(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 4 of 5)
12-05-2006 @ 8:04PM
Luis D. said...
Could someone please tell me what HRG stands for? I just started watching the show and don't recall anyone being named HRG. Couldn't that little bit of info have been included in the episode recap?
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12-05-2006 @ 8:29PM
LC said...
HRG stands for "horned rim glasses" since at the beginning of the series we had no idea who he was.
Ok, my theories:
I believe Sylar's cell had some kind of dampening field or some kind of block on powers. If it were HRG or the Haitian, then it would not make sense that HRG would leave the building while having the Hatian go around town erasing memories. Why would they leave the most powerful human unguarded?
I think that Eden turned off whatever was blocking powers in there so she could in turn use hers. Remember, everyone is asking how Sylar could use his powers, but no one asked how Eden could use hers.
Also, if you folks remember, every time Eden uses her powers on another powered being, it seems to take a few tries. She had to repeat herself a couple of times around Parkman, Sylar the first time and Isaac to get it to take. I think Sylar just got to her too fast before she could really take hold of him.
Any time Peter has dreamed, he has dreamed from another's perspective. When he dreamed he was flying, he was looking through his brothers eyes. I think he is dreaming through Nuclear mans eyes. As for his illness, I think I agree that in the last day he took on Clair's, Parkman's, Sylar's and her brothers powers. Perhaps even the Hatians, since he was in the police station. He has to have a limit.
I remember the producers mentioned that there will be a cost to Peter's powers. I am wondering if too much absorption and almost dying was that cost.
I predict that by the end of the season, Peter will absorb nuclear mans powers and die saving everyone, but perhaps Hiro will go back in time and find another way. Maybe have the Hatian nullify the guys power.
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12-05-2006 @ 8:29PM
Gail said...
HRG stands for Horn-Rimmed Glasses, Claire's father.
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12-05-2006 @ 8:55PM
Bitgod said...
I can almost buy into HRG having the power blocking power, it would make sense if that's why Sylar was able to attack Eden, but the counter to that would be Parkman not being able to read them during the interrogation, and they showed a shot of the Haitian standing around the corner. He didn't mind wipe anyone there, as far as we know. So that was either him blocking Parkman, or it was a red herring scene, that the Haitian wasn't really doing anything other than being close by if needed.
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12-05-2006 @ 9:36PM
kyle said...
I think Sylar was able to break through the glass because he is able to figure out how things work. When HRG came in to talk to him the 2nd time, Hatian man wasn't there so Sylar could use his knowing how things work power to figure out how to get out of the prison he was in and it was only a matter of time before someone would come in and turn on the light it just happened to be Eden. Sorry to see her go. She had pretty eyes.
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12-05-2006 @ 10:21PM
Nate said...
How the hell are they going to get another season out of this? (This is assuming that the Bomb/Man is stopped by the end of season 1)
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12-05-2006 @ 10:50PM
Misty said...
"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."
The bullet definitely went through his head. I think he has to be concentrating on his power for it to work, which is why her first shot managed to hurt him - he wasn't ready.
Think about it...if his power was on all the time, he'd never be able to pick up a fork or drive the car. And all that sex with Niki a few eps back? Highly unsatisfying when you're not...uh...solid. :)
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12-06-2006 @ 4:41AM
Tweaq said...
Me and my friend were just discussing WHY they evolved their powers, how/why so fast, and maybe they'll all just test subjects.
Then I noticed that all their powers are related to their job/personality/life. I don't think this has been said before.
Matt (the cop): Needs to seek out the truth, and what better way than telepathy.
Sylar: fixed/made watches. He needs to "see" how they work.
Claire: shes a cheerleader they do dangerous flips and crap.
Hiro: He worked in an office where time is money. He could stop time to get more work done, or speed it up to go home.
Nikki: no one likes her, who cares. Although her sister wanted revenge so her "soul" went to Nikki (shes kind of like The Spectre)
Eden: She was a thief and street punk.
Just a (great) thought.
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12-06-2006 @ 4:41AM
neptuner said...
when Hiro goes to New York the first time he finds Issac dead on the floor then the explosion happens but in Peter's vision you see Issac grabing Simone and then Peter explodes.
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12-06-2006 @ 4:42AM
HM said...
My theory
I believe "Save the cheerleader, save the world" actually meant save the cheerleader or save the world. By saving the cheerleader, the world is now in danger whereas if he didn't save the cheerleader, he would not have absorbed Sylars powers and the world would have been safe.
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12-06-2006 @ 4:42AM
lovelain said...
i can't really explain this since it's just a thought i had but, regarding peter's apparent illness, is it possible peter has radiation poisoning?
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12-06-2006 @ 4:42AM
James said...
The graphic novel at nbc.com explains what happened to Eden. It's worth a look.
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12-06-2006 @ 4:47AM
las6 said...
While it is clear that the last shot out of the three that "jessica" shot went through DL's head, it doesn't explain why Jessica opted to shoot DL non-fatally the first time and why did she miss the second shot also. She said it herself, She never misses.
and am I the only one who thinks there was some...tension between Claire and Peter? I know it's a bit off, but HRG knocking on the glass didn't make the scene any less ..tense.
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12-06-2006 @ 10:11AM
KC said...
I think it's already been talked to death but one more thing about HRG and him possibly having the ability to block other hero's powers.
When HRG wanted Issac to keep shooting up to paint more pictures about saving the cheerleader, Eden "Suggested" that they stop and HRG figure out another way to save Claire.
So there's no way HRG could be the one who block's the other hero's powers.
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12-06-2006 @ 10:56AM
tweaq said...
Holy crap huge discovery (also neptuner you suck). When Peter has the vision of him exploding, there is a Vote for Petrelli banner. BUT in the future when the bomb goes off, Nathan has already won. Also why is Simone in the vision, the rest of the people are Heroes.
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12-06-2006 @ 10:57AM
tweaq said...
Also neptuner, it could be because Isaac is clean now, and they've changed the future. Because in the future he was all scruffy and high. In the vision he was clean shaven. Also HRG and Ando are in the vision, so I guess it's just a vision of the main players.
But mine discovery (of Nathan having won in the future) still stands, so HA.
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12-06-2006 @ 11:06AM
LarriveeJP said...
When Future Hiro stopped the subway to talk to Peter he said "I didn't recognize you without the scar."
Doesn't this pretty much assure that Peter either won't blow up, or that he is seeing the vision from someone else's perspective.
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12-06-2006 @ 12:05PM
Lynn said...
Oh my god. 20 posts of people saying the same damn hting over and over again. Can't you people think of anything better to do than just agree with each other and repeat the same thing multiple times? Original theories and thoughts perhaps? Good to know the American television viewing public is such an intelligent bunch.
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12-06-2006 @ 12:16PM
CodyM said...
"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."
They don't just feel that way, it's explicitly stated in the episode. How did you know that the haitian spoke, but not know what he said?
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12-06-2006 @ 4:20PM
Eklen said...
yes...sorry, but not the best review ever...an insane amount of spelling errors, and even though it was long, it misinterpreted a lot...do better next time!
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