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Heroes 3.06 The Dying of the Light
Cold makes for insomnia, which means more reviews. Over in the Heroesverse, we've moved on from Yeats to Dylan Thomas.
The irony of this particular poem, created as it was with Thomas telling his dying father to fight, to hold on to life, is obvious. Arthur Petrelli most certainly did not go gently into that good night, and raged indeed. We still don't know what exactly happened that landed him into the life support state - i.e. suicide attempt or murder attempt - but it's clear now where exactly Maury's fear and deference (note that he calls him "Mr. Petrelli", not "Arthur", when all the other Elders we've seen are on a first name basis with each other) comes from. As methods of establishing someone's fearsome someness go, that sequence with Adam was fantastic. I can't say I'm sorry, either. I mean, I found the character entertaining as Takezo Kensei and suitably villainous as Adam Monroe, but he served his purpose (would that the creators would have been that clear-sighted with, oh, SYLAR), and the only thing I truly regret is that we never saw him interact with the Elders in the present, most notably Angela or Bob. But there was no way Adam would have had the same psychological impact on any of the characters save Hiro Arthur will have on the other Petrellis.
Sidenote: I take it there was some confusion why Adam died and Peter did not? I'm confused people are confused. Adam is four centuries old. Take away his constant self-healing ability, and we get the superfast aging and crumbling into dust. If Arthur had done this to Claire, by contrast, she wouldn't have died, either.
Speaking of Peter, seems we get the depowering earlier than the season finale I expected. Which is going to make the writers' lives so much easier - no more "but Peter can do X and Y, so why doesn't he?" - but even that benefit aside, I loved that final scene for the sheer Petrelliness. Because naturally, Arthur goes for the manipulative embrace in order to drain his son of powers. Now bring on the Arthur-Nathan reunion, stat, because that's the one I most want to see, even more than Arthur and Angela.
When I saw last week that Nathan and Tracy were bound to wander into my least favourite plot thread, aka Flyhinder, I groaned inwardly, but you know, their stint the bad horror movie remake was worth it for two reasons: a) continuity - given that Nathan knows a scientist who is familiar with all the background and is researching on it and is in town, it would have been stupid, based on what he knows, NOT to consult Mohinder. (He's not a precog. Or aware Mohinder changed characterisation in favour of the Fly remake.) Also, Mohinder greeting Tracy as Niki and saying he was glad to see she was alright was a blessed continuity moment as well, because the last thing Mohinder knew of Niki was that she urgently waited for his serum in New Orleans, with a virus inside of her. b) more importantly: good character moments for two of our new characters. To wit, Tracy and Daphne. Daphne is disgusted by Flyhinder's doings (and before that troubled by what she believes about Hiro and Ando, and her contribution to it), but she's not ready to help Nathan and Tracy, either; which makes her ambiguous rather than an innocent dupe caught up by Maury and Petrelli Senior. Though Matt is probably right and they have some kind of hold over her. More about Daphne and Matt in a moment, because I need to cheer for Tracy. Tracy not panicking but saving herself and Nathan (for now), by using her wits and powers both. Loved it. This being said? Hopefully the cliffhanger will be solved in two seconds flat or a minute at most and she and Nathan can get out of the bad Cronenberg remake and back to the good plot threads. Daphne thoughtfully left a calling card with the Pinehurst address, after all.
But the most cheering of all, naturally, goes to the Claire-Sandra-Meredith plot. (And not just because I can continue to feel smug; I did say to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wee_warrior last week this was a set-up for Claire and Sandra to come to the rescue.) Eric Doyle was ubercreepy, but this episode really does all its gender stuff right: no more Daddy to the rescue. Instead, Sandra shows once more how badly Noah underestimated her for their entire marriage. (Claire did, too, but Claire has the excuse of being 16, now 17, and having a bad role model when it comes to Sandra underestimation whose lead she followed.) Not that his treatment of her wouldn't have been horrible even if Sandra had indeed been the fragile woman in need of protection from unpleasant truths he took her for - this is still no excuse for mindwipe - but the more we see of her strength and grace under pressure, the worse he looks. From pointing out they need a plan to the improvisation of the Lyle excuse to going through with shooting Claire - and having to fire the gun repeatedly, Sandra shone. So did Claire, reassuring her mother without giving their only advantage away - and in the end still not talking to Noah. This is really my refrain of the season: I love Claire's volume 3 storyline. The West fiasco is forgiven, writers.
