The Hard Part (121)

[GateWorld]

HEROES SEASON ONE THE HARD PART EPISODE NUMBER - 121 After discovering what he might become, Sylar seeks to reconnect with his roots. Hiro and Ando follow him, faced with the necessity of killing him to save New York. Thompson introduces Mohinder to a young girl who he believes is the only one who can stop Sylar, and D.L. and Jessica get Micah back from Mr. Linderman. VISIT THE EPISODE GUIDE >

[the fifth man]

Great episode. Things are really building now to the finale.

However, after seeing this, I am starting to have some mixed feelings about Sylar. Things aren't so cut and dry with him anymore IMO.

[jds1982]

Aw poor serial killer has mommy issues.

[the fifth man]

Aw poor serial killer has mommy issues.

That's putting it mildly.

[ShadowMaat]

Ah, the ubiquitous "humanize the bad guy and make us feel sorry for him" ep. It's good to have it confirmed that Sylar has- or had limits as to what he was willing to do, but ultimately he's still a murderous sociopath and it should probably be pointed out that Norman Bates loved his mother, too.

That whole story was... nice, but a tad predictable. Sylar is a mama's boy starved for attention, absent father figure, mother who brainwashed him into believing he was meant for bigger things and unable to accept him as is. The freak-out, the condemnation, the fight and the inevitable death of mom by Sylar's own hand, however accidental. All very stereotypical iconic.

Hiro and Ando, for all that they were mostly just audience in this ep, played their parts well. Ando has a definite reason for wanting to see Sylar dead (or so he believes) but Hiro is finding it harder than he thought, especially now that he's had such an intimate and painful glimpse into Sylar's life. I wonder if he'll really be able to go through with it when the time comes. I almost hope he can't, just for his own sake, but if he does... will Linderman appear after the dust has settled to heal Sylar and whisk him away to his Vegas lair to prepare for next season?

I really like Molly, even if she is so painfully Cherubic Innocent that it makes my teeth hurt. I hope she'll be good for Mohinder... and that this won't all turn out to be some hideous trap. I think she and Micah would get along great.

The Petrelli family is seriously mental. I keep hoping that Nathan will come to his senses, but his mother's influence may be too strong to overcome. I think she may scare me more than Linderman.

We're gonna suffer through these last few eps, aren't we? And it's going to culminate in the motherfrakker of all cliffhangers. I both long for and fear its coming.

[hyzmarca]

Ah, the ubiquitous "humanize the bad guy and make us feel sorry for him" ep. It's good to have it confirmed that Sylar has- or had limits as to what he was willing to do, but ultimately he's still a murderous sociopath and it should probably be pointed out that Norman Bates loved his mother, too.

I should point out that there were three sequels to Psycho. In all of them, Norman Bates was a hero of sorts, having benefited greatly from state-mandated mental therapy.

[Buddhawasanancient]

We're gonna suffer through these last few eps, aren't we? And it's going to culminate in the motherfrakker of all cliffhangers.

I heard

Spoiler:

that there wasn't going to be a huge cliffhanger at the end of the season. It's supposed to wrap up nicely this season then start all over again next season with a couple of people coming back (Originally, Tim Kring was going to kill off more of the characters but has grown attached to alot of the cast) a whole new cast of Heroes, and a new storyline

But that could be total BS.You never know with rumours you hear on this inter-web thingee...

As for the episode, I enjoyed it. It may not have been as intense and action-packed as last week's, but it had it's moments. Sylar is crazier than I thought, Molly's Cerebro, Hiro doesn't want to become the Hardened Future Hiro, Candace can make you see anything she wants, not just herself as other people which I thought was super cool. Oh and I was wrong about my theory of DL/Future Sylar/Future Peter not being able to bring someone through a wall with them. Ooops. Everyone's wrong sometimes But I thought DL's line about "You're lucky I didn't just leave you in the wall" was CLASSIC! All in all a thoroughly enjoyable episode. Can't wait for next week....

