First and foremost, the opening introductions: I think the narrator works much better than Mohinder, considering the dark turn that the scientist has made (which made me scratch my head when he returned to his usual voice over duties this episode). I was also somewhat surprised to see Sylar so solidly defined as a “hero.”
While Parkman is most definitely one of the weakest links on this show, I actually quite enjoyed his interactions with Daphne (which had much more to do with her than him). This was actually a very Daphne-heavy episode, and that’s a good thing. In just a few episodes, they’ve developed her character so effectively that she’s one of the most interesting, layered people on the show (she’s like HRG-Lite).
Ando’s “they all look the same to me” line was pure awesomeness. ‘Nuff said. Hiro’s “Mr. African Isaac” line was a close second. Although this scene brought up a HUGE nitpick when it comes to Hiro’s ability. The writers seem very selective as to when he uses his abilities. I absolutely loved how he utilized his ability to fake Ando’s death….but why on earth wouldn’t he just freeze time before going into the shelter to catch African Isaac? I mean, a precog could foresee you freezing time, but there’s not a whole lot he can do about preventing it. That being said, I did appreciate that they actually took the time to explain why he can’t just go back in time (and I did get a kick out of the to-the-point “One minute before Hiro got hit” subtitle), but that’s entirely different than freezing time.
I must say that while the Russian roulette scene was rather predictable – I mean, you just had to know that it would end with Claire being shot – it was really tense. And while most people will complain that Sondra should have just shot Claire, knowing that she will heal, I still thought it was nice how she didn’t want to put her daughter through that. I found Claire’s pep talk, and Sondra’s reaction, equally touching.
HRG’s scene with Claire, where he was strangely proud of her for attacking somebody, was oddly sweet as well. The severe lack of HRG in the past few episodes has been disappointing, though.
Last but certainly not least, we finally got to meet Arthur Petrelli. It appears that his ability is that he can absorb other people’s abilities, a la Rogue. He sucked Adam’s ability, turning him into his 400+ year old self. Which, of course, killed him. He later took Peter’s abilities from him, setting him back to square one, no longer making him the “most special” (honestly, how immature did that line sound?) And this may offer an explanation to those who have bitched and complained about Future Peter’s scar.
I actually quite like Arthur’s ability. If we assume that Peter and Sylar are naturally gifted (opposed to Nathan, whose abilities are synthetic), it actually makes a lot of sense, as both of his sons have the ability to acquire the abilities of others (to varying degrees). And yes, I do know that from what we’ve seen, there’s absolutely no connection whatsoever with one generation inheriting specific abilities from the generation before, but it was still a neat little connection.
Oh, and to me, the painting of the villains looked like Knox, Arthur Petrelli (looking like Two-Face), Maury Parkman, and a dark haired goateed man, perhaps a disheveled Peter?
Matt Basilo has been writing for Inside Pulse since April 2005, providing his insight into popular television shows such as Lost, Heroes, Prison Break, and Smallville. You can visit his blog at A Case of the Blog.
