Heroes 2.04 The Kindness of Strangers
Oct. 16th, 2007 04:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakNo internet connection in this hotel, or rather, there is supposed to be one, but it doesn’t work. I’m hoping I’ll find an internet café to post my review at, written on the trusty notebook. But written it must be, because I loved The Kindness of Strangers.
“I have always relied on the kindness of strangers,” is what Blanche Dubois says at the end of A Streetcar Named Desire, after the rape by her brother-in-law has destroyed what was left of her sanity, transforming the doctor from the asylum for the mentally insane who has come to take her into a romantic figure of her imagination who comes to her aide. Given the context, it’s one of the darkest, most ironic quotes. There are various possibilities to apply it in this episode.
Obviously, there are Maya y Alejandro, who had the bad luck of encountering Sylar on the road. (By the way, that he ended up here either indicates his surroundings in the last episode were a Candice-created illusion – only then how were they maintained after he killed Candice, OR DID HE? – or that various swamp islands were somehow in Mexico. Either way, there he is, using his old name for the first time in a long while and resenting the hell out of it, and then fate gives him not just two more supers but a trip to New York to meet dear Dr. Suresh. “I helped him to find so many of you.” That’s one way of putting it. IMO Sylar has the vague idea that Mohinder would know a way to “fix” him, so that he can aquire powers again, and he’ll persuade his pretty Indian scientist one way or the other. He does not need superpowers to kill – RIP, Derek, who probably did steal Claire’s car in which they’re currently travelling – but it’s rather nice he’s in the presence of someone who can kill very efficiently with superpowers. (We do not want Sylar to get Maya’s power. No, we don’t.) And note that Maya repeats Mohinder’s mistake of last season: she’s far too trusting and bonds instantly with him. The kindness of strangers indeed.
There is also New Orleans, the setting of Tennessee Williams’ play. Where we find out more about Micah’s family and meet a new hero. Monica is the most instantly likeable character of the newbies so far, and I took to her at once. Her cheerfulness and determination feel just right without being over the top – can it be the actress is better than Maya’s, though perhaps given Maya had to angst non stop so far, I shouldn’t be down on the actress – and later, when her dream didn’t come true, she was sad without giving you the sense she was helpless. Oh, and: female character, introduced not in distress or menaced sexually. Later when bad guy shows up and menaces (though not sexually, he just wants some cash), she deals with him on her own. Writers, see, you can do it.
Meanwhile, we continue to get new interaction between our old cast, and can I say I loved the Matt-Nathan scenes? Okay, so I loved every single Nathan scene, to no one’s surprise, and I’ll get to that, but I really like the way Matt is integrated with the ensemble this season. Confiding in Nathan regarding the investigation made sense, as it directly concerns him via Angela, but what came as an agreeable surprise was Matt also adding the info about Molly’s nightmares AND then going all confessionary on Nathan Petrelli, of all the people. I loved how Nathan was taken aback by that at first (if Peter weren’t suspected dead, I guess some flippant remark about having the wrong Petrelli would have been on the offering) but said “if you want to unload, go ahead”. (With his back turned to Matt, as he’s really not into this let’s share our feelings thing, but in its unterstated way, it was Nathan being civil to a non-family member other than Hiro. Behold!) Which Matt promptly did. Filling us in some details about his divorce from Janice to boot. Now in theory it still could be a ruse, with Janice and the baby going into hiding so the Company won’t be after them, and even the claim that the baby is by what’s his name whose nose Matt broke could tie into that (they wouldn’t be interested in a non-special baby), but otoh I somehow can’t see Matt confiding something as personal as his wife cheating on him and the baby being someone else’s to Nathan in this particular situation as a strategem. Rather than as the truth how he sees it. In any case, this is a scenario in which the almost-stranger, Nathan, actually is kind. (In his Nathan way.)
Nathan’s “I don’t know you that well” when Matt invites confidences about Nathan’s own children is very him – never mind the fact he knows the guy can read his thoughts, he just doesn’t do that – but nonetheless, for Nathan, he was remarkably open to Matt. Just not about his own state; about his mother embracing Kaito a bit too long. (For those of us who wondered how he’d react to the Angela/Kaito affair of yore: congrats to everyone who said it would be deadpan, and not shocked. Bets are still open about Hiro’s reaction which we might just get, given that the scriptwriters thought it necessary to remind us of that dangerous liason again this week.) And Matt gets to see (some of) the family photos. Petrelli Senior is frustratingly turned away in that group shot, so we still don’t know what he looked like. The woman standing next to Matt’s father, otoh, is shown so clearly that I have the sinking feeling she’ll be the next victim, and the reason we see her on the photo in such detail is so that we recognize her. As for Matt’s father, that one was a stunner I had not expected. Any of it. Parkman Senior being a member of the group, let alone the Nightmare Man. Okay, given that he’s identified so early, one suddenly doubts whether he’s the killer. He could be used by someone else, perhaps?
