This episode comes on the heels of Entertainment Weekly’s harsh look at what is wrong with the series. But before we get to painting the big picture (or finding it), let’s first review/recap the current episode.

  Sylar to the rescue! Sylar comes to his brother’s rescue! We can all guess he took Peter’s place to get inside the company, and then slowed down his fall from the 7th floor. But I love how the episode led up to this. It seems that Angela’s powers are beyond merely dreaming or seeing the future. She can actually communicate with others in their dreams even when she’s in a coma. So she tells Sylar to wake up, get himself out of Level 5, and rescue Peter. And then to tell her new ‘favorite son’ Gabriel that he still hasn’t reached his full potential yet, that’s a revelation. I wonder what Sylar would be like if he used all his intrinsic abilities (and not the ones he took). Still, something doesn’t sit well with Gabriel’s newfound love for his mom. I can’t believe The First Evil is needy like that – “she was the first person to accept me for who I am” – as if all he needed was someone to love him! All that brain-stripping for that? Hmm. I don’t know.

It was right for daddy Arthur to insinuate that Angela is not the ideal mother that Gabriel was looking for. I’m sure there’s some truth to that! And yet, even when Gabriel stayed with his newfound dad, you can tell he wasn’t completely sold on the “Father-son world domination” either.

So what happens with the rest of the Heroes? There is more after the cut.

image used with permission: NBC/Photo Mitchell Haaseth

Mohinder’s Web. Already at the end of his line, and still not finding a cure that will remove Maya’s abilities, Mohinder Suresh brings his girlfriend to Pinehearst Industries and gets introduced to the elder Petrelli. Easy as pie, Arthur takes all traces of Maya’s powers for himself, and leaves her “cured”. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, that puts the abilities in more dangerous hands than it was in Maya’s alone. And there is no Alejandro to stop it this time… unless Sylar took Alejandro’s abilities before he killed him! I don’t know that we’ll ever know that, or if the writers are planning to use this, but I hope Sylar has that counter-power.

Mohinder has either grown desperate or greedy or monstrous, else how could he have taken the offer to work for Pinehearst? Either Arthur is too guile or Mohinder is too naive to believe he’s among friends. He has certainly gone a long way from the time when Bob Bishop forced him to develop the Shanti virus.

Call this television, but how did Mohinder develop the formula so quickly that he was able to test it on his first subject just like that? Anyway, so Peter is the guinea pig, as his power lie in being primed to accept abilities.

Elle overpowers. Poor Elle. She never really got to redeem herself, and now her powers are out of control. But there was one sequence I liked in the episode, maybe because I’m a sucker for second chances… I like that Elle went to HRG and teamed up with Claire to get answers from Pinehearst. That scene in the airplane where the pilot warned against the use of electrical devices, I thought that was ingenious! I shall never use a cell phone inside the plane anymore.

The rest of the story. Maury Parkman dropped dead. Literally, at the slap of a hand from his master Arthur, which makes me wonder again exactly the kinds of tricks Arthur Petrelli has up his sleeves.

But there is no love lost with his son Matt whose only question was why his dad stood up for him like that. Daphne got cozy with Matt, who wants to believe what he saw in the future. Now she’s a double agent, working for Pinehearst because of what Arthur Petrelli has against her if she didn’t comply to his wishes.

Nathan meets his ex-wife Meredith and that was awkward, but funny. Tracy denies she and Nathan are together, but aren’t they always together?

Hiro is asked to go back in time to fix things, but now the hero is afraid since he knows what happened the two times he went back – a still-dead Charlie and a vengeful Adam.

Maya got voted off the island. So was that it for Dania Ramirez? Her character Maya is cured of her ability, and she has no problem that Arthur Petrelli took it. Maya’s abilities are awesome and scary. Imagine it now in the hands of Arthur Petrelli or Sylar for that matter. But washing her hands clean, Maya took off just like that, into the sunset with her newly practiced American accent, cash in her hands and a suitcase. Except no taxi was waiting for her and no postlude remarks when the credits rolled… Dania Ramirez is a good actress, but I didn’t think Maya’s character was solid enough to have lasted this long. Tell me if I’m wrong.

image used with permission: NBC/Photos Mitchell Haaseth and Mike Ansell

Post from: Superhero Profiles

Even after the Level 5 fiasco, I never doubted that those who possess Sylar’s powers – him and Peter – can do the greatest harm. That is, until dad comes along. Arthur Petrelli is scary. He is now virtually unstoppable and everyone around him is dispensable.

