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Heroes 1.09
I think this is episode 1.09, anyway. Sigh. They even put the title and the number in the episode, and I still can't keep track. (Just fyi, every *single* time I reference a SV ep I have to look it up first--I have some sort of aphasia when it comes to these sorts of things).
Anyway, spoilers for tonight's episode and for the preview of next week's episode
The Mohinder storyline dragged a bit, but since it highlighted the overarching theme in this episode (you can't save people from themselves, OR trying to protect people from their destiny never works), I won't complain too much. Mohinder's father couldn't protect him; Claire's dad couldn't protect her; Nathan couldn't protect Peter; Micah couldn't protect Niki (and D.L. couldn't protect Michah from Jessica); and I take it we are to assume that Hiro couldn't protect the waitress. Though Peter was able to protect Claire: why? Because he was acting as a hero? Because he was willing to sacrifice his own life? I wonder if that's really the key.
The rest of the episode, apart from Mohinder's plot, was just terrific: great pacing, great twists, great reveals. I think the biggest reveal has to be that Sylar isn't tracking the other heroes by instinct or by a special gift; he is actually acting as a serial killer and targeting them (maybe with Dr. Suresh's database?), or he would have known that Jackie wasn't the girl he was looking for.
I wonder, though: the mantra is "save the cheerleader, save the world," and everyone assumes that the cheerleader in question is, in fact, Claire, but what if it isn't? It was a great twist for both Sylar and Peter to mistake Jackie for Claire because of her supposed heroism, but what if somehow accidentally Sylar has targeted the correct cheerleader? I know that in the economy of the drama, it makes more sense that Claire is the one who must be saved, both because of her actual powers and because of whatever mysterious agency her dad works for, but I still wonder. Jackie was very much made out to be a bitch in this episode (which reinforces bitchy things she's done in the past, like stealing credit for Claire's rescue of the fireman--though that actually helped Claire, both at the time and in this episode), and I cheered as loud as anyone when Claire socked her in the nose, but on the other hand Jackie expressed concern for Claire even as she was getting murdered, telling her to run. She wanted to be known as a hero, and maybe she was one, a little bit, at the end.
Claire was wonderful in this episode. I really love her growing acceptance of her inner freak, as well as the fact that she's beginning to realize friendship is a two-way street. I also kind of loved the fact that she was initially going to accept the fact that she was grounded, even though she's homecoming queen--to me that says good things about her relationship with her dad. And I also liked the fact that she wanted to go back and help Peter, and that she's going to tell her dad. (And thank God we now know that won't have dire consequences!)
Claire's subplot highlighted the other big theme of this episode, which was about accepting--or denying--your own heroism. Peter has accepted the call in a big way, and I have to say that made me like his character more than I have all season. I really admired his commitment to save the cheerleader even at risk to himself. And of course now he's seen that Isaac's prophecies are true, so he'll be even more committed to that path, which I suspect is going to put him at odds with Nathan, who is still very much in denial of his own powers. And I'm sure the conflict between Nathan and Peter is only going to be exacerbated by Peter's arrest.
Of course, embracing your powers is not always an unmixed blessing. We are still left wondering what changes Hiro has wrought in the past. He doesn't seem to have saved the waitress, yet if this is really the same time stream, rather than a different one--which is suggested both by the picture and by her friend recognizing Hiro-- then the waitress must have recognized Hiro when he came into the restaurant the second time. This means she must have known and embraced her death, for some reason--possibly in the same way Peter embraced his potential death. Maybe Hiro actually has done something important by travelling to the past, that must be preserved at all costs(e.g. inadvertantly activating everyone's powers?) even if it meant she had to die, so she heroically made that sacrifice?
Meanwhile, watching Eden in action with her powers was actually HOT. Damn. I didn't think I could ever like that character, but in action she's kind of mesmerizing! And what a useful power to have, too. I'm sure it's too much to hope for that they're actually going to rehabilitate Sylar, but maybe we'll get to find out why he's a bad guy?
And speaking of bad guys: Jessica isn't really going to kill D.L., right? But I'm still really wondering how it might be possible to reintegrate Jessica and Niki. That gravestone suggests that Jessica was an actually sibling (twin?) of Niki, so the question is, is Jessica actually her sister, or just a symbolic aspect of her consciousness that uses her sister's name?
And are they really going to tell us how everyone got their powers in next week's ep? I'm so excited!!!!
Edited to add: Oh, I forgot to talk about Ando. I felt so bad for poor Ando, waiting and waiting for his man and wondering if he will ever come back. Half of me wanted him to go be heroic with Peter to save the cheerleader, and half of me was very glad he didn't since I'm sure he wouldn't have lasted long.
