Season 3

[TRu]

Talk about episode 3x23 "1961" here!

[Emiko Ishimura]

This episode was a nice break from the action-packed, abilities-flying episodes that we've seen before this. Weekly opinion in random order:

1. Charles Deveaux's ability seems to be mind control/telepathy. I love how his ability was first explicitly shown on screen.
2. With Peter learning to trust Nathan again his powers will soon be changing, probably back to what it was before.
3. Strong theme of forgiveness throughout the episode. Forgiveness between Alice and Angela, Nathan and Peter, Mohinder and himself.
4. Just when I was kind of disappointed with no Sylar in this episode (although still very satisfied with the episode itself), it was an utterly freakish feeling when "Nathan" showed up on the TV screen, and Sylar's theme chimed as the news report went on. It's definitely a Five Years Gone future. Kind of freaky how despite everything that's happened since the Five Years Gone episode, we are still heading towards the future we thought our heroes prevented. I love that.
5. You can see how isolated Alice must have been since childhood to her present age. The way she acted was not much different from the 1961 Alice we saw. I can only hope we see more of her again, but only if Alice can ever forgive her sister.

[TRu]

Thought it was another good episode.  I have high hopes that Season 4 will be returning to Heroes awesomeness!

Quick notes:

Likes
* Enjoyed the generation 1 kids.  Finally officially found out Charles Deveaux's ability and it was quite cool.
* I like Angela and think the actress plays her character well.
* I liked how Mohinder finally admitted to his dumbness and past mistakes.
* Rebuilding the company could be an interesting setup for next season.

Dislikes
* Too many hate/love relationship flippings.  I understand forgiveness is a strong point in the series, but the characters have flipped from good to bad and vice versa, multiple times in a single season.  I'd like the characters to build and develop their stories and make unexpected turns maybe once per season to shake things up.
* Didn't like the whole Alice living for 50 years alone in a bunker story.  Hardly makes any sense, nor is it believable.  I like how they left her story open though instead of killing her.  Hope she makes a dramatic return, possibly as a villian.

After a rough beginning, the season is finishing up strong, yet I still don't see what the big season ending plot is going to be.  Looking forward to next week though!

[Grim Reapster]

I didn't like this episode. We didn't really learn a whole lot that couldn't be guessed from the promo. Though it is cool that we now know what Charles' power was, it makes me wonder how he ended up at that camp in the first place. Nobody there was drugged like at building 26. So how could they have ever held someone with mind control?

And the one thing that we learned that really pissed me off was that Angela totally betrayed her little sister. She told Suresh that she had a dream that he was going to kill everyone there, and yet she still left Alice behind. She even went so far as to lie to her and tell her that she would be safe there, and that she (Angela) would be right back.

SHE LEFT HER TO DIE!!! she obviously believed that she was going to be killed along with all of the others, or she would have eventually returned to try and find her. Angela didn't try to argue with Charles strongly enough. If she had told him that everyone there was going to die, she may have been able to convince him to bring Alice along.

But no, she only half-heartedly tried to convince him, and then relented; basically agreeing to leave her own little sister behind to die, because Charles, a guy she had just met, thought that she might slow them down.

For me this confirms what I've always suspected, Angela is and always was a cold hearted bitch. Sure she loves her family, but she would sacrifice any one of them if she needed to.

She chose to save her own ass, and sided with some stranger (that she was clearly attracted to) over her little sister. A sister that loved and trusted her totally....

[kpatrik]

Bitterly disappointing! The worst episode of this show, ever! I found the acting at times almost painful to watch. Here are just a few of the many problems I had with last night's episode, in no particular order:

Sylar pretending to be Nathan - What, Danko is just going to let Sylar run around and pretend to be a U.S. Senator? After all he's pretty much dedicated to rounding up everyone with an ability. I don't care if Sylar is giving him some help, there's no way, no way that Danko's going to sit back and watch Sylar become President.

Funny, Alice didn't seem like a simpleton in the flash-back, but somehow she turned into one! 50 years living in a desert bunker? Come on! Is there another writer's strike going on that I don't know about, or did they just phone this one in?

And this is why Angela has to have socks. This is the secret we have been waiting two years to find out? What a huge let down.

Claire's wig - enough said!

Nothing but the Flying Petrelli's for the whole show? Really?

