Season 3

[TRu]

Talk about episode 3x03 "One of Us, One of Them" here!

[Deceit]

I'm pretty sure Linderman is meeting with Daphne in the preview. What's that about?! And why has Angela all of a sudden appointed Sylar the person to save the world?

[Manderlin]

Angela's vision showed it was Sylar and her vs. the 4 villains.  Since that's a given, she'd better prepare Sylar to ensure a good outcome to that showdown.

But Linderman meeting Daphne?  The L man was supposed to be Nathan's psychosis.  No-one else could see him.  Guess not....

[Deceit]

Angela's vision showed it was Sylar and her vs. the 4 villains.  Since that's a given, she'd better prepare Sylar to ensure a good outcome to that showdown.

But Linderman meeting Daphne?  The L man was supposed to be Nathan's psychosis.  No-one else could see him.  Guess not....

I think it's safe to say Linderman isn't a figment of Nathan's imagination. Why would Nathan have a personality in his head that tells him the Niki lookalike isn't Niki at all?

[Hellish Gnome]

Angela's vision showed it was Sylar and her vs. the 4 villains.  Since that's a given, she'd better prepare Sylar to ensure a good outcome to that showdown.

But Linderman meeting Daphne?  The L man was supposed to be Nathan's psychosis.  No-one else could see him.  Guess not....

I think it's safe to say Linderman isn't a figment of Nathan's imagination. Why would Nathan have a personality in his head that tells him the Niki lookalike isn't Niki at all?

Also if Linderman is a figment how was Nathan healed?

[ch2be3]

Angela may have asked Linderman to heal Peter when he was in a coma in Season 1.  I think she did say she was going to do something about Peter being in a coma.
If Peter has Linderman's power, then he may have healed Nathan when he touched him right before Nathan recovered.

[D Rok]

I think we have to wait to see what they do with linderman.  he's obviously not a hallucination of Nathan, and I'm pretty sure he was the one who healed Nathan.  Peter wouldn't do it because he wanted him dead.  FP knows how to control his powers, so I dont think he would inadvertenly heal nathan.  Maybe present Peter, but not FP.  I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with Linderman.

Also, I want to know who angela was talking to at the end of the Second season talking about Opening Pandoras box and all that!  Interesting!

O, and I'm pretty sure Angela preps Sylar well enough to have him rally behind her.  I'm quite sure if the dream means he's against those four people, or apart of them.  Its not quite certain.  I'm pretty sure this scenario won't happen the way she dreamed it.  I think the villans are all right, i.e. Maury, Adam, Tracy, and Knox, but I don't think that showdown will happen, and I wouldn't be suprised if Angela tries to groom Sylar, and toward the end he turns on everyone and joins forces with all of those villans in the dream.

Not sure, just some thoughts.

[33rdninja]

  I believe Sylar wants to prove he's the most powerful to much to work with anyone else i.e. the villians. I think he'd protect Angela out of show, before he would "team" up with any other heroes.  Just to prove to himself and everyone else how strong he is.

[D Rok]

  I believe Sylar wants to prove he's the most powerful to much to work with anyone else i.e. the villians. I think he'd protect Angela out of show, before he would "team" up with any other heroes.  Just to prove to himself and everyone else how strong he is.

Ya good point...good or bad...it's all usually for some kind of self serving agenda...I concur!

[Save The World]

Here's a thought.  The villains shown included Matt's dad - the Nightmare Man.  Seeing as how his power extends beyond nightmares (as he told Matt - anything the mind can do, he can control).  Perhaps Matt's dad is making Nathan see Linderman in order to manipulate him into doing what they (the villains) want?  I do think Peter has Linderman's power and just doesn't realize it.  We'll just have to wait and see, though.  I really want them to get past this whole Mohinder thing, though.  The "line-by-line" redux of The Fly will be tiresome.

[D Rok]

Here's a thought.  The villains shown included Matt's dad - the Nightmare Man.  Seeing as how his power extends beyond nightmares (as he told Matt - anything the mind can do, he can control).  Perhaps Matt's dad is making Nathan see Linderman in order to manipulate him into doing what they (the villains) want?  I do think Peter has Linderman's power and just doesn't realize it.  We'll just have to wait and see, though.  I really want them to get past this whole Mohinder thing, though.  The "line-by-line" redux of The Fly will be tiresome.

First of all...lemme just say that Jeff Dunam is the $hit and I saw him live in LA and loved it!  (lol, just had to comment on the pic!)

Yes, someone else mentioned this as a possiblity, and I think they could be onto something.  It is very possible that
a.  Linderman is still alive somewhere, but is working with Maury to control Nathan
b. Maury is still working for adam and is using Linderman to get to Nathan

But ya, I can see that kind of thing being very possible, that what he sees isn't him going crazy, but rather Maury putting the image in his brain...

The ONLY problem with that theory is how did Nathan get healed?  I don't buy the Adam blood left over thing, and FP wouldn't heal him because he was trying to kill him, and he wouldn't develop another power or anything like that, so the only thing I can think of is that Linderman did it...if that's the case, then there's something about Linderman we dont know yet.

but its a good speculation!  I like it!

