Monday September 29, 2008
303
HRG and his new partner go to a local bank heist with four villains; including Peter being trapped in one of them. Hiro and Ando track Daphne to Germany, and meet the Haitian. Tracy Strauss goes to New Orleans to find out more information about Niki. Meredith teaches Claire a lesson about fighting. Usutu shows Matt a series of paintings about him.
Write a Recap »Noah and Sylar form an unlikely partnership, Peter tries to save the hostages in a bank inside a villain's body, Matt is revealed some paintings made by Usutu that reveal his past and future and Claire comes forward about her feelings to Meredith. hide show
The third chapter is action packed indeed. Sylar is told by Angela that she is his biological mother. So, Angela sets up Sylar to be Noah's partner in capturing the escapees from Level 5. During this partnership, Noah asks Sylar to keep low profile. Meanwhile, four of the escapees (including Jesse Murphy in whose body present Peter is in) take over a bank. When they open the safe and take the money, Knox (one of the escapees) reveals to the rest of the team his true plan; to draw in the Company and take revenge. When Noah goes in the bank so that the hostages will be let free, things turn ugly and Noah is in danger. Future Peter appears out of nowhere and removes present Peter from Jesse's body and together they escape. Sylar appears at the right moment and saves Noah's life.But when capturing the escapees, Sylar's hunger kicks in and he kills Jesse and takes his ability. In the end, one of the escapees is dead (Jesse), one is returned to his cell (Flint), one was killed by Knox during a disagreement between them (The German) and Knox escapes. Sylar returns to his cell.
Claire refuses to go back to school determined that her life as a normal girl is over and that she will be better off chasing the escaped villains instead of going to school. Sandra disagrees and is angered when Meredith tries to interfere. Meredith tries to make Claire understand her true feelings. After the hard incident Claire is put through by Meredith, Claire reveals that she is only interested in going after Sylar and taking revenge. In the end, Claire goes after one of the villains.
Hiro and Ando are in Berlin trying to stop Daphne from retrieving the second part of the formula. There we meet the Haitian who is there to collect the formula for Angela's benefit (so we see that Daphne is not working for the Company but for someone else). After a series of events, Ando messes up and the formula ends up in Daphne's hands while Hiro and Ando are imprisoned by the Company (this is the first time that we see a fracture in Ando and Hiro's friendship which will be the main focus of Hiro's story this volume).
Tracy tries to uncover the mysterious connection between her and Niki Sanders. So, she goes to New Orleans where she sees the dead body of Niki and meets with her son, Micah. There Micah realizes that Tracy is not his mother. So he helps her get some information about her past. We see that Niki and Tracy where born on the same day by the same doctor, Dr. Zimmerman, who Tracy visits next in Reseda, CA.
Finally, Matt is in Africa with Usutu who reveals that he could paint the future since he was a little boy and that he has been painting Matt's life all along. Matt is surprised, especially when he is told that a painting showing him and a mysterious blonde with a child is no longer his future. When Usutu paints a new painting it is revealed that the same blonde will now die and Usutu offers to show him how to save his future.
Overall a good episode that puts the foundations for the rest of the volume. The lady shown in this episode making the transfer with the Haitian is Sedhil Ramamurthy's (Mohinder) wife. Key facts: Sylar's new ability taken by Bridget is one awesome ability that will be used later on especially in volume 4. Enjoy!
