Heroes 1:18 Parasite

[hazelk]

Quickly before the new episode begins


Structurally Company Man was a slight departure from the Heroes norm, Parasite reverted to the multi-threaded format with some threads stronger than others but I did like where they all ended up.

Hiro and Ando’s story feels like it’s been played as comic relief for too long, the final shot of them both hurled into a devasted future would seem to mark the end of that period and how. I did like Hiro’s meeting with Nathan

“I thought you were nuts.”
“I thought you were mean.”

I probably need to rewatch and check what he and Nikki said but going to shoot Linderman rather than entrap him never felt like Nathan’s style so the fact that he didn’t seemed more a reversion to type than a falling to temptation. Still a good endpoint to have reached with the promise that both will now talk openly to one another. Similarly, the parallel reveal of Grandma Petrelli as a player in the game. I’m most curious about the Haitian and how he became aligned with her, is she the only person he’s spoken with until now?

Mr and Mrs Bennet were heartbreaking, I know arithmetically Noah is probably my age but their marriage recalls the way things seemed to work in my parents’ generation breadwinner and homemaker clearly defined and never discussed. If you think about it the show is being quite startlingly harsh in its depiction of that traditional family structure. All that holds it together are lies and erasures.

I like Candace. I don’t think she’s good but it was hard not to enjoy her taunting of Issac and to a lesser extent Noah. There’s a vengeance demon aspect to her - I suppose since her ability seems to be illusionism she could grant wishes or at least seem to if the need arose.

I can’t prove it but I did think Mohinder caught something of a clue about Sylar in the talk they had before checking in the night he killed Dale. As written that isn’t necessarily the case, he could have had no idea until seeing the news story, but I prefer it if it was. There is some truth in Sylar acusation of both Suresh’s being blinded by their pursuit of science and letting murders happen while they investigate. Not quite how he means it but in the scientific propensity to test hunches rather than acting on them. Intellectual caution costing lives. Sylar also seems quite desperate that Peter be ‘like him.’ Starting with the haircut.

Comments

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

He's spoken quite a lot to Claire, although Bennet and Thompson both think he's mute.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

True (facepalms). In my defense I was thinking more in terms of the 'verse time than show's. Claire's been talking with him for maybe a month but for years before then everyone believed he was mute including possibly the people he was with when Thompson found him. It made me wonder what it was about Angela Petrelli that made him break silence for her.

[yourlibrarian]

their marriage recalls the way things seemed to work in my parents’ generation breadwinner and homemaker clearly defined and never discussed. If you think about it the show is being quite startlingly harsh in its depiction of that traditional family structure.

With the Petrellis as well, yes. Marriage doesn't do well in this verse.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

Sibling relationships do much better though.

[bradcpu.livejournal.com]

Hiro and Ando had definitely been played as comedy relief to this point, but I didn't fault the show for that because their thread was the only one that had *any comedy at all*. Every other thread in the show was pure, straight-faced drama/horror/suspense.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

It's quite different from Buffy, which could switch from comedy to drama in an eye blink. You're right they do need a Hiro for the lightheartedness if not the belly laughs. It will be sad time for the show if he turns into Future!Hiro a day too soon.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I did like Hiro’s meeting with Nathan

Their scenes together are among my favourites of the first season. I just adore them. (Which, naturally, resulted in fanfic.) Also, note this time Nathan is seeking out Hiro when he spots him; in a season where usually people bond over life-threatening situations when they meet (a la Peter and Claire, for example), Hiro and Nathan hit it off simply because they like each other, against all the odds, since they're at the opposite ends of the superpowered characters, Hiro the exuberant fanboy and Nathan the jaded, skeptic politician.

I’m most curious about the Haitian and how he became aligned with her, is she the only person he’s spoken with until now?

As Londonkds says, he spoke a good deal to Claire. But she's clearly whom he's referring to when he says to Bennet that he took his orders "from someone who outranks you" (Bennet: "In this Company?" Haitian: "In your daughter's life") in Company Man.

Did it surprise you Nathan was working with the FBI and had in fact initialized this post-"accident" in Six Months Ago?

I like Candace. I don’t think she’s good but it was hard not to enjoy her taunting of Issac and to a lesser extent Noah. There’s a vengeance demon aspect to her - I suppose since her ability seems to be illusionism she could grant wishes or at least seem to if the need arose.

