tag:www.herosite.net,2008:/blogs/otto/3 2008-02-26T15:00:30Z Movable Type 3.33 tag:www.herosite.net,2007:/blogs/otto//3.55 2007-12-06T22:44:00Z 2008-02-26T15:00:30Z

Overview: Sylar takes Maya and Molly hostage and forces Mohinder to supply him with a cure that restores his abilities. Noah reaches an agreement with Bob that boils down to him resuming his job at The Company and Claire keeping...

Otto Berkeley Overview: Sylar takes Maya and Molly hostage and forces Mohinder to supply him with a cure that restores his abilities. Noah reaches an agreement with Bob that boils down to him resuming his job at The Company and Claire keeping quiet. Niki rescues Monica from a burning building, but gets caught in the fire herself. R.I.P. Niki. Meanwhile, Peter realizes he's been played by Adam and destroys the lethal strain of the Shanti Virus. Hiro buries Adam in a coffin deep underground and returns to Japan. And then Nathan decides to tell the world about the superpowered population, which someone obviously doesn't like because they shoot him. R.I.P. Nathan.]]> Review: You cannot be serious, Heroes. Niki and Nathan in one episode? You couldn't take Maya instead? Like, permanently? Or Sylar or Claire or Cyborg Noah? Whatever. I'm p**sed. Let's do the review. Despite the death of two of the show's most compelling and shamefully underutilized characters, this turned out to be a solid finale. I don't know if it's because I watched it with lower expectations than I had for the finale last season, or if it's because this genuinely was a better episode. But as finales go, it wasn't too bad. Whether it's a volume finale or a season finale, it did what "Fallout" and "How to Stop an Exploding Man" both managed to do last season: it resolved its over-arching story and strategically left several smaller story arcs unresolved and ready for Volume Three. And besides Peter forgetting he can phase through walls (we'll get to that) and the controversy surrounding two deaths which I still can't bring myself to admit actually happened (we MOST DEFINITELY will get to that), there wasn't the kind of Critical Problem Scene we got at the end of last season. From start to finish, this felt like a tighter story and a more fitting conclusion. We start out with Mohinder. Mohinder has A Box. Sort of the way Peter had The Box; the difference being that the contents of this box aren't a mystery that'll be dragged out over several episodes with little or no pay-off, and that it's the core premise behind Sylar visiting Mohinder, which means we actually care where the box is and what's in it. Mohinder stumbles into Chandra's Crib, and it's a deeply disturbing (/indescribably delightful) Mylar reunion. Did we need to sit through 10 episodes to get here? No. But now that we're finally here, it's a pleasure to watch. It also seems like Allan Arkush is intentionally trying to echo the history between Mohinder and Sylar in the apartment, because the way Sylar slides out of his chair and towers over Mohinder is eerily reminiscent of the way he broke out of restraints after Mohinder pumped him full of curare. Tense moment, and you wonder whether Mohinder's going to end up pinned to the ceiling again. Then ... "Is that my apron you're wearing?" Does the nod go to the props department or the costume department? Whichever it is, A+++. That's just ... genius. And it reminds you how good this show is at blending drama and horror and comedy. Zach Quinto's having a blast with this scene, and it radiates from his performance. Sylar's so obviously enjoying confusing the hell out of Mohinder, and he's so obviously thrilled to be playing Maya for a fool, and it's kind of oddly enjoyable and thrilling to watch this little spiel play out. Maya explains to Mohinder that she knows Sylar's a killer, and that she too is a killer. And, true to Maya's ability to make every scene visually compelling regardless of content, Mohinder gets the kind of expression that can't be conveyed with words: "You know he's a killer ... and ... you're a killer ... and ... you're OK with this?" "It doesn't matter anymore. I'm a part of your story arc now." "What kind of alternate universe is this?" Eleven episodes in, Dania Ramirez has the opportunity to express something besides distress, contempt, guilt, and naive infatuation. Maya is angry. Like, demonically angry. That's FIVE facets to her character we've now had the privilege of witnessing. Wow. I'm sure everyone will agree that this more than qualifies Dania Ramirez for a cast regular slot -- the one which still eludes Cristine Rose and Ashley Crow. I'm not saying the actress won't eventually earn it. Just that, on the strength of what we've seen so far, it hasn't been justified. Shalim Ortiz deserved it as much as Dania did; which is to say, NEITHER OF THEM DESERVED IT. Sylar agrees with me. "Don't even think about pulling that 'ALEJAAAAANDROOOOO' crap with me, woman!" Everyone's eyes blacken, including Molly's, and Maya experiences Facet #3: Guilt. She applies the self-control that Sylar helped her achieve last week, mercifully sparing us another instance of her bellowing "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Apartment of Hospice Luxury. We learn that the murder charges against Angela have been dropped. It's unclear whether Angela's grateful to Nathan for getting her out of jail, or whether she's even glad to be out. As with Papa Sulu's death wish, it seemed like Angela was content to accept punishment for her role in The Company. By the end of this episode, though, it's as if it never happened. Angela's back to her devious scheming, neither of her sons trust her, and the Ice B**ch is once again seemingly untouchable. Nathan reveals that Peter's alive. Angela's reaction is again ambiguous; it might be shock, or it might just be, "Oh." I'm not sure. Angela launches into YET ANOTHER rendition of, "We were lost, then we found each other; we tried to fix the world, but it all came to nothing." Seriously, show, NOT AGAIN. Linderman's done it. Kaito's done it. Maury's done it. Bob's done it. And now Angela's done it. Which leaves only Papa Deveaux, Papa Petrelli, Victoria Pratt, and four unnamed ElderSupers to deliver it from their graves. The next time it's mentioned, can we actually see some of it? Or at least hear something less oblique and more substantial? It's one of the most intriguing storylines of the show, and it's been limited to the same regurgitated account over and over and over again. And to dangle it in front of us at the end of a volume titled "Generations" -- a volume which should have explored it in detail -- can only be interpreted as an instance of this show's bleak sense of irony. Angela describes how the ElderSupers all bought into Adam's crazy-ass plans to wipe out mankind and start over. Nathan gets this hilarious look: "Can you believe I nearly let a city explode because of this woman?" Angela accurately theorizes that Adam needed an empath with lots of cool abilities to retrieve Strain 138 from the Primatech Fun Factory, and that he "chose" Peter. Circumstances inside the Company Jail didn't allow Adam to be especially choosy, but you have to wonder if Adam spent 30 years in his cell watching single-powered supers in the adjacent cell come and go, waiting for a super like Peter who'd not only show up and break him out, but who'd also be pliable enough for Adam to manipulate once they were free. The fact that the empath who Adam had been waiting for just happens to be the son of one of the ElderSupers who Adam manipulated 30 years earlier? That's just another of this show's amazing coincidences. But it makes for a nicely symmetrical story, and it ties in with the ElderSuper backstory, so truthfully, I don't want to criticize it. Canine Central. Claire prepares to deliver Noah's Company paperwork to the press, presumably expecting someone to read through it and have more luck finding the Secret Door at the Primatech Fun Factory than a cop and an FBI agent had when they tried. Sandra gives Claire a reproachful look. Sandra's actual dialogue: "You're really going through with this?" More appropriate dialogue: "What do you think you're doing you little brat! How @#*%ing selfish can you be?!" Claire: "They killed Dad. They're never gonna leave us alone." Yes they will! Just make a conscious effort NOT to alert them to your location by staging a prank that involves a masked flying man and a death-defying fall from 30 feet in the air. Sandra's actual dialogue: "You do realize what'll happen to us if you tell everyone what you can do?" More appropriate dialogue: "You self-absorbed little b**ch! Who are YOU to drag your brother and me into a situation that'll destroy our lives?" Claire's actual dialogue: "No more running, no more hiding, no more secrets." Thought process behind actual dialogue: "ME-ME-ME-ME-ME-ME-ME-ME-ME-ME-ME-ME-ME!" Sandra starts telling Claire how she dreamed of her daughter going to college and getting married someday, and how she's terrified of her daughter being taken to some lab and experimented on for the rest of her life. ... And the tears are welling up behind her eyes ... ... And Claire's just ... "Whatever!" I'd suggest a Selfish As Claire Award, but on the strength of the character's behavior over the course of this volume, Claire would win it by a mile every week, which I guess would defeat the point. Claire wanting to expose an organization which kidnaps individuals and vivisects them? That's understandable. Claire wanting to stop running and hiding? That's understandable. But Claire ending any semblance of a normal life for her mother and brother and wanting revenge on the organization which shot her dad WHEN SHE'S THE ONE WHOSE ANTICS ENDED UP IN THE NEWSPAPER AND ALERTED THE COMPANY TO HER LOCATION IN THE FIRST PLACE? PING! Selfish As Claire. ^ ^ Less selfish than Claire! Elle returns to the Midas Study and tells her dad she's sorry for disappointing him. Which is kind of funny after she learned that her father's the reason she has a few screws loose in her head, but it's so saddening to see her plead with him for forgiveness when she was doing the best job she could, it actually makes me like Elle. And I'd just like to take a moment to say what a wonderful surprise that is, because after Elle's first appearance, I really, really thought I was going to hate the character. Not only has Kristen Bell portrayed a character who's easy to not hate, she's run with her material and created a character who's layered and complex. And considering she started out with little more than Ellectrobolts, obnoxious pouts and an ultrasonic whine as defining characteristics, to accomplish that inside of six episodes is an achievement. More of this in the next volume, please. Bob tells Elle she's being pulled from all field ops. I call that an empty threat because it's obvious The Company has absolutely no field agents or subsidiary teams whatsoever, but Elle's demoralized enough to watch Noah throw a ball at a wall. Elle ... watches Noah ... throw a ball ... at a wall. ^ ^ Dullest plot development ever committed to film. ^ ^ Redeemed by the immeasurable talent of the actors involved. ^ ^ Vindication for Veronica Mars and Dynasty. Elle's eyes actually follow the ball as it's bouncing around the jail cell. You wouldn't think that'd be such an amazing detail, but watching the ball instead of glaring at Noah somehow supports Elle's playful nature. I don't know if that was Kristen's call or Allan Arkush's or if it was in Jeph Loeb's script from the start, but it's brilliant. The whole blurred-image swing-and-tilt lens throughout this scene wasn't working for me, but some of the nuances the actors brought to the table were flatout brilliant. Noah describes how Bob was the one who pushed Elle beyond her limit, even after a relatively vicious b*****d like Noah wanted to dial down the Ellectrification. I have no idea if Noah's embellishing this for the sake of turning Elle against her father, but it just about fits with the timeline if this is the kind of thing Noah was witnessing when he shot Claude. Chances are most of this storyline hadn't even been thought up at the time, but Noah's insistence to Claude that Claire wasn't "one of them" suddenly takes on a lot more meaning; you realize how much Noah wanted Claire to NOT have an ability so that he'd never find himself in a situation where he'd have to push her the way Bob pushed Elle. Bob tells Noah that Claire's "becoming difficult." Noah gets this proud "That's my girl!" smile. Bob is seriously alarmed. I'm not sure why; it's not like he hasn't covered up Company activity before, and there's nothing in Noah's records which Bob wouldn't be able to spin or deny. But apparently, an obstinate teenager presents a greater challenge than covering up a nuclear detonation over New York, burying the murder of a billionaire entrepreneur, then averting the media circus that would ensue when a newly-elected congressman suffered life-threatening radiation burns. It seems to me that Bob could have solved this latest problem by snatching Claire and throwing her into a cell next to Noah's. At the Primatech Fun Factory ... Anyone remember the exchange between Future-Peter and Future-Hiro? Future-Hiro: "Shall we freeze time?" Future-Peter [guttural growl]: "No, I haven't had a good fight in years." This is so similar that it borders on self-appropriation. I don't know if it was an intentional echo, but it was equally cool and equally unsettling. I mean, Peter's TK'ing the guards and knocking them out without injuring them, but Adam? He slices one guard across the face with his sword so swiftly that the guy's going to be disfigured for the rest of his life, and slashes another of them in the leg so forcefully that he's probably going to bleed out before anyone finds him. And they're hidden underground -- NO ONE'S going to find them. Peter? Buddy? You think perhaps, maybe, possibly, this man might not be as well-intentioned as he seems? "No, I haven't had a good fight in years." But Future-You said that! You were disillusioned and weary and hardened from years of oppression and persecution and suffering when you said that! You're supposed to be an idealistic hero at this point! That comes later in the episode! "I couldn't wait -- I'm evil." I'm calling it now: the central villain of Volume Three will be Peter. With Matt right behind him. And Sylar and Adam and Maury somewhere in the hazy distance. Peter and Adam reach The Imposing Vault. Eerie music plays. Solemn expressions appear on the faces of our heroes. This might be their greatest challenge