But first let’s see what went down –

Knox took Adam Monroe in to see a bedridden, immovable Arthur Petrelli, and for the first time Adam was scared for his life. Arthur only had to touch him and Adam’s powers and life source transferred to the incapacitated elder. Adam dried out and turned to dust right before our eyes! Is this goodbye for David Anders? Man, he wasn’t really given enough scenes to shine in volume 3. It’s a shame.     NBC Photo: Adam Taylor

Meanwhile, Meredith is hostaged by Eric Doyle, a puppeteer who can control a human’s muscles and movement. Claire and her mom Sandra try to save her only to be held captive themselves. A game of Russian roulette points the gun at Claire and Sandra shoots her daughter. Eric Doyle’s mad laughter at the sight of a dead Claire was short-lived when Claire regenerated and hit the puppeteer’s head unconscious. HRG finishes the job by putting Doyle into a coma and bringing him back to Level 5.

Now for a good news and a big ‘whew’!

Ando Masahashi is not dead. Hiro Nakamura faked Ando’s death by going back in time and tutoring his best friend how to fake a death. That sword -jabbing we saw last week was all play-acting. Good call, Hiro! I just can’t accept that you’d be anything other than good. Daphne instructs Hiro to find Usutu, the African bushman and bring him alive back to Pinehearst. After unsuccessful attempts at trying to get the African, Hiro finally learns his lesson and Usutu shows him a painting of the Pinehearst villains.

Meanwhile, Pinehearst Industries’ newest delivery girl Daphne begins recruiting evolved humans to join the Industry. She starts with Matt Parkman, who was at the airport flying in from Africa and expecting to find her. Matt tells Daphne they have a future life together and taken by his seeming kindness, she asks him to wait until she ends her errands. Later on she tells Matt to stay away from Pinehearst instead, since he didn’t seem like the other monsters that she’s been collecting for her new boss.

Daphne goes to Level 5 and recruits Flint and Sylar. Sylar refuses and insists that he no longer wants that kind of life. Instead he wakes up Peter from his coma and asks his brother to help their mother, who mysteriously went into her own coma. Sylar learned that his future self is able to control his urges but Peter wants it taken away from him at once. Peter and Sylar spars their frustrations out and Peter won the fight. Peter locks Sylar in Level 5 again by inducing a coma.

Eager to find out how to remove their powers, Nathan and Tracy go to the professor’s lab. Suresh traps them into believing he can help them. Tracy tries to get Suresh’s sympathy and freezes his arms. She frees Nathan from the straps but Suresh stops them both.

Peter goes to Pinehearst Industries, ready to avenge his mother’s condition and bring down this new villain. He is shocked to find his father is alive and behind all these new killing. But Arthur extends a welcome embrace to Peter, who makes the mistake of taking it. A white aura flowed from Peter to Arthur, taking away all of Peter’s evolved powers.

So again, Arthur Petrelli is one big badass. He can take the powers and life of anyone he wishes to touch. We can only guess that he grows stronger and more powerful with every transfer. It is starting to make sense – Sylar’s and Peter’s powers are similar to their dad’s, except in the delivery. Whereas Sylar has to take the powers directly from the brain, Peter only has to be near a post human and he will absorb that person’s powers.  But nothing beats daddy. Arthur Petrelli has the ability absorb a person’s powers by touch, essence and more than anything, lifeforce. We can only assume he’s had years of using it before his two sons ever did. How did Arthur get these powers? What did he do to Angela and what else can he do?