And lets talk about that massacre - Alice is afraid to get a shot from Doctor Suresh, so she freaks out, Dr. Suresh freaks out and gives her a slap, her dad(?) freaks out and "pushes" Dr. Suresh, and then the trigger-happy guards freak out and open up with automatic weapons on unarmed civilians. So improbable a chain of events that it would make me laugh if I wasn't so disgusted. Next time maybe they should assign guards who aren't quite so psychotic.

And finally, they all meet at the diner and decide that they need form a new company, but this time it'll be different, because this time it's family. Well they are right about that, it will be different this time around. With the Petrelli's running things, it will be much, much worse.

There's much, much, more I would like to rant about, but this is enough for now.

[HiroesFan]

At the time i watch the episode, I always try to do it with open mind, so if any weird thing etc. happen, i worry about only later. But still...

1. I was right, Alice wasn't dead! Although after seeing that old lady Alice, I almost hoped that I would've been wrong. I thought that the kid-Alice was nice as all the kids - i just loved it how the boy said: "My name is Chrales Deveaux and this is Daniel Linderman and this is Bob Bishop." i was like cool! I'll talk about that more soon.
 
I just wondered... First it's like: "Oh poor Alice, you've lived here alone all these years." And then she tells that she has stole food and clothes...from where? It just makes me wonder, that if there really was a city close by (where the café was and all) why didn't Alice stay there? Unless the first time she got out she was already crazy...
Yes, crazy! I think that it's possible to go crazy if you're alone FOR FIFTY YEARS (yeah, for sure) but somehow...she felt brainy when she was kid. And it's possible that she had traumas, but hello? I was hoping that she would be like Angela, at least partly. But no, she's insane!

2. Then about the youngsters. So, as far as i understood, Mr. Deveaux is a mind-reader/manipulator like Matt...? I'm cool with that, I just expected something else.

Bob Bishop was hilarious, the only things was, that I can't see him changing to that annoying and emotionless Company boss.

I think that Linderman was a little bit lost. If he really had an accent, it was... I don't know. Odd? Did Linderman even had an accent in his old days? I don't remember that he had.
 
Angela was...okay, and I pretty much guessed that she'll leave her sister behind. That wasn't the stupid part. The stupid part was, that right after they left, she insists to go back.

3. Oh please, Peter! "You fooled me to the play-offs!" Childish! And HE is going to be one of the makers of the Company 2.0? Great...

4. The secret of the socks... Actually, the thought of Angela stealing socks for that reason was pretty sweet, considering that she thought that her sister was dead. But the fact that Alice is retarted bothers me too much to keep this as The Thing.

5. That Sylar thing... Wonder how he got there. It looks pretty clear now that he'll probaly kill Nathan. Why can't he kill Sandra? Nathan may be traitor etc., but Sandra's...boring.

6. It took me a while to realize how Company Manish thi ep was.

+: I can't help it, but why on EARTH did a girl named Alice had to read Alice in Wonderland? 

[serojay]

1. Alice - Personally, I thought the character was great. After 50 years of living alone with no interpersonal skill building and adult stimulation had left her mind in a child like state and the isolation left her slightly mental. Mix that with the brilliant power that she has and BOOM - Makes for a great villain if they ever bring her back.

2. Angela - Stealing the socks for Alice was a great show towards who Angela is as a person. Company version of her aside, it shows that she is also human and has the softer side that we seen of her in early season 1.

3. The company 4 -  I thought there were 12 "founding" company members, but I guess that if they had all come together at the same point, it would have been boring. I especially loved the chemistry between Angela and Charles. I remembered back to their last meeting on the Devaeux rooftop when angela called him her "dear, dear friend" and this showed more of their friendship connection. Although, it came across slightly as a romance (and possibly could have been).

5. The Company reformed - I'm unsure as to whether I like the idea yet. I thought the writers wanted to get rid of the whole Company thing so I'm not sure what makes this any different.


Overall, I thought it was an amazing episode.
Then again, I'm not one of the people that look only for the bad.

[kpatrik]

1. Alice - Personally, I thought the character was great. After 50 years of living alone with no interpersonal skill building and adult stimulation had left her mind in a child like state and the isolation left her slightly mental...

Overall, I thought it was an amazing episode.
Then again, I'm not one of the people that look only for the bad.

