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"Parasite" or "I Have to Wait How Long?!" (Updated)

March 6, 2007 3:26 AM

lthough I was slightly disappointed by this episode, it was still pretty good. I think my disappointment stems from the fact that, given last week's awesomeness, I had my expectations set pretty high. And I expected something more explosive to happen. Spoilers.

Ok, so, obviously, Peter's going to survive Sylar's attack. The really cool thing is going to see them duke it out super-hero style. Remember: Peter's got all of Sylar's abilities and some Sylar doesn't have, such as flight, regeneration, and telepathy. On the other hand, Sylar has mastered all of his powers, especially telekinesis. While we've seen that Peter has greatly improved the level of control he has over his powers, it's unclear that he'll be able to control them effectively enough to actually hurt or kill someone who's almost his equal in terms of raw abilities. I think what'll end up happening is that Sylar will decide that it's best to run and find some way to escape. But Sylar will come to understand Peter's power and he will want it more than anything, meaning it will only be a matter of time before we get to see Peter vs. Sylar II. I also think that Mohinder will survive, at the very least long enough to give Peter some information about what's going on.

It looks like Mr. Bennet is fucked. I don't see how he's going to get himself out of this one. And I guess I was wrong about the Haitian having taken all of Mr. Bennet's memories of Claire.

Niki/Jessica was back. Ugh. Some people were over for the episode tonight, and there was a collective groan when we saw her. Her part wasn't necessarily bad, it just wasn't terribly interesting. That's been the problem all along. In any event, I'm surprised that Jessica's had Micah fooled for so long. He was aware of what was going on way before anyone else, and he seems like a generally perceptive kid. I bet he knows what's going on but isn't letting on just yet. One person that definitely isn't fooled is D.L. He's for sure aware that Jessica's out and about. And one thing's for sure: it'll be tedious to see what he does about it.

I was really pleased with Nathan's story in this episode. I particularly liked his interaction with Hiro. Hiro's line, going from memory, was something like "I thought you didn't care at all, but you care too much." I think it's a nice 180 for the Nathan character: although he used to come across as a completely self-centered jerk, we now see that, a lot of the time, he was doing what he thought he had to in order to protect his family. Although that still doesn't explain cheating on his wife. Or claiming that Peter was suicidal. Still, there's more to Nathan than meets the eye, and we get the sense that, somewhere, there's a really good guy. Although I knew Nathan wouldn't kill Mr. Linderman, I wonder how tempted he is by Mr. Linderman's offer.

That brings us, of course, to Mr. Linderman. I like the actor they've picked--he's got this really nice civil-yet-evil air to him. More important, though, is Mr. Linderman's knowledge about the heroes' abilities and the fact that Nathan is Claire's father. How the fuck does he know that? It certainly lends support to the theory that Mr. Linderman is behind the AWI. I'm starting to see that as a likely scenario, actually. Perhaps Mr. Nakamura and Mr. Linderman are old business associates? Who knows. It'll be interesting to see where that goes.

That brings us to Hiro. He's finally got the sword. And Ando's back. I hope there's more explanation as to how Ando got there. He said he was following Hiro and that he knew Hiro would eventually set off an alarm. So, does that mean that Ando was actually an employee of Mr. Linderman and just coincidentally happened to be at work and right near the museum at the time, or does it mean that Ando snuck into the facility and followed Hiro around? I hope it's the latter. In any event, it looks like Hiro was right; getting the sword seems to have restored his powers. And, wouldn't you know it, he accidentally teleported forward through time again, this time to a day after the explosion. Looks like our heroes still have a lot of work to do to save the world.

Update:
I apparently completely neglected to mention Claire, the Haitian, and Claire's grandmother. What the fuck is going on there? I have to say that I was surprised to see that Claire's grandmother (Nathan and Peter's mother) is wrapped up in this whole thing. And I was straight-up flabergasted to see that she's the one who's been giving the Haitian his orders. The conversation between Mrs. Petrelli and the Haitian, translated from French, was:

Mrs. Petrelli: At least now, she will be safe. And not because of you.
The Haitian: Listen, I did everything I could. She'd end up finding her own way.
This revalation raises so many questions: How long has Mrs. Petrelli known about Claire? How did she come into contact with the Haitian? Does she know about her own sons' abilities? Was Nathan's father involved with the AWI or Linderman or both? Is Mrs. Petrelli currently involved with any of those organizations? We know that Mr. Petrelli worked for Linderman, and we now know that Linderman knows all about the heroes. Is it possible that the relationship between Linderman and Petrelli was closer than we've been lead to believe? I agree with Mr. Utah that the Petrelli family is getting more and more interesting. Maybe the Sanders could learn something from them.

