Welcome Back, Sylar: The Racialicious Review of Heroes 3.12
By Special Correspondent Arturo R. García, also Posted At The Instant Callback
Warning: Spoilers Ahead!
- Welcome Back, Sylar
(To be sung to the theme from Welcome Back Kotter)
Welcome back,
Your powers were your ticket out
Welcome back,
You slicing heads was all we cared about
Well your hair has changed since you last swung around
But now Sylar’s back and Elle’s in the ground
The Petrellis said they’d breed ya (when they just need ya)
Noah didn’t keed ya (even if he did beat ya)
Yeah we tease him a lot ’cause he’d kill us if not, welcome back,
Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back …
Despite being called “Our Father,” this week’s episode was about the current generation of meta-humans – the actual, the adopted, the altered and the alleged, culminating in a bloodletting at Pinehearst.
Running through the middle of things, pulsating like a morbid bass groove, was the exceedingly apparent return of Sylar, as writers Adam Armus and Kay Foster took great pains to show us that the Sy of old was Doing Bad Things in the midst of his quest to figure out if he really was the third Petrelli brother. Oh, and that apparently He Scares Asians. I’m surprised nobody went for the Gabezilla joke.
While Sylar was moving forward in his quest, Hiro and Claire went back – 16 years back. In an egregious violation of Gallifreyan regulations, they both met their younger selves (Claire an infant, Hiro an “irresponsible” 10-year-old) and reconnected with their parents while solving the mystery of the Catalyst.
For Hiro, the answer comes sealed with a kiss. We meet his mother, Ishi (Tamlyn Tomita), a healer and the carrier of the Catalyst — a literal bundle of light, which she bequeaths upon her son while restoring his mind – at the cost of her own life. And for all the series’ increased reliance on the Benetrelli saga, the scenes with the Nakamura family, thankfully, sang. From Kaito’s frustration with the young Hiro to present-day Hiro’s joy at rediscovering Ishi to her own belief in her son, the sequence displayed the kind of heart you remember from the series’ increasingly-distant first year.
Claire-Bear also got some quality time with the younger versions of her parents, seeing how overwhelmed Sandra was by being a new mother, and getting a taste of the budding fury of the younger Noah. But because he’s still NRG rather than HRG, Noah is still able to be convinced by Claire to not take the call that would lead to her getting injected with the Catalyst. For some reason, though, she apparently gets irked when the fully-restored Hiro tells her he took the magic bullet, instead.
This revelation is undercut, however, by Arthur, who appears from out of nowhere to strip Hiro of both the Catalyst and his powers, while sending Claire somewhere to tell his wife, “It’s over.” While we wonder if Claire is now in line for her own spirit walk, Hiro is left, literally, hanging off the side of a building.
But we soon find out Arthur’s antics might just have been a last hurrah. Even as he’s traveling time, he’s allowing himself to be turfed out by Tracy and Nathan, who assumes command of Pinehearst, and the company’s plan to create a group of Super-Marines (the argument for this ridiculous exercise goes something like this: “War Guilt War Guilt War Guilt Hajis War Guilt War Guilt. Oh, and Hajis.”) And as Arthur loses his grip on his company, he gains something else during a botched assasination attempt by Peter and The Haitian. In the ensuing showdown, Sylar, buoyed by some handy new lie-detection powers, finally confirms that he is not a Petrelli and hurls a bullet at point-blank range into Arthur’s head. Interestingly, though, Arthur’s death does not seem to restore Peter’s abilities, as Sylar dismisses him.
Thanks primarily to the Nakamura storyline, this episode is a strong rebound from the underwhelming “Eclipse” saga, and if Arthur is indeed out of play, the reshuffling at the top of the deck could lead somewhere good. We can only hope.
The Racialicious Scorecard:
The Nakamura Family: Perhaps the best outing yet for Masi Oka as an actor in the series, as Hiro’s emotional reunion with Ishi was a hell of a moment, notwithstanding the Magic McGuffin nature of the Catalyst. Interesting to note that Ishi is just as optimistic as Angela Petrelli about her offspring, but lacking the killer instinct. Was this because of her illness? Her power? A deliberate exercise in contrast? And where was Kimiko while all this was going on?
Ando: New team-up! This week Ando helped Daphne and Parkman find the missing 9th Wonders sketchbook, where they see Hiro’s trapped in the timeline. When Daphne points out that Arthur’s trip back was likely thanks to another time-traveller, Ando wonders if it’s supposed to be him. What if he’s wrong?
Mohinder: Seemed stuck in Mad Scientist mode this go-round, as he shuffled about and watched Arthur inject the stolen Catalyst into the Meta-Juice without even asking what it was, then injected the test subject. But something tells me the Ultramarine Corps will spur Mo into action, and not in a good way.
