(S01E15) A rough week for some of the heroes makes for another pretty good episode, especially the Parkman and Jessica stuff. For once, things appear to be going Matt Parkman's way. He's beaming as he heads off for his first day on a new job as private security. His client turns out to be an a-hole. Matt has not gotten used to overhearing the negative thoughts everyone he meets seems to have of him.
Just in from Vegas, recently-liberated Jessica has a new job herself; it's the first of what may be many contracts from Mr. Linderman. The cat-and-mouse chase up and down the stairwells was intense. So was Matt's near fatal fall. Jessica chucks him out a high window before finishing what she came to Los Angeles to do. Say what you will about Jessica, but she certainly enjoys herself more than Niki ever has. It was cool that Matt read both Niki's and Jessica's thoughts as they argued in the stairwell. [Note: that's how I interpreted Jessica & Niki's exchange in the stairwell anyway. See comments by Michelle @ 13 and Bill @16, etc. below.] Wherever they go, the mirror-twins seem to encounter an ample supply of reflective surfaces.
I actually thought at one point Matt would get to win one. Alas, it's not to be. The constant beat-downs that life gives Matt explains why he pockets his dead client's diamonds. That happens right after he reads the thoughts of yet another cop believing Matt is a loser. I don't believe Parkman will end up keeping the diamonds. He's too decent a guy. If anything that's why he encounters so much difficulty.
Besides Jessica's new hit woman career, I don't know what's going on with that family of Niki's. Micha Micah makes a good point when he asks "shouldn't we be fighting crime or something?" -- or just doing anything. D.L. seems to just hang out tonight. Why is he sure it's safe for Micah to be around his sharp-shooting mother now? And nobody seems all that curious about the occasional FedEx's that Jessica (as Niki) is suddenly getting now that she is out of jail.
Niki herself should be working on a way to get out of the mirror and back in control of her body. If Jessica can switch places, Niki should be able too. Although evil does seem to have a leg up, usually, in the ability-controlling department.
Speaking of evil, Sylar arrives on the scene at a short-lived hero's Virginia Beach home just a few hours ahead of Mohinder. Plenty of time to murder Zane the Melting-Things Guy -- and to steal his Ramones tee-shirt for good measure. Sylar is oddly calm now. The anger he's always shown before is gone. I guess he really had the epiphany, as he explains it, to Mohinder. He's even creepier now. Sylar toys with Mohinder for awhile, not even bothering to hide Zane's body much before entertaining Mohinder and making tea. Sylar wasn't expecting Mohinder, but [H]e makes the most of the meeting by proposing they team-up to "help" other people with special abilities. Which, for Sylar, means helping himself to their abilities. Mohinder has no reason to mistrust Sylar and really takes to the idea. Uh-oh.
The big thing this week was supposed to be Claire finding her father Nathan, but father and daughter fail to connect (to say the least). Meredith, Claire's birth mom, turns out to be no saint. She even low balls Claire on an offer of a cut of the money she's getting out of Nathan. Claire's not interested money, of course. The sad thing is, Meredith acts the way she does because of the kind of person she knew Nathan to be fourteen years ago. Very recent events have begun changing him, though that change is far from complete. If Claire could have seen Nathan's face, and not just overhear his voice when she hid outside the trailer, then she might have found that her birth father is not as indifferent to her as his words made him seem. Nevertheless, Nathan is soon back in his limo. Claire, feeling hopeless and betrayed, chucks a rock at the car out of bitter frustration.
Meredith told Claire that she's going back to Mexico, where the $100k will go farther, I'm sure. She was in Texas, what? Two weeks? Quite a coincidence that she turned up right when Claire started looking for her. Or is it? Can't imagine what Claire's next move is. At home, H.R.G. has pretty much destroyed his wife and his family, and the Cheerleader seems past the limit of what she can stand by and witness -- but then that's what I thought last week.
Hiro and Ando are no closer to the sword then ever, bless 'em. And Linderman is not an easy guy to get a meeting with. Ando can't help remarking on the irony that they are now back in Vegas. Really not that much farther along in saving the world than when they left from Japan.
Ando and Hiro have an initially-amusing role reversal. Sure, Ando's sudden passion for heroism has a lot to do with his attraction for the very tall, very strong, and very duplicitous Hope, but it's fun to seen Ando throw all Hiro's arguments back at him. "One doesn't need special powers to be a hero," Ando says, though it would certainly have helped. In another callback to Star Trek, Hope insultingly calls Hiro "Sulu" after he corrects her mischaracterization of him and Ando as a "couple of Chinese guys." Later he gives the gaming board official a traditional Vulcan greeting.
