oyceter | Heroes 1x21 The Hard Part

Entry tags:

Heroes 1x21 The Hard Part

Why yes, I was at work at 4:30 in the morning... (I plead that as my excuse for anything incomprehensible, ha).

Huh. Well, that had some moments, but I think everything's just moving into place for the end of the season. Also, it's hard to beat giant apocalyptic AU episodes.

Well. Those were some mother issues now, weren't they?

Most obviously, there was Sylar's mother (now confirmed to be Ellen Greene from Little Shop of Horrors -- ha! I sort of recognized her voice). There was a fun moment when she went on about Sylar becoming an investment banker and then making him a sandwich when he didn't want one; I thought, "Hey! That's my mom!" and burst out laughing. I suspect that may not have been the effect the writers were going for.

But yes, Sylar clearly has a dysfunctional relationship with his mother; how much the show is blaming his insane psychoticness on her is a little up there. I can sort of read it as a completely smothering relationship, but (as the resemblence to my mother demonstrates) one does not have to get "I will now be special by being an insane psychotic eater of braaaaaiiiiinnnnns" out of that. It was fairly interesting that becoming a giant exploding nuclear bomb did disturb Sylar morally. And I am extremely amused that the first person he called in his time of distress was Mohinder, whose reaction, like most people's, was something like, "Ok, then why don't you decide to not murder tons of people?"

On a side note, the Sylar's mom bits had some gorgeous shots, from the insane snowglobe moments (Edward Scissorhands! Hee!) to the nuclear explosion literally writ in blood, and I did actually feel some sympathy for Sylar, largely because dude! No one should be pushed into being an investment banker! (that part is probably completely idiosyncratic though)

I am now wondering a little about Sylar's dad; was he a special? Is that why his mom immediately freaked and called him the devil?

But there was also Jessica/Niki and Micah.

katie_m mentioned that she doesn't believe for a moment that Jessica would stand around and need prompting from Niki to rescue Micah, and I completely agree with her. On the other hand, I liked that DL is continuing as the good father on a race note, but that's somewhat lessened by the fact that the fathers on this show have been coming off a bit better (I am on the fence about this, but this episode is tipping it over in favor of the fathers). I also liked that Candice is not "innately motherly" somehow; she likes Micah, but it's not being portrayed (imo) as a motherly instinct type of thing.

And then, to round it all off, there was Angela Petrelli and Nathan and again with the mothers urging their sons toward the bombing of New York. Though in Sylar's mom's defense, she couldn't possibly have known that. Thankfully, Mama Petrelli comes off as less "completely neurotic and overbearing" and more "power hungry and in cahoots with Gen 1.0." I liked the not-so-subtle hints that she knew a lot more than was going on. On the other hand, hello gunning for mass murder! I am also a little confused on a plot note -- if she's in cahoots with Linderman and Gen 1.0 and company (also, am irked that all the powerful people in 1.0 are white men, though the show could be setting that up as an interesting intergenerational, interracial conflict), why did Bob the Haitian take Claire from one arm of the Company to another?

On the father note, Sylar's dad is conspicuously absent; there seems to be some sort of odd friction between him and his mom over that and the watchmaking and the "that clock of your father's is trash." Mr. Bennet gets a touching reunion with Claire, and DL shows nice fatherly support for Micah. Nathan, on the other hand, gets the "Bad Dad No Cookie" award for not only abandoning Claire, but also bringing in his other family and lying to their faces! Dude! Not cool! (Though I loved Claire's "That is so cool" reply to learning that Nathan can fly.)

I have to say, I was somewhat amused by DL being offended by Linderman manipulating him and Niki for their offspring while Jessica shrugged it off; it's a funny glance askance at the usual "we will take over the woman's ovaries for science" plot. On the other hand, I think Niki will be much more horrified than Jessica, and I'm not sure if the writers meant that, but I am glad that DL is just as horrified at his reproductive abilities being used as well.

On the non-mother gender note side, I am somewhat irked that both girls who purportedly can stop Sylar do so passively -- Claire via not having her brain eaten and Molly via finding him. Obviously Molly is not going to go out there and kick Sylar's butt, but now it is two girls who had to be saved by men (Claire did get to do stuff in "Homecoming" though) and are valued for their non-active ability to stop Sylar.

And now, the not-so-sporky stuff!

Mohinder! Being useful!

rachelmanija pointed out to me last night that he uses an Indian word for "political thugs" to describe Linderman and co. (Rachel, you will have to spell it; I can't remember the pronunciation), which is a nice small callout to his being Indian. And I cheered when he told I-forgot-his-name that they needed him a lot more than he needed them. Also, Shanti! Re-mention of Shanti! I am still hoping that she will turn out to be not-dead; I would like more women of color on the show, please (it would be nice to not have the race issues and the gender issues so very neatly divided, as amazingly there are people out there who get to deal with both at the same time).

