S01.E12: Company Woman

[MarkHB]

With the end of civilization quickly approaching, Erica sets her startling survival plan in motion with the help of Tommy. Malina races to unite with Tommy and is joined by Luke while Quentin and Phoebe plot against them. Matt Parkman has plans of his own to ensure the safety of his family that might put Taylor in mortal danger.

[ottoDbusdriver]

So the HELE is common knowledge now -- and no one is panicking ??  Absolutely no one ?  7+ billion should be losing their shit right about now.

 

Last episode everyone was hoarding because of the storm of the century or some nonsense, but that was an actual weather storm.

 

What's the deal with Erica Kravid's hair -- she has worn it up for pretty much the entire series run and it changes this episode.  I wasn't even sure it was her.

 

This is the time they felt the need for a flashback -- and we get one for Erica.  Apparently her father was dying sometime during the 1970s by the look of things, and the doctor was an Evo who could save him but only if she gave in to his sexual advances.  And that's why she hates Evos, and the doctor was Taylor's father and that's why Taylor's baby is an Evo.

 

And then we get another Erica flashback, and she chose to keep the baby for whatever reason.  Considering this is the penultimate episode, this seems like an awful lot of filler.  And the pervy doctor returns to save the baby, but tells Erica that he is going to take Baby Taylor away with him and she has no choice.  So she stabs him in the neck with a pair of scissors, and most likely kills him.  So where did she hide the body ?

 

And we finally get a cameo by Claire.  Well, a photo of Claire.  But the really unbelievable part is that Luke has no idea what Claire looks like -- except for the reveal by Claire at the end of the original Heroes where she unveiled herself to the world.  In the era of Youtube, how has he not seen that like a million times ?

 

Parkman should know better than to talk on the mobile phone while driving -- because it distracts you.  But the even stupider part is that Parkman was driving from Texas back to California -- why was he driving on backroads ?

 

Seriously, with the HELE just hours away, there is absolutely no sense of panic by anyone.  Even the folks in the shelter seemed oddly calm.

 

How did Joanne get to the high school before Tommy ?  Does Luke have a GPS tracker embedded in his butt ?  Was she sitting in the parking lot outside the school ?  How did Otomo get there before Joanne in order to snag Tommy ?

 

Of course, it was all worth it just to see Luke incinerate Joanne -- that was awesome. 

 

Farrah takes a bullet for the team, and Carlos is rushing her to the hospital. But no one really cares.

 

Emily and Ren are on an Evernow-like quest -- whatever.  Tommy is locked in Evernow.  Sure, why not ?

 

Are we supposed to be empathetic to Erica's cause because she has the sads since her daughter doesn't love her. Boo - fucking -- hoo !!

 

Oh come on -- another Erica flashback.  FFS !!  And she gets a visit from Caspar who obviously wipes Taylor's memories of her mother murdering her father.   How did Caspar even know the doctor was there ?  And where is his partner -- Primatech always acted in pairs with one human and one Evo.  HRG stated that back in the original series. Erica saved Caspar's card -- how touching.  But no one cares.

 

HRG has been missing for 2 episodes now, Katana girl was completely missing this episode too.  Where the fuck are they ?

 

Quentin turns good and Phoebe escapes from Luke -- and no one really cares.  Which is really sad because I liked Quentin at the start of the series, and in the web episodes and now he just plain sucks.

Edited January 15, 2016 by ottoDbusdriver

[Callaphera]

I've been doing the Debbie Downer routine for the past few episodes, so I guess I'll start out with some positives from this episode. Matt Parkman getting screwed by the universe again? HA! I can only hope that Janice gets his rambling, doomsday voicemail when the world doesn't end, thinks he's even more crazy than she did before, enlists her and Baby Matt Parkman in the Witness Protection Program and finds herself a nice new man that isn't a mind reading freak. That was a positive. Murder!Mom getting barbecued by her estranged husband? Someone hand me some marshmallows, I could watch that again and again. That was a positive. Invisi-Soldier taking the bullets for Malina? Didn't actually see that one coming so I'll call that a positive because it might take her and Carlos out of the last episode while they're in the ER waiting to be attended to. And Katana Girl's boyfriend and Tommy's girlfriend are adorable together. Why couldn't they be paired together from the beginning? Half a positive.

 

The rest? Eh. Erica's origin story could have come a lot sooner. Tommy's back and forth pro-Erica, anti-Erica stance is tiring. Taylor's fetus has the power to blow up tchotchkes on a desk. Micah still has the stealth power of a good eyeroll. Tommy!Nathan is locked in the video game. Yawn. (I'm unspoiled but I'm gonna guess that getting out of it is going to involve Micah's technological mojo.) For the most part, it felt like one giant waste of time (ah, there's the Debbie Downer coming out again). So much of this felt like it should have been part of the fifth or sixth episode so it has some time to resonate with the viewer rather than "Oh, we have one episode left? Let's just throw all the leftover shit at the wall so they can save the world in the last five minutes."