yet. It's not like Peter could, you know, PHASE THROUGH THE VAULT WITH ADAM HOLDING ONTO HIM. PING! Chalk one up for Peter, because only an idiot forgets his own abilities. PING! Chalk one up for Adam, because only an idiot forgets how he broke out of the prison he was locked up in for 30 years. PING! Chalk one up for the writers, because PING! I PING! expect PING! them PING! to PING! remember PING! the PING! abilities PING! of PING! their PING! characters. Adam: "I guess you'll have to pry it open with that brain of yours." Peter: "I'm not sure I have that sort of power." But you have a brain! That's more than anyone else has got right now! Adam: "Not much at stake here -- just the fate of the entire human race." So, in case we weren't clued in to that when we saw the body bags, here's a sledgehammer blow round the head to hit it home. Thing is, this story really is on a larger scale than the bomb plot. It doesn't feel that way because it's only been building up to this for four episodes, but there is more at stake. The problem is that a smaller volume, by default, means less time to build suspense. I don't know if it's true that the plan before the writers' strike was for Nathan to contract the Shanti Virus instead of getting shot, but if it is true, you can imagine how the show would have told the Shanti Virus story over the course of 22 episodes instead of cramming it into 11. The way it's played out, we didn't get a sense of the scale of the threat until Peter teleported to the future, and the past four episodes didn't generate the sense of impending disaster that 22 episodes did last season. That's one of the tragedies of this volume: its premise was on a larger scale than the previous volume's, but the abridged structure prevented it from conveying that scale. It's why viewers are less inclined to care about the death of 93% of the population now than they were about 0.07% of the population last May. Peter asks Adam, straight up, whether he killed Papa Sulu. Adam admits, straight up, that he did. ... And Peter's going to stick to the original plan and help Adam get his hands on the virus because ...? ...? ...? Forget Dumb As Parkman. We're onto Brainless As Maya. Adam spins the situation by asking why Papa Sulu chose to keep Strain 138 intact instead of safely disposing of it. Which ... is actually a very relevant question. ElderSuper backstory, please! Then Adam remembers what Peter's first priority is -- "CAITLIN!" -- and manipulates him into TK'ing the vault open. Let me get this straight: if Peter averts the outbreak of the Shanti Virus, Past-Peter and Caitlin will still teleport to Times Square in June 2008, only now it'll be populated and the disaster will have been averted and Caitlin won't get deported. But if that's the case, Past-Peter won't end up clinging to a fence while he watches his girlfriend dragged away from him, he won't end up screaming "CAITLIN! CAITLIN! CAITLIN!", and he won't end up teleporting back to the past to meet Adam in the Montreal Junk Room. But then, if he doesn't teleport back to Montreal, none of this can happen. Or it can, but Present-Peter could now end up meeting Past-Peter. HEADACHE! The point being, WHAT HAPPENS TO CAITLIN NOW? Will she suddenly pop up in the future without Past-Peter in tow? Has she been wiped out of the space-time continuum along with the averted timeline? Does Peter have the ability to jump between alternate timelines and bring her back to this timeline? I'm going to assume this storyline will be picked up again at some point, because if it doesn't, the hilarity behind Peter's motivation for wanting to stop the virus fades, and the love of Peter's life gets lost to the intricacy of a time paradox, which ... is kind of lame. Team Mylar arrives at the Former Apartment of Clairvoyance, which Sylar doesn't hesitate to point out is where he scalped a clairvoyant artist. If only we could feel as bad about this death as we did about that one ... Mohinder stalls for as long as he can, figuring the security cameras in the apartment will alert someone to the fact that Sylar's alive and about to get his powers resto- Whuh? W-wa-waaaaait a second! THERE ARE SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS IN THE APARTMENT! The apartment which Mohinder went snooping around when he wanted to find the missing Mendez paintings! Who cares?! Someone's actually using the surveillance cameras! It's a triumph for [PRODUCT PLACEMENT] Cisco Video Surveillance! Midas Study. Bob gets three boxes of files, Angela gets seven (her punk-rock days were prolific), and Elle only gets one? And the box is empty? Aww. Duzac's Diner. If you were a gangster in New Orleans and you'd been hired for an arson job, this is totally the place you'd be hired to burn down. Monica tries to call Micah using her [PRODUCT PLACEMENT] Sprint cellphone. Micah uses Monica's cellphone to triangulate her location and track her down. And Niki gets the most favorable traffic ever because Micah's screwing around with the traffic lights. OK, that last part's contrived, but it is funny. If I had that ability, I'd abuse it shamelessly every day on the way to work. And Micah only uses it when his cousin's in mortal danger. This demonstrates remarkable restraint on his part, and gives me reason to believe that, despite the fact that his powers are evidently growing exponentially, the ATM heist was a one-off which won't necessarily put Micah alongside Peter and Matt in Volume Three's selection of heroes-turned-villains. Nathan flies Matt from New York to the Primatech Fun Factory. As in, Petrelli Airways. Nathan flies Matt. That's got to be the funniest thing ever to not be captured on camera. Then the hilarity gets ruined by a joke which by now feels as if it's been used about 36,629,476,078 times. "FRYING MAN!" NOT AGAIN. It was funny the first time. It was a nice echo the second time. The third time it lost its humor. By now, it's just dumb. And unintentionally funny when you recall the last time these two characters met. Hiro should be all, "You already bad guy! You are virran! Virran!" for refusing to help Hiro and Ando stop the bomb last season. It was a while back, but for Hiro to somehow know that Nathan went on to save the day seems like a plothole. Does Hiro recognize Matt as the guy who tortured him? Maybe he does and it's just not established on screen, but again, the continuity here felt a little sloppy. But, hey, "FRYING MAN!" Funny. Or not. THIS is funny, though. West stops by Canine Central to talk to Claire: "Oh good, you're here! These two boxes are done. They can go in the car." ^ ^ Actual dialogue! West: "I came to stop you." "You mean you're not going to carry my boxes?" Put your hands together for this, folks. This is a sympathetic character. Claire: "These people ruined my life!" Her life, but not the life of the woman whose husband is dead and whose daughter is about to bring reporters and cameras to her family's front door? Not the life of the boy who lost his father, and who's now going to be branded the brother of a mutant? Can you believe there was a time when we wondered if West was good enough for Claire? I mean, I got to the end of this scene and I was sorry to see him fly away, because the way Claire was written this week, West comes across looking selfless by comparison. Even he agrees with me. He can't believe what he's seeing. Then ... Behold -- Prototype Cyborg Noah! Noah [monotonal Stephen Hawking voice]: "Hello ClaireBear." Is it a robot? Is it Candice on drugs? Is it some kind of apparition? No! It's Noah ... being forced to return to his family. Which, OK, has got to be difficult when he needs to tell Claire to back off sabotaging The Company. But does that mean the reunion with the family who thought he was dead would be so ... robotic? I mean, shouldn't everyone be overjoyed that he's alive? Shouldn't he be overjoyed to see his family overjoyed? Shouldn't there be sonic waves of relief emanating from this house? "Come on, guys! Is anyone happy I'm alive?" "WTF?!" "WTF?!" Cyborg Noah explains he's alive because of Claire's blood, and that he made a deal with The Company that'll keep everyone alive and able to live a normal life and free to remain where they are in Costa Verde -- so, basically, everything short of a hi-def television and a free trip to Disneyland. And Cyborg Noah's STILL not feeling the love, so he finally drops the cyborg charade and emotes: "I never meant to hurt you." But they're not buying this either, so Noah just ... walks away. WHAT. THE. @#*%? What just happened here? I get that everyone's still in a state of shock and that Cyborg Noah's doing what he's been ordered to by Bob and isn't exactly the guy the family expected to show up at their doorstep, but WHAT JUST HAPPENED HERE? Was everyone in this scene compiling mental grocery lists while the camera was rolling? Cyborg Noah [to Bob]: "It's done." What, weirding your family out? Confusing them into stunned silence? Alienating them from their patriarch until they want to run away? THIS is how the storyline was resolved before a hiatus? Whatever. I'm sorry, but WHATEVER. Former Apartment of Clairvoyance. I think it's extremely telling that Maya seems to have more chemistry with a pre-teen than with anyone else on the show. To be fair, Adair Tishler's probably very easy to get along with, and that probably translates to on-screen chemistry with just about everyone. And Maya hasn't had a chance to meet many of the characters, so there's not a huge basis for comparison. But it's also extremely telling that Molly's the one who needs to be reassuring and tactful with Maya instead of the other way around. Molly offers to "find" Alejandro. I don't know if Maya expected to hear he'd miraculously traveled hundreds of miles and was already back home, or if she just wanted to know he wasn't wearing an orange jumpsuit or racking up speeding tickets after boosting a Ferrari or something. Either way, the responsibility of telling Maya her brother's dead falls to a kid. Which Molly handles extremely well by telling Maya that Alejandro's "not anywhere." Great euphemism. Maya storms into the middle of the apartment and bellows, "YOU KILLED MY BRUUUUUTHER!" And Zach Quinto's expression here is so fleeting that it can't even be captured as an image, but it so accurately conveys our exasperation with the character that I'm certain it's an in-joke. It's partly, "Can't you see I'm busy? I have zero patience for this!", partly, "Oh, for God's sake, SHUT UP!", and partly, "Oh, no, NOT AGAIN -- this one's for you, dear viewers." And *BAM!* Maya gets a bullet in the chest and collapses to the ground. It's intense, it's tragic, it's so sudden and shocking that we don't know how to react. BUT WE APPLAUD. WAY TO GO, SYLAR! IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW USELESS YOUR STORYLINE WAS THROUGHOUT THIS VOLUME -- YOU CAME THROUGH FOR US WHEN WE NEEDED YOU! Primatech Fun Factory. Peter's really having fun giving himself a nosebleed while he TK's The Imposing Vault from its hinges. This is so much easier than phasing through it. It does look like an extremely formidable effort, though. Hiro teleports in front of Adam before he has a chance to enter the vault. He's unarmed. As near as I can tell, Hiro's plan is pretty much to leave time unfrozen and run towards Adam and blunt the blade of Adam's sword with his head. I don't know. Peter TK's Hiro against a wall and it's intended to underline Peter's Emerging Evil, but it probably just saved Hiro from decapitation. Peter starts choking the life out of Hiro, and it's the same look of perverse enjoyment he had when he was choking Ricky's lackey. Except he had amnesia back then and had no idea who he was and why he shouldn't be enjoying it; at this stage, when he's supposed to be saving mankind, you'd expect him to curb his dark side and exert a little more self-control. Matt shows up and tries to Parkman-whammy Peter into releasing Hiro and stopping Adam, but Peter's apparently immune to the Parkman-whammy, having absorbed the Basic Telepathy package last season. There's something so cool about the way they're communicating in one another's heads. I get why the show doesn't want to do a scene like this every week and become a superpower extravaganza, but this was awesome. Depending on your perspective, it now gets even more awesome. Peter TK's Matt back down the tunnel, and he's probably about to choke the life out of Matt, when ... "You have much to learn, little brother. Like, for instance, if you just unbuttoned your shirt a little, you could wield the kind of influence that I do." "Bite me, big brother! I ran around a harbor shirtless! You're telling me the upturned collar and intense stare aren't working for me? Also, do you think Adam might not be such a terrific guy? It's occurred to me, but perhaps I haven't given it as much thought as I should." "He's using you, little brother. He's playing on your fears and insecurities and your willingness to do whatever anyone wants." "You'd know what that feels like, wouldn't you?" "That was different. I was going to be president. And it was our mother. Oh, by the way, she says to put a bullet in your head if we can't stop you." "That's mom..." "Yeah ... So how about stopping the crazy guy who's about to unleash a virus that wipes out most of the population?" "Am I really so craaayyyzeeeee?" David Anders must be enjoying this episode so much. Even more than Zach Quinto. It's like he gets to be as over-the-top as he wants to as Adam. I hope he gets to play with the role more in the following volume. Masi Oka's performance is much more subtle. It's like Anders sucked all of the exuberance out of him, because Hiro's more or less counteracting Adam's craziness with subdued sadness and regret. When he tells Adam he should have killed him, he's practically whispering. Which makes for an interesting acting choice, because I think Masi could equally have played this scene as resolved or vengeful and only showed Hiro's loss of spirit after he'd buried Adam. But already at this point, he's playing the character as defeated. I'm not sure how it fits in with the Epic Marathon across the warehouse and greeting the "FRYING MAN!", but Masi takes the material and delivers a surprising performance with it. Hiro teleports Adam out of the vault, causing the vial of the Shanti Virus to fall to the ground. So, if Peter hadn't gotten there in time to TK the vial before it smashed, Hiro would have indirectly created the lunatic who planned to release the virus AND indirectly caused the virus to be released. Anyone