Heroes, Week 20: You Dropped A Bomb On Me
C’mon, did you really expect any other subject line?
You know, for all the talk about how Mr. Linderman’s plan to drop the bomb (so to speak) and destroy New York smacks of Ozymandius’s endgame in “Watchmen,” I dare say this week’s episode will have people saying, “Is it just me, or is this a whole lot like like a cross between the ‘Days of Future Past’ saga in ‘The Uncanny X-Men’ and the plot of ‘X-Men 3‘?” And they’ll be right. I mean, seriously, you go check out those Wikipedia entries, then come back here and tell me that I’m wrong…
Also, am I the only one who, at approximately 43 minutes into the show, uttered an obscenity under their breath? Holy mother of God, was that some shit or WHAT? But we’ll get to that…
So it’s five years in the future. What’s everybody’s story?
* Peter’s a major-league badass. Nice to finally see that scar Future Hiro spoke of so many episodes ago.
* Nikica’s a stripper AND Peter’s girlfriend. (Moral: being a badass has its benefits.) Oh, yeah, and she’s also not Nikica anymore. She’s just plain Nikki. Her husband’s gone, her son’s gone, Jessica’s gone…and we don’t really know for sure what happened to any of them, except that Micah’s demise is directly related to the explosion in New York.
* Mohinder is the advisor to the President of the United States on all things Hero-related, but despite everything that’s gone on during the last five years, it’s nice to see that he’s still naively hopeful about the chances for the future…to the point that he’s willing to commit murder to achieve it.
* Matt Parkman’s working for Homeland Security (along with Brother Voodoo), and he’s become a complete and total dick.
* HRG’s rustling cattle in Texas…okay, well, not really. But that’s the phrase Nikica used, and it made me laugh. It appears that he’s actually part of an underground movement to keep Heroes safe from the government by providing them with false identities. He’s also given up his trademark glasses! What the hell…?!?
* Claire’s a waitress who’s changed her name and her hair color and is on the verge of getting married.
* Hiro’s a fucking terrorist.
* And Ando…well, let’s not discuss Ando’s future fate. It makes me sad.
* Nathan is the President of the United States…though, of course, we knew that was coming…but did we really imagine that he’d become pro-genocide, especially given that he’s a Hero himself? Why would he do that?
Oh, wait, I know why he’d do it: because he’s SYLAR! HOLY CRAP!
There were a lot of great moments in this episode, but a very small one particularly stood out for me: how sad was that pitifully honest thought of Hiro’s that Matt caught? “I just want to be a hero.”
I also loved this exchange:
Parkman: So he’s a time traveler…?
Mohinder: Is that any different than being able to read minds?
Parkman: Uh, yeah. Yeah, it is.
Other nice moments: a newscaster’s reference to “the Linderman Act,” the way Parkman yelled “WHAT?” after Peter busted in, stopped time, and swiped Future Hiro and Ando from underneath his and his people’s noses, and the sheer depth of Parkman’s assholosity, when he thanks HRG for saving his child, then proceeds to threaten his life and go after his adopted daughter. Hey, if you’re gonna become an asshole, don’t do it in half measures, right? Which is why he goes on to kill Future Hiro before the episode’s over.
Okay, so the battle between Sylar and Peter had way too much of a Darth Vader vs. Obi-Wan Kenobi overtone to it, with the red and the blue lights. I still found myself thinking, “This is AWESOME!”
“Now, the hard part,” indeed. These three last episodes are going to be something else. I say again: there’s no other show on TV that’s as must-see as “Heroes.”
One of the best episodes of the season.
And sure, the plot was a lot like that of the “X-Men” comics and movies, but what else do you expect from a show about people with superpowers? The political effects would undoubtedly be the same.
Plus, with a guy like Jeph Loeb producing, it’s hard to imagine that any of this wouldn’t feel remarkably like a comic book…
I felt like a fool that I didn’t realize that Nathan wasn’t Nathan. GOD, how did I not see that coming? Nathan’s an opportunistic politician, sure. But he’s not a murderer. Sylar, however, would love nothing more than to be the last Hero left standing. It all makes sense, though it actually makes me kind of sad knowing that Sylar is going to die. He’s a worthy foil, and I will actually miss him.
