Activated Evolution - A Heroes Blog

Sylar Can't Be Stopped

2009-04-23T00:15:00.000-07:00

In the latest episode, Agent Danko turns on Sylar and attempts to "kill" him by sticking a knife in the back of the head, the "sweet spot" that deactivates the ability to heal.

While Sylar goes down, he eventually does recover and pulls the knife out of his head. So WTF? As much as I think the show has greatly improved this half of the season over the last season, this new development really sets the show back.

You all know how I feel about characters who are too powerful, and now Sylar, who was already past the line, can't even see the line anymore. The line is a dot to him. With the weakening of Peter and Hiro, nobody is even close to on par with Sylar and now, there really is no way to stop him. The show needs to fix this, and fix it quick. Perhaps they will make all his powers unstable due to his shape-shifting. Whatever they decide they do, they need to do it before the character becomes too ridiculous.

Mohinder at it Again

2009-03-27T09:23:00.000-07:00

Mohinder is doing it again. He is by far the stupidest person on the show.

He enters the holding cell of the other heroes. He looks around and states he refuses to help. When he asks Danko why he was brought here, Danko simply replies, "I figured it would be a whole lot easier than carrying you."

This was a classic moment for me. Danko's associate comes around the corner and shocks Mohinder. Seriously, it is comical at this point how Mohinder continues to show how idiotic he is. The only thing that would have proved me even more right would have if he actually agreed to help Danko. At least the writer's didn't go down this path as they need to turn this character the other way. He is supposed to be the smartest guy in the show. Sometimes he is written to be too smart. Not sure why someone who is a geneticist knows so much about medicine but I'm willing to let that one go.

Rebel Revealed

2009-03-24T20:58:00.000-07:00

In this last episode, it was finally revealed who Rebel is. It is Micah Sanders.

I have thought for a long time that Rebel might in fact be Micah. for several reasons.

Rebel's abilities would necessitate that he have powers similar to Micah's
Micah has always wanted to help others like himself
He, unlike others, would want to use a cool moniker like "Rebel" as a sort of secret identity.

It became a little more evident as the show progressed and it was clear that Rebel was very interested in freeing Tracy Strauss who is essentially his aunt. While I have written previously that I'm glad that the Heroes cast is smaller than it has been in the past, and even called out that it was good they got rid of Micah, I'm glad that he is back. I think his character has a lot of potential. He has been one character who in the past has not frustrated me with his stupidity. He understands who he is, what his powers are, and how to get things done.

He has now lost yet another relative. Now let us see if they ever bring his missing aunt Barbara around.

Heroes Turns the Corner

2009-03-13T00:18:00.000-07:00

I'm back for now. Just wanted to write a few brief thoughts about Volume Four, Fugitives. I am not sure I will write on any regular basis, but I will write when the feeling moves me.

The first thing that strikes me is that the writers have taken a lot of my suggestions and it has gone a long way in improving the show. Here are some of the better things they have done.

They have essentially leveled the playing field by toning down several of the Heroes' powers. I wrote before, that it was important they did not have all-powerful characters. Peter was a god. He could do almost anything yet he seemed almost powerless at times because his character was too stupid to fully exploit his powers. This became extremely frustrating. Hiro suffered from the same problems and they have corrected that by completely removing his powers.
They have severely cut down on ancillary heroes. No more Micah, no more Monica, no Maury Parkman, no Arthur Petrelli. As I wrote when they killed Maury, they need to focus on the main characters. The Petrelli's, Claire, Hiro, Matt, and Sylar. Doing any more than that is just dilutive to the character development
They are focusing a lot on their best character, Sylar. Too bad he is evil. But the more they dig into Sylar's past, the better his character becomes
Claire isn't so useless, and I like the change.
HRG continues to be a big question mark. Are we ever really going to understand this guy?
Angela is fantastic. I hope they continue to develop her character more. She is cunning and has lots of depth.
The pace is faster, which is better. Too much storytelling actually makes things drag. This is an action show, lets not forget that.

I do think that they swung the pendulum too far the other way when it comes to toning guys down. While Peter being as powerful as he was upset me, now he is too weak. I'm glad they took away the ability to time travel from Hiro, but now what? Hiro was the best character. Without a power, he is a lot less interesting.

So I hope they continue down this trend. Season two was bad. Season three was mediocre. So far, this volume is looking to be much better.

Nathan Healed - Again

2008-11-02T19:55:00.000-08:00

OK, one thing that continues to bother me about this season that they still have not answered is, how did Nathan heal. This is actually the second time he miraculously healed. This time he came back from the dead.

I probably won't be satisfied with any story the writers decide to tell. First off, they brought back Nathan from the dead. The doctor declared him dead. Doctors don't do that casually. So the writers decided that something can bring him back. I've written it before, and I'll write it again, dead should be dead. Bringing characters back from the dead is just bad storytelling that should be left to Soap Operas. God only knows what will happen if Heroes starts becoming a Soap Opera.

So if I can get past this, they somehow have to come up with another story. Here are the things we know.

It wasn't Linderman. He is dead and appears to still be dead, thank god.
It wasn't Peter. He was as surprised as anyone that Nathan sprang back to life.
There was nobody else in the close proximity. We have, as of yet, not seen anyone with the ability to heal someone from distance.

I've heard theories that perhaps Arthur Petrelli has some power that could in fact save Nathan from a distance. I find this difficult to believe as I think Arthur Petrelli wants Nathan dead. In fact, I'm pretty sure in this weeks episode, we will find out that Arthur was indeed behind the car crash that that injured Nathan's wife in Season 1 (BTW, where the hell is Nathan's family?)

The only somewhat plausible explanation I can come up with is that Nathan actually has a healing power like Claires. Think about it, it makes some sense. It is believed that Nathan had no powers. This is why his parents injected him with the formula. But it may very well be the case that he just never manifested these powers yet. It took a near death event to awaken these powers. Now I find this very hard to believe given the events of last season when he was burnt to a crisp, but I can at least buy it.

It would even fit into the story somewhat because it would explain Claire's powers. It makes sense that Powers, being part of a genetic code, should be inherited. We even see this now as Peter and Gabriel actually have similar powers to Arthur. All three can in effect, take multiple powers.

So that's all I got on this one. Not sure how or even if the writers are going to address this gaping hole in their story telling.

How Stupid is Mohinder?

2008-10-31T08:20:00.000-07:00

Following my last post, can we please have Mohinder killed now. Nobody in the show frustrates me as much as he does. If we are going to start killing off people, my vote is to start with Mohinder. I'm convinced that Mohinder has the ability to always pick the wrong side.

We have now had three seasons of heroes. And in all three Mohinder has essentially picked the wrong side and done something stupid. In season one, he helps Sylar locate those with abilities. Even when he finally figures out Sylar is evil, he screws it up by not killing Sylar when he has the chance.

Season two, it gets worse. He again starts out with "good" intentions but somehow screws it up and starts working for the company he is trying to take down. He ends up shooting HRG and curing Sylar, giving him back his powers.

And now we have Mohinder, the villian. Once again he will choose the wrong side and align himself with Pinehurst. I mean seriously, through random dumb luck, you would expect someone with good intentions to come out on the right side at least once. I'm pretty tired of this character because I think he has been developed so weakly. It is a problem with the show in general, people do too many stupid things, but Mohinder takes it to another level. In my opinion, the show needs to clean this up, and it should start with Mohindher.

The Death of Maury Parkman

2008-10-28T20:55:00.000-07:00

In last nights episode, Eris Quod Sum, we witness the the death of Maury Parkman. Maury Parkman, for all his faults, dies in an attempt to save his son, Matt. Maury was a key reason why Arthur Petrelli was able to return. And to demonstrate his gratitude, Arthur Petrelli dispatches of Maury with a flick of his hand. Is this guy evil or what?

What I like about the Maury's death, is that the show seems to be "cleaning up" the long list of characters with abilities. They have already killed off DL, Niki, Adam Monroe, Bob, Maury, and a few other minor characters. Not only have they killed off these characters but they also aren't using several others like Micah, Monica, and West.

I found the use of so many characters to be confusing at times. Worse than that, I believe that a show like this depends on character development and having too many characters is dilutive; it means less time to develop other more interesting characters.

So I hope that Heroes continues this trend. I prefer they focus on only a few core characters like Peter, Claire, Matt and Hiro and limit the growth of the cast as much as possible. And if they feel like killing off a few more characthers, Mohinder jumps to my mind, I'd be all for it.

Quick Thoughts on "Dying of the Light"

2008-10-20T21:54:00.000-07:00

Show starts out with the truth about Ando and Hiro. Like I had stated in the earlier post, there was no way that Hiro actually stabbed Ando. Hiro is clearly on the "good" side and has been from the beginning

It moves on to Arthur Petrelli killing Adam Monroe in a demonstration of his powers. Arthur Petrelli has the ability to "suck" powers out of others. This is pretty interesting development and gives us insight on why he is able to instill so much fear in others. I for one hope that this ability will have its limits. I hope his powers are similar to the Parasite. He is only able to temporarily absorb the powers of others. Otherwise, we will run into the same problem we have with Sylar and Peter, characters becoming much too powerful.

I'm happy that they are bringing another Pre-cog back. I tend to think this makes the show much more interesting. The scene with him and Hiro was hilarious. I have selfish reasons for wanting another Pre-cog back on the show. The paintings provide me clues on what is going to happen next, and gives me my material to write this blog. For example, we are treated to the picture of the four villians this season. Three of them are easily recognizable. They are Arthur, Knox, and Flint. The other one is not as easily identifiable, and I believe has not been introduced as of yet.

Peter the bad guy and Sylar the good guy? What is going on with the world? Here we see the crux of this season's plot. Who are the real villians in this story?

Of course the Peter development with his father was rather predictable. As my girlfriend often says, Peter doesn't deserve his power. He is rather naive if not outright stupid, and that isn't a good quality for someone has powerful as Peter. It seems now that he has lost all his powers. In my opinion, this is a good thing. Like I stated earlier in this post and in another one, I never liked Peter being as powerful as he was. It creates problems with storytelling that are difficult to reconcile.

What is Mohinder's Power?

