Overview:
Nathan defuses Matt’s bomb and fires Željko, prompting Željko to prove Nathan has an ability by pushing him out of a window. This presumably means Nathan’s also fired, which frees him up to rescue Claire when her free pass expires and agents storm Canine Central. How this will affect Claire’s new job at Sam’s Comics is unclear, but it’s safe to say Claire won’t be smuggling fugitives like Doyle to safety anymore. Finally, Sylar meets Papa Gray, who, in typical Luthor fashion, promptly betrays and attempts to kill his son. After hearing his father’s speech about the meaning of power, Sylar leaves him to die and visits Željko with a dead rabbit. Make of that last part what you will, but it’s almost as awesome as Angela petting her socks.
Review:
There’s good news and there’s bad news this week.
The bad news is that V.O. Mohinder returns, Hiro gets a scene, and a rabbit gets sliced open.
The good news is that V.O. Mohinder only shows up at the end of the episode, Hiro’s scene is mercifully brief, and the rabbit … Well, there’s really not an upside to the rabbit’s story, but it’s still outweighed by the oysters, the sock-petting, the influx of Buy More employees and, of course, the appearance of Lionel Luthor.
The opening scene picks up where last week’s episode left off: Doyle breaks into Canine Central and helps himself to popcorn. The scene loses a little of its humor, mostly because this time around Doyle doesn’t offer to share the popcorn with Claire. What it loses in humor, it gains in claustrophobic terror. Hayden plays Claire’s reflexive disgust with appropriate emphasis, and David H. Lawrence XVII plays Doyle with enough despair to make us wonder if he’s only messing with the Bennets before he kills them.
Ultimately, I think the show only partially succeeds in portraying Doyle’s ambiguity. His plea to Claire for help is sold with a lot of feeling, particularly when Doyle exhibits a disarmingly genuine smile and recalls his life as a puppeteer. But in an episode that focuses on morally gray characters, Doyle is one of the least ambiguous. Between the time he forced Sandra to shoot Claire and the graphic novels devoted to the character — including this week’s, in which it’s strongly implied that Doyle became a rapist before deciding to turn over a new leaf — his sincerity is a very tough sell.
Claire and Sandra aren’t buying it, and frankly, neither am I. Even if Doyle wants to curb his psychosis now, the chances of him sustaining that resolve once he’s free are remote. Doyle’s backstory is working against him by making his moral ambiguity totally unambiguous.
Does Doyle know that Rachel’s one of the agents outside Claire’s house? It never becomes clear, and it’s an aspect of the storyline that’s irreconcilable with the peripheral material. Between the graphic novel and the iStory, the gist is that Rachel’s trying to look like she’s doing her job while secretly following Rebel’s instructions and letting Doyle escape. Problem is, that never translates to what we see in this episode, and it creates a lot of confusion for viewers invested enough in the show to follow its online material.
Claire reveals that she has “a free pass,” and it’s laden with enough guilt and shame for Doyle to immediately exploit it and point out that she’s turning her back on her own kind. It’s in character for someone as deviously intelligent as Doyle, and evidence of how manipulative he is before he even thinks about controlling anyone’s actions …
… which, of course, he inevitably does, and which only strengthens the argument that Doyle is in no way a morally ambiguous character. His ability is too easy to access and too easy for him — or anyone — to resist using.
Doyle: “You and your free pass. You have no idea what it’s like to be hunted. To live on the street. To break into the house of the last person on earth you’d expect to help you — because she was your only hope.”
Good dialogue, and absolutely true, at least insofar as Claire, for all her whining and complaining, hasn’t suffered the way the rest of the fugitives have. It underlines the dignity and pride Doyle put aside in order to go to Claire for help, and it’s compounded with Doyle shedding a single tear. Which would probably be clichéd if it were any other actor …
… but Lawrence sells the heck out of it. And as much as I struggled to buy the idea that Doyle really wants to change, there’s no denying that the actor makes a supremely convincing effort to back it up. When Doyle lays off the “Barbie” references, calls Claire by her name and walks away, you’re hard-pressed to doubt that he means what he says.
Goon Squad Central. Željko insists that he made the right choice last week and that Peter “just got lucky.” I guess that’s one way to evaluate a situation in which Peter found himself in Nathan’s arms, but more importantly, it’s an effective way to set up Željko’s growing suspicion that Nathan is helping his targets evade capture.
“Roof Access”? You have to love that.
The drug that Željko injected into Matt before ditching him turns out to be designed to repress his ability. Makes sense, because it ensured that Matt couldn’t Parkman-whammy the bomb squad into deactivating the device. Logistics aside, you can imagine the sense of vulnerability when Matt loses an ability he considers one of his basic senses.
Željko wins a Dumb As Award for AGAIN wondering how Nathan got from A to B so fast. He’ll un-earn it later, but at this point you have to wonder how he can ask the same question twice in spite of the mounting evidence and conclusions he’s already drawn.
The opening sequence and commercials come and go, and the focus stays on the same storyline. Good editing, good writing, and particularly strong directing and photography. The fact that we stay with the same storyline helps to sustain the tension. The way the red-wire/black-wire dilemma is played for laughs is evidence that the show never took this storyline too seriously. And the transition back and forth between Building 26 and Capitol Hill gels extremely well. There are a couple of shots when the camera zooms into one of the Building 26 monitors and pulls back to show the actual scene at Capitol Hill. Neat trick, and very gracefully done.
The bomb is deactivated, and BAM!, Nathan decks Matt. It’s only now that you realize how much you were rooting for a character you hate — a character who made this crisis possible to begin with. This episode tries particularly hard to tap into our sympathy, but when it comes to Nathan, the way our reaction alternates between sympathy and contempt is admirable.
Sylar reaches the Luthor Cabin of Machination, and the Psycho Killer Road Trip concludes. Let us celebrate.
I can’t put my finger on why, but you can tell right away that it’s fake. Something about Sylar and the car doesn’t jive with the background. Plus points to whoever thought up the mud on the fender, though. Nice attention to detail.
I’m still not sure if the cabin’s red-blue color-coding is a precursory shout-out. If it is, that’s also extremely cool.
The set itself is beyond cool. It exudes death and decay. Everything about it — from the muted colors and antique furniture to the broken blinds and patched-up roof — supports the character. I was amazed to read on Beeman’s blog that this was a makeshift set. The exterior shot might have looked a little hokey, but the interior is so convincing that I was sure it was real.
Sylar reaches a glass door, peers through and sees the back of Papa Luthor hunched over his work bench. He pauses, and you’re thinking, “OK, is he going to go right to the TK and head-slicing, or is he going to make some witty remark first?”
Nah, he’s going to KNOCK ON THE DOOR. Brilliant.
We haven’t even seen Papa Luthor’s face — only his scraggly hair and weathered coat — and already I can’t help thinking how disappointed Smallville fans are going to be. You can bet a lot of them tuned in just to see him, and boy, are they going to be heartbroken when they see how different this character is to the one they knew on their show. But then, that’s the idea. To defy all expectations. And the way it’s realized is outstanding.
Sylar: “It’s me. Gabriel. Your son.”
I love how Zach Quinto’s left eyebrow lifts, like, “That‘ll get his attention.” Except it doesn’t. Even after 25 years, Papa Luthor can’t even muster enough interest to turn around.
John Glover’s name appears in the credits, and I feel an instinctive urge to applaud.
Sylar: “Got some questions about myself. Who I am. Where I came from. But then I remembered: you abandoned me. You killed my mother.”
And again, Papa Luthor refuses to give us what we expect and gives us something even better.
Lionel: “Sooooo … What now?”
OK, now? … I know why I wanted to applaud. This is John Glover, folks. THIS IS JOHN FRICKIN’ GLOVER AND HE’S PHENOMENAL EVEN WITH HIS BACK TO THE CAMERA.
Sylar tells his father he’s about to kill him, and Papa Luthor finally becomes curious enough to turn around.
Gah! You can hear Smallville fans everywhere crying out in pain. Who is this man? This is not Lionel Luthor! He’s supposed to be suave! He’s supposed to be well groomed! Affluent! Cultured! A formidable presence! He’s not supposed to look like he’s about to drop dead!
Well done, show.
Goon Squad Central. Željko demands to know who Rebel is. Nathan seconds that. Noah tacitly thirds that. The audience collectively and vociferously fourths that.
Nathan props his feet up on the desk. Too over-the-top? It conveys his sense of relief, and, I guess, his overconfidence. But like the toothpick later, it doesn’t fit with the guy who solemnly met with the president to deal with a threat to the population. This feels more like the guy who joked around with Hiro at the Fly By Night Diner. It’s in character, but more the character Nathan was than the character he is now.
Minor quibbles aside, this …
… is brilliantly shot. Subtle reflection on the two leaders and the middle man, and typical Beeman with the visuals conveying the dynamic in the story.
Nathan and Noah walk away, and suddenly Tracy’s voice booms, “YOU’RE ONE OF US, NATHAN!” It’s effective because it comes out of nowhere. You recognize the voice and the dialogue, but for a moment you struggle to place them. It’s only when you manage to put the dialogue in its context that you want to say “Oh, $%*@!” on Nathan’s behalf. Željko un-earns his Dumb As Award by proving that even if he doesn’t know everything, he’s onto something. The rest of the analysts in the office win a collective Dumb As Award for just going about their business while this incriminating looped footage echoes off the walls. Come on, guys, this is dynamite! Listen to it! React to it!
