Heroes 1.23 How to stop an exploding man
May. 22nd, 2007 11:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakLet me tell you, staying spoiler free for that one was really tough, but I did it.
It had never occured to me before that Niki believed her superstrength was exclusively tied to Jessica. Which, you know, explains a lot. And makes it doubly good that she now knows this is not the case; also, that Jessica told her. I'm assuming that last, Jessica-free look in the mirror means Niki and Jessica integrated into one. Her whacking Sylar was a good sign for Niki being pro-active henceforth.
Matt: did not meet Audrey again, but I loved that he went after Sylar as a cop, not a superhero, and I don't think he's dead; I watch tv, after all. After his recovery, Matt can meet Josh from West Wing for chats about getting shot for the season finale.
Sylar: sadly left no dead body lying around, and as I said, I watch tv. This means he'll be back.
Bennet: continued to be his great self, and hopefully will now track down his wife and son along with Claire.
Hiro not willing to let his friend die foreshadows the ending, and ties into an earlier voiced conclusion of mine - that the conclusion from the Kensei story last episode is not "cut out your own heart" but "offer your own heart". Hiro bringing Ando back to Japan and Ando accepting it this time is very different from their goodbye in Unexpected; and they are each other's strength. Seriously, the thing that worries me most about Hiro being stuck in the past is that he won't have Ando with him! And he just lost a crucial bit of his innocence; no matter whether the guy does yet another Michael Myers and comes back, Hiro struck Sylar with intention to kill, and as far as he knows, killed him. In the best of causes, but still. This is Hiro. He'll have to deal with that in the Japan of the past alone. *hugs Hiro*
But you know which part touched me most. Oh, Petrellis.
You know, ever since finding out that the original pilot script ended with "I love you", I had an inkling that line would come again at the end of the season (along with the Peter-dreamt "I won't leave you" from Nathan). This episode's vision, that visit in the past with the late Charles Deveaux, was interesting on many levels. Among other things, I think it was a literal visit in the past, and that Peter used for the first time the time-jumping ability he absorbed from Hiro, but I'll get to the implication later. It gives us a rare glimpse at Angela interacting with someone she considers a peer, and confirms everyone's suspicions - i.e. that Deveaux was one of the old league of fallen heroes. It also shows they all knew or assumed the explosion would come. Incidentally, I'd like to point out that no one, not just Angela and Linderman, but also Deveaux and Kaito Nakamura, warned the younger generation of this before Linderman had his chat with Nathan in Vegas. Deveaux might have hoped it wouldn't happen, but he didn't take any preventive measures (unless his power somehow enabled him to draw Peter from the future to him.) Also, his interaction with Angela is very cordial; early movieverse Xavier and Magneto, I'd say.
Peter on that occasion overhears some terrible things from his mother, and gets told by Charles Deveaux that his strength is his ability to love unconditionally. About this time, I was sure they'd play out the Return of the Jedi scenario, with Peter as Luke to Nathan's Vader. Though it's a bit more complicated than that. Claire, earlier, sees Peter calling Nathan as a betrayal and doesn't understand why he does it, and this time Peter doesn't even bring up things like "maybe the FBI will listen to Nathan" but gets down to the emotional truth, that he simply needs Nathan. Of course, then he gets a shock when reading Nathan's thoughts about the inevitability of the explosion and flees, leaving Claire in the truth teller position with Nathan and Angela. What most surprised me is that Claire's argument against the future being inevitable includes the question why, if that was the case, Angela let Nathan believe she was dead for all those years. And you can see by Nathan's reaction he hadn't known/realized this before. (I.e. that Angela had known Claire was alive.) Then comes the argument from Claire which fans voiced but characters on the show did not before; that Peter surviving the explosion would still leave him carrying the guilt of it, and how can Nathan do that to him? IMO, this is where Nathan decides for good what he'll do, and he alreay knows when he tells Claire to trust him, but of course, given the circumstances, she doesn't.
I bet some people are disappointed we didn't get a special effects extravaganza battle between Peter and Sylar, but at that point, I didn't expect anymore (as we were heading through a different kind of emotional climax); and Peter punching Sylar, instead of using any of his superpowers, somehow brings across both the frustrated rage and the fact that, as opposed to poor Hiro a second later, he is not ready yet to actually kill. And then, of course. And then.
