Peter attends Nathan’s wake and tries to pretend everything’s fine. Angela and Claire do their best to help him mourn, but Peter’s more interested in running off to stop a homicidal office drone who’s gunning everyone in sight. After another heartfelt speech, Peter gets shot and has to borrow Claire’s ability. You’d think he’d be wise enough to hold onto this ability, but he ditches it when the option to absorb West’s flight presents itself.Much like the first hour in this post-hiatus two-part opener, the second hour is a mixed bag. There are moments that stun you into awed silence, and there are moments that make you want to claw your eyes out. It’s an episode that sustains the merits showcased so effectively in the previous episode, with a thought-provoking exploration of Peter’s moral complexity, some surprising developments for Claire and Samuel, and several significant steps forward for the volume’s overarching storylines.
The downside is that, like the previous episode, there are story threads that slow the hour down, developments that feel like they’ve come out of nowhere, and, critically, the ongoing presence of a villain whose function remains as aimless and meandering as it did a year ago. There’s no sign of Hiro or the nerdspeak, and there is the impotence gag, which I guess both count for something. But when the show places Peter’s self-destructive denial side by side with Sylar’s fixation with Claire, it’s instantly clear where the show has hit its stride and where it’s beating a dead horse.
We start out with Peter meeting Noah on an empty road and orchestrating the crash we got a glimpse of in the previous episode. It’s a brief opening, and although it’s one we could have inferred, it affords the show the chance to hint at the tense dynamic between Peter and Noah. Milo plays Peter’s glare with a measure of outrage and contempt, echoing the distraught guy who returned to his apartment to sob on his mother’s shoulder only hours before. If there’s a criticism to be made, it’s that Peter’s reaction to Noah is never as outraged or contemptuous as you’d expect it to be. Given the harsh, clinical condition Peter found his dead brother in, and given that Peter only recently became aware of Noah’s part in the cover-up, I expected Peter’s reaction to be more instinctive. Which is to say that if I wasn’t expecting a smashed pair of horn-rimmed glasses at Peter’s feet, I was at least expecting a raised voice. I hope that’s something that will still be addressed, because while it would lack the subtlety we see here, confronting Noah would be the more believable reaction.
We cut from the title card to Nathan’s wake and another shot of Simon, Monty and an elaborately concealed Heidi. The circumstances of their appearance notwithstanding, it’s a delight to see them reintegrated into the show’s continuity. Chances are they’ll never be seen or mentioned again, but the show deserves credit for ensuring that when the characters were needed — whether the necessary actors were available or not — they were there.
Peter gives Nathan’s old secretary a smile, but we’re left to wonder whether he’s smiling to be polite, or whether he’s smiling at the morbid humor behind someone condoling him for his “loss” with only a vague idea of the drama that ensued.
The camera begins to pull back… before pulling back a little more… and a little more… and a little more still…
… until Peter’s practically a speck of dust in the distance, and we realize that while everyone else is moving on — mingling, eating and commiserating — Peter’s the one left stagnant, both physically and emotionally. Elegantly written by Jim Martin, strikingly directed by Jeannot Szwarc, and the first of several moments throughout the hour that capture what Heroes has consistently excelled at this season: small, intimate, character-based moments that are perfectly written, perfectly played, and perfectly realized.
At the carnival…
… Samuel has a chance to remind us once again — this time in the present, as opposed to via a flashback — that there’s Someone Special In His Life. It’s a moment that’s elegantly played, with Samuel smiling fondly as he traces the grooves in the paper, but the moment comes with several issues. Firstly, the show went through 12 episodes without ever mentioning Vanessa, and suddenly it’s as if barely a scene goes by without Samuel alluding to her. As elegantly played as the moments might be, their sudden frequency means that the character’s introduction inevitably feels shoehorned in at the last minute.
Secondly, there’s the way Vanessa’s been introduced — with an ability still so underdeveloped that it’s mystifying. Apparently Samuel can use the Magik Ink to create a Magik Sketch on Magik Paper. Or maybe the paper’s just Normal Paper while everything else about the concept is Magik, including Samuel’s ability to ink a sketch that reflects his latent desires. Which… we’d previously assumed was part of Lydia’s ability — the other part being the prophetic aspect of the Magik Tattoos. It’s possible this sketch is less an expression of something “latent” and more something that’s simply “on the brain.” Or just something Samuel felt like magik-sketching. But the bottom line is that, three-quarters of the way into the season, the rationale behind the ink, the tattoos and Lydia’s ability to act as a conduit for them is as cryptic as it was at the start. I wish that by now there could have been a coherent explanation behind it, because, since the premiere, it’s gone on to become a pivotal part of both Samuel’s strategic thinking and the carnival storyline. The fact that we’re still speculating about the logistics is disappointing because, given the importance of the ink, you’d think there’d be an established logic to it by now.
Doyle getting flung onto the table? It’s funny for Samuel’s “Oh, $#@%!” reaction to the reflection in the jar, and for the idea that Sylar would TK a guy as big as Doyle across the carnival for kicks and pass up what’s now his third opportunity to kill him.
Samuel: “I got big plans for you. Kill me now, you’ll never know what could be.”
Buying himself time? Trying to save his own ass? Trying to reason with Sylar the way Hiro did? It’s hard to tell, not least because the expression Samuel’s wearing when Sylar pins him to his trailer…
… reveals nothing besides his composure. Is he scared? Is he panicking? Is he frightened for his life? He should be, but Knepper plays Samuel with the same calculating serenity we’ve seen him demonstrate all season, and whether he’s TK’d to a trailer or standing in a valley that’s being transformed into a meadow, you never doubt for a second that he’s a guy with a plan.
That, above all, is why this moment between Samuel and Sylar is memorable, and why this scene illustrates the difference between Samuel and Sylar. While Samuel’s endgame remains unclear, you’re inclined to believe that he has an endgame. Sylar, by contrast, appears to be wandering from scene to scene, location to location, storyline to storyline, without any clear idea of what he wants besides a vague notion of power and revenge.
Sylar: “Everybody has big plans for me. I think that’s all people have.”
Telling dialogue, for the fact that while everyone else may indeed have a plan for Sylar, he doesn’t seem to have one for himself. Its self-parody at its best, but it’s not completely clear whether it’s intentional.
Sylar points an index finger at Samuel and discovers that…
… he’s “impotent.”
I know of no better metaphor the show could have used to comment on the character or his storyline. Again, I’m at a loss to say whether the show is intentionally admitting that Sylar has outlived his usefulness, but if this was designed to pass the baton from one villain to another…
… it’s done with remarkable panache. It demonstrates amazing attention to digital detail, right down to the texture of the eyeball and the grit in the flesh, but beyond that there’s something incredibly cool about the way it’s done: the way the oddly sensitive cult leader goes from listening to Emma play the cello to sketching an old flame to creating a localized mini-tornado. It demonstrates a level of versatility that’s worlds apart from a character whose storyline this season has mostly consisted of finding inventive ways to annoy Matt.
We go from a scene as intense as that…
… to a scene as quiet and intimate as this. If you’re predisposed to despise Claire, the scene is scuppered from the start. If you’ve had enough of Claire’s Love-Hate-and-Forgive-Noah merry-go-round, this doesn’t offer anything new. But to my mind, this scene — and the transition to this scene — captures this episode’s greatest strength: its ability to move from large, epic, visually stunning moments to small, thoughtful and emotionally gripping moments.
It’s the latest screencap to be labeled “CLAIRE IS INDIGNANT,” but more than ever it feels like Claire has good reason to be that way. It’s a curious detail that Claire cites the time Sylar scalped her and the time Sylar killed Nathan without mentioning the time Sylar forced Claire to endure his advances towards her, but regardless of the instances she focuses on, Claire has every right to be furious with Noah, and like Peter’s reaction at the start of the episode, it comes across as a disappointingly restrained outburst.
It’s enough to garner a look of intense regret from Noah, to the point where he lowers his eyes and acknowledges that he gave a lease of life to the man who killed Claire’s father. Noah runs through the usual “We did what we thought was best” apology, but the remarkable part of this latest spat between them is that Noah’s not so much explaining his actions to Claire as feebly trying to justify them. For once, Claire’s reaction is borne less out of short-sighted brattiness than it is righteous anger.
In a neat contrast, Angela approaches Peter at Nathan’s wake and pretty much invites him to be angry, only to hear that he merely wants to “put [his] fist through a wall.” I’d point out that this would make great drama if only it would be shown on-screen, but if this is indeed the show’s final season, I hope that when Peter does finally put his fist through a wall, his fist finds Sylar’s head on the other side of it. As it stands, the characters seem very complacent about the fact that Nathan’s killer is once again on the loose.
Milo brings remarkable nuance to his performance, with Peter feigning ambivalence but lashing out at Angela when she suggests that Nathan was a better liar than him.
Compared with Noah’s morose regret, Angela’s behavior seems to reflect stoic endurance. She’s not so much withering beneath Peter’s anger as she is embracing it. Which is strange, because it immediately prompts us to sympathize with Angela more than with Noah, even though Angela was the mastermind behind the Sylathan debacle in the first place. We’re never especially inclined to feel bad for Noah, but it’s worth noting that while everyone fawns over Peter and while Lauren’s apparently willing to support Noah, Angela has no one to support her.
Claire shows up, Peter takes her to the kitchen, and it leads into a scene that’s a testament to both the complexity of the characters and the talent of the actors. It helps that it takes place in a kitchen that at times seems to dissolve and leave nothing besides a plain black backdrop, but in the end it’s a stunning script and some exquisite performances that carry the scene. When Claire starts to ask if Noah and Angela really thought they “were going to get away with it,” you can see Claire still reeling from the discovery and trying to grasp the enormity of the deception. She also inadvertently stumbles onto a prospective issue that no one ever seems to consider: if anyone really had gotten away with it, it wouldn’t have been long before Sylathan found himself having to explain why he wasn’t getting any older.
Peter’s reaction is less obvious and much more bottled up. When he counters that they were “trying to protect us,” you can hear that although he understands the reasoning, he doesn’t agree with it, and, moreover, he doesn’t have the strength to disagree with it. The complexity stems from Peter’s grief and anger and weariness, and his effort to ignore all three of those.
Claire’s reaction to not healing and Peter’s realization that he’s Haitian-whammying Claire are nicely played, but again, the brilliance is in the subtlety, with Claire asking not to get her regeneration back in the hope that a physical wound will help her to confront the psychological one.
Claire: “It’s nice to feel pain; feel normal.”
Peter: “We’re anything but… normal.”
