I’d say they’re non-existent.

With the choice of vocation, HRG strikes me as similar to Nathan, in the sense that he tried to make a difference from inside the system, but his sneaky/crafty approach was more conducive to covert ops than politics.

When it comes to his attachment to people with abilities, though, I’d say HRG started out a lot like Danko, only less homicidal: people with abilities were targets to be tracked and controlled and kept at arm’s length. That seems to have been the case until he met Claude, so my guess would be Claude and Bob turning Elle into a lab rat were the two things that awoke his sympathy for people with abilities.

BUT … this is where I’m hopeful the show will respect its off-screen canon. Based on the Linda Tavara backstory in the GNs, there seems to have been a pre-Company organization within the government which was researching and tracking people with abilities in the early seventies. That would explain why Chandra’s Project Icarus paperwork was redacted the same way the files that Hana found in “War Buddies” were: a branch of the government was investigating people with abilities while trying to keep the whole thing under wraps.

I’ll also be very curious to see which Company founders in “1961″ have even manifested their abilities. If Angela’s 15 or 16, then presumably she’s still dreaming about becoming a teacher (per 3.21) and either only just discovering her ability or just about to discover it. Similarly, if Linderman’s still a “cocky upstart” (per the casting call) then one would guess it’ll be several years before he heals his mom, takes off and becomes the bookish introvert we’ll see when he gets to Vietnam in 1968.

Hypocrite? Because he has issues with the brother that brutally beat (remember the pipe?) AND disowned him and has been trying to lock him up since? I’d say the “rose-colored” glasses he used to see Nathan through have been effectively removed.

And, come on, Angela opening up to him last week went a long way in repairing their relationship. Plus, she is his Mom.

^ Not to hurt your feelings Otto (or other Paire shippers), but I never really got the whole Paire thing. Maybe it was because when I watched season one I already knew they were related, so “romance” didn’t jump out at me during their scenes together. I have a hard time reading Paire fanfic sometimes let alone imagining it as canon…

Sorry, I guess this rant wasn’t really nessacary, but I felt the need to get it off my chest :]

Very nice episode this week. Especially loved the Noah and Sandra scenes, heartbreaking as they were. I was fooled by Sylar’s first impersonation, actually I was thinking Sandra should get a Diss of The Century award. Although I must say I was dissappointed that Sylar didn’t look up Sandra’s real signature, almost Dumb As worthy. (Sylar’s wasn’t even CLOSE I might add). Minor rant aside it was a great scene. And later when HRG almost blows out Sandra’s brains? I had a hard time watching and I mean that as a high compliment.

The gas station parallel was really cool becuase it made me think of season 1 when Hiro and Nathan popped up at the same diner. Ah, the good old days. Loved your Big Matt/Little Matt thing too, it gave me a good laugh, especailly the Molly part. But in all seriousness, the Molly thing still kind of ruins Matt’s credibility for me.

Another amazing thing I marvel at is that…Hiro and Ando managed to be…not annoying. I’d even go so far as to call it humorous, which after last volume is something beyond words.

Then we get to shapeshifting again. Although the HRG/Danko thing was good it was slightly irritating that we now have characters pretending to be someone else who’s pretending to be someone else. I think they kind of overused the shapeshifting ploy to garner suspense in this episode. Sylar-as-Sandra was awesome, Sylar-as-random-agent was still okay, but HRG-pretending-to-be-Sylar-being-HRG? A little bit overkill. Along with that Sylar used to be a character I love to hate, but now I just hate him. What he did to Noah? Twisted beyond words. I just want Sylar to get defeated already.

Good review as always

Another good point.

That could also be said of Noah, too. After all, we’ve only had glimpses of his early Company life and how it affected his family and other characters within the immediate narrative (Claude, Ivan, Thompson). At no point have the writers addressed the fundamental question: Why did Noah Bennet wake up one morning thinking, “I know. Private sector Spec Ops with people who have super powers; that’s the ticket.” I mean, it’s such a specific, left field choice to make even for someone inclined to intelligence work. There’s got to be a back story there that explains the workaholism and the fact that he conflates Claire in particular with that work. Because there are other unspoken questions: If Noah Bennet is prone to obsessive imprinting generally (job), then why didn’t he conflate a Special’s needs with that job before Claire? He had opportunity and didn’t react. Otherwise Elle’s story would have been different to say nothing of other kids that came through there, and Claire would’ve been raised elsewhere. If he conflates work and family, why didn’t he imprint on Lyle as his bio-son and do the job even more zealously in the hope of keeping Lyle safe? The implication is that this isn’t ultimately just about the work or his family, but it’s somehow about Claire herself. I know that’s not what some want to read. But, it’s what the internal logic implies, and they should address it.

btw I loved Big and Little Matt’s spinoff ^^. And it’s kinda getting hilariously sadening to see how fast men in Heroes seems to forget about ex-wives/girlfriends (that sometime got killed)/kids… (could make a long list)