Nathan Healed - Again

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.

The Death of Maury Parkman

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.

Why Nathan Being Dead is a Bad Idea

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.

1. If Nathan is indeed dead, than Peter is an idiot. All he has to do is use his blood and viola, Nathan is healed.
2. 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.

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.