Tracy is brought back to her cell. Did anyone else get a Terminator vibe from the music here? The electronic blips on the soundtrack when Rebel pops up on the guard’s monitor are cute, but the guttural grinding synth strings as Tracy stumbles down the corridor are eerily reminiscent of the Terminator theme.
“Help is coming. Have hope.”
Even if Tracy dismisses it as a hallucination, hacking into surveillance monitors at the exact moment Tracy passes them demonstrates how intricate and ubiquitous Micah — sorry, Rebel — is becoming.
Nathan takes a seat in front of Tracy inside the Goon Squad Furnace and tells her (actual dialogue), “Sorry about all this.” Was that meant to be funny?
As the scene plays out, it starts to seem like Nathan’s as desperate to be understood as he is to save his own ass. When Nathan tells Tracy that he’s the same guy who saved her and that he’s been trying to help her all along, it’s as if he’s trying to say that his previous integrity strengthens his current actions. You could argue that it’s been undermined by inconsistent writing and an incohesive character arc, but his religious epiphany aside, Nathan still strikes me as one of the most consistently-written characters on the show.
Nathan: “You don’t have to like me, but you do have to understand that I am your last …” *BEAT* and *DRAMATIC WHISPER* … “hope.”
Fantastic delivery. Even inside that furnace of a cell, it’s chilling.
Željko: “I wanna know everything you know about Nathan Petrelli.”
Tracy: “He was lousy in bed.”
Funny. Mostly because of Nathan’s anguished expression when he hears it, but also because of Željko’s disappointment that Tracy wouldn’t come clean with him. You’d think Željko could get to Mohinder and Daphne before Nathan had a chance to sweet-talk his way into buying their silence too, but OK.
We cut to Canine Central.
And whoa! It’s a shift in tone from the previous scene and a sharp contrast to the parent-child relationship in the Sylar thread, but that was probably the idea. The only part that drags me out is Claire’s styled hair. Unless this was therapy after facing off with a psychotic puppeteer, she’s looking a little too made up.
The reference to Alex’s departure was a nice nod. At least he wasn’t forgotten the moment he left. Claire using a cover job as a neutral location to help fugitives was also a nice touch, if only because it’s evidence that Claire is thinking about her family and trying to spare them unnecessary anxiety.
Even with that in mind, I can’t help thinking that something was either missing or underdeveloped about this storyline. Given that Noah tracked an individual to the same location, and given that we see agents parking their van outside it and waiting for Claire, how would this location benefit anyone Claire was trying to hide?
We don’t get a chance to think about this, because Claire immediately schedules an interview with a Poor Man’s Seth Green and applies for a job at Sam’s Comics. She mentions she was a cheerleader (and that past tense in itself is worth noting). Perhaps surprisingly, she doesn’t mention her musical aspirations. That is not as noteworthy as several other points, however, the first of which …
… is the sign in front of the counter with a message about hope. If you have a theory about Rebel being one of the customers, this can’t hurt it.
Claire gets a job on the basis of (a) her capacity to burst into tears when she can’t decide if she’s the comic-book equivalent of impulsive or analytical, and (b) being gorgeous. I’d rant about how objectionable it is to see someone hired based on their looks and charm (as opposed to, say, their expertise or relevant interests or enthusiasm for the job, none of which Claire demonstrates here), but it’s an objection that really isn’t worth much. The Poor Man’s Seth Green is right that hiring Claire is a smart business decision, and I admit, if it were Hayden Panettiere, I’d hire her too.
The final point worth noting is that lots of these salivating nerds are Burbank residents on a fellow NBC show. Cute Chuck shout-out. Nicely done.
We return to the Luthor Cabin, where Sylar’s dismissing Lionel as a “pitiful” excuse for a Gray.
Lionel: “You want a fight! That what you were expecting? Son kills his father? Epic battle?”
Well, if Sylar wasn’t expecting that, I’m pretty sure a sizable portion of the audience was, myself included. I’m pleasantly surprised that this is infinitely more thought-provoking and goes a long way to justifying the Psycho Killer Road Trip.
Lionel opens a cage, and out of it comes … a rabbit?
A rabbit?
Oh, show.
I’m never mentioning this again. This was beyond all crimes and barbarism we’ve seen Sylar commit in the past. Terrorizing Molly? That was mean. Bashing in Chandra’s skull and forcing Eden to kill herself and cutting off Danny’s metal arm and slitting Echo’s throat? Those were vicious. Stabbing his adoptive mom and cutting open Candice’s brains and killing Derek with a brick and stabbing Alejandro and ripping open Claire’s skull to get her ability while she’s still conscious? Awful. Scalping Brian Davis and Charlie and Dale and Zane Taylor and Isaac and Ted and Bob and Weevil and Elle and that clairsentient Company agent Bridget and that glass-smashing guy Trevor and that chick with the lie detector whose name no one can ever remember? Monstrous. And Arthur? … Uh, skip that one. Most of us won’t hold that against Sylar.
But a cute, defenseless little rabbit?
That’s just … That crosses a line.
We learn that Sylar’s intuitive aptitude was inherited, and that on top of the TK, Lionel has an ability that resembles hypnotic whistling. Whatever it is, it’s enough to freeze the poor rabbit in its tracks …
… until these bad, bad people are ready to cut it open.
Sylar: “You have an ability?”
Lionel: “Got lots of ‘em. Don’t know what I got left. Been years since I used ‘em or needed em.”
Um, flashback, please? Anytime next season would be great. And no rabbits, please. Thank you.
Lionel realizes that “the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree.” Biblical undertones? I think they’re there, especially in a storyline involving immortality, forgiveness and two pseudo-satanic villains who kill rabbits. Perhaps more intriguingly, Lionel observes that Sylar derives a perverse pleasure from hunting down victims who are unable to defend themselves. On the one hand, it’s evidence of what an accurate judge of character Lionel is. On the other, it’s evidence of how alike he and Sylar are, and how completely Lionel understands his son.
Sylar: “Are you really drawing a moral line?”
Lionel: “Morality? Doesn’t enter into it. Birds gotta fly, fish gotta swim. You have to kill. It’s who you are.”
Exquisite dialogue. Glover could be reciting fluctuations on the stock market and I’d listen with rapt attention, but when he gets a character he can dig into and dialogue he can work with, he’s untouchable. And here, he gets to steamroll over the mess the show made in the previous volume and establishes Sylar’s motives: he’s evil, he kills, he enjoys it. No moral ambiguity whatsoever.
Or is there?
Sylar: “They had something I wanted. It isn’t my fault if they weren’t strong enough to fight back.”
Defensive? Offended? Bothered by the truth? Interesting delivery, and similar to his response when Nuke described him as a serial killer. It doesn’t negate Lionel’s observation about Sylar’s killer instinct, but it suggests that Sylar hasn’t even acknowledged how that instinct operates.
Lionel warns Sylar that his life will be meaningless if it isn’t challenging, and that “all the power in the world doesn’t matter if you’ve lived an unsatisfied life.” This entire scene sparkles, but when it gets to this tract of dialogue, you can already see its significance stretching over the rest of this volume and into the next. You can see the renewed ambition and the unparalleled cruelty; you can see Sylar realizing that he’ll only ever be satisfied once he’s gained all the power in the world and experienced it for himself; you can see his megalomania returning to the zenith it reached at the end of Season One.
And then they had to go and kill the rabbit. Damn them.
Goon Squad Central. Željko rewatches surveillance footage of Peter falling off the rooftop and getting whisked away. It’s established that Željko never got a glimpse of the guy who caught Peter. Between Peter’s flying rescuer, Tracy’s assertion that Nathan is One of Them and Nathan’s ability to get between locations so quickly, I’m surprised it’s taking Željko this long to connect the dots.
Noah drops Angela’s folder into Željko’s lap and tells him she’s his best way to find out who saved Peter. At the time, you’re thinking he sold her out. Looking back, you realize it’s another instance of Bennet Crafty Scheming. Presumably, he could already predict how Angela was going to pwn him. With hindsight, we can appreciate how right he was. At this point, it’s hard to imagine just how much Angela would enjoy the opportunity.
Noah: “A long time ago, I gave up trying to figure out what Angela Petrelli would or wouldn’t do.”
Don’t worry, Noah, so did we.
Noah calls Angela, who’s in a limo in New York, and exposits everything we’ve just seen. Angela recalls that Željko tried to kill Peter, and that things will be better once he’s gone, and …
Oh. Oh.
Oh, show. Oh, show. You spoil us. Of all the delightful shout-outs, you picked this one.
Claire finishes her first shift at Sam’s Comics and gets a comic to read for “homework.” Aw. The comic book nerds stare longingly as she leaves. It’s a cute gag, but I hope it won’t become so frequent that it gets tired.
Claire sees the Costa Verde pool cleaners parked across the road, again making me wonder why she ever thought this would be a suitable location for supers-on-the-run. She then calls Noah to ask him how he managed to “lead two lives for all that time,” and with respect to Claire, I really have to wonder what she’s talking about. She told Doyle to go to hell, and Sandra seems to already know about the assignments Rebel is saddling her with. It’s not like Claire has a double life which she can compare to the dual identities in her homework.