[UPDATES: Thanks to readers Lewey and Dylan, who pointed out that Arthur doesn't take life forces, only powers.]

images used with permission by NBC / Photos: Trae Patton and Adam Taylor

Post from: Superhero Profiles

THIS is the episode that should get viewers hooked to future episodes! There are so many reveals and so many more questions. I’ll throw mine in later but now let’s look at what happened.

Tracy Strauss finds she’s one of identical triplets who became test subjects for DNA manipulation. A formula injected into them created their abilities. The other twins were Niki and a still-mysterious Barbara. Confused and desperate, Tracy attempted to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge, and just in time Nathan swooped in to save her. Now they know the truth about each other, and whoa, are they hooking up?

Future Peter brings present Peter four years into the future and shows him how a formula from the past has given people abilities. Future Pete wants his alter-ego to stop whoever started the chain reaction of events. Unfortunately, Claire got to future Peter and shot him dead on the spot. Present Peter runs to find Mohinder, who has become reptilian and blames himself for what he has unleashed on the world.

images used with permission by NBC / Adam Taylor and Chris Haston

At the Bennet home, Peter finds a new, composed Sylar who still has the abilities but learned to control them for the sake of his young son Noah. Sylar himself revealed how his abilities work  – there is a hunger inside him, a lust for more that he can’t control. Once present Peter showed Sylar (or Gabriel now) what the future looked like, Sylar agreed to let Peter absorb his powers.

Claire, Knox and Daphne are now part of a team and they want to kill Peter. A fight happens and Sylar’s son dies! That broke Sylar and he becomes so uncontrollable that he literally explodes! Daphne, who is now (in the future) married to Matt Parkman and had adopted Molly, barely escapes the explosion and dies in her husband’s arms. Unfortunately, Matt had a precog about this when he saw the future. Now he wants to find Daphne and save her.

Still in the future, present Peter lies powerless and strapped on a pathology table. Claire was slowly slicing him open. With the Haitian around, Peter is powerless to stop her. President Nathan Petrelli walks in! He warns Peter that everyone needs to save the world and the burden is not on him alone anymore. Present Peter feels the hunger from Sylar’s powers and he slices Nathan’s head. Peter barely stops himself, goes back to present day Level 5 and told Sylar to help him get rid of it.

Meanwhile, Hiro and Ando try to escape the Level 5 but kept getting stopped by the Haitian. Angela finally talked to the pair and told Hiro it’s all his fault. He must get the formula back otherwise the world will be destroyed. There is only one other person that can help Hiro: Adam Monroe, and they dug the immortal from 6 feet under.

Incredible! This is how “Heroes” should be about – twists, turns and fast-paced stories under 45 minutes. Now we have an idea of what the future will be like. No matter what, an explosion happens and people are going to die. It could be in New York, Japan or California. Future Peter also dies, which was strange because I would have thought he has Claire’s powers so he can save himself at least. So Claire forms an alliance with known villains Knox and Daphne, and I’ll have to add Matt and the Haitian. But in the future they believe they’re the good guys, and future Peter is the villain. Claire’s new team doesn’t seem to be terrorists otherwise why didn’t President Nathan (yes the future US president) apprehend them? Mohinder realized that there is no cure and no stopping what he has unleashed with his formula. Is he destined to become reptilian, since he has already injected the drug in the present time? Now that present Peter has Sylar’s abilities, is he doomed as well, or can he find some sort of redemption like Sylar did?

Now the writers are probably trying to put humor into the show with Matt’s turtle spirit guide, but it’s not working. It just totally destroyed the seriousness of Matt’s quest for his “totem” and saving his future family. And what’s with Hiro being dumb? That’s another lame angle that the writers have been using with Hiro and Ando. I get the initial “Yata” moment that was funny in the first season. But the guy has been to ancient Japan, fell in love twice, buried his father and fought with the heroes. Why are they trying to make him look like an idiot that can not comprehend? Ando’s becoming the wise and courageous side kick, no problem there, but Hiro… He’s got to grow up.

