Monday, April 6, 2009

Thoughts on HEROES, Season 4, Chapter 9 - Turn and Face the Strange

Word from the episode summary is...

1. someone close to Danko will be putting him in danger.
2. Noah and Sandra's marriage is going to get pushed a step closer to ending
3. Hiro and Ando will introduce Matt to his Matt Jr.
4. Angela and Peter will reunite with the rest of the family, such as they are.

Best Bets?

1. It's Sylar.
2. Something happens to Lyle.
3. Matt will complain about how his powers to see the future didn't let him see this coming.
4. We're going to find out Angela's past.



8:00 - So - the recap this week; Daphne getting shot and dying, Noah going after Angela and letting her and Peter go, Angela saying they need to go find Nathan and Claire, Hiro has his powers back - kinda and he and Ando have Matt Jr. and are looking for Matt and Sylar and Danko are now working together, having faked Sylar's death.

8:01 - Noah inspecting the body... again. I knew he didn't believe it after last episode!

8:02 - Ah... glass melted in the fire. THAT'S how Sylar got out of the fire at the end of Season 3 after Claire spiked his brain with a glass shard.

8:03 - Heh! Matt Jr. can stop things as well as make them go! Betcha that's why the car stopped!

8:04 - Okay, not to nit-pic but how exactly is Mohinderance fleeing the country if he's a wanted fugitive? Technically I think he is a still a citizen of India but c'mon. Hiro and Ando I can excuse because Hiro has enough cash to get a charter plane and grease some palms... but not Mohinderance.

8:05 - So Matt is out for revenge on Danko. "You've been a really good friend, Mohinder."

What the... NO HE HASN'T! Ignoring his general whiny and cowardly personality and his second-guessing your every move all season, he's the reason you all had no warning that this whole "hunting the evolved humans" thing was coming. He also spent most of last season abducting innocent people, working for the bad guys and he's responsible for having made your foster daughter (who seems to be as forgotten at Kaitlin at this point) disappear "somewhere safe".

8:06 - Ooooh, so it's Claire being missing that has Sandra set off. Not to nit-pic again but where is their son in all of this? Alone in Costa Verde?

8:07 - As predicted, he's gotten much better at doing the shape-shifting thing. No pain at all now. And yeah - "I'm not going to kill him. I'm going to destroy him." That's our Sylar!

8:10 - Angela had a vision. Has to go to Coyote Sands? There's a name. And Noah has to be there too.

8:11 - I'll bet the baby makes the truck stop too.

8:12 - "Si!" Hee hee hee.

8:13 - Can I call them or what?

8:14 - So Matt is going after Danko... or is that Sylar? As Wily Wonka said, the suspense is killing me. I hope it lasts. :)

8:15 - Oh, Bravo Noah! You are Mister Clever.

8:16 - Okay. So it really was Danko. And he seems to have a girlfriend.

8:17 - Oh... crap. She's really serious about the divorce. Unless THAT is Sylar and this is all part of the wicked plan to destroy Noah.

8:18 - Well, they can't all be shocking surprises, I guess.

8:22 - Of course Hiro WOULD tell the truth about "the magic baby".

8:23 - Well, if the hero act ever fails, Ando can always find work with Confuse-A-Baby limited. :)

8:24 - You know, Matt... this isn't really helping the "I am not a terrorist" case. I'm just saying.

8:25 - "This was a bad idea". Oh, NOW you realize this. And yeah - go figure that she's a girlfriend-for-hire and not a real girlfriend. No surprise given how maladjusted Danko is and how serious he is about not having anything outside of his work.

8:26 - And so we have 2-and-2 together. Good man, Noah!

8:27 - And oh yeah... big shock... Danko has been lying to his "special friend". Still .. nice little mirror plot here with Matt and Sylar both trying to destroy an enemy rather than kill them, using what are basically the same means.

8:29 - And there's Claire and Nathan.

8:30 - Project Icarus? Oh, this can't be good... and the original Dr. Suresch was there? But I thought he knew nothing at all about powers!

8:31 - Oh.... SHIT! That twist I didn't see coming. But I have to wonder... did Sylar plan this as well?

8:34 - Actually, all the subplots this week - in some way - they have something to do with couples and revenge. Interesting parallel.

8:35 - Hey! There's Lyle! I guess they didn't forget about him.

8:36 - This is honestly heartbreaking... "I do believe you, but it doesn't matter." As Nietzsche said, "Battle not with monsters, lest you become a monster..."

8:37 - And speaking of becoming a monster... Matt holding Danko and his lady at gun-point.

8:40 - Except Matt's plan all hinges on getting Danko to confess that he is a monster and that nothing is more important to him than killing.