As opposed to, say, Rachel Mills, who’s now charged with hunting down the guy she secretly helped to free. Is she pretending to try to bring him in? For that matter, does she realize how Dumb she is for giving a puppeteer the chance to control her? It’s an intense scene, and if it’s taken at face value without any additional context, it works. But then, the appeal of this character is the fact that she advanced from the online material, and at this point, what we’re seeing on the screen doesn’t jive with the online material. There are details here that needed to be addressed, and they weren’t.
Doyle: “I should kill you, but I just wanna go back to the way life was.”
Again, it’s sincere enough that you want to believe he means it. It’s possible to believe that he believes he means it. But when you recall how unstable Doyle has been over the past season, I have a very hard time believing he’d remain this upstanding for long.
Claire shows up to foil the Other Agent’s attempt to capture him. As near as I can tell, Claire manages to launch the Other Agent several feet into the air and flip him over a stair railing by twisting his leg. I can’t figure out if that’s because Claire has superstrength or because the Other Agent is an acrobat. Either way, the way it’s edited, it looks a little absurd.
We reach the scene which, at least for me, is the high point of the episode, and a contender for the most brilliant moment of the series. I don’t know how much I can comment on this; the visuals tell it all, and Cristine Rose and Željko Ivanek deliver the most entertaining and enjoyable scene all season.
The chyron tells us it’s Manhattan. Putting aside the way Željko seems to have pulled a Nathan and zipped between locations, I don’t think it would have hurt to name the restaurant. Think of the revenue they’d enjoy from fans wanting to eat at the restaurant where Angela slurped her oysters and upstaged Željko.
Željko approaches Angela, and it’s already apparent how uneasy he is. He doesn’t stride to the table — he shuffles.
Angela seems to have been expecting Željko, because she’s already throwing herself into the role by smacking her lips with perverse delight. Is she overplaying it? Of course. But it’s impossible to tell where the actress ends and the character begins, because they’re both clearly enjoying every moment of it.
Željko asks for her help, Angela bats her eyelids and offers that everything she knows is in the Primatech files. Željko takes a seat opposite her and observes that a lot of the characters on the show have inherited abilities from their parents.
And Angela already has an expression that says, “This is going to be even more fun than I thought.”
Angela: “Genetics is an extremely complex topic.”
It borders on patronizing, but given that the analogy applies to special abilities and a formula so advanced that apparently only Papa Sulu ever managed to manipulate a synthetic equivalent, it’s true.
Angela goes on to compare it to blue-eyed parents having a brown-eyed child.
Željko’s expression seems to say, “A-ha! She’s playing me!” Funny, mostly because we’re close to screaming, “No, you think?“, but also because Željko’s been such an unflappable character until now.
Željko suggests that Nathan is “the misfit,” which we’re initially tempted to think is a smoke screen, but really, when you consider that Nathan was given his ability, Željko’s unwittingly right.
Angela: “Sometimes these things skip a generation.”
It’s hysterical for the “Ah, well, these things happen” tone, but I’m not sure the show realized how much debate it would spark off. Once the show addresses whether Monty and Simon have an ability, I expect it to also address who Angela inherited her ability from.
Željko: “I don’t believe you.”
So direct, and such an effective way to counter Angela’s misdirection. Željko’s sober earnestness balances out Angela’s delicate lip-smacking.
Angela calls over a waiter, gets a refill and sums up Željko’s existence:
“No family, nothing to hold you back, operating in the shadows, doing all the awful things other people just refuse to do.”
It’s funny, mostly for Angela’s expression after she’s finished.
… An expression that seems to say, “How pathetic is it that I just summed up your entire life in one sentence?” Željko just smiles politely, and I can’t help wondering if he realizes that aside from the familial ties, Angela could equally have been describing either herself or Noah.
Angela observes that Željko’s moral shadiness is what makes him “useful” — *pauses for contemplation* — “and expendable.” Which would sound cold-hearted if it wasn’t immediately followed by Angela taking a sip of wine. When she does that, it skips from heartless to hilarious.
Angela brings up “the incident in Angola” and “all those civilians lost,” and the remarkable fact that Željko survived.
Which immediately wipes the smile from Željko’s face, because evidently it’s one thing he’s unwilling to turn into a mind game. I’m intrigued, and very much hopeful that it won’t end up being hinted at and never explored. It seems to be the one thing that elicits a modicum of human feeling from Željko.
And if Angela cares how much it affects him, she isn’t showing it. She’s too busy getting back to her oysters.
Željko is too stunned for words, but just about manages to stand and let out a nervous chuckle.
Željko: “You’re a very …”
Go on. You can say it. Amazing? Extraordinary? Enchanting?
Željko: “… resourceful woman, Mrs. Petrelli.”
Angela’s expression seems to say, “Well, that’s fair, but I was hoping for something more poetic. Alluring, perhaps? And here’s what I have to say about you…”
Pwned!
Željko finds enough composure to make his way out of the restaurant, probably hoping no one realized he was there, and Angela’s expression as she watches him scurry away …
… is without a doubt the most delightful expression she gave throughout this entire scene. I have no idea what just happened here, but THERE WAS NO PART OF THIS SCENE THAT WAS NOT COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY AWESOME. Well done, Angela!
We cut from one intensely-acted and subtext-laden scene to another, with Sylar and Lionel mounting the poor rabbit at Luthor Cabin. Lionel rambles about a man needing a hobby. I would have suggested fencing. Or pool. Or hostile takeovers. Or alien hieroglyphs and Kryptonian farmboys. Anything besides killing defenseless rabbits.
Sylar: “I fix watches … Thought it would make my father happy.”
Straightforward dialogue, but it gains meaning from the way it’s delivered …
… with such disarming simplicity and childlike hope for approval. Superb performance from Zach, and so true to the character who desperately needed to feel valued.
I can’t decide whether Lionel’s reaction is pity or amusement. The way Glover owns every nuance of his character, you get a sense of both.
Lionel: “The only thing people are good for is disappointment.”
Sylar: “Is that why you killed my mother? Why you abandoned me?”
Lionel: “I don’t even remember. Didn’t matter to me. So few things do.”
Is he lying? Is he saying it to hurt Sylar? I can’t think why he would; he has nothing to gain from it. And even without Sylar’s look of dismay, the dialogue conveys how heavy the blow is. For all the disappointment Sylar felt because his father wasn’t a worthy opponent, the prospect of being so insignificant that he wasn’t even worth a memory inflicts even deeper psychological scars.
Lionel’s line about the way immortality prolongs suffering is intriguing. You know he’s only using bitterness to conceal his excitement, but it’s something that wasn’t explored as much as it should have been during the show’s second season. We got a sense of Adam’s disillusionment in humanity and his warped conviction about doing God’s work, but we never got a sense of how he felt about immortality itself.
Lionel pins Sylar to the wall with arrows, and Glover brings enough sudden animation to the character to make him look 10 years younger. When he growls, “I want that power!,” you get an idea of how corrupt and ambitious and identical to Sylar he must have once been. Nicely played.
Lionel: “I’ll get it right this time. Do more. Be more. Take every challenge. Fight hard. Risk it all. Take real power. Real authority. Change everything — the world! Just to see if I can.”
Amazing dialogue, and not just because it’s Glover. Under different circumstances, this is dialogue you can imagine Sylar delivering. It ties the characters together with a common megalomania, and again, you can imagine how the notions are seeping into Sylar’s head and restoring his own greed and ambition, if only to save him from turning into the misanthropic hermit he discovered here.
Lionel’s ready to slice his son’s scalp open to steal his regeneration. We can assume that if he’s aware of his capacity to acquire abilities through empathy, he isn’t one for that approach. I was going to say that as much as I hate to be an apologist for Lionel, he was only trying to survive. Then I realized just how appalling it is that Lionel cuts open his son’s head so he can fulfill a delusional fantasy about world domination.
And although it’s somewhat saddening to watch Sylar TK his father’s oxygen tube around his neck and listen to the guy pleading for his son’s ability, I’m even less tempted to feel bad for him than I am for Doyle.
The option for Papa Luthor to return is there, but as phenomenal as Glover was in the role, this seems like a perfect way to leave it; Sylar cutting the final tie to his family and his old life, dangling the prospect of survival in front of his father, then whipping it away and abandoning him to die slowly. Shockingly cruel, and consistent with a character who, at his worst, enjoys inflicting pain and watching people suffer.
Goon Squad Central. Nathan hands Željko his pink slip and tells him the president “didn’t really need that much proof after all.” Which seems to suggest that President Worf has no idea about Željko’s stunt at Capitol Hill, and explains why he presumably rehired him after Nathan flew off.
Željko warns Nathan that one day all his friends will be gone. And we cut to …
… The glasses! They can’t be trusted! They betray!
Beautifully shot, and wonderfully portentous.
Nathan and Noah approach the elevator, Nathan pauses in front of a glass window, and BAM! Right away, you know where this is leading. Even before you see Željko glaring from the shadows and pulling out his gun, the storyline has built up to it so effectively, and the direction and photography have set the shot up so elegantly, that you see it coming a mile off.
Željko: “When are you gonna understand — bureaucracy, oversight, rules of conduct? None of it applies in my world.”
Brilliant dialogue, and brilliant delivery by Ivanek. You realize that the character really is in his own monstrous world, with his own nonexistent code of ethics and his own amoral set of principles.
As compelling as it is to listen to Željko admit how these abilities scare him, there’s an equally compelling surveillance camera behind him …
… which continues blinking right up until Željko gets to the part about Nathan never once showing an ounce of fear. At which point that blinking light goes dead. Temporary technical glitch, or Rebel ensuring that the footage of Nathan’s dramatic escape couldn’t be used against him? Or a continuity screw-up? You decide.
