Samuel instructs one of the carnival’s members to reverse-Haitian-whammy Sylar into retrieving his memories. He’s successful, and Sylar relives the final moments of his victims, going berserk for a while before deciding to join the carnival and hooking up with Lydia.
Given this episode’s focus on Sylar’s identity crisis and Hiro’s magic tricks, you’d be forgiven for assuming that it was doomed to fail. The fact that it emerges from these disadvantages unscathed and goes on to become the latest in a string of stellar episodes is a testament to the quality of the show this season.
As off-putting as it might be that this is yet another installment of The Sylar Show, the episode is redeemed by its development of ideas beyond Sylar’s usual self-pity and parent issues. It’s also elevated above other Sylar-centric episodes last season by an impassioned performance by Zach Quinto, capturing both the naivete of the character in his current amnesiac state and the corruption of the character over the past three seasons.
The humor from Hiro’s storyline is more restrained than usual — largely thanks to Emma’s somber perspective for most of the hour — and the episode’s light-hearted moments are offset by the intensity of both Sylar’s restored memories and the discovery that a kid inadvertently killed his parents. That the episode congeals into a coherent piece with a balanced tone is impressive in itself, but it also showcases the show’s continued success in crafting streamlined, character-focused episodes.
We start out with Samuel providing a voice-over about the mind, the soul and the moral compass that guides us. It’s a reminder that the show is capable of profound and relevant voice-overs to open episodes, although the downside is the inevitable comparison we draw between Samuel’s voice-over and Mohinder’s. The sad truth is Samuel’s is inarguably more effective. It’s not just that it’s more lyrical; it’s that it actually makes sense in relation to the character arcs. When Samuel ponders our potential to move forward “with no compass to guide us,” and when we get a glimpse of the photo of Peter and Nathan on Nathan’s abandoned desk, it’s an indication of the literal and thematic ties every character has to the carnival.
It’s only a brief clip, but it’s remarkable because it sets up why Emma’s wish to get rid of her ability isn’t based on a whim, but on a deep-rooted fear of what she’s capable of.
Hiro wakes up in a hospital bed and finds Peter watching over him. It’s a touching scene, largely thanks to the warm camaraderie between the characters. You could poke holes into that camaraderie by pointing out that the last time they actually spoke, Hiro was charging towards Peter with a sword. It’s possible they talked at the pyre where Sylar didn’t actually burn, but in light of the one-time battle to the death, it’s odd that the two characters are portrayed as solid friends.
Peter: “Look, I know about dying. I’ve helped a lot of people through this transition. And I’m gonna help you with whatever you need. Maybe that’s why you came to me.”
Nicely delivered, although it’s remarkable for the thought behind the dialogue as much as the delivery. It’s an early signal of what makes the episode outstanding; the idea that while some characters vie for our attention with dazzling abilities, there’s one who’ll demonstrate a more straightforward ability: to be there for the people he cares about.
Peter: “My life is fine. I really don’t need any fixing.”
Sad for the cluelessness, and a little exasperating for fans who are still waiting for Peter to be made aware that his brother’s been dead for months.
Peter resolves to help Hiro, absorbs his ability, then bumps into the woman whose ability he just discarded. It’s established that the cello Emma played last week really did just show up at the apartment, and that Emma really did just pick it up and start playing it without pausing to wonder where it came from. Probably something we can dismiss as a detail that was clarified off-screen, and in the end it’s a twist that speaks to the insidious reach of the carnival and their ability to corrupt even the purest and most kind-hearted individual.
Peter advises Emma to stay with the guy who “knows everything there is to know about abilities.”
^ ^ Actual dialogue!
No, Emma! Don’t! He’ll poison your mind! He’ll babble about Destiny and the Hero’s Path and the Tests That Every Warrior Must Face. He’ll ruin your storyline!
Hilariously, you’ll note that Emma demonstrates shrewd thinking and walks away from Hiro as soon as Peter’s gone. This makes me wonder whether we need a Smart As Emma Award, because when you walk away from Hiro before you’ve even met him, you’ve obviously been blessed with some kind of precognitive wisdom.
The plug for the comic that Hiro’s reading is about as subtle as they come. I can’t see it sending sales soaring, but it’s so gracefully worked in that it makes me want to go out and buy a dozen copies, so for me, it did its job better than any of the countless Sprint plugs.
We cut to the carnival, where Samuel and Lydia ponder the state they’ve found Sylar in.
Samuel exudes puzzlement, and it’s both compelling and disappointing, because as eminently watchable as Knepper is — irrespective of material — there’s something uninspiring about a villain with no idea what he’s doing. Samuel and Sylar’s scenes are never anything less than stellar, but what becomes clear early on is that Samuel had no idea that Sylar had lost his memories, no idea that Sylar had been forced into living someone else’s life, and, in turn, no idea of the crime Sylar was charged with when he stumbled into the carnival. It’s not as if every great villain needs to be all-knowing, but in this instance, if that villain’s going to put a roof over the head of a psychotic serial killer, it’d probably make for more compelling drama if we knew he had a damn good reason for it.
Samuel: “For years, I’ve heard rumors, stories — Sylar, the most powerful one of all.”
Years? Years? Am I missing a part of the chronology here? Even at a stretch, there hasn’t been a Sylar to generate rumors or stories for more than a year and a half. Evidence of Sylar’s reputation spreading via time-traveling supers, or a moment when the show ignored its internal chronology and opted to glorify the villain using real time? You decide.
Sylar: “What’s wrong with me?”
Samuel: “There’s nothing wrong. You’re special.”
It’s worth noting that the dialogue’s basically the same as Hiro and Emma’s. Subtle parallel, but it speaks to the episode’s complexity when the same ideas and the same dialogue find their way into different contexts.
Samuel introduces Sylar to Lydia, and although the Troah is by far the greater torture, this strains credibility. We’re this week prompted to wonder if Sylar has put his murderous tendencies behind him, and judging from this, it’s not out of guilt or remorse so much as the prospect of hooking up with a beautiful woman.
Why, Heroes, WHY?! Firstly, this in no way gels with the story the graphic novels, the iStories or the webisodes tell — the one of an anxious mom who wants to escape from the carnival to go find her fire-starting daughter. Secondly, it inevitably means that Lydia will end up getting her head sawn off, which makes me sad because the character’s barely been developed and because Dawn Olivieri plays her with flair. Thirdly, it’s a slap in the face to poor Edgar after he loyally stood by Lydia, covered for her when she wanted to contact Amanda and earned Samuel’s distrust after keeping secrets from him. I never thought I’d say this, but I actually feel sorry for Darth Maul.
Claire visits Noah’s apartment to… do her laundry.
?!?!?!?!?!?!
Claire: “Peter? How did you get in the bathroom?”
Peter: “It’s been a long time since I’ve teleported.”
Funny. Cheap humor, but it is funny, and at least a half-hearted attempt to explain why Peter isn’t teleporting and freezing time more proficiently later in the episode.
Claire: “Hiro’s dying?”
Peter: “He doesn’t have to if I can find a healer. That’s why I came over here, Noah. I want you to help me locate one.”
Claire: “What about my blood? Can’t you take me back with you? We can give him a blood transfusion.”
Noah: “That won’t work. Tumor is living tissue. Your blood’s regenerative powers would only make it grow faster.”
“OK, kids, here’s a fun activity! Let’s check message boards and discussion forums after last season’s finale and try to avoid all mention of the words GAPING PLOT HOLE, WEAK CONTINUITY, GROSS INCONSISTENCY, JUMP-SHIP-WORTHY SCREW-UP, SHARK-JUMP-INDICATIVE PLOT TWIST or TURBO-DUMB-AS-AWARD-WINNING STUPIDITY.”
The show deserves props for trying. I’m not sure an explanation to why regenerative blood won’t heal a tumor equates to why it wouldn’t have healed a slit throat — especially when we’ve seen regenerative blood heal a guy who was killed by a bullet to the eye — but the attempt to place some kind of caveat on the Magik Blood in dialogue is worth something; it’s evidence that the show cared enough to address the issue, albeit months after the issue drove legions of outraged fans to stop watching.
We return to the Sylydia. Lydia describes how Joseph began a “tradition of morning chores” to support the carnival’s sense of community. If you’re cynical, you could interpret this as Joseph deriving cheap labor under the guise of team spirit. It leads to Sylar contemplating “an honest day’s work,” though, followed closely by him moving a few rocks from one spot to another. A laborious feat indeed, and it’s appropriately rewarded:
Lydia: “It’s nice having you here. We don’t see a new face among us that often, especially one so handsome.”
That’s the best line Lydia could up with?
That’s the best line a group of paid writers could come up with?
I can’t decide if that’s the character’s shock or the actor’s. It’s not every day that someone finds mass murder cute.
Edgar is furious. Who can blame him? The guy was the most steadfast confidant a girl could ask for, and Lydia ditched him the moment a new guy showed up.
Edgar [TO SYLAR!]: “How you doin’?”
^ ^ Actual dialogue!
Edgar mentions having a “trick” to match Sylar’s many tricks (insert your dirty jokes here), and Sylar responds with an unimpressed “Oh, OK, excuse me…” that’s absolutely priceless.
Nice effect. You get a sense of the precision to Edgar’s ability, but also the restraint, because if he can hit a mark as accurately as that, you have to wonder why he hasn’t given in to the urge to put a blade in Sylar’s skull.
Sylar: “Wow. Those are kind of in the way.”
Too funny. For the look of indignance from Edgar, but mostly for the total lack of interest from Sylar, either because Sylar realizes he’s in no danger and decides it’s fun to mock Edgar, or because he genuinely doesn’t grasp how much Edgar hates him.
Sylar seems to have grasped the extent of Edgar’s hatred at this point. Again, cheap humor, but it is funny.
Samuel leads Sylar away, Sylar sees planes flying overhead, and…
Beautifully shot. Such a fleeting moment, but one that reinforces how predominant a part of Sylar’s personality Nathan still is. You could argue that the predominance comes down to Sylathan living with Nathan’s memories for several months. But given the way Sylar seems to latch onto every Nathan-related memory he comes across, there’s speculation to be made that Sylar actively wants to resume his life as the guy who flew jets and shook hands with government officials.
Samuel decides it’s time for “stronger measures” and takes Sylar to see Damien.
Damien is apparently capable of doing what the Haitian does, only backwards. Which is to say, he seems to heal and restore memories instead of removing them. One would hope that there’s more to Damien’s ability than that. If there isn’t, Damien must be very bored when there’s no one around with amnesia for him to cure. Harry Perry lacks Jimmy Jean-Louis’s charisma, but he plays the character with an inscrutability that’s eerily reminiscent of the Haitian’s mystique during the earliest episodes.
Emma finds it in herself to brave a visit to Hiro’s room, discovering that Hiro’s harder to lip-read because he speaks with an accent. Cute detail. The scene as such plays out with wit and good humor, and it’s reassuring to see Emma trying to figure out a way to stop her ability before she ends up slicing objects in half with the sounds she creates. The only part that’s less than entertaining involves Hiro speaking to Emma the way he spoke to Baby Matt in “Cold Snap,” which is to say the way he speaks to anyone at a stage of mental development equivalent to his own. I get that he’s trying to enunciate every syllable to make himself understood, but when Hiro observes that Emma “must have many questions,” I can’t help wondering if he’s trying to insult Emma’s intelligence. Probably not, and in the end you know the show is only playing the moment up for laughs. But the way Hiro even draws a question mark in the air as he finishes that sentence, it’s not so much a moment of cute clarification as it is an insult to Emma’s attempt to communicate with Hiro.
Peter and Noah teleport to Cainan, Georgia and discover that Jeremy’s Be-Healed Whammy does not extend to healing bushes in front of the house.
Noah: “The kid was just coming into his ability, he had a lot of questions, so, naturally, we wiped his memory and sent him back to his messed-up family.”
The subtlety is in Coleman’s delivery, but it’s also in the dialogue. That naturally speaks volumes about Noah’s increasing scorn for the organization he devoted his life to.
Noah: “The Company was never what you would call a support group.”
Peter: “Yeah, more about the powers, less about the people.”
Self-parody? It’s a guileless observation, but there’s a comment between the lines when it comes to the show’s previous tendency to focus on abilities at the expense of characters.
Peter and Noah enter a house that resembles a taxidermist’s house in “A Clear and Present Danger.” It’s redressed, but the atmosphere of death and decay prevails, not least when Peter uncovers Jeremy’s dead parents in the living room.
Jeremy fires a warning shot from the top of the stairs, Noah resolves to walk into the face of danger, and Peter picks up a *PING!* Dumb As Award for failing to freeze time and disarm Jeremy. As valid as the argument about not wanting to panic a crazed kid might be, and as true as the observation about Peter’s lack of control over his recently absorbed ability might be, Peter doesn’t even appear to consider his options.
We’re introduced to the kid whose ability has gone haywire. It’s a role with echoes of various characters over the past three seasons: you can see elements of the socially maladjusted kid who nuked a government agent, and of the guy who accidentally charbroiled the doctor treating his wife for radiation poisoning. This character strikes me as closer to RadioTed than Nuke, mostly because Jeremy clearly feels bad about killing his parents and — unlike Nuke — seems to lament the life he’s lost instead of wanting to leave it behind. The similarity between Jeremy and Nuke exists, however, because the implication is that Jeremy was a neglected and misunderstood kid who had no one to turn to for advice about his ability; and, moreover, that if Noah hadn’t shown up now, Jeremy would have ended up with a hundred bodies strewn around him.
