Six Months Ago
Jun. 13th, 2009 08:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lathanyEpisode 10.
Extra note: I've raised a couple of things here that might tempt people to comment on stuff from season 3 (which covers both Villains and Fugitives), please don't. Stick to Genesis stuff only (or you can comment on Generations with a spoiler note in the comment to warn people who haven't seen it). Thanks.
Summary: Hiro travels back to try and save Charlie. He arrives six months previously rather than the day before, then decides that it is too risky to time-travel again so stays put and tries to persuade her. He works in the diner whilst trying to convince her of his abilities. Their friendship grows and eventually he persuades her to take a ticket to Japan, planning to travel with her. However, he time travels away before the flight leaves and she evidently did not go in his absence. Six months ago is also when Nathan's ability first manifested. It's the night of celebrating Peter's graduation (prior to choosing a specialism) and Nathan is considering prosecuting Linderman for his mob connections. On the way home in the car, he and Heidi are chased by "Linderman's men" and Nathan levitates out of the car leaving it to crash with Heidi on board - she is left wheelchair-bound. Peter agrees to help him prosecute Linderman, but on the day itself Nathan arrives and says that their father has died of a heart attack. Claire gains her cheerleader status, but cuts open her hand during a squabble with Jackie. However, this turns out to heal super-fast. Chandra begins looking for the Heroes and comes across Gabriel Gray. However, after testing him in all sorts of ways, gives up on him as a prospect. Gabriel is upset and furious, but accidentally leaves with the address of another potential - who does indeed have telekinesis. Gabriel kills the man, somehow takes his ability and demonstrates it to Chandra. He also starts calling himself Sylar. Matt tries to arrest Eden, but she uses her power on him to make him leave her alone. She is then caught by the Haitian and is given the choice of working for the company by Mr Bennett. On her agreement, he sends her to spy on Chandra - who has contacted Bennett - and to remove Claire from Chandra's list. Matt goes on to fail the detective exam for the second time. At the end of the episode, Hiro returns to Ando unable to save Charlie, commenting that he can not change the past.
Comments: I liked this episode for filling in many of the blanks, but had some reservations about what it revealed. It starts without the usual "previously on Heroes" and instead shows scenes from all over the first nine episodes, then finishes with the set of scenes as at the end of Homecoming (presumably to remind the audience of where things were). It's got some nice stuff in it - Niki at the AA meeting is superb, as is Gabriel/Sylar full stop. Many of the character's ability-discovering moments are in here too.
Character absences: Mohinder, Isaac and Simone. A brief appearance from Ando at the end.
Claire/Jackie/Mrs Bennett: It was only on the second time through that I realised that the girl who had "slept with the entire football team" was actually the quarterback's previous rape victim (Lori Tremmel); this made the whole thing really creepy for me.
Hiro/Charlie: I liked Hiro/Charlie and was sorry that she died. I did wonder whether Sylar had picked up her ability or whether her blood clot prevented him from doing so; he hasn't demonstrated it AFAIK (no-one answer this please if the answer shows up after season one - because either way that's a spoiler). However, I found it interesting that, even by the end, she appeared to have difficulty in believing in his power (in contrast to Ando who was sold after only one proper demonstration).
Peter/Nathan: As a complete aside - I think that the actor who plays Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) looks very different every time he changes his hair in any way; I still have trouble recognising him when he's got his hair neatly back and is wearing a suit (although his voice is distinctive). Anyhow, this episode answered all the questions about when Nathan first got his abilities and how Heidi ended up in a wheelchair; also why Nathan felt so guilty about it. It also reinforced the messages from the first episode - that Nathan was his father's favourite. I guess it also showed the first signs of Peter's ability with his dream of the car chase; suggesting that his powers took a long time to manifest fully after starting.
Eden/The Haitian/Mr Bennett: This episode made the company look a lot more benign than some - they offer to put her back as she was if she doesn't take their offer (of course, that doesn't mean that they would...). A lot of nice demonstrations of Eden's powers, and also of the Haitian's.
Chandra/Gabriel/Sylar: I think that the "where did Sylar come from?" question is the one that this episode most satisfies. A lovely transformation from shy, good-natured watchmaker to self-justifying killer. There's a lot of lovely parallels between this episode and Collision - Chandra initially fails to accept Gabriel as a hero in the same way as Mohinder initially fails to accept Peter. Similarly, Gabriel's desperation to be special echoes Peter's near-suicidal behaviour in the first episode. Another element that I found strange is that Chandra seemed unable to recognise Gabriel's "the way things work" power as a power.
Nathan/Gabriel/Peter: An element I was struck with from this episode was the father->son career aspect (again, Mohinder and Peter discuss this in Collision) and the comparisons made among these three characters. Nathan and Gabriel are alike in one aspect - they have followed their fathers. When challenged by Chandra (why not do something different), Gabriel comments that it is a fact of evolution and he is unable to do anything differently after his father raised him. Nathan acknowledges his own duplication as an "inherited birthright" and says this is, in part, because he was under far more scrutiny than Peter. Peter, on the other hand, has chosen something different and had to support that to the extent of funding himself through training.
Niki/Jessica/DL/Micah: I thought this was a storming episode from the Niki angle. We finally get to find out what happened to break her into Niki and Jessica and also discover that Jessica is her sister (note - I always wondered whether she was a twin). I'm not clear about whether Hal survives or not; I think Jessica just tells him to leave. One element that did strike me as false though was the AA stuff. I'm pretty certain that back when she's seducing Nathan, she's drinking wine with him - I thought AA people never touched the stuff again? Or is that a cliché?
Matt/Janice: Matt's problems with the detective exam come to light - he can barely read or write. I liked the brief scene in which this was made clear.