 

And nice picture of Claire Bear from her cheerleading days. Just a nice big glamour shot in the middle of the trophy case for no discernible reason other than for a "That's my mommy!" moment. Was there a reason why she looked so pissed off in it? It's 'cause she knew how bad this reboot was going to be, isn't it?

 

Run far far away, Janice! Go find Lyle and Mr. Muggles and live the high life with them and their Powerball winnings. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

Here's the thing I don't get about Parkman extorting those Gateway watches from Erica -- why wouldn't Erica just tell her techs to exclude those watches from the list ?  Parkman would never know the difference until it was too late.

 

Parkman should have forced Erika to teleport Janice and their child to Gateway -- and then be teleported safely away to the future.

[Callaphera]

Here's the thing I don't get about Parkman extorting those Gateway watches from Erica -- why wouldn't Erica just tell her techs to exclude those watches from the list ?  Parkman would never know the difference until it was too late.

 

Parkman should have forced Erika to teleport Janice and their child to Gateway -- and then be teleported safely away to the future.

 

I had issues with that, too. I considered that they were dummy watches, that Erica would shut them down, that they were explosive devices that were going to kill Parkman, that he was too far away to drive to Janice's, slap the watches on her and the kid's wrists, and drive back to Odessa.

 

But then I remembered: Matt Parkman is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. So really? Erica probably figured that it wouldn't matter and that he might Darwin himself out in the meantime. Not like she hasn't gotten one over on Mr. Mind Reading Master before, right? She was just playing the odds and they were really in her favour.

[HunterHunted]

Honestly, I think most of this episode was done as well and as competently as this dumb show is capable of doing. I don't even really have an issue with Erica's backstory. It explains a lot about her relationship with Taylor. I just don't know how Erica goes from being wary of evos to framing them, making them reviled, hunting them down, and condemning the rest of humanity to die. If this show is going to add nuance and layers to their chief antagonist, they cannot ignore the elephant in the room. How does she get to a point where she condemns all evos and rest of humanity to die?

[Sandman]

Oh, NOW we get Erica's Tragic Backstory? Jesus, Mystery Sock and Frying Man!

Edited January 15, 2016 by Sandman

[Callaphera]

Thinking about it, the name of this episode is a little bit of an insult to the original, far better "Company Man" episode from the first season of the original run. Now that was a well written, tightly plotted episode. This was meh.

[Free]

 

Quentin turns good and Phoebe escapes from Luke -- and no one really cares.  Which is really sad because I liked Quentin at the start of the series, and in the web episodes and now he just plain sucks.

 

Exactly, in Dark Matters, I was far more invested in his search for his sister than this end of the world nonsense, this show has managed to make even that boring.

 

 

Matt Parkman getting screwed by the universe again?

 

He got screwed by the writers, he wasn't that smart in the original, but they still managed to thoroughly trash the character.

 

 

Thinking about it, the name of this episode is a little bit of an insult to the original, far better "Company Man" episode from the first season of the original run. Now that was a well written, tightly plotted episode. This was meh.

 

Even with a fresh start, they still manage to make things worse in a self contained season no less.

Edited January 15, 2016 by Free

[futurechemist]

Some of this will be influenced by the fact that I watched episodes 11 and 12 tonight, and it's been more than a month since I've seen Heroes...

 

What happened to Noah?  Did Tommy save him on the highway or did he just disappear?  Because without him for 2 episodes I haven't been that invested.

 

Who is Tommy's adoptive mom?  She didn't come from the future right, so was she just some random woman Hiro hooked up with in the past?

 

Apparently the writers think the perfect time to give the villain a sympathetic backstory is the 2nd to last episode.  But not to explain her plan.  If Tommy is trapped in the game, then how can anyone get to the future?  Then again the whole future plan is stupid.  Is there life anywhere else on future-Earth?  Because even with

Evos and modern technology, I don't see how a group of 10,000 people could terraform Earth.

 

So it's official then that Noah's time traveling managed to erase Emily's jock boyfriend from history.

 

I felt bad for Matt.  Well his wife and kid.  He spends all that time being evil and is fine.  Then he tried to do a noble thing for his family and it all falls apart.

 

This episode was a whole bunch of chaos.  Just different groups looking for each other and not accomplishing that.  And nobody even seems to have a plan, at least not a plan they'd like to share with the audience.  Erica's "send everyone to the future" is the closest thing we have to a plan to deal with the solar flare, and that's kind of sad.

Edited January 15, 2016 by futurechemist

[Chicago Redshirt]

This is the time they felt the need for a flashback -- and we get one for Erica.  Apparently her father was dying sometime during the 1970s by the look of things, and the doctor was an Evo who could save him but only if she gave in to his sexual advances.  And that's why she hates Evos, and the doctor was Taylor's father and that's why Taylor's baby is an Evo.

