Five Years Gone (120)

[ShadowMaat]

So future Hiro was wrong - even if hiro kills Sylar, Peter is going to be the one that explodes

The way I see it there are THREE potential bombs: Peter, Sylar, and the Radioactive Man himself.

I am curious about the implications, though. Everything Future Hiro did was based on the assumption that Sylar was the bomb. "Save the cheerleader" so that Sylar can't heal himself and Hiro can kill him before he goes nuclear. Was Sylar ever the bomb, though?

And since Peter has Claire's healing ability, how are they going to take him out of the running? And what sets him off, anyway?

BTW, dunno about anyone else, but I'm wondering exactly who and what Mama Petrelli is. She's gone a bit cold and scary. Is she being vicious on her own or was she planted there by Linderman? Maybe she was one of his cronies back in the old days. Maybe Papa Petrelli was, too. Could be one of the holds Linderman has on the family.

Oh, and added to the list of possible encounters: Sylar meeting up with Chameleon Girl. And DL. Wonder if he got to Micah, too.

[Temp2]

Question: Am I crazy, or did Peter actually say "Fire" when he activated Freaky Elemental Power #2?

[Buddhawasanancient]

BTW, dunno about anyone else, but I'm wondering exactly who and what Mama Petrelli is. She's gone a bit cold and scary. Is she being vicious on her own or was she planted there by Linderman? Maybe she was one of his cronies back in the old days.

That's what i was thinking...Mama Petrelli and Linderman must go way back...

[Steve_the_Wraith]

You know who we need - the Hatian

Only he can save New York by turning off exploding man's powers (whoever exploding man is )

[Mefusta]

Unbelievably awesome episode. Seriously, I haven't seen an episode of television with that many "Oh sh*t!" moments since Galactica's Season 3 opener. Un-freaking-believable.

The only minor problem I have is that the timeline is getting just plain wacky. Was Clair always alive in the future, or did Future Hiro merely not know she was in hiding when he begun his past-altering machinations? How could Mohinder remember Peter talking about meeting Future Hiro on the subway if that event was supposed to take place in the "fixed" timeline? Wouldn't the fact that Future Hiro doesn't seem to remember coming to the future and meeting himself suggest that his timeline is different from Present Hiro's timeline?

Most poignantly, as the future seen in 'Five Years Gone' has played an integral part in Hiro's attempt to create a different future, the "bad" future is therefore theoretically predestined to occur. See, since the future we've seen contributes to the creation of a new future, the new future cannot exist as it would then override of the 'old' future and create a paradox that - as any 'Back to the Future' fan knows - would unravel the very fabric of the space-time continuum and destroy the entire universe!

Thus, a more accurate mantra may be: Save the cheerleader, destroy the entire universe.

[Temp2]

That's what i was thinking...Mama Petrelli and Linderman must go way back...

Ya'know, depending on how powers are inherited, I'm thinking that there might be a lot more to their relationship than just (former?) friends/co-workers/founders of a superhero club... Linderman can heal, Claire can regenerate. Coincidence, or is she an illegitimate daughter of an illegitimate son? Probably the former, but still. We're talking about a show where the main supervillain got to be POTUS.

[mentalmichael]

Oh. My. GOD what an episode. I do have one problem though - if Matt is head of Homeland Security that means he must have spent time around the president - so why on earth didn't he "hear" Sylar in there? Sylar must have the most incredible mental control to block him out somehow.

Still - Oh. My. GOD.

[LiquidKal]

This episode was completely insane! In a good way of course.
Peter is so cool!

I knew something was up with Nathan. He was way too evil to be the real deal. I did think of Sylar for a moment, but then dismissed it because Hiro had indicated Candice was still alive. But when Sylar said "I understand how things work" I knew it was Sylar.

Unbelievably awesome episode. Seriously, I haven't seen an episode of television with that many "Oh sh*t!" moments since Galactica's Season 3 opener. Un-freaking-believable.

The only minor problem I have is that the timeline is getting just plain wacky. Was Clair always alive in the future, or did Future Hiro merely not know she was in hiding when he begun his past-altering machinations? How could Mohinder remember Peter talking about meeting Future Hiro on the subway if that event was supposed to take place in the "fixed" timeline? Wouldn't the fact that Future Hiro doesn't seem to remember coming to the future and meeting himself suggest that his timeline is different from Present Hiro's timeline?

Most poignantly, as the future seen in 'Five Years Gone' has played an integral part in Hiro's attempt to create a different future, the "bad" future is therefore theoretically predestined to occur. See, since the future we've seen contributes to the creation of a new future, the new future cannot exist as it would then override of the 'old' future and create a paradox that - as any 'Back to the Future' fan knows - would unravel the very fabric of the space-time continuum and destroy the entire universe!

Thus, a more accurate mantra may be: Save the cheerleader, destroy the entire universe.

I think I can shed some light on this, while creating more questions at the same time... Time travel is always so confusing.