Subtle delivery from Milo, particularly the beat he allows to pass before Peter manages to get the word “normal” out. In light of the way Peter recently reminded God that he asked to be special, and the time he laughed at the notion of being ordinary, it’s also telling that his delivery here conveys a longing for normality instead of an aversion.
This seems to be the first moment when Claire latches onto Peter’s anguish, because the look she gives him…
… suddenly reveals her concern: that no one’s been listening to him, and that no one’s aware of how intensely he’s suffering.
Claire: “Mourning Nathan could not be more ordinary. That’s what we’re here to do. To cut lemons and limes and remember that stupid jerk.”
Szwarc rapidly cuts from one actor to the other, but somehow Peter’s guarded expression manages to articulate more than Claire’s anecdote about Nathan and West; it’s in what’s not said that we’re able to glean the most.
Noah returns to his apartment, and suddenly…
… Noah has the opportunity to remind us that he’s still very much the most magnificent badass to ever grace our TV screens.
Coleman’s Japanese will never be anything other than awesome, but it’s even more awesome to consider why Noah needed the sushi bar closed for the night. One would assume it’s because Noah expected Edgar to be screaming at the top of his lungs by the time he was done with him, but it might also be because Noah fully expected to get through every utensil in the restaurant before he was done torturing Edgar.
Was I the only one who groaned when Lauren showed up? Between the styled hair and the “Iron Maiden” gag, it seemed like the show was trying very hard to make her both more appealing and more formidable. Thing is, we know Lauren. We know that she’s a loud-mouthed, eavesdropping, home-wrecking, married-man-stealing shrew, and the sudden attempt to turn her into a hot, perceptive badass smacks of desperation.
Here’s the worst part, though: I got to the end of this episode, and I was at a loss to figure out what Lauren even contributed to it. She’s a catalyst to the drama in the sense that she tells Noah to be objective and helps to keep the peace between Noah and Edgar, but couldn’t Noah have realized on his own that torturing Edgar wasn’t getting him anywhere? Couldn’t he have decided to switch tactics on his own? And given that Edgar barely acknowledges Lauren throughout these scenes anyway, couldn’t the bulk of these scenes have played out the exact same way without her?
As near as I can tell, Lauren’s gone from not helping Noah capture Sylar in Odessa to not helping Noah form an alliance with Edgar to dethrone Samuel. And inbetween, there’s been the implication that Noah nearly cheated on his wife for Lauren, that there’s been some misconstrued jealousy between Sandra and Lauren, and that there’s been some angst on Noah’s part after the reveal that Lauren Haitian-whammied herself.
Is there anything there of actual substance? I mean, in terms of advancing the plot, or even just adding to our appreciation of the main characters, has Lauren served any real purpose? She’s gorgeous, sure, but besides that, I’m struggling to come up with a single point in her favor. Which puts Lauren in the same camp as Maya: barely likeable, frequently annoying and ultimately useless.
Let’s ignore Lauren and focus on Noah, because, really, between the discovery that freezing a speedster’s ass off will limit their ability and this…
… Noah finds himself on a fundamentally awesome roll this week.
We return to the carnival, where we’re deprived of the chance to see Sylar’s muscles “knitting back into flesh” but privy to the look on Lydia’s face when Samuel instructs her to [sarcastic air quotes] “help” Sylar.
Lydia: “I’m not some piece of flesh you can just toss around.”
Samuel: “You didn’t seem to mind the last time he was here.”
Meaning what — that she really didn’t have any interest at all in Amnesiac-Sylar when she told him he was “handsome” and took him back to her trailer? Poor Amnesiac-Sylar! Poor Edgar! And poor Lydia! If that whole crushing-on-the-bad-boy thing was just an act — well, firstly it needed more than a throwaway line here, but secondly it makes me feel really bad for Lydia for basically having to prostitute herself, and thirdly it makes me like Samuel a lot less when you realize that he is tossing Lydia around like a piece of flesh.
Can we focus on the music for a moment? I really think we should, because on the one hand it really is an amazing choral motif in the background as Lydia approaches Sylar, and on the other hand it’s an excuse for me to ignore the obligatory Sylar shirtlessness and the chest-hair stroking and the fondling and the making out and the OH. MY. GOD, is THIS why they wanted the 9pm slot back?
Lydia: “Your skin is so soft. It’s like a baby.”
^ ^ Actual dialogue!
Kudos to Dawn Olivieri, because she delivers that line with a straight face. Kudos to Lydia, because she now throws herself into the moment and does exactly what Samuel instructed her to do, which is to say…
… we’re subjected to the Lydlar. Or is it the Sydia? Whichever it is, I prefer considering shipper names to pondering the significance of Sylar making out with Lydia and getting flashes of Peter, Nathan, Matt and Baby Matt. Now that’s disturbing. And hilarious.
Sylar: “You see what people want. Their desires. Their hopes.”
It jives with Lydia’s description of her ability to Claire in “The Fifth Stage,” but it still fails to explain how images of Željko and Noah popped up on Lydia’s back. Claire, Sylar and Peter you can understand, but Željko and Noah?
Sylar: “I don’t need to kill. It’s just something I like to do.”
Lydia: “Not anymore. You’re impotent.”
BRAVO, LYDIA! Well done for delivering the line and, you know, surviving…
… and thank you for giving us this look of humiliation from the show’s arch-villain.
We return to Nathan’s wake, where Angela tries to have a conversation with Claire, and Claire…
… is once again INDIGNANT. To her credit, it’s a moment when her indignation again feels justified, at least insofar as she makes a valid point and limits her perspective to a few sharp words instead of telling Angela she hates her and storming off. Angela rehashes the same Claire-worship she resorted to in “1961″ — you know, telling her what a fine young woman she is, how confident and upstanding and generally amazing she is — but the amusing part is that Angela probably only said all of this to win over Claire’s support for Peter.
Angela: “He’s empathetic beyond his years, but now it’s his turn to grieve, and he has absolutely no idea how to go about it.”
The way the dialogue flows in this scene, you never really pause to challenge this assessment or question whether Angela might be wrong. Looking back, though, and knowing how Angela immediately went from hugging Nathan’s dead body to concocting the Sylathan scheme, you have to wonder whether Angela had any more of an idea how to grieve when she lost Nathan. If opting to create a pretend version of her dead son isn’t a sign of denial, I’m not sure what is.
But then, judging from the way Peter cut himself off from everyone he knew, it’s fair to say that Angela had much more direct contact with Sylathan than Peter did. Which, in a way, would surely have been as painful as it was comforting, because judging from the lunches we’ve seen, Angela never really succeeded in convincing herself that Sylathan was her son. From that perspective, Angela’s acceptance of Nathan’s death has been even more prolonged and messy than Peter’s. Peter discovered the truth and was forced to say goodbye to Sylathan within days, whereas Angela was forced to wrestle with grief and guilt for more than six months. She was also forced to pretend that nothing was wrong, whereas Peter at least has the option to fall apart if he wants to.
Bottom line: this experience has probably left Angela and Peter equally screwed up.
Claire: “You’re his mother.”
Angela: “I am, but like you I’m afraid he will never trust me again.”
Heartbreaking, not because of any emotive expression from Angela, but precisely the opposite: you can see hurt in her eyes at the realization she’s come to, but also acceptance. It’s only when she pleads with Claire to help Peter…
… that you know it’s killing her that she can’t do anything to help him herself. Again, very subtly played, and in keeping with what’s apparently a Petrelli compulsion to bottle up and conceal whatever it is that they’re feeling.
It’s not a good day for Edgar. Or for Noah’s knuckles, which by now look pretty raw and bloody.
Would Noah really have killed Edgar? You want to believe that the ruthlessness he showed as a Company Man is behind him and that his mostly-non-lethal actions over the past two seasons are evidence that he’s a changed man. The way Coleman plays the part in this scene, though, you have to wonder whether that killer instinct is something that’s been ingrained into him rather than an approach he can pick up and discard.
Noah: “I just want some answers.”
Lauren: “I know you do, but I can tell you that torture doesn’t work.”
?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
So, she was a Company agent — a company which, we can safely say, was very much pro-torture and pro-coercion. And she was a Company agent long enough to have gone on multiple assignments with Noah, Mr. Company-Golden-Boy and Mr. Very-Much-Pro-Torture. And she was part of a company that, as Noah once pointed out, was infamous for its ability to indoctrinate and brainwash its employees into supporting its ideology. And, as this episode proudly lets us know, she once earned the name Iron Maiden.
And now, barely a year after The Company collapsed, torture is suddenly the most appalling tactic she’s ever encountered?
Lauren insists that she’s “changed” and that she’s adopted a “liberal agenda.” I can’t figure out if this is some kind of public service announcement for the CIA, if it’s a sign that Lauren was an ineffectual Company agent or if it’s just further support for my Lauren’s-a-carnival-spy theory. I’m not saying I care all that much, because, hey, it’s Lauren. Just saying, this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Anyway, Claire tracks Peter to a building where a disgruntled and homicidal ex-employee has gone on a rampage. The great part about this portion of the story is that Peter’s tasked with saving a life without any abilities to help him. His strength and speed and insta-healing are no longer options, but he still plunges into the middle of danger and gets to work on the woman he finds bleeding out. Which probably speaks to the recklessness that Claire later berates him for, but also speaks to Peter’s selfnessness and nobility when he’s ready to risk his life to help whoever needs him.
Curiously, when the shooter shows up and points a gun at Claire, the one person who has less cause to be afraid than anyone seems frozen to the spot with fear. You could argue that she’s afraid of setting the maniac off on another shooting spree, but you could also look back on the time she brazenly let a member of the president’s security press a gun to her forehead, and you have to wonder whether Nathan’s death has rattled Claire to the point where even the invincible cheerleader no longer feels invincible.
Shooter: “You work here?”
Peter: “No, I’m just like you, having a bad day. The worst, in fact. You see, I just buried my brother. He was murdered. And if that’s not bad enough, I had to stage his death, like I’m some kind of mobster or spy. But I’m not. I’m just some kid from New York City.”
The camera cuts away once or twice, mostly to capture the bewildered look on the shooter’s face, and to establish that, at last, Claire has caught on to the fact that Peter’s suffering intolerably. But most of this scene relies solely on Milo’s performance. There’s almost no music, no searing crescendo to tell you when to feel moved, no dramatic close-ups to make you feel claustrophobic, no sweeping shots to convey the intensity of the scene — just one actor with a solid script, nailing the part of a despondent guy who’s looking a homicidal shooter in the eyes and trying to get through to him.