 

And then we get another Erica flashback, and she chose to keep the baby for whatever reason.  Considering this is the penultimate episode, this seems like an awful lot of filler.  And the pervy doctor returns to save the baby, but tells Erica that he is going to take Baby Taylor away with him and she has no choice.  So she stabs him in the neck with a pair of scissors, and most likely kills him.  So where did she hide the body ?

 

And we finally get a cameo by Claire.  Well, a photo of Claire.  But the really unbelievable part is that Luke has no idea what Claire looks like -- except for the reveal by Claire at the end of the original Heroes where she unveiled herself to the world.  In the era of Youtube, how has he not seen that like a million times ?

 

Parkman should know better than to talk on the mobile phone while driving -- because it distracts you.  But the even stupider part is that Parkman was driving from Texas back to California -- why was he driving on backroads ?

...

 

How did Joanne get to the high school before Tommy ?  Does Luke have a GPS tracker embedded in his butt ?  Was she sitting in the parking lot outside the school ?  How did Otomo get there before Joanne in order to snag Tommy ?

 

...

Oh come on -- another Erica flashback.  FFS !!  And she gets a visit from Caspar who obviously wipes Taylor's memories of her mother murdering her father.   How did Caspar even know the doctor was there ?  And where is his partner -- Primatech always acted in pairs with one human and one Evo.  HRG stated that back in the original series. Erica saved Caspar's card -- how touching.  But no one cares.

 

HRG has been missing for 2 episodes now, Katana girl was completely missing this episode too.  Where the fuck are they ?

 

I could see being raped by an Evo (and I'll stand by the notion of "sex me up and I'll save your dad" is rape) and then having that Evo threaten to take your child away might lead to prejudice against all Evos and/or a desire to duplicate their abilities without relying on the Evos themselves. 

 

Taylor's baby is an Evo because she had been sleeping with an Evo with telekinetic abilities, which her baby seems to have inherited. Taylor apparently did not have any of her presumed dad's ability. I suppose there's a chance that she is not the child of Evo doctor. Then again, I'd assume that she does have Evo doctor's ability and that will play a role in saving the world.

 

Caspar shows up later in the episode and presumably hides the body for Erika.

 

Since this is presumably 15+ years after Claire pulled her public stunt, I'd think a lot of new videos of Evos would have come out.No particular reason for Luke to have seen or remembered the one that started it all, or for that video to be as clear cut as the glamour shot was.

 

Do we actually know where Janice and Parkman Jr. are ATM? Maybe he talked them into coming to Texas. Assuming that he was driving to California seems hard because that is going to be way longer than it would take to the HELE, and it would probably be smarter to make a pilot fly him to California. In any event, I would imagine that it's not unreasonable that there's some driving on backroads to get this or that highway.

Tommy was occupied for quite some time shipping people to the future. He had to be shown the broadcast of Malina some time after it happened. Whereas Joanne could have been deployed as soon as it went over the air live. Where Renautus is was just three miles away from the gym. I wasn't paying attention as to how Tommy got grabbed and stuffed in Evernow 2.0.

 

Caspar could have figured out where Doctor was by numerous means -- detective work that any human could have done, a tracker placed on Doctor's car, the superpowers of an Evo. Caspar could have been working with a human...there's no mandate that the "one of us, one of them" means that they are tied at the hip. There were numerous times when HRG was not working with a powered person. Indeed, I think him working with a powered person was the exception rather than the rule. It's also possible that the "one of us, one of them" rule came up at some later point in Primatech's history.

 

I can't remember what exactly happened with HRG. Katana Girl dissolved at the end of the last episode, possibly to nothing, probably to play a role in getting Tommy out of Evernow 2.0 in the finale.

 

Here's the thing I don't get about Parkman extorting those Gateway watches from Erica -- why wouldn't Erica just tell her techs to exclude those watches from the list ?  Parkman would never know the difference until it was too late.

 

Parkman should have forced Erika to teleport Janice and their child to Gateway -- and then be teleported safely away to the future.

 

There's a lot to not get about Parkman. There's no reason he doesn't just do his mind-whammy on Erika to make it certain that she does what he wants.

 

Honestly, I think most of this episode was done as well and as competently as this dumb show is capable of doing. I don't even really have an issue with Erica's backstory. It explains a lot about her relationship with Taylor. I just don't know how Erica goes from being wary of evos to framing them, making them reviled, hunting them down, and condemning the rest of humanity to die. If this show is going to add nuance and layers to their chief antagonist, they cannot ignore the elephant in the room. How does she get to a point where she condemns all evos and rest of humanity to die?

As I said above, being raped by someone who literally can heal the sick and resurrect the dead (at least, dead flies) in your first encounter with an Evo might distort your thinking about Evos. It might at once make you in awe of their gifts but well aware of how dangerous they could be. 