Anyway, “Heroes” continues next week with “Angels and Monsters” and there’s no missing this one!

images used with permission by NBC / Adam Taylor and Chris Haston

Post from: Superhero Profiles

It also had a weird way of pulling the viewer (me) in, while keeping the stomach stay knotted the whole time. You know it’s not going to end well, but you want to know just how sick and vile the characters can go. So you watch till the end, and then you feel sick and relieved when it’s over.

“Pathology” revolves around Dr. Ted Grey (Milo Ventimiglia), a new Pathology intern at the University Hospital in Philadelphia who cross hairs with a group of psychopathic residents and their sick game of committing the perfect crime. The rest must then figure out how this crime was committed, and the winner goes to the unsolved murder. Fascinated with playing god, Grey finds out too late how deep he is in the muck, and the only way out was to commit the final perfect murder.

Milo Ventimiglia delivered a steady performance as the morally gray doctor, but the man of the hour would have to be Michael Weston. As antagonist Dr. Jake Gallo, deranged leader of the midnight cult, Weston stole the scene every time. Unfortunately, the remainder of the cast didn’t get to shine that much, including Alyssa Milano, as Ted’s fiancee, whose “shining moment” was a full body replica of herself on the autopsy table. I really thought that was her! Props to the production and make-up teams.

The 93-minute film lives up to its R rating with its sexuality and violence, which left nothing to the imagination. One interesting extra to the DVD is the feature on creating the perfect murder, as it shows behind-the-scenes from the movie. Those were cool and explained how the production design and make-up were able to get the dead people looking as real as possible. The feature also showed footage of the cast and their trip to the LA County morgue, as their “education” into the world of criminal investigation unity, and at one time they saw more than 150 corpses. If you think that’s gross, Milo Ventimiglia came away from all that realizing how important taking care of himself and his loved ones are. If you’re into CSI, crime investigations and medical mysteries, you will really like the special features. Alyssa Milano even shared how they got to create a plastic replica of her full body, but you’ll have to watch the movie (if you haven’t yet) to see why she needed one.

image: Amazon

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The Level 5 villains have escaped and the Company is scrambling to bring them back. They take a bank hostage and ringleader Benjamin Knox lures the Company to take revenge on Noah Bennet, the one who bagged and tagged them.

After being incarcerated inside his cell for who knows how long, Noah reported back to his employers purportedly to help capture the bad guys. He ends up being partnered with Sylar, who Angela Petrelli vouches for as her misunderstood son. It’s interesting what Angela told Noah when he hesitated to pair up with Sylar – “I can make you do what you don’t want to do.” You really wonder the extent of her powers. So, Angela blamelessly tells Sylar that his uncontrollable “hunger” drove him to become who he is. She is actually encouraging Sylar to take even more, and he doesn’t disappoint.

Peter, stuck in the body of Jesse, finally discovers his host’s powers – the sound waves from his voice become a visible force that displaces everything in its path. Just in time, future Peter steps in, knocks Peter off of Jesse’s body and takes his alter-ego to the future. Now that’s really interesting! We know present and future persona can meet, but to take your other self along to the future? That’s a twisted view of the space-time continuum.

Anyhow, at the bank, Sylar steps up as a take-charge guy, and he is quite impressive. He actually helped Noah take down the villains, and that’s exactly what the smarter, non-evolved partner wanted, except even he can’t stop Sylar from taking Jesse’s vocal powers. Yeah, Jesse and The German ended up dead, one in the hands of Sylar and the other (The German) in Knox’s hands.

Meanwhile, Hiro and Ando follow the Speedster to Germany where an exchange was supposed to take place, between the Haitian and some other person. Daphne ends up with the briefcase containing the other half of the formula, and Hiro and Ando are caught by the Haitian. The Japanese duo end up in Level 5. So now, whoever Daphne’s boss is (apparently not the Company) could have his hands on this potentially destructive formula. We’re now looking at some other rogue group, other than the Company, that wants a piece of the world.

Bio-mom Meredith teaches Claire a thing or two about her motives for going after Sylar, and tells her daughter that she has to learn to save herself before she can save the world. Unfortunately, Claire really takes after her mom, and the indestructible cheerleader head out on her own with Primatech dossier in her hands. Where are you going, Claire?

