Heroes season 4 - episode 3
Jan. 20th, 2010 05:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lathanyIn case anyone is wondering, I've renumbered the episodes to match with the numbers in the episodes. Meaning that the original double-length episode (Orientation) was 1 (not 1 and 2), Ink was 2 and this is number 3.
Last Sunday's BBC 3 offering (which I watched because it's moved to an earlier time; so the next new one for me will be next Sunday).
Details: Tracey is back to her old life and meets with the Governor who offers her back her job. Angela gives Nathan/Sylar a box of his old things in an attempt to give him more of Nathan's memories, but one of the objects sparks off the vision of a dead girl (Kelly). Following on from Ink, Peter turns up at Noah's to show the compass on his arm which, of course, is now gone. There's then a little reversal as Peter is interested in investigating further and Noah isn't, but it ends quickly with each accepting the other's position. Claire shows up, early enough to realise Peter has a new power, then after Peter goes she talks jobs to Noah. The jobs section is mostly very dull.
Nathan(/Sylar) turns up at the hospital and intercepts Peter. He explains about his powers which Peter puts down to family genes and then he tells Nathan about the object history power (I forget the name he gave it - as it's spirit touch to me). Peter offers to help with Kelly, but Nathan says he'll sort out his own mess and goes to see the dead girl's mother - Milly. It transpires that Milly thought her daughter had run away but that Kelly actually died in an accident which Nathan was present for and that Angela covered it up and wiped Nathan's memory. Nathan/Sylar then tries to tell Milly the truth - which she informs him she doesn't believe.
Tracey visits Noah before meeting again with the Governor. She is no longer happy with going back to her old job. When she meets with the Governor, she first accepts his offer (including that they skip the meal and have sex), but after a visit to the bathroom during which she loses brief control of her power, she changes her mind and leaves. Meanwhile, Noah is seem investigating the compass through old newspaper stories. The knife man and Lydia discuss the new heroes Samuel wants and are not entirely happy. Samuel appears, tells them its the best way, then get a new face from Lydia’s back - Noah.
Hiro tries to stop a man from commiting suicide after he photocopies his arse at a party. Then it turns out that the man will always do it on another occasion and after 47 attempts to stop him, Hiro tells him he must hate his job, that he himself is dying and calls him a friend (Hiro puts this better than I do). The man then does not jump, but climbs down and leaves. Hiro then tells his sister that he is dying, but then (time) freezes and disappears.
At the end of the episode, Nathan is attacked, murdered and buried in a pit. The assassin phones Milly who is dining with Angela whilst the latter tries to pretend Nathan’s confession is false (and Milly pretends to believe her). Finally, just before the credits, Nathan/Sylar bursts up from the pit as Sylar.
General comments: This was the second episode in a row that contained episode arcs - the key one being Kelly's death. I liked it for that structure and I was also interested in the story of what happened to Kelly. I felt it fitted in a way that much of the back-plot hasn't (eg. the episode content of Villains) because it added weight to Angela's regrets about the terrible things she had done (particularly as she doesn't count this one so much because she did it for Nathan) - which I felt needed bolstering up after her "horrific" treatment of Alice turned out to amount to lying to her once, then failing to realise she was still alive. However, a downside is that I felt Claire's appearance utterly worthless and that her conversation with Noah didn't add anything. I liked Hiro's stuff though; again, a nice little sub-story with a genuinely good solution - that Hiro needed to get to the bottom of the cause rather than removing the effect (once it was obvious it wasn't a one-off). And that he solved it in the present was good too.
Character by character:
Themes: More contrasts between the past and the present. More still between people working apart and together.
Continuity errors and other weirds: At the end of the first double episode, three faces appear on Lydia's back - Peter, Sylar and Claire. But Samuel only contacts Peter before getting another face (Noah) - why? Oh, and the change in Peter's treatment of Nathan to what was implied in that first episode.
Last Sunday's BBC 3 offering (which I watched because it's moved to an earlier time; so the next new one for me will be next Sunday).
Details: Tracey is back to her old life and meets with the Governor who offers her back her job. Angela gives Nathan/Sylar a box of his old things in an attempt to give him more of Nathan's memories, but one of the objects sparks off the vision of a dead girl (Kelly). Following on from Ink, Peter turns up at Noah's to show the compass on his arm which, of course, is now gone. There's then a little reversal as Peter is interested in investigating further and Noah isn't, but it ends quickly with each accepting the other's position. Claire shows up, early enough to realise Peter has a new power, then after Peter goes she talks jobs to Noah. The jobs section is mostly very dull.