 

The show still hasn't established how Erika knew about the HELE as long as she did (apparently at least for a decade.) 

[ronaround74]

Since this is presumably 15+ years after Claire pulled her public stunt, I'd think a lot of new videos of Evos would have come out.

 

It hasn't been that long since Claire's "reveal" has it? I thought it had only been five years or so.

 

I wasn't paying attention as to how Tommy got grabbed and stuffed in Evernow 2.0.

 

Otomo showed up at the school and zapped Tommy into Evernow.

 

I can't remember what exactly happened with HRG.

 

Someone (we don't know who yet) teleported HRG away just as he was about to be crushed by a car that had been flipped during the storm that Malina was able to block.

Edited January 15, 2016 by ronaround74

[wayne67]

I'll start with the positives...

 

Joanna got barbequed.

Parkman crashed his car while talking on his phone like an idiot...

Micah transmitted Malina's message through everything with a blink...

 

The negatives

Basically everything else.

The stupid standoff between Fire guy and Shadow Girl

The stupid hostage taking of Erica without actually doing anything with that

Malina standing up instead of doing what she was told and endangering both Fire guy and Invisi Girl

The stupid pointless flashback... I wasn't quite clear on whether Doctor Healer just shagged and ran after saving Erica's dad or whether he raped her. She didn't seem that upset about him and said no when her dad sort of asked whether he'd raped her. Either way whether Healer Evo was a rapist or a deadbeat dad that doesn't really explain Erica's hate on for other Evo's or why any Evos would follow her.

Tommy failing to take either his mother or girlfriend out of range of Erica's machinations when he decided she was irredeemably untrustworthy

 

One more episode and I can try and delete this shitty reboot out of my mind. Talk about squandered potential.

[Chicago Redshirt]

Re the timeline, I mistakenly was using the twins as a measuring stick for how long ago this all was, forgetting that they'd been time-shifted. But whether it was 5 years ago or whatever, the points still generally stand that there would be umpteen videos of evos that came out, that there's no particular reason that Luke would have seen/remembered Claire's, or that Claire's video would necessarily be as clear as a glamor shot.

 

As for Healer Evo: "Screw me or I let your dad die" is inherently coercive, and therefore rape. If one can't see how being raped  and on top of that the threat of "I'm going to take our baby and you can't do anything to stop me" might lead to prejudice and hatred, I got nothing. In terms of Erica's conversation with her dad, well, that is not uncommon for rape victims to downplay what happened to them. I don't expect her to say, "Actually, the guy who got me pregnant had magic healing powers that brought you back from the brink of death, and all I had to do to get him to use them was sleep with him." It also could be that the writers of Heroes Reborn wanted to have their cake and eat it too -- portray her as a rape victim but then shy away from the implications of that, especially given that she says the child conceived of that rape is the best thing that has ever happened to her.

 

Not that the bar is particularly high, but Erica's motivations (evos are at once a threat and also an exploitable resource I can make myself rich over and to save humankind) make far more sense that Joanne/Lukes' motivation of "Because an Evo terrorist group seemingly killed our child and numerous other humans and Evos, we are going to give up our lives criss-crossing the country to shoot Evos that as far as we know have nothing to do with that terrorist group." Or for that matter, pretty much any other character's motivations.

Edited January 15, 2016 by Chicago Redshirt

[HunterHunted]

I still believe that Erica's complete heel turn has not been appropriately set up. Being raped by an evo would have caused her to have negative feelings about evos, yet she still found herself trusting Caspar. She seemed to work with and for evos for between 15 - 20 years. Why did she flip out before the summit? And given Primatech/Renatas' penchant for having mindreaders read the minds of their employees, it's unlikely that she was hiding her feelings for decades.

Edited January 15, 2016 by HunterHunted

[Maximum Taco]

The only real positive I can draw from this episode are the Emily and Ren segments. I just couldn't help being delighted when they high five after figuring out the elevator lock and key.

 

I think this might just be Ren carrying his partner though, because I also loved the Miko and Ren segments in the early parts of the season.

 

It's not quite the same but I get a lot of Season 1 Hiro vibes from Ren, it doesn't matter how dire the situation or how high the stakes, he and his partner accomplish even the smallest goal and then they have a little celebration (Yatta!) and I buy it, it's just fun and wonderful. IMO the only time this miniseries has succeeded at capturing what made the old Heroes great are the segments with Ren.

Edited January 15, 2016 by Maximum Taco

[Hanahope]

All I can say about this series is that I hope next time they do another Heroes Reboot, I remember not to bother.  I can hand-wave a lot, but the shear enormity of the hand waiving of this show is simple incredible.

[Chicago Redshirt]

I still believe that Erica's complete heel turn has not been appropriately set up. Being raped by an evo would have caused her to have negative feelings about evos, yet she still found herself trusting Caspar. She seemed to work with and for evos for between 15 - 20 years. Why did she flip out before the summit? And given Primatech/Renatas' penchant for having mindreaders read the minds of their employees, it's unlikely that she was hiding her feelings for decades.

