I am Norman Bates.
SYLAR: I really wasn't sure what to expect from this episode, since I've been kind of bored with Sylar's storyline ever since the shapeshifting levelled up his god mode. So it was nice to see him have to deal with the down sides to his abilities. Sylar's never been a posterchild for emotional control, and it's cool to finally get some consequences for his brain feeding frenzy. Fucking up his own DNA by abusing his powers - not to mention giving himself an identity crisis and a mild case of BATSHIT CRAZY - is a penalty I could accept. (Too bad it probably won't last any longer than the no-morphing-clothing penalty did. I approve of the gore, though. Gooooooore! It's not quite skin-ripping, but I'll take it!) The whole thing was a nice call-back to what HRG told him way back in season 1, that "all this power is degrading [him]." It also neatly wrapped up a lot of the things that have led Sylar to where he is now: wanting to be special, the mommy issues, the daddy issues, the lust for power and recognition, and that nagging desire to feel connected/loved by someone whose approval he craves. And the best part? They didn't mention THE HUNGER once. I'd call THAT a successful character development episode.
ZQ did a fantastic job with portraying Sylar's breakdown, especially in the scenes with Ellen Green. It was something that easily could have come off as silly if it hadn't been done right. But these two rocked their scenes together so much that it didn't feel contrived or ridiculous, even though we basically had Sylar shapeshifting into his dead mom to pep talk himself. If you're going to go all Norman Bates, shapeshifting certainly helps. Sylar's already proved that he loves his horror movies, but this was a nice twist on the idea. WELL PLAYED. And well acted.
Also, it was cool to see Sylar in scenes with a few characters he's never gotten to meet before. Like....
MICAH: Oh, Micah. Your heart's in the right place, but - as Danko's probably soon going to realise - plans to save the world generally shouldn't include Sylar in them if you value your brainz. Does this mean it's partly Micah's fault for putting the idea in his head to be president?
I never expected Sylar and Micah to meet. No matter how naïve Micah is for expecting the CRAZY PSYCHO KILLER to play for the good guys' team, you have to admit he knew exactly how to push Sylar's buttons. (A little "You're special!" and ego patting, and Sylar's your new BFF.) I liked how their interaction played out. Especially Micah drawing that parallel between Sylar and Niki. And Sylar just as quickly shooting him down.
DANKO: I was really hoping that Danko's Sylar-stopping master plan was something better than "HOLY SHIT, LOOK OVER THERE, A BIG DISTRACTING THING!" and knifing him in the head. Nice try, Danko. But you're still carrying the idiot ball for thinking that giving a psycho an all-you-can-eat brain buffet with no extra incentive to behave (and no better backup than "knife goes in head!") was a good plan in any universe.
I liked Danko in this episode, though. Idiot ball and all. Željko Ivanek and ZQ have good chemistry in their scenes, and it's been the highlight of their storyline, IMO. It was pretty much a foregone conclusion that things would end badly between Danko and Sylar. Mostly just a matter of who would try to kill who first. But it was neat to see them get a chance to interact on a more personal level, instead of just the regular scheming and mutual manipulation and backstabbing waiting to happen happening. Sylar showing some vulnerability and frustration was as interesting to watch as Danko attempting to offer some advice, and I liked seeing them relate to each other a little. (Suspiciously significant watch, eh? What are the odds?) Danko's been a good character for drawing parallels with: Matt, HRG, Nathan, Angela, and Sylar have all had their moments of having more in common with him than any of them would like to admit. His bad decisions are probably going to prove terminal, but if he DOES end up biting it in the next episode... At this rate, I might just miss the bastard.
NATHAN: Way to DO EXACTLY WHAT YOUR MOM TOLD YOU NOT TO DO, Nathan. Unless this is all part of the plan. But I'm not holding my breath.
Chances are this is all going to end badly for SOMEONE next week. Try not to die, Nate. You screwed up, but your family needs you. And the show needs your morally ambiguous dickishness.