Extra note: I've raised a couple of things here that might tempt people to comment on stuff from season 3 (which covers both Villains and Fugitives), please don't. Stick to Genesis stuff only (or you can comment on Generations with a spoiler note in the comment to warn people who haven't seen it). Thanks.
Summary: Hiro travels back to try and save Charlie. He arrives six months previously rather than the day before, then decides that it is too risky to time-travel again so stays put and tries to persuade her. He works in the diner whilst trying to convince her of his abilities. Their friendship grows and eventually he persuades her to take a ticket to Japan, planning to travel with her. However, he time travels away before the flight leaves and she evidently did not go in his absence. Six months ago is also when Nathan's ability first manifested. It's the night of celebrating Peter's graduation (prior to choosing a specialism) and Nathan is considering prosecuting Linderman for his mob connections. On the way home in the car, he and Heidi are chased by "Linderman's men" and Nathan levitates out of the car leaving it to crash with Heidi on board - she is left wheelchair-bound. Peter agrees to help him prosecute Linderman, but on the day itself Nathan arrives and says that their father has died of a heart attack. Claire gains her cheerleader status, but cuts open her hand during a squabble with Jackie. However, this turns out to heal super-fast. Chandra begins looking for the Heroes and comes across Gabriel Gray. However, after testing him in all sorts of ways, gives up on him as a prospect. Gabriel is upset and furious, but accidentally leaves with the address of another potential - who does indeed have telekinesis. Gabriel kills the man, somehow takes his ability and demonstrates it to Chandra. He also starts calling himself Sylar. Matt tries to arrest Eden, but she uses her power on him to make him leave her alone. She is then caught by the Haitian and is given the choice of working for the company by Mr Bennett. On her agreement, he sends her to spy on Chandra - who has contacted Bennett - and to remove Claire from Chandra's list. Matt goes on to fail the detective exam for the second time. At the end of the episode, Hiro returns to Ando unable to save Charlie, commenting that he can not change the past.
Comments: I liked this episode for filling in many of the blanks, but had some reservations about what it revealed. It starts without the usual "previously on Heroes" and instead shows scenes from all over the first nine episodes, then finishes with the set of scenes as at the end of Homecoming (presumably to remind the audience of where things were). It's got some nice stuff in it - Niki at the AA meeting is superb, as is Gabriel/Sylar full stop. Many of the character's ability-discovering moments are in here too.
Character absences: Mohinder, Isaac and Simone. A brief appearance from Ando at the end.
Claire/Jackie/Mrs Bennett: It was only on the second time through that I realised that the girl who had "slept with the entire football team" was actually the quarterback's previous rape victim (Lori Tremmel); this made the whole thing really creepy for me.
Hiro/Charlie: I liked Hiro/Charlie and was sorry that she died. I did wonder whether Sylar had picked up her ability or whether her blood clot prevented him from doing so; he hasn't demonstrated it AFAIK (no-one answer this please if the answer shows up after season one - because either way that's a spoiler). However, I found it interesting that, even by the end, she appeared to have difficulty in believing in his power (in contrast to Ando who was sold after only one proper demonstration).
Peter/Nathan: As a complete aside - I think that the actor who plays Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) looks very different every time he changes his hair in any way; I still have trouble recognising him when he's got his hair neatly back and is wearing a suit (although his voice is distinctive). Anyhow, this episode answered all the questions about when Nathan first got his abilities and how Heidi ended up in a wheelchair; also why Nathan felt so guilty about it. It also reinforced the messages from the first episode - that Nathan was his father's favourite. I guess it also showed the first signs of Peter's ability with his dream of the car chase; suggesting that his powers took a long time to manifest fully after starting.
Eden/The Haitian/Mr Bennett: This episode made the company look a lot more benign than some - they offer to put her back as she was if she doesn't take their offer (of course, that doesn't mean that they would...). A lot of nice demonstrations of Eden's powers, and also of the Haitian's.
Chandra/Gabriel/Sylar: I think that the "where did Sylar come from?" question is the one that this episode most satisfies. A lovely transformation from shy, good-natured watchmaker to self-justifying killer. There's a lot of lovely parallels between this episode and Collision - Chandra initially fails to accept Gabriel as a hero in the same way as Mohinder initially fails to accept Peter. Similarly, Gabriel's desperation to be special echoes Peter's near-suicidal behaviour in the first episode. Another element that I found strange is that Chandra seemed unable to recognise Gabriel's "the way things work" power as a power.
Nathan/Gabriel/Peter: An element I was struck with from this episode was the father->son career aspect (again, Mohinder and Peter discuss this in Collision) and the comparisons made among these three characters. Nathan and Gabriel are alike in one aspect - they have followed their fathers. When challenged by Chandra (why not do something different), Gabriel comments that it is a fact of evolution and he is unable to do anything differently after his father raised him. Nathan acknowledges his own duplication as an "inherited birthright" and says this is, in part, because he was under far more scrutiny than Peter. Peter, on the other hand, has chosen something different and had to support that to the extent of funding himself through training.
Niki/Jessica/DL/Micah: I thought this was a storming episode from the Niki angle. We finally get to find out what happened to break her into Niki and Jessica and also discover that Jessica is her sister (note - I always wondered whether she was a twin). I'm not clear about whether Hal survives or not; I think Jessica just tells him to leave. One element that did strike me as false though was the AA stuff. I'm pretty certain that back when she's seducing Nathan, she's drinking wine with him - I thought AA people never touched the stuff again? Or is that a cliché?
Matt/Janice: Matt's problems with the detective exam come to light - he can barely read or write. I liked the brief scene in which this was made clear.
