operation feels like the Company - but in a way bigger scale (and extremist I’ll admit), or … he could just be protecting Claire (again). Let’s hope it doesn’t end up in a “hate daddy/love daddy” vicious circle again. About capturing people who helped him before, I could say that it looks like remorse hardly is a problem for him. I’m even starting to wonder if he has a conscience (except when it comes to his family of course).
- Claire seems, hum, a bit less annoying but I’m kinda getting tired of her wanting to be the one chasing Sylar. What would she do when she’s facing him? Waiting he dies of exhaustion while hitting her ? Running after him with a shard of glass? Actually I’d really have loved to see what would have happened if Sylar crashed with them ^^. I hope the fact that she has to run now will spare us the “I’m special, ME ME ME” for as long as possible :).
- I like the attempt not make Peter super powered. Maybe it’s just that he doesn’t have instent control of his new powers. That wouldn’t be new (it’s not like he almost nuked when he first absorbed RadioTed’s power). Maybe he already knew how to control strenght but not freezing. So I’m waiting untill the - one power at a time - is confirmed. Wouldn’t be the worst option either.
- The only character I found a bit disappointing would be Ando. If Hiro didn’t get captured, I guess he wouldn’t have moved his ass from that strip club. Feels a lot like in “5 years gone” when Peter saying he was the reason Hiro wanted to stop the bomb (like NY popuplation didn’t really matter to Future Hiro but NY+Ando matters). Kinda kills the heroic part.
I thought that after, I don’t know, using him to cheat a poker, helping him, and sometimes being the one that actually uses his brain, he would be more understanding. The “my power is useless” is a reason, but I’m not sure he would have reacted differently with another power, even knowing that Hiro tried even when he tought he lost his power.
I hope Hiro and him wild serve a better purpose than the comic relief, which seems to rely heavily on them now.
Again I really liked the episode, but I don’t wanna volume 3. Some episodes seemed great to me. Angels and Monsters like you said, Our Father too (Even too I was feeling a bit bummer after a certain death). I’d say that “It’s coming” illustrates the problem I saw in the volume, which would be that it mixed amazing and - way less amazing-. I think that unfortunately, with the quality season 1 raised, the bad drags down easily the good of it (not really an excuse but still).
Personnaly, I’m really wondering how this volume will end and the “reinvention” for an eventual Volume 5. It’s not like they really could stop running away from the government, if they kept tracking them down (I mean there ARE dangerous people with powers…). Taking the government down feels a bit hard to do, and would have repercusions (I guess …)
A solution would be a time-traveller and a mega-butterfly-effect (which could do or undo about everything), but seems they’re over it now, so wait and see :).
Otto,
As far as Peter’s trusting Nathan, it being his “fatal flaw,” etc., I can see that. And appreciate it. HOWEVER, Nathan hasn’t exactly made a secret of his megalomaniacal plans, or his recent antipathy towards Peter (he basically said he’d have left Pete to burn). Eventually, you get to a point and trusting him is, in your words, “tragically stupid.” How many more times can Peter get the Judas Kiss before he gets a little more cautious?
I can see an arguement for Matt’s powers being mental in nature and therefore more compatible with . I could also see Hiro having the mush-induced ability, since his power involves the manipulation of time. But I suppose Arthur sucked the potential to manifest that power out of Hiro with everything else. Lousy plot device, though. I agree with others that they could use Angela for future-casts, and it would be more consistent with the plot.
I’ve read a number of poeple that suggest that the drugs in Peter’s system might be messing with his powers, and I suppose it is possible. Hope so, because I think one-at-a-time is a bit too limiting. Another possibility is that he has to learn how to better control this new manifestation of his powers, just like he did empathic mimicry. As you said, it was just left to unclear to be certain about it. We’ll see on Monday, hopefully.
Angela is just too hard for me to read, although the head-slicing incident had slipped my mind. I still think she has her own agenda. She’s been around for a long time and knows how to keep her own counsel. We’ll see.
Otto, I wondered if you expect to see any of Micah in this volume? His file was prominently displayed during Nathan’s meeting with the president. Micah was my favorite of the Hawkins/Sanders clan, and his power, in my opinion, is one that might be considered a serious threat by any government. Remember, he was the one that got Nathan his original landslide victory.
Second paragraph, first sentence should read: “more compatible with precognition.”
Raissa,
“They could have fixed it with…
A. More character stuff”
I disagree with this a little bit. The episode struck me as very much a character-based volume-opener. The plot was basically “Nathan rounds everyone up,” and it seemed to me like the reason for the simplicity was because the emphasis was on where the main characters were, what they were thinking, what they were feeling and how they were adjusting to normal life. I’m not sure the show could have incorporated more character-based material than that into one episode.
“B. No plane crash/another ending”
Would that have made the episode less pedestrian or less generic, though? I’m not sure that would have “fixed” the episode. I thought it was an effective way to bookend the thing: it started with everyone trying to return to a normal life and ended with Nathan’s operation bringing it down in flames. That seemed like a neat metaphor to me, even if Peter’s the one who inadvertently caused the crash.
“C. No commandos … It would have been in keeping with the show’s mythology if the government ops. were trained by HRG …”
Do we know for certain that they weren’t?