Peter: “And now everyone expects me to shake hands and pretend like everything’s normal. But it’s not. It’s far from that.”
Neat play on the show’s usual diction, with words like “normal” and “ordinary” suddenly taking on a different meaning. It’s effective in this instance because we see Claire realize several things at once: that she was babbling about mourning Nathan’s death in an “ordinary” way, that Peter’s been screaming on the inside, and that Claire was too distracted with her own grief to see it.
As with Peter’s speech at the funeral, the focus on the people listening isn’t so long that it breaks the flow of the scene, but it’s long enough to let you know that his words have hit home.
Shooter: “Why are you telling me this, man?”
Peter: “Because I understand where you’re at right now. You wanna punish the people that have hurt you. I know what that feels like. I wanna torture the guy that murdered my brother — I wanna make him scream. That’s all I can think about.”
Hopefully something that will be revisited before the season draws to a close. We got a glimpse of it in “The Fifth Stage,” but given the time that Peter’s had to absorb the reality of the situation, and given the aggression that Peter’s been forced to bury, the implication is that his anger has intensified rather than faded.
Peter: “But I’m trying to be hopeful. I’m trying to be strong, even though I feel myself slipping. Look, I promised my brother that I’d be a hero. Don’t make me a liar. Not today.”
There’s a long, drawn out pause as the scene cuts to the shooter, and you’re thinking this will be one of those hackneyed TV moments in which the deranged shooter sees the error of his ways, drops his gun and breaks down into tears.
Nicely done, show. Remove the conventions until there aren’t any.
Was Peter ever in serious danger? Chances are Claire would have come to his rescue if there had been any real risk, but the way it plays out, we’re given the impression that Claire would be happy to let Peter spend several weeks recovering in hospital so he’d have time to process what’s happened to him.
Which seems like a sound tough-love approach to helping Peter deal with what’s happened, but given that Sylar’s on the loose and has yet to make good on his promise to kill everyone involved in his out-of-body experience, it seems a little reckless of Claire to leave Peter incapacitated and wide open to a visit.
Claire finally relents, and although it’s an effect we’ve seen several times over the past season, there’s something about its significance that sets this apart from other occasions. It’s Peter absorbing Claire’s regeneration, but beyond that, it’s one superpowered individual coming to the aid of another, and it’s one member of a family helping another and reminding him that, no matter what happens, she’ll be there for him.
That’s as far as the superpowered element goes in this scene, and that absence of superpowered drama is largely what makes it so effective, because like any of the show’s most emotionally involving scenes, it’s one that roots its drama in the human dynamic above and beyond the superpowered one.
Claire: “What kind of life is this? Human pin cushion.”
Peter: “If I keep moving, if I just act on instinct, then I don’t have time to think.”
Claire: “About Nathan? Nathan would be so pissed at you right now. Lying to yourself, lying to us. You’re not honoring his memory, you’re avoiding it.”
Peter: “If I think about it, then it’s real. If I mourn, it’s real.”
Great dialogue, and superbly delivered by both actors. Hayden brings an almost uncharacteristically harsh tell-it-like-it-is demeanor to Claire, and when you recall that the season started with Claire exchanging means looks with Gretchen over lunch at an Indian restaurant, you realize how far the show has brought the character in less than one season.
Peter’s character arc has gone from strength to strength throughout this season, but this moment, when he finally opens up to Claire, underlines how he’s progressed over the course of the season, from cutting himself off from his family to rebonding with Angela to discovering the truth about Sylathan to letting his brother go. It’s an arc that’s been both emotionally involving and deeply saddening, which isn’t to say that Peter’s story thread hasn’t always been that way, but between this kind of character-based material and the episodes in Volume Three where Peter forgot to use his multiple abilities to get out of the latest superpowered hijinx, I’ll take this material anyday.
We return to Noah’s sushi bar.
Noah: “You like tea? Stupid question — you’re British. Drink up.”
Line of the night. Terrible stereotype, but a hilarious one when it involves the guy he beat to a bloody pulp.
Ray Park gets his first chance all season to act, and although that isn’t intended as a jab at the actor, it’s a pleasure to see Edgar do more than wave knives and glare at Samuel, and it’s a pleasure to see Park seize the opportunity and run with good material. When Noah assesses Edgar’s situation and asks him what he’s doing so far from the carnival without a compass, we see Edgar weighing his options and deciding if he’s willing to trust the stranger he’d been ordered to slice open.
Park conveys this with a suspicious stare, but also a look that betrays grudging respect for the guy who overcame him without any powers of his own. Park’s winning charm inevitably makes its way into the scene, and Edgar explains that he was once a juggler and that his hostility emerged in the course of his tenure as Samuel’s right-hand man.
Noah: “You’d go back to Samuel even after he killed your friend and pinned it on you?”
Edgar: “I’m afraid of what he’s gonna do to my friends. Where he’s gonna lead my family.”
It’s a defining moment, even if it dredges up the perennial question of why Edgar doesn’t just speedyzip into Samuel’s trailer and slit his throat. Noah later dismisses Edgar’s obstinacy as an instance of Samuel’s brainwashing. It’s probably true in Doyle’s case, but Edgar’s motivation for keeping the carnival members together seems less about deference to Samuel and much more about protecting the people he thinks of as family. As much as we’re inclined to trust Noah’s judgment — partly because Noah’s a good judge of character and partly because Noah Always Knows Best — it seems like Noah misjudges Edgar’s motives and makes the wrong call. The if-he-won’t-listen-he-must-be-crazy explanation doesn’t fly for me, because Edgar’s disagreement with Noah over raiding the carnival always seems more like that of an impassioned resident than a brainwashed drone.
Edgar draws up a map of the carnival and a list of its key members. Samuel and Joseph are at the top, along with Edgar, Lydia, Spider Caleb and Disappearing-Act Teddy, but the rest of them seem intentionally indecipherable.
I couldn’t decide if Noah’s plan to reintegrate the carnival into society was intentionally vague. On the one hand, we know Noah’s capable of that kind of an undertaking. On the other hand, he probably doesn’t even believe it’s possible, and we’ve seen him tell Tracy as much.
Sylar overturns the contents of Samuel’s trailer in an effort to find the Magik Ink and produce his own Magik Tattoo. On the surface, it’s simply an instance of the show’s overarching villain looking to the current volume’s villain for mystical know-how. Beneath the surface, there’s a subtle statement about the overarching villain’s lack of direction, and the fact that he needs to look to the current villain for guidance because he has no clue what to do next.
The reference to Vanessa once again feels like it’s come out of nowhere, because if she is indeed “the love of [Samuel's] life,” you’d think she’d have been mentioned before now. There’s something romantic about hearing Samuel’s profession that he’d move mountains for her — not least because you know he really, really would — but there’s also something deeply significant about the way Samuel uses Vanessa to compare himself to Sylar.
Samuel: “I’m afraid she’ll reject me, for who I am, for what I’ve done. That’s the way you think too. That no one can love you.”
It’s one megalomaniac communing with another, but the way the scene plays out…
… the distinction between the villains couldn’t be clearer if the show tried. It’s not as if either actor has failed in their role; they both exude enormous charm and charisma, and they’ve both brought immense, inimitable brilliance to their roles. The distinction lies in the state of their characters’ arcs at this point in the season. One of them needs a Magik Tattoo to know what he’s meant to do next. Which is to say, he’s been reduced to seeking out a contrived story device to tell him what to do next.
The other has a story that’s interwoven with every other character’s, in such a way that every scene he appears in embellishes the stories of the characters around him. Which, in turn, is to say that while he’s both a compelling and menacing character in his own right, he’s also an integral part of the broader story arcs.
Which is a roundabout way of saying that Samuel’s story thread is currently awesome, and Sylar’s is dead in the water. I hope that changes, for Sylar’s sake and for the show’s. Three seasons ago, the idea that any villain could compete with Sylar in terms of stature or charisma would have been unthinkable. As it stands, when Samuel tells Sylar, “I am you,” he’s doing himself a disservice.
Gorgeously shot. Not so visually dazzling that it gets in the way of the drama, but stunning enough that it serves as a memorable backdrop to the scene.
Claire: “I’ve gotta trust you. I can’t have you lying to me. Not you.”
Peter: “I’ll always be honest with you. I promise.”
On paper, it’s reassuring enough. When it’s realized on screen…
… the dialogue becomes ominous. I think we can safely say that an intensely dishonest streak is about to emerge in Peter.
Whether that has anything to do with absorbing West’s ability remains to be seen. It’s disappointing that Nick D’Agosto was unable to reprise his role, but it’s a nice namecheck, and there’s something profound in Peter choosing to reabsorb Nathan’s ability.
The show’s two-hour post-Christmas return draws to a close…
… with Samuel reminding us that, yes, there was once someone in his life named Vanessa and, yes, she was Very Important to him.
Additionally…
… Sylar’s back to stalking Claire. I wonder: what’s the worst that could happen? Perhaps he might rip open her head? Or perhaps he might make creepy overtures towards her? Or, if the show really wants to push the envelope, it might be interesting to see what happens when these two characters end up in a room together and… I don’t know, glare at one another?
Please, show. Not again.
If the final scene defines our overall impression of an episode, “Upon This Rock” was undoubtedly one of the show’s strongest. On the basis of this episode’s final shot, “Let It Bleed” doesn’t fare as well. Ironically, the quality of the final scenes in both episodes more or less reflects the quality throughout their respective hours. “Let It Bleed” stands out for some remarkable performances and extraordinary writing, but the episode limits those to specific characters and specific storylines, and they’re bogged down by other characters and storylines that struggle to find direction or express anything new. On the upside, Milo and Hayden deliver two of their finest performances, Peter gets to be a hero without his abilities, and Noah once again proves that he’s an unimpeachable badass. On the downside, the episode suffers from several story threads that feel like they lack a coherent direction. Sylar spends the entire hour figuring out that he needs a Magik Tattoo, only to discover that it’s pointing him to a character he’d already become fixated with at the end of the previous season. Noah gets a lesson from Lauren in effective interrogation, only to learn that, apparently, no form of interrogation will yield the results he’s hoping for, because Edgar’s not going to help him. And Samuel, charming and charismatic as he is, appears to spend the episode pining for Vanessa. Which, intriguing as it is, fails to hold our attention when it’s stretched over an entire hour.
A mixed bag, but with some memorable highlights and some promising developments for the story ahead.
3 out of 5
great review otto. First!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and the first of several moments throughout the hour that capture what Heroes has consistently excelled at this season: small, intimate, character-based moments that are perfectly written, perfectly played, and perfectly realized.