Cool effect. The glass doesn’t look any more real now than it did in “Eris Quod Sum,” but you’re so lost in the moment that you barely notice it. Željko’s suspicions are confirmed; Nathan’s secret has been exposed; and the entire chain of command at Goon Squad Central just re-arranged itself in Željko’s favor.
Rebel erases all record of “Eric Doyle” and enables him to take Sandra’s latest fake ID and become a puppeteer again. If Rebel can do that for Doyle, couldn’t he do it for all of the other individuals on the Wall of Fugitives? It would probably remove a lot of the drama from this volume, but it would make more sense.
Doyle points out that he didn’t kill Rachel, apparently hoping it’ll prove that he’s “earned” Claire’s help. I won’t belabor the same point — that Doyle really doesn’t care about redeeming himself — but the actor pretty much makes my point for me when Claire asks Doyle if he meant what he said about changing.
Does that look like the face of a guy who wants to be a good person? Well done, Doyle! Don’t ever change!
HEROSITE RECONSTRUCTION
INT. HEROES WRITERS’ ROOM — DAY
WRITER 1
Man, this is one awesome episode we’ve written here.
WRITER 2
Totally! This is, like, the best episode we’ve written all season. How creepy was Doyle? How intense was Sylar’s dad? How unbelievable was that scene with Angela and Danko?
WRITER 3
Dude, the most awesome thing was killing the rabbit. We need more blood and gore on this show. There can never be too much killing.
[WRITERS 1 and 2 look at WRITER 3 NERVOUSLY.]
WRITER 1
So, anyway, I think those NBC suits are gonna love what we’ve given them here.
[ENTER NBC EXECUTIVE. He looks ANGRY.]
NBC EXECUTIVE
What are you idiots doing on this show? You’re down to seven million viewers! You think anyone will be happy with that?
Writer 2
Boss, I totally get what you’re saying, but we’ve come up with the most amazing episode ever!
WRITER 1
We’ve got Adrian defusing a bomb and Danko pushing him out of a window. And Sylar meets his dad and rediscovers his lust for pow-
NBC EXECUTIVE
It sounds expensive. And dry. I want you to come up with something cheap and suitable for the masses. Get Hayden in there somewhere. Give her a scene with a bunch of guys staring at her or something. I don’t care, just give it some oomph! … Wait, I’ve got it! BABIES! A scene with a cute baby! And kittens! And puppies! And ponies!
WRITER 3
Can we kill them?
NBC EXECUTIVE
What?
WRITER 3
Well, we’d bring them back to life, obviously. Inject them with Claire’s blood, show their splattered entrails regenerating.
NBC EXECUTIVE
What’s the matter with you? That’s gross. Get me some cute babies and cute animals and bring those ratings back up … Or maybe not all at once. If we throw too much at the audience in one go they’ll feel like we’re oversaturating them. Go with the guys staring at Hayden and the cute baby. Man, how hard was that? Are you people morons or something? If I can come up with that in a few minutes, what the hell am I paying you for? Get back to work!
[EXIT NBC EXECUTIVE. The WRITERS look CONFUSED.]
WRITER 1
Damn. How can we write a scene with a cute baby in an episode as dark as this?
WRITER 3
I say we kill it.
WRITER 2
I mean, I’m not saying any of this wouldn’t work, but I don’t know how we can make it work.
WRITER 1
I don’t know if we can put a baby in Sylar’s scenes. Or the Danko scenes. And now that Nathan and HRG can’t protect Claire, I don’t see Claire taking care of a baby. So if the Building 26 story is out and the Claire story is out, that only leaves …
WRITER 3
Wait, you can’t be serious …
WRITER 2
OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD — I’VE GOT IT!
That? … says it all. For the baby’s sake, there won’t be any shovels. Let’s just say there’s valid reason to doubt the success of this storyline.
But at this point in the episode, with so much great material behind it, there’s nothing that can pull it down. It surges forward and knocks everything out of its way — even a redundant scene with Hiro, and even V.O. Mohinder rambling about children being destined to repeat their parents’ mistakes and enjoy the same triumphs. I’d pay more attention to it, but I couldn’t help getting distracted by this shot …
… which is so well done that everything else becomes a blur.
And to offset the show’s most monstrous villains sharing a scene with a dead rabbit, we’re charmed into believing that a douche-turned-hero-turned-villain can turn back into a hero again.
Or at least that’s what the show would have us believe when Nathan zips from Washington to Canine Central and rescues his daughter from agents charging into her bedroom. I’d point out that rescuing Claire from a crisis he helped to create in no way redeems Nathan, but given the complexity of the character arcs throughout this episode, I’m giving the show the benefit of the doubt and assuming they already know that.
There’s nothing I can dock points for here. Hiro, a baby and some diaper humor? V.O. Mohinder? A bit of incoherence between the show and the graphic novels? None of that encroaches on the merits of this episode. Not even the dead rabbit comes close. This one was flawless. Every storyline was executed perfectly, with a tight script, superb performances, stunning visuals and some observant and incisive thematic work. And Lionel Luthor. And oysters.
One of the show’s finest hours.
5 out of 5
While Rachel’s story was quite iffy, I agree with you, Otto. Not my favorite episode, but I can see how superbly well-written it is.
And indeed, Angela and Danko’s talk is by far one of the greatest scenes in the history of the show. That’s all I really need.
I was stunned to see John Glover go from ‘weak old man’ to looking ‘ten years younger’ in the blink of an eye. It was always my hope that he’d be an older version of Sylar, and he nailed it. There’s also the awesome possibility that Sylar, if he lives forever, isn’t classified by moral quandries of good and evil. It’s about power, who he wants to be at any particular moment. The exploration of that should be fascinating, to see an individual who is beyond one moral perspective.
Fantastic review, again. Raised all the excellent parts of the episode.
However… I see potential in the ‘Baby Matt’ storyline. It’s a throwback to S1, it’ll give Matt a good storyline, and at the same time will bring Hiro-Ando and Matt/Daphne back together. Grunberg, Kyson-Lee and Oka were a great team back in S3.
Otto,good review. Maybe Doyle’s ability is too easy for anyone to resist using but somehow I think that most people would be able to resist using it to force a mother to kill her daughter.
One thing about the Micah-as-Rebel theory bothers me- how would Micah track Hiro and Ando to that restaurant in India?
I wonder about the incident in Angola- maybe Danko hates Specials because he’s got powers himself and when they first emerged he accidentally killed a lot of innocent people.
At this point, I’m really getting worried about the ratings. I hope NBC doesn’t change its mind about renewal.
Great review as always Otto.
Angela was so cool and the last scene between Nathan and Claire was amazing. Maybe they will hide in Mexico in future episodes (as we saw in some photos from the set, they were in a “mexican” motel)
And really, Glover was awesome but let’s leave it there, writers! BTW, totally loved the “conversation” between the writers and the NBC executive LOL. It made my day! Make more of that and I’ll marry you!
Couldn’t agree more, Otto
I agree with this one being one of the show’s finest hours, even better than “Cold Wars”. And also your review was just a great as the one from “Building 26″. You mentioned the shovels
Thank you.
It will be hard waiting ’til March 23 for a new episode, but I think that that way its more of a sign that the full Bryan Fuller contribution starts in “Cold Snap” which is being hyped as a classic. I hope it is true. Considering that “Shades of Gray” was one of the best of the season just in time for the Fuller episodes, I see it as a sign that the last 6 episodes will be awesome. That’s what I hope. In the mean time, enjoy the 1 week break
BTW, I’ll keep promoting your reviews Otto in IGN, as it seems that, once again, that idiot scored it really bad. And I’m truly done with him. He gave this one a 6.4 out of 10, and the worst thing is that it seems like he is phoning in the reviews because he just misses a lot of stuff, gets it wrong, and just keeps trashing the show instead of reviewing for what it is. So like always, keep up with this amazing work, Otto. Yours are always a pleasure to watch.
I agree with your review. My one quibble is that the set up for Danko outing Nathan was so lame that I had a hard time caring about the reveal.
In the unintentional humor category, I loved how Mr. Muggles stayed completely calm while Sandra and Lyle reacted to the Goon Squad:
http://s664.photobucket.com/albums/vv9/dref22_22_2/3×19%20Shades%20of%20Gray/?action=view¤t=vlcsnap-457115.jpg
Hayley said:
“And really, Glover was awesome but let’s leave it there, writers! BTW, totally loved the “conversation” between the writers and the NBC executive LOL. It made my day! Make more of that and I’ll marry you!”
The “conversation” also made my day like Hayley, making it one of your best reviews just like “Building 26″. Always a pleasure to read
March 9th, 2009 was my 20th birthday.
And those lovely people at NBC gave me an incredible gift.
I agree with everything you said here. It was just a monster of an episode, and quite possibly my all time favorite.
Nice review Otto. The writers room segment was hilarious.
I agree that this was the best episode of the season, at least thus far. Since this was Bryan Fuller’s first episode as consultant, do you think that made a difference? I say yes, but credit has to shared with everyone else. Beeman, Grigsby, Glover, Rose, and Zeljko were just awesome.
Hear’s hoping for continued greatness for the rest of Volume 4.
P.S. I meant “here’s”.
Thanks for another great review, Otto! Wow, a 5 out o5! Nice to see that the show can achieve that again.
