(S03E08) Maybe they should have done this one a little earlier in the season. There was only one scene set in the present era, but it was a good one. The rest of the episode was "One Year Ago," weaving and interlacing with the events we did see during the show's first season, showing us what a lot of the characters we either didn't know or didn't follow then were up to, like Ma and Pa Petrelli, Linderman, Gabriel, Elle and even Claire's mother and uncle.
I remember that the second season was supposed to explore the elder generation, revealing more of their connections to one another and their motivations. We were going to learn more about The Company and what they were up to in regards to Peter and the rest of our main cast. It looks like those aborted promises are finally coming to fruition. It's unfortunate that the last season and so much of the start of this season was so lackluster, as things are really coming together nicely. And we're gaining sympathy for almost every member of the cast by learning more about them.
The kinder, gentler Sylar was more fully explored in this "One Year Ago" episode. I'm still not 100% on board with the idea of this guy who was such a murdering monster being made sympathetic to the point that we could actually not only feel sorry for his struggles, but like him and root for him to do better. Tonight, we met him shortly after his first kill, and he's consumed with remorse and attempts suicide. This is a far cry from the Sylar of Season One.
I guess it makes him akin to a serial murderer or other type of criminal who has compulsions they're not able to fight off. Even if you feel bad for those people, they're dangerous and still monsters. Their urges make it so. But now, if Heroes lore is to be believed, the only really villainous monster left is Arthur Petrelli. We got to see the more "evil" HRG this time around, working with Elle and see that these two were the orchestrators of turning Gabriel into the serial killer we first met.
So, HRG was an evil bastard, but now we kind of like him. Elle was this psycho villain, but she had daddy issues and now we kind of like her. Sylar was the boogeyman we all read about, slaughtering god knows how many people, but now we kind of like him. Hell, Flint is one of the Level 5 escapees we're supposed to be terrified of, but now we know that not only is he Meredith's brother, but he may be mentally deficient.
Angela Petrelli was a cold-hearted bitch who seemed willing to do anything to push forth her mysterious agenda, but now we kind of like her. And we learned that Arthur was controlling her mind the whole time. So he must have picked up this ability from Papa Parkman without taking his ability away or killing him. I wonder if this means he just has a greater level of control over the same ability his sons have.
And how about that last scene. Poor Usutu. What is it about future painters? Did they know they were getting rid of Jeph Loeb so eliminated any more need for real artist Tim Sale to stay involved with the show? Just like I liked Isaac, I liked Usutu and he didn't deserve to have his head lopped off and tossed across the desert like that. Damn that Arthur Petrelli. What the hell is going to happen to Hiro now?
So let's see. There was no Parkman, Daphne, Tracy, Claire (for the most part) or Mohinder (for the most part) and I didn't really miss them. It's weird because I still like Matt as a character, even though he's been mostly useless this season, but it shows that this show could used with some streamlining of characters and storylines. You don't have to tell all your stories at the same time. Pace yourselves, guys.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
11-11-2008 @ 3:32AM
Ryan said...
Best episode of the season. Bar none.
It's funny. The episodes I usually end up loving every season are future episodes or flashback episodes. In any case, I love that we got to see a bunch of "first season" stuff.
Now they may not gain viewers, but if any one person who viewed tonight actually chooses to not watch next week, then I don't know what else Heroes can do to appease them. At the very least to see that happens to Hiro.
Great stuff tonight. Truly.
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11-11-2008 @ 5:46AM
alexmonty said...
This episode seemed nice, but maybe because we looked back and got more information from the beloved season 1, although that stories sometimes felt like pushed too hard in order to fit with current events rather than being thought from the beginning of the show.
Elle a moral character, really???
Linderman a wimp sidekick, come on!!
Sylar with a soul, oh boy!!
Now, how come Thompson (Eric Roberts) is now an agent with a soft spot who let Meredith go away??, and as we knew from season 1, weeks later we watched Noah (the super obedient agent) calling Meredith (The company's fugitive) to meet her daughter, Claire (the one she just found out it's alive), just to left her immediately for money. *clap*clap*clap* Bravo writers, BRAVO!! just when I thought they can't possibly go more incongruent, they come and amazed me.
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11-11-2008 @ 6:35AM
Cyantre said...
Sylar has always been my favorite character. Zachary Quinto is a fabulous actor.
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11-11-2008 @ 6:38AM
superrrguy said...
I liked this episode. No Claire.
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11-11-2008 @ 6:41AM
Tracey said...
Ugh. This episode finally convinced me beyond any shadow of a doubt that they are just making this up as they go along. It felt like bad fanfiction, where writers just do whatever they want with the characters, making the characters their own personal fantasies without any regard for what has happened before. This episode makes absolutely no sense whatsoever in light of past episode events and characterizations.