2008-10-14T21:24:00.000-07:00

I've had a few people ask me what I think is going on with Mohinder. What powers does he really have? The best explanation I can come up with at this point is that he is becoming like a mutated Spider-Man.

We know he has enhanced speed, strength and agility. We also know he is able to climb on walls as shown in the first picture. We also know that he secretes some substance from his hands. He seems to use this substance to wrap up the people he attacks. He doesn't kill them though, he keeps them alive. This is very similar to what spiders do to their prey, paralyzing them but not killing them, preferring to keep them fresh for later.

At the very least, Mohinder is becoming more interesting. Mohinder has consistently been the most frustrating character in Heroes. Mohinder has been blind to almost everything around him and has walked the "Hero" line too closely. This sudden switch in Mohinder, at the very least, is causing him to be more interesting.

Quick Thoughts on "Angels and Monsters"

2008-10-13T23:19:00.000-07:00

This episode further perpetuates a running theme that I have been following over the past year, Heroes characters walk a think gray line. The episode starts out with a monologue by Nathan who is trying to figure out if he is a hero or a villain. Much like everyone else, it isn't so black and white. Former heroes like Peter, Mohinder, and Hiro are on the wrong side of good and evil (although I'm not buying the Hiro thing quite yet. I'm sure we will discover not everything is as it seems when he stabs Ando) while the tradional villians of Angela and Sylar start lining up on the other side. HRG continues to walk the gray line, never clearly good or bad.

Under it all is a familiar theme. Things are being controlled by an unknown force. Like I stated in my last post, Arthur Petrelli is back. One thing is clear, people fear him. Maury Parkman fears him as does his wife, Angela. So is power, or his evil, must be truly something. More on that later. Also nice to see that my theory about Linderman being an illusion created by Maury Parkman was accurate. I knew that they wouldn't bring Linderman back to life, so the only logical conclusion was that he wasn't real.

Slowly but surely, we see the future as Parkman envisioned it and as Future Peter lived to be coming true. For some reason, Arthur Petrelli seems bent on giving powers to everyone. While I'm sure that future will never come to pass, the events leading up to it that would certainly be the basis for which this season's episodes will be based.

And can I say, I'm really think this puppet master character has some potential?

The Return of Arhtur Petrelli

2008-10-07T22:39:00.001-07:00

The return of Arthur Petrelli seems imminent. In this weeks preview, we see a shocked Angela Petrelli confronting a "shocking return". The most logical choice at this point has to be Arthur. It was believed, since season 1, that Arthur Petrelli was dead. In fact, it was believed that he committed suicide.

However, the story of what actually happened has never really been told. It would be quite easy at this point to simply bring him back. I think this makes a lot of sense especially now considering all the drama swirling the Petrelli's. Angela is now head of the Company, Nathan is a U.S. Senator and looks to be asking his mother some tough questions, Peter turns into a "villian" in the future, and of course now we have Sylar. Or should I start calling him Gabriel?

Above is the picture of the man in the hospital bed. He definitely looks the age, build, and overall just similar to what we know Arthur Petrelli is supposed to look like. Refer back to the picture of the original 12. They also made a point to show the ring that Nathan was wearing. Pretty similar to the one that is on the finger of the man in the hospital bed. The two rings are below.

Now what his role will be is still somewhat of a mystery. I actually highly doubt that he will come back and make nice with Angela Petrelli. It seems, especially given the shocked look on her face, that his return will not be all that welcomed. I believe he is part of, if not directly responsible for, the plan to reunite the formula.

Under Linderman, the company experimented on people to give them powers. They gave them to Niki, Tracy, and Peter. We know that Arthur was a disciple of Linderman. He even volunteered his own son to undergo the experiment. Presumably, he would want to continue down that path. Given what we know of the "future" we know someone is working to create the formula. That someone is likely Arthur Petrelli.

Quick Thoughts on "I Am Become Death"

2008-10-06T22:14:00.000-07:00

Now that's was a pretty good episode. Much better than the second season. Already we have some pretty exciting developments. Peter travels to the future only to find a world full with people with abilities. When he finds Sylar, he discovers that Sylar is his brother. But Sylar has turned to "Gabriel" and reformed.

Gabriel tells Peter about the horrible nature of his power. It causes a terrible hunger for power. Not unlike a vampire's thirst for blood. We see a full demonstration of this hunger as he attacks the one person he truly loves, Peter. So what will become of Peter? Will he become as evil as Sylar? Somehow I doubt it. I'm sure Peter will somehow overcome this just from the inherent goodness he has thus far demonstrated.

And how about that ending? We knew of course that Adam would make it back, but how he made it back is pretty interesting. Angela essentially saved him. I think, at this point, she is the one doing the manipulation. I'm not so sure Adam really is the key to the whole thing. I just think that Angela wanted to save Adam for her own evil purposes.

Will add some more in depth analysis throughout the week after I get a chance to fully digest it.

Nobody Knows about Angela's Power?

2008-10-02T22:45:00.001-07:00

By the way, anyone notice how others, even within the company, don't realize Angela has a power. Noah confirmed it as much when he told her, "You know how it works. One of us, one of them". Of course he was referring to her as one of "us" which would be normal. And one of "them" as those with powers. She further supports this by calling Sylar one of "them".

I wonder why Noah would assume she doesn't have any powers? She must be hiding her abilities on purpose. Is the belief that not all the original 12 founders had powers? I have always assumed the opposite, that all of the original 12 founders had powers. But now it appears that not all of the original 12 have powers.

So why do you think Angela Petrelli is hiding her powers, even from those within the company?

Sylar Rebooted

2008-10-02T22:39:00.001-07:00

Not going to write a full write up of Episode 3 "One of Us, One of Them" quite yet. Maybe this weekend if I can get to it before the new episode.

Instead, I'm going to talk about something I find interesting, albeit flawed, that the writers seem to have done with Sylar. It appears that Sylar has actually been "rebooted". The Shanti Virus seems to have wiped out all the abilities Sylar acquired save two, his original ability of Intuitive Aptitude and his most powerful ability, Telekinesis.

I have mixed feelings about this. First, I'm happy they toned down Sylar a little bit. This is the list of powers he has lost (there may be more, but these are documented)

Ability to Freeze things
Ability to Melt things
Perfect Memory
Acute Hearing
Precognition
Radiation

When you add these to the list of powers he has gained since then, Sylar was starting to become a little bit too powerful. I was particularly concerned about him having perfect memory, radiation, and precognition. Radiation and precognition is obviously pretty powerful. Perfect memory however may be the biggest lost. This might seriously be one of the more underestimated abilities.

Now his abilities only include

Telekinesis
Rapid Healing and invulnerability
Turning things to Gold
Clairsentience
Sound Manipulation

So I'm happy about the toning down of his powers. Hopefully he doesn't gain too many more as I think Telekinesis by itself is pretty powerful. You add this to the Invulnerability and Sound Manipulation, and the fact that he is now infinitely rich, and well Sylar is pretty dangerous.

So what do you think of this "reboot"?

The Butterly Effect

2008-10-01T21:25:00.000-07:00

A very interesting episode.

We find out that Claire's powers are evolving. In addition to being able to heal, she doesn't feel any pain. You add this to the fact that we now know, thanks to Sylar, that she can never die and we see that Claire's powers are evolving. The future Peter reveals that Sylar was never meant to get Claire's power. This will undoubtedly have a profound effect on the course of events. The question becomes how can Claire not die? What makes her so special? Clearly her brain functions differently than the others with abilities. She has evolved past the point where she needs her body attached to her head in order to survive.

We get a very interesting look into Angela Petrelli's power. Much like Peter's vision of the explosion in the third season, these visions probably set the foundation of the season. In her vision we see several characters who have seemingly met their end. These include Hiro, Parkman, HRG, and Peter. We also see Knox "kill" Claire by ripping her head off her body. The scene then cuts to four villians, Knox, Tracy, Maury Parkman, and Adam Monroe. Suddenly, behind Angela Petrelli, appears Sylar. On the surface, it is hard to read too much into the dream. I'm not sure it reveals that much about anything at this point other than a possible bad ending for some of the more beloved heroes.

Nathan is offered a Senate seat by a familar face. He also seems to be imagining the prescense of Linderman. He has a conversation with Future Peter who reveals himself and tells Nathan of the bleak future. Nathan accepts the Senate seat. We then see Tracy confronted by a reporter claiming she is Niki Sanders. She of course denies this, and then we find out the truth. Tracy has completely different powers than Niki, she has the ability to freeze people.

Sylar attempts to get the powers of several villians in Level 5. He is shot by HRG, but heals himself. As Sylar attempts to cut Elle's head open and steal her powers, she releases an explosive discharge, knocking Sylar unconscious and setting free the villians of Level 5. Angela Petrelli comes in and takes charge of the Company. She "releases" Elle from the company. This will no doubt come back to have a serious impact. Angela then drops the bomb. She tells Sylar that she is his mother. Whether we are to take that literally or figuratively at this point remains to be seen.

Small notes

Parkman meets up with a man with the same power of Isaac, a man who can paint the future. The scene with the turtle is hilarious.
HRG brings Claire's mother back to protect the family
Only Peter can see Linderman. I believe this is the work of Maury Parkman
Mohinder is being Mohinder. That is, he is doing stupid things to endager us all. He gains powers from the serum he develops, but it has nasty side-effects.

Still nothing too profound has come along yet. Not too much insight into exactly where the season will be going, but exciting nevertheless. Your thoughts?

Season 3, Episode 1 - The Second Coming

2008-09-30T20:53:00.000-07:00

Going a little bit backwards, since I missed the first week. So here is my review of Episode 1.

One of the first things that immediately jumps out to me is the question, who was Angela Petrelli talking to one the phone immediately after Nathan is shot? Clearly she wasn't talking to the attacker and she wasn't talking to anyone who planned the attack. Right now, the only explanation is that she knew the shooting was going to happen, and was talking to someone about why they didn't prevent the attack. I'm thinking she is the reason Nathan was able to heal. She knew about the upcoming attack, and made arrangements to be sure Nathan would survive. She even confirmed her knowledge of the attack at the end of the episode as she talked to Future Peter.

