Monday, May 21, 2007

Heroes, Chapter 23: How to Stop an Exploding Man
We’ve seen 22 chapters building to this final one of Volume One. We’ve seen characters go from ordinary people to superheroes, slowly master their powers, realize what their callings were, look within themselves to see what truly mattered to them. We’ve waited all season for all of them to finally end up all together in one spot, and we know the fate of 0.07% of the entire world’s population hangs in the balance, and Tim Kring said this finale would be like a big-budget summer film in the final moments. This was going to be the biggest season finale of 2007… and then… bump.

I can’t remember the last time I was this disappointed in one of my shows.

I’m not saying it was all bad. The episode had some great moments, but the writers and producers have been filling their heads all season with the lavish praise poured on them by the fans, the critics, and everyone in Hollywood. It’s the highest-rated new show. There was SO much excitement all year:

Save the Cheerleader. Save the World.
The unveiling of Sylar
The journey of Hiro Nakamura
The glimpse of the apocalyptic future
Mohinder finally getting a clue Oops, sorry, that didn’t happen.
The heroes slowly coming together and crossing paths
Bennet going from evil to good

The writers had SO much riding on this finale that it HAD to be superb or it was going to fail. Could they do it?

Well, actually, they should have. Buffy had several fantastic seasons, all with self-contained arcs, and Joss Whedon always managed to pull out all the stops to have mind-blowing finales. The writers on Heroes have been comparing themselves favorably to Lost all season – because they’ve borrowed so much from the series – talking about how their numbers are up rather than down (though they had nothing to compare it to from last year) how, unlike Lost, they’ll reveal all the answers and won’t keep you guessing.

But guess what? I like guessing. A lot has been wrapped up, and they’ve given me a little teaser at the ending, but what about the journeys of the season? Of COURSE I’ll be tuning in next season, and the next, and buying the DVDs the second they come out. But this was just a disappointment. I think Tim Kring and co. have let the praise get to their heads, and just didn’t try very hard. So here's the wrap-up:


Sylar does his psycho painting – only he doesn’t actually have to make any brush strokes – and realizes Peter will be his adversary in the final battle. The opening title is embedded in Sylar’s paint palette. I know I’ve said this before, but they are so brilliant with thise opening titles.

Parkman stops Bennet from killing Molly, which is unbelievable – one minute Bennet’s holding a gun to her head while Moronder holds a gun to his, saying that he will kill her no matter what. Then Parkman says he won’t let anything happen to her and Bennet drops the gun like, “Oh, okay. If you say so, no probs!”

Meanwhile, DL helps Niki go through a wall and then tells her to save Micah, so she leaves him by the elevator and runs away. So is Linderman really dead? If so, his death was about as anticlimactic as the final scene of this episode.

Bennet tells Peter that he’s the only person who can stop Sylar. Peter takes Claire to Nathan, which is a surprise twist, because he says his brother has never let him down (except, of course, throughout most of this season) but he reads his mind and realizes Nathan thinks there’s no way out of this, that the bomb is inevitable and it’s not worth trying to stop it. Claire runs away, but Granny catches her. Peter runs after her, and ends up out in the street with his hands going all radioactivey. He passes out.

Molly suddenly seems to be sick, so they hook her up to an IV and Moronder gives her another transfusion. She tells them that if she thinks about someone and points to the map, she can find them. There’s only one person in the world that she can’t find, and this person is even worse than Sylar. If she thinks about this person, they can see her. Here’s our first setup for season 2. She locates Sylar in Isaac’s apartment.

Bennet calls Claire, and Gran picks up the phone and tells him that they’re Claire’s real family and will get her safe. Bennet tells Claire that they’re right, let’s let them do this, but he has a plan and will see her again.

Peter, lying on the pavement, suddenly wakes up in the greenhouse on the top of Isaac’s building, and Simone and her Dad Charles are there, with Peter as his nurse. It’s not clear (even at the end of the ep) what exactly happens here, other than I always suspected that Charles had some sort of power, too. I think he can control dreams somehow, and it’s being around him that allowed Peter to have his prophetic dreams. He meets with Peter’s mom and says that Nathan isn’t the one who should be treated like the man who will save the world, but Peter. Then he starts talking to invisible Peter, and knows he’s there. Inside the greenhouse there’s some cheesy dialogue delivered by nurse Peter to Simone about how all that matters is how much we love and care about people and, in the words of Anthony Cooper on Lost, “blahblahblahblah.”

Ando enters Isaac’s apartment and slips on blood, Sylar behind him, Sylar throws the sword away, holds Ando in a neck hold against the wall (without using his hand, of course), and sees the future comic book. He finds the final page and laughs, saying, “You’re kidding. This is how Isaac thought I’d die, stabbed by a silly little man!” Good point, there, Sylar. After seeing the scene, I agree with you. Sylar begins cutting his throat, until Hiro morphs into their presence, and Sylar wonders aloud if he can stop time before Sylar slashes Ando’s neck. So Hiro instead disappears, reappears beside Ando, and then disappears the both of them. AWESOME. Loved this moment.

Niki comes into the room where “Jessica” is sitting (seriously, I doubt ANYONE could have possibly believed that was Jessica and dead Micah, and not Candice doing her illusioneering). Candessica kicks Niki in the head.

Parkman comes into Isaac’s loft, finds the paintings everywhere, sees the oozing blood on the floor, and sees the painting of Sylar and Peter facing off, with “Kirby Plaza” in the back of the painting.

Moronder tells Molly that they have to go, the bogeyman is on his way. Molly says nope, he’s already here.

