[US] 2X04 - "The Kindness of Strangers" [** SPOILERS WITHIN **]

Baldie

OK

Rollo Tamasi wrote: »

This is the third time a beetle has been used in conjunction with Sylar's character. The first is when he is held captive and forces the your wan to shoot herself in the head, then again at the end of season 1 we see a beetle crawling out of the sewer and now we see a beetle near the dead body of the american car thief. In the first two instances it seemed like Sylar transferred his powers to the insect but I don't know why a beetle was shown next to your man's body in this weeks episode. Really odd.

I noticed this as well. The cockroach actually appears 8 times:

Genesis

While speaking to his class at Chennai University, Dr. Mohinder Suresh cites the cockroach as the pinnacle of evolution, and lists several of its advanced attributes. Later on, Mohinder arrives at his fathers apartment, and is disgusted when he steps on a cockroach that he sees on the floor.

Don't Look Back

The exterminator tells Mohinder that cockroaches have infested the floorboards of his apartment. After they scuffle, Mohinder says that cockroaches are the least of his problems.

Godsend

At Primatech Paper Co., Sylar watches a cockroach roam the floor of his cell

The Fix

Sylar remains on the floor of his cell and watches the cockroach walking next to his head.

Unexpected

Dale notes that when she first realized her powers, the sound of a cockroach's footsteps in her neighbor's home sounded like a marching band.

.07%

While Matt is unconscious in his cell, a cockroach crawls across Matt's meal.

How to Stop an Exploding Man

At Kirby Plaza, a cockroach crawls over an open manhole cover near a trail of Sylar's blood.

The Kindness of Strangers

A cockroach crawls over the brick which Sylar has used to kill Derek in the Mexican gas station.

In an interview, Tim Kring said he became fascinated with the idea of cockroaches possibly being "the pinnacle of evolution because they were so capable of adapting and existing in really troubled times. They are so perfectly genetically engineered. So, for me, it became the embodiment of this idea of evolution.

In a Q&A session the writers said emphatically that Sylar did not turn into a cockroach at the end of the season finale.They also suggested that it was symbolism that Sylar is like a human cockroach —- he's near impossible to completely get rid of.

quazzy wrote: »

I think he introduced himself as Gabriel is because he has no power (at the moment) and considers himself to be his weak old self.

Or you could say he's broken - IIRC he looked at his broken Sylar watch before answering.

Good episode though.

Ya I thought this as well. He announced himself as Gabrial Grey because he does not have his powers, so he is not Sylar....

Hyzepher

Sylar may have problems if he tries to steal the powers of the twins - her power looks pretty instantaneous and we have already seen can incapacitate Sylar very quickly.

I don't think west is in any way bad. Noah just saw that Claire was with a boy at the time of his death - no boy = less likely for painting/future to come through. I don't think the boy is the cause of his death.

Parkman's dad being the Badman and by inference being the killer is a bit weird. If he is the killer then concealing his image/identidy wasn't necessary as we had never seen parkman's dad before - leads me to believe that the killer is someone we have met before.

Sylar's appearance in Mexico will need to be explained. His storyline this season has been a little odd and must be a means to an end. So far it have served to allow Sylar steal Candice's power - nothing else.

The photo is interesting. Noah isn't on it but he is one of the 8 paintings - so it's not all about who is in the photo.

Monica's power looks interesting - if she can replicate anything she sees then she has a power similar to Peter's i would assume. in fact somewhere between Peter and Sylar.

Micah's attempt to "tap" into Monica leads me to believe that he has done it successfully before - we'll see.

funky penguin

OK

Thank god for this episode. It was much needed.

The Sylar/Twins story could prove to be very interesting. I'm guessing he's gonna kill one, and then a symbiotic relationship will occur.

Definately the best so far this season.

Sherifu

Hyzepher wrote:

Noah just saw that Claire was with a boy at the time of his death - no boy = less likely for painting/future to come through.

Agreed.

Hyzepher wrote:

I don't think the boy is the cause of his death.

I disagree, I think it must be a westicide, given the history.

Mahatma coat wrote:

well now that was much better, what is the new chicks powers, is it a cross between Charlie and Peter or what?

It seems to me to be the 'monkey see, monkey do' power

Faith wrote:

Why did the camera spend so long on Micah hand on her back?

