Didn’t Nathan call him on it, too?
Yeah, Nathan called Peter on his hypocracy for taking the formula himself. But I think the writers are trying to make the point that “heroes” are willing to reconsider their strong convictions when going against them is obviously the right thing to do. They’re just not very good writers, and were unable to convey that idea clearly.
I also think they were not very good writers in showing how Nathan’s attitude toward Peter has changed. I can guess at where they wanted to go, but they never connected the dots. So, once again, it seems as if someone’s personality has veered wildly into something completely different.
Yeah, Nathan has been rescuing Peter from Peter’s problems all his life, probably. And Nathan has had a rough time lately – wife and kids gone, disfigured then healed, shot then healed, religious experience turned out to be a hoax, manipulated by mom, manipulated by dad, powers artificial, etc., etc. And now everyone considers Peter the “big hero” so Nathan is feeling a little eclipsed…
Except that they never showed us anyone considering Peter to be the “big hero”. Who does, anyway, beside the audience? Peter’s family still considers him a screw-up – other than Claire (whom Nathan seems to want nothing to do with). The other heroes are all well aware that Peter was the one who was going to destroy NY, and Nathan was the one who saved them. The only “rescue the world” moment Peter had was in the virus vault.
So it seems weird – to the viewer – that Nathan is suddenly having these Peter issues. To the writers, though, I think they’ve conflated what they planned on writing with what we’ve actually seen.
They have a habit of doing that. As we saw again this episode, with the seen-before-scene-we’ve-never-seen-before, when Mohinder explained to Arthur how to use the catalyst. They just need to be a little clearer on laying out what is going on for the viewers.
That has been a trope they’ve been using for future time-travel. Peter’s future scar, for example, seems to be a constant no matter which timeline is followed forward.
Of course, this season didn’t really resolve the world cracking, battle-in-Tokyo timeline. I think it’s supposed to be implied that without the formula, that future is averted – but no evidence of that. That’s not even what Future!Peter came back to fix, nor what Usutu seemed to be warning Parkman about. It’ll probably be carried over into “Fugitives”.
Except Peter has no healing power now so a scar makes perfect sense, in fact didn’t Arthur nail him with a big cut accross the face?
The cut Peter was left with is in the wrong location for the future scar. But my point was that Peter has had that scar in the future no matter what events led up to that future. Future!Peter had it back in Season 1, and Future!Peter from this season had it, too.
I’ve been thinking about that. When we saw the “Earth-Cracking” graffito recently (either last week or this week - I can’t remember), it occurred to me that it could be interpreted in a couple of ways.
It looks less like the earth cracking in two, and more like the Symbol in fire superimposed on the Earth.
As noted, the cut was in the wrong area of the face to correspond to the scar…which kind of ticks me off; that was the perfect opportunity to give Peter the scar; presumably now that he has his ability back (and if it works like it did before) then before long he’ll encounter Claire again and have the healing ability back. Why not just give him the scar now? What, do the writers have a grand long-term plan for the scar or something?
Or it (or whatever has to come to pass for the world to snap)hasn’t happened yet. Was it because of artificial powers, or was it something that occurred concurrently with fake ability development?
The WTF? character changes are my big bitch with this chapter. Peter and Hiro being earnest screwups, Claire being petulant- it’s who they are. Certainly they have room for growth and let’s hope they do. Sylar’s mommy issues and walk on the Sesame Street side, that was always part of his pre-serial killer streak, so not a ridiculous development. His being the missing Petrelli, thank all the gods that was bullshit,because that was way too soap for my fantasy show tastes.
But Mohinder, out of completely bloody nowhere, wants abilities, having never said a word about it before. Really? Ready to use Peter as a kicking, screaming human test subject? Actually, maybe, he was this close to virusing up Monica last year. But the envy-not consistent at all. Could have been, if they’d developed it beforehand.
Nathan having some sort of moral crisis after the assorted traumas he’s had- oh yeah, but opening up camps is a big leap. Reopening Pinehurst and starting ability-neutralizing research, or restart the super soldier farm-yeah, that I’d believe. When writers think ‘how would ___ react if this calamity happened?’ you get better development than when they say ‘what would ____have to do to bring about this plotline?’ Which seems to be Nathan now
But isn’t Nathan and notObama’s plan just a better funded Primatech? Probably not, this version seems all bag, no tag.At least HRG let West and Matt out after they finished implanting those X-Files trackers
They probably don’t want to spend the next – seasons painting it on Ventimiglia’s face every day.
I don’t know, I don’t think that it’s way out there. I know for myself, my brain has a way of short-circuiting desire for something if that something very obviously comes with a “you-can’t-have-this” caveat. (Best example: if I meet someone who I could potentially be attracted to, but also simultaneously meet his girlfriend, the “hmmm… potential?” switch in my brain never turns on. This happened by accident once… met a guy at a party, he happened to be with a female friend who I assumed was his girlfriend, so when he asked me out a few days later I’m all like, “Huh? Oh, well, I never really thought of you that way.”)