Oh, one more thing. Did Sylar break Hiro's time freeze or did Hiro's power just fail? It's got to be the latter but with stuff like this, they never clarify. It's just like, figure it out!

[LiquidKal]

NOOOOO! Hiro's sword is busted. We need someone with the power to manipulate metal so he can fix it. Or find a good old blacksmith... but that will take too long

Great episode. Great to see Hiro can teleport now without accidentally jumping time as well. The look on Sylars face when he moved the painting and no-one was there was awesome. Candice's powers are stronger than I thought too.

Damn cliffhangers! Worst moment for the episode to end. How will they stop Peter? It's a little early for him to blow. My guess is Ted will run away and that will be enough to stop him for now. Maybe Bennet has a Tranquilizer in his pocket or someone just punches him like Claude did

I'm kind of annoyed that Peter didn't see that coming though. He can absorb others abilities, he dreams he will go nuclear then hears about this guy who can do exactly that. Yet Peter assumes its Ted that blows instead of him. He should have ran for the hills and gotten other people to find Ted just in case. How dumb does he want to be?

[memnarch]

Oh, one more thing. Did Sylar break Hiro's time freeze or did Hiro's power just fail? It's got to be the latter but with stuff like this, they never clarify. It's just like, figure it out!

I know! I really want to know what the deal is. I put in a question at the Heroes section of Comic Book Resources, a site that allows fans to ask questions. It's a cool site and it gets more questions answered than my other interactions with a show's creators (cough LOST PODCAST cough).

A good episode, but it felt like there was something missing. Don't get me wrong, the overwhelming majority of it was good.

I'd give it ***

[Darren]

Peter causally hanging around Ted, who he just found out is Mr. Nuclear, is a bit odd. For a guy who a few weeks ago wanted to drive alone into the middle of the Nevada desert so he didn't hurt anyone when he blew up, he's sure being careless about whose powers he absorbs.

Sylar's story was very much by the numbers, but it's the sort of backstory addition that he needs. He's an even better character when there is a twinge of sympathy for him in my mind. He's always thought he was special -- and it turned out that his mommy told him so all the time, when he really just wanted to be accepted as ordinary.

Candice is still in need of some development. I'm having a hard time remembering her name and telling her apart from every other brunette on screen.

Mama Petrelli ... WTF? I knew she still had ties to Linderman, but after she ended up being Claire's secret benefactor I didn't think she was in on his evil scheme. I thought through that whole scene of hers that it was Candice using Mama's image to further convince Nathan to go along with the plan, and was surprised when it wasn't (at least as far as we know ...).

Very creepy to think that Sylar may have somewhere picked up the ability to break Hiro's time-freeze, but at this point it's ambiguous as to whether that's what really happened. Stabbed Mom finishing her fall at that moment, and Ando rushing in, indicated that the freeze did end and normal time was restored. But was that before or after Sylar turned and looked at Hiro?

Anyway, it seems like this would be necessary, for Sylar to be able to escape a time-freeze ... otherwise Hiro can just find Sylar, freeze time, and take care of business whenever he can get past his Hamlet Syndrome.

Do we know where Sylar got his snowflake power? Refresh my memory ... was he using blue ice against Future Peter in the hallway confrontation last week?

[memnarch]

Yep you saw right. And earlier this season Audrey and Matt found one of Sylar's victims (Molly Walker's father I think) frozen solid. It was probably one of the first abilities he acquired after telekinesis.

[Easter Lily]

Good episode... lots of surprising stuff but not of the same manic quality of the last few.

Sylar is an interesting paradox... He doesn't hesitate to whack his fellow "mutants" but gets all angsty at the thought that he might be instrumental in blowing up half of NY. I like that actually... Gives him a bit more depth. Love the geeky look. It does also pose the question as to who the real monsters are... the serial killer or the Linderman conspirators.

