(S01E16) See, this is what happens when you give an ex-junkie a gun just in case a human bomb turns up, and tell him to use it to "save the world." Not HRG's best strategy, and a tragedy for Simone (Tawny Cypress). I think Nathan, succumbing to the more cynical side of his nature, will be relieved by this turn of events, because of his fears over Simone's earlier stated intention to go public with her knowledge of special abilities. Not that Simone would have been believed any more that Claire was when she opened up to her Mom's doctor.
Nathan, by the way, tells Simone exactly how he would handle persons with special abilities: treat them like lab rats and isolate them. This, as we know, is pretty much the philosophy of HRG's organization, anyhow.
Claire has seen her mother nearly destroyed. Now she finally openly challenges HRG. He's lucky here that Claire's super-ability is purely defensive.
HRG still believes that ignorance is bliss, that the family is somehow more secure with, for example, Sylar's recent intrusion of the home wiped from Mom's memory. The strategy makes is pretty hard for his loved ones to watch out for themselves. HRG describes his wife as "a sweet soul" who shouldn't be burdened with these potential threats. It's a quintessentially patronizing attitude. HRG wants to believe there is a sphere of his life that he by himself can keep pure and apart from the darker realities the he has become privy too.
That's about to come crashing down for him. A newer hero gets that ball rolling, when she makes her first onscreen appearance. Wireless arrives ready to rock. She's got full command of her powers and a snazzy leather outfit. She's already a hero, which is cool, because we've seen enough folks struggling to figure out their powers for one season. It's also great to see a new female character, especially a really powerful one, as the show's regular compliment of superheroes is quite dude-heavy.
Wireless is out to form her own superhero team and take down HRG. She explains the meaning of the neck marks to Radioactive Ted. Her plan is to nuke a certain Odessa Texas paper supply company, thus freeing all heroes and potential heroes from government persecution and tracking. Ted then helps recruit Matt. I was pleasantly surprised that they then get to it without delay. Showing up at HRG's home is kind of intense (with its potential to harm innocents) but I figure they had to try that in order to get at HRG away his secret compound. HRG , for his part, should invest in a better home security system in addition to wiping out his family's memories. 
The call to arms from Ted, by the way, comes just at the right moment to prevent Matt from doing as his wife urges and returning the diamonds. I figure at this point Linderman will probably find out about the diamonds somehow before Matt has a chance to do anything with them. So, more trouble for him. I wonder if Matt's wife has an ability of her own by the way: Super-Quick Pregnancy Woman. She was really showing all of the sudden this week.
Dale, with the super hearing, is another person who is happy and accepting of her power. Unfortunately she doesn't guess the real reason Sylar's heart is racing when he and Mohinder first meet her. Her best line: "that was my favorite wrench," after Sylar melts it. On his return visit, Sylar (fittingly) has the creepiest line of the night. When Dale asks him what that sound is in his heart, "Murder," he tells her. But on that initial meeting Dale talked about how her power used to drive her crazy until she learned to
control it. It's small comfort to her now, by Sylar suffers once he absorbs the power, which is a pretty good twist. So far as we've seen up to now, Sylar seems to control the new powers he absorbs pretty easily.
Several blurbs I saw online made it sound like Ando was going to be the one to die. Fortunately not, but he came too close to it for Hiro's taste. Hiro decides he must go it alone, despite his own reasonable arguments early to the Gaming Commission Agent, about the benefits of having a partner. I really don't want this to be the last of Ando, though the fate of Simone (not to mention Claire's mom) shows how dangerous it is becoming for the normal people who've become mixed up with the heroes.
Hiro leaves the trusty Nissan Versa with Ando, which maybe is a clue that Ando will return, since he is now in sole possession of this prominent product placement. Hiro them boards a bus driven by the legendary Stan "The Man" Lee, of Marvel Comics fame, in a cameo.
I'm looking forward to the showdown at Casa Bennet next week, and maybe, since nothing happened on this front tonight, Jessica going after Nathan. Also, what will Peter do to the Artist? He was justifiably pissed at Isaac selling him out to HRG. Isaac did this more out of jealousy than concern for the city, no matter what he says. Actually, Peter will probably fall back into an even deeper depression.
