One of Us, One of Them (303)

[GateWorld]

HEROES SEASON THREE ONE OF US, ONE OF THEM EPISODE NUMBER - 303 Noah is surprised when Sylar is assigned to help him stop the escaped men from Level 5 from robbing a bank. Claire's mother gives her a lesson in facing evil, while Matt encounters a vision of his future. Hiro and Ando attempt to intercept the second half of the formula before Daphne can steal it. VISIT THE EPISODE GUIDE >

[Phenix]

Is anyone tired of how much Kring hates plot development. Its a bit annoying but not as bad as last season.

I like how Ali Larter is now a triplet.

Anyone think that Sylar and Peter and fraternal twins? I do not know their ages but it'd make sense to me since their powers are so similar.

Claire needs to go take a Brazilian Jui Jitsu class and Muay Thai. Then someone needs to explain to her that she's so damn small she can't hurt anyone. I kind of feel bad for how lame her power is but she can heal everyone. Kind of cool.

And I hope that this is the end of Micah. I hate child actors and think they ruin damn near every show.

[s09119]

Is anyone tired of how much Kring hates plot development. Its a bit annoying but not as bad as last season.

Agreed.

I like how Ali Larter is now a triplet.

I seriously dislike this...

Anyone think that Sylar and Peter and fraternal twins? I do not know their ages but it'd make sense to me since their powers are so similar.

My theory is that Angela is lying to Sylar to manipulate him into doing the Company's work, personally.

Claire needs to go take a Brazilian Jui Jitsu class and Muay Thai. Then someone needs to explain to her that she's so damn small she can't hurt anyone. I kind of feel bad for how lame her power is but she can heal everyone. Kind of cool.

I never want to see her blood used that way again. Ever. It's such a cop-out.

And I hope that this is the end of Micah. I hate child actors and think they ruin damn near every show.

Yeah, he had no real purpose this episode except to show us Nikki really was dead.

[mr_kennedy]

great episode

sylar: you drink decaf dont ya noah lol

[Hotsauce00]

I think Ali Larter is either genetically engineered or a clone.

yeah the Michah thing was stale the moment he got powers.

Sylar and Peter should be twins. We don't know what the Dads powers were, If they were like peters and sylars or not then we have an answer.

Claire's power is awesome, she just needs a metal skeleton with claws, JK. But seriously she could just pick up a gun and learn actual tactics, like HRG with powers and hotter.

[igor108367]

9,34 milion worst ratings for this show ever. If this continue this mith be the last heroes season.

[entil2001]

It’s easy to forget how odd the pace of “Heroes” can be. Every time I think I know how the writers will progress with a plot thread, they surprise me by speeding things up or slowing things down. The surprises aren’t the problem; it’s the end effect. Sometimes, playing for the big moments too quickly can divest a situation of all its impact. It also doesn’t help when the script is full of logical errors.

The problem with introducing characters with time-travel abilities, particularly those with control like Hiro and Future Peter, is that bad decisions and troublesome events can easily be remedied. Villains have been released from Level 5 thanks to Elle? Future Peter should be able to jump right back to the moments before the circumstances of the escape, or even better, attack Sylar before he ever gets his hands on Claire. By the same logic, Hiro should be able to jump back in time to the moments before he opened the safe and tell himself that it’s a pretty stupid idea.

Of course, if either of those things happened, a lot of the drama would disappear. Angela Petrelli wouldn’t show her true dark side (which, at least, was previously displayed, though not quite to such a degree), and other characters wouldn’t struggle with ways to solve the problems without using the most obvious powers. Hiro imposes restrictions upon himself, which is hard to reconcile but at least is addressed, but Future Peter (and now Present Peter) both have no reason to hold back.

So where does that leave the story? The villains that were released turn on each other and force a confrontation with Mr. Bennett, and do so publicly despite the inevitable private opportunities that would have presented themselves in short order. (Oh, and Future Peter? I think the public display of powers by the villains might have wiped out the benefit of trying to kill your brother.) Why set up these released villains as a powerful nuisance if they were going to be killed or recaptured an episode later?

The answer seems to be: Sylar. Angela may be ruthless and cunning, but she’s incredibly stupid. Despite all evidence to the contrary, Angela believes that Sylar can be tamed and controlled. Sylar, on the other hand, continues his endless quest for more and more power, and now Angela (and indirectly, Noah) has become his enabler. If Future Peter and Present Peter were smart, the two pseudo-Supermen would team up before Sylar gets even more powerful and hand him back to Angela in a bucket.

Speaking of how to deal with invulnerability powers, besides employing a blender, cutting off their oxygen supply is the way to go. It may not kill Claire, but it will render her useless. Of course, that’s if the laws of physics still apply, which is a big question on “Heroes”. Claire’s biological mother delivers an odd lesson. Apparently she’s not affected when her flames remove oxygen from a confined space, and when she extinguishes her flame, oxygen magically reappears. (Oh, and as lessons go, teaching Claire to beat the crap out of anyone trying to stop her from breathing might be more effective. Just a thought.)