Ditto everything Alex said, but perhaps the biggest inconsistency of all is the timing of things: things that did not occur at the same time in the first season seem to be occurring together in this episode. Maybe it's all mixed up because it is, after all, just Hiro's dream, and maybe the scenes we saw, all labeled "one year ago", did not all occur at the same time. But there is one thing that simply cannot be ignored: Gabriel/Sylar had gone to the dark side *long before* Mohinder arrived in the U.S. How do I know this? Because in the first season, Mohinder's father was avoiding Sylar's phone calls, and was eventually *murdered* by Sylar, before Mohinder came to the U.S. So how can Sylar still be a good guy, or even ambivalent, when Elle is in his apartment, and Mohinder is already driving a cab when Elle leaves the apartment? Come on, people! Didn't the writers even *watch* Season 1? Didn't *anybody* bother to keep track of what happened and when it happened?
So either they're just pulling this nonsense out of their butts or this is supposed to be mixed up because it's Hiro's dream. If it's the latter, I am sick and tired of watching mixed-up, maybe-it-happened-but-maybe-it-didn't dream sequences. This show has completely lost its way.
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11-11-2008 @ 7:23AM
Nightfall said...
This series is as prone to retconning as much as any comic book series. Usually the contradicting info doesn't impact the overall storyline.
I was also going to complain about the "villains" content of the episode. It would've been a great plot for season 2's Generations story. I thought this was going to be a story about the origins of Pinehurst.
11-11-2008 @ 8:41AM
vacelts said...
The major plot hole regarding Arthur’s (faked) death really ruined this episode for me. You can’t change a storyline like that without explanation.
http://vacelts.newsvine.com/_news/2008/11/11/2099619-heroes-takes-a-look-back-in-villains
However, this episode was a perfect example of why you shouldn’t let angry women cook.
I liked the return of Eric Roberts. And was it me or did Elle seem nice in this episode? Was the Sylar incident what turned her bitchy?
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11-11-2008 @ 9:44AM
Rocketboy said...
My wife, who's a big Heroes fan, thought that was the first episode that she's ever watched of Heroes that she couldn't stand.
It mirrored my opinion of The Simpsons from this week.
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11-11-2008 @ 9:49AM
Riley Freeman said...
my head hurts. there is really too many characters on this show.
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11-11-2008 @ 9:56AM
Enrique said...
Of course everything you guys are writing about inconsistencies in the timeline is true, very frustrating.
But even more so, it frustrated me that the entire time they kept pushing the fact that we were seeing Hiro's Usutu-food-powered-dreams - and I was excited because that meant that Hiro would actually have a frickin clue about who is good and who is bad instead of just wondering around aimlessly screwing everything up! Then, of course, Arthur has to show up at the end and erase Hiro's memory, therefore making the entire episode worthless to Hiro's character. So make sure you look forward to next week, where Hiro continues to disobey his dead father's last wishes, make the wrong decisions, and go against every good instinct a viewer of this show would hope he has. In fact, the only smart thing he's done all season is not kill Ando, and I still think that will come bite him in the a$$ because we know that Ando is going to try to kill him in the future.
Ugh.
Heroes, how I love and hate thee.
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11-12-2008 @ 5:27AM
LC said...
Enrique -
I don't think Arthur was erasing Heroes memory. I believe he was taking his powers away like he did with Adam and Peter.
11-11-2008 @ 10:31AM
Chris said...
1984 anyone?
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11-11-2008 @ 11:01AM
Parl said...
It's too bad that Heroes is still living off the only decent season they've had so far (Season 1) because now the writers are taking a crap all over that just to try to make this season decent, e.g. Sylar getting Claire's power, this Hiro dream episode.
Oh well, at least I enjoyed this episode.
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11-11-2008 @ 11:00AM
R_man_5K said...
I thought the show was good. I am intrested to see where it is going.
Zachary Quinto is a GREAT actor.
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11-11-2008 @ 2:11PM
Mike Hoffpauir said...
My what a coincendence the train wreck Claire saves someone was caused by mommy... Im sorry though if were talking encosistencys how the hell does Elle go from 'oh he had a soul' to deep fryin a guy for no reason! Bein bitchy is one thing but that was just plain evil. Damn I do love seein miss Bell though. She so should be at the FBI academy instead of here ;)
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11-11-2008 @ 3:04PM
Dorv said...
Or on Lost.
But, I'm just glad she's on TV.
11-11-2008 @ 11:40AM
superrrguy said...
One more thing. I thought precons see the future not the past.
One of the holes could have been slightly avoided by not using the "a year ago" text intro. It was obviously some point of time in the past.
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11-12-2008 @ 5:29AM
LC said...
Usutu may be a precog, but the ability to experience the past comes from that mystery gunk he mixes up in the bowl.
11-11-2008 @ 2:15PM
Joe said...
To me this episode was really great and was darker then normal. I am not a big fan of Arthur but now I think He is cool. Linderman in the episode was great too. I really hope some how He survived the shooting because He was good on the show.
I was happy no claire I really want her dead just like Mohinder.
Also Sylar and Elle make a cute couple. I wonder if Elle is the mother of future Sylar's kid?
One thing I was saddened not to see was any thing with Adam. I still think He has some thing to do with the show.
I also want him some how to come to life. I might even get that seeing as not every really dies just some people.
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11-11-2008 @ 2:17PM
Joe said...
Also a great spinoff of Heroes would be Villains.
To me the bad guy stuff would be way more cool then the goodie goodie stuff.