While in NYC, HRG remarks to Isaac that "someone we thought was dead is alive," meaning he and the Haitian thought Claude was dead. This explains why Claude has been staying invisible for years, even though he can evidently become visible at will if he wants too. The Deveaux building sounds like it is well know to HRG too, and probably not just because of Claude's pigeon coop. That rooftop setting has been seen many times in the series, and may be shown to have some major significance, even now that Simone, the last Deveaux, is gone, alas.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
2-20-2007 @ 7:58AM
joenormal said...
Oh Yeah! What an amazingly satisfying episode! Stan Lee was an awesome surprise, and Peter being mr. kickass with his powers was "something unexpected".
Sylar using the Dr. to make house calls, and of course the very needed death scene of Simone. "Sorry Simone, it was getting kinda boring", and now we have a real wedge between 2 characters!
I almost see so Marvel Civil War plot going on. The trackers against the non-trackers! Awesome!
Oh and a new character with a sweet hero name, this was like Christmas!
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2-20-2007 @ 8:01AM
Mel said...
I love how things move at a breakneck speed. This is the antithesis of most serials with a mythology and really how I envision television should be.
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2-20-2007 @ 8:40AM
Dave Ryan said...
Christopher Eccleston (Claude) is only in it for six episodes. Perhaps he dies.
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2-20-2007 @ 8:25AM
Bill said...
Parkman's wife's other super power is a flawless american accent except when she gets upset. I just assumed she was american, but as soon as she started yelling at Matt, everything was Australian.
And every time Stan Lee does a cameo in anything, he sucks. No offense to the guy, but he's not an actor. Even his non-speaking cameos (I think he had one in the first Spider-man movie) he overacts.
http://popculturejunk.blogspot.com
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2-20-2007 @ 8:44AM
Nick said...
Excellent episode. Things are really starting to come together. One hero is supposed to die in the March 5th episode. I think Tim Kring has done an excellent job in keeping us guessing as to whom that perosn may be.
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2-20-2007 @ 8:50AM
Hugeliver said...
GREAT episode!! I actually felt for HRG. And Peter freaking out like that?? I don't know WHO is good and who is going to be bad. Too bad about Simone, but she was just filler anyway.
I was sad to see Ando go, but I think since he still has the Versa (yes, they always have to say what KIND of car they're driving) he'll follow Hiro to keep an eye on his friend.
I sincerely hope Mohinder can put together her headaches with what is happening to Sylar now. Otherwise, he's not much of a scientist, is he?
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2-20-2007 @ 12:17PM
justelise said...
@Bill: Stan Lee knows how to play one person and that is Stan Lee.
This episode was awesome. If this was a comic, it'd be the longest 6 issue arc, ever!
I am glad to see that Hiro still has reflexive control of his power and can protect himself and others when absolutely necessary. This is a huge step towards being able to control his power. I question whether the sword he seeks is going to be a real conduit for his power or just a crutch for him to lean on while he regains control of his power. Right now a couple of hours with Peter or Claude could fix Hiro's block. I'm also glad that Hiro is starting to realize that this is not all fun and games and having Ando around poses very real danger to Ando.
Now Parkman has to realize that his wife is in double trouble because of his power and because of the diamonds. Linderman will come after him and probably have a field day with his wife via Nikki. I had actually been wondering how Parkman was going to encounter the rest of the Hero types seeing as other than Nikki he had been pretty much isolated from super-type with the exception of the HRG posse. I think it's cool that he's got other super-types to run with now. Until he fought Nikki while trying to protect Diamond-guy I think he still saw his power as a burden or a problem. Now that he's got a cause to fight for, it will give him purpose to use his power and learn a higher degree of control.
I was sad to see Simone die the way she did but I'm relieved that there is one less character I have to keep track of, especially since we took on Wireless this week who is way more interesting. Let's just hope she stays dead and those characters who are prone to mess with the space-time continuum leave her dead. Hiro already learned that lesson. Let's hope Peter doesn't try to bring her back.