The point is not that being alone for 50 years drove her insane, of course it would make anyone crazy. The point is why she spent those 50 years alone that bugs me. They never really gave any reason for that, other than her older sister told her to. Give me a brake!

BTW - I don't look for the bad, but I don't look away from it either.

[kpatrik]

...and here's another thing that kinda bugged me. Exactly how may shots were there of Angela looking over her shoulder in horror? It seemed like there were 3 or 4. FYI-not exactly her best angle.

[Grim Reapster]

3. Oh please, Peter! "You fooled me to the play-offs!" Childish! And HE is going to be one of the makers of the Company 2.0? Great...

You know it amazes me that out of all the Petrelli's, Peter seems to be the one that most people dislike. Which I consider strange considering that he's the most decent, well adjusted, member of the Petrelli clan.

Angela, who so many of you just love, has tried to sacrifice Peter and thousands of New Yorkers supposedly "For the greater good". She "Fed" some poor innocent, unsuspecting, woman to Sylar just to gain his trust. She's always telling people how disappointed she is in her sons, as if she's some pillar of humanity. And now we know that she deliberately lied to her sister, and left her to die in that camp along with everyone else. Even though she knew that all of those people were going to die.

But she does feel real guilty about all of that...so that makes her sweet....

Then there's Nathan who, in his arrogance, thinks that he knows what's best for everyone. In season one he actually tried to stop Peter from going to "save the cheerleader" who coincidentally turned out to be his own daughter. But of course Nathan thought he knew what's best for his little brother, who he's constantly looking down on. As if Peter's the "screw up" of the family. And now of course he's betrayed not only Peter, but hundreds, maybe thousands of other innocent people because they might someday become dangerous. People that were being locked up at first, but now their being killed.

But of course he did it all for "The greater good"....

Then there's Claire. Though I admit that she hasn't done anything all that bad...yet...

She is constantly whining and getting herself into dangerous situations. Just because she's a stubborn brat that thinks that she doesn't have to obey anyone's rules. Even though the people giving her rules to obey are just trying to protect her. All she had to do was lay low but instead she goes and jeopardizes her and her families lives trying to be a hero.

Which she admitted she was doing to impress her two dads.

Since Arthur's dead, I won't go into a description of his short comings. But I think we all know what he was like....

Yeah maybe I'm just miffed that people are always ragging on Peter because he, and Hiro, are my favorite characters. Many people don't like Peter because he's too powerful, or he does dumb things. The thing is this is also true of Hiro. But people still like him because he's funny.

It seems to me that the more screwed up a character is, the more popular they are. Sylar is a perfect case in point. No matter how twisted and evil he gets people still like him because he's so interesting, and complex...

As I said before, out of all the Petrelli's, it amazes me that so many fans choose to hate on Peter. When he's the most normal one of the bunch....

[aries]

I liked the flashback scenes especially the young Angela actress.  The best clincher for me was the ending of course, with Sylar shifting to Nathan

[HiroesFan]

3. Oh please, Peter! "You fooled me to the play-offs!" Childish! And HE is going to be one of the makers of the Company 2.0? Great...

You know it amazes me that out of all the Petrelli's, Peter seems to be the one that most people dislike. Which I consider strange considering that he's the most decent, well adjusted, member of the Petrelli clan.

i could say that I do like Peter, but that line just sounded childish. He was my fav in first season. It was nice when he was giving up with the digging and all, but that play-off thing...that was just stupid.

[kpatrik]

Besides, Peter is no saint either. Don't forget he did willingly participate in an armed robbery, and he just left Caitlin in a plague ridden future. I agree that he's the best of a bad bunch (Claire doesn't count - I feel she is way more of a Bennet that a Petrelli), but he's also a bit of a loser. Seriously, the only successes he's had was back in Ireland when he didn't know who he was. Oh, and btw, what ever happened to Nathan's two boys? I thought this episode was supposed to be about the Petrelli family? Are they in any danger from Danko? From Sylar?

[Grim Reapster]

3. Oh please, Peter! "You fooled me to the play-offs!" Childish! And HE is going to be one of the makers of the Company 2.0? Great...

You know it amazes me that out of all the Petrelli's, Peter seems to be the one that most people dislike. Which I consider strange considering that he's the most decent, well adjusted, member of the Petrelli clan.

i could say that I do like Peter, but that line just sounded childish. He was my fav in first season. It was nice when he was giving up with the digging and all, but that play-off thing...that was just stupid.