Next week is supposed to be a wild one. As we all know, the current teaser/catchphrase is "someone flies, someone dies." I guess "someone flies" could be Peter, learning from his new mentor, the invisible Claude, how to use an ability without being in proximity of its owner. But that does make him the obvious flier -- so, then again, maybe not.
As to who dies, I really don't know, only I'm guessing it won't be Nathan, Claire, or Hiro. I don't think it will be Nathan because he is the next person Linderman wants Jessica to kill, so, here again, this is too obvious. It won't be Claire because of H.R.G and her still unresolved parental issues, which are crucial. It won't be Hiro because there would be an open revolt among viewers (unless, say, Hiro dies and, through bending space and/or time, returns in another form). Parkman came pretty close to dying this week. It would be a shame if he were killed before he manages to have a victory of some kind. It could be Peter, come to think of it. He's always felt a little doomed.
Any theories? How about just plain guesses?
Giveaways reminder: Office, Eli Stone, Supernatural, South Park
Giveaway Thursday: Tickets to the New York Television Festival ... all of it!
I miss the media-friendly John McCain - VIDEOS
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
2-13-2007 @ 7:36AM
Mel said...
It's Micah by the way.
I didn't enjoy this episode as much as others but once again it's pretty damn solid. Felt the same way you did about the packages, and that with Jessica's control in check, we can truly see her power in action without the complication of a split personality despite the reminders.
Hiro/Ando good scenes as usual. Though I could have done without the distraction they've gotten themselves in. But of course, always nice to see Missi Pyle.
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2-13-2007 @ 7:43AM
Beagle said...
I think its going to be Sandra Bennett that gets the axe. It adds to the dimension of HRG as he's trying so desparately to protect his family; only to fail by having his wife die.
I think the writers are leading up to it with Sandra losing more and more of her memory. It wouldn't surprise me if she dies because of all the memory wipes that she's gotten at the order of HRG. It adds the guilt factor to HRG.
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2-13-2007 @ 7:55AM
Bill said...
Was that Dauber from Coach as the gaming commission guy?
And I kinda think the sword-quest storyline has taken a lot of the fun out of Hiro and Ando. Their segments used to be by far the highlights, but now I want to see more of Peter and his invisible mentor.
http://popculturejunk.blogspot.com
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2-13-2007 @ 8:17AM
BoomFoxx said...
What happened to Hiro at the end? My DVR cut off a couple minutes too soon. I saw it cut to him and he started counting, then I lost it. Where exactly is he? Or didn't they say?
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2-13-2007 @ 8:25AM
tozmervo said...
Was Parkman hearing their thoughts? I got the impression that he was actually hearing Jessica and Niki talk to each other, especially since it appeared that Niki was out of the mirror and standing in the stairwell. Jessica also makes a comment of something like, "You heard us talking?"
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2-13-2007 @ 8:39AM
marcel said...
I'm confused.
Didn't Nathan see Claire back when Peter was in the hospital as she visited him? Shouldn't he remember her face?
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2-13-2007 @ 8:42AM
Bill said...
tozmervo: The way she said "You heard us talking?" was in a surprised kind of way. Like "how could you hear us talking? It was all happening in my head!" It seems like Nikki doesn't have control of their body right now, so she wouldn't be able to speak. At least that's how I took it.
http://popculturejunk.blogspot.com
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2-13-2007 @ 8:51AM
Hugeliver said...
I always wondered what happened to the rest of the cast of Coach!
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2-13-2007 @ 9:41AM
kel said...
Hit and miss episode. Jessica and Parkman were good, Sylar, Mohinder and that "French kisses" guy from the Burger King commercials (right?) were great, but Hiro and Ando were only so-so. Another callback to Star Trek-this episode was directed by Roxann Dawson aka B'Elanna Torres from ST:Voyager.
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2-13-2007 @ 9:47AM
Bill said...
kel: Yep (the BK commercial's listed in "other works"): http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1443303/
He also played Glenn at the Yale newspaper on the Gilmore Girls.
http://popculturejunk.blogspot.com
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2-13-2007 @ 9:52AM
Will said...
Nathan will fly. Jessica will die. Just a guess.
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2-13-2007 @ 9:58AM
Richard Julie said...
Nathan can't die next week. We've already seen the newspaper in the future (when Hiro went forward to the day of the explosion in New York) saying that Nathan wins the election.
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2-13-2007 @ 10:07AM
Michelle said...
No, Nikki was out of the mirror, and they were talking out loud. First, you can tell because when Parkman hears voices, they sound different than people just talking out loud. I believe that the Heroes team does a good job of distinguishing that, or you would never know when he is reading thoughts or hearing others talk. And, Jessica wasn't looking at Nikki's reflection in a mirror, she was standing on the stairs.
