What aunt_zelda Thinks: '1961' (+plus lots of thoughts.) Contains spoilers for 'White Night.'
(Lots of thoughts today ...)
Chief among them:
HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT AMAZON'S BOGUS DISCRIMINATORY POLICY?! GO SIGN THIS PETITION RIGHT NOW! http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/in-protest-at-amazons-new-adult-policy
I wrote a long and angry note attached to my signature that included big words and no swearing. I strongly encourage you all to do the same. If you haven't the time for a rant, just sign. Please. And don't you DARE buy anything from amazon until the policy is revoked! (Or, better yet, don't go back to them ever again! I know I haven't he funds to be able to afford that, but maybe I should just cut back on what I buy and get most of my stuff from Borders ...)
I know they're fixing it but SIGN ANYWAY! Don't let them forget it!
In other news: Yay! They rescued the Captain from the pirates! (But *wibbles* the pirates were only teenagers! I'm glad they got the Captain home safe, but sad that people can be so desperate in some parts of the world.)
More news: OMG I got books 9, 10, and 11 of The Dresden Files as an Easter gift! Sometimes, I just LOVE my family. Soon, I shall be caught up with everyone else and able to write and post Harry/Marcone fic! (Because book 9 was where my mouth dropped open with pure squee and I had to jump around mentally because I was carpooling back from an Easter party at the time. I mean ... just ... GAAAAAAAAH! Just read the bit where Harry's on the PHONE with Marcone and in exchange for his help Marcone just wants Harry to say 'please.' And he DOES!(SQUUUEEEEEE!) And then he gets Harry to say 'pretty please.' (MORE SQUEEEEEEEEEE!) and then he prompts "with a cherry on top" and Harry says "fuck you" and hangs up and I died re-reading that scene about sixteen times because it's CANON BITCHES WAHOOOOOOOO HUZAAAAAAH and other such sentiments besides! (And there is no. way. at. all. That Jim Butcher doesn't know exactly what he's doing. That scene screamed slash to my MOTHER.) Then there's this really intense scene between the two of them (face to face, Marcone not even looking away to bark orders to his mooks) where Harry pleads for his help ... and gets it. Again. He said please, and called Marcone by his first name. In my head, Marcone snogged him, then dove in and kicked ass. In the book, there was no snogging, but lots of ass-kicking. It was really hot in some spots. And Harry even had subtext with poor Ramiraz! (Whom I want to huggle now, btw.) What Helen Beckitt? LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU LA LA LA!
Still more news: You know what's fantastic? Torchwood Season 3 starts shooting ON MY BIRTHDAY! (August 18th, to those of you who can't recall that.) Isn't that AWESOME?! And my dad e-mailed this to me! I love my gay dad. *hearts*
Even more news: Last Friday night I watched Dear Frankie. You should all watch it too. You will sob loud, shrieking sobs, particularly if you grew up with divorced parents, like me. However, it is one of the most moving, beautiful movies you will ever see, so ... go see it.
Last news: You know what's TOTALLY OTP? Carmen Sandiego/Waldo. Think about it.
Right! WAZT!
1961
(not to be confused with '1984.')
(Sorry the recap isn’t all that great this week. Actually, I think it kind of sucks. Sorry, heroes_meta. I was really funny last week. This week … not so much. *kerslump*)
Digging. Sweaty Petrellis. Skeletons. This is what we call 'fanservice.'
The title card is under someone's ribcage. Creeeeepy. This totally makes up for re-using the body-bag thing last week.
Brother angst. Claire's bad wig. aunt_zelda is tired and providing a shoddy recap.
Hee. HRG is digging, but Angela still hasn't picked up a shovel. I choose to pretend that she's making use of her badass skills to get out of working in the hot sun, and not, say, wracked with guilt and personal history.
I'm sorry, I'm sure everyone else is saying it, but ... the barracks and abandoned swingset and mass grave is screaming 'DHARMA INITIATIVE!' to me. I'm sorry, but it had to be said.
Peter and Claire need to stop having so much chemistry together. It's icky. I know the actors are dating in RL, but if Ted and Sandra's actors (who are MARRIED in RL) could do it, so can these two!
