So how cool is it that somebody on Heroes did the 619? Geez, between comics, Star Wars, Star Trek, and now wrestling, this show really manages to connect with virtually every geekdom faction in existence.
It appears that Micah’s cousin Monica has the ability to replicate whatever she sees on television. I’m guessing that the ability gene is a dominant one, since it appears that anybody who has abilities passes it along to their child. This leads me to wonder if we’ll discover that one (or both) of Nathan’s sons has an ability.
This was a pretty revealing episode, actually. So, what did we learn? Well, we found out who is terrorizing Molly in her dreams, and it’s Matt’s dad. Gotta tell ya’, he’s not too intimidating looking. He looks kinda harmless and jolly, actually. I’m willing to give the show a chance and see how his character plays out, though.
By the way, how lazy is Matt? I mean, he knows that Molly is scared to death of this guy and she not only tells him what city his dad lives in, she tells him the apartment building AND floor. Instead of taking this information and allowing her safely return to consciousness, he makes her continue her search to find out which apartment he’s in. I mean, dude, you’re a cop! You can’t figure out which of the, what, ten or so apartments on that floor he’s living in? While on the subject of Matt, we learned that his unborn child is actually his wife’s lover’s child, which apparently led to their divorce.
We also caught a glimpse of the photo, in its entirety, of the previous generation’s “heroes.” I find it very curious, and significant, that Nathan and Peter’s dad is looking away. It’s almost as if they don’t want us to get a solid, clear look at his identity. It’s also intriguing that Bob, the apparent head of The Company, is part of this group as well. What might his ability be? Methinks it will have severe repercussions for Mohinder and Bennet for sneaking around behind his back.
As always, this show managed to ask more questions just as they answered some. I’m particularly curious about Nathan. These reflections he keeps seeing, are they a “what if” type thing? I’m assuming that Nathan dropped Peter before he blew up, hence how he survived the explosion physically unscathed. Is the reflection he’s seeing, of his face burnt, his subconscious saying “this is what would have happened if you stuck with him?” If that is what happened, it’s natural for him to feel guilty about “abandoning” his brother at the time of his death. This may simply be his way of dealing with it.
Of course, there’s another theory, which is that there’s more to Nathan than we’ve been told. I mean, Peter arguably has the most powerful ability of all, that he can develop the abilities of anybody in his vicinity. It’s natural to think that Nathan’s abilities go beyond that of flying. Perhaps he has the ability to heal as well. In fact, I was waiting to see if his knuckle wound would heal after he punched the mirror. This episode marked the beginning of Nathan’s road to recovery, leading (I’m sure) to his reunion with Peter.
I am wondering, though, if Nathan is (or ever was) aware of the fact that Kaito Nakamura is Hiro’s father. Or if Peter knew, for that matter. It doesn’t appear that they did, as it seems that they’d mention that at least once, but at the same time Nathan seems relatively familiar with Kaito when discussing him.
It’s interesting that for the past few weeks, I’ve been labeling Maya and Alejandro’s storyline as the one that is dragging. However, this past week, Peter and Hiro (arguably the stars of the show) didn’t appear, and I have to say, the episode didn’t drag nearly as much as usual. Although, I think the fact that Sylar has been injected into the Wonder Twins journey helps a lot. In fact, I’m intrigued by Sylar’s behavior. Is he looking for redemption? The fact that he introduced himself under his given name makes me wonder. It’s not as if “Sylar” is a household villainous name, so revealing that as his name would not have been a considerable risk. And what about Sylar’s decision to “protect” them? If he simply wanted their abilities, he could have taken them at any time. Of course, he may just be trying to better understand what they can do before he takes their powers.
Not much to mention on the Claire/Bennet/West stuff, although I did think that Claire’s integration back into cheerleading was handled pretty cleverly. I am curious, though, if there’s any significance to the super duper close up facial shots of the Bennets when they have their dinnertime discussions.
I recently read an article on the Entertainment Weekly website, criticizing the show for taking the coincidental connections just a bit too far. I think that criticism is unwarranted because (a) in a lot of way, the connections are the point of the show and (b) it is a television show. Sure, it’s coincidental that Maya and Alejandro picked up Sylar, but honestly, would it have been in the least bit interesting if Joe Schmo and Jane Doe picked him up? This is one of those instances in which reality would be boring. And for that matter, is anybody interested in seeing the super slow Wonder Twins story arc advancing without any additional character interaction whatsoever? This is the most interested I’ve been in their story yet, and it’s because of the inclusion of Sylar.
The fact that Molly’s super scary man ended up being Matt’s father was also critiqued. Meanwhile, on Lost, the revelation that the person who was responsible for Sawyer’s life falling apart was actually Locke’s father is praised as being genius writing. Again, if you’re criticizing the fact that these characters are all connected in some way, I think you’re missing a big point of the show.
For that matter, Entertainment Weekly (the magazine) recently ripped the show a new one as well, giving the season thus far a C-. The article basically stated that the show is super slow, nothing is happening, characters are acting uncharacteristically, and that the characters should be “saving the world” instead of, ya’ know, building a story. The critique was overly harsh, in my opinion. After all, there have only been four episodes. At this point last season, the characters were hardly saving the world. In fact, the “Save the cheerleader, save the world” was JUST uttered at the end of the fourth episode, and very few characters had interacted with each other.
Is the show perfect? By no means. Is it slow at times? Yes, which I’ve stated numerous times in my own column. For the time being, the show is simply building its characters and the overall story. All I can say is give it time, and remember that it was all worthwhile when things got slow last season.
