Monday, December 3, 2007

Heroes Season 2 Finale: Powerless


If you haven't started to watch this show, you really should. Sometimes it's kinda gory, but the story lines are really good, questions get answered (unlike LOST), and most of the characters have depth to them. I definitely recommend it if you were a fan of comic books when you were little because the presentation style of the show closely mimics that of Marvel and DC comic books. There's even a decent Heroes comic strip on the NBC site that adds a little more to each story. Ok...enough of my rant. Lemme get to the good parts of tonight's season finale:
WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW
1) That little Peter/Hiro showdown cliffhanger of the last episode ends abruptly, with Peter electrocuting and temporarily putting Hiro out of service. Heh...I still can't get Hiro's war cry out of my head...
2) Claire plans to take down the company with information that HRG has left her. West comes and asks her not to reveal his secret. She tells him that he doesn't have to worry about "us," and he flies away. Later, HRG returns to his family, a big shock to Claire. He tells her not to expose the company because he has made a deal with them.
3) Sylar and Maya make it to Mohinder, but a scuffle ensues, and Sylar takes them all hostage. Maya finds out that her brother is dead when Molly tries to locate him. She accosts (SAT word) Sylar and accuses him, but he shoots her down. Is she one of the "fallen heroes?"
4) Nope. Mohinder, who has Claire's blood, brings Maya back to life. At this point, Sylar tries to make a getaway with Claire's healing blood, but Elle arrives to get back into daddy's good graces. Sylar shoots her and the bullet grazes her (she's really good at getting minor flesh wounds), but she electrocutes him. Still, he gets away with the blood samples, and Elle gets a sort of satisfying adrenaline rush from doing something good. She's really growing on me.
5) Micah locates Monica because her cell phone is on and he can techno-track it's location. A gang member has tied her up in the basement of an old building, and plans to light the place on fire and leave her for dead. Micah and Niki arrive in nick of time to (mo)hinder the gang member's escape (had to make a pun), and Niki kicks his butt, even without her powers. She goes to save Monica and succeeds, but gets trapped under a beam. Monica runs out to meet Micah, and the place explodes behind them. I'm pretty sure Niki is the first of the "fallen heroes", but with Claire's blood around you can never be too sure.
Note: I thought this was interesting for several reasons: a) Niki dies saving someone from a fire, which is a sort of homage to D.L. Hawkins, her late hubby b) Ali Larter's character has died in a fire/explosion at least once before (recall Final Destination 2) c) Sylar has stolen Claire's blood, so Mohinder no longer has a cure for her anyway. Niki has a bittersweet, poetic ending, and she dies a hero.
6) Finally, Peter opens the chamber containing the virus with his telekinetic power, but Hiro, Parkman, and Nathan arrive to save the day. Peter takes out Hiro again, he and Parkman have a small telepathic showdown that Peter wins; however Nathan is able to convince to do the right thing (be a man). Concurrantly, Adam/Tazeko has entered the chamber with the virus, and is about to release it upon the world, but Hiro regains consciousness, teleports him away, and leaves him to not-rot in a coffin, at least six feet under. Hiro doesn't teleport the virus vial, which falls to the ground, but Peter stops it from breaking with his telekinesis. He then uses electricity from his hands (or uses his nuclear power, I'm not really sure) to destroy it.
7) Nathan, Peter, and Parkman resolve to fix their parent's mistakes, and plan to hold a press conference to make the world aware of their powers. Peter will be there for moral support (aww...), Parkman will use his powers so that people will be attentive, and Nathan will be the speaker. It looks like everything will work out, but just as Nathan is about to reveal that he can fly, someone shoots him twice in the chest. The assassin gets away, and viewers never see his face. Nathan is the second fallen hero. Actually, his death really caught me off guard because I was expecting to see him demonstrate his power.
8) To close the volume, it is shown that Mama Petrelli was aware of Nathan's assassination plot (*gasp), and while speaking to someone over the phone, comments that it was unavoidable and that Pandora's box has been opened. OOH. Evil Mama.
9) Volume 3 opens with Sylar, who is alone and injured in a secluded alley. He injects Claire+Mohinder's blood into himself, and his cuts begin to heal. He eyes a can of spinach, and successfully brings it to himself telekinetically. Grasping it triumphantly ala Popeye, he says, "I'm back." Sylar's back!
To finish, I really hope that the writer's strike gets settled because I can't wait for the new season to start, and it'd be nice if they were able to do that thing where new heroes would be introduced and viewers could choose the one they wanted to be added to the main cast. My only disappointment so far is that Maya's power seems worthless, and she seems out of place. I was hoping that her "power" would in someway mutate a strain of the virus, making it even more lethal than the one that was destroyed. Anyway, maybe she'll be able to gain better control of her powers and selectively kill people at will. The company would use her as their hitwoman by using her late-brother's memory against her, and convince her that she is doing good. It's wishful thinking, but that's one of the great things about the show. If you think about it, there are a bunch of plausible things that could happen, and sometimes you're right, sometimes you're wrong. I think i'm done, so I'll end appropriately.
FIN

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