Granny and Nathan talk to Claire about what’s going to happen tomorrow but that she’ll be safe. She asks them how they could do this, how Gran could let her own son be such a villain and kill so many people, and how Nathan could allow that to happen. She tells Nathan if things were inevitable then why did Gran try so hard to keep them apart for all these years? Nathan looks like he’s finally thinking, “Uh… hm… good point?” But instead he tells her everything will make sense very soon. Gran says they’re offering Claire everything she always wanted, a place to belong, a family, etc. and Nathan gives her a big ol’ hug. So Claire does what any daughter would do in that situation. Jumps out the window. The THUNK was particularly cool. Gran tells Nate to let her go.

Candessica and Niki have a big ol’ Ali Larter on Ali Larter fight scene (the editing team must have LOVED doing this scene) and it’s pretty cool. Niki sees Jessica in the mirror and explains that’s not her. Niki worries she’s not strong enough, then stands up, pummels Candessica with one blow, she turns back into Candice, Micah calls from the closet, and she finds him. Wow. Had to work hard for that one. An entire season of Niki whining that she’s not strong enough, and apparently after she hears for the 18th time that yes, she is, she listens.

Moronder and Molly find DL in the hallway, Molly tells him to wait, Moronder says, “But he needs my help” and runs out, DL morphs into Sylar and sucks his brain… okay, that didn’t happen, but it would have been awesome. This scene just shows once again that no matter what, Moronder will do the stupid thing. In the last half hour, he’s seen people die, had a gun held to Molly’s head, found out Sylar was in the building, and… oh, look, there’s a guy who’s bleeding. I must go help him. Idiot.

Hiro transports he and Ando to the office headquarters in Japan, and tells Ando he’s leaving him there, gives him the kensei sword and takes the other one. He tells him it’s the man who will do it, not the sword. Ando tells him he looks bad ass. Hiro looks pleased. This was a great scene, and a perfect throwback to the early episodes.

Peter talks to Shaft Charles, and Charles says that he's a bad motherf...shut yo mouth! Peter’s true power is to love unconditionally. Then he tells him that all he needs is love, and you can suddenly hear the Beatles behind him singing. A bunch of hippie flower children appear in the air, singing in a purple sky with stars falling all around them. Oh, and that sound you heard was me gagging.

Bennet shakes Peter out of his reverie, and tells him that he will be here to save him if he goes kablooey. And by save him, he means put a bullet in him. This raises an interesting question: Can Peter be killed at all? We know that as long as the thing that killed him remains inside, then he’ll stay dead. So if Peter is shot in the head, and the bullet remains lodged, he’s dead. Someone buries him, he’s put underground, begins decomposing, and somewhere, years later, the bullet just pops out of the skull because a worm dislodged it or something. Does he suddenly come back to life? Hmm… Anyway, Peter thanks “Bennet” who finally reveals that his name is Noah. He’s been sent by God to collect the heroes and load them onto an ark two by two, and it won’t be Sylar or Peter who blow up the world, but God, angry that people haven’t been listening to Him. Only the people in the ark will live. Or something. Did anyone else think this was a lame attempt to copy the religious names on Lost?

Moronder continues to try to save DL rather than get Molly out of harm’s way. Micah and Niki run into the hallway. Micah talks to the elevator and makes it work, and Molly, DL, Niki, Moronder, and Micah get onto the elevator.

Peter and Bennet are in the courtyard in front of the Kirby building. Sylar suddenly shows up, zaps Bennet across the yard and knocks the gun out of his hand. They exchange a few verbal barbs. Suddenly all the heroes are there. We FINALLY have them all together, and as we’ve been told all season, when the heroes are all together, it will be like the Justice League of America. So let’s break down what each of them does, then, shall we? I mean, awesomeness of this magnitude has to be looked at closely:

Parkman: Shoots at Sylar, who turns the bullets on him and shoots him back. Parkman lies there bleeding for the rest of the scene. Apparently in police college they didn’t tell him about BULLET-PROOF VESTS. Argh.

Niki: She grabs a parking meter and whacks Sylar hard, but then Micah shouts that Daddy needs tending to, and she runs back over to DL. What the hell was SHE going to do to “tend” to him??

DL: Lies there bleeding the entire time.

Micah: Stands there yelling about how Daddy is bleeding.

Molly: Nothing.

Bennet: Lies against the building, useless.

Moronder: Sits with DL, “tending” to him.

Peter: Held in a grip by Sylar, helpless until he absorbs Niki’s strength, then he beats up Sylar. Suddenly he goes radioactivey, and he becomes the liability, not the strength.

Hiro: Time travels into the scene, runs toward Sylar with the sword, and seemingly kills him. Uh… okay? The greatest villain I’ve seen in YEARS and he goes that quickly, without a fight?? What happened to the whole, “This ending will be like a big-budget summer movie” that we were promised? Peter asks Hiro to kill him, Sylar, in his final moment, shoots Hiro into the building, but Hiro teleports into the scene.

Claire: FINALLY shows up, runs to Daddy, grabs the gun, and… can’t do a damn thing. Great.

So there are your heroes for ya. Looks like Hiro was the only one worthy of ANYTHING, but in the end, didn’t really do much of anything. Sylar ain’t dead, and he couldn’t stop Peter.

Peter stands there, glowing and getting worse, and it sounds like the opening strains of U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name” start up.

Nathan suddenly shows, and says, “You saved the cheerleader. So WE could save the world.” (Oh, that sound was me gagging again.) They exchange verbal love for each other, then Nathan grabs him and flies up into the sky. And somewhere, out in the Earth’s stratosphere, Peter explodes. Instead of killing everyone in NY, he possibly takes out the GALAXY. Nice. Then radioactive rain begins falling, and the world melts. But don’t worry… probably 0.07% of the world will survive. Ahem.

Claire hugs her father and smiles. Why does she smile??? Because she couldn’t pull a trigger, BOTH the Petrellis died!