Damien leads Sylar to the center of the hall of mirrors, restores his memories and leaves Sylar to relive everything he’s done. Does Sylar now possess Nathan’s memories and personality as well as his own? And perhaps more intriguingly, if Sylar’s consciousness has been returned to him along with his memories, is the voice in Matt’s head now a duplicate in-your-head Sylar?
Welcome back, Ellen Greene!
The off-kilter camera angles throughout Sylar’s scenes this week are effectively creepy, but that grainy, distorted texture to Aunt Gray’s voice when she greets “Gabriel” is beyond creepy. You can hear the fragment of a distant memory in it — the happy part which Sylar’s choosing to remember before the reality of what really happened sets in.
Watching Sylar pleading for the memories to stop doesn’t inspire much sympathy — certainly no more than the image of Sylar plunging a pair of scissors into his adoptive mother. It’s oddly cathartic to watch Sylar exhibiting something resembling a conscience and witnessing what he’s done with something akin to remorse. If there was a way to make Sylar suffer for his atrocities, it stands to reason that giving him a set of scruples and an awareness of ethical boundaries would be the most effective way to do it. It doesn’t redeem the character, but watching him suffer the full emotional anguish for his actions seems like the most fitting way for him to atone.
The images of Sylar’s various victims flash across the mirrors: Alejandro, Emo-Trevor, Jackie, RadioTed, Elle, Lie Detector Sue, and finally Charlie. It’s a grotesquely effective montage, and a reminder that the guy who came across as so pitiful last week is the guy who’s responsible for everything we see this week. It’s hard to muster sympathy for the character in light of the harsh reminder of his villainy, but this is where the distinction between memories and personality becomes apparent, because you could argue that Sylar’s ignorance of his actions absolves him of responsibility for them. If he’s more or less a stable guy now, and if he has no recollection of what he’s done, should he be held accountable for his actions? In the end, yes, of course, because they’re his crimes whether he remembers them or not.
Nicely played by Quinto. He’s effectively asking us to feel bad for a regular guy who’s plagued with memories of a forgotten psychotic existence. Which is asking a lot of the audience, particularly when the full graphic horror of his actions is plastered across the mirrors around him, but Quinto sells the heck out of it.
Howdy, folks! Nate P here. Well, didn’t I tell you that you’d be seeing me again soon? You should all be very happy! I know I’m not, because the thought of that fraud impersonating me again fills me with dread. But you got to see me again, and that can only be a good thing, right? And look — I’m watching planes and remembering my youth! Ah, those were the days. No powers, no deranged plans to blow up cities, no one traveling back in time to shoot me, no one slitting my throat. It was a simpler time.
Lately, I’ve been trying to get back to where I was when I ran for congress. You know, reconnecting with people, listening to their problems, campaigning for solutions, and just… being there for them. It’s important to me to let people know they’re not alone, that there’s someone who’ll support them, someone they can turn to in their moment of need no matter wh-
OK, seriously, Pete, how do you keep up this charade? I mean, I’ve been making this extra effort down here for, like, a day, and already I’m bored to tears. Can’t I just tell them to Vote Petrelli and leave me alone?
There’s not much of a political infrastructure down here, and to be honest, I’m not sure anyone down here cares about foreign policy or climate change. But then I figured, hey, if no one else is going to run against me, that means less competition, right? So that’s a plus. And then I started thinking about how I’d market my campaign, and I realized I needed someone with a strong visual perspective to help me reach the masses. And guess what? I found just the guy! You might remember him: Hispanic guy, long hair, paints the future?
I have to say, it took some convincing. I’ve never seen anyone so angry! He was ranting about the way everyone’s using his ability and ripping off his style and churning out one 9th Wonders comic after another with his name attached to all of them. He wants it to stop! Then he started shouting at me for that time I threw a can of paint over one of his pieces. Frankly, I can’t think why that mattered to him — I mean, who’d want to buy a painting of my idiot brother lying in front of a high school with his legs mangled?
He says the main reason he’s so angry is because he shouldn’t be stuck down here while everyone dotes on Pete. He doesn’t think it’s right that Pete’s getting another schmaltzy romance. He says the only reason he’s down here is because Pete provoked him into shooting that trollop who couldn’t decide who she wanted to be with. I explained how Pete came to me and cried and felt really bad about the way it happened. Then I told him how Pete got played by some 400-year-old lunatic and nearly annihilated mankind. And how he borrowed an ability from that phoney and went a little nuts. And how Dad drained his power. And how I tried to lock him up.
I think it was the last of those that cheered him up the most. He’s on board now. He says it’s good to know that the jerk who put him here is having a hard time up there. I told him to take it easy, because that jerk’s still my idiot of a brother. Don’t worry, Pete, I’m looking out for you down here!
Well, that’s it from me for this week, folks. Look out for my marketing campaign — it’ll be making its way up to you very soon. Have a great week, and here’s hoping you see me looking at planes again soon!
We return to Noah trying to persuade Jeremy to put down his shotgun.
Noah: “You know, what’s happened to you, Jeremy?… It’s not fair. You never should have been left to suffer through this alone.”
Well delivered. We get a sense of Noah’s regret, but it comes across as an effort to reach out to Jeremy rather than simply an observation about something he can’t change.
Does Noah’s guilt trip absolve Jeremy of his actions? I’m tempted to say no, because like Ted burning the nurse in “Nothing to Hide,” they’re still his actions, regardless of whether he meant to carry them out or not. But then, given that Noah’s the one who released both characters into the world and put them into a situation where they unintentionally ended up killing people, Noah in turn becomes indirectly responsible for the death that both of them caused.
Jeremy threatens to shoot Noah, Peter teleports into the middle of the situation, and…
Wow. It’s an effective spin on the usual bullet-that’s-frozen-in-mid-air sequence because you figure it’s going to be just that — another instance of something we’ve seen a bunch of times before.
When we learn that, in fact, Peter froze time a fraction of a second too late, it’s a twist that overturns our assumptions. It thwarts our expectations in the best possible way, because you figure if they’re going to put a spin on the bullet-in-mid-air concept, they could equally put a spin on the beloved-characters-like-Peter-won’t-ever-be-killed-off concept.
Peter collapses, time unfreezes itself, and before we cut to commercials…
… we’re faced with the prospect of the protagonist dying.
Do we ever really believe they’ll kill him off? Probably not. Or at least not to a point where we’re ever really worried. Much.
But the cool part is what the scene now leads into. Noah imploring Jeremy to work the Be-Healed Whammy on Peter is a remarkable moment on a number of levels: Coleman nails the delivery of the dialogue, because you can see that beneath the cool HRG exterior, the guy’s panicking.
Mark L. Young’s performance is such that you grasp how much the character wants to help Peter; which, even if it doesn’t absolve the character of murdering his parents, at least qualifies that murder as very much unintentional.
Noah: “My power is understanding people like you. That’s what I do. What happened to your parents never has to happen again. You can control it. You can heal him.”
Good dialogue, and again, well delivered by Coleman. It’s consistent with the guy who always remains calm and collected, even under the most disastrous circumstances, but at the same time it underlines Noah’s talent for finding the best in people and helping them to find the best in themselves.
It’s not as if we ever really doubted that the character would pull through, but the way Peter lets out a hearty, reflexive laugh of relief, we share his relief. Well played, show.
Hiro entertains a group of patients and visitors at the hospital, then threatens to make Emma disappear. Run, Emma! It’s revenge! It’s corporate tyranny! He’s here to eliminate the likeable cast members! He’s been sent to shrink the cast as a cost-cutting measure! RUN!
Kidding aside, this turned out to be a surprisingly touching scene. I’m not sure if that’s because of Emma, or if it’s simply that putting Hiro in a room with a bunch of kids and making them laugh illustrates Hiro’s ability to be something more than the show’s comic relief. It is the story thread that lightens up the episode, but it manages to be light-hearted without making Hiro look like a fool, and it’s a testament to the episode’s coherence that Hiro’s happier scenes never disrupt the tone of the darker story threads.
Hiro freezes time, and this…
… is even more beautifully shot than the cello and piano sequences. It lacks the heart of those moments, mostly because static sound streaks lack the beauty that accompanied Emma’s performance with the cello, and because standing in a frozen room with Hiro doesn’t come close to the emotional resonance from Emma’s moment with Peter. From a visual standpoint, though, this is undoubtedly one of the season’s most impressive sequences so far, and a reminder that the beauty in Emma’s ability outweighs its capacity for destruction.
Which, in a way, is why this feels like a simplistic resolution to what’s still a very real issue. For every occasion when Emma marvels over her ability, there’s a possibility that she’ll be ticked off enough to generate a sound streak that slices into anyone near her. I enjoyed this story thread, but I couldn’t help thinking it was resolved with a false sense of closure. In an episode involving a kid whose ability turns deadly through no fault of his own, it seems contrived to end another character’s arc with the message that if you focus on the good and ignore the bad, everything will turn out all right.
Hiro: “There are no bad powers, Emma. You just have to understand them. And when you do, you will learn to use your powers to do good things in the world.”
I’d argue that Zane Taylor’s liquefaction and Emo-Trevor’s glass-shattering weren’t far from being bad powers, at least if “bad” is synonymous with “crappy.” But then, the whole point of Peter and Sylar’s character arcs is surely that it’s what an individual does with their abilities that determines whether the individual is good or bad. And in Hiro’s case, traveling back in time to turn a drunken layabout into a genocidal maniac, speeding up the hands on a clock to stave off boredom and unlocking a safe that contains a genetic formula with apocalyptic repercussions hardly constitutes an individual using his power for good.
But Emma smiles, and although we envy her for her ignorance — because, dear God, it’s been a long and torturous journey watching Hiro reach this moment of insight — it’s hard not to smile too, and to be moved by a scene as heartfelt as this one.
We return to the carnival, and again, credit to Rob Fresco for crafting an episode that segues from pretty streaks of color to a conversation about mass murder.
Samuel: “I’m sorry for your pain. The truth can be difficult.”
Subtle dialogue, and dialogue that’s as true to the character as ever, because when you take it apart, you realize that Samuel’s saying he’s sorry to see Sylar struggling with the truth, not that he’s sorry that so many people died as a consequence of Sylar’s psychosis.
Which, in a roundabout way, is Samuel’s way of conceding that murder doesn’t especially bother him. Given his lack of compunction over sending Edgar to slash people apart, it’s probably fair to say that Samuel is responsible — at least indirectly — for as many deaths as Sylar.
Samuel: “Has it ever occurred to you to question what brought you here? Why Providence has seen fit for our paths to cross?”
Again, great dialogue. There’s something stilted about it, but when you figure that the carnival has been on the road for most of its existence and that Samuel has traveled all over the world and all through history, it stands to reason that there’d be something old-fashioned about his diction. It’s also one of the episode’s subtlest nuances that he’s effectively making the same point that Hiro made when he met Emma — that Fate brought them together for a reason.
And it’s one of the character’s defining moments, because as murky as Samuel’s agenda remains, he’s clearly adamant about this point.
The way Knepper usually plays Samuel, we get an impression of a guy who’s firm but open-minded, authoritative but compassionate. The way he plays this scene, though, we get a glimpse of a guy who’s absolutely certain of the non-superpowered population’s prejudice and intolerance.
Samuel: “This place is a safe, protected womb, but out there’s a cruel world, filled with people who persecute our kind. Can’t you see, they made you what you are. They turned you into a monster.”
Given that Samuel is decidedly treacherous, it’s not as if we’re inclined to agree with anything he says. In this instance, however, he might be more correct than even he realizes. When you recall that Papa Suresh tracked down Gabriel and put ideas into his head, and when you recall that a certain Company agent actively tried to provoke him into becoming a murderer, it’s not as if the blame for Sylar’s killing spree rests solely with Sylar himself.
Samuel: “The question now is where are you gonna go from here? Do you wallow in self-pity, or do you learn to use the gifts God gave you, and command fear and respect, and defend against those who would do us harm, all in the embrace of a community who loves you for exactly who you are?”
Exquisite dialogue. You can hear the manipulation in every syllable — the concerted effort Samuel’s making to offer Sylar everything he wants beyond the acquisition of abilities; a sense of belonging, of power, and of a place where he’s valued for who he is as much as for what he can do. It’s bulls**t — you can tell that a mile off — but it’s such artfully convincing bulls**t that it works, and it’s delivered by Robert Knepper, which means it’s next to indistinguishable from the real thing.
Sylar looks like he’s on the fence, but Samuel’s throwing himself into the performance with every aspect of his tone and body language, to the point where we finally see the character moving beyond his indecisiveness and uncertainty and displaying the kind of conviction that lets you believe he’s a villain with a vision. The only downside is we still have no idea what that vision involves, or why Samuel would believe for a moment that anyone will be able to contain Sylar when he decides to go on another scalp-slicing rampage.
Hiro returns to his hospital bed, and one of the nurses gets my hopes up by mentioning a leash, a cage and a cattle prod.
Emma: “You’re sick. You need to stop using your power before it kills you.”
Hiro: “But my power isn’t killing me. It keeps me alive. When I was stuck in my cubicle everyday, wasting my life — that’s when I was dying.”
