Heroes 1x07: Nothing to Hide

[andraste]

Oh, those Petrellis ...



I don't know who is more entertainingly manipulative here: Angela booking family brunch with a journalist without telling anyone, Nathan lying to Peter about getting the painting, or Peter threatening to fly off the balcony if Nathan doesn't help him. We get new insight to the family here as we meet Nathan's wife for the first time and another layer is added to the brothers' relationship.

Particularly illuminating is the final conversation between the two. I'd thought before that Nathan might be more inclined to embrace his powers if they were more useful in his line of work - I can't imagine him being so reluctant to employ, say, telepathy. Flying might be useful if you need to save your idiot brother from splattering himself or get away from a 'creepy Euro-dude' but it's not going to win any elections. Moreover, the kidnap attempt has made him aware of the dangers involved. It's sweet of him to warn his little brother to watch out for HRG.

We also get a new angle on Peter's abilities here - I'd been curious about those flying dreams. combined with his revelation in the first episode that he knew about Nathan's accident before the phone call, I'm wondering if there's more to his ability than borrowing powers. Maybe some kind of empathic link that he's sharing with both Nathan and Charles DeVeux?

While Nathan Petrelli keeps too many secrets, Hiro really needs to learn to hang on to a few. Amusing as it is to see him drive across America cheerfully announcing his super hero status to anyone in hearing distance, it's bound to get him into trouble sooner or later.

Meanwile, Claire's cat is let out of the bag in spectacular style. Loved the scene where Lyle has locked himself in the car, which is exactly the right blend of dramatic and funny. ("Why are we trying to kill him again?" "Because he looked at the tape and then he stapled me." Bwahaha!)

I was alarmed when it looked as if Sylar might have the ability to kill with radiation in addition to his other abilities, but I guessed it was just Audrey seeing connections where there were none as soon as they found the name on the computer. Now I'm wondering if this guy is the 'exploding man' from the last episode, or a red herring. (Don't tell me!) I hope for the sake of our regulars that he's not, because Claire is the only one we've met so far who probably couldn't be hurt just by standing near him. (Well, and Peter if he's standing next to Claire as well.) Poor Matt Parkman does a great job of solving the situation without violence as his home life gets ever worse.

I guess Micah's powers show that this thing really is both genetic and inheritable, and works just like the x-gene in the Marvel universe. (Children of mutants will probably have powers, but not necessarily powers that have any connection with those of their parents.) Now the question is why everyone's abilities seem to have started manifesting at the same time. Was there a trigger of some kind? The 'patient zero' Chandra Suresh was looking for?

Comments

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I don't know for sure, but I think the trigger for most of our heroes was the eclipse in the first ep which also appears in the titles. That doesn't make much sense at all though because eclipses are only seen from narrow regions on the planet, and as we know Hiro saw it, the people in the US can't have. [shrug]

It also doesn't explain those that had powers before that. I'm pretty sure as you say that thay're born with/inherit powers, but they take some time to manifest.

And you have some lovely surprises about the Petrellis and others coming up. :-D

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I love that episode. As with Hiros, it's one of my favourites, and I swear it's not just because of the twisted Petrelliness.*g* Lengthy episode analysis here (http://selenak.livejournal.com/297246.html), though that one has a few spoilers; I can send you a spoiler-free truncated version, if you like, but here's an excerpt:

Nothing To Hide is evidence A against the perception of Peter as a naïve babe in the woods among the Petrellis. At this point of the show, only a few days have passed since the earlier mentioned press stunt, and he’s still understandably pissed off about it, but when Simone mentions the painting of Isaac Peter wants was bought by her client, Mr. Linderman, Peter does not choose to ask Simone to get it back from Linderman. Or, say, to give him Linderman’s phone number. He doesn’t tell her he knows exactly who Linderman is, either. Instead, he shows up at Nathan’s and asks Nathan to get the painting from Linderman for him, and a great mixture of fraternal powerplay, needling and unexpected solidarity ensues. Coupled with lots of shoulder kneading, since we’re talking Petrellis here. It’s typical for them that early in the conversation they have alone, when Peter says “Charles Deveaux died this morning”, Nathan takes a time out from brushing him off because of the reporter to say quietly “I’m sorry. Were you there?”, and that later on during the brunch of glorious double talk and dysfunctionality, the moment it’s apparent the reporter goes after a genuine weak spot of Nathan’s, the mysterious blonde in Vegas, Peter helps him out by providing him with an alibi.

But back to Peter as an active player in Petrelli power issues. This will always be one of my favourite exchanges between them:

NATHAN: Peter, I'm sorry. But you're gonna have to go, okay?

PETER: Hey, you know what? I'm just gonna fly off the terrace, yeah? No? Hey, I can fly. Nathan, so can you.

(Peter puts his hands on Nathan’s shoulders. Of course he does.)

PETER: I'll tell you what. Why don't we just race around the Statue of Liberty real quick, huh? Give this tweedy guy something to write about.

NATHAN: You wouldn't.

PETER: Ah?

(Peter gives Nathan a look and heads for the terrace.)

And the ensuing “sure I’m going to vote for Nathan” speech while Nathan looks daggers and Peter looks back like he’s having the time of his life is just fun, fun, fun.

Nathan's attitude re: his power: you're on to something, but you're still missing a crucial bit of information, though the circumstance I'm referring to is hinted at in this episode. More to come in Six Months Ago.

Maybe some kind of empathic link that he's sharing with both Nathan and Charles DeVeux?

That, or he simply absorbed another power from someone else. This episode was when people started to speculate Peter might have borrowed the prophetic/true dreams thing from Charles Deveaux. Which worked until Six Months Ago, also for revelations therein.

I guess Micah's powers show that this thing really is both genetic and inheritable, and works just like the x-gene in the Marvel universe. (Children of mutants will probably have powers, but not necessarily powers that have any connection with those of their parents.)

Yes. Let's just say Micah isn't the only example of someone with two superpowered parents in this show.

Manifest/trigger: the pilot makes it look as if the eclipse was one, but actually not for all of the characters, just a few. Besides, even at this stage of the show you have the Haitian, who clearly has had his ability for longer than just a few weeks, hmmmm?

[svilleficrecs.livejournal.com]

LOVE that brunch scene, and how it told us almost as much about the family dynamic in five minutes as we've learned so far in the series. It's really fun to read through these reactions and see you put the pieces together as you go along. :)

[12-12-12.livejournal.com]

I don't know who is more entertainingly manipulative here: Angela booking family brunch with a journalist without telling anyone, Nathan lying to Peter about getting the painting, or Peter threatening to fly off the balcony if Nathan doesn't help him. We get new insight to the family here as we meet Nathan's wife for the first time and another layer is added to the brothers' relationship.

One of my favorite scenes on the show, ever. Loved it from beginning to end. Peter's smirk, Nathan's discomfort, Angela's apparent surprise that her younger son had this side to him, and Heidi's amusement at the boys.

Also, when Peter comes back to the brunch table he says, "Sorry. Nathan gave me an earful about showing up in cords. I told him I'm trying to stay grounded." At which Nathan looks daggers at him. Hee hee hee.

I also loved that Peter stops fooling around and comes to Nathan's rescue once he realizes that his brother really is in trouble over what happened in Vegas.

Meanwile, Claire's cat is let out of the bag in spectacular style. Loved the scene where Lyle has locked himself in the car, which is exactly the right blend of dramatic and funny. ("Why are we trying to kill him again?" "Because he looked at the tape and then he stapled me." Bwahaha!)

"YouTube is free, you idiot!"

That line will never fail to amuse me.

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

I love this show. *happy*