Cut to montage of Moronder talking, saying we have a simple human need to find a kindred, and know in our hearts we are not alone. We see people move on, everyone seems so happy, and then we see a trail of blood showing Sylar apparently wasn’t dead, and slouched into the nearest sewer.

But Kring doesn’t end it there. He cuts to Hiro landing in a field, and we’re told this is actually the beginning of season 2. He’s trapped between a gang of warriors and the kensei warrior, and then suddenly the world goes black, and a huge eclipse happens. The end.

I’ve watched it twice, and still found the Sylar/explosion ending to be anticlimactic, but like I said, had good moments in it. Did they try to cram too much into it? Did they rely on too much cheesiness about we just need to love ourselves and love the world and everyone in it and find kindred spirits and know we’re not alone and… blahblahblahblah?

Are Peter and Nathan dead now? How did Sylar survive? Is Linderman dead? Will Mohinder get a clue? Is Niki cured and now just a strong badass? Will Hiro ever find his way back to our time? Will DL die? Will Parkman be saved?

How will season 2 tie in to season 1? I’m definitely intrigued, and because it’s called “Generations,” presumably we’ll find out who Gran is (could she be the person that Molly won’t even picture in her head?) where Linderman came from, Charles, Mr. Petrelli… all the previous heroes. While I found tonight’s ep to be a disappointment, I definitely can’t wait for season 2. Here’s hoping they map out the full season ahead of time so they don’t disappoint as much with NEXT year’s finale.

What did you think? Did it satisfy you?

39 comments:

thisguypossessed said...

I was definitely let down with this finale. I've been pretty skeptical of this entire season but I stuck with it thinking "well, I'm sure it's all leading SOMEWHERE and I want to find out what happens at the end." but it didn't really end anywhere. I was pretty upset with the cliche ending where Sylar's not really dead (although I will admit it's fits in pretty well with the whole cockroach theme set up from the beginning). I was just disappointed with the lack of heroism. Call me crazy for expecting heroism in a show called Heroes. Why didn't Claire or Mr. Bennett just shoot Peter to knock him out. Obviously he could then heal and the crisis would be averted? I predict season 2 will further "borrow" from Alan Moore's Watchmen and delve into the previous generation of Heroes with Granny Petrelli, Simone's dad, Hiro's dad, Linderman, etc. I hope the finale of LOST doesn't let me down too (obviously if it's anything like the last few episodes it won't!)

Anonymous said...

Wow, Nikki, a little harsh tonight, no?

I think the effect was showing what Sylar saw, and he paints/traces it onto the canvas.

Nonetheless, you have a good point about the Mohinder-Bennet-Parkman standoff. Bennet just changes his mind because Matt knew Molly and promised to protect her? Too sudden. Maybe there as a longer scene that got deleted in editing? Or maybe Parkman's power expanded and he altered Bennet's thoughts. Or maybe Bennet just couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger.

I'd bet that we'll se Linderman is dead. Also, Nikki must have been reading comics with Micah if she knew to describe DL's power as "phasing." (Or Micah referred to his power like that off-screen somewhere, or something like that).

Peter always viewed Nathan through rose-collored shades, althohgh in the end he proved to be right about him.

I'll bet the "bad man" has actually been around all along, and they've been planting clues all season.

The Peter/Charles scene reminded taht a while back that he told Simone that he had a dream about her father (this was after he died), and that he took him flying or something. I think your on to him having dream powers like the Sandman (the DC Sandman that is, not the Marvel Sandman appearing in Spider-Man 3). Also, I don't think Charles was saying All You Need is Love, just that it can be a powerful movitating factor.

The scene where Ando tells Hiro he looks badass was my favorite scene.
FUN FACT: Kirby Plaza is named for comic book artist Jack Kirby, cocreater of the Fantastic Four, Thor (as much as one can create a modern comic book character based on Norse mythology), Silver Surfer, and the DC villain Darkseid among others.

I liked the Ali Larter fight scene, and how Jessica helped Nikki pull through. It's interesting that Candice knew enough about Nikki to pretend to be Jessica, yet seemed surprised when she was talking to the mirror fragment. Also, when Nikki knocked her out and broke her illusion, how come Candice looked like Missy Peregim (sp?) and not Missy Peregim in a fat suit. Was that all BS on her part?

In my opinion, Mohinder helped DL because he's basically a good person and had to help, regardless of risk to himself. You're being too harsh on him based on him not killing Sylar when he had the chance (the second time that is). Sylar was able to fake-death his way out of PrimaTech's cell, so no reason he couldn't do so here as well.

Noah is actually a fairly common name. I know one personally, and seen it several other times.

Molly and Micah make a cute couple I think. :-)

Well, Sylar is a badass. It didn't help matters that the "heroes" fought him kung-fu movie style (i.e. one at a time). The supervillain usually dominates these kinds of fights, but maybe this wasn't really the way to go for the first big fight scene. And where did Sylar get his appear/disappear out of nowhere power? Did he kill a "hero" with the power of "dramatic effect?"

Well, bulletproof vests are expensive (I think), and Matt is an out-of-work cop. Plus, "proof" is a relative term and if Sylar used sufficient force, he could pierce it anyway.

Nikki could have left the fight to comfort Micah. He was pretty upset afterall. Besides, Peter had "it".

The Nathan/Peter scene was touching, although the cheerleader-line was a bit lame I have to admidt.

I liked the scene where Hiro said something, and the translation was all goblygook. So who wants to bet the Hiro will end up being the samarai his father told him stories about? After he causes the death of the real Kenzo and assumes his identity.

And finally, who all is dead? I'll refer to the following rules from the Marvel Superhero Adventure Game, which (more or less) are just as applicable to heroes as villains:

Rule 1: The body is never found.
Rule 2: If the body is found, it's never the villain's body.
Rule 3: If the body is found and it was the villain's body, it's enver the villain's mind.
Rule 4: If the body is found and it was the villain's body and mind, someone else will become the villain.
Rule 5: If the body is found and it was the villain's body and mind and nobody else becomes the villain, it wasn't a good enough villain anyway.

