(S01E11) Promos for this "fall finale" promised a stunning climax and that "a hero will die." Show creators can't be held accountable for, shall we say, the exuberance of the network publicity machine, but we do get a great episode this time that lives up to the hype. Bear with me, I kind of went overboard this week, with what I'll have to call an overly-extended review, but hey, it's the last episode until January 22nd anyway. Feel free to skim, my feeling won't be hurt.
Claire's Dad initially matches her honesty by revealing that he's known about her ability all along. Before tonight ends the new bond between them is turned on its head. That impressed me. HRG has become one of the most complex and interesting characters on the show. By the way, it's cool when characters actually communicate with each other; that then adds more conflict. It's great to see that happen again and again in this episode, as characters come together and talk about what they know, and to try and figure out just when the frak is going on.
An interesting plot point came up in that early scene between them, when HRG says there are others like Sylar out there; others who would want to kill Claire and people like her. Not necessarily people with Sylar's same ability and agenda, I don't think (but maybe) but definitely more enemies on the horizon. Claire thinks that is what is happening later, but the enemy is closer to home. Fascinating to see HRG switch so smoothly from loving father in one scene to ice cold interrogator in the next scene with Sylar, threatening to take Sylar apart like one of his own "timepieces" and see what makes him tick. 
Later, you can see the pride in HRG's eyes when Claire holds her own against FBI Audry's questioning. He even allows her to talk to Peter alone, an example of the newfound trust between father and daughter, I thought. But the truth is that he already knows he's going to take all those memories away from her. It's especially hurtful to her when she discovers her only friend Zach's memories of her were stolen. That's moot. Claire will have to rediscover everything, which is a huge and depressing setback. Her father believes he is doing this to protect her, but it's still chilling. Especially when "the Haitian" says that he has wiped out Claire's mom's memories over and over again. Maybe that accounts for Mrs. Bennet's rather dazed demeanor much of the time.
The fallout from saving the cheerleader ends up driving more of the heroes to Odessa. Parkman and Hanson follow up on this latest Sylar sighting. Nathan flies down to bail out Peter. Hiro and Ando meet Isaac the artist. Hiro's so enthused about the encounter, he flashes him the traditional greeting of Vulcans, which he finds appropriate. Isaac might be thinking, "Uh oh, fanboy alert," judging from his initial expression.
Loved the "bitches and dogs" exchange about cops and fidelity between Parkman and his FBI partner, Hanson. Hanson's finally showing a bit of her personal side, which is no less tough, but a little less cynical than her professional persona. She gives Parkman some much-needed marriage advice: work at it, if you want to save it. Funny and cool scene when Parkman uses his abilities on Peter, and Peter adopts the ability and they start a feedback thought-reading loop, much to Agent Hanson's confusion. Later, when Hanson slips up and has that nice thought about Parkman, he reads it, much to her embarrassment. That's funny too.
Jessica clips D.L. in the shoulder and blows out his tires, which has to mean she didn't want him dead, as she later explains to Niki. She's killed enough already, that it wouldn't be an accident that she only winged him. There's a funny moment, when she passes a mirror and sees Niki staring out at her with deep concern. Jessica says, "What're you looking at?" Later Niki and Jessica have a power struggle. "You're part of me," say Niki, "you do what I say." "It doesn't work that way," replies Jessica. 
But if Niki learns to harness her Jessica side, then maybe she can join the ranks of the other heroes. When Jessica hurts Micah, Niki seems able to drive her evil sister away, at least for the moment. The entire family ends up in Peter's New York vision, so evidently they are essential in some way too, though they still seem furthest away from the macro-concerns of the other characters, thoroughly mired in their own problems.
Heh. Finding out that one cheerleader is dead, Hiro and Ando re-debate "save the cheerleader, save the world." Is it the if, then statement that Hiro , as the one whose future-self said it, claims it is; or an and statement like Ando assumes? Since so many fans have discussed this slogan for weeks, and NBC sure attempted to wring the hell out of it in promos, I found it hilarious watching two characters on the show splitting hairs and trying to parse the sentence for every possible interpretation. HIro, seems to sum it up in the end when he says, "Never mind," and "Get back on mission." There is an atomic blast to stop. Destiny calls, and Ando sensibly wishes that destiny would lose their number.
