Season 3

[TRu]

Talk about episode 3x19 "Shades of Gray" here!

[TRu]

Some quick thoughts on this episode:

* The bomb sequence was kind of cheesy.  Pull one wire to stop the bomb? C'mon
* Puppet guy is cool, but creepy.  Liked his smirk to Claire at the end.
* Sylar's dad seemed weak.  A bit disappointed in him.
* Baby Matt!  I always wondered what happened to his wife and kid.
* Danko is a real punk haha.
* Did anyone catch the camera go off when Danko pushed Nathan out of the window?  I'm sure Rebel has something to do with it.
* NBC needs to up the budget on the special effects.  The flying never looks realistic!
* Since season 3 only has a few more episodes, they need to start focusing on the ending story arc.  There's no main interesting plot.  Hopefully with Sylar finally in the mix we can look forward to some kind of season ending showdown.

Next episode is in 2 weeks and the previews said it would be a classic.  It's the return of the season 1 writer Brian Fuller (who wrote Company Man, my favorite episode), so I'm looking forward to it.  Post your thoughts people!

[Emiko Ishimura]

My turn for a review:

- Nathan continues to blur the lines between hero and villain. Although it can be argued that he was always a hero to begin with, he does play both sides at times
- Bomb scene: Nathan's taking some heavy risks associating himself with people with abilities on recorded cameras. Recall the news reporter speculating that Nathan may know Matt.
- Nathan slips up: leaving through the "roof exit", in front of Danko? What were you thinking?
- Very surprising to see Sylar's dad as a (seemingly) frail old man, not what I expected. But I knew my suspicions were warranted when the father sees his son's regeneration ability.
- I thought Sylar was about to get a taste of his own medicine when he was "tranquilized/hypnotized". But he's smart with the playing possum.
- Very nice ending between the father and son encounter. Sylar's changing, he resisted his own hunger and opted to leave his father with a potential goldmine of abilities to die on his own - seems Future Gabriel is still a possibility.
- Angela's smooth talking continues to be impressive as always. There's almost nothing that can faze her.
- I love the idea of Eric Doyle going good. I think he's for real, he could have shot the female agent (Rachel something?) if he wanted to, but chose not to. I'm a huge fan of villains being turned heroes - you can imagine my delight (and subsequent disappointment) when Sylar temporarily went to the good side back then.
- HRG should have pushed Danko out the window in my opinion. There's no way Danko will keep silent about Fly-Boy Nathan

[Deceit]

This was a bizarre episode. It had it's ups and downs. The biggest down was the bomb. It was a forgone conclusion that a bomb wasn't going to go off, but to have it end so abruptly was just bad. That said, there is a positive to ending the bomb issue quickly. Now we're not going down the same road as season one. With a few episodes left, the show can build towards something else. How they're going to build to it is beyond me.

I really liked Eric Doyle for the brief time he was on. Maybe he'll go back to his evil ways, maybe he won't. Regardless, I think he did quite a bit to help Claire find who she is (whether he realizes it or not). Their interactions (including the final scene between them) sent a clear message (in my opinion). It doesn't matter if you're "good", "evil", or a shade of gray (was that planned? you be the judge); if you have an ability, now is the time to set aside differences with "your" people.

I said last week that the Gray showdown needed to be a legit fight. Instead we got what we always get. Long dialogue and a brief moment of action. I found it rather annoying that the show goes out of the way to tell you that a big showdown isn't going to happen, essentially because it's not new. Unfortunately, this false alarm crap isn't new either, because Heroes has been doing it since their first season. It's season three and we're on volume four. There's no reason this needs to continue to happen. Why do we have to wait for a potential future timeline episode to see some real action? I honestly think the writers are afraid to commit on a show-changing event.

The camera turning off was a great touch, and a nice reminder that the writers do like to be subtle from time to time. That said, I agree that flight doesn't look realistic. Of course, a human propelling themselves with nothing but their bodies is probably the most unrealistic ability in science fiction history. It's the one power we've all grown to know the greatest, but it's also the most ridiculous. I'd like to see some work done on how it looks, but I find it hard to complain (all things considered).

Personally, I hope this arc ends with a big character developing boom that establishes what I'll call (for now) the X-Men mythos. In other words, Noah comes into his own as the Xavier type, his team (which he's begun) forming, and Sylar finally defining himself as the definitive villain (a Magneto to Noah's Xavier). It may be unoriginal, but it's something new for the show, and something that's been proven to work.

Some brief tidbits to sum the rest up.

- Yes, Noah should've booted Danko out the window a la 300.
- The final Sylar scene (in Danko's home) is in the running for best scene of the season.
- Angela was great. Need more Angela.
- Notice this is the second time we've come across special people with cancer? At this point Sylar may be doomed to fall prey to it.

[HiroesFan]

That Danko guy is annoying! I would've been so happy is Mr. Bennet would've pushed out of the window.

So...i don't know is this because english isn't my own language, but does this mean that NATHAN is the REBEL? No...?

Awsome! Matt Junior! Babies are just so cute!  I had almost forgot what was going on with Hiro and Ando, so it was nice to see them again.

Puppet Man... He looked so sad when he cried and all, but when he gave Claire that little smile...creepy.

Sylar's dad was a little...i guess that i was just as dissapointted than our favourite serial killer. And then when he attacked Sylar i was like: "C'mon!" As well as i remember, Sylar was able to hear miles away. He could've taken his daddy whistling power in the end, by the way.

And yeah, i agree that Nathan's flight didn't look too realistic, but the actors have told in some interviews how hard it really is to hang in the air, and that it really isn't that comfortable, so i try not to care about the fakeness of it all. But about the computer stuff - that's the part with the problem, really - maybe they should ask Masi to help them!