The pretty much sums it up for me.

Until they introduce a new hero named iPod that has the power to create extreme music mixes, make mine a "Heroes".

Anonymous said...

thisguypossessed: The fact is, no story is truely original. There's even a wise saying about this. Good writers borrow liberally from others. Great writers outright steal.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

oh good, it wasn't just me who found the whole thing lame and anti-climactic, from sylar's death to peter's big love speech, to hiro facing off against the japanese warriors to the actual explosion and a million other things in between. i ranted on my own blog about this earlier tonight. i was SO disappointed, because, you're right -- it was marketed as this Big. Awesome. Ending and it just fizzled. totally flat.

(though i will say, i didn't get that sylar wasn't dead until i read your blog, even when they showed the trail of blood to the sewer, i just thought that was the leftovers after they carted the body away.)

i remember a couple of weeks ago, when they did the future episode, and i said i didn't understand how peter could still be alive if he were the bomb, and everyone said he just regenerated, even if he went kablooey in a million little pieces (which i still find so incredibly ridiculous, but whatever). so given that we already had that scenario, i found his "exploding" tonight completely pointless, because hey, we've already seen that even if we chop peter up into itsy bitsy nanocells, he'll still boomerang back together again. meh.

i didn't think naming bennett noah was a lost copycat thing. yes, it's a biblical name, but it didn't bother me.

and another thing ... i cannot STAND the actress who plays molly. oh my christ, what a whiny, whiny child. she got on my every last nerve. for starters, she's FAR too old to believe in the bogeyman -- she's what, 8? 9? she certainly looks older than your typical toddler or kindergartener that gets frightened by such things. maybe i'd believe her fear more if the actress who played her was able to convey even one iota of emotion or credibility when saying her lines. she just parrots them off with no feeling whatsoever, and coupled with her whiny voice, it makes me want to scream.

Anonymous said...

Heroes don't stab people from behind. Only villains do.

My namesake must be watching a different show. What morphing girl? Does he meen Candice the Illusionista? I'd like to see him try and explain Micah's dead body then. Or how th cops missed Simone's dead twin in the middle of the floor. Or Micah running in circles trying to escape. Or the several occasions where they explicitly refered to her as having an illusions power.

And even if there was a shapeshifter, they wouldn't be able to turn into air or something like that. Shapeshifters can only take physical form, and some (such as the X-Men hero/villain Mystique) can only take humanoid form.

Peter can't fly himself into space because he's lost control of his powers. Duh.

Sylar is not dead because of his cockroach power. He used that to escape from PrimaTech, and possibly Morander too.

Molly probably meant he can see uses her power on him (which she has to "think" to use), not whenever she thinks of him.

The Haitian did appear in the "Five Years Gone" episode. Fun Fact, this title is a play on DC comics "One Year Later" tagline, when they jumped all their books ahead a year comic-time.

Sylar was focused on Peter, who saw the greatest threat, to finish off Bennet. Hiro also would have died had he not teleported (or at least been paralyzed after falling like eight stories).

Also, I love how he's condemning those that lost faith in Lost after a few mediocre episodes while doing the same after a single episode.

Anonymous said...

Ted was immune to the effects of his powers (he wasn't damaged when he blew up the Bennet House for instance, nor did he give himself radiation poisoining), and Peter copying Ted would be immune as well. He would NOT be blown up into a million of pieces.

Anonymous said...

You pretty much had the same thoughts I did throughout the entire episode. This show was such a letdown from the hype it had over the summer. This and "Five Years Gone" were crap episodes all around. Long live LOST! A lot of people had their LOST faith falter this year, I didn't of course, and in the end it turns out they were wrong.

There were so many unexplainable decisions and cheesy lines in this episode. Here are a few you didn't mention and some you mentioned...

-Why did Hiro say something when he teleported into the loft? He could've just stabbed Sylar..

-How the hell did DL not die!? Lame! This show is so stupid about killing of characters. It's like they can't do it or something.

-"In the end, all you need is love." !?!? Kill me now.

-Can't Peter fly himself into space!?

-Why did Sylar go chasing after Peter into Kirby Plaza anyway?

-LAMEST VILLAIN "DEATH" EVER

-How is Sylar not dead!?

-Isn't the badder-man-than-Sylar able to see Molly when she is talking about him because she's thinking about him? Smart move kid.

-Noah!? With that, the Bennet flashback episode earlier this season, and the fact that Damon Lindelof came up with the Peter character, Heroes owes everything to LOST.

-Whatever happened to the Haitian? Claire just leaves him and his storyline is done?

-Why does Sylar never actually kill people that he can easily kill? He just injures Bennet and could have easily killed Hiro...

-Dreams that convince people about what is right... Hmm what other show have I seen that on? L... Log? Loffice? Lose? I don't know...

-Why didn't morphing girl just change into air or something!? There should be no reason for her to ever lose a fight... Awesome power not used to it's full potential.

-The voiceovers got lame after #5

-I could go on forever, but it's getting late...

The only thing I really liked about the episode was the fact that next season looks like it's going to cover how this super power thing started.

LOST is the best show ever.

>:4 8 15 16 23 42

Anonymous said...

1. My mistake about Candice. I completely forgot about the apartment room thing. I guess seeing Micah there should've given it away for me. I stand corrected!

2. Are you serious? Do you actually know any shapeshifters? Prove to me they can't turn into air without referencing a comic book.

3. Eh... I kind of see your point about him losing control of his powers... but still... it's a shady area...

4. Cockroach power? Do we have any proof he absorbed the "live forever" powers of the cockroach? (Cockroaches have power?!) I guess that makes sense, but I won't admit defeat until we see a definitive answer for that on the show.

