OFFICIAL: Season 1 Heroes Discussion Thread!

[sleeper]

Christopher Eccleston is going to guest star tonight as a person that can turn invisible...should be interesting.

[Mreen]

That was him? I didnt recognize him under all that hair!

Fantastic!

[Ancient_Einstein]

Great appearance by Eccleston. Be looking forward to seeing more of him.

It seems from the nxt ep preview that Claire's mother is alive. Pretty cool.

Here's a wild theory. What if Jessica was Claire's birth mother?
Bennet talked about her mother dying in the custody of their organization. And Nikki's Dad seems to have killed Jessica or thinks he did. What if they work for the same people, Fathers Against the Unsupervised use of super powers, and accidently killed Jessica, only instead of dying she body switched to Nikki.

It seemed that they implied that Nikki was still a child when Jessica died, but I don't know if they actually said. Did they say that they were twins? i had gotten it in my head that they were but, on relefction I don't know if they actualkly said twins. If not Jessica might have been much older. Old enough to have a teenaged child

Probably way off base there. But it would be a cool way to connect Nikki/Jessi to the main arc.

[Mreen]

The twin idea came from me (and maybe others as well) - since originaly we saw Jessica appearing in mirrors after Niki left a room, she seemed to be a seperate entity, and one theory I put forth was that she was a twin, either absorbed before birth or existing in some other form that switched with Niki.

Later we have the original Jessida -seems dead in childhood- and the idea that she was still Niki's twin seem to have stuck with us. But there is no reason for your theory not to work .. tho I think they are taking this time to introduce more characters.

Its interesting that HRG said she died trying to escape them, if she's still alive (of course, any word out of HRG is suspect) I wonder if she did die trying to escape, but later her body revived and she has eluded HRG this long?

Or its maybe some new control method HRG put together to keep Claire distracted and in line - he goes to extremes with all his targets, Claire all the more so it would seem.

Poor Peter - two solid weeks of nightmares that the he was accidentally killing all his family and friends and then the whole city - without a break! No wonder he woke up screaming and raving... lets see what happens with he and Chris now!

[sleeper]

I find it interesting that, other than everyone being connected by superpowers, that Linderman has ties to everyone...except HRG. Or does HRG work for him? Does Linderman have superpowers too? How is Hiro going to get the sword? At least we know that he doesn't go back into time to fight a T-rex... funny scene. I also feel sorry for Peter, but it seems that Peter needed to be in a coma and see the future, to be able to grow and control his powers.

Poor Matt, we know that he is right but nobody believes him. I also believe the FBI will come crawling back to him for help. In Peter's Nighmare he is wearing a police uniform so maybe he won't be back with the FBI soon. HRG shows his evil side with Matt....nice.

Does Niki have regenerative powers also? You never see her bleed. She is one tough cookie with Jennifer as apart of her as she is. That is a good theory that you guys have that Claire is family to Jennifer/Niki in some way.

Is Nathan coming around and going to help out? Or is he just hanging around to see if there is something that he can take advantage of...or will he cut and run at the first sign of trouble. Can he control his powers? He couldn't when the attack/accident with his wife happened.

Why does Peter need to see Radiation man.... jeesh I would keep as far away from him as possible if I was Peter. Does Peter absorb enough of RM's powers that he doesn't need to be around him anymore and does Sylar trigger Peter to blow up? Or is Peter seeing everything from RM's point of view? Probably not because of Nathan's reaction to him in the dream. I'm just rambling here and sorry that I am.

[Ancient_Einstein]

Even if Jessica did die too young, we don't know much about Nikki's past, before she met D. L. We do know she was an alcoholic, whic might have been how she explained previous blackouts to herself when it was really Jessica taking over. And it seems Nikki has blocked memories on her own. Maybe Jessica gotb Nikki pregnant and made her forget it. Or the Haitian guy freed her and made her forget so she woulfdn' xcome back and get caught again.

[Ancient_Einstein]

Why does Peter need to see Radiation man.... jeesh I would keep as far away from him as possible if I was Peter.

I don't think Peter knows about Radiation Man. He's going to the Nevada nuclear test site for the same reason that Radiation Man is going. To be in the safest place for others when he looses control. Ironically it will put him in contact with the very person who might cause him to go nuclear.

It's sort of like that guy who saw death staring at him on a street corner and immediately moved to China. And death said "I was staring 'cause I was surprised to see him there. We had a meeting in China."