want to place bets on Hiro taking center stage as the villain next volume? Peter nuking the virus was a neat touch, as was the S-helix beneath the powder of dust which the vial leaves behind in his hand. I would have figured he'd never dare to use Ted's ability knowing the disaster it could cause, but given the alternative, it makes sense that the most effective way to dispose of the virus would be to incinerate it. Former Apartment of Clairvoyance. Maya gets a shot of Claire's blood and instaheals. The collective groan of 11 million viewers can be heard across the nation. Maya: "I thought I was dead!" SO DID WE! We were shamelessly misled! Why, Heroes, WHY? Why couldn't you let her stay dead? We would have liked her so much more if we knew she wasn't coming back. Here's the bizarre part, though: I'm reassured that the show's keeping her around. If they'd killed her off, it'd be like admitting they'd failed catastrophically with the character. Keeping her alive is at least a sign that there's some kind of a plan for the character beyond the Crying & Dying Routine and screaming "ALEJAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADROOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" and "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Dare we hope? The next volume might explain the show's purpose for introducing the character. Sylar makes a rapid exit with the Mohindaire Cocktail. Elle arrives in time to bellow his name. PING! Don't advertise the fact that you're about to attack them, Elle -- just shoot. Elle fires off an Ellectrobolt which barely slows Sylar down. I'm beginning to think Sylar is the human cockroach. If he can fall five stories and take a sword to the gut and wander through forests and deserts for days and still not die, he's clearly as invincible as Adam, and can apparently look forward to surviving the show's entire run. Unlike certain individuals. Oh, crap. We're here, aren't we? The part of the episode which I'm quite happy to pretend didn't happen. Fine. Let's get on with it. Duzac's Diner. Anonymous Gangster discovers Monica's cellphone and sets fire to the building using Micah's 9th Wonders comic. Anyone remember what happened last week? Anonymous Gangster and his (suddenly-conspicuous-by-their-absence) crew stole the comic from Damon because it was so valuable. And now Anonymous Gangster ... sets fire to it? Micah and Niki find Anonymous Gangster leaving the scene in his van. Niki plays chicken with him and wins because -- duh! -- he's not driving a [PRODUCT PLACEMENT] Nissan. By the looks of it, though, neither is Niki. Probably why Micah couldn't "tell" the car to go crashing into the diner to rescue her. Niki kicks him in the groin and thwacks him across the head with his own gun. This is a moment of vindication for the character and for the actress, because not only is she Jessica-less and powerless, she's also whiny-less. And apparently still capable of kicking anyone's ass. Which, yay, even though with retrospect you realize it was only inserted into the story for the sake of giving the character one final kickass moment to remember her by. Does it make up for a season-and-a-half of minimal screen time and a meandering dual personality story arc which was never fully explained? You decide. My feeling is Niki drew the short straw for ending up with an aimless story, and that Ali Larter drew the short straw for having virtually nothing to work with and STILL managing to shine. Niki dives into the diner and rescues Monica. Then a flaming beam falls in their way. And I'm sorry if this is unfair to the production crew who built the set and choreographed the scene, but COME ON: There's an escape route AROUND the beam so blatantly obvious that you'd have to be blindfold not to see it. I appreciate that the show might have produced this scene on a budget, but at least bring the cameras in closer so that we can't SEE the escape route so clearly. Because this makes Niki's death even more tragic. The fire spreads. Monica exits the building. Niki's trapped inside. We're thinking maybe she'll find another way out. Or a corner to shelter in. Any chance someone could survive that? You're really trying to stifle our hope, aren't you, show? All right, enough with the pyrotechnics! It's just gratuitous now! We get it -- she's dead. Hiro returns to Yamagato Empire and goes back to his old life. Again, kudos to Masi, because the guy nails the character's reaction to condemning his father's killer to an eternity without food or light or oxygen or movement. It goes beyond forsaking adventure and heroism and returning to his cubicle to wear a shirt and tie. It turns Hiro into the kind of avenger who's forced to mete out punishment for a villain who can't be killed. Which is probably a large part of what turns him from "Yatta!"-Hiro to Future-Hiro: the fact that he's forced to inflict torture and suffering on a former friend; the fact that Hiro might secretly feel his father's killer deserves that kind of suffering; the fact that the memory of his childhood hero will haunt him when he thinks of his icon buried underground, alive and screaming. Odessa Police Station. The show does its best to make this scene even more traumatic by giving us an extended session of Petrelli Brotherly Bonding: "You know I'll always be with you, little brother." "But what is one Petrelli brother without the other? Who'll explain to me that serial killers are bad?" "You'll find your way, little brother. Try not to explode, and try not to be so gullible. You'll be fine." "You give me such great advice, big brother. I don't know what I'll do without you." "Oh, little brother ... You don't need my advice. And even if I'm dead, they can always bring me back. If there's enough of an outcry from the fans, the show won't be able to leave me dead." "Leave you dead?! Over my dead body! I'll hunt Kring down and force his hand to the pen and paper if that's what it takes for the words NATHAN COMES BACK TO LIFE to end up in the script." Nathan uses Matt to Parkman-whammy the press into listening to a speech about "special people," which is basically an excuse for an extended trailer to Volume Two. If you take out the montage, the speech is pretty deranged. I mean, Nathan's talking about ordinary people doing extraordinary things and organizations not wanting other people to know about those things and something incredible happening to Nathan and him being afraid but then not being afraid anymore. And on paper, that's all a little vague and uninspiring. But then it's put alongside the montage and it makes a little more sense. We see drunken Pasbeard Nathan. And Molly leaping into Mohinder's arms. And D.L. rescuing a little girl from a fire. And Matt taking his detective's exam. And Hiro stealing swords from the Twelve Stupid Samurai Who Were Afraid To Lose Their Clothes. And Claire jumping from the Hollywood sign. And Maya crossing from Guatemala into Mexico. And Monica 619'ing the robber. And Peter and Caitlin teleporting into the future. And Elle Ellectrifying West and Claire out of the sky. And the Haitian wiping Peter's memory and locking him in a cargo container bound for Ireland. And Nathan flying away from Noah and the Haitian. And Peter catching Nathan in the sky after he was burned to a crisp. And, looking at that, you could be forgiven for thinking this had been an amazing volume which brought the characters an enormous distance and told an incredible story. Problem is, it really is just one giant trailer. It really is just a smattering of remarkable moments thrown inbetween a lot of insubstantial material which dragged on much longer than it should have, which took the characters and the story nowhere, and which failed to cohere into a consistently entertaining, well-structured, well-told story. That's the sad reality of this volume; that no matter how outstanding a trailer you place at the close of the 11th episode, it doesn't undo or roll back what we felt while we sat through the other 10 episodes. Less than half of them were outstanding. Most of them were mediocre. Some of them bordered on unwatchable. But, look, none of that matters now. Nathan's here to tell all of you Parkman-whammied lemmings he can f- Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no. Come on, Peter, time for a miracle transfusion. If your blood doesn't work, teleport to Costa Verde and grab Claire's. If that doesn't work, go find Adam in his coffin and use his. And don't worry about the whole cheap-plot-device garbage I rambled on about two episodes ago. Seriously, dude, @#*% that. I didn't know what I was talking about. I didn't know they were going to kill NATHAN. Do whatever you have to -- cheap plot devices be damned. BRING HIM BACK. And this would be ... Noah? West? Future-Peter? Adam? Sylar? Papa Petrelli? Claude? Zach? Lyle? Mr. Muggles? Let me know when I'm getting warmer, show. AND ANGELA WAS IN ON A PLOT TO KILL HER SON?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! That's it. No more praise for character complexity. She's just plain evil. No redeeming qualities. Period. Wait, that's it? You're going to leave us with Nathan and Niki dead and Angela evil and Hiro in a cubicle and Adam in a coffin and Cyborg Noah walking out on his family and MAYA ALIVE?! AND SYLAR JUST GOT HIS ABILITIES BACK? SOMEONE SORT THIS WRITERS' STRIKE OUT RIGHT NOW! NBC? GET THIS SHOW BACK ON THE AIR! KRING? FIX CLAIRE AND GET RID OF MAYA AND DON'T EVER PUT YOUR CHARACTERS IN IRELAND WITH AMNESIA AND DON'T EVER SEND THEM ON ROAD TRIPS ACROSS CENTRAL AMERICA WITH A CHARACTER WHO CRIES BLACK GOO AND DON'T EVER PUT THEM IN FEUDAL JAPAN 336 YEARS IN THE PAST WITH A LOVE INTEREST WHO PAINTS PURPLE FLAGS. THAT WAY, I WILL NEVER AGAIN BE FORCED TO WRITE AN ENTIRE PARAGRAPH IN CAPITAL LETTERS. THANKS -- OTTO. Was this a good finale? Yes. Was this a good volume? Only in places. It had some great moments, particularly towards the end, but overall, it struggled to be anything above average. And therein lies the merit of this episode, because, against all odds, it managed to make the most of the storylines which had been set up over the past 10 episodes and change the direction the show was headed in. Paradoxically, that direction's pretty much the way it came -- back towards Volume One. Several of the characters are now essentially where they were back then. Nathan once again may or may not be dead. Angela's once again the evil mastermind. Noah's once again the Company Man. Mohinder's once again the high-minded scientist. And Sylar's once again the superpowered villain. All of which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it doesn't say much for the distance this volume covered. For a volume which was titled "Generations," a volume which seemed like it was going to explore the story behind the previous generation, the past 11 episodes haven't been especially enlightening. We learned that Kensei became Adam, but most of the rationale behind that transformation was recounted through dialogue instead of being shown. Bob, Maury, and Victoria were introduced, but most of the questions surrounding how the ElderSupers came together are still unanswered. The Company's plan to use Shanti's illness as a bio-weapon was revealed, and it made for a compelling backstory, but again, it was mostly hinted at instead of being explored. We don't know how Shanti's virus developed in the first place, and we don't know how the ElderSupers found out about it in the first place. Irrelevant details? A dead-end storyline for peripheral characters? Maybe. But those were the details and storylines and characters which I'd been looking forward to since the title of the volume was first unveiled. Now, with all that said, the surprising thing about this volume is that it covered a considerable amount of ground with other characters, particularly the ones whose story arcs last season didn't get anywhere near the attention they deserved. Matt and Mohinder both got more prominent roles, even though they were competing for screen time with an influx of new characters. Elle? Caitlin? Bob? Adam? Monica? Maury? Even West? Most of those turned out all right, both in terms of servicing the plot and presenting themselves as compelling, consistent, sympathetic characters. If nothing else, this volume threw a dozen characters into the mix, and most of them deserve to stick around. But then, it's not as if Niki, D.L., and Nathan didn't deserve to stick around. The way they were killed off and written out felt like either an admission that their story arcs failed or an attempt to garner viewers with the prospect of a sensational death. That's great for boosting viewers in the short term, but when characters we love and identify with are killed off because they're competing for even a minute of screen time alongside a dozen new characters, the show loses ones of its inherent strengths during the first season. When characters we'd become attached to are unable to take part in any meaningful story because they're constantly being shunted into the background by newer and infinitely less compelling additions to the cast, it becomes a frustrating viewing experience. And it's the kind of frustration that a lot of viewers experienced throughout this volume. This episode demonstrated that the show isn't unsalvageable, that it hasn't completely lost its way, and that there is a plan, even for the story arcs which, for most of the volume, didn't seem to make sense. Which, in a roundabout way, brings me back to the original point: as a conclusion to a less-than-stellar volume, this really wasn't a bad finale. As finales go, it was pretty good. 4 out of 5 And that, dear readers, is the end of HeroSite's reviews for Heroes: Volume Two. As always, I'd like to thank everyone for reading. I'd like to thank Craig for continuing to let me review the show, Brenda for designing and maintaining an amazing blog, and everyone else who knows they deserve enormous thanks but whose names would probably result in a list longer than this review. You guys know who you are, and these reviews would never have been written without you. I wish everyone a happy holiday and new year, and rest assured, we'll be back to cover the show as soon as it returns to production.]]> tag:www.herosite.net,2007:/blogs/otto//3.53 2007-11-29T20:34:00Z 2008-02-26T15:00:30Z

Overview: Claire scatters Noah's (fake) ashes and vows to reveal her ability to the world if it'll end The Company. Sylar and Maya finally reach New York, but it's minus Alejandro, whom Sylar stabbed in the chest. This isn't catastrophic,...

