“How To Stop An Exploding Man”
“Volume One” ended not so much with a boom, but with a man falling out of the sky and presumably taking his ancestor’s place in history. I’m going to try something a little different here and talk about the individual characters.
Peter Petrelli
Peter was the character who arguably grew the most over the first season. And he needed to, since his power allowed him to copy the powers of any other superhuman, whether he wanted them or not. I’m still a bit confused as to where exactly he got telekinesis from, but let’s put that down as Hiro’s time stopping power for now. He hasn’t absorbed any of Sylar’s acquired powers, so that’s something that needs to be explored. Despite all indications that the future was set in stone, Peter continually tried to change it without fear of what would happen to him, yet in the end, only one of Isaac’s visions didn’t come true – New York exploding. Or at least, it hasn’t yet.
Nathan Petrelli
The big question here is, “Is Nathan dead?” Nathan could’ve easily gotten away from Peter – fly him up and then fly away – but I suppose that the radiation could’ve been too much? Whether he lives or dies, the catalyst in the “Five Years Gone” future failed to happen. Yet a big-ass mushroom cloud over NYC could still provide Nathan – or Sylar – with a motive to rally the people of the country and a way to become president.
Hiro Nakamura
Hiro also grew a lot over the course of the season. In the final few episodes, he manages to become a more serious person and more focused on his mission. He manages to do what was shown in Isaac’s comic, and thanks in part to Sylar’s TK throw, winds up in 17th century Japan. He encounters Kensei as the season ends, and a logical twist would be for Hiro to take Kensei’s place in his quest to become more of a “Hero”. I don’t know that it will help his English though, or what it will mean for Ando next season. I’ll miss the Joey/Chandler relationship between the two, for certain.
Noah Bennet
I wonder about the reveal of H.R.G.’s first name, whether it’s supposed to mean something or whether it’s simply a reward for fans of the show. With the former, Noah means “peaceful” in Hebrew and is of course associated with Noah’s Ark, so there’s probably some meaning there that I’m not good at explaining. With the latter, it’s something that was going to happen at some point, and the season finale is as good a spot as any other. It also shows the trust that Bennet has in Peter over people like Parkman or Suresh. Then again, neither guy saved his daughter. As one of two unpowered regulars on the show, and someone whose only real loyalty is to his family, it will be interesting what Bennet does next season.
Niki/Jessica Sanders
Yep, still don’t care about her.
D.L. Hawkins
Or him. I did like how he killed Linderman last ep though. How come that never happened with the Vision? Or was that in an issue of What The…?. Well, at least they’re more useful than Marvin and Wendy. Or Zan and Jayna.
Molly Walker
Molly would seem to have a key role in the upcoming “Generations” story. We’re not sure what it will be yet, but it would seem to have something to do with that person that’s “scarier than the Boogeyman”.
Candice Wilmer
Huh. I guess Candice IS a somewhat hot brunette. Where’s the fun in that? I was hoping for a reveal of an ordinary-looking woman in her mid-40’s.
Sylar
Well, Sylar’s not dead. No surprise there. But where do we go from here? There’s something even more dangerous than him out there, so will Sylar simply lick his wounds, and continue with his killing spree of metahumans? Will he form a Brotherhood of sorts? Will he try to take out the Heroes he knows about? Maybe he’ll finally have a kickass battle with Peter (although admittedly, that’s more Peter’s fault than Sylar’s). All I know is that Zachary Quinto is a regular for next season, so we’ll be seeing a lot more of Sylar.
As for characters like Claire, Micah and Parkman… I’m not sure what to think of them. Claire didn’t really have much story in the last few episodes – her arc kind of ground to a halt upon meeting Nathan. Yeah, I’m shocked too. Micah’s one purpose on this show was served, and now I’m afraid that he’s going to become a human deus ex that the writers rely on to get them out of a sticky situation. And Parkman… well, he’s just this guy, you know?
Next season, we’re getting a 24 episode “volume” plus a 6-episode “miniseries” of Heroes. I don’t know about you, but September can’t come fast enough.
The List
Claire Bennet – Regeneration
Gabriel “Sylar” Gray – Can “see” and “fix” things
D.L. Hawkins – Intangiblity
Hiro Nakamura – Time manipulation/teleportation
Matt Parkman – Receiving Telepath
Nathan Petrelli – Flight
Peter Petrelli – Power mimic
Micah Sanders – Techno-manipulation
Niki Sanders – Superhuman strength
Molly Walker – Location
Candice Wilmer – Illusions
Charlie Andrews (d) – Eidetic memory
Claude “Raines” – Invisibility
Brian Davis (d) – Telekinetic
Charles Deveaux – Unknown
Sarah “Eden McCain” Ellis (d) – Persuasion
Hana “Samantha” Gitelman a.k.a. Wireless (d?)- Techno-telepath
Meredith Gordon – Pyrokinetic
The Haitian – Removes memories
Sanjog Iyer – Dreamwalker
Linderman (d) – Healing ability
Isaac Mendez (d) – Precognition
Kaito Nakamura – Unknown
Angela Petrelli – Unknown
Dale Smither (d) – Super-Hearing
Ted Sprague (d) – Radioactive
Zane Taylor (d) – Molecular Destabilization (?)
James Walker (d) – Freezing power