Leigh, thank you, and thanks for reading. I really like the point you make about the Petrelli delusions of grandeur. I wonder if everyone in the family suffers from it on some level: Peter feels like he’s responsible for everyone, Nathan gained control through political power, Angela engineered large-scale change through The Company, through her dreams and through meticulous plotting, and Arthur was pretty much a superpowered thug who terrified everyone into obedience. They’ve all either acquired or been granted power of some kind, so I wonder if that’s what leads to the superiority complex and makes them think they’re expected to either lead or make decisions for everyone else.
Susan,
“I wonder if Angela may have seen something … like Peter leading the revolution …”
I really like this idea, particularly after the animosity she showed Future-Peter in 3.01 and 3.02. If it isn’t a hidden agenda, though, maybe Angela just wants to isolate Peter to prevent him from absorbing abilities that’ll corrupt him the way Sylar’s IA did. If Peter’s locked in a cell and can’t absorb new abilities then he can’t become the renegade incarnation she met at the start of the season, but more importantly, he can’t hurt himself or the people he cares about.
“Nathan really wanted to save Peter from this.”
I’m not so sure. I hear what you’re saying about the hug and the “Don’t hurt him,” but I think Nathan’s phone call to Angela says a lot — it says Nathan was already planning to capture Peter — and I think the visit to the mansion says a lot — it says Nathan wanted to find out how many abilities Peter had and gauge how much of a fight Peter would give when they tasered him later. I agree that AP played it with a caring undertone, but surely that’s part of what made Nathan so devious.
Nathan Dowdell, I really like your point about synthetic abilities vs. hereditary abilities. I never noticed it before, but the hereditary abilities are the ones we’ve seen develop (Matt, Peter and Sylar, as you point out), whereas the synthetic abilities are the straightforward “static” ones (flight, strength, freezing, etc). I too wonder if we’re seeing Peter’s ability in its early stage, but perhaps the fact that it’s synthetic implies that it’s a “diluted” version of his original empathic mimicry. Did shooting himself up with the formula restore Peter’s original ability, or is this like a cheap synthetic knock-off?
Pascal, with Ando, I see your point, but I thought the rationale behind his apathy was unspoken. I think it’s partly that Ando’s demoralized because there’s no one for him to rev up, but perhaps a part of it’s also that he’s seen how disastrous Hiro’s efforts to “help” people and “save the world” have been. Perhaps Ando realizes that doing nothing is sometimes better for the world, and he doesn’t want to enable Hiro after everything that happened with the formula in the safe.
Kevin, I know no more than you re: Micah. Anyone else remember a spoiler or a mention of it on BTE? I agree, it’d be really cool if the character came back, if only for a couple of episodes.
Thanks for the great review, Otto! I enjoyed this episode, and remain cautiously optimistic that the show will maintain this level of quality.
I was definitely one of those confused by Peter’s power, though. I’m glad to know I wasn’t the only one. I remember thinking, as Peter reached for Mohinder’s hand, “what’s the big deal? He can fly” then saw online that apparently it was blisteringly obvious he lost his previous ability. While I definitely applaud making Peter less powerful (if only because I long ago gave up hope that the writers could be bothered to keep track of which powers he had and how to use them effectively) I agree that the logistics of his new abilities needed to be established earlier and more clearly in the episode.
I’m also very curious about Bennet; he could be reluctantly working with Nathan in order to protect Claire, but I could also see the “company man” in him responding favorably to what Nathan is proposing. My only hope is that his motivation is explored, and isn’t left to our imaginations the way Arthur and Angela’s motivations (and in fact, Primatech on the whole) have been.
the thing about peter. why can he all of a sudden absorb abilities now. even though his powers were taken away by his father wouldnt he still be able to have absorbed new powers? heroes is really confusing now. =(
Not really.
As I understand it, the power that Petrelli-the-elder took was Peter’s “Empathic Mimicry” - that is, the ability to utilise the powers of others he’s met by concentrating on those powers and those people. Peter didn’t technically have any other powers; his power grants the ability to use those powers (sort of like a superpower equivalent of Monica’s power to perfectly copy physical actions), but his control was always somewhat sloppy.
With that power gone, Peter injects himself with the serum and gives himself powers again. His genetics already provide the structure for that new power - copying other powers - but does so in a very rudimentary form which may or may not develop into something more like his old power, or his father’s power.
The whole time when Nathan was all “Come give your brother a hug”
I was thinking first, why the hell would he give you a hug, Nathan?
Didn’t he basically tell you in this episode to stick your opinions where the sun don’t shine?
You’ve discussed wanting to capture special powers individuals to keep people safe and he’s told you that you’ll never win, that he’ll never take your side and that he’ll do everything in his power to fight against you?
Then I was thinking, come on Peter! You have a medical license, you’re a freakin’ paramedic, you’re smart!
Don’t you remember what happened the last time you hugged a clearly skeazy/nasty Petrelli?
YOU FREAKING GOT YOUR POWERS SUCKED OUT OF YOU AND THROWN OUT A 4 STOREY WINDOW!
So then he’s walking towards Nathan and I’m like “Don’t do it, Peter! It’s a trap! Run Peter, run NOW! You have got to suspect this is a trap! Peter!”
Then he gets tasered and I’m all “See! See! This uis why you have to listen to me Peter I
I know. You really think Peter would learn. This is why the “Dumb As Peter” award is so rightly named. Although I think a “Dumb As Hiro” would also work well.