How in the world did you spot that “Hope” sign in the comic book store?
As for HRG giving Danko Angela’s file, you’re right, at first I thought he was turning her in, but glad that it was all part of the plan.
Not sure if I mentioned it before, but it’s great being able to see the results of your polls. This one was tough for me. I couldn’t decide between the second and the last one. lol
I loved that moment at the end with Nathan and Claire. It was so sweet. Actually I love the whole thing from the time the agents storm into the house to the camera sweeping outside to see Claire there then to see Nathan holding her was just amazing. The way it was shot and with the music. It really is one thing that Heroes does better than pretty much any other show. I also loved the look on his of determination and protection. The shock on Claire’s face that he came for her.
Why do we have to wait two weeks for the next episode? It makes me nervous that I’m going to have to wait THREE weeks for Peter to show up again.
He’s out there all alone and injured. 
My, my. I can’t thank you enough for a great read - so well written, and I have to tell you, all the things you talked about were things going through my head as I thought about this episode and performing in it. I think things will get a little scary for Mr. D- er, Tyminski, as time goes on. And the webisode, Nowhere Man, will tie o lot of this together for you all.
Thanks again for watching, and I can’t thank you enough for the amazing response you’ve give me and my character. Who would have thought? Not me.
David
David, thank you so much for reading, and for the kind words. Your scenes are always a pleasure to dig into, and I think I speak for everyone here when I say we’d love to see you on the show again.
“I think things will get a little scary for Mr. D- er, Tyminski, as time goes on.”
Heh. I loved how his fake papers at the end still said “puppeteer” — at least he’ll have one thing in his life that makes him happy.
Thanks again.
Great review, as always, and great episode.
The Sylar/PapaGray scenes were great and I can’t agree more that they’re exactly the same, and it’s fun to see how Sylar tries do deny it. I really wonder how much Papa looked for “worthy opponents”, but since Sylar got his ass kicked quite a few times, even after acquiring Claire’s ability, my guess would be not that much. Even though it’s the perfect way for him to leave him, I hope to see John Glover again. As great as those scenes were, 5 episodes of RoadTrip including Luke can’t be balanced yet :).
“You’re gonna die alone with your sickness”. I’d have loved Papa to say “And you will live alone forever” and I can’t figure out which one is the worst ^^
“And to offset the show’s most monstrous villains sharing a scene with a dead rabbit, we’re charmed into believing that a douche-turned-hero-turned-villain can turn back into a hero again.” After killing Elle (they have to stop remembering me that I miss her) AND THE RABBIT (Hey, at least he didn’t try to terrorize the Rabbit. After not succeeding in scaring Elle, maybe he was afraid the bunny would mock him), I would be kinda pissed if they tried to redeem him… again.
The Angela/Danko scene was amazing. The way it was shot, the voluntary over-the-top acting were just perfect.
I’am also wondering, now that Danko mentionned ability inhertion… They’re after dead people (Elle mentionned, Know on the board) but being after a Baby seems a bit too much for me. Since he’s cute, I hope he has the power to make Hiro un-irritating, that would be just great :).
Finally, kudos to David H. Lawrence. The (un-)ambiguity was perfectly played, and I’m looking forward for the next time he’s on (and the webisodes too).
ps : Since you mentionned the Graphic Novels, they’re mentionned to be “following a lead on the invisible guy”, but as far as we know, the only person to know where Claude is (was) is dead. Any opinion on that? Maybe he’s working as/with Rebel (I’m still not buying that it can be Micah alone)…
Thoroughly excellent. I loved the review almost as much as I loved the socks. Wow! Socks! I thought they’d never touch back on the socks again!
I was really disappointed that they didn’t build up the Gray element more. I’d have loved a bit more special effects, but I guess this way the talent of the actors shone through.
And would Doyle have killed Rachel at all? She did save him after all…
Great review, Otto. Once again, you mentioned all the things that really stood out for me.
I really liked the episode, but I didn’t love it as much as I thought I would. Honestly, I thought it should have been a stand-alone ep for the Sylar plot, because I felt very underwhelmed at the ending, like “That was it? All those episodes for those few scenes?”
But I’m not that angry, because the performances were excellent. Glover was a real find and was utterly convincing as Sylar’s father. Talk about 2 peas in a messed up pod. I loved their exchange about Sylar trying to impress his adoptive father by fixing watches, and Samson’s “sympathetic” response. Quinto was phenomenal in that scene.
There were some shots that were noteworthy, like the screenshot you have on the homepage w/ Sylar pinned to the wall and Samson holding his face. I don’t know why, but Sylar looks like a petulant child. And did you notice that while Sylar acted like his old self when he broke free of Samson’s control, he looked downright depressed when he left the house?
A lot of people were pissed off by the rabbit death. Yes, Sylar killed Thumper and it sucks. I consider that another layer of humanity that he just lost. I swear, that rabbit was frowning when Samson picked it up by the scruff.
Doyle is another character that I’m glad to see return. No matter what direction the show takes, the villains on Heroes are so compelling, you always end up feeling bad for them, even when you know you shouldn’t. Lawrence really nailed his scenes, and his final scene with Claire was brilliantly left open, and even if he is deceiving Claire, you want to see him again.
Angela…damn. That restaurant scene was f*ing classic, I was just waiting for a sign that read “pwned” on Doyle.
Rebel needs to show up already! The wait is driving me crazy. I keep imagining Micah in some Matrix-like setting with a thousand computers around.
Food for thought: Considering that Samson & Sylar have the same ability, what do you think would have happened if he had asked Sylar to take his ability in the beginning instead of just going after it? I know it’s weird, and given his personality, Samson would never ask, but do you think Sylar would have said yes?
Sorry for not commenting last week, but great review.
I agree with you on Danko. He does start off pretty dumb, but ultimately redeems himself (kind of). It’s disappointing that it took him sooooo long to realize it though. I thougt he was supposed to be smart! Ugh. Whatever, at least he figured it out and pulled off the cool pushing-Nathan-out-the-window stunt in the process. Angela and Danko also rocked. I think Angela is my favorite character and she totally earned it by schooling Danko.
I’m confused about Matt Parkman Jr. Wasn’t the kid NOT Matt’s? If it wasn’t his then why did Janice name the kid after him? Unless, the baby is his. Boy, Matt’s going to have a big shocker coming.
Glad Doyle’s back with all his creepy psychosis. Is that really David H. Lawrence XVII commenting up there? If it is then that’s pretty pwnage.
I don’t get what your problem with killing bunnies is. My dad and I suck the life force out of rabbits and kittens all the time, lol. (That was a joke for those of you who can’t understand written sarcasm.) In all seriousness though, it was pretty demented. Liked how Samson was totally undetered by Sylar’s arival, as if random children/serial killers show up on his doorstep every other day. The only problem I have with the whole thing is the irrelevence of the storyline so far. As cool as it is, what does it have to do with anything?
I actually really liked Nathan rescuing Claire at the end. Maybe they’ll actually have a bonding expirience of sorts (well relative to the situation I suppose, lol.) Their loose-ended relationship has always bugged me in the past. I mean they’ve never talked to each other for more than a few sentences.
Before I forget, you need a new Dumb As person. I nominate Hiro. Dumb As Hiro has a nice ring to it.
^ ^ I agree, Hiro deserves it more than anyone. I made up a rule at the start of Season Two that a character needed to earn five generic Dumb As Awards to get the award named after them. So far this volume, no one’s come close. But you never know when that will change…
Wow, how nice was it of David H. Lawrence XVII to drop by and say “hey.” Very cool.
I don’t really have much to add to what you’ve already pointed out, except that I love Angela more than ever. Socks-n-slurps, who could ask for anything more? This volume has done such a better job with the characters, for the most part, and I’m particularly enjoying Angela this volume. I had a hard time buying her as evil enough to actually feed a person who admired her to Sylar. She’s ruthless, but I was never comfortable with that. This more ironic depiction of her is much better, more believable and far more entertaining.
I actually liked the Matt Parkman, Jr. tie in…I’ve been wondering what happened to Janice and Jr.; it was a humorous way for Hiro and Ando to slide back into the plot, without being ridulouis. I hope that they do something worthwhile with these two for a change. From the previews, looks like Ando’s getting his zap on, next week. I still don’t understand the whole India side trip, though.
The scenes with John Glover totally made the Psycho Killer Road Trip worth the time, although Luke is still an odd loose end flapping in the breeze…much like India.
Nathan…I dunno. I mean we knew this was coming, and I like that his first thought was to zip off and grab Claire, but I’m still not feeling the love. I think, despite Adrian Pasdar’s excellent job, the writers have been extremely inconsistent in their dealings with Nathan. Is he bad, or good? Sincere, or not? Unbalanced, or stable? Remorseful, or irate? I’m all for complex, nuanced characterizations, but he’s just all over the place.
Cool to see Doyle…and I think Rebel helping him lends credence to the Micah theories. It would take a certain amount of naivete and innocence to see Doyle as reformable.
I’m gad to see Rachel really is playing both sides here, though I agree with you that the screen scenes versus the graphic novel scenes with Doyle were confusing.
Thanks again for another great review. I think this was my favorite episode of this volume so far, though it didn’t have enough Sandra. Hope we’ll still be seeing her, even with Claire on the run.
K
Leigh - in 205, Matt has a nightmare sequence in which they heavily hint that Janice told him the baby wasn’t his… but Matt knew it was. So essentially, he became his Father.