So does Nathan do what he does in order to save those .07% or to save Peter from carrying the guilt for those .07%? Both, I'd say. He's able to because Angela wasn't just wrong about Peter, she was wrong about Nathan as well, and so, for that matter, were both Linderman and Devaux; because Peter was the one person who did love Nathan unconditionally through all those years, no matter what happened; and he's able to because Claire laid out the stakes for him, uncompromisingly. Claire is the symbol of hope for Peter, who saved her, but she's also the symbol of the way not taken and the life not lived for Nathan, I think, and that all comes together.
I expected to cry if they go with this solution, and I didn't. Not because I'm not moved, but because, as mentioned before, I watch tv. And read comics. As long as there is no dead body, someone is not dead. I guess over the hiatus, there'll be a lot of theories of how Nathan, not being invulnerable, could have survived the explosion; my current one is tied to my idea that Peter did actually go back in the past for his chat with Charles Deveaux, but subconsciously, and uses that teleport/timeshift ability again when in the air with Nathan, this time deliberately; that Hiro won't be the only time traveller next season. But don't ask me about more logistics, I'm currently too busy flailing about fraternal co-dependency winning the day.
ETA: Also? So called it that the story of Kensei Hiro told last episode was actually foreshadowing Nathan's decision - i.e. offered the power to unite the land at the cost of the life/heart of the princess, the hero plunges the sword into his own heart instead. When I said that,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wee_warrior told me that the story of Kensei and the dragon (which is posted in one of the show-tie in websites) does not at the point where Hiro ends it, but has the dragon being so pleased by the action he resurrects the hero.
Now off to check on other reviews!
Son of ETA: I've got (another) theory!
We've seen several examples of specials able to transfer their powers temporarily to include another person via physical contact - DL is able to phase Jessica/Niki with him through walls, Peter can extend invisibility to Claire while holding her, Hiro can take Ando with him when he teleports. So, Peter should be able to transfer his Claire-derived regeneration ability while in direct physical contact with Nathan to him, and they have plenty of physical contact in that scene!
It had never occured to me before that Niki believed her superstrength was exclusively tied to Jessica. Which, you know, explains a lot. And makes it doubly good that she now knows this is not the case; also, that Jessica told her. I'm assuming that last, Jessica-free look in the mirror means Niki and Jessica integrated into one. Her whacking Sylar was a good sign for Niki being pro-active henceforth.
Matt: did not meet Audrey again, but I loved that he went after Sylar as a cop, not a superhero, and I don't think he's dead; I watch tv, after all. After his recovery, Matt can meet Josh from West Wing for chats about getting shot for the season finale.
Sylar: sadly left no dead body lying around, and as I said, I watch tv. This means he'll be back.
Bennet: continued to be his great self, and hopefully will now track down his wife and son along with Claire.
Hiro not willing to let his friend die foreshadows the ending, and ties into an earlier voiced conclusion of mine - that the conclusion from the Kensei story last episode is not "cut out your own heart" but "offer your own heart". Hiro bringing Ando back to Japan and Ando accepting it this time is very different from their goodbye in Unexpected; and they are each other's strength. Seriously, the thing that worries me most about Hiro being stuck in the past is that he won't have Ando with him! And he just lost a crucial bit of his innocence; no matter whether the guy does yet another Michael Myers and comes back, Hiro struck Sylar with intention to kill, and as far as he knows, killed him. In the best of causes, but still. This is Hiro. He'll have to deal with that in the Japan of the past alone. *hugs Hiro*
But you know which part touched me most. Oh, Petrellis.