I am wondering about Mama Petrelli... what her real agenda is. In light of recent revelations, it does appear that she is trying to keep Claire away from NY not necessarily out of the kindness of her heart. I wonder too if she's playing her own game.

In the early days I wondered if the whole destiny thing was just a cliche bandied around by the characters... but I am now rethinking this whole "exploding man" arc. Until now, I've thought that the whole point of all these people getting together is that the bomb thing will be stopped. But perhaps as Isaac intimated, one cannot stop "destiny" because "destiny" is the really the logical outcome of a person's personality and choices. Like Sinclair and Sheridan in Babylon 5. The outcome will be the same because the person involved will always act consistently with who he or she is. Sort of like Macbeth and his witches.

[Calicto]

To answer the Hiro/Sylar "Stop Time" thing:

I'm 99% sure on this. When things are frozen in time, things are hard to move, cut..etc Hiro unfroze time to behead Sylar - he was close enough to do the job without a normal human/normal mutant to stop him. However, unlike the other "heroes" Sylar has great control in his abilities because he uses them openly and often.

Once Hiro unfroze time, Sylar's quick reflex took over and he was able to catch the sword. Why he wasnt damaged (his hands) is beyond me.

I think when Hiro/Ando saved the little girl from the truck. Hiro ran to the girl, unfroze time and then pushed her out of the way. Same with when saving DL rom the exploding car. He could have dragged DL away and then let the car explode, but he got close enough to push him out of the way and unfroze time.

Things in frozen time seem too difficult to alter. It seems smaller things that require smaller momenta (and thus smaller mass and smaller velocities) can be done (like opening doors..etc) but cutting requires great velocity and thus great momenta and that would take immense strength which Hiro lacks.

I hope that helped. 1% it could be wrong.

[Agent_Dark]

To answer the Hiro/Sylar "Stop Time" thing:

I'm 99% sure on this. When things are frozen in time, things are hard to move, cut..etc Hiro unfroze time to behead Sylar - he was close enough to do the job without a normal human/normal mutant to stop him. However, unlike the other "heroes" Sylar has great control in his abilities because he uses them openly and often.

Once Hiro unfroze time, Sylar's quick reflex took over and he was able to catch the sword. Why he wasnt damaged (his hands) is beyond me.

I think when Hiro/Ando saved the little girl from the truck. Hiro ran to the girl, unfroze time and then pushed her out of the way. Same with when saving DL rom the exploding car. He could have dragged DL away and then let the car explode, but he got close enough to push him out of the way and unfroze time.

Things in frozen time seem too difficult to alter. It seems smaller things that require smaller momenta (and thus smaller mass and smaller velocities) can be done (like opening doors..etc) but cutting requires great velocity and thus great momenta and that would take immense strength which Hiro lacks.

I hope that helped. 1% it could be wrong.

Actually from what I gather, cutting flesh takes relatively little effort - especially with a sword like a Katana that's designed do very that. At any rate, Hiro hadn't even begun his swing before time was unfrozen. Why would he unfreeze before he had begun his swing? In your other examples, he must have already begun his action to run and push the people out of danger, unfreezing just before he actually made contact with them (which really is only there for dramatic effect - it looks cooler to see someone dive out of an explosion than to simply appear off the side out of harms way).

[ShadowMaat]

I'm still trying to make this cold & scary Mama Petrelli match up with the capricious and flippant Mom we saw in the first few eps. This lady doesn't look like she'd steal socks from a store just for the heck of it.

As for Sylar's moving against Hiro's pause button... maybe Sylar has a power that can counteract it. Gotta say, when his mom froze I thought Sylar was the one who'd done it and that he was going to leave her paused while he called an ambulance or something and then Hiro was gonna interrupt... I wonder how things would have turned out if Hiro had tried to help Sylar save his mother.

Oh and at least now we have confirmation on DL being able to move people through walls with him.