Heroes Review: How To Stop An Exploding Man
Posted by Jason Chamberlain on 05.23.2007
The first volume of Heroes reaches its explosive climax and Jason Chamberlain has something to say about it! Check out his full review of the season finale.
I don’t know about you, but nothing gets me jazzed more than the season finale of a great show. Sure, on one hand it sucks that the show is going away for three or four months, but on the other hand, we know that the story we’ve been following all year is going to come to a thrilling and pulse pounding climax that will give us plenty to talk about during the slow TV months.
The incredible first season of Heroes came to a close tonight, and I’m not going to lie, I’m sad to see it go. Partly because this show has just rocked the house all season long. Episode after episode, character after character, with very few weak spots, the first ‘volume’ of this story has been great.
This episode tied up a lot of the loose threads that have been hanging for a while now, and also takes a short look at the next chapter. It’s almost hard to imagine what this show will be like without having the “New York Bomb” storyline hanging over everything!
In one of those great examples of TV logic, a wound that looked like it was fatal last week really only ended up slowing D.L. down for most of this episode. By the end he looks to be almost good as new. Poor guy spent most of the action packed finale slumping on the floor hanging onto Niki, but he did get his big moment last week after all.
As for Niki, she seems to be heading more towards an integrated personality with her and Jessica (as if anyone didn’t see that Candice as Jessica thing coming a mile away). Judging from her contribution to the Sylar fight at the end of the episode, Niki may be driving again but she still has Jessica’s strength.
The little spat between HRG and Mohinder that ended last week’s episode was solved pretty darn fast when Matt came in and separated the two. Then the three formed a new team to help heal Molly so she could locate Sylar (who just happened to be heading their way). Loved HRG more than ever in this episode, as a guy willing to do whatever it takes to keep his daughter safe, and not only that, who seems to generally respect and care for these ‘special’ people (with certain exceptions). The short and sweet Peter/HRG (or should I say Noah!) team-up was awesome and left me wanting more.
Regardless of Claire’s true bloodline, she knows who her real father is, and it shone through when she gave her adopted family a big rejection in the form of a swan dive out a window from 10 stories up! You know you’re a bad family when.... as for Mrs. Petrelli, wow is she becoming creepy, and I’d love to hear her justification for why millions of people needed to die to ‘save’ the world. Even in the flashback when she was talking to Shaft err Simone’s dad, that wasn’t clear. As for Shaft, he has some power (not the immortality kind, unfortunately). Maybe he sees the truth of things? That’s how he could see Peter’s capacity for love, not to mention present Peter in that flashback/dream sequence thing. It’s a shame the character wasn’t on the show more when he was alive, but if he wants to start acting as a guiding hand for Peter via dream sequences here and there, I’d be okay with that.
Speaking of Peter, he had the showdown with Sylar, which, honestly, wasn’t quite as epic as I was hoping it would be. I mean, it was more of a super team/super villain fight, and that’s cool, but these guys are such diametric opposites that I just long to see them given a good half hour of screen time to do nothing but tear the house (and each other) down. The fight we did get featured a quick hit from Niki, a few solid punches by Peter, a few less than useless gun shots from Matt, and finally the sword through the gut from Hiro. Honestly man, for a comics and sci fi nerd, Hiro should have known to hedge his bets and chop the guys head off too. Doesn’t he remember that super villains never stay dead?
However, even after ‘the boogeyman’ was vanquished, Peter was still looking to go nuclear. Did they ever really explain why Peter couldn’t control the power? He did it last week! Why did it get the best of him? I know, for drama, but that’s not a good reason. Anyway, just when it looked like poor Claire was going to have to blow her uncle’s head off, in zoomed Nathan (yay!) to prove himself a hero once and for all. Turns out love runs stronger in the Petrelli family than the frosty matriarch seems to think. No matter how sweet the deal may have looked on paper, in the end Nathan couldn’t stand by and watch millions die, especially when his brother would be responsible. He took his daughters belief that the future can be changed to heart, and offered Peter another choice; create a bitching fireworks display! Obviously Peter was reluctant to kill his brother and probably himself, but it seemed like the only way. They said an emotional goodbye and zoomed up into the heavens, followed seconds later by a cataclysmic bang which lit up the sky over New York. The city still stands... but what of the Petrelli brothers?
I will be quite disappointed if they have just killed both Nathan and Peter. I know that’s what it looks like but... why create a character with such potential for awesomeness like Peter, and then get rid of him in the first year? Peter has what it takes to be the centrepiece of this show, akin to Jack’s role on Lost, and to do a crapload of cool stuff. Also, his encounter with Shaft in this episode, during which the bad mutha-shut-yo-mouth told him he believed in Peter’s ability to change the world with love, seems to say there is more to come... besides, Ted was fine after unleashing his nuclear energy, and Peter does have Claire’s little super healing trick to call on.
Nathan, things look bleaker for him, since all he can do is fly. But again, getting rid of that character at this point would seem a waste. There’s a lot of drama to play off of now that he’s turned his back on Mama Petrelli (or so it would seem) and Linderman’s plans for him. Plus, he can fly! It’s awesome! And honestly, how hard would it have been for him to drop Peter and dash to a safe distance? Or just zoom away when the explosion starts? He can break the sound barrier you know!
Anyway, I hope we haven’t seen the last of the Petrelli brothers. If the only member of this family left standing next year is the weird mother, I won’t be happy.
Unfortunately, it seems one character we haven’t seen the last of is Sylar. It didn’t seem to occur to anyone to do a little more damage to the big bad villain, for insurance sake, and a blood trail leading into a sewer (coupled with a manhole cover that seemed to be suffering the effects of Sylar’s steel melting power) suggests we’ll be seeing him again. If it means we finally get the epic, knockdown drag out battle between him and Peter, so Peter can kill him right and proper, okay. But let’s move on next year! Molly dropped a hint of a new villain who is ‘even worse’ than Sylar, so I’m eager to see how they deliver on that promise next year.
And poor Hiro.... zapped all the way back to the middle ages in feudal Japan. Gee, do you think he’s going to meet up with that samurai he grew up reading about?
I think so too.
It’ll be a long summer with no Heroes... but at least we won’t have to wait as long for it as we will for Lost, which I don’t think will return (with its first 16 episode instalment) until the new year. All so there will be no repeats. And you know what? People will still complain.
That’s it for me. It’s been a pleasure being your resident Heroes reviewer for the last four episodes of year one. I’ll be back later in the summer with a review of the first season on DVD, and I’ll be back for the first chapter of Heroes Volume Two, ‘Generations’. Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel!
The 411: A fun season ender, but why couldn't it get the two hour treatment? The Sylar showdown would have benefited from more fleshing out as well. A good ending to a great season, and I can't wait until next year.
