So there you have it. The end of “Heroes Volume 2: Generations”. Before I get to the recap, let me tell you what the one big takeaway from this episode should be for each and every one of us. Stated simply: “Don’t Fuck With Mister Hiro”. Seriously. The boy has a harsh sense of justice.
Now that that’s out of the way …
There were four main storylines in this finale, which effectively had nothing to do with one another. Yeah, Niki and Mohinder say each other’s names a lot, but that’s about as much as things intersect. I haven’t decided yet whether this bothers me or not. On the one hand, it seems like a step back from how they all came together in last season’s finale. But on the other hand, I think this season would have been dull if they were all working together as one. Anyway, here are the four storylines …
The Big Bad Virus in Texas
This of course is the main event. Matt & Nathan & Hiro squaring off against Adam & Peter down in the lower levels of Primatech Odessa. Hiro wants revenge against Adam, Adam wants to play Old Testament God, and everybody else wants to destroy that pesky virus. The writing is a bit sloppy here — why does Peter use his telekinesis to rip the vault door off when he and Adam could just phase through it instead? Or teleport using Hiro’s power? Anyway, the good guys win in the end, the virus is destroyed, and Hiro shows just how much of a sadist he can be. “My name is Hiro Nakamura. You killed my father. Prepare to be buried alive in coffin forever.”
Stupidity Doesn’t Heal in So Cal
Claire is all, “My daddy is dead, so I’m going to tell the whole world I’m a freak and my boyfriend’s a freak and all these other people I don’t even know are freaks, and trust in the historically documented good will of human beings toward things they don’t understand, confident that they won’t just lock us up and study us like lab rats,” and West is all, “Seriously, have you always been this stupid?” and Claire is all, “I hate you!” and Noah’s all, “Honey, I’m home!” and Claire is all, “Huh?” and Noah’s all, “I got my job back!” and Lyle is all, “Wait. I just figured something out. Claire, do you have powers or something?” and Mr. Muggles hangs himself.
Niki Saves the Day in The Big Easy
Micah talks to cellphones and traffic lights as he and Niki run to the rescue of Monica, who was pretty much useless this episode. Contrarily, it was nice to see that Niki the ex-stripper was able to pull off being both a hero and a bad-ass, even without any powers. And maybe that was the point. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a hero’s send-off. She (presumably) dies in the same fire she saves Monica from, and now poor Micah is left parent-less. But perhaps it’s for the best — all the great superheroes are orphans.
Elle Saves the Day in The Big Apple
The million mile journey from Mexico to New York ends with Sylar shooting Maya. And for a few minutes, we’re left to wonder if Maya & Alejandro really WERE exactly as pointless an addition to the show as Nicki & Paolo were on Lost. And while I’m still unconvinced that’s not the case, Maya gets a reprieve when Mohinder uses some of Claire’s blood to heal her. And at that point, I’m left wondering how much I should really worry whenever anybody “dies” on this show, if all it takes is a little of Claire’s blood to bring them back to life. Anyway, I digress. Elle shows up, hoping to make her daddy love her again by capturing Sylar, but isn’t able to take him down in time. Still, Mohinder convinces her she’s a hero for saving them, and she seems to like the sound of it.
As with the last volume, we’re left with a teaser when this one ends — the first scene of Volume 3, which is entitled “Vweelans” … er, that is, “Villains”. Says Tim Kring in a TV Guide interview: “We’ve introduced a cadre of [villains] over the course of the show and we’re going to see them rise up. Just as the heroes have found each other to save the world, the villains will do the same with the opposite intent. The Company has catalogued many of these people over the years. There may be more of them down in that basement than we have alluded to so far.” To start things off, we see Sylar “shoot up” the rest of a Mohinder/Claire cocktail, his wounds heal, the virus is gone, and like Luke Skywalker reaching out for his lightsaber in that ice cave on Hoth, he pulls an empty can of spinach to himself.
“I’m back,” says Sylar. But not for another few months, at least.
Edited to add: Oops. Completely forgot to mention Nathan getting shot. I think maybe I blocked it out of my mind because it was such a shocking moment! Part of me would like to see Nathan un-die with the help of Claire’s Magic Blood. But the other part of me thinks that’s kind of a cheat. It takes the dramatic legitimacy out of killing off major characters if half the time they’re just going to be magically revived without any side effects (such as vampirism, zombie-ness, robotic appendages, etc.). The big question is: Who shot him? My money is on his not-really-dead father.