I'm not sure the person who Nakamura refers to as having "purity of blood, the "light" to safeguard against the darkness" is Claire. That is clearly the easy answer to go to. We have all seen what her blood is capable of. We also know she is "special" thanks to Sylar. But I have a hard time believing that the writers would make it that obvious. So far, not a big fan of the "formula" story arc. I'm sure the formula will become more important over time, but right now, it is particularly uninteresting to me compared to the rest of the action.

Mohinder continues to be my least favorite character. He makes mistake after mistake. I'm not sure if the writers are doing this on purpose to make a point about him or this is just being done by accident. He didn't kill Sylar when he could have (multiple times) and now he is essentially opening up Pandora's box. Who really thinks it is a good idea to give powers to everyone?

They finally shed a little bit of light on how Sylar gains his ability. They even made a joke about Sylar eating brains, which was a popular explanation among Heroes' fans. I am NOT a fan of Sylar getting healing abilities. It's not that I don't want the bad guy to get powerful. In fact, I think there needs to be a balance between good and evil in this show. But invulnerability should only be reserved to a special few. I wasn't a huge fan of Peter getting the power either. I didn't mind Claire and Adam having the ability because they were limited in their powers. But when you combine the defensive power of Claire with the offensive power of Peter and Sylar, it becomes a little much.

I don't think Linderman is real in this case. I totally think it is a figment of either Peter's imagination or that he is being manipulated by Maury Parkman. Nathan seems like a pawn. Someone who keeps getting used by those around him. I'm almost certain at this point that his mother is behind this manipulation, but thus far don't have any proof.

Overall, an OK way to start the season. Episode 2 coming soon.

What were your thoughts on the first episode of the new season?

Season 3, Episode 3 - First Thoughts

2008-09-29T21:34:00.000-07:00

Interesting Episode. I'll dive into soon when I get a chance, but just wanted to put down some initial thoughts.

I really like that they are given duplicate powers to people
Mrs Petrelli as Sylar's Mother?
The company engaged in a cloning program?
Can Sylar really be a good guy?

Off the top of my head, I don't really think Sylar is a Petrelli, or at least not in the true sense. I somehow doubt that Angela Petrelli would just give up her son. The only plausible explanation I can come up with is that it is either not Arthur's son, in which case she was hiding Sylar, or he is one of the "cloned" children the company seems to have created, like Niki or Tracy...

I do think Sylar can walk the line of "good" guy for at least a while. First off, I've never thought Sylar is as evil as people make him out to be. There is no doubt he is power hungry. But for me he has never be truly evil because he doesn't kill indiscriminately. He doesn't kill innocent people. All his murders have been in direct attempts to obtain more power for himself. While certainly not "noble" it doesn't put Sylar in the category of crazy lunatic either. Besides, I always thought the creators would do this to the character. He is after all, Gabriel Gray. "Gray". Not Black, not White, but "Gray".

More thoughts tomorrow as I start disecting the first three episodes. Until then, what jumped out to you in the episode.

I'm Back for Season 3

2008-09-28T23:04:00.000-07:00

OK, I, like Heroes, decided to take a break from this blog. Couldn't keep it up when there wasn't new material being developed.

Now that Heroes is back, I'll be starting to blog about it again. I didn't blog all of last week because I honestly couldn't watch it on Monday. Believe me, I was not happy about it but last week was not a good one at work.

I'll start this thing back up again. I'll be one week behind, but I'll catch up quickly. I'll do some analysis of Episode one and two at the beginning of the week and I'll catch up to episode 3 before the end of the week.

Just off the top it looks that Season 3 will be a significant improvement over Season 2. Already lots of action and lots of questions

Why is Claire Special? Will Claire survive getting her head chopped off? Is Sylar really invincible now too?
Who healed Nathan? Is he going crazy when he sees Linderman or is something else going on?
Why is Ando going to betray Hiro?
Mohinder, is he still as stupid as he was last season? Seems like it!
Ma Petrelli, which side is she really on anyway?

I'll try to get to a few of these ASAP, but will probably wait till after episode 3 to dive in and see what they reveal.

War Buddies- Part 7

2008-02-24T12:46:00.000-08:00

First off, sorry for the rather long delay. As I've said in some of my comments, it was a combination of new job, moving, and lack of new episodes. It has made it hard to keep up with a consistent posting schedule. Things have settled down personally so posting should be back a little more regularly.

In this post, I look at this weeks hero comic. I've not posted much about the different comics, but ironically, it is the source of some of the better information regarding the series. Heroes does an OK job of making sure that you can follow the series without knowing anything about the comic.

This week continued a story the left several months ago, the story of Linderman and Arthur Petrelli. We see Linderman back from the war still haunted by the horrific scenes he bore witness to. A mysterious woman approaches him and arranges to meet later. Now who accepts something like this? Granted she is hot, but if some random woman came up to you and just invited you to the middle of nowhere, do you follow her?

Anyway, he eventually demonstrates his power to her only to find out that she has been hunting him down to steal his powers. This leads to three interesting things

The girl had the power to "steal" others powers. It looks like she needed to have physical contact for her power to work. However, she could have been using her power to incapacitate Linderman and then acquire his power Sylar-like.
Decades before Mohinder's father's discovered how to locate specials, someone else is hunting down people with abilities. How this is happening is the interesting question. Could it be someone else has the power to located those with abilities?
Who is this "She" that the stealer refers to? If Arthur wasn't on the list, I would love to accuse Angela Petrelli.

The last point is pretty interesting. Is there a mastermind behind a plot to acquire more powers?

Claire Bennet

2008-01-03T22:54:00.001-08:00

Power - Claire has the power of rapid cell regeneration. This means that she can instantly heal almost any injury. She has healed from burns, broken bones, cuts, and has even regrown limbs. Her blood has healing properties, and if injected into another person, can give them the power to heal as well (how long this effect last is undetermined).

As demonstrated by Adam Monroe, who also has this power, Claire will not age.

Weaknesses and Limitations - There seems to be no limit to how much Claire can heal save one, any injury to the part of the brain that gives her this ability seems to negate the power.

Having her head chopped off will do it. An object impaling the section will as well. However, it has been shown that if the object is removed, Claire will eventually heal.

Claire does feel pain, and has stated so, but I'm led to believe that the amount of pain she feels is less than normal people. You wouldn't just voluntarily jump off buildings and chop limbs off for the heck of it, even if you knew you would survive.

"Coolness" factor - 4/10. I actually do not think this power is all that great. The ability to heal quickly is certainly a nice power to have, but stacked up against the other, it isn't anything great. I lowered the ranking even further because I would not want to live forever. Seeing those you live grow old and die would soon become too much for me.

The ability to heal others though is truly "cool" so this power is saved somewhat by this fact.

"Kick Ass" factor - 6/10. Why only a 6? Claire can essentially not die. thus making her very hard to defeat. However, she has no offensive abilities. Therefore, characters with strong offensive abilities could essentially kill Claire by exploiting her weakness. Hiro can just freeze time, walk up to her, and cut her head off. So could pretty much any regular human so long as he knew of the weakness. Claire has by far the strongest defensive ability, so this pushes her up slightly from average.

Nearest Famous Superhero - Wolverine. This is the superhero best known for his "healing factor" Claire actually seems to have an even more enhanced form though as she seems to heal from serious injury even faster and Wolverine is aging.

How I see this Character evolving - I don't see Claire's power evolving all that much. Since it works without thought, she doesn't have the problems that most characters have with needing the confidence to use her abilities. Since she can heal from almost anything and do it quickly, so not much room for growth there.

As a character, Claire obviously has some growing up to do. Claire truly has a pure heart, and almost always has the best of intentions. However, her youth comes through a lot in her decisions, and she has to learn some lessons about life. She is the only original main character in high school, and as such, I see the writer's exploring the problems that not only come with having a power, but dealing with it as one grows into adulthood.

Slight delay in post

2008-01-03T00:12:00.001-08:00

I light to be pretty regular in my posting. This would be weekly now, as i do my character analysis. However, things are so hectic post-move right now, I'm going to be a day or two late with it. My next character analysis is going to be our favorite cheerleader Claire and I expect to get it out by the end of the week. Just need a day or two to catch my breath.

Thanks for being patient.

Hiro Nakamura

2007-12-25T20:32:00.000-08:00

Power - Chronokinesis. Hiro has the ability to manipulate the space-time continuum. This gives him the power to freeze time and to transport to any location instantly. Not only can he transport himself through physical space, but he cant transport himself through time. This ability seems limitless as he has traveled half-way across the world as well as through several centuries.

"Coolness" factor - 9/10. This is a rating of how "cool" it would be to actually possess this power. Hiro's ability to not only teleport himself instantly to any location and to stop time but to actually travel through time makes this power perhaps the coolest natural ability of any of the evolved humans. If used properly, this makes Hiro perhaps the most powerful evolved human second only to Peter.

"Kick Ass" factor - 9/10. This is a rating of if two evolved humans were to get into a fight, and their powers were used to the utmost of their potential, who would win. Hiro's power to actually stop time would trump almost any other evolved human's power. He could simply stop time, walk up to them, and cut their head off. He could do even one better and go back in time and make sure that particular person was never born.

Weaknesses and Limitations - Hiro's greatest weakness is his own self doubt. Although he has one of the most powerful abilities of any evolved human, he is limited in his use of it by his own mental blocks. Throughout Season 1, we saw Hiro struggle to learn to control his power. On a few occasions he refused to travel through time for fear of not knowing where he would actually end up.

Hiro only seems to be able to teleport objects and people if he is actually touching them.

Thus far, there seems to be only three known serious limitations to Hiro's power. Like other evolved humans, Hiro's power will not work against the Haitian. The other limitation we have seen for Hiro is that he is unable to freeze Peter in time. This is probably an effect of Peter also being able to control the space-time continuum. The third limitation is that it takes serious concentration on Hiro's part to use his powers and he was prevented from using them by Adam Monroe by giving him Opium.

Nearest Famous Superhero -You know, there really isn't one. The closest you are going to get is a very geeky and weak Silver Surfer. Silver Surfer has the ability to manipulate time and space thanks to his power cosmic. Hiro is nowhere near that level, but then again, I've never known Silver Surfer to be able to completely and utterly stop time either. There really aren't too many famous superheros who come anywhere near Hiro's power level simply because his power is too great. There are many who can transport instantly anywhere but very few who have the mastery of time that our Hiro does.