As delightful as this throwback to the pilot episode is, am I the only one who took it as a jab at Papa Sulu? I mean, way to thank the guy who tried to engender a little ambition in his son by challenging him to work his way up from the bottom.
Hiro: “I had a friend once. She knew she was dying, but that didn’t push her off her path. She told me to keep joy and dignity alive, even in the face of death. Her name was Charlie.”
One word: aw. Nothing relating to Charlie will ever be anything other than awesome, and if that extends to an episode which will take us back to a time when Hiro was a pleasure to watch, I’ll forgive the writers Hiro for (a) forgetting Charlie and (b) apparently forgetting an episode in which Hiro time-traveled extensively in an effort to save the love of his life and in the end realized that her death was inevitable. But between butt-copy humor and a chance to see Jayma Mays reprising her role as Charlie, I’m not sure any of us would consider it a contest. As with the caveat to the Magik Blood, better late than never.
Noah calls in the death of Jeremy’s parents and rigs the heater in the house to provide a cover story for Jeremy. Peter absorbs Jeremy’s ability and catches a flight back to Manhattan to heal Hi-
Wait, WHAT?! He absorbed Jeremy’s ability and then headed back home? Wouldn’t it make sense to teleport to the hospital with Jeremy before absorbing Jeremy’s ability? I appreciate that Jeremy needed to stick around the house when the police got there, and that he might not have felt up to a trip to a hospital to heal a stranger, but still. I’ll let it slide without doling out a Dumb As Award, but if Hiro’s life is hanging in the balance, wouldn’t a two-minute attempt to convince Jeremy that the trip would save a life be worth a try? If nothing else, it would remind Jeremy of the good he can accomplish with his ability.
Noah helps Jeremy to ease into the kind of plausible deception he’s an expert at. In a way, it’s appalling, because Noah’s ingraining in Jeremy the same affinity for deception that cost Noah his family. But then, Noah also spared Jeremy an endless investigation into how his parents died, and, in all probability, a lifetime in jail.
The counterargument to that is the trauma which Jeremy’s saddled with — the kind that would damage a kid for the rest of his life. Which is a somber message for the show to leave us with, especially at the end of an episode in which Hiro extols the good in every ability.
Speaking of the good in every ability…
… Sylar finds Lubbock in the hall of mirrors where his memories came rushing back. The irony is worth noting, but so is the mildly amusing sight of Sylar trying to figure out how to curb all of these abilities that keep popping up as defense mechanisms.
The sinister Sylar theme builds in anticipation of a scalping, but the brilliance is in the way Quinto plays the character; in a way that leaves the dramatic music feeling oddly out of place.
You can believe that killing the guy who shot at him crossed Sylar’s mind, but the expression he’s wearing is less of a guy who’s overcome by his killer instinct and more of a guy who’s reining it in.
Oh, Edgar. Really? Winston Zeddemore? Is nothing sacred to you?
So, Lubbock dies, and the police shrug their shoulders and wonder when he went missing, and the carnival buries the body so no one will ever find it, and Mrs. Lubbock enjoys the rest of her visit to the carnival and then returns ho-
Wait, where is Mrs. Lubbock? Does she just head home and assume her husband wandered off in the middle of the day to carry on working on an assignment? Does someone at the carnival work a Parkman Whammy to convince her of a different story? Does she just become a widow and never contemplate the way her husband mysteriously disappeared at a carnival they were invited to? And should we really be wondering about any of this? Probably not, but it sticks out as a dangling loose thread in the story.
We return to the hospital, where Emma plays the piano.
I’d point out how poignant and beautifully shot it is, but I’d be making the same point for the fourth or fifth time. Which isn’t to say this occasion is any less poignant or beautifully shot than it was the previous three or four, but the fact that I’m starting to sound like a broken record is perhaps a sign that this particular method of conveying Emma’s ability has been overused. It was effective enough the first few times; any more and it’s going to start resembling a certain twin from the Dominican Republic who cried a lot. Like, on multiple occasions in every single episode.
Samuel baptizes Sylar and welcomes him into the family, telling Edgar that they’ll “just make a better Sylar, and when [they] do, he’ll be [theirs] forever.” By the look of it, that family amounts to at least 20 or 25 mouth-watering abilities for Sylar to savor. And in another instance of the episode’s success in thwarting our expectations, Sylar does not immediately lunge for the nearest super with the most interesting ability, and instead…
… contents himself with another dose of the Sylydia. And at this point, given the context — the one involving a mom who’s desperate to shield her daughter from Samuel — the only explanation I can think of to justify Lydia’s actions is that she’s manipulating Sylar so elaborately that it leaves Angela’s manipulation a year ago look like the work of an amateur.
Peter returns to the hospital and discovers that Hiro has teleported away. Not to belabor this particular point, but does anyone think this situation would have been avoided if, for example, Peter had teleported here from Georgia and then absorbed Jeremy’s Be-Healed Whammy? Just a thought.
The upshot is Hiro winds up back in Midland…
… and his smile over the possibilities that arise from this turn of events is about the same as mine right now. Because, well, it’s Charlie.
Was this a perfect episode? Almost. Hiro’s message to Emma about finding the potential to do good with every ability is reaffirming, but ultimately it comes across as hollow. The on-screen story at the carnival clashes with the online story, to a point where we’re obligated to speculate over characters’ concealed motives so that the two narratives jive. And crucially, we reach the end of the episode with no more of an idea about what Samuel’s hoping to achieve with Sylar than we had at the start.
None of which are issues serious enough to drag the episode down. It’s the episode that “I Am Sylar” should have been — an exploration of the character beyond the scalp-slicing and mommy issues, and a surprisingly effective development to the Sylathan storyline. It’s also an episode that ranges widely throughout the characters’ backstories, placing the plot within a firm context and tacitly justifying each character’s motives with a plausible rationale.
Finally, it’s an episode that ties together dialogue, scenes and character arcs with the subtlest of parallels, underlining the similarities between the characters in the most disparate of circumstances. You wouldn’t expect the show to draw parallels between Sylar and Emma, or to suggest that Samuel is the father figure Sylar always wished he’d had, or even to write a scene in which Hiro is something besides annoying. But this episode achieves all of those, and the detail and complexity this week are such that the episode showcases why the most straightforward ideas often turn out to be the most engaging.
A highlight of the season so far.
4.5 out of 5
Great review, Otto. I really like how this season is so much different than the last one we saw.
Not only does Lydia seem different in the show compared to the online media, but I feel like Samuel does too. In the show, he shows compassion for Lydia and doesn’t see anything particularly wrong with her being with Sylar. Online, he seems very controlling and is watching her every move. Kind of makes you wish the writers online cared more about continuity and less about how to get a Sprint phone in every week.
Oh, and I definitely vote for a “Smart as Emma” award!
Does anyone know or have a good idea as to exactly what Samuel’s ability is, or Lydia’s? Do they need to work together to acheive the tatoo predictions or indicators?
Tony - Samuel has Terrekinesis. Lydia has Empathy. Samuel manipulates minerals within the ink, and Lydia shows him what he wants to see.
I think.
Nice review. I really liked this episode, but I have two points to make. one, the way I saw sylidia was that Samuel had told Lydia to get close to sylar to help ensure his loyalty - more than lydia choosing sylar over edgar. And that edgar was mostly sour at samuel for using his girl as bait. Number two, my idea was that now that Hiro knows about a healer (jeremy - who I think was mentioned within hiro’s hearing), his plan was to bring jeremy to Charlie (or vice versa) and heal her brain thing, but that his power took him prematurely.
I had the impression that Peter absorbed Jeremy’s ability while Jeremy was healing him, not necessarily voluntarily. We’ve seen that Peter can absorb an ability without conciously meaning to (as with Emma) and I assumed that was what happened here as well.
Otto, in the promos, Samuel seemed to say that Sylar’s real self was missing- somewhere else. I think the idea is that most of Sylar’s personality is in Matt’s head- only a bit remains behind and that’s why Sylar lacks his killer instinct.
Hey Otto. Great review.
I have an idea as to what Samuel is planning to do with Sylar. The way he was talking about the way the outside world attacks their kind, I got the sense the Carnival is preparing for war against the normal world. My guess is that we are heading for some kind of reverse “Five Years Gone.” Instead of humans rounding up specials Samuel and his family, especially now that they have a demi-god like Sylar, might create a future where the powers rule and lord power over the normal people. Especially if it winds up that Joseph was killed by regular humans; that would give Samuel the perfect reason to want them subjugated. I do agree however, that up until the end, Samuel seems to be a man with a realized endgame, but no idea how he’s going to get there.
About what you said, about the last time Peter and Hiro spoke one of them was looking down the business end of a sword. That isn’t quite accurate. They did speak once more, to my knowledge. After the transport plane crashed Peter, Hiro, Ando, Matt and Mohinder all got together to plan how to survive. They had to have been on slightly good terms then; I mean, they were depending on each other to stay alive.
Speaking of Hiro, his storyline is actually pretty good this week. Who would have thought? If the writers actually focused Hiro’s humor on things that can actually advance his story, rather than being his story, he would actually come off as endearing. But seriously, Hiro actually is talking sense this week. He comes of as half-way wise rather than as an idiot who thinks he is wise. And we’ll be getting Charlie back soon, and that can only mean good things. A guy could get used to this.
And as for Sylar… well, I have to admit my faults. I was wrong about him. I was sure that the moment he realized what he was he would kill half the people in the Carnival before Edgar put a dozen knives in his head. I guess nurture really does triumph over nature. Of course, that might be the lingering bits of Nathan in him. But, point is, Syalr has given himself completely over to the Carnival. And no matter how good Sylar’s intentions are now, I have a feeling that Sylar is going to be instrumental in the shows latest Apocalypse. But I think it’s going to be a good ride down, if the show keeps episodes like this one up.
Darn, your reviews are so good that I feel like there’s something missing from my weekly heroes “experience” until they show up. Thank you yet again for a wonderful review!
This was the first episode in a long while (years?) where, upon re-watching it, I ended up not skipping over one or two entire storylines - they were all compelling this week! So thumbs up on that front.
A few things… First, am I the only one thinking Knepper is borrowing a bit of Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow?
Also, I’ve been mulling over the “why didn’t Peter teleport Jeremy to Hiro” question a bit. All I can come up with is that Peter wasn’t really aware that Hiro was involuntarily phasing in and out of time and space, and just assumed he’d be there waiting. And I think Peter knowingly exaggerated that Hiro could be dead in two hours - Hiro didn’t look sick enough for that. There’s also the consideration that you really don’t want to bring a potentially deadly unstable teen anywhere close to a hospital setting, or be touching him at all for that matter. Touch the guy at the wrong moment and poof, you’re dead!
As a result, they’ve left Peter with healing powers in the hospital - which prompts a whole host of musings. For example: what are the chances he’ll pull a “Everybody Gets Healed!” stunt (a la Max Evans, minus the silver hand print)… Or, even worse, what about the deaf person standing right behind him - which can’t be healed in practice because the actress herself is deaf. Bah humbug, healing powers are tricky! Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing what happens there (well done show!).
Peter all of a sudden suffering from “rusty-abilities” was funny but a little inconsistent with the guy that fought Edgar at his own game and beat him. Is it possible that since Hiro isn’t in full control of his abilities, then neither is Peter? Would rustiness/unstable originator also come into Peter’s wielding of the healing/life force power? Or does it have to do with “power complexity”, i.e. moving really fast and doing martial arts is “easy”? Anyway, I get that for the purposes of _this_ episode, the writers decided to bring Peter’s replication down a notch (funny bathroom entry! cool chest injury!) but I wish they’d make up their minds!
Lydia’s many glances towards Samuel this week struck me as her looking for signals from Samuel on how to proceed. Sylar’s interest/behavior on the other hand struck me as Nathan the Womanizer we met in Las Vegas. So maybe there’s more of Nathan at play there than meets the eye? Btw, I loved the flash of Nathan as the planes flew by. Up until now I must say that I’m liking this Sylar-Nathan hybrid (props again to Quinto) - he’s pretty intriguing.
Finally, here’s one more vote for a “Smart as Emma” award. I do hope they’ll transition her beyond pretty music pieces soon though… It’s just like you said - they’re beautiful, but run the risk of getting repetitive if they don’t start serving _some_ function beyond showcasing just how wonderfully expressive Ms. Bray is. I like it though that we’re getting to learn about Emma’s ability at the same time she is - it’s been a while since that happened.
Nice review, Otto. Great episode over-all, but I have to ask, did anyone else pick up on the similarities between Jeremy’s ability and the super-secret special talent of a certain Piemaker from another show? Really, Otto, given how you’ve referenced Pushing Daisies in the past, I was hoping you’d say something. Obviously, this is played A LOT more tragic than Ned’s power ever was, but still… controlling the flow of life and death? I’m convinced either Fuller created this character or (more likely) the power was a nod to Fuller.
Also, Otto, WHAT IS IT WITH YOU AND GENIUS ROMANCES?!? First you start mouthing off against what is one of the greatest threads this season (the Troah), and now this? Sylydia is the greatest thing since Charliro (the aforementioned Troah notwithstanding). That said, though, I so think Lydia might just be doing what she needs to to protect Amanda, or perhaps Samuel has asked her to get close to him. I don’t think the writers would just abandon what they had going with Lydgar just because Sylar is going to be with the Carnies for a few episodes.
