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.

Quick Thoughts on "Angels and Monsters"

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?

Season 3, Episode 1 - The Second Coming

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?

Picture of Kaito's Killer

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.

Maury Parkman - Where Matt is heading?

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.