Otto Berkeley Overview: Claire scatters Noah's (fake) ashes and vows to reveal her ability to the world if it'll end The Company. Sylar and Maya finally reach New York, but it's minus Alejandro, whom Sylar stabbed in the chest. This isn't catastrophic, though, because Maya learns to control her ability without her brother. Meanwhile, Monica tries to help Micah retrieve D.L.'s medal of honor from a gang (don't ask), and Hiro time-travels to 1977, where he witnesses Adam's first attempt to unleash a strain of the Shanti Virus on the general population. Hiro returns to the present to stop Adam from doing the same again, but finds Peter unwilling to let him decapitate Adam.]]> Review: Not a total train wreck, but a significant step back after last week. There were redeeming points: the Shanti Virus edged forwards, one of the twins finally reached New York, and Hayden and Ashley Crow again delivered some excellent performances. But then, even those virtues were mired in problems. Hiro figuring out that Adam's trying to release the virus in the present doesn't make any sense, Maya doesn't even need to get to New York as urgently as she did before, and Hayden and Ashley's performances lost a lot of their impact because we know they're grieving over nothing. Even the good parts weren't that good. And I haven't even gotten to the bad parts. And when I say bad, you know I mean clunky storylines and weak dialogue and bizarre character behavior. And Maya. Still, like I say, there were redeeming points. The opening possibly-a-dream-but-possibly-also-really-happening sequence rocked my world. Beautifully shot, surreal, and unsettling. Love how that was done; the buildings even tilt with the soft focus. This whole sequence is hilarious for the way it drives home how, despite the havoc the Shanti Virus will wreak, Peter's response throughout is pretty much, "CAITLIN! (...and the rest of the population.)" "CAITLIN! (...and billions of other people.)" "CAITLIN! (...and, you know, mankind.)" The fact that Peter (and the show) haven't forgotten about the character is reassuring, but the way Peter puts Caitlin ahead of everyone else? I don't know if it's meant to be romantic, but it seems like Peter's not too concerned about the rest of the population as long as he saves his girlfriend. It's difficult to sympathize with a character whose perspective is that narrow. Peter finds himself back in the Montreal Junk Room and tells Adam about the Shanti Virus. Ominous music plays. Adam gets The Expression of Villainous Scheming. Is Adam lying about The Company developing the virus from Shanti's illness instead of creating it? He's got no reason to lie about that, so we can assume the virus really did start out as an unintentional sickness rather than an artificially-developed bio-weapon. It's not essential to the plot, but it's good that the detail was thrown in. What does start to hurt the plot, already now, is the way Peter never stops to ask how Adam knows so much about The Company and its history. I mean, from Peter's perspective, Adam's some random schmuck who was bagged and tagged and locked away by The Company because he wanted to go public with his ability. The fact that Peter just accepts Adam's knowledge about who engineered Shanti's sickness as a weapon and exactly how and when that happened seems a little ... dumb. But, like a lot of things this week, it's just one of those things we're supposed to buy into. The important thing is that Peter realizes what needs to be done: "We need to stop the virus -- AND SAVE CAITLIN!" "(...and, you know, other people too.)" Canine Central. That's an intense way to start a scene no matter who's pointing the gun, but when the focus shifts and you realize that it's ... Mama Bennet? ... ... it becomes even more intense. And I'm surprised some jittery network exec didn't freak out and censor the shot, because having a character who started out as a clueless dog-loving ditz get to the point where she's aiming a gun at a man in front of her son and daughter is genuinely disturbing. Ashley Crow plays crazed remarkably well. The one thing I kept thinking throughout this scene was that it's about time the actress had a chance to work with the kind of material she only ever really got to work with once on this show, when Claire was shot in front of her. Lyle? He sort of ... stands there with his arms folded ... and tries to look menacing with his arms folded ... without dialogue. NBC, have you ever considered using this in place of the actors on your shows? Because if you're so uptight about paying the wages which your writers deserve, I don't see why you couldn't make a saving on recurring actors who are limited to glorified extras. And Heroes? Please give Randall Bentley more to do. Does Bob know Mohinder used Claire's blood to revive Noah? Stephen Tobolowsky brings the "pretend" sincerity he's so good at, but I couldn't figure out whether Bob honestly meant what he said about Noah being "a true friend," or whether Bob even knew he was offering his condolences for the death of an employee who was at that moment being transfused in a Company lab. It's not like the plan wasn't to "take out" Noah all along, but something about Bob's morose eyes seemed earnest enough here. Bob gets into his car looking visibly rattled, so I'm tempted to think his reaction in the house wasn't entirely false. The whole Elle-in-a-sling-is-assigned-to-spy-on-Claire story is amusing, but it's also a little disappointing to see how small and ineffectual The Company has become. Most of the first season, The Company was embodied by Bennet, the Haitian, and Eden, but you got the impression they were an extension of a much larger and more influential organization. This week, you get the sense that The Company doesn't extend that far. You'd think they'd have benched an employee who screwed up her assignment as completely as Elle did. You'd think they'd have assigned a dozen field agents to watch a super as valuable as Claire. Hell, you'd think they'd have strapped Claire down and started filling test tubes with her blood right in front of Sandra if it met their objectives. You would NOT think The Company would be limited to a father, his incapacitated daughter, and a recently-recruited and deeply-misguided scientist. But then, I'm not sure whether the dingy cell where Mohinder revives Noah is unfortunately cheap or intentionally sparse. It might be to convey the sense that Mohinder saved Noah without The Company's knowledge in a facility which wasn't being maintained. My guess is it's sadly a limited budget preventing the show from reviving Noah in the kind of high-tech lab which Matt woke up in. I also spent most of this scene trying to figure out where Mohinder took Noah. Is this still Costa Verde? Is it the Hartsdale lab? At least with Matt's lab, the show intentionally maintained the mystery with a caption that told us the location was "unknown." It seems like the show doesn't even care about details like that anymore. What's great about this scene, though, is Mohinder's conviction about The Company's capacity for good. "I was once Dumb As Mohinder, but now I am D-E-F-I-A-N-T!" Is Mohinder a fool to think he knows better than Noah? Of course. But it's satisfying to see Mohinder flip the bird at his former partner and defend his decisions so passionately. The fact that Mohinder believes he's the doing the right thing -- and that he's willing to challenge Noah's experience with The Company so brazenly -- shows how far he's come since the idiot who, not three episodes ago, had no idea what to think or who to trust. He's still an idiot, but he's a delightfully decisive one. Mohinder: "Your recovery has proven this blood has tremendous regenerative properties." Wait, so this was just a test to see if Claire's blood would work on the virus? So Mohinder wasn't even all that bothered whether Noah survived a bullet to the eye? I never thought I'd say this, but Mohinder has become one ruthless, cold-hearted badass. Dawson Superhome. Damon contemplates how much he could make out of selling Micah's 9th Wonders comics, and Monica figures out why Clark Kent wears glasses. That pretty much sums up this story thread. One glimmering virtue emerges: I love how Ali Larter's performance knocks me out every week; how she'll always bring a tiny nuance to her role that brings her mediocre story to life; how she can give this nervous little smile that shows how afraid Niki is to tell her son she's dying, but that she's even more afraid she won't be able to fool him into thinking she'll pull through. Tragically, in spite of Larter's performance, the scene goes down the drain. Niki starts off on the "ohmygodImissedyoueverydayeveryminuteeverysecond" spiel, which isn't really a spiel, but the dialogue's so weak that it feels like a spiel. Micah goes to get "something to make [Niki] stronger," and Niki tells him, "We cannot waste another nanosecond." Which is terrible dialogue, but it's made even worse by Niki delivering the line WITHOUT MOVING HER LIPS. Great editing, show. This actually threw me. I started wondering whether this was a dream sequence, or whether Jessica's voice was inside Micah's head when Niki wasn't talking, or whether it was a flashback with a Niki voice-over or something. It was so sloppy that it became misleading. That's not the worst part, though. This subplot about the medal actually damages the intensity of the rest of the episode. The importance of the medal is a subtle tribute to D.L., I guess, and if the focus had been on Niki and Micah's grief over D.L.'s death it would at least have had some resonance with the loss Niki and Micah were feeling. But the amount of time a STOLEN BACKPACK gets in an episode intended to set up events for the finale and draw the story arcs to a close is shocking. A story about a medal, thoughtful though it is, doesn't gel with a story about a virus that wipes out mankind and a daughter's devastation after her father's been murdered. It slows those stories down. It's not season finale material, or even volume finale material. It's mid-season "Wouldn't-this-be-a-fun-subplot-adventure?" material. You know what makes this storyline seem at least a little better? This: And if you thought Maya's scenes were torturous until now, brace yourself for scenes that will REDEFINE the word torturous. CHEERS! Maya: "I almost feel normal." Sylar: "After you see Dr. Suresh, you will be." Maya: "... And then Alejandro and I can go back home." Isn't she wanted for murder? For resisting arrest? For assisting in the escape of a convict who later turned up dead while his Nissan Rogue went back and forth across the U.S. border? Yeah, they can go home. Along with a PING! Dumb As Parkman Award for ignoring the homicide warrant. Sylar: "What if Alejandro could go home now?" Maya: "I need my brother..." YES! Maya: "He's..." ...your brother! ...the one who loves you! ...the one who's always been there for you and taken care of you no matter what! Maya: "...the only one who can stop me." WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!? There's selfish and ungrateful and disloyal, and then there's just DUMB. Sylar: "Do you love your brother enough to let him go?" Maya [with a "How-can-you-ask-me-that?" laugh]: "Of course!" No! No, Maya! You've grown up with your brother and know him and trust him and love him and went on an immeasurable journey with him, and now, when you're on the verge of answers you wanted, YOU'RE GOING TO SEND HIM HOME? Maya's eyes blacken, Sylar collapses, and then ... Maya [elated]: "You were right! I did it!" That's great! Could you try it again a few times ON YOURSELF? You know, just to be sure? Maya doesn't, but she's convinced she's now in complete control of her ability. Which (a) basically makes Alejandro pointless, (b) basically makes all of Maya's victims pointless, (c) basically makes Maya's trip to see Chandra in New York pointless, and (d) basically makes everything we've sat through for the past 10 episodes pointless. But, hey, CHEERS! At Yamagato Empire, Hiro realizes that healing from injuries = immortality. ?!?!?!?!? Stupid us! How could we not have realized Claire will live forever! And that Peter