A Clear and Present Danger (314)

[GateWorld]

HEROES SEASON THREE A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER EPISODE NUMBER - 314 As the heroes try to return to normal lives, Senator Nathan Petrelli moves to round them up with help from government forces. But Claire learns of his plans and tries to warn his next targets. Sylar begins the search for his real parents. VISIT THE EPISODE GUIDE >

[Arative]

A good start to Chapter 4. Was great to see Sylar kicking their butts and hopefully the other Heroes don't wimp out and get all preachy about using their abilities to defeat the bad guys like Sylar did.

I'll be disappointed though if this Chapter doesn't end with Peter killing Nathan. In fact I hope the Heroes head to the White House and slap around the President.

Can Peter only take one power at a time now? Was that the reason he was hanging on in the plane? Because he said earlier in the episode that he could fly.

[the fifth man]

I thought this was a nice start to this Volume too. A lot was going on, and it was quite action-packed. Next week's episode should be a great one too.

[Shan Bruce Lee]

It was a fantastic start to volume 4. The pace felt a little slow in the beginning but it was moving perfectly by the end.

I liked the Hiro/Ando stuff but I'm curious now weather Nathan's agency is working in Japan with or without their government knowing. They'll probably never touch on that though.

I guess Mohendar is gonna change his mind about Nathan now.

Can Peter only take one power at a time now? Was that the reason he was hanging on in the plane? Because he said earlier in the episode that he could fly.

I'll be completely honest, I have no idea what's going on with Peter's power. It was actually Nathan that said he saw him fly though. (I wasn't sure what he was talking about either) I'm guessing he lost all but his initial power so he has to re-absorb them all now... and if that's it, it might take a while to get used to them like it did in season 1.

[mr_kennedy]

great episode filled with action 7/10

Spoiler:

things i liked

ando bike
conflict escilates between nathan & peter
sylar kicked the hunters ass
nod to the first season
peter kicked ass
nathan the bad guy

things i didnt like

the end bit with peter seemed abit stupid, cant he fly?
no john glover
ali larter's character wasnt killed
hiro is still powerless
parkman has 2 abilities now? wtf, only his too much of a moron to harness the 2nd one well actually both of them really

oh and how punisher like of hiro and ando

[Madwelshboy]

I enjoyed it. i thought it had good pacing compared to previoues seasons (wasnt to slow or to fast). The capture sence reminded my of x-men 2 (the attach on the mansion) The sences where they were being put on the plain did make me a little sick to my stomach, but tha just means its effective.

I think it's quite clear that Peter's "new/synthetic" ablity isn't quite the same as his original empathy. It seems that he can absorb one power at a time by touch, compared to spontaneous absorbption within someone's proximity. He had to touch Mohinder to get is strength and then as soon as he touch Tracy he lost the strength and gained her freesing ability. This would also explain why he couldnt fly.

[Skydiver]

this is getting very x-men in that you have hunted/huntees

it'll be refreshing to see them work together for once instead of all the separate storylines. those were tiring and hard to keep track of

what'll be interesting is if peter finally 'controls' nathan by outing him. hoist nathan by his own petard

[retiredat44]

Claire gets from the C130 wheel well to the inside.. wtf??

other than that, this episode rocked!

[drake122]

I like what they have done to Peter and his power. Overall I like the direction the show is going to now. I just hope they don't mess it up... again.

[Jumper_One]

nice start to volume 4 which hopefully will be more interesting than volume 3. some interesting developments, especially Matt's new ability and Nathan and Bennet working together. Claire' still the boring character she's become since s2 imo. Ando on the other hand's probably my favorite hero. Peter should've used his abilities at the end. I mean he can fly, right? anyway looking forward to next week's ep

[Arative]

Claire gets from the C130 wheel well to the inside.. wtf??

other than that, this episode rocked!

I was half hoping that when Claire was running toward the plane, she ran into the propeller and that was the end of her.

[Replicator Todd]

A great start to Volume Four! Its already looking to maybe be the best Volume so far. I'm also happy to see Sylar isn't dead, like he will be killed anytime soon anyways!

[JayShadow]

Peter should've used his abilities at the end. I mean he can fly, right?

