[Movie] Heroes

I've had a week to simmer over the events in the newest episode. The introduction of two new Heroes was probably the best part.

MOSTLY IRRELEVANT SIDENOTE: Several years ago, before Heroes was even a project on Kring's agenda, a friend and I put together some ideas for a comic book series. He would be the artist and I'd write. It never came to much fruition, but I did manage to draft up numerous characters.
Imagine my shock when last Monday's episode used two of my ideas in precisely the way I'd conceived them. I'd thought of someone whose ability was selective invisibility. But I was more surprised when that Hannah character appeared with the ability to communicate through various energy-wave sources, such as wi-fi internet. They even used the same alias I came up with: Wireless. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor after seeing that. The odds of such coincidence were infinitessimal.
I'm not claiming theft or anything, but it's very peculiar to realize that the same ideas I had several years ago are being implemented in this show. I like to think of it as a bizarre compliment; perhaps I've always had what it takes to be a writer for the comic books.

Anyhow, onto some thoughts:

Claire: Nothing new with her, really. We've seen some foreshadowing that indicates she'll be seeking out her birth mother. I've come to the conclusion that we already know who Claire's true mother is. At first, I was going with something that seemed a little obvious, but after further consideration, I arrived at what I think would be the beat twist so far:

Spoiler:

Jessica Sanders (Niki's darker half) is Claire's mother.

Think about this. Claire and Niki are both blondes, forming a physical resemblance. However, Niki has never voiced anything about a daughter that she had to give up for adoption. Yet it's very possible that Jessica did give up a child and told nobody. I've got a hunch who the father is, but that's pretty sick. It would definitely link Claire to both Niki and the Pitrelli brothers, if I'm right, however.
But something tells me I'm on the money with this prediction. It makes a lot of sense.

Niki & Jessica: So, what's their deal? After all this time, we still don't really know what their actual power(s) are. I think it's fairly obvious that Jessica's ability is super-strength, as only Jessica can use this ability despite being in Niki's body.

So what about Niki?

Spoiler:

I think Niki can channel the dead, specifically dead heroes. But the provision is that she has to be very familiar with the person. So far, Niki hasn't become close to anyone who's died, so she hasn't manifested any other spirits than her deceased sister.

So how do we prove that Niki can channel spirits? Well, we'd have to wait for someone else to die, to be truthful. We've seen that Sylar kills Isaac, and I sincerely believe that this will come to pass. Niki and Isaac have never met, but Peter and Isaac have. Therefore, seeing as Peter can copy the powers of others, once Isaac dies, if Peter gets near Niki and is able to channel the spirit and powers of Isaac beyond the grave, then we'll know Niki's true power.

This is also a very convenient, yet clever way to physically kill off a character without removing them from the developing plotline. Imagine having the dead heroes still remain in contact through a living medium. It could happen.

Mr. Bennet: We still don't know his true agenda. I think it's a safe bet to assume he's working for this "Linderman" person, since Linderman seems to be at the heart and soul of all transactions so far. Linderman owns the sword with the genome marker, after all, right? 2 + 2 = 4.

Anyhow, I suspect that Mr. Bennet is on the list. He's working with other heroes, so why wouldn't he himself be empowered? And I am gonna predict Bennet's ability:

Spoiler:

Mr. Bennet can block the abilities of others, like a human "buffer".

"But Crash, isn't that what the Haitian Man does?" No. The Haitian man can rewrite peoples' memories. Let's recall specifically what Mr. Bennet said to the captive Sylar. To paraphrase, Bennet said that it was interesting that Sylar had demonstrated multiple abilities whereas none of the other heroes had displayed more than one. So, this would mean that even the Haitian man possessed only one skill.