Peter prompts Angela for the classic 'turn around into a flashback' thing. But it's in BLACK AND WHITE WOOHOO *geekspasm*
Congrads to the casting of teenage!Angela. I knew it was her before they even called her name. However, the casting for Chandra ... not so much.
'Relocation Center' sent shivers down my spine. Especially since, seeing the family from behind with their dark hair, I thought instantly 'OMG Japanese camps WWII oh noes Hiro's ancestors!' even though this is AFTER WWII and Hiro's granddad was killed in Hiroshima.
Alice says that Chandra has 'a funny accent.' He promptly wins my heart by retorting kindly 'so do you!' Hee. I laugh now, but I'm certain that he's going to break my heart by the end of the evening.
The kids are separated from their parents. It's 'just across the quad' but we all know that it's going to get worse. Oooo, Dr. Zimmerman! Angela notes the soldiers with guns, and Chandra says that the soldiers are here for the kids' protection. LIAR LIAR! (I wonder if he's related to Ben Linus ...)
As the girls are unpacking, a teenage-ish trio of Charles Deveaux (lookin' MIGHTY FINE, I might add!) enters with Linderman (who looks kinda geeky, but cute) and 'Bobby' Bishop (who just looks icky.) Charles flirts with Angela, and the boys leave. Uh, ew? Cute? I'm ... confuzzled ...
Angela and her sister have a sweet scene. Whoever cast these girls deserves flowers from us fans. We learn that the camp is going to make Angela's 'nightmares' go away. Huh. Clever. Draw the mutants in with promises of a cure, and turn them into weapons/kill them. Danko could learn from this. We fade out of the flashback very nicely. Heroes is great with flashbacks. It's why I've stood by the show since watching 'Company Man.'
Angela tells Peter that her sister and parents died here, and that they'd better resolve their differences, or history will repeat itself. Peter's stubble is distracting. A woman's hand (I think) pulls aside the ragged lace curtains in a window. Dun!
Heroeclipse!
Peter is still pissy. I'll forgive him because of the stubble. Nathan is hot. Angela gives answers. The Company was apparently formed when the survivors of Coyote Sands vowed to never let something like that happen again. So they erased files and memories and blackmailed and killed to hide the heroes and villains. And Danko's blown it all to hell. I love how Angela isn't pointing out how NATHAN is the one who blew it all to hell. Angela wants to bury their secret and go back to the 'old methods.' Claire clarifies that this means killing and blackmailing. Peter's having none of this and flies away. Nathan flies after him. Oh god, it's another fanfic come to life!
A month after arriving, teenage!Angela (can I call her 'Angie' for simplicity's sake?) wakes up from a 'nightmare.' Angie steps out onto the porch, and outside. She finds the Trio. Charles reveals that he and the guys heard her telling her sister about her nightmares coming true. Angie plays dumb, but then Linderman says "how'd a pretty skirt like you get a scar like that?" then TOUCHES HER LEG and makes the scar vanish! Oh my ... *gulps* Charles says that they're lab rats, and prisoners, and adds that the Nazis did this with the Jews, and that "America did it too, with the Japs." Bob and Angie don't want to believe that. Linderman is silent. Charles asks Angie what her dream was. She says that her dreams are confusing, and Charles coaches her to believe in them and stop being afraid. Angie hesitates, then cautions them to not trust Dr. Suresh. Alice comes outside, and Angie heads back into their bunkhouse. Alice calls Angie 'Banana.' Hee hee.
Alice whispers to Angie that she thinks she can control the weather ... and then makes it snow. Angie looks tearful. Terrified, Alice asks "Is Dr. Suresh gonna come for me?"
Angela and Claire have a Talk. (Not that kind of talk.) Angela says that she was sixteen, almost Claire's age, when she came to Coyote Sands, and that every other thought was about boys and the prom. Claire grins at that. Angela says that she wishes she'd had half Claire's strength then. Claire wants to know what happened. From what I can decipher from Angela's cryptic, sad line, it sounds like it was pretty bad. Then a dust-storm starts up. Angela staggers outside, yelling for Alice, and Claire drags her back inside. Utto.