Anyway, spoilers for tonight's episode and for the preview of next week's episode
The Mohinder storyline dragged a bit, but since it highlighted the overarching theme in this episode (you can't save people from themselves, OR trying to protect people from their destiny never works), I won't complain too much. Mohinder's father couldn't protect him; Claire's dad couldn't protect her; Nathan couldn't protect Peter; Micah couldn't protect Niki (and D.L. couldn't protect Michah from Jessica); and I take it we are to assume that Hiro couldn't protect the waitress. Though Peter was able to protect Claire: why? Because he was acting as a hero? Because he was willing to sacrifice his own life? I wonder if that's really the key.
The rest of the episode, apart from Mohinder's plot, was just terrific: great pacing, great twists, great reveals. I think the biggest reveal has to be that Sylar isn't tracking the other heroes by instinct or by a special gift; he is actually acting as a serial killer and targeting them (maybe with Dr. Suresh's database?), or he would have known that Jackie wasn't the girl he was looking for.
I wonder, though: the mantra is "save the cheerleader, save the world," and everyone assumes that the cheerleader in question is, in fact, Claire, but what if it isn't? It was a great twist for both Sylar and Peter to mistake Jackie for Claire because of her supposed heroism, but what if somehow accidentally Sylar has targeted the correct cheerleader? I know that in the economy of the drama, it makes more sense that Claire is the one who must be saved, both because of her actual powers and because of whatever mysterious agency her dad works for, but I still wonder. Jackie was very much made out to be a bitch in this episode (which reinforces bitchy things she's done in the past, like stealing credit for Claire's rescue of the fireman--though that actually helped Claire, both at the time and in this episode), and I cheered as loud as anyone when Claire socked her in the nose, but on the other hand Jackie expressed concern for Claire even as she was getting murdered, telling her to run. She wanted to be known as a hero, and maybe she was one, a little bit, at the end.
Claire was wonderful in this episode. I really love her growing acceptance of her inner freak, as well as the fact that she's beginning to realize friendship is a two-way street. I also kind of loved the fact that she was initially going to accept the fact that she was grounded, even though she's homecoming queen--to me that says good things about her relationship with her dad. And I also liked the fact that she wanted to go back and help Peter, and that she's going to tell her dad. (And thank God we now know that won't have dire consequences!)
Claire's subplot highlighted the other big theme of this episode, which was about accepting--or denying--your own heroism. Peter has accepted the call in a big way, and I have to say that made me like his character more than I have all season. I really admired his commitment to save the cheerleader even at risk to himself. And of course now he's seen that Isaac's prophecies are true, so he'll be even more committed to that path, which I suspect is going to put him at odds with Nathan, who is still very much in denial of his own powers. And I'm sure the conflict between Nathan and Peter is only going to be exacerbated by Peter's arrest.
Of course, embracing your powers is not always an unmixed blessing. We are still left wondering what changes Hiro has wrought in the past. He doesn't seem to have saved the waitress, yet if this is really the same time stream, rather than a different one--which is suggested both by the picture and by her friend recognizing Hiro-- then the waitress must have recognized Hiro when he came into the restaurant the second time. This means she must have known and embraced her death, for some reason--possibly in the same way Peter embraced his potential death. Maybe Hiro actually has done something important by travelling to the past, that must be preserved at all costs(e.g. inadvertantly activating everyone's powers?) even if it meant she had to die, so she heroically made that sacrifice?
Meanwhile, watching Eden in action with her powers was actually HOT. Damn. I didn't think I could ever like that character, but in action she's kind of mesmerizing! And what a useful power to have, too. I'm sure it's too much to hope for that they're actually going to rehabilitate Sylar, but maybe we'll get to find out why he's a bad guy?
And speaking of bad guys: Jessica isn't really going to kill D.L., right? But I'm still really wondering how it might be possible to reintegrate Jessica and Niki. That gravestone suggests that Jessica was an actually sibling (twin?) of Niki, so the question is, is Jessica actually her sister, or just a symbolic aspect of her consciousness that uses her sister's name?
And are they really going to tell us how everyone got their powers in next week's ep? I'm so excited!!!!
Edited to add: Oh, I forgot to talk about Ando. I felt so bad for poor Ando, waiting and waiting for his man and wondering if he will ever come back. Half of me wanted him to go be heroic with Peter to save the cheerleader, and half of me was very glad he didn't since I'm sure he wouldn't have lasted long.
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And you're so right about Eden being hot. :)
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I actually hated Eden for the first few eps, but there's something about someone who is able to compell you to do things with their voice...GUH. (One of the reasons I've always liked vampire stuff, come to think of it).
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Yeah, we can all hope ... but I am a little more interested in why?
Can't wait for next week ... I wanna know how they all got powers .... the history of it should be cool!
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I try not to think about the time streams too much, it's far too complicated for my tiny mushroom brain, in fact I have very little to say at all.
