Episode Review for 3.08, “Villains”
Airdate: November 10, 2008
Summary:
Pot Pies, Peach Pies, and Picnics next to a plastic covered chair
-Hiro went into a trance to see the past
-Linderman had some hinky business practices that Nathan (a new Assistant District Attorney) was heading the case against him. He pleaded with Arthur to convince Nathan otherwise. Arthur’s last ditch effort failed
-Gabriel was saved from suicide by his guardian angel Elle, who was there on Company Assignment to observe his abilities (while her partner Noah watched from a distance)
-Arthur caused the car accident that left Heidi Petrelli paralyzed
- Meredith and brother Flint are recruited by the company, but later go on the run.
-Angela finds out about Linderman and Arthur’s murder plan and Arthur brainwashes her. Linderman heals her brain and she exacts her revenge and protects Nathan by poisoning Arthur. The plan is interrupted when Nathan shows up, believes it was a heart attack and they rush to the hospital. Arthur however is not dead, merely paralyzed.
-Elle provokes Gabriel’s hunger with another Gifted man and she and Noah’s assignment goes awry, loosing Sylar on the world.
-Hiro awakens from the trance in a panic. Screams draw him outside where Utusu’s severed head and body lay. Arthur apparently took a trip to Africa.
Technical Aspects: Very impressed with new title card. The helix and the Villains. Perhaps it was just setting the mood for the episode, or really getting into the spirit of the season (I really hope it’s the new one). Twilight promo was random. Awesome transition with Hiro’s face and Meredith opening the doors. Angela’s wardrobe was a classy like Nancy Regan, but when she was in the Kitchen the apron screamed Target chic to me. The “To Be Continued…” effect at the end was a nice sweep in.
“A child is born to innocence, a child is drawn towards good. So why then do so many of us go so horribly wrong?”
It’s almost ironic that Mohinder should be the one to narrate that statement (buggy transformation and all). But it’s an interesting thing that the show hasn’t really stopped and thought about before. Things go wrong. It doesn’t take Heroes to learn that. It’s more one of those life lessons that smacks you in the face. Heroes has adapted this smack, and turned it into a good way of developing characters. It’s interesting this is brought up with the Episode o’ flashbacks. Hiro is learning the past to help the future, to see what he’s going to face. It started with Hiro trying to prevent Charlie’s death, it was inevitable. You can try and prevent it, but ultimately, things will go wrong, one way or another.
Meredith and Flint, why does it not surprise me, but it really did actually. I’ve theorized about the ability relation in Twins, but never considered that brother and sister would have an ability in the same strain. Brother and sister seems more interesting to me, especially the way Meredith is considerably smaller then him, but bosses him around. Consequently, Claire is related to everyone. I feel thought that Thompson was just a sort of throw away character here. He didn’t play a huge role, and was more a vehicle for recruiting Meredith and opening the window for her arc in the episode. And really fun writing “Daddy always said God gave you a big sister instead of a brain.” Meredith also went up a few notches in character cool. Who wakes up from a taser-ing that fast?
Poor Gabriel considered suicide. In case it wasn’t apparent before, the hunger is crazy and the real bad stuff. I found it fascinating Elle knew Sylar, saved Sylar. When he was about to slice her a few episodes back he said a line, that I didn’t pay attention to, but it was justified in last night’s episode. They catch you when you’re paying the least attention . She’s so nice to him. and sweet. He truly regrets what he did. And the Hunger is what drives him. Elle got a nice dose of character sympathy, the fact she’s been in training for the Company since she was a young child finally hit home. She really has nowhere else to go. This is interesting to see Elle perky like this. She seems genuine around him so either she’s an amazing actress or she really does care and like him. Kristen Bell did not bother me at all this week.
Pie, Waffles, dung paste, pot pies, lentil soup. There’s a lot of eating on this show. The cast must gain so much weight. But Food is a universal language. Thanksgiving is a perfect example, though an American holiday, there are holidays in other cultures where everyone comes together and has a nice dinner, like an escape from outside world. Each time Sandra pours the syrup on the waffles we connect to the show, remembering the Sunday morning breakfasts with family. Heroes gives the characters an escape and the viewers a way to connect to the show.
This flashback episode was a great way to explain stuff that I personally never thought about before. Like, Heidi and Nathan’s accident, it was incentive for Nathan to not go up against Linderman. Angela was surprised about Linderman trying to kill Nathan, and it really showed her in a different light, the light of a Mother. Everything she’s done was to protect her children. She means business. No one is going to kill her sons. Even if she has to poison Mother’s Recipe. However I feel there is still some absence in information. Why does she go from poisoning her husband to prevent him from killing Nathan, to encouraging a coup on the world, and the rebirth of it? Did she really believe it was Nathan’s destiny, and she was doing it for his gain, or was it a personal power gain she saw?
Heroes comes full circle again, in it’s awesome ways. The fire that Meredith started on the train, to save her brother, caused the train explosion that Isaac painted that Claire exercised her powers, discovering the path to her journey, for the first time. Noah catches the cab that Peter was in that was driven by Mohinder after talking to Elle about setting Sylar loose on the world.