Coyote Sands Cafe. Which is either the Burnt Toast Diner with a REALLY spiffy rework, or another set altogether. (I thought they were 'a million miles from nowhere?' How'd a cafe get there? To provide info to roving bands of conspiracy theorists? Does Liz Parker work there?) Nathan sits down across from a very pretty Peter. Fangirls plaster themselves to the glass windows in frenzied attempts to get inside. They argue. Nathan wants them to work through their angst. Peter says he's trying to, which means that the writers are stalling. The TV in the cafe brings up an emergency storm warning.
HRG staggers around. Mohinder tackles him, then throws him up against a wall in a shack. I am NOT making this up. They trade stories, and I'm annoyed that the actors need to yell. They look silly doing it, and both men excel in close, personal scenes with hushed voices. I'm just saying. After hearing about the graves, Mohinder says he's not so sure he wants to know what his father was up to here. He hands HRG files that contain pictures of Alice and Angie.
This segways into a scene where Chandra leads Angie into an examination room, where she's being filmed and recorded and tested with these cards. She tells him about her dreams coming true, adding that "they're confusing," and says that she dreamt that he's going to kill everyone at Coyote Sands, including Alice and her parents. She pleads that he's a good man and has treated the heroes with kindness, but warns that things will spiral out of his control. Chandra basically brushes this off, and holds up a nasty-looking syringe. "This won't hurt a bit." LIAR LIAR BENJAMEN LINUS!
Angela yells to Claire that she tried to warn the people at Coyote Sands, and save her sister, but couldn't. Claire thinks that Alice isn't alive. Angela says that her sister is angry, and staggers outside, saying that she (Angela) needs to deal with this. Claire tries to stop her, the storm stops, and Nathan and Peter land soon afterwards. Angela is gone. Rut-row!
Mohinder is upset and convinced (citing Occam's Razor) that Chandra committed mass-murder. HRG says that "working with the enemy doesn't necessarily make you the enemy. You should know that." Heh. I love it when anti-heroes bicker. HRG adds that he met Mohinder's father (oh, that's right! He did!) and says that he was a good man. Really? I thought he was skin-crawlingly creepy, myself, but that's only because of Six Months Ago. Maybe he was a nice guy ... but knowing this show, I kinda doubt it.
Peter wants the gang to split up. Genre-Savvy HRG says no one should go out alone. Nathan sends Mohinder after Peter.
Mohinder thinks that he's his father's son: using humans as guinea pigs, and not 'for science' either, for self-interest. Peter says that Mohinder's being too hard on himself. Peter, did you watch the last volume? Whoever was in charge of Mohinder's stupid plotline deserve FAR more criticism than this scene is providing! (Oh, right, Mohinder, sexy, Peter recalling how 'they' started this back in S1. Ah, S1 ... how I miss thee ...) Mohinder says that he's weak and corruptible and selfish. *wibbles* Where's Sylar to spark Mohinder's self-righteousness when you need him?! Or to just ravish him on the floorboards? (Yeah, I need my Mylar fix now. Shut up, it's been a busy, exhausting couple of days.)
Peter bonds with Mohinder over their bad-parent issues. Peter doesn't want a new Company, the old one was 'corrupt.' Mohinder questions that, seeing as it was born out of fear and anger at what happened at Coyote Sands.
Then Mohinder says something that makes my little Mylar heart squee with joy. "I have to believe that there's redemption. I have to. Even for me." *ulp* God only knows what'll happen in the fanfics after my fellow slash authors have heard that line.
Peter smiles a cute little smile of idealism. Yay! Good scene, that.
Claire and her Two Daddies (hee) walk into another barrack. (Hee hee ... Barrack Obama ... hee, I'm in dire need of some sleep ...)
Nathan says that Peter blames him for everything. HRG says that he doesn't exactly disagree with that, and adds "We've both made a mess of things." And HOW, Writers, and HOW!
HRG tells Nathan that Sylar is now working with Danko, can shapeshift, and nearly made HRG kill his own wife. Ulp. If Nathan remembered his wife, this would scare him.
Claire finds the dust jacket from Alice's copy of Alice in Wonderland. She gives a nice little rambling speech about missing movies nights and how she ought to be crazy by now and that she tried to impress her dads by trying to take down the bad guys. HRG and Nathan comfort her, but really they ought to have gone in for a group hug. Claire reminisces for the time when she wanted to be a doctor or a chef, not an agent. She'd make a bitchin' suchi chef, I'm just sayin' ...
