Heroes 5/21/07 - "How to Stop an Exploding Man" (SPOILERS)

Cafe Society
221

[QUOTE=FlyingCowOfDoom]
Or maybe Sylar could have melted the gun. That would have been much cooler.
[/QUOTE]

Excellent suggestion. I had forgotten all about that power, and it would be nice to see it used for a purpose more impressive than melting toasters.

[QUOTE=D_Odds]
Better would have been Sylar turning his attention to Hiro, who doesn’t stop, and Peter getting Sylar’s attention back somehow. All we got was Peter being a Sylar punching bag when it came to power use.
[/QUOTE]

I like that, too.

Despite my protests over the last couple of pages, I’m a willing fan – I’m just looking for a bit of plausibility (given the rules of the universe, of course.. I know it’s a comic book show).

ETA: What I meant by “gaping flaws” was showing Sylar fast enough to stop bullets fired from a gun outside his field of view, and then moments later too slow to stop a charging samurai who was kind enough to announce himself.

222

[QUOTE=Long Time Lurker]
ETA: What I meant by “gaping flaws” was showing Sylar fast enough to stop bullets fired from a gun outside his field of view, and then moments later too slow to stop a charging samurai who was kind enough to announce himself.
[/QUOTE]

His ridiculously slow anti-Hiro reflexes struck me as improbable, too. I was hoping for something along the lines of Sylar trashing everybody, then we see a closeup of his sneering face as he turns toward Peter, his expression suddenly changing into one of pain, and the camera pulls back to see the tableau of Hiro (having appeared literally out of nowhere) impaling him with the sword.

Then again, I also wanted the Rocky-ish montage of Hiro being trained by Papa-san to have taken several subjective years, though Papa-san’s powers (being a better-focused, more adaptable version of his son’s) slows time around them so only a few minutes pass for everyone else. When Hiro emerges, he’s grown a mini-beard, learned fluent English, picked up a badass attitude and that’s how he becomes future-Hiro. I guess it wouldn’t fly, though, since nerd-Hiro is popular with the fans.

223

My interpretation of the final fight was that Sylar already knew that Hiro was going to stab him, having used the future-painting power to see that, and rather than trying to survive the fight his goal was to goad Peter into exploding. The fight makes a lot more sense if you assume that Sylar knows he’s going to die, and how, and either thinks that he can’t stop it or doesn’t want to stop it. He’s not trying to survive the fight. He’s trying to torment Peter by holding Peter helpless while he kills all of Peter’s friends, getting Peter to explode and be the one responsible for nuking the city.

224

[QUOTE=AndrewL]
My interpretation of the final fight was that Sylar already knew that Hiro was going to stab him, having used the future-painting power to see that, and rather than trying to survive the fight his goal was to goad Peter into exploding. The fight makes a lot more sense if you assume that Sylar knows he’s going to die, and how, and either thinks that he can’t stop it or doesn’t want to stop it. He’s not trying to survive the fight. He’s trying to torment Peter by holding Peter helpless while he kills all of Peter’s friends, getting Peter to explode and be the one responsible for nuking the city.
[/QUOTE]
Boy, I hate it when RL intrudes on my TV watching. Just got to marathon-watch the last three eps last night.

Anyway, I like your interpretation. It’s the only thing I can think of that makes sense. What Sylar told Peter was important: “you’re the villain, I’m the hero.” Sylar didn’t want to blow up half of NY, and the only way he could prevent it was to let his visions play out they way he saw them. Isaac also said: “I can’t fight the future, maybe you can do better.” I think Sylar did better.

Other thoughts:

Regarding duplication of powers, why not? You can’t swing a cat in comics w/out hitting a telepath, a telekinetic, a precog of some type or super-strength/super-agile type.

This loose-knit cabal of Lindermans, Nakamuras, Petrellis, Deveauxs, etc all knew basically what was going to happen but none knew for sure and I highly doubt they were all working off of just Isaac’s paintings. They have to have other sources of intelligence, and they obviously didn’t agree on everything.

What’s up with Sylar was hiding in plain sight? We’ve sorta been shown his chameleon-like ability to take over other people’s identities, but he walked up to Peter & Noah in an almost invisible way. Was that a power?

It’s really easy to come up with reasons how both Peter and Nathan survived, but I have a feeling Nathan served his purpose and is gone. Peter is gone, unless Sylar is still alive.

Although, we probably need either Peter or Sylar or both to take on Molly’s next-season villain, and really, there’s no reasonable way I can think of that Peter didn’t survive the blast, since we know future Peter survived it.

225

[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]
Could you be thinking of Jessica saying to Matt, “Didn’t I throw you out a window?” I don’t think Matt said anything in reply, though.

226

[QUOTE=levdrakon]
there’s no reasonable way I can think of that Peter didn’t survive the blast, since we know future Peter survived it.
[/QUOTE]

Peter survived the first blast on the ground, much like Ted - we have no idea how far up Nathan took him, nor his ability to land from that far up and not get a blade of grass studk in his noggin. So, this blast’s circumstances were completely different.

And if none of the ‘main cast’ die, I have no faith in the series being anything other than run of the mill formula TV - where everyone is safe all the time. (even the really good villans get to live thru it).

227

It occurs to me there’s no reason Nathan had to die. Hiro could’ve taken Peter to nowhere land with teleportation, then safely left him to explode. Hiro could’ve done everything Nathan did, and without anyone dying, no?

