Monday, March 30, 2009

Thoughts on HEROES, Season 4, Chapter 8 - Into Asylum

Word from the TV Guide summary is that Claire and Nathan flee to Mexico while Peter and Angela are supposed to hide-out in a church - asylum, of course, referring to the religious and political practice of granting sanctuary and refuge. The other big story based on the previews is that Danko and Sylar may form an unholy alliance since both of them are working toward the same eventual ends for different reasons - kill as many powered people as possible.

We shall see.



8:00 - So, quick recap of the last few episodes that will be relevant to tonight... Danko finding Eric Doyle gift-wrapped, Angela escaping a drag-net with Peter and Claire escaping the drag-net with Nathan. No surprises so far.

8:01 - When did Claire have time to get her bangs done? Ah well... actually that does make kinda sense if she's changing her appearance.

8:02 - Gee... I wonder WHY she'd be reluctant to stay with you, Nathan. Jerkass. If Claire goes and turns him into the cops for attempted rape and the series ends with Nathan rotting in a Mexican prison, I think we'll all be a lot happier.

8:03 - "That's not why I saved you. I want answers." Yeah - Peter being less and less in touch with his empathic side is looking more and more likely.

8:04 - Yay! More Noah/Danko dick-waving!

8:05 - So there is the proposal. But c'mon - we know that Sylar is the one who killed the agents... right?

8:06 - What the... how did Sylar get there? Unless... was the math teacher he just killed a teleporter/time freezer like Hiro? If so... holy shit....

8:09 - "Nice speech." I love snarky Noah.

8:10 - Am I the only one who thinks that Noah knows a LOT more about what is going on with Sylar right now than Danko thinks he does? Because I find that much preferable to the idea that Noah is - once again - unintentionally sowing the seeds of his own destruction, like he did before with Sylar.

8:11 - "I sold my kidney. Both of them. Twice". Hee hee hee.

8:12 - Nathan? Do yourself a favor and shut up now. Like the eskimoes said to the air conditioning salesman, "We're not buying it!"

8:13 - Wow! The Petrellis are Catholic. Who knew? Interesting.

8:14 - Okay - Nathan is holding the Idiot Ball now - trying to win a drinking contest instead of selling his daughter's jewelry. Or - I dunno - letting the dainty looking woman who theoretically should be able to metabolize the alcohol before it can affect her - enter the contest instead of you.

8:15 - "You'd be amazed what you can do with a lifted ID badge, a 4 dollar tie and a Baltimore accent." Now there's the Sylar we know and love.

8:16 - "He's a shapeshifter." Again... I'm calling bullshit on this and am willing to put money down that Sylar is the real killer and that he's just trying to sow dissension in Danko's ranks so he can "save the day" and convince Danko to go for the partnership.

8:21 - Well, holy crap. Sylar was telling the truth. Now there IS a twist I didn't see coming! Unless it turns out THAT guy was Sylar...

8:23 - And now we see Nathan demonstrating how most of us coped with watching Season 3. And Claire is showing the savvy she used to show fairly often.

8:25 - Heh. Never really thought about it... but Sylar IS a bit of a drama queen, in the sense of how he enjoys playing a role and manipulating people.

8:28 - Are You There, God? It's Me, Peter. And yeah... Peter seems to be coming to a revelation regarding his anger and his issues with his family.

8:30 - Wow. Actual tension. Seems like forever since we've seen it.

8:35 - Nice little detective scene here. I realize I'm not commenting much but that's because there's so little to say about this other than "This is good." and describing the action.

8:37 - BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Good one, Claire!

8:38 - "I was Cassandra". Ooooh... good literary allusion.

8:39 - And in case you doubted where Noah's loyalties still are... there's your proof.

8:40 - BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I like this shapeshifter's sense of humor.

8:44 - "He's a better you than you." BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

8:45 - And Claire-issa explains it all (I'm sorry... I'm sorry!) for those of you who can't guess how regeneration = cannot get drunk.

8:47 - And for those of you who couldn't guess it, the whole reason Nathan gave Claire a pass had nothing to do with buying off Noah and was all because he felt guilty about not being there for her when she was growing up. Wow. I am feeling so much non-sympathy for him right now, I don't have the words to describe it. Is it wrong that I'm thinking Claire should probably consider just how much HIS organs would be worth on the Mexican Black Market?

8:48 - Yes, Claire. First the blanket... and then a pillow across the face!

8:49 - Okay, that was dark. And twisted. And actually kinda awesome. I'm just trying to figure out HOW Sylar can do it without the cutting and everything. I'd bet we'll see a repeat of the lost scene from Season 2 where he pulls a guy's brain out through his nose... but that wouldn't explain the blood on the hands.

8:53 - And finally, Nathan admits that he bit off more than he could chew and that he's screwed up. Cry me a river.

8:54 - And now Claire is giving the drunken, "Pity me" jackass a sarcastic pep-talk. Yay Claire!

8:55 - Sister?

8:57 - *sighs* Well, I guess he IS a better way home than the bus, Claire.

8:58 - I don't think Noah is buying this for a moment.

8:59 - And we have unholy alliance.

9:00 - Next time - Grave Robbing!


The Final Word: Not a bad episode by any means. Lots of good character moments here but I can't believe anyone is going to be feeling any sympathy at all for Nathan at this point.

He's brought this all on himself and has gone begging to sympathy from the last person in the world who would or should give him any benefit of the doubt at this point. Actually, he was so whinny in this episode... I would rather see him die than Mohinderance at this point.

I know. I'm shocked too. And I think I need a drink....

7 comments:

  1. Did this turn in to "Seven" all of a sudden?

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  2. I'd say "Hannibal"... or Law and Order: SuperPowers Unit. :)

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  3. Well, the mystery box was very "Seven", but it had things from all three going.
    I really liked this episode. Syler seemed to be back where I like him, and we had some nice well written moments. Also, shape shifting looks painful as all hell.
    That said, the episode needed at least a few lighter moments, this was dark through and through. I could have used a Baby Matt Parkman turning on an entire adult entertainment store as they walked by. Something to break a little tension.

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  4. Ah. I thought you meant investigating mysterious killings - not the mystery box. :)
    I imagine the shape-shifting will get better with time. Sylar used to get quite pained from using Super-Hearing.
    As for Baby Matt humor, check out the on-line comic from last week.

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  5. As for the humor... well, most of it was of the dark variety we get whenever we see Sylar. But I had much the same expression as Sylar when I realized who the shapeshifter was impersonating.
    Total Groucho vibe there for a moment, although that may have been the eyebrows. :)

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  6. Yeah, the darker stuff was there. But I always kind of liked the contrast they run, it is one reason I have loved the show, even when it has had the downs.

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  7. Well, next time is promising a lot more Hiro/Ando. So that should be good for a few laughs.
    And given how much unintentional humor there's been over Season 3, I'm glad to see that they CAN do the serious stuff when required.

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