HEROES .07% aka: "Pull that damn glass out of his head already!" by Peter Sorensen
The superhero smackdown begins in this episode when Peter Petrelli and Sylar finally throw down, but it quickly ends when Peter is killed after being outmaneuvered by Sylar. Meanwhile, HRG escapes from the Company holding cells with help from some surprising allies, and Linderman tries to convince Nathan Petrelli to join him, kidnaps Micah Sanders, threatens Nikki/Jessica, and basically tries to avoid a "wee bit of the ultraviolence".
Boo yah. That's pretty much all I can think of to say about the return of Heroes this week. From the battle between Peter and Sylar to plumming the depths of Nathans "slimeballness", the writers are sharp and back with a vengeance minus one plot point that literally had me shouting at the TV (more on that further down).
As the episode opens we see Linderman still trying to pawn off his "glorious new world" ideas on Nathan Petrelli, and for the moment it looks like he's not buying it. Casual viewers discover that Linderman has superpowers in the form of healing, something that the rest of us already knew from either participating in the Heroes 360 Experience or by reading the Heroes Online Novel during the break.
To catch up anyone who isn't a total media fiend, over the last six weeks we've learned that HRG is secretly helping Hana Gittleman bring down the Company. He directs her to a top secret document detailing the mission of two soldiers, codenamed Austin and Dallas. They come under fire during a mission and "Austin" heals "Dallas" from the brink of death. They then continue on the mission, which turns out to be the assassination of a young girl with superpowers. "Austin" and "Dallas" disagree on the mission, and duke it out, but "Dallas" completes the mission anyway. Back at base, "Austin" denies having powers and "Dallas" is drummed out of the military quietly with concerns of his mental stability. Years later, the two meet and Austin apologizes and offers Dallas a chance to help him change the world.
As you can probably guess, "Austin" is really Linderman. And "Dallas"? None other than Papa Petrelli himself.
So, now we're all caught up, yeah? Let's continue. Claire is busy being bossed around by her newly discovered Grandma, who reveals that she may have powers of her own, other than her obvious power:ice cold bitchiness. Meanwhile, we are treated to a Heroes geek cream dream as Peter and Sylar go mimic-a-mimic and psychically slap each other around for a while. Well, until Sylar impales Peters head with a shard of glass that is. Ow.
...Yes, that Mohinder. I know, I know. I'm mad that he's still alive too...
And, if you think that's a pansy way to get taken out, Sylar then gets blindsided and knocked out by Mohinder. Yes, that Mohinder. I know, I know. I'm mad that he's still alive too. Mohinder/Sanjaya (who else has noticed the resemblance?) nabs Peter and bails. Ok, what the hell? Mohinder was all set to off Sylar before the break and yet when he finally gets the chance, he doesn't do it? Lame. And why doesn't he pull that glass out of Peter's head?
Meanwhile, the Company is holding HRG hostage in a cell in an effort to get information out of him. HRG escapes though with the help of a few strange allies: Matt Parkman and Nuclear Ted. HRG passes along instructions to Parkman, who knocks out a guard and releases Nuclear Ted. Then, in an incredible sequence, HRG gets Ted to knock out the entire mill's power supply by releasing an enormous EMP pulse. "Burn bright, not hot", Parkman relays to Ted, in a poignant moment that proves that not only does the Company track these people with powers, they've done their homework and know what each is capable of. I must say, the EMP burst was friggin' cool looking and throws yet another log on the theory fire about who the real "exploding man" is. It seems now that Ted is exerting greater control over his powers, so the blame is back towards Peter or Sylar.
Back at the Petrelli home, Mohinderjaya drops Peter's corpse off and runs straight back to his lab to meet up with Thompson and presumably join the Company.
Mama Petrelli mourns her son, but still does not remove the damn glass from his head.
Nathan Petrelli returns to weep over Peter, run into Claire for the first time, and basically just stand around while his brother has a piece of glass in his head.
Claire takes a moment to say her respects and fuel more Claire/Peter incestuous fanfic, as well as FINALLY TAKING THE DAMN GLASS OUT OF PETER'S BRAIN MATTER! FINALLY, THANK YOU!
