Heroes - Season Three (1 Viewer)

[Josh Dial]

I'm not sure how confusion has arisen, but I'll try to summarize:

- there are 4 seperate threads, though I assume they are all connected, or will connect.

- In the future, those with abilities are hunted down, experimented on, tortured, et cetera, and are forced "underground." This is a direct result of Nathan's public reveal of his power of flight. For some, yet to be revealed reason, a future Claire chooses to kill Peter, who of course stops time to avoid being shot, takes Claires gun, and travels back in time to the press conference, and shoots Nathan.

- Future Peter then stashes the gun in a utility closet, runs for a hiding spot (why not turn invisible?), and is pursued by Present Peter. The two Peters enter the men's bathroom and we aren't shown what transpires. The result, it is later revealed, is that Future Peter, with the use a power that isn't fully explored, is able to place the physical and mental being of Present Peter inside of another individual. Future Peter chooses a criminal super human housed on the mysterious level 5 of the Odessa Company facility, as it is the most secure location he can think of. It seems while in the other body, the consciousness of Present Peter exerts itself over the body of the criminal.

- Though another power, Future Peter is able to alter his appearance, becoming a doppleganger for Present Peter. However, in a Quantum Leap-style decision, the villain who the real Present Peter now inhabits, is only seen in reflections - Milo the actor portrays the villain/Peter combo when seen on screen. The exception to this comes early in the episodes, before the reveal that Present Peter is indeed inside the villain's body. At that point, we are led to believe it's simply the insane ramblings of a criminal.

- Thus, we have two Peters in the storyline: One is from the future, and pretending to be Present Peter so that he may manipulate/monitor events in an attempt to prevent the future we glimpsed. He has a scar when appearing as himself, but otherwise looks like the Present Peter when blending in. The other Peter is Present Peter, who is currently locked in the body of a villain with sonic powers.

- Future Peter, as part of his attempt at altering the future, told Claire (all characters are assumed to be the present forms) to stay home, presumably to keep her safe from anything that may transpire following the incident at the press conference. However, this was met with disaster as Claire was visited by Sylar, who was able to gain Claire's ability to heal. Presumably, if Claire hadn't been told to stay home, Sylar would have walked away "empty handed."

- Other stuff happens with this thread, but those are the major points that I can see people getting messed up on.

- the other 3 threads are: Matt, having been tossed into Africa by Future Peter (via another new power, or an advanced form of space/time manipulation), meets a shaman or spirit guide of some sort, who seems to have a Mendez-like ability to paint the future. Hiro, meanwhile, is on a mission to regain a piece of some formula he was charged by his Father to protect. Mohinder, in an attempt to "cure" Maya of her power, has discovered the true source of the abilities, and injected himself with a concoction he made from that research. Consequently, he is now exhibiting signs of insect-like powers. It is unclear, but possible, that the formula Hiro is attempting to get back, is just what Mohinder has discovered on his own: the ability to give powers to normal people.

cheers!

Josh

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I'm not saying it's rape, per say. I'm saying it's animal magnetism at it's most primal, which seems to tie in directly with what's happening to Mohinder generally.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

I missed William Katt, which character was he.

As to Hiro and his whole situation in this episode.

1. Right after speed chick stole the formula, why didn't he just go back like 2 minutes and put it right in the safe?

2. Which brings up point 2, and I think this may be really significant, if he and his father believe the formula is so dangerous, why keep that half? Why not destroy it, burn it, so nobody can ever get it?

Oh well, good to have Heroes back, regardless.

 

[Holadem]

I am a bit surprised at the amount of confusion as well. Good summary.

I liked it a lot, it's looking a lot better than season 2.

Heroes has changed. I will never be like S1 again, and that's OK. I like where it's going now.

Assuming that Claire's power is the same as Adam's, it would certainly explain why the Mama Pitrelli and Co. had him locked up rather than dead.

Fans of The Wire will recognize Jamie Hector (Marlo) as one of the escaped villains. I hope he sticks around.

For those concerned about the Reset Button that time travel affords, I believe that was the whole purpose of the second episode, titled "The Butterfly Effect". The writers have gone of out their way to signal that traveling back has momentous consequences and that it will be used sparingly. They are setting the rules for this season right off the bat.

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H

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I'm confused that some of you aren't confused lol.

The fact that you can make sense out of the mess of plots, time lines, villains, powers and alternate futures that make-up this show amazes me beyond comprehension.

 

[Holadem]

The season just got started, I trust we will know at some point.

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H

 

[Citizen87645]

Would you consider it a superpower?

 

[Citizen87645]

I believe he was the reporter who got iced.

 

[EricW]

i didn't like this premiere, there were so many illogical (even for the show) things that happened in the first 15 minutes...
-i can only assume that there was a reason Future Claire thought she could actually shoot future Peter. does she not know what he's capable of?
-Hiro opening the safe was so predictable and lame they shouldn't have spent an excruciating 2 or 3 minutes getting to it. Sulu chastising his kid for opening the safe, then telling him how gravely important it is to protect it's contents... of course it's always important to speak in code and not give any specific details regarding the nature of the threat, or who'd come to get it, since it wouldn't help Hiro protect it or anything... :frowning:
-Future Peter flashing back to KILL HIS BROTHER?!?!? no, don't time travel a couple minutes/days/months before that specific moment and just TALK TO HIM. shooting him makes way more sense. how 'bout time travelling back to before Sylar got his powers and shooting ~him~?.
-Mohinder arguing with annoying plague-girl about how great discovering his new secret was, was totally out of character. he was one of the few likeable characters (and that group is shrinking)

what i did like: Claire being special among the specials seems promising. though that "am i human" talk is getting close to her i-hate-my-daddy/who-am-i annoyingly familiar. and the african guy was cool.

