| Heroes: Powerless |
| Wednesday, 12 December 2007 | |
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In the final episode of season 2, Sylar and Maya arrive in New York and their reunion with Mohinder doesn't go quite as planned (or maybe it does). Peter returns to his former level of "Chuck Norris"-itude and reunites with Nathan; Claire has a strange reunion of her own. Hiro continues his quest to find and bring justice to his father's killer, and we say goodbye to two Heroes permanently (by permanently, I mean until they think up some lame way to resurrect them next season). Wow, Heroes writers. It seems that some of you were paying attention last year because quite frankly: That is how you write a season finale. Wow. It was action-packed, it was funny, it was thrilling. It said what it needed to say, it got characters where they needed to be, and it left us all with a big surprise (myself included). Maybe they need to quickly rewrite all of their episodes from now on; it seems to work out pretty well for them! The Not-So-Great Escape Bob and Elle fight over her recent encounter with Claire and it's obvious that Elle has (everyone chime in here):  Are you familiar with the term 'Prison Wife'? DADDY ISSUES! Surprise, surprise. Bob takes her off active duty as punishment, and Elle seeks out HRG to get some answers. HRG, locked in a cell, stops his Steve McQueen impression long enough to reveal to Elle that when she was a child, Bob pushed and pushed her and put her through a lot of pain and stress, just to see what limits her powers have. Bob interrupts them and asks HRG whether or not Claire is a threat. HRG just smirks, and Bob threatens to "take measures" against her. Back at home, Claire and West part ways (finally!) after West tries to talk her out of going up against the Company. Claire refuses, gives West his Company file and sends the skinny emo loser packing. Hasta la vista, West! Don't let the cumulus clouds hit you on your flight out! Just as Claire is feeling lower than ever, a figure darkens her door: HRG himself. HRG tells his family about being healed by Claire's blood and that he's made a deal with the Company: he goes back to work for them and does whatever they say, and his family stays alive and safe. He apologizes to Claire and his wife, and leaves. "It's done", he tells Bob outside. You Should Have Gone to I-HoP Mohinder arrives at his apartment to confront Sylar, who is unsettlingly polite as to not tip Maya off about his true relationship to Mohinder. Sylar invites Mohinder to join them for breakfast, all nice and creepy-like. This is a great scene. You can tell that Mohinder is afraid of Sylar, but that Sylar is playing his cards close to his chest. Maya gushes over Suresh and accidentally lets it slip that Sylar is actually powerless. All hell breaks loose: Mohinder grabs for a knife, but Sylar is faster and gets to his gun first.  Just like a geneticist to bring a knife to a gunfight. While rifling through Bob's office, Elle sees the situation in Mohinder's lab (thanks to the above mentioned surveillance cams monitoring Mohinder) and dashes off to the rescue, hoping to make her dad proud. Meanwhile, Maya regrets parting with Alejandro and Molly offers to find him and let her know that he's safe. Unfortunately, since Alejandro is probably stuffed between the mattresses in Sylars old hotel room like some sort of hooker urban myth, Molly breaks the news to Molly that he's gone. Maya freaks out and confronts Sylar. Sylar offers his rebuttal in the form of a 9mm gunshot wound to her chest. Boy, can that guy debate, or can that guy debate!? Sylar tells Mohinder to cure her, and then cure him. Mohinder gives up the chase and reveals that he has the cure with him. Moho injects Maya and she heals of the gunshot wound. Sylar takes the opportunity to grab the remaining vial and run for it. Elle arrives and zaps him, but he still manages to escape with the cure. With both vials gone, Mohinder realizes that he can't cure Nikki. Thankfully, though, it won't be that much of a problem. Monica is set to be burned alive inside a building, but Nikki and Micah track her down using Micah's powers to trace her cell phone. Nikki gets the "badass-of-the-ep" award by handing a copious amount of beat-down to the arsonist/gangster even though she doesn't have her powers anymore. After taking out the gangster, Nikki frees Monica, but is trapped in the fire herself and joins D.L. in the white fluffy rave club in the sky. Or, maybe it's appropriate that she died in a fire because after all the people she brutally tore apart with her bare hands, she may have to get using to being in an inferno. The Lowdown on the Showdown Nathan and Parkman succeed in freeing Ma Petrelli after Victoria Pratt's body is found dead in her home. Nathan reveals to her that Peter's alive and she goes into rambling mode. I swear, if I have to hear another character on the show go off on that whole "in the beginning, twelve of us came together to change the world" speech, I'm going to shoot my TV screen Elvis-style. Ma Petrelli tries to blame it all on Adam, but Nathan is quick to point out that she was willing to let Linderman blow up New York for her own ends. She tells Nathan how to stop Adam once and for all, but as Nathan and Parkman leave, she shows her true colors by telepathically telling Parkman how to kill Peter once and for all if he can't be stopped. Wow, she makes Norman Bates' mother look like Carol friggin' Brady.  *cue Reservoir Dogs music* A few things: while the fight was cool to watch and all and it was nice to see Hiro actually use his powers in battle, what's with all the friggin' chit-chat? Has Hiro learned nothing from comics? You don't stand around talking about what you're going to do, you just do it! Secondly, Hiro can jump through time. Why, upon waking up after his fight with Peter, wouldn't he travel back in time to a second after Peter hit him with the shock and resume the fight? Maybe he realized he was in over his head? Regardless, Hiro awakens to find Nathan and Parkman have arrived at Primatech as well (in a very humorous way) and they join forces. Parkman confesses to Nathan that his mother told him how to kill Peter, and Nathan tells him to leave it up to him. Three floors below, Peter and Adam continue on to the vault where the virus is being kept, and it quickly turns into one of the coolest scenes of the season: they commandingly saunter down the hallways, guards attacking them at every turn. Peter throws one telekinetically, zaps another. Adam deftly slices his way through guard after guard. Finally, they come to the vault door. Now, for someone who desperately needs Peter's help, Adam is pretty damn snarky. First, he sarcastically jabs at Peter when Peter wonders outloud how they're going to get in the vault. Then, when Peter starts to question Adam's motives, Adam brings up Caitlyn, knowing full well that it's Peter's soft spot. Peter uses all his power (even bleeding from the nose which is apparently the universal sign of mental strain) and eventually pries the door open. This is when a good scene gets even better: Hiro appears again and Peter doesn't waste any time in knocking Hiro out once more. Adam convinces Peter to end it once and for all and walks into the vault. Parkman comes from around the corner and uses his new powers to try to force Peter to turn against Adam. Peter, who by this time has rightfully stolen the "badass-of-the-ep" award away from Nikki's charred corpse, counteracts him and fights back without even having to learn how to use the new powers! Peter charges after Parkman, sending him flying back along the floor, but is stopped by Nathan.  'It says Abby something... Abby Normal!' Peter makes it inside the vault just before it reaches the ground and freezes time. He grabs the vial and incinerates it in his hands using his nuclear powers, then heals his hands with Claire's healing powers. Tired of running and tired of his mother's lies, Nathan comes up with an idea: reveal themselves to the world, and use Parkman's powers to make sure people listen to them. Back in New York, Peter and Nathan have a proper reunion and Nathan calls for a huge press conference. He gives a stirring speech over a video recap of the season (which actually made it look pretty awesome when it's all put together like that) and just as he's about to reveal his powers... ...he is assassinated at the podium by a shadowy gunman in the crowd. This scene took me by complete surprise. They said last week that 2 Heroes would die, and I assumed they meant Nikki and Maya (because she was technically dead and then brought back to life). I didn't see this ending coming, which is a great accomplishment for the writers. I knew something would happen to keep the secret from getting out, but I had no idea it would be this. Will they bring him back next season? Is there a ClaireBear bloodbank anywhere nearby? Does he still have a bit of Adam Monroe's healing factor in his system? I hate to think that after they spent all season making Nathan Petrelli actually cool that they would flush him down the drain in the season finale. Peter holds his brother close and Parkman looks out over the crowd, only briefly seeing a figure leaving the scene.  Sylar's back and Olive Oyl better watch out. Volume 3: Villains This episode was tragic in that it was never meant to be a season finale. If it weren't for the current fiasco going on in Hollywood, we'd be looking forward to next week's episode, but instead Heroes is scheduled to return "sometime in 2008". But as tragic as it is, the episode came through in a big, big way. We had conflict, resolution, mystery, character advancement, broken allegiances, sad reunions, and lost brothers and mothers. I'll be very angry if this is the last we see of Nathan Petrelli. He was finally becoming more than the "pandering slimeball big brother with a heart of gold" that he was in the first season. But even more disturbing is who is behind his assassination. Who was the man behind the trigger?
Sorry, this part is for members only and may contain spoilers. If you'd like to read it, please LOG IN or REGISTER. It's been a long season, even though it's been a very short season. The show dragged on from the beginning and stumbled along the way, definitely the victim of the dreaded Sophomore Slump. However, out of the ashes of the WGA breakdown, the show has risen up and managed to pull through these last few episodes admirably. I've started to regain my respect for the show (somewhat) and can only hope that if given the chance, the writers, creators, and staff will come together for Volume 3 and knock our friggin' socks off. Peter Sorensen is a weekly reviewer and has 10 weeks of hell until Lost starts. Thoughts? Opinions? Wildly Disrespectful Ways to Help Claire Overcome Her Grief? Post a comment below and let us know! Comments (31)
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