VIRGINIA: Hi, Aunt Vivian Ellen Green! I heard Virginia was going to be back some time this season, and this was a great way to work her in: as the personified voice of Sylar's colourful assortment of mommy issues and mental problems, trying to make himself feel better. They've been really hit-or-miss about revisiting things from season 1 (what with all the failtastic retcon), but this...WORKED. Even if it was technically just Sylar talking to himself. I didn't see any retcon, I didn't see any OOCness, and I didn't see any random WTFery coming out of left field. It was exactly what a flashback/revisit SHOULD be: expanding on past events in a way that's relevant to current events, and understanding them both better because of it.
You're welcome back any time, Virginia. Even if you're just a manifestation of Sylar's CRAZY.
HIRO AND ANDO: HIRO! D: Psychic nosebleeds are never good news. Or time-stopping nosebleeds, in this case.
Hiro and Ando's hijinks are often hit-or-miss for me, but they had me laughing a lot in this episode. And "OMG!"ing at the end. Guess they might have to put saving the world on hold this time, and let the Petrellis handle it. GOD HELP US ALL.
MATT AND JANICE: I miss Daphne, but I could definitely warm up to Janice coming back again. Especially if she's not going to put up with Matt's crap this time around.
RANDOM STUFF:
- It irks me when they include a "Previously on Heroes!" scene for things that weren't actually on the show. "OH BY THE WAY SYLAR IS PRETENDING TO BE SOMEONE NAMED TAUB GUYZ." (Though not THAT Taub, LOL.)
- Morphing clothes = shapeshifting fail. DNA DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY.
- The ending of this episode was one of those nice, dreamy kind of moments like they did with the plane crash at the beginning of the volume. Nice sense of the threads starting to tighten around everyone, and everything suddenly approaching a showdown.
- When Sylar said his DNA was starting to get scrambled more and more whenever he shapeshifted, all I could think was "AHAHAHA, he's going to become The Thing!" Which is both hilarious to me AND warms my little horror-movie-loving heart. (Gory clips are gory. BUT AWESOME.)
(There are Lost SPOILERS up to the most recent episode from here on out.)
- sabella_a emailed me and pointed out that this episode was full of hilarious suspicious Lost similarities. *cuts-and-pastes*
1. Danko told Sylar he had to find his ~CONSTANT~ if he didn't want to
lose himself. (replace Danko with Faraday, and Sylar with Desmond).
2. Sylar: Dead is dead. Ben: Dead is dead.
3. Hiro nosebleed of hell (due to too much time-manipulation?)
Charlotte nosebleed of death (due to time shifting)
4. Sylar = murderous villain who has softspot for kids and he'd let
you live if you're underage (Molly, Micah, Luke). Ben = murderous
anti-hero who has softspot for kids and he'd let you live AND your
mother live.
Don't tell me next time either Nate or Pete would say "See you in
another life, brotha!" to the other.
And the evidence continued to accumulate over AIM....
__________
sabella_a: Sylar: I am LOST.
Mom: You're NOT LOST.
barhaven: They already had a plane crash this season. IT'S JUST A MATTER OF TIME.
barhaven: If the survivors form a new Company, it'll be Dharma.
barhaven: Cross your fingers and hope for polar bears.
__________
barhaven: [Hiro] will need a lot of tissues if he's going to be getting nosebleeds.
sabella_a: maybe he'd find his ~CONSTANT~.
barhaven: His constant's standing right next to him. :O
sabella_a: or maybe Ando's gonna travel back in time to warn bb Hiro never time travel again, or he'd die.
barhaven: And Ando will become Pedobear in the process.
sabella_a: Ando can't be his constant until Hiro recognizes it himself. :O
sabella_a: and while lying on the street with his nose bleeding, Hiro suddenly remembered seeing a scary man when he was a kid, that scary man warned him not to time travel. And Hiro revealed, dramatically, that said scary man was ANDO.
barhaven: Dun dun DUUUUUUUN.
barhaven: And then he dies, and Ando has to find someone immune to time travel rules to help save him?
sabella_a: And he has to keep wearing a thin black tie in mourning.
sabella_a: Heroes' script is infinitely more interesting that way.