And the lack of as to why the show lost its focus and fans.
without mentioning the time Sylar forced Claire to endure his advances towards her,
Or contributed to the death of her mother…
hope that when Peter does finally put his fist through a wall, his fist finds Sylar’s head on the other side of it. As it stands, the characters seem very complacent about the fact that Nathan’s killer is once again on the loose.
And I’ll cheer him on! Killing Nathan was the last straw for me.
Compared with Noah’s morose regret, Angela’s behavior seems to reflect stoic endurance. She’s not so much withering beneath Peter’s anger as she is embracing it. Which is strange, because it immediately prompts us to sympathize with Angela more than with Noah, even though Angela was the mastermind behind the Sylathan debacle in the first place. We’re never especially inclined to feel bad for Noah, but it’s worth noting that while everyone fauns over Peter and while Lauren’s apparently willing to support Noah, Angela has no one to support her.
Yes, Angela is alone and its a prison she herself would admit she has put herself in. I think with Angela, which has been established in the past with this whole thing, is Angela knows its wrong - she knows Peter has a million reasons, besides this to be angry at her - and for the first time Angela did this not to save the world, but to save her own sanity of losing her first born son, a son she may have been trying to save from the death in her dreams for who knows. But as Angela has said to that the irony of featuring the relationship with her sons, to save them, has not been lost on her. what makes Angela different than most Villains on the show and all Company heads, she knows what she has done is wrong - she’s a religious woman who seems to believe her soul is damned to hell, but it was a sacrifice to save the world and her family. I can’t not feel for the woman - she loved her son and was unable to safe him - what is good a power if you can’t help your own family. Angela lost her family at an early age and its something she seems to fight for her entire life. I digress… excepting and encouraging Peter’s wrath, is not a shock to me.
it’s also telling that his delivery here conveys a longing for normality instead of an aversion.
It seems a united Shaw-Petrelli family trait.
… Noah has the opportunity to remind us that he’s still very much the most magnificent badass to ever grace our TV screens. </i?
Shut your mouth! SO true, so true. He won’t be fooled again…
Lauren: Your new sexy side kick. Or you can pick what’s behind door number one!
BRAVO, LYDIA! Well done for delivering the line and, you know, surviving…
The metaphor had me laughing for hours! Fantastic! Nathan…. can pregnant a woman in a single bound, take that Sylar.
he same Claire-worship she resorted to in “1961″ — you know, telling her what a fine young woman she is, how confident and upstanding and generally amazing she is — but the amusing part is that Angela probably only said all of this to win over Claire’s support for Peter.
I don’t know, I know its redundant, but what grandmother isn’t.
I do think Angela admires her granddaughter and see’s all the things she did wrong - I don’t think Angela is her own biggest fan at the moment and would be the first to call herself a failure after 50 years of trying to save the world and her family.
The way the dialogue flows in this scene, you never really pause to challenge this assessment or question whether Angela might be wrong. Looking back, though, and knowing how Angela immediately went from hugging Nathan’s dead body to concocting the Sylathan scheme, you have to wonder whether Angela had any more of an idea how to grieve when she lost Nathan. If opting to create a pretend version of her dead son isn’t a sign of denial, I’m not sure what is.
YUP! He’s his mama’s boy for sure.
whereas Angela was forced to wrestle with grief and guilt for more than six months. She was also forced to pretend that nothing was wrong, whereas Peter at least has the option to fall apart if he wants to.
Yes, for SURE. And alone. The best example of this was when Nathan didn’t show up for lunch and Angela couldn’t focus on Peter… I kept saying “Angela’s on the line of going crazy” also wearing white..
tipped me off.
Bottom line: this experience has probably left Angela and Peter equally screwed up.
Makes you see why she might not want Claire to have grown up a Petrelli, not that she doesn’t have her own issues.
… that you know it’s killing her that she can’t do anything to help him herself. Again, very subtly played, and in keeping with what’s apparently a Petrelli compulsion to bottle up and conceal whatever it is that they’re feeling.
Yeah (well Shaw.) It was one of the truest moments of the ep, and heartbreaking from Cris.
just one actor with a solid script, nailing the part of a despondent guy who’s looking a homicidal shooter in the eyes and trying to get through to him
Milo is doing some sold work this season, sold.
Claire realize several things at once: that she was babbling about mourning Nathan’s death in an “ordinary” way, that Peter’s been screaming on the inside, and that Claire was too distracted with her own grief to see it.
Great!
the implication is that his anger has intensified rather than faded.
Yet I can’t see the show letting the rage consume him, and I can’t see them killing off Sylar until the finale episode.. and there is the rub.
Nicely done, show. Remove the conventions until there aren’t any
GREAT!
Great dialogue, and superbly delivered by both actors.
Totally!!!
Noah: “You like tea? Stupid question — you’re British. Drink up.”
Line of the night. Terrible stereotype, but a hilarious
I think Noah knew that and meant to be mean.
The reference to Vanessa once again feels like it’s come out of nowhere,
Agree, but maybe we can say that since we saw who he was just a few weeks ago, perhaps he finally has the confidence to get her back.
I agree, what can Sylar do to her, but irritate her. The danger isn’t there anymore. All that is left is for him to rape her, but I can’t see the show going there - not that he hasn’t already raped her metaphorically and I don’t count and now will the raping of her biological family, emotionally and literally. He’s as much as a nemesis as you can get.
Didn’t think the tongue kissing with Sylar was necessary. Kind of reminds me of the “lets make the male cast sexier” theme from Season 2. But Lydia telling him he was impotent made me chuckle. She’s lucky those weren’t her last words.
I’m sad to see Sylar’s storyline reduced to virtually nothing of significance. He went from being the show’s most compelling character (in my opinion) to the show’s most stale and misused. Like you said, it would’ve been hard to imagine in earlier seasons that someone could match Sylar’s strength or power, but unfortunately his character’s been written down so much that that’s the case.
I really hope the show does something FRESH with him, or (and I can’t believe I’m about to write this) just kill him off already. If the promos are any indication and Sylar really IS going to save the world, have him save the world in the most badass way possible and go out with a bang. Maybe that’s where the Claire connection is somehow heading. Sylar’s always been one of my favorite characters so I’ll be sad to see him go, but the show needs to do something new with him or let him go.
i second that
I third that, specially with how Samuel has outsmarted Sylar as an ever bigger threat and even more compelling villain. I’m still hoping that they don’t beat a dead horse with Sylar going after Claire… again, with a similar motive. Is he really that big of a pedophile xD
“I really hope the show does something FRESH with him, or (and I can’t believe I’m about to write this) just kill him off already.”
I go back and forth on this, because while I agree with it in principle, I really wonder whether there is anything fresh to do with the character. To me, that became very clear after 3.23. That episode had all the ingredients to be an outstanding episode, and it suffered (in my opinion) because it was clear that the show had run out of new things to say about Sylar. I adore 3.19 for the Sylar/Samson scenes, but looking at them critically, they don’t express anything that hadn’t been said before.
I’m not sure Sylar needed to be killed off at the end of Volume One, but I think he’d definitely reached a natural conclusion to his arc at the end of Volume Four. As much as Ghost-Sylar contributed to Matt’s arc at the start of the season, and as intriguing as parts of the Amnesiac-Sylar story have been, they haven’t changed anything fundamental to our understanding of the character. The last time I can remember being genuinely surprised or impressed by a development in his story was 3.08, and that’s saying a lot considering it was a flashback to events in Volume One.
I agree with you, Otto. But at the same time I would be pretty eager to see if the plan really is for Sylar to save the world. Sylar now views himself as irredeemable (as he told Elle), incapable of being loved (as we found out in the scene with Lydia), and killing just for the hell of it (also in the Lydia scene). To me this sounds like the internal death of the character, and he’s acknowledged that.
If there’s ANYTHING he can do at this point it would be somehow saving the world. It would be Sylar saying, “yeah, I lived a horrible life and did horrible, unforgivable things, but I might actually do some good before I die” (a reference to what Mohinder said to him in Season 1 - Parasite). I think that would be a fitting way for Sylar to go out, and it wouldn’t be a dramatic stretch for his character either.
I’ll third, fourth and fifth that! But I digress before I start. Already left a considerable sized rant on the subject below
Excellent review.
Lauren insists that she’s “changed” and that she’s adopted a “liberal agenda.” I can’t figure out if this is some kind of public service announcement for the CIA, if it’s a sign that Lauren was an ineffectual Company agent or if it’s just further support for my Lauren’s-a-carnival-spy theory. I’m not saying I care all that much, because, hey, it’s Lauren. Just saying, this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Thank you!
PS.
Question? So is Millie freaking out right now? Or does she think Angela just covered this up like her daughters death. Would love to see Millie think she has one up on Angela, “I know what you did?” But really she has no idea. Those woman are both so great at comedy.
Otto, let me get this straight- Samuel killed his brother, killed an innocent woman just because she wouldn’t let him into his childhood home and is seeking the power to kill millions, but him whoring out Lydia makes you like him a lot less?
Peter wasn’t totally powerless when he went after the gunman- he had the Haitian’s memory-erasing/ knock-people-out-by-touching-their-heads power.
To me it looked like Peter was divulging all his secrets to a random stranger because he needed to just say these things out loud to _somebody_, and he was planning to Haitian whammy the gunman (and shot victim) afterwards.
Oh, and Great Review Otto! You really have a great way with describing emotional states.
My only comment was that to me Lauren appears to function as the “Doctor’s companion”, i.e. to give Noah a chance to say things out loud, instead of just continuing on in solitary silence. I can’t decide if that’s good or bad.
Hrefna, Not just the random stranger. I believe that was part of it, but it was important for Claire to hear as well.
I wonder how much Peter wanted to say it out loud to Claire, though, because if he had wanted her to hear it, surely he would have given this speech to her back at Nathan’s wake. It was probably easier to describe his anguish to a stranger because there was a certain anonymity to it, and it was probably the life-or-death adrenaline rush that made it easier for Peter to admit to Claire how he felt.
Great review, Otto. Actually enjoyed it more than the last one.
But when the show places Peter’s self-destructive denial side by side with Sylar’s fixation with Claire, it’s instantly clear where the show has hit its stride and where it’s beating a dead horse.
Love this. Why can’t TPTB see it? Yes, I know. They are blinded by ZQ and Hayden.
I expected Peter’s reaction to be more instinctive. Which is to say that if I wasn’t expecting a smashed pair of horn-rimmed glasses at Peter’s feet, I was at least expecting a raised voice.