I completely handwave and ignore the science that even I can poke holes in.

vonnie_k points out that Molly is totally Prof. X + Cerebro! And so continues the Heroes tradition of taking old X-Men characters and gender-swapping them (I think so far my list is Kitty Pryde/DL, Rogue/Peter, Wolverine/Claire and I can't think of anything right now because it is still 5 in the morning).

Micah! In the painting! WTF?! Also, yay to the return of Micah's cleverness!

The Petrellis have sort of been in limbo for a bit, despite the bad Peter/Claire chemistry like whoa. I miss burning-house Claire; she's out of her element here and uncertain, and it shows. On the other hand, I loved, "The universe cannot be that lame."

And then, my favorite part of the show -- Hiro and Ando! Whoo!

laurashapiro, our Hiro completely repudiates future!Hiro!

rachelmanija mentioned that Hiro draws his philosophy from whatever pop culture he knows, from bushido to comic books to video games. I'd be irked at the bushido mention if he just went on about it, as "clearly his knowledge of bushido is taken entirely from Blade of the Immortal" (says Rachel).

I still want more manga-reading and anime-watching people to watch this show, because Hiro is so totally a manga character! In the actually-read-manga sense, not the stereotyped-view-of-manga sense! Just the "Believe!" from Ando last episode is completely manga!

The protests about killing Sylar, particularly when he's asking for forgiveness also strikes me as completely manga (you are all sick of me yelling, "SO TOTALLY MANGA!" I know. But I have evidence now that Masi Oka is working stuff in!). And aawwwww, the sword broke =(. Woe to the breakage of presumably priceless artifacts!

Also, I would like to note that after all his protests about killing Sylar, the thing that tips him over the edge is the fact that Sylar kills Ando in the future. Hiro/Ando, I love you guys so much.

I am now waiting to see if Hiro can actually stop Sylar by convincing him to join the forces of good; that would make for a really nifty S2. I think Hiro's real superpower is his optimism; look how he even affected Nathan!

(Also, how does Sylar get past the time freeze? Is that some other special power?)

And now, will Peter explode or not? I am guessing not, as it is two days too early and shooting him will traumatize Claire too much. Oh yeah, I completely forgot about the Bennet-Parkman-Sprague team. Ted! You can start cars, how awesome! Also, I loved the Matt-Peter double take.

Also also, I completely forgot but this ep. write up is getting insanely long, but there were lots of interesting things going on about destiny and fate. Peter clearly believes in destiny and fate, though he believes his destiny is to change fate or something, which I find amusing. Claire seems to be anti-destiny and anti-fate; given the pretty short end of the stick she keeps getting, I don't blame her. Hiro usually seems to be pro-destiny, but like Peter he thinks his destiny is to change fate (of course, he's got the best chance to do so, given the time-space powers). Nathan -- I got no clue. And of course, Gen 1.0 seems to think they can alter fate. I'm now really curious to see if there was some alternate timeline that they're trying to avoid by exploding New York. DL, Niki, Jessica, and Matt don't seem interested in fate and destiny at all; they just want their families to work again (also ties in to

heresluck's point about class and the freedom to play with powers instead of trying to just get through the next day).

And here's my summary of the census up at

bobthehaitian.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

with sylar's mom, i was all like "dude! you fix broken things! that was your original power! now you fix 'broken' people by eating their brains! eat your mom's brain already!"

Ewwww! But then he would be saddled with overbearing mother-ness, which is not nearly as cool of a superpower ;).

Mohinder: I cheered when he told I-forgot-his-name that they needed him a lot more than he needed them.

And yet, he spent the episode advancing their agenda (curing the girl so she can mutant-hunt for them) rather than his own (stopping Sylar from killing more people). FWIW I think what's-his-name's line about "she's the only one who can stop Sylar" was just to manipulate Mohinder into doing what they wanted. Finding Sylar is not the same as stopping him, as the Primatech dudes already know.

Shanti: on the one hand, it'd be cool to have more (i.e. any) women of color on the show, but on the other hand, she'd probably just end up dead again so that Mo can have some extra angst.

Hiro: (Also, how does Sylar get past the time freeze? Is that some other special power?)

I think Hiro lost concentration, due to not actually wanting to cut somebody's head off. Taht seems to be the general consensus among my friends, at any rate.

The whole "only she can stop Sylar" thing really just does not work. Unless someone turns up with, oh, say, the power to suppress other powers so the other people can come in and whack Sylar on the head.

Wait, I could swear that character already exists... ;)

Re. The X-Men genderflip: There was also Claire's mother, Meredith, who maps onto X-Men's Pyro. All the X-Men ~~rip-off~~ homage just makes me laugh and laugh.