^ ^ This, and the fact that I can’t see Janice naming the kid “Matt” if he isn’t Matt’s son.
She could have just liked the name Matt! :]
Thanks for the clarificatoin though. I forgot about that whole nightmare sequence thing.
Daniel P, “iffy” sounds about right. To be fair, the latest iStory resolves part of the Rachel/Doyle issue. It strikes me as kind of a lose-lose situation. If they’d tried to address it in more detail in the episode, something else would have had to be cut, and it would have confused viewers who don’t follow the online content. But by trying to write around the backstory from the online content, I wonder if they almost ended up making the whole thing even more puzzling.
Ian, I really like the point you made here:
“There’s also the awesome possibility that Sylar, if he lives forever, isn’t classified by moral quandries of good and evil.”
I’ll be curious to see how the immortality conversation between Sylar and Claire plays out, because it seems like everyone who’s immortal on the show turns out warped, insane or evil. I wonder what happens if the immortal individual was all of those things *before* he became immortal.
Re: Baby Matt: “It’s a throwback to S1, it’ll give Matt a good storyline, and at the same time will bring Hiro-Ando and Matt/Daphne back together.” I know, I know, but I worry that it’ll turn into one long poop-and-diaper/ooh-isn’t-he-a-cute-baby travesty. I worry that the show seems to think that it’s all Hiro’s good for now. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how the Daphne/Matt/Janice situation is handled, though.
Michael, thanks.
“… somehow I think that most people would be able to resist using it to force a mother to kill her daughter.”
Heh, yeah. But the little things? Keeping the waiter quiet when he brings you the check? Shutting up the guy who’s writing out your speeding ticket? Placating the security guard at the bank? I see a lot of potential for moral ambiguity there, because I don’t think anyone would be able to resist stuff like that. Doyle’s ability strikes me as a lot like Matt’s in that respect: it has multiple everyday applications that would corrupt anyone with the chance to use them.
“One thing about the Micah-as-Rebel theory bothers me- how would Micah track Hiro and Ando to that restaurant in India?”
What if Angela dreamed that Hiro and Ando were in India, and then Micah used satellites to zero in on an exact location? Or what if it’s an Angela/Micah/Molly collaborative effort?
Re: Danko having an ability: I know it’s a really popular theory, but I think the character’s more unsettling if he’s powerless. To me, giving him an ability would be the same as giving HRG an ability: it would take something away from his identity as the powerless guy who puts the fear of God into people who are so much stronger and faster than he is.
Hayley, thank you. Yeah, it looks like Nathan and Claire hide out in Mexico. Could lead to some great Nathan/Claire scenes alongside the Angela/Peter scenes.
“BTW, totally loved the “conversation” between the writers and the NBC executive LOL. It made my day! Make more of that and I’ll marry you!”
Hah. You’re welcome, and I’m glad you liked it.
Alfredo, thanks.
“You mentioned the shovels.
Thank you.”
Here’s hoping they won’t be needed again anytime soon… I share your optimism about the volume’s final batch of episodes. It definitely feels like the whole volume has a clear vision and a lot of momentum.
Raissa — yeah, I saw Mr. Muggles’s composure and was also very amused. He’s a level-headed dog in a crisis.
“My one quibble is that the set up for Danko outing Nathan was so lame that I had a hard time caring about the reveal.”
I’m intrigued. What did you think was lame about it?
Pete, thank you.
“Since this was Bryan Fuller’s first episode as consultant, do you think that made a difference?”
I pretty much see it the same way you do: I’d cautiously attribute the tight script to his influence, but I wouldn’t want to diminish Grigsby’s brilliance, or the actors’. (Side note: Oliver Grigsby, if you’re reading this, thank you for the kind words on Twitter.) It seems like Fuller has made it his mission to fix the ladies’ character arcs, which, yay. But then, I think Angela, Claire, Daphne and Tracy have all been pretty cool throughout this volume, so it could be that the show’s writers were on a roll even before Fuller came back.
Susan,
“How in the world did you spot that “Hope” sign in the comic book store?”
Hah! Who knows. It looks like the sign says something along the lines of, “You must have hope that you haven’t seen the last of him.” Any thoughts on the significance?
With Angela’s socks, I’m thinking it’s just a bizarre (and endearing) fetish, but wouldn’t it be cool if it really was connected to Peter?
Word on that final montage with the commandos bursting into the Bennet house. I think the fact that we don’t hear Sandra screaming out to Claire makes it so much more surreal. I wonder if there’s anything to be said for Nathan saving Claire before his sons. He had to, I guess, because Claire was on the government watchlist, and as far as we know, Monty and Simon aren’t. But that’s probably going to change very fast now that Danko has figured out the family ties.
Pas, thanks.
“I really wonder how much Papa looked for “worthy opponents”, but since Sylar got his ass kicked quite a few times, even after acquiring Claire’s ability, my guess would be not that much.”
I love this point. I hadn’t thought of it, and it ties in so neatly with all of the risk-taking dialogue. If Samson was more of a coward than Sylar but still trying to be the pinnacle of evolution the same way Sylar was, would he have been too afraid to go out and find the abilities he really wanted?
With the “douche-turned-hero-turned-villain” idea, I was mostly thinking of Nathan. I think (/hope) the show’s done trying to redeem Sylar, if they ever really were. I think we’re about to see Sylar become much more monstrous.
Re: the invisible man: it seems like the show focused very heavily this week on abilities being hereditary. Is it possible there’s a mini-Claude running around somewhere?
Will, thank you. I loved the socks as much as you did. Such an amazing and wonderful shout-out.
I hear what you’re saying about the Sylar/Samson super-smackdown, but to me, the way the show chose to avoid it didn’t just help them to focus on the actors’ performances — it helped them to focus on the characters. I don’t think we would have gotten much out of the smackdown besides, “Ooh, that was a cool effect!” But then, I say that, and I was kinda distraught when we didn’t see it back in the Season One finale. That was a season finale, though, and I think we were entitled to ask for impressive stunts and FX work. Here, I think the focus was on character more than on plot, so the lack of pyrotechnics seemed like the right way to go.
B. — yeah, I know what you mean about the length of the road trip and the whole “lack of a pay-off” feeling. I think these scenes were magic enough to make up for the wait, but I definitely know what you mean.
Did you think Sylar looked “downright depressed”? I saw it more as “resolved.” But he did just leave his dad to die of cancer without anyone to take care of him…
“Considering that Samson & Sylar have the same ability, what do you think would have happened if he had asked Sylar to take his ability in the beginning instead of just going after it?”
Very interesting question. I’m thinking he would have told Samson to go to hell. The only moment Sylar seemed like he was genuine was the moment he told Samson about fixing watches. Sylar was there to get answers. I don’t think he would have helped the man who killed his mother and forced him to repress the memory.
“I’m intrigued. What did you think was lame about it?”
Re: Danko, It’s purely subjective. But, the whole he doesn’t see Nathan fly thing gave me flashbacks to the early days of Snuffleupagus on Sesame Street. All the neighbors kept missing him and thinking he was Big Bird’s imaginary friend. I’m going on 36. If the show’s plotline brings me back to something that only made sense when I was five, there’s a problem, imo.
Yeah - Sylar only warmed to Samson when he didn’t get coddled. The second Samson asked for the ability, Sylar would figure out what he was up to. There was never a good moment to ask.
Otto - I think Adam clearly went insane with immortality, but I think Sylar and Claire would treat it more practically. While I can’t see the show redeeming Sylar, I could see him spending forty years married to a woman and living a happy life… then in his next ‘life’ murdering people for abilities again. He’s essentially going to have an eternity to do what he wants and experience everything. Which does beg for a ‘Five Hundred Years Later’ flashback where Sylar and Claire are having epic fights.
Ian,
I think you’re right. If you’ve ever read Anne Rice’s Queen of the Damned, I see Claire as Maharet. A very long story short if you haven’t, Rice’s vampires all hibernate when they feel the passage of time to keep from going nuts. Maharet never did, because she found a long-term coping mechanism — keeping track of her mortal daughter and descendants for 6,000 years. She had family on five continents and kept databases of info on them. She even got the family to keep it’s own records by masquerading as a member of the current generation, whichever generation that happened to be at the time.
I haven’t the time to check the iStory right now, but I do agree that it does take away from the show when things aren’t explained within the show itself. I have to commend the Heroes crew and NBC for embracing multiple mediums of storytelling and really trying to make things interesting for fans. But these stories need to be supplementary, not necessary. Here’s hoping they come to understand this more in the future.
And David commenting on your site? That’s amazing.
Amazing Amazing episode! And Great review!
I adore John Glover an Im a huge Smallville fan… I never once was uninterested or bored by this man after 7 years of playing the same character, and I was even more enthralled seeing him play another super villain’s father. He is becoming the go-to guy for evil daddies. I DO hope he returns in some capacity… he would make a great recurring villain. This episode reminds me of “The Hard Part” where Sylar, realizing his destiny to kill millions, returns home for one last attempt to regain his humanity and stop himself from going nuclear. But alas! His god fearing mother shuts him out, and after her death he does all-Sylar on the world! I see the same thing happening here. He finally met his father, matched wits with basically an older version of himself, and realizes he need to sieze the day, and not let another moment pass.
