Seven Minutes to Midnight

[lathany]

Episode 8.


Summary: Mohinder returns to India to scatter his father's ashes. On his return he receives a series of strange visions that appear to be caused by a strange boy with a football. He sees his father and himself arguing, his mother telling his father to go because Mohinder will never replace Shanti, the boy rattling the stuck drawer and Sylar killing his father. Then he finally tries the key in the desk and discovers his father's file on the boy. Isaac is now clean, but unable to paint the future. Eden is trying to help him stay clean but eventually Mr Bennett tells/convinces/forces her to give Isaac the drugs as Claire's life is at stake. Claire shows up briefly to obtain paper for the Homecoming banner. Hiro and Ando meet Charlie, who is then killed by Sylar so that Hiro time travels to the past to save her. Finally, Matt and Ted discuss what happened to them and realise that they both share the marks in the neck and a memory of the Haitian.

Previous comments: OK - how does he know she dies the next night? Well? Hope that gets explained somewhere down the line. The India stuff was interesting - I want to see more of it. And I wonder when Hiro will return. The tattoos are a nice touch (did the father faction do them?), as is the sudden power escalation.

In more detail: Yes, I still want to know why Mr Bennett thinks Claire's dying tomorrow. Is it because of the outfit - that this is the last occasion in the year that she's a cheerleader? None of the paintings that Isaac has with him give the date, but I don't know enough abour Homecoming or cheerleading to know whether it can be deduced. This felt like a slow episode at the time of watching as two of the main plots from the previous episodes were on hold (the Petrellis and also Niki's family) but, looking over it, a lot happens. Two new heroes are introduced (the boy and Charlie), more is said about The Company, Eden's motivations are examined and her background is hinted at. Plus Hiro chooses to save Charlie, despite having an uncertain grip on his abilities. I like this one, particularly because there was a wave of new stuff and new people.

Character absences: Lots!. Peter, Nathan, Simone, Niki, DL and Micah. Plus only a brief appearance from Claire.

Claire: Barely on stage outside of the canvas, but a continuing reminder that Homecoming is approaching and a brief glimpse of her in the factory begging paper for the event.

Hiro/Charlie/Ando: I enjoyed this - Charlie has some great lines with the memory power ("If you want to ask me a really tough one, ask me if I remember your credit card numbers"). Also I liked that Hiro was off to save her. For the first time I have now realised that the photo changes - it is initially Charlie on her own with a party hat. Oh, and finally, it's not actually clear from this episode whether Charlie has been fully "got" by Sylar as I don't think anyone says that her brain has gone (which is what happened with Isaac's in the future and to Molly's father).

Matt/Ted: These two bond further and I really liked that they started to put together what had happened to them logically... to reach the wrong conclusion. The affair stuff was kept to a minimum this week, so it didn't clog the episode.

Eden/Isaac/Mr Bennett: Lovely sequence covering three main things - hints of Eden's back-story, that Isaac will have his ability outside of drug use and that the lengths Mr Bennett will go to for Claire. It was also good to take another look at all the paintings.

Mohinder/Chandra: I found Mohinder's relationship with his father rather a sad thing - that dad could never love him as much as his "special" sister. I wonder if this will ever be an issue with Mohinder and any of the heroes. The boy was interesting though - I'd like to see more of that power, although I appreciate that the producers would have a lot of difficulty deciding to apply it to past scenes due to the camera work involved. Oh, and I also liked the reference to Mohinder's past relationship with Mira which was made without the episode dwelling on it.

Sylar: No speaking part as yet, but some nice touches with telekinesis and the whole head-opening thing.

Comments

[mrlloyd.livejournal.com]

It would only be Claire's last homecoming if it was her last year at school - and it isn't. On the other hand if I remember rightly the picture is Claire, in a stadium at night, dressed as a cheerleader. So Bennet should at least be worried - homecoming has all the ingredients for this picture to come true.

[lathany.livejournal.com]

That's enough bits to the murder scene that I'll let him off then. Thanks for pointing it out.

[floralaetifica.livejournal.com]

Several of the paintings (http://heroeswiki.com/Isaac%27s_paintings) show portions of the homecoming banner. Plus, the stadium is quite distinctive. But whether Bennett saw any of the paintings with the banners or the steps, I can't recall.

[lathany.livejournal.com]

A-ha! Yes - the one with Ando and Hiro does say "Homecoming", which isn't clear from watching the series on TV (that painting is barely readable without a pause). However, Bennett does see it, so he's not making ridiculous guesses.