February 19, 2007: Life Isn't a Comic Book
I had the honor of meeting Adrian Pasdar last week when he came into the office for a visit. Tight-lipped about the show, naturally, our favorite "flying man" was a lot nicer than the closed-off Nathan we watch every week, and he let us in on a few things he's learned since becoming a hero: 1) Masi Oka is super-smart, 2) his 5-year-old son is a big fan of Milo's and 3) the only way to see all his castmates together is during "heroic dinners" they plan, since they don't get to work with each other on every episode. OK, so it's no spoiler on, say, Nathan and Claire joining forces or Milo getting a new haircut, but I'll take it.
As fun as it was to see a kicked-back Pasdar - amazed by his career's
powerful turn - things returned to normal when I saw Nathan in his sharp tie and political mindset tonight. But Simone wasn't as impressed by Nathan's pessimism, still worried about his public persona, and she was as ready to feel renewed in Peter's hope as I was to see a scene between them again. Unfortunately, that would be the last of Simone and Peter together, and seeing her die between the two men who turned her life upside down was both tragic and fitting.
On a more exciting note, it looks like it takes a couple of bad-ass heroes to rally the troops and revolt against HRG and his shipment of needles. Hana (Stana Katic) and Ted (Matthew John Armstrong) introduce two more stories from The List, two more elements to this pending explosion and two more possiblities for saving the world that is, if they don't blow it up first. "I can find them and you can nuke them." Ouch. Let's think about this first, Hana. Bringing Matt into the picture was smart on Ted's part, but little does he know that Matt has always had a hard time reading HRG's thoughts. In the past, he's heard silence around him, or a faint sound but no actual words - possibly because of the presence of The Haitian. I don't know how far their plan will go once they hit that roadblock, so I'm interested to see what happens when the story picks back up in the Texas home, where lots of questions and thoughts might boggle Matt's mind. Or, in a change of events, maybe he'll read HRG's free and clear.
In a chillier part of the country, watching Sylar and Suresh as a team was really creepy and made me nervous for Mohinder. "I believe in fate," said Sylar. Ha. Fate? Is fate stealing people's brains because you don't have the powers they do? You filthy liar. He slipped right back into his eerie darkness when he was talking to Mo at the motel. Dale's special hearing ability was the first power to really mess with Sylar - not such an easy capture for the murderer. Can he control it? Are there too many powers for his body to handle?
One thing I can usually count on during this heavy hour is a few light moments from the mission-minded Hiro. I was cracking up when he was trying to sound threatening. "You take me with you or the girl gets away
pal." But our faithful time traveler looked so sad when he realized all the things Ando had done because of his crush on Hope. All this time, Hiro had been protecting his friend, trusting him with his mission. But Ando's inferiority complex split the duo up and left Hiro in a bad outfit and with no control, until his powers returned to save them from that bullet and help him realize he has to go on alone. I have a feeling that's not the last we'll see of Ando, though.
Claire stepped it up this week and started to let it all out. She's been keeping Daddy's secret inside, desperate for her adoptive mom to know the truth. But convincing anyone outside the circle of knowledge is proving to be tough, of course. Even her brother, whose mind is at HRG's disposal as well, didn't have an inch of concern: "Good thing Dad's not home, because he would
so drug test you." And while Mrs. Bennet was lying on the floor, surrounded in spilled milk, HRG was trying to put his mark on Peter and our sarcastic invisible teacher. It's so hard to hate HRG when there are those distinct moments when I really believe he's trying to save his family, Claire especially. (When they were arguing in the hospital, I thought, "Is he really bad?
Really?") I'm eager to hear the real story behind her family and how she ended up in Texas. Was she created that way? Was she part of, as Ted put it, "the virus?"
Not only did Claire release some anger this week, but Peter had a pretty good showing as well. It's good to know he's starting to control his powers, and can use them when he's nowhere near the people who own them.
Tonight's episode made my head spin with its new additions and deaths. I was relieved to get a break from Niki, although with that missing story line, we didn't get any closer to Linderman. But let's be honest, how close could we really be with so many other things popping up as obstacles? And I think it's time for Nathan to get off his leather chair and start soaring toward reality. After all, his little brother might need a hand saving the world. Plus, he might have to take flight just to escape Jessica. If there's one thing that was definitely confirmed this week, it's that having powers doesn't always mean you're invincible. In fact, for the first time since this show began, I wasn't exactly wishing to stand in any of their shoes. Especially if they go "boom."