Well, he’s there for a horrible task and too busy holding in his emotions. Although, he definitely didn’t greet him as genially as he had earlier this season … once Peter realized he needed Noah’s help, that is.
The camera begins to pull back… before pulling back a little more… and a little more… and a little more still … until Peter’s practically a speck of dust in the distance, and we realize that while everyone else is moving on — mingling, eating and commiserating — Peter’s the one left stagnant, both physically and emotionally.
Close to tears, Otto. This show on a technical level is rarely matched these days - the sets, staging, directing, editing and score are all consistently amazing.
… the first of several moments throughout the hour that capture what Heroes has consistently excelled at this season: small, intimate, character-based moments that are perfectly written, perfectly played, and perfectly realized.
Yes, definitely. I re-watched some of the earlier episodes this season which made it apparent. They can’t get back to this unless or until they get rid of Sylar. It’s impossible to capitalize on these moments with the indestructible, megalomaniac, serial killer being focused on. That’s sad too, considering the talent they have (and had bye Adrian!) and under-utilize.
As for Samuel’s ability, they showed him using ink to add himself to a picture in an article on Peter’s Wall of Heroism.
The complexity stems from Peter’s grief and anger and weariness, and his effort to ignore all three of those.
Oh, Otto. *tearing up* And the accompanying screencap is heartbreaking.
… but somehow Peter’s guarded expression manages to articulate more than Claire’s anecdote about Nathan and West; it’s in what’s not said that we’re able to glean the most.
Yes, definitely. Although, I sure would like to hear a few of the stories Peter would have to tell … when he’s ready, of course.
Again, very subtly played, and in keeping with what’s apparently a Petrelli compulsion to bottle up and conceal whatever it is that they’re feeling.
Peter didn’t get the lying, but he definitely has the bottling up.
But most of this scene relies solely on Milo’s performance. There’s almost no music, no searing crescendo to tell you when to feel moved, no dramatic close-ups to make you feel claustrophobic, no sweeping shots to convey the intensity of the scene — just one actor with a solid script, nailing the part of a despondent guy who’s looking a homicidal shooter in the eyes and trying to get through to him.
Again, bravo to Milo. And again, thank you, Otto, for pointing out the simplicity of the scenes mainly relying on his performance.
… we see Claire realize several things at once: that she was babbling about mourning Nathan’s death in an “ordinary” way, that Peter’s been screaming on the inside, and that Claire was too distracted with her own grief to see it.
Oh, poor suffering Peter. *cries* The part of Peter’s speech that especially gets to me is that he feels himself slipping.
… the dialogue becomes ominous. I think we can safely say that an intensely dishonest streak is about to emerge in Peter.
No, please no. Yet, I know that will likely happen.
Thanks for posting it and I’m really looking forward to next week’s episode. Finally! The compass shows up again.
woops, Otto please eliminate all those repeats in the reply if you can
As for the review, it was another great one, particularly in that it was at the same time a more solid and weaker installment in my opinion in comparison to Upon this Rock. At least that one had a story thread that was “So bad it’s good” with its redemption by more compelling story threads and a great send off a beloved character. But this one, apart from awesome performances, a nice script and great direction (courtesy of Jeannot Swzarc), I felt it was a bit underachieving in the end, and still a bit too slow for this point in the season. For me it was better and more enjoyable than “Acceptance” but suffering a little bit of what I hated about it, particularly not moving the plot along.
What I liked the most? Peter’s thread. I liked that FINALLY we get some mention of someone from the very maligned Season 2 with West. Considering the “Toxic Season 2 ‘vibe” that was happening a lot before, this was a sign of relief. And I don’t remember if I heard correctly in that moment, but I think Claire asked Peter about his “many” girlfriends ( have to recheck it later) and Peter just chuckled, as in if he remembered the first “She who has been COMPLETELY wiped of all established canon”. Subtle but appreciated. Also his scene in the hostage situation, while showing him as reckless, also underlined how mindfarted he was feeling with the whole Nathan situation, and who can blame him? He breaking down at the paramedic bed was really a big “awww” moment for me, particularly me feeling that sensitive (but not that reckless) in the few hours and days following my grandpa’s funeral. And after this, I wonder how his character arc will continue moving to the final eps of the season.
As for the Sylar thread, I won’t add more than I added in my last comment last review. It irks me that ONCE again they’re threading water with his obsession of Claire, something that’s happened since, when? Yeah, SEASON 1!!!!!! Another sign that he’s way pass his welcome time, and with Samuel around, it gets even more transparent.
And for the Noah/Lauren/Edgar thread, I again want to raise some points. When Edgar gave the plans and names, wouldn’t Noah deserve a PING! Dumb as Hiro Award for saying things that would just upset Edgar who really sees the carnies as his family and not want them to be alone? It was stupid. And also, “Iron Maiden”? For Lauren? I hope someone finds a dirty euphemism for that.
So going outside the show, the ratings really scared me this week. It went from 5.30 million to 4.57 million in the span of an hour, and it is staying in the time slot that gave it a new low. Unless NBC really becomes as forgiving as the CW (which is practically rock bottom for a once highly rated network in the past), I really don’t see Heroes surviving another season. And to add INSULT to injury and a deep knife stab and salt into the wound, Greg Grunberg comes this week saying the season finale is IN NO WAY a series finale and that he is confidant that with the cliffhanger and outside popularity it will be back? “Chuck” struggled to get renewed last season with an average of 7.6 million overall (which is high by this time of the year), “Terminator: TSCC” ended in a very tantalizing season finale, not closing ANYTHING in a way to dare the network, AND IT GOT CANCELED.
So what’s the difference this time around? I may be overreacting as NBC is not what it used to be and there maybe a shot for another year, and they could need it after this horrible Jay Leno debacle. “Maybe” being the keyword. If it actually gets its shot, it will possibly come with ANOTHER budget cut and an even more shortened season. And chances for a series finale that could be of something of epic proportions would be even more far away than it is now. I always imagined a finale of the same quality as “Five Years Gone”, at least directing wise, effect wise and writing wise. While I see the writing wise happening, the rest would not be a reality now. And I thought that the series would likely end in this redemption volume as I don’t see where it could go from here. Heck, how would the other volume be called? Revelations? It’s mind boggling for me, considering the time and patience I’ve invested in the show. Which draws me to the parallel of not having a complete outline of the series like what happened with Lost when they decided the end date. Man, I can’t wait to see how that show ends considering that it will bring me satisfaction that they are bringing a definitive close. Something similar could have benefited Heroes a lot more as a serial drama. I think people would have been more invested knowing where it was going and the series could provide total satisfaction knowing where it is going. With that, things like the “Sylathan” debacle wouldn’t have happened in my opinion, as I know they came up with that as they went along not mattering if they foreshadowed the death in its first season. And to not criticize Vol.3 more than I’ve done already, that same “making it up as you go” was its downfall, ’nuff said.
But if they do get a Season 5, and plan to use it as a closing season, I’m all for it. That way, I wouldn’t mind an even shorter one, as it would be closing instead of building, and it may give me satisfaction depending if it closes well. That’s all I’ll say now as there’s still 5 episodes left for this season to see results. And then it will mean 3 months to get NBC’s schedule and see if it got its shot or not (unless they declare it early).
So that was my big post. I hope anyone who reads it enjoyed it and didn’t get bored. And to conclude, thanks for another great review, Otto. I agreed with everything including the score. See U next week
Alright… where do I begin? Great review and I do agree with you about Lauren. Why the heck is she there? I keep wondering why I still see her around. It was very good to see Noah just be awesome, but I think without her the scenes between him and Edgar would have been much stronger. I would have liked to see him just come to the decision that beating the angry little man up wasn’t getting him anywhere. I was also happy to see Ray Park act instead of do his stunt man thing. How often do we really get to see him act? Um… like never. I think more scenes with them would be great.
Now on to Peter, Claire and Sylar. Bear with me know because it all kind of blends together in terms of future prospects for these characters because at this point they could all have a meaningful scene together that doesn’t involve Claire and Peter just going righteous on his skinny rear end. The first similarity that brings them together is that they all hate deceit and their lives are filled with it. Face it, even Nathan would lie to his poor little brother who looked up to him like a hero. The second is that the people they loved the most weren’t necessarily the best for them, its just who they have. Claire’s love Noah, hate Noah merry-go-round I would certainly say is getting thin, even for Claire, and is perhaps why she is always so indignant (I probably would be). This episode she finally gave it to her father with true purpose. (I think I cheered.) Peter’s relationship with Nathan was good for him in the sense that he learned about reality (even though it took him forever to figure it out), but once your brother tazers you and sticks a shunt up your nose I think its safe to say your relationship is just a tad dysfunctional. As for Peter and his mom, I think this episode made it evident. He really shouldn’t have apologized to her. Angela did deserve it from Peter. Sylar on the other hand we really don’t have to explain, but she was the only person who loved him (well, perhaps his mother did, but yeah…) and her reaction to his new state of being probably solidified that idea that he was going to die alone. (”Your not my son!” definitely has new meaning now.) If anything though, Peter and Sylar have the most in common with the way the deaths of these significant people effected them (because Noah isn’t dead, but if he did die, would we get cold, emotionless future Claire in her tight leather?). They broke a little (or for Sylar is it a lot?) and they will never be the same again. I don’t want to see Peter beat the snot out of Sylar endlessly to be honest, I would like to see a conversation between them where they both reveal their true mental state. I constantly wonder how Peter would react if he really had known about what Sylar has been through. I think he deserves to know that much before he decides to wail on the guy for eternity. Sylar has been his brother twice now, even if only for fleeting moments, both of them due to Angela (there is something there that they need to explain. I just know it!) I’m not saying they need to be buddy buddy, because we know that is never going happen, I’m just saying it would be nice to hear Sylar tell it from his point of view instead of having someone else tell him his story (has everyone seen that damn file?) and to have the most empathetic character on the show give a reaction. Claire can be there too. She probably has deserved it for all of the stalking. I think the point I’m trying to make here is that what the show needs to do is have Sylar admit that he’s tired of being run in circles and that he needs help, and that the other characters need to help him no matter what the feelings they have for him. If he can’t kill now, why don’t they finalize it and make it so he doesn’t want to. In doing that Peter may find a balance between being a reckless hero that just saves people physically, but emotionally as well like he used too. Besides, I think they all might benefit from the honesty.
