Unfortunately, Hiro and Ando return to the present missing a vital piece of information: Sylar was not the exploding man. It would have been incredibly useful if, when Peter was telling Ando that he died, he'd added 'oh, and incidentally, I'm the one who blew up the city. My bad.' Not that stabbing Sylar wouldn't be a valuable public service, but it's not going to save New York if Peter goes nuclear. Hiro's "save the cheerleader, save the world" theory was based on a false premise.
Unfortunately, yes, it was. And of course the silence about this fact is Future!Peter's own part of guilt, more so than the actual explosion, in a way, over which he had no control. But it's very clear that he didn't tell anyone until the outburst towards Niki. (Again, that he lives with a woman whose son died because of him without telling her this for years says something about how messed up F!Peter is.)
On the bright side, though, it really is possible to change the future. The Five Years Gone future has a Sylar who did eat Claire's brain in Homecoming. Even if they haven't managed to stop New York exploding yet, Hiro and Ando have changed things for the better. Having her brain eaten didn't kill Claire, but in that timeline Peter did not save her and so they never met.
Um, not so much. We have:
Timeline A) Claire dies, Sylar regenerates, Future!Hiro assumes that since he believes SYLAR is the one to explode (due to Nathan covering up for Peter), taking out Sylar would change everything, so he contacts Present!Peter with his message. Resulting in.
Timeline B) Claire doesn't die at Homecoming, she's saved by Peter. But since Sylar was never the one who explodes, this doesn't change anything. Claire simply dies a few years later, otherwise the future is still a mess.
So the question is - will we get a Timeline C) after Hiro and Ando return to the present, and if so, what will cause the change? (I know the answer, of course, but you don't yet.*g*)
II
Unfortunately, yes, it was. And of course the silence about this fact is Future!Peter's own part of guilt, more so than the actual explosion, in a way, over which he had no control. But it's very clear that he didn't tell anyone until the outburst towards Niki. (Again, that he lives with a woman whose son died because of him without telling her this for years says something about how messed up F!Peter is.)
On the bright side, though, it really is possible to change the future. The Five Years Gone future has a Sylar who did eat Claire's brain in Homecoming. Even if they haven't managed to stop New York exploding yet, Hiro and Ando have changed things for the better. Having her brain eaten didn't kill Claire, but in that timeline Peter did not save her and so they never met.
Um, not so much. We have:
Timeline A) Claire dies, Sylar regenerates, Future!Hiro assumes that since he believes SYLAR is the one to explode (due to Nathan covering up for Peter), taking out Sylar would change everything, so he contacts Present!Peter with his message. Resulting in.
Timeline B) Claire doesn't die at Homecoming, she's saved by Peter. But since Sylar was never the one who explodes, this doesn't change anything. Claire simply dies a few years later, otherwise the future is still a mess.
So the question is - will we get a Timeline C) after Hiro and Ando return to the present, and if so, what will cause the change? (I know the answer, of course, but you don't yet.*g*)