Oh, interesting comparison. Candice has some good character stuff coming up in the episode Landslide where we find out a bit about what motivates her. And yes, her ability is creating illusions; physically, though, not mentally. (I.e. she can't read minds.) (But she's not a shapeshifter like Mystique, a mistake people made who didn't pay attention that in "Parasite" she hides Simone's dead body from the cops while, she doesn't just assume her appearance; again, in Landslide it's stated quite how her power works.)

Sylar's taunting of Mohinder: imo he's not exactly lying about Chandra's sort of adoption of him, either. The Mohinder-Sylar dynamic on the road is probably a pretty faithful recreation of the one between Sylar and Chandra before Chandra clued into the fact people were dying and what that meant.

PS

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Forgot - as to when Mohinder clued in that "Zane" was Sylar - I always thought it was when Sylar cringed at noise, i.e. displayed Dale's powers, the morning after he killed her. That was a big giveaway.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

Nathan looks genuinely happy when he's talking to Hiro, it's good to see. I recently had the thought that if Kimiko had been been a boy Hiro would have been the Peter of his family, I wonder if Nathan might, at least in part, be responding to that younger brotherness (but without the responsibilities and the adolescent disputes to complicate it).

Did it surprise you Nathan was working with the FBI and had in fact initialized this post-"accident" in Six Months Ago?

It surprised me but it didn't jar like the thing with the gun. In a way I can see that it's a natural progression from trying to take out Linderman via pure lawyer-fu, to undercover entrapment, to assassination but guns and politicians don't feel right together. Maybe that's a European/American difference.

Re: Sylar another thought is that because his natural ability is to 'know' how things work he has little understanding of how it is for those who get there by more traditional application of reason. (Sylar has no empathy it's typical that Dale's ability gives him almost nothing but pain while he's instantly adept at telekinesis and melting metal). He's assuming that both Sureshes knew what he was doing and had made a calculated decision to allow him to continue because he was useful to their research whereas they may have suspected but not 'known' for some time.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I recently had the thought that if Kimiko had been been a boy Hiro would have been the Peter of his family, I wonder if Nathan might, at least in part, be responding to that younger brotherness (but without the responsibilities and the adolescent disputes to complicate it).

Oh, absolutely. I think, among other things, Hiro is a younger brother without the intense co-dependency he has with Peter and the many many issues to him. Fun trivia: in their podcast commentary for Landslide, George Takei teases Masi Oka that Hiro pronounces Nathan's name like the Japanese word for "big sister". *g*

In a way I can see that it's a natural progression from trying to take out Linderman via pure lawyer-fu, to undercover entrapment, to assassination but guns and politicians don't feel right together. Maybe that's a European/American difference.

Could be, says a fellow European. I remember when I watched the episode for the first time I didn't think he'd go through with shooting Linderman, either, when he was on his way, not because Nathan is incapable of killing someone but because I don't think he'd do it this way. Though it was presented as a spontanous decision, when Niki told him the FBI guys (the only ones who knew he was supposed to be undercover, remember, as stated in his office earlier, as far as the rest of the organization is concerned, he's a corrupt politician) were dead and Linderman knew all. Note that Linderman was clever enough to have that meeting underground, not in his office, and in a place where Nathan if he HAD shot would not have been able to escape alive. Again, not that Nathan is incapable of sacrificing his life, but not for this particular cause (killing Linderman).

Re: Sylar another thought is that because his natural ability is to 'know' how things work he has little understanding of how it is for those who get there by more traditional application of reason.

I think it's more that he has, as you say, no empathy, not surprising since the show is setting him and Peter up as shadow doubles and contrasts to each other, complete with both having alliterating names and very similar reactions to the initial power reveal. Both at first when told/dreaming that they have a power jump immediately on the "yay! special! destiny!" train, both then get angry and frustrated when it appears that a) they might not have a power after all, and b) someone else has who doesn't seem to appreciate it. Which is of course where they part ways, with the murderous villain career and all. Anyway, it's also that Sylar is somewhat obsessed with the Sureshs, which he's not with other people (with other people, he just wants their powers, they don't exist as individuals to him).

Now, fanfic:

Lunch Break, which is a story set during "Godsend" and was my Hiro 'n Nathan tribute.

And the "Claire and the women in her life" story I mentioned earlier, assuming you've watched .07% by now (it also has a slight spoiler regarding Claire's fate at the end of the s1 finale, but then you said you watched the s2 opening episode, so you already know where she ends up).

Trioditis

There is also Folly, which was my guess how the thing with Nathan and Meredith back in the day went down.