Sci-Fi News and Reviews

I thought the EW.com overview was dead on: the show itself wasn't all that bad, but the action sequences didn't pay off. The final Sylar battle should have been epic, but it just kinda petered out (ha ... ha).

The writing on the episode was horribly sub-par...so you tell me Hiro had a chance to end Sylar and save the world and what does a hero do? Instead of yelling and running forward to end Sylar, he announces he's there and has a stand-off and then stops time, saves Ando, teleports to Tokyo, but doesn't go to the time right after he takes Ando back and kill Sylar? Or try to kill Sylar? Sylar just STOOD THERE when Hiro rushed him at the end....terrible. Hiro is not a hero...sad. Yeah...Tim Kring is bad. And why did NAthan have to sacrifice himself except because the writer didn't know how else to make drama at the finale?
Really, I won't be watching the second season if Kring's name is in the writing credits.

Put me in the camp that hated the finale. I keep looking at the clock and then at wife and saying, "Geez, it's 9:20, now 9:30, when is thing gunna get going?" and frankly, it never did.

And as far as the bomb plot is concerned, it was SO anti-climactic I was waiting for Noah, Claire and the rest to say, "Huh, so that's all that needed to happen...just let the fly boys fly away and blow up?...So, who wants to grab some lunch?"

The writers build up the bomb for a full season and THAT is how they deal with it?

The writes build up Sylar for a full season and THAT is how they "kill" him off? He was a SUPER villian. I know Hiro has abilities, but this was like Spiderman getting knocked off, not by the Green Goblin, but by one of those small time crooks he always busts for stealing purses! (I have no problem with Hiro being the one to fell Sylar, but to basically have Sylar just stand there and accept his "fate" was LAME)

I actually enjoyed the finale.

I had no problem wiht Hiro saving Ando rather than running Sylar through. While Hiro has his confidence in his powers back, he doesn't seem to have any fine control over them as shown by him traveling hundreds of years in the pass during the Kirby Plaza battle.

Since Sylar has signed on to be a regular for season two, there shouldn't be any real worry about his fate. He did drag himself into the sewers to kill another day. Actually, that was the only part that I had a problem with: no one was paying attention to the fallen Sylar to make sure he was dead.

Peter whining for his brother was totally in character for Peter. Throughout the season he's always pined for acceptance and assistance from Nathan. Peter has a problem? He runs to Nathan, ever since the first episode. It also allows peter to find out that his brother knows what's going on and isn't trustworthy.

Peter's not flying off when he was about to explode I wrote off to Peter not being able to access more than one power at a time. Unless I remember incorrectly, Peter has not used two or more powers at once.

I liked how the bomb was dealt with. It let Nathan become a noble character instead of the sleazeball he's been all season. It let him redeem himself in the eyes of Peter and Hiro (who technically didn't see it as he was stuck in feudal Japan).

OK - here is what I think is the problem with the finale.

A poster on the 9th Wonders board (DinnertimeNinja) came up with this ending:
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Now here's how it SHOULD have happened:

-Open with a scene of Nathan staring out an open window, looking worried. He says something like, "What if Peter's right? What if Sylar IS the bomb and we can stop him?" Angela Petrelli says something like, "Peter's not important anymore. He's not a part of your future and you need to accept that." Nathan seems really affected by this and sadness washes over his face.

-Cut to Sylar and Peter fight. Back and forth, using most of their acquired powers and canceling each other out each time they bring out a new one.

-Hiro Teleports in and see's the fight from accross the courtyard. Peter sees him out of the corner of his eye.

-Realising the fight is futile, Sylar starts to glow. He says something about "destiny" and raises his hands to the sky while his hands seem to burn.

-Peter approaches Sylar and also begins to glow as well. As he's struggling with Sylar he uses one final burst of TK, sending Sylar flying through the air. He then yells to Hiro.

-Hiro teleports right to where Sylar would land, and with a perfectly placed sword, stabs Sylar through the gut. "Yatta!"

-Everyone seems relieved, but in the background, Peter is glowing even more brightly. He yells, "GUYS! I CAN'T CONTROL THIS!"

-HRG gives Claire the gun. She walks in closer to Peter who is now practically on fire and screaming. Claire's skin starts to bubble as she walks closer and closer, gun shaking, until she can't hold it anymore, screaming "I CAN'T!" She drops the gun and falls backwards from the power of Peter's radiation.

-At the last moment, as Peter seems about to burst, a flash of a man flies in to the scene. Nathan sees what's going on and yells for Peter but all he hears is screaming.

-Claire sees him and yells, "What are you doing here? Come to make sure Peter goes nuclear?"

-Nathan hugs her, looks her in the eyes and says, "I came to be a Hero," and flies toward Peter at mach speed, lifting him into the air. As he flies off far into the distance, we see the explosion and mushroom cloud over top of the skyscrapers, just like in the paintings.
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Now, this series of events, *written by somebody that posts on a show board and is not a professional scriptwriter*, is significantly better than what we got.

I think the bitterness toward the finale is because it had the potential to be so much better. To paraphrase Mac...it could have been epic, but just petered out (loved that).

I agree that it was a little disappointing, but I was mostly satisfied. No big surprises but not a major letdown.