An alliance between Sylar and Danko? Hell yeah! The new villain and the old villain uniting… for a show crafting itself after a comic book it very seldom united the villains. Sylar and Linderman never met. Bob and Adam didn’t care much for each other. Arthur and his merry men don’t really count lol. But this works, I can’t wait to see what these do black-clad bastards do! I foresee Five Years Gone happening soon. Can you say President Sylar? And there you go. Another thing Samson and Lionel have in common… their evil sons become President… give this man a #%@*ing Emmy!
The scene with Angela and Danko just reaffirmed my love for her. She’s so powerful with just her voclabulary she doesn’t even need a power lol. I too hope we discover why Danko wants to go all Hitler on the supers… I assume this Angola thing has something to do with it. Run with it writers!
“With the “douche-turned-hero-turned-villain” idea, I was mostly thinking of Nathan” Oh my bad. It makes more sense that way ^^
Urr - Don’t make me think of an eventual Sylar/Claire immortal spin-off. I also guess Peter won’t be able to get his old empathic absorption back for a while (at least not in this volume).
I somehow share the “that’s all?” about the Sylar/Papa scenes. Except the fact that he didn’t care much about him, I hoped to see another twist than an older Sylar. The actors were great but after this 10 years-long roadtrip, I just wished more ^^
“I think (/hope) the show’s done trying to redeem Sylar, if they ever really were. I think we’re about to see Sylar become much more monstrous.” I couldn’t agree more. I’d say that the “pseudo-redemption” arc was part of a way to make him worse, but brings another aspect to the character.
I’ll quote Angela’s “You were weak and maleable” and no matter how many more power he will acquire, it will stay true to me.
He was the most manipulable character on the show : He thought Angela and Arthur they were his parents just because they told him, then turned back into a psychokiller because he learnt from HRG (who is known as much of a manipulator than his not-so-much-parents) they weren’t his parents, even before checking it. Depending on what happens next, that could still be true : He could either be doing what Lionel Luthor wanted to do, but I don’t see him following his own path, since he doesn’t seem to have an idea what it is. Maybe his daddy/mommy’s issues aren’t over.
“… And then I realized I was never gonna change” would sum up the “weak” part, after the “Rehab isn’t gonna happen in one day” (Hey, I remember quotes thanks to your reviews ^^). It sounded like a “Too hard to change, easier to kill people” or a “I could try but you (Elle) aren’t worth it”. Leaning toward the first option, it almost sounded like he admitted he wasn’t strong enough to change, no matter how much he tries to hide it. At this point, I wonder if we can say Sylar only defines himself by how many powers he has, just as Noah/Danko do with their work? Now I’m really waiting to see what happens if Peter tells him (again) he could have changed, or the next person to tell him something like “you’re weak” or “you’re not special” to see how hilarious it can be ^^. After the rabbit, I don’t see how worst (heh) he can get I hope he’s not thinking of slicing baby heads open - That would be -hum- even more creepy that anything he has done before…
Re: Danko not realising that Nathan can fly:
With superpowered people, there are lots of ways to cross distances quickly. Danko, IMO, has suspected that Nathan has powers for a while, but has never been entirely sure what (aside from the ability to cross distances quickly - but that could be speed, teleportation, flight or something else entirely) and has never had proof. It’s less blindness and more a matter of keeping his cards close to his chest until he can prove it and do something about it.
Good point.
In addition, it was a “win-win” situation for Danko. If Nathan has an ability that would save him from that, Danko would have proved it and if Nathan didn’t have an ability (or one that would help in that situation), Danko would have gotten Nathan out of his way.
Kevin, on the Nathan issue you mentioned upthread:
“I think, despite Adrian Pasdar’s excellent job, the writers have been extremely inconsistent in their dealings with Nathan. Is he bad, or good? Sincere, or not? Unbalanced, or stable? Remorseful, or irate? I’m all for complex, nuanced characterizations, but he’s just all over the place.”
I see him as an inept and incompetent version of Angela. His intentions are naive but fundamentally good: make the world a safer place, rehabilitate people with out-of-control abilities, protect the general population. The difference between Nathan and Angela is that Nathan can’t predict what will happen, he hasn’t spent years planning his actions, and his decisions haven’t been calculated as carefully as they needed to be, which is why his plans have fallen apart and why people have died when they didn’t need to.
I think Nathan has been consistently written as an inconsistent character, if that makes sense. He is good, he is sincere, he is stable, but he also changes his mind a lot and doubts himself a lot. The one thing I think he’s been consistent about is his conviction that he’s doing the right thing: he’s not sorry for what he’s done because he believes he’s doing the world a favor.
All of that said, I think Nathan’s actions this season vilify him to the point where, at least in my opinion, it’ll be very hard for the show to redeem him. I could be wrong, and they could pull it off, but even with “Redemption” as the next volume’s title, I can’t see Nathan coming back from this.
Ian,
“I think Adam clearly went insane with immortality, but I think Sylar and Claire would treat it more practically.”
I found this interesting because I’m not sure if it’s immortality itself or the implications of immortality that turned Adam insane. Was it the prospect of living forever that made Adam think he was chosen to do God’s work, or was it harsh experience and disillusionment (per the GNs) that twisted his perspective? It’d be great to see the show address that, especially in Claire’s case. I’d be curious to see how several hundred years would change Claire’s “me-me-me” attitude, and, in relation to Raissa’s point, whether Claire would develop a coping mechanism to deal with immortality. Would she follow the Petrellis over the centuries? Would she take her “I-can-be-a-hero” mindset and devote herself to it? Would she slowly go from badass Future-Claire to her own version of Adam? I think there’s potential for an amazing character arc there, and I agree, a “500 Years Later” episode — or at least a flash-forward — could be very cool.
Nathan Dowdell/Susan/Raissa — with the whole Danko-learning-the-truth storyline, I wonder if Danko thinking aloud made him look dumber than he was. I probably could have given him more credit if he’d watched Nathan zip between locations and just looked intensely suspicious. For me, it was hearing Danko deliver two variations of “How did Nathan get from A to B so fast?” that made me want to scream “DUMB!”
Otto - it’s the joy of the show. A lot of people critiqued that we didn’t get to know Adam’s mindset, but I found it fascinating that it was allowing us to form our own opinions. Showing the four hundred years on screen, for me, would have made him more of a villain. By giving us brief excerpts, and showing his origin only, it allowed the possibility that he wasn’t so much evil as worn down by circumstance. The awesome of ‘Generations’ was that Adam was effectively a cautionary tale for himself over and over again - who had probably lived through dozens of ’save the world’ scenarios.
Showing them would’ve been cool, but I get the sense that - to the writers - Adam’s storyline was part of a larger one. I certainly believe his role in the mythology was to set up Claire’s future storylines. That does make me hope that Angela sits Claire down and talks to her about Adam at some point, but maybe Angela’s operating under the delusion that Claire could easily become Adam. For all we know, Angela may even have had a dream thousands of years from now where Claire’s suffered aeons of heartache and destruction. That’s a lot to place on the head of what is - essentially - still a teenager. All of which makes me think that Claire and Sylar are going to share a lot of screentime next volume, under the ‘he understands me’ construct. Which should be incredibly tense.
Imagine if Sylar DID get Claire pregnant, then took the kid? I can’t imagine Sylar, with all of his power, lasting against an incredibly angry Claire.
“Nathan Dowdell/Susan/Raissa — with the whole Danko-learning-the-truth storyline, I wonder if Danko thinking aloud made him look dumber than he was.”
That’s a good point.
“Showing the four hundred years on screen, for me, would have made him more of a villain. By giving us brief excerpts, and showing his origin only, it allowed the possibility that he wasn’t so much evil as worn down by circumstance.”
Word, and in a way, for that exact reason, I think it’s sad that Adam didn’t get a bigger role in either volume this season. I’m not sure we can say for certain whether he was inherently evil from the start or corrupted by the implications of an ability he didn’t ask for. That could have been a big part of a volume that focused so heavily on moral ambiguity, and it’s very relevant now that another character’s making a big effort to rid everyone of their abilities. I think you could point to scenes in early Volume Two and speculate that Adam could have continued to reform and become a decent guy if it wasn’t for (a) his friend cheating on his girlfriend and, more importantly, (b) having 400 years to see how messed up the world is. To my mind, that’s a case study for Nathan’s argument for ridding everyone of their abilities. If Adam had lived out a mortal life, chances are it would have been a fairly unremarkable life without any of the delusion and megalomania that came with his immortality.
All of that said, it seems like almost none of the core characters in this volume would want to get rid of their abilities if they had the chance to. The only one who springs to mind is Angela (because, really, who’d want to be saddled with dreams of impending doom when they couldn’t do much to stop them?). The rest of the characters have adapted to their abilities. Which raises the question of how someone who tasks themselves with removing abilities should decide which abilities to remove and which to leave alone; and which, in a way, supports Nathan’s objective to capture and remove everyone with an ability. The ability to regenerate isn’t something you’d consider a mortal threat in the short term, but there’s nothing to suggest Claire won’t turn out exactly the way Adam did. If four years turned Claire into badass Future-Claire, what’s 400 years going to turn her into?
I’ll agree with both of you about the “400 years” which had potential, maybe too much. It would indeed be nice if Adam’s arc was tied up to Claire’s, on a subject that everybody seems to avoid. And since the series focus heavily on Claire, I wouldn’t be surprised if a “500 years later” flash-forward showed up at some point, maybe at the end of a volume or of the series.
I don’t know about it as a part of the “moral ambiguity” though, maybe because I think it could have been done better. As an example, we never really knew Arthur’s intention.