Tracy Strauss, distraught about her icy powers, goes to New Orleans to find answers. Well, she saw it face to face in the dead body of Niki Sanders. Micah knew at once that she wasn’t his mom, but he did the next best thing. He showed Tracy how she might be connected to Niki – it’s with a doctor named Zimmerman, who welcomed her like he has been expecting it. What did Zimmerman mean when he said he “created” Tracy?

Matt finds his life-story drawn by the African bushman. His new friend has been following his life through his drawings. But something has happened and now Matt’s future has completely changed.

Next week’s episode “Heroes” 3.04 “I Am Become Death” previews the future, and did you get a peek at a domestic Sylar?! 

So, WHAT DID YOU THINK OF TONIGHT’S EPISODE?

Images used with permission by NBC/Chris Haston

Post from: Superhero Profiles

Tonight, at 9 pm ET, “Heroes” continues with the third episode “One of us, one of them“. But before we delve into the story, let’s look at highlights from last week’s 2-hour premiere “The Second Coming/Butterfly Effects” quickly.

• Future Peter goes back to the present and shoots Nathan. He imprisons present Peter in the body of a Level 5 inmate, Jesse.
• Sylar becomes invincible/immortal.  
• Claire is alive, able to heal but unable to feel pain.
• Claire’s mom Meredith arrives at the Bennets.
• Linderman heals Nathan from the fatal gunshot wounds.
• Tracy Strauss, who looks exactly liked Niki Sanders, invites Nathan as junior Senator for New York.
• Tracy uses her freeze-powers to kill a squealing reporter. 

• Hiro fails to guard half of a formula that could destroy the world.
• A Speedster named Daphne stole it and a chase between Hiro and Daphne begins.
• Hiro went to the future and saw his own death.
• Mohinder injects an enzyme from Maya’s adrenal gland and gives him super-powers, and scales on his back.
• Matt is deported to Africa and meets an African bushman who can paint the future.
• Sylar attacks the Company to get the powers of some Level 5 inmates.
• The villains and Noah Bennet escape.
• Angela Petrelli takes over the Company. She dreams of a different, more deadly future and confronts future Peter to take care of the mess he started.

Future Peter feared that Nathan’s announcement was the pivot that brought the chaos in the future he came from. By intervening, future Peter started a series of events that ultimately changed the future, but now he is not sure he did actually save the world. Claire lost her abilities to feel, Sylar gained her powers and Level 5 villains escape. But several other events happened beyond Peter’s knowledge that could have altered history – Hiro lost the formula, and Mohinder found the source of power.

it’s now apparent that no one and nothing is supposed to be where they are. 

Tonight, we find out if that future is more dangerous for those with evolved abilities. One thing is for certain. Having villains free and roaming to wreak havoc is not good for anyone, including those from the Company.

For spoilers and scoop of tonight’s “One of us, one of them” and the rest of Heroes volume 3 episodes, here.

images used with permission by NBC/Chris Haston

Post from: Superhero Profiles

Really, tonight’s episode has a very simple plot. But the cool thing about it is this episode laid out what the rest of the season is all about.

It’s Clark Kent’s first day as a Daily  Planet reporter, and a bus explosion puts the hero into a 911 mode. Clark helps several people to safety, and one of them is Tess Mercer, unknown to Clark at that time until later in the day when she introduces herself as the new boss at the Planet. Another survivor from the explosion is Bette Souci (Jessica Parker Kennedy), who was helped by Chloe Sullivan and paramedic Davis Bloom (Sam Witwer). When Chloe learned that Bette was a street-kid, Chloe offered her apartment until the teenager could find a better place.

Suspicious that the explosion might be caused by another meteor-freak, Clark asked Bette if she had seen anything. The girl lied that it was a boy she knew, and she then killed him with her “high frequency blast” powers to hide the truth.

