Tuesday, April 24, 2007

.07%

Finally, after a seemingly endless wait, we were able to continue the saga of "Heroes" with a brand new episode last night. When last we saw our beloved characters, Peter was getting a haircut from an amateur neurosurgeon, Hiro and Ando were looking for a better travel agent, Mohinder was auditioning for a part in "Supernatural," and Claire was at a family reunion. Highlight below to find out my thoughts on how things are advancing:

Sylar obviously misjudged Peter's abilities giving us the opportunity to see a little bit of a fight between the two. Of course, Peter is still learning and doesn't fight as dirty as Sylar, so he just ended up with a big piece of glass embedded in his head. Thankfully, Claire was at the house when Mohinder dropped Peter off so she could remove the glass and let Peter resuscitate himself.

Speaking of Claire, wasn't the Haitian with her when she met her grandmother (Angela Petrelli)? So where was he in this episode? He just seems to have disappeared.

I like how Peter changed his hair toward the end of the episode. Maybe now that he can see clearly from both eyes, he'll be able to focus on his powers, get chicks, and stop whining about everything. I also like how he theorized that saving Claire wasn't directly going to save the world, but that it led to him being able to regenerate which might save the world. I think I had the same theory in a comment that I posted. Don't I wish the writers were trying to keep up with me?

Based on the fact that Angela knows about Claire's power, I had wondered if she also knew about Peter and Nathan. Apparently, she does as she said that she knew before they did. That then leads to the question of how did she know? And how can her orders supersede those of HRG? Is she a part of the company that HRG is working for? And does she have any powers of her own?

There is an apparent connection between the company and Linderman since Matt overheard them say that they needed to meet with Linderman, and Linderman has the power to heal (at least plants, but presumably humans as well). There is some kind of connection between Angela and the Haitian that works for the company, and Angela knows a great deal about the powers of at least a few people. Based on a comment that she made to Claire about trying to save the world and a comment that Linderman made to Nathan about trying to save the world, I'm betting that Angela has a power of her own, that she was part of the original group that Linderman was talking about (that went astray), and that that original group was the foundation for the company that HRG is working for. That's my guess.

Linderman, while seeming mildly insane in the previous episode, now seems to be completely off his rocker. How does he figure that setting off a nuke that kills only ".07%" of the population will be good for the world? Is he planning to have some kind of mass healing ceremony at ground zero so that he can be elevated to some kind of demi-god status? And how does Nathan being in the White House play into that plan? I can't figure out the real end-game for him, but he sure knows how to push Nathan's buttons.

After missing out on Peter, Sylar made his way over to Isaac's place. Not only does he enjoy killing, but he's somewhat methodical about it, too. I think he intends to use his new ability to paint the future to locate the others with powers. I am encouraged, though, by the fact that Isaac said that he would show the world how he stopped Sylar. I'll bet that it's part of the story next week since the last comic that he wrote was about Hiro in the future and next week's episode is set five years in the future. Isaac is communicating his visions to the world through the comic, so it stands to reason that the message is in that last issue, and we'll get to see it next week.

Of course, Sylar couldn't wait to try out his new power, and it looked to me as if he were painting another copy of "Nathan in the White House." It seemed a little off, though. Nathan was colored oddly and had disproportionate hands. I wonder if that hints at something going on when Sylar steals a power. Maybe he can't control them as well as he thought. When Peter painted using Isaac's power, the image looked the same as if Isaac had painted it. Does this mean that Peter is better at absorbing powers and doesn't lose anything in the translation while Sylar only gets an approximation of the power? And if so, doesn't that give Peter an edge in any future battle between the two?

Matt, Ted, and HRG are all teamed up now. An unlikely trio that was originally a pair bent on destroying HRG. I still think that HRG is a decent man that got sucked into something bigger than him, but I wonder how much of that brainwashing is still there. Matt and Ted need to be extremely careful.

It was pretty cool, though, how HRG told Matt exactly what to do to get them out of there, and it was very cool with Ted created the EMP. "He says, 'Burn bright not hot,' and I shouldn't be near you." What a great line.

Finally, Hiro and Ando are in the future and they've run into future Hiro. I like the look of future Hiro better than the dorky Hiro of the present, I wonder if I'll like the character as much, though. Part of Hiro's charm is his innocence, and future Hiro doesn't seem all that innocent. He seems determined, and if I'm right, all those strings and clippings are his attempt to understand the fabric of time, but it doesn't seem to be doing him much good so far. I think we're in for an interesting conversation between the two of them in the next episode.