[chryse]

re: Jessica not bleeding or getting injured.
I think that's part of her power, she basically supergirl with the strength and invulnerability.

Anybody notice that the ep was framed so that what we don't know is also what Peter doesn't know because he was a in coma for 2 weeks?

Here's a wild theory. What if Jessica was Claire's birth mother?
Bennet talked about her mother dying in the custody of their organization. And Nikki's Dad seems to have killed Jessica or thinks he did.

Not unlikely. Jessica's gravestone had her birth and death years inscribed on it. I don't remember exactly, but she wasn't old enough to have had a child, she was just a child herself when she died.

btw, Nikki is on the List, but not Jessica.

[Mreen]

since they havent had Mohinder reading it aloud or anything, we actually dont know. Besides Jessica had been dead for a decade so he probably wouldnt have put her on it at that point. As far as we know it's not a geneology of families. just living subjects -as of 6m ago- that might fit his theory.

Mind you, we are tiptoeing past the glaring flaw in the basis for the show - the human genome project doesnt have each human figured out or available for any type of list. But shhhhhhhhhhh. I didnt say anything, it didnt happen. Ignore this. Oh -look, is that Blink?

[Mreen]

All week I've been wating for a chance to get to the computer and commence in some good ole speculation and character wrangling.. now its 1am and far too late for someone with my busy schedule... but, as long as I'm here let me at least throw in this bone:

Who here besides me is extremely suspicious of that psychologist? She starts out smiling all sweetly in that (often annoying) way TV Councilors always do - annoyingly confident that they are offering hope to the masses. But at the end, when Niki said okay, the psych quickly backed out, only wanting to talk to Jessica. That was distinctly SMUG smile on her face - I don't think she's just a control freak enjoying the moment, I think she's working for somebody - HRG or Linderman (tho HRG is probably working for Linderman since he said he's not government) or some other figure looking to get their hands on Jessica, to use her as a tool somehow, baiting Niki into handing her the power.

She sets off all the same alarm bells that Evil Waif did when she appeared...

(really enjoyed Chris and Peter - but ...have to sleep! Hopefully I get a chance to talk later)

[Mreen]

Another free moment - I loved how in the whole ep, Ando is worried about the mission and talking of just taking off and abandoning - while Hiro stoically insists they must follow destiny, that their glorious future awaits, that HE will never give up, HE will come back for Ando HE will never abandon his friend or the quest and then "Father!"

At this point,all the Star Trek jokes so far, are suddenly even funnier. But I honestly thought we'd hear the next line, Hiro suddenly pointing to Ando "It's his fault! He made me do it! Gambling was his idea!"

Now - go figure. Nathan and Mohinder ganging up on Peter. Is that how you would have pegged this going a few weeks back? I dont think so. Mohinder getting his patients by hook or by crook, the two of them (well, Nathan's hired thugs more likely) dragging Peter off?

I'm sure I imagined that Mohinder and Peter -starting off with mutual goals - excited about the idea that people were 'special', anxious to prove themselves, would end of thick as theives, and that they -along with all the others - would be likely involved in an intervention to drag an unwilling Nathan along to help them out.

Instead Nathan has decided to help - only to him, help means something a little more selfserving - he will have a conversation with Mohinder that is blindingly two faced, asking about how the genetics work while denying they are anything more than a fantasy in the same breath. But Mohinder tells him that if he studies Peter, he might be able to (possibly) stop the abilities from those who dont want it, and Nathan suddenly sees giving Peter over to Mohinder to study as his own personal godsend. He can save the city, his brother and get rid of this flying ability in one blow - that's why he brings a goon to the door and probably has a few more bodyguards in the limo. He's got a new plan, turn Peter to a labrat, keep it all underwraps till he can get rid of it. And 'curing' Peter of any abilites is only a slight second to his wish to cure himself, because he cant trust Peter to keep quiet about it. Nathan fears an 'outing' in the family more than anything else right now.

Nathan the Shark - kinda scary. No morals, just goals.

Claire, poor Claire, is struggling with this new life. And it looks like she accidently gave away Blink, who, apparently just this once, didnt follow an order - and now his whole world is in jeopardy. We'll see how long this lasts - remember how in the beginning of the series we kept saying 'that girl needs to get out of that house!' I'm saying it again now.. HRG really does care for her, but he is devoted to his little cult world and, like Nathan, has no morals, just goals. He admires morals in others, tho he doesnt seem to share them. I'm not sure what he'll do at this point .. but its going to be .. .. not good.