I also think it's time that Claire gets to whoop on someone. I know her power is defensive, but when you don't have to worry about hurting yourself, you can inflict a lot more damage on others. I'd like to see her join up with Wireless and Parkman against HRG.
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2-20-2007 @ 9:45AM
laura said...
Christopher is only it in for 6 episodes...so far, nothing says he cannot come back later. Obviously he is scared of Mr Bennett and the haitian. Peter really doesnt need him anymore in my opinion, it seems he is controlling his powers rather easily.
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2-20-2007 @ 9:50AM
jDub said...
I have to agree. Mohinder is starting to piss me off. He's not very smart if he doesn't get the intensely creepy vibe coming off of Syler. It's almost like he's so desperate for a friend that he's ignoring the very obvious signs that the guy is a serial killer.
And since the renegade heroes have broken into HRG's house, the Haitian isn't there to block his thoughts. Should be interesting to see what Matt can learn.
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2-20-2007 @ 9:56AM
Dr. Funbags said...
http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/novels/index.shtml
Check out the Graphic Novels - its great for filling in backstory - How Wireless got wrangled up with Radioactive Man, How Sylar got from Odessa to Zach Taylor's house in time to meet Dr. Suresh. New "comics" are online every Tuesday.
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2-20-2007 @ 10:00AM
Will said...
It was weird how evil and pissy Peter got and how suddenly it happened. For a second there I thought Isaac would be the one to die, but I guess that would have been too easy. I wonder if Simone's death will make them hate each other more.
No Nathan and Jessica this week.
Another person is dying soon. I wonder if it will be another minor character. I hope Claude doesn't die. I hope he just disappears.
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2-20-2007 @ 10:03AM
epobirs said...
Sylar's inability to quickly come to terms with the newly acquired super-hearing may be a protent of things to come. At some point he and Peter will meet again. The embittered Peter will likely see it as his utmost responsibility to destroy Sylar once and for all. But in confronting him he'll also be faced with the array of abilities Sylar has taken, including the debilitating super-hearing.
Could that be what pushes Peter over the edge?
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2-20-2007 @ 10:15AM
Jason said...
No one mentioned Hiro's ability to get the bullet to go back in the gun. He seemed to be reversing time but it wasn't just that since the outcome changed. I predict he will undo the Pete going nuclear.
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2-20-2007 @ 10:39AM
Josh said...
What about what Hiro and Ando did to the incoming bullet? The bullet went backwards into the gun and physically sent it flying, something that seems beyond Hiro's capabilities. Is it possible Ando had a power and the two of them really do need to be together?
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2-20-2007 @ 10:42AM
Katie said...
I love this show... it's completely engrossing.
Loved seeing Peter take control of all of his powers! Let me just say that Sylar completely creeps me out. Especially when he's all "What? Sylar killed your dad? Who is this horrible man?" I think Soresh has to catch on to something soon when everyone they visit ends up dead.
Kudos to the writers and producers for keeping the show moving. The mythology is interesting without making the story too challenging. And they've been able to handle the large cast so well. Can't wait to see more!
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2-20-2007 @ 10:48AM
Lou said...
Was Nathan refering to Lost when he was talking to Simone and saying something like..if it were me, I'd put us all on a remote island somewhere and do experiments on us. Why not just say a lab instead of an island?
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2-20-2007 @ 10:51AM
George said...
Christopher Eccleston has a history of not sticking around in roles long enough to get bored, so I can't see him taking an American TV gig without a definite exit strategy. I can't see Claude surviving beyond the end of the season.
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2-20-2007 @ 11:39AM
Misty said...
*giddy dancing*
Simone is dead!!! Yay!!! She's been annoying the hell out of me since Day One.
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2-20-2007 @ 11:23AM
Hugeliver said...
Josh,
Interesting theory! Maybe by now Hiro relies on Ando?
But remember, in the first episode (or second?) Hiro spoke about how he was on the subway and stopped time. I believe he was by himself.
I'm still intrigued though!!
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2-20-2007 @ 11:44AM
kel said...
Great to see Peter start using the full potential of his powers. I just hope that the writers won't fall for the plot trap of now having Peter blame himself and his powers for Simone's death and vow not to use them. I can almost see that cliche coming.
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