Next week's flash-forward AU episode seems to be the universe where Lindermann's plan works -- which isn't all that different from what happens in Watchmen. Even though it appears to be two years on, I'm having a hard time seeing what could be developed here that monumentally blows past Moore's original thesis.
After going through 9/11, we know now that Moore's original thesis was *wrong.* Moore assumed that Adrian's plan, though morally horrific, would *work* -- that it really would unite the world. We now know that a horrific event happening to New York City would actually cause America to start to go down the road to fascism, intensify inter-human conflicts, and give the war machine a green light to suck all the money out of human services.
*That's* the twist here. Linderman can't see the future. Hiro can. Linderman's plan won't save the world, it will destroy it -- but Linderman won't be convinced of that. And that's the important difference. Moore's sympathies were with Rorschach, but he believed that a morally horrifying disaster really could unite humanity and bring about world peace. At least here in the 21st century, that is not going to work, and I think that's going to be Tim Kring's point -- that you cannot accomplish good through evil. (Although, I *did* start to think, after Isaac's speech, that perhaps Sylar will actually be instrumental in saving the world... that *that* is the destiny Sylar is headed toward, that he'll die as a "hero". But Sylar saving the world can be part of a redemption arc -- that is, he is able to do good things *despite* the evil he has done, not because of it -- whereas Linderman totally believes that he must do something evil to accomplish good, and I think we'll find out next week that no good will come of it after all.)
But here's the thing.
After going through 9/11, we know now that Moore's original thesis was *wrong.* Moore assumed that Adrian's plan, though morally horrific, would *work* -- that it really would unite the world. We now know that a horrific event happening to New York City would actually cause America to start to go down the road to fascism, intensify inter-human conflicts, and give the war machine a green light to suck all the money out of human services.
*That's* the twist here. Linderman can't see the future. Hiro can. Linderman's plan won't save the world, it will destroy it -- but Linderman won't be convinced of that. And that's the important difference. Moore's sympathies were with Rorschach, but he believed that a morally horrifying disaster really could unite humanity and bring about world peace. At least here in the 21st century, that is not going to work, and I think that's going to be Tim Kring's point -- that you cannot accomplish good through evil. (Although, I *did* start to think, after Isaac's speech, that perhaps Sylar will actually be instrumental in saving the world... that *that* is the destiny Sylar is headed toward, that he'll die as a "hero". But Sylar saving the world can be part of a redemption arc -- that is, he is able to do good things *despite* the evil he has done, not because of it -- whereas Linderman totally believes that he must do something evil to accomplish good, and I think we'll find out next week that no good will come of it after all.)