Tattoo thing with Sylar. I view his obsession with Claire as thus: she can’t die, so he won’t be alone. I’m not saying that there are romantic feelings there (if you do that show I will lose faith in you!), or that he just likes young girls sexually, but that if an immortal had to make a friend, and he didn’t like it when the people he loves die on him, then you make friends with another immortal. Of course if Peter gets his empathy back then Sylar has two people who hate him to spend eternity with. Sounds like so much fun.
Samuel. Yay for upstaging Sylar… but I still dislike him. He is a manipulative bastard. Agree that the Vanessa thing came out of left field.
Forgot to mention that I LOVED that Peter absorbed West’s power. First of all we finally got some information about one of the mysterious Heroes disappearances, even though we didn’t get to actually see West on screen. Makes me feel like the writers are at least “trying” to answer some of the fans’ questions (even though we’re still waiting on a Caitlin resolution… sigh…).
But what I really loved was how it was a sort of tribute to Nathan by Peter, and a way for Peter to kind of vent his grief. Obviously flight is not as useful a power as Claire’s regeneration, but I don’t think that matters. Peter doesn’t care about anything right now except Nathan - the practicality of the power means nothing. He just wants to remember his brother SOMEHOW. It was so beautiful and very fitting.
Nice review, not totally agree! but nice done! I liked this episode more than Upon this Rock, don’t know why, maybe because there were more scenes and action. Well, the thing is that we don’t know where Peter is emotionally now. Yes, he sounded dishonest in the roof with Claire, because I think he has his own plans. Also, good points for showing badass Noah! Yes, I suppose he is trying to redeem and so, but he will always be the most badass character and ready to pull the trigger! and yes, he delivered the line of the night and he knew it was typical but so fun! Good to have Ray Park acting and about Lauren, well, we’ll never agree, compare her with Maya? oh! that’s too much…. I like her although you can’t believe Iron Maiden doesn’t like torture now
Angela, I don’t know what to think, Cristine is great delivering the character, but you never get to know if her pain, which is real, is above or below any master plan of hers.
Claire, thanks! her whining was justified and she seems mature.
The low point of the night…Sylar and all the stuff but his moment with Samuel, because of Samuel was there…Yes, I can’t believe Sylar+Claire is here again, it’s creepy and more now that Claire reminded Noah how much she hates Sylar…And he watching her throuth the window…no, no creepy stalker again!! :O
Hiya there.
First of all, happy new year :). Glad that your reviews are always a pleaure to read.
Wanted to wait for the 2nd review before posting, mainly because both episodes left me with a relatively same opinion.
The episodes weren’t bad. Some part of them were brilliant (ie everything surrounding Peter), but I just can’t understand how they can flip flop between genius and downright stupidity many times during the same episode. I think it’s the first time I ever thought of walking out, and I stuck out to see the Sylathan debacle which says a lot about how devoted I am. I’m kinda getting tired of them (Kring? The writers?) raising my hopes just to end up letting me down. Which is sad, because untill this week, I’ve loved single episode of the season so far exception of the one Fuller was credited for - which is weird because I usely love everything he touches.
Some points :
and to receive real bouquets :D.
- A nod for Milo Ventimiglia, who turns every scene he’s in into gold those past weeks. The best written storyline this season for me.
- Same for Robert Knepper. I personnally consider his character lost depth when they started explorng his backstory (he killed Joseph, he just gather people to be more powerful, etc…) but the way he plays Samuel totally makes me think he’s the best villain we’ve had so far.
- Emma
- They mention West, but Claire doesn’t mention Sylar also killed Meredith ?
- Thanks for mentionning Simon, Monty and Heidi. I was actually wondering if they were the same actors, and I don’t think I saw Heidi’s face.
- The people who are including those small details (Claude Rains, Costa Verde) deserve more credit
- I don’t really agree to the cult theory they’ve been throwing at us this week. Most of the people living there (except Edgar and Lydia who disagree, and dumbass Eli who agrees with Samuel) are probably in the dark about Samuel’s intention. We could easily compare them to a bunch of naive hippies that are living in a (limited) autarcy, which isn’t that much of a treat to the outside world. I’ve pretty much seen HRG and Lauren as narrow-minded on this point, and HRG, once again, putting Claire ahead of the sake of the whole world (okay maybe not but you get my point).
And for some (huge) negative :
- Agreed with you. I’m frankly wondering what Masi Oka could have done for Hiro to deserve such a treatment.
- Sylar is aimless. What happened to “killing every person even remotely involved” in making him fake Nathan ? By the way, now he’s impotent and “is looking for love, but doesn’t think he deserves it” (You’ve gotta tell me how far psycopaths can go before not deserving to find their soulmate anymore). And, according to Samuel (who could have said “I am Sylar” ^^), he’s “not a good guy, but not entirely bad”. I agree that Samuel isn’t entirely bad, but if Sylar isn’t, I don’t think I understand anything about life.
And … No Matt/Tracy/Mohinder ? They couldn’t include them in any of the 2 episodes ? Matt is really not gonna do anything about Sylar ? Mohinder - wait - that’s not his fault this time ^^. What about Tracy, isn’t she part of the carnivale now ? :/ Some characters seem to have reached their limit (and I’m inclined to put Hiro and Sylar there, considering how they treat Hiro and that Sylar is .. Sylar) and if they do get 5th season, I’m voting for reducing them to non-regular characters to leave place for new characters.
Comment coming late, so if there’s no answer, see you next week
Ali and Sendhil were written out for other projects. That’s why we’ve seen so little of them this season. Ali filmed a movie, and Sendhil filmed an NBC pilot. Then, his part in the pilot was recast.
… but I just can’t understand how they can flip flop between genius and downright stupidity many times during the same episode.
You’re not alone.
Nice review, Otto. Hope you had good holidays.
I actually enjoyed both episodes enormously (I was even surprised at how much so), so while I recognize your more negative points, I’d still give both at least 4 out of 5.
As for Lauren, no she doesn’t seem to be contributing all that much to the storyline, yet, but that seems to me to be a meta-fault of the writers, rather than an in-story character flaw. You say: “We know that she’s a loud-mouthed, eavesdropping, home-wrecking, married-man-stealing shrew, and the sudden attempt to turn her into a hot, perceptive badass smacks of desperation.” I’m not sure that I agree; there is no reason that Lauren can’t be both a loud-mouthed, etc., etc., AND a hot bad-ass. We want three-dimensional characters, don’t we? Angela and Noah are manipulative, ruthless, murdering liars, but also deeply devoted and loving parents, for example. The fact that Lauren is not believable to you as both, is either the fault or possibly the intention of the writers. In any event, I find her less and less of a distraction than I did. But oh, how contrived and awful was that line about the “liberal agenda”; I actually cringed.
I’m SO beyond tired of Sylar, as I’ve mentioned on more than one occasion, that the end-shot of him stalking Claire, while cleverly juxtaposed with the shot of Peter flying, after absorbing West’s power to honor or remember Nathan, thus giving us an extremely comprehensive and intriguing view of the different flying men in Claire’s life, and her various relationships with them, made me scream into my pillow. That image, which held so much complexity, should have been GREAT, but because it was once again Sylar, it was painful.
The tattoo issue is an odd one; I’m not sure that the mystery of it is so much what Samuel does with ink and paper, though. We’ve seen him manipulate the ink in newsprint to photographic effectiveness; sketching his misplaced love doesn’t seem a stretch. What is puzzling is how this ability interacts with Lydia’s ill-defined power to produce her temporary revelatory tatts. Then again, I’ve noticed Samuel doing things that seem like they should be unrelated to his geokinetic powers, such as his seeming ability to ‘port the entire Carnival, and/or himself. I’ve assumed that they are the effect of other carnies, but perhaps it is some sort of cumulative effect of having so many evolved humans surrounding him. I dunno, but it’s a little jarring, continuity-wise. I hope that the writers explain it at some point.
Noah was terrific! After his quicky divorce, aimlessness, blond-stalking, mid-life crisis and crappy apartment moments this season, it was amazing to see him express his bad-assery so effectively. The ironic thing, of course, is that he is expressing it out of his regret over his many, many mistakes and lies, while it is the very root of all his mistakes and lies to begin with. So while it was wicked cool, it was also kind of sad to see Noah shake out the true HRG again. Very telling when Edgar replies to Noah’s admonition that he isn’t a violent man: “No, but YOU are.” Perfect.
I think that this season is getting better and better, and I’m looking forward to the rest.
Have a good weekend.
Another great review, Otto!
I generally agree on almost all points. Lauren has irritated me from the beginning, although the “carnival spy” theory didn’t occur to me until I read your review to that effect. Now, though, it’s a thought that DOES crop up in my mind every time she’s on-screen. As does the question of whether she was “one of us” or “one of them” within the Company. It would seem like she would be the second, to be teaming up frequently with Noah…
Although I’m inclined to believe Peter will be deliberately DIShonest in future episodes, it’s enough to make me wonder if perhaps he’s going to be doing a great deal of “lying by omission.” Either way, his character arc is the best we’ve seen since S1 (as is the show in general), and I sincerely hope that his friendship (relationship?) with Emma will help him resolve his self-doubt issues.
I’m looking forward to the review of Close To You almost as much as I am the episode itself!
Although, given the emphasis on Hiro/Ando/Mohinder, perhaps you are not? Hiro was a staple of the show throughout the first two seasons, and it makes me sad to see how far his character has been reduced. I’m capable of forgetting how silly and childish and obviously contrived the plot device is by just losing myself in the show and taking it at face value. But when I pull back to speculate (the inevitable “what happens next” question is the bane of my existence), it all comes flying in my face and I become impossibly frustrated with it. I did, however, squeal with delight to see Saemi Nakamura return to the show, even for such a short scene. Kimiko was my favorite minor characters from the first season, and when they brought her back it was an absolute delight. She has always been wonderfully sensible, and right now it’s a breath of fresh air in contrast to Hiro’s ridiculous antics.
Perhaps they should simply allow Hiro to die of his brain tumor, and have Kimiko take up the mantle of the hero in the Nakamura family. She would certainly be more believable in the role…
Lauren is a normal. It’s been establish in the latest iStory that her partner was John Mulligan, a man with a more localized version of Hiro’s power.
I really enjoy your reviews and this is my first time commenting. I agree with most of the stuff you said about Sylar. I loved the character, I think Zach Quinto is a brilliant actor and I’m a girl so I don’t really mind the shirtless bits, but it frustrates me to no end that he has no definite storyline or goals, what has happend to this character. Honestly, what are the writers thinking. On the other hand, it’s nice to see that Peter’s story is going somewhere Anyway, love the reviews, keep up the good work
Even though I thought this episode was better than Upon This Rock, it still ended up being a big pile of meh. It was a disappointing start to the second half of the season.