How I see this Character evolving -Hiro is the heart and soul of the Heroes series. I do not think it would be a stretch to say he is perhaps most people favorite character. He has a lovable attitude and a nerdy quality that fans of this genre can really appreciate. He is equipped with one of the more powerful abilities and thus has the potential for some great storytelling.

I have stated in other post that I believe the writer's will take Hiro down a darker path. I have mixed feelings on this one as I really do love how full of life and spirit Hiro is. We have seen glimpses of what Hiro can become both as "Dark" Hiro and what he did to Adam Monroe at the end of Season two. Up until that point, I would say Hiro was the Compass that guided Heroes. His actions were always noble and with the best intentions.

As far as Power's go, I don't see how they can increase Hiro's power much more than they have.
He has been show to have almost limitless control over space and time. If anything, they will need to restrict his power going forward, as to not let him go back in time and fix anything he wants to fix.

Character Analysis

2007-12-25T20:25:00.000-08:00

First off, the move went great. I'm back in California and the new job is keeping me busy. It's a good thing that the writer's strike is going on, as I wouldn't have been able to keep up with any new Heroes happenings.

Since we are now faced with no new episodes, I thought I would do something a little bit different. I'm going to take a character and write about them. I will do one character a week for now, and may increase the frequency if I can find time in my busy schedule. If anybody has thoughts or suggestions on what you want to see, feel free to comment.

I will mostly be covering the heroes and my thoughts on them, their powers, and what the future may hold. I will focus at first on some of the bigger, more important characters, but will eventually make my way to some of the lesser ones. I hope to put the first one out very soon, and then follow it up every week.

Back Next Week

2007-12-12T22:20:00.001-08:00

I'm in the middle of a big move across country, so there won't be any post until next week. As Heroes is over, might try something new anyway. Everyone have a good week, and see you all back next week!

Sylar - How does he keep getting away

2007-12-11T18:50:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post, but I deep thinking, how does Sylar keep getting away?

In season one, he got away even after he was shot by Noah Bennet. The man was shot, yet was still able to get away from the Haitian who tried to run him down. This is the same Haitian who looked pretty athletic chasing down Peter a few weeks ago and someone who could use his powers to make sure Sylar couldn't use any of his to get away.

Then Sylar miraculously escapes Kirby Plaza after being run through with a sword by Hiro. In this case, I could accept the fact that he was probably dragged away by someone interested in saving him, so I'll give a pass here.

But just this past week, how did he manage to get away again? He was hit by a lightning bold delivered by Elle and was thrown through a glass door. I've known someone who has gone through a glass door. You don't just get up and run. Yet somehow Sylar not only is able to get up, but he is able to run away before Elle can get within distance to throw another bolt at him.

Maybe this is one of Sylar's hidden powers. Maybe he has the ability to make miraculous get aways.

Hiro's Revenge

2007-12-07T11:50:00.000-08:00

When I saw what Hiro did to Adam, by trapping him in the coffin and burying him six-feet under, all I could say to myself was, "How medieval was that?" I didn't think Hiro had it in him.
This is a very interesting turning point for Hiro. Up until this point, Hiro was the happy-go-lucky-time-freezing geek we have grown to love. But something has now fundamentally changed with Hiro. The death of his father brought great sadness to him. The realization that it was Adam seemed to instill a deep sense of guilt that he did not stop him sooner.

This will probably be the start of this timelines "Dark Hiro". Remember what set off Hiro in that timeline, it was the death of Ando. As Peter said, "Your remember how he used to be. All full of hope and Optimism. It went away the day you died." I don't think Hiro will go that far down the road, he seems to have accepted the death of his father, but it still will lead to his being the more serious version of Hiro. I for one am excited about it. While I think the "geeky" Hiro is great, and I hope he always maintains some of that, I also am eager to see him develop his power and have the confidence and ability to control his powers.

What did you think of what Hiro did to Adam? Do you think its a sign of things to come?

Mohinder - Stupidest Genius In the World?

2007-12-06T10:19:00.000-08:00

I for one really like the character of Mohinder. He always MEANS well but sometimes, he just doesn't act very smart. He demonstrates this yet again when he returns to his apartment after Sylar has informed he that he is there with Molly.

Why on earth does he go back to the apartment not only unarmed but with no help? He believes Sylar still has his abilities and is very dangerous. Why not come up with a plan to try and save her. Granted, a gun against Sylar might not be very effective, and Mohinder knows this, but there are other ways to handle this. How about calling Parkman? How about informing the company?

He only compounds the problem later in the lab. Sylar puts the gun down, and then allows Mohinder to draw blood. This puts Sylar in a very vulnerable position, but of course, Mohinder does nothing. Just one well timed push and grabbed for the gun, and the whole thing is over. The WORSE thing he could do would be to give Sylar any chance of regaining his ability. If you have to die and if Molly has to die, so be it. But Sylar with his abilities WILL kill anyone and everyone. You don't let there be any chance that this happens.

Now I fully realize that the writers need to take some liberties in order to make the story move along and part of your job as an audience is to not try and fault every little thing. I can even forgive the second part of my argument. Mohinder could be so scared for Molly's safety, that he doesn't take the chance of something going wrong. But walking into that apartment, completely unprepared is totally unforgivable. The Man is a genius when it comes to genetics. He can whip up cures in a day that do miraculous things. But he can't take a minute to come up with a plan to stop a man who he knows to be the most dangerous person on the planet?

So what are your thoughts on Mohinder? Love him, hate him, frustrated by him?

Why Nathan Being Dead is a Bad Idea

2007-12-05T10:36:00.000-08:00

I hate people who nit-pick at a show to death, but this last episode has some real problems with it and I'm going to talk about those over the next few days. The writers, while perhaps having a compelling story overall, are just missing or ignoring crucial details and it's causing for rather frustrating developments.

The most frustrating is the shooting of Nathan. This is not because I want them to keep Nathan on the show. If they feel like killing him off to further the overall story, fine. But absolutely nothing good can come out of Nathan's death because it presents two very big problems for the show.

If Nathan is indeed dead, than Peter is an idiot. All he has to do is use his blood and viola, Nathan is healed.
If Peter does save Nathan, now we have a problem with storytelling. I mentioned it in my post about bringing back the dead. Allowing a plot element like this is going to mean that death is meaningless.

Neither scenario is good for the show, but one must be true. What are your thoughts on Nathan's Death? What do you think about the storytelling? Are you having problems with some of the details the writers seem to not be thinking about?

Update: One alternative is that the shot to the chest are not fatal, but that would be a problem too. Would the company really send an inept assassin, someone would couldn't place to shots to the chest that would kill somebody? That would be almost as lame as the other two.

Powerless

2007-12-04T15:10:00.000-08:00

A little less of a recap than normal. I'm going to try and space out my blogging a little bit so that we have something to read each day. Overall, I was a little disappointed with this episode. Several things in the plot really bothered me, more on that during the rest of the week.

Sylar kidnaps Molly and Suresh. Why Sylar shows up to the apartment unarmed and unprepared is absolutely beyond me. He further acts like an idiot when he takes Sylar's blood. Sylar puts down the gun, and gives Mohinder access to his veins to draw blood. Gee, don't think Mohinder could have done something here. For someone as brilliant as Mohinder is in the lab, he sure acts dumb sometimes. As Mohinder diagnoses Sylar, Molly attempts to locate Alejandro. She fails of course, because he is dead.

The funniest scene in the season occurs as Nathan and Matt arrive at Odessa, Matt "riding' Nathan all the way from New York. Matt states. "Ok. We don't talk about that, ever again." Funniest line in Heroes ever.

Peter does indeed defeat Hiro, although Peter was a little more gullible and dumb than I would have believed. The one thing I liked about the battle was the fact that Hiro is now displaying a lot more control of his abilities than before, making pinpoint shifts in space. Peter too is displaying a lot more confidence in his abilities, which I think is a good thing. He is even able to resist the powers of Matt.

He and Adam successfully break into the vault containing the virus. They are met by Hiro, Matt, and Nathan. Peter becomes a lot more dark than I would like to see from his character as he looks prepared to kill Hiro. Peter is one of the good guys. If the writers plan on turning him bad, which is very possible, I think they are making a mistake. The beauty of Peter's character is that he is an Empath, he is able to feel and understand those around him. People like this are by their nature compassionate. This is why Peter entered the field of nursing. It makes perfect sense. To turn him bad now would just be for the sake of having an interesting plot twist, but would otherwise harm the character development overall.

In the end, Adam drops the vial containing the virus, just before he is teleported away by Hiro (more on this later). Then, just as predicted, Peter saves the world with a well placed bit of TK. Nathan calls a press conference where he is going to go public with his ability. Before he can, he is shot. (More on this later)

I was right on about Niki dying, it made the most sense to me even though I was sad to see her go. I was wrong about Elle dying. We see her character evolve a little bit. When we first met Elle, she was sadistic, glad to cause pain and feeling little remorse about murder. Her character turns a little bit showing a much softer side, and taking pride in the fact that she is able to help Mohinder. She is just a girl, a girl who loves her father and will do anything to gain his approval.

The story ends with a preview of Chapter three which will be titled "villans". All sorts of interesting things there if they dive deep into it. Sylar is seen injecting himself with the cure for the virus, and has now regained his much beloved TK ability. He is back, and perhaps more bloodthirsty than ever.

That's all for now. Will get into more detail about some of the events during this episode and the season over the next few post.

Quick thoughts before Final Episode

2007-12-02T21:47:00.000-08:00

So what do you think is going to happen in the final episode. Here are things I think might happen.

They will "stop" the virus. But we will see a preview yet another, more serious threat on the horizon. It will turn out that the Shanti Virus will be stopped, much like Sylar was stopped, but that there really is another threat, like Peter being the real bomb.
Peter will team up with Hiro to stop Adam. I actually think Peter knows Adam is bad, even before he talks with Hiro
Elle will die, but she will die in order to save the world and maker her dad "trust her" again. This was hinted at when she and her Dad talked in the car.
Who is the second hero who will die? Don't have a real good guess here. Want to say it will be Niki, but would they really kill her off this early when I think there is so much they can do to develop this character. The only other person I can see is Maya, but I think they need her for what will be the next chapter of this story.