'One of Them, One of Us' is mostly good, although it is a far slower, more methodical episode than the rip-roaring season opener. hide show
All we need now from Heroes is for Mohinder to keep his pants, his trousers, his shirt and well, his everything on, thank you very much… which, thankfully, this week, he does. So much so, in fact, that he's not even in the episode. Which I can't say I'm complaining too much about. What is in 'One of Them, One of Us' is, for the most part, rather good however, although it is a far slower, more methodical episode than the rip-roaring season opener. It essentially lays the groundwork for future plot developments and moves important pieces into position, while providing enough intrigue of its own to keep the water cooler busy. Sylar is very much the main talking point here – from finding out that the even-more-evil than usual Angela Petrelli (Christine Rose is, as usual, simply devine, dahling) is his biological mother to teaming up with HRG, the world of the show's principle villain is turned decidedly on its head and Zachary Quinto rises admirably to the challenges that come along with it. The actor gets a chance to explore the world of the man behind the insanity, to three-dimensionalise Gabriel and offer him his own set of emotional conflicts rather than hanging on to a 'I hunger for powers' modus operandi. Partnering him up with Noah Bennet is inspired and, while slightly clunky in light of their history, it works very well, primarily because the two of them have oodles of delightfully mistrusting chemistry. The same can arguably be said of Claire and her biological mother, whose journey of 'self-discovery' culminates in a superbly written and directed sequence in which Meredith traps Claire in a burning building and attempts to suffocate her. You know, as moms do. Although the outcome is somewhat telegraphed (and as is Claire's subsequent rebellion), it is perfectly in keeping with young Bennet's character and, as a result, is the only logical, and satisfying, result. How logical Matt Parkman's trip to see African Isaac Mendez is remains up for debate, it must be conceded, but, in all honesty, I have absolutely no issue at all with this particular storyline. It seems to be bugging the hell out of the Heroes fans though, and the complaint generally seems to be that they don't like the writers repeating powers. Well, to that I say: deal with it. It happened last year with West and Kensei and you weren't complaining then, were ya? (Actually, they probably were). I don't feel the need to see an original power with every new hero and, in any case, this guy's is slightly different. He only sees Parkman's future, not everyone's. And in any case, it reintroduces the stunning season one artwork into the show; all the desert sequences are simply beautiful to observe. Oh and before the whiners start, Parkman is not necessarily going to paint the future. His eyes roll back yes, but he's on his 'spirit walk', his journey of discovery. It will probably affect Matt differently (it told the other dude to paint, it didn't make him paint)… Parkman did not touch a brush of any kind. Don't get worried yet.
There are some minor problems with 'One of Us, One of Them', however, and they largely revolve around the villains and Peter. While the sequence in the bank was rather entertaining, with some nice use of powers (particularly Jesse's sound manipulation) the narrative was, ultimately, a bit of a damp squib, wasn't it? After building Jesse up last week, he gets two minutes to show his 'true force' and then he's dead at the hands of Sylar. Not the best decision, guys. The flamethrower's back in level 5 too, and God knows where Knox is. Really, not enough has been made of these guys, especially given that such gravitas was placed on their escape in the previous episode. Their level of threat was well sold in 'The Butterfly Effect'… but the ultimate execution leaves something to be desired. I do, however, have faith in the writers: they know what they do, and one imagines they have something else up their collective sleeves (a dozen escaped from Level 5… and Angela's premonition only included Knox in the line-up of no-gooders who murder our heroes). Hiro and Ando's narrative was a little lacking too; while it was nice to see the Haitian again, and Daphne continues to be brilliant, the Japanese duo's squabbling was completely predictable, and the speedster's taking advantage even more so. The feeling of disappointment at their story is probably a bi-product of slowing the pace of the plot down, allowing for considerable concentration on character development in some areas and downsizing the others to B or C storyline status. There's nothing essentially wrong with such a process: a more refined, and reflective, episode is produced as a result, but without the benefit of foresight to see where the building blocks being placed will ultimately fit, it can potentially come across as a little lacking. Still, on the whole, this is a well-written and executed hour of a show that continues to excite, intrigue and beguile.
A very packed episode with lots of action and info. hide show
We continue where we left off, with Sylar and mommy dearest. She gave him up for adoption so he's probably half brother to Peter and Nathan. Not to mention uncle to Claire whom he attacked. We meet Bridget who has a very cool power – to know the history of anything she touches. And just when we thought Angela couldn't get any worse – she FED Bridget to Sylar!