I thought that Micah was trying to fix her like he does machines, make her happy. After the hug he says 'I wish I could fix your dreams'

I believe the cockroach is just a symbol for Sylar, I didn't read anymore into it
All in all a much better episode, heres hoping the twins get fixed

Goodshape

OK

Very good episode. I think not having any Oirish / Hiro / Nikki really helped. I don't mind the Oirish stuff as much as some of you, but it's definitely a distraction and sort of kills the immersion level.

Sylar was really great in this episode. Having him meet up with the Plague Twins is a stroke of genius.. makes that whole storyline a thousand million times more interesting. In fact everyone and everything seemed much more focused and interesting here than it has so far this season.

I was honestly beginning to worry after episode three that things were going to be pretty damn dull this season but, as others have pointed out, it's easy to forget that most of us watched the first whole pile of season one episodes pretty much back-to-back (I know I did)... and thinking about it, it took at least this long for that to really start going anywhere. Of course then you had the advantage of everything being new and somewhat more interesting anyway, but still.


Can't say I really cared about Parkmans dad being the 'bad man'... It'll probably prove to be interesting in the future but for now it tells us next to nothing. We've never seen nor heard of Parkmans dad before. Even Parkman hasn't seen him in about twenty years or whatever it is. So it didn't really feel like much of a revelation.

And I hope Molly stays in that coma for a long time. Dreadful annoying character.

Greg Grunberg (Parkman) was great in this episode though --- I like how he feels the need to share his thoughts and secrets with people, because it's 'only fair'. Can really see how his power has effected (affected?) him on a personal level.

Good to get rid of Nathan's beard too. Was it a fake beard? Didn't look right anyway.

seamus wrote: »

Looking at the picture - is the woman in the bottom-left Uhura? I think it's pretty obvious that's she's going to have a power of sorts.

Doesn't look like Uhura to me... would have to be her younger self if it was (judging by her hair and.. well, she just looks younger) but no one else in the picture is any younger than they currently are. I was surprised not to see her in the photo though. Can't imagine they got Nichelle Nichols in just to chop tomatoes and look after the kids.

randomchild

Hyzepher wrote: »

The photo is interesting. Noah isn't on it but he is one of the 8 paintings - so it's not all about who is in the photo.

Perhaps the guy with claire in the painting is in the photo? (Perhaps covered by the hand?)

davmi

I dont think parkmans dad is the killer, she is freaked out by him cos he sees her when she thinks of him, which suggests shes met him before! maybe his power is that he can control ppl when they think of him?? doesnt neccarily mean his the bad guy tho.
also i wonder will monicas brother and grandmother display any powers?? seems to run in families..

azzeretti

Mossy Monk wrote: »

The whole Clarie/West thing has me wondering what Mr Bennett is so protective about. He obviously knows something about west.
.

I don't think he know anything yet (although when he sees him, he will know because he abducted him and tagged him) he is just worried that when Claire starts dating it will lead to his death, as seen in the painting.

This week was much better, a lot more things to think about, and the cockroach was class - still not sure what to make of that. Also, one thing I notice hasn't been mentioned is the fact that all of Issac's paintings, including the exploding man, may still happen - don't forget that Peter could still explode.

West needs to get scalpped by Sylar (I liked the "tick tock" creaping back in) it won't be long before he's back. Also, I think he was still on the island in the last episode because Candice mightn't have been quite dead, I reckon when she died the illusion dissappeared. No doubt a flashback will help us with that on.

Also, it wasn't very obvious who Parkman was pointing at in the picture (was it? or I am wrong). I have a feeling that Molly looked at the picture and just saw the bad man, who I think is might be the "goldman" running the company. I might be wrong, but I can't recall Parkman pointing at a person, rather he just showed the picture (I think!)

Skud

Not Great

funky penguin wrote: »

Thank god for this episode. It was much needed.

The Sylar/Twins story could prove to be very interesting. I'm guessing he's gonna kill one, and then a symbiotic relationship will occur.

Definately the best so far this season.

(possible future episodes spoiler.. )

if they kill off one of the twins it's gonna be the brother... All the tours before the series included the girl and not the brother. Seems like she gonna be in the show for a long while like shreesh, parkman, claire, sylar....