Anyway, nice episode, i've seen better thouhg. Extra cool part was when Nathan saved Claire.
 but how can wait 2 WEEKS for the next one?

[PhantomLord]

I didn't get one thing - the scene where Ali Larter was with the drug tube and she saw that message on the computer screen:
* When was it? If it was in the past, why is it shown now?
* Who was it? was it Tracy or the third one?

[HiroesFan]

i think that it was from the past, after nathan went to see her in the back of the car, when stacy yelled that nathan's one of them before they took her to that heat room. or then they have taken her somewhere else for a while, and brought her there again. althought they could've showed a text, something like "couple days ago" or something

[Grim Reapster]

I didn't get one thing - the scene where Ali Larter was with the drug tube and she saw that message on the computer screen:
* When was it? If it was in the past, why is it shown now?
* Who was it? was it Tracy or the third one?

I think that it was Tracy, and it was the present not the past. I got the impression that they transported her from somewhere else, and put her in that room to be questioned by Danko. And while they were walking her to that room she saw the message from Rebel.

I too thought the whole Sylar and Papa Sylar bits were disappointing, but I'm thinking that we may see him again. He now knows that his son has a power that he needs. And he's learned not to underestimate him.

And there's that kid Luke who seems so much like Sylar that I immediately thought he must be his brother. Sylar even mentioned that it was too much of a coincidence that a kid with a power lived right across the street from his Father.

Besides the actor that plays Sylar's Dad has already proven that he's great at playing the evil father on Smallville. It's a waste of talent to only use him in just one episode....

[Isaac Mendez]

It was a great episode with awesome bits in there. I liked Eric Doyle grabbing that b-word with his powers. AWESOME! He has one of the coolest powers in my opinion. I am worried about Sandra now, since Claire is gone, those gunmen may stick around...I dunno....Well, I am SO ready for the next epi, Cold Snap, but for some reason we have to wait two weeks....ugggg.

[Empathic_Hero]

I actually sort of enjoyed this episode, more towards the end but still.

I like that Nathans ability was finally revealed, and he ended up saving Claire, but right when the camera shot went to Nathan standing by a window, i knew it was going to happen, very predictable i thought. So where does that leave him? A hero or a villain?

Im starting to believe that Micah is in fact rebel, since the person is able to hack onto computers, stop cameras, send to texts to people he doesnt have the number for, and be able to stop a bomb. Either an extremely good hacker, or, a technopath, like Micha.

Iv been wondering for a while where baby Matt was, and im glad they brought back that story line.

Sylar's father was a little disappointing. I actually believed he'd have a little more control over the "hunger"
then Sylar, but i was wrong. I think this kind of leaves Sylar with little hope of being able to control it and
become normal.

...Was it just me or was Angela hinting at Danko about something, wondering how he survived the...what was it, war?

Nathan made it pretty obvious that he had an ability, especially flight, since he left Danko and headed through the door marked "roof exit" and then Danko wondering how he got to the bomb scene, (which was pretty disappointing), so quickly.

One reason i dont like Danko, was that he has this blind fear of people with abilites. He thinks they all are evil,
they all cant be controled, and that scares him.

I hate how they build up the suspense of the bomb in the preview, and then have it turn out to be like a 5 minute scene. Why in the world wouldnt noah try and stop Danko from blowing up washington? Didnt anyone in that room have any moral?

[HiroesFan]

i agree with the bomb thing. i mostly like these trailers, 'cos they're so different from what i see from my own tv. we had like 3 trailers in the first season...

The sillyest thing in the whole bomb thing was the way it ended. Matt just threw it off. And right after Nathan had said "read their minds, Matt", he punched him in the face like, "i can't let you read minds"

But hey, do you guys thing that Danko could have a past with a shocking/freaky etc. experience about powers? 'Cos this "fear of the unknown"-thing isn't only used with Heroes, and Danko's just freaking out sometimes. Angela's mention of war reminded me about the Papa Petrelli/Linderman-comic, when they were in vietnam. Maybe there's something like that with danko too

[Limping Rocket]

I really liked this episode.

Except for the bomb scene. To stop the bomb from exploding just by pulling one wire! C'mon!

Best line: HRG: "A long time ago, I gave up trying to figure ot what Angela Petrelli would or wouldn't do."
So did I!

I liked the psychological aspect of the Sylar-Father conversation. Usually I prefer that kind of stuff to action scenes. However, I was a little disappointed that Sylar escaped that easy.

Question:
If Claire's free pass is up, does that mean Nathan is not in charge anymore and Danko still is? HRG wouldn't cancel it, would he?

Sidenote: Claire looks weird the last 2 episodes with the blond hair and the brown eyebrows. Maybe she will soon change to brunette?

[xcessev]

Matt Parkman Jr.

wonder what his powers will be.  from what the babysitter said i envision that he is quite a handful!! (maybe like the baby in the 'invincibles'?!)

p.s. completely off tangent but since we are introducing a baby to the storyline, i would love if the writers also introduced us to some senior citizen 'heroes'.  not just slightly older like angela petrelli, or sickly old like sylar's dad, and not evil old like linderman...but a nice old old 'grandparently-like' couple.  some really good down to earth folks that have powers and are in love and have survived all these years together.  would LOVE to see that

[kpatrik]

- Very nice ending between the father and son encounter. Sylar's changing, he resisted his own hunger and opted to leave his father with a potential goldmine of abilities to die on his own - seems Future Gabriel is still a possibility.

Actually, this was a cruel thing for Sylar to do. He gave up all those abilities he could have harvested so that his father would die a slow, suffocating death.

[kpatrik]

I really liked Eric Doyle for the brief time he was on.

I'm still hoping they will reveal how he surived his encounter with Sylar & avoided being burned during the lockdown.