Parkman Senior being a criminal, otoh, was not that surprising; Matt is the type who’d compensate by being a cop. His giving into temptation and taking the diamonds last season is very interesting in this light, though. Am very amused about the daddy issues exchange with Mohinder. Who, btw, sang an Indian song very sweetly to Molly; that was a very nice touch.
Speaking of issues, dads, and father-child relations. Oh, Petrellis. Also, THANK YOU WRITERS. I never dared to hope that we’d see Simon and Monty again, let alone that they’d get lines, or that we’d see some actual interaction between Nathan and his children beyond a brief glimpse. Simon and Monty, like Lyle, are the kids the writers seem to remember only very occasionally, but now they did. That was a lovely scene providing all sorts of information, from where Petrellis go to school (Simon and Monty are in school uniform, so I’m guessing private school, possibly Catholic private school?), to the split-up between Heidi and Nathan having been more bitter than we assumed if Nathan isn’t supposed to be near the kids and the teacher knows that, to further confirmation, other than those two short looks in season 1, that Nathan actually is being a functional dad for the boys. (And![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
47_trek_47 wins at fandom for guessing the importance of promises in the Nathan-his sons relationship in her fanfic.) That he tells them to call their grandmother is something I wouldn’t have expected, and brings me to that sublimely dysfunctional relationship, the one between Angela and Nathan.
“Don’t let your children hate you,” says Angela to Nathan, “not if you can help it.” Peter never hated her, so three guesses as to whom she means. I think what Nathan feels for her is a mixture of love and hate, but the attack on her clearly kickstarted something in him and made him shape up a little. One can argue that Nathan is conditioned to be the responsible one; if a family member is in real, true distress, he has to come through. But there is also the fact that Angela provides her special brand of cutting truths. It’s so typical for these two that Angela in a scene where you get that rare impression she loves her older son as well (as opposed to seeing him as a race horse, you know) first delivers a put down: “Just because you’ve shaved doesn’t mean you’re sober.” This is so them.
As to Angela’s reasoning for her fake confession: hmmmmm. I can buy the reason she gives Matt – that an investigation will lead the mundanes to the specials and a public outing will ensue – but only as one among several. Then there’s what she tells Nathan, that she feels guilty, not for Kaito’s death but for so many other things. Could be, or not; you can’t tell. But I think the major one has to be that she knows who the killer is. (BTW, am gratified that my guess from last week was true and Angela’s wounds were self inflicted, which means either the killer made her see something which resulted in this, or he turned her power against her.)
I might have missed something, but among the photos Nathan looks at in his last scene, as opposed to the scene with Matt earlier, there isn’t one of Heidi. There are some of Angela, several of Peter and himself (and new ones, too, not just variations of the wedding picture, which presumably means Adrian and Milo did more photo shoots), and Peter at various stages of his life. (Providing caps for icon makers, want to bet?) Earlier, Angela tells him he wants redemption; in the mirror scene Nathan phrases it a bit differently: “I want to put things right, Pete.” Redemption you get for a wrong committed; putting things right also can be because of a wrong, but it doesn’t necessarily mean a wrong committed by yourself. Certainly things in Nathan’s life are as wrong as they can be right now, and by the way that scene ends, this includes him being alive at all. We get another look at Nathan’s burned self, i.e. how he should have looked, if alive at all, after the explosion. “Get away from me.” He might have started to be more pro-active, but the self-loathing is as strong as ever, and it probably will be until a) we find out what exactly happened to both Petrellis after the explosion and b) they’re reunited.
Lastly, back in California, we have yet another father-child relationship and its problems. Noah lying about the picture, the Haitian’s return into his life and his entire involvement with the bringing the company down scheme (I think we can safely assume he didn’t tell them any of it if he says to the Haitian he’ll think of a good excuse for a trip to Odessa) is paralleled by Claire lying about West. Who in turn proves that he knows something about good and bad lies himself by bringing up the idea of making her excuse by using something her father dislikes, which brings Claire to cheerleading. It’s also interesting that West doesn’t respond to the whole “my dad is overprotective and doesn’t want me to date” thing by suggesting that maybe he could visit and convince Mr. Bennet of his worthiness, which a young man with ego is likely to do. Of course, if he has an inkling his horned-rimmed glasses man and Claire’s father are one and the same, this would make sense. Hmmmmm.
(For those of us keeping score: Claire? Good liar. Like Peter or Angela.)
The date on the Hollywood Letters and the repeated Peter Pan and Wendy imagery they’re using for Claire’s relationship with West (it wasn’t quite the invitation to come to Neverland, but almost, that date) is hugely symbolic. What West offers to Claire is an opportunity to be herself, yes, but also an escape from reality. And these inevitably have to end. Wendy always returns and carries on with her life.