5. Molly's power: Possibly... I'm still not convinced that it makes sense. I guess it's all how you view super powers.

6. That's not what I meant about the Haitian. His real-time storyline was just dropped...

7. I was talking about the scene in the loft. As soon as Hiro spoke up when he teleported into the room, Sylar could've dropped or killed Ando and then killed Hiro.

8. I haven't lost faith in Heroes. I'm just frustrated that they could leave us with such a dissapointing season finale. Also, I'm not condemning those who have stopped watching LOST, I'm just saying that they're mistaken for thinking Heroes is a better show. We all have our opinions...

Something I forgot to mention in my last post was that Tim Kring has a very weird perception of how time travel works. In this episode, for instance, why couldn't Hiro travel back 5 minutes and tell Ando that he was training with his father so he should just sit tight until he's done? And, in Five Years Gone, since we now know the bomb didn't go off, shouldn't everything have changed back into normal (destruction of the city) as soon as Future Hiro convinced Hiro to stab Sylar? By watching Back to the Future about 1,000,000 times in my life, that's what I've come to think about time travel. I guess we'll never know how it really works.

One last thing, that ending scene with Hiro between the Kensei and the other Japanese people was way to reminiscent of the scene in BttF 3 when Marty ends up between the Indians and the cavalry. Is cavalry supposed to be capitalized?

Overall, I give this episode a 6.8/10 and the overall season an 8/10. I didn't put much thought into those ratings so don't ask me about them.

Nikki: When do you think the season 3 LOST book will be coming out? Before Ben Linus' birthday!? You don't understand how excited I am to read it. Out of the 7 LOST related books I've read (Living LOST, The LOST Chronicles, etc.) yours is the best I've read with J. Wood's coming in at a close second.

Anonymous said...

Ooh! I just thought of a good comparison!

This season of Heroes was like The DaVinci Code! They both were good for the beginning 90%, but when they finally got to the end, they realized they had no ending, no answers, and no ideas so they tried to wrap it up really quickly, which didn't turn out well for either media.

Anonymous said...

Other Brian: Sorry for being a bit prickish earlier. I wasn't in a very good mood today over reasons I'd rather not get into.

The general consensus among physicists is that time travel is impossible. However, they once said that about traveling faster than the speed of sound, so you never know. And if it was, there are two schools of thought on this: paralell timelines (in which you don't change the timeline, just create an alternate one) and predestination (in which you fail to prevent or ironically cause the event you wanted to prevent). Back to the Future-esque temporal physics is pretty much regarded as pure fiction.

Btw, Nikki's book is due out in October I believe.

Anonymous said...

Awesome! Thanks, Brian! Cool name, by the way.

Anonymous said...

nik, can you just let me know in what ep it was shown that if something remain lodged in Peter, he will die? Why did they not simply shoot him enough to knock him out (and thus not explode), but so disastrously that he could not come back from death, as cheerleader has many time?

Does Hiro's sword lunge significantly hard at Sylar? Why? What is supposed to be way that Sylar can be killed completely? If Sylar is not dead, then they did not learn how to combine their powers in the appropriate way.

I agree there was some disappointment with show. Basic questions are just left unanswered.

Anonymous said...

In my opinion, it was a good, but not great finale. Perhaps NBC hyped it up to the point where nothing would have satisfied fans.

I was pretty excited about the Sylar/Peter showdown and loved it when I was watching it. But after thinking about it, you're right Nikki, a lot of the characters didn't do much. It was sort of anticlimactic. It really bothered me that Peter couldn't absorb Nathan's flying abilities and had to drag him up into the sky. Also, why is Sylar able to control his nuclear abilities whereas Peter is out of control?

I did love when they came together though, I just wish each one of them had more to do with attacking Sylar. And if Sylar cannot be killed (nor Peter or Claire for that matter), where does the suspense come from? Too many characters are able to regenerate and if the audience knows this, there is nothing at stake.

The ending was cool, but for what producers called a self contained chapter, a lot of questions are still unanswered. It'll be interesting how they do the Generations chapter. I gather they will be time travelling, I don't think they'll stay in the 1600's! Not sure keeping Sylar is a great thing, there isn't much else he can do other than cut peoples skulls open, and apparently he can't die.

Overall I give it an 8 out of 10. But I had expectations of an 11 out of 10! OK, enough bitchin...LOL

Anonymous said...

Sylar's power gives him an innate understanding of how the powers he absorbs work.

Nikki Stafford said...

Hmm... I don't really have to answer a lot of questions, since it seems I have my own helper doing it for me. ;)

Just a gentle note to everyone: I love the comments here, I love that so many of you come back week after week, but please don't start arguing with others on my board. Go find another forum to do that. This is my blog that I work very hard at keeping up, and if *I* want to disagree harshly with someone, I will. But I'm seeing someone post something (the posts come through to my email so I can read them before they're deleted) then someone ripped a strip off that person, and they went and deleted their comment. I don't want any of that around here, please. Thanks.

Brian Douglas: Not harsh, just truthful. You can't love everything all the time, you know. And when I invest SO much in a show, I expect something back from it. I'm not like the Television Without Pity people, who don't seem to like ANYTHING, I love television, and when it lets me down, I say so.

Also, yes, lots of people are named Noah. I think it's a great name. But guess what? Lots of people are named Ben and Jacob; that didn't stop us from analyzing to death the fact they were named after biblical characters (as were Ruth, Naomi, John, Mary... need I go on??) So I don't think I'm off-base in suggesting that maybe there's a significance to Bennet's name. If it had just been his plain old name from the beginning, that's one thing, but they kept it super-secret until the final episode, and there was a moment of silence before he said it, then he said it, then the music swelled... Noah's not just a name they picked out of the phone book.

