This novel focuses on the 50 marines who were recruited into Pinehearst to become part of the enhancement program so they could track and hunt down “specials”. This issue ties in to the online webisodes of the recruit showing Ryan the marine going into a private facility where he spies on Tracy and Nathan talking about being one day away from injecting the marines and that the marines should be told what they signed up for. This issue really is just to get you in touch with the marines who were in Pinehearst and show their perspective and what was happening in the show.
The issue ends with Tracy and Nathan talking about the non-catalyzed virus still existing and the risk that the marines may inject themselves with it. Nathan unsympathetic as usual mentions that they are just marines and nobody will be suprised if they die in the line of duty. Once gain the comic illustrates Nathan’s cold and cruel heart, here is a person who has continued to show negative traits nad behaviors since Season 1 and almost had a redemption when he saved Peter’s life in the Season finale. Season 2 showed him having remorse for what he did and opening Season 3 into him believing he was doing good.
Nathan unfortunately is a bad seed and has most evil and contempt in his heart for other people who are special. But, like most villains Nathan doesn’t think he is evil or wrong, he just wants to do “good” and thinks his way is the best way. So as we lead into just 6 weeks or so into the first chapter of “Fugitives” we know that Nathan is out to get and round up all of the other “Specials”
I have actually seen some of the older Heroes Webisodes called going postal and really enjoyed them, my only complaint was that they were very short and felt very rushed in the scenes. I wish they could be at least 10 minutes in content instead of the 3 or 4 minutes you get for the webisode. Since Heroes is on Hiatus for a few months I decided to delve into the webisodes this week and the latest series is known as “The Recruit”. I watched both Part 1 and Part 2 and share my review and summary here:
The webisode shows you that one month ago Pinehearst took part in a secret government operation and recruited 50 marines. This was also shown in the show, but in the TV show only 1 marine was injected with the formula. The marines were to be genetically enhanced so they could better track and bring in “Special” people. The first chapter is called “Private Mills” and opens with a female marine being interrogated by Angela Petrelli in a room. We can see the marine’s shoulder is injured and Angela is asking her for the location of something. The scene flashes back to twelve hours ago showing Private Mills in a room at Pinehearst with two other marines. Blue fire erupts into the room while they are arguing and collapses the floor, I can only assume this was when flint attacked the lab and surrounding area. One of the marines is bady injured his leg pinned by some rubble, and Private Mills goes to find a flashlight. Just as she procures one a piece of rubble falls about to kill her and she teleports away. This ability is very similar to the Dungeons and Dragons Dimension Door spell in how it works, she appears next to the freaked out marine and asks him to trust her.
This ends the first episode and again it is just under 3 minutes in length but the acting is fairly good for a webisode and seeing Angela Petrelli’s cold interrogation really puts you into the show, you don’t feel like you are watching something else, you feel as if you are watching a different part of the same show.
Chapter 2 titled “It Was Nothing” again starts off with Private Mills in the interrogation room, she awakes to find a man standing in the room saying Ms. Petrelli will return soon. Private Mills claims she doesn’t have an ability. We flash back to Pinehearst lab to see her helping the marine David. But the 3rd marine who fell through the floor with them has injected himself with a vial hoping it will help heal a severe laceration on his abdomen. Private Mills grabs another vial and injects the other marine who has an injured leg. Private Mills is shot in the shoulder as she injects David with the serum, David falls to the ground and starts suffering pain and just as Private Mills asks him whats wrong the episode concludes.
Again the episodes are very fast paced but they are so fast paced that they end to quickly. They webisodes needed to be about 10 minutes long to really capture my attention, it takes about 5 minutes for me to even get into a show, and this ends just as it starts to draw you in which is a big downer. The quality of the effects, acting, and action is comparable to the TV Show which is amazing in itself for original content only found online.
I would recommend you give them a try, but I would actually wait and watch a finished series so you can see all of the clips, than engage in a new one where you have to wait each week for the next 3 minute clip.
After seeing how Arthur Petrelli met his end at the hands of Sylar last week I was predicting that Sylar would go after the other one of his so called parents that has lied to him. Angela Petrelli lied to Sylar just as Arthur had in claiming she was Gabriel’s parent and Sylar wants revenge for being used as a pawn in the Petrelli game.