Back to Tracy – why is her power manifesting so late? Everyone else's powers manifested around the same time (this generation anyway) but not Tracy's. What an awesome power, cryokinesis. When she doesn't show up for work, Nate goes looking for her. How did that reporter get that video?! Former congressman or not, I would still think it would be news yet no-one knows about it. "I still kinda think that's you."
Nathan did get Peter's message and Future Peter confirms that Peter is missing. It's very well done, every time Peter looks in the mirror, he sees Jesse. The pyro he's with, that blue fire looks like the power Future Peter had when he fought Sylar in the future. Good news is: he's back in New York.
Bennet goes back to the Company but with a clear mission: to recapture the prisoners. It's odd though, when Bennet first explained the purpose of the Company, he said they 'exterminated' the really dangerous ones – why on Earth did they not get rid of THESE ones?! Confirmation that Angela is truly insane – she pairs Bennet with SYLAR!! And like any loving mother, says that Gabriel is just misunderstood. Sylar craves motherly approval (look at when he was with his adopted mother, she rejected him, he killed her) so Angela may be able to control Sylar. Though to what extent only time will tell. He looks so cute in the suit, with his hair slicked back. I never thought I'd refer to Sylar as adorable but he look so sweet! Like a kid playing dress-up. Sylar always knew he was special, that's what started his murder spree but little did he know it went further than that, that his entire biological family is special too. And now he knows he's one of them. Will this alter his behavior with Peter next time they meet? The last three times they ran into each other, they tried (successfully) to kill each other. According to Angela, his power is a hunger for power, in his specific case, a hunger he satisfies by taking other people's powers.
Daphne delivered the formula, buyer unknown and the second piece is in play. Who better than the Haitian to be the delivery boy? No-one with powers can get near him.
Claire, typical teenager, is trying to assert her independence and naturally wants to use her powers to stop evil. Meredith points out the obvious: her powers are completely defensive, though critical should she be hurt, it doesn't work as a weapon. However, looks like Meredith is going to teach her.
Who would have thought that Peter would rob a bank? Being Peter, he acts as the innocents' protector. But one of them deliberately called the police, wanting a confrontation with the Company's enforcers when they arrive. On an up-note, a falling out leaves us with one less psychopath to deal with.
Matt's new friend is just like Isaac, painting the future and in doing so, learned Matt's name. Very sweet painting of Matt finding Molly. That's not the only one – for some reason, his powers seem to focus specifically on Matt's life… with one exception, showing Matt with his 'wife' and child, and the woman's blonde? Saying the future's changed, he repaints – could the blonde woman be Daphne? Same build, same hair. Cute with the tortoise walking of the 9th Wonder. Matt eats something and his eyes go white?!
It's becoming obvious that the range of powers is limited, we're still seeing new kinds of powers but are now also seeing repetition in people with the same or at least, similar powers: prophetic painting; healing/immortality; pyrokinesis.
The fugitives make the news and thankfully, Angela shares with Bennet that Peter is one of them. Bennet does seem to imply that Peter only has Jesse's power, this is backed up by Peter's complete non-use of his powers and since he doesn't know what Jesse's power is, can't use it either. But our main psycho, Knox, is smarter than he looks, figures out that Jesse isn't Jesse anymore. How did Bennet just waltz through the police blockade like that?! What was that badge?! Sylar has untold depths – he started snapping orders at a lieutenant who obeyed and did it with just attitude and tone! I'm impressed! Bennet intends going alone but orders Sylar to stay outside. On one hand, it's stupid, Bennet has no powers and no weapons (he seems to be relying on Peter being inside) but on the other – as he says, to Sylar it would be a buffet.