Mohinder didn't risk his own life in helping DL, he risked the life of EVERYONE. By stopping to help DL, he risked Sylar -- who was in the building, according to Molly -- grabbing Molly, sucking her powers, and now having the ability to find anyone he wants to no matter where they are. That would be one HELL of a dangerous man. Mohinder is not a doctor, he's a geneticist, so he couldn't have helped DL anyway. He needed to run past him for the greater good, esp when DL is insisting he doesn't want his help. Don't think of himself, think of Molly and ALL of the other heroes.

Micah's not 2 years old; sure, he's a kid, but he wasn't requiring comforting at that moment. He's bright, mature, and keeps it together, so she wasn't comforting him. Niki (it's one k, by the way) was the ONLY person other than Peter who was able to lay a smackdown on Sylar, and they needed her in that fight.

fb: Send me your blog address off-list! I didn't know you had one! :)

Other Brian: Your comments made me laugh out loud. :) Good point about Hiro saying something to Sylar. Everyone needs to make a big to-do and they should just do the job. And you're right. Sylar stands there and fights when all he has to do is make one quick cutting motion with his finger and all of their heads are lopped off. Harsh, but true.

I agree with you, though, as I said, that I haven't lost faith in this show. I'm not one of those fans (think of the fairweather Lost fans) who loves a show, sees one bad ep, and ditches it. I LOVE this show, and cannot wait for September.

My book will be out at the beginning of October, thanks for asking! :)

Roland and Other Brian: Good point about how Peter didn't fly up on his own! I never thought of that. I wonder, though, if the radiation completely disables his other powers? But so true when someone on here has said why didn't they just shoot him to knock him unconscious, because it would have stopped it? He passed out in the street and it stopped, so if he loses consciousness, the radiation stops.

Roland: Good point about too many characters regenerating. They did that on Xena and it drove me nuts.

Anonymous: TOTALLY the Da Vinci Code!! I'll have to tell my husband that one -- he read the book (like I did) and was totally into it (like I was) until the end and both of us had the same reaction. Throwing the book violently against the wall. We still talk about it as the kingpin of worst endings EVER.

Anonymous (Not sure if it's the same person): I could be wrong on the whole thing lodged = death thing. When Peter had the glass in the back of his head, he was dead. His eyes were white (which apparently on this show = death), he had no pulse, he was cold, rigor mortis was setting in, his family was convinced, and the moment Claire pulled out the glass, he came back to life. Same thing happened to Claire. When the guy was trying to rape her and she got the tree branch in the back of her head, she was declared dead. As soon as the doc performing the autopsy pulled it out, she came back to life. So that's where I'm getting it from, but it doesn't necessarily mean they're dead. It's just what I'm taking from it. :)

Anonymous said...

The first anonymous was me but not the second one. I totally see what you mean about just knocking Peter out, which should've stopped the radiation. There were so many different, and better, ways to stop the bomb than Nathan flying him into space and exploding the universe... I guess we just have to let it go.

Glad my comments made you laugh and thanks for taking the time to respond to all our comments.

Do you ever go to TV.com? If you have, then you probably know about their ratings system so I was wondering if you agree with the ratings both LOST and Heroes get. I'm kind of a LOST fanboy so I never really see faults in the show and it's hard for me to give every episode anything less than a 10 ('cept Cost of Living (9.5)), but I thought it was really weird that this episode, HtSaEP, is getting an 8.7 while FYG is getting a 9.7. Sometimes the ratings don't make sense. I mean, there's no way every episode of Heroes, up until the finale, should be over 9... Lame.

Anonymous said...

So, was anyone else reminded of the end of "Evil Dead 2" or the beginning of "Army of Darkness" when Hiro landed in 1619?
Seriously, it was almost an exact replica. I laughed.
And yea, I was sort of let down by the final episode.
Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it...but it didn't live up to the hype.
When Sylar and Peter were standing across from each other, and then it cut to commercial, I was like "Oh man, they are gonna battle and its gonna be so awesome!"
And then they barely did anything. And they barely resolved anything.
Sure, the "bomb" went off...sure Nathan is probably dead. But we know Pete will probably fall back to Earth (looking like Warren Mears at the end of Season 6 of Buffy), and take some time to regenerate.
The Heroes were essentially useless in the time of crisis, and couldn't stand up for what they needed too.
They need to have a major upheaval next season with these guys.
Somebody get them a Danger Room or something.

Anonymous said...

I started watching this show because Adrian Pasdar was on it, so Nathan better not be really dead.

I can't believe that people think this show is better than Lost. This show is okay, with some brilliant moments (like Hiro saving Ando - stoopid Sylar) and a lot of stuff I've read a million times in comic books.

Lost has my heart.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and from the setup for next season, it seems to be a homage to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III.

Anonymous said...

*goes to rent Heroes on DVD*

I probably should have watched this show, you know, past the first five minutes of Chapter 1.

Nikki Stafford said...

Brian: Totally agree with the TV.com ratings. I never bother to vote, because I figure a bunch of fans just go on every week and put 10s up. Try going and looking BEFORE an episode has aired -- it usually already has a rating! So silly...

Jeff: I felt the same way before the commercial break, that this was going to be the biggest showdown ever. My colleague at work and I re-enacted the final scene between Sylar and Peter today. She poked me in the shoulder, and I shoved her back. The end.

As for Peter looking like Warren, :::shudder:::

Colleen: I agree. I hope there's a way Nathan survives it, but then again, it sort of comes back to what someone was saying earlier about how if no one dies, the deaths lose their steam. Lost has my heart, too. :)

Nikki Stafford said...

I was thinking more about whether or not Sylar is dead, and I was thinking, maybe he really WAS killed, and someone (or someTHING) came up from the sewer and dragged him underground. Hmm...