I don't think it's possible to believe that anything in Heroes Reborn was well set up. 

 

But I think it's possible to fill in the blanks.

 

I don't think Erica trusted Caspar, or trusted him very far -- note that she didn't let him wipe her memory. She was, however, willing to use him.

 

And getting hired on at Primatech, she would have been exposed to more Evos that were doing evil things. The Evos she was partnered up with, she grudgingly accepted. I think it's fair to say that normal humans who worked at Primatech were supposed to have some amount of healthy skepticism about Evos. The philosophy about "one of us, one of them" seems to be  "Neither humans nor evos can necessarily trust the other, so we will work in pairs of one human, one evo to try to ensure that no one is doing anything shady."

 

Somehow she gets wind of the HELE coming (maybe a 7 Wonders comic or an Angela prediction or any number of ways). Every scientific indication is that there's no way to avert it. She starts up her plan to save a bunch of non-evo humans in the distant future. She has been capturing Evos and devising machinery to manipulate/expand their powers. She knows of Hiro and his abilities from Primatech files. She knows she wants to draw from his abilities to teleport people through time and space, but almost by definition, there's not a conventional way to bind him while keeping his power accessible. So she comes across Video-Game-Designer-Man and forces him to make Evernow as a prison for Hiro in which Renautus can still access his powers for shipping purposes, but he can't just blink out.

 

There are a lot of plot holes, of course. Why didn't Erica try recruiting Hiro or various others on the up-and-up? Why didn't VGDM simply get Hiro to free his daughter? Why would VGDM put Hiro in a part of Evernow that was at all accessible to anyone? Or create Katana Girl rather than just straight up freeing Hiro?

[Free]

 

What happened to Noah?  Did Tommy save him on the highway or did he just disappear?  Because without him for 2 episodes I haven't been that invested.

 

He was teleported away, so yeah, it's yet another original character who got screwed over/has less screentime.  Especially when the episode title was a reference to his backstory episode in the original series.

 

 

Apparently the writers think the perfect time to give the villain a sympathetic backstory is the 2nd to last episode.  But not to explain her plan.  If Tommy is trapped in the game, then how can anyone get to the future?  Then again the whole future plan is stupid.  Is there life anywhere else on future-Earth?  Because even with

Evos and modern technology, I don't see how a group of 10,000 people could terraform Earth.

 

The 11th hour, last minute backstory dump.  It usually doesn't matter at that point especially if your character wasn't even interesting enough to begin with.

[iMonrey]

So Erica hates all Evos because she was once raped by an Evo. Cliche.

 

I don't get how Erica's plan is supposed to work. Who got picked to go to the future, and how do they know about it? People are showing up left and right at Renault checking in like they're getting on a flight to Vegas. How did Ren get in there? I thought Tommy was going to be able to teleport everyone with a wrist watch to the future, all at once. Now it looks like they have to be sitting in chairs in groups of 12 and go 12 at a time. That's going to take a long time, no? What do other people think of all these people going to Renault to go to the future? This whole plan seems pretty vague and half-baked. 

 

I can't believe the idiot plot that allowed Phoebe to escape. Then again I don't know why I shouldn't believe it, this whole series has been idiotic.

[Chicago Redshirt]

From what I understood: 

 

Erica and Renautus picked people to ensure genetic diversity/survival methods would exist in the future. They'd been shipping equipment and seeds and so forth for some time.

 

The Futurenauts do not necessarily understand what is about to happen. A few folks like Parkman understand what's up. 

 

Where/how Ren got his invite, I can't remember. I'll just chalk it up to contrivance and hacking. That always works.

 

Tommy was sending small groups as advance teams to prepare Future Gateway. They were described as Advance Team C, D and so forth.

 

Ultimately, Renautus will use Tommy's power to send everyone with a Fitbit-to-the-Future to Future Gateway. Erica seemed to be wanting to buy time before she took that big step.

 

That, I take it, is because the plan to send mass quantities of people to Future Gateway requires someone with Hiro/Tommy powers to be stuck in Evernow to amplify/repeatedly use/drain those powers.

[Maximum Taco]

Where/how Ren got his invite, I can't remember. I'll just chalk it up to contrivance and hacking. That always works.

 

I don't think we ever found out exactly. I assumed Otomo added his name to the list, just like he gave him the necklace/key. 

[benteen]

This episode was worth it just to see Parkman's fate and how he hilariously gets screwed over once again. Seriously, I was laughing during that entire scene where that idiot is driving on a back road, talking on his cell phone and taking his eyes off the road with bad weather all around. Yeah, nothing bad is going to happen to you there, Matty! I think what made me laugh (the whole end with him crying and begging was funny) the most was seeing the coffee cup (and maybe food) flying around in the car in slow motion during the accident because of course Parkman was stuffing his fat face. Never change, Park-Man. Never change...

