Heroes: 2×11 - “Powerless”

What did I think of the Heroes Season 2 finale, “Powerless”?

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Wow, what a finale that was. As most hardcore Heroes fans know that this finale was changed quite a bit from the regular Heroes mid-season finale it was going to be initially. Did those changes ruin my enjoyment of this intense episode? Not in the slightest. In fact, it may have only increased it.

This episode was entitled, “Powerless.” As everyone knows, I love episode titles and love to see how much they tie into the episode. The title obviously refers to Sylar’s state of affairs with his powers, but I think it actually referred to the virus that was coming when the virus was gonna play a part in the rest of the season. But I also think it ties to what happened in the final moments of the episode, with Sylar’s powers returning and “Pandora’s Box” being opened. It’s a very interesting title . . .

One thing I think what interests me about Heroes as the show has progressed from its first season to its second is the character interactions. You know all these characters are connected somehow. Heroes only deepens that character interaction only more.

One character interaction that I found quite interesting was the interaction between Peter and Hiro. As everyone I’m sure knows I am a huge fan of the episode Five Years Gone, where Hiro and Peter are loyal allies and friends. I think we saw the beginning of that with this episode, and a little bit of the last episode.

But how does this Hiro and Peter fight to the death actually lead to them becoming loyal allies? I think we can draw similarities in the comics to the Superman and Batman relationship. I think that is how their relationship is going to progress through these next few seasons. Hiro will know how to stop Peter if he goes too far (bullet to the head or decapitation), and Peter likewise with Hiro. I also think it also solidifies a common link between these two characters, that will bode well for the future. Some people did not like the character interaction between these two characters. I did, as it was about the only interaction that Peter and present Hiro had (unless if you count the total minute interaction they had in season 1, between phone calls and 3 seconds of real interaction).

Another reason that the Hiro and Peter relationship seems to work is the actors themselves. In Heroes, there are a couple of “character pairings” that just seem to electrify the show. That is due to the rapport of the actors. I really think Milo Ventimiglia and Masi Oka have a chemistry that works and really electrifies the screen. The intense character history also helps.

Another interaction that I think works really well for the series is the Sylar and Mohinder interaction. There really is this amount of distrust and hostility between these two characters. Naturally one murdered the other’s father so there is natural hostility there. I almost see their relationship is almost two brothers going at it. Sylar obviously in his pre-Sylar days obviously saw Chandra Suresh as a father figure as he was not pleased with his father, and Mohinder obviously had his father. So that is why I think Sylar and Mohinder’s relationship seems to work on screen. It’s just a really crazy brother relationship.

But Heroes is full of character pairings so I could go on and on forever about them so I think we should just go on with the actual episode and what I thought about it.

I think everything was tied up really well, especially with the whole virus storyline. Now, obviously, Peter destroys the virus in this episode, but originally that is not how the original episode was going to play out, obviously. The virus was gonna lead into Volume 3, which was going to make its return to January, as opposed to this September. I thought that was handled really well.

One storyline that I see continuing when season 3 returns is the heroic journey of Elle Bishop (as played by Kristen Bell). Now, I have said several times here that Elle was one of my favorite characters in season 2 that was introduced in this season. She began this seasons as somewhat of a snarky villain, which I think works for Bell as an actress. She really plays that snarkiness really well, as seen in her hit TV series, Veronica Mars. But on the other hand, I think Bell plays those emotional cords in acting just as well too.

I think that the events of this episode will see her on a redemptive spin from villain to hero. We saw that in the few moments that she did act heroic, she really seemed to like using her powers in this fashion. I also think many things set her off in this heroic journey. One of the things being his interaction with Noah Bennet. I think her falling out with her father kind of set her off but I think the nail in the coffin for Elle was talking to Noah about what her father “did” to her. I think that is disheartening for any child to hear that about her father.

Now the question with Elle’s hero journey is was she doing it for her own means? Or was she doing it to help people? I think in the beginning Elle was doing it to kind of patch up her “fractured” relationship with her father, Bob, but I think when Mohinder pointed out to her that she had saved their lives, it was the beginning of something deeper for that character. So it shall be very interesting to see where that direction is taken with Elle (given Kristen Bell is coming back to Heroes for season 3).

Another character journey that started in this episode was Noah’s kind of character journey. I thought it was back to form for him. I think it played put really well with the direction of the season. All season the writers have been playing with this idea of brining Noah back into the Company all season long. They have kept Noah away from the Company, but every time he interacted with people from the Company (His former mentor; Bob and including others in the graphic novels), they kept telling them how much he belonged with the Company, instead of outside it.

I think it was interesting how much Noah was actually debating about it inside his soul. Noah had spent the whole season living without the Company, but in reality he was more connected to it then he had ever been. I thought it was a nice progression for Bennet’s character, and also a regression of sorts. Kind of going back to his old ways and everything. But I think that it will be provide some great drama for next season. Also, it will be a breath of fresh air, because when we first saw Noah, he was deep in with the Company, and now to see him back there is kind of cool.

But I think the most intriguing aspect of Noah’s return to the Company is the way that it happened. I think it started as early as the ninth episode, Cautionary Tales, when Noah was resurrected by the Company. I think they realized that they were no good to him dead and then used his love for his family to make him come back. It was sort of a deal with the devil kind of thing.

This episode saw the last appearance of Adam Monroe, as sort of the “Big Bad” of the season. I thought Adam was a very intriguing villain and that David Anders played him wonderfully throughout the course of the episodes he was in. When I start observing Adam’s character, I almost see him as kind of the Vandal Savage of Heroes. Those of you who are comic book fans know Savage as an immortal villain from DC Comics. Although Adam has not taken any historical personas that we know of, there are definite similarities to that character and Adam.