Sylar. Sylar is a bad man. Bad, bad man.

I came up with a solution, but they need Blink to take care of it. And ...

With Chris and Peter - oh ... Chris (I love to watch him) is that erratic mad man who lives with his gift as a lone theif. He may have no choice ..its hard to apply for a job once you turn invisible, and the never ever having anyone look you in the eye bit ... no wonder all invisible men go mad "If you got thin soup, that's your supper" probably sums up everything about him that you need to know. But look out, he's not used to needing people.

"One of those" - so Chris has met a lot of empaths (Oh, and yes, I'm calling him Chris, bcs the only name I got out of the ep was Claude Rains (sp) and ..gotta call him something! Better the actor's name than another actor's name ) which makes me wonder .. how many empaths are running around in NYC? 8 billion people, I imagine there are a few. But still, if Peter isnt the only one.. Chris warns him about not following him, that smarter men have tried..
So Chris, presumably, is HRG proof. Or worse yet, he's the ploy sent out to catch the empaths, since the usual method wont work .. but I dont really think that. But I do wonder what happens to the other empaths. Does Chris give them a chance, then if they fail the first warning .. does he come after them? After all, if he attacks them, both the assailant and the victim are invisible - the body wont even be visible till after Chris walks a ways away. Track them down to their apartments and live there for a few weeks? Stash the body somewhere and maybe get a couple months out of it.

Or maybe, he really means it when he says he's not going to let Peter kill everybody. He's really going to try to teach him, or even kill him, to solve the exploding problem

All three of these scenerios mean he cant let someone grab Peter for their labrat, he has to help him escape either way. What happens next is anyone's guess.

But in the nightmare, the changed one for the end of the ep, he was laughing. That just .. bodes ill. The question is begged, why is he laughing if its the end of the world? (or at least NYC) Probably not 100% related, he could be laughing at tricking Peter and not take the end of the world seriously .. or maybe he's been invisible so long, dying in a nuclear blast doesnt phase him, he doesnt feel connected enough to the world.

Or maybe he's just laughing because he is a maniacial Ben Kenobi and enjoys his students mistakes, and tries to unnerve them into getting the lesson done

one note about the continuity - I applauded them before for pointing out that the day they got their powers up thru half the season was only 2 weeks, making it from Oct 2nd, to about Oct 16, which is right for Homecoming. But then Peter was in a coma for two weeks and the story picks up for everybody there, and then Ando turns to Hiro and reminds him the bomb goes off Nov 8th. Which means just a few days, a week or more at best. And then Ando finishes that off with "which gives us only three weeks to stop"

3 weeks from a day or so before Halloween to Nov 8th? Did we get a new calender? Was a new two week month added in?

Why the heck did they make such a big deal about it being two weeks after the two weeks they started from, if they wanted those two weeks back? Why not just say it was 3 days later, or even 1 week, because if they dont mention dates, we can fudge a few days and say 2.5-3weeks. But this....I'm lost as to why they would add two weeks to the date if they dont want them.

Or are Hiro and Ando just really, really, confused about time now?

[chryse]

Since I speak Japanese, there were a few of subtitles that annoyed me. Mostly, the translations are very good, but this one they dropped the ball.

Ando: Hiro do something!
Hiro: I don't have powers.

that's what was on screen when they were trying to get away from the van. But what Hiro actually said was "tsukaine" which means "I can't use my powers" The difference being that Hiro still believes he has his powers (hence his need to get the sword which he believes will allow him to use his powers again) as opposed to not having it anymore, which is implied by the sloppy translation.

I've heard that Takei insisted that they explain why Hiro's dad looks like Sulu on the show. I can't wait for it.

Nathan is Nathan. Politician through and through. As long as he benefits in the end, nothing he does surprises me.

I don't think that Chris can make other people invisible. Remember Peter can absorb other people's powers, in this case, becoming invisible. I think Chris meant "One of those" as in another one with powers. Being invisible means you can watch a lot of people do stuff when they think they are alone. But the empath thing could be too. I'd have to watch the ep again to decide... or wait for the next one.

So how did radiation guy escape the FBI or CIA or whoever had him to end up in a shack in Nevada all by his lonesome with no one apparently chasing him. Yes, escaping, for him, is fairly easy, but still, how the heck did he get to nowheresville?