Just appears that way to me anyways

I think the cockroach symbolised a troubled man... the guy sylar killed was in jail and robbed claires car (which they blatently pointed out) or else it symbalised sylar coming back slowly... imo



[Goodshape] added spoiler tags... I know it's nothing concrete but your making educated guesses based on info some people (like me) might want to avoid. [/Goodshape]

Redisle

OK

Best episode so far this season I think, Although things are still pretty slow, but as someone else said the first few eps of season1 werent all that great, I didnt notice so much because I watched the entire first season in 2 days

The thing about parkmans dad was kind of interesting when I watched it but thinking about it after it wasnt all that great.. all it and the Monica thing really did was suggest that powers run in families. Molly being in the coma, It was kind of an "oh no" moment when I realised she was somehow stuck inside her head or trapped by the bad man.. but then I did realise that she is a very irritating character and we are probably better off..
I really liked the storyline of Sylar meeting the twins.. Just when he realised they were murderers/had powers his own power of understanding how things work came back (the ticking) and presumably he is going to attempt to steal the twins powers, kind of strange him appearing on a road in mexico after being in the middle of nowhere, but as someone else suggested maybe candice wasnt dead yet?? Or maybe she isnt dead at all? Its possible him killing her may have been an illusion she created? It would explain why he dosent seem to have her powers.. maybe she is still alive and just wants him to think she is dead when she is in fact following him or something?

Its also pretty interesting/weird that the guy has Claire's car.. really shows us that everything/everyone is linked together.. strange thing is that he had keys to the car when leaving the police station so did Claire leave the dam thing unlocked with the keys in the ignition!!??

azzeretti

ab_cork wrote: »

Its also pretty interesting/weird that the guy has Claire's car.. really shows us that everything/everyone is linked together.. strange thing is that he had keys to the car when leaving the police station so did Claire leave the dam thing unlocked with the keys in the ignition!!??

It wouldn't be that hard to have these two storylines (Sylar and the rest) running at different time frames. It could be that we are seeing Sylar and the twins a couple of weeks after Clare and West (i.e the storyline is purposly jumping forward and back). It could be that the American bloke the twins took with them from the jail cell originally stole Clare's car. One thing is for sure though, we'll find out soon.

Hobbes

Baldie wrote: »

In an interview, Tim Kring [/FONT]said he became fascinated with the idea of cockroaches possibly being "the pinnacle of evolution because they were so capable of adapting and existing in really troubled times. They are so perfectly genetically engineered. So, for me, it became the embodiment of this idea of evolution.

They aren't though. It is an urban legend based on that they would survive a nuclear war. If the human population was wiped out the cockroach would die out in most of America in under 3 years.

http://www.worldwithoutus.com/did_you_know.html

Ya I thought this as well. He announced himself as Gabrial Grey because he does not have his powers, so he is not Sylar....

I think he does have his powers, or some are coming back. He picked up the brick, but you didn't see him follow the guy into the back room. He might of used TK to move the brick. It is one of the first powers he stole.

Goodshape

OK

Hobbes wrote: »

I think he does have his powers, or some are coming back. He picked up the brick, but you didn't see him follow the guy into the back room. He might of used TK to move the brick. It is one of the first powers he stole.

You did see him go into the back room after picking up the brick. You didn't see what he did in there (next shot he was getting into the car) but I'd guess he hit yer man in the head.

Unless I'm mistaken. (don't think so).

Cockroaches could be just symbolism I guess.. but if it is then it's being used a bit too much.

Suaimhneach

OK

I think West is hot, and I am glad of some eyecandy, as I am sure many of the female viewers are. Not so hot on the storyline romance right now, but I trust the writers to make it interesting.

Definitely a great epiosde. I couldnt help saying "He's in Cork" when Ma Paterli was like "I cant lose another son"

Lol.

Lookin forward to next week,

lynski

does anyone else think Clare and West might be brother and sister? We know nothing about him, and Nathan seems to travel a lot and didn't not seem to mind spreading his seed either. And West has the same power. Just a thought.

Suaimhneach

OK

lynski wrote: »

does anyone else think Clare and West might be brother and sister? We know nothing about him, and Nathan seems to travel a lot and didn't not seem to mind spreading his seed either. And West has the same power. Just a thought.

That would be so gross, and wrong. I'm actually logicing it out. He'd have to be a half brother... ick. I hope not. I hope the writers arent going to go down that road.

Why hasnt Clare the charachter thought that tho!

User45701

OK

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

Easily the best of the first four eps of this season IMO. The story is starting to develop, the Twins story is no longer an isolated one and I like Mica's cousin Monica (619). It seems her power is like an iproved version of Charlies (i think that was her name, Hiro's girl in season 1) who coincidentally also worked in a restaurant.
.

She had google brain, that was her power

seamus wrote: »

Looking at the picture - is the woman in the bottom-left Uhura? I think it's pretty obvious that's she's going to have a power of sorts.