Peter and Claire get to talk and Claire finds out for the first time that she's not alone. A short-lived peace for the benighted cheerleader, I know. She initially thinks that Peter's power is identical to hers. When she finds out it isn't, and that Peter expected he'd probably be killed by the fall, she's amazed. "Kind of stupid, huh?" says Peter. Peter has made a valuable ally out of a grateful HRG, seemingly. But you can never tell with ol' Mr. Bennet.
Besides answering questions for each other, and the audience, a lot of new questions are raised. Hiro asks a big one. When the Artist tells him about his mural of an "exploding man," Hiro asks, "How do you stop an exploding man?" And he's soon got other worries to pile on top of that. Like how to find the sword in the Artist's painting, and how to avoid the Butterfly Effect if he has to go Jurassic and fight a dinosaur.
Eden, early on, proposes to HRG that she could make Sylar kill himself. The unseen higher-ups, evidently, want Sylar alive, as higher-ups generally do with very powerful evil beings in these type of situations. HRG is tempted, at least, to let her do it. The Haitian isn't just the strong silent type, he's actually mute, according to what Eden says in that scene. But he speaks to Claire later, of course. Maybe he only speaks in special circumstances. The Haitian seems to have two powers: the ability to block abilities, but also the amnesia power. At least one other character (besides Sylar, who steals abilities) has more than one power, and that's Peter who has precognitive dreams in addition to his mimic power. Not insignificantly, the Haitian's dampening power isn't absolute. Parkman is able, with great effort, to break through and pick up the name Sylar from him.
Before attempting to deal with Sylar. Eden frees Isaac to try to allow him to effect the future. A lot of viewers have suggested they thought Eden has her own agenda. Unfortunately her attempt to avenge Chandra Suresh's murder appears to be the end of her.
Damn! And I thought it would be bad if Sylar got Claire's ability! Now he has If he had Eden's whispering power, how do they stop that? I'm not sure how or why Sylar's abilities happened to return right at that moment so he could smash the glass and attack Eden. Did he have his abilities all along, and was he just pretending earlier with HRG until he could get close enough to Eden to steal her ability?
The show ends with Peter's revelatory vision, which was obscure enough to be interpreted many ways. Besides the fact that we see the downside of Peter's mimicry (does he absorb Radiation Man's ability and can't control it?) the other thing I though was significant was seeing Claire mouth the words "I'm sorry" to him. Who knows, at this point, what she did to be sorry for. Can't wait to find out. Meanwhile I'd love to hear theories.
By the way, if you're having trouble keeping names and faces straight, Wikipedia has a detailed character list, with photos. Very helpful, and a lot easier to load and navigate than the official NBC site. Lots of minor characters are included there, such as, Jackie Wilcox, aka the "other cheerleader."
UPDATE (3:18 pm) (5:57 pm): My thanks to those who have pointed out some things I might have misinterpreted in watching the show and preparing this overly-long review. According to some, Jessica did try to kill D.L. (it would seem) with her second shot, and he used his power to make her third shot pass harmlessly through himself, though that doesn't explain why she just wounded him in the shoulder with her first shot. As las6 points out in Comment #64, Jessica says that she "never misses."
Also, I didn't see Eden turn her gun on herself, to prevent Sylar absorbing his power. Some posters feel that the Haitian isn't going to wipe Claire's memory, but is eliciting her promise not to tell HRG that he hasn't.
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 5)
12-05-2006 @ 9:32AM
BGJay said...
As a number of people have pointed out, there are a few things you missed (I tried posting this earlier, but for some reason I can't with Firefox)
1. Jessica was definately trying to kill DL. She had a bullet going right through his forehead. The only reason it didn't kill him is that he phased it through so it blew out the tires.
2. Eden shot herself in the head to prevent Sylar from gaining her powers.
3. I don't think Haitian man will erase Clair's memories. He seems to have his own agenda. When Eden was telling HRG man that Sylar would be better off dead, a look of agreement seemed to have come from the Haitian. I think he'll turn out to be one a shade whiter than HRG.
A poster mentions that maybe it's HRG that can annul powers, not Haitian. After thinking about it, that makes sense. He always there when someone is having their powers cancelled. When he speaks with Sylar, he is the only one around (seemingly).