The Haitian: His scenes with Peter hewed close to Mystic Negro territory — “I know you”? How long did these guys actually hang out before the Petrelli boys’ vacation to Haiti? How does Peter just order the dude to go after Sylar? And by now, seeing people just call him “The Haitian” to his face is damn uncomfortable. Or is this all supposed to build motivation for an eventual turn to the, uh, pardon the term, dark side?
Knox: We saw him standing in a Pinehearst hallway with Flint, glowering at power couple Nathan and Tracy. Is a coup building? And how long ’til we get the Flint/Tracy Fire v. Ice showdown?
Nakamura and Mohinder images courtesy of Greg Beeman
All other images & character bios courtesy of HeroesWiki
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Madame Zenobia wrote:
For some reason, though, she apparently gets irked when the fully-restored Hiro tells her he took the magic bullet, instead.
A chuckle-worthy moment INDEED. ;D
Or is this all supposed to build motivation for an eventual turn to the, uh, pardon the term, dark side?
They’d manage to f*ck that up, were it the case. They being the writers.
I liked this episode, particularly the moments with Hiro and his mommy. Tracy and Nathan…..blahhh. Daphne/Matt…..blahhh. Ando = the new sexy
Love that he’s having more purpose. Sylar on the beast, burning Elle in…in effigy or something. Welcome back, crazy, INDEED. But I kinda liked it in the end how he basically said, ‘f*ck all of you, I’m OUT.” Happy trails, Sylar; though I know you’ll be back next week. Knox/Flint….smart enough to form and execute a coup? Claire, has no more purpose…go back to school, I say! Peter…and guns…PeterGun/GunPeter…Peter and a gun every week. Have I ‘missed’ something? He is officially Rambo for the new millenium; bump that, he’s the new knock-off Jack Bauer—mercenary of the patriarchs. You want daddy dead? He can do it…sorta 
Posted 10 Dec 2008 at 12:49 am ¶
Lorraine wrote:
LOVE THE SONG! I really enjoyed Heroes last night. The Hiro/Ishi scenes were complete tearjerkers! Plus: SYLAR’S BACK!
I think it was the best episode of the season.
Posted 10 Dec 2008 at 3:51 am ¶
Vanessa, Michigan wrote:
Scaring Asians….seriously that was not called for considering what the guy saw.
Anyone with half a brain and who valued their life would be terrified if they were in the same elevator with sylar/Gabriel after he went on a killing spree.
Sylar was covered in blood in hands when he walked in the elevator.
What person couldn’t be scared…and don’t forget he had the crazy eyes situation going on.
I mean there was a guy asking you what is your problem and at the same time he is covered in blood…..hell yeah he would be terrified.
Funny scene .
Need more Quinto his very hot…nice to look at all day.
Posted 10 Dec 2008 at 7:11 am ¶
hvls wrote:
So many things were wrong with the Pinehearst scenes.
1. Wasn’t Flint in a coma in the previous episode like ten minute ago in the last episode?
2. How come all of the soliders at Pinehearst were white? Contrast that with the Haiti scenes, it really says something about the writer’s thoughts on black people.
3. How quickly is Mohinder’s mutation changing him? Last week, it was not as bad as it was this week, which we’re to believe occurs about ten minutes after what happened in the last episode.
Posted 10 Dec 2008 at 9:53 am ¶
jen* wrote:
Loved this episode for all the Nakamura family moments. Hiro was awesome, awesome, awesome – and then Arthur happened.
I’m wondering if Arthur’s really dead, considering that he wasn’t shot in the back of the head, according to Angela’s instructions. [I know, Sylar wasn't there for that, but still.] And Arthur got the time traveling ability from Peter, so there’s no mystery there.
I wanna know if Peter’s got his powers back, though. I saw all that sparkly light leave Pop-trelli, so I was thinking, maybe the powers are going back to the people he got them from. (?) It’ll be interesting to see if Peter’s scar starts healing up at the beginning of the next ep. Also – if Peter gets his powers back, maybe Hiro will, too. Of course, this is all just supposition, and it’s more likely that they’ll leave Hiro hanging for another 10 weeks, like they did from the beginning of this season. ARGH.
Still, so WAY better than anything previous. A coworker of mine was saying yesterday, “See? they do this every year! It sucks for the first couple months, and then all of a sudden it gets good. Just be patient.”
Posted 10 Dec 2008 at 11:17 am ¶
Lola wrote:
I rather watch the Nakamuras and scary Sylar any day! Forget the Bennets and the Petrellis.