No, he can't. Unfortunately they didn't explain that in the episode very well. They even took out an explanation of it before they filmed one of his scenes with Nathan. He can only hold onto one power at a time right now. The only time they really demonstrated that was when he accidentally touched Tracy he lost Suresh's super strength and hurt his hand punching a guard. Out of all the times I wish they were more subtle on the show, this is one of the few times they should have been less subtle. Since it wasn't very clear it kinda makes the ending ridiculous when he's holding on for his life.

[mr_kennedy]

I was half hoping that when Claire was running toward the plane, she ran into the propeller and that was the end of her.

i had the same thought shame it didnt happen

I enjoyed it. i thought it had good pacing compared to previoues seasons (wasnt to slow or to fast). The capture sence reminded my of x-men 2 (the attach on the mansion) The sences where they were being put on the plain did make me a little sick to my stomach, but tha just means its effective.

I think it's quite clear that Peter's "new/synthetic" ablity isn't quite the same as his original empathy. It seems that he can absorb one power at a time by touch, compared to spontaneous absorbption within someone's proximity. He had to touch Mohinder to get is strength and then as soon as he touch Tracy he lost the strength and gained her freesing ability. This would also explain why he couldnt fly.

i dont believe thats the case, i thought it was more the fact that peter was jumpstarting mohinders ability

and he only just acquired tracys ability hence why it randomly activated, and maybe he cant fly while at those speeds

nathan: just curious what abilities do you have now pete?

[entil2001]

Those anticipating the new writing staff regime at "Heroes" will need to wait a little longer. The outgoing writers were still in control of day-to-day operations through the next several episodes. Tim Kring didn't bring back Bryan Fuller in any meaningful capacity until more than halfway into this latest volume, so in effect, he was brought in to fix whatever mess is about to unfold.

Not much happens in this episode, which is surprising to say. One can see how the writers attempted to streamline the series and give it a more manageable scope. In essence, in the wake of the Pinehearst debacle, Nathan has turned on his own kind and created a special task force for rounding up the metahumans. It's essentially a federal version of the Company (looks like everything is being nationalized these days!).

As a plot device, this is all well and good, but I'm not sure that it makes sense in terms of Nathan's motivations. Is the idea that metahumans need to be controlled for the safety of the world such a new one? Isn't that precisely what the Company had been doing for decades? The only difference now is that the government knows all about them. Nathan may find himself regretting that choice.

This is all still going in familiar "X-Men" directions, especially now that it's clear that a plane crash will give the metahumans a chance to escape and become the titular fugitives of the volume title. This now promises to become a retread of the second season of "Prison Break" with superpowers. This might work if the writers had any interest in maintaining continuity, but we are still seeing bizarre power shifts and poor story logic.

Does it make any sense at all for Matt to inherit the ability to see visions, ala Isaac? It serves no purpose in this episode at all, and seems to happen to make that available to the writers in the future. Peter's ability, however, is a lot more confusing. Exactly what power did Peter get from that injection in the previous episode? Was it some variation on his father's power? Or was it his original ability? It would be nice to know why, if Peter was shown flying long so long ago, he was so worried about getting sucked out of the plane at the end. Wouldn't it be safer to be out of the plane before it hits the ground?

It also seems to defy logic that Nathan would send his hit squads to retrieve mostly metahumans he already knows from former exploits, including foreign countries, rather than target metahumans known by the Company in local circles. Exactly how did Nathan manage to justify operations in Japan to retrieve Ando? Did the United States government coordinate internationally? That has massive implications that are just plain ignored.

Meanwhile, Sylar is on a personal quest to find his true father. Is his survival after the previous episode's events addressed at all? Of course not. He's simply out there, hunting down a new parent to seek approval from, despite having more power than any other current metahuman known on the planet. As fun as it is to see Sylar tear apart Nathan's hit squad, the writers really need to give the character some stronger motivations.

This wasn't a horrible premiere, but it certainly seems to continue the mediocre trend that has been in effect for the season to date. Unfortunately, the show is facing stiff genre competition. "Battlestar Galactica" and "Lost" are once again proving themselves to be the best shows in the genre (if not across the board), and in comparison, "Heroes" is a mindless pretender. At this point, I have no confidence that Bryan Fuller will be able to right the ship. After all, Tim Kring himself wrote this episode, and it's certainly no better than what the outgoing writers managed to produce.