Category: Heroes (Page 16 of 22)

Q: Where do you begin with an episode like this week’s “Heroes”?

A: You start with, “No, wait, I’m okay!”

Wow, what an anticlimatic opening few seconds to the next-to-last episode of the season. I mean, not that I wanted them to drag the scene out – I think we were all pretty sure that Peter wasn’t actually going to explode – but, still, to have a moment that’s been foretold for half the year end be over so quickly…it was like, “OMIGOD, I’M HAVING A HEART ATTActually, hang on, sorry, it’s just gas.”

Fortunately, the moment was quickly forgotten. One reason was because of that way that Hiro shifts from utter uncertainty to having the steadfast convinction to offer the perfect delivery of a line like, “The fate of the world is in your hands.” (No pressure.) Following that, however, the end of the pre-credits sequence – specifically, Sylar’s one-liner – was one of those “Heroes” moments where I thought, “This really is a comic book come to life.” Lots of shows (not to mention movies) have tried to capture the feel of the printed page, but it takes just the right touch to pull off a melodramatic line and have the reaction be “YES!” rather than “Gimme a BREAK.”

So Linderman isn’t Mr. Petrelli…well, unless it’s an Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader kind of thing, which I wouldn’t put past this show. He did, however, heal Nathan’s wife (I think many folks probably saw that coming; it definitely occurred to me that it could happen), which makes it even harder for Nathan to back away from Linderman’s promises of the future. Also, Linderman was some kind of shady, huh? Preying on Micah’s desire to live happily ever with his parents. Dang, that’s slack. Of course, we had another theory confirmed: that Micah’s ability to manipulate all things mechanical would involve rigging the computerized voting machines. I think, however, that the fact that Linderman has underestimated Micha’s abilities is going to come back to bite his plans in the ass…

“Don’t they know we have a sword to mend?!?” Poor Hiro; he’s so naive. (Reminds me a lot of me, actually, which might be why I’m so sympathetic to his tendency to hope for the best.) Nathan all but broke his heart…but, by God, George Takei was there to put it all back together again! Didn’t you love that look on Mr. Nakamura’s face when he swung around with the blade? There’s definitely something being set up for a story arc that takes place in the past, given the way Mr. Nakamura touched on the fact that he was once part of a group of Heroes. The same one as Linderman? I’m sure we’ll find out eventually. I loved Hiro’s comment about how Ando wasn’t going to have to die after all. “He will be so relieved!” The bit with Matt Parkman and the porn-hoarding security guard was topped only by Nikica getting a funny line for a change: “Didn’t I throw you out a window?”

But what tops that line…?

HRG saying, “Your last thought.”

Officially the BEST LINE EVER.

I still figured Molly wasn’t gonna buy it, but since there’s no such thing as a bad Mexican standoff, I still enjoyed the Mohinder / HRG confrontation. I also didn’t really believe that “Jessica” was going to kill Linderman…but I was surprised by D.L. being shot…and I was DEFINITELY surprised by his fist going right into the back of Linderman’s skull and pulling out his fucking brain! CRIMINEY!!! But the question is, since he can heal others, does his body heal itself? Even so, that’s a lot to grow back!

So it’s cliffhangers a go go to set the stage for next week. Like I even need to say it: I can’t wait.

Sylar and Nathan as sympathetic characters…? Come on.

In a series where every other scene requires a serious suspension of disbelief, that initial phone conversation between Sylar and Mohinder might’ve been the hardest bit to swallow in all of “Heroes,” especially given that, minutes later, his tone as he approached the hiding Hiro and Ando – after hearing Ando gulp! – was back to sounding like good ol’ homicidal Sylar. Fortunately, however, we weren’t provided with the opportunity to see if he’d really follow through on killing them. (By the way, when Hiro was trying to bail on following Sylar because he’s not supposed to kill Sylar for two days, I laughed out loud at Ando’s incredulous reply: “You want to hang around? Catch a show?”) And, yet, despite my skepticism at the beginning of the episode, that scene where Sylar put his mother in her very own snow globe actually started out feeling sweet before he eased into his usual psychotic behavior…though, to be fair, he looked like it was the use of his power which was actually driving him mad, given his sudden expression of regret when, upon seeing his mom’s blood, he abruptly stopped using his abilities. I’m not really surprised that Hiro wussed out when it came time to kill Sylar, but I still felt bad for him.

Fake Nikica: Why don’t you like Mr. Linderman?
Micah: I don’t know. He smells funny.