When the evidence didn’t connect properly to the boy, Clark finally realized it was Bette. At the same time, Chloe was finding out from Bette that the girl was a test subject at the Montana facility where she was held for three years. Bette had escaped a few weeks ago but on that morning of the bus accident, she had felt cornered. The girl did what she thought was necessary to protect herself. Unfortunately, Bette thought Chloe knew too much and was about to shoot her with her fiery eyes when Clark flew in to rescue Chloe. Clark gave Bette the pep talk that she’s OK, that there was good in the girl, and eventually she’ll learn to handle her powers. For a moment there, one who follows the DC comics wonders if Bette would turn out for good after all.

Alas, this is where Clark and Chloe get it wrong. They asked Bette to stay at Belle Reeve. Meteor-freaks like Bette don’t want to be locked up again. So, when Tess Mercer offered Bette a chance at being treated like the superpowered girl that she is, Bette reluctantly accepted. Luthor’s new protege is creating a “team” of people with special abilities and she’s recruiting Bette into that, to “make a hero out of” her yet. And that’s how Plastique became a supervillain.

That Tess Mercer is badass. She’s as devious as her predecessor was, and maybe even worse. She didn’t waste time scheming to create the same trouble and world domination as her missing boss, smiling innocently at the same time. The big question is why the loyalty? She seems to be doing exactly everything that Lex would had he been around, but why? Who is she and what does she want?

Lois and Clark team up to break the story that there was no device of any kind that triggered the explosion. Their first time working together, Lois took Clark under her wings as her cub reporter. “You have a long career ahead of you at the Daily Planet, Clark,” says Lois, and Superman fans all know what that means.

Clark also finds out that Chloe has been engaged for a week and yet she didn’t tell him. Clark admits that they are more than friends, but Chloe stops him to say things will change between them after she and Jimmy get married. And you know what Clark does, he assures her that all he wants is Chloe’s happiness and “it’s OK”. A very awkward congratulatory hug happens and somehow you wonder if this is where the roads of these two friends go separate ways.

Meanwhile, paramedic Davis Bloom struck a friendship with Chloe that makes one think if this new connection will lead to something else. Davis seems a genuinely good person, despite the harsh childhood that he had. And yet, at the end of the episode, there was an unconscious Davis lying in an alley, in the last stages of a transformation to human from something that was totally sinister.

At the start of this review, I said there was nothing extraordinary about the plot of this episode. What is very interesting, and well-thought of, is the development of certain characters. Tess Mercer for one. Actress Cassidy Freeman has this Lex-girl all figured out. Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor is still larger than life, but I don’t think it’s going to be hard to replace his effect now that someone with the same caliber of malevolence has come. Cassidy Freeman is very convincing in her role as the new bad girl of Smallville. Paramedic Davis Bloome still has to make his mark, but because we know where he’s going to end, we’re tuning in to every hint of a miscue in his personality. Chloe and Clark are at an awkward time in their friendship, but there is anticipation of where Lois and Clark are heading with their combo as Daily Planet reporters.

Next week, “Smallville” continues with “Toxic“, and we discover a connection between Oliver Queen and Tess Mercer.  Get scoops for all “Smallville” season 8 episodes here.

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As Angela Petrelli warned Peter, “step on a butterfly today, three years from now a million people are wiped out”. Who started a butterfly effect of events? Can it be stopped or are the pieces in place now for an inevitable future? Future Peter went back to the present to correct the mistakes that were made, but Angela’s dreams revealed that the future has now changed completely.

Future Peter hid present Peter in the body of a Level 5 prisoner – Jesse Murphy, and the former thought his alter-ego was safe. Well, as his mother confessed, Peter wasn’t the brightest of her sons. And, I keep wondering how in the world can you “hide” a man inside another man’s body? That’s obviously a new Peter-power.

Sylar, with his newfound invincibility powers from Claire, takes on the Company, and kills Bob Bishop first. He definitely didn’t think there were villains more powerful than him. Elle’s electricity was too much for Sylar to handle and as she exploded, the Level 5 prisoners escaped. Peter/Jesse went along with his new gang and saw the atrocities they can do. And Sylar ended in the Level 5 cell again.

