Heroes 11/20 - "Homecoming"

Cafe Society
101

[QUOTE=Otto]
See, that’s why I think that Hiro went back in time and caused Charlie to get killed earlier. Did you see the floral tribute that was laid out for her? Would that have sprung up in the time that Ando’s been sitting there? Looks more like something that co-workers or customers would’ve put together after a couple of days and then added on as days went by. We know Hiro vanished out of Charlie’s life “a few weeks ago” but nothing more specific yet.

And I have a feeling there’s gonna be some wanky explanation for Ando remembering the original timeframe, like, being next to Hiro when he constiported made him immune or some shit. Not sure I’ll be happy with the explanation but I’m expecting it.
[/QUOTE]

but is she dead? or just missing?

102

[QUOTE=Slacker]
Regarding Hiro’s leaving Charlie six weeks ago (this is pure speculation - no spoilers), wouldn’t he have to do that for the events of the show to happen? He couldn’t just stay with her until that day in the restaurant, because then Ando wouldn’t have ever left Japan.

Of course, he could have just… gah. I told myself I wouldn’t ruin my enjoyment of this show with time travel nitpicking, so I’ll just stop there before the serious brain aches kick in. :smiley:
[/QUOTE]
I know. I keep telling myself not to think on the TT stuff too hard but dang it, I just have to reconcile some of this for myself.

I figure when Hiro goes back in time it sets off little ripples like dropping a pebble in a still pond. As long as he’s geographically far enough away from his past self, the ripples eventually die out before having an effect on his own past. Six weeks ago he realized he had to disappear or it could screw up Ando and himself showing up at the diner on the right day, at the right time.

Question is, can the waitress be saved? If Hiro saves the waitress perhaps that changes Sylar’s activities and he doesn’t get captured trying to kill Claire. He allows the waitress to die and Sylar gets captured.

I don’t know if the writers would do it, but it’s possible next week Hiro’s adventures reset things and Sylar is still on the loose.

I can’t figure out a way for Hiro to save the waitress and not screw up Sylar’s capture. Personally, I don’t think the show needs a waitress with a photographic memory, so let her die. But I have a feeling, Hiro’s going to save her somehow and it’s going to give me a time travel headache.

I can handle Ando being more or less immune to all the weird time effects since one thing Hiro has managed to do is not change Ando’s past. But this all has time rift written all over it and that probably explains why Hiro hasn’t reappeared yet. Some important things need to happen before he can risk getting near Ando again.

[QUOTE=Skammer]
A couple of people have suggested that Peter’s arrest will lead to his being interviewed by Matt the telepathic cop. That would be pretty cool, because it could be totally non-verbal: those two just reading each other’s minds. With the blonde FBI agent sitting by saying “Hey! Are you gonna share anything with the non-superheroes in the room, fellas?”
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I’m looking forward to that.

103

Huh. Wonder what happens if Peter runs into Radioactive Man?

104

[QUOTE=Ethilrist]
Huh. Wonder what happens if Peter runs into Radioactive Man?
[/QUOTE]
When I was thinking that Peter swipes the powers of others, rather than just mimicking them, I was thinking that this would be a way to prevent the exposion. It would probably be a little bit anticlimactic though.

105

[QUOTE=running piglet cheese]

Is the cafe where Ghost Dad and son are parked the one Ando is waiting for Hiro in?
[/QUOTE]
No, but it’s the same cafe where Monk had dinner on a road trip with his new-found father on last Friday’s show, and the same cafe where half the cast of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip ate with the judge while waiting for the prosecutor to show up on last week’s episode of that show. It’s apparently quite famous, having appeared many times in movies and television, but that’s 3 shows in 2 weeks that this particular diner has shown up in. I wonder how many shows I don’t watch that it’s been featured in in the past few weeks!
[QUOTE=simster]
Save the Chearleader, Save the world…

Saving the chearleader led to the capture of Sylar… something they hadn’t been able to do so far…
[/QUOTE]
I want to know what they’re going to do with him now that they have him. Considering that one of his abilities is making himself invisible, it should certainly be easy enough for him to escape unnoticed.