This was the final episode of the Volume known as “Villains” and starts off with Nathan and Peter squaring off about the death of their father. Nathan has become so twisted and dead set on giving abilities to create a super army that he directly opposes Peter’s desire to shut down and destroy the formula. Peter again can’t bring himself to kill family and instead knocks his brother unconscious and works to destroy the formula in the lab. Mohinder who was trying to use the formula to save himself is thwarted and held to watch as Knox and Flint assist Peter in leveling the lab. Knox goes to subdue Nathan and meets an unfortunate end at the hands of Traci who freezes him and shatters him like glass shards. Nathan arrives at the lab but is too late to save the formula, Flint goes berserk and starts igniting the place and Peter injects himself with the formula as the only means to escape. He saves his brother by flying the two of them out of there, only to have Nathan reject him and say he would not have done the same.
Nathan was always a shady character since season 1 and the few glimpses of hope and good we saw in him were easily overcome by his character flaws. Peter is on the polar opposite of the spectrum, good to a fault and incapable of making decisions to cause harm and kill that would have saved lives earlier. Reminds me of the most recent Batman movie where Batman cannot bring himself to kill the Joker even after the joker killed the love of his life. That pretty much is the way Peter Petrelli is as well without as much darkness in his heart as batman.
Meanwhile most of the episode was about Sylar trapping Claire, Angela, Meredith and Noah hostage in Level 5 and attempting to play some twisted game where he can convince them to kill each other in order to escape, reminds me of a lighter version of the SAW films. One of the most clever moves was Noah releasing the other villains in an attempt to slow Sylar down, and Sylar wound up killing them all, running up against Eric Doyle the Puppet Master who temporarily held him only for a moment before Sylar overcame him.
In the end it was Sylar’s pride and overconfidence while interrogating Angela that allowed Claire to sneak up on him and deliver the glass shard through the back of his skull. Though this should not have happened as Sylar had the “Super Hearing” power acquired in season 1 and he should have been able to hear her, though he was screaming at the time. The building was leveled by Meredith exploding after being injected by adrenaline and unable to control her powers.
One of my favorite sequences was when Ando injected himself with the formula and attempted to determine how to use his power, Daphne had stolen a vial from Mohinder’s hands just before Peter was destroying the lab and brought it to Ando. Ando’s power was to super charge other heroes and using this ability he enhanced Daphne so fast she can run through time to bring Hiro back to the present. The episode wraps up the volume with Sylar being buried by rubble while being debilitated by a glass shard in the back of his skull. Hiro ripping up the formula, Peter regaining his powers and gives the appearance that there may be order about to be established again.
The whole point of Volume 3 Villains was to try and show that there is a duality in each and every one of us and everyone has the ability to be both a hero and a villain, this is what I also believe in my personal life that there is no such thing as pure white/light or pure black/dark but everyone and everything is shades of gray to some degree.
The preview clip to Volume 4 Fugitives shows Nathan Petrelli speaking with the President of The United States played by Michael Dorn (Worf from Star Trek: The Next Generation) which was amusing since we are about to have a black president and one is portayed on the show. I also like the way Heroes taps into the Trek cast for guest appearances and everyone they have tapped has played a decent role although Nichelle Nichols had the shortest role in Heroes that wasn’t clearly defined much. George Takei I thought did a fantastic job as Hira Nakamura’s strict and disciplined father and enjoyed his portal of the character very much. Nathan is so hell bent on revenge that he convinces the president that the people who have powers should all be detained and locked up, but of course fails to declare that he has any powers of his own. This now looks like the future of Season 1 where Nathan was president and people with abilities were hunted down and locked up in facilities. I would hate to see the show keep going round and round in circles covering the same issues over and over.
If this volume is Fugitives and implying that all people with abilities are fugitives from the law, then the show now turns to where everyone is being hunted and constantly evades pursuers. With PineHearst and Primatech all but left in ruins, I am not sure what the plans of the company are and if there are any at this point at all. Since we have until February to mull this over, I am sure that NBC will release Graphic Novels weekly that will help fill in the gaps, since Volume 4 apparently takes place 3 weeks into the future. NBC typically uses the Graphic Novels to fill in gaps of time, and they have Web Episodes which parallel the show which I should check out and review.
Overall I was disappointed with the final episode as Sylar who is supposed to have the gift of “Understanding How Things Work” ultimately played into the role of a jealous, vengeful person bent on revenge and making critical bad guy type mistakes. Why is it all villains make the same mistakes constantly, they must spout epithets, final words, delays, pauses…etc. Ah well, I didn’t like the twist they were putting on Sylar, and instead liked it when he only killed for the sake of stealing powers and becoming the most powerful, when he became just a standard serial killer who took pleasure in it was when they weakened the character quite a bit. It was refreshing seeing Angela start telling the truth and we did learn that Sylar’s real parents were still not disclosed, if Sylar should return again which is very likely he could come back and seek more vengeance. My prediction is somebody will find the charred remains of Sylar and pull the glass from the skull and he will regenerate again.