Ye its her alright and yes she does clearly have a power but i hope its like Ms Petreli whos power we have still to see

Rollo Tamasi wrote: »

Nobody has mentioned what I thought was the most interesting thing to occur in this weeks episode....the cockroach/beetle thing appearing besides the dead body of the american car thief guy.

This is the third time a beetle has been used in conjunction with Sylar's character. The first is when he is held captive and forces the your wan to shoot herself in the head, then again at the end of season 1 we see a beetle crawling out of the sewer and now we see a beetle near the dead body of the american car thief. In the first two instances it seemed like Sylar transferred his powers to the insect but I don't know why a beetle was shown next to your man's body in this weeks episode. Really odd.

Baldie wrote: »

I noticed this as well. The cockroach actually appears 8 times:

Genesis

While speaking to his class at Chennai University, Dr. Mohinder Suresh cites the cockroach as the pinnacle of evolution, and lists several of its advanced attributes. Later on, Mohinder arrives at his fathers apartment, and is disgusted when he steps on a cockroach that he sees on the floor.

Don't Look Back

The exterminator tells Mohinder that cockroaches have infested the floorboards of his apartment. After they scuffle, Mohinder says that cockroaches are the least of his problems.

Godsend

At Primatech Paper Co., Sylar watches a cockroach roam the floor of his cell

The Fix

Sylar remains on the floor of his cell and watches the cockroach walking next to his head.

Unexpected

Dale notes that when she first realized her powers, the sound of a cockroach's footsteps in her neighbor's home sounded like a marching band.

.07%

While Matt is unconscious in his cell, a cockroach crawls across Matt's meal.

How to Stop an Exploding Man

At Kirby Plaza, a cockroach crawls over an open manhole cover near a trail of Sylar's blood.

The Kindness of Strangers

A cockroach crawls over the brick which Sylar has used to kill Derek in the Mexican gas station.

In an interview, Tim Kring said he became fascinated with the idea of cockroaches possibly being "the pinnacle of evolution because they were so capable of adapting and existing in really troubled times. They are so perfectly genetically engineered. So, for me, it became the embodiment of this idea of evolution.

In a Q&A session the writers said emphatically that Sylar did not turn into a cockroach at the end of the season finale.They also suggested that it was symbolism that Sylar is like a human cockroach —- he's near impossible to completely get rid of.




Ya I thought this as well. He announced himself as Gabrial Grey because he does not have his powers, so he is not Sylar....

I dont know, ive always assumed that the cockroach is a reference to a power that syler has that we have yet to see, we can assume he killed more people than the ones we have seen.

One of my friends believes its the power of another hero,

But i stil ldont understand all all the references to the symbol and to the solar eclipses, what about the whole God is a cockroach idea? They are a far soupier species to man biologically and might even survive longer than our own species, remember Starship troopers? they made a good point about cockroaches being soupier in the classroom at the start of the movie...

funky penguin wrote: »

Thank god for this episode. It was much needed.

The Sylar/Twins story could prove to be very interesting. I'm guessing he's gonna kill one, and then a symbiotic relationship will occur.

Definately the best so far this season.

He would have to kill them both because one would assume if he had your ones power and not his then he would die, he seems to control her power one is positive, one is negative

davmi wrote: »

I dont think parkmans dad is the killer, she is freaked out by him cos he sees her when she thinks of him, which suggests shes met him before! maybe his power is that he can control ppl when they think of him?? doesnt neccarily mean his the bad guy tho.
also i wonder will monicas brother and grandmother display any powers?? seems to run in families..

Im more interested to see what powers Nathans kids will display because they are about micas age

funky penguin

OK

Don't want to go off topic too much, but despite the flaws in Hiro's story, I love the new graphic novel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroes_graphic_novels

Goodshape

OK

User45701 wrote: »

Ye its her alright

I really don't think it is her (Uhrura / Micka's grandmother) in the photo.

See the attached image, close-ups of the 12 faces. Doesn't really look anything like her IMO.

For comparison, there a picture of the grandmother here : http://heroeswiki.com/Nana

funky penguin

OK

User45701 wrote: »

He would have to kill them both because one would assume if he had your ones power and not his then he would die, he seems to control her power one is positive, one is negative

Oh, I realise that. What I mean is unintentionally leave one alive. One may escape or what have you.

thelordofcheese

OK

Jesjes wrote: »

I couldnt help saying "He's in Cork" when Ma Paterli was like "I cant lose another son"

Same here, i couldn't stop myself from saying "shure, he's only in cark, bai!"