I thought Adam Monroe (or Takezo Kensei) really evolved as a character brilliantly in the past 11 episodes, which I think is remarkable for a newly established character. He was another of my favorite parts of season 2. Ever since his introduction as “Adam,” he has had my full attention and it has been nice to see that character evolve into the villain he was in this episode.

In the past few episodes, Adam was almost a Devil’s advocate kind of character, manipulating Peter so he could unleash the virus onto the larger community of the world. I think that worked for him in this arc, but I am excited to see if Adam returns as a full-on supervillain (and given that next season is entitled “Villains”, I’m pretty sure it’s a sure thing but you never know).

One thing about Adam and Peter’s dynamic is that people thought that Peter was way too gullible for believing Adam wanted to save the world. I don’t think Peter was too gullible at all. I think that is the center of Peter’s character, his faith in people. People (myself included) have likened Peter Petrelli to Superman on many occasions, due to his power but I think he is a Superman-esque character due to his trusting nature that Superman often has.

I also this deal with the devil aspect to Peter also brings him closer to Nathan, as both have made deals with devils (or supervillains in this case), and have an underlying connection that makes them more human. I also think this kind of a step forward for Peter into the character that we know he will become in the future. It was kind of a dark step, but I think a necessary one for the character. It will be evry interesting to see what strides Peter will make toward becoming that “Super man” character that we saw in Five Years Gone.

One thing that I did not like about episode was the “Niki and Micah trying to save Monica” subplot was not intriguing to me at all. In fact, I didn’t care for it at all. This could’ve been due to the fact that I didn’t care about either of the characters involved either. But I thought it was well-executed, anyway.

Another thing I did not like about this episode that I’m glad was resolved in this episode (and hopefully the rest of the series) was the Claire and West relationship. I really have not liked Claire nor West at all this season. I have never really liked the character of West. He just seemed like a forced way for the writers to give Claire a love interest. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for love interests but it seems that when they did them this season, it seemed very forced. But I hope we can say goodbye to the character of West for good, because I just don’t think he did anything for the show.

I also thought Claire trying to take down the Company was just very uncharacteristic of Claire. I mean, she was 17. What did she think she could do? It seemed very out of the blue, but hey maybe I’m wrong. I just didn’t like it is all. But, hey, maybe some people did.

On the bottom of the list of things I did not like what they did with this episode was kill and resurrect Maya (one of the Mexican Wonder Twins). Now I’m all for the killing of her, as I did not like her character at all. I thought she was another example of a character that didn’t mesh well in the series. She was one of the characters that sounds good on paper, but onscreen did not work well at all. So I hope they kill her for real when the third season rolls around.

I do think that this episode ended on a real high note. It ended with the virus destroyed by Matt, Nathan, and Peter’s teamwork. On a sidenote, I did think Peter’s destruction of the virus was really well done. Anyway I digress . . . The ending was really well done, I think. We really got to see some Nathan and Peter interaction, which I think was a strength in much of the first season, but we didn’t get to see much of it in the context of the second season.

I also think Adrian Pasdar is really great at delivering these moving speeches on the show. I think it was wonderful acting on his part, as the speech served to kind of sum up the season, and also Nathan’s small character journey. It really seemed very season one to me. I really enjoyed it, as I had chills down my spine the whole time.

But that moment was interrupted when Nathan was shot dead in cold blood by an unknown assailant. It was kind of sad to see Nathan shot, because I think Nathan had a great character arc throughout his season. As last season, he repeatedly tried to deny that he had this wonderful flying ability of his. But just before he was shot, I think he accepted it and was ready to move on and accept the powerful responsibilities that came with it. I really thought that his character really came full-circle in this episode. But then he was shot. Will Nathan come back? Will he stay dead? I want to say come back, but in the past few episodes, too many have died and returned. I think there needs to be a death that sticks and stays dead. That being said, I love Nathan and his interaction and hope he doesn’t, so it’s a mixed bag for me.

Who do I think shot him? Well, I have many theories about that. The most obvious answer is Noah Bennet. That’s the theory everyone who watches this show is sticking to. Is it where the writers are going? Who knows? It could be Bennet, and it makes sense in the context in the episode, as he joined the company and the killing would’ve covered up the exposure of the Company to the public eyes. It could’ve really been an assassin hired by the Company, who holds no significance at all. It could be one of the “villains” that Heroes is supposedly introducing in its third season.

We also knew that the Company did have some sort of hand to play in Nathan’s death, from Angela Petrelli’s words to the mysterious man on the phone. So who knows what’s possible in Heroes now? It can only go up from here, folks.

I also think this episode sent Sylar on a kind of a warpath of sorts that will continue into next season. In this episode, Sylar learned that the Company injected him with the Shanti Virus, with intent to kill him. Then, in the final moments of the episode (and technichally the opening moments of season 3), Sylar, as we knew him from season 1, returned. He will be definitely going on a warpath against the Company as revenge for what they did to him. That will be quite a sight to see . . .

I thought the volume was nicely wrapped up and really tied up all the various story arcs from this past season very nicely, but at the same time leaves room for growth and expansion for the next Volume of Heroes. It should be very interesting to see where that next season takes all of these characters and where it will lead them by the end of the next season. September cannot come any quicker for me.

This episode was written by Jeph Loeb, who is a comic book writer as well as a TV writer, and has turned in one of my favorite episodes of Heroes, Unexpected. It was also directed by Allan Arkush, who directed the season 1 finale of Heroes, and did a really good job of directing this one. It was a great episode of Heroes.

RATING: 9/10

This entry was posted on 15. April 2008 at 19:31 and is filed under Heroes Reviews, Tv Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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