That's all I got for now. What do you think is going to happen?

See you after the final episode!

Peter Defeats Hiro?

2007-11-29T00:02:00.000-08:00

We last leave Heroes with Hiro about to attack Peter with the Kensei sword. But what happens after that is a big mystery.

Here is what we know to be true from next weeks preview

1. Peter isn't going to die. He is seen talking to Adam right afterwards
2. Peter, Matt, and Nathan are standing at a Podium in front of the press

So I believe that Peter is indeed going to be able to "stop the virus". There is a scene where it appears the vial is falling and will smash on the floor, but Peter should be able to stop that with a little bit of well timed TK (then again, when has Peter ever shown the ability to control any of his abilities well?)

You don't have a press conference like they appear to be having for no reason. What exactly the reason is still perplexes me though. I doubt it is to talk about the virus, as I would imagine the company would want to keep that secret. Then again, Nathan did say, "No more secrets".

But what happens between Peter and Hiro? Does Hiro convince Peter that Adam is evil, and thus they don't have to fight. Peter could only be pretending when he tells Adam "let's go destroy the virus". I doubt that though. Adam has a very funny look on his face. I have to believe that Peter at least told Adam about Hiro. I doubt Hiro was defeated, or at the very least there to be seen by Adam since they are in a very public place, and nobody seems to be alarmed that there is a dead body on the floor. That and they aren't going to kill of Hiro, I can guarantee you that one. (There are actually three people I think are absolutely safe for the time being. Peter, Claire, and Hiro. Too integral to the success of the show to get rid of these three any time soon)

So what do you think? How is the virus going to be stopped, and what are Hiro and Peter's role in all of it?

Truth and Consequences

2007-11-27T23:36:00.000-08:00

Yes, my post are slowing down. Mainly due to the fact that I'm a little disheartened by the writer's strike, and the eventual abrupt end to my favorite show, but also because this is getting a little hard when it seems like I'm talking to myself. So if you have comments, please share :)

An OK episode. Most of the action happened at the end. Not a full recap, just the interesting parts.

Show starts out with Peter again seeing himself in the future, deserted, New York City. It appears to be one of his dream sequences again. They are going to have to explain this sooner rather than later, and I hope it's sooner since I hate things that drag out for extended periods of time without explanation. He teams up with Adam to find Victoria Pratt and "save the world". Peter finds and talks to her. In the end, he reads her mind to discover where the virus is, and she ends up being killed by Adam Monroe. Adam leaves his calling card, and they head off to Texas to go find it.

Bob returns Noah's "ashes" to the Bennet Family. Of course, these aren't real since we know that Noah was in fact saved by Mohinder and locked up by the Company. Claire wishes to forget and considers asking the Haitian to wipe her memory (which of course she could always recover as we know from Peter). She scatters the ashes and notices Elle watching her. She threatens to tell the world about her abilities. I'm not exactly sure how this gives her an advantage over the company, but for some reason Claire thinks it does.

Elle has a testy exchange with her father who chastises her and tells her that she has to regain his trust. I don't think this exchange bodes well for one of these two characters. Heroes hints that two heroes are going to die next week. My money is on Elle being one of those.

Sylar teaches Maya to "control" her power in an attempt to get rid of Alejandro. She succeeds and sends Alejandro away, believing she is doing the right thing for him. Alejandro, ever the good brother, refuses to leave and confronts Sylar. During the confrontation Alejandro is killed. This storyline is really starting to bore me as it has little relevance to the rest of the plot. I'm sure it will turn around in the 2nd half of the season, but for now, it is dragging on. It also really bothers me the trust Maya puts in a stranger over her brother, who clearly loves her. Come on now, is that at all realistic?

Hiro goes back to discover why Adam Monroe was locked up, and discovers that Adam attempted to release the virus that would cause total devastation. He travels to Odessa to find him, bringing along the Kensei sword. He freezes time, only to find an unfrozen Peter Petrelli. Despite being told that Adam murdered Kaito, Peter refuses to let Hiro have Adam. The show ends with Hiro charging Peter with the sword, Peter ready to fire an electric bolt at Hiro.

Bringing Back the Dead

2007-11-24T21:26:00.001-08:00

There is one thing I hope Heroes doesn't make a habit of. In this week's episode, they seemingly brought back Noah Bennet from the dead by giving him some of Claire's blood. This can lead to all sorts of weak storytelling elements because people can be killed off and brought back whenever the writers feel like it because all it takes is some of Claire's (or Adam's) blood, and poof, everything is OK.

Dead should be dead. Period. It should be one of the very hard and fast rules of any good storyteller, if someone is confirmed dead, they can not be brought back to life. Thus far, Heroes has done OK with this. Linderman, Simone, Isaac, Charlie, all dead and as far as we know still dead. They sometimes play around a little bit, but as soon as someone is killed off, they stay dead.

The only thing that can save this story is that if we somehow find out that Mr. Bennet was not actually dead, only "near-dead". Even if they do this, it will only partially save the storyline.

Cautionary Tale

2007-11-20T10:08:00.000-08:00

Getting pretty good at some of this prediction stuff huh? I correctly called that Hiro would actually allow his father to die. We of course find out who the killer was, and it was, as many of us suspected, Adam Monroe. Hiro allows his father to die, because it must happen. It is not the place of Heroes to play god, and preventing Kaito's death would be akin to playing God. Ironically, I got the picture wrong, as the person in the photo was in fact Ando, and not Hiro, but I still reached the correct conclusion.

This is direct contrast to what is going on with Parkman, who is slowly gaining control of his powers. I like this storyline a lot. I've stated it before, it frustrates me to no end when shows drag on the development of it's characters. Parkman has potentially one of the best powers in the show. Telepathy is not a trivial power. Professor X has shown just how powerful telepathy can really be. The show is portraying the path that Parkman is going down as the same as his father, and said as much as he forced Angela Petrelli to reveal the name of the missing twelve, Victoria Pratt.

Noah attempts to save his family, and joins forces with Wes to rescue Claire. While being held captive, they take Claire's blood, informing her that it has the ability to so many people. Noah captures Elle, and exchanges her for Claire. He is subsequently shot by Mohinder, right in the eye, right as the painting showed it.

By the way, Mohinder has not "flipped" to being a bad guy for killing Bennet. He did this very deliberately, with full knowledge that he would be able to bring back Noah. This must be true for the following reasons

Mohinder is one of the good guys.
Mohinder is just not a killer, and the way he killed Bennet was pretty cold blooded
Noah spared Mohinder's life. Very doubtful he would return the favor by shooting him in the eye.

I think it's very fishy by the way he let Mohinder go in the first place. Either Bennet is being very sloppy, or those two are up to something. By the way, did anyone really think Bennet was dead when he was shot? I knew events would play out as they happened, because I knew A) Isaac's painting would come true. B) It would not end exactly as the painting would make it seem C) they wouldn't kill Bennet.

Only two left! Bummer about the strike, Heroes was finally taking shape.

Can Hiro Save his Dad?

2007-11-16T00:25:00.000-08:00

Can Hiro make it back to save his Dad? Somehow I doubt it. One of the things we learned in Season 1 is that somethings are just meant to happen, and there is no way to prevent it. Heroes is a little inconsistent with this idea. They allowed Future Hiro to change his present, by ensuring that the bomb went off. Why "changing" this outcome is possible but not something like the death of Charlie is not.

Hiro states, when he comes back from trying to save Charlie, that there was nothing he could do.
No matter what he tried, she died. I think the same is going to be true for Hiro's father. In fact, I'm not even 100% sure he is going to try. I believe Hiro is going to discover that Adam Monroe is indeed his father's killer but he is going to stop short of actually preventing it. Hiro is seen in the above picture on top of the Deveaux Building. This appears to be on the outside patio. But below we see a figure in the corner, watching what is happening, but yet doing nothing about it.

Why would Hiro allow the death to happen? Not certain. I can't think of any scenario where he would actually allow that to happen. The nearest thing I can come up with is that his father actually asked Hiro to let him die, so Hiro stands by silently when it does happen. If that is the case, his death must serve a purpose.

Sorry No update

2007-11-15T16:08:00.001-08:00

Sorry I haven't updated yesterday or today. It's been a perfect storm of events. Yesterday, was ill and felt like I was on my death bed. Today, the power is out in my building, so I'm actually only able to blog from a public location. If power comes back soon, I'll blog about this weeks episode, but otherwise, it might not be back until Monday, since I'm back to LA all day friday.

Four Months Ago

2007-11-13T11:35:00.000-08:00

Now that's an episode. Lots of good things in this one.

We learn exactly what happened to Peter and to Nathan after the explosion. I'm glad they cleared up my question about how Nathan healed so quickly from his burns. I even like that they threw in a little line from Peter that he couldn't fly because it was taking all his will to just stop himself from exploding. Still think it's a little fishy, but it at least passes the plausibility test. One of the things i really liked about their story is the clear bond that these two have for each other. At times in season 1, you have to question how much Nathan really loves Peter. Throughout this season we have seen he really does. One of the things reveled was that Peter is able to "heal" himself into remembering the things the Haitian made him forget. That suggest that part of the Haitian's power really is to damage parts of the brain. Interesting.

Ma Patrelli shows some of her evil side, by convincing Nathan's wife that he was delusional. Not sure if her squeezing Heidi's arm was an indication of some sort of power that she has? Could it be a form of persuasion that she has?

We are introduced to the Adam Monroe of the present. But something is going on here. I'm not really convinced that Bob and Adam are actually opposing each other. If they are, it's really bad storytelling again. First off, from all indications, Linderman was running the company yet he was a disciple of Adam. Why would Linderman allow Adam to be imprisoned for thirty years? Further, they put Peter in their jail, yet they planned on controlling him by giving him pills? Really? The company is meticulous, but allowing the two evolved humans they would consider the most dangerous to just walk out because Peter didn't take some pills? And why on earth would they allow two prisoners to so easily communicate through their cells?