Posted 10 Dec 2008 at 1:40 pm ¶
Phil wrote:
I loved the episode as a whole, I can’t lie. The Nakamura family scenes were by far the best I had seen on the show in a while! Just really sincere, heartfelt, and tragic. I hope we’ll see an even more confident and centered Hiro character in the aftermath of this episode.
Did ANYONE notice how much the scenes at Pinehurst were lifting so much from the origin of CAPTAIN AMERICA? A formula to turn an average man into a super-soldier to combat increasing threats in the world? I’m only knocking them a little, but if they grab up a dude and inject him with ANY kind of alloy then Joe Quesada needs a phone call…
Posted 10 Dec 2008 at 1:42 pm ¶
David wrote:
First, I absolutely agree that the Nakamura scenes carried this episode. That said, the new killer-without-a-cause Syalar is infinitely less interesting than his former self. Watching an emerging hero reconcile with a horrific past is interesting. Watching an irrational slasher is not.
And was I the only one hoping his baby in the future was Elle’s?
Posted 10 Dec 2008 at 2:03 pm ¶
kaliber wrote:
@david!
my sentiments exactly! although some of the sylar-aka-gabriel/elle reunited- star-crossed-lovers scenes were a little, uhm, icky? cheezy? saccarine? i LIKED them together, damnit!
(better than parkman&superfastgirl whatever her name is. and no i dont care that sometimes shes got a brutal debilitating disease.)
i thought their relationship seemed the most more believable, moreso than some of the others. and healthiest for that matter– bc they saw each other as they really were
(as opposed to nathan and nikki6 or whatever the hell her name is, i dont trust her angle yet.)
or they were the healtiest as she’s now dead.
and i liked the evil powercouple angle.
i KNEW the end of elle’s contract was fast apporaching– but he didnt have to do her like that! and furthermore, why?
and if she’s dead who’s kid is it anyway?
if sylars not a petrelli and elle’s dead what the heck is is point?
these are the questions…
it cant be said enough how good the nakamura family scenes were!
by sheer level of riled-up-ness it cause in me this was the best ep yet
Posted 10 Dec 2008 at 3:07 pm ¶
ambre wrote:
omg the Nakamura scenes almost rekindled my hope in Heroes. Not only were they actually good, but we haven’t had many extended Japanese dialogue scenes in awhile. I think the nuances of some Japanese phrases enhanced the viewing for me. I also happened to be watching this week with my Japanese-American family, so it felt nice to be watching people speak Japanese on primetime TV. We need more languages represented in primetime!
Posted 10 Dec 2008 at 4:31 pm ¶
jen* wrote:
Forgot to mention – LOVED the song. And I love super-freaky-evil Sylar. I was sad that he killed Elle last episode. But when this epi started, I was over it.
I did think it was gonna be Elle’s baby, though. Guess not.
If Sylar’d really been on point, tho, he’d have killed Tracy. I cannot STAND her.
Posted 10 Dec 2008 at 5:25 pm ¶
Erica wrote:
I dunno — I’m ambivalent about the Nakamura scenes. I love George Takei no matter what, so Keito is win-win. Ishi was wonderfully portrayed. It was very powerful, echoing the very plausible relationships we used to see among characters.
At the same time, it suffered — Kimiko was not mentioned at all, which seemed out of character for loves-her-children Ishi and was disappointing because it would have been interesting for Kimiko to be the current Catalyst holder. (But I suppose that doesn’t fit in with the streamlining they want and need to do to the cast.) Ishi and Hiro were only given a few minutes to bond, a relationship which in earlier days could have taken a few episodes, and it felt rushed.
I mainly am hoping that Hiro on the side of the building means we’ll see more George Takei next week.
Anyway, in conclusion: Mmmm, cake! (door slams)
Posted 10 Dec 2008 at 5:34 pm ¶
L. wrote:
My apologies for changing the topic of the thread, but is there going to be a racialicious review of “Australia” with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman? Or has it already been covered here?
I just wanted to know because I saw it recently and it is ripe for a critique on race. And I just found this review of the movie that objected the portrayal of Australia (especially white Australians) as racist. I can agree that if the story isn’t historically factual, it’s unfair to use it to critique the country’s racist past. But then again, the writer threw this crap in the article [SLIGHTLY SPOILERISH]:
“A recurring injustice Luhrmann keeps harping on is that “boongs” were banned from pubs. In one of Jackman’s most emotional scenes, Drover finally forces a bartender to give his Aboriginal friend a drink – his biggest victory against racism.
Nowhere is it acknowledged – as anyone can read in the reports then of the Northern Territory administrator – that serving Aborigines was forbidden because the booze and opium were devastating a people only just learning to deal with white society and Asian traders.
Luhrmann, in particular, should know this ban was driven not by racism but deep concern for Aboriginal welfare.
