So endeth this season/volume of Heroes …
RECAP DETAILS AHEAD (don’t read if you haven’t watched it yet) …
What did everybody think of the season finale? I was definitely entertained, as I have been ever since Bryan Fuller returned to the show partway through the season — and even a bit before that — but have to say, I wasn’t really blown away. The finales for this series have just never managed to please 100%, and part of the reason is because the episodes throughout the season are so uneven, and tend to lack a cohesive logic and set of rules about how these powers work and when and how people would use them.
Case in point: Sylar kills Nathan, Peter uses Sylar’s own shape-changing power to defeat Sylar, then Matt uses his mind power to convince Sylar that he’s Nathan. Then once Sylar morphs into Nathan, it’s as if Sylar is dead and Nathan is alive. It’s a very clever twist. But does it really make sense? If the plan is to keep Nathan around so that he can influence the President and keep The Company alive, then couldn’t Peter — who currently has shape-changing ability — do that just as easily, and without the risk of Sylar one day remembering who he is? Which we all know will happen, sooner or later.
Another case in point: Hiro is told that if he uses his power one more time, he could die. The Hunter is about to stab Noah in the neck with an elephant tranquilizer. Instead of just bashing The Hunter over the head with something heavy, or Ando zapping him with his Crimson Arc, Hiro stops time and takes the syringe out of The Hunter’s hand, potentially signing his own death warrant in the process. It makes for a dramatic moment, but one that kind of stretches sense a bit. As does suddenly deciding that Hiro’s body is rejecting his power like a virus in the first place. This is the first we’ve heard of somebody’s power acting that way, isn’t it? And why punish Hiro, who’s arguably the most heroic one of the lot?
So I liked the season finale, but didn’t love it.
In the teaser for the next volume, “Redemption”, we see that, as expected, there is still a bit of Sylar in Not-Really-Nathan, when he can tell by looking at it that a clock is running fast. Needless to say, Mama Petrelli seems a bit perturbed by this. And Tracy enters the scene again, this time with a water-morphing power — water and ice being different states of the same thing — and seems to be out to kill everybody who worked at Building 26.
I had to laugh at the exchange between Hiro, Ando, and Mohinder. “Can you help him? You’re a doctor!” Uh, not that kind of doctor, idiot — and I totally saw the out-of-the-blue “like a virus” comparison coming as soon as Mohinder started an analogy. So ridiculous.
What did you think of the big fight scene we didn’t see? I laughed at that, too, but I guess it’s a nice way to save on the special effects budget — and I thought it was actually effective in the “anything you imagine will be cooler than anything they can actually put on the screen” kind of way.
I haven’t watched regularly for a while, so I was pleased to see Nathan and Peter getting along again. Should have known that would mean one of them was about to kick the bucket. Sort of. This show has absolutely no guts when it comes to killing off characters.
Check out this interview with Milo Ventimiglia and Adrian Pasdar in which they discuss the finale and their “special” relationship: http://bit.ly/iZfvy.
Well, there is the theory that Baby Matt was only able to jumpstart his power for a limited time. It’s like jumper cables, you’ll get the battery going but it’ll eventually die again and either needs to be recharged or replaced. Though if that was the case, there’s the question as to why Ando didn’t supercharge his power to help the time-freezing? But being beside the point, Hiro is probably just losing his power.
Also, another reason why Heroes has never been good with finales is because since we expect a story afterward, they never really solve everything to leave things for later. So it feels like it was unfinished, but it was supposed to be, ya know?
I loved it though. Peter was intelligent AND had a power at the same time!
I definitely enjoyed this episode more than the others this season but you’re right about the ridiculous Sylar.Nathan thing. Though I guess that’s more Mama Petrelli’s need to have both her sons alive you know?
I hope that maybe with Hiro losing his powers he’ll start training like a real warrior and start moving on to become the badass future Hiro we saw in season 1 (?). I can see him becoming really powerful that way and then getting access to his powers again somehow.