Therefore, it's been a matter of cunning misdirection and camera tricks that have caused us to believe that the Haitian Man was blocking Sylar and Matt Parkman's abilities. When Mr. Bennet wasn't around, Sylar was able to use his telekinesis to pull Eden through the glass. Also, whenever Mr. Bennet wanted the Haitian Man or Eden to use their abilities on someone, he'd leave the room or make sure he was at a distance. As further proof, when Claire was visiting Peter in jail, Mr. Bennet was right there, which prevented Peter from absorbing Claire's healing ability and becoming well again. It's also why Mr. Bennet was able to control and manipulate Eden; she couldn't tell him what to do like so many others.

Mohinder Suresh: Mr. Bennet paid Mohinder a visit, asked him a simple question: "Are you on the list?".

I bet the answer is yes.

This isn't really a spoiler, since I can't name Mohinder's ability. But we've seen that Mohinder's sister was "special" and was the reason Chandra Suresh became obsessed with the Human Genome Project. He also did his best to keep Mohinder away from the information, much like Mr. Bennet's tried to shelter Claire. They're on the list. Simple as that. Siblings have the tendency to have powers on this show.

What does Mohinder do? Who knows? But it'll be good, that's assured.

Nobody else really had any huge revelations this week. Hannah and Claude are compelling new characters, and Hannah seems to be one of those who don't deserve their powers, but we were given only small morsels of info on each one. That's not enough to formulate hypotheses.

I'm looking forward to Micah's admission tomorrow night. I'm also hoping to see more of Nathan, as I'm growing fonder of him. He's been a reluctant hero so far but he's gonna start coming out of his shell soon. Wait and see.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Okay. This is possibly a spoiler, but more of a simple guess:

Since they've ruled out Jessica as Claire' father (damn, it was a good theory, though), we now have a new hero: a pyrokinetic. It's kind of similar to Ted Sprague, but different, since I reason that she can set fires at a distance whereas Ted can only irradiate himself.

The commercials said we'd be shocked at who Claire's father is. As they said this, they showed an arm hitting a table. This arm was wearing a wristwatch and we heard the familiar ticking sound again. This would imply that Claire's father is Sylar and that he's out to unknowingly kill his own daughter.

Screwed up, if I'm right.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

There was a brief scene after Ted's capture that depicted the cop car in which he'd been escorted as having been pretty much decimated by a small explosion. The policeman called the CIA agent to inform her that Ted had managed to escape.

Ted had been unseen since then, but was shown in a small shack in the middle of nowhere during the special "preview" two weeks ago. It was then that the "Hannah" woman contacted him over the internet connection that Ted technically didn't have.

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Originally Posted by Sousuke

Bit of random neatness: In the episode after Eden dies, you see Mohinder talking with a cop. He says that she 'turned up dead', with a gunshot wound, in a certain Ramsey Lake, in Sudbury, Ontario. I thought that was sorta cool, cause that's pretty much where I live. The university I attend is on the lake, and the beaches that we hang out at in the summer.

Not that I know for sure, but it's probable that Tim Kring or another writer grew up in that area and chose to mention it as a small nod to their home community.

For example, the movie, "Bride of Chucky", was partially set and filmed in my hometown here in Western New York because the lead writer was born here and knew the topography well enough to write it into the film.

I bet the mention of Sudbury was simply a tip of the hat by someone who's spent a lot of time there.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Sylar has mastered mostly the telekinesis. And this is, I believe, how he miraculously "flew" away from Parkman; he directed the telekinesis upon himself. This trick has been done for years in comic books. Look at Jean Grey, for example. So it's no stretch to believe Sylar could use it too.

Likewise, his "super strength" could've simply been a telekinetic "push". Yes, he struck Claire, but he could've focused the TK upon her too. So I don't think it's plausible to say that Sylar has super strength.

Sylar's new power is interesting. It seems that Zane Taylor could "phase shift" objects, that is, turn them from solid to liquid. Perhaps Sylar can reverse this and solidify liquids, and disperse solids into gas.
It upsets me that we got to see a new "hero" only to have them get whacked immediately. Sure, it fuels the Sylar plot but they seem to do this whenever the new power is particularly versatile. Sylar could wreak a lot of damage with a "phase-shifting" ability.