will live forever! And that cellular regeneration leads to immortality! That's just so ... obvious. NOT! But Hiro makes this incredible deductive leap because the plot won't work if he doesn't, so shut up. Searsmont, Maine. Peter finds Joanna Cassidy, and she's all, "You lost?" And he's like, "I know you're Victoria Pratt, you worked for The Company, there's a virus that'll kill everyone in less than a year, it's about to be unleashed, please help me." And she's just, "WTF?!", because she clearly wasn't clued in to Linderman's crazy art collection. And Peter's all, "No paintings! I've seen it with my own eyes!" And then Victoria herds Peter inside the house with a shotgun, which is disturbing, but the fact that she's concerned about Peter's prediction is the first hint that Victoria might be one of the non-bats**t-crazy ElderSupers. At Yamagato Empire, Ando's "like a hamster making a nest." Frankly, Ando as a hamster seems preferable to Hiro as a badger who says "Chuffa chuffa." But then, I thought Maya meeting goats was cute, so what do I know. Papa Sulu 30 years ago! Well, sure, if Papa Sulu was a bodybuilder in his youth and underwent drastic surgical alteration before he settled down with Mama Sulu. I know I shouldn't complain because any ElderSuper flashback is better than no flashback at all. Just saying, Heroes casting department -- WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! Hiro discovers that Kensei is Adam Monroe, and that Papa Sulu ordered Adam's incarceration 30 years earlier. He gets the date and address of Adam's incarceration and resolves to "do this." I'm not sure what "do this" means -- whether Hiro meant he needed to go back in time to find Adam, or whether he just needed to find out why Adam was locked up in the first place. But he teleports out of Yamagato Empire and leaves Ando lamenting that he's been ditched "again." Here comes another five episodes of contemplation, video games, and visits to the Kensei Fan Club. A cardboard cutout for Ando, please! Hiro visits Company Medical in 1977. This is so exciting, people! Just think, Hiro could ditch this Company conspiracy garbage and join millions of nerds rejoicing over the birth of a sci-fi phenomenon! The actor playing Young Papa Sulu does his best to imitate his older self's cadence and intonation. It comes out less like George Takei and more like William Shatner. You know, with the random affected pauses for dramatic effect? "You betrayed ... everything ... we stand for ... by releasing a virus ... that could kill ... billions ... of innocent people." Young(er) Adam speaks normally, explaining that man's "disregard" for the environment and propensity for war meant he needed to "make the hard choice for the greater good." Which sounds a lot like Linderman, but it's subtle enough that you can believe Kring & Co. slipped it in to make it sound like Adam was the one who talked that way and that it rubbed off onto Linderman. Good writing, and good continuity. Hiro watches the confrontation, then scampers through the hall and eavesdrops on Young Papa Sulu's conversation with Young Victoria. I'd point out that Hiro's probably being caught on surveillance cameras, but it's not like The Company ever actually uses its cameras, or even switches them on. Young Victoria worries over the devastation Strain 138 could bring and pulls out of the project. This raises all kinds of questions about the other 137 variations on the Shanti Virus, but also makes me wonder how Victoria and Angela could have remained on such good terms that it would take Matt's Parkman-whammy to force Victoria's location out of Angela. Aaaaaand again, the most interesting questions come from the ElderSuper backstory. In the present, Peter glimpses Victoria's newspaper clippings that chronicle Angela's confession to the murder of Papa Sulu. Peter's like, "Huh?" And Victoria's just, "You look like your mother," instead of, "What kind of son comes back from the dead and gets his memories back after four months and DOESN'T EVEN CALL HIS MOM TO LET HER KNOW HE'S OK?" In light of the discovery that his mother's been jailed and an ElderSuper's responsible for the virus which kills most of the general population, Peter focuses on what really matters. "There was a woman ... Caitlin ... If you just tell me where to find the virus, I know that I can save her." "(...and, you know, everyone else.)" Victoria's so bowled over by this story that she gives Peter a false location in New Mexico. Peter tells Adam the good news so they can rush off to destroy the virus, even though they have no clue how to safely dispose of the virus once they find it. Victoria puts bullets in both of them. You wouldn't think a bullet to a villain's chest -- a villain who can instaheal -- could be so shocking. But it happens so suddenly that your immediate reaction -- before "Oh, he'll regenerate, it's cool" -- is "Oh %#*@!" And Peter, in a parallel to Mohinder's "I Love The Company" loyalty, blindly ignores Victoria's suspicion of Adam and pwns her to save his friend. Which, Aww, but also, Oh, Peter, REALLY. Romantic Picnic Getaway. Alejandro goes online, visits the New York Chronicle, and learns that someone stumbled onto Mama Gray's corpse. Maya bursts in and tells her brother about Sylar's success in helping her control her ability. I'm not sure why every scene with these two lends itself so well to images, but you can't deny that these actors work hard to bring their scenes to life. It's kind of sad that they're trying so hard. Maya holds a copy of the article with the headline "LOCAL MAN WANTED IN MOTHERS [SIC] MURDER." Maya: "I don't believe it! It's not true!" Sylar doesn't even try to deny it. And Maya's reaction is ... Well, it is quite sad, so you can't begrudge Maya for crying over this. But Sylar? ^ ^ Moist eyes? Real grief or pretense? He's twisting the truth and manipulating Maya's reaction, and he seemed indifferent to Mama Gray's death when he was painting the apocalypse in her blood. But there's a part of Zach Quinto's performance here that's really quite convincing -- so convincing that you wonder if you're supposed to buy into it. "Fooled you!" The hands on her shoulders! The eyes on the back of her scalp! The fallen angel turning a sister away from her brother! It's ... dumb. You feel bad for Peter for the way he's duped by Adam; you can kind of admire Mohinder's conviction while Bob's playing him; but Maya being manipulated into sending her brother away? Maybe it's just me, but I don't feel bad for her or sympathize with her -- I actually hope she suffers a slow and agonizing scalping once Sylar gets his powers back. And I feel sorry for Alejandro. Not because he's now facing the prospect of retreading hundreds of miles on his own with only a smattering of English and no money and no one he can trust, but because he has such a colossally impressionable sister who could be persuaded to abandon the brother she's grown up with for an infatuation with a stranger she met on a desert road. In Maine, Adam ties up Victoria while Peter ignores her claims of Adam's duplicity. Again, I'm very tempted to give Peter a Dumb As Parkman Award, but you could argue that between four months in a cell next to the guy and the debt of gratitude he owes him for healing Nathan, Peter's loyalty to Adam is close to unshakable. Then Peter does get a moment of uncertainty: And HERE'S what earns Peter a PING! Dumb As Parkman Award, because if the guy was smart enough to mindread Victoria, you have to wonder why he never acts on his uncertainty by mindreading Adam. Chances are Adam's trained his mind to resist all mindreading, especially after recruiting Maury, but the fact that Peter never even tries to get a read on Adam is surprising; after this scene, we know there's a hint of uncertainty creeping into his mind. Adam unties Victoria, counting on Victoria's attempt to shoot Peter as a justification to shoot her. Which is one hell of a risk to take because if Adam had paused for a moment longer and if Victoria had shot a moment sooner, Peter would be dead. Instead, we say bye-bye to Joanna Cassidy as Victoria Pratt. That didn't last long. I'm a little disappointed that Peter didn't insist on giving Victoria a transfusion and healing the bullet wound, but the implication is that Peter doesn't have time for anything if it doesn't involve Caitlin. It's also rather saddening that he walks out of the house and leaves Adam to decide whether to cover the corpse or let it fester. It's as if Peter's becoming so accustomed to death that he isn't even fazed by it anymore. Dawson Superhome. Damon returns home after letting Micah's backpack get stolen by a gang of kids. Micah starts beating the crap out of Damon until Niki and Uhura break them apart. Micah: "We need to be heroes!" As in, "We need to be Heroes"? I don't know if there's any meaning behind that pun, but the show does need to be Heroes. And soon. Niki: "Being a hero is what got your father killed." No, Niki forcing D.L. to come to her rescue after flushing her pills and running off to a coke dealer in L.A. while possessed by an alternate personality is what got him killed. What kind of spin has Niki put on D.L.'s death? Alejandro visits Sylar at the Romantic Picnic Getaway. Alejandro: "I'm taking my sister!" ^ ^ In English! Aww! Sylar and Alejandro scuffle. Again. And then Sylar stabs Alejandro with a knife and Alejandro dies. And ... that's it. Let's be thankful we didn't have a chance to get attached to the guy. If we had, the way this was handled would have been even more tragic. Farewell, Alejandro! We felt like we knew you. You loved your sister. And had the ability to absorb the Tears of Death. And got married to your girlfriend after four months because it was romantically impulsive. And were computer literate. But not particularly good at stealing cars. And ... that's pretty much everything we knew about you after 10 episodes. You know the best way to distract us from a badly-written, badly-edited death? Uh, yeah, that'll do it. Plus points for continuity: he still has the stab wound in his chest. Minus points for the way Sylar apparently strips and showers within about 10 seconds. Maya resolves to send her brother home in order to "protect" him. This, it seems, extends to not even saying goodbye to him. And, sure, Sylar probably told Maya her brother had already gone. But the fact that she actually fell for that idea? That she'd be cool with her brother leaving without saying goodbye and fending for himself as he headed back down to the U.S. border, across Mexico, through Honduras and back to the Dominican Republic where his friends and wife were dead and where his sister was wanted for murder? That's what Maya does to "protect" her brother? There's a point where you have to ask whether someone who's being manipulated is mentally deficient. At this point, the plot stops functioning. It stops being a plot and devolves into farce. Ten episodes in, having tried to give it the benefit of the doubt, having tried to reserve judgment, I have to ask: WHAT WAS THE POINT? What has this storyline achieved? Has it raised any significant questions? Has it put forward any meaningful themes? Has any of it tied in with the larger story? Those aren't rhetorical questions. As always, feel free to let me know what I've been missing. I don't think I've been unfairly harsh on this storyline in previous reviews, but I'm at a point where I can't see how it's going to connect to the show's central story arcs. There's nothing that could redeem this storyline and justify the attention it's gotten. It sapped screen time which could have gone on Matt's separation from Janice. Or Nathan's separation from Heidi. Or Niki's experiences after she checked into The Company. Or Noah's collusion with Mohinder. Or Matt and Mohinder adopting Molly. Or Sandra and Lyle asking Noah about his job at The Company. Or West's life at home and his relationship with his parents. Or Ando's effort to return to a normal life in Tokyo. Or Monica discovering her abilities. Or D.L. joining the fire department in Las Vegas before he died. Or anything -- in any shape or form -- relating to the ElderSupers. Or even a day in