And, goddamnit, I wish we didn't have to wait until April 23rd to see how they do it. That's fucking ridiculous.



7 Comments


Utah said:

The Petrelli story keeps getting more interesting...now their mother is involved in the whole conspiracy? And while I was glad to see Ando return, I guess you're right to be wary about his presence and intentions. Just once though, I'd like to hear him call Hiro "Mr. Frodo."

March 6, 2007 9:14 AM



kristin said:

I agree with pretty much everything you said, except I don't think that Hiro getting the sword back is what fixed his powers. In the episode that he and Ando were hiding in the bus storage compartment, he tried to use his powers - but since he and Ando had their eyes closed, they didn't see if the powers helped or if something else saved them. The impression that I got, though, was that it had worked and he had the ability all along, he just didn't know it. My guess is that he will continue to believe that the sword is what fixed things, but will at some point lose the sword and be forced to overcome his own self-doubt and do it alone.

March 6, 2007 11:09 AM



frank x. said:

In reference to what has been said above, I get the feeling that Peter's mother is part of some sort of antithesis to the AWI. This seems to be a major theme of the show, as seen with Sylar/Peter, Jessica/Jessica, etc. Opposite but equal. I also wouldn't be surprised if we found out that she still has connections to Mr. Linderman and/or that her husband had some sort of power, and/or that she is hiding a power. Something that I thought was really interesting was that, if you remember when Peter met future Hiro, he was told "You look different without your scar." I think that the scar he is talking about is going to be across his forehead, given by Sylar. Although he has healing ability, perhaps the wound is different, or he decides to keep the scar as a testament to the level of control he has over his powers and to remember his mistake -if he makes one- in his first real battle with Sylar. The misktake I would assume to be the letting Mohinder die. Viva april 23.

March 6, 2007 1:40 PM



frank x. said:

On a mildly but not really related side note, The Spiderman 3 trailer is awesome. The have an extended one where he fights Hobgoblin. http://www.nbc.com/Spiderman/

March 6, 2007 2:00 PM



Vice said:

After conferring with Mr. Utah, we both get the feeling that maybe Ando is watching Hiro on his father's behalf. He seems like the perfect hapless, goodnatured sidekick, but now....

Also, there's no way Mohinder's going to die. The whole deal about his father, and all of the knowledge he has, and the list... Mohinder's not going anywhere.

More importantly, bring on the effin' dinosaurs already!!

March 6, 2007 3:48 PM



Ismael Tapia II said:

Mr. Utah,
It would be awesome to have Ando call Hiro "Mr. Frodo." It's possible that Ando was just there coincidentally, or through Ando's own good planning, but it's a good opportunity for something unexpected to happen, I think.

Kristin,
You're right--I don't think there's any particularly magical properties about the sword. I didn't make this clear in the post, but I completely agree that Hiro just needed to have more confidence in himself in order to make his powers work again. The language in the post is just intended to mean that, once he got the sword, through whatever mechanism, Hiro's powers worked again.

An interesting thing to note, however, is that the sword is apparently thousands of years old, yet it has the familiar symbol on the hilt. That's an interesting feature, I think. Maybe, at some point in the future, Hiro sends it into the past, where the ancient samurai gets it, etc. That would be kind of cool.

Mr. X.,
About Mrs. Petrelli, I like her and I trust her. I don't think she'll end up being sinister or directly associated with the AWI in a bad way. I could see her being in an organization opposed to Linderman and/or the AWI.

I wouldn't be too surprised if Mrs. Petrelli had a power, but I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't, either. As we know from the Sanders' example, poweredness seems to be hereditary, at least downstream. But, obviously, not every hero's parents has powers. So, I think it's possible that she has powers but not a foregone conclusion.

Peter's scar is an interesting thing because, now that Peter can call up Claire's ability, I'm not sure he can get scars. Unless, as you say, he wants to. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

March 6, 2007 4:00 PM



Ismael Tapia II said:

Sorry about the consecutive comments--Mr. Vice, you posted while I was posting my comment, and now I want to respond to some of the things you said.

Oh man. I was instantly caught by your theory that Ando is working for Mr. Nakamura. That's a very interesting idea, and I could totally see that happening.

I agree that Mohinder's not going anywhere--Sylar will be too busy dealing with Peter to finish killing Mohinder. A nice benefit of all of this is going to be that I think Peter and Mohinder are finally going to start really trusting each other.

And, I firmly believe that we've already seen the Hiro v. the dinosaur scene--that scene in the museum when he had the fake sword seems to have fulfilled the prophecy. Except that the background was different, the sword was not unsheathed, and it was a big fake dinosaur. I guess we've never seen Isaac's paintings be that far off, but maybe that can be explained by the fact that it was the first time he had painted without heroin?

March 6, 2007 4:06 PM



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