Incidentally, if you visit http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/games/map.shtml, you can see a makeshift map like the one in Mohinder's apartment. It has the names and locations of a handful of unseen heroes on it, some of whose powers are already identified.

One person - Tracy Chobham - has teleportation abilities. This would seem similar to Hiro's ability to bend space, but perhaps it works under a different mechanism.

Another person's power is questionably listed as precognition. This would seem similar to Isaac's ability to paint the future, but probably works in the more traditional sense and probably doesn't have the long range that Isaac possesses, in favor of short-term foresight.

Curiously, there are what appears to be DNA codes listed too, as if to imply that there's a distinct formula that can predict what each genetic marker will grant. Mohinder did posses a file on Nathan that correctly identified his gift of flight, so there's likely a grain of truth to these computations.

Just food for thought.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I would like to direct peoples' attention to a post I made back on October 29th.

In this post, I said the following thing:

Originally Posted by Me

In Episode 3, Mohinder is seated at his desk when the door knocks. The neighbor, Eden(?), comes in and sees Mohinder puts his gun away in the drawer.

In Episode 5, Mr. Bennet and the Unnamed Man escort Nathan Pitrielli outside. During this scene, Mr. Bennet is holding a gun that's a perfect match to the one Mohinder had in his apartment. I couldn't tell you the make or caliber, but studying several still frames showed that they were indeed identical models.

This gun is significant because it's also the same model that Hiro found on the floor of Isaac's studio in Episode 2. It was apparent that Sylar had come to visit Isaac. Whether Isaac or Sylar owned the gun is uncertain, but it's certainly curious because it could hold the key to unravelling the motives of either Mr. Bennet or Eden, the neighbor.

I am feeling pretty darn good right now. I knew that gun was significant. It's appeared numerous times.

1: Mohinder hid it in his desk right after Eden saw the gun.
2: Hiro found the gun laying beside Isaac's dead body after mistakenly teleporting to the future.
3: Mr. Bennet had the gun when he and the Haitian Man attempted to abduct Nathan Pitrelli.
4: Eden attempted to use the gun to persuade Sylar to kill himself, then turned it upon her own head in defense.
5: Mr. Bennet gave the gun to Isaac in case Peter Pitrelli should come to visit.

So now we know how the gun arrived at Isaac's apartment. It's turned out to be a critical item that provides a reference of time for certain events. Unfortunately, this means that Hiro's vision of the future seems destined to come true despite everyone's efforts. How long will it be before Mohinder pays another visit to Isaac's place, with Sylar in tow?

Here's a thought.

Hiro teleported into the future from his present-time in Japan. This is how he acquired the comic book and saw Isaac's dead body. Physically, Hiro was present in Isaac's apartment on that day in November, as the explosion went off.
This day is rapidly approaching in "present-time". And I'm wondering if it will create a paradox. See, Hiro was in that apartment at that time. However, when the time comes around again, where will Hiro be? And if he's somewhere else, how is that even possible? How can Hiro exist in two places at the same time? Furthermore, what would happen if Hiro were to arrive at Isaac's apartment at the time of the explosion again, and run into himself? He knows when and where his past-self will be intersecting his present existence.

Another idea: What if Hiro had jumped into the future and visited Isaac's apartment, but it turns out Hiro wasn't alone? What if Peter was there too, but invisible, so Hiro never detected anything? I don't know what this would affect, but it'd be cool anyhow.

And now a big question about Peter has been answered: Yes, he can absorb oowers that were stolen by Sylar. This means that Peter has telekinesis, rapid freezing, memory recall and Sylar's innate "analysis" power.
Given that Peter has absorbed Sylar's natural skill, this is probably how he's rapidly become able to selectively choose which power he manifests, and when. In the end, it's probably a good thing the two met, as Sylar's power might just allow Peter to figure out how to avoid exploding (presuming he still wants to avoid it.)