228

[QUOTE=Indistinguishable]
It occurs to me there’s no reason Nathan had to die. Hiro could’ve taken Peter to nowhere land with teleportation, then safely left him to explode. Hiro could’ve done everything Nathan did, and without anyone dying, no?
[/QUOTE]

That’s why Hiro was taken out of the picture before the crucial moment.

229

[QUOTE=AndrewL]
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.
[/QUOTE]

Consider my ignorance fought. :slight_smile:

230

[QUOTE=starryspice]

it’s disappointing to not have at least one girl or woman hero who intrinsically wants to save innocent people and change the fate of the world.
[/QUOTE]
Didn’t Claire have a Buffy like moment crossing the street with Peter last week saying something like “when this is all over” she’d like to go out at night on missions and “save people from burning buildings” etc. ?

231

[QUOTE=simster]
And if none of the ‘main cast’ die, I have no faith in the series being anything other than run of the mill formula TV - where everyone is safe all the time. (even the really good villans get to live thru it).
[/QUOTE]

Isaac Mendez was part of the main cast and he’s dead.

No. Peter asked Hiro to stop time but before he could Sylar TKed Hiro, who to avoid smashing into a building constiported to feudal Japan.

232

In case anyone is interested, there are spoilers out there from the actors that indicate some of who’ll be back next season, and there are spoilers from the writers hinting at how many of the heroes will or will not be back next season. I caught 'em over at televisionwithoutpity, but google should also turn 'em up if interested.

[QUOTE=levdrakon]
Regarding duplication of powers, why not? You can’t swing a cat in comics w/out hitting a telepath, a telekinetic, a precog of some type or super-strength/super-agile type.
[/QUOTE]

Claude implied that he’d met another empath like Peter at some point in his past.

233

[QUOTE=levdrakon]
Although, we probably need either Peter or Sylar or both to take on Molly’s next-season villain, and really, there’s no reasonable way I can think of that Peter didn’t survive the blast, since we know future Peter survived it.
[/QUOTE]

Not that I think they were being that subtle, but nothing Molly said truly indicated the person is a villian. She’s scared because, unlike the others, someone looks back. That’s not necessarily evil, just frightening to an 8 y.o. girl.

234

[QUOTE=Otto]
Isaac Mendez was part of the main cast and he’s dead.

[/QUOTE]

Fair enough, I don’t consider him part of the ‘main grouping’, and we ‘knew’ he was going to die from the first or second episode… my point is that there is no reason to fear for our hero’s fates if the writers keep them ‘safe’.

235

Big question answered:

[QUOTE=http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Tv-Guide-News/Heroes-Creator-Solves/800015727]
You’ve been wondering, we’ve been wondering, and you have to figure that Niki, Claire, HRG/Noah, Matt, et al, were wondering, too. At the conclusion of the Kirby Plaza skirmish on Heroes’ first-season finale, why didn’t Peter just fly his explosive self up, up and away, instead of making Nathan take one for the team, as well? Presented by TV Guide with that burning question, series creator Tim Kring pauses before saying, “You know, theoretically you’re not supposed to be thinking about that.”

When assured that viewers are, Kring confirms that — as many have theorized — radioactive Peter’s other powers were “incapacitated” at that pivotal moment, and “somewhere in there is the explanation” for having Nathan grab his bro and do the “flying man!” thing. “But the real explanation is that we wanted Nathan to show up and [save the day]!”

“Yes, I will admit that there’s a very tiny window of logic there,” Kring continues with a laugh. “But what can I say? It’s requires the proverbial suspension of disbelief.” Which, when airing opposite 24, a season finale is certainly allowed. — Matt Webb Mitovich, with additional reporting by Michael Logan
[/QUOTE]

236

[QUOTE=AndrewL]
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.
[/QUOTE]

Apart from that, and the EMP wouldn’t the explosion cause blindness in people that happened to be looking up?

237

[QUOTE=Sri Theo]
When assured that viewers are, Kring confirms that — as many have theorized — radioactive Peter’s other powers were “incapacitated” at that pivotal moment, and “somewhere in there is the explanation” for having Nathan grab his bro and do the “flying man!” thing. “But the real explanation is that we wanted Nathan to show up and [save the day]!”
[/QUOTE]

:smack:
Maybe we’re just inordinately clever, but it seems to me that the whole “Peter can’t use more than one power because he’s trying to concentrate on holding Ted’s power in check” explanation was a pretty obvious way out for Kring. He creates the damn show, but can’t come up with anything better than, “Because we said so?” Seriously, if we can think of a reasonable excuse, how come he can’t? I’m just gonna pretend like I never read that and go on in my own little world of Heroes-logic.

sadly shakes head at Kring

238

[QUOTE=simster]

[/QUOTE]
So basically:

[QUOTE=Me]
In my opinion, the writers wanted a brother redemption/self-sacrifice story, and implemented it in a very sloppy manner.
[/QUOTE]

239

I’m just not getting the dismay and/or disgust that the obvious explanation which we all thought was obvious turned out to be the explanation that the writers went with to make the finale more dramatic.

Since the options seem to be (1) they should’ve used a less-obvious reason or (2) they should’ve given us a less-dramatic finale, I’m glad that they chose to go the way that they did.

240

[QUOTE=Sri Theo]
Apart from that, and the EMP wouldn’t the explosion cause blindness in people that happened to be looking up?
[/QUOTE]

Not if they flew high enough. Inverse-Square Law and all that.