Was it just me, or did they take forever to get around to this? Was I the only one towering over the TV yelling at the top of my lungs "C'mon! For Pete's sake (literally), just take the damn thing out already so that he can gasp for air and come back to life!"? Somehow I don't think I was. As it turns out, once the glass shard is removed Peter gasps for air and comes back to life. Duh. Peter cleans up and has a heart to heart with Nathan about keeping Claire around to help save the world, blah blah blah. When is Peter just going to start slapping some sense into Nathan already? And, as expected, Nathan puts his own goals above everything else and tells Claire to go. I really thought we'd see a turnaround in his character here. I mean, maybe if Linderman promised to heal Nathans wife, a symbol of Nathan's selfishness and cowardice, I could see Nathan helping him out. But apparently it's not needed as Nathans desire to be President is enough to make him sell out his family and essentially sign Peter's death certificate. Way to go, Nathan.
Speaking of shady deals, Linderman summons Nikki/Jessica (who is unfortunately still part of the show) and asks her for one thing: a meeting with her son Micah. Nikki/Jessica turns him down and tells him to stay away from her son, a threat that Linderman deals with by instructing his bodyguards to take out a life insurance policy on Nikki.
Subtle.
Linderman then gets the upperhand by waiting until "Sybil II" is away and then using the shapeshifter girl (what is her name?) to lure Micah into his car. As if he couldn't get any skeezier. All he would have needed was an ice cream truck and a fascination with clowns and he'd have a complete matched set of crazy.
Isaac gets killed by Sylar, which could have been another "duh" moment considering that we saw his death earlier in the season when Hiro traveled to the future for the first time, but instead it becomes a teaser when Isaac lets slip that he's showing the others the way to stop Sylar once and for all. Is it the final issue of "9th Wonders"? Or is it the clumsy painting? Can Sylar steal, but not master, other peoples powers, hence the lack of painting skill? I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Finally, Hiro and Ando arrive in the future and decide to seek out Isaac because he was locked up in the past. That means he must have survived, right? Poor Hiro.
As you can probably guess, they don't find Isaac, but they do run into Future Hiro, sword and all. From the looks of Isaac's loft, he's been trying to piece together the different timelines and how to prevent his future from happening. So basically...well, he's Bishop from the XMen. That about sums it up.
Next week's episode should be the big game changer, as we get to see the consequences of everyone's present course and what the world is like in 5 years. And what would a preview be without throwing a wrench in the works, in this case a shot of Peter with the scar. Does that mean he's still around in the future? Obviously, Future Hiro didn't recognize Peter without the scar, so either Hiro is going to make it back to the present in time to see Peter get the scar, or Peter somehow survives long enough that Future Hiro no longer remembers Peter without the scar. Both are very cool possibilities.
Current theory?
Sylar kills Nuclear Ted, battles Peter and gives him the scar. Then, unable to master the power, Sylar explodes, but Peter keeps the blast from hurting anyone by absorbing the blast. Then, unable to cope with the power himself, he looks to Nathan for help. In one timeline (the one that leads to Future Hiro's world), Nathan lets Peter explode and destroy New York, thereby cementing his presidency. In this timeline however, Nathan selflessly flies Peter into the atmosphere where they both die, but save New York.
Peter Sorensenis a part time reviewer and would have taken the glass out first.
HEROES
Was it just me, or did they take forever to get around to this? Was I the only one towering over the TV yelling at the top of my lungs "C'mon! For Pete's sake (literally), just take the damn thing out already so that he can gasp for air and come back to life!"? Somehow I don't think I was. As it turns out, once the glass shard is removed Peter gasps for air and comes back to life. Duh. Peter cleans up and has a heart to heart with Nathan about keeping Claire around to help save the world, blah blah blah. When is Peter just going to start slapping some sense into Nathan already? And, as expected, Nathan puts his own goals above everything else and tells Claire to go. I really thought we'd see a turnaround in his character here. I mean, maybe if Linderman promised to heal Nathans wife, a symbol of Nathan's selfishness and cowardice, I could see Nathan helping him out. But apparently it's not needed as Nathans desire to be President is enough to make him sell out his family and essentially sign Peter's death certificate. Way to go, Nathan.
Linderman then gets the upperhand by waiting until "Sybil II" is away and then using the shapeshifter girl (what is her name?) to lure Micah into his car. As if he couldn't get any skeezier. All he would have needed was an ice cream truck and a fascination with clowns and he'd have a complete matched set of crazy.