[QUOTE=kurilla]
IANA criminal lawyer, but it seems to me that they do not have enough evidence to charge Peter. Consider:

(a) There’s blood all over him, but 95% of it is his. Another good size chunk will be Sylar’s, a little will be Claire’s, but it’s unlikely that any of it is Jackie’s, since Peter never got within spitting distance of Jackie.
[/QUOTE]
Given his scuffle with Sylar, seeing as how Sylar would’ve been covered in Jackie’s blood, wouldn’t that make at least some of the blood on him Jackie’s?

106

[QUOTE=Otto]
… constiported…
[/QUOTE]

Beautiful. Is that a neologism?

107

[QUOTE=Charlie Tan]
Beautiful. Is that a neologism?
[/QUOTE]

It was a collaborative effort. Look back at the other Heroes threads and you can trace its evolution.

108

I’m surprised that nobody has commented on Nathan’s assholiness in throwing paint on that picture. I actually shouted “NO!” at the tv when he did that.

Nathan is a Bad Man. But he’s a politician, so that goes without saying, I guess.

109

[QUOTE=Archergal]
I’m surprised that nobody has commented on Nathan’s assholiness in throwing paint on that picture. I actually shouted “NO!” at the tv when he did that.

Nathan is a Bad Man. But he’s a politician, so that goes without saying, I guess.
[/QUOTE]

He’s a bad man for destroying something that will inspire his brother, should he see it, to put his life in grave danger? He may indeed be a bad man for other reasons (and, as hardy-har cute as it is to play the “all politicians are evil” card, being a politician doesn’t make one evil by definition), acting to save his brother’s life isn’t one of them.

Now if he had some further ulterior motive as yet unrevealed, I reserve the right to retract my statements, but I can’t condemn Captain Congress just yet.

But, speaking of the painting, IIRC Peter said that the painting in question was the first or near the first of the “panels” in the “comic book.” So if the panel of his bleeding on the pavement was an early panel, might that mean that later panels, of for instance Claire screaming and the shadowy figure chasing her, have yet to occur? Could the encounter on the steps we’ve seen so far not be the last of such encounters? There was a painting of Hiro and Ando standing under a Homecoming banner and that hasn’t happened yet…

110

[QUOTE=Archergal]
I’m surprised that nobody has commented on Nathan’s assholiness in throwing paint on that picture. I actually shouted “NO!” at the tv when he did that.

Nathan is a Bad Man. But he’s a politician, so that goes without saying, I guess.
[/QUOTE]

I was very upset as well, but I’ve revised my opinion into “Nathan as a pathological control freak”. He saw a painting that supposedly told of a future where his brother was dead. Now in his mind he must’ve thought that either Peter was right about Isaac’s power, in which case he could try to avert the future by removing the evidence needed for Peter to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, or Peter was just crazy, in which case showing him the painting might lead to a whole series of embarassing and self-destructive acts. He’s not bad, just horribly self-centered and suffering from a major Big Brother complex.

111

I was sort of hoping that Sylar actually would kill Peter. Partly because it would instigate further drama with Nathan, whom I like better anyway; partly because it would show the audience that anyone can bite it anytime and sometimes saving the world means dying yourself; and partly because Peter is a whiny wussyboy with irritating hair in his eyes. C’mon Pete, it’s possible to demonstrate empathy without resorting to emo.

112

[QUOTE=Archergal]
I’m surprised that nobody has commented on Nathan’s assholiness in throwing paint on that picture. I actually shouted “NO!” at the tv when he did that.

Nathan is a Bad Man. But he’s a politician, so that goes without saying, I guess.
[/QUOTE]
Nathan’s an asshole for sure, but I agree with Otto & Priam. He’s actually protecting his brother in his own controlling asshole-ish way.