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12-07-2006 @ 12:25AM
Joe said...
Wow, Michael Canfield, get with the program. As other have mentioned, Jessica did try to kill DL, but the bullet went through him. The Haitian didn't wipe Claire's memory, instead telling her to pretend as if her mind has been wiped.
I've been continuously driven to ask this question; do you guys at TV Squad A) have any qualifications as journalists or remotely intelligent people? and B) get paid to write these posts? I'm pretty sure the person who writes the Jericho episode summaries doesn't even watch the show...
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12-05-2006 @ 10:01AM
Greg said...
HRG has developed a device that blocks the powers. It is pocket sized==theory
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12-05-2006 @ 10:02AM
Jamus said...
My big fuzzy question is why was Sylar not affected by Eden's suggestion while he was in the cell, but he was affected by it after running into her at the Homecoming? Maybe he was injured and worn down from the fall with Peter? Or was it the combo-effect of the both her and the Haitian working together?
The cell was an odd mix of metal and plastic. The push drawer was a clear plastic model, but the walls looked metal. Reminded me of a Magneto-cell.
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12-05-2006 @ 10:11AM
Bamboo said...
As far as HRG and hatian guy being able to take powers, not so sure about that because they brother running for office was able to fly away when in Vegas.
Also, why was Peter looking so sick while in the cell at the police station. He looked like death warmed over.
Also, did anyone else catch what kind of phone it was that Edan handed to the painter guy. It was white, and it looked different than any I have seen. Can someone with TIVO go back and check because the show is not posted on NBC.com yet. I think it was a Motorola. Would they throw a unreleased phone in to produce hype?
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12-05-2006 @ 10:14AM
Tim said...
Ben: but I think Sylar can move more than just metal. The first object he moved was a glass on the table.
I think HRG is the one who has the power blocking ability. The show likes to use smoke and mirrors to make you think the Haitian has that ability, but I think its more logical that each of them have their own power.
Just think about it..... :)
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12-05-2006 @ 10:25AM
Bamboo said...
Edit to above:
Nevermind about the phone.
Show is up on NBC.com now and watching it and looking at Moto site it looks like the MOTOROKR E1 phone for Cingular.
Oh well, got my hopes up. :-(
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12-05-2006 @ 10:25AM
Chris W said...
Jessica did try to kill DL. The bullet that hit the tire went THROUGH his head.
I think Eden turned the gun on herself so that Sylar would NOT get her power. A damaged brain is no good to him
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12-05-2006 @ 10:31AM
Michael Canfield said...
Great comments so far. With Heroes there's always a lot to discuss! I wanted to just chime back in and acknowledge that I got a few important details wrong in this week's review and thank those of you who took the time to correct me on them.
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12-05-2006 @ 10:31AM
Pook said...
This show has been one of the bright spots for my Mondays! I am a huge Prison Break fan(and one of the few FOX shows worht watching other than 24)so when thats done come 9pm I switch over to NBC and have loved every Heroes show. The first one made me think 'ok, this might work' and the second episode grabbed me. For me the whole Niki situation is where I tune out a bit..but when Hiro, Peter or the entire
Claire/sylar and the FBI arc shows up, I am right there. And knowing in January that CLAUDE, the INVISIBLE MAN (with one of my fave Brit actors Chris Eccleston)will be in the January 22 episode and will be PETERS MENTOR...WE will start to see what Peter can do and it will be very fun to watch the interactions of all the charactors. One thing I know is....24 will be taking a back seat in the new year for me!!!
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12-05-2006 @ 11:12AM
John Frost said...
(As has been stated) I thought I saw Jessica try to kill DL with a bullet to the head, but instead, now painfully aware he was being targeted, he let the bullet 'pass through' (his power) his head which then blew out the tire. Although Jessica's motivation is singularly simple, protect Nicole, it's easier to understand it after the backstory episode last week. Perhaps there will be some softening there after she hurt Micah this week.
I loved the twist that we're all expecting a bomb to destroy NYC, but the writers slyly introduced a character who is capable of doing it all himself. Now it looks like the blast isn't a bomb at all, but rather a person (Peter (as his vision seemed to indicate) or the Radio-active man) exploding. Great move by the writers on this one.
