Notes on Heroes 1x12

[coalescent]

1. Christopher Eccleston!

2. Do we think that's it for the dinosaurs?

3. Does the breaking of the night-stick have the implications for the nature of Niki/Jessica's power that I think it does?

4. Claire may have owned this episode. Just sayin'.

5. I like the involvement of government agencies via Mohinder. It's a reminder that in the long-term, this isn't a Sunnydale Reality Distortion Field Event. Eventually the heroes are going to start getting noticed.

6. They have thoroughly screwed up the timeline, haven't they? Homecoming was two weeks from the start of the season, two weeks have passed since Homecoming, and there's three weeks until the explosion. But the season started in early October, and the explosion is due on November 8 ...

7. I'm a bit disappointed to see Sylar still locked up.

8. whoosh!

Comments

[the-flea-king.livejournal.com]

1. Wait, the crazy bearded guy was Christopher Eccleston?
2. Yeah, I think so :(
3. If we're thinking the same thing, I think so. The look on the actress's face was probably the best acting she's done all show.
4. Agreed. Great to see her scheming.
5. I still want to know how HRG fits in with those agencies.
6. Yeah, that tripped me up too.
7. Not me! I think radioactive guy is going to make a more interesting villain.
8. "Flying Man!"

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

My wife didn't recognise Christopher Eccleston either, until I pointed him out afterwards. Which is odd, since as far as I was concerned he couldn't have been more like Christopher Eccleston if he'd tried, even in his micro-appearances in Peter Petrelli's dream. I think it's just the visual look of the character that's throwing people off.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

My wife didn't recognise Christopher Eccleston either, until I pointed him out afterwards.

Huh. And I thought it was just Americans that were having problems ...

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't care but I even told her beforehand that he was in it!

[twic.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

I didn't recognise him either. But then i've only seen one or two things he's been in, so i wouldn't expect to recognise him straight off.

-- tom

[kalorlo.livejournal.com]

I didn't either. I think it was the beard.

Eccleston

[(Anonymous)]

I got it the second I heard him say "Fantastic".

I love Doctor Who, you know.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

3. If we're thinking the same thing, I think so. The look on the actress's face was probably the best acting she's done all show.

I'm thinking that she's essentially Isaac, but with mental illness rather than drug addiction. Previously, my hypothesis had been that it had been Jessica who had the power, and that she'd somehow transferred into Niki on her death. Now I think it's a genuine split personality, and that Niki's power is super-strength.

7. Not me! I think radioactive guy is going to make a more interesting villain.

Hmm, really? He seems fairly ... straightforward.

My larger objection to Sylar being still locked up is it makes it more obvious that Eden's death was a last-minute writing choice to take account of the actress leaving, rather than a natural part of the story.

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

We've definitely seen Jessica display super-strength before, and we definitely haven't seen Niki display it previously. I'm not sure about the implications for the genuineness or otherwise of the dual-personality, but either way it seems like Niki with super-strength could be an interesting angle. In fact it's tough to see what they're going to do with Niki at present!

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming that she'll spend a couple of episodes with a psychiatrist, who will help her to get a better handle on things, and then get broken out of the asylum when the rest of the plot reaches Vegas just in time for February sweeps. :)

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

Cynic. :-P

[the-flea-king.livejournal.com]

3
Right. My thinking is that the barrier between personalities re: the powers are going to break down and eventually both will have the super-strength. Or Niki will somehow go away?

7
He's going to be less mustache-twirly evil, because he's really just a grieving man, who isn't flat out crazy like Silar appears to be. I think there's more emotional texture to him. Right now, we're seeing very little of him, but there's something very ominous about him sitting in the desert learning to make small nuclear explosions in his hands. He wants revenge, or does he just want control? Not sure.

I agree completely about Eve's death. That was crap. Do you think they intend to free Silar again? I guess it's useful to have him around for season climaxes, or whatever?

I keep wondering... how does a nuclear "bomb" going off in NYC mean the end of the world, if the "save the cheerleader, save the world" thing is to be taken literally?

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

You mean New York isn't the entire world?

Nuke goes off in New York + US government interprets this as an enemy attack rather than mutant superpower gone awry = WWIII.

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

I keep wondering... how does a nuclear "bomb" going off in NYC mean the end of the world, if the "save the cheerleader, save the world" thing is to be taken literally?

As a side note, I have to say that US viewers seem to have attached much greater significance to the "save the cheerleader, save the world" thing than I have, because it seems to have been very heavily used in US TV promos. Absent those promos it didn't feel so critical to the show to me. Even Hiro felt it to be somewhat cryptic!

In any case the answer is probably that it simply sounded cool and the writers don't have a clue! I suspect that what it will come to mean is that Claire is responsible for saving the world at a later date, either directly, indirectly, or in more of a chaos theory sort of sense: the Heroes are all critical to being in just the right place at the right time, and she's part of that. She's also linked to Sylar, and saving her may ultimately bring him down. For a start he currently lacks the super-healing powers he might otherwise possess.

And as coffeeandink says, I think you can also make a case for a 'nuke' in New York having far-reaching implications for world peace.

[burger-eater.livejournal.com]

She may have saved the world by giving Peter a chance to absorb her powers.

[twic.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

My larger objection to Sylar being still locked up is it makes it more obvious that Eden's death was a last-minute writing choice to take account of the actress leaving, rather than a natural part of the story.

That's a really dumb objection. How can that possibly be a problem? If it's something which doesn't make sense, it's bad because it doesn't make sense, or if it doesn't advance the story, it's bad because it doesn't do that. How can the origin of it matter? What's it got to do with anything?

-- tom

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

There's a different -- at least for me -- between being reminded that writers may make dumb plot choices and between being reminded that tv writers have to modify their story to respond to factors beyond their control.