I like Jessica, I like that she bought the gun. I was watching it with my little brother who asked me at the time "why didn't she just kill him?' but she didn't just kill him, she paid a lot of money, in the middle of nowhere, that it's probable noone would ever know about because hey, she's not evil, she's just doing what she has to do. This makes me happy.
Still don't like Peter, can't believe I didn't work out the regeneration thing until he was tumbling off the roof, that was very slow of me. Oh! And, I like that Claire is a geek now, with her little gay friend and the chorus of God Help The Outcasts, but they're laying it one a *little* thick, they should stop that. It's bothersome.
Oooh! and I like how they still have all the names and locations of people when they first come on (and also? I like that Jessica's says Jessica). It's helpful.
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I agree that the outcast thing was a little heavy-handed, but on the other hand they did make Jackie a little sympathetic as she was dying, so maybe they're going to make it a little more complicated than outcasts v. popular kids? What I did love about that plot, though, was that Claire's gay friend clearly rounded up the outcast vote for her without her even knowing. I like him a lot.
I was pretty sure Peter wasn't actually going to die, though I wasn't sure if Sylar or Claire's powers would be the one to heal him. It's pretty awesome how messed up he got falling off that roof, though. I'm so used to SV where people are crashing through desks all the time with barely a scratch; it's kind of cool seeing people sustaining actual damage from those sorts of injuries.
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I suspected as much last week when he only went after Charlie the waitress instead of targetting both her and Hiro, but it was nice to get confirmation that he doesn't have some special gift that enables him to 'sense' other meta-humans.
I wonder, though: the mantra is "save the cheerleader, save the world," and everyone assumes that the cheerleader in question is, in fact, Claire, but what if it isn't? It was a great twist for both Sylar and Peter to mistake Jackie for Claire because of her supposed heroism, but what if somehow accidentally Sylar has targeted the correct cheerleader?
On one hand, I think the creative team totally recognizes that future!Hiro's warning was sufficiently ambiguous to make such questions reasonable, so I'd expect them to play with it a little in the aftermath (i.e., I'd expect *Peter* to wonder if he'd succeeded or failed or, alternatively, if he makes contact with Ando again, I'd expect Ando to ask if Peter saved the right girl, etc.). OTOH, as you noted, other aspects of Claire's life aside from Homecoming night were depicted in Isaac's paintings and Isaac's actual *vision* was of Claire running up the steps of the auditorium just as she did at one point in this episode. I assume that Isaac's visions and future!Hiro's warning are connected, so it makes the most sense to me that the Cheerleader in question is Claire.
I like it, though, that the series isn't shying away from acknowledging that the prophecy was vague and that vague prophecies carry their own pitfalls.
Claire was wonderful in this episode.
She really was. I loved her *jumping on Sylar's back* in an attempt to get him away from Jackie and her going back to help Peter. I also loved all of her scenes with Zach. She's a really interesting character and I love it that we watching her grow as a person.
And of course now he's seen that Isaac's prophecies are true, so he'll be even more committed to that path, which I suspect is going to put him at odds with Nathan, who is still very much in denial of his own powers.
I find it interesting that Nathan destroyed the painting because to me that suggests that he *believes* in Isaac's power on some level. He wouldn't have felt threatened enough to destroy it if he honestly thought the claim that Isaac can paint the future was bogus. In other words, Peter believing it is meaningless if *Nathan* actually believed there's no way a person can predict the future. If Nathan didn't think it was possible that Isaac can really paint the future, then there's no harm in letting Peter see the painting because the painting doesn't mean anything -- nothing's going to happen if Peter goes to Union Wells. On some level *Nathan* understands that Isaac's gift is real; he destroyed the painting because of the possibility that what it portended would come true.
He doesn't seem to have saved the waitress, yet if this is really the same time stream, rather than a different one--which is suggested both by the picture and by her friend recognizing Hiro-- then the waitress must have recognized Hiro when he came into the restaurant the second time.
*nod* And yet, she didn't say anything and she still walked into that pantry. I'm really curious to see what it all means that Hiro clearly wasn't able to save her.
I can't wait for Monday! The episode is actually called "Six Months Ago," and that's just ... squeeeeeeee!!
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It feels unnatural for me to be wishing for a Monday after a holiday weekend, but I'm *so* excited about this episode!
I think you're right that Nathan must believe in Isaac's power on some level, and I do actually like that he wants to protect his brother, even though I was mad at him for destroying the painting.
She really was. I loved her *jumping on Sylar's back* in an attempt to get him away from Jackie and her going back to help Peter. I also loved all of her scenes with Zach. She's a really interesting character and I love it that we watching her grow as a person.
I can't believe that I was uninterested in Claire in the first episode--I think she has supplanted Hiro to become my favorite character, precisely because she's grown so much. And Zach is definitely my favorite non-superpowered character.