Heroes finale, more coherent thoughts

[norwich36]

Ok, now that I've stopped crying (Oh, Nathan! I seriously don't even remember crying this much when Buffy died, and that has been my TV crying gold standard until now), I'm going to try to process my reactions to the rest of this episode now.

latxcvi has a great post about how every single character proved themselves capable of making the sacrifices true heroism demands in this episode, and I completely agree with her. What struck me, though, was that this episode doesn't adhere to the common trope in stories of this type in which personal connections are set in tension against the well-being of humanity. In fact, rather than having to choose between saving the ones they love and saving the world, it is actually the strength that comes from human connection that allows the heroes to save the world. Matt's connection with Molly breaks the stalemate between Mohinder and Noah (and yay for the name!) and allows them to locate Sylar. Jessica's connection to Micah (and ultimately to Niki) allows Niki to reintegrate, claim her power, and overcome reality-changing woman (I'm blanking on her name), allowing the heroes to be in the right place in the pivotal battle with Sylar, when Peter needs some assistance. Hiro's determination to save Ando despite his father's warnings that it puts his mission in jeopardy gives him a crucial example of Ando's courage and self-sacrifice in the face of danger, and also the self-confidence he needs to realize his power is not dependent on his sword. (That was perhaps not crucial in the fight with Sylar, but I suspect it will be crucial in book 2).

At first it looks as if Peter does, fatally, place family connections, and faith in his brother, over the mission--but I'm pretty sure that Peter's disillusionment, combined with Claire's passionate speeches, helped tip Nathan over the edge in his decision to save the city. Plus, Peter's initial missteps with regards to Nathan put him in the position to receive the crucial (and very cool) vision, and to work with Noah Bennett at his back (and Noah was motivated in part to pay back Peter for saving Claire--so again, family connections led to a desire to help the greater good). And of course the biggest personal connection is Nathan choosing to sacrifice his life to save his brother from blowing up the city. It was a heroic choice, no question about it--but I also think it was motivated more from the desire to spare Peter the burden of blowing up the city than from an altruistic desire to save New York.

I think I like the fact that our heroes are driven by their human connections in this episode. Obviously that sense of connection is not always a good thing, as Mama Petrelli demonstrates; but again, it's kind of interesting that she "goes wrong" not in the traditionally feminine way of privileging her family over everyone else, but in her more grandiose political plans to reshape the world order. Furthermore, in that flashback/vision Peter has, it is implied that what makes her go wrong is a failure of vision, a failure of faith and love in her son. Like Sylar's mom, she can't see/love her son for who he really is; she has no faith in him.

I also love that in this episode which is all about the role of family in saving the world--the families we are born into and the ones we create--that we see the genesis of some new families, probably: Mohinder and Molly, Molly and Micah. And we're going to be travelling back in time, apparently, to see the origins of the families of the heroes, which I am really excited about.