Heroes: The Dark Side of Motivation
For the heroes right now it is a trying time and their dark sides are emerging, tempting them and tricking them to do bad things for the better good. Will they give into their darker thoughts and emotions? Their motivation is mostly good as they think of their families or even the good of the future but these heroes are simply going about it in all the wrong ways.
Take Peter Petrelli who was still stuck in Cork, Ireland home of the Blarney Stone. His captors offered him his identity in return for helping them on a “job”. Well, is it okay for Peter to commit a huge crime to get his life back? Surely there must be another way for Peter. Yet here he was at a crossroads. Does he turn to his darkness to shed light on his confusion. That would be the quick fix for Peter and he took it. In the process of the heist Peter discovered three more of his powers that were hidden. That he could hear what other people were thinking, move objects with his hands, and self heal or regenerate when he was shot to death.
Back at the official hang out after the heist the crew gloated over their money and then one of the faithful members pulled a gun demanding the money. He shot Peter dead, or so he thought until Peter stood up, healed himself, and then threw the guy against the wall in a death grip with his powers. You could tell Peter struggled with his dark side but he didn’t give in and let the man go. Peter, Peter, Peter. My how he must wrestle with his dark side. First he committed a crime to get his identity back and then he almost killed a man who shot him for dead.
Later that night Peter got a tattoo on his right forearm by the sister who just happened to be a tattoo artist (well wasn’t that handy of her!). She tattooed the crest of the brotherhood (which both my husband and I said that it looked like the immunity idol from Survivor China). Then it was all about the box with his identity. Peter, just open the box!! Oh, I was so mad at the sister. She stopped Peter from opening the box and then kissed him. Wait a minute!! Earlier in the show she told him she couldn’t wait to see what was in the box. Grrrrr. As they kissed the tattoo she had just inked on him (which would have been red and bleeding or maybe not because he self heals) morphed into the black helix and then disappeared altogether which made me think of Niki/Jessica. Had he been operating in his alter ego like Niki/Jessica did? I’m pretty sure he picked up her power since he had been around her before. That is the only thing that could explain the disappearing helix. Back to the box. The whole dang world is at stake here Peter! You can’t stay in Ireland forever! You need to open that box! Another notable note is that Peter doesn’t wear a shirt much anymore. Ladies, have you noticed?
Across the world somewhere in Mexico, Maya and Alejandro were tired so against his better judgment he tried to steal a car but was caught by the police. That could happen when you smash a car window in broad daylight Alejandro. Clearly he was trying to do the best thing for his sister but he like Peter had resorted to thievery in hopes of gaining some greater good. Alejandro’s bad side came out to help aid his sister and he ended up in prison next to an American whom he grumpily told that he spoke no English. Maya came to break her brother out and purposefully got arrested so her power would be triggered. Uh, oh. Maya wanted her ugly power to be released to kill the policemen so she could save her brother. Here it was again. Do a bad deed to do some good for someone else. She rescued her brother who then used his power to reverse her damage and then let the American tag along because he had a car. Hey, wait just one minute! I thought they didn’t speak English? Ah, ha! They do speak English which proved my first theory that they did when I caught them reading Dr. Suresh’s book which was in English. As they hopped into the car I thought it was another shameless Nissan Rogue plug but then I realized it was Claire’s car! This was who had stolen Claire’s car!! Why did he steal her car and then high tail it to Mexico? They are all linked somehow, I just know it.
Back to the west coast, Niki and Micah were at a cemetery by D.L.’s grave so they could say goodbye. Is he really dead? I don’t think he’s really dead. His gravestone read Daniel Lawrence Hawkins, Husband-Father-Hero. I refuse to believe he is dead. He had those phasing powers. I know it looked like he died but really people, his family needs him! They then left Las Vegas for a new start on life. Niki took Micah to New Orleans for him to stay with family and he was not to use his powers. Micah was then introduced to his “family”. It was an older woman, possibly D.L.’s mom and my husband and I both think she is one of the original’s like Angela Petrelli or Mr. Nakamura. I bet there is a painting of her out there in Isaac Mendez’s series.
Man these heroes are spread out everywhere. Sylar pops up on some beach sleeping on a lounge chair next to some hoochie mama with a drink that matched her bikini. She obviously had him under some kind of control because when he woke up he was all delirious. Who was this lady working for? She said they were in Maui and said her name was now Michelle. Before she was Candace when she pulled Sylar off of Kirby Plaza after he got stabbed by Hiro’s samurai sword. So that’s how he disappeared down into the sewers with only a cockroach left behind!! Now it had been eight surgeries later and they were worried about his chest healing. Her power is illusion and I’m pretty sure she is a bad girl. He got all freaky on her and made her show him where he really was and man was he messed up and in some rank storage shed. Sylar, go back to Maui and live in the illusion! He was probably thinking that it was too bad he never got to Claire to kill her and steal her regenerating powers because he certainly was a sorry mess after that samurai sword incident.