[abigail-n.livejournal.com]

The look on the actress's face was probably the best acting she's done all show

I think Niki's the most boring character on the show, but Ali Larter's performance as two very different people in the same body has been consistently excellent.

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

Yes, the Niki plotline is pretty dull compared to the rest of the show - although I like Micah - but I agree that the actress is good.

Heroes can be variable in the acting stakes, and this week I was particularly unimpressed by the guest cast - Linderman's "enforcer" and the guy Mohinder called in felt fairly wooden.

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

1. I know

2. I suspect so. A little bit of a let-down, really.

3. That Niki is uber-strong?

4. Yep, ownage.

5. That's cool too.

6. I suppose it depends if Sylar ends up getting Isaac's brain and Nathan ends up getting elected. Not sure that anything concrete's been contradicted, unless I'm forgetting the bleeding obvious. Which I often am.

7. whoosh?

I wasn't all that impressed with this episode. It was fine, but a lot of it was marking time and even the stuff that moved forward didn't really grab me by the scruff of the neck. On the other hand it's really "Season 1, Part 2", and as such I think it's a period of regrouping and moving characters into position.

I like that the characters are working together and converging to a much greater degree, which is nice. Nathan Petrelli seems to have taken an abrupt right-turn into accepting the superheroics that feels a bit strange, especially combined with Simone becoming properly convinced. It feels as if the writers have taken a few decisions between episodes.

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

6. Ah I see what you mean now! I haven't been playing close attention to the dates. Presumably they're hoping no-one else has either!

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

3. That Niki is uber-strong?

Pretty much, yep. See also comment upthread.

Nathan Petrelli seems to have taken an abrupt right-turn into accepting the superheroics that feels a bit strange, especially combined with Simone becoming properly convinced.

Huh. I didn't get either of those things -- Nathan didn't seem entirely convinced that he'd help out when he was talking to Hiro, and I read Simone as more verging-on-hysteria than really believing.

That said, you're right that it's a regrouping episode. But surely nobody expected anything else?

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

I read it that Nathan had been spurred by Peter's coma into investigating the genuineness or otherwise of the artist, and was somewhat amazed to find that there actually was an Isaac with apparently prophetic paintings. He seemed to be coming around, especially when seeing the paintings, and bumping into Hiro. I don't think he's completely sold by any means, but he's already gone a lot further than I would have expected.

Simone's belief I took as being completely genuine.

(Which is not to say that both of them can't backtrack next week.)

[twic.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

I'm with you. Once you've learned that three completely impossible things are true (you can fly, your employee's friend can see the future, and your brother can borrow those abilities), it's not such a big jump to accept that other weird stuff is happening. Indeed, it's rather more sensible to do so that to continue to be skeptical.

-- tom

[abigail-n.livejournal.com]

I read Simone as more verging-on-hysteria than really believing

With Tawny Cypress's pure teak acting, who the hell knows what the line was originally written as? I agree that hysteria is probably where the writers were headed, but Cypress seemed closer to chipper.

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I took it that she was overwhelmed with the ridiculousness of it all but basically forced to accept the truth.

I may need to go back and rewatch. Or just wait for VOICEOVER GUY to patronisingly explain everything in a gravelly monotone.

[wistling.livejournal.com]

Checked out PrimaTech yet?

http://www.primatechpaper.com, click on jobs, code MT36 (Heroes-related)

[snowking.livejournal.com]

Is Nathan just not running anymore or what? Some lip service to the idea of him being a candidate might be nice.

Sus reckons Eccleston has put a bit of weight on.

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

Sus reckons Eccleston has put a bit of weight on.

So now he looks merely emaciated? :-) I can't say I noticed. Will visually probe his mid-section next week. In a good way.

Of course, if I became invisible I'd probably let myself go a bit too.

[twic.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

4. Claire may have owned this episode. Just sayin'.

Say what? How did you work that one out? She didn't do anything interesting.

I think you have a teenage-blonde-superheroine-shaped hole in your life, and you're projecting your own needs onto Claire.

Also! I have a theory. First, a lemma: Takezo Kensai, the medieval Japanese lad whose sword Hiro wants, was a Hero. Okay? So, my theory is that Non-Smoking Man is in the pay of Linderman. I don't think he's government, since then he'd have had access to The List, as Mohinder's sent that to the FBI (and the government's competent at information-sharing on TV). The fact that Linderman is buying up Isaac's paintings and has Kensai's sword indicates that he has awareness of and interest in Heroes. We know he has plenty of money, so he has the wherewithal to fund the operation. Also, if memory serves, we've never actually seen Linderman on screen - we only hear his orders through his minions, in the same way as we perceive Non-Smoking Man's superior. Circumstantial, but it all makes sense. That doesn't really explain why Primatech is a thousand miles from Vegas, though; seems a bit inconvenient.

Another implication of Kensai being a historical Hero is that the Heroes aren't being created by a sinister modern conspiracy; either there have been genetic engineers active behind the scenes for centuries (a possibility i tend to discount), they must be a natural occurance. I presume their rate of emergence has increased recently, though. ISTR essentially the same holds in the X-Men.

8. whoosh!

Yes.

-- tom

[twic.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

That doesn't really explain why Primatech is a thousand miles from Vegas, though

Although i note the shortest driving route between the two does go through both Roswell and Trinity ...

-- tom

[twic.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

Takezo Kensai

The word on the street is that 'kensai' means something likee 'great swordsman', and is an honorific title, whereas 'Takezo' is a personal name, so if you're going to refer to the chap by one name, it shoud be Takezo, not Kensai as i used above.

Just so everyone gets that right in future.

Also, it seems the name is a reference to Miyamoto Musashi, whose given name may have been Takezo.

And that's science, bitches.

-- tom

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