We find out how DL died. Kind of a bad way to go. I for one hope they keep DL dead. I've said it before, I don't like people coming back from the dead. It's a very weak plot element. Dead should be dead. It is too bad though. DL, for all his problems, really had a heroic attitude. Running into the fire to save the woman, true act of bravery, even with powers.

We find out the back story of Maya and Alejandro. These two still don't interest me too much. I'm still not 100% sure how they fit into this plot. Again, I think they were going to be key to the 2nd half of the season, but with it seeming very likely that there won't be a second half, I'm not sure how they will try and tie everything up with the three episodes they have left.

Morally Gray

2007-11-12T11:50:00.000-08:00

Just a quick little post. But one of the things I wanted to say about this week's episode is I love how Mohinder, when talking to Niki, declared that he thought Bob was "Morally Gray".

This goes very nicely with my post on how Heroes characters are never just black and white. I think the creators of Heroes must be reading my blog. With the writers going on strike, and Heroes season threatening to be canceled, maybe I should be considered for a writing posiiton :)

In all seriousness, I can see a problem with them extending this idea too far. While I do believe that this gray area allows there to be some very interesting story telling, it can also be healthy for people to believe in their heroes. That is, comics are successful because we know who to root for. We, as a people, love to idealize our heroes, and if we start to see the chinks in our hero's armor, we lose a little of that idealism.

Maya and Alejandro - Their Role?

2007-11-09T10:41:00.000-08:00

Heroes is all about people and the roles that they play. They generally waste much time with telling stories of things that aren't important to the final outcome. This explains why they spent so much time in Japan with Hiro, they needed to develop the Adam Monroe character. (They still spent too long there, but at least it had a purpose).

The people I still haven't figured out yet are Maya and Alejandro. Heroes has spent a lot of time developing these two, and have not yet revealed what role they will play. I would have to believe their role would be as major as Adam's, because they have spent almost as much time on their stories as they have on Adam's.

My analysis of this issue isn't very deep, partly because I haven't really cared about their storyline. But as we draw closer to understanding what is going on, I get more and more interested. What actually crosses my mind is that their story would have been key to what happens in the second half of the season. I thought at first that Maya would be the cause of the disaster the Heroes would have to prevent, but now that we know it was caused by a mutated version of the Shanti Virus, then something else must happen.

I actually think they are not supposed to be part of the main story in the first half. Much like last year, Heroes first focused on "Save the Cheerleader" Heroes this season would focus on stopping the Shanti Virus the company has let loose on the world. In a little bit of misdirection, the Heroes would rush to try and prevent the spread of the Shanti virus, and they would succeed. But we would learn that the Shanti Virus was not the real danger, it was Maya.

It would be the second half of the season where we would have to deal with Maya and her dangerous power, much like they dealt with the bomb last year. But now with the writer's strike underway, I'm not sure what Heroes is going to do, since there have been hints that they would prematurely end the season, by making an alternate ending to the first half, if a resolution doesn't happen soon.

Nathan - How Did He Heal?

2007-11-08T09:21:00.000-08:00

During the previews for next week, we caught a glimpse of a man who was severely burned, and it appears to be Nathan. Throughout the season, we have seen Nathan look into the mirror only to see himself severely burnt. Up until now, I believed that he was more or less seeing things, much like Niki sees Jessica in the mirror. This alter-ego was formed from the guilt he felt because of what happened to Peter. Now I'm not so sure.

This picture would seem to indicate that Nathan did indeed suffer from serious burns from flying Peter into the atmosphere. (On a side note, did it bother anyone else that there was no need for Nathan to do that? Peter can fly too after all.) Now this leads me to the following two conclusions

Nathan was somehow miraculously healed. No way someone with seemingly third degree burns heals to look normal after four months (if ever). That means an evolved human with healing powers must have healed Nathan. As Linderman is dead (I hope the writers somehow don't bring him back to life. It's a cheap story telling technique), there must be someone else with this power.
Nathan is indeed burnt, but somehow other's don't see him that way. We have no indication from anyone that Nathan is burnt. Everyone treats him normally as if he is fine, so it is unlikely that we, the viewer, are somehow the ones who are being fooled. Perhaps there is an illusion going on in the minds of everyone else. As this seems to follow Nathan around everwhere, I think this is somewhat unlikely. Then again, we never did get to know the full scope of Candice's power. After all, In the future, Sylar is able to trick Billions of people that he is Nathan, and this power seemed to have no limitations.

I don't see a lot of other ways out for the writers. Perhaps this has to do with the "dark secret in the Petrelli Family" referred to by Angela Petrelli in next weeks preview. I guess we will find out soon exactly what happened.

Another thing about Nathan did cross my mind. He won the election. What the heck happened to his seat in Congress? Nathan is obviously not going to Congress every week, so what is going on with his seat? I hope this question is answered in next week's episode. It looks to be a good one.

Out of Time - Review

2007-11-07T10:11:00.003-08:00

Good episode from Heroes. We learned quite a bit in this episode, and many of the scenes from the series of eight paintings were revealed. We found out that the blond was indeed Niki, trying to come after Bob and of course we discovered exactly why Peter was shown next to a bio-hazard sign.

Although it has yet to occur, we do know that it is indeed Mohinder with the gun and why he has a broken nose. The big mystery now is who is he shooting and why? Could it be Noah? Is Noah really going to die?

Some other things were confirmed. I'm glad I hit the nail on the head about Adam Monroe actually being Takezo Kensei. I wonder if my reasoning was sound though? Interesting to see if the writers ever confirm my theory about him being named "Adam" for the reasons I mention. I now also got confirmation about my theories that Kensei was bad. I actually was pretty accurate with my reasoning that Hiro was indeed Kensei and how the dragon story would eventually unfold. I have to pat myself on the back one more time for my correct assumption that Kensei would indeed be immortal.

One of the things that did happen was that things are a little more polarizing at this point. In my post about Heroes never being black or white, I mention how difficult it is to really know who is good or evil. I don't see how Adam Monroe can be anything but the bad guy at this point. His motives are clear. He wants revenge on Hiro for what Hiro did. If that is indeed the case, that means the company is lining up on the side of "good" for now. One flaw I think the writers are making at this point is that it is very hard to root for or against anybody right now because it is ambiguous at best who you should be rooting for. In this genre, it is important for fans to know who we should be pulling for. At this point, confusion reigns. Those that the fans have grown to love, Hiro, Perter, and Claire, all seem to be heading down a path where they are clearly aiding the wrong side. It will be interesting how the writers try to get these stories back on track.

The other major developments are of course that Matt is gaining control of his powers a little more. I hope they continue to go down this path for all the heroes. One of the most frustrating things is to watch these people with extraordinary gifts unable to use them. I'm still pretty pissed at Smallville that Clark for some reason can't fly yet. It's getting ridiculous.

I believe we also learn why Noah is in trouble. Claire, and her rebelliousness, is going to be the downfall of Mr. Bennet. Not sure exactly how it is going to happen yet, but I'm pretty positive that the whole Wes-Claire story is going to what ends up "killing" Noah. I put killing in quotes because I still don't believe that Heroes will kill off Noah, he is too popular and is easily one of the better actors on the show. His character is fantastic and extremely complex. Makes for interesting story telling.

Back From My Trip

2007-11-07T09:13:00.000-08:00

Got back from my trip last night. But it had one noteable heroes-related moment. I went to downtown Los Angeles, to the City National building. Little did I know that I would be going to the exact location of the Peter-Sylar showdown, the so called Kirby Plaza. For those that don't know, this sculpture is actually located in downtown LA and is called Double Ascension. It was created by Herbert Bayer.

It was kind of cool that my one day off from the blog, I ran into something all Heroes Lovers would recognize.

No New Post Until Wednesday

2007-11-05T15:57:00.000-08:00

Heading out of town for the next day. I'm even going to have miss Heroes tonight! Don't worry, I got it on my DVR.

So there won't be any new post until Wednesday morning at the earliest. Until then, let's hope that tonight's episode kicks some ass.

West- An Unhealthy Attitude

2007-11-05T11:20:00.000-08:00

West worries me a little bit. While I like him as a character, and I hope it works out between him and Claire, I have to admit that his attitude about his powers is not always the healthiest.

He said two things that really worried me. First, when Claire asked him, "I have to listen to my parents, don't you?" He responds, "I can fly, that makes the whole parental guidance thing a non issue.
" To further illustrate my point he states, "you have a power. By definition, you're better than she is."

Now think carefully about these statements. He very clearly relishes his powers. Time and again, he tells Claire how she should embrace her power. This is actually very eerily similar to the attitude of Magneto. Magento fully embraced his power and thought that humans were beneath him because his abilities made him "better" than them.

Is West going to be able to walk this fine line? I'm not so sure. It seems to me that this is clearly the direction that the writers are gong to take this character. He is unlike almost all other characters in the show in that he fully understands and enjoys his power. This is actually further enforced by the comic this week, Team Building Exercise, when Mr. Bennet describes how most people fear or don't understand their powers. Is West destined to lead his people like Magneto lead his?

Peter - A Dream Sequence?

2007-11-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

After this weeks episode, I assumed that Peter had used Hiro's power to actually teleport himself into the future to see a deserted Time Square. But another thought comes to mind. What if this is actually a different power that Peter possesses?

Remember, in Season 1, Peter had several dream experiences which seemingly predict the future, albeit not in an exact fashion like Isaac's paintings have done. The first time we see it is in the first episode, where Peter imagines he is flying through the skyscrapers of New York. We see it again in Fallout when Peter passes out only to wake up alone on the pavement in New York.

Could Peter have another, yet unknown power? If so who did he get it from? Could this be a power he got from Charles Deveaux? The first time this "power" manifests itself is when Peter is sitting by Deveaux's bedside. This power may have been used again after Peter is knocked unconscious in New York only to find himself on the Deveaux rooftop.

Again, while some may assume this is Peter teleporting and using his invisibility to hide from himself and his own mother, another possible answer is that this is some strange, yet to be talked about power. Remember, Deveaux is able to detect that Peter is there. So unless this is some new power, part of Deveaux's power must be able to detect when invisible people are around, which somehow just sounds less plausible to me than some sort of "Dreaming"power.

