A lot of critics have accused Heroes of essentially rewriting the past to make the present more interesting (so wait, Elle and Sylar have this rich history with each other? And when they met, Elle was a semi-moral girl with a deep conscience, and not a delusional sociopath as she is described in season two?) I’ve given the writers a lot of leeway on this, basically taking a wait-and-see approach to my viewing. After all, deliberately or not, most of the characters have very vague background stories, so I do believe it’s within the realm of possibility that certain things could have happened, even if it may seem unlikely based on what we’ve seen.
That being said, I’m not sure I follow this whole “the eclipse kick started everybody’s powers” mojo. If I’m not mistaken, didn’t season one’s “Six Months Ago” show us that, at least six months prior to the eclipse, several of the characters were beginning to exhibit their abilities? Claire was healing, Nathan was flying, Sylar was seeing how things worked, Parkman was getting glimpses into people’s thoughts, Eden was making people do things, Niki was a schizo, etc. And I’m not sure I can even adhere to the belief that the eclipse gave the heroes the ability to control their powers, because for much of the first half of the season, Peter, Parkman, Isaac, Niki, and a handful of others STILL had no idea how their powers worked.
On top of that, the eclipse thing doesn’t even make sense. As we know, many people had abilities BEFORE that eclipse (the senior Petrellis, Linderman, the Haitian, Clyde, Adam Monroe, etc.), so why weren’t their abilities taken away when that eclipse came? I love the idea of having all of the characters lose their abilities for a short time – which completely changes up the dynamic of the show – but I really, really wish they had done it in a more thoughtful manner. Granted, this is only Part 1 of the story, but at this point it’s a pretty inexcusable case of completely rewriting history.
That huge criticism aside, I really did enjoy the episode, which was – not surprisingly – highlighted by the various pairings. It’s interesting that some of my favorite relationships on the show (Claire and HRG, Peter and Nathan) have been kept apart for much of this season, yet were put center stage for this episode.
I’ve been critical of the fact that the writers constantly have Claire at odds with her father. It REALLY hurts her character. It makes it seem as if she never learns, as she constantly distrusts her father, only making the situation much, much worse. At the end, she realizes her father had just done everything because he loves her, and they kiss and make up. Until the next season, when the same exact thing happens again. Because of that, I’m really glad that this episode shed some light on her daddy issues. The fact is that Claire truly does love her father, but she has to keep him at an emotional distance because of the fact that he’s constantly leaving her. Yes, she understands that he’s leaving her because he’s trying to protect her because he loves her, but in the end, she’d just rather he be a normal dad who stays at home and showers her with love. And honestly, that’s pretty understandable.
Even at the end of the episode, HRG probably SHOULD have just stayed with her, just to be there for her, but instead he rushed off to avenge her injury. He wants to be her hero. Which is admirable, except for the fact that she just wants him to be her dad.
While it did seem a tad bit forced, I did enjoy the tension between Peter and Nathan. The fact of the matter is, Nathan HAS had to clean up all of Peter’s messes. Peter would have blown up New York City if not for Nathan, and the Shanti virus would have spread if not for Nathan’s intervention. But, of course, Peter is right as well. Nathan is exceptionally easy to manipulate. This has been shown numerous times in the past, present, and future. When he’s promised power, he’s willing to sacrifice his morals. He’s willing to be a villain to some if he’s a hero to many. These two really are the yin to the other’s yang. Without Nathan, Peter is a naïve idealist. Without Peter, Nathan is overly ambitious and morally ambiguous.
By the way, we definitely saw more of that sociopathic Elle that we all remember from last season. While I do honestly believe she thinks she’s helping Sylar, it’s almost as if she gets off on messing with his head. First she thinks it’s wrong making him turn bad, then she thinks it’s wrong allowing him to be good. Sheesh, such a woman! Anyway, this was an interesting direction to take the Sylar character, after creating excuse after excuse for why he was evil in the first place. I do believe this all but confirms that Elle is the mother of baby Noah, though. The next question remains: What happens in the next five years that makes Sylar, Elle, and HRG all lovey dovey?
One thing I loved about this episode was how, whether it was explicit or not, everybody sorta acknowledge how ridiculous all of the heroes and villains look when they do their specific mannerism, but nothing happens (Parkman tilting his head, Elle flinging her hand, Sylar motioning his fingers, Hiro looking constipated, etc.) This stuff was purely tongue-in-cheek, wink-wink fun. When it doesn’t harm the episode, it’s good to see that these shows don’t take themselves too seriously.
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.