The next morning Sylar became angry because he couldn’t move a “Have a Nice Day” mug. His powers were weak or non-existent. I wonder where they went and how the people who saved him turned them off. Michelle assured him that all of his powers would be reacquired. Well, Michelle, if you would have watched last season you would know not to underestimate the evil’s of Sylar because he certainly didn’t waste anytime taking her out! He knocked her in the head with his “Have a Nice Day Mug” after she flaunted her illusions and cut out her brain to get her power. The thing is, we the viewing audience don’t quite know what Sylar does with the brain to get the power. We saw him wiping his hands of her blood, however this time whatever he did that worked in the past to acquire power did not work this time and he was livid. Running out of the storage shed that was more like a salvage building he was literally in the middle of nowhere (maybe he’s with the “Other’s” on Lost) and in a lot of pain. The good news for Sylar is that Michelle did have cell phone coverage at one time so he can’t be too far from a cell tower therefore he isn’t too terribly far from some sort of civilization.
Meanwhile, back in California Claire was reading Dr. Suresh’s book and asked her dad what would happen if someone found out about her. He told her they would run into hiding again (I’m sure she was thinking about how West witnessed her cutting off her little toe and it growing back). At school Claire met up with West and tried to explain away her toe cutting off incident which he didn’t buy for a second. In class, West inquired of the science teacher about Claire’s condition (not naming her) hence giving the great “lizard girl” speech which I found highly entertaining. This in turn sent Claire out of the room seething with frustration and anger. He followed her out and finally Claire with great emotion and rage confessed to West that yes she was a freak and babbled on until he told her to shut up, picked her up and in lovely Clark Kent fashion flew her over the city to the beach. Oh, they are hot together. How is that for some serious new romance!! West is now the official hottie.
Claire and West sat on the beach and had their first tender sweet kiss. After the kiss Claire noticed two black marks on his neck. Oh those dreaded probe marks from last season. Matt Parkman had them too after he was kidnapped and his memory was erased. Now wait a minute. IF the probe was to put in a tracking device then they know where West is and they know where Matt Parkman is and he’s with Molly and Mohinder!! This could be bad for the spy ring of Matt and Mohinder. Plus, this was not good for Claire since it was her daddy who was doing the probing and abducting. West shuddered as he talked about his abduction by the man with the horn rimmed glasses. “The Haitian” obviously didn’t erase his memory enough and now Claire is in love with West and her dad is messing it all up! I just hope that Claire and West aren’t related. The title chapter “kindred” was over her house in California and her biological father is Nathan Petrelli who can fly. Ah well, I’ll just hope for the best concerning these two new love birds and pray this isn’t her twin brother or half-brother.
Over to the east coast Mohinder was back from Haiti to work in the city at a lab “The Company” set up for him which just happened to be in Isaac Mendez’s loft. Plus, they let Mohinder know he was being monitored. Just then his boss took a secret call from Niki Sanders so Mohinder snuck a look at some of Isaac’s paintings in the loft. While he snooped, Niki told Mohinder’s new boss she was at his office and wanted to be cured. That was all good but he wanted something in return from Niki. It sounded like Niki must do something questionable for the greater good of her family. Meanwhile, Mohinder made a startling discovery that the last picture in Isaac’s series was of Mr. Bennet with a bullet in his head and Claire in the background kissing a man (whom I presume to be West). Mohinder e-mailed the picture to Mr. Bennet and as he stared at the screen Claire showed up and the look between them said everything. You know he was thinking about the picture and his death and her eyes welled with tears because she knew what he did to West. They both have their secrets now. Well, the heroes did alter the future last season saving Claire from Sylar and New York city from a nuclear explosion so Daddy Bennet isn’t necessarily dead… yet.
Halfway across the world Ando was back in Tokyo and discovered five notes to him from Hiro hidden in the samurai sword. It was Hiro communicating all that had happened to him since he teleported back to 1671. Kensei thought Hiro was the devil and had cursed him. Poor Hiro, it was one step forward and two steps back as Kensei ran away from him again. He found him later by a tree cutting himself and healing immediately so Hiro showed him his gift of teleportation to prove Kensei wasn’t crazy. Okay, my question is did Kensei get his power when the sun eclipsed because surely Kensei had received cuts before that didn’t immediately heal. The power must have come to him recently. Maybe he was the first “hero” and everyone after that was somehow a seed of Kensei.
Hiro then admonished Kensei to quit walking away from his destiny but of course Kensei wanted to use his powers to make himself rich so Hiro teleported him to the school of hard knocks and left him in front of the “Ninety Angry Ronin” to defeat them and prove himself. I must say I felt bad for Hiro as he struggled with his love for Yaeko. On a side note, Hiro’s hair looks so good lately. Back to tragic love. It seemed as though Hiro was sacrificing his love for Yaeko to make Kensei believe in himself and love Yaeko. I love how Hiro is empowering Kensei and doing the right thing. Hiro is like a conscience to Kensei and Kensei doesn’t know how to thank “carp” when Hiro said that he must go back to the future. After some thought as Kensei and Yaeko walked away Hiro decided to stay and help Kensei. Does Hiro stay for the right reasons? Is it to really help Kensei or was it because he secretly loved Yaeko? Did Hiro have the right motivation?
Whatever the motivation of the heroes we know that Peter did wrong to find out his identity and then didn’t even take advantage of it. Alejandro tried to steal a car and Maya purposefully used her deadly power to save her brother. Niki Sanders made some deal with “The Company” for the sake of her family and Claire confessed her secret to West. Matt and Mohinder are spying for the good of the world and Hiro stuck around in 1671 for Kensei…or was it Yaeko? Just as the title of chapter three eluded to, they all truly are kindred.
© Copyright 2007 Blindigo Magazine | Article written by Niki Tschirgi