“I have always relied on the kindness of strangers,” is what Blanche Dubois says at the end of A Streetcar Named Desire, after the rape by her brother-in-law has destroyed what was left of her sanity, transforming the doctor from the asylum for the mentally insane who has come to take her into a romantic figure of her imagination who comes to her aide. Given the context, it’s one of the darkest, most ironic quotes. There are various possibilities to apply it in this episode.
Obviously, there are Maya y Alejandro, who had the bad luck of encountering Sylar on the road. (By the way, that he ended up here either indicates his surroundings in the last episode were a Candice-created illusion – only then how were they maintained after he killed Candice, OR DID HE? – or that various swamp islands were somehow in Mexico. Either way, there he is, using his old name for the first time in a long while and resenting the hell out of it, and then fate gives him not just two more supers but a trip to New York to meet dear Dr. Suresh. “I helped him to find so many of you.” That’s one way of putting it. IMO Sylar has the vague idea that Mohinder would know a way to “fix” him, so that he can aquire powers again, and he’ll persuade his pretty Indian scientist one way or the other. He does not need superpowers to kill – RIP, Derek, who probably did steal Claire’s car in which they’re currently travelling – but it’s rather nice he’s in the presence of someone who can kill very efficiently with superpowers. (We do not want Sylar to get Maya’s power. No, we don’t.) And note that Maya repeats Mohinder’s mistake of last season: she’s far too trusting and bonds instantly with him. The kindness of strangers indeed.
There is also New Orleans, the setting of Tennessee Williams’ play. Where we find out more about Micah’s family and meet a new hero. Monica is the most instantly likeable character of the newbies so far, and I took to her at once. Her cheerfulness and determination feel just right without being over the top – can it be the actress is better than Maya’s, though perhaps given Maya had to angst non stop so far, I shouldn’t be down on the actress – and later, when her dream didn’t come true, she was sad without giving you the sense she was helpless. Oh, and: female character, introduced not in distress or menaced sexually. Later when bad guy shows up and menaces (though not sexually, he just wants some cash), she deals with him on her own. Writers, see, you can do it.
Meanwhile, we continue to get new interaction between our old cast, and can I say I loved the Matt-Nathan scenes? Okay, so I loved every single Nathan scene, to no one’s surprise, and I’ll get to that, but I really like the way Matt is integrated with the ensemble this season. Confiding in Nathan regarding the investigation made sense, as it directly concerns him via Angela, but what came as an agreeable surprise was Matt also adding the info about Molly’s nightmares AND then going all confessionary on Nathan Petrelli, of all the people. I loved how Nathan was taken aback by that at first (if Peter weren’t suspected dead, I guess some flippant remark about having the wrong Petrelli would have been on the offering) but said “if you want to unload, go ahead”. (With his back turned to Matt, as he’s really not into this let’s share our feelings thing, but in its unterstated way, it was Nathan being civil to a non-family member other than Hiro. Behold!) Which Matt promptly did. Filling us in some details about his divorce from Janice to boot. Now in theory it still could be a ruse, with Janice and the baby going into hiding so the Company won’t be after them, and even the claim that the baby is by what’s his name whose nose Matt broke could tie into that (they wouldn’t be interested in a non-special baby), but otoh I somehow can’t see Matt confiding something as personal as his wife cheating on him and the baby being someone else’s to Nathan in this particular situation as a strategem. Rather than as the truth how he sees it. In any case, this is a scenario in which the almost-stranger, Nathan, actually is kind. (In his Nathan way.)
Nathan’s “I don’t know you that well” when Matt invites confidences about Nathan’s own children is very him – never mind the fact he knows the guy can read his thoughts, he just doesn’t do that – but nonetheless, for Nathan, he was remarkably open to Matt. Just not about his own state; about his mother embracing Kaito a bit too long. (For those of us who wondered how he’d react to the Angela/Kaito affair of yore: congrats to everyone who said it would be deadpan, and not shocked. Bets are still open about Hiro’s reaction which we might just get, given that the scriptwriters thought it necessary to remind us of that dangerous liason again this week.) And Matt gets to see (some of) the family photos. Petrelli Senior is frustratingly turned away in that group shot, so we still don’t know what he looked like. The woman standing next to Matt’s father, otoh, is shown so clearly that I have the sinking feeling she’ll be the next victim, and the reason we see her on the photo in such detail is so that we recognize her. As for Matt’s father, that one was a stunner I had not expected. Any of it. Parkman Senior being a member of the group, let alone the Nightmare Man. Okay, given that he’s identified so early, one suddenly doubts whether he’s the killer. He could be used by someone else, perhaps?