The Don

Goodshape wrote: »

I really don't think it is her (Uhrura / Micka's grandmother) in the photo.

See the attached image, close-ups of the 12 faces. Doesn't really look anything like her IMO.

For comparison, there a picture of the grandmother here : http://heroeswiki.com/Nana

I don't either. I think its nana's daughter and the mother of Monica and Damon. As thier mother was killed in Katrina we haven't seen what she looks like.

As for the killer, I don't think that it's one of the 12. Kaito Nakamura said that they did alot of wrong and that he tried to make up for it by helping Hiro. I think that it's someone that they found and experimented on, maybe the first that they experimented on when they setup the company.

Hrududu

I dont see why people are speculating that West might be Nathan's son. Of all the powers we have never seen one repeat from parent to child. So why would this be the case here?

Hyzepher

The women at the top right is a famous actress - cant remeber her name at the minute - so I would expect her to feature pretty soon

madrab

Guessing here but...

hmm maybe kensi is the killer
you know the that claires dad said that if they cought claire that they would experiment on her & test her to the limits, maybe thats because he was refering to a time when they had caught a healer (kensi, he can heal so its logical that he is immortal) & tested him to his limits. Suppose he escaped & is now killing everyone that tortured him

Think about it, he pushed sulu off the balcony & was not seen on the ground, he could have healed & ran off & when he kills people he leaves his symbol on the pictures

EDIT: Edited to remove spoiler tags

seamus

OK

madrab wrote: »

Guessing here but...
hmm maybe kensi is the killer
you know the that claires dad said that if they cought claire that they would experiment on her & test her to the limits, maybe thats because he was refering to a time when they had caught a healer (kensi, he can heal so its logical that he is immortal) & tested him to his limits. Suppose he escaped & is now killing everyone that tortured him

Think about it, he pushed sulu off the balcony & was not seen on the ground, he could have healed & ran off & when he kills people he leaves his symbol on the pictures

(No need for the spoiler tags )

I think it's a reasonable theory. Kensei was one of the first to see/know the symbol, so it's likely that he may have adopted it as "his" symbol and so the people in company knew that when they saw the symbol, they were boned. It would indeed explain how the killer survived the fall.

The attack on Angela Petrelli also seemed to be some sort of slashing attack, which would be at least remotely consistent with Kensei and his swordcraft. If she had some sort of power to try fend him off, then it would explain why she wasn't immediately split in half.

In addition, it's also been accepted that the company is generally up to no good - it's been painted as a "bad thing" for the whole show, so it's unlikely that Parkman's Dad would be interested in taking it down. We know that Kensei is slightly reformed after meeting Hiro, so it could very easily be a "good guy" who's looking to kill the company founders.

Goodshape

OK

It's a fine theory alright. The Hiro/Kensei story doesn't seem to be fitting into anything else at the moment - and Kensei himself, despite any 'reforms', is a surprisingly crap character.

Makes me think there's a false sense of security thing going on. Something big's got to happen to these guys.

Agamemnon

OK

madrab wrote: »

hmm maybe kensi is the killer
you know the that claires dad said that if they cought claire that they would experiment on her & test her to the limits, maybe thats because he was refering to a time when they had caught a healer (kensi, he can heal so its logical that he is immortal) & tested him to his limits. Suppose he escaped & is now killing everyone that tortured him

Think about it, he pushed sulu off the balcony & was not seen on the ground, he could have healed & ran off & when he kills people he leaves his symbol on the pictures

Interesting theory, madrab. It would link up the present and Hiro's adventures in the past nicely. Nakamura Snr. recognised his killer and this would fit if it was Kensei. Only problem is how he was able to get in and out of a police station without being seen. Kensei hasn't displayed any invisibility or teleportation powers yet, but maybe he's yet to discover them.

User45701

OK

I dont think kensi has any power other than the abality to heal. What happened to the

1000 year old irish guy we where supposed to see?, please dont tell me its kensi and his orish acent is just that bad

i think the only 3 people with multiple powers we know of are

Peter
Syler
The girl who is working at the diner, cant remember her name, power may be a veration of Sylers/Peters

Peter Needs physical touch/Close proximity
Syler needs a good look at there brain
She needs to see something in action (Mimicary)

madrab

well in a slightly off topic point, the actor who plays kensi played stark in alias with the same accent & he was meant to be irish

but more on topic, i think micca's cousin can only learn things that normal people can do when its shown on the telly, ok we have only seen it twice but it was both something that was physically possible & was on the telly