 

[Marc_Sulinski]

I think Nikki is still around. My theory is that she developed another personality with a different ability. I don't think it is a coincidence that the last we saw her, she was about to be burned alive, and that now she has the ability to turn things to ice (and probably save herself from the fire). I think that her personalities develop when needed and manifest whatever ability the personaility needs.

The current "Nikki" probably doesn't even know that she has these other personalities.

If that woman turns out not to be the same physical person as Nikki, I will be very disappointed. Why would there be someone else who looks exactly the same?

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Josh,

I appreciate the explanation. It sort of makes sense now, but
why go that route? I bet there are many who are very confused
about the two Peters and the ever changing identities.

For some reason I felt a little "bothered" by the whole Mohinder
metamorphosis thing. Didn't need to see that guy all sexed up.

 

[TravisR]

Yeah, I was happy to see him. That guy plays evil really well.

Also, the credits said that Andre Royo (Bubbles on The Wire) was in the episode too but I didn't spot him.

 

[Citizen87645]

Was it any worse than the Brundlefly?

 

[Hugh Jackes]

Another movie homage: Hallowen (Claire in the closet that has louvered door, holding a knife while the boogie man waits outside.).

I'm not fully convinced that Future Peter is really Peter. His "mother" hates him too much (although, to be fair, she is not the warmest of mothers even when she isn't beiing disdainful) and her dialog has hinted that he is not who he seems to be.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

I agree with the underlying point your're making. I often ask myself the same types of questions. But I will offer that it's difficult to know exactly when to time travel and which events to change because of the Butterfly Effect. Would killing Sylar before he got his powers have been better? Do we truly know?

 

[Josh Dial]

Thanks Travis - you confirmed that I did see Royo's name on the credit list! I thought perhaps I had misread someone's name, but I looked for him anyway, and didn't spot him.

With regards to Niki Sanders, Marc's comments sum up what I think is one of very real possibilty: that Niki, under the extreme stress of the fire, splintered a new personality entirely, with a new power to help the survive (ice). That would certainly be an interesting character in future seasons - someone who may have a handful of abilities, but requires a dramatic shift in personality to use them.

However, given the duality between Sylar and Peter, I am still not sure the show would introduce the possibilty for another multiple-power character, even one as constrained as a multiple-personality/mulitiple-power hero (villain?).

The other possibilty is that the character is actually Jessica - the REAL Jessica, who has somehow survived all these years since childhood, despite her family thinking she was dead.

Remember, in comics (and by extension, comic book movies/shows), nobody is really dead, except for Bucky and Uncle Ben - and Bucky came back (and Uncle Ben came back as a zombie).

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Adam - your comments are bolded. This is all in the interest of friendly discourse. Heroes Season 1 was awesome and I hope they can get back there but right now the prospects of that are becoming dim.

Suffering implies lasting impact.

It does. If a timeline continues. Now that there are so many players that can time travel the chances of a timeline reset increase dramatically.

True, the destruction of New York was eventually averted, but none of the characters were in the same place they'd been at the beginning of the show. Yes, Future Peter stopped his own future from coming into being by shooting Nathan. But he created a whole new mess that the present-day heroes will have to deal with. I don't think you're going to see Future-Future Peter stop Future Peter, so the time travel still has consequences.

Yes and why didn't Mama Petrelli raise the flag on The Butterfly Effect right back in Season One?

This show has yet to pull a "Star Trek" where everything's back to square-one at the end of the episode (or season).

The key word is yet. The temptation will be there, especially if the series flounders in the ratings.

And you get this from what, two hours? I haven't seen any characters paired up this season that weren't either: a) thrown together arbitrarily last season or b) a natural fit considering the circumstances. It's going to take time to clean up the lingering mess of season two.

Yep, its not that difficult to see that the intent is shake things up and have characters that once were enemies as allies or vice-versa. Ando or Hiro are headed towards conflict. The preview showing Sylar and HRG teaming up is further proof of that. And I am sure this is just the start of character switching.

In two episodes they have shown the following either acting out of character or stupidly
- other posts have mentioned the specifics for each character:
1) Hiro
2) Peter
3) Sylar
4) Claire
5) Mohinder
6) Mama Petrelli - by virtue of not bringing up The ButterFly Effect previously

The writing for these characters is purely plot manipulation and not organic to the characters. The more I post about the first two hours the more disillusioned I become.

 

[Holadem]

When was she supposed to have brought it up? Has Peter ever travelled to the past before?

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H

 

[Brent M]

The first two episodes of this season were light years above all 11 episodes in S2 as far as I'm concerned. I thought it was a great opener and I love the fact that "villains" are going to play a major role in this season.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Exactly. The only one who has puttered extensively in the past is Hiro (and the experience went badly enough that he's sworn off the past period -- which explains why he didn't jump back in time and prevent himself from opening the safe.)