[GoldenGait]

Solid episode. Very nice.

We begin the episode with a repeat of Angela's creepy admission of motherhood to a restrained and imprisoned Sylar. She's feeding him abilities now? Yeesh. Now I just want to know why Angela gave him up for adoption to begin with. Not her husband's child? Is he only Peter and Nathan's half-brother? Who would his father be, then? This woman gets around; Kaito, Mr. Petrelli Sr., a mystery Sylar Baby Daddy.... So this means he's Claire's uncle, too. This family gets crazier and crazier with every episode...

I'm not sure of the intelligence of partnering Sylar with HRG. Sylar seems like the last person (other than the escaped Level 5ers) the Company would be able to control--even the slightest bit--and I don't think they'll ever be able to rely on him as an instrument working faithfully for them. This man wants powers, and delights in killing to get them, and what does Angela think she has that ties him to her and the Company? Her claim of motherhood? We've seen what he does to women he believes are his mother. He pouts and whines and wears glasses for them, and then when he accidentally stabs them in the heart he gets over it extraordinarily quickly and proceeds to fingerpaint in their blood. If I had a power I wouldn't want to be within miles of Sylar. What's to stop him from taking Angela's ability of dream visions? Does he know she has an ability? And aside from all of that, I'd think partners would need to be able to trust each other and get along at least on a superficial level... these two hate each other! Although their rapport later on was quite amusing... but I'll get to that.

I love Angela's manipulation of HRG into working with Sylar. Of course he'd feel obligated to keep an eye on this guy if Angela was serious about letting him loose on society. Moral blackmail works surprisingly well on HRG, apparently. But sell-out, Corporate!Sylar was... odd. I loved Zachary busting out the Brooklyn accent as Sylar takes charge over HRG at the crime scene, but I was worried this was too big of a character shift for so short a time period. Then again, I liked Angela's explanation that all Sylar needs is some boundaries. This is the perfect case of giving a gifted kid a challenging purpose in order to maximize their potential. Maybe Sylar really has been running rampant all this time because he wasn't given anything to do and nothing solid was expected of him. But it was nice to see Sylar's character hadn't actually sold out: no more Jesse. I guess Kristen Bell didn't have enough pull to get Francis Capra a permanent role, just a guest a spot. ;-)

I liked the bank heist, and I really enjoyed getting to know the new characters a little better, even if most of them were dead by the end of it. (Who did we lose? The German and Jesse, and Knox ran out the back door, all set to be one of the Uber Villains in Angela's future dream of the Level 5 slaughter.) What could the German do, exactly? He opened that safe... how? I love that we found out what Jesse's power really is. His file said "sound manipulation", but that didn't sound like a Level 5-warranting ability. (Although that would be really useful... I'd love to be able to mute some of my coworkers on Mondays...) Even after all his bellowing I still don't understand how he's a Level 5 and Sylar was a Level 2. Can you even kill someone with his power? Knox's power was great, though--I like when they give powers that require something additional. He's got super strength, but we've seen that. However, his works on the one condition that he be powered up by fear around him. Very nice. So if you sit there calmly and laugh at him, can he still hurt you?

Loved the line "Under no circumstances are you to go anywhere near that buffet in there." HRG and Sylar's domination of the Level 5ers in the bank was fun to watch, with a glimpse at the normal, able-to-operate-in-society-without-being-uber-creepy Sylar that could have been, had aspects of his life been different. And Sylar doesn't look quite as good as I thought he would in a suit. I think I prefer the scrubs and gray wife beater, or the hoodie and jacket from Season 1.

I loved the special effects freeze when Future!Peter arrives to pop Present!Peter out of Jesse, and I'm jazzed that both Peters just took a trip to the future. I'm hoping all of the next episode plays out in the future with both of them--I want another good 1x20 Five Years Gone.

Meredith and Sandra co-parenting Claire was a great scene, and I love the territorial nature of both older women here. But I am curious why no one is discussing the possibility of Claire working with her father or at least being used in some way to forward The Cause. I'm sure she gets dragged in eventually this season, but I'd think people would be planning her involvement now. It seems like the perfect bargaining chip to keep her in school through her senior year. Pass your classes, young lady, and your father and I will let you fight crime when you graduate. There's a good girl. If the main objectives from the past (keep her alive, keep her power from Sylar) are now moot points, she could only be an asset to the Good Guys.

"You're telling us your plan? What kind of over-confident nemesis are you?" Hiro's confrontation of Daphne outside the theater was comic genius, as was her condescending push of his glasses back up his nose, as if she were so many steps ahead of him she was stealing his signature move before he thought to do it. I also think it's cute and naive of Hiro to be looking at the small picture in front of him and not the bigger one: he keeps referring to Daphne as his nemesis, when he should be giving that title to whomever she's working for. A secret I'm dying to find out. New baddy? Established baddy? What important, influential, non-special person would desperately want to get their hands on that formula and create a ton of people with abilities? It can't be someone who already has an ability--bad guys want to be the only special people so they can keep their advantage over society.

