Commentary: Episode 3x12
Previously, on Heroes: we learn from comic books, Claire is the Catalyst, Nathan and Peter are sweaty.
And now... Chapter Twelve, “Our Father”
Sweet title. I like it already.
Claire is not at all impressed by Hiro’s English. Claire-don’t get lost, or you’ll be trapped in the wrong time. Although luckily for you, you’re not traveling with Peter. Ask her about getting separated from your time-travel-mule.
I heart George Takei. At least the writers remembered that Kaito didn’t always think very much of Hiro. Woah, Hiro’s mom has healing power like Linderman! Cool. They were the Greatest Generation, weren't they?
Sylar is bloody hot. Get it? Bloody hot? Okay, sorry. Damnit, Elle is dead. And not the easy kind of coming-back-from-it-dead of so many other characters on the show. And now, since Sylar has Elle’s cell phone, he has lots of numbers, including many of the same names on Mohinder’s original list...? Arthur programmed this list for Elle before she left? Or... What?
Ah yes, the lovely under-the-gun shot. Angela is all about telling people to kill her family members with a bullet to the back of the head. Oh yes, mention a threat to Nathan. Angela knows how to twist Peter around her well-manicured fingers. Peter has recently learned how to shoot all guns, so he confidently (except for about 30 seconds of hesitation) picks up the gun.
Nathan goes to have a staring contest with his father. He flexes his jaw, and Arthur folds in a New York minute. Except that no one believes for one moment that Arthur is giving up his power that easily. Knox and Flint lurk for no reason at all. It will be their only appearance this episode.
Meanwhile, Tracy has rounded up a crew of burly 17-year-old white New Jersey boys so Mohinder can turn them into crazy lizard people. They stick out their chests to try to live up to Nathan’s manliness. They fail.
My mind boggles as Claire holds her baby self. And changes her own diaper. And gives parenting advice to her mother. Um...bwah? Ashley Crow looks amazing. For a minute, I wasn’t even sure it was the same actress.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet the mysterious Sue Landers, who will get Sylared for her birthday. I wouldn’t mind of Zachary Quinto showed up to my office in disguise. Even if he killed me later. Or maybe I would mind... So now, even though Sylar can get abilities by empathy, he still enjoys cutting open people’s brains. It’s a good thing he had all those life-changing moments earlier this season. He's really grown as a person.
Nathan interviews one of the new recruits. He’s a military man, so he wants to give it to the troops straight. Nathan listens with compassion, like a good politician. He nods sagely, and gives him the Eyes of Great Understanding. But the Marine tells him what he wants to hear: I want to be more than human.
Matt complains that running with Daphne is windier than teleporting. He fails to mention flying with Nathan. Must not want to make Daphne jealous. Matt rips the pertinent info out of the messenger dispatcher's head. Must not have been able to get the actor back who played the original messenger, yeah? They stupidly let the messenger “go to the back and get the sketches.” Daphne is not impressed.
Meanwhile, Hiro doesn’t know how to cook. Probably adult Hiro doesn’t even know how to cook, so surely 10-year-old-mind Hiro doesn’t know. While listening to Kaito trash his esteem, Hiro is adorable with his 10-year-old self.
So, Hiro’s mom is a healer? I predict she will fix his mind so he remembers his life again. This will be sad, because he’s going to remember some traumatic shit. Remember that scene from the Buffy episode where Willow accidentally makes everybody forget who they are, and for a while Buffy is normal and carefree because she forgot she was in Heaven? And then when she gets her memory back, the depression is crushing? Hiro was in love with Charlie, who died. He stabbed Sylar. He betrayed his best friend, and then Adam betrayed him and murdered his dad. His hot nemesis ended up with Matt Parkman. And then his African crazy dung-drug trip buddy got his head ripped off. So yeah, it’ll be like that Buffy episode.
Claire counsels her baby self. Bennet is suspicious, and is not at all buying her feminine wiles. He will likely shoot her in the head, and then everything will be fucked up. Except that for once, he listens to her, and they bond. Although I fear that she’s screwing herself up, somehow, but not becoming the catalyst.
Awww... Hiro’s mother was never going to get to see him grow up, and now she can. That’s so sweet. No, really actually a sweet scene. And yeah, there’s the traumatic moment of remembering some sad, sad shit. But he also remembers the good, heroic stuff. And because he’s so heroic, his mother gives him the light (which looks like it might cause cancer in rats) and she dies.
Wow. No, seriously, I don’t even love Hiro, and that may have been the best-crafted scene ever to grace Heroes. Cuz Masi Oka was probably like, “If you’re going to make my character 10 years old, it better have a good acting payoff, bitches!” And it did.
Peter Petrelli is driving. Which is probably not safe. I wouldn’t have thought Peter even had a license. The Haitian, who knows a lot about silence, calls Peter on his pouting. Peter draws a parallel between the Haitian dealing with his brother and Peter dealing with his...father. But he probably means he’ll have to kill Nathan.