Parkman Senior being a criminal, otoh, was not that surprising; Matt is the type who’d compensate by being a cop. His giving into temptation and taking the diamonds last season is very interesting in this light, though. Am very amused about the daddy issues exchange with Mohinder. Who, btw, sang an Indian song very sweetly to Molly; that was a very nice touch.
Speaking of issues, dads, and father-child relations. Oh, Petrellis. Also, THANK YOU WRITERS. I never dared to hope that we’d see Simon and Monty again, let alone that they’d get lines, or that we’d see some actual interaction between Nathan and his children beyond a brief glimpse. Simon and Monty, like Lyle, are the kids the writers seem to remember only very occasionally, but now they did. That was a lovely scene providing all sorts of information, from where Petrellis go to school (Simon and Monty are in school uniform, so I’m guessing private school, possibly Catholic private school?), to the split-up between Heidi and Nathan having been more bitter than we assumed if Nathan isn’t supposed to be near the kids and the teacher knows that, to further confirmation, other than those two short looks in season 1, that Nathan actually is being a functional dad for the boys. (And
47_trek_47 wins at fandom for guessing the importance of promises in the Nathan-his sons relationship in her fanfic.) That he tells them to call their grandmother is something I wouldn’t have expected, and brings me to that sublimely dysfunctional relationship, the one between Angela and Nathan. “Don’t let your children hate you,” says Angela to Nathan, “not if you can help it.” Peter never hated her, so three guesses as to whom she means. I think what Nathan feels for her is a mixture of love and hate, but the attack on her clearly kickstarted something in him and made him shape up a little. One can argue that Nathan is conditioned to be the responsible one; if a family member is in real, true distress, he has to come through. But there is also the fact that Angela provides her special brand of cutting truths. It’s so typical for these two that Angela in a scene where you get that rare impression she loves her older son as well (as opposed to seeing him as a race horse, you know) first delivers a put down: “Just because you’ve shaved doesn’t mean you’re sober.” This is so them.
As to Angela’s reasoning for her fake confession: hmmmmm. I can buy the reason she gives Matt – that an investigation will lead the mundanes to the specials and a public outing will ensue – but only as one among several. Then there’s what she tells Nathan, that she feels guilty, not for Kaito’s death but for so many other things. Could be, or not; you can’t tell. But I think the major one has to be that she knows who the killer is. (BTW, am gratified that my guess from last week was true and Angela’s wounds were self inflicted, which means either the killer made her see something which resulted in this, or he turned her power against her.)
I might have missed something, but among the photos Nathan looks at in his last scene, as opposed to the scene with Matt earlier, there isn’t one of Heidi. There are some of Angela, several of Peter and himself (and new ones, too, not just variations of the wedding picture, which presumably means Adrian and Milo did more photo shoots), and Peter at various stages of his life. (Providing caps for icon makers, want to bet?) Earlier, Angela tells him he wants redemption; in the mirror scene Nathan phrases it a bit differently: “I want to put things right, Pete.” Redemption you get for a wrong committed; putting things right also can be because of a wrong, but it doesn’t necessarily mean a wrong committed by yourself. Certainly things in Nathan’s life are as wrong as they can be right now, and by the way that scene ends, this includes him being alive at all. We get another look at Nathan’s burned self, i.e. how he should have looked, if alive at all, after the explosion. “Get away from me.” He might have started to be more pro-active, but the self-loathing is as strong as ever, and it probably will be until a) we find out what exactly happened to both Petrellis after the explosion and b) they’re reunited.
Lastly, back in California, we have yet another father-child relationship and its problems. Noah lying about the picture, the Haitian’s return into his life and his entire involvement with the bringing the company down scheme (I think we can safely assume he didn’t tell them any of it if he says to the Haitian he’ll think of a good excuse for a trip to Odessa) is paralleled by Claire lying about West. Who in turn proves that he knows something about good and bad lies himself by bringing up the idea of making her excuse by using something her father dislikes, which brings Claire to cheerleading. It’s also interesting that West doesn’t respond to the whole “my dad is overprotective and doesn’t want me to date” thing by suggesting that maybe he could visit and convince Mr. Bennet of his worthiness, which a young man with ego is likely to do. Of course, if he has an inkling his horned-rimmed glasses man and Claire’s father are one and the same, this would make sense. Hmmmmm.
(For those of us keeping score: Claire? Good liar. Like Peter or Angela.)
The date on the Hollywood Letters and the repeated Peter Pan and Wendy imagery they’re using for Claire’s relationship with West (it wasn’t quite the invitation to come to Neverland, but almost, that date) is hugely symbolic. What West offers to Claire is an opportunity to be herself, yes, but also an escape from reality. And these inevitably have to end. Wendy always returns and carries on with her life.
