About Angela Wilson

Location: Midwest

Occupation: Web Producer/Freelance Writer

Bio: I love to read - and write - and surf. My FAV genres include mysteries, romantic suspense and thrillers. I'm finally working on my own thriller (under a pen name) and writing a book on marketing/PR for authors. I blog about writing at www.wickedwordsmith.com, and have accounts on various sites. You can find me on MySpace, Facebook and more by visiting www.angelawilson.net.

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Heroes Chapter 23: How to Stop an Exploding Man

TV: Heroes: 0 comments: 05/27/2007

By Angela Wilson

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The finale that held so much promise was instead a limping hour of dialogue and scenes that lacked the intensity and action we've come to expect from a show destined to be a cult classic among sci-fi fanatics.

Parkman, Mohinder and Bennett are in Molly’s room, where Bennett is trying to destroy the tracking system – hero Molly. Parkman steps up. He won’t allow Bennett to kill an innocent child. After Bennett and Mohinder get rid of Thompson’s body, Claire calls her father and tells him that Sylar got Sprague. Bennett tells Claire to give Peter the phone. He tells Peter that now the youngest Petrelli is the only one who can stop Sylar.

Bennett is now glad he did not kill Molly. They need her to track Sylar so Peter can stop him. Of course, Molly falls ill just as they need her to track the show’s serial killer. Mohinder must give her more infusions so she can have the strength to track Sylar. And, of course, hand shaking, she finds him.

(An interesting side note: Molly says there is one man she does not think of. In an I see dead people moment, Molly says that the man she tracks can see her. We don’t know who that is, or how he will come to play in the series.)

Meanwhile, Peter needs his brother. Unbeknownst to Claire, he calls Nathan for a meeting. Claire is angry. She does not trust her biological father and believes he will do something to stop Peter from stopping Sylar. As Peter and Nathan talk, Claire tries to escape, but she runs into Mama Petrell, family matriarch and one of the secret heroes aligned with Linderman.

Peter – who absorbed Parkman’s mind-reading abilities – hears Nathan’s thoughts and realizes his brother is bad news. Then he discovers that Claire is gone. When he tries to find her, his senses go on overload and he passes out. (What is it about Peter that he cannot control his abilities like Sylar? What sends him into overload?) Peter goes into a sort of dream sequence that occurs when he is the nurse to Simone’s father, Charles. Charles knows Peter is there. After a conversation with Peter’s mother – which show’s Mama Petrelli’s involvement in the destruction of NYC and her belief that Nathan is the one to lead the people – Charles tells Peter he, not Nathan, is the one the world needs.

Peter wakes up as Bennett finds him. Claire was whisked away by the Petrelli family, who will keep her safely out of NYC until the battle is over. Bennett will play Claire’s role as the shooter in case Peter cannot control his abilities. They go to find Sylar.

Meanwhile, Nathan goes back to his office to pick up some papers, his mother and Claire in tow. Claire desperately tries to convince him to stop the bomb – to not allow Peter to suffer from knowing that he was the one who killed all those people. Nathan won’t listen. She jumps out a window and escapes. Mama Petrelli says to leave her and fulfill his destiny.

Nikki and D.L. find Micah and escape Linderman’s building. Hiro rescues Ando from Sylar while the bad hero is at Isaac’s loft. Parkman realizes the final battle will be between Sylar and Peter and he heads to that location. All the heroes end up at the battleground, where Peter and Sylar prepare to duke it out. This is the scene where we discover it is, in fact, Peter, who destroys the city.

Parkman is knocked out when he wastes bullets on Sylar. Nikki – Jessica has finally left the building – steps in to help Peter with one blow to the bad guy, before she goes back to her family. Hiro suddenly appears and stabs Sylar. In his anger, Sylar sends Hiro flying into a building, but before Hiro can be hurt, he teleports.

Sylar appears to die. Peter goes into overload again. Claire suddenly runs into the heroes. She grabs Daddy Bennett’s gun and goes to shoot Peter, as planned. Then, like Han Solo flying in to save Luke Skywalker at the last minute in Star Wars, Nathan flies in and tells Peter he will help him. Nathan – knowing his fate - flies Peter high into the atmosphere, where Peter explodes and Nathan dies.

Of course, we see the shadow of Sylar’s body on the ground, with a blood trail leading to a sewer drain, so the show’s bad boy is set to come back in the future. How could he change? Well, before and after his “death,” Sylar was near Claire, Hiro and Nathan, three heroes with powers he coveted. If the show returns, we could see a new and scarier Sylar.

What does it mean now that we know Mama Petrelli was one of many people behind the “bomb?” Who will take Linderman’s place now that the healer is dead? (And I’m not certain he really is dead yet. After all, he can heal.) How does this change the destiny of the world? And were there any witnesses to the heroes event? If so, will the heroes become the hunted for their abilities?

Volume Two begins at the end, with Hiro landing in 1671 Japan, just outside Tokyo. With his luck, the time-stopping hero lands in the middle of a primitive battle between a line of soldiers and what appears to be just one man. Is it a relative of Hiro’s behind the mask? Or, if Sylar absorbed Hiro’s power, did he step back in time to really change the world?

Before the questions can form and the battle begins, the show’s talisman – an eclipse – occurs.

When the episode finished, I sat back, scratched my head and said, “That was it?” I was expecting a serious blow out between Peter and Sylar, with lots of cool special effects and some damage to the city, even if it was minimal. I thought maybe Sylar would kill a few more heroes, but we would not discover that until peak moments during the battle. I thought we’d see more from Hiro. Jessica and D.L.’s scenes felt more like afterthoughts

To this point, the entire 22-episode season of the NBC phenom was brilliantly orchestrated. Viewers never knew what would happen next – or what new hero might appear to help save the day. The final episode of the first season was incredibly disappointing and offered little in creative development or action. What happened? Did the creators lose steam? Did they use up their best ideas in the build up and left nothing for the most important episode of the season?

Heroes deserved a better send off than what it got. I’m almost afraid to faithfully watch the second season only to be seriously disappointed.

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