It would also parallel nicely the dream sequence that Peter originally had in "Fallout" which was clearly an instance of him dreaming and not an instance of him somehow teleporting himself into the future.

The Eight Pictures

2007-11-01T11:14:00.000-07:00

The season seems to be revolving around the eight pictures that Isaac completed before his death. Up until this past episode, we have only been able to see the first one, depicting Kaito's death, the last one, showing a dead Mr. Bennet along with Claire and an unknown man.

Mr Bennet, along with the Haitian, has traveled to the Ukraine, to uncover the other six paintings. After disposing of his former partner, Mr. Bennet goes to a warehouse and unboxes the remaining paintings. A collage of them are below.

Kaito's Death
Claire and Wes' trick on Debbie
A vial, possibly the deadly virus
A blond woman, possibly Niki, trapped.
A man, perhaps peter, with eyes glazed over, and a biohazard sign in the corner.
Hiro and Takezo engaged in a sword fight
Mohinder, with a broken nose and a fired gun
Mr. Bennet, shot through the eye, with Claire and a mysterious man in the background.

Not sure how this is all going to play out. The first two scenes have already happened. One of the things I'm interested in is how all these disparate scenes are going to come together in the end. Why is Claire's trick so important? What is Hiro and Takezo going to do with all these present day happenings? Is Mr Bennet actually dead, and if so, who killed him? Did Mohinder fire the gun that shot Mr. Bennet

The main plot this season is definitely around some sort of bio-hazard being unleashed on the general human population. At this point, I'm not sure if it is because of the Shanti serum that Mohinder is developing, the powers that Maya has shown, or maybe a combination of both. Somehow, these eight paintings are going to lead up to the events that Peter has now teleported to.

Don't have any deep insights yet. If I do, I'll post some more.

Who is Adam Monroe?

2007-10-31T10:38:00.000-07:00

We don't have a lot of details yet on who Adam Monroe is. We only know three bits of information.

1. He is one of the founders (as said on the Heroes Mobile Game)
2. His name appears on a folder Bob had

3. Peter was seemingly working with him at one point

There are only two males thus far unaccounted for in the twelve.

So Adam is seemingly one of these two. But is he the killer? Hard to say at this point. It certainly seems to be the most logical choice. Clearly, Adam is one of the missing twelve, which would corroborate what Kaito says at the time of his death. He has left a note to Peter suggesting he knows the Company to be up to no good. If he had left that note to Peter several months ago, he might have started to take matters into his own hands.

One interesting thing that popped to my mind when I heard the name Adam was that it would be very appropriate if Adam was the first of the Evolved Human, much like Adam was the first Human. If that is the case, it might mean that Adam is actually Takezo Kensei, who seems to be the first to have developed powers. It would also correlate nicely with Kensei meaning "God Send". Wouldn't that tie everything up quite nicely? It would even further explain how Kaito recognized the killer, and the killer survived the fall (since he could regenerate). I don't really think all the above is true, but it would make things interesting.

The Line

2007-10-30T11:18:00.000-07:00

An interesting episode overall. For a recap you can go here. My thoughts are below.

For one thing, glad my theory of what was going to happen between Kensei and Hiro was right. I'm still not 100% sure that Kensei has gone over the edge and can't return, but it sure isn't looking too good right now. While I agree with Kensei that it was a back-stabbing move on Hiro's part, handing everybody over to the enemy isn't the answer. I still think Kensei is going to have to make an appearance in modern times. Heroes would not have a story line disjunct from the main thread. Remember, everything is connected, and there is little doubt that the Kensei story is going to have an impact on the current plot. I think Hiro, to preserve the timeline, is going to have to complete the Kensei story himself. He is going to be the one who "sacrifices his heart" for the princess when he leaves this time, to return to his own. Remember, he pronounced to his father in Landslide, "To save what is most important, to cut out my own heart." Perhaps this is an allusion to what he will have to do.

The two other interesting things that happened were the discovery of the remaining paintings. In it you clearly see a couple of events happening. Mohinder is firing a gun. Perhaps he is the man who kills Mr. Bennet in the final picture. You see Peter with a kind of ghostly look on his face. You see a blonde woman trapped in what looks to be a large metal container. You see hiro and Takezo in a sword fight. And you see a vial, no doubt holding the virus that is going to wipe out the world.

Which brings us to the end scene. Peter makes it to Montreal, and discovers a note left to him from an Adam. We were introduced to the name "Adam Monroe" earlier when Mohinder saw Bob holding a folder with that name. Rumors have it Adam is one of the twelve. It may be that Adam is the "killer" of the twelve, but that would mean the killer is a good guy. He clearly has worked with Peter in the past (probably in the missing 4 months) and Peter is a known good guy, so I doubt he would knowingly help a "bad guy". As he embraces, Caitlan, he unknowingly uses Hiro's power to transport to the future and finds himself in a deserted Time Square. He picks up a piece of litter, to discover it is an evacuation notice for June 14, 2008.

My theory is that they did indeed mutate the virus, and it has reached the general population like Mohinder has feared. That is what is in the vial depicted in Isaac's painting.

Picture of Kaito's Killer

2007-10-29T09:38:00.000-07:00

I've had some discussions with people about who is Katio's killer. After last week's episode, and the revelation of who the nightmare man is, many would jump to the conclusion that Maury Parkman is indeed the killer seeking out the twelve. I have not yet jumped to this conclusion yet. Here is a picture of the bad guy right before and during his attack of Kaito.

Just looking at the profile of the attacker, I can tell you right now, that's not Matt's father. The attacker clearly has a more athletic build than Maury Parkman. I have heard it suggested that it is just an "illusion" casted by Maury, but I don't believe that either. Clearly Kaito recognizes the attacker, so unless Maury has an illusion of himself that he consistently uses, I doubt that could be it.

You have to also pay attention to what Kaito says. When the attacker reveals himself/herself (this could definitely be a woman), Kaito states, "Of all of them, I never expected it would be you". That gives us to important clues. First, it's one of the twelve. Second, it wasn't someone he would have expected. This leads me to believe even further it isn't Matt's dad. Why not? You would expect it to be him. We know Matt's dad has a criminal past, and others in the twelve would know that too. If that is the case, then Kaito WOULD have expected it to be him.

And the last thing, nothing in Maury's power would allow him to survive a 30 story drop, unless he has some yet to be revealed power.

Heroes - Never Black and White

2007-10-26T09:13:00.000-07:00

One of the things I really love about the characters in Heroes is that things are rarely, if ever, black and white. In most things, you clearly know who is good or evil. Superman is good. Lex Luthor is bad. The bad guy is easy to identify.

Not so in Heroes. Take any of the characters, there are many many levels to each of them. The most obvious character to demonstrate this is Jessica/Niki. The dual personality is constantly fighting between good and evil. But not all characters are so obvious. Even the the most evil character, Sylar, has shown his humanity in The Hard Part. If events had only transpired in a slightly different way, we may be talking about Sylar the hero, rather than Sylar the bad-ass murderer.

I thought about this even as I wrote that Takezo Kensei is a bad guy. In reality, I know he isn't truly evil. I know that him knocking out Hiro could very well be interpreted in many different ways. I thought about it as I wrote about Matt and Maury Parkman. Clearly Matt struggles with the demons that he has inherited from his father. Demons that were on display when we see Dark Matt Parkman in the future. The Matt we know is the epitome of courageousness and heroism, but it only took a few critical events to turn him to the lackey of Sylar and against his own kind.

Maury Parkman - Where Matt is heading?

2007-10-25T10:26:00.000-07:00

This week we are introduced to Maury Parkman, Matt's dad. We discover that he and Matt have similar powers. I'll be honest and say, I didn't quite expect this. It has seemed to me that powers aren't exactly like hair color. That is, there isn't a direct correlation between a heroes power and the powers of his/her parents (see Claire, Nathan, and Meredith)

So Maury and Matt share the same abilities. We got a brief glimpse of what is possible for Matt. Thus far, Matt's ability has been a one way street, allowing him only to READ the minds of those close to him. Maury shows us there is more to come. He can project mental images into the minds of others, even over great distances (Molly is at least several hundred miles away)

I have to admit, I have until now thought Matt's power to be pretty weak. While other heroes have some great offensive abilities, Matt's Mind reading is very defensive in nature. Given my thoughts about his power, I've had great respect for Matt. His bravery is almost unmatched among the heroes we have met so far, he is the first to run into a situation against people he knows to be more powerful than himself. But with the revelation that Matt's power will expand over time, Matt's powers might become very interesting.

We know now that he will at least be able to extend his powers to be two way (proven by the message he is able to get to Nathan during their fight) as well as project illusions into the minds of others (which would put him on par with Candince) If he can extend this to Mind Control, well then we have one heck of a powerful Evolved person.

One thing that does bother me about Matt, considering he is one of the more likable characters, is that he could very well end up like his father. Matt definitely has a dark-side, as witnessed in Five Years Gone. Also,despite the fact he is taking care of Molly, the fact remains, he has left his family, including his son, just like his father. He has used the excuse that he found out the child was not his, but this can not be true. In Five Years Gone, he shows great concern over Janice and her son, Matthew. Further, Matthew is an evolved human, because he is being hidden by Bennet. This is even further confirmed by Janice in the nightmare that Matt has in Maury's apartment, as she accuses him as much. So, it seems obvious that it is indeed Matt's son. Yet he has abandoned him, much like his father abandoned him. And we know how that ended up.

Takezo takes out Hiro: confirmed.

2007-10-24T11:15:00.000-07:00

In my previous post, Takezo Kensei - Bad Guy?, I offered as evidence, a picture showing someone walking over Hiro, who might have been Takezo Kensei.

Like I mentioned in the previous post, I saw a glimpse of a scene during next week's preview which looked like Kensei hitting someone from behind. Here is a picture that confirms my theory.

What is going to cause this change in Takezo? Is it going to be a dispute of Yaeko? Maybe just Kensei obviously self-serving nature taking over? Perhaps this is a ruse, and not actually as bad as it looks? I guess we will find out next week.

Fight or Flight

2007-10-23T09:16:00.000-07:00

Rather than do a recap of the episode, which you can get in a lot of different places, I thought I would just give my random thoughts on the episodes. If I think something deserves a more in depth analysis, I will do it sometime in the week.