Most. Awkward. Elevator. Ride. Ever.
Um... Wait...So... How did Arthur get time-traveling ability? Right, the claim is that he got it from Peter. Except that here's my contention: Arthur stole Peter's ability, right? Peter's ability is empathy, not the two dozen other things he can do. Giving Arthur all of Peter's powers is like stealing a car and claiming to have been everywhere the previous owner has driven the car. You have not seen the Grand Canyon, Arthur, give it up. Following Hiro to the past is cheating (and you knew he was there... how exactly?).
They couldn’t let Hiro defend the catalyst for three freaking minutes? After that awesome scene where we are emotionally invested in his defending the catalyst? That’s anticlimactic and undermines Hiro’s heroism, after he swore to his dying mommy to defend this catalyst. What the hell. No, seriously. What the hell?
Arthur lays hands on a jar of red jello. Except that I’m still angry about this bullshit use of the catalyst, so I don’t even care what Arthur does with it. Mohinder looks on and sneers creepily. He is scaly. I don’t see how this formula is going to help him; he already injected himself with some bad shit. How will a new formula change this?
The Haitian has now learned how to put people to sleep with his mind mojo. Or maybe he could do that before: I forget. Arthur’s spider sense is tingling. Nathan and Tracey suspect nothing. Haitian, I wouldn’t stand quite so near to an armed Peter. Although, if Peter had meant to shoot Arthur, he would have done it. No one who’s really going to pull the trigger stands around and talks.
Tracy makes a creepy comment about the Marine they’ve chosen. He doesn’t actually seem consenting, especially once he’s seen ugly!Mohinder. But Tracy, Nathan, and Mohinder watch him like a rat in a cage anyway.
Peter gets some balls and pulls the trigger, but not before Arthur gets his powers back. Apparently the Haitian is not quite as bad-ass as Arthur. Sylar works out his daddy issues, and the whole Sylar-is-a-Petrelli plotline was just a bunch of bullshit. Too bad. But at least Arthur is dead. And the Marine has shiny new Hulk-strength.
Okay: very mixed emotions. Loved that Hiro scene with his mother, but they totally undermined the impact by getting the catalyst stolen right away. Good for Peter for pulling the trigger, but I felt okay about Sylar being the one to kill actually Arthur. I’m really glad that he’s dead. He wasn't a magnificent bastard, just a bastard. But uh... What the hell is up with Nathan? And the waste of the catalyst as a character-building device? Criminal.
And now... Chapter Twelve, “Our Father”
Sweet title. I like it already.
Claire is not at all impressed by Hiro’s English. Claire-don’t get lost, or you’ll be trapped in the wrong time. Although luckily for you, you’re not traveling with Peter. Ask her about getting separated from your time-travel-mule.
I heart George Takei. At least the writers remembered that Kaito didn’t always think very much of Hiro. Woah, Hiro’s mom has healing power like Linderman! Cool. They were the Greatest Generation, weren't they?
Sylar is bloody hot. Get it? Bloody hot? Okay, sorry. Damnit, Elle is dead. And not the easy kind of coming-back-from-it-dead of so many other characters on the show. And now, since Sylar has Elle’s cell phone, he has lots of numbers, including many of the same names on Mohinder’s original list...? Arthur programmed this list for Elle before she left? Or... What?
Ah yes, the lovely under-the-gun shot. Angela is all about telling people to kill her family members with a bullet to the back of the head. Oh yes, mention a threat to Nathan. Angela knows how to twist Peter around her well-manicured fingers. Peter has recently learned how to shoot all guns, so he confidently (except for about 30 seconds of hesitation) picks up the gun.
Nathan goes to have a staring contest with his father. He flexes his jaw, and Arthur folds in a New York minute. Except that no one believes for one moment that Arthur is giving up his power that easily. Knox and Flint lurk for no reason at all. It will be their only appearance this episode.
Meanwhile, Tracy has rounded up a crew of burly 17-year-old white New Jersey boys so Mohinder can turn them into crazy lizard people. They stick out their chests to try to live up to Nathan’s manliness. They fail.
My mind boggles as Claire holds her baby self. And changes her own diaper. And gives parenting advice to her mother. Um...bwah? Ashley Crow looks amazing. For a minute, I wasn’t even sure it was the same actress.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet the mysterious Sue Landers, who will get Sylared for her birthday. I wouldn’t mind of Zachary Quinto showed up to my office in disguise. Even if he killed me later. Or maybe I would mind... So now, even though Sylar can get abilities by empathy, he still enjoys cutting open people’s brains. It’s a good thing he had all those life-changing moments earlier this season. He's really grown as a person.
Nathan interviews one of the new recruits. He’s a military man, so he wants to give it to the troops straight. Nathan listens with compassion, like a good politician. He nods sagely, and gives him the Eyes of Great Understanding. But the Marine tells him what he wants to hear: I want to be more than human.