Edited January 16, 2016 by benteen

[bagert]

Where/how Ren got his invite, I can't remember. I'll just chalk it up to contrivance and hacking. That always works.

I don't think we ever found out exactly. I assumed Otomo added his name to the list, just like he gave him the necklace/key.

That had to be it, Ren (talking to himself) said that Otomo wanted him there, although he didn't know why.

[Free]

All I can say about this series is that I hope next time they do another Heroes Reboot, I remember not to bother.  I can hand-wave a lot, but the shear enormity of the hand waiving of this show is simple incredible.

Let's hope it stays dead seeing as how they're struggling to fill out a self contained season with 13 episodes already or just stick with the comics/webisodes which were at least more enjoyable.

[MarkHB]

And we finally get a cameo by Claire.  Well, a photo of Claire.  But the really unbelievable part is that Luke has no idea what Claire looks like -- except for the reveal by Claire at the end of the original Heroes where she unveiled herself to the world.  In the era of Youtube, how has he not seen that like a million times ?

  

HRG has been missing for 2 episodes now, Katana girl was completely missing this episode too.  Where the fuck are they ?

 

That photo of Claire goes back to the first season... and believe it or not, this still exists!

Katana Girl died in the previous episode; she ran her blade through herself and took out Harris Prime in the process. HRG is missing because I think TPTB wanted to see how well the new characters would hold up on their own if the show were to continue.

[ottoDbusdriver]

That photo of Claire goes back to the first season... and believe it or not, this still exists!

Katana Girl died in the previous episode; she ran her blade through herself and took out Harris Prime in the process. HRG is missing because I think TPTB wanted to see how well the new characters would hold up on their own if the show were to continue.

Katana Girl already kind of died once, so I suspect she'll be back -- remember when she disappeared in EverNow and woke up 7957 years in the future for no apparent reason.

We still don't know who teleported HRG away from that "storm" and flying car, but since Tommy is master of time and space, he probably just teleported back from a future point on the current timeline. Seriously, he is a master of time AND space, he should be showing up all over the place apparently out of order (to everyone else) but in order in his own timeline.

Do the writers not know how time travel works ? That you can go more places than 7957 years in the future. I'm still curious why it's always that many years ahead -- why not 7958 or any other number ?

[wayne67]

I'm still not clear as to why Tommy can't travel back a couple of years and tell everyone there's a giant HELE oncoming so they have time to think of a real strategy to prevent it. Instead of relying on "you know what to do when the time comes" bollocks these shows are so fond of.

Honestly having a time traveler in the show requires a lot of suspension of logic to justify the conflict. The fact that Tommy is apparently the world's slowest teleporter ever doesn't help.

[morgankobi]

Erika's backstory was just lazy and I really don't like it when writers try to use rape as an excuse for a character because they seem to think it's the kind of trauma that will instantly instill a bit of sympathy for the heretofore baddie. It just doesn't work when tacked-on at the end and I was quite glad when her daughter still left her.

Even though I am well aware all kinds of people can learn all kinds of languages, I still laughed when the security guards ask Ren his name, he says something quite long and very quick (was it his actual, full name?), and the derp-y looking security guard at the computer just types it in quick as you please, and apparently spelled it all correctly.

So if Erika had promised Matt he and his family would be safe, when was she going to fulfill that? Matt kidnapped pregnant daughter and drove her to Erika, which was a trip that hadn't previously been planned, and he arrives the day before the HELE to get his watches. When was he going to get them if he hadn't kidnapped her? Most of the stuff around these watches seems messy and not well thought-out, honestly.

Edited January 16, 2016 by morgankobi

[jhlipton]

Of course, it was all worth it just to see Luke incinerate Joanne -- that was awesome.

Are we supposed to be empathetic to Erica's cause because she has the sads since her daughter doesn't love her. Boo - fucking -- hoo !!

Only after Joanne has shot (and possibly killed) yet another person. I think we established that he can melt bullets in flight, right? Urggggh.

This back-story makes zero sense in light of the back-and-forth between Mom and Daughter over the previous 11 episodes..

I'm still not clear as to why Tommy can't travel back a couple of years and tell

Honestly having a time traveler in the show requires a lot of suspension of logic to justify the conflict.

Yep -- Hiro or Tommy could easily have prevented the whole BOOM in Odessa: Travel back a week and get a Travel Advisory Alert for Odessa is just one option.

One more episode and it's OVER! Yay!!!

ETA:

Most of the stuff around these watches seems messy and not well thought-out, honestly.

Most of the stuff around this SHOW seems messy and not well thought-out, honestly.

Edited January 16, 2016 by jhlipton

[ottoDbusdriver]

Most of the stuff around this SHOW seems messy and not well thought-out, honestly.

