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

[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.