Also, Mohinder is pretty much the biggest retard on the show. I hope he either manifests a power (like his sister did - powers tend to run in families) or gets killed off. Sylar is pretty much spelling himself out to Mohinder and Mohinder can't see through shit.

At last there seems to be some convergence between the Heroes. A trio has gathered in the Bennet household. Many are concentrated in NYC at the moment. And the rest are centering around Las Vegas.
The only question is how Niki, D.L. and Micah still fit into all this. Their only connection to the plot is a history with Linderman and several brief run-ins with various, other heroes. As Hiro is moving toward Vegas to find his sword, I hope that he'll be the catalyst that brings the rest into some kind of forward plot movement.

And was that Hayden Pannetiere in the Neutrogena commercial?

FELIPE NO

I'm not so sure that woman is a "shapeshifter". When the police showed up at Isaac's apartment, she altered the surroundings to make it appear as though Simone was still alive. If she were strictly a shapeshifter, a la Mystique, she never could've done that.

Her true power is more likely to be casting illusions, or altering the mind's eye perceptions in others. This is pretty powerful, but it would prevent her from being able to forge fingerprints and retinal scans like Mystique often does.

As for Peter, he has every tool necessary to escape Sylar at his disposal, tools that Sylar mostly lacks. Peter can use flight, invisibility, regeneration, telepathy and time-stopping in addition to the telekinesis that Sylar possesses. Plus, Peter could unexpectedly use Sylar's newer talents, such as heightened hearing and destabilization of metals. Sylar, for all his power, lacks the tools at Peter's disposal.

Also, if Sylar were to acquire Peter's gift, then it would effectively stop his need to kill other gifted people. Why kill them when simple proximity is enough to gain their powers? This would be a plot killer and without a villainous motivation, Sylar's character ceases to be as interesting. Therefore, it's highly unlikely that Sylar will succeed in dissecting Peter's brain.

On the other hand, this would be a hell of a time for Mohinder to suddenly manifest powers. The question was never answered: Is Mohinder on the list? Mohinder's sister, Shanti, was apparently gifted and we've seen that these talents definitely run along familial lines. Sylar has never seen the actual list, so he likely hasn't made this connection. If Mohinder has latent powers, Sylar wouldn't really know to look for them.


Also, total jeers to Ando suddenly appearing in Linderman's casino. How in the hell did he manage to get a job there, let alone a job with such high security clearance? No, that entire solution was poorly contrived and reeks of deus ex machina. Ando was sent home. There should've been a better way for Hiro to get the sword than divine intervention.

(Cheers for Ian Gomez getting a cameo as the curator. I enjoyed him as a co-worker on The Drew Carey Show.)

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Rollins

For the nerdy, canon explanation of things (illusion rather than shapeshifting), if you picked up on it, when she was appearing to Isaac as Simone, Simone's body is no longer visible on the bed. Then, when she drops the illusion, Simone's body reappears as well.

>_> I just watched it once, is all.

Yeah, I picked up on that as well, which is how I was able to discern her ability as being more illusory than morphic in nature. If she were a shapeshifter, why would the air and everything around her fuzz out when she changed?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Jochie's crushing on Sylar.

How cute. ^__^

There's nowhere I can't reach.

RETCON:

Save the cheerleader. Save Linderman's vision of urban renewal.

But seriously, it's becoming apparent that saving Claire was a bit of misdirection. Claire is a key player, but not because she is going to directly save the world; that's Peter's job still. It seems that saving Claire was necessary so that Peter would obtain her regeneration skills which will likely be the determining factor.

