Heroes: "Once Upon a Time in Texas" 11/2 - Grading & Discussion

[Oso Blanco]

I can't help but notice Noah stated that no one knows what Sylar looks like; the Season 3 flashback episode directly contradicted this, showing Noah and Elle spying on Sylar when he was first experiencing his new abilities (Elle even interacted with him more than once, so she would certainly know what Sylar looks like). This is more of a problem in that third season episode, though (IIRC, there were a few details in that episode that seemed inconsistent with what was presented in Season 1).

I'm not sure, but I think that Sylar still went under his real name (Gabriel Gray) in that episode. The Company probably didn't know that Sylar was the exact same person until later.

 

[Yoda]

I went with above average. I turn off my brain for heroes, and usually it still isn't very entertaining, but I did like the last couple of weeks. No, I don't think Sylar would've honored his stupid deal with Hiro... also, what can T-Bag really have over Hiro? Can't Hiro just go back and prevent the guy from taking Charlie? Being the master of time and space makes the story illogical on many levels, so I try not to worry about it

 

[Guy Gardener]

Oh no.

I just remembered that there's another b-list girl tucked away in the folds of time who was left and forgetten by their Hero Boyfriend.

What if blunderously T-Bag secretes Kaitland from her plague Future where Peter dumped her like Marty and Doc leaving Jennifer tucked away on the porch on Biff Tannern World when they had an almanac to chase down if they'd misunderstood the rules a little.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Sylar already tried to kill Hiro, didn't work.

Couldn't Hiro just freeze time as soon as Sylar try to cut open his head? It's not like it's instant.

Sylar just smiles and pretends to be cooperative, and goes along with Hiro. The moment Hiro lets down his guard or even glances away from Sylar, zip does his head. If Sylar wanted to, he could figure out a way to kill Hiro quickly enough to cause unconsciosness. Hiro is safe only if he relentlessly focuses his attention on Sylar to avoid his TK. He can't do that forever. For instance, Sylar could simply stalk him until Hiro falls asleep and kill him then.

Or what if Sylar severed Hiro's jugular vein? Hiro could stop time, but it won't stop him from bleeding to death. Even if he could get to a hospital, there's nobody who can help him. He'd die, time would start back up, game over man.

That's the kind of interesting scenario that would enliven this show a bit - why can't the writers ever think of unusual or ironic scenarios?

Sylar is one of the more popular character on the show, why do they want to neuter him so much?

Because the writers have no respect for their characters, or they're just lazy. They haven't bothered to figure out what the characters' core identities are. Maybe they actually don't know how Sylar would act in any given situation. More likely, they don't care. They have a plot they want to follow and they use their characters as gumby-like mannequins whose personalities follow the needs of the plot and therefore have no integrity.

 

[Checkmate]

Hiro could, if he were really motivated enough, just teleport Sylar into open space, the dawn of time, deep in the bowels of El Diablo, or any other number of things. And he has been motivated enough to do that sort of thing before (read: Adam).

Sylar also has no idea just how Hiro's power works. For all he knows, it could be completely reactive. Sylar kills with a thought, yet Hiro was outperforming that speed time and time again during their "duel."

What's more, if the information was really important to Sylar, why risk the chance of damaging it?

None of that is likely, but it is plausible enough not to completelysnap one's suspension of disbelief.

What got me is how he took Hiro's revelation in stride. At that period of time, Sylar really was just a mindless killing machine hungering for every power he could get his hands on. The moment Hiro started going on with his mindless spiel, the truce would have been over.