# Heroes 5/21/07 - "How to Stop an Exploding Man" (SPOILERS) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 21, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-5-21-07-how-to-stop-an-exploding-man-spoilers/404975 "2007-05-21T20:33:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![WaryEri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ea666f/32.png) [@WaryEri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WaryEri)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-5-21-07-how-to-stop-an-exploding-man-spoilers/404975/181 "2007-05-23T04:47:18Z")
Regarding Sylar and his mystical cockroach, wasn’t that cockroach crawling around Parkman’s head when he was conked out at Primatech Paper as well? I don’t see any connection to Sylar in that scene, so I have to wonder if there isn’t more to the cockroach than just a Sylar metaphor. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-5-21-07-how-to-stop-an-exploding-man-spoilers/404975/182 "2007-05-23T04:53:52Z")
I read through half of this thread, and it was brought up earlier… Syler’s milky eyes. In “dying” they revealed the future. It was Issac undestroyed. He absorbed, but Issac outlived. The reflections in Syler’s eyes are keys to next season. ---
**Author:** ![Long\_Time\_Lurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@Long\_Time\_Lurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Long_Time_Lurker)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-5-21-07-how-to-stop-an-exploding-man-spoilers/404975/183 "2007-05-23T05:36:14Z")
[QUOTE=WaryEri] I don’t see any connection to Sylar in that scene, so I have to wonder if there isn’t more to the cockroach than just a Sylar metaphor. [/QUOTE] So you think that cockroach _knows_ things? ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_Next\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@Girl\_Next\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_Next_Door)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-5-21-07-how-to-stop-an-exploding-man-spoilers/404975/184 "2007-05-23T05:49:58Z")
But…but…NATHAN! I need him to not be dead. ---
**Author:** ![OBJECTION](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/fbc32d/32.png) [@OBJECTION](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OBJECTION)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-5-21-07-how-to-stop-an-exploding-man-spoilers/404975/185 "2007-05-23T06:24:56Z")
Coming in to this discussion late into the game, as the NBC website didn’t have the episode up until after I went to bed. You’ll excuse the massive quote-fest. Yeah, there were a lot of stupid plot decisions that irked me: no one making SURE Sylar was dead (Bennet and Mohinder would have learnt from last time), Hiro being able to take down Sylar in real time with just a stab wound, Peter looks like he still exploded close enough to contaminate all of NYC with radiation poisoning, Claire shooting Peter would’ve made more sense than Nathan getting himself killed for no reason, etc. BUT, I’m okay with all that because the show needs to be dramatic, not logical. (And because this way, it ends with Adrian Pasdar and Milo Ventimiglia in each others arms! :D) > [@Only Mostly Dead](#): > > “I’m gonna blow my load of critical mass all over you, bro,” …I’d say you owe me a new keyboard, but that could be taken the (so) wrong way. :o Woo! Back when Sulu made it known to Hiro that he knew about his powers and was waiting for a Nakamura to rise, I figured that he (Sulu) was probably Kensei and maybe his power was immortality. We’ll have to wait until Season Two to find out for sure, but those eyes did certainly look like Sulu’s. EDIT: Whoops, looks like I’m not alone in this theory: > [@Lightray](#): > > I’m actually liking the theory floating around that Sulu was and is Kensei – that he’s got the power of immortality. Which would be cool, and would explain how the businessman is an expert swordsman, and why he mentioned that he’s been waiting for another Nakamura to ascend. > [@YWalker](#): > > I’m thinking that Mr. Deveraux’s power may be sort of an ability to speak to people through dreams. That’d be a duplicate of the S. Iyer kid’s power in India though. [QUOTE=Gundam\_Cricket] Sylar probably doesn’t _need_ to make gestures, he just does it for _style points_. [/QUOTE] Wouldn’t we all do the same? 😉 > [@Gundam\_Cricket](#): > > It would have been better if they’d shown all of his powers going haywire, and had him get all of them under control except for Ted’s. Definitely agree. It would’ve been more dramatic, AND explanatory with visuals, not exposition. > [@scottandsrn](#): > > Elementals don’t make sense. The very idea of them is based on a badly flawed model of the structure of the world. A real elemental would have control of an element as we understand them now: “You’ll never get away with this! I’ll use my absolute power over bismuth to stop you!” YOU owe me a new keyboard. (Without the terrible connotation from the previous spittake.) > [@Wile E](#): > > I can see all the “the big fight was a let down” comments but I try to look at it this way. [Snip] It seems like another reminder that these people are still imperfect humans and stuff doesn’t always go as planned or in spectacular blockbuster style. Everything you explained there makes perfect sense, and I applaud you for making clear exactly why the characters acted (or did not act) as they did. However, it was the writers’ job to make at least some of this reasoning come through, along with the flashy drama primetime shows need. According to a large portion