Kristen Bell's new character, Elle, seems interesting. Her electrical power is similar to Peter's new found power which probably means Peter has encountered her. Many have guessed that Peter's power was a different form of the power he acquired from Ted, but that doesn't quite make sense in light of Elle. Peter's power much more closely resembles her. This can only be explained if he somehow met her before. Perhaps sometime in the four months missing in his life.

Maury Parkman being evil, even after being seemingly innocent, did not come as a shock. He is clearly a "bad guy", but I'm not so sure he is the bad guy. His body type just doesn't match that of Kaito's killer. It has been suggested by some, that he perhaps caused it to be an "illusion" to Kaito, but I don't think so. It just doesn't quite fit.

I still stand by my previous post. Takezo is about to go bad. Something is going to happen when they attack Whitebeard's army. I believe I caught a glimpse of Takezo hitting a man from behind, most likely Hiro, in the preview. If I can get a screen capture of it, I will post it up.

Why is Mohinder showing up at Monica's door? She doesn't seem to be in any danger, so it seems odd that the Company would just send him there to do anything about her. Perhaps if he was in the same capacity as HRG was before he left, but he isn't. So it seems unlikely that the company would just send Mohinder to bring Monica in.

Takezo Kensei - Bad Guy?

2007-10-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

Could it be? Could Hiro's hero be evil? It is clear from the beginning, that Kensei does not quite live up to the legend. Instead of the noble and brave warrior that Hiro grew up hearing about, he is a self-serving coward with no honor. He was hired by Yaeko and her father to take care of the bandits, but he instead hires someone else to do the dirty work.

Further, take a look at this picture, seen in the beginning montage of the season.

In this shot, you see a fallen Hiro. In the background, you see several of Whitebeard's men, Yaeko, and another unarmed man (who is in all likelihood the swordsman). But where is Kensei? Look at the person stepping over Hiro. Look at the armor he wears. It is Kensei's Armor.

This differs from any armor of Whitebeard's men, who wear very noticeable red armor.

Clearly there is something going on here. Why would Kensei, in front of Whitebeard's men, be walking over the body of a fallen Hiro? Also, something Takezo said to Hiro really stuck out in my mind. At the end of Kindred, Kensei says to Hiro, "But what if I can't do this without you. Only you can keep me from returning to my heathen ways. You are like my conscience."

Perhaps, Hiro's love for Yaeko is discovered by Takezo. This "betrayal" by Hiro coupled with the fact that Kensei is already on the precipice between good and evil, pushes Kensei over the edge. This could also explain the reference to Kensei tearing out his own heart for the love of the princess. With Kensei, this could happen both metaphorically, he has lost the love of Yaeko, or it could even happen figuratively, as Kensei could have his heart ripped out,and live to tell about it.

All myths have some truth in them. What could very well happen is that Hiro falls in love with Yaeko. In order to defend her, he must master the sword (which explains Future Hiro's bad ass sword skills). In the end, he must leave Yaeko, and return to his proper time, thus leaving his heart. Of course, he could battle the actual Kensei, ripping out his heart. Over time, the story might have gotten mixed into one, thus creating the story of the Dragon of Kiso Mountain.

Theories also abound, that Kensei is in fact the bad guy who pushes Kaito off the ledge. It would explain the ability to walk away from the accident. As Detective Fuller ironically states during the investigation, "Either the killer fell twenty stories, got up and walked away, or flew away. You know somebody who can do that?" Clearly Kensei could. However, I'm not so sure. Kaito recognizes his killer, and it is implied that he is part of the original twelve. Kensei does not appear in the picture of the twelve. It is possible that his appearance has changed over the course of centuries, and he is one of the yet to be identified members. It is also possible that he has lived for many centuries, with his healing factor working much like Wolverine's, enabling him to resist the ravages of father time.

Sylar - Where are His Powers?

2007-10-19T21:55:00.000-07:00

In episode three, we are reintroduced to Sylar, but this time, things don't seem quite right. He is injured, and being cared for by Candince. When he attempts to move a cup using his TK, he fails. Candince explains to him that his powers will return with time, as soon as his chest heals. Sylar then promptly kills her in an attempt to obtain her power of illusion. When he attempts to use it, he fails, showing that not only are his old powers gone, but so are any newly obtained ones.

In episode four, even though he seems to be relatively OK, he is still unable to use any of his powers. He must take a brick and kill Dennis by smashing in his skull. Even his original ability seems to be non-functioning, as he is unable to discover Maya and Alejandro's abilities on his own.

So the question remains, when will Sylar's power return? Will they all return? I for one hope not. Here is my big problem with both Sylar and Peter, their powers can grow almost limitlessly. At some point, Heroes is going to have to address this. Peter is already WAY to powerful. He is like Superman (flight, strength, invulnerability, energy projection) with the ability to teleport, manipulate time, read minds, move objects with his mind, turn invisible, etc. They are going to have to find a way to limit the power of these characters (much like DC did when they toned down Superman).

The Twelve Revealed

2007-10-18T11:03:00.000-07:00

In the episode Kindness of Strangers, the original twelve members of the company were revealed. A photo of the twelve is shown when Peter discovers it among his parents paper when attempting to help Matt Parkman uncover the mystery of the godsend symbol found on torn pictures of Angela Petrelli and Kaito Nakamura. You never get a perfectly clear shot of all twelve at the same time, but you can get all twelve in two separate scenes. The best shot is below

This picture excludes the person on top most left corner. You can see her in the following picture.

Starting from the top-left and working our way down we know that the following people are

Unknown
Linderman
Arthur Petrelli
Angela Petrelli
Kaito Nakamura
Bob
Victoria Pratt (update)
Maury Parkman
Unknown
Charles Deveaux
Unknown
Unknown

Kind of odd that Arthur Petrelli is not looking directly into the photo, but looking to the side. So right now, we know only seven of the twelve. Further, we only know the powers of two of the twelve, Linderman's and Bob's power.

Update 12/5: This is now the best picture of the 12 there is. We also know #7 is now Victoria Pratt. That leaves four yet unnamed members of the twelve. This shot was taken in the warehouse in Montreal.

The Kindness of Strangers - Recap

2007-10-17T21:21:00.000-07:00

A New Hero -Monica - Photographic Reflexes

Micah is woken up in the house of his great-aunt Nana when is cousin Damon throws water on his face. His other cousin Monica is excited about a manager exam at "Burger Bonanza" she is about to take which she hopes will help her get out of flood ravaged New Orleans. Damon wants $65 so he can watch a pay-per-view wrestling match, which Nana declines to give to him. Monica starts her shift, and while talking to her friend, carves a decorative tomato rose which she done on TV earlier that morning. Her manager grabs her to talk about the results of the test, which were average, but he doesn't believe she is capable because of her home life.

Micah is able to get the Pay-per-View wrestling match so Damon can watch, but he is scolded for doing this by Monica. As Monica prepares to give them their dinner, she sees a wrestler perform the 619 move. Later, as she locks up the burger joint, a thief attempts to rob her. She instinctively performs the 619 move on him, and successfully gets him to flee. Her manager sees what happens and as where she learned that move. Monica replies, "On TV"

A Blossoming Romance

Claire's parents have concerns about whether or not Claire is seeing anyone. She insist she is not. She is later approached by a cheerleader who wishes to see Claire on the team after she demonstrated her willingness to stand up to the head cheerleader, Debbie. Wes catches up with Claire to tell her how amazing their time together is. She attempts to stop seeing him, but he insist that she give him one more night together. Claire lies about going to the library. When her father follows her around the corner, she is gone, having flown away with Wes. He takes her to the top of the Hollywood sign. He ask to see her powers, to trust him, and when she jumps off the sign, he flies to catch her and they embrace in a kiss. When she returns home late, she uses the excuse that she snuck off to do cheerleading to cover her tracks. The Haitian comes to talk to HRG and tells him that he has found another painting in Odessa, Ukraine.

The Bogeyman revealed

Molly wakes up in another nightmare and is comforted by Matt and Mohinder. The frequency of the nightmares is increasing, to two a night.

Nathan visits his two boys at their private school and promises to come home soon. He reminds them that when Petrellis make promises, "They keep them"

Matt later meets with Angela Petrelli who is in a hospital. She confesses to the murder of Kaito Nakamura, although she is clearly lying. She states, "My head is clear now. I understand. The only way out of this is for me to confess". The words are cryptic, and clearly have a deeper meaning. Nathan confronts Matt over the confession, but Matt reveals that he knows Angela is innocent because he read her mind. He convinces Peter to help him uncover the mystery of the "Symbol". They go back to Peter's place to find the photo of the "12". When they find it, they are shocked that one of them, is Matt's Father.

Matt goes to Molly to see if he can find her. He left him at age 13 with only $120 and a pat on the head. However, when he shows the picture to Molly, she screams in horror. Matt's father is the boogeyman! Despite her fear, Molly agrees to help Matt find his father. However, as she searches for him (she locates him in Philadelphia, in a 3rd floor apartment, #9). As she finds him, she screams and enters a coma. In her mind, she screams, "Matt, Help Me! Matt!"

Sylar Is Found

Maya and Alejandro continue to try and make it into the United States. Along the way, they find a nearly dead Sylar, who introduces himself by his real name, Gabriel Grey. How he got there is a big mystery since last time we saw him he appeared to be on a jungle island. They share their respective stories, and they discover that Sylar knows the man they seek, Chandra Saresh. Sylar offers to introduce them.

It is discovered that the twins are wanted for murder. When confronted, Maya almost loses it but is brought back by Alejandro. Sylar, almost killed by this, discovers the twins' power, and they take off leaving a murdered Derek behind. (A cockroach is seen by Derek's dead body as they leave) It should be noted, that Sylar seems to have lost some of his powers, as he kills Derek by smashing a brick to his head. Sylar comforts the twins by saying, "Believe me, I understand. To be held responsible for things that you didn't mean to do".

Welcome to Activated Evolution

2007-10-16T20:15:00.000-07:00

This is the first post of a new Heroes Blog. It will cover all things Heroes, ranging from episode summaries, theories, and character information. If you are a heroes fans, and like discussing all things heroes, this is the place to be.