the life of Mr. Muggles. And, truthfully, it's painful to say that, because it goes without saying that a lot of people put a lot of effort into planning and realizing this story thread. The problem is the Maya/Alejandro story has been so far removed from the rest of the show and turned out to be so totally pointless that I'm not sure why it was here in the first place. ANYWAY, we cut to Canine Central, where Claire's unpacking the wind chimes which send a signal to the Haitian. Which is another nod to continuity, but also makes you wonder what happened to the Haitian after he and Noah returned from Ukraine. Claire's recollection of her various injuries was amazing. Great dialogue, and one of the few moments in this episode that stand out as memorable. Convincingly delivered by Hayden, and believable from a character whose physical invulnerability would make her complacent about healing from any kind of pain. Claire asking the Haitian to wipe her memory of Noah is an intriguing "What If?" You have to wonder if it would last more than a few minutes after the way Peter recovered his memories; given that Noah's what matters most to her, and given that every part of her life leads back to him one way or another, it's not like anything -- short of sending Claire to Ireland -- would keep her memories from immediately restoring themselves. Still, the tragedy's in the idea that Claire would want to forget her attachment to her father. At the Former Apartment of Clairvoyance, Mohinder concocts a cure for Niki. Bob continues to plug the advantages of "a safe way to remove the abilities of dangerous individuals," which suddenly makes me wonder whether Bob was the middle-man back in the 70s. I mean, if he wasn't on the Kaito/Victoria anti-virus team, and if he wasn't on the loony Go Adam! Linderman/Angela/Maury team, chances are Bob was the liberal who wanted to placate both sides and safely develop a way to restrain out-of-control supers. But then, he's also the dad who pushed his daughter's ability until she snapped, so he could very well be closer to the Raving Loony Team than the Sane & Skeptical Team. Bob asks Mohinder what he can do to regain his confidence, which is odd, because until now Bob pretty much issued orders and put up with Mohinder's complaints and protests because he knew Mohinder would end up doing what The Company wanted. This moment lends credibility to Mohinder's new-found conviction because it implies that Mohinder really does have an influence on Company directives. Does Bob actually care what Mohinder wants? Probably not. But the fact that Bob's even trying to gauge Mohinder's state of mind and give the impression that he cares underlines how important Mohinder is to The Company. Which, if nothing else, gives Mohinder some leverage to bargain his way into effecting real change in the organization. It's disappointing to see a company that seemed so formidable at the start of the show be reduced to something so malleable, but it's great to see Mohinder gain some influence in The Company. Dawson Superhome. Monica dresses up as St. Joan and lets Micah tag along to retrieve D.L.'s medal. The iPod which Bob gave Monica contains footage to enable effective B&E skills. Hilariously, it doesn't provide an effective exit. Or it does, but Monica doesn't bother to study and imitate that. The break-in sequence was nicely done; good stuntwork, good music, and it brought a sense of urgency and drama to a thread which felt pretty slow this week. Then ... Dilemma! Monica retrieves the medal, the comic, AND the backpack. The gang pulls up outside the house with their van and SUV. This is so straightforward that it warrants a multiple choice. Does Monica: (a) put the medal and comic into the backpack, put the backpack around her shoulders, surprise the gang with a 619 and then run for her life, (b) introduce herself to the gang, explain that the medal is a memento of a kid's dead father, and that it'd be the cool thing to let her leave with it, (c) take the medal, leave the cumbersome backpack, wait until the gang's inside the house, then exit by the roof, the way she came, or (d) hide on the ceiling with comic AND backpack AND medal, and ... wait until it's convenient to climb down. The fact that Monica froze with terror when the kids found her on the ceiling isn't hard to buy into; she's got several guns pointed at her and she's terrified. But the fact that she gathered everything in her arms and opted for the ceiling plan at all when there was a clear escape route out of the house the way she'd gotten in? That's just ... PING! Dumb As Parkman. Costa Verde Beachfront. Beautifully shot. It's difficult to connect with the emotion in the scene because we know the family's grieving over the death of a man who's alive, but it is well shot. The problem here is that, beyond the visual element of the scene and the quality of the performances (and, truthfully, Hayden's performance here bordered on wooden), this scene lacked the impact it should have had. It's going to lose all resonance when Noah shows up alive, so you're essentially left waiting for Noah to break out of the Company cell and return to his family. In the meantime, you're not sure why you should share any grief or regret with the characters. Elle sits in her car slurping a Slusho until Claire sees her, then fumbles for the car keys and spills the Slusho. Which is idiotic and extraneous and contributes nothing to the plot, but it makes Elle look so adorably hapless and unfortunate that you feel sorry for her when Claire slams her against the car and smashes the window. Scary role reversal; you wouldn't think there'd be a moment when Elle became the helpless and powerless one and Claire became the violent and threatening one. Too cool. Gross, but too cool. I love how the flesh in her hand pushes out the glass the way Peter's chest spat out a bullet. It shows consistency in the ability. Another cool detail in this scene was Elle's lightning bolt necklace. Not important to the story, but a nice detail for the character. Claire decides she's going to avenge her father and bring down The Company by revealing her ability to the world. Oh, Claire. First, it's a plan Simone came up with. And all Simone plans are bad. Second, it's not like no one's ever tried the same thing and been branded a nutjob for it. Third, as you've pointed out, you'd be a guinea pig for the rest of your life. Fourth, and mostly because Claire couldn't possibly know about two of the previous points, it's insaaaaaaaaaaaaaaane. Sylar calls Mohinder on his cell phone. Subtle nod to continuity with the Zane Taylor charade, as well as providing a truly scary moment for the former villain: threatening Molly to Mohinder over the phone while making it seem harmless to Maya who's standing next to him. Tense, unsettling, and well thought out. It's the first scene with Sylar all season that I'd describe as genuinely worthy of Zach Quinto's talent. Matt left Molly with a babysitter while he went to find Victoria? As in, a non-superpowered, un-clued-in, run-of-the-mill babysitter? He left Molly with a babysitter when he knows The Company wants to exploit her ability and that she was only just beginning to recover from a nightmare-induced coma inflicted by Matt's father? PING! Dumb As Parkman. And Matt earned it without even appearing in the episode. Do NOT leave your superpowered foster-daughter with a babysitter while you go on a wild goose chase looking for an ElderSuper! Yamagato Empire. Hiro returns and wakes Ando from his nap. He knows that Adam wants the virus at the Primatech Fun Factory. Did I miss something? Hiro discovered that Adam tried to release the virus in 1977, that he was locked up for it, that the virus was stored in Odessa, that Adam's now free, and that he killed Papa Sulu. And therefore Adam's again planning to release the virus? Seriously, I need someone to spell this out for me because I'm sure I missed something. I'm not saying every trivial detail had to be explained, but this isn't the same as "regeneration = immortality." This is a key development in the plot which relies on solid deductive reasoning from A to B to C, and Hiro just made a jump from A to C that would be IMPOSSIBLE with the scant information he has. Hiro has no way of knowing that Adam's still trying to release the virus, or that Adam only just broke out of The Company, or that Strain 138 is even still stored at the Odessa Primatech facility. All he knows is there was a strain of the virus stored there, that Adam once tried to release that strain, and that he just killed Hiro's dad. That IN NO WAY adds up to Adam suddenly returning to a plan he attempted 30 years ago. Primatech Fun Factory. Adam and Peter walk in, time freezes, and Peter finds Hiro standing behind him just like he did when they met on the subway. This was the one moment in the episode when I sat up and said wow. The way the camera circles Peter the exact same way it did when Peter met Future Hiro, and the way it's staged so that they're standing at the exact same angles they were when they met on the subway -- that's so vividly reminiscent of "Collision" that I had to say wow. Hiro and Peter are reunited. Peter wants to know why Hiro teleported away and never came back when they were facing off with Sylar at Superhero Square. Hiro wants to know what happened to Peter after he was about to explode. And what happened to his hair. Peter wants to offer his condolences for the death of Papa Sulu, and, based on the clippings he saw at Victoria's house, whether his mom might have had something to do with it. Hiro wants to know whether Peter's really in league with a murderer, or whether he's perhaps playing the murderer in a devious scheme that'll eventually lead to his downfall. Peter wa- Nah, screw that. Let's not bother having anyone communicate. Let's just have Hiro tell Peter that Adam killed his father, then have Peter refuse to let Hiro kill Adam, then ... Dun-dun-DUN! This is going to be intense! He's ready to kill Peter! He's starting to run! He's running! He's still running! Uh, still running! You maybe wanna grab a drink or something? Plenty of time. He's still running, trust me. What can I say about this one, folks? If you enjoyed it, great. I tried to, but as the penultimate episode of the volume -- and possibly the season -- this was a disappointment. Maybe we weren't supposed to compare it with "Landslide"; between the smaller volume and the writers' strike, maybe this can't be compared with the show's format last season, and maybe we can't expect a tight script and a fast pace and a sensible focus on the central story arcs. But then, most of that's stuff I'd expect in every episode, not just the episode leading into a finale. I'm docking points for the leaps in logic which Hiro's storyline demanded just for it to work; for the lack of communication between Peter and Hiro when they met; for the emptiness of the Claire storyline that involves grieving over the death of a character we know is alive; for the attention given to the Micah storyline involving a reminder of a character which the show spent most of the season ignoring; for the way Alejandro was killed off and written out; and for the sheer, unimaginable stupidity which Maya demonstrated this week. That's pretty much enough to drag this episode down to a 1 out of 5. What saves it is a decent opening sequence, a couple of neat details and nods to continuity, some good acting from the cast, the ElderSuper flashback, Mohinder becoming more assertive, and the potential of Peter and Hiro facing off before they figure the situation out together. All in all, that raises the quality just above "Kindred," although not by much. I wish I could have been more positive as the volume draws to a close, but however you look at it, this doesn't inspire confidence for next week's episode. 2.5 out of 5]]> tag:www.herosite.net,2007:/blogs/otto//3.51 2007-11-22T19:42:09Z 2008-02-26T15:00:30Z

Overview: Hiro goes back in time to save Papa Sulu, but Papa Sulu's adamant about dying because it's destiny and because Hiro's not supposed to meddle with God's will. After meeting himself as a 9 year old, Hiro agrees. Matt...