A couple of other plot threads continue to percolate. Matt Parkman’s magical mystery tour with the Magical Minority Isaac Clone feels like one big continuity mess. Did the writers decide they needed someone just like Isaac, and couldn’t think of a way to pull off the same exposition using another method? It feels like pure repetition, and badly managed at that.

Tracy’s plot thread finally intersects with Ali Larter’s previous appearances, and it turns out that there is a connection between Tracy, Niki, and the rest of her kind. Dr. Zimmerman may have been working for Linderman on further experiments on metahuman powers. Tracy looks like she might have been a clone of some kind (perhaps the result of fertility treatment modifications). I’m still not sold on the need to bring Ali Larter back, since it continues the trend of robbing death of any meaning on “Heroes”, but it could be interesting if handled correctly.

And that’s the question: can the writers handle it correctly? This episode exposed a number of the weaknesses still plaguing the series, and while some installments are always weaker than others, I’m not sure this is a minor issue that will shake itself out. It may be a desire to hew too closely to comic book logic, or worse, a focus on style over substance. Combined with the inability to focus on its main cast instead of constantly introducing new players, the logical gaps are keeping this series from meeting its early potential.


John Keegan
Reprinted with permission
Original source: c. Critical Myth, 2008
All rights reserved
Link: http://www.criticalmyth.com

[LoneStar1836]

Eh, episode was okay.

So that's two villains down. 10 to go?

I think Angela is manipulating Sylar as well.


Show is going to have to pick up a bit. I am not interested in Claire. Don't particularly care about Ali Larter's new character incarnation (as I never cared for the other ones). Not exactly enthralled with what they are doing with Nathan. And Parkman is boring, atm.

Right now HRG, Sylar, Future Peter, and Hiro/Ando are the only interesting stories. Though I'm not exactly liking how Hiro is treating Ando. He's probably the one that drives Ando away resulting in the future he saw.


I liked Micah and thought his power was interesting. The kid that played him did a good job, but as far as he is concerned this season, he won't be in any more episodes according to what I read in TVGuide.

[the fifth man]

Overall, I thought this was a really good episode. And one that, as is the way on this show, raised some new questions. I look forward to seeing how all of this progresses.

[Wolf O'Donnell]

Is it strange that i have hope for Syler?

[Thunderstorm]

For the most part, liked the 1st 2 episodes, thought this ep was boring. Watching because their is nothing else on Monday night.

Still like Hiro and Ando, and the speed girl.

Please, please, please drop the religious angle. Instead of doing the whole shooting and recovery subplot, why didn't future Peter just come back a little sooner and explain things to Nathan. He's a bright guy, I'm sure they could have come up with something and saved us this ridiculous storyline. I've like Nathan in the last 2 seasons, but the way they are using him this season I'd have preferred he died of the gun shot.

I like Parkman too, but as said above it's just really a re-tread.

And why did they let Sylar go?!?!?!?!? He's as bad or worse than the others.

I like Micah wish he was around more. I don't mind Claire in small doses. But is it too much to hope that we never see Maya again (the latin girl with the 'I get upset and everyone dies power')

It seems like they came up with what they thought were a bunch of cool storylines but never bothered to think them all the way thru.

[Shan Bruce Lee]

But is it too much to hope that we never see Maya again (the latin girl with the 'I get upset and everyone dies power')

I like her, I wished they do more with her this year than have her follow Mohindar around.

[LoneStar1836]

Please, please, please drop the religious angle. Instead of doing the whole shooting and recovery subplot, why didn't future Peter just come back a little sooner and explain things to Nathan. He's a bright guy, I'm sure they could have come up with something and saved us this ridiculous storyline. I've like Nathan in the last 2 seasons, but the way they are using him this season I'd have preferred he died of the gun shot.

At this point, I wish he would have died at the end of season one. Make his sacrifice worth something.

Though I didn't see the reveal that Future Peter was the one that shot him coming. So I thought that was interesting...just not the rest...other than invisible Linderman.

Well with tptb playing around with time travel, there is a lot of questionable choices in writing. Some of it has to be dumb for the sake of advancing the story I suppose. Future Peter could go back in time and change a lot of things if he really wanted to...like preventing Sylar from getting Claire's powers, etc.

But is it too much to hope that we never see Maya again (the latin girl with the 'I get upset and everyone dies power')

No it's not.

[Phenix]

I like her, I wished they do more with her this year than have her follow Mohindar around.

she is there strictly as eye candy. her power is completely useless but perhaps she is meant as a warning to Mohinder. He of course ignores her.

[Phenix]

My theory is that Angela is lying to Sylar to manipulate him into doing the Company's work, personally.



I never want to see her blood used that way again. Ever. It's such a cop-out.
.

I really think that they are fraternal twins. It makes sense in my mind. Their powers are so similar yet different. They can not be identical twins since they'd have identical abilities. Of course Ali Larter's triplets break this rule but Kring does hate reality based plot development. Alan Ball would do such a better job with this show.

I do not mind that Claire's blood is used to save people. Peter and Linderman can heal people and probably bring them back to life with just a touch. Claire is pretty much useless as a fighter unless she learns tactics or how to fight. Of course this will take 5-6 years at least so time will tell.