I love reading the Heroes Comic Books also known as Graphic Novels after watching each episode. The graphic novels fill in the blanks between the episodes and help you learn more about each character and their back story. They go a long way in explaining how characters feel and what is happening between the segments of the show and is all part of NBC’s interactive Heroes experience.
The latest Graphic Novel called Truths focuses on Arthur Petrelli the father of Nathan and Peter and husband to Angela. It focuses on some of his back story and opens up by explaining that Arthur was a man of many faces, his children knowing him as a lackey for criminals, his wife knowing him as a loving but stern father and goes who the man Arthur really was.
The comic opens up with Arthur standing there the bullet Peter fired suspended just before penetrating Arthur’s head. Arthur explains that he has died twice and both times The Haitian was present. Arthur reflects how he became the man he was and we flash back to a hunting trip many years ago when Nathan and Peter were little boys.
Before delving deeper into the hunting a scene shows Arthur and Angela in bed talking about Peter being too soft and not having enough strength, Angela claims that Peter will be great by the time he manifests while Arthur believes that Nathan should have been born with the power not Peter at all. He explains that the genetic markers seems to show up in the children that lack the will for action. Angela is the one who suggests that they inject Nathan with the serum, and that it is nothing more than a vaccination. They both figure why let both sons go to waste when they might be able to salvage one son.
Back at the camping trip memory Arthur tries to get Peter to pull the trigger and kill a deer, but Peter cannot. Nathan grabs the rifle and fires the gun as Peter protests. Meanwhile the gunshot goes off in the present and Arthur admits he is proud that Peter had the guts to pull the trigger now and prove him wrong about him. His last thoughts are that it is the best feeling in the world to be proven wrong and now he believes both his sons are strong enough to do what must be done.
My thoughts:
I think this graphic novel reveals that Arthur did care about his children to some degree and had his “idea” of who he wanted them to be and what he wanted them to become. He formulated opinions about his children and clearly when they didn’t fit what he wanted he thought less of them. Most villains don’t think they are villains, they just think that their way is right and other’s are wrong. Most evil people don’t call themselves evil, but think they are doing what is right and this is and was the case with Arthur Petrelli.
Watch full streaming episode if you haven’t, then read my review below:
I have decided to do away with the recap of the show scene by scene and instead do full reviews which have garnered better feedback from my audience and inspire people to chime in with their opinions. I encourage everyone to let me know what they thought of the Episode which I think redeemed the Season quite well as some would have very much disliked The Eclipse Part I and II.
First off I have to say that I am still disappointed with Sylar’s sheer cruelty and shocked and dismayed Elle is indeed killed and her body was burned by Sylar at the opening of the episode. The episode though was stunningly fantastic, it explained much and left me just stunned by the end.
To see how Hiro got to see his mother again in the moments before his death and bond with her one final time was touching, she was able to heal his mental wounds from Arthur Petrelli and he convinced his mother to give the catalyst to him instead of baby Claire.
Claire meanwhile had already convinced Noah to not let them put the catalyst in the baby and even gave the term “Claire Bear” to her father in the past for him to use for her. You could tell her affection for him, and he showed his compassionate side early on for Claire.
The weakest parts of the episode were the very short scenes with Ando, Matt and Daphne trying to find the unfinished comic book of Isaac Mendez. They finally collect it after some prodding of the delivery service manager only to find that Hiro was trapped back in time with no way to return. Arthur had gone back in time just after Hiro had taken the catalyst, stole the catalyst and stripped Hiro of his powers.
Throughout the episode we see Peter and The Haitian assigned to kill Arthur and Peter having doubts and waffling on the thought of killing his own father. In one of the best scenes we learn Arthur is strong enough to withstand the Haitian if given enough time, but Peter pulls the trigger only to have Sylar stop the bullet in mid air. Sylar asks Arthur point blank if he is indeed father, and Arthur claims he is. Sylar had picked up the power to discern lies from a woman at an office in a brutal slaying earlier where he killed her and her unfortunate coworkers to acquire her powers. He realizes Arthur is lying and delivers the bullet right into Arthur’s brain.
Sylar then leaves presumably to go consume more powers around the facility, he lets Peter live claiming he has nothing of interest anymore. Peter asks the Haitian to go after Sylar, as he now may be the only one who can stop him. Meanwhile, Nathan has shown his ugly two faced side again and again and taken over as the face of Pinehearst even injecting the first marine with the formulae after Arthur had passed some of the catalyst into it.
The episode was beyond fantastic and left me with my jaw dropped over Hiro stuck in the past again but powerless this time, Arthur dead on the floor, Nathan taking over for his father and Sylar running amuck as a much more depraved and twisted individual who now seems to not just kill for taking powers but take pleasure in it.