of the responses in this thread, they didn’t really do their job this time. But they were rushed; maybe they’ll do better next season. > [@gonzoron](#): > > I still think it was a big mistake to let Peter keep powers without the others around. It would’ve made gathering the heroes around for the final showdown necessary, rather than just convenient. And would’ve made Nathan’s “sacrifice” make more sense if Peter needed him near to fly. (Then why would Peter blow up without Ted or Sylar near? I don’t know, maybe Sylar would’ve found a way to force a chain reaction between them or something…) I agree with your entire post as well, and especially this bit. They really made Peter way too overpowered and gave themselves too many plotholes to wrestle with by letting Peter keep the powers of people he wasn’t physically near anymore, and the final gathering would’ve been so much more fulfilling if Peter needed everyone there to mimic. ANYWAY. Where else in the show (or from pop culture) is the quote below used? It seemed really familiar. **Sylar:** “Haven’t I killed you before?” **Peter:** “Didn’t take.” ---
**Author:** ![NoPretentiousCodename](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/82dd89/32.png) [@NoPretentiousCodename](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoPretentiousCodename)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-5-21-07-how-to-stop-an-exploding-man-spoilers/404975/186 "2007-05-23T08:21:32Z")
This doesn’t seem to have been mentioned yet, but Sylar’s eye-flashes at the end showed (some of) the people he’s killed. That was actually the first thing I thought when I saw it and slowing it down I could specifically see Zane Taylor, even though I couldn’t make out every single one of the people in the other images. Another one clearly showed the electric can-opener telekinesis trick on one of his victims. To me this suggests Sylar losing his powers at the point of death. Maybe a better explanation is his life flashed before his eyes, seeing as that life was filled with murder and blood. If I could make out one of his non-power victims in the eye-flashes that would support the life-flashing theory, but I’m not THAT into reviewing the frame-by-frame. Just put me down for “definitely dead”. Also in the beginning of the episode when Sylar is TK-painting he eye-flashes a bunch of scenes from the final showdown, including the moment when Hiro stabs him. This happens so fast you can’t see it unless you slow it down, but in seems to suggest that when using the power the artist (to some extent, maybe not even consciously) chooses to focus on what to paint. With Isaac that would have been things that were visually interesting; with Sylar he would focus on things that were of interest to his search for power, or on potential threats like Peter. I speculate that Sylar also knew in advance other aspects of the showdown, such as the fact that he would be shot at, and was therefore prepared for how (he believed) things would transpire (and therefore didn’t need super-speed and so on). Had the battle with Hiro been flashy, drawn out, or in any other way spectacular I would assume that it would have drawn Sylar’s interest while painting. Hiro, through a combination his ineffectual efforts during their past encounters and Sylar’s overconfidence, was able to slip through Sylar’s blind spot. He may or may not have slowed down time but I don’t think he really needed to. Sylar saw him and, not having taken the time to pre-cog this part of the encounter, was caught completely off guard. The earlier images in the eyes show that he COULD have painted it out if he’d wanted to, but I am assuming it never caught his attention. Indeed, the scenes with Peter were much more dramatic than the shots shown of Hiro. Sure, Hiro could have done a quicker teleport “pop-stab” combo or something, but when it comes down to it the writers/directors/etc had to make a decision and they had to keep other things in mind. I’m guessing they were worried about the timing of the sequence and wanted to give the audience adequate time to process what was going on. Sure there are other ways to do it, but I’m thinking the way they chose fit the stylistic direction, storyline, characterization, filming schedule, budget, timing, and whatever other hundred factors come into play in a TV series… at least in their eyes. Thats what I try to keep in mind whenever something about an otherwise enjoyable show bothers me. Its tempting to blame things “bad writing” but so much more goes into it than that. Its not a novel, its a TV series. ---
**Author:** ![Carnick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carnick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnick)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-5-21-07-how-to-stop-an-exploding-man-spoilers/404975/187 "2007-05-23T08:52:46Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] Since we haven’t actually seen anyone explode, we don’t know exactly what that entails. Ted, Sylar and Peter all released energy without suffering any physical harm so it’s possible that the “explosion” is a similar release of energy on a massive scale that would result in little or no harm to the one releasing it. [/QUOTE] True. Kinda like how anime characters shoot comet sized fireballs from their palms. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-5-21-07-how-to-stop-an-exploding-man-spoilers/404975/188 "2007-05-23T12:01:12Z")
[QUOTE=Long Time Lurker] So you think that cockroach _knows_ things? [/QUOTE] A cockroach named Vincent? ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-5-21-07-how-to-stop-an-exploding-man-spoilers/404975/189 "2007-05-23T12:17:20Z")