The Haitian was the perfect person for Angela to send after half of the formula--no-one would be able to use abilities to get it away from him. The playing field is officially leveled. I loved the entire scene in the movie theater, with a ton of hysterical lines: "Can I get popcorn?" "No." as well as "Don't listen to her, Ando. She's trying to divide us. It's Villainy 101." I'm still enjoying the slow rift forming between Ando and Hiro, and can't wait to see how it all plays out. His brutal attack on the Haitian and the subsequent loss of the formula as they argued was a nice way to advance Ando's increasing urge to do more than just stand there as Hiro runs the show, and I'm glad Hiro is questioning the need for his friend to be there at all...

Still confused on the subject of Niki/Tracy. The dynamic between Nathan and Tracy is interesting, but how we got to this point has been so badly explained that I'm only willing to go with this storyline on faith for another episode, maybe two, before I start to get really bugged. Like, bugged on a level that gives Alejandro's mustache a run for its money. I mean this is really annnoying me. "I'm just waiting for this to make sense." Join the club, Nathan. I was wary of her trip to New Orleans, but I'm relieved we just got a touching scene of exposition and clues with Micah before Tracy bounced out of town again. We just don't need Micah around unless he's useful for an episode or two, and I'm okay with never hearing from Monica again. I'm okay for now with the explanation that there are several Nikis running around, and that a doctor "created" them all, but I'm hoping we get more of an explanation of how he did so. Is he the father? Is he special, too?

I loved Usutu's painting of Matt and Molly, and I'm going to have to visit the NBC site tomorrow so I can pause these scenes and get a better look at those other rocks. What else has this guy seen--people other than Matt? And can we keep him? I like this storyline... It's encapsulated and interesting. And I love that his eyes go white like the others' have. I wonder what Matt is experiencing in that tent? And finally, are turtles the new cockroach?

I liked and disliked Claire and Meredith's playdate in the shipping container. It was nice to solidify Claire's position and motivation, but I didn't believe the torture was really enough to elicit the response it did. Maybe Sylar's attack was more emotionally scarring than it initially seemed. Poor Claire. It'll be interesting to see where she's gone now... And I loved Meredith's advice to Sandra not to "smother" Claire--cute, considering that's exactly what she did earlier that day in the shipping container!

Bits and Pieces:

    * I hope they don't try to tie Tracy's freezing ability to Molly's dad's ability that Sylar stole. That would be too many coincidences, and too many complications.
    * I love the Sylar theme music. It's so haunting. I'd like to get my hands on it for a ring tone, actually... It was lovely to hear it as he dispatched Jesse.
    * The new painting Usutu painted during the episode--was that Daphne in Matt's arms?
    * Nice reference back to Genesis with Nathan reading the bible in the closing shots.
    * Hiro's on Level 5? With Ando? Ando does not need to be there. And why is HRG allowing this? He likes Hiro and knows he's a good guy, right? Is Angela putting her foot down and making them cool their heels for awhile since they were technically trying to steal her property when they assaulted the Haitian?
    * Where was Mohinder? Where was Linderman?
    * Next week's trailer: I love that we're headed to the future, and not only am I psyched we're seeing Brunette!Claire again, but I love that Sylar is an opposite, too! By the looks of things, Angela manages to domesticate him quite nicely. He's got Mr. Muggles and an apron? And I roared with laughter when he greeted Peter: "If you'd told me you were coming, I'd have made extra!"

Til next week, friends,
GG

[Manderlin]

Why oh why did I have to watch this show tonight?  I won't be able to stand waiting 7 whole days for the next episode!

Angela proves adept as ever at manipulating people.  He turns Gabriel into an operative, and Bennet into his partner.  Admittedly, Sylar killed one of the people they were supposed to bring in (fire guy, woo!), but somehow I think that was part of Angela's plan.  Perhaps she foresaw all this?  Meanwhile, it's entirely possible she's lying about the family relation.  It's also possible she's not.

Hiro is quite the buffoon.  But this time it was Ando who screwed up the situation by knocking out the Hatian.

Tracy met her maker.  We'll find out next week about her connection to Nikki.

[TRu]

Another awesome review GG!  Maybe we can showcase your reviews every week on the front page!  I was thinking "Golden Reviews by Golden Gait!" or something like that.  Let me know if you're interested.

I thought it was another good episode.  I can't really think of anything I disliked.

Some quick thoughts:
* Haitian's back!  I always liked him.
* Love the Hiro, Ando, and Daphne interaction.
* Sylar was great and funny too!
* I'm not sold on Sylar being a Petrelli yet.  I think Angela is brainwashing him.
* Some of the villains are already dead?  That was quick.
* Odd scene with Clare and Mom in the container.  I would actually like to see Clare learn some new tricks.
* Although it was nice to see Micah, I agree that he should be used sparingly.
* More Niki's/Jessica's/Tracy's?  Oh no...
* Matt's doing his own thing, which I'm not sure I completely understand yet.
* Peter's going back to the future!  It's always cool in future!

Looking forward to next week again!  Hopefully it'll start picking up speed!

[PhantomLord]

Hey, guys, could you help me out, I didn't understand a word Claire shouted when she was with Meredith. Why does she wants to fight villains?