Otto Berkeley Overview: Hiro goes back in time to save Papa Sulu, but Papa Sulu's adamant about dying because it's destiny and because Hiro's not supposed to meddle with God's will. After meeting himself as a 9 year old, Hiro agrees. Matt begins to harness the Parkman whammy, coercing Angela into revealing the name of the one remaining ElderSuper we haven't already met. Bob kidnaps Claire, and Noah and West kidnap Elle. They trade hostages, but it ends with Mohinder putting a bullet in Noah's eye. Which is as devastating as it sounds, even after we learn that someone injected Noah with a sample of Claire's blood so he'd regenerate.]]> Review: Wait, Mohinder kills Noah and doesn't even get a voice-over? Seriously? Oh, screw that! V.O. Mohinder: "And after black tears had been shed and purple flags painted and reptilian limbs severed and blah-de-blah-de-blah ... we asked that the show might once again rock. And lo, the show heard our plea, for it gave us 'Cautionary Tales,' and we saw that it was good, because even though Mohinder shot Noah and it scared the living daylights out of us, the doggie bath was relevant to the plot, and Elle was complex, and West was tolerable, and Noah reclaimed his title as the Undisputed King of All Things Epic." "They gave my voice-over to Hiro?" They did. And it was poignant and heartfelt and beautiful, and should be like this every week. But they also gave the rest of the characters great dialogue and storylines. And they allowed the cast an opportunity to act the heck out of their scenes. And they did so with rather delightful panache, and an unpredictable plot, and lots of visually stunning moments that were the height of awesome. And I have the usual complaints and criticisms, but they're few and far between, because this episode, from start to finish, was nothing short of a masterpiece. We open at Canine Central with unnerving music and dog statues. Noah, Sandra, and Lyle pack boxes. Claire packs her bag for school. You could interpret Claire's defiance as "taking a moral stand against a morally gray father" or "making it clear that the family can't keep running forever," or just "I'm the brat who caused this, but I'm going to play the Blame Bennet game and live in denial because packing boxes would ruin my nails and I don't want to say goodbye to my boyfriend." But it's kind of sad how Sandra and Lyle immediately pack without ever challenging Noah's decision. It's also kind of sad that it took until now for the mistrust in the family to come to the surface. I mean, Sandra pretty much gives Noah her full support here, even though he nearly caused her brain damage; and Lyle insists to Claire that Noah doesn't abduct people, even though he heard it first-hand from two of Noah's lab rats last season; and it's not like Claire hasn't known about her dad's lies and deception since he wiped her friend's memories. But Punk'd West infuriates Claire every bit as much as a mom with a brain tumor. Hayden plays Claire's hatred towards Noah convincingly, and of course it's understandable, but you have to wonder why Claire waited so long to express it. I guess the fact that Claire's father bagged and tagged her boyfriend makes Noah's past more immediate and more tangible to her, but I also hope the ramifications of Noah's actions are a little more long-lasting this time than they've been so far, and that we don't get another false reconciliation followed by a fresh start and a breakdown in communication between a family that had already been through a horrific ordeal and apparently never discussed it. We cut to Tokyo, Japan. Mercifully, it's in the present day. Saemi Nakamura's cameo was a subtle touch; just the fact that Kimiko was there for her father's funeral, even if she didn't get any dialogue, and even if her appearance wasn't acknowledged by any of the other characters. Hiro blaming himself for Papa Sulu's death and refusing to accept that his father's gone are well played by Masi Oka. They're also consistent with the character, given the way he blamed himself for his failure to save Charlie. As per that previous tragedy, it's Hiro's first instinct to go back in time to fix it. Part of the lesson Hiro takes from his father's death is that altering the past isn't a solution to every disaster he encounters, but you can already see shades of the obsessive Future-Hiro in the guy who lost his first love and his parents and who's now forced to accept that he can't do anything to change it. Or he can change it, but he knows he's not supposed to. We'll get to that. Molly comes home to Chandra's Crib, gets a full night's sleep, and once again becomes a carbon copy of Janice. Matt: "How'd you sleep?" Molly [actual dialogue]: "On my pillow." Molly [translation]: "On a bed of clouds, dumbass -- what do you think?" Matt refuses to let Molly find the locations of the remaining ElderSupers, which earns Matt a few Favorite Daddy points, even though they're lost later when Matt decides a better approach is to give an old lady a nosebleed and prize the information out of her. But the fact that Matt refuses to endanger Molly -- on principle, even after Maury's been incapacitated -- at least shows Matt learning from his mistakes. Matt discovers the Parkman whammy, which is basically coercion by planting thoughts into people's heads and compelling them to act on those thoughts. Forcing a kid to finish her cereal and "be a little girl"? OK, that's inoffensive enough. And to be fair, it's not like Matt forced Molly to strangle a kitten or steal candy from a blind person or graffiti "MOHINDER SUCKS!" all over the apartment. But there's something objectionable about climbing into the head of a kid and forcing her to act on the thoughts he put there; it was objectionable enough when Matt fooled Janice into believing he was an observant, intuitive stud. This goes a step further by skipping the "fooling" stage and going straight to the "believing" stage. It's funny, but it's also kind of disturbing when you recall what Maury went on to do with it, and when you imagine the kind of things that a self-serving, weak-minded idiot like Matt will do with it. At least he feels guilty about it. ^ ^ Guilty face! Mohinder, Midas Bob, and Elle meet at San Pedro. Mohinder demonstrates shrewd deductive reasoning by realizing that "take out" is Bob's euphemism for "kill." Hilariously, he fails to realize that he's functioning as someone's tool for about the billionth time on this show. Poor Mohinder. Mohinder: "I'm not choosing sides -- this is about Claire's blood curing Niki. I'm just trying to do the right thing for everyone." Blindly naive, hopelessly idealistic, or downright dumb? Your call. I think this was the show's way of establishing that Mohinder's motivation for shooting Noah was nobility rather than revenge or panic or stupidity. You could argue that he's ignoring Noah's experience with The Company and trusting them to keep their word about curing the Shanti Virus, but the fact that it's established as early as this that Mohinder's goal above all else was to save Niki goes a long way to redeeming his actions this week. Bob confirms what most of us suspected: Elle is his daughter. Biological or adopted? I guess it doesn't matter, although I'd say it's a detail worth throwing in at some point so that we can see how close the parallel to Noah and Claire really runs. Regardless, it highlights how suspicious the guy in charge of The Company would be of everyone around him, and why he'd choose his daughter as the one person he'd trust not to betray him. Also, this? ... ... is totally hilarious, and totally cool, and totally in character for someone who'll use any excuse to wantonly destroy stuff. I love how there's even a plume of smoke coming off her finger after she Ellectrifies the daiquiri. Claire writes out "S-O-R-R-Y" in a field using rocks, figuring West will see it when he flies to school. This assumes he's suddenly flying to school, even though we've seen him nearly run Claire over outside school. But who cares, because this scene is the first of several this week that achieves the unthinkable -- IT MAKES WEST LIKABLE! Believe me, nothing surprised me more about this episode. But not only does Nick D'Agosto grab the one decent script he got on this show and run with it like a pro; he manages to make the character endearing enough that the majority of fans who loathed him with the intensity of a thousand fiery suns suddenly want to see more of him. It's partly the story that makes this possible; the fact that West gets to do more than stalk the girl he has a crush on and spout one-liners and play pranks on cheerleaders. But I think what makes West's storyline work here is the way the character's pretense disappears. For once, D'Agosto has an opportunity to play the character sans bulls**t, and his whole performance changes because of it. "I am hurt! I am upset! I have feelings! I am no longer a smug, obnoxious caricature! Yay me!" The posture changes along with the attitude; he's more insecure and defensive than ever, but he's not even trying to cover it up, and it takes away the phoneyness. There's suddenly something direct and honest and straightforward about the character, and his scenes immediately become more watchable because of it. Matt goes back to being "an underpaid cop." He helpfully shows us a clear, unobstructed image of the ElderSupers: Matt: "These guys are involved in some kind of organization, like from back in the seventies." Fuller: "Like a disco?" I resent that. It's been made abundantly clear that Angela was a punk-rocker. The two ladies on the left are already dead? So are the two guys sitting on the right? Shame. Fuller's like, "Earth to Parkman! Focus!" And Matt's all, "I can solve this puzzle and save lives!" And Fuller's just, "Pshaw! Do some real detective work before I fire you, loser!" And Matt does what he did to save his marriage and get his detective badge: he cheats. Is working the Parkman whammy on Fuller funny? Sure. And I get that Matt was determined to prove he was right, and that he wanted to exonerate Angela and save the rest of the ElderSupers. But he's applying his ability to get what he wants without worrying about the consequences. Who else did that? The woman who stole a Ferrari and told a cop to go eat a box of donuts. One of them was coercing people for fun and one of them is now coercing people to save lives, but the premise behind it -- brainwashing people into cooperation -- is the same. And we laugh it off here, but I'm seriously beginning to wonder if there's some truth to the speculation that Matt's going to turn into one of the show's villains. At Canine Central, Noah pulls out paperwork on all the supers he bagged and tagged. He keeps this information in Primatech boxes? Cute detail. If that elicits an aww, the show has successfully suckered you into being charmed by the happy smile of a kid who went on to become a contemptible jerk. Problem is, it's hard to look at that and NOT say aww. Sandra wonders whether Noah really did capture and perform tests on a kid. I can buy that Sandra's still in the dark about Company operations, and that she can't believe her husband would be cruel enough to traumatize a boy by abducting him. But the way it comes across here, it seems like Noah hasn't told her a thing about The Company and its methods. And I still can't believe a character as intelligent and perceptive as Sandra wouldn't be demanding answers about Noah's work. But now, finally, Noah begins to tell Sandra everything. And even though it took unbelievably long for Noah to be honest with his family, it's a delight to see, and it's accompanied by -- -- one of the most stunning shots of the episode. Whoever came up with that is a genius, because it's that kind of visual wizardry that makes this episode so brilliant. Noah takes Sandra's hand and tells her he really needs her. And we sort of feel sorry for him, even though he lied to everyone and murdered his mentor and kidnapped a little boy and deserves zero sympathy from us. And Sandra's wondering if she should feel any sympathy for him, because even though she's looking at an image of him dead, she's trying to grasp the level of deceit which Noah is capable of, and the pain his involvement in The Company inflicted on his victims and his family. And Ashley Crow absolutely rocks in this scene, because she conveys ALL of that within seconds and with just a couple of expressions. Noah calls Mohinder, and he's like, "Hey, about me implying you were expendable -- no hard feelings? Good. Now, I need Molly to locate the little punk who's been dating my daughter so that I can manipulate him." And Mohinder's like, "OK." And it's sort of sad that the only time Noah says "Thank you" to Mohinder and actually means it is when he realizes he's about to lose his family and get a bullet in the eye. Mohinder immediately relays the contents of the call to Bob and suggests luring Noah away from Claire with a false location. I can't figure out how this makes sense: if the plan is to snatch Claire at school and Noah's busy trying to locate West, doesn't that basically put Claire in the open and make her an easy target? I guess Bob wants to know exactly where Noah is so there's no risk of him showing up to pop holes in everyone's heads, but wasn't Noah's preoccupation with West a sign that the guy's pretty distracted at the moment anyway? On the Rooftop of Pigeonly Delight, Hiro watches Papa Sulu gloating over Angela for the way he "helped" his son fulfill his destiny. Hiro reveals himself to Papa Sulu, and dad's like, "Hey, son, you've been gone for four months and had me worried sick -- thanks for NOT writing and NOT calling and NOT e-mailing!" And Hiro's all, "Yeah, I've been busy changing history and following my hormones -- good times! I hear you died in the meantime, so I'm here to prevent it." And Papa Sulu's just, "Dead, eh? Aw, shucks, that's life, my boy. Deal with it." "What?! Wait a second, Papa, WHAT?!?" "This is my fate, son. Our powers make us like gods, but we cannot play God." "Who's talking about playing God, Papa? I'm talking about teleporting you away from these pigeons so that you won't be here when some hooded guy shows up to push you over the ledge. You're being stubborn." "Your emotions are clouding your judgment." "Well, yeah, my dad's about to fall 30 stories to his death. I might be a little emotional. Let me show you HOW emotional ..." And they teleport away, leaving me wondering what the hell just happened here. I mean, I can appreciate Papa Sulu taking a fatalistic stance on the will of God, and the idea of him believing certain events are set in stone, particularly when they involve the ElderSupers paying for the "pain and suffering" they caused. It's difficult to get behind this when we haven't witnessed said "pain and suffering" and can't judge for ourselves whether it warrants the ElderSupers dying horribly, but Papa Sulu's protest against his son "playing God" works just fine. Thing is, this isn't like Hiro's puppy love dying no matter what he does. All Hiro needs to do is make sure Papa Sulu gets his flight back to Japan THE WAY HE SAYS HE'S GOING TO so that he's not around when the super who's been locked up by the ElderSupers for 30 years and who's now hellbent on killing them all comes knocking. That's not "playing God" -- that's "being smart and taking preventive measures." It's sort of like not placing your head between the jaws of an antagonized crocodile because you KNOW you're going to lose a head if you do. "But this is different! Hiro has seen how history unfolds! He needs to accept the course of events!" Does he? If he does, why undertake a mission to alter the course of events that leads to New York exploding? How is altering the fate of one person different than altering the fate of a city? "Because this person wants to die." OK, but that's a different argument to the one the show puts forward at Mama Sulu's funeral, which is, "Everyone dies, and even heroes can't change that, but a parent's legacy lives on in the values they instilled in their children." That's a sound argument and a good point to make. Papa Sulu's argument here is different. He's choosing to accept his death, which hinges on the idea that he "deserves" to die for some crime that hasn't yet been established. And until it is, the way Papa Sulu essentially gives up and hands himself over to destiny lacks a solid rationale. Implying that the circumstances surrounding a murder shouldn't be averted falls flat. Shouldn't the message be that we fight to make a difference for as long as we possibly can? Anyway. Canine Central. West snatches Noah on the guy's doorstep, takes him a few thousand feet into the sky, and demands to know if Claire ever really cared about him. *PING!