Heroes - "Five Years Gone"

You know, I've been a huge fan of Heroes from the very beginning. That has to be obvious if you've been reading these posts. I thought I knew what good television was like, and knew what I could expect from television writers. And yet, Heroes has consistently surprised me, consistently raised the bar. It has long since surpassed the only other show I watch and has been the best television I've ever seen for some time. I thought I had it pretty good. I had no idea.I knew tonight was going to be good, but I was just stunned by what they gave us. I have loved (and desperately wanted to be) Future Hiro ever since we first saw him on the subway. I always wanted to know what turned him from the cute little salaryman we saw from the beginning into the dark, haunted warrior who approached Peter. I had many theories, including a climactic battle with Peter where he gave Peter the scar and failed to stop him from exploding New York City. But I never looked in what, in hindsight, was so obviously the right direction. They've been telling us from the beginning that Ando is the one person most important to him. Hiro even tried to send him away back in Vegas. So naturally, it would take Ando's death to kill his optimism. The big question now, is will Ando tell him. I don't think he'd want to, fearing Hiro might not be able to carry through with everything they'll need to do if he's worried about protecting his best friend. But, on the other hand, these things have a way of coming out. Speaking of coming out, what a twist to show Sylar has been pretending to be Nathan all this time. Up to that point, I had no real problem believing Nathan would do all of those things, right up to and including ordering the extermination of all "special" people. After all, in our current timeline, he is considering letting, or perhaps causing, his brother to explode and kill all of those people. He seems to be hoping Peter's healing ability will allow him to survive, but I'm not entirely sure that's that big a concern for him. There's no telling when Sylar had made the switch, and it's clear that even people who knew he was himself one of the special people saw nothing strange in his policies. They also had me fully believing that in Future Hiro's past, Sylar was the one who exploded. Maybe because I like Peter so much, and have enjoyed seeing him really come into his own, but I very much wanted to see him absolved of all of that. So I bought right into it, and I was surprised when he told Niki it was all a lie, that the blame was put on Sylar to protect Peter. But I wonder, did it originally happen that way? Or did (before Future Hiro changed history by telling Peter to save the cheerleader) Sylar really explode, and Peter's admission only reflected the changed timeline? Or is, as Desmond puts it on Lost, the universe showing it has a way of "course correcting?" Are the heroes powerless to stop what is coming, and only able to change the minor details? I guess we're going to find out in the next few weeks. Of course, unless I missed a very important piece, no one told Hiro and Ando who they really need to stop. They've returned to the present believing they need to kill Sylar. Future Hiro was only able to wound Sylar, because his Sylar could regenerate. So they have no idea that even in Future Hiro's timeline, Peter is the real threat they need to deal with in some way. It makes me wonder if they are going to be able to stop things at all. To be frank, I would be really impressed if they couldn't, and the explosion goes off no matter what they try. It would definitely make for the darker story (much like tonight's episode) that I enjoy in the better comics and movies. They're once again teasing me with these super-powered battles, just giving me the barest taste of what they would be like. Peter's last showdown with Sylar was way too short, and so was tonight's, at least what we saw of it. From the blasts leaking through the door, I'd say it was epic, to put it mildly. They had better give us a much bigger chunk in the season finale. The darker, more self-assured Peter (in both timelines) is awesome to watch, and Sylar is his only real match. I want to see an epic battle like that take place. [faq:dpBruce Bruce] even opined to me this evening that maybe such a fight is what really triggers the explosion, rather than just Sylar or just Peter. I thought it was very interesting that Mohinder was the one to save the day there at the end. There seems to be a recurring theme through the show of the normals, Mohinder, Bennet, etc., managing to be the ones who drive major plot twists. Bennet, after all, wound up saving the cheerleader once and for all by putting her beyond Linderman's reach (at least temporarily). Peter only saved her from the immediate threat of Sylar. There are fates worse than death, and Bennet may well have saved her from some. And just like taking out the Haitian, Mohinder's the one who wound up saving Peter from Sylar. So maybe we're looking at the wrong people. Maybe the mutants aren't the heroes. Maybe the Everyman is. Maybe, as Jessica suggested, the real hero will turn out to be Ando the Salaryman. They've hinted at it already, saying he died in the explosion in Future Hiro's timeline. The only reason he'd be there is if he were helping Hiro somehow to fight Sylar. He'd be overmatched like you wouldn't believe, but I bet he'd also be mostly ignored by supremely overconfident Sylar. And current Hiro has shown a certain amount of squeamishness toward killing someone. I don't think he's terribly comfortable with the idea he has to take out Sylar himself. Perhaps what it will come down to is Hiro being unable to do it, and, as Jess suggested to me, Ando stepping in, giving his life as he kills Sylar, or giving his life so Hiro's grief and anger can drive him for long enough to kill the villain. That gives the show a whole new spin. Yes, it is about heroes, but not about superheroes. The show is full of super-powered individuals, but we, the ordinary men and woman, are the real heroes.