Daphne and Matt were charming together, though I must state one complaint: unless Matt caught the news on his flight back and the news included a report of Nathan surviving and becoming junior senator of New York, there is no excuse for him lingering on the airport without trying to contact Nathan or the authorities in Odessa, because before he got transported to Africa, he had just caught future!Peter in the act. There is also no excuse for not trying to call Molly and Mohinder, either, you know, the people with whom he lives, to tell them he's fine, given that he really has no way of knowing Molly is elsewhere and Mohinder is in a Cronenberg remake. So I'm going to pretend he tried both while waiting for Daphne. Though we might at least get some compensation for the later if Matt now heads home, i.e. to Mohinder's apartment, which as opposed to the lab presumably is cocoon-free, and finds out stuff that enables him to end the Flyhinder episode for good. But back to his Daphne encounter - I was really pleasantly surprised, because I have a bad memory of the last time the writers put Matt in a semi-romantic situation, i.e. when he pulled out all the stops to impress his estranged wife by reading her mind without telling her. Which came across as creepy but looked as if was meant to come across as sweet and romantic on the part of the show. Here, though, he doesn't try to read Daphne's thoughts without permission, and tells her the truth about why he knows her at once. And letting Daphne respond as much to her bad conscience about Ando and Hiro, and to her wish not to see someone else become a pawn, balanced her lack of helpfulness towards Tracy and Nathan; shades of grey, as I said, and I appreciate it.
Hiro and Ando: if you really thought Hiro killed Ando, I have no sympathy for your week of indignation, because that - Hiro faking the killing by using his abilities - was more than obvious. I'm pleased he told Ando in advance.The "they all look the same to me" - "that's racist!" was a sly commentary on the part of the writers on how Asian characters are often perceived by the white audience, and it's good to know that the "African Isaac"'s role didn't end with sending Matt on his way.
Oh yes, and then there was... Gabriel, I suppose. Sigh. Same commentary as last week: we're stuck with the Sylar redemption, and no, I still don't like it. Ah well.
The irony of this particular poem, created as it was with Thomas telling his dying father to fight, to hold on to life, is obvious. Arthur Petrelli most certainly did not go gently into that good night, and raged indeed. We still don't know what exactly happened that landed him into the life support state - i.e. suicide attempt or murder attempt - but it's clear now where exactly Maury's fear and deference (note that he calls him "Mr. Petrelli", not "Arthur", when all the other Elders we've seen are on a first name basis with each other) comes from. As methods of establishing someone's fearsome someness go, that sequence with Adam was fantastic. I can't say I'm sorry, either. I mean, I found the character entertaining as Takezo Kensei and suitably villainous as Adam Monroe, but he served his purpose (would that the creators would have been that clear-sighted with, oh, SYLAR), and the only thing I truly regret is that we never saw him interact with the Elders in the present, most notably Angela or Bob. But there was no way Adam would have had the same psychological impact on any of the characters save Hiro Arthur will have on the other Petrellis.
Sidenote: I take it there was some confusion why Adam died and Peter did not? I'm confused people are confused. Adam is four centuries old. Take away his constant self-healing ability, and we get the superfast aging and crumbling into dust. If Arthur had done this to Claire, by contrast, she wouldn't have died, either.
Speaking of Peter, seems we get the depowering earlier than the season finale I expected. Which is going to make the writers' lives so much easier - no more "but Peter can do X and Y, so why doesn't he?" - but even that benefit aside, I loved that final scene for the sheer Petrelliness. Because naturally, Arthur goes for the manipulative embrace in order to drain his son of powers. Now bring on the Arthur-Nathan reunion, stat, because that's the one I most want to see, even more than Arthur and Angela.