The best episode of the Season in my opinion, with only some minor quips, mainly that Ando is going to try and get himself injected supposedly to save Hiro, this will probably lead to them being at odds again. Peter is probably so distraught about not having powers, I suspect he will ask his brother to inject him so he can be a Hero again.
Sylar is probably going to become even more deadly and take even more powers, but remember Sylar’s complex is that he wants to be the only special one, so he won’t like the idea of making more specials unless they will be victims for him to slay and steal their powers. Sylar, I have a feeling wants to be the only one with powers and doesn’t really want an army of heroes who can be a threat to him.
So tell me, what do you all think of the Episode? Like it, hate it, blah? Do you like the Evil Sylar, or the Good Sylar better?
The Caged Bird two part graphic novel focuses on Daphne and the aftermath of the 2nd eclipse, it fills in the blanks of what is going on with Daphne between the scenes of the show while Matt Parkman was trying to communicate with her.
The comic shows her childhood and how she came down with her disease when she was three and her mother kept trying to convince her it was beatable. Her mom died of cancer when Daphne was in her mid twenties and her last words spoken to her mother were out of anger. The funeral was too much for Daphne to bear, she could barely hear people’s pathetic attempts at consolation.
She walked to escape as the eclipse occurred the first time and collapsed out in the corn field beside her house. Having a vision of her mother while sleeping telling her to let loose and never look back, Daphne awakes and casts her braces off. She tears through the cornfield with blazing speed, and comes back home hours later to tell her father.
Mr. Thompson shows up at their house and asks her father to talk about his daughter, Daphne was appalled that her father was going to allow The Company to run tests on her and runs off. It shows her running all over the world over the next several months, India, Egypt, Italy, China and France. She tried to make money the honest way in France, but it turned out to be too easy to steal when nobody could see her.
A time later a man shows up in an alley known as Samir and warns Daphne there are two people following her. We learn that Samir has the ability to ghost walk just like D.L. did in the show. She worked for the crime boss and he paid her to steal things for him in exchange for a place to live and money. Nine months later back in Kansas and crippled by the second eclipse she makes peace with her father.
When she regains her powers she takes off even though he doesn’t want her to leave.
My Thoughts:
The show did a good job of hinting and leaving clues about all of this, but the Graphic Novel is a nice touch. For those of you who don’t read the Heroes Graphic novels, many of them are 7 pages in length and take about 10 minutes to read. They fill in the gaps in the show and actually in some cases are better than the show.
After leaving off last week with part one where Claire was critical in the hospital and Noah was about to fire a sniper rifle round into Sylar or Elle we were left wondering what is to come for the Heroes and Villains who have lost their powers during the eclipse.
Watch the episode here:
The episode opens with The Haitian and Peter running from the Guerrilla’s through the jungle and at the same time Claire being rushed into the hospital. We cut to see Sylar and Elle laying on the floor together in the house, with Noah outside the door with the rifle.
Elle and Gabriel discuss that if they do not get their powers back then Elle has a chance to have another life and start over. Bullets fire and Noah breaks into the house having missed both of them with the sniper rifle. A gun battle ensues, where Elle gets hit by a bullet. Noah follows the traces of blood attempting to track them.
Nathan meanwhile is chained and imprisoned by The Haitians brother and converses with some other captives. Nathan attempts to stand up for the woman who is also imprisoned but is unable to do anything.
Mohinder working to figure out the issue with the eclipse comes up with no answers, which distresses Arthur Petrelli who does not like that he is vulnerable. Flint meanwhile injures Suresh as added insurance for him to continue his work and research. Later Mohinder attacks Flint and beats him unconscious so he can escape. He picks up Maya’s address on a sticky as he leaves the building.
Sandra finally gets a hold of Noah and tells him that Claire is very sick and she has an infection like her body was never sick before so it had never built up any immunities. Noah starts heading back when he realizes that Gabriel and Elle are close by.
Matt Parkman and Daphne talking in her home where Daphne confides that she has cerebral palsy and that the previous eclipse allowed her to start to walk, then run. They both realize that they lost their powers and Daphne thinks that they lost their powers due to Arthur.
Hiro and Ando at the comic book shop talk to some comic geeks about the 9th wonders where they are trying to get the next issue to see how Hiro can get his powers back. Hiro hands over his card and picks up a slew of 9th Wonders issues. Later Matt arrives at the comic book store and the comic book geek clues them in that the eclipse may have ended their powers but their powers will return when the eclipse ends. Hiro explains he doesn’t want to grow up when he sees the pictures of himself stabbing Sylar among other things.