(P.S. Claire's acting ... very odd this episodes. Hayden seems to be kinda out of it. Maybe she was sick when they were filming this episode? I was convinced Sylar was pretending to be her in this scene, or Alice was possessing her or something.)
May 1961. (Someone ought to make a timeline of how this episode coincides with the Dharma timeline.) Alice watches as Angie talks to Charles in the doorway. Charles whispers to Angie that he and Linderman and Bobby are going to flee while the guards are changing, and adds that it's her plan. Angie wants to take Alice with them, but Charles says that it's too dangerous and Alice will slow them down. Dude, if I had Captain Planet on my team, I'd be willing to risk a slow march. Angie should have made more of a stand on that point. Charles tells her to lie to her sister. ULP. This will be the mistake, and leave Angie wracked with guilt, and be where everything starts to go to hell. DANGIT CHARLES I LIKED YOU! (While we're on that, exactly how far are an English boy, a kid who needs glasses, and a white girl who seems sweet on a black boy going to get in the sixties? I'm sorry for being the one to point this out, particularly since the episodes have been really great lately, but ... as always, I want less Peter and Nathan angst and more flashback info.) Angie tells Alice that she and the boys are sneaking out. Alice wants to come with, but Angie says that she wants to hang out with kids her own age. Alice thinks they'll be making out, and Angie's all "ew! No. Don't think like that! Leave that to the fanfic authors." She tells Alice to cover, and Alice says "I'm scared" and it starts to thunder and rain. Angie then tells a HORRIBLE lie to her: that she had a dream about Alice, that it's going to be safe at Coyote Sands, and all she has to do is stay there, and that Angie and the guys will be back soon. Then she says "Say goodnight, Alice," and Alice repeats "Goodnight, Alice" just like before, and it's creepy and scary and I'm gonna be crying by the end of this, aren't I?
Angela wakes up in a cool basement. There are shelves with food, stacks of newspapers, and a copy of Alice in Wonderland. If the book was replaced with The Zombie Survival Guide, it'd be just like the stronghold the books recommends the Z-Day enthusiast equip themselves with. Then a woman who looks a bit like an aged hippie (with a long heliotrope scarf, jeans, and lots of curly gray hair) comes down the stairs, and Angela whispers "Alice?"
Alice, it seems, has gone a tad insane. Can't blame her. Alice turns on a record that segways into a scene at a diner in 1961. Angie called the cops, who don't believe her. The boys are more interested in eating food. Charles gets Angie to dance with him to the song she likes, as she missed her prom. Naaaaw. The sweet scene is, predictably enough, cut short by the proprietor who says that they don't allow dancing with African-Americans. He's just jealous that Charles can get pretty girls like Angie and the cook is stuck wearing that stupid hat. Charles uses Maury's power. (DAMNIT, Writers! Don't slip up, not now! You're so close to perfection once more! Save the show, Brian, SAVE THE SHOW!) Angie wants to go buy socks for Alice. (OMG CONTINUITY! ANGELA STOLE SOCKS IN THE PILOT! ANGELA STEALS SOCKS FOR ALICE! OMG!) The Severe Storm Warning announces ... a severe storm. Angie snaps that they need to get back to Alice "right now!"
Angela reaches out to touch Alice. Alice speaks. She is, indeed, a little crazy. But she manages to tell Angela that the room they're in was packed with food, and when she got through all of that, she stole food and clothes. Angela asks why she stayed. Alice says "Because of your dream. You said I'd be safe here." Angela tries to interrupt, but Alice continues "And I trusted you." Alice says that she'd be safe here, and the world would be safe from her. Angela asks what happened that night, the night she left.
Alice flashes back.
All to that song, we see Alice being tested, see Chandra try to inject her, see Alice call up a storm that blows the doors open and zaps a guard. She runs outside, Chandra grabs her and might have accidentally hit her. Alice's father runs up, holds Alice, and holds up his hand, shooting some kind of glowing stuff at Chandra, knocking him down. A guard shoots Alice's father. Alice hides under the house. Bullets. Screams. The hula song. Alice cries into her arms.