After all, Australia stars the great Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil, whose career and marriage have almost been ruined by his own drinking. And alcohol is now once again banned in many Aboriginal communities in the NT, and not because we’re racist.”
article found here: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24742897-5000117,00.html
Posted 10 Dec 2008 at 6:44 pm ¶
L. wrote:
Oh, and a picture of the magical aboriginal:
http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5821970,00.jpg
Posted 10 Dec 2008 at 6:45 pm ¶
Ike wrote:
I’m still not so sure about the fate of Arthur. Didn’t he take Monroe’s healing abilities? So would the gunshot actually kill him? And if so, how does Angela and the rest of them know he got the ability?
Posted 11 Dec 2008 at 3:43 am ¶
SpicyCarrot wrote:
@Ike: I think Arthur is really dead (thank god!) because of this week’s graphic novel on NBC’s site. But you’re right, I don’t understand why he wouldn’t just heal. I’d say it was because of the Haitian, but his powers weren’t stopping Sylar and he left the room now anyway, so it seemed like Arthur should heal. Or it could be that he’ll stay dead until someone removes the bullet from his head, which hopefully people will be smart enough not to do. And Arthur took Peter’s powers too, so he could’ve gotten the healing from him as well (double-dose of healing?), which Angela and everyone would know about.
It majorly bugged me that the Haitian was taking orders from Peter, especially at the end when Peter told the Haitian go after Sylar BY HIMSELF! I’m going to be so pissed if the Haitian dies.
It seems like the interesting characters are getting killed off, some before they even get a chance to shine, like Stephen Canfield. I’m annoyed that Elle, Adam Monroe, & D.L. are gone too. Why are they getting rid of these characters but giving tons of screen time to whiny-ass Claire?
Posted 11 Dec 2008 at 12:17 pm ¶
jen* wrote:
Ike – Arthur also got Peter’s healing ability. But Peter and Claire couldn’t heal in the brain unless the offending matter was removed. I thought that Angela saying a bullet to the back of the head was pertinent, because the injuries that killed Claire and Peter were both to the back of the head.
So basically, I wonder, too. Is Arthur dead temporarily?
Posted 11 Dec 2008 at 12:24 pm ¶
Radfem wrote:
Does anyone every die permanently on this show?
I liked the scenes with Hiro’s family, as I’m tired of the Petrellis. And I think the Haitian should have kicked Peter’s no-powers arse.
Ando…Ando…Ando…no need to say more!
And I hope they don’t like turn Syler into Jason from the Friday 13 films.
Posted 11 Dec 2008 at 5:41 pm ¶
Trey wrote:
LOL…A Doctor Who reference!?! Nice. I wish Heroes had Doctor Who’s humor and wit.
Posted 11 Dec 2008 at 6:39 pm ¶
Renee wrote:
I loved the scenes with Hiro and his mother. They were touching and real in a way that the show has not been for a very long time.
As for Peter and the Hatian I am sick of the Petrellis just ordering people around. I was like dude, how do you get to tell him what to do? Nathan is another character that needs to go for me. The whole power hungry ridiculous BS needs to just end. I notice how quickly his religious conversion ended. Yeah so much for peace and loving all mankind God wants us to create super killers.
Posted 12 Dec 2008 at 11:18 am ¶
Andrea R. wrote:
I really do hope Arthur is dead. I find his addition annoying. I liked Mama Petrelli as the lead evil parent.
Hiro and his family, that was the best! I loved how Hiro changed from the 10 year old to the age he actually is in a split second and said “I remember how much I miss you”. Oh my! Tear jerker indeed.
I’m bored with Pinehurst.
Syler? Um yum! As much as I liked him being a good guy, we fell in love with him as an evil dude. And the guy in the elevator (had to mention it) was HOT!
Posted 12 Dec 2008 at 2:36 pm ¶
Erica wrote:
@Renee — indeed, Nathan needs to go. Not only is he stupid and gullible, but he’s predictable.
On the plus side, that predictability tells us something about what will happen next Monday. I’m willing to bet Nathan will realize (almost too late! OMG SUSPENSE!) his army of mutants is a Bad Idea, and then he dies. (Ref. being nuked in Season 1, being shot in Season 2… see the pattern?) We will all get our hopes up when we see Nathan smashed through a wall by Captain America, and then all be disappointed when (in Volume 4) it turns out he was fake dead.
Posted 14 Dec 2008 at 1:56 am ¶
crood wrote:
It makes perfect sense for the Haitian to be following Peter’s orders:
1. His first loyalty is to Angela and since Peter’s her son, he’s going to listen to him.
2. From what we’ve seen with the whole “One of Us, One of Them” partnerships in The Company, the normal is the one in charge. For now, that’ s Peter.
Posted 15 Dec 2008 at 11:35 am ¶