Claire was dead in Future Hiro's original timeline. In this episode she is alive because of Hiro's trip back in time, but Future Hiro doesn't remember Claire having been saved because he was removed from the timeline when the future changed. When he returned to the future he was returning to a future where Claire was alive, and Mohinder remembered Hiros visit on the subway. Future Hiro doesn't remember meeting himself because he came from a timeline where that didn't happen. I think of it as he is immune to changes in the timeline that he causes.

That brings about more questions though... If Future Hiro had succeeded in stopping the explosion, would he have returned to find a second Future Hiro? Because in the new time line Hiro would have no reason to go back in time, so when Hiro returns to the future there should already be a Hiro there making 2 Hiros of the same age... my head hurts

[ShadowMaat]

You know who we need - the Hatian

Only he can save New York by turning off exploding man's powers (whoever exploding man is )

Which brings up an interesting question: If Sylar "acquired" the Haitian's power (sneaking up on him when he was asleep/unconscious) would it cancel out his other powers? Or would they be considered part of him and this part of his immunity to his own power-negating power?

If Future Hiro went back and stopped the exploding man, no, he wouldn't encounter an Alternate Future Hiro when he returned because technically he'd BE the Alternate Future Hiro. He just might have trouble remembering events of the altered timeline.

[warmbeachbrat]

Which brings up an interesting question: If Sylar "acquired" the Haitian's power (sneaking up on him when he was asleep/unconscious) would it cancel out his other powers? Or would they be considered part of him and this part of his immunity to his own power-negating power?

If Future Hiro went back and stopped the exploding man, no, he wouldn't encounter an Alternate Future Hiro when he returned because technically he'd BE the Alternate Future Hiro. He just might have trouble remembering events of the altered timeline.

Didn't they just establish, though, that Sylar can only acquire the power if the other one is dead? Or is it just that Sylar wants them dead and he can get the power anyway (the Haitian was still alive in the future)? It makes a huge difference, I would think.

It seems all Peter needs is proximity, but Sylar was around Claire and he didn't get her power. On the other hand, he wasn't focused on her--he was focused on who he thought was her. I don't know--I hope they clarify that....

[ShadowMaat]

Didn't they just establish, though, that Sylar can only acquire the power if the other one is dead?

Yes, but his way of getting at what he needs is to telekinetically skice their head open and use his original power (whatever it is) to alter his brain chemistry or splice the brain bits into his own or whatever. He needs power(s) to do what he does and if he approached the Haitian those powers would be negated. The Haitian would either need to be unconscious or asleep in order for Sylar to approach him and still be able to use his powers. Although I suppose killing him with conventional methods and THEN doing whatever-it-is to acquire the Haitian's power would also be an alternative, although Sylar's victims are always alive when he does the extraction. At least at the start.

[prion]

Don't have much to say about the episode except it was GREAT!

[Buddhawasanancient]

Most poignantly, as the future seen in 'Five Years Gone' has played an integral part in Hiro's attempt to create a different future, the "bad" future is therefore theoretically predestined to occur. See, since the future we've seen contributes to the creation of a new future, the new future cannot exist as it would then override of the 'old' future and create a paradox that - as any 'Back to the Future' fan knows - would unravel the very fabric of the space-time continuum and destroy the entire universe!

Unless an alternate timeline was created as soon as Hiro saw what could happen...

[IcyNeko]

It's been established that Sylar has to see how their brain works in order for him to be able to acquire the power. Whether this means disecting the brain and/or eatting it, no one knows. but no one has seen a Sylar-victim's brain afterwards. Ever.But it's always been that Sylar has to be the killer. Otherwise Sylar would have Eden's powers along with the powers of all Mutants from all time.

As for Alternate Hiro and such... The original name for "Five years gone" was "String Theory". It sorta makes sense in a way. The theory states that there are an infinite pool of possibilities, but our minds are able to choose only one of those realities and once we do, that's the only that exists for us. In a sense, we create our own reality at each moment. Applied to the show, Hiro is the traveller, and he is able to go back in time and pick a different reality ("Save the cheerleader, save the world") However, since he's able to do AND time travel, he ends up bouncing through time without knowledge of who he was or what he's done SINCE his various entry points in time.

[QueenKale]

Most poignantly, as the future seen in 'Five Years Gone' has played an integral part in Hiro's attempt to create a different future, the "bad" future is therefore theoretically predestined to occur

Unless an alternate timeline was created as soon as Hiro saw what could happen...

I agree, with both. As I see it, there are two timelines now, the first was everything that happened before Present Hiro went five years in the future. Sylar killed Claire, blew up New York, Hiro went back and told Peter to 'Save the Cheerleader.....' in doing so, he changed the fact that Sylar was the bomb, instead Pete's the bomb.
The second timeline will include everything that happens after Hiro returns to the past, with the knowledge of what will happen if they don't stop the bomb. Does this make sense? Also, theoretically, there is a third timeline out there, one in which Sylar was the bomb.

Geez, these guys are good, before seeing this episode, I believed the writers were going with the 'Back to the Future' theory of time travel (you can literally change your future), now I see they are going with the 'timeline' theory. Or they are in fact the same theory....