Nope, that’s not Niki Sanders. Her name is Tracy Strauss and she’s adviser to Molden, governor of New York. Seeing the miraculous healing of Nathan sent Tracy on a recruiting spree to get him as the junior senator for NY. Of course Nathan thought she was Niki Sanders! And apparently, another tabloid reporter thought she was too, showing Tracy a footage of her (or Jessica) and Nathan in the Vegas hotel.

Dubbed as the “Ice Queen” for her political maneuvering, Tracy’s freezing abilities manifested for the first time and tabloid man was her first frozen vic. It ought to be interesting to follow how Tracy is related to Niki. Are they twins? As Linderman anything to do with it? After all, he owned that footage and knowing how he likes manipulating Nathan I wouldn’t be surprised if this is his doing again.

Claire attempts another video to prove that she is still human, and to her teenage mind it was getting hit by a train. Uncle Peter flies in to the rescue and finds out that Sylar can now heal. Once again he realizes that the future has become different than how he left it. None of that was supposed to happen. Pain, Claire said, was one thing she was grateful for because it made her feel alive. Now that Sylar took that sensation away, Claire is confused about her identity. Is she still human? Is this what leads young Claire to change in the future, to be a ruthless killer?

In one of the episode’s funnier moments, Matt finds himself in the deserts of Africa after Peter teleports him there. He ends up talking to a bushman with abilities to paint the future, and who seems to know Parkman. Unfortunately, the African says Parkman wasn’t supposed to be there either.

The most expected transformation: Mohinder becomes a scaly, scary looking monster. I’d say he deserves it for setting the clock in motion. That formula and the enzymes are going to cause more havoc in the future than the thrill of his “quantum leap” discover.

The shocker of the night: Sylar is Angela’s son!

Next “Heroes” episode 3.03 “One of us, One of them” airs next Monday September 29 at NBC. Get scoops on the latest and rest of the “Heroes” volume 3 episodes here.

images: NBC/Chris Haston

Post from: Superhero Profiles

And you thought you couldn’t get excited over “Heroes” again, can you? The season 3 premiere proved everyone wrong that the show has lost its luster. Edge-of-the-seat suspense and cliffhangers from start to finish, that’s what we saw this Monday.

Four years into the future, and it’s still a darker world. Despite preventing New York from exploding and the Shanti virus from being released, the world is still on the brink of catastrophe. It may even be worse, as the heroes themselves have changed.

Volume 3 “Villains” opens with Claire Bennet confronting Peter Petrelli and blaming him for everything that has happened to them. What exactly that is, we don’t know yet, but Claire is pissed off enough to want to kill her uncle. Peter thinks he can still save them, he can go back in time and change the course of history. And before Claire’s bullets can hit him Peter went back to the day it all started. He killed the one man he thought started it all, exposing posthumans to the world – his brother Nathan.

Meanwhile back in the present time, Hiro Nakamura is as bored as ever as his father Kaito’s predecessor at the Yamagato Industries. What changed his life was a message from Kaito to be the “sentinel” of a dark secret – the half of a formula. “I don’t want to be a sentinel, I want to be a hero” was Hiro’s innocent reply. Little would he know that this formula would change everything. Unfortunately a speedster named Daphne stole the paper from Hiro. His father warned him the formula could destroy everyone if it falls into the wrong hands. Hiro goes to the future to see for himself what his father warned him about. There he sees his bestfriend killing him over the formula, and Japan explodes right before his eyes. Hiro is now on the quest of his life, as he chases someone who runs faster than the speed of light.

The suspense of the evening happened when Sylar paid Claire a visit. Like Hitchcock all the way, we can’t get our eyes off the screen. You just know what’s gonna happen but you’re still afraid to look. In the end, Claire gets her head open in a classic Sylar fashion. The line of the evening – “Claire, that’s disgusting!” when she asked if Sylar was going to eat her brains. He didn’t, but did something more terrible to our young cheerleader. Like an expert watchmaker, Sylar carefully took what he needed from her brain, and left her alive, devoid of any feelings of pain. Clair found out that her brain is unlike no other. She is “special, different”. She can never die. Now Sylar can’t too.