Anyway, also wanted to post this. Apparently Entertainment Weekly felt the same way about the episode as I did:
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20039679,00.html

Anonymous said...

Hey Nikki, interesting theory about a sewer creature dragging Sylar down, but I heard Zachary Quinto was supposed to be back next season, unless plans changed.

I hope you are no longer getting nasty messages on the board. There is no need for that, I've been on some board where you'd think people's religions were being attacked. Get onto the topic of Lost vs Heroes and I'm sure you'll get some majorly spirited debate.

Lost still has my heart too...although it still boggles my mind how many people still attack that show (many who haven't even seen the show in ages)...I have a friend I get into constant arguments with because of this, then there are those who watch shows like Lost and bitch and complain about it constantly yet there they are, back in front of the TV at the same hour next week, watching again...

Heroes was my favorite show for those 6 episodes of Lost at the beginning of the season, where it didn't have much direction. Except for the terrible Bai Ling episode (universally panned), Lost has been so much better. Although Heroes is still an awesome show!

Katherine Trites said...

I enjoyed the show's season ender for what it was -a good first season ender. Everyone seemed to have their cranky-pants on.;-)
I was diappointed that Candice didn't revert to her true form when she got knocked out.
I loved the chapter 2 beginning. I totally agree with colleen/redeem147 with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

Anonymous said...

Do you think they killed off Malcolm McDowell because it would be too confusing to be in two things called Generations?

BTW - people in Toronto get lots of Heroes guests at cons this summer. Polaris has Erick Avari (Mohinder Sr) and Fan Expo has Hayden (Clare) and Malcolm (Linderman)

Katherine Trites said...

I just read on Greg Beeman's blog that the dvd comes out August 28th what a great birthday present for me!
here's the address:
http://gregbeeman.blogspot.com/
I wish I lived in TO for the cons!

Anonymous said...

Other Brian: Actually, I do know some (robot) shapeshifters, and none of them can change their physical state (solid to liquid, gas, plasma, etc.).

Anyway, shapeshifting and body transformation are too different powers. Shapeshifting allows one to alter ones shape, but they still maintain certain critical organs like a brain, heart, lung, etc. For example, see Mystique from the X-Men movies. Body transformation is when one completely alters one's molecular structure. For example, see Sandman (Marvel) in Spider-Man 3.

Nikki: I refuse to acknowledge an incorrect spelling of Nikki with only one "k." It's like spelling Brian with a "y." That's just wrong :-).

Remember, this show is based on comic books, and as they used to say, "The only person who's really dead in comics is (Captain America's partner) Bucky." They can't say that anymore because, after 40 years, they brought him back too :-).

Anyway, I wonder just how long Peter/Claire could be "dead" before it became permanet. I would think that once the body decayed enough, they would be beyond their regnerative power.

I'm at lost to explain why they couldn't just render Peter unconscious or temporarily kill him. I mean, it did work when they stopped Ted.

Question: Was Sylar trying to stop Peter from exploding? Is that what he meant with his "I'm the hero" comment? Was just BS on his part to taunt Peter, or did he really believe that he was trying to save the day?

Nikki Stafford said...

Kathy: Good point about Candice not reverting to her true shape! I think that's a major boo-boo on the writers' part, because if she's unconscious, she can't be consciously creating an illusion for people.

Colleen: Did Toronto Trek change its name to Polaris? I'm so out of it...

Brian: Good point about temporarily stopping Ted. I mean, somehow Claire walked into the house, SOMETHING happened, and he was neutralized. She didn't have a gun then, so why require one now? I think the one thing that was suggested is that Peter's power is far bigger than Ted's, because he slowly disintegrated a house, where Peter was meant to fell all of NY.

Jason Halm said...

Been spending some time thinking about this episode prior to posting - Yes NikKi, (I've forgotten your other K in previous posts - sorry) I watch this show too.

So, what do I think? I finished and I felt sad and a bit angry. I didn't feel sad, however, due to disappointment. I felt sad that the season was over. I did feel angry at some of the presented problems of the episode though.

I read almost 500+ issues of X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, etc - mutant books. Knowing what I know from reading those books - I was NOT disappointed in the cheese. Heck, there was bacon double cheese going on, and I was eating it all up - and it was delicious. Mutant books often had love or acts of love or big hearts or romance or or or or or -- save the day. It's a theme that comics have touched upon time and again. Who here remembers the sacrifice that Magneto - bad, nasty, no heart, no love-Magneto makes for Rogue? Who remembers the sacrifice that Wolverine - only interested in cigars, sex and beer-Wolverine - made for Jean Grey? My point is that I don't think that it was a Beatles moment (what's the matter with Beatles moments). I think that Charles (Professor X - wheelchair and everything) was trying to say that Peter would be willing to put others before himself and that is what makes a hero - not the ability to lead. Any fool will follow the right person at the right time. It's the people that don't make the history books that make the difference and allow for the Nathans of the world to make the history books. That's what I took from Charles insight. That said, the writers could have conveyed it with more clarity than to just cite Lennon-McCarthy (which is often cited out of context, but that's another topic).

Now to the fight. This is where Sylar had to be careful, and he makes a statement, "Now I'm the Hero." You see, Sylars are like onions. They have layrS (and cockroaches like to crawl all over them). Sylar did some really "bad shit" man. He just may be the most significant, violent television villian since Twin Peaks. However, as we saw in the previous episode with his mother, there's a side to Sylar that was not all lobotomies and skullcaps. He wanted to be loved - which is somewhat interesting. Sylar has a decent mom that's a bit overwhelming and demanding, but seems decent - as opposed to Peter having the evil bitch from hell who put on a front for the first half of the season. I think that Granny Petrelli's power was the ability to turn evil out of nowhere. It was simply an interesting contrast. Back to "Now, I'm the Hero." After Sylar gained the ability to see the future, could he have yearned to be the "hero" that stops the incredible, exploding man? Could he have wanted to get all the heroes in one place for them all to die at Peter Petrelli's hand and he survive - and walk out as Nathan Petrelli - and be the "hero" that Petrelli becomes to the American people (I know he didn't crack the illusionist's skullcap - or so we saw)? I just feel like Sylar had a plan that he was trying to execute in accordance with what he saw his new using future visions power. He may even have needed to be stabbed for this to work... so I kinda think he survived.