And while I was glad we didn’t have to suffer through a single Gretchen scene this week, I do think the show should do something with Tracy and Matt next time. I had almost forgotten about them. And with Sylar all Sylared-up and whatnot I want to see what’s happening with Matt’s Sylar.
Hiro wakes up in a hospital bed and finds Peter watching over him. It’s a touching scene, largely thanks to the warm camaraderie between the characters. You could poke holes into that camaraderie by pointing out that the last time they actually spoke, Hiro was charging towards Peter with a sword. It’s possible they talked at the pyre where Sylar didn’t actually burn, but in light of the one-time battle to the death, it’s odd that the two characters are portrayed as solid friends
You always know how to bust the balloon, but I kid. I totally see what you mean and they prob did talk at the bond fire, but this did not cross my mind, because of the way I saw that scene in season 2. If you look at it again you do see that Peter does care for Hiro and doesn’t fault him, he just feels his mission is better than Hiro’s - more important. In fact, I think many people miss the fact that when Peter Tk’s Hiro up against the wall it’s to get him out of the way of Adam who was about to slice him.
Plus it was so well acted and well done, it was so nice to see characters relate to each other on a human level.
Sad for the cluelessness, and a little exasperating for fans who are still waiting for Peter to be made aware that his brother’s been dead for months.
But great drama and I think Peter may know he’s in denial a little.
The show deserves props for trying. I’m not sure an explanation to why regenerative blood won’t heal a tumor equates to why it wouldn’t have healed a slit throat — especially when we’ve seen regenerative blood heal a guy who was killed by a bullet to the eye — but the attempt to place some kind of caveat on the Magik Blood in dialogue is worth something; it’s evidence that the show cared enough to address the issue, albeit months after the issue drove legions of outraged fans to stop watching.
But they tried, I’ll take it, I jumped for joy. Still, I go with what Jack Coleman said - Nathan bleed out, no place to have a transfusion, Noah was shot in the eye, died on the stop and Claire’s blood was right there in a bag in Bob’s van of regeneration - well, odds are it happened at primatech research - funny how they went there and not Texas, but they liked the other set.
But I’ll take it, I don’t care - it’s fantasy, they say the blood will do that, I believe them. 
And Peter and the bullet, fantastic! I knew he wouldn’t die, but I was still on the edge of my seat, the best moment in years.
It’s not as if we ever really doubted that the character would pull through, but the way Peter lets out a hearty, reflexive laugh of relief, we share his relief. Well played, show.
And well played Milo - the kids getting better again.
Wait, WHAT?! He absorbed Jeremy’s ability and then headed back home?
The kid is pretty unbalanced and sensitive, I didn’t question it, plus Hiro doesn’t have days to live - and I’m gonna guess Peter has a selfish motive to want that power - in his line of work.
t’s the episode that “I Am Sylar” should have been — an exploration of the character beyond the scalp-slicing and mommy issues, and a surprisingly effective development to the Sylathan storyline. It’s also an episode that ranges widely throughout the characters’ backstories, placing the plot within a firm context and tacitly justifying each character’s motives with a plausible rationale.
This is my issue with this storyline. It is everything season 3 should have been for Sylar - its the whole idea of who are we? And who is he? But since they tried already and failed, no matter how good this is and it is good, I can’t shake that feeling of redundancy and we are only retracing the same ground again.
Great review, Otto, on all points.
Re: Majik Blood — I was never bothered by this development in S2, because the initial context with Noah was thematically brilliant, and it cemented why his relationship with Claire would survive the lack of actual blood ties, Secrets & Lies, divorces, everything. It made perfect sense.
So, the fact that TPTB got flack for it was sad. Here’s the thing, though. They got flack for it, because they ignored the internal logic that was right in front of them. They needed to bring Noah back from the dead without healing him so much he was HRG-less. Fine. The internal logic derived from the marketing as well as thematic necessity could have been applied from then on in Majik Blood scenarios.
Noah was a previously visually impaired man who was killed. The Majik Blood addressed the most immediate issue — Death (with accompanying wound — missing eye). After that, it stops working, because it only addresses the “injuries” incurred prior to infusion. This is an automatic caveat for the future that leaves Mr. Glasses with his glasses.
TPTB embedded everything they needed for the future within that first scenario, and then ignored their own writing. That’s why the laundry conversationwas so ludicrous.
Is it just me, or is Samuel deliberately encouraging Lydia to flirt with Sylar? I saw her actions as an attempt to manipulate Samuel and convince him of her devotion to him so that he’ll be led off the hunt for her daughter, not genuine interest in Sylar (although there is some chemistry for sure) or an attempt to manipulate him. On Sylar’s part, I thought his flirtation with Lydia was a sign that Nathan’s personality was still dominant in there. The way he leaned back in his chair and drank wine with his arm around Lydia…it all screamed “NATHAN” to me. (Compare this to Sylar eating pie with Elle cross-legged on the floor). I think that the show has played with the idea of Sylar being jealous of Nathan for a while (wasn’t there some remark back in season 3 about “he was born with a silver spoon”) because of his popularity, wealth, family, and charm.
Second, I think Claire is feeling a little lonely in college since her only friend is Gretchen and that relationship is currently awkward, so she’s looking for excuses to check up on Noah. And wasn’t it nice to see noah with claire and then with peter. Those relationships feel so natural, as opposed to another I could mention *cough TROAH cough*
Oh and Otto, how are there NOT any politicians for Nathan to run against in hell??
Great review, as usual. I have mixed feelings about the episode. Most of it worked for me, but there were a few glaring things.
I’m glad that Hiro is finally maturing and his helping Emma was great. The scene with the magic trick surprisingly worked and Emma’s shy smile while she was hiding was a real highlight of episode. But the end scene with the piano was totally unnecessary, for the reasons you already stated. We get it; pretty colors. Please move on.
Sylar’s scenes definitely left me mixed. The strange thing was that I had more sympathy for him last week than I did this week. I just didn’t feel bad for him while he was having his freakout in the hall of mirrors. Frankly, it was something he needed to see. All those people were his victims, and there are at least a dozen more. I was particularly glad they showed Elle during the montage. But no Chandra Suresh. Hmm.
Not feeling the Sylar/Lydia hookup, even if it is staged. But we know what happens with people who play with Sylar’s head, which does not bode well for Lydia. The little p*ssing match between Edgar and Sylar was pretty funny, though. Since this Sylar/Lydia hookup happened so fast, it makes it even more apparent that it’s fake. I took Sylar’s willingness to pursue a flirtation with her not as a Gabriel characteristic, but as a sign that he really doesn’t know where his mind is right now (literally) so he’s easily manipulated.
But I have to respectfully disagree about Oliveiri’s portrayal of Lydia as having “flair.” To me, she’s wooden, very…generic. She just has no spark. And it doesn’t help that she and Quinto have NO romantic chemistry so their “relationship” is even more implausible.
Still loving Peter & Noah, though. Glad that Noah is trying to help someone, but the kid playing Jeremy annoyed me. I thought he was overacting. But I thought Milo played the scene wonderfully, especially his relieved-but-braying laugh because he survived. But I didn’t like Noah’s spiel about “My ability is understanding people like you”. Didn’t ring true to me.
Glad I wasn’t the only one annoyed by Samuel’s “I’ve heard about Sylar for years” thing. Assuming that was a gaff by the writers.
Basically Damien = The Haitian with dreads. Come on, writers. Talk about a lack of creativity.
“…the end scene with the piano was totally unnecessary…”
I don’t agree with this statement. The last piano playing bit showed that Emma had made (a perhaps) temporary peace with her ability, and was daring to touch an instrument again, albeit nervously. That’s a long way from cowering next to a cello by a cracked wall… So, yes, the scene itself may have been overly long (it could have just been a brief glimpse) but I think it was important to establish that Hiro had helped Emma get over her fear.
It definitely conveys that Emma is reconciled to having an ability and that she’s rediscovered the good in it, but there are only so many times they can convey that idea with the same scene. There are only so many times we can watch Emma playing an instrument and looking around in wonder at the wispy colors. It’s always beautifully done, but there must be other ways to convey the same idea.
[Damien = The Haitian with dreads]
I’d say it’s creative in the subversion. You have all these people with powers living as a family, whereas our ones are stuck feeling alone and trapped.
Great review as always. I was pleased with this episode.
I’ll start with Sylar, which I prefer to refer to as Sylar-on-default. I keep seeing the character as a typical blank slate who is just trying to make sense of who they are and where they are. He grabs on to anything and anyone that gives him any clue then sticks with it. The thing with Nathan’s identity emerging is that it is the only thing floating around in his head. The real Sylar (not a figment of Matt’s imagination) is up in Matt’s head pestering him. (I can’t wait for next week.) I’m just wondering what’s going to happen if one day he wakes up looking like Nathan. Will “Nathan” even remember when he showed up at the carnival, or will he begin to freak out because he woke up looking different? These are the implication that I wonder about.
As for Samuel’s intentions concerning Sylar, I feel that our new villain doesn’t realize how screwed he’ll be if he ends up dealing with the real deal like he wants. Both of them being strong personalities that want their way, the end result would be way more head bashing (or should I say ego bashing?) than Edgar and Sylar (Darth Maul and Spock go at at it this night only!!!). Also as you mentioned, there are many new abilities in that carnival that Sylar would want, and thus cause a bigger problem for Samuel. What would the guy do to control our psycho slasher, pay him in his own people? Hardly. Samuel has no idea what a headache he’s taken on. If Sylar’s dislike for taking orders doesn’t get to Samuel (assuming he’ll have to deal with the actual evil bastard), than his inability to keep his mouth closed will. (Don’t get me wrong, he’s still one of my favorite characters, but we all know he lacks the understanding of silence.)
Sylar and Lydia I totally believe is Samuel’s doing. Poor Edgar.
Now on to Hiro. Thank god he wasn’t annoying this week. I was pleasantly surprised with this story line, but I do agree that it seemed to skip over the bigger issue of the danger with powers. What Emma needs is some true explanation of powers with someone who can control their ability. Then they can help her train herself in the control of her sound-as-color manipulation. I have a feeling that Peter might be a good candidate for this since he can control most of the abilities he has obtained. (Emphasis on “most”.)
As for HRG. Awesome as usual. Does it take anymore works to ever discuss Jack Coleman. I think not.
Looking forward to your review next week.
Well, another great job, Otto. This was a terrific episode; as you said, one of several, which is very encouraging.
I was more irritated by the continuing focus on Sylar than you, and less irritated by Hiro in this episode than you. Honestly, the only thing keeping me from weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth over the apparently utterly indestructibility of Sylar, is Quinto’s performance, and the remaining traces, which I suspect are more than mere traces, of Nathan’s personality. As you know, I am SO over Sylar, and don’t find him sympathetic at ALL, even with amnesia…and yet, Quinto is actually dragging it out of me with the innocent ingenue bit. It’s so genuine and so heartfelt that even I have some feeling for the guy. I’m also very intrigued by the connection to Nathan’s memories, and the obvious desire that the current base personality has to BE Nathan and and BE NOT Sylar; that’s a pretty easy equation to follow. I also think, though maybe I’m projecting, that there subtle hints of Nathan in Quinto’s delivery: his ease and charm with Lydia, his arrogant but relatively bloodless disdain of Edgar, the aw-shucks-boyish way he spun around at one point, while walking and talking to Lydia. Mr. Quinto is doing a bangup job here. Also, there is a certain consistently relentless survival to Sylar (the cockroach analog) which I really dislike, but which, this season, is actually becoming ironic, rather than irritating. I credit the writers for this near miracle. It can’t possibly last, however, so…..eeek.
I actually found Hiro to be somewhat charming this episode; his earnestness was completely appropriate to a hospital bed near the children’s ward. The magic show was cute; his enthusiasm was infectious, even to the somewhat dour (though understandably so) Emma. His usual “hero path” bumbling pontification was a bit more Yoda and a lot less “Holy Sacred Quest, Batman!” In short, I think that Hiro’s behavior this episode, together with his long overdue confession to Kimiko, is actually evidence of some small achievement of dignity, yes, in the face of (possible) coming death. There is actually a skotch of “Redemption” going on here for his character, and it is long overdue, even if, continuity-wise, there are several gaping holes, to wit: what the hell is up with his suddenly autonomous and expanded powers, and the very notion that he could forget Charlie, and forget that he tried and was unable to save this person who was apparently his first true love. (Although I’m totally with you on the “forgive-anything-if-it’s Charlie-related” idea. I cannot wait to see her again!) Hiro was played for comic relief, but it was comedy with purpose and Masi Oka’s delivery has been subtly more restrained and mature in recent episodes.
Still love Emma, and I’m grateful that Hiro helped her to see and appreciate the beauty and potential of her ability. Great chemistry between her and Pete.
I’m not sure about the bungling Peter; when he had the Empathic Mimicry deal, he was almost, though not quite, as adept as Sylar in using others’ abilities. His facility wasn’t instant, but he was a VERY fast learner. I’m chalking it up to the difference between his natal genetic gifts and his synthetic ability. It was nice to see him interact with Claire and Noah, and intriguing that they are rapidly becoming more his family than his (dead) distant, megalomaniacal, albiet repentant, brother, and distant, distracted, increasingly frazzled and frantic mother, and purely evil and filiacidal and also megalomaniacally genocidal dear old dad.
