Heroes Season Finale (Episode 1.23) - "How to Stop an Exploding Man"
Original Airdate: May 21st, 2007

I think I’m having some sort of schizophrenic meltdown over this season finale � in particular, the long-awaited Ultimate!Showdown! between Peter and Sylar. Because this state of mind is rather Niki-Jessica-esque, I’ll let them break it down for you.

Niki: Wow, that was amazing, you guys! I love how all the Heroes came together to fend off Sylar. It was like watching an actual comic book Superteam take on the Big Bad. Finally, these characters we’ve come to love over the past season joined forces in a satisfying way and everyone had a part to play (well, except Matt, who just got himself shot. And my adorable D.L., who was totally incapacitated by Linderman’s Linderbullet, rendering him useless. But everyone else!). Plus, did you see me whack Sylar with that parking meter? I am like frakking She-Hulk up in here! Awesome!

Jessica: Whatever. This so-called "battle" that we’ve been primed for for what seems like forever was more like an Ultimate!Letdown! Peter didn’t do anything except whine and get his ass saved by the rest of the Heroes and then Hiro stabbed Sylar in a completely anti-climactic way. Where’s the amazing superdisplay of superpowers we’ve been waiting for? Also, how come none of you assholes remembered to CUT SYLAR’S HEAD OFF? Now he’s probably still alive. Plus, Niki got blood all over my glorious, shiny trenchcoat. If this is how y’all are gonna play it, I’m staying in this stupid mirror FOREVER.

Thanks, ladies.

As for the rest of this episode, me and Niki and Jessica all deem it "pretty good." Some stuff that happens prior to the big battle: Claire hangs out with Nathan and Mama Petrelli and finds them so annoying that she jumps out a window. Peter has some sort of dream/vision thing wherein he encounters Simone’s dad, who seems to know something about all this superhero-y lore. Niki rescues Micah from Candice, and Bennet, Mo and Matt join forces and get Molly to locate Sylar. Molly also seems to hint at an even Bigger Bad, which I imagine we’ll be seeing next season. Hiro saves Ando’s ass from Sylar, and teleports them both back to Japan. He leaves Ando behind, but not before Ando informs Hiro that he looks "badass."

This is the best bit of the episode, for me: it’s really lovely to see the completion of Hiro’s evolution into true Hero, and Ando’s gentle endorsement says it all. Remember when Ando regarded Hiro with a mixture of pity and amusement? Now, he seems to gaze upon his nerdy pal with something akin to awe.

So then we have the battle, which we already covered. In the end, Peter starts going all radioactive, but Claire can’t quite bring herself to shoot him. So Nathan swoops in and flies away with Peter and the Brothers Petrelli explode in the sky. This is pretty dang thrilling and I especially love how it mirrors the amazing final scene of the first episode. Truly, Pasdar deserves all that fangirl attention he seems to attract so effortlessly.

And yet, it needles at me just a little bit that the show feels the need to re-hash the "save the cheerleader" line during this iconic moment. It’s too on-the-nose obvious and it feels awkwardly inserted into the proceedings, like a bit of off-key product placement ("Save the Cheerleader, drink Sierra Mist!!"). I’m only harping on it because this is a big, crazy-important moment for the show, and big, crazy-important moments for shows like this need to be just right.

Anyway, Heroes finishes off its first saga thusly, then segues into the next by depositing Hiro in feudal Japan many years ago during what appears to be an eclipse. Whaaa�? To be continued! I do like where this is heading, especially if one of our masked warriors looks like George Takei. Or James Kyson Lee.

So that’s it. One mostly-thrilling season in the bag. What are my hopes and dreams for season two? Well, I would like Matt to survive, because a televisual world without Greg Grunberg just isn’t worth living in. I would like Sylar to die, because his arc feels very complete, but I somehow don’t think that’s happening. I would like the show to shy away from the occasional on-the-nose one-liner, because it’s generally better than that. And I would really, really like for them to add a few more female characters, because Heroes is still fairly testosterone top-heavy.

You know who’s free right about now, Tim Kring? Kristen Bell. Just sayin’.

iTunes Links:

Heroes - Series
Heroes - Season 1
This episode - "How to Stop an Exploding Man"

Vern Seward is a writer who currently lives in Orlando, FL. He’s been a Mac fan since Atari Computers folded, but has worked with computers of nearly every type for 20 years.