(Episode Review by the Fiendish Supervillain Mathsorcerer) — I was wrong. I thought last week’s episode was the best thus far … until I saw Chapter 20, “Five Years Gone”. Wow. It’s difficult to make me speechless, but this episode very nearly does it. You’ve been living in a dream world. You think it’s the year 2007, when in fact it is closer to 2012. When exactly we cannot say because we simply don’t know. We don’t know who struck first, but we know it was Sylar who scorched the city.
Erm…ok — enough of that.
You want dark and dystopian? Welcome to the New York — the world — of the future. The post-apocalyptic future that so many have dreaded for so long. Many, many things have changed, and the list of the fallen includes DL (which is real shame), Micah (which is an ever greater shame), Linderman, and Ando. This last revelation came as a great shock to Ando, I must say; it isn’t every day you find out you’re dead.
Future Sylar blew up after collecting both Claire’s and Theodore’s powers, you see. He was attacked, but survived, then blew up and still survived, plunging the world into chaos. Fortunately, Nathan stepped in to assume the role of President and helped lead both America and the world to a semblance of normalcy.
At this point, the shrewd among us have noticed one glaring plot hole — Sylar didn’t collect Claire’s power, at least not in our reality. This is where things get complicated, but don’t worry, because the rest of the episode stays just as complicated.
Although many science-fiction writers have given us alternate visions of the future before, and various shows have had “what if this happens in the future?” episodes, Heroes does them all honor by following in that proud tradition and pulls it off wonderfully, or certainly better than some other shows I won’t mention here.
Contrary to what you might think, Chapter 20 actually asks more questions than it answers:
When did Mrs. Bennet leave HRG? When — and why — would Hana switch her staunch position and begin working with HRG? When did Matt become so tough? Who gave Peter that scar? Why would Niki get involved with Peter, the President’s brother? Who is that pretty young waitress at the Burnt Toast with the long brown hair? Did Mr. Muggles ever win Best in Show? And finally, the question of all questions, the one that has been bugging all avid Heroes fans ever since the first episode: What is HRG’s first name?
(I would answer that last one, but I would probably be smuggled away by unseen forces and my review edited to protect you from knowledge too dangerous for mere mortals to possess.)
The only person relatively unscathed in all this mess is Mohinder Suresh. He gets to wear a better suit these days, and he’s sporting a little facial hair, but he is still trying to figure out the mechanism of the genetic differences that make certain people into gifted heroes. Of course, he’s not the person to ask about the dreaded “Plan B”, at least not when it comes to figuring out how to “control” the gifted population. Nathan, posturing as a President backed into a corner, has a difficult decision to make.
In a stroke of wonderful irony, of course, Isaac’s loft moves from being a place where a visionary foresees the futures to being a place where another visionary tries to piece together the past. The web that is this period in history is played out from one apartment.
That is good writing, let me tell you.
Despite Matt’s tough veneer as a Stormtrooper wannabe, he and HRG come to an understanding, helping the less-destructive supers remain in hiding. It’s also pretty easy to come up with fake computer records of one’s history with Hana doing the uploading. I wonder what special power little Matthew has, though? I always said Matt would wind up on top; he can call the President whenever he needs to, just like Jack Bauer. No, Matt isn’t that tough, though. Or is he? Yes, he most definitely did pull that trigger.
Since the episode has already aired, the spoiler that everyone had guessed (which means it really isn’t a spoiler), is that there are three mistakes on the list of Who’s Who Among the Dead in the future. First, Sylar isn’t on the list. Second, Nathan is on the list. Third, Candice is also on the list. Add those three things together and you get Sylar impersonating Nathan as President. After all, he does know how things work and is the most special person there is. Honestly, I wish I hadn’t seen that one coming — the element of surprise would be completely refreshing.
Hrm…I suppose I should say four mistakes — Claire is also on the list of the dearly departed. At least, she is now.
I was wrong about one other thing, now that I think about it. Matt does know that Sylar is pretending to be Nathan, which is why he does whatever he is told no matter how dirty it might be. It’s either that or have his brain sucked out and his power stolen.
No matter how you slice it, this is the climax, the pinnacle and crux around which this entire season has revolved. Once we wind up back in the fresh, clean NYC of today, the drive to stop the Bomb is redoubled. If you aren’t drooling for next week’s episode, then you aren’t watching the same show as the rest of us.