One question about Sylathan: did he ever fly? He didn’t ever absorb that ability that I know of. His possible lack of flight, yet plethora of other abilities: major clue, here, right?
Finally, you state, “Mark L. Young’s performance is such that you grasp how much the character wants to help Peter; which, even if it doesn’t absolve the character of murdering his parents, at least qualifies that murder as very much unintentional.” Sorry, Otto, but this is just wrong. There is no such thing as a completely “unintentional murder,” unless it is a felony murder, where someone is accidentally killed in the commission of another crime, which is honestly a legal technicality, wherein the intention of the base crime is carried over to the “murder.” ALL murders, in fact all malum in se crimes, require some volitional mental element in order to BE a crime. If the kid touched his parents and they died through no voluntary or knowing action or intention of his own, what we have is a hideous, freakish, tragic ACCIDENT. One of which he can, in fact, be absolved, NOT a murder. Clearly he isn’t a killer. At the very least we owe him the benefit of the doubt on this one. If he continues to go around negligently or recklessly touching people and injuring or killing them, that’s a different story. But his story thus far: along the lines of a 3-year old kid with a gun. Simply not his fault. And when he realized what was happening, he isolated himself as best he could to protect others.
The carnival continues to intrigue, although some of the characters’ behavior is inconsistent and not quite plausible, but still even that adds to the very well realized moral ambiguities. (I’m telling you, this is Coogar’s and Dark’s Carnival!)
Thanks again, Otto. Have a good weekend.
K
(I’ll forgive the writers Hiro for (a) forgetting Charlie and (b) apparently forgetting an episode in which Hiro time-traveled extensively in an effort to save the love of his life and in the end realized that her death was inevitable.)
My theory is time stopped Hiro from changing the past then… because he was destined to go back. Like time is this great big construct run by an omnipotent being, and it wouldn’t allow Hiro to save Charlie unless he was being selfless. Back then it was his childish ideas that stopped him - whereas now he’s matured enough to care about saving HER rather than having some childish romance.
Great review, as always :).
The episode wasn’t perfect, but wasn’t far from it. Frankly, Recently, elements I was dreading (Sylar, Hiro) turned out great, far better than I expected.
Some little things don’t drag it down, but it just keep it from being perfect.
- Hiro who sounded a bit stupid with his destiny usual babbling (+1 for a “Smart as Emma” for running away from Hiro), but quickly moved forward. It’s been more than a year since I’ve waited for the character to be likeable (MamaSulu scenes aside) and it looks like they’re finally heading in the right direction. By the way, since he’s dieing, I’m gonna be pissed if he doesn’t go talk to Papa and/or Mama Sulus…
- Only thumb down I have for Emma’s storyline is the last piano scene, that made me feel they overused her power. I would have said it last week already if it didn’t close the episode with the wall ripping. Hoping more development of that soon.
- Unless Peter accidentaly sponged the healing while recovering from death, it does seem stupid that he didn’t teleport the healer guy to heal Hiro. That, and I kind of wished he kept teleportation, and why not time travel too. He could have made a good use of it and Hiro is not the only one I’d like to see go back in time. By the way, I think the actor playing the healer-guy’s voice is weird. It just creeps me out…
Carnivale time :
- Samuel’s speech to Sylar is screaming for backstory, which we’ll obviously get later, but you’ve gotta wonder how far away he’s seeing since he’s basicly letting a serial killer / power hunter join their family.
- Won’t add anything on Sylar, they’re doing a good job with it, but I’m fearing what is to happen with Sylar-in-Matt’s-head since part of Sylar seems to really be in Matt. Of course, I’m not wondering why they longly stayed on Charlie in the hall of mirrors. By the way ; ALEJANDROOOOOOO.
- Lydylar… Whatever, but I’m fearing it’ll end up with Edgar then Lydia dead, both with their heads ripped off. Haven’t seen the webisodes yet to say anything about their relation yet though.
- Edgar : Is it me, or it doesn’t seem like the guy that wasn’t happy he had to kill, that only killed when he absolutely had to? I suppose that if they want to keep Sylar (which Edgar obviously isn’t okay with untill the end of the episode), someone had to do it but I still don’t get what the guy is still doing around if he doesn’t agree with Sam’s ambitions. Some development on that too, please.
- I’m also waiting to see what will happen when someone who knows Sylar end up in the carnivale. Considering he’s trying to bring all the main characters in, that will happen sooner or later.
Unless answers, see ya next week
Remember when I said that if Nathan and Tracy got together, Claire and Micah would be cousins? Well, if Noah and Tracy get together… is there a character on this show who by the finale will not be related to the Cheerleader?
Aside from that, I have caught a couple of episodes of Flash Forward, in the hopes it might be a replacement for Heroes - you know, it has that ‘global event and cast of thousands and everything intertwined and leading up to something and actually going somewhere’ thing going for it; but it is too, i don’t know… safe.
Thank you for this review, I cannot wait until Heroes season 4/volume 5 finally airs down here. As someone who used to play the piano, I am looking forward to Emma (plus Hiro finally being who he should have been two seasons ago).
(Even if I am using my Caitlin Lost In Time icon whenever I blog about Heroes)
Oh, and Lydia?
Totally Noah’s Mother.
There’s no guarantee that Noah will ever exist since that whole future was based around the existence of Pinehearst (which is now defunct). I think that Elle was his mother in that timeline.
It’s a Chekhov’s Gun.
You show a character sleeping with another character, it has to mean something. Here, there’s no prior connection between them and has to lead somewherer. Because no-one can have sex on TV unless it leads to pregnancy and/or death.
Will H, thank you, and I agree, the season so far has been different in the best sense of the word. Let’s hope it stays different.
I’m with you on the major shift from the sly-and-suspicious Samuel on the show to the outright-overbearing Samuel in the webisodes. I’d be curious to know how it turned out this way, because you’d think there’d be extensive communication between TPTBs and the webisode scribes. I wonder if it’s just a case of one-sided editing — that all of Samuel’s ~*complex*~ material is saved for the show — or whether the webisodes are intended to reveal a darker side to Samuel and to enrich his character arc instead of contradicting it. I’d say the attempt has only been marginally successful if that was the idea, but it would make sense.
Deanna, thanks, and good point about Samuel using Lydia as a means to gain Sylar’s loyalty. I’m not sure Hiro did hear about Jeremy, but perhaps we can speculate that Peter called Emma before he got on his flight home and was like, “I’ve found someone with an ability that can heal Hiro, so tell him he’s going to be OK.”
GnuHopper, welcome!
“I had the impression that Peter absorbed Jeremy’s ability while Jeremy was healing him, not necessarily voluntarily.”
The same thing occurred to me, but the issue I have here is the way the show seems to go back and forth on this point. We’ve seen Peter in a state of agitation and making contact with people and NOT absorbing their abilities: examples of this are Peter flying away with Matt at the end of 3.17, falling off a rooftop and being caught by Nathan in 3.18, and flying Angela out of the elevator shaft in 3.20. So, I agree, it’s possible Peter was so worked up that he absorbed an ability without realizing it. But the whole “Peter absorbs abilities without meaning to” concept seems to be a gray area; sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn’t. It seems like the deciding factor is what’s convenient for the plot instead of what’s consistent and what makes sense.
Michael, great point about the insane half of Sylar being stuck inside Matt’s head. It would explain why the physical Sylar hasn’t been struck down with any of the neuroses or the craving to slash open heads.
CJM, thank you.
“The way he was talking about the way the outside world attacks their kind, I got the sense the Carnival is preparing for war against the normal world.”
I can easily see it turning out that way. For whatever reason, my mind didn’t go to “FYG” the way yours did, but instead to Arthur’s (and later Nathan’s) plan for a superpowered army in Volume Three. I guess the idea about what to do with that superpowered army is different, but the basic concept — the idea of a portion of the superpowered population rising up to subjugate the rest of the population — strikes me as similar; perhaps so similar that it’s not necessarily where the show is going with this volume. You’re right, though, that it would make a lot of sense in light of Samuel’s references to avenging Joseph.
Re: the last time Peter and Hiro talked in 3.15 — YES! Well done.
I knew I was missing something. Thank you for pointing it out. (Still — fellow fugitives in the woods? It doesn’t exactly add up to dear friends after that altercation at Primatech in 2.11, does it? 
)
“And we’ll be getting Charlie back soon, and that can only mean good things.”
Let’s hope so! I have very high hopes for the episode.
Hrefna, thank you, I’m glad you liked this one.
With Peter absorbing Jeremy’s ability, I’m as stumped as you are. I’m tempted to go with the theory that Peter was trying not to add to the ordeal that Jeremy went through with his parents. But then, you’d think the best thing for the kid would be to get away from that traumatic scene at the house, and for him to see why his ability can make an enormous difference in the world. I also found your point here very thought-provoking:
“There’s also the consideration that you really don’t want to bring a potentially deadly unstable teen anywhere close to a hospital setting, or be touching him at all for that matter.”
^ ^ Could THAT be the reason why Peter wanted to heal Hiro himself? We didn’t see enough of Peter communicating with Jeremy before OR after he got shot, and it could be that Peter (a) didn’t trust Jeremy enough to touch him and teleport with him, and (b) didn’t trust Jeremy enough to let him go anywhere near Hiro.
Good point about Peter absorbing an ability that could heal almost everyone he comes into contact with at the hospital. I’ll be curious to see where the show goes with this particular detail: will Peter risk drawing attention to himself by becoming the hospital’s miracle healer, or will he use it to save Hiro and then absorb another ability? If he discards Jeremy’s ability, it’ll be interesting to see whether it’s portrayed as a selfish choice on Peter’s part (because Jeremy’s ability is surely the one that everyone working with sick and dying people dreams about having), or if it’s a choice he’s forced to make.
“Is it possible that since Hiro isn’t in full control of his abilities, then neither is Peter?”
I wondered the same thing, but we’ve seen a number of instances when Sylar AND Peter acquired abilities and either mastered them to the same level as the original owner or learned to wield them even more effectively (you mention Peter absorbing Edgar’s ability; there’s also Peter absorbing Matt’s mind-control in 3.18, Sylar getting a handle on Brian’s TK and Ted’s radioactivity almost immediately; the list goes on…).
Re: Samuel, Lydia and the Meaningful Glances: I might be reading too much into it, but between the scene in the trailer in 4.03 (when Lydia helps with Samuel’s tie) and the way Lydia tries to placate Samuel in the latest webisode, I’m getting the impression that there’s at least some kind of history between the characters.
“Sylar’s interest/behavior on the other hand struck me as Nathan the Womanizer we met in Las Vegas.”
Hah! Very true. If Sylar’s channeling Nathan’s charm in order to become more sociable, does that say more about Sylar or Nathan?
Caleb, thank you, and YES, I really should have mentioned Pushing Daisies in relation to Jeremy’s ability. For whatever reason, my mind didn’t go to Pushing Daisies, but instead to the “War Buddies” graphic novels. I couldn’t help wondering whether this is how TPTBs would have realized Linderman’s backstory if they ever wanted to show it on screen; as a pasty-faced kid who wanted to bring joy to the people around him by healing everyone and everything that was sick or dying, and who ended up causing them pain and terrifying them with an ability that he didn’t know how to control. The specifics are different, obviously, but the general idea struck me as along the same lines.
You’ll have to forgive my lack of appreciation for the Troah and the Sylydia. The genius has obviously gone over my head.
I’m with you on Lydia working towards her own agenda instead of towards Samuel’s, and that she’s not hooking up with Sylar for the hell of it. I’d like to think Lydia’s a character with enough depth to be playing both Samuel and Sylar.
PandoraRose, I agree, Peter was very much trying to reason with Hiro in 2.11. I wish there could have been a little more of that and a little less of Hiro running across the warehouse shrieking “HHHYEEEEE!”, but you’re right that Peter was doing his best. And, yes, when it comes to Peter TK’ing Hiro to the wall outside the vault, we’re very much of one mind. I vaguely recall making the same point in the review at the time — that Peter pretty much saved Hiro from getting his head lopped off by Adam. It’s a friendship with many layers.
“Plus it was so well acted and well done, it was so nice to see characters relate to each other on a human level.”
I really liked how Peter handed Hiro his glasses. That seemed like a very believable on-the-spot detail.
Re: the Sylar story: “But since they tried already and failed, no matter how good this is and it is good, I can’t shake that feeling of redundancy and we are only retracing the same ground again.”
I know what you mean, but as with the clarification on the regenerative blood and the throwback to Charlie, I think it’s better late than never. Seeing Sylar acknowledge the full horror of what he’s done is something we should have seen sooner — and perhaps instead of morphing into Virginia and having conversations with himself — but the fact that we got it at all, and the fact that it was so brilliantly done, is enough to placate me.
Raissa, thank you.
Great point about the quirk in the regeneration not fixing HRG’s eyesight. How do you think that would translate to Hiro and Nathan’s situations? I can buy the logic that regenerative blood can’t eliminate a cancerous growth, and that it wouldn’t have solved the blood loss from Nathan’s throat, but in Nathan’s case, wouldn’t regenerative blood have healed the wound across Nathan’s throat, and wouldn’t it then have been a case of multiple transfusions?
I also couldn’t help wondering whether Hiro’s brain tumor really is connected to him using his ability so extensively; he mentioned this week that his ability wasn’t the thing that was killing him, but I couldn’t decide whether he meant that figuratively or literally. If he only means it figuratively then will healing the brain tumor affect Hiro’s capacity to time-travel and teleport? Put another way: even if Peter uses Jeremy’s ability to heal Hiro now, will Hiro using his ability cause the same brain tumor to reappear later on?