That said, here’s what worked.
Peter. Particularly the scene with the gunman. I was glad that they kept it honest and the gunman shot him. It was morbidly amusing. Like the photo of Doug. I see what you did there.
Anyway, the exchange between Peter and Claire afterwards really added poignancy to the scene, particularly that Peter was crying during most of it. Well played by Milo.
Two-faced Sylar. Wow. Scared the living daylights out of me. Wendi (the makeup artist) tweeted that this wasn’t her work, but CGI. Nice job, guys.
Noah/Iron Maiden/Edgar. Noah was old school Company Man this week, and was I glad to see it. But I have to disagree about Lauren. As much as I loathe her, I found her to be a smart balance in the scheme. At least she was trying to help instead of lure him to bed. Also, it was easier to stomach her because the plot was interesting. At last, Edgar finally had depth and purpose instead of chasing people with knives and growling profusely. It’s a shame that his partnership w/Noah ended as quickly as it started, but maybe there’s more to it. In any case, it’s nice to have his true feelings about the Carnival revealed.
Claire yelling to Peter “But I’m the one who can stop bullets!” right in front of the gunshot victim. I don’t think that was intended to be humorous, though.
“You’re impotent.” Ha! I know that hit him where it hurt.
What didn’t work:
Samuel’s former flame. Why are they retreading out all these ex girlfriends? I don’t care about her, and she’ll probably end up dead.
Sylar. It burns me to say this, but I think you’re right about his plot. It’s been shoehorned in to give him some type of purpose. As it is, it’s a slippery slope to assume that Sylar’s depression about dying alone is what inhibits his powers. This is where retconning has screwed the show over once more. Sylar learned this fact back in Texas, which was two years ago. So…why is he now being affected by this realization? Even if this has been eating away at him, I think it would affect him more than that. And I know this is futile, but you have to wonder if he would have been so quick to dispose of Elle.
Anyway, this brings in the very inappropriate thought of a Sylar/Claire hookup. I’m pretty sure it won’t happen. The writers have pulled a fast one before, especially when it looks like the plot is going in a certain direction. It’s just too wrong. The logic of them being the only two people to survive in a thousand years is there, but that doesn’t make it right.
But as a whole, nothing really spectacular. It was just ok. Some great moments, but as a whole, it was forgettable.
Great point about when Sylar actually learned about his future. To us it was a few episodes ago, but in the show it technically was “three years ago” (which is another thing entirely - real time vs. show time … show time couldn’t have been more than 2 years max). If Sylar was afraid of being lonely then it should’ve affected his actions before he even went to Claire’s Homecoming. This is what I hate about time travel - it screws everything up big time. Most of the show’s inconsistencies are because of this, so it should just STOP.
I had the same thought. If this fear of a lonely death had been festering for three years, it would have affected everything: returning home in 1.21, hunting down Claire in 3.01, thinking he was a Petrelli, tracking down his father, shapeshifting into Aunt Virginia, and on and on…
One explanation that I think works is that Sylar only confronted this inner demon after the whole Sylathan out-of-body experience. Ghost-Sylar was probably afraid he’d never get his body back, and when he finally did, I can imagine him reevaluating his long-term plans (assuming Sylar had any besides “BRAINS!”, “BE A SUPER-NUISANCE!” and “POOOOOWER!”) and realizing that what he wants more than anything is to feel loved.
Otto > I pretty much have the same thoughts on that. Just didn’t think about it any more than you did because, once again, we have no idea what Sylar will be up to next.
On a certain level, if knowing about his potential lonely death didn’t change his path, that just makes him worse, and pretty much irredeamable. Then maybe he just thought that, since he knew about it, he could probably avoid at least dieing..
And frankly, can’t blame him for thinking he could survive everything, considering he could have died at least once per volume. He probably thought he was protected by god at this point.
Maybe getting beat up several times in the past few months (Peter serynge - Losing his body - Almost not getting his body back when Parkman tried to suicide - Getting punched by Peter then Haitian-Petter-whammed) made him realise that after all, superpowered or not, he’s not invincible, and that he’ll eventually meet someone who’ll take him down.
Unless he radically changes how he lives, and wait for about 100 years (when Claire will be the only one to know what he’s done in the past), and I guess he pretty much figured out by know that he’d end up alone anyway.
“If you could rewrite this line with an even WORSE alternative, which of these would you choose?” - Monty Python got there first… “Oh, Mister Bellpit, your legs are so swollen.” I know, it makes even less sense if you get the reference, but on top of Hiro’s latest character assassination? *grabs shovel* Ouch!!
Last episode to air here was Brother’s Keeper, and the way Australian networks schedule stuff I doubt we’ll see any Heroes episodes before next month. To keep up my SF dosage, I’ve been watching the complete DVD set of Stargate Atlantis; and it occurs to me that, DVD sales being what they are, if Heroes is cancelled we could get some direct-to-DVD wrap-up special movies. And that some SGA episodes do a better job of giving us superhero situations and references than a show about people with superpowers…
Still, I have some good Emma scenes to look forward to, yes?
Thing that really bothers me is, according to latest press releases, Samuel is about to be brushed aside as insignificant compared to an even bigger threat to the world. Will need more than a few cups of tea to get through that, methinks.
Okay, just another thing…
Is anyone else as pissed as I am that Sylar basicly have Peter’s old ability now ? We pretty much knew he killed just for the kicks but acquiring abilities by spending 20 sec with someone is just …too much…
And, for Sylar being scared of ending up alone, I don’t know how much of an issue it is now. It’s not like his actions haven’t made enough sense since last year for me to care. Anyways, he’ll either die alone, or just live forever alone which doesn’t change that much to me since I doubt he’ll die this season. Or it could be that Hiro’s words didn’t ring a bell for him untill recently since he got his ass kicked by Peter twice in the past 6 (?) months.
*ps : It’s been confirmed that NBC’s press releases aren’t accurate for some of the upcoming episodes, so …
PandoraRose, just a small thought on the point you make about Sylar and the death of Claire’s mom: it got me thinking about the dynamic between HRG and Meredith, and whether Lauren is perhaps an alternative Meredith. I don’t know if there’s a story behind that, but in terms of Lauren’s history with The Company and the way she’s being written (intelligent, shrewd, charming), there are parts of her arc that look like they could have been tailored to Meredith if she hadn’t been killed off. Probably not the romantic aspect of it (unless TPTBs really wanted to tangle up the Petrelli/Bennet family tree), but I wonder if parts of the HRG/Lauren backstory might be remnants of a discarded HRG/Meredith backstory.
“I think with Angela, which has been established in the past with this whole thing, is Angela knows its wrong - she knows Peter has a million reasons, besides this to be angry at her…”
Yes, and this strikes me as one of the saddest parts of the story, because Peter was on the verge of making amends with Angela, even after everything she’d done as a part of The Company.
“I don’t think Angela is her own biggest fan at the moment and would be the first to call herself a failure after 50 years of trying to save the world and her family.”
Do you think she’d call herself a failure? I’m not necessarily disagreeing, but I wonder how Angela would look back on The Company and her efforts to make a difference. It’s hard not to weigh The Company’s limited success against the enormous body count, to say nothing of the psychological damage the organization inflicted on countless supers and the near-apocalypses it nearly caused. But given the references to averted tsunamis and the impending disasters it prevented by capturing unstable supers, perhaps there’s something to be said for The Company’s — and Angela’s — achievements. I think you could point to certain moments we’ve gotten a glimpse of and argue that Angela’s been part of something that prevented as much damage as it caused — in part thanks to Angela.
Raissa, thank you.
Michael, valid point about Samuel’s many (much-more-unforgivable) crimes. I realize I’m starting to sound like an apologist for Samuel, and maybe it’s just that Lydia’s growing on me, but I really think I can look past several of the points you mention:
(1) killing his brother: yes, morally contemptible, but you have to admit that Samuel put forward about as solid a defense for it as possible: Joseph was endangering everyone at the carnival by bringing Danko there, and he was betraying the brother he’d taken care of since childhood and threatening the community they thought of as family. So, as with the best HRG storylines, it’s reprehensible but ~*understandable*~.
(2) killing the innocent woman: yes, but am I the only one who thinks that was played for laughs? I mean, the pretentious yuppie dinner party? Poor Samuel behind the grate, asking to see his humble childhood home? “Too busy with your fancy dinner to let me see where I grew up? Take THIS, old lady!”
(3) “seeking the power to kill millions”: is there a difference between “seeking the power to kill millions” and “seeking the power to kill millions“? Subtle distinction, but I think it ties in with Arthur’s storyline in Volume Three: is he after power for the hell of being powerful, or is he after that power with the express intention of using it to kill millions? I think that takes us back to the discussion about whether the earth-splitting in 3.01 was an accident, and whether that affects our perception of Arthur (/Samuel) as the cause of an “accidental” end-of-the-world disaster.
Re: Peter and the shooter: yes, you’re right, he wasn’t completely powerless. The point I was trying to make is that he didn’t have anything that could help him out of that hostage situation, for example TK, time-freezing, super-speed, etc. In the past, Peter ran into situations like this knowing how he could use an ability to resolve them (or being Dumb and not knowing, as was frequently the case…). What I liked about this situation is he had no useful power to disarm the shooter and he still put himself in danger. That struck me as a significant moment for the character, whether it was down to recklessness or not.
Susan, thank you, and I’m glad you enjoyed the review.
“They can’t get back to this unless or until they get rid of Sylar. It’s impossible to capitalize on these moments with the indestructible, megalomaniac, serial killer being focused on.”
You know I’m with you on this, but to play devil’s (/Sylar’s) advocate, I wonder how essential the various story threads are to maintaining the ~*balance*~ on the show: if every scene was a thoughtful, intimate, character-based moment, would the show start to feel oversaturated with them? If there was nothing besides a sad piano motif in every scene — which is to say, no ominous ticking-clock Sylar scene and (*gasp!*) no idiotic comical Hiro scene — would that sad piano motif lose its impact? I realize I sound like I’m backpedaling after two reviews that pretty much eviscerated both Hiro and Sylar’s story threads, but in their defense, do they help to even out the emotional tone of episodes like these? Just a thought. I’d imagine that would be the defense from TPTBs, and what’s going through their minds when they’re looking at a white board with lots of BIG EMOTIONAL SCENES FOR PETER AND CLAIRE.