Linderman's a wily one, though I doubt he's as insane as he's played up to being. Kudos to Kring for giving Linderman a power. I hadn't foreseen that twist, and it's not a power to be taken lightly either.
Linderman seems confident in Isaac's visions of the future and has quite the collection, including many we're only seeing now. I'm thinking that it's perhaps a bit of necessary deception for Linderman to portray himself as a pathologically misguided savior of mankind, as this might be the only course that will successfully prompt Nathan Pitrelli into behaving in a certain manner. (Nathan is a rather hands-off sort, after all.)
Ultimately, by causing Nathan to go against the vision of mankind's rebirth through destruction, Linderman may be ensuring that the world is truly saved after all. I'm willing to bet there are several paintings yet to be revealed which will corroborate this theory at the season's end.

In some ways, I'm okay with Isaac's death. His girlfriend left him and was later killed. Killing off Isaac concludes that plot thread entirely and simplifies things at the endgame. He served his purpose and his ability may prove to be too much for Sylar to cope with.

Can't wait for time to get torn a new asshole when Hiro causes a paradox next week. That ought to be fun.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I'm beginning to think that the deluge of online interactivity is becoming a hindrance to fans of the series. There's so much going on "behind the scenes" that weekly viewers of the television show never get to see, and cannot possibly otherwise know. Yet these websites, emails, codes, etc, they're turning out to be the sealant that fills in the miniscule cracks in the show's developing plotline. "Who is Wireless?" If you don't follow the blog and such, you may never truly find out.

That's annoying. I have a job and my own hobbies. I enjoy Heroes immensely and make sure that my Monday nights are free to watch the show. Isn't that really what a loyal fan should be doing? I'm enduring their commercials already. Don't make me browse umpteen websites as well just to gain a more satisfying comprehension of the story.

I think the extras are cool and whatnot, but its a bit much to expect anyone to sift through if you ask me. At the end of the season there will naturally be a Box Set. What then? Will all these blogs, codes and background events be included as a bonus DVD? How would some of it even work? I think fans are entitled to all the information that's been revealed so far and it all should rightly be in the DVDs. Just getting the episodes would be a letdown if you knew all that extra material was out there somewhere.

Interactivity is a novel approach to a series, but I think it's all too much, too quickly. I'm a patient person and can endure some spacing between revelations. Writing suspenseful material is best done with a fine chisel, not a sledgehammer.

How ya doing, buddy?

Well, that's it. Episode 23 is done and the season is concluded. I'm mostly satisfied with the way things panned out. The few loose ends are a necessity to keep fans talking over the summer.

Spoiler:

I'm greatly pleased that Niki has finally come into her own ability, which seems to be super-strength. It's likely that her sister, Jessica, had a power that enabled her consciousness to live on through someone else, and that Jessica would take control whenever Niki was about to discover her ability. This is how Niki was kept weak for so long. Good to see her attain a bit of inner peace.

It seems that D.L. won't be dying, and I doubt Parkman will kick off either. He's just too popular and wasn't introduced as a secondary character like Eden McCain or Ted Sprague, who both seemed destined to die.

Molly Walker is likely going to play a huge role in Season Two. They used her to do a little bit of foreshadowing, after all. Molly spoke of one person she can't find, someone who's so vile and corrupt that she can't even focus upon him without feeling the taint of his presence spying on her mind.
If you're at all familiar with the history of the X-Men, then this reminds me of the Shadow King. It's very likely that this entity will become the main villain of season two.

More and more, it also looks like Mama Pitrelli is the one pulling the strings. Though Linderman may have been powerful, Mama Pitrelli may have had a lot of influence upon the way he saw the future of mankind. After all, Mama Pitrelli was willing to sacrifice one child and corrupt another just to ensure NYC's destruction and more power for her family. Even the news of Linderman's death didn't seem to phase her, as if it was her own plan all along.

I kind of knew Nathan would come to save the day. You really don't introduce a reluctant character like that, with a power that seems tailor-made for emergency evacuations, and then proceed to NOT use him in the moment of need. Theoretically, Nathan could survive the blast if he lets Peter go at the right moment, then zooms out of the blast radius. I'm certain Nathan is plenty quick enough to catch Peter on the descent.

