Quick Thoughts on "Dying of the Light"

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.

Quick Thoughts on "I Am Become Death"

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.

Hiro's Revenge

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?

Powerless

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.

Peter Defeats Hiro?

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

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

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

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?

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.

Four Months Ago

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.

Out of Time - Review

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.

Who is Adam Monroe?

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

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.