Nathan(/Sylar) turns up at the hospital and intercepts Peter. He explains about his powers which Peter puts down to family genes and then he tells Nathan about the object history power (I forget the name he gave it - as it's spirit touch to me). Peter offers to help with Kelly, but Nathan says he'll sort out his own mess and goes to see the dead girl's mother - Milly. It transpires that Milly thought her daughter had run away but that Kelly actually died in an accident which Nathan was present for and that Angela covered it up and wiped Nathan's memory. Nathan/Sylar then tries to tell Milly the truth - which she informs him she doesn't believe.
Tracey visits Noah before meeting again with the Governor. She is no longer happy with going back to her old job. When she meets with the Governor, she first accepts his offer (including that they skip the meal and have sex), but after a visit to the bathroom during which she loses brief control of her power, she changes her mind and leaves. Meanwhile, Noah is seem investigating the compass through old newspaper stories. The knife man and Lydia discuss the new heroes Samuel wants and are not entirely happy. Samuel appears, tells them its the best way, then get a new face from Lydia’s back - Noah.
Hiro tries to stop a man from commiting suicide after he photocopies his arse at a party. Then it turns out that the man will always do it on another occasion and after 47 attempts to stop him, Hiro tells him he must hate his job, that he himself is dying and calls him a friend (Hiro puts this better than I do). The man then does not jump, but climbs down and leaves. Hiro then tells his sister that he is dying, but then (time) freezes and disappears.
At the end of the episode, Nathan is attacked, murdered and buried in a pit. The assassin phones Milly who is dining with Angela whilst the latter tries to pretend Nathan’s confession is false (and Milly pretends to believe her). Finally, just before the credits, Nathan/Sylar bursts up from the pit as Sylar.
General comments: This was the second episode in a row that contained episode arcs - the key one being Kelly's death. I liked it for that structure and I was also interested in the story of what happened to Kelly. I felt it fitted in a way that much of the back-plot hasn't (eg. the episode content of Villains) because it added weight to Angela's regrets about the terrible things she had done (particularly as she doesn't count this one so much because she did it for Nathan) - which I felt needed bolstering up after her "horrific" treatment of Alice turned out to amount to lying to her once, then failing to realise she was still alive. However, a downside is that I felt Claire's appearance utterly worthless and that her conversation with Noah didn't add anything. I liked Hiro's stuff though; again, a nice little sub-story with a genuinely good solution - that Hiro needed to get to the bottom of the cause rather than removing the effect (once it was obvious it wasn't a one-off). And that he solved it in the present was good too.
Character by character:
- Claire - She's noted Peter's new power and knows where her dad lives, let's move on.
- Peter - As above, I liked the role reversal with Noah. I'm not sure what I think of him putting all the new powers down to Petrelli-ness; it's just about plausible, I guess, as I think he's had few other discussions with characters about powers. Still felt a bit uncomfortable though. I was somewhat unhappy with his complete cheerfulness to see his brother though - I'd thought that he wasn't returning calls because he was still unhappy about the things he had done (as he hints back in the first episode).
- Hiro - So where and when is he? And I hope he doesn't really die.
- Ando - Getting married, huh? From being single in the first episode; that's what time travel does I guess.
- Noah - So he's back in business with probably Tracey and possibly Peter. That's a hopeful sign for the future.
- Nathan/Sylar - Very interesting contrast with the first season (ie. with pure Nathan); he goes to see Peter at work and then immediately tries to take responsibility for the past. I hope that's a new, interesting contrast between Nathan and Sylar and not just randomness on behalf of the writers.
- Tracey - Good start, here's hoping that the actress gets some interesting plot finally.
- Mohinder - Still nothing, I think he's out.
Themes: More contrasts between the past and the present. More still between people working apart and together.
Continuity errors and other weirds: At the end of the first double episode, three faces appear on Lydia's back - Peter, Sylar and Claire. But Samuel only contacts Peter before getting another face (Noah) - why? Oh, and the change in Peter's treatment of Nathan to what was implied in that first episode.