Clarkie,
“Is it just me, or is Samuel deliberately encouraging Lydia to flirt with Sylar?”
This seems to be the popular theory, although I like your expansion that Lydia’s trying to prove herself to Samuel to make up for the secrecy that came to light in the webisodes.
I’m with you on Sylar consciously tapping into Nathan’s smooth-talking charm to help him integrate into the carnival’s community. And, yes, I agree that Sylar might actively be choosing to mimic Nathan’s behavior. As you suggest, it could be that he’s defaulting to Nathan’s personality because on some level he wants to tap into Nathan’s attributes, his privileges and his family. Which, in a way, dovetails very nicely with the whole cockroach motif.
“Oh and Otto, how are there NOT any politicians for Nathan to run against in hell??
“
Oh, they’re down there, but if there’s no steady paycheck in it, there’s not a lot of incentive for them to get involved. Nathan’s doing his best to change that, though. He really liked how Claire brought up the idea of volunteer work.
B., thank you. Re: Sylar:
“The strange thing was that I had more sympathy for him last week than I did this week.”
Not strange at all! I felt exactly the same way. I don’t think the scenes in the hall of mirrors were intended to evoke our sympathy; they were supposed to reinforce how much of a monster Sylar is, and to provide a cathartic experience for us when Sylar ends up whimpering and vomiting over the memories.
You’re right: no Chandra, and no Papa Walker, no Dale, no Zane, no Derek, no Claire (!), no Bridget Bailey, no Arthur, no Metal-Arm Danny, no James Martin, no Agent Taub, no Clint Howard and no Nathan… Are we missing anyone else?
I agree about the Sylydia being very fake, although I disagree about the absence of any chemistry between them. I definitely see a spark between the characters, and I think the bond between them is at least real to Sylar, which is why he’ll probably be even more vicious when he discovers that he’s being played.
I’m in the minority, I know, but I’m going to have to defend Olivieri. I think the character comes across as immensely charming and charismatic in the webisodes, and that’s in only 90-second installments, so I think it’s very much down to a lack of screen time and a lack of characterization on the main show that she’s not leaving the kind of impression that she should.
HRG’s line about “understanding” people with abilities: it worked for me because I saw it as a throwback to the teacups conversation with Thompson in 1.17; the idea that while HRG is a resourceful and pragmatic character, he’s also very adept at accepting the weird and inexplicable. That’s why he’s a great Company agent.
LeeAnna, thank you.
“Sylar-on-default.” I like it!
“The thing with Nathan’s identity emerging is that it is the only thing floating around in his head. The real Sylar (not a figment of Matt’s imagination) is up in Matt’s head pestering him.”
Very possible, and if it’s true then it ties in very neatly with the whole Sylathan issue, because the question there was always whether the memories and experiences added up to the person. If Sylar has regained his memories and abilities, why isn’t he the same Sylar that he used to be? What is it about Sylar-in-Matt’s-head that’s different? Hopefully that’s a question the show will address.
“Darth Maul and Spock go at at it this night only!!!”
Brilliant.
With Samuel’s potential solution if Sylar suddenly turns power-hungry, could it be that there are abilities within the carnival that can subdue him? I can’t imagine anyone with the Haitian’s power-blocking being much use to the carnival, but perhaps there’s someone in there with an ability similar to Samson’s whistle-hypnosis? Someone who can at least slow Sylar down, if not stop him completely?
Kevin, thank you. Sorry to hear the Sylar stuff was irritating you. I’m still not sure we were expected to sympathize with him here, so it’s possible your feeling bad for him at all was a sign that he’s wearing you down.
On the possibility that ZQ is working AP’s mannerisms into his performance the way he did in “FYG”: I wouldn’t be surprised. I definitely agree that Sylar is channeling Nathan in order to move beyond the loner watch-repairman mentality.
Re: Hiro: “His usual ‘hero path’ bumbling pontification was a bit more Yoda and a lot less ‘Holy Sacred Quest, Batman!’”
Nicely put. I found it interesting that Hiro seemed to be using magic tricks that didn’t involve his ability until Emma showed up. It sort of makes Hiro into a tragic figure if he ended up in an office cubicle when he could have gotten a job working with kids and making people smile the way he does here. Ties in with the whole “family legacy” issue in Peter and Sylar’s storylines.
With Sylar being able to fly, check out this:
http://www.herosite.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/325_sylar_flies_in.jpg
I’m still undecided, and I could easily buy into everyone else’s theory that he’s levitating himself with TK, but it’s equally possible that Sylar went the empathic-absorption route and gained flight when he fought Nathan. You have to question the logistics when he’s locked in a mid-air struggle, but it’s a possibility.
Re: the “unintentional murder”: yes, valid point, and thank you for the correction. I used the expression with a hint of irony, but you’re absolutely right. Here’s where I’m tempted to disagree, though:
“If the kid touched his parents and they died through no voluntary or knowing action or intention of his own, what we have is a hideous, freakish, tragic ACCIDENT. One of which he can, in fact, be absolved, NOT a murder. Clearly he isn’t a killer.”
It was most likely an accident, I agree, but can he really be absolved, and is he really not a killer on the grounds that he didn’t mean to kill his parents? I see both sides of the argument here, but I think the show has a very rigid moral stance, because looking back on the characters who’ve accidentally killed people — Niki, Ted, Isaac, Maya, and in a way Nathan as a result of setting up Building 26 — the show’s response to accidental death is almost always to kill off the person most directly responsible (Maya being the exception).
In this instance, I’d agree that Jeremy is a victim of an ability he can’t control, and that he’s a kid who killed without wanting to. I’m not sure I’d agree that a lack of intent to kill absolves him of the act itself, though, and if Jeremy hadn’t been a kid — if, for example, you swapped Jeremy and Ted, whose role in an accidental death is essentially the same — I could easily have seen the show applying its moral stance and killing the character off.
Ian, re: Hiro:
“Back then it was his childish ideas that stopped him - whereas now he’s matured enough to care about saving HER rather than having some childish romance.”
Dude. It wasn’t childish. It was beautiful.
Does anyone have any thoughts on whether Saving Charlie counts as part of the show’s canon? I’m guessing not, but I’ll be curious to see if the show steers clear of the details in the book completely, or ignores them, or just wantonly tramples over the backstory that the book established.
Pas, thank you. Re: Hiro:
“It’s been more than a year since I’ve waited for the character to be likeable (MamaSulu scenes aside) and it looks like they’re finally heading in the right direction.”
I’m with you on this point, although there’ve been occasional moments recently that worked for me. His scenes with Baby Matt in 3.20, risking himself to freeze time in 3.25, shouting at Ando in 4.01, telling Kimiko that he’s dying in 4.04. They’re getting there.
Re: Edgar having reservations about killing Danko but leaping at the chance to kill Lubbock: yeah, I wondered the same thing. Only thing I could figure is that Edgar saw this as an instance when killing was “absolutely necessary,” which was the key point he made in 4.01 before agreeing to go after Danko. We still have no idea how close Danko was to becoming a threat to the carnival’s safety, but Lubbock returning to the carnival with a police detail would inevitably have made everyone there uncomfortable.
Myrystyr, re: anyone who’s not yet related to Claire: I think Mohinder’s still safe…? Who knows for how long, though.
It is canon I’d wager… but they’ll have Hiro change the timeline. So there’ll be a new timeline with him and Charlie.
- My bad about the differents Hiro moments you quoted. They were kinda drawn in my mind in middle of the LOTS of (non)comic moments Hiro was involved in.
- Geez, if they showed all of Sylar’s victims, it could have gone for a long time. Why the mirror focused on Charlie is obvious (at least to us) but I hope seeing ALEJANDROOOO (nothing against him though) doesn’t mean MAAAAJAAAA is coming back soon to avenge him.
- About the magic blood de debate, I think they digged a huge hole by not defining it’s limits when it was first introduced. It can heal wounds, it healed zombie HRG, maybe dead HRG, etc… Wen can also wonder why it doesn’t apply to dead/recently-dead/whatever people. Claire died and came back from it more than once. Peter too. Sylar had his throat sliced (you know, like NATHAN) and came back to life after the Eclipse ended… Maybe we can assume the blood is just regenerative and doesn’t care the DNA/Ability/Whatever… At this point, the theory is too damaged to have a real explanation, but I’ll give them points for trying (and the tumor being living tissue actually makes sense).
- Totally out of context, but am I the only one fearing we won’t get this early-company-years flashback episode? I kinda wished Peter would go back to understand what turned his Mama and Papa into *insert your word here*(amongst other things) at some point when he absorbed time-travel, but with a 5th season being unlikely, I’m afraid that won’t happen :(. That would have been perfect to tie with the characters’ redemption arcs (with “Generatiions” too but well…)
Great point about the quirk in the regeneration not fixing HRG’s eyesight. How do you think that would translate to Hiro and Nathan’s situations? I can buy the logic that regenerative blood can’t eliminate a cancerous growth, and that it wouldn’t have solved the blood loss from Nathan’s throat, but in Nathan’s case, wouldn’t regenerative blood have healed the wound across Nathan’s throat, and wouldn’t it then have been a case of multiple transfusions?
When one of Claire’s wounds heals, she goes back to her pre-injury default setting as it were. Therefore, the blood would actually eliminate the tumor, because the tumor isn’t part of Hiro’s default setting. By the logic established in S2, the blood wouldn’t heal the tumor if another wound (more immediate form of death or ax amputation) happened before the tumor killed him. The tumor would then have to be eliminated by a second infusion which the writers would never give us.
In Nathan’s case, the majik blood would heal his slit throat and replenish his blood, because the blood loss, like Noah’s eye, is part and parcel of the death process. If Nathan was dead, and someone chopped off his hand post mortem, the blood would address the hand first as the more recent, separate wound, and a second infusion would be required for his death. This is how I interpret the internal logic of Noah’s S2 scenario, and how it would carry through.
Raissa - if Claire healed the tumour, it’d come back. That’s what they’re getting at. If this new kid healed it, he’d eliminate all strains of it. It’s the equivilent of a complete cure versus a temporary reprieve.
And back to Nathan… he bled out. Noah didn’t. That’s why Nathan died, and Claire can’t bring a corpse back to life. Dead is dead unless they get to the body immediately.
Ian,
Neither of us is going to win the Hiro argument, because we’re working off different continuities. My reading is valid re: S2. Yours is valid in relation to the current season. However, I still argue that Claire’s blood would have been useful to Hiro by S4 logic as a stop gap. She could have temporarily healed him long enough for Noah to find and help Jeremy for the long-term fix. Everyone would have been happy, and we would have avoided the Peter Power Shuffle continuity issues.
Well, therein lies the problem with the device. You’re coming at it from a logical place, and everything you’ve said makes sense… but they realised how much of a deus ex machina they made it and tried running away. Theoretically, Hiro could travel back in time and tell himself not to stop time for himself and Ando/Baby Matt, then there’d be no tumour.
It’s the problem with having ultra-powered people. They’ve made Hiro and Claire too powerful to do the stuff that makes sense to us - so, in that regard, we call foul and they back-track to make the continuity fit. It’s the Reed Richards logic. He’s smart enough to create inventions that will cure all the ills of the world… but doesn’t do it because then there’s nothing for him to do.
Now if only you could go back in time and say ‘NO DEUS EX MACHINA.’
Ian,
Now if only you could go back in time and say ‘NO DEUS EX MACHINA.’
The other option is to bite the bullet and accept the godhood implications, as Moore did with Dr. Manhattan. I mean Kring & Co already cribbed off of Watchmen as it is. If they’d gone down the road they’d established for themselves with conviction (immortality, demi-godhood, blood), we wouldn’t have the disjointed mess to clean up now.
Raissa - it’s a “what if”, though. The show should have gone down the ‘regenerators blood is a virus’ thought to stop us questioning it. But they didn’t. And as such, now we have to ask why they didn’t use Adam’s blood to cure Charles… or ressurect Linderman. They’re at the stage where even raising it causes people to question it further.
As for Moore, he’s a genius. A perverse and twisted genius who wrote the most %*@#ked up, yet beautiful, comic-book of all time. There’s no padding or plot-holes in Watchmen whatsoever… and, as you noted, Heroes cribbed from it (and thus got it’s best season.) It’s also not something Network TV could handle, or film (loved the Watchmen film, but it has to be incomprehensible without certain background knowledge.)
At this stage, I’m hoping Hiro retcons the s**t out of Heroes so they can start afresh and:
a) Claire’s regenerative blood is never mentioned again.
b) Nathan/Isaac are alive.
c) The FYG/IABD futures are combined.
and:
d) We get an epic Peter-Sylar fight.
They’re screwed no matter what at this point, though. Even if Hiro retcons everything, Fans will then complain about those changes negating stuff they liked. For instance, I adored the thematic implications of HRG, Claire, and Adam explored (if mangled) in S2 and have had a marvelous time expanding on those ideas in fanfic. But, I’ve enjoyed collecting immortal characters for years, so I’m used to that kind of storytelling and the implications of it. One fan’s Deus Ex Machina is another fan’s means to explore life, death, and the meaning of everything.