Do we discuss speculation based on this week’s previews in spoiler boxes? Just in case:[spoiler]I rewatched the previews in slo-mo. It appears most of what we see next week is all flashback/backstory stuff.

One thing that really caught my eye though: Hiro appears to be showing Waitress Girl a nursery. For a kid! Whose kid?!? Did Hiro become a daddy over the last six months, or are they yanking my chain?[/spoiler]

113

[QUOTE=JXJohns]
I guess you have to suspend your disbelief a little for the sake of the show. I don’t know about you, but I would prefer NOT have to read subtitles for a third of the show just to add some realisim. Are you the type that complains that aliens in Star Trek should not be able to speak English as well? I wouldn’t call it sloppy writing. It makes the deeper thoughts and subtleties easier for the viewers to absorb.

Hiro and Ando’s conversations are often pretty light, and easy to read. Most of the crap going on in India is pretty dramatic, soul searching, stuff that would be lost somehow in translation to subs. Since the actors are Indian and they are speaking perfect English, I guess I see no problem with it at all. Nor will I have a problem with Hiro speaking better English later in the show.
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I have no trouble suspending my disbelief. I have no problem believing that all Nazi officers spoke British accented English instead of German. I would have no problem with all the Indians speaking English as long as it’s consistant. I really don’t have a huge problem with it but it does take me out of the show a bit. Like the ears.

114

Masi Oka who plays Hiro was born in Japan and speaks Japanese as well as English and Spanish.

Sendhil Ramamurthy who plays Mohinder was born in the States and may not even speak Tamil.

I really don’t have a problem with Hiro speaking Japanese and Mohinder not speaking whatever it is we’d expect him to speak.

Hiro not speaking English very well is important to the story. What Mohinder speaks at home with his mother seems pretty unimportant to me, story-wise.

115

[QUOTE=Otto]
Oh, but now here’s Mohinder. Yawn.
[/QUOTE]

But he’s so damned purty. I think the mute button might be called for. Just mute and make up our own dialogue.

116

[QUOTE=jsgoddess]
But he’s so damned purty. I think the mute button might be called for. Just mute and make up our own dialogue.
[/QUOTE]

“Hi, I’m Mohinder, and these are my cheekbones.”

Yeah, we can keep him.

117

[QUOTE=Annie]
“Hi, I’m Mohinder, and these are my cheekbones.”

Yeah, we can keep him.
[/QUOTE]

Just so you all know, I’m making notes of all of this for the next time someone complains to me about sexism in the superhero genre.

118

[QUOTE=robertliguori]
Just so you all know, I’m making notes of all of this for the next time someone complains to me about sexism in the superhero genre.
[/QUOTE]

As long as your notes are lavishly illustrated with photos of Mohinder (and the Flying Petrelli Brothers), I’m fine with that.

119

[QUOTE=Hentor the Barbarian]
When I was thinking that Peter swipes the powers of others, rather than just mimicking them, I was thinking that this would be a way to prevent the exposion. It would probably be a little bit anticlimactic though.
[/QUOTE]

Whether Peter swipes powers or simply mimics them seems all a bit iffy (either way, the effects aren’t permanent, it seems). Was Isaac able to draw paintings of the future right after the first time he saw Peter? Claire was still able to regenerate after she met Peter, although I don’t think they had any physical contact until after Sylar attacked Jackie. I know Nathan faltered in his flight, but it seemed that was because Peter was too heavy and Nathan was new at the whole flying thing. Nathan did say that *right before * they hit the ground, they both flew. Seems to me that if Peter stole powers, it would be impossible for both of them to fly at the same time.

I am almost sure that the painting of Claire running up the stairs by herself has occured. IIRC, she was running up the stairs by herself, tripped and fell, and THEN Peter ran into the gym and joined her.

120

Jumping in here to say that the background music (Score? Incidental music? Soundtrack? Somebody help me out here.) at the beginning of the episode is totally cool.