Alfredo — awesome post. Couple of thoughts:
“What I liked the most? Peter’s thread.”
You and me both. Peter and Samuel are owning this season.
“And after this, I wonder how [Peter's] character arc will continue moving to the final eps of the season.”
I’m thinking it will come down to him wanting to be “more than a band aid.” He’ll want to do something that no one else can do, which will probably mean killing Sylar, working with Sylar, or working with Sylar to stop Samuel and then killing Sylar.
Re: HRG being uncharacteristically obtuse when it comes to Edgar and the carnival: YES! And THIS is what bugs me more than anything. HRG’s being portrayed as a short-sighted barbaric fists-first-dialogue-later fool, and that seems like it’s exclusively for the sake of making Lauren look like Little Miss Diplomacy. If Lauren hadn’t been there and HRG had independently come to the conclusion that he needed to reason with Edgar, he would have been acting in character. The way it ended up, HRG looked like a guy who was so preoccuppied with Claire and so dead-set on his own plan that he couldn’t see Edgar’s perspective. That, to me, isn’t HRG. It’s not the guy who’s always 10 steps ahead of everyone else because he can see a situation from every angle.
Re: the ratings and the chances of a fifth season: I’m pretty much with you. I think there’s a likelihood the show will be back, albeit with a (further) reduced budget and a (further) reduced cast. I agree that this season’s focus has brought the story to a place where it could reasonably conclude, although perhaps that will depend on how quickly the plot progresses in the next five episodes. When Adam Armus mentioned the prospect of ending the show in a recent interview, he mentioned the multi-format nature of the show. I took that to mean that if the show is canceled, they’ll wrap it up in the graphic novels. I wouldn’t want to dash anyone’s hopes about seeing a TV movie or mini-series, but sci-fi shows have made those vague plans before, and it doesn’t happen often. Actors and writers move onto other projects, sets come down, and it becomes more and more unlikely as time passes.
But you never know. Like you, I think it would help if the show had a finite number of episodes in which to bring its story to a close, so if Heroes does get another season, I think it would help them to know that it’s the last and that they have a mandate to wrap up the ongoing character arcs. If they don’t get a fifth season, I think it would be fitting to see the story wrap up in the graphic novels, especially given the way they’ve been a consistent “companion” to the show over the years.
LeeAnna — amazing post. So well thought through. You make me hope that Peter and Sylar really do get that sit-down conversation, even though I kind of wish we could see Peter bashing in Sylar’s skull to avenge Nathan. I agree, the parallels between them are abundant, but sometimes, no matter how sympathetic the character might be, their actions preclude sympathy. I think, in Sylar’s case, it’s very unlikely that Peter would allow himself to feel sympathy, even knowing Gabriel’s history and Sylar’s (perhaps-) loneliness. But I agree that it would be interesting, and I’m sure we’ll see something along those lines before the end of the season.
Re: Sylar: “If he can’t kill now, why don’t they finalize it and make it so he doesn’t want to.”
There was once a show called Buffy, and there was once a character named Spike, and there was once an attempt to neuter a psychotic maniac and to turn him into a reformed villain-turned-antihero…
Haushinka, I agree, Peter absorbing West’s ability was a very cool nod to Nathan. Do you think there might be some ulterior motive to it? I’m not sure, but the way that development came right after Peter promised Claire he’d always be honest with her, I couldn’t help thinking there was more to it than experiencing what his brother used to feel everytime he flew.
Pas, Happy New Year to you too! Word to your point about Tracy’s absence: she really should have shown up to at least say hi to Claire.
Laura, thank you. The Lauren/carnival spy theory’s an ongoing joke; I’m pretty sure she isn’t a spy, but it’s kind of fun to look for clues that she is, like rewatching Volume Two and trying to figure out why Maya must be a Company agent. It makes a torturous character slightly less torturous.
“I’m looking forward to the review of Close To You almost as much as I am the episode itself!”
Thank you, that’s kind of you to say.
“Although, given the emphasis on Hiro/Ando/Mohinder, perhaps you are not?”
I’m trying to keep an open mind, but I have to say, the Hiro part of the promo doesn’t fill me with optimism. Let’s hope it turns out OK.
Word on Kimiko showing up in 4.13. That was one of the points I made in the 4.13 discussion thread (and in the review, sort of). I loved that she was back, I just wish more could have been made of it; how she felt about watching Hiro slipping away, how she felt about him having this amazing ability. Hopefully that will still be addressed at some point.
Meg — welcome! Thanks so much for reading. As a member of the male half of the audience, I think I can say we appreciate why the shirtless Sylar moments are appealing. It’s just that there are SO MANY OF THEM.
I used to watch Buffy-till the end. To be honest it would be more likely Sylar would go Dexter (no I don’t watch the show, I read the books which are better). I’m just trying to think like the 11 writers who can’t seem to make up their (expletive) minds about what do with him. It kind of pisses me off occasionally. I was watching “Let if Bleed” with much enjoyment in the first scene with Samuel and Sylar. The rest I wanted to put my head through a wall. I don’t want to see him go because I honestly like the scenes when he uses his morbid, twisted humor, but… I will weep. I hate admitting that they should find some plausible way to get rid of him, even if for just a little while. Go do more movies Zach.
I think part of why Claire didn’t mention Sylar making advances to him when she rattled off her litany at Noah is because Noah doesn’t KNOW about it. Nobody but herself and Sylar does, and I can’t see her being terribly thrilled about the idea of informing anyone else, given how obviously squicked she was. It lends a lot of weight to her reaction that neither Noah nor anyone else is aware of–she’s got reasons to be pissed off about Sylathan that Noah would never guess. It makes her indignant!scenes even more understandable, poor kid.
*Advances to HER. This is a sign I need sleep.
Hi Otto! Thanks again for another wonderful review! I may not post frequently but I always come here to read, it’s a must after every week’s episode. ^^
I just wanted to post a little info on the show’s status that I found on the Ausiello Files website from NBC’s press tour:
* No decision has been made on a Heroes renewal, but NBC prez Angela Bromstad says she’s pleased with the show’s ratings performance at 8 and series creator Tim Kring is “pitching out his view of the next season.”
http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2010/01/10/office-heroes-law-order-press-tour/
So maybe there’s hope for a 5th season?
If you ask me, I think that they’ll try to stretch the show until it reaches enough episodes for sindication, and then they’ll cancel it…I just hope that they’ll give the writers a “heads up” so we can see a proper finale…
Hey Otto,
Exquisite review and one of the only times I needed someone ele’s opinion before making one of my own. I could not agree more about how awesome Peter and Claire’s scenes were in both episodes! But it was the sylar part that frustrated me. I honestly could not tell if his scenes were the height of awesome, or some of his most contrived material yet. Which brings me to a point that I was in denial on for years and now believe that, with your help, I’ve finally reached “the fifth stage” (pun definitely intended). Sylar. This ep is solid proof that Kring and Co. need to put him out of his misery. TPTB, much like myself, seem to think he’s the only thing carrying the show, and have to give him screen time at least every other episode. I never had a problem with this before- even when his story arc got so convoluted and contrived in Volume Three- because he ran with any material he got and turned on that deranged charm that makes Sylar, Sylar. But I realize now that it wasn’t Sylar himself that had me invested in his plotline. It was the plotlines themselves. Even his most eye-gougingly awwful episodes had moments that seemed to be steering Sylar in some sort of useful direction. “Let It Bleed” signifies everything wrong with Sylar. Even though every scene he was in was full of tension and incredible acting, upon a second viewing, I found myself distracted with my own thoughts. After reading your review, I sadly understand why. Irrefutable proof, that Sylar has outstayed his welcome to the point where his storyline is actually a bore. Even though Heroes has frustrated me, I’ve never been bored with any storyline. I can no longer truthfully say that. Sylar needs to find some worthwhile (and new) direction or he needs to join Nathan’s PR campaign in hell. Here’s hoping Samuel buries him at the center of the Earth. Other than that, Peter, Claire, Noah, Edgar, and Samuel raise this one half a point above your score to a 3.5/5. Thanks for the help with this unbelievably frustrating episode!
PandoraRose, just a small thought on the point you make about Sylar and the death of Claire’s mom: it got me thinking about the dynamic between HRG and Meredith, and whether Lauren is perhaps an alternative Meredith. I don’t know if there’s a story behind that, but in terms of Lauren’s history with The Company and the way she’s being written (intelligent, shrewd, charming), there are parts of her arc that look like they could have been tailored to Meredith if she hadn’t been killed off. Probably not the romantic aspect of it (unless TPTBs really wanted to tangle up the Petrelli/Bennet family tree), but I wonder if parts of the HRG/Lauren backstory might be remnants of a discarded HRG/Meredith backstory.
I don’t know, they didn’t seem to have a lot of time last season to do this kind of thing and it isn’t like Meredith was killed because she was on Glee, as that didn’t film until around the end of vol 4 filming. And I agree, it would have been weird as Claire’s bio-mom. I more saw it as Jack Coleman is now considered sexy and as they did and said about Nathan Petrelli in season 2, they wanted to free him up for romance with a hot babe, well the hot babe was my line.
Yes, and this strikes me as one of the saddest parts of the story, because Peter was on the verge of making amends with Angela, even after everything she’d done as a part of The Company.
Yes, but in the end I do hope they can make amends, as Peter was ready to do the same thing to keep Nathan ‘alive’, and she’s the only family he has left.
Do you think she’d call herself a failure? I’m not necessarily disagreeing, but I wonder how Angela would look back on The Company and her efforts to make a difference. It’s hard not to weigh The Company’s limited success against the enormous body count, to say nothing of the psychological damage the organization inflicted on countless supers and the near-apocalypses it nearly caused. But given the references to averted tsunamis and the impending disasters it prevented by capturing unstable supers, perhaps there’s something to be said for The Company’s — and Angela’s — achievements. I think you could point to certain moments we’ve gotten a glimpse of and argue that Angela’s been part of something that prevented as much damage as it caused — in part thanks to Angela.
True, good point. I think she would. I guess what I was thinking of that in all of that she couldn’t even save her own son and that, no matter what she did, she failed. Not to mention the fact that no matter what they change time just re-heals itself - Nathan still dies, and a new disaster comes down the pipe to kill the world again. It must feel like paling water in a boat with a hole - and after 50 years one might feel tried and like a failure, even if it is not true. I feel like not saving Nathan has taken a tole on her. I hope they explore it, but as Angela seems to be window dressing this season, I fear not. And the history of the show forgetting it is a drama, but it is getting better, MUCH better, but I’m not holding my breath.