The thing that bothers me about the show is that the characters are total idiots. Example A from earlier in the season: Mohinder is trying to kill Sylar. But Sylar gets the upper hand (why doesn't he just kill Mohinder right then?). Then Peter comes in and distracts Sylar, and Mohinder knocks him out. But then...Mohinder and Peter just leave!?!? Mohinder was trying to kill Sylar...and now when Sylar is knocked out and can't defend himself, he decides not to? WTF? (And why didn't Mohinder just poison him in the first place instead of giving him the "brain inhibitor"?)

Example B: At the end, why would Claire or Bennett have any compunction about shooting Peter? They know he can regenerate and won't actually be killed. And like you pointed out, why wouldn't he fly away himself instead of killing his brother in the process?

etc.

this was absolutely the WORST season finale i have ever seen. so many inconsistencies that while every show has them, the sheer amount in this episode was just preposterous. i understand hiro might not have full exact control of his powers but they seem to consequently work just fine when he has to do something inconsequential like saving ando and zipping out of there. couldnt he have just as easily jumped back a few moments in time to stop ando from going in the first place? and what was even the point of claire having a gun?? i thought her regenerative skill would have been applied like when ted was basically in mid-explosion/meltdown and she had to get close enough to stick the tranq needle in him. but with a gun, ANYONE could have easily just shot peter from a distance. what the hell? this episode was so sloppily put together and completely unsatisfying. i feel embarassed for actually taking the time to watch this show now.

I personally loved the finale, sure there was no epic battle of good vs. evil, however, that was never the feeling I got from this show. This was a story of normal people overcoming extremely difficult circumstances, they not only had to cope with these powers that manifested themselves, but they also got caught in a spiral of events that would eventually lead to the destruction of a major city and the loss of millions of lives.
We have seen what Pete can be capable of in the episode where Hiro and Ando go 5 years into the future. but the present day peter still has little control over the most dangerous of his acquired powers and has a right to be terrified of what he still deep down believes will happen to him, he has always looked up to Nathan and I found that little outburst in the car to be quite touching.
As for the final act of this chapter I had tears in my eyes when Nathan arrived and made the ultimate sacrifice, not only did he save the city but he saved the two people he loves the most namely Claire and Pete (Pete should have survived the blast and the fall) but Nathan is almost certainly Dead, even if Peter is dead Nathan saved him from becoming one of the biggest mass murderers of all time.
Sylar has only been stopped, not killed, so I doubt we have seen the last of his manic rump, then we have Molly's comment on the one person she cannot find, supposedly worse than Sylar (the boogieman) who is he/she? And what has young Molly so scared of this mystery person?
Nikki is finally whole, just as we saw her in the future, not only that she retained the strength of Jessica.
Hiro's blow to Sylar may have been a bit on the quick side but then again he still has to learn to be the kick-ass warrior we know he will become, we saw a bit of that in the flourish of the sword he gave when he pulled it from Sylar's innards.
And now onto the part that has my speculation engine in overdrive; When Hiro lands in 17th century Japan we saw a solitary samurai with a banner and on that banner the symbol that we have seen on some of the heroes, most prominently Jessica's Shoulder marking (I hesitate to use the word tattoo) What does this mean for Hiro, who is this samurai, will he be a past Hiro, Will Hiro's father turn out to be the shadow behind history and his power be revealed as some form of immortality?

Who knows? Not I, but one thing I am sure of I am looking forward to season 2 and the Origins mini series.

So to summarise, sure Kring did not deliver an all out action fest but he gave us heart and finished with a message that should affect everyone on a level deep down

'There is nothing stronger than love, in the face of force and all out evil, Love will always triumph'

It was anti-climactic and had some consistency problems:

1. How would shooting Peter keep him from blowing up if it wouldn't kill him?

2. Why was Claire worried about shooting Peter? He'd just regenerate anyway.

3. Why did Nathan need to fly him away? Peter could have just flown himself.

Sucks cuz shows like this live or die by their adherence internal logic. Mess that up, and it gets harder to suspend disbelief, and then it just gets silly. It's what made X-Files suck eventually. The show's Creator has to be all over it to keep it from happening as writers come and go. It's not just "I have a cool idea for a show". It's having a vision and knowing the world inside and out.

>> 1. How would shooting Peter keep him from blowing up if it wouldn't kill him?

You just answer your own question, shooting Peter will kill him dead for sure. The Heroes' main weakness is their brain. If Claire blows Peter's brain, he'd be gone for good.

>> 2. Why was Claire worried about shooting Peter? He'd just regenerate anyway.

Again, you just answered your own question. Peter can't withstand a bullet to the brain. Once his brain is destroyed, he won't regenerate anymore.

>> 3. Why did Nathan need to fly him away? Peter could have just flown himself.

Peter said that he can't control his power. Nathan was necessary to help Peter to get away from the city.
Sucks cuz shows like this live or die by their adherence internal logic. Mess that up, and it gets harder to suspend disbelief, and then it just gets silly. It's what made X-Files suck eventually. The show's Creator has to be all over it to keep it from happening as writers come and go. It's not just "I have a cool idea for a show". It's having a vision and knowing the world inside and out.