4x04 "Acceptance" (US) - [**Spoilers**]

J-blk

TV.com summary:

Hiro's health continues to deteriorate. Angela takes a gamble by helping the new Nathan regain his memory. Tracy tries to make an impact in her bid to get her job back.

That synopsis doesn't sound promising - Hiro & Ando, Nathan, Tracy... their absence last time around made the episode much better but it seems this one will focus on them a lot...

Anyway, thoughts on the episode later in the day...

Monotype

Medicore episode. Although they tried to add humour to Hiro's story, it seemed to be making a story out of nothing, but not dull as Bennet's story which was a chore to watch.
Nathan's wasn't bad, probably the best parts of the episode.

Nervous Wreck

Averageness itself.

For a Bryan Fuller episode, it was pretty disappointing story-wise. However, all parts of the story were really well written. I just didn't really care about a lot of it.

Tracy is seeking redemption. A little short of believable but it fits the theme of the volume so whatever.

Noah decides to get back onboard. This is a good thing but I wish it'd happened a little faster.

Not enough Peter at all.

Hiro's story, as said above seemed mostly about nothing but I guess it kinda echoes Peter's story in volume 3 about finding a way to help people and be a hero without using your powers. Redemption again, in a sense.

Nathan's story was a little drawn-out but it's defo building towards an inner struggle between Nathan and Sylar.

Swoosie Kurtz in the episode? Ha, obviously a Bryan Fuller episode.


Can someone please tell me

in the last scene, when Nathan emerges from the grave as Sylar, what happens next? My video cut off just as Sylar looked towards the camera. Does it end there or does he transform back into Nathan or what?

That was a bitchin' scene anyway...


Overall it was a pretty good episode but not enough happened and I'm starting to look for an overall arc to look at now.


Also, in the opener it said "Chapter Three: Acceptance".... Shouldn't it be Chapter Four? Did anyone notice last week what chapter they called "Ink"? I can't remember....

PirateShampoo

Averageness itself.

Was a ok episode, felt like a filler ep. I still dont care about Hiro or Claire.

This session is a better than the last 2 so far.

And Nervous Wreck

He stays Sylar

Nervous Wreck

Averageness itself.

PirateShampoo wrote: »

And Nervous Wreck

He stays Sylar

Cheers man.

titan18

Bad, bad, bad.

Average enough.I care little for Hiro or Tracy so the fact that the episode focused on them wasn't good.Nathan wasn't as annoying as he usually is and Sylar being back properly is good.Storyline with Noah was boring but bit about him being recruited was interesting.

It was really the last 5 minutes,rest was boring.

Richard Dower

Bad, bad, bad.

100% agree that for a Fuller episode i expected alot more, i actually look at the credits to see who's is doing what. But it was very meh. Thing is....did Elenor know that Nathan would see the past memory of his baseball cap?

That was a Sylar power right?, so when he touched the cap he remembered the girl who got killed...my point is, did she do it on purpose?....the look on her face during those scenes suggested she did it on purpose, knowing the dead girls mom would have Nathan killed....anyone see things like that?

The ending was great, nice twist with Sylar popping up....i thought it was gonna be Nathan!
But alot of filler, the Hiro stuff was boring....unless there is a purpose to it not revealed yet.

But again, it's a very slowly evolving arc, and for the show as a whole will just erode ratings and viewers further, you can't have four eps. and STILL have no clue what the arc or direction the show