I think that television should coin a new term. “The Heroes End”, an ending in which there is a major plot twist, or something is revealed before cutting to credits. Because Usutu’s death! What an unnecessary casualty. Wasn’t Maury’s death a good enough show of Arthur’s no-holding-back way of dealing with people?
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poke on 11 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
but… but….
the pew pew man!
WTB more of sylar using pew pew powers.
OlyMendez on 11 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
But Sylar lost the pew pew powers. When he had the virus and his slate was wiped clean.
poke on 11 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
=(
that makes me sad.
Taste on 11 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
:(:(. I really like the african Isaac, was way better to me than first Isaac :P. Seems like if when someone paints the future it gets killed, no matter what he do :S.
The best of the episode: Peter came back to his first haircut, I really love it!!!
http://sintechorock.blogspot.com/2007/08/tengo-un-fotolog-y-no-me-da-verguenza.html
sdlaw on 12 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
im pretty sure she ultimately saw linderman’s .07% as the lesser of two evils. remember with her ability to see the future, kaito’s power to read probabilities and linderman’s healing sense they probably figured out all the possible outcomes.
Tarot on 12 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
I’m Glad I can’t paint
Psych-Gen on 12 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
Of all the ones that could see \ can see the future, is Isacc the only one who looked far enough to see his death?
sdlaw on 12 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
We don’t know if pew pew saw his death or not. Maybe Arthur’s power masks his actions. Angela didn’t foresee his coming to put her in a coma. Interesting that Arthur didn’t kill Angela when he had the chance. Once she was unconscious, Maury could have gone in as anyone and killed her. Maybe Arthur still has a spark of sentiment left in him.
Albamapie on 12 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
Perhaps the events seen by Clairevoance or pre-cog people are random and they can’t choose what they see or paint. That’d explain why Isaac saw his end but (presumably) Utusu/Angela didn’t see their’s, though in Angela case it’s just a coma not death.
Albamapie on 12 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
What’s a pew pew
And Sylar’s slate wasn’t wiped clean was it? He still has advanced tee kenetics from Brian Davis or whatever his name was because he sliced Claire’s head open.
Albamapie on 12 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
What’s a pew pew?
And Sylar’s slate wasn’t wiped clean was it? He still has advanced tee kenetics from Brian Davis or whatever his name was because he sliced Claire’s head open.
Nick10285 on 12 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
Sylar to Elle - “i’ve killed a lot of people Elle, your as much to blame for that as anyone, maybe more so” now it all makes sense. Really loved this week’s episode, it showed some real difference’s to some characters like lindeman and even Thompson (though really who cares?)
I wish i had mind bullets
sdlaw on 12 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
Utusu = pew pew.
Who knows, after Hiro is done with his Arthur confrontation, maybe we will see a rock painting near Utusu showing his head exploding.
Sylar wasn’t wiped clean or if he was, he regains his prophetic powers later because in the future episode he has precog power because Peter has him see the future just before they kill Noah Jr.
Hart on 12 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
Heyla
Actually, I think the “pew pew man” is the Gothy dude with the pistol-packing fingers. “pew pew” like the sound of a leetle bitty gun? But yes, it does appear that Gabriel regained all of his pre-virus powers due to the TK tricks he pulls in Costa Verde.
-r
Taste on 12 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
In an interview, someone say that Sylar have lost all of his powers, except for telekinesis and his own ability, and that he gained the powerr of painting the future and the nuclear power again in the time between present and the future Peter go.
It´s in the heroeswiki, in the Sylar part.
Frank on 13 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
@Taste -
That’s kinda what I was thinking happened.
Albamapie on 13 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
I suppose if he could only keep one power that Sylar ‘d keep the telekenitic power. However when Sylar said ‘I’m back’ at the end of Season 2 it was though he was back to normal.
sdlaw on 13 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
no, they were supposed to go into his regaining of powers more in season 2 but ran out of episodes. And who knows, maybe he gets the painting power from someone else. Or maybe he came with Arthur and took out the clairvoyent himself.
Nick10285 on 17 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
Perhaps he has peters power in the future and just leeched all of those other powers from his brother and thus was returned to his former fully powered self.
sdlaw on 17 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
Or it is possible that since, in that future, nearly everyone has powers, there was an abundance of future seers for Sylar to get the power from.
Albamapie on 18 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
The slate can’t have been wiped clean because Sylar exibites powers in Season 3; before there is an abundance.
sdlaw on 18 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
he retained his telekinesis. He then acquired other people’s powers after escaping from his captivity.
Now, we learn that he is capable of not killing to get powers so he can acquire an indefinite number of powers as long as he gets to see them in action.
Albamapie on 19 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
Why would he keep the telekenetics but nothing else if he aquired it in the same way as the others? And sdlaw why is he “capable of not killing to get powers so he can acquire an indefinite number of powers” he still has to kill to get powers and could gather an indefinete amount of abilities anyway
Albamapie on 19 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
I just submitted the above comment and an error message came up “MySQL server gone away ofline: 247″ (or something like that). Never used SQL before so no idea what it means but I thought I let you know Frank.
sdlaw on 19 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
the writers in the behind the eclipse column indicate that it is akin to the way people remember their first love. Tele was his first kill so he didn’t lose that power.
Albamapie on 19 November 2008 | Want an avatar? Get your free Gravatar!
Ah… thanks sdlaw