Wow. Seeing how much Linderman knows about the Heroes…well, Jessica and D.L., anyway, but you have to figure he knows everything about every single one of them…was really disconcerting, but it certainly confirmed definitively that he’s all but omniscient. (Dunno what to say about poor Micah, except that the paintings don’t exactly make his fate look promising.)

It was awful the way Thompson played on Mohinder’s memories of his sister to get him to help save Molly, but, damn, I sure hope he succeeds. If we actually have to endure Molly dying, I don’t know what I’m gonna do. Like it wasn’t bad enough when Charlie bought it, I don’t think I can handle losing that cute little girl. She’s right up there with Dakota Fanning for cuteness; you just want to give her a hug. Or maybe that’s just because I’ve got a daughter. (Lately, I find myself feeling protective of every little girl in the world.) Still, it’s a fascinating power she has; I just hope she lives to use it more than a few more times!

A small but great moment: Nathan’s eyerolling when Claire asks, “You can fly?” Man, from week to week, you just never know who’s the biggest prick on the show…but Nathan’s leading the pack after playing the narc on Claire’s revelation about the possible bomb boy. And to team with Thompson? Ugh. Poor Claire. But, suddenly, Nathan’s having second thoughts and you think for one moment he might do the right thing…until, of all people, Mama Petrelli convinces him to play along with Linderman’s plan. Oh, excuse me, it’s not just Linderman’s plan; it’s her plan, too! Paging “The Manchurian Candidate”!(Side note: I know my good friend David saw Mama show up during the last five minutes and said, “YES! We’re finally going to find out what her power is!” DENIED!!!)

So now we’re left wondering which future is going to come to pass. Tick, tock, tick, tock…

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.”

I’d love to say that time has flown since the last new “Heroes” episode, but who am I trying to kid? I’ve been waiting for this with bated breath. Basically, what I’m saying is that every Monday night since March 4th has been a waste of time. Finally, however, Mondays are worth living for again…well, for the next five weeks, anyway. And although the episode-beginning conversation between HRG and Eric Roberts was a little too melodramatic for my tastes, just about everything else within this week’s “Heroes” was spot-on.

The deceptively casual nature of the chat between Nathan and Mr. Linderman belied just how serious the discussion was. Mr. Linderman’s power to create life from lifelessness seems to arguably be one of the most powerful of all; how ironic, then, that it should be in the hands of the man who seems to be the most ethically…or, at least, morally…challenged. (It’s amazing how chilling the phrase “acceptable losses” can be when uttered in a certain context.) Linderman’s interest in Micah can’t be a good thing…and it’s clear that Nikica agrees. I wouldn’t want to be in that shapeshifter’s shoes when Miss Split Personality gets a hold of her.

The escape orchestrated by HRG with Matt and Ted was inspired, with HRG relaying instructions to Matt, who was clearly wayyyyyy out of his intellectual depth. And I wasn’t paying close enough attention, I admit it, but…was the diner where they were grabbing a meal the same one where Charlie used to work?

The battle between Peter vs. Sylar was short but sufficiently harsh. Gosh, it sure was nice of Mohinder to deliver Peter’s dead body to his mother, wasn’t it? There wasn’t much in the way of real suspense with the whole Peter-is-dead bit, of course, but when Nathan started crying, all I could think was, “If his tears are real, they ain’t for his brother; they’re because he just lost the Presidency.” Am I cynical? I don’t think so. But back to Peter. Didn’t you love the graphic sound effect when Claire pulled the piece of glass out of his skull.? Nice. And speaking of Claire, her newly discovered grandma sure turned into a hard-ass out of nowhere, didn’t she? I mean, Jesus, in the first episode, she seemed like a woman lost, and now look at her! The conversation between Claire and Nathan, meanwhile, was about as depressing as they come. Thanks, Dad! Good to meet you, too!

Isaac vs. Sylar was kind of a one-sided fight, but it must be said that Sylar’s nailing Isaac to the floor with paintbrushes was grotesquely inspired. The realization that Sylar’s now able to fortell the future, unfortunately, means that the grand finale is going to be particularly nasty.

And as long as we’re talking about finales, Future Hiro showing up only in the last seconds of this episode was just cruel…but at least next week looks like it’s all about the future.

The three best lines of the night:

1) “I know this man.” “Good! If you see him, tell him I want my sword back!” – Nathan and Mr. Linderman, respectively
2) “Oh, my God! You’re middle management!” – Matt Parkman
3) “He’s no longer with the company.” – Thompson

In closing, can I just ask, “NBC, are you effing kidding me? You pulled ‘Studio 60’ for ‘The Real Wedding Crashers’? You can’t find ANYTHING better than this piece of crap to follow ‘Heroes’ with?!?”