[QUOTE=OBJECTION!!] ANYWAY. Where else in the show (or from pop culture) is the quote below used? It seemed really familiar. **Sylar:** “Haven’t I killed you before?” **Peter:** “Didn’t take.” [/QUOTE] I doubt that this is what you have in mind, but “It didn’t take?” is a great line from _Mr. Mom_, when he is talking to a neighbor on the phone about the plotline of one of the soap operas he’s gotten into, in regards to a vasectomy. It entered into our collection of multipurpose quotes that we still use to this day. ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-5-21-07-how-to-stop-an-exploding-man-spoilers/404975/190 "2007-05-23T13:03:14Z")
[QUOTE=OBJECTION!!] Peter looks like he still exploded close enough to contaminate all of NYC with radiation poisoning [/QUOTE] It does depend on what kind of radiation was given off, but in all likelihood NYC is safe. Most forms of damaging radiation (alpha, beta, gamma, neutron) have fairly short travel distances in air, no more than a few hundred meters. If Peter was more than a mile up all that would reach the ground would be secondary thermal radiation from the fireball - high-energy gammas and particles emitted won’t reach the ground. The only fallout that would occur would be ash from the remains of Nathan and/or Peter’s incinerated corpses, and that will only be radioactive if Peter gave off neutrons when exploding. Airburst nuclear bombs produce surprisingly little fallout or long-term contamination. Damage from an airburst is mostly in the form of thermal and shock-wave effects. It’s the ground-burst detonations that produce heavy contamination, and that was avoided in this case. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-5-21-07-how-to-stop-an-exploding-man-spoilers/404975/191 "2007-05-23T13:55:41Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] Well, that might make up a little for that scene deleted from _Star Trek IV_. [/QUOTE] By which I presume you mean the scene of Sulu meeting his San Francisco ancestors in 1986 (never actually filmed due to the misbehavior of the Japanese child actor and a pressed-for-time shooting schedule, IIRC). **OBJECTION!!** , the only movie quotation similar to that which I can recall is from one of the _Alien_ movies. Ripley is asked, “Aren’t you dead?” She replies, “Yeah, I get that a lot!” ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-5-21-07-how-to-stop-an-exploding-man-spoilers/404975/192 "2007-05-23T14:10:42Z")
So after rewatching the episode on NBCs site i just gotta ask this… what was wrong with the whole “shoot Peter in the head” plan? I can fanwank away everything else, but there really was no reason at all for Nathan to sacrifice himself rather than just take away the gun from Claire and do the job himself. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-5-21-07-how-to-stop-an-exploding-man-spoilers/404975/193 "2007-05-23T14:18:04Z")
The only wank I have for that is that they considered the possibility that simply killing him wouldn’t have prevented the blast. All that energy is built up, it has to \*go \* somewhere. What if you shoot him and he blows anyway as he dies? For that matter, what if he \*doesn’t \* die, but just loses conciousness and thus, control? Frankly, I never thought “shoot him in the head” was all that great a plan to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-5-21-07-how-to-stop-an-exploding-man-spoilers/404975/194 "2007-05-23T14:33:02Z")
[QUOTE=DianaG] The only wank I have for that is that they considered the possibility that simply killing him wouldn’t have prevented the blast. All that energy is built up, it has to \*go \* somewhere. What if you shoot him and he blows anyway as he dies? For that matter, what if he \*doesn’t \* die, but just loses conciousness and thus, control? Frankly, I never thought “shoot him in the head” was all that great a plan to begin with. [/QUOTE] I think the problem is again with inconsistencies. We’ve seen Ted Sprague about to blow up (in the Bennett’s house) and calm back down once he’s unconscious. We’ve seen Peter about to blow up and calm down once unconscious (in the alley outside the parking deck). And we’ve seen Claire unconscious for minutes at a time from a gun shot wound to the chest that she fully recovered from. Why not shoot him in the chest? One explanation is that Ted was initially triggered at the Bennett’s house by being shot, but in that case he was ‘winged’ and really pissed off. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-5-21-07-how-to-stop-an-exploding-man-spoilers/404975/195 "2007-05-23T14:41:06Z")
[QUOTE=AndrewL] Airburst nuclear bombs produce surprisingly little fallout or long-term contamination. Damage from an airburst is mostly in the form of thermal and shock-wave effects. It’s the ground-burst detonations that produce heavy contamination, and that was avoided in this case. [/QUOTE] Which sort of begs the question of why there was no EMP taking out all of New York’s power, eh? We know that Ted’s power was capable of doing an EMP, and that’s supposed to be one of the effects of an air-burst nuke, isn’t it? [QUOTE=DigitalC] So after rewatching the episode on NBCs site i just gotta ask this… what was wrong with the whole “shoot Peter in the head” plan? I can fanwank away everything else, but there really was no reason at all for Nathan to sacrifice himself rather than just take away the gun from Claire and do the job himself. [/QUOTE] I think the main problem was that plan would’ve left Claire having shot her uncle, and even if she’d’ve been able to do that, I don’t think anyone was willing to make her do it. Anyone else getting close would’ve gotten nuked by the radiation; Nathan is pretty much dead from that proximity even if he was somehow not around Peter when he went boom. Now it’s a question of why Noah didn’t shoot Peter – he’s apparently a good enough shot that he could’ve hit at a safe distance, and he _did_ promise Peter he’d do that. But maybe his injuries precluded that, dumping it back on Claire’s shoulders until Nathan arrived with an alternative. And no way that _Nathan_ would’ve been able to shoot his brother and live with that guilt, either. So he took what was (for him) (and Claire) the easier option. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-5-21-07-how-to-stop-an-exploding-man-spoilers/404975/196 "2007-05-23T14:57:05Z")
[QUOTE=Lightray] Now it’s a question of why Noah didn’t shoot Peter – he’s apparently a good enough shot that he could’ve hit at a safe distance, and he _did_ promise Peter he’d do that. But maybe his injuries precluded that, dumping it back on Claire’s shoulders until Nathan arrived with an alternative. [/QUOTE] Noah’s right arm was in a sling at the end of the episode. I recall a scene of Noah trying to lift his pistol unsuccessfully before Claire arrived. Next time he’ll go with a lighter weight Glock.\* \*As I know next to nothing about guns, it could be that he was carrying a Glock, or that his pistol is lighter than a Glock. But I’m not going to let facts get in the way, and neither should you. ---
**Author:** ![Long\_Time\_Lurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@Long\_Time\_Lurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Long_Time_Lurker)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-5-21-07-how-to-stop-an-exploding-man-spoilers/404975/197 "2007-05-23T15:10:19Z")
[QUOTE=DigitalC] So after rewatching the episode on NBCs site i just gotta ask this… what was wrong with the whole “shoot Peter in the head” plan? I can fanwank away everything else, but there really was no reason at all for Nathan to sacrifice himself rather than just take away the gun from Claire and do the job himself. [/QUOTE] I’m still boggled about this myself. I don’t understand why Claire had such a problem pulling the trigger. Why does she think he would stay dead? Just take the bullet out, maybe put a few splatter pieces back in his head, and he’d be good as new. I can buy that he was concentrating too hard to fly away solo, but not that he couldn’t recover from a bullet wound. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-5-21-07-how-to-stop-an-exploding-man-spoilers/404975/198 "2007-05-23T15:23:44Z")
[QUOTE=Long Time Lurker] I’m still boggled about this myself. I don’t understand why Claire had such a problem pulling the trigger. Why does she think he would stay dead? Just take the bullet out, maybe put a few splatter pieces back in his head, and he’d be good as new. I can buy that he was concentrating too hard to fly away solo, but not that he couldn’t recover from a bullet wound. [/QUOTE] [Peter overloads] “Shoot me, I can’t control my powers!” BANG “OK, now dig the bullet out of his head so he can revive.” [Peter overloads] “Shoot me, I can’t control my powers!” BANG “OK, now dig the bullet out of his head so he can revive.” [Peter overloads] “Shoot me, I can’t control my powers!” BANG “OK, now dig the bullet out of his head so he can revive.” And so on. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-5-21-07-how-to-stop-an-exploding-man-spoilers/404975/199 "2007-05-23T15:24:01Z")
[QUOTE=Long Time Lurker] I don’t understand why Claire had such a problem pulling the trigger. [/QUOTE] That’s because you are thinking comic book and logically, and not like a scared shitless 15 y.o. girl. Claire herself seems, at times, to forget that she’s functionally immortal. It is when she remembers that she’ll do something like jump out of an office window to escape. Even though logically she should know that Peter can survive, she’s not emotionally processing it. It’s similar to where I talked about Niki upthread. I thought their actions were consistent with the characters they’ve built all season. People expecting them to figuratively throw on some spandex and save the day (not that I would mind seeing Niki in spandex - Claire is too young and I’d feel dirty about that) wanted to see typical comic book archetypes, and that is not who these characters were…except Hiro. ---
**Author:** ![Long\_Time\_Lurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@Long\_Time\_Lurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Long_Time_Lurker)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-5-21-07-how-to-stop-an-exploding-man-spoilers/404975/200 "2007-05-23T15:36:58Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] And so on. [/QUOTE] How about.. BANG, inject tranquilizer, dig out bullet. Play pleasant music until awake. [QUOTE=D\_Odds] That’s because you are thinking comic book and logically, and not like a scared shitless 15 y.o. girl. [/QUOTE] She’s had a lot of time to think about this. They planned it a few days ago, and she almost pulled the trigger when Peter first met Ted (with much less teen angst) before he managed to recover. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-5-21-07-how-to-stop-an-exploding-man-spoilers/404975.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-5-21-07-how-to-stop-an-exploding-man-spoilers/404975.md?page=11)