Hiro and Ando are always a riot and this time is no exception. Ando bantering with Daphne in the theatre; "Hiro will never leave me…" only to turn around and Hiro is gone, Daphne snickers. They are adorable together as always. Ando really is the sidekick to the hero (no pun intended) and I sometimes think that Hiro is living out some superhero fantasy that's playing in his head, and Ando is critical to ground Hiro when he gets carried away. Ando actually gets the briefcase! And then Daphne steals it.
While Kaito had one half of the formula, Angela has the other half. This is typical Angela, this could have been done so quietly no-one would even know the formula left the building, instead she resorts to theatrics and meetings in theatres – that's just begging someone to steal it! As punishment for attacking the Haitian, Hiro and Ando are taken to Level 5, as are the other prisoner. One escaped, one captured, one killed. Sylar is returned to his cage with Bennet vowing to find a way to kill him. Well, according to Angela's vision, Claire was killed by cutting off her head – would work on Sylar too.
Apparently Niki is dead! Micah sees Tracy but it's be that strange, he was used to seeing Jessica too. He offers to help by finding info on Tracy and he's stronger now, he can do it without touching the machine. Looks like Tracy and Niki were twins. Tracy finds the presiding doctor who declares "I created you." Maybe it was more than Niki and DL's relationship that was artificially created, maybe Niki and Tracy are too.
Peter finds his power and Future Peter shows up to fix his mess: releases Peter from Jesse's body. Face to face with himself. Future Peter wants to show Peter the future, leaving Jesse back in control and Bennet in serious trouble. Sylar really is the perfect partner, given how varied his powers are, he can take on any number of special people and one of his powers can stop them. What's scary is that Sylar and Bennet are starting to understand each other. Right up until Sylar decides he's hungry. So much for that theory.
Claire begins to worry me. Meredith forces her to face that she wants revenge on Sylar and instead of being furious, she gets this creepy smile and acts like nothing happened. In fact, she reminds me of Future Claire. Sandra and Meredith tangle but strangely, Meredith did what she did to keep Claire here with her family. It failed, Claire took off.
Talk about a packed episode. I am far happier with this episode, feels like everything's back on track. The storylines which bothered me resolved themselves and are happily over.
Lots more questions, and few answers, this routine is starting to make me mad. Despite that fact, this episode is pretty good overall, the season just needs to conclude some of it's older stories and kill off some of the useless characters. hide show
By this time around I have to admit, the show is starting to get on my nerves a bit. As much as I enjoy it, the constant bombardment of questions every episode, with little to know answers is drowning the characters. I almost don't care anymore, I need a lot of answers, before the questions pile up so much that I don't care about the show anymore. The other problem now is the repeating things. The show almost recycles itself, events keep happing in the same way they did before. Hiro for example keeps using his time travel to go back and save things, but it always feels the same, even though it's different situations. Sylar just won't die, he keeps coming back and I am getting sick of seeing him around. Warning spoilers ahead.
So my problems with the series aside, one of the things I never saw coming in this episode, was Noah and Sylar working together. All this time Sylar has been bad, but now that he finds out his real mother, all of a sudden he is good? Well he might not really be "good" but it seems as if he is now working for the "good" side. And what's with the writers bringing back another future painter! Seriously, it should have died when it did, there is no use to bring it back again. I liked that they put the question of Niki coming back to rest, as Tracy is not Niki, she was born on the same day however, which kind of makes me wonder if she is a twin or something. Later in this episode, Sylar's "hunger" gets the better of him, which was obvious to me from the get go, I just wonder why he started to act like he was good in the first place? Maybe he saw an opportunity to get easy powers, like an all you can eat buffet handed to him? So we see some new character named Dr. Zimmerman, who supposedly created Tracy, and probably Niki as well. It just bugs me that there is more now to the story when I thought at least Niki and Tracy's story was somewhat answered. I liked this episode, it was exiting and interesting to watch, but like I have said before, and on numerous accounts, I just hope that the show starts providing some answers and finishing some old stories.