You know, ever since finding out that the original pilot script ended with "I love you", I had an inkling that line would come again at the end of the season (along with the Peter-dreamt "I won't leave you" from Nathan). This episode's vision, that visit in the past with the late Charles Deveaux, was interesting on many levels. Among other things, I think it was a literal visit in the past, and that Peter used for the first time the time-jumping ability he absorbed from Hiro, but I'll get to the implication later. It gives us a rare glimpse at Angela interacting with someone she considers a peer, and confirms everyone's suspicions - i.e. that Deveaux was one of the old league of fallen heroes. It also shows they all knew or assumed the explosion would come. Incidentally, I'd like to point out that no one, not just Angela and Linderman, but also Deveaux and Kaito Nakamura, warned the younger generation of this before Linderman had his chat with Nathan in Vegas. Deveaux might have hoped it wouldn't happen, but he didn't take any preventive measures (unless his power somehow enabled him to draw Peter from the future to him.) Also, his interaction with Angela is very cordial; early movieverse Xavier and Magneto, I'd say.
Peter on that occasion overhears some terrible things from his mother, and gets told by Charles Deveaux that his strength is his ability to love unconditionally. About this time, I was sure they'd play out the Return of the Jedi scenario, with Peter as Luke to Nathan's Vader. Though it's a bit more complicated than that. Claire, earlier, sees Peter calling Nathan as a betrayal and doesn't understand why he does it, and this time Peter doesn't even bring up things like "maybe the FBI will listen to Nathan" but gets down to the emotional truth, that he simply needs Nathan. Of course, then he gets a shock when reading Nathan's thoughts about the inevitability of the explosion and flees, leaving Claire in the truth teller position with Nathan and Angela. What most surprised me is that Claire's argument against the future being inevitable includes the question why, if that was the case, Angela let Nathan believe she was dead for all those years. And you can see by Nathan's reaction he hadn't known/realized this before. (I.e. that Angela had known Claire was alive.) Then comes the argument from Claire which fans voiced but characters on the show did not before; that Peter surviving the explosion would still leave him carrying the guilt of it, and how can Nathan do that to him? IMO, this is where Nathan decides for good what he'll do, and he alreay knows when he tells Claire to trust him, but of course, given the circumstances, she doesn't.
I bet some people are disappointed we didn't get a special effects extravaganza battle between Peter and Sylar, but at that point, I didn't expect anymore (as we were heading through a different kind of emotional climax); and Peter punching Sylar, instead of using any of his superpowers, somehow brings across both the frustrated rage and the fact that, as opposed to poor Hiro a second later, he is not ready yet to actually kill. And then, of course. And then.
So does Nathan do what he does in order to save those .07% or to save Peter from carrying the guilt for those .07%? Both, I'd say. He's able to because Angela wasn't just wrong about Peter, she was wrong about Nathan as well, and so, for that matter, were both Linderman and Devaux; because Peter was the one person who did love Nathan unconditionally through all those years, no matter what happened; and he's able to because Claire laid out the stakes for him, uncompromisingly. Claire is the symbol of hope for Peter, who saved her, but she's also the symbol of the way not taken and the life not lived for Nathan, I think, and that all comes together.
I expected to cry if they go with this solution, and I didn't. Not because I'm not moved, but because, as mentioned before, I watch tv. And read comics. As long as there is no dead body, someone is not dead. I guess over the hiatus, there'll be a lot of theories of how Nathan, not being invulnerable, could have survived the explosion; my current one is tied to my idea that Peter did actually go back in the past for his chat with Charles Deveaux, but subconsciously, and uses that teleport/timeshift ability again when in the air with Nathan, this time deliberately; that Hiro won't be the only time traveller next season. But don't ask me about more logistics, I'm currently too busy flailing about fraternal co-dependency winning the day.
ETA: Also? So called it that the story of Kensei Hiro told last episode was actually foreshadowing Nathan's decision - i.e. offered the power to unite the land at the cost of the life/heart of the princess, the hero plunges the sword into his own heart instead. When I said that,
wee_warrior told me that the story of Kensei and the dragon (which is posted in one of the show-tie in websites) does not at the point where Hiro ends it, but has the dragon being so pleased by the action he resurrects the hero. Now off to check on other reviews!
Son of ETA: I've got (another) theory!
We've seen several examples of specials able to transfer their powers temporarily to include another person via physical contact - DL is able to phase Jessica/Niki with him through walls, Peter can extend invisibility to Claire while holding her, Hiro can take Ando with him when he teleports. So, Peter should be able to transfer his Claire-derived regeneration ability while in direct physical contact with Nathan to him, and they have plenty of physical contact in that scene!