There is speculation as to whether Nathan will get to remain Congressman, should he survive. In the comics, Hana Gitelman is aware of the plot to rig the votes and takes it upon herself to unrig them, or expose the fraud. However, the TV series showed Nathan winning already, so it's unknown which course will prevail.

Hiro is just plain awesome. Teleporting all over the place and successfully impaling Sylar. The end scene was a bit of a shock, Hiro in feudal Japan, that is.
What's interesting is that it appeared to be George Takei under the ronin's mask, sporting the helix symbol, which is actually taken from adapted kanji characters (meaning it's a plausible thing for him to be carrying). Will suggested, two posts above, that Mr. Nakamura's ability might be extreme longevity. If this is so, then the legends of Kensei may be tales from Mr. Nakamura's own life.
I'm also waiting to find out if Hiro's sister will possess any skills. Hiro's father seems to favor her, so she may have manifested hers sooner, and with greater mastery.

There's a few loose ends: Whatever became of the Haitian Man, Claude Raines and Hana Gitelman? They just vanished (which is par for the course with Raines).

How, precisely, did Sylar learn to use other peoples' abilities? Did he eat their brains as Molly stated, or did he simply examine the DNA codons and instinctively alter his own to match?
And how did Sylar fake his own death while in the cell? Is this a power he picked up, or was it accomplished by studying the cockroach that repeatedly crawled nearby?

What of the older generation of Heroes? The comics have revealed that they were involved in Vietnam War maneuvers, as soldiers. Linderman was a field medic and Mr. Pitrelli was in the platoon. There have been other heroes associated with them, namely Mr. Nakamura, Mama Pitrelli and Mr. Deveaux. There's obviously a backstory there and I really hope it's revealed in Season two.

I figured they'd also leave it unknown as to whether Sylar was actually killed. The trail of blood makes it look like he either crawled to the sewers, or something dragged his corpse.

On the plus side, Ando remained alive, and Mr. Bennett finally got a first name: Noah. 'Bout time. I expect him to be a rather integral resistance figure in the next season or two.

Maybe next season we'll get to meet some new Heroes from Mohinder's list.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Skexis

I'm really disappointed with the illuminati/old heroes side of things. I know they don't want to have everything explained in the first season, but I never bought for a second that these people would be willing to let millions die for a political/social engineering agenda. Hopefully we'll see more of their motivations and past experiences in season two.

Several episodes back, when Nathan first met Linderman face-to-face, Linderman explained that there used to be a team of special people who fought for justice, blah blah blah. Linderman then stated that some of them had lost their way.

It seems to me that there are conflicting ideologies, each believing himself to possess altruistic goals with vastly differing means of attaining them. From Linderman's perspective - one wherein the ends justifies the means, killing millions to save billions is mathematically acceptable. The percentage lost is slight. Given that those killed were living in what Linderman probably considered the most corrupt, vile city in America, it would be no great loss for humanity.
Compare that to Mr. Deveaux's stance that all lives are worth preserving. Saving people one at a time is slow, tiring and often thankless. I could see where Linderman and the Pitrellis would consider clinging to this moral code to be out of touch and futile. I don't agree with it, but their perspective makes sense: to prepare an omelette, you must first break some eggs.

It's the kind of amorality that has come to be the benchmark of the modern politician and crime boss. I found their willingness to sacrifice millions, even their own, for some tragically misguided agenda to be well within the realm of belief.
Did not Hitler kill the Jews because he believed it would usher in new prosperity for a superior Germanic people? I think the same principle applies to the illuminati Heroes.

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Sylar's continued existence isn't that big of a secret. Tim Kring, following the conclusion of Season One, openly admitted that Sylar was originally supposed to die but turned out to be way to popular. Kring said that we should expect Sylar to return and with even more tricks (implying that he's stolen new powers).

Of course, Molly Walker made reference to a dark presence that could find her if she even thought about it, so that's likely to become the new villain this season.

FELIPE NO

This thread is a bit long. It is time to start a Season Two thread.

CLOSED.

How ya doing, buddy?