* West wins a Dumb As Parkman Award for thinking anyone will be truthful in this situation and not, you know, TELL HIM EXACTLY WHAT HE WANTS TO HEAR. Noah: "She lied to me, so I'm guessing you're pretty important to her." Alternative response: "Go to hell, you little punk! She never told me about you because she was too embarrassed to admit it to herself! Also? I had a blast experimenting on you!" West and Noah float back down to the ground, and Noah does what we always hoped he would: he tackles West, and then he... Wait ... That's it? Come on, Noah -- you blew your mentor's brains across his apartment. The least you could do here is break West's fingers and flog him with a tree branch or something. I choose to believe Noah totally would have, except Mohinder calls with a false location on West, and it forces Noah to return to his crafty scheming. Claire attends cheerleading practice, clinging to some sense of routine and normality in spite of the fact that she's about to be homeless and parentless and in full range of the organization which wants to find out whether it really is true that her body grows back from her head if she's decapitated. Bob shows up and pretends to be a member of the state board of education concerned about underage drinking. Presumably, the plan was to walk Claire to a secluded part of the school and then chloroform her? It would have worked, and Noah would never have needed to be "taken out." Except Bob uses this moment to be so extraordinarily sloppy that he blurts out Bennet instead of Butler. Which is consistent with the idiot who put two resourceful supers in adjacent jail cells and then decided not to use the surveillance cameras in their cells to make sure they weren't communicating. But it's still so shockingly dumb that I can't bring myself to give Bob a Dumb As Parkman Award. Instead, I'm going to assume this was a deliberate mistake on Bob's part because Bob knew he needed to meet Noah in order to fulfill Isaac's paintings. Mohinder tries to make chit-chat with Elle by asking her how many people she's killed. Strangely, Elle does not leap at the chance to provide Mohinder with the same mini-bio she gave Peter. We can only speculate why Elle felt she could trust Peter with her life story and not Mohinder. Poor Mohinder. The women he meets either denounce his father as a madman, pretend to love him so that they can steal his research, break his nose, or refuse to talk to him altogether. So Mohinder runs back to Noah. Oh, don't, fan-fic writers. Is this a reversal of the pilot episode? Mohinder and Noah in a car, only now Noah's the one driving the car and Mohinder's the Company Man? It's a neat way of drawing attention to the fact that Mohinder's now the one defending The Company's agenda. He's nowhere near as intimidating as Anonymous Trenchcoat Guy was, but the way the scene is shot, with Noah's eyes reflected in the mirror, and the way the show even plays the same piano motif in the background that we heard back in "Genesis," it's a surreal throwback. Claire returns to Canine Central and discovers the image (on the laptop which is conveniently switched on and open) of Noah lying dead on the ground while Claire's in the arms of Mystery Guy. The horror of this discovery is compounded with Sandra's homage to every horror B-movie ever made in which an unthreatening character silently approaches the protagonist from behind and decides that a hand on the shoulder will somehow reassure them. The horror of these two moments is then compounded with Midas Bob showing up with a gun in his hand and Tobolowsky giving that fake smile he's so good at. And that is truly the scariest moment of this scene. Mohinder brings Noah in for Ellectrification. Noah: "Elle, huh?" Mohinder: "You know her?" Noah [loaded with subtext]: "Oh, yeah." Elle [flirtatiously]: "Hey, you." Is it me? Did that not completely give it away? West flies in and saves Noah by throwing Elle against a [PRODUCT PLACEMENT] Nissan. West ... saves ... Noah. ?!?!?!?!? This is the same character who crept around outside Claire's house and humiliated Claire in class, right? It seems like he's a totally different character. This one's kind of pivotal to the plot, and the plot's kind of cool. Noah starts beating on Mohinder and ends up breaking Mohinder's nose AGAIN. Poor Mohinder. Coleman scares the heck out of me in this scene. When Noah's pointing the gun at Mohinder, you wonder for a second if he'll shoot him. Unlike the time he pointed a gun at Molly, this carries the very real possibility that Noah will pull the trigger to protect Claire. And, perhaps wrongly, you can't completely begrudge him for it, because he's willing to go to any length he has to for his daughter. And West -- WEST! -- is the one who dissuades Noah from murder. Read that last line again. Seriously, the irony here is off the charts. So instead of shooting Mohinder, Noah kicks him against the car, then (presumably) abandons the guy with a broken nose, one that's obviously never going to get a chance to heal, while Noah and West drive off with Elle in the trunk. Poor Mohinder. Noah returns to Canine Central. He finds Sandra bound to a chair and tells her about the "collateral." And West walks in with Elle unconscious and slung over his shoulder, and he's like, "Hi, Mrs. Butler! Good to see you again!" And people said it was D'Agosto's bad acting that ruined the character. I don't know if it's right for the show to be plugging the comic timing of its cast in a scene which involves a family held to gunpoint, a mother bound and gagged in her home, and a psychotic mercenary being kidnapped and used as leverage against her father, but between the actor's delivery of this line and Coleman's delivery of the next, this scene was as hilarious as it was disturbing. Noah: "Did you pack Mr. Muggles's doggie bath?" ^ ^ Delivered with a straight face! Heroes? I expect this on every T-shirt at next year's Comic-Con. I also expect a gag reel on the DVD so we can appreciate the sheer strength and determination it must have taken for Coleman to get this line out without bursting into fits of laughter on every take. Elle wakes up tied to a chair, her feet soaking in water, and ends up Ellectrifying herself. Noah: "Stings like a bitch, doesn't it?" He is speaking from experience, right? Noah switches from the School of Badass Torture to the Cathedral of Shocking Revelations: not only was Midas Bob aware of The Company's efforts to push his daughter's Ellectrification beyond its limits, he was gung-ho and in charge of them, and he had his daughter Haitian-whammied so she wouldn't ever know about it. Part of it screams, "#%@^ you! I don't give a s**t if you're telling me the truth -- I hate you!" Part of it's, "Yeah, my father would be involved in something as messed up as that." Part of it's the realization that she's the cautionary tale -- and that Claire, by comparison, is the one who turned out all right. I don't know how Kristen did that, but it's a world away from the sex kitten and the sadistic torturer. It actually makes you feel sorry for her. As with West, the snarky, obnoxious facade vanishes, and for a moment, you see the character beneath the pretense. Tokyo, Japan, in 1990. Hiro teleports Papa Sulu to the day of Mama Sulu's funeral. This is extremely upsetting, but then ... Aww! And then ... Awwwww! You can tell right away that it's a different actor to the one playing the GameBoy on the Deveaux rooftop. But he's so cute, and it's such a delightful moment, you can't really complain, no more than you can poke holes into the concept by asking why this isn't unraveling the fabric of the space-time continuum. Present-Hiro makes the unsettling discovery that his mental development over 17 years hasn't progressed very far. This forces him to adopt a "grown-up" stance on Papa Sulu's death and accept that he can't keep his father from dying, but that he can honor his memory by remembering the lessons his father imparted to him. Well, OK. The idea that an individual's legacy and memory live on after death is nicely conveyed, and the idea that Hiro would realize this by meeting a younger and more naive version of himself is well thought out. And this ... ... is so staggeringly, awe-inspiringly, and beautifully shot, so I'm going to shut up and appreciate what was, ultimately, an elegantly-written discussion on the extent of Hiro's ability to prevent the death of the people he cares about. But it doesn't change my objection to the way this storyline plays out: when a psycho breaks out of jail and comes after the people who put him there and YOU KNOW IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN, you do what it takes to avert it. Death is inevitable, but the circumstances that lead up to murder? Is Hiro supposed to accept that? Especially after discovering he's responsible -- at least in part -- for creating the killer that Adam Monroe became? Hiro and Papa Sulu teleport back to the Rooftop of Pigeonly Delight, and Masi and George Takei knock their scene into the middle of next week. Papa Sulu's so overwhelmed that he's trembling. Hiro looks like he's about to start bawling. Oh, crap, now I'm getting all emotional. HE DIDN'T NEED TO LET THIS HAPPEN, PEOPLE! Hiro teleports away and leaves his father to be murdered. Oh, come on. That's essentially what happens. I'm not twisting it at all. Superhoodie shows up. Papa Sulu: "Of all of them, I never expected it would be you." Huh? You locked the guy up for 30 years, and when one of the ElderSupers started offing the rest of you, you didn't think for a second that it might be him? Looking back, that line makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Superhoodie takes Papa Sulu over the ledge. Hiro freezes time and musters enough morbid courage to walk over to the frozen display of his father locked in mid-air in a struggle with his killer. And even though most of us had figured out by this point that the killer was Kensei and Adam, it's still one of the finest dramatic reveals of the series, largely because of the disbelief Masi brings to Hiro's reaction when he makes the discovery. Underpaid Cop HQ. I love how this scene takes us back and forth on our feelings about Angela. She starts out mocking Matt for being so incompetent with the mind-whammy that she's even less impressed with him than she was with Maury. And Matt's like, "Don't mess with me, Ice Queen, I can make you finish a bowl of cereal!" And Cristine Rose takes you on an emotional rollercoaster here. Angela goes from composed-and-self-assured ... ... to scared-out-of-her-mind when Matt starts pushing her about Adam ... ... to mad-as-hell when Matt threatens to Parkman-whammy the name of the ElderSuper that Angela's protecting. Now that is formidable acting. You've already taken Papa Sulu, Heroes. If you take away the Ice Queen, there'll be trouble. Don't think I'm joking. Let me get this straight: Adam lied to the ElderSupers about being immortal? So he pretended all he could do was instaheal, and it took a decade before the ElderSupers finally twigged that the guy wasn't getting any older? "Continually regenerate" constitutes exactly how many instaheals? He's clearly the same age now that he was when Hiro met him, so if someone with cellular regeneration needs to fulfill some kind of instaheal quota before the immortality kicks in, what kind of rapid injuries must Kensei have been inflicting on himself before he developed this ability? Angela warns Matt that he's becoming his father by forcing Victoria Pratt's name out of her. And Matt takes the name anyway, securing himself a seat in the Parkman School of Corruption. Well done, Matt! You've gone from Dumb As to Corrupt As! Meanwhile, at Canine Central, West is fully redeemed of all sins by bonding with Noah and being compared to Noah by Sandra. We now go to a scary visual place in which Noah and West repaint houses together, play golf together, go fishing together, spend Christmases together, enjoy Sunday afternoons by the barbecue together, then slap one another on the back and marvel over how unbelievably amazing Claire is. Are we sure we didn't like him more when he was an arrogant jerk? Costa Verde Beachfront. Noah and West bond a little more by talking about cars. Elle gets this priceless expression: "You cannot be serious, show. You're going to force in a product placement here?" Bob, Mohinder, and Claire pull up. Mohinder, having pumped himself full of painkillers, has apparently developed sniper-level sharp-shooting. Whoops, SPOILER! Noah enunciates West and Claire's escape plan loudly enough for Elle to overhear, earning himself another Dumb As Parkman Award, because it's not impossible to whisper an exit strategy at the same time as holding a hostage at gunpoint. This scene, top to bottom, start to finish, was the most visually stunning scene of the entire run. Bar none. West lifts Claire into the air, and Elle Ellectrifies them out of the sky. Beautiful effect, and even if you know Claire's going to cushion West's fall and regenerate, it's so well-paced that you hold your breath and wonder if they aren't about to kill off West the moment they made him likable. Noah puts a bullet in Elle's arm. Was he aiming for the arm? Was he trying to spare Bob the grief of watching his daughter die? You don't get a chance to think a