Also, what do you mean Sylar didn't expect Mohinder? When he showed up, Zane asked him if he was Dr. Suresh. You don't think it might have tipped him off that Mohinder was on his way?
I thougth this was a great episode. It is really laying the ground work for the next few weeks, which I think could be outstanding.
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2-13-2007 @ 10:13AM
rvkey said...
I have a sneaking suspicion that Mohinder will eventually figure out that Silar is not the melt-things-guy by the color of his eyes. He told him that having a special power is like having brown eyes.
I thought he might have the physical stats of all of the special power people in his files and would figure it out right then but I guess that would be too easy.
Dumb question: Can you tell what color eyes someone has by their DNA? Maybe when he runs Silar's "DNA" he'll figure it out. Just a theory.
Also, won't the police be able to get Matt's finger prints off the brief case he left behind and realize he has the diamonds. I hope he turns them in or something. I was really dissapointed to see Claire's birth-mother blackmailing Nathan. I don't want to see Matt go down like that too.
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2-13-2007 @ 10:23AM
Michael Canfield said...
@ rykey:
Not a dumb question, actually a cool question at least according to this geneticist. I was curious too, and googled it. But, evidently, Mohinder probably can't get that kind of info from DNA yet:
http://www.thetech.org/genetics/ask.php?id=61[snip] "We can't even look at someone's DNA and tell what color eyes or hair (except maybe red) they will have."
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2-13-2007 @ 10:27AM
Bill said...
Michelle: I'll check it out when I get home, but I find the idea that Parkman heard them with his powers much easier to believe than Nikki somehow... astral projecting herself at the top of the stairs in such a way that she could talk and be heard by anyone. I figured that was just Jessica seeing what was going on in her head. And most of the conversation was from the JessNikka point of view, so they wouldn't use the Parkman psychic sound effects for that.
rvkey: I don't think you can check for eye color, but if you can, I assume it's something you have to set out to do. I don't think Mohinder would run whatever DNA analysis he's going to run and just stumble across eye color.
http://popculturejunk.blogspot.com
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2-13-2007 @ 10:49AM
Chris said...
I thinks its the guy that is training Peter cause of course the sensei must die so the pupil can get his vengence.
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2-13-2007 @ 11:04AM
Brian said...
#4/ Boomfoxx
Hiro's segment ended with him counting before he charged at a door that closed off a small storage room that he was locked in (assumed to be by Hope). He couldn't bust out of the small room and thought Ando was outside the door when the handle started to move. Lo and behold it was the tall man in the hotel room (taking a shower) from earlier in the episode, this time fully dressed and with a badge. He introduced himself as being with the gaming commission. Hiro flashes the vulcan hand sign, End of scene.
----
As for who "flies", I guess it may be Nathan. CLaire and Nathan came painfully close to reuniting, which I thought the drama was well done. Claire's homelife is becoming more and more desolate and disturbing, and as a viewer I was rooting for her to be swept away.
I think Sylar will lead Mohinder to ODessa so Sylar can kill and steal her power as he has been obsessed with. At the last minute we will get our satisfaction and Nathan will fly off with CLaire, saving her, while revealing that he has a super power as well.
As for who dies, I am not sure this one story line could contain 'both' big alluded-to actions of the episode, who flies and who dies, since the writers seem to allways spread the action around to all the characters really well (although this week we didn't see the invisible guy, Peter, SImone, or the painter at all). But at this point maybe SYlar will somehow bite the big one? Or maybe CLaire's mom, Meredith, will get killed in the cross-fire when Sylar tries to kill CLaire??? I think Mohinder, Sylar, Meredith, and HRG's wife could all die in next week's episode.
---> Who I wish was killed off would be Simone or the painter. They have served their purposes on the show.
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2-13-2007 @ 11:04AM
rvkey said...
Thanks for the link Michael! Interesting!
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2-13-2007 @ 11:12AM
La-di-dah said...
The opening scenes with the interplay between Parkman and Jessica's new jobs was SUPERB, to say the least, and I thought this episode was going to push the envelope a little more than it did; but alas, Parkman was not victorious, Jessica did not get a beatdown, Claire did not meet daddy, Nathan did not take Claire's photo (you know ... so Peter can eventually see it), Mohinder actually managed to go 5,000 steps backwards by allying unintentionally with Sylar, Hiro and Ando did not meet Linderman.... It felt like this episode should have been a 2-parter, because next week seems like it's going to be delicious, but WHY should we have to wait? I liked the episode, but I wanted the storylines to move in a more victorious direction. Don't we have 2 weeks (real-time) before things go boom?
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