8:41 - "Oooh. Close one." Yay Hiro!

8:46 - And yeah. Noah just pulled a hell of a gambit there. And the talking down to Danko for being an idiot here is just perfect.

8:47 - And yeah... Hiro gets a nice speech here telling Matt down for giving up the battle, as it were.

8:48 - I can't believe Noah didn't see this coming - Danko denying everything, I mean. There's a trick coming. Bet on it.

8:49 - Hee hee. "How would you know a thing like that?" I knew he'd have an edge going into this.

8:50 - Oh... crap. Either Noah really did just kill an innocent man... or he honestly did just kill Sylar. Either way... bloody hell.

8:55 - And yeah... looks like the perfect partnership is over.

8:56 - So... um.... I guess Mohinder is being allowed to stay in the basement. Apparently. I honestly forgot about his storyline with everything else going on.

8:57 - And two shots of two men begging their women for forgiveness.

8:58 - Okay. Looks like we'll have to wait until next time to get some answers about Angela's past. And yay - Mohinderance narration explaining the whole Icarus metaphor for those of us who slept through 10th grade English.

8:59 - Ah... did Claire talk to her mom? Does she know about what Noah nearly did to Sandra?



The Final Word: A tightly woven episode with multiple sub-plots involving the twin themes of couples and revenge. Sylar wants revenge on Noah. Noah wants revenge on Sylar. Matt wants revenge on Danko for Daphne's death and attacks Danko's relationship by exposing him as a monster to the woman he loves. Sylar exposes how much of a monster Noah has become to the woman he loves. And Matt himself, while not killing Danko, went further than he ever has before in abusing his power.

It's positively Shakespearean, complete with Hiro and Ando clowning it up with Will Kemp style antics to amuse us between the dramatic scenes. Let there be no more doubt; HEROES is back.

9 comments:

  1. I loved this in a nearly pornographic fashion. Haven't been this excited about the show in awhile. :: bounces :: Noah Bennet is badass even when being emasculated. <3
    Parkman totally dumped Mohinder. I lol'd.

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  2. Yeah... although I am again, still confused, as to just how Mohinder is setting up shop in the basement...

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  3. Screw how... WHY?! Why are people who are "on the run" constantly going back to EXACTLY the place where people would go to look for them. WTH, Heroes?
    But, that aside... lol

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  4. ...
    Actually, I think Mohinder is the only one of the main cast who has done that.
    *rewinds... rewinds...*
    Peter - pretty much stayed mobile. Did take part in some unwise actions that risked getting him captured (the raid on Building 2-6 to save Daphne, going after Danko, going to save his mom in NYC) but he's done pretty good considering he has no financial resources to avoid capture. Apart from one trip to Issac Mendez's old loft/Mohinder's lab, has not gone anyplace he was once before.
    Claire - did remarkably well considering she was basically under house arrest and 24 hour surveillance. STILL managed to aid two people on the underground railroad before fleeing to Mexico with Nathan.
    Hiro/Ando - managed to get out of the US (trip to India) and back into the US with no problems. Have been moving across the country and don't seem to have had any problems with renting a car or being recognized. I am willing to write this off as being due to... a) US Government's inability to freeze Japanese bank accounts, b) Hiro having the resources to grease palms at customs and c) racist gun-totting madmen working for cape-hunters can't tell two Japanese guys from two other Japanese guys.
    Matt - stayed pretty mobile up until being captured in Washington DC following raid on Building 26. Spent rest of time laying low in DC while plotting revenge on Danko following Daphne's death. Apart from going to Issac Mendez's loft/Mohinder's lab briefly before he and Peter raided building 26, never visited anyplace he had been before.
    Tracy - was locked up in Building 26 for most of the season. Was cornered by Noah while shopping following her escape.
    Yeah... the only other person who I can think of who was stupid enough to go back to where they lived before AFTER escaping are Mohinder and Eric "The Puppet Master" Doyle...

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  5. Good point. Further evidence of why Mohinder is pretty but utterly and completely made of fail.

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  6. Indeed. Unfortunately, the rumor mill has all but confirmed that he will survive for another season.

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  7. Which I'm okay with... IF they take the time to fix him. Make the doctor act like he's smart enough to be a doctor for Christ's sake!

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  8. No. No, I think the only way he can possibly die now with the dignity fitting his character is for him to be sodomized to death by Sylar... just before Sylar finds out that all of Mohinder's dicking around with his DNA has also given him acidic blood. This leaves Sylar as less of a man in every sense of the word and begging a just on the scene Noah Bennet to end it all, which Noah does gleefully.

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