Kudos on the fan-fic. Always nice to see people taking their issues with a show and doing something constructive.
I guess I come from the comics approach. They’re retconned so often that the main hope is they at least get the characters right. While it’d suck to lose Adam et al, I think they veered too far away from what the show was meant to be and made far too many mistakes. That’s mostly the fault of S3 (much as I dig it, I wish they’d have stuck to their S2 guns.)
At any rate, I appreciate the banter. You’ve raised some very astute points.
Likewise.
Great review, as ever, Otto.
The Fallen Heroes segment really does get better and better!
However, i have one highly serious point to make about your reviews which infuriates me….STOP DISSING THE TROAH! Sure, romantically they wouldnt work, but spoilers dictate that they will NOT hook up! Woo! However, HRG will be hooking up with someone else… go to the heroes wiki spoilers page to find out who (i dont think its on this site). So yes, we will get platonic Troah from now on! That is, if the show ever decides to give Tracy more screen time.
Sylar as a character, albeit this episode he was good, should not be the centre of the show. The writers are obviously too scared to have him miss even one episode, and so theyve crafted the matt/sylar story to ensure him great screentime every episode, which pisses me off to no end. However, past that, it was another nice episode, and the next two look just as good, if not better!
LostAtSea
Haha! Yes, stop dissing the troah…even if it’s just platonic because we can get a juicier romance. Anyway, I think Tracy deserves more screen time and I hope she can be added to the story somehow.
Thanks for the review! I liked the episode very much, although I was not totally thrilled, you know they were not going to kill Peter :). Sylathan, or the creature he is, is very pitiful and he’s going to be manipulated by Samuel, who’s not a menace for me yet (all the Carnie stuff is a bit boring for me but poor Edgard). I suppose, somebody will investigate the dissaparance of Ernie Hudson
HRG and Peter are great, poor Claire was there as an object for Magic Blood…Jeremy and HRG were superb!
Emma is so smart, so good, you still recover the faith in this show about new characters when you see her. And Hiro was good, actually good. I hope the return to Charlie’s scene will be made so timeline won’t be affected. We’ll see
Hi Otto, great review as always. I’ve beening reading for a while, first post here.
This ep is the best so far this season for the simple fact that I don’t have to fast forward any story arc when rewatch. The Emma-Hiro one was nicely done though I was so sure it’d be irritating before it’s aired. Hiro behaved muture-ish for the first time since like forever. I was rewatching the first half of the first season before saw this one. His child-like enthusiastic and optimistic behavior was reasonable and adorable back then, which might be the reason I found him more tolerable here. Like everyone else here I like Emma. She’s warm and fresh new blood for this rapidly aging show. But I can’t help feeling her ‘beautiful color’ seeing stuff is strenching too long. At first it’s nice but now it’s more and more unbearable with each ep. If they don’t move forward her story really really soon it destined to get BORING.
The Peter-HRG story is kind of cool so I’ll let the predictable and illogical parts pass. As why Peter didn’t teleport the kid to the hospital, the logical reason I can think of is to seperate the team so that Peter can be back with Emma and HRG will be together with Tracy to help ‘Ned’ in the next ep. They do go great length to have Ali larter on this show. PS, is it only me or the healing kid is so overacting? It got on my nerves. I have the same problem when he was on Dexter too.
The Carnival-Sylar one is the A story of the week. The first half of the ep I kept thinking ZQ must not have nearly as much fun as in the Matt-Sylar arc. He looked bored at some point. I cannot decide the actress playing Lydia if it is because she’s wooden or she has no screen presence what so ever, because there’s no chemistry between her and either RK, RP or ZQ. I hope the hook-up is a one time thing, because what’s the point? It’s not like that it’s critical or anything for Samuel to manipulate Sylar joining, and it’s destroying the Lydia character in a bad way. Sylar got laid, yeah, let’s move on~~~Although I would not mind it gets us some Darth Maul - Spock conflict.
My favourite of the entire ep is the talk between Samuel and Sylar after the memory was shown in the mirror. Both actors gave terrific performance and it’s fun to watch. The dialogue was fine but more in the delivery.
You can see the peaceful look on Sylar’s face after the baptism thingy. So what’s next for him? What’s good for Samuel to have the predator for specials back? Is head Sylar going to join the Tabula Rasa, the really one emerge and kill everyone (I hope the show doesn’t go there cuz that means they fails Sylar redemption, AGAIN)? Can’t wait for his story unfolding. At the same time, can we have some snarky Sylar to banlance the wimpy one out a little bit?
English is not my native I apology if this is hard to read.
Otto this the only good place for a heroes review on the web.. i have to poitn out that ur comment up there in response to someone else’s comment about peter calling emma on the phone to tell her they found a healer??? Emma is deaf!! lol
D’oh! My bad. Let’s say Peter texted Emma before he got on his flight home.
Great review, Otto, per usual.
Hiro’s utilization this episode was such a refreshing change, underscored by his encouraging dialogue. “There are no bad powers, Emma. You just have to understand them. And when you do, you will learn to use your powers to do good things in the world.”
I think this is the way Hiro should have been used throughout the series, serving as the “Yoda” to our group of heroes since the confrontation at Kirby Plaza, or at the very least since he returned from Feudal Japan. Here’s hoping we see more positive character development and growth for him as the season continues. Seems like it’d be a shame for the writers to finally evolving him past the likeness of a caricature, only to kill him off with a brain tumor.
Otto, great review. Enjoyable as always. Wow 30 comments already, I hope you get to mine.
… the idea that while some characters vie for our attention with dazzling abilities, there’s one who’ll demonstrate a more straightforward ability: to be there for the people he cares about.
Awwww, see that’s one of the reasons Peter is my favorite. I sure wish they would let Hiro and Peter be friends.
Sad for the cluelessness, and a little exasperating for fans who are still waiting for Peter to be made aware that his brother’s been dead for months.
Hopefully this is an indication that there will be a payoff to all of this … yet I don’t want to get my hopes up too high.
You do know that’s Milo’s comic? Well, the one his company produced.
Years? Years? Am I missing a part of the chronology here?
Well with the chryon for Hiro seeing Charlie being 3 years ago, either TPTB forgot or they just said the heck with it and everything is present day (even though, it should be no more than 2008).
Again, cheap humor, but it is funny.
I prefer that kind of humor to what they were having 10-year-old Hiro doing.
Peter picks up a *PING!* Dumb As Award for failing to freeze time and disarm Jeremy
*SIGH* You’re just looking for any excuse to give him one of these awards, aren’t you? Sure it’s easy for you to think of that, but try to look at it from his perspective … they have just come upon this scene where they don’t know what they are going to find, just found the kid’s parents dead and then they get shot at. I doubt I’d be thinking too clearly with someone shooting at me. Heck, with all that is happening, he probably forgot what ability he had at the moment.
Speaking of Jeremy, anybody else think he looked a bit like Linderman?
Damien leads Sylar to the center of the hall of mirrors, restores his memories and leaves Sylar to relive everything he’s done.
Maybe it’s my total apathy for the story line, but is that really what happened? I guess so, but it just seemed more of a movie being shown to him than his actual memories being restored. As for who’s in Matt’s head, that seems to be the evil part of Sylar. I’m still thinking this is how the writers are going for a better Sylar (well, ZQ), without the head slicing. They just have to figure out a way to get rid of the part in Matt’s head without restoring it to Sylar’s body.
The “Fallen Heroes” bit was funny again. Nathan asking how Pete does it and saying that he’s still looking out for him, ha!
Can Noah and Peter always work together? I am loving their scenes this season and really enjoyed their scenes in Season 1. They seem to have a very good working relationship full of respect and they care about each other. Also, because of this episode, I will actually call him Noah instead of just HRG.
Peter getting shot … where to start on this one. Good thing I read spoilers or else I would probably have been a WRECK during this scene. Even so, I was on the edge of my seat! PETERRRR! The way it was filmed is Heroes at it’s best. When they do something right, it’s just amazing, even breathtaking and heartbreaking.
I like to think that Noah’s panic has something to do with how much he likes Peter and a little bit of Angela losing another son.
Also, Jack Coleman ROCKS!
I’ve always thought that even though Noah doesn’t have a power, one of his best skills was understanding how the powers work (see Season 1 when he worked with (used?) Matt and Ted to break out of Primatech).
… it manages to be light-hearted without making Hiro look like a fool …
THAT is how I wish Hiro’s story lines would be. Unfortunately, that seems to be very difficult to achieve.
Emma is still great and I love that she got to interact with another original Hero. Can we keep her, please?
… because, dear God, it’s been a long and torturous journey watching Hiro reach this moment of insight …
ROTFL
The way he plays this scene, though, we get a glimpse of a guy who’s absolutely certain of the non-superpowered population’s prejudice and intolerance.
I hope we get to see the motivation behind that, which, judging from some spoilers, I think we will.
… the expression he’s wearing is less of a guy who’s overcome by his killer instinct and more of a guy who’s reining it in.
That’s because the guy who is overcome with it is in Matt’s head.
Now there will be a couple of episodes with little to get me excited. Oh, well, at least I will have your reviews to pass the time.
Until next time!
PandoraRose, I agree, Peter was very much trying to reason with Hiro in 2.11. I wish there could have been a little more of that and a little less of Hiro running across the warehouse shrieking “HHHYEEEEE!”, but you’re right that Peter was doing his best. And, yes, when it comes to Peter TK’ing Hiro to the wall outside the vault, we’re very much of one mind. I vaguely recall making the same point in the review at the time — that Peter pretty much saved Hiro from getting his head lopped off by Adam. It’s a friendship with many layers.
“Plus it was so well acted and well done, it was so nice to see characters relate to each other on a human level.”
I really liked how Peter handed Hiro his glasses. That seemed like a very believable on-the-spot detail.
Yes, it shows they feel a kindship with each other - it really reminds me how I want these two characters to start on that friendship we have seen in the future. And how alliances seem to carry over into the next generation on the show. Angela and Charles connected and in the future not only did Charles connect with her son, but their children felt a connection to each other, well one would say Peter more, but ya know. Somewhere in time Kaito was something to Angela that her husband could not fill at the time - and in our present their children share a bond of friendship. And not to mention Nathan and Hiro and Nathan and Matt - and we saw Nathan and Matt’s fathers we’re alias for a brief time and who knows how far that twosome went back. It reminds me how much I am dying to know what went down 30 odd years ago, but I digress.
Re: the Sylar story: “But since they tried already and failed, no matter how good this is and it is good, I can’t shake that feeling of redundancy and we are only retracing the same ground again.”
I know what you mean, but as with the clarification on the regenerative blood and the throwback to Charlie, I think it’s better late than never. Seeing Sylar acknowledge the full horror of what he’s done is something we should have seen sooner — and perhaps instead of morphing into Virginia and having conversations with himself — but the fact that we got it at all, and the fact that it was so brilliantly done, is enough to placate me.
Don’t get me wrong I love all the reasons you have brought up and I almost jumped for joy at the regenerative blood comments… well, honestly we agree on all fronts - it’s just sad, but I think we also agree on that point.
Great point about the quirk in the regeneration not fixing HRG’s eyesight. How do you think that would translate to Hiro and Nathan’s situations?
When Nathan was healed from the burns he still had his scars - perhaps (And since magic blood isn’t real, I know this won’t have science logic behind it) the body is healed and reverts back to it’s most recent healthy model. What we do know is that a healers blood is different’ from an actual healer. Linderman took Angela’s scar away, his mother’s cancer, but it would seem the blood can not.
I can buy the logic that regenerative blood can’t eliminate a cancerous growth, and that it wouldn’t have solved the blood loss from Nathan’s throat, but in Nathan’s case, wouldn’t regenerative blood have healed the wound across Nathan’s throat, and wouldn’t it then have been a case of multiple transfusions?
Can we say with out any blood (not that your heart is pumping blood when your dead, but again, it’s pretend) that the blood needs at least some of the blood left over to regenerate and push through the body and heal the person, with no blood it would be like a lose of gravity and no flow. Even to cure the virus Claire’s blood needed to be mixed with Mo’s blood - I’m grasping here, but I can believe it.
I wondered the same thing, but we’ve seen a number of instances when Sylar AND Peter acquired abilities and either mastered them to the same level as the original owner or learned to wield them even more effectively (you mention Peter absorbing Edgar’s ability; there’s also Peter absorbing Matt’s mind-control in 3.18, Sylar getting a handle on Brian’s TK and Ted’s radioactivity almost immediately; the list goes on…).
Ahh, see, my theory on Peter’s power (his original one and possibly this current version) was that he picked up the power and was able to use it at whatever level the person he took it from had it at that time … for example reading minds initially, but then not actually forcing thoughts until Matt tried it on him. That’s another thing about his ability, he can pick it up, but with so many, he can’t really expand it … making him a “Jack of all trades, master of none”.
Regarding Peter and Edgar’s fight, I think Peter was able to stay with him and it was more like a draw than Peter actually beating him. Also did you notice who ended up with any blood on them? I believe it was only Peter that actually got some cuts, so he wasn’t quite as good as Edgar.
You’re right: no Chandra, and no Papa Walker, no Dale, no Zane, no Derek, no Claire (!), no Bridget Bailey, no Arthur, no Metal-Arm Danny, no James Martin, no Agent Taub, no Clint Howard and no Nathan…
Of those, I think not including Nathan was a good thing, as in let’s not remind everybody of that one.