Nothing wrong with Noah (which is my new favorite character on television). I'm not sure the writers are going for religion in the same way that Lost is, but it was a reference - nevertheless. That said, I think it was more to wink at us and tell us that he was the gatherer of heroes. That's all. I don't think it's setting us up the way that Lost is setting us up for Locke's rise and Ben's Fall.

So, just what did I have a problem with? DL was just nonsense. That man should be D-E-D, dead. He was shot in the chest - not the leg - not the arm - not the stomach - the chest. The guy should be dead. I think Linderman's death was a bit too rushed. He was the mastermind of everything, and masterminds aren't supposed to die before the devices they use unless that device is one of the heroes that figures out the mastermind's plan - and even then, the mastermind should have reserve plan built into his masterplan. I should know - because any day I am going to succeed in finally taking over the world with my mastermind genius.

Seriously, Linderman going down screamed of the inabiliity to pay Malcolm McDowell for season two.

Thank you all on the putting a bullet in Peter and then taking it out, and why was Claire so afraid to shoot him - knowing that he could do what she does? It was just silly. I say - fine let him lose control and and have no ability to stop from going 'boom' but don't stop Claire from pulling the trigger. Hell, even make the bullets melt before they get to him because of the heat he's giving off, but Claire being afraid to shoot him was just silly.

Heroes +'s are that it stayed fairly true to telling a comic book story on television. I really respected that, and it wasn't telling us a Burt Ward tale either. It was adult enough that this wasn't your grandpa's comic book made into a television show. It was all ours. Comic books of our generation are Dark Knight, X-Men and Spawn, but all of those stories still have big bites of Cheddar in them. I think the first season of Heroes didn't let me down. I mean - doesn't Spidey fight the Green Goblin and say, "I had a father, and his name was Ben Parker" -- IN YOUR FACE GG - YOU CAN SUCK IT. Doesn't Magneto always lose because he spares his best friend - Xavier? I think it was okay to go this way... but I do agree that it could have been much better. I certainly didn't buy the "big budget."

Hey everybody, let's make the last fight in Kirby Plaza which looks like a backlot set that's way too small for this big fight between to omnipotent characters -- that can be stabbed to death and lose total control of their powers causing their ultimate destruction.

If the show had a flaw - it was giving too much power to Peter and Sylar too quickly. However, once they went that way - there needed to be a big fight between the two of them - Season 2 Steel Cage Match?

Anonymous said...

Yes, Toronto Trek is now Polaris.

That probably was Candice's true form. She just thinks she's fat.

Anonymous said...

Oh my god. I got banned from TV.com for a week for not fully censoring a 'naughty' word and just recently someone with the last 3 numbers of my username, 118, posted all these spoilers for the finale and people in the thread are saying it was me! Can someone with a TV.com account please go over there and explain in the Off Topic thread that ManOfScience118 is NOT LookingGlass118!?

Crissy Calhoun said...

My colleague at work and I re-enacted the final scene between Sylar and Peter today. She poked me in the shoulder, and I shoved her back. The end.

Ya, but I totally won that fight. Looks like I'm the hero now. ;)

You already know how I feel about this episode, Nikki, but just in an effort to make this the most commented-on post ever:

Review by me: Dull and cheesy. More epic battles, please, less with the cliches. I don't mind the "love will save the world" talk when it's done well -- like in every single Joss Whedon show. I lurve it. But this was just bad cliched writing. And no super cool action sequences or character development to make up for it. 4 out of 10.

Anonymous said...

I know this isn't a LOST post, but I can't wait for tomorrow...

I hate how Canada gets to see it, or start it at least, five hours before us "West Coast-ers" do! Totally lame!

Anyway, it looks to be a good 'un. Obviously it does... It's LOST for Jacob's sake!

Anonymous said...

colleen: Maybe Candice thought she was fat and created the image of her being that way. Talk about body image problems.

Nikki Stafford said...

Wow, Jason, what a post!! It was epic. :) Great stuff, and what I find really intriguing is that, like Brian Douglas, you're a comic book fan. So I wonder if that episode really spoke to the diehard comic book fans, whereas those of us who read them more casually or not at all were not as impressed.

I posted a link yesterday to EW, who disliked it, so I'll post a link today to Salon, who liked it.

http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/review/2007/05/22/heroes/

Jason Halm said...

I must have been on drugs when I posted Lennon-McCarthy! What the hell? I'm a Beatles fanatic and know very well that James Paul McCartney was born on my dad's birthday, June 18, 1942 (my dad in 1955). Gosh, I feel like I need to post further trivial facts about the Beatles and Paul McCartney... every feel about two feet small? /sigh

The Chapati Kid said...

It didn't satisfy me. Mainly because... I FORGOT to watch it. (cocking finger at temple now.) Primarily because I was completely and utterly engrossed by Battlestar Galactica at that very time. And you know what, I'm glad I was!

Nikki Stafford said...

Jason: Oh, and here I thought you meant Lenin and McCarthy. ;) No worries... do you know how many times I type the wrong name completely and I'm supposed to be analyzing these shows?

Chapatikid: That sucks, but then again, BSG is the perfect excuse to miss ANY show... (except Lost). ;)