The “X-Men” parallels are unavoidable. But, as simple as this sounds, I think the mere fact that these Heroes don’t wear comic book hero-type costumes (Future Hiro excepted) humanizes them in a way that the comic books may not. I don’t speak from experience as an “X-Men” reader, so please don’t crucify me, Comic Book People. “But Aquaman, you cannot marry a woman without gills. You’re from two different worlds!”
“Oh, I’ve wasted my life.”
Amazing show but my dvr cut of the last 4 minutes anyone give a play by play
COMIC NERD ALERT- but when he mentions a boy in middle america who sucks the oxygen out of the air and wipes out the middle school , that was part of a plot in an ultimate x men story arc except the kid transformed the oxygen into organic acid and wiped out the people around him .
Peter is so bloody powerfull, actually the best hero ever gonna be
He’s to rule them all!
Agreed. Peter did look all badass in his “Matrix” trenchcoat and war scar.
A couple of things:
I believe Parkman killed HRG as well. As they cut away, you could hear a muffled gunshot, signifying HRG’s death. Future Parkman is one bad mofo.
I thought it a little odd that HRG would bring Claire back to “hide” in a town 20 miles from her hometown. Aren’t the odds pretty good that someone would recognize her? The weird thing is that scene would have worked anywhere, but they probably wanted her to be waitressing in the same coffee shop as Memory Girl did, just to show how interwoven all the Heroes’ lives are.
Otherwise, I thought it was a great episode. My favorite moment was when Mohinder cut the black string (with Sylar/Nathan there) and the whole timeline collapsed. You could see the panic in Nathan’s eyes. At that point, I thought he was just worried about his Presidency.
Well I would just have to say it was a tremendous episode but I find it interesting that no one mentioned the glaring issue, Peter admitted he was the bomb and yet Hiro is going to go back and try to kill Sylar. Clearly Sylar is not the issue, in terms of stopping the bomb, instead it’s Peter, yet it is has not been realized by the Heroes, so I do not see how they can come to the realization that it is Peter. It also makes me wonder if the image that future Hiro gave to Ando was intended to be Peter instead of Sylar but it simply going to be misinterpreted.
In reference to everything else, the fact that Nathan turned into Sylar was out of control, a great twist. Then the fight between Sylar and Peter was pretty awesome, but possibly they didn’t show what happened because they may fight again?
Also Bennett did get shot, you could distinctly hear the gunshot.
I have to say though I do have no idea how things will turn out, and am dying to see how and if they do stop the bomb, that is Peter, not Sylar.
I’m assuming Peter exploding is somehow tied to Sylar, and once Sylar’s gone, then the threat of Peter going atomic is gone too.
At least, geez, I hope so — I’d hate to see Peter killed. Seeing him in full-blown badass mode was freaking sweet.
And don’t feel bad, David — I’m sure hardly anybody guessed that Nathan was actually Sylar. I sure as hell didn’t.
A quick question. Since Peter has the power to heal himself, the power he got from Claire, how does he have a scar? Wouldn’t that immediately heal over?
I also agree with Mark, I think the Heroes are missing the fact that Peter blows up and not Sylar. This will most likely come up again later in the story.
Quick Answer….
Maybe the scar was created in the presence of the Haitian. If Peter’s powers were nulled then possibly the scar is permanent.
And to mention I heard a muffled gunshot as well so its save to assume that Bennett is a goner.
Although its probally a moot point anyway, if Hiro changes the past or present then all this would not of happened. Will it be for the better or worst, we will just have to see.
!!!!I LOVE THIS SHOW !!!!!
Didn’t Sylar call Peter “brother”???? in that final clash at the paper mill? Did Mama Petrelli have three boys or two ????/
How is it parkman was unable to read nathans/sylar’s mind? as closely as they seemed to be working together, no one found this odd?
since this was a timeline from when claire was not saved and peter did not meet the cheerleader he did not have regenerative powers. kind of complex but subtle. this in fact was now an alternate universe with the real error in claire being alive.
Huh? Claire was alive in hiding. How was she not saved?
As for Parkman not reading Nathan’s/Sylar’s mind, maybe he just never tried. Or maybe Sylar had some other power that stopped him from doing so.