In the present, Alice sobs into her scarf. Angela comforts her and says that she doesn't have to stay here anymore. She confirms my belief: that she steals the socks for Alice. *wibbles* They hold hands and cry and Angela apologizes. Alice says "It's not your fault." And then Angela does a stupid thing. She admits that she LIED to Alice. What she says afterwards, about wanting to protect Alice and how she thought she was keeping her safe, doesn't matter at all. All Alice heard was "I lied to you." It's one of those things that happens on TV, where you see someone's eyes flicker ... and the actress playing Grown Up Alice really nailed it. Again, flowers to the Casting Director, stat!
Wind. Lights. Sound. Storm.
Alice stands up, whirling Angela around with her, yelling "You!" and Angela yells "I'm sorry!" and I get very, very still because some people today pretended to spoil me that Angela died, and I'm worried they were telling the truth.
Peter and Mohinder rush in. Mohinder stupidly attempts to get Alice to calm down, but he's using the words his father was, and Alice flashes back to Chandra slapping her ... and she zaps Mohinder with lightning. He slams into the newspapers. If he dies, Mr. Fuller ... *snarls*
Angela insists to Peter that she has to talk to Alice.
Angela yells at Alice that she has a son, Alice's nephew, and that Alice's family can help her. Alice stops the storm. Angela keeps saying she was sorry. She pleads with Alice to go home with them. "Say goodbye, Alice." Flashback!Alice smiles and nods. Present!Alice snarls "No." and storms (sorry ...) upstairs. Angela's face doesn't just crumple, it falls. She follows her sister. Peter checks on Mohinder.
Angela hurries upstairs ... but Alice is nowhere to be seen. DUN!
That night, Peter hands Mohinder a reel of film, maybe there might be some answers about his dad. Mohinder notes that the storm covered the graves, and maybe it's best to leave it buried. Peter shrugs, and says "Let's get out of here," heading for the cars.
"I'm not going with you, Peter." Mohinder says, staying right where he is.
Peter walks right back to him. "Why?"
Mohinder says that maybe Peter's ready to forgive himself, but Mohinder isn't ready to forgive himself. "Not yet."
They shake hands, and Peter gives Mohinder that cute S1 pat-on-the-shoulder thing before walking towards the cars. Mohinder watches him go.
Once again, music brings us to a flashback. Angela stands in the diner, watching the spot where, in 1961, her tearful teenage self galvanized the three boys into forming the Company. Bob says "We're just kids." Angela retorts "Not anymore, we're not."
Nathan gets up from the table and hands the re-jacketed Alice in Wonderland to his mommy and tries to have a heart-to-heart. I'm not sure if it worked or no, but he gets her to sit down at the table with them. Peter holds her hand just like he did in the Pilot. Naaaaw.
After an awkward-silence that Claire gets them to break, Peter says "This isn't a company. It's a family." (This is modern Mafia, they're scared of us, they're scared of us, it's time for us to re-define, so fix your eyes, yeah, fix your eyes ...) "Families have the capacity for forgiveness."
Nathan asks if Peter really means that. Peter says that they're stronger together than apart. *winces at the squees of the Nathan/Peter shippers* Peter wants an end to the hunting, and reaffirms that they need to stay secret. (WHY?! I kinda want the heroes to be outed. I’m sorry, but … I can only tolerate so many seasons of ‘hide! Shut up! Keep the secret!’ before I want Merlin to start busting his magic moves to save Arthur’s life without having to fear for his own after the fact.) HRG promises Claire that they can put their lives back together, and Claire smiles. Naaaw. She asks what's next.
Nathan says that he'll go back to Washington and talk to the President and take ownership of his actions.
HRG adds that it looks like he already has.
And then we see spiffy-Senator Nathan on TV. It's Sylar. As is made perfectly clear by the eyebrow movements. DAYUM if Adrian Pasdar can't act the pants off of Sylar-pretending-to-be-Nathan! FYG! FYG! Hip hip HURRAY! Hip hip HURRAY! Hip hip HUZZAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
Next Week! (TWO EPISODES LEFT OMG!) Mohinder gets shot! Hiro and Ando look shocked! Beds of drugged heroes and villains! Sylar clinks glasses with Claire, and no, that's no an euphemism, but neither is Claire's look to be missed. Ando gets shot with tranq darts! Peter and Nathan do a running jump! Claire runs down a bridge in a jogging suit! Matt, Janice, and Oswald strike a pose! More stuff to really fast music! I CANNOT WAIT! *kerslump*