Actually I thought that it was one of the more realistic conversations that anyone has had on this show. I'm the youngest of four, and there are things from my childhood that still bug me. My brother cheated me out of things all of the time. He'd trick me into trading bikes, model cars, toys, and a multitude of other things. And they were always bad trades. And I don't think that we ever played a board game that he didn't cheat at.

And of course for years I always fell for it, because I was young, and naive, and I always looked up to my older brother. And just like Nathan he still to this day thinks it was no big deal. He even tells his kids about it so that they can laugh at his conquests over his dumb little brother.

Even though it's been more than thirty years since those things happened (yes I know I'm old), there are some things that you just never let go of....

Yeah the whole Nathan and Peter relationship hits a little too close to home for me. This is probably why Peter's my favorite character; I can relate to him more than anyone else on the show.

And just like Nathan, my brother tries to claim that he was doing all of those things....for my own good....

[Deceit]

Sylar pretending to be Nathan - What, Danko is just going to let Sylar run around and pretend to be a U.S. Senator? After all he's pretty much dedicated to rounding up everyone with an ability. I don't care if Sylar is giving him some help, there's no way, no way that Danko's going to sit back and watch Sylar become President.

Who said anything about the presidency? Danko knows nothing about the future in which Sylar became president. In fact, most of the characters don't know about that future. Danko is a desperate man, and desperate men will always go to desperate measures. Hence why the company is being reborn.

Funny, Alice didn't seem like a simpleton in the flash-back, but somehow she turned into one! 50 years living in a desert bunker? Come on! Is there another writer's strike going on that I don't know about, or did they just phone this one in?

Apparently there's a town not too far out from where they were. Perhaps the bunker was as close or closer to that town. I'll admit it was a weak plot point, but there are some semi-realistic explanations. They did hint that she actually had to leave the bunker many times to seek food.

And this is why Angela has to have socks. This is the secret we have been waiting two years to find out? What a huge let down.

You've been waiting two years on pins and needles to find out why she steals socks? I could be wrong, but it started as a rumor in season one, was completely neglected in season two, and was briefly hinted at (with Angela holding a pair of socks) in this season. There really hasn't been anything to wait for because there really hasn't been any substance to it.

Claire's wig - enough said!

I wish I knew what was going on there. Part of me wants to call it a wig, while another part of me thinks it's just my brain not adjusting to seeing a different hairstyle so suddenly. At this point I'll believe anything, but the idea that a blonde girl has to wear a blonde wig seems a little ridiculous.

Nothing but the Flying Petrelli's for the whole show? Really?

Noah/Nathan, Noah/Nathan/Claire, Claire/Angela, Noah/Mohinder, Peter/Mohinder, Angela/Alice, Noah/Peter/Nathan/Angela/Claire. There were plenty of non-Petrelli Bros. moments. And that's just ignoring all the flashbacks, which this episode was based off of.

And lets talk about that massacre - Alice is afraid to get a shot from Doctor Suresh, so she freaks out, Dr. Suresh freaks out and gives her a slap, her dad(?) freaks out and "pushes" Dr. Suresh, and then the trigger-happy guards freak out and open up with automatic weapons on unarmed civilians. So improbable a chain of events that it would make me laugh if I wasn't so disgusted. Next time maybe they should assign guards who aren't quite so psychotic.

Unarmed civillians? I don't mean to sound rude, but you have seen the rest of this volume, correct? The actual people working for the government are practically begging these people with abilities to do something to give them a reason to shoot. They're not truly "unarmed," and that scares normal people. So of course the reaction from the guards will be to shoot. Also, considering some of the despicable acts my own country has done in recent years (to innocent bi-standards no less), I find this to be highly believable.

And finally, they all meet at the diner and decide that they need form a new company, but this time it'll be different, because this time it's family. Well they are right about that, it will be different this time around. With the Petrelli's running things, it will be much, much worse.

Didn't Angela wind-up running the company the last time? Between her, Noah, and Nathan I think they'll figure something out. There's definitely no way Peter could ever run it, though. You can't be that passionate about everday life and everyday people and run a group like that. Let Nathan be the mouthpiece to the public (essentially keeping it a secret), and let Noah run things.