HEROES 3x13 "Dual" (Volume 3 Finale)

[DarthPipes]

I'm glad Nathan's story is finally "going somewhere." Although he STILL never bothered to say, "You shot me, Pete! You son of a bitch!" But I guess they're even, now, as Peter saved his life.

That's a little too much to expect from the Heroes' writers. I realize that not a great deal of time is supposed to have passed since the season began, but by keeping the Petrelli brothers separated for so long onscreen, the writers have missed the opportunity to really connect the dots in a satisfying way with the brothers. If groundwork had been laid showing Nathan having any sort of plausible emotional reaction to Peter shooting him (instead of "finding God") I could buy his behavior now as some sort of PTSD/irrational emotional response to losing faith and trust in his brother, who was supposed to mean the world to him until the end of last season. (Remember the love fest when Peter finally found his brains about Adam and the virus all because he trusted Nathan?) Having a family member shoot you, presumably one with whom you're very close, would be traumatic for anybody.

But the writers didn't lay that groundwork. Nathan's sudden contempt for Peter and the other powered people seems too much. He's going to have them hunt and lock up Peter and Claire, his own daughter?

Excellent point. Emotional turmoil is never fleshed out on this show. Characters go to one personality to another and back again whenever the writers feel like it. It really is a mess.

Perhaps Nathan wants them brought all together so he can get them to work together and save the world.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

Precisely my point. The writers could have connected the dots with Nathan in a very intriguing way, but the way they wrote the character, this behavior totally seems out of left field. Instead of him finding God and screwing Tracy, the antagonism between him and Peter could have been slowly built upon after the shooting. On the one hand I'm thrilled that Pasdar has a story, but bummed that it doesn't make much sense.

I heard that Heidi and his kids might be back for a time next volume. Will one of his sons manifesting be the thing that tips Nathan back to the good side of the scale? Will Nathan and Peter's deteriorating relationship actually receive focus next volume? Will Nathan ever say, "You shot me, you stupid little prick"? Don't hold your breath. Pasdar and Ventimiglia are fairly entertaining when they're allowed to actually share scenes.

 

[melancholymecha]

you know, I wonder if the writers have been scared off by all the brocest slashy fanwankery online, maybe theyre purposely trying to suppress that kinda stuff on the show b/c they dont want to look like theyre trying to attract the wrong audience, kinda like how they did by making Peter & Claire cousins after all the Peter /Claire shipping.

 

[Squiggy]

I'm pretty sure the producers don't give two flips about slash fiction.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I have to say that there was virtually no reason to bring back Ali Larter to play a new character. Tracy was a bad character who became very one-dimensional very quick.

I think that Mohinder can still be salvaged, although it's going to be tough.

QFT

Mohinder is a character with potential, if the people writing him had the tiniest amount of respect for his character. Instead, he's a total stooge, wandering through storylines with virtually nothing interesting to do, constantly being used by the bad guys, always realizing he's doing the wrong thing... and then he just keeps on doing it!

And Tracy just sucks. They tried to give her a tiny bit of depth, going into her history, and just seemed to jettison all of it to be Nathan's evil ice queen. It's almost like the writers thought, "time to get her obligatory origin story out of the way, so she can go back to icing people."

 

[melancholymecha]

I'm pretty sure the producers don't give two flips about slash fiction.

Im just sayin

I really miss the bro love

btw Mo is the lamest monster freak Ive ever seen. He looks like he got attacked by a big vat of giant brown sequins...that mysteriously only cover one side of his body. Pasdar looked far more freakish in his burn makeup last season...

 

[Misfit Toy]

I don't beleive you. I've heard he wasn't even born on Qo'noS and was raised by humans.

Kahless himself says the birth certificate is legit - and the High Council dismissed the case. Duh.

Then why did the President's own step-brother Nikolai say he was born there? Huh?

Why do you hate the Federation?

Step-brother. They're not even related. The translation protocols were flawed. You've probably got a picture of a fake certificate with a Ferengi photoshopped in...

Rommie sympathizer. :grrr:

 

[LutherSloan]

I don't understand why the writers abandoned exploring Tracy's background after about 2-3 episodes. She was also only a minor player throughout this volume, more of a potted plant if anything.

 

[Meredith]

holy shit dorn!!

I M Weasel!!!! President!!!!

 

[Bacl]

holy shit dorn!!

Just be happy it wasn't Wil Wheaton.

There was talk of that for awhile.

 

[Chris3123]

Tonight is the finale? Really?

Wow, what a waste of a season.

A waste of a season? It isn't even over yet. Tonight's episode was the last of Volume 3, not the last of the season. Volume 4: Fugitives will be the second half of Season 3.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

Also, why did Peter need to get his powers back to fly Nathan out of the fire? Can't Nathan fly himself?

 

[mswood]

Okay, why the hell did Peter fell the need to save Nathan? I mean Nathan can fly, nothing was stopping him from flying away from the flames. The flames surrounded him on the ground but not above him. WTF.

Not that I am opposed to Peter getting his abilities back, but the rational seems, how shall we put it weak.

I am assuming that Peter got his baseline ability back, the ability to copy others ability. Thus he gained the fire guys fire powers (and ability not to be burned) and Nathan's ability to fly.

But how did that help Nathan?

Oh and nice fire and building collapse, way to save Sylar. Lets see, either the debris or collapse of building moves the glass shard, allowing Sylar to heal. Or his body is toasted, enough that the glass is moved from that spot, allowing Sylar to heal.

And we thought people like Sylar or Peter's powers made the situations the show put the characters in hard to swallow, so what do they do well they provide someone who can boost anyone's powers. Thats smart....

On the Peter shooting Nathan, didn't that happen with Peter's self from the future? And didn't future Peter tell Nathan about it? Or am I forgetting a time Peter in resent shot Nathan (because I will be upset, he should have shot him more often, I hate Nathan).

 

[mswood]

Also, why did Peter need to get his powers back to fly Nathan out of the fire? Can't Nathan fly himself?

he, he. Thats not fair, I am sure I was making that point first......damn you dorian. Damn you to hell (with Dean).

 

[startrekwatcher]

Average for the episode and about that for the volume as a whole.

For a finale, it was underwhelming. As a finale. I wanted more. It was too run-of-the-mill with the exception of a few moments such as Meredith and Claire's good-bye(although couldn't someone have given her a drug to counter the adrenaline or placed her in Flint's absestos cell) and the Angela/Sylar conversation. Cristine Rose continues to impress as an actress. I love Angela, I really do. She is one heck of a manipulative bitch.

In season one we had all these little stories and events that eventually could be appreciated because of how they were necessary and how they contributed to the bigger picture in hindsight. None of them even Niki's threads seemed irrelevant.

But this season started out with the feel it might be that way again only to realize as we entered the resolution phase of the volume that everything that happened really were just little isolated weekly vignettes to give characters something to do each week before throwing them into a new one the following week.

To be fair to Heroes I've noticed that a lot of tv shows these days have adopted this style of storytelling where they try to be a hybrid of episodic and arc based. In an effort to please people with short attention spans and those wanting stories lasting more than one episode they have started doing these more protracted threads.

Ten years ago those threads would have been developed over several episodes or an entire season now they just use them as a means to an end without really exploiting them and that is too bad since many of them could really be mined into some great arcs.

Personally I would prefer tv shows to go back to having a modest ensemble(7-10 characters) that are paired off into two or thread independent story arcs that span an entire season. However, with the popularity of shows like Lost, you see a lot of shows trying to have extremely large casts whose arcs are all intricately interconnected and the show is ultimately one Big Puzzle where various pieces are strategically revealed in order to confuse the viewer about what is going on.

You don't see a lot of the more traditional serialized storytelling much these days.

Chad Faust didn't stick around too long. I hope he didn't shave his head for this role expecting it to be longterm. I thought when I saw Michael Dorn's name in the credits he would be one of the supersoldiers not the President. I wonder if he will have a prominent role or like Bruce Boxleitner and other big name actors he'll just amount to a one shot appearance here.

Speaking of Nathan, I'm not sure that was him at the end. Could it be Sylar who somehow was revived after having the shard of glass extracted from the back of his head? Although we did learn in one possible future he started rounding up those with abilities before Sylar took over.

I guess I just found it a little hard to believe Nathan would go to those lengths after his experience in Haiti. Nothing else really in the season set up that direction. The spiritual awakening just fell away.

Some random thoughts:

I do wonder how the government will manage to control the specials. Is the inhibitor still around? Will the Haitian stay in a facility and suppress everyone's abilities?

I thought we just might see Kaito's ability revealed tonite when confronting Hiro. And I wonder how Linderman got the Kensei sword from Kaito?

I'm not sure we averted the disaster of the Earth's destruction. I remember reading the writers saw it as a looming threat over the remainder of the series.

My favorite new character of the season is Daphne. I like her. Keep her.

I'm definitely curious about who Sylar's parents really are?

How did Sylar acquire Elle's ability without studying her brain? How does Sylar give himself abilities?

Hiro and Ando need to go. There are some characters whose goofiness is endearing and part of their charm but not Hiro. And some of the Ando and Matt interactions were cringe-worthy.

Maybe Hiro and Ando switching roles in their relationship dynamic might be interesting with Hiro left without his abilities at the end of the hour while Ando has acquired some.

Tracy looks to have Suresh help her restart the supersoldiers program but even if he remembers the formula it does them little good without the catalyst which looked to disappear into the ether when Arthur was killed.

I haven't heard if Bryan Fuller is coming back or not to Heroes or when but I'm one fan who has never cared too much for the idolizing of certain writers like Moore, Fuller or Manny Coto. He might help the show but then again it might not matter. Afterall these arc based series are really a collaborative effort.

Any way I was planning on sticking with Heroes when it returned in the early part of next year and with the teaser and the few clips from the promo it seems interesting although if they stick with this format used in this volume I'll probably be frustrated.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

he, he. Thats not fair, I am sure I was making that point first......damn you dorian. Damn you to hell (with Dean).

With Dean, Castiel, and Sam--all shirtless. The testosterone trio.

Seriously, doesn't this make you want to visit TWOP and force the people in the SPN forum who whine incessantly that Dean or Sam don't get enough development to watch the dissection and destruction of the Petrelli brothers? They don't know what lack of character development is. They've got a treasure trove of it and still whine for more.

I guess I just found it a little hard to believe Nathan would go to those lengths after his experience in Haiti. Nothing else really in the season set up that direction. The spiritual awakening just fell away.

Now now. We saw Nathan reading the bible once after he left the hospital. It was about two months ago.

 

[DontFeedPhil]

One thing that bothered me was Claire's real mom...Cant remember her name...Dont want to. "Firehand Lady" Ill call her. Why was she still in the same spot in the cell still having trouble controlling her flaming hands when Claire Bear got back? And why did it appear to burn her up? Wasnt she flame Retarded? "Claire...Go...I just need a little time...So that when you come back 5 minutes later I can say a proper goodbye to you and explode anyway."
Umm why not try to get out to a place in the open so you can expell all your flaming hands? DUMB!
Ohh and Sylar is still alive. The fire will melt the glass and he'll be just fine.
I guess Ando wasnt trying to kill Hiro in the beginning of the season. remember the first 5-6 episodes where Hiro was all mad at Ando for apparently killing him in the future? Well now it appears that he was supercharging him up...
So does this mean that all that, the future stuff is still supposed to happen and will possibly happen sometime in Volumous 4?

 

[zog]

It was okay. Almost a reset, the slate wiped clean: Pete's been reduced to just a flyer (and, presumably, sponge), Hiro's been de-powered for the time being - along with Sylar they comprised the overpowered, and it's been toned down almost back to the premiere. Knox, Elle, Meredith and her bro Flint, Arthur, Kaito, Linderman, Deveaux? and whomover else I missed, are gone now. And that's where they will all hopefully remain, except for time travel and the occasional flashback, if we're lucky.

So the Creator can enjoy his original vision of the series for a time, show new characters getting new powers.

I'm curious what power Dorn will end up surprising us with. They may hold out until final few episodes to pop that one on us. But it smells like it's coming. [I disagree that it'll be ridges. ]

Nathan is either on a mission from God, or he's come full circle to become his father. Or both. The God mission to "do good" isn't gone yet, imo. I suspect his actions in the teaser to Vol 4 will be reconciled with his past characterization. I say that not because I think the writers are too good in all cases, but because in a few, very specific, cases, they have been careful about consistency, and I'm guessing that Nate is one of those few cases. The last we saw, he seemed almost ready to die in the fire, after he refused to flee with the manipulative Niki2. Curious behavior, that I suspect was purposeful in the writing.

But Nate's also about to start up Primatech Paper Part II - round 'em all up, sort it out later. He's become either Arthur, or Linderman, running such an operation, only this time it'll be a government mafia, instead of organized crime with the power. All Nathan really needs now is HRG and funding, it shouldn't cost more than a quick auto-bailout to fund the new Company, then start caging up the freaks. Maybe send two or three on sanctioned 'missions' before they lose some control?

Suresh and Niki2 - I'll take a guess that they'll go from bad guys to good guys this time around.

 

[Dream]

I thought it was called 'Duel'?

The episode title had been changed many times. NBC's site and Heroeswiki currently have the title as "Dual". So I went with that.

my screen says "Duality".

It said "Dual" in the episode that I watched. Maybe the episode title was different for everyone that watched?

 

[tomalak301]

Why is this show called Heroes? It doesn't seem like anyone of these characters does anything good and that whole premise of why I liked it (Extraordinary people doing extraordinary things) seems to be lost. This volume clouded the whole thing of Heroes and Villans and now the next will make the Heroes fugitives because a spoiled opportunist said so. I guess Nathan has always been this way, but I really doubt it. We go from someone who was questioning everything and even turning to god in the beginning of the volume to some ego maniac at the end.

As for this episode, it didn't blow me away, so it's average by default. I'm glad this volume is over. I don't know if I'll be back for the forth. This show isn't the show I liked when I started watching all the episodes online a few months before the season one finale. It's changed and I don't think it's changed for the better.