I think they are all confused about time. Since Hiro can't use his powers at present, he can't really know if anything they've done so far has changed the time table of the explosion in the future. Does locking up Sylar make a difference? Does the explosion have to happen on Nov. 8?

So, who do you think is Claire's real father? I think the 2 obvious choices (without bringing in new characters - always a possiblitiy) are her father aka HRG, and Linderman. Claire's one of the few super-people in the series that doesn't have a direct connection with Linderman yet. It'd tidy up the spiderweb a bit. But I guess we'll see soon enough.

[Mreen]

no, no, you misunderstood. (or, I wasnt very clear)Peter can absorb others powers bcs he is an empath, the dreams are his only bonus besides sponging off others. When Chris was surprised to be seen, his surprise went away completely when he realized Peter was just another empath. So I'm thinking Chris, the guy who on discovering he was invisible and with little choice (my interpretation) made a career of it, may very well kill off empaths that get a little too close or insist on following him around. Not killing off random people, but empaths that intrude on his life, and represent the only threat HRG might utilize to track him down.

Before he found out Peter was an empath, he may have feared running into someone who had another sense, heat vision, infrared, or some sort of X-ray vision (sees all skeleton structures equally ) some type of radar vision enhancement - anything like that would be a threat to his way of getting around.

But Peter was just 'one of those' - so.. what happened to all the other empaths? What has Chris done or not done with them, and does he know where to find others? The idea that one who follows him around deserves the same and to be bumped off, in his philosophy, as well as providing him with a home for few weeks or couple of months, had occurred to me. That's where all that comes in.

As far as Claire goes, you hit the top two choices square on the nose. The only other choices I see available (tho perhaps.. shall we say, unlikely) is Nathan or Sylar (or someone in Sylar's family) Nathan has already done his 'I messed around on my wife so sue me, I'm sorry' bit so I dont think we'd go there again, and Sylar ..well, it sure didnt seem like he was trying to knock off someone in his own family and I cant see any logical storyline with he or someone is family being a woman who can spontaneously combust things (apparently causing the fire that killed all those people, including supposedly her and her daughter) and young Sylar never twigging on to the 'special' people in his family. Just cant go there. Considering how HRG has looked out for her, I'd put him on the top.. but a Linderman connection for her is overdue.

Wait, I take it back. HRG has never seemed 'special' - he always seemed to view those with abilities as his property, to use in experiments, get to join his little cult of kidnappers for science, or look after as he sees fit (and his boss) - dating one of the 'special' would seem highly out of character. Unless, like Nathan, he considered that part of the ways to use to somebody if felt like it and it helped toward a goal. The pregnancy would have been accidental, perhaps discovered when bringing her in for testing. In which case he arranged for the fire and all those dead people to make Claire his own with his wife, to hide his daughter's identity so that she could grow up 'normal' instead of in his lab.

hmm - I guess he would do that after all. Something to speculate about anyway, cause its just too cold to go outside this weekend.

[Mreen]

Hey- maybe that's how Radiaton Man ends up back in New York on the 8th - FBI bring him in!

Up till now I thought he was practicing his power, gaining control too late, and then going on greif bender, taking out NYC after visiting his wife's grave or something. But if, as you point out, it might not be that hard to track down the most wanted radiation man if you show the pictures around a few bus/trucker stops and airports, they could show up and take him down to face trial for that doctors murder while questioning him, and something happens there, on the street, that makes it all go bad.

And yes, the explosion has to happen on Nov 8th - otherwise you pretty much invalidate everything since episode 2. Hiro's purpose, after Issac showed us the problem in ep 1, was to give us the timetable in ep 2. And - something about it hinges on the election. Nathan's presence seems crucial to this, good or bad, and I would only think he'd win if the explosion were to happen the next day. I think he has to give that up, to end up losing the race, to do his part to stop it. (I wouldnt mind if they decide to surprise us by having Nathan win and do whatever sacrifice to stop the explosion, its just so far not leading up to that kind of story.. never did seem like it. Nathan has to take the lumps with the roses too, seems more the style.)

[Mreen]

OH!

I almost forgot - your translation comment!

Since the actor who plays Hiro was born in Japan and moved to US when he was five, and speaks both languages fluently 'without accent' as the expression goes <g> he insists on doing the translation himself. Which means that the Japanese one is what he thinks the character should/would be saying.