So if Mo is going along, under the assumption that abilities are genetically produced and without the correct parentage you are SOL, I can see how his “WANT!” switch never got flipped – he can’t have an ability, so his “envy” is expressed by his strong desire to study them and figure out the genetics and bloodlines behind them. Then all of a sudden, he learns that he can have an ability, if he wants one. And the idea of actually having the thing he had to content himself with only studying becomes this brainworm that won’t let him go.
Now that I think about it, Mo’s was a good character arc in that it shows us how even people who have a strong desire to do the right thing can get completely messed up if they want something badly enough. His moral-center self wants to do the right thing, but his selfish self reaaallly wants the right thing to include him getting powers and being a hero, whether reality actually allows for that or not. Hence he twists reality in his own mind to justify himself as in the process of becoming a hero, he just has to work out a few unexpected kinks first, that part will be over soon and he’ll be a hero and everything will be great! He started walking in that grey area last season when working for the Company, and honestly not knowing which choice was the moral one in a complex moral dilemma (save Niki? protect Claire? I don’t know which is better either, a case could be made for both). This season he simply fell further.
I guess I can see it because I can relate to it… at least relate to the place where he started.
All true,except the getting there was too quick for my taste. Mo also has a habit of aligning himself with whoever can best aid his research and/or protect him-season 1, he’s calling Thompson at Primatch right after Sylar nailed him to the ceiling; S2 he hooks up with Bennett-another strong man who likewise was acting to protect his adoptive daughter, and could protect Molly and him. Then when Bennett obliquely indicates he would stuff Mohinder, Molly or the parking lot attendant into a furnace to protect Claire, Mo jumps over to yet another strong male protector (with great lab facilities), Bob. This chapter Arthur played his surrogate daddy.
Subtextually, I always thought Bob was crushing on Mo- followed him around the world when he was giving his lectures, gave him anything he wanted for his research, had hidden cameras in the lab-just to keep an eye on him, of course, and would pretty much do whatever Mo asked of him (Not injecting Monica with formula 666, trying to talk Noah into letting them get some Claire blood before trying to kill him). I don’t even know if Mo realizes Bob’s dead. Maybe him and Elle had a chance to chat at the Pinehurst lunch room. Bob had the best line about Mohinder: “I think close supervision is in everyone’s best interest”
As I said, I think that is the same problems the writers have. They really need to learn to show their work, though.
(although, I think it is a problem only if you’re a writer. maybe an asset as a viewer. or may be the cause of unrestrained fanwanking in other circumstances.)
So, basically, you’re saying that Mohinder acted completely and totally according to the characteristics and patterns that have been established from the start…?
So is this:
really unusual then? I didn’t find it hard to follow at all.
(And yes, I think Mo has a subscription’s worth of daddy issues, just as much as Sylar has mommy issues… )
(Anyway, I hope the writers have already planned out, outlined, and detailed the arc of Fugitives in advance and have come up with a coherent narrative, so we can avoid the whole seat-of-the-pants making-it-up-as-we-go-along feel.)
Sweet gods, yes.
Now that I think of it, he really gets up shit creek when he isn’t given direction by an older male. First season, he’s going on road trips with Sylar, then Thompson gives him the mission to cure Molly and does great work on it; in the second season he detaches from Bob and Noah to figure out the cure for Nikki, has more Sylar trouble. He’s working solo when he comes up with the 'let’s find ability remover for Maya, hey, how about ability-gro instead?" If Bob knew what he was doing he would have reigned him in, had him concentrate on the removal formula work
More brains than sense.
I think what kind of threw me off initially was that I expected Mohinder to be kind of like the Professor Xavier of the Heroes group, the one that would know what was really going on and would be able to ground them all as they struggled to come to grips with their new abilities. Obviously, that’s not the case. So instead, I have to recast Mohinder as one of the scientists at Jurassic Park, one of the ones that were so concerned about the question of whether they COULD, rather than if they SHOULD.
Hiro. You know, the guy who swore to protect The Light, and then lost it within five minutes.
So if the artificially induced abilities relate to what a person really, really wants…what would be YOUR super power?
I suspect mine would be the ability to read books really fast. 
I don’t think thats the case, Ando really really wanted time travel but he got the sidekick booster power. I think you get what best fits your personality. I would probably get the ability to make people mute.
This may be the problem with Heroes at this point. I have been going crazy trying to figure out why Nathan would be so schizo - it is easy to forget past character building when everything is changing so fast. Maybe they should slow it down a bit, devote more time to character development. Then we wouldn’t be so confused about why, exactly, everything is happening.
The first season, it became very clear why Claire and Noah were having problems - normal parent-child stuff, his neglect of the family, her confusion and pain over her ability. Mohinder’s arc was similar in regard to his dad’s murder, etc.
Now they seem like characters in a comic strip, as opposed to a graphic novel.
So… they gave the black guy the “fear” power. How delightfully racist.