Heroes 1:23 How to stop an exploding man

[hazelk]

It may be selenak’s influence at work but having mulled it over I do believe the finale works best if you think about it as the story of Nathan Petrelli. It makes thematic sense too – this whole first volume has been about people discovering and accepting themselves and Nathan was always the most reluctant to do that. With the exception of Ted Sprague he had the most troublesome initial manifestation of his ability and right up until this final episode he still held to the idea of these strange new powers being at best useless at worst lethal, forces of nature to be healed, suppressed, or collectively risen above.

Other heroes in the episode completed their journeys, Hiro defeated Sylar, Nikki found her strength, Molly found her boogie man, Noah Bennet gave up the secret of his first name but it’s in Nathan that you can see the whole process from fear and denial to hope and acceptance unfold. In his first scene Angela tells him Linderman has died but the show still goes on and she does it magnificently, every touch a precision weapon. That they’ve hit target is confirmed when Peter overhears him thinking

There’s nothing we can do, they’re all going to die.

It’s the next scene that’s the pivotal point and the one where

Save the cheerleader, Save the world

finally comes true. Not as future!Hiro thought because Claire didn’t die and didn’t give her ability to Sylar but because she lived and lived to give her absentee biological father an exasperated teenager’s opinion on the evitability of things. She didn’t do it alone, it was a long process that both Hiro and Peter contributed to and through them all the others one way or another even the dead (really loved the dream/flashback whatever it was with Charles Devreaux) but like Nathan himself give her credit for being the last straw.

The actual last straw was a little too much, couldn’t Nathan just have muttered something about Peter needing a haircut? And then there could have been tea. But at least Sylar was done with and Peter was Dawn. I cried a little and then, whoops we’re in feudal Japan! So it was all good.

Comments

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I must admit to a certain bias, of course, but as you say, I think making Nathan's choice so important was thematically justified for the overall season.

Not as future!Hiro thought because Claire didn’t die and didn’t give her ability to Sylar but because she lived and lived to give her absentee biological father an exasperated teenager’s opinion on the evitability of things.

Which I actually like better. Not dying, not becoming Sylar's victim is essentially a passive thing, and doesn't have anything to do with her being Claire. But being the voice of blistering no-nonsense judgement is something Claire can do because she's herself. (I also loved that he looked back to her one more time before stepping towards Peter.)

I linked my Nathan meta and some post-season 1 finale fanfic at londonkds' journal which I saw you commented on, so you probably don't want/need the links here as well.

Re: Peter as Dawn - the sky getting bright during the explosion made me think of The Gift as well. Though it's interesting that the choices to be made are slightly different (with one common element). In The Gift, Buffy at first seems to have only two - either kill her sister and save the world, or save her sister and doom the world. As she often does, she comes up with a third option, substituting herself for Dawn and saving both the world and Dawn. Nathan's choices are either to believe that the future is inevitable and to allow the explosion to happen as scheduled (with additional incentive of promises that this will result in a leader of the country and country united thing, though Hiro also gave him a warning - and it's important here imo that Hiro doesn't know Future!Nathan was Sylar, because obviously had Nathan known he was about to get killed and replaced by a serial killer, any choice would have been selfish), but would make his brother responsible for the death of millions, let Claire shoot Peter, which might or might not stop the explosion (shooting didn't help when Thompson did it with Ted) but definitely will devastate Claire and, since she'd have to aim for his head and was close enough, would kill Peter for good, or volunteer his own life.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

Peter as Dawn
I hadn't thought of the option of letting Claire shoot Peter once Nathan arrived and was very torn about his intervention in that moment when he arrived (although less so afterwards) because Claire having to shoot had felt like an ending (the Becoming ending) and I wanted it but didn't because, as you say, of what it would do to Claire. BtVS had an easier job with endings I guess because it was always clear who the big story was about whereas Heroes is much more of an ensemble show.