Also like the new marketing tag at the end of the show... are you on the list?... LOST could have used this same promotion, but on Heroe's it plays to the fanboy dreams in all of us. I don't care if you play me like a violin as long as we're making beautiful music together.
So HRG is a cog in a wheel, not an independent operator. When do we see his bosses?
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12-05-2006 @ 4:25PM
Xolus said...
Issac has already painted how Peter will save the city: He will absorb Radioactive Ted's power, then absorb Nathan's flight power to fly out of the city. It seems that when Peter absorbs someone's power, they lose it temporarily. We have seen the painting several times already.
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12-05-2006 @ 2:00PM
Orion Starr said...
The last 3 minutes were surreal but, if I am right it was Sylar not Peter who blows up. I think Peter's visions are precognitive(a aspect of his Emulation/Empathic power maybe) but, his mind places him in the role much like John of The Dead Zone. If you notice on Peter's wrist is Sylars watch and he's wearing his Trench Coat... why Clair said I'm sorry... I have no idea on that he he
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12-05-2006 @ 11:31AM
Canton said...
Tim, you're right about Sylar. He has generalized telekinesis; he's not limited to metal. (He demonstrated on a drinking glass, remember.)
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12-05-2006 @ 11:31AM
Joe F said...
This is what I dont get. Even if there is someone with some sort of blocking ability, why didnt Sylar break through the room when no one was around? He had to have tried.
I dont think the answer is "his ability to move metal objects" because he was also able to move glass (When he was with the professor). I also dont get how he was shot 4 or 5 times by parkman, and the bullets bounce off, but falls 5 stories and is wounded. Its amazing though, because the writers will be able to come up with anything to answer these thoughts.
Also, just to add I think the Haitian's ability range much further than blocking powers and erasing memories. I think he has many mind powers that we have yet to see. For example, When he grabs Claire, the door closes. Who closed the door? He did. We have only seen the surface of this characters abilities
This show rocks!
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12-05-2006 @ 11:43AM
RFRY said...
We have seen power-canceling sans HRG before, when Eden and the Hatian aren't ripped asunder by Sylar in the woods after Homecoming while HRG is away with Claire. Sure, Sylar was probably weakened by the fall/blood-loss, but if HRG knew they were going to be trying to capture someone like Sylar, I'm pretty sure he'd put whoever had the power-canceling ability/device on the case, no matter Sylar's state.
What I don't get is how Eden thought she'd get her power to work but that Sylar's wouldn't. Demonstrates that even HRG's third in command (at least, in Odessa) has(had) a limited understanding of what was going on, to everyone's detriment.
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12-05-2006 @ 3:58PM
whawha said...
The assumption is that Hiro has to fight a dinosaur back in the prehistoric era, but what if a bad hero emerges that can make dreams reality...or make inanimate objects, like a dinosaur toy, real?
And get off the reviewer's back...I bet it's pretty difficult whipping these recaps together so quickly. Unless he has a screener copy. If so, climb back on, everybody!
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12-08-2006 @ 6:45PM
Preach said...
#35 The bullets didn't bounce off, Sylar reflected them, since they're made out of metal.
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12-05-2006 @ 12:00PM
Duchess said...
First off, boo, why did Eden have to go?! Honestly, call me naive, but I was thinking it would be Niki/Jessica trying to take herself out or something to protect DL and Micah, but it looks like she took other steps to do that.
Now here's a question: is Peter dying because Claire is not next to him and he can't keep the healing power up? Just speculation.
Also, if it wasn't the room that was holding back Sylar's powers, then why didn't he do something when HRG went away? It looks like there were times when there was no one there.
I think the Haitian was just pretending to be mute, and it looks like he and Eden are/were both about to go mutiny on HRG, even if they weren't working together.
Just some thoughts...oh why must we wait until JANUARY 22 for answers!
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12-05-2006 @ 12:10PM
Michael Canfield said...
Heh, heh. Thanks, whawha. Unfortunately, we didn't get any screeners beyond the third episode.
Most of the comments have been pretty reasonable about pointing out mistakes, only a couple trollers in there. And here I thought I was doing the show (which I love) a service by banging out a 1500 word review! Heroes does its fans such a great service by giving us *so much* to talk about and enjoy every week.
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