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 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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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!!