Heroes Wednesday: Five Years Gone

(Image from Heroeswiki)

OK. Major fanboy geek out moment coming up... now. OMG so freakin' fantastic! Did you see...?! and then when he....?!? And at the end when they...?! BEST. EPISODE. EVAH!!!!!!

Ahem.

Having got that out of the way, let's get analytical and do some deep geeking.

I won't go into my theory of Newtonian time travel about having to travel through space and time because of the Earth being in a different place in its orbit around the sun, mainly because it's been proven that Hiro can travel though space and time. I will say that I have always loved time travel stories and the paradoxes and possibilities. Back to the Future came out when I was in middle school (does it scare anyone else that we're only 8 years from the year depicted in BTTF2?), and I loved figuring it all out. For instance, at one point in 1955, there were 4 Deloreans in Hill Valley.

Anyway, I want to think about the timelines we've seen in Heroes so far, before we get to the actual story that we saw last night.

Timeline 1: This is the timeline before FutureHiro goes back in time to visit Peter on the subway. In this one, it seems that Sylar kills Claire, becomes the bomb, and destroys New York.

Timeline 2: This is the future we saw Monday night. FutureHiro has altered the world with the Save the Cheerleader, Save the World missive to Peter, but now Peter became the bomb, even though the world thought Sylar had.

Timeline 3: This is the future that we'll see now that Hiro has come back to his regular time with Ando.

I love it. Of course, the trick with time travel is to not think about all the paradoxes that come out of this. Just roll with it. This is when stuff gets really really good.

So, onto the plotlines which intertwine almost as much as string in a particular loft....

• Hiro and Ando - After a lot of the season where their plot line just dragged and dragged, it really came into its own with this episode. I loved Hiro kept his joy, even in the midst of such a dystopian reality. Yes, his situation was bad, especially while he was in Parkman's grasp, but I loved when they got back to present and he was ready to get out and save New York. Ando was particularly great, and James Kyson Lee has done a great job portraying him. He seemed to accept the case of his death fairly well considering everything. I've had Ando marked down for death for a while and in the middle of the season, it wouldn't have bothered me that much, but now, I would really, really miss his character.
  
• FutureHiro - We knew FutureHiro was pretty cool, just from the little we saw of him back in Hiros. And we really saw it last night. Ando's death in the bomb changed FutureHiro in a major way. I think Peter said he became harder. He really, really did. He became very hardcore and a terrorist, although that seemed to be a matter of perspective. I was said to see him go at the end.
• Parkman - Wow. Parkman as a bad guy? Not just a bad guy but taking out FutureHiro and Bennett? I thought this was so well done and he was so hate-able. I really really wonder what happened to him in this timeline to make him go that bad. Perhaps it was a slow burn and once he got there, he was already committed to his actions. Also, nice little political commentary making Homeland Security into the stormtrooper arm for the Petrelli Administration.
  
• Bennett - Running an underground railroad for "specials," but also selling out the "terrorists" to Parkman, who then kills him when he gets the information about Claire. I felt incredibly bad for Bennett, particularly because even in his dying moments, he couldn't protect his daughter.
  
• Claire - So she was brunette to protect her identity while living in a town close to where her dad lived. Um.... ok. And she was hooking up with the blond dunce of a boyfriend. Yeah, not really happy with this deal, until Parkman showed up and said, "I don't know. What's good, Claire?" Plus going to see her "dad" in NYC... which we'll get to later...
• Niki - So apparently, Niki becomes dominant and Jessica becomes her stage name. Stripping is a natural progression for her to continue on, but did any one else get the impression that she owned the bar? She was obviously broken by DL and Micah's deaths, but seemed to think that Peter Petrelli was hot enough to latch onto. We never did get answers about whether the super strength is the power or the split personality.
• Mohinder - Important to this episode, but ancillary at the same time. Nice choice on taking out the Haitian Sensation. The hair still scared me.
  

And now for the really, really fun stuff.

• Peter - Hi. I'll be your Neo for this episode. Which would seem really derivative, but going from Emo-Peter to Bad-A.. Peter was such a cool transition, especially about how comfortable he was with his powers. Watching him just do his thing was fun and I wouldn't mind revisiting him at some point. I do wonder how he got the scar if he has Claire's regenerative power. Did it come from being the bomb?
  
• Nathan/Sylar - For the first part of this episode, I thought the power of being President had gotten to him. And maybe it did. Sylar mentioned that Nathan had already turned his back at the time he'd killed Nathan, but I've got to tell you that the reveal of Sylar using Candice's power to be Nathan was one of the coolest reveals that I've ever seen on TV. Ever. I was so glad for TiVo to be able to go back and watch that again immediately. Although it was really bad for Claire. Interesting that he started at the back of her head. I wonder if that was to negate her regenerative powers. And the ending battle with Peter, which we just got little shots of, was really amazing: Sylar busting out the freeze power we saw in the second episode and Peter getting out the radioactive power. I think that battle would have gone on for a long, long time, since both had Claire's regenerative power.
  

All in all, it's an episode that just did so much right and just made me kind of point and laugh at Lost. It's an episode that a new watcher would come in and not have a clue about it because so much of the back story is working there. But for those who have been fans from the first few episodes, this was almost like a "Thank You" to the fans. The next three weeks should be really fun.

btw, a prediction. Neither Peter or Sylar will be the bomb. Ted will be the bomb and will die protecting something, but still blowing up New York.

Speaking of the next episode...



I'm not going to do a shot by shot breakdown of the preview, but it seems like there's a lot going on. Claire and HRG reuniting, Sylar seeing his mom (yawn), and Hiro getting the sword ready to take Sylar out. Plus, Molly Walker?!? From the second episode?!? Just, wow.

So, where did you come down on it? Best episode ever? Merely ok?