Heroes 1.10: "Six Months Earlier"
This episode is, for all intent purposes, the “Heroes” version of a “Lost” flashback. Instead of focusing on one character’s past history, the writers explore the underpinnings for a number of established plot threads. The result is a laundry list of revelations about the world of “Heroes” and why events unfolded as they have.
Perhaps most importantly, we see how Sylar emerged as such a threat. In a nice touch, it’s Mohinder’s father who essentially triggers the killing spree by clueing one of the super-humans into the mechanism of his own power. Add in a little mental instability and it all makes a sick sort of sense. Comic book fans might consider this too close to the “Rising Stars” concept for comfort, but the idea is an old one and the series puts an interesting twist on it all.
One could draw several similarities between Peter and Sylar, for example. Peter temporarily absorbs the powers of those around him, but the transfer also seems to be psychological in nature. To some extent, he may even control the person that he’s linking with, which would explain Nathan’s accident. Compare this to Sylar’s ability to see how the super-humans achieve their abilities on a cellular level and then “fix” himself to “absorb” those abilities permanently. Sylar is reminiscent of Rogue from “X-Men” in that regard (just a lot less attractive).
Mr. Bennett’s activities are still shrouded in mystery, but it’s now confirmed that he’s been working on study of the super-humans for a very long time. Also, many abilities were in place before six months ago; some just became more pronounced. The implication of this episode is that Mr. Bennett only went after Mohinder’s father once Claire was identified as a potential subject for study. Otherwise, he seems intent on monitoring and controlling the super-humans, even if his efforts are thus far incomplete.
Hiro learns another important lesson about his abilities. The process was more than a little painful, especially for those of us who liked Charlie and thought the two of them were adorable together. Hiro now understands that there are limitations to his ability to alter time, at least at his current level of control. It should be interesting to see where that realization takes him.
We also get some additional information on Niki and her bizarre situation. The split personality explanation still holds water, since Niki could have repressed all of her worst memories, eventually developing an “evil” twin after the prompting of her father’s return. But a more bizarre possibility also comes to mind: what if the twin sisters had some kind of combined ability, a strong connection, that allowed Jessica’s consciousness to survive within Niki?
Considering that there was also some interesting character development for Matt (his dyslexia was unexpected, but it’s a nice touch for a telepath) and a number of interesting connections were made along the way. With Hiro back in the “present”, the writers can focus on moving the plot threads forward and upping the stakes.
(As a sidenote: I also have a podcast associated with my various reviews called “Dispatches from Tuzenor”. Current episodes cover “Heroes”, so it might be something of interest. Go to http://entil2001.libsyn.com if you want to listen!)
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Final Rating: 8/10
Perhaps most importantly, we see how Sylar emerged as such a threat. In a nice touch, it’s Mohinder’s father who essentially triggers the killing spree by clueing one of the super-humans into the mechanism of his own power. Add in a little mental instability and it all makes a sick sort of sense. Comic book fans might consider this too close to the “Rising Stars” concept for comfort, but the idea is an old one and the series puts an interesting twist on it all.
One could draw several similarities between Peter and Sylar, for example. Peter temporarily absorbs the powers of those around him, but the transfer also seems to be psychological in nature. To some extent, he may even control the person that he’s linking with, which would explain Nathan’s accident. Compare this to Sylar’s ability to see how the super-humans achieve their abilities on a cellular level and then “fix” himself to “absorb” those abilities permanently. Sylar is reminiscent of Rogue from “X-Men” in that regard (just a lot less attractive).
Mr. Bennett’s activities are still shrouded in mystery, but it’s now confirmed that he’s been working on study of the super-humans for a very long time. Also, many abilities were in place before six months ago; some just became more pronounced. The implication of this episode is that Mr. Bennett only went after Mohinder’s father once Claire was identified as a potential subject for study. Otherwise, he seems intent on monitoring and controlling the super-humans, even if his efforts are thus far incomplete.
Hiro learns another important lesson about his abilities. The process was more than a little painful, especially for those of us who liked Charlie and thought the two of them were adorable together. Hiro now understands that there are limitations to his ability to alter time, at least at his current level of control. It should be interesting to see where that realization takes him.
We also get some additional information on Niki and her bizarre situation. The split personality explanation still holds water, since Niki could have repressed all of her worst memories, eventually developing an “evil” twin after the prompting of her father’s return. But a more bizarre possibility also comes to mind: what if the twin sisters had some kind of combined ability, a strong connection, that allowed Jessica’s consciousness to survive within Niki?
Considering that there was also some interesting character development for Matt (his dyslexia was unexpected, but it’s a nice touch for a telepath) and a number of interesting connections were made along the way. With Hiro back in the “present”, the writers can focus on moving the plot threads forward and upping the stakes.
(As a sidenote: I also have a podcast associated with my various reviews called “Dispatches from Tuzenor”. Current episodes cover “Heroes”, so it might be something of interest. Go to http://entil2001.libsyn.com if you want to listen!)
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Final Rating: 8/10
posted by John Keegan | 17:58
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