When I saw last week that Nathan and Tracy were bound to wander into my least favourite plot thread, aka Flyhinder, I groaned inwardly, but you know, their stint the bad horror movie remake was worth it for two reasons: a) continuity - given that Nathan knows a scientist who is familiar with all the background and is researching on it and is in town, it would have been stupid, based on what he knows, NOT to consult Mohinder. (He's not a precog. Or aware Mohinder changed characterisation in favour of the Fly remake.) Also, Mohinder greeting Tracy as Niki and saying he was glad to see she was alright was a blessed continuity moment as well, because the last thing Mohinder knew of Niki was that she urgently waited for his serum in New Orleans, with a virus inside of her. b) more importantly: good character moments for two of our new characters. To wit, Tracy and Daphne. Daphne is disgusted by Flyhinder's doings (and before that troubled by what she believes about Hiro and Ando, and her contribution to it), but she's not ready to help Nathan and Tracy, either; which makes her ambiguous rather than an innocent dupe caught up by Maury and Petrelli Senior. Though Matt is probably right and they have some kind of hold over her. More about Daphne and Matt in a moment, because I need to cheer for Tracy. Tracy not panicking but saving herself and Nathan (for now), by using her wits and powers both. Loved it. This being said? Hopefully the cliffhanger will be solved in two seconds flat or a minute at most and she and Nathan can get out of the bad Cronenberg remake and back to the good plot threads. Daphne thoughtfully left a calling card with the Pinehurst address, after all.
But the most cheering of all, naturally, goes to the Claire-Sandra-Meredith plot. (And not just because I can continue to feel smug; I did say to
wee_warrior last week this was a set-up for Claire and Sandra to come to the rescue.) Eric Doyle was ubercreepy, but this episode really does all its gender stuff right: no more Daddy to the rescue. Instead, Sandra shows once more how badly Noah underestimated her for their entire marriage. (Claire did, too, but Claire has the excuse of being 16, now 17, and having a bad role model when it comes to Sandra underestimation whose lead she followed.) Not that his treatment of her wouldn't have been horrible even if Sandra had indeed been the fragile woman in need of protection from unpleasant truths he took her for - this is still no excuse for mindwipe - but the more we see of her strength and grace under pressure, the worse he looks. From pointing out they need a plan to the improvisation of the Lyle excuse to going through with shooting Claire - and having to fire the gun repeatedly, Sandra shone. So did Claire, reassuring her mother without giving their only advantage away - and in the end still not talking to Noah. This is really my refrain of the season: I love Claire's volume 3 storyline. The West fiasco is forgiven, writers. Daphne and Matt were charming together, though I must state one complaint: unless Matt caught the news on his flight back and the news included a report of Nathan surviving and becoming junior senator of New York, there is no excuse for him lingering on the airport without trying to contact Nathan or the authorities in Odessa, because before he got transported to Africa, he had just caught future!Peter in the act. There is also no excuse for not trying to call Molly and Mohinder, either, you know, the people with whom he lives, to tell them he's fine, given that he really has no way of knowing Molly is elsewhere and Mohinder is in a Cronenberg remake. So I'm going to pretend he tried both while waiting for Daphne. Though we might at least get some compensation for the later if Matt now heads home, i.e. to Mohinder's apartment, which as opposed to the lab presumably is cocoon-free, and finds out stuff that enables him to end the Flyhinder episode for good. But back to his Daphne encounter - I was really pleasantly surprised, because I have a bad memory of the last time the writers put Matt in a semi-romantic situation, i.e. when he pulled out all the stops to impress his estranged wife by reading her mind without telling her. Which came across as creepy but looked as if was meant to come across as sweet and romantic on the part of the show. Here, though, he doesn't try to read Daphne's thoughts without permission, and tells her the truth about why he knows her at once. And letting Daphne respond as much to her bad conscience about Ando and Hiro, and to her wish not to see someone else become a pawn, balanced her lack of helpfulness towards Tracy and Nathan; shades of grey, as I said, and I appreciate it.
Hiro and Ando: if you really thought Hiro killed Ando, I have no sympathy for your week of indignation, because that - Hiro faking the killing by using his abilities - was more than obvious. I'm pleased he told Ando in advance.The "they all look the same to me" - "that's racist!" was a sly commentary on the part of the writers on how Asian characters are often perceived by the white audience, and it's good to know that the "African Isaac"'s role didn't end with sending Matt on his way.
Oh yes, and then there was... Gabriel, I suppose. Sigh. Same commentary as last week: we're stuck with the Sylar redemption, and no, I still don't like it. Ah well.
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It seems like Arthur Petrelli's ability is also this power absorption, so if Sylar is a naturally-born, unaltered Petrelli and Peter is, too, then abilities might also be passed down genetically, as well as the random ones we've seen.
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Will Peter be de-powered forever? I wonder how that will play out in the ever-shifting future.
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That scene with Adam was just chilling in all the best ways, and really emphasized the pecking order within the Elders. I love it.