Matt complains that running with Daphne is windier than teleporting. He fails to mention flying with Nathan. Must not want to make Daphne jealous. Matt rips the pertinent info out of the messenger dispatcher's head. Must not have been able to get the actor back who played the original messenger, yeah? They stupidly let the messenger “go to the back and get the sketches.” Daphne is not impressed.
Meanwhile, Hiro doesn’t know how to cook. Probably adult Hiro doesn’t even know how to cook, so surely 10-year-old-mind Hiro doesn’t know. While listening to Kaito trash his esteem, Hiro is adorable with his 10-year-old self.
So, Hiro’s mom is a healer? I predict she will fix his mind so he remembers his life again. This will be sad, because he’s going to remember some traumatic shit. Remember that scene from the Buffy episode where Willow accidentally makes everybody forget who they are, and for a while Buffy is normal and carefree because she forgot she was in Heaven? And then when she gets her memory back, the depression is crushing? Hiro was in love with Charlie, who died. He stabbed Sylar. He betrayed his best friend, and then Adam betrayed him and murdered his dad. His hot nemesis ended up with Matt Parkman. And then his African crazy dung-drug trip buddy got his head ripped off. So yeah, it’ll be like that Buffy episode.
Claire counsels her baby self. Bennet is suspicious, and is not at all buying her feminine wiles. He will likely shoot her in the head, and then everything will be fucked up. Except that for once, he listens to her, and they bond. Although I fear that she’s screwing herself up, somehow, but not becoming the catalyst.
Awww... Hiro’s mother was never going to get to see him grow up, and now she can. That’s so sweet. No, really actually a sweet scene. And yeah, there’s the traumatic moment of remembering some sad, sad shit. But he also remembers the good, heroic stuff. And because he’s so heroic, his mother gives him the light (which looks like it might cause cancer in rats) and she dies.
Wow. No, seriously, I don’t even love Hiro, and that may have been the best-crafted scene ever to grace Heroes. Cuz Masi Oka was probably like, “If you’re going to make my character 10 years old, it better have a good acting payoff, bitches!” And it did.
Peter Petrelli is driving. Which is probably not safe. I wouldn’t have thought Peter even had a license. The Haitian, who knows a lot about silence, calls Peter on his pouting. Peter draws a parallel between the Haitian dealing with his brother and Peter dealing with his...father. But he probably means he’ll have to kill Nathan.
Most. Awkward. Elevator. Ride. Ever.
Um... Wait...So... How did Arthur get time-traveling ability? Right, the claim is that he got it from Peter. Except that here's my contention: Arthur stole Peter's ability, right? Peter's ability is empathy, not the two dozen other things he can do. Giving Arthur all of Peter's powers is like stealing a car and claiming to have been everywhere the previous owner has driven the car. You have not seen the Grand Canyon, Arthur, give it up. Following Hiro to the past is cheating (and you knew he was there... how exactly?).
They couldn’t let Hiro defend the catalyst for three freaking minutes? After that awesome scene where we are emotionally invested in his defending the catalyst? That’s anticlimactic and undermines Hiro’s heroism, after he swore to his dying mommy to defend this catalyst. What the hell. No, seriously. What the hell?
Arthur lays hands on a jar of red jello. Except that I’m still angry about this bullshit use of the catalyst, so I don’t even care what Arthur does with it. Mohinder looks on and sneers creepily. He is scaly. I don’t see how this formula is going to help him; he already injected himself with some bad shit. How will a new formula change this?
The Haitian has now learned how to put people to sleep with his mind mojo. Or maybe he could do that before: I forget. Arthur’s spider sense is tingling. Nathan and Tracey suspect nothing. Haitian, I wouldn’t stand quite so near to an armed Peter. Although, if Peter had meant to shoot Arthur, he would have done it. No one who’s really going to pull the trigger stands around and talks.
Tracy makes a creepy comment about the Marine they’ve chosen. He doesn’t actually seem consenting, especially once he’s seen ugly!Mohinder. But Tracy, Nathan, and Mohinder watch him like a rat in a cage anyway.
Peter gets some balls and pulls the trigger, but not before Arthur gets his powers back. Apparently the Haitian is not quite as bad-ass as Arthur. Sylar works out his daddy issues, and the whole Sylar-is-a-Petrelli plotline was just a bunch of bullshit. Too bad. But at least Arthur is dead. And the Marine has shiny new Hulk-strength.
Okay: very mixed emotions. Loved that Hiro scene with his mother, but they totally undermined the impact by getting the catalyst stolen right away. Good for Peter for pulling the trigger, but I felt okay about Sylar being the one to kill actually Arthur. I’m really glad that he’s dead. He wasn't a magnificent bastard, just a bastard. But uh... What the hell is up with Nathan? And the waste of the catalyst as a character-building device? Criminal.