Ain't that the truth.

[Maximum Taco]

I'm still not clear as to why Tommy can't travel back a couple of years and tell everyone there's a giant HELE oncoming so they have time to think of a real strategy to prevent it. Instead of relying on "you know what to do when the time comes" bollocks these shows are so fond of.

Honestly having a time traveler in the show requires a lot of suspension of logic to justify the conflict. The fact that Tommy is apparently the world's slowest teleporter ever doesn't help.

 

It's Hiro's whole Butterfly Effect thing.

 

Go back in time and try to make things better and in the best case scenario things end up the same (e.g. he tries to save Charlie from Sylar, but she ends up having a brain aneurysm) or he makes things worse (e.g. he tries to help Kensei complete his mission, but ends up as a contributing factor in his arch nemesis' origin story)

Edited January 16, 2016 by Maximum Taco

[Free]

 

HRG is missing because I think TPTB wanted to see how well the new characters would hold up on their own if the show were to continue.

 

Then that was way too late, near the end of the season.

[wayne67]

It's Hiro's whole Butterfly Effect thing.

 

Go back in time and try to make things better and in the best case scenario things end up the same (e.g. he tries to save Charlie from Sylar, but she ends up having a brain aneurysm) or he makes things worse (e.g. he tries to help Kensei complete his mission, but ends up as a contributing factor in his arch nemesis' origin story)

 

Well to be frank... It's the end of the world... How would it get worse ? 

 

It's not so much that it'd necessarily work but Tommy doesn't even think about using time travel as an option nor does anyone else. 

 

At the very least he could travel back in time a few months and work on his powers in complete isolation. It wouldn't resolve the conflict immediately but it'd be a lot more proactive than just waiting for an answer to magically show up at the last minute. 

 

It's like Hiro had to be left behind... for no discernible reason so that Tommy could be conveniently mind wiped. It's all bloody stupid.

[placate]

How did Ericka go from a single mother to an all powerful CEO with knowledge of world shaking issues? The flashbacks won't tell but I should care?

I feel like rape doc was grayish mortality wise, but bringing people back to life is a skill primatech would allow.

[ottoDbusdriver]

How did Ericka go from a single mother to an all powerful CEO with knowledge of world shaking issues? The flashbacks won't tell but I should care?

 

They did kind of gloss over that part -- and really that was more important to the overall story than how Taylor's in-utero baby telepathic Hulk came to be (mommy angry, baby smash !!).

 

Did she found Renautus ?  Did she work for Primatech (because she was never mentioned in the original series) ?  Where did she get money for college ? How did she ascend through the ranks so quickly to become the CEO ?  Did she arrange for her superiors to have 'accidents' so that she was able to climb the corporate ladder ?  Was she groomed because of her hatred of Evos ?

[MarkHB]

I don't think Erica's story was supposed to make us feel much sympathy for her (since she's still imprisoning Evos to use their powers for her personal gain, and leveraging the solar flare event to pick who gets to live and die, and to exterminate the Evos); it's to at least give us a little insight into why she hates the Evos in the first place.

 

Assuming the world were to actually be incinerated, I feel badly for Janice and baby Parkman.  Although, from what I recall, Janice was an utterly miserable person.

[Free]

 

Well to be frank... It's the end of the world... How would it get worse ?

 

Agreed, Hiro's butterfly line never really fit as the show was making things up as they went along and dragged out the confrontation between the 'heroes' and the villains.

[wayne67]

Tommy literally has all of a future time line to practice his powers in before heading back home. He travels in time, he's not constrained by linear time progression. He's only being limited by boring plot contrivance. 

 

He could at the very least skip ahead 3 months in that future timeline to see if that future colony even works out. Erika is putting a whole bunch of eggs in that whole EVO harvesting process. 

 

Also are all those EVO's dead ? Or just hardwired to the power sucking machine ? 

[Free]

Tommy literally has all of a future time line to practice his powers in before heading back home. He travels in time, he's not constrained by linear time progression. He's only being limited by boring plot contrivance. 

 

He could at the very least skip ahead 3 months in that future timeline to see if that future colony even works out. Erika is putting a whole bunch of eggs in that whole EVO harvesting process. 

 

Also are all those EVO's dead ? Or just hardwired to the power sucking machine ? 

 

Exactly and he's still blindly following Erika when he's powerful enough to do things on his own.

[jhlipton]

It's Hiro's whole Butterfly Effect thing.

 

Go back in time and try to make things better and in the best case scenario things end up the same (e.g. he tries to save Charlie from Sylar, but she ends up having a brain aneurysm) or he makes things worse (e.g. he tries to help Kensei complete his mission, but ends up as a contributing factor in his arch nemesis' origin story)

 

Tell the thousands that died in Odessa, "No bad, so sad, we might make things worse!"  How????

 

Charlie wasn't killed by an aneurysm, she was killed by PLOT!!!  (Thanks for reminding me of one of the things I hated most about the original...)

Edited January 18, 2016 by jhlipton

[Free]

Tell the thousands that died in Odessa, "No bad, so sad, we might make things worse!"  How????

 

Charlie wasn't killed by an aneurysm, she was killed by PLOT!!!  (Thanks for reminding me of one of the things I hated most about the original...)

 

Oh definitely, Hiro made things worse because of his stupidity and that was just to neuter the character because he was already powerful.

[thuganomics85]

Rarely have I had much positive things to say about this series lately, but I agree that the Ren/Emily team-up was surprisingly one of the most entertaining things to happen lately.  I just felt like the actors were having more fun then normal.  Plus, it was nice seeing the characters take charge, after mainly just following their respected leads around.  I dare to hope that they end up playing a big part in the endgame.

 

Oh, and Joanne finally getting taken down was nice, even if this should have happen episodes ago, and Farah still got shot because Malina was a moron.  Still, you at least did one thing right, Luke!

 

Wait, I forgot!  Parkman's fate was hilarious!  That is three things I liked!  Well done, show!

 

Besides that, of course, the penultimate episode is wasted on Erica's backstory, that ends up being unoriginal as possible.  She was raped by an Evo and Taylor was the product of it, so that is why she is so anti-Evo and also probably why she treated Taylor the way she did.  Way to blame an entire group of people because of one's actions, Erica.  I guess all humans are like Hitler, according to her logic.  But, whatever, none of it matters.  Erica's plan is still in motion and she and Taylor are still at odds.  I would care more if that big confrontation wasn't so awful.  Again, I know Rya Kihlstedt and Eve Harlow can do better, but they just can't save this dreck, and it makes them look bad.

 

Big cliffhanger is that Tommy is now trapped in the game?  Lame.

 

Seriously, where did Noah go?  Until I'm proven otherwise, I'm just going to keep assuming Jack Coleman refused to leave his trailer, after he got the scripts for these last few episodes.

 

There were parts that I was so bored, that the most entertaining things was how some of the random bit parts were played by actors who looked like more famous ones.  Like the lady who gave Ren is watch looked like Morena Baccarin's sister.  And Erica's dad looked like John Slattery in a few of the shots.  And then I start thinking how awesome an Evo Roger Sterling would be on this show. And then I realized that compared to most of these "heroes", even an Evo Pete Campbell would be more badass...

[jay741982]

For People wondering about Noah, he's in the finale they showed him in the preview for the finale

[MarkHB]

I also picked up that that lady looked like Morena Baccarin, FWIW.

[Sandman]

Seriously, where did Noah go?  Until I'm proven otherwise, I'm just going to keep assuming Jack Coleman refused to leave his trailer, after he got the scripts for these last few episodes.

 

Hee.

 

::reads:: "Whaaaat? Nope. Nuh-uh! I'm not playing this! Are you nuts? I'm the frickin' HRG, man! Fix it." 

[Chicago Redshirt]

They did kind of gloss over that part -- and really that was more important to the overall story than how Taylor's in-utero baby telepathic Hulk came to be (mommy angry, baby smash !!).

 

Did she found Renautus ?  Did she work for Primatech (because she was never mentioned in the original series) ?  Where did she get money for college ? How did she ascend through the ranks so quickly to become the CEO ?  Did she arrange for her superiors to have 'accidents' so that she was able to climb the corporate ladder ?  Was she groomed because of her hatred of Evos ?

We saw Caspar give her a Primatech card with an implied job offer, basically after discovering that she had killed EvoDoc.

 

That happened when Taylor was a baby. I'd guess Taylor is supposed to be in her mid to late 20s now. (At least, the actress who portrays her is about 26, and the character seemingly was working as a Renautus operative before she was questioning what her mother was up to.) 

 

So let's conservatively put that as 15 years working up the Primatech ladder before creating her own startup of Renatus on the side.

[Camera One]

What a dud of a penultimate episode.

 

I couldn't care less about Erica and her daughter.  Was that supposed to be high tension or something?  And talk about a manipulative flashback with Erica's sob story.  That was just annoying.  

 

At least Evil Mom finally got fried.  How nice everyone's transportation schedule converged exactly to arrive at Odessa High at that exact same time!   Just like with "Heroes", it is generally more fun when the characters converge, and we will get a single episode of it.  

 

These last two episodes have sucked even more than usual without HRG.  And I didn't even care that much for HRG in the original series.

 

Why bring back Matt at all if they plan to destroy him?  Why make Phoebe likeable in the webseries when ultimately, even her brother abandons her (not that I blame him at this point).

 

Now what are the chances of a satisfying series finale?  Same probability as H.E.L.E. freezing over.

[jhlipton]

Now what are the chances of a satisfying series finale?  Same probability as H.E.L.E. freezing over.

 

I see what you did there.  :D