I was glad that they backed down from the Peter vs Sylar showdown, which is partly what I meant by calling Peter Dawn, in the end he was the damsel rather than the hero. In fact plot wise Sylar's involvement was a big red herring in the end it all came down to whether Peter could control Ted's power, which I definitely liked for taking it away from good-versus-evil towards good versus itself. You know, the final cockroach shot was neat but in as much as it implies the return of Sylar I wish they hadn't done it - he has his moments but The Company is a much better villian.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

which is partly what I meant by calling Peter Dawn, in the end he was the damsel rather than the hero

Oh, he's the damsel through most of season 1. The one episode where Peter does the traditionally heroic thing of facing his death to save the girl is Homecoming and there, too, he does so not by striking a blow, but by dragging Sylar down a roof, i.e. sacrificing his own life (as he doesn't know about regeneration). Otherwise, you have him getting rescued, fainting, being in a coma, and getting rescued again all over the place, all traditionally "feminine" storytelling motifs, which is a subversion I haven't seen often remarked upon. He's even Sleeping Beauty not just once but twice (in "Godsend", when Nathan kisses him, and in ".07%", when Claire removes the proverbial splinter to awake him). This, btw, fits with Peter's definition as an empath - it's the emotional connections he forms that make a difference.

My own comparison back when I first saw the episode to a previous character wasn't Dawn but Luke Skywalker in "Return of the Jedi". (As opposed to Luke in "Star Wars".) In RotJ, Luke doesn't strike any decisive blow, doesn't blow up anything and does not kill the villain; what he does is by being there and having faith in someone triggering a redemptive action.

You know, the final cockroach shot was neat but in as much as it implies the return of Sylar I wish they hadn't done it - he has his moments but The Company is a much better villian.

God, I so wish they had killed Sylar off for good in the s1 finale. Thankfully, he isn't much in s2 (basically three episodes dispersed through the 11 we've had so far), whereas the Company is very present indeed, in every episode, and in fascinating ways, too.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

I still have tremendous trouble with the line "You saved the cheerleader so we could save the world." It's given such import when Nathan says it, and as near as I can figure, it doesn't mean anything!

I suppose if you decide, as you indicate, that it's All About Nathan, then Claire's purpose is to motivate him. But given that my big problem with the show is the way it's all about the white guys, this interpretation does not thrill me.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

You saved the cheerleader so we could save the world.
Is that one of the things Nathan said to Peter before they flew off? I blocked a lot of that out and yes put that way it's all about making Peter feel good and while brotherly not strictly true.

I'm happier with the idea of Claire being needed for her brains than her ability but even the original "save the cheerleader" line while catchy is kinda problematic, this was the best I could do with it. There's a lot of playing devil's advocate here, the ending, while it could have been worse didn't feel nearly as good as what preceded it. But I still *like* the show for trying.

Nathan being the ultimate hero, I didn't express very well but it's more because he's the last to get a clue not because he's the only one to succeed in doing so. Also and in the same vein it's about him because he's the old guy not because he's the white guy. Which still begs the question of why make the old person white and male. I think the show has succeeded in creating vibrant and believable female and of color heroes and it does still surprise me as with Jessica refusing to be defined by Linderman. It's better maybe at slipping critique of traditional family values (the Bennet picket fence idyll being based on a lie) under the radar and it's noticeable that both executive players in the Company are old white guys, Angela is still quite a maverick figure, Charles and Mr. Nakamura seem to be against the whole bomb thing. I also appreciated the rebuttal of the conservative idea of war/disaster being worth it for the improved moral fibre it brings in Five years Gone.

In the way characters like Hiro and Claire are shown as the hopeful ones there's a touch of the attitude Europe used to have towards America in the early-mid twentieth century. We were done but maybe the newer more vigorous culture could do better. Which is problematic in its own way and I'm really just babbling now.

[bradcpu.livejournal.com]

Nathan was the person about whom my opinions shifted the most while watching S1. He had an arc similar to Noah Bennet's, but in a more intimate, drawn-out way. He's not the man you thought he was... but he's also not the man he thought he was.

In the end, I liked Nathan's arc as much as my favorite characters/stories in the show - Matt, Noah, Ando. And I didn't expect that.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

My Hereos dvds just arrived! Uh sorry, random squee.

And I didn't expect that.
I didn't much care for Nathan one way or another at first, he started to get interesting in that scene with Nikki talking about flying, then odd momments like the first meeting with Hiro, in 5 years gone (even though it wasn't him). Adrian Pasdar plays him really well, really subtly and its not an easy part to pin down.

but he's also not the man he thought he was.
Yes, that exactly.