Noah and Sylar attempt to stop the Villains from robbing a bank. Tracy searches for answers concerning her striking resemblance to Nikki. Following Daphne, Hiro and Ando come across the Haitian, while Meredith teaches Claire to fight. hide show
Angela sends the unlikely partners, rivals Sylar and Noah, straight to the danger zone. The fantastic five super powered humans (Sylar, Peter, Knox, Flint and Jesse) all clash in the small space of the bank (an opportunity for great action, special effects and excitement). Flint gets to show of his amazing power, pyrokinisis, Knox demonstrates his for the first time, absorbing The German's fear (whose ability is magnetism), he gains amazing strength and punches a hole straight through him. Meanwhile Peter is helplessly stuck within Jesse (placed inside by his future self). Accessing Jesse's ability (sonic scream) he literally blows everything out of proportion. This scene was incredibly hard to follow, but the concentration was worth it. I was quite relived when future peter pushed his present day self out of Jesse's body and teleported both of them to the future…are you following me?
Freezing time makes it possible to freeze certain abilities in motion, in this episode the sound waves are frozen along with the objects and people thrown about in its wake. In the first episode, 'The Second Coming', this effect was also used to freeze Daphne's trail of speed. This is highly effective and offers us, as viewers, to look at some of the heroes abilities in detail. These effects are incredible and this is what often makes Heroes such a treat. Hiro's story was very fun and easy to follow as usual.
Claire has a hell of a time trying to get on with Meredith when she locks her within a container and sucks all the oxygen out of it. This was a very dramatic scene in which Meredith forces Claire to tell the truth. Screaming at the top of her lungs, Claire admits that she want to hurt Sylar for what he did to her. My favourite storyline was yet again Tracy's. I really wanted to find out where she came from and who she actually was for definite.
Upon arriving in New Orleans we finally find out what has happened to Nikki Sanders, unfortunately she was killed in the explosion after she saved Monica. I was devastated! Nikki was such a great character in season 1 and 2, Larter displayed such great talent, making the character her very own. I was sorely disappointed with the amount of screen time that she received in season 2 (not to mention Ando's rare appearances), but killing her really takes the biscuit. However Tracy is an interesting character and at least the brilliant Larter still remains on the show.
There were more questions than answers raised however, which is just the way that Heroes works, such as 'why does this woman look exactly like the deceased Nikki?' I'm desperate to know. Hopefully we will find out in the very next episode. Ali Larter has played so many characters now; it is getting quite ridiculous. I know that she is a good actress, but please, one character is enough for anyone. Lets just calm things down a bit and stick with the mysterious Tracy.
In New Orleans she bumps into Micah. Mistaking her for his Mum, he apparently seems to just know that this identical replica of Nikki is not his mother, which is quite ridiculous, how can you just know? In a conversation between the two, Tracy says 'Gosh, I'm sorry this must be so strange for you' (what with me being a living, breathing clone of your mother and all) to which he replies in a surprisingly normal voice, apparently lacking any emotion, 'a little!' He might as well say 'it's no biggy dude'. This is incredibly unrealistic, where's the emotion? If any normal human being were in this situation, they'd be crying and blurting things out like 'God, you look just like my mum, why?' and 'you say my name in the exact same way that my mother used to'. Instead Micah sits on the end of his bed, his eyes glazed over, looking dumb and lifeless.
This is the problem with heroes, there are so many multiple storylines, and in Season threes case, so much action squeezed into a space of less than an hour, that the creators of Heroes tend to skip over the moments in which they can truly inject some real emotion, the result, a completely shoddy scene like this. However Micah does hug a shocked Tracy at the end of the scene (after using his powers to help her find her connection with Nikki, a birth certificate stating that she was born on the same day in the same hospital, delivered by the same man, Dr. Zimmerman ), revealing that Micah and isn't as dumb as he makes out to be. This leads her to California, where Dr. Zimmerman lives. There, she learns that not only does he know her, but he created her…Finally it looks like we are about to get some answers.
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