We cut to a supermarket where Gabriel is attempting to dress Elle’s thigh wound with over the counter supplies. Elle and Gabriel discuss setting a trap for Noah since they both know that Noah has the advantage. They both arrive in the warehouse section to see Noah is on the security camera. Gabriel sends Elle down the lift and stays behind to attempt to deal with Mr. Bennett himself. Noah and Gabriel engage in combat where Noah continues to gain the upper hand against him. He grabs a box cutter and holds it to Gabriels throat then cuts his throat and Sylar falls on the ground bleeding and dead.
The Haitians brother takes the girl to his tent, but The Haitian bashes him over the head and knocks him unconscious. Peter binds his hands and legs. Nathan trapped in the cell with a little girl confesses that someone should be standing up to protect her, and he apologizes. Just then Peter and The Haitian arrive and free them both, as they try to flee Peter nobly sends his brother and the Haitian away while he offers to hold the enemies off.
At the hospital Claire is in bad condition as her mom tries to tell her that her dad is coming, but isn’t sure of it herself. Claire confides that all she wanted was her ability to go away and now she wants it back. Claire then flat lines and the doctors rush over to try and help her. It was blatantly obvious that when the eclipse ends Claire would regenerate as would Sylar and they would both restore to life, I saw this coming before the eclipse ended.
Matt arrives back at Daphne’s house to try and tell her about her powers being restored but he is too late and Daphne is gone. Matt realizes that he has his powers back as he reads her fathers mind. Matt can hear Daphne’s mind though and knows she isn’t too far way. Daphne feels regret and shame for what she did and Matt knows this by reading her thoughts. Matt helps Daphne realize she needs to apologize to her father and set things right.
Back in Haiti, the guerrilla’s are looking for Nathan, Peter and the Haitian and Peter attempts to hold them off. Peter does his best to hold them off with his gun when it runs out of ammunition. Just as Peter is about to give up the Haitian and Nathan show up to help him. Nathan flies towards the Haitians brother and throws him against a car only for him to regenerate. The Haitian grabs his brother by the head, disables his powers and starts draining his mind of all memories and thought.
Mohinder arrives at Maya’s apartment a short time later only to realize that he is starting to transform into a creature again, so he flees before Maya can see him.
Ando and the Comic Book Guru try to talk Hiro from coming out of the bathroom and convince him that saving the world is the most important thing. I like the way Seth Green says that Hiro doesn’t have to be a billionaire like Batman or an alien like Superman. The comic book people realize that Hiro must find Claire and take her to the past so he can recover his memory.
Noah arrives at Claire’s bedroom to have Claire attack him for not being there when she needed him. He tries to explained to her that she means more to him than just an assignment. It is then that Noah arrives downstairs to realize that Sylar and Elle are in the house and plan to capture Claire and take her to Arthur. Claire says she will go with them if they leave Noah alone, Noah tells Sylar that Arthur and Angela are not his parents and they are trying to use Gabriel. Noah reveals that Elle had a part in creating Sylar, Hiro arrives and grabs Sylar and teleports him away, then comes back and grabs Elle and teleports her away, re-appearing again to grab Claire and teleport away once again. Three back and forth teleports with 3 different people just before Sylar could kill Noah.
Matt and Daphne arrive at the comic shop to find out Hiro is gone and nobody knows where he is, they learn there is no more 9th Wonders and that Isaac Mendez is dead. Comic book guru explains that there is one more 9th wonders issue that was bequeathed to a bike messenger. Find the messenger and they will find their story.
The Haitian, Nathan and Peter walking through the jungle as the Haitian returns the girl to her family. Nathan opens up to Peter that he thinks that going to Pinehearst is the right thing to do, and that giving abilities to people may be the right thing to do. Nathan thinks that Pinehearst can be a solution to the worlds problems and he flies off to go back to Pinehearst.
Mohinder arrives back at Pinehearst to see Arthur standing over an injured Flint who is unconscious and wounded. Arthur tells Mohinder that they will find a cure but he has to solve his own personal demons.
Sylar and Elle appear at a beach near the water where Sylar asks Elle what she knows about his parents. As they kiss and lie together on the beach Sylar tells her that she was wrong and nobody ever really changes. Sylar confides that he understands they will never change and its then that Sylar cuts her head open.
Hiro and Claire arrive back in time to show Claire when Hiro’s father hands Claire over to Noah as a baby. The episode ends at this point with a too be continued.
All in all I was disappointed with Sylar killing Elle at the end of the episode, this was a real tragedy and made me very much hate his character again. It is weird how you can like Sylar in one episode and hate him in another.