Actually, so far, I can’t think that we had a villain that was just plain evil. They’ve showed Sylar seemed to be driven evil by his daddy/mommy issues, then inticed to kill (still not buying the Hunger though). For Adam, it was Hiro, then I imagine the things he had lived during 400 years that made him more or less insane. No idea about Arthur yet. At this point, Sylar does seem to be heading to be even worst than before, but he doesn’t strike me as someone who has his own motives yet. Seems he’s gonna chase powered people “just” because that’s what his dad would have done if he was in his situation.
Hey Otto,
Fantastic review of a fantastic episode. I haven’t commented on the last few episodes, mainly because I’d kind of lulled into an apathetic mood when it came to this show. I saw the prophetic painting and gave up hope, but when I saw your high scores, I decided to watch on…and am so glad I did! While “Cold Wars” left me feeling, well, cold, the episodes since then have been extremely entertaining. But it was “Shades of Gray” in particular that has snapped me back in.
Each story thread was excellent and enthralling. Where to start?
*Sylar meeting his father Samson had a somewhat plodding build-up, but the resolution was so awesome that it’s hard to pick flaws in what came before it. John Glover and Zachary Quinto knocked all of their scenes out of the park, and the great thing was that every aspect of Sylar’s seemingly inconsistent characterisation was feasibly worked in - from his pure malice of the first volume to the desperation for parental approval from the third. While I was admittedly excited for a father/son super-battle, I preferred what we got here. However, I wasn’t too keen on Samson’s hypnotic whistling trick. Just seemed odd.
*The Danko story arc was literally perfect in this episode. I can’t spot anything wrong with it. His confrontation with Angela was brilliant; Cristine Rose deserves some kind of award for that scene alone, because she completely defined her character there - devious, knowledgable, manipulative, and most of all, revelling in watching her victim squirm. The fact that we’re rooting for a character with those qualities shows the genius of this episode’s writers as well as Rose’s talent. The final scene with Nathan was really cool too.
*Claire’s storyline with Doyle, while not getting as much screentime as the other two main threads, was thought-provoking. I’m liking the new direction for Claire, as Rebel’s agent, and I’m hoping her guilt about basically loosing a psychopathic puppeteer upon the world will be followed up on.
The threads left dangling, particularly Sylar/Danko and Tracy/Rebel, look very promising. I won’t mention the Hiro scene, because it was like watching a different show.
Anyway, I’m done gushing.
–Matt
“Cristine Rose deserves some kind of award for that scene…”
Heh. The Awesome As Angela Award.
One thing that has confused me, though, is that Danko was shot in the arm by Peter and yet seems to have instantly healed.
Why didn’t Noah just push Danko out of the window as soon as he pushed out Nathan?
Noah could easily claim, well, I thought he was trying to kill the Senator. I didn’t know he could fly. Or cooked up any one of a dozen other stories. If I had been HRG, Danko would have been street pancake.
Oh yeah, me too. Danko is ticking me off tremendously. He’s one of those characters that you love for their depth and well-developed characterization, but he’s also one of those characters you just want to shove under a bus.
Otto - I’m not sure if Angela would give the dreams up. Even if she did, she’s exactly like Noah. Neither of them could give this life up. Even when she gets a free pass from Nathan and a comfortable life, she still pushes forward. I’m sure it’s, in part, to protect the Heroes… but I think it’s also her trying to do something that gives her life meaning.
Pas,
“I can’t think that we had a villain that was just plain evil.”
I agree, although I’d also agree with your point that in the end Arthur didn’t get enough depth or dimension to make him a three-dimensional villain. That still strikes me as a wasted opportunity, because I think Forster could have done a lot more with the role if he’d had the chance.
I’m tempted to go with KellyH’s point in the 3.18 comments — that Danko’s about as close to pure evil as the show has portrayed so far. Sylar is probably the most cruel and the most vicious, and Arthur (from what we saw) was the most deranged and the most tyrannical, but I’d say Danko trumps them both when it comes to his single-minded obsession with exterminating a portion of the population.
Ian, I agree that Angela won’t ever be able to let this life go, although I’d say there’s evidence in the 3.17 park bench scene that she’d be more willing to give it a shot than HRG is. I’m not sure if Angela needs her ability to guide her, though. I don’t think it’s the same as Matt’s ability, for example, where a character has adjusted to the ability to the extent that it’s like a sixth sense. We know that Angela’s visions influenced The Company’s decisions and overall ideology, but I wonder whether she’d still consider the horror of her nightmares worth the trouble. Hopefully that’s something that’ll be explored when we get to the Angela flashbacks.
In a way, though, the horror Angela saw and experienced might explain why she seems to have chosen not to force the immortality issue onto Claire. It could be that Angela was terrified of her ability when it first manifested, and that she’s trying to play down Claire’s abnormality and create the illusion of a normal life so that Claire doesn’t have to immediately confront the reality of her situation the way Angela did.
Agreed on both point. No matter what his backstory is, I don’t really see how Danko could look less evil. For Sylar, I wonder if he’ll realize anytime soon that slicing heads open will get old at some point, specially since he’s immortal. Obviously he isn’t that interested in a normal life or saving the world, so what would be his next step by then?
For Angela, if she’d never be able to really let this life go, what got my attention was the reasons she said “All those lies tore my family apart” which is nearly what HRG says to Claire too. After almost blowing up New York, and almost releasing a virus that would kill most of the population, I would expect to see some guilt aside than how her personnal life went wrong.
Same with HRG, and I really wonder if the Company ideology did change during the years. HRG once said that it was now “corrupted” but it seemed obvious that he only wanted to protect Claire by then. And judging from how he was amazed to see Sylar slice a head open in “Villains”, I’m more easily picturing him eating popcorn while they were experimenting on a 7-years-old Elle (geez I gotta stop obsessing over her) than trying to stop it.
If killing people (massivily sometimes) doesn’t affect them, I wonder where morality is gonna stop them, even if they initially are trying to do the right thing. And somehow, I hope their intention goes beyond creating a Company-like operation at a bigger scale that the Company was.
No episode this week - That will help me stop thinking about those things while I could do a better use of this time
u know what would be cool …if sylars dad went after claire and took her power…he did say he got the healing from a cheerleader in california. For someone as smart resourceful and desperate as lional luthor ud think hed try and track her down…would make things interesting anywaze
Yeesh, learn how to spell!
Yes! Make an Awesome As Angela Award for when a character actually does something cool!
I agree with Leigh. I hope to see that award doled out just like the Dumb As award. Although, given its namesake, it’ll be tough to match the criteria.
Oh, and I’d like to note that Hiro seems much more manageable this time. Granted, it was a short scene, but he was acting more like a hero. Or rather, talking more like one. Instead of “we must save Matt Parkman, because it’s my destiny, and I’m an immature jerkface who is more in love with the glamor of being a hero than being an actual hero”, we only have “we must save Matt Parkman”. So it’s a step up. Fuller’s influence? I think so.
Hiro mentioned saving Matt from “mortal danger,” but he got through the scene without using the words “destiny,” “fate” or “hero,” which I guess is progress. I also liked that he led the way into the house, as opposed to sending Ando into mortal danger and bringing up the rear with a stick of bread.
Would you believe episode 3.14 still hasn’t aired down here yet?
Thanks for keeping me up to date.
I totally agree with just about everything…
Except your opinions on potential of the baby Parkman storyline. After all, it brings back a lot of questions that were left hanging. Whatever happened between Matt and Janice after Kirby Plaza? Was the baby really from the affair? And now, it looks like we’re about to get some answers.
I hate it when characters just drop off the face of the earth on this show. After all, some of my favorite supporting characters (Zack, Claude, Monica) have simply disappeared, with no way to tie up the loose ends in their storylines. Even though I detested Parkman’s ex, I would still like to get a sense of closure for her character.
Plus, of course, the baby is adorable, unlike just about every other baby you see on TV.
Zack was cut simply because Claire moved away from Odessa and because he wasn’t needed in the story anymore. One less actor for them to pay really. It’s all about money for a show like Heroes that has such an expensive budget.
As for Claude, I know that the actor is a very busy guy and they probably couldn’t work out sceduling. Coming back for a short cameo would rock though.
Monica was dumped with the rest of the New Orleans stroy, which is a drag. As much as I thought the New Orleans plot was a bit out of place in season 2, Monica’s character was interesting. Besides, I have have a feeling that if Micah really is Rebel (which I’m all but sure he is) we may see Monica in a short scene or at least mentioned.
Speaking of lost exes for a moment, I’ve always wanted closure on Heidi. I know it’ll probably never happen, but just a passing reference in dialogue would suit me! It’s a bit pathetic that if you didn’t watch deleted scenes you wouldn’t even know what Simon and Monty’s names were.
“I’ve always wanted closure on Heidi.”
Yeah, me too, although more for Nathan’s sake than for Heidi’s, because the implication is that Heidi just moved on. There was a deleted scene from 2.08 where Nathan flipped out at Heidi and the kids for a moment, and between that, the alcohol problem and Angela’s revelation about the “dark secret in the Petrelli family,” Heidi seems to have more or less given up and walked away. In the show’s chronology, it hasn’t been that long since Nathan was burned and shot, but you’d think Heidi would have at least called.
I’d like to nominate Jessica in the Forgotten Characters category. That whole arc is done, but I would have liked to find out more about who Jessica was and what exactly happened to her and to Niki.