Tony Fusco, welcome!
“Does anyone know or have a good idea as to exactly what Samuel’s ability is, or Lydia’s? Do they need to work together to acheive the tatoo predictions or indicators?”
Anyone want to take a shot at this? I’m not sure we’re any closer to knowing how it works than we were at the start of the season. We know Samuel is terrakinetic and that he can control the earthy properties in the ink, and the gist seems to be that Lydia uses the ink to produce precognitive images of people who’ll be important to the carnival. But beyond that, do we have anything?
Ian, just a thought on the new timeline for Hiro and Charlie: it might depend on exactly when he teleported to. Based on the promo images, it looks like he’s at the point when Sylar showed up to kill Charlie. So it could be that the rest of the backstory between Hiro and Charlie — the six months glimpsed in 1.10 and chronicled in Saving Charlie — will remain intact.
Pas,
“… am I the only one fearing we won’t get this early-company-years flashback episode?”
Wasn’t there a mention after 3.23 that there was going to be another flashback? I think it was in one of the BTEs. But like you say, if the fifth season is scrapped and the show needs to truncate its story, it might dissolve the way “1977″ did. Let’s hope not. If the show’s planning to give us a glimpse of [MILD SPOILER] Samuel when he was younger, it might be a neat way to tie into at least part of the ElderSuper backstory.
JamieD, welcome, and thanks for reading. I really like the point you made about Sylar’s look of contentment at the end of this episode. In a way, if the show wasn’t so intent on keeping the character around, this struck me as a good place to end Sylar’s story. He pretty much got what he wanted here: a family, a home, a sense that he’s special without needing to acquire any more abilities.
P.S. Your English is awesome and not at all hard to read.
Susan, I agree about the hint at a payoff to the Peter/Nathan situation. I can’t believe they would have shown that shot of the photo on the desk if they were planning to brush the whole thing aside.
“You do know that’s Milo’s comic? Well, the one his company produced.”
Yes.
Re: Peter picking up another award.
“*SIGH* You’re just looking for any excuse to give him one of these awards, aren’t you?”
Absolutely.
I appreciate that Peter might not have used it as instinctively as Hiro would, but he had more than enough time to weigh his options when he and HRG were cowering at the bottom of the staircase.
“Speaking of Jeremy, anybody else think he looked a bit like Linderman?”
Yes. I think that’s partly why this struck me as the way a Linderman flashback would have looked.
Re: Sylar and movie time: you’ve got me wondering now. Did everyone else see it this way too? That Sylar got a glimpse of his past without actually getting the memories back? Would that suggest that Damien’s ability is to pull up a person’s history and project it onto the mirrors instead of actually restoring memories?
“I like to think that Noah’s panic has something to do with how much he likes Peter and a little bit of Angela losing another son.”
That, and I think the show’s still pushing for a father/son dynamic between HRG and Peter. Sucks to be Lyle, but HRG’s very much the father Peter should have had.
My bad, I’m kinda wondering how much Samuel’s/The Carnivale’s backstory can tie up to the Company’s.
I’m starting to wonder if his revenge is aimed against the Company, the government, both, and even if he know the Company was held by supers. When Joseph was killed could also be the trigger the revenge (hoping Danko have anything to do in the story though).
At least I’m almost spoiler-free now (avoiding the big lines) so I’m enjoying the show much more now than when, on top of the show being way-less-then-stellar I was spoiled major events by NBC promos/whatever. That and the quality of course.
For Nathan’s slit throat, I’ve kinda got to say (again) that Sylar got his throat slit by HRG, and healed after the eclipse (that lasted like several hours). I don’t know if the blood doesn’t have the same property than the auto-healing ability itself, but the line is way too blurred now to have a real explanation.
Because it works differently for regenerators.
Claire could grow a new toe, but if she gave someone blood they wouldn’t regrow a limb. Sylar can spit out bullets, but if Peter got shot they’d have to dig the bullet out and then share the blood with him. Not to mention how regenerators wouldn’t get tumours, because their body is constantly regenerating - but if they lost that power, they’d be much more prone to it (as Claire found in The Eclipse.)
And that’s a great point, Otto. Maybe they can have Hiro run into Charlie just before Sylar gets her, and teleport away. That way we get a ‘what if’ scenario featuring new flashbacks because - after all - if Charlie doesn’t die, then it changes a lot.
“Did everyone else see it this way too? That Sylar got a glimpse of his past without actually getting the memories back?”
Yes, that was my initial reaction, and I think it’s supported by Sylar/Nathan appearing in the dark as to exactly how many people he’s killed when talking to Samuel later.
Pas,
“I’m kinda wondering how much Samuel’s/The Carnivale’s backstory can tie up to the Company’s.
I’m starting to wonder if his revenge is aimed against the Company, the government, both, and even if he know the Company was held by supers…”
Pure speculation (no spoilers): my guess would be that Joseph and Samuel knew The Company was founded by supers, but that they made a conscious choice not to support the ElderSupers. It could be because they have a deep-rooted distrust towards people without abilities and considered the “one of us, one of them” approach to amount to betrayal; it could also be because their ideologies are very different. If Angela, HRG or Linderman are representative of The Company’s ideology, you have several key members whose primary concern is protecting the general non-superpowered population from people with abilities. By contrast, if Samuel is representative of the carnival, you have a guy whose goal is to bring people with abilities together to protect them from the rest of the population.
So, my guess would be that that’s where it starts: fundamental differences about who needs protecting from who. There’s also the difference in methods, because The Company’s obviously much more fond of its gadgets and labs and research. Also, as ethically challenged as most of The Company’s figureheads were, it seemed like killing was a last resort (Arthur excepted), whereas Samuel seems content to wipe out as many non-supers as he needs to in order to maintain the carnival’s isolation.
Good theory, Otto.
Samuel would be a teenager in the 1970s by all accounts, so he could tie into the backstory. I guess it’d depend if the ‘1977′ episode was still canon as to how much crossover there was.
Agreed on the divergence of opinions. Spot on the 2 different goals the Company (protect the “normal” population) and the Carnivale (isolation - at least untill now) have been trying to achieve.
I don’t think killing only as a last resort makes a difference. Maybe the Carnivale used to be like that too (if they had a Haitian-like memory wheeper) but that with Joseph’s death if he was killed by a non-super (I’m hoping Danko, since he obviously kept hunting supers, and to add links with last season), maybe it was le last straw that decided Samuel to be more “radical” (hence Edgar saying he only killed when he -absolutely- neaded too compared to happy-slicing now).
On another note, I know we haven’t seen Angela for a few weeks, but am I the only one to think she - and HRG unless he’s not in contact with Angela anymore - are neglecting the Sylathan situation? She can’t beleivabely think that Millie took care of it, and - aside than the population not caring about the fact that a senator just vanished in the air - I would think that they wouldn’t be okay with Sylar running around (I’m considering they don’t know about the blank state), considering he’d obviously be going after them at some point.
Ian: “Sylar can spit out bullets, but if Peter got shot they’d have to dig the bullet out and then share the blood with him.”
Actually not. We saw Maya spilling out the bullet after she got shot by Sylar cuz of Claire’s blood…
About characters not being in control of their abilties… this makes sense from a Dungeons & Dragons perspective - the player-characters have to roll dice to see if their powers work or not (I’m thinking here of the Power Score roll in the AD&D2 Complete Psionics Handbook and Gamma World 4th edition, if anyone wants to look up out-of-print gamebooks). Also, teleportation in particular (in many role-playing games) often has a chance of failure or mishap - eg:
Peter: I teleport to Noah’s place.
Game Master: Well, let’s see, you’ve never been to Noah’s place before, but you do know Noah quite well… roll for it.
Peter: *rolls dice* uh oh…
GM: Where’s that mishap table? *rolls dice* Okay, you teleport to Noah’s place-
Peter: Yay!
GM: -and appear in his bathroom.
Peter: Oh.
Claire: Peter, what are you doing in the bathroom?
Similarly, Peter might have to ‘roll’ to see if he absorbs a power… and, earning a Dumb As Award seems a lot like rolling a Critical Failure on an Intelligence check.
Although, some in-universe explanation for the apparent randomness would be appreciated… and, there’s a world of difference between a small group of friends getting together to tell a shared story by rolling dice and a television show that6 goes out to an audience in the millions.
He has been to Noah’s place. He went there in 404, to talk to Noah.
True, he’s been to Noah’s place before, but teleporting there is very different than running.
It is, but he’d still know where Noah lived and be able to teleport there… only to have issues with teleporting (as it’s a difficult power to learn) and thus teleport somewhere off-key.
Is it a case of needing to know the person or the place? There’ve been instances when one or the other was missing and Hiro and Peter both managed to use their ability without them. Kid-Hiro got a glimpse of the Deveaux rooftop in a comic strip in 3.11, and suddenly he could (a) teleport there (without any memory of the place) and (b) find the cheerleader (who he couldn’t remember) in Costa Verde (where he’d never been) so that he could take her with him.
It could be that there’s no logic to it, or it could be that teleportation can evolve the way Matt’s mind-control and Tracy’s cryokinesis have, and that for some reason Kid-Hiro was just really, really good at it. If there are various levels of proficiency to the ability, it would explain why Peter ended up in the bathroom (beyond the obvious humor) after only just re-acquiring the ability. That’s why Hiro couldn’t even stay in the same timeframe when he teleported in 1.01, and why Future-Peter reached a point where he could teleport Matt to a desert in Africa in 3.01 without accompanying him and (probably) without ever having been there.
If we pretend for a moment this is a by-the-book D&D game (and overlook the fact I’m commenting on episodes I haven’t seen yet), consider the following sentence in the Teleport description: “If the destination area is very familiar to the wizard (he has a clear mental picture through actual proximity to and study of the area), it is unlikely that there is any error in arriving, although the caster has no control over his facing upon arrival.”
As for powers evolving, teleportation in D&D is actually broken down into several different spells of different levels - Dimension Door, Teleport, Teleport Without Error, etc - and as you grow in power you can pick up more…
Of course, an in-universe explanation would save us the trouble of looking outside of the show for answers.
Otto - I think destiny also has to do with it. They’re guided where to go.
Oh, and by the way:
“See Sound
This power enables a character to perceive sound waves visually…”
(Complete Psionics Handbook, page 37)
Sound/look familiar?
I’ll stop looking at the show from a gaming perspective when the show stops giving us such clear parallels, I promise.
We now return you to your normally scheduled brand of geekdom.
I think they’re using comic-book logic more than D&D logic. Comic-book logic being, of course, that powers do whatever the writer wants them to do in any given episode.
Otto,
I actually found Lydia in character here. Based on her glances at Samuel on how to proceed she is definitely working on his orders. However, remember when Edgar and Sylathan are fighting she looks distressed and asks Samuel to stop it? She was worried about Edgar imo. That is the only time her facade breaks and she acknowledges him.
Samuel’s plan is to make Sylar “their’s.” Like a glorified pet who protects the carnival and does not have any trouble following orders to kill (unlike Edgar). I think Lydia has the same plan - she is manipulating Sylar to kill Samuel in order to be free of him and protect her child. This is all what I discerned from the first viewing so I don’t think I’m overanalyzing it - I hope…
If this is the case then it leads me to my one issue with the storyline, which is it’s a repetition of what Angela tried to do with Sylar in V3 - give him a sense of belonging, take advantage of his identity issues and turn him into her personal attack dog. Lydia basically has Angela’s plot.
Something I didnt catch until second viewing- when Lydia and Sam are talking in the begining he asks her, “what happened to him Lydia?” She says “I don’t know. It’s like there are two sides at war within him.” That’s Lydia’s ability without the tattoos. It shows you how subtle but useful it is to Samuel for manipulation. I don’t think she can tell you where someone is, their history, future or even thoughts - but their emotions. This could enable Lydia to be better at manipulation than Angela.
The only person I found out of character was Edgar. What happened to the guy that only killed if he thought it was necesarry? When he killed the Police Officer t seemed like merely a way to show superiority over Sylar.
Re: The Istories ~ They convey a lot of important information about Lydia in those two minutes. It goes a long way in making her character more intriguing and gives Oliveri something to do, and does pretty well. I really wish they had put that information into the show. Amanda’s story should have been solely in the IStory, with maybe a reunion with her mother on the show towards the end. (Amanda’s storyline is just too close to Claire’s to use on the main show imo.)
Ok, nice episode…Glad to see Pete getting his first Dumb as award for this season too. But I’m a little comfused about Pete’s ability. Why did he absorb Emmas ability right after touching her?? We’ve seen him clearly touching Sylathan and his mother without getting their abilities..So we assumed that he acquired abilities willingly but then he accidentaly takes emmas power. Plothole?????
This was posted on twitter a while back by one of the Heroes writers:
OliverGrigsby Oct 16, 03:44 PM
@jazmoore answering your Q from awhile back Peter took emmas accidentally bc he had an emotional connection to her. Caught up in the moment
You can take it as a plothole if you wish, or a sign of comic-book logic, as per Ian’s answer above.
Going back to the “but why didn’t Peter just teleport out of there?” conundrum, then I think that it isn’t a far stretch to assume that Peter absorbed Jeremy’s power when he was being healed (”caught up in the moment”). Unfortunately the following “Did you get his powers? Yah.”exchange doesn’t really elaborate on whether that happened, or if Peter deliberately took Jeremy’s power later.