Mohinder’s discovery of Maya’s abilities lead him away from the gentle scientist on a quest for glory, to a man hungry for power. He discovers the enzymes that allow one’s powers to manifest. The contents of the adrenalin could give powers to anyone, almost instantaneously. Although Maya had warned Mohinder that the content of the syringe is evil, it can’t cure anyone, Mohinder still injects himself with it and he becomes Spider-suresh!

Nathan miraculously recovers from the fatal gunshot wounds and has an epiphany to do God’s bidding as one of his “angels”. Unfortunately, it’s not God who healed him, it’s Linderman. Is the mobster back from the dead? Mama Angela Petrelli confronts future Peter about her beloved son’s whereabouts, and future Peter blames her for all the chaos that the future holds. And yet, somehow, Peter’s intervention has changed the future entirely and something different is now going to happen.

Will there be hope? Maybe. As Kaito Nakamura said, “there is one hope – among you who carries the purity of blood, who carries the “light” to safeguard against the darkness.”

“Heroes” episode 3.02 “Butterfly effect” follows after. For the rest of “Heroes” season 3 episodes, get the scoop here.

Images: NBC/Chris Haston

Post from: Superhero Profiles

This wasn’t anything like the ’80s “Transformers Animated“, for sure. And that’s the unfortunate truth.

“Transformers Cybertron (Robots in Disguise)” is the last of a three-part series (”Transformers: Armada” and “Transformers: Energon”) but since it makes no reference to the previous series new fans won’t be out of the loop.

The story. The continuous story arc opens with a massive black hole that threatens to destroy Cybertron, the home planet of the Transformers. The only means to close the black hole are the Omega Lock and its four Cyber Planet Keys, ancient artifacts that were scattered in different worlds across the universe. An ancient Transformer called Vector Prime tasks Optimus Prime and the Autobots to locating the Keys and save the universe. This is where the Decepticons come in. Megatron plans to use the Keys to re-create the universe in his image.

The Autobots evacuate to Earth and meet three children Coby, Bud and Lori who the robots recruit to help them. Yes, children. Don’t ask me why but several times Optimus Prime puts the children in danger like it’s a normal thing for a robot to do.

The race to locate the Keys take the Autobots and Decepticons to Velocitron, Beast Planet and Gigantion, where more Transformers reside. Actually by the second disc, I have met so many Transformers and upgraded versions of Transformers that I totally got lost. The Cyber Planet Keys give a Transformer instant system upgrade of power, weapons and a new name. So Megatron became Galvatron, Overhaul became Leobreaker, etc., etc. Why can’t they stick to Mega-Megatron, or upersize-Megatron or something? By the second disc, there are so many Transformers and names that I totally lost track.

The DVD. “Transformers: Cybertron (Robots in Disguise)” Ultimate Collection is a 7-disc 52-episode set that runs for more than 19 hours. Retailed at US$61.99, I suggest not watching this as a marathon, like I did. The theme song “Transformers more than meets the eye” gets annoying after a while. I have to credit the animation – the machines are all computer-generated and transformations are totally sophisticated. The images are quite sharp and detailed. On the other hand, the humans and background are traditionally animated so there is still that cartoonish look to the show. There are no extras or special features whatsoever. The audio is Dolby Digital English Stereo.

The Review. I was excited about reviewing this collection, since I grew up watching and loving the original series back in the ’80s. However, I found the episodes of the current series “Transformers: Cybertron” to be painfully dragging. There was too much talk and “lecturing”. I would have just preferred total action adventure, instead the characters  (who knew robots have something to say?) have moralistic conversations about death, friendship, trust. Maybe the producers fully intentioned this DVD to teach lessons, and I could totally use this to teach my child something – “remember what Optimus Prime said?” – but those scenes just stretched the episodes even longer.

But of course I still watched it till the end. After all, it’s still Transformers and I wanted to find out just what it takes to destroy Megatron Galvatron.

image: Paramount Home Entertainment

Post from: Superhero Profiles