I'd forgotten about Sylar calling Mohinder for advice! That was just so surreally hilarious, especially how earnest Sylar was while Mohinder was all, "WTF are you on about, you murderous wacko?" Heh.

For some reason, the gender issues didn't bother me as much as they did you and Mely. It was probably because I have stars in my eyes where Claire is concerned and this one had A LOT of Claire. Even though she was being a bit passive, she was speaking her mind and giving Peter attitude and so forth. Mama Petrelli, despite her nefarious motivations, was being all take-charge and proactive, and Candice is starting to develop some personality beyond the smirky naughty schoolgirl facade, so I liked that as well.

Oh yeah! And Candice is Mastermind/Stryker/however they spell that in the movie and the comic!

I really wanted Claire to have just a wee bit more to do, though her reunion with Mr. Bennet in the end and all her little comments to the Petrellis were awesome. I also hope Candice will get more stuff now, though for all we know, character development will mean she will bravely and tragically die soon!

Ah show. I love you, and yet...

I just figured out Candice: she's a walking Danger Room!

I am now wondering a little about Sylar's dad; was he a special? Is that why his mom immediately freaked and called him the devil?
Yeah, I not only wondered about his dad but his mom. Because so far, it seems like any super with a parent...also has super parents. So. Did his mom not have a power?

I was somewhat amused by DL being offended by Linderman manipulating him and Niki for their offspring while Jessica shrugged it off; it's a funny glance askance at the usual "we will take over the woman's ovaries for science" plot. On the other hand, I think Niki will be much more horrified than Jessica, and I'm not sure if the writers meant that, but I am glad that DL is just as horrified at his reproductive abilities being used as well.
Huh, wait, is that what was going on? I didn't understand that scene because it felt like D.L. had concluded that Linderman had given them powers and was experimenting on them or something. But you think he found out that Linderman basically orchestrated the D.L./Niki hookup? Just so they could have a superkid? That...coincidentally had a power he'd need in the future?

rachelmanija pointed out to me last night that he uses an Indian word for "political thugs" to describe Linderman and co. (Rachel, you will have to spell it; I can't remember the pronunciation), which is a nice small callout to his being Indian.
Gundha! I meant to translate that in my post! That was pretty cool, that they threw it out there with no translation. I don't know that it's as specific as "political thugs," though. I think it just means "thieves" in general.

Micah! In the painting! WTF?!
And he's like a hundred feet tall! What's going on??

Peter clearly believes in destiny and fate, though he believes his destiny is to change fate or something, which I find amusing.
Ha ha ha.

Huh, wait, is that what was going on?

I think? Though I need to rewatch again to make sure. I leaped to that conclusion when DL was looking at all the pictures of him and Niki and muttering angrily about Linderman's plans. Ah Linderman. First you engage in random genetics experiments that may or may not pan out (though thanks to the narrative, clearly they do!), then you decide to destroy NY to save the world! I feel there are more logical and straightforward ways to achieve your plans, but then you couldn't rub your hands together and be Evil!

Didn't Linderman ask Nathan to sacrifice 'splodey-Peter for the greater good? And if Mama Petrelli is in on this, does that also mean she is fine with sacrificing Peter?

Candace tells Micah either she can make him see what she wants to or what he wants to. Which did she say? Because if it is what *she* wants, then how does she know what he expects/wants to see? Or, did she allow him to unlock the door, and *then* mess with his mind?

Seems like Mama Petrelli's ok with sacrificing Peter, at least from what I can recall...

Re: Candice, I think it's what she wants him to see. So she just projects illusions all the time and gets people all confused. Though now I'm wondering if her illusions are just sight, or if they involve a much greater scope as well, given that her powers in Sylar can apparently make the entire world believe that Sylar is Nathan. So it can't just be limited to physical proximity.

* I'm not sure what this says about me, but I didn't think Sylar's mom was a bad mother at all. Apart from being a little overly neurotic, she seemed a lot like mothers I know, who respond to "Mom, what if I don't win the Little League game tomorrow?" with, "Of course you can win! You can do it!"

* I love, love, loved the Hiro/Ando interaction. "It isn't Bushido." "Screw Bushido! Kill him or I die!"

* The final scene was just great. I loved the look of recognition between Matt and Peter, loved Ted just going, "Uh...what's he doing?" and, of course, I loved the reunion between Claire and her dad. Awwww.

* I know a lot of people have been saying that (a) Peter and Claire were too whiny this episode, and (b) Their plan is incredibly stupid, but I have to disagree. Firstly, if I'd had the week they've had? I would be curled up in the fetal position, whimpering and possibly twitching uncontrollably. Secondly...as far as they know, Peter's the only one who can stop Ted if Ted is the exploding man and not Peter. So I didn't think that plot point was overly contrived.

* I'm on the fence about Mama Petrelli. Is she really willing to sacrifice Peter? Or does she not know that the bomb is/could be Peter? Or does she think he will survive the blast? I hope this is made clear next week, since until now I've been pretty certain that her love for Peter was genuine.

I personally cringe in horror at Sylar's mom, but that is because of how closely she resembles my mom and the (rather funny) moment in which Sylar and I have obviously shared an Investment Banking Internship of DOOM!

But um, yes. That's a YMMV thing. My big beef with her portrayal in the episode is that the writers seem to be going for the angle of "Sylar's Psychoses Caused by Mothering!" Which, even if I cringe in horror at Sylar's mom, I do not by any stretch of the imagination believe that bad mothering causes insane psychosis and the belief that you are a zombie and must consume braaaaaaiiiiinns.

Or else where would I be? ;)

Hiro/Ando!! So much squee!

I don't blame Claire for being -- I dunno, she's not whiny. Shell-shocked and not inclined for action? And I didn't actually read Peter as being whiny at all. But I am being whiny because I want more cool Claire shots with burning houses!

I am still slightly dubious about Peter's plan, largely because I feel if you suspect you might explode, the best way to deal with that may not be going and accidentally acquiring the ability to explode. Then again, I have no idea what they'd do with Ted. It's really too bad the various groups of people don't talk to each other, as Mr. Bennet and Matt could probably tell them that Ted is less potential bomb and more helpful carjacker these days.

I am really not sure about Mama Petrelli! Someone mentioned her giving dead!Peter last last week a significant look, but I don't quite remember. I do think she might be ruthless enough to decide that Peter must be sacrificed as well, even if she does genuinely love him.

My big beef with her portrayal in the episode is that the writers seem to be going for the angle of "Sylar's Psychoses Caused by Mothering!"

Hmm. I agree that this would be problematic, but it's not how I read the scene(s), so I'm OK with it.

And I think this show doesn't so much have issues with mothers as with parents. Jessica/Niki's father was an abusive alcoholic, Papa Petrelli wasn't a very good father, and neither is Nathan, really (not just towards Claire...cheating on your wife is *not* being a good father), Mohinder's dad basically saw him as a means to an end to save his favorite child, and so on.

I don't blame Claire and Peter either. I actually thought they showed a lot of courage and quiet determination last night. But yeah, I want them to kick some ass!

Hrm, now trying to think if the mother/father dichotomy has been pinging me.

There are many bad fathers on the show as you've listed.

And then there's also DL, who's been consistently portrayed as a good father, and Mr. Bennet, who is... uh, not a good dad necessarily, but there is a lot of narrative weight placed on his relationship with Claire and I think most viewers probably see their father-daughter relationship as healthier than can be expected for someone leading a total double life.

Ambiguous mothers so far are... Mrs. Gray and Mrs. Petrelli. We've also had Mrs. Bennet (who I think is a pretty good mom, all things considered). We saw a little of Mohinder's mom, who seemed pretty normal, Heidi who also seems normal... and now I am blanking.

And the one consistent portrayal on the show has been Niki/Jessica, who has been shown to be a good mom who cares a whole lot about Micah, albeit also someone who can potentially put Micah in danger.

Hrm, interesting!

I was hoping to see something in this episode that would indicate a change of the future--because so far, it seems all the events falling into place were the same ones that fell into place for the 5-year-ago future. There's got to be something that'll change that. I think a lot kind of depends on Nathan, who, despite his best efforts, is just a powerful pawn.

Still, he doesn't know what wwe know, and unless somebody tells him (hiro) things aren't likely to change. Somebody once said that in order to create, you have to destroy (it's much more complicated--about how people want all the changes that scientists come up with, but it would take so much work to change the infrastructure of cities and what not, that nobody is willing to put up with it.) So, that's probably something Gen 1.0 as you like to call it, might of thought about. (too bad it didn't work!!)

My friend and I were discussing that maybe Hiro's uncertainty at killing Sylar may have shaken his resolve, thereby causing him to lose concentration, and, consequently, free Sylar.

Also, priceless blade WTF

I was hoping to see something in this episode that would indicate a change of the future--because so far, it seems all the events falling into place were the same ones that fell into place for the 5-year-ago future.

Yes, me too! I am also hoping that the potential Hiro-Sylar fight will change something, as I think the right thing for Hiro to do is to try and somehow reach Sylar instead of killing him. Esp. as our Hiro is very ambivalent if not outright against killing people.

Eeee! Cannot wait until Monday!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Heroes 1x21 The Hard Part

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject