Post-Parasite Speculation: HRG and The Company

Out of the frying pan and into the fire...

The question I asked my friend, right after watching Parasite, was "Which Hero in mortal danger will survive the hiatus? From the looks of things, HRG is not in good shape. Now, from a viewer standpoint, I know that Jack Coleman has signed on as a series regular, and the HRG character is shaping up to be an important foil to the company. So the question is...how do they write him out of this?

If you've been following the online comics (and once again, you'd better...there's a huge storyline going on during the hiatus), you know that Mr. B contacted Wireless on his way to "turn in" Claire. We're starting to learn more about the Lonestar File and The Company's motivations. According to things I've read elsewhere (the Entertainment Weekly piece with Maclolm McDowell, if I recall), we won't really find out The Company's agenda until Season Two. Until then, it seems like OWI are the bad guys, with HRG the man who has turned from the dark side.

So what's up with The Company (OWI - the Organization Without Initials)? Well, they've recently collected themselves a mind-reading cop, who may or may not join up with them, depending on Thompson's whim, apparently. Matt certainly would be an asset to OWI, but I think their recruitment program has slipped lately.

We used to have a creepy-cool Haitian and the cutest Siren ever to grace the TV screen. Now we get a dyslexic cop and the worst-written character to yet be on the show. Seriously now, writers; what's up with Candice? Could you possibly give her any worse lines? Did we really need the wisecracking, uber-evil punk chick? I think that the behind-the-scenes crew needs to remember that this show is about people and not powers. Candice is not a person; she's a cartoon, more suited to facing off against Batman or Spiderman than the Heroes we love so much. Plus, is there anyone who didn't see the little trap coming a mile away? Soooooo disappointing.

Well, that leaves us with the question of how we get Mr. Bennet/HRG (I call him Phil) out of that hotel room? The only way I can see it happening is if Wireless is already on her way to help him, or if (pleasepleaseplease don't do this) HRG suddenly manifests a power of some kind that lets him get away. So we either have the cavalry or the "you had it in you all along" bit. Either way, I'm afraid that the writers have typed themselves into a corner that they can't get out of without some particularly cheesy Deus Ex Machina. I'm counting on them to prove me wrong.

Stay tuned, Sidekicks! Next up, we'll talk about Peter, Mohinder, and Sylar. Hold on to your skater-dos!

Parasite Speculation: Hiro and Ando

Yatta!

Thanks to a little help from Frying Mon, Hiro has the sword. And lo and behold, Ando knew his time-bending buddy well enough to know that he'd cause an alarm to trip sooner or later! We're all very glad you stayed in the States, Ando.

Now, I think we can all agree that Hiro doesn't really need the sword to use his powers, since he didn't have it when he reversed The Abominable Showgirl's bullet. Plus, having the sword certainly didn't fine-tune Hiro's teleportation any, since they're now five years into the future and New York has seen better days.

So the obvious questions posed are...

• How do they get back to present-day NYC? Will it take as long as it did for Hiro to figure out that he couldn't save Charlie?
  
• Did they really fail, or is this just one more alternate reality? After all, Hiro believes he failed in Saving the Cheerleader, even though Claire is alive. Maybe we just don't have the whole story, yet again.
• In all the time-hopping that's sure to ensue with Hiro trying to get back to today, how long until we really see the T-Rex? You know you want to see it. C'mon, admit it. See? Don't you feel better now?

Hiro and Ando are not in any obvious and immediate mortal danger, but they are still in a precarious spot. Stay tuned, Sidekicks, to see what's up the collective sleeves of our favorite writers! And keep your Heroes jones sated; read the online comics and maybe even start listening to some podcasts (I really like The 9th).

Parasite: Hiatus and Speculation

I know you're all desperate to know where my episode review is for Parasite, amiright? Of course you are, and of course I am. So here's the thing...this episode was so good, so exciting, and just sooooooo jam-packed full of stuff that I'm going to spend the next few articles picking apart Parasite, one storyline at a time, examining the possibilities and speculating on the future. This will let me get my thoughts on Heroes online and organized, and more importantly, gives me plenty to talk about until the end of the Spring Hiatus on April 23.

Stay tuned, Sidekicks! All your favorite "special" people (and the people who love and eat them) will be right here!

Company Man

My oh my oh my. I'm going to have to keep this one woefully (for me, anyway) brief. Otherwise, I might just never stop talking about and speculating on this episode.

This is the best episode of Heroes to date. There, I said it. Just amazing work all around on the writing, directing, editing and acting (yes, even Matt!). I loved the jump cuts and flash wipes they used for Matt's mindreading scenes, but I especially loved the smooth transitions between present day and the black-and-white flashbacks.

So let's start with the past. Our Mr. Bennet is "comfortable with morally gray"...or so he says. Did anyone see it coming (sorry...) that Claude was Mr. B's old partner? I'm curious about The Company, though...the show is making it very vague as to whether this is a private or government group keeping track of the "different." Did it all seem vaguely X-Men/Henry Gyrich to anyone else...the agency hunting down mutants?

So here are my questions posed by the past:

• It looked to me like Mr. Bennet's gun went off accidentally when he was on the bridge with Claude. He looked surprised, then anguished that Claude "[wouldn't] just..." Just what? Die? Turn invisible so that he can claim Claude died?
• Is Hiro really Mr. Nakamura's son, or just property of OWI? Does Mr. N know that Hiro has powers? Is he hiding Hiro, like HRG hid Claire?
• Who was Claude harboring so long ago? Someone we know now?

And on to the present...
Matt's dark side didn't last too long, apparently. He had a sudden change of heart when things threatened to get violent and involve the family. Ted just went nuts; like they said, he's a man who wants his wife back. I wonder if we get Ted back, though, or is he slab-bound indefinitely?

Well, I was completely wrong about HRG being powered, since Matt could read his mind (right hook coming...). I loved the "shoot Claire" gambit to defuse the standoff.

Mr. Bennet is not ultimately a Company Man; he's a family man, trying to do all the right things, even if they are perhaps "morally gray." The fact that he would essentially blow Primatech wide open to save his family speaks volumes.

Do you think that the Hatian/Claire escape plan had been planned all along? I think that HRG knew he'd have to give up Claire someday, so he set up a contingency plan. It's interesting that not even Thompson (did they actually mention Eric Roberts' name in the show, or did I hear it on some podcast?) knew that the Hatian can talk. There must be one darn good reason for them to keep that secret.

From here, it just remains to be seen how malevolent the OWI really is. Are they tied in to Linderman? How many factions are using these Heroes? Can HRG be wiped enough to ensure Claire's safety? Will the Bennets be reunited? Will Matt really be HRG's new partner, marking the quickest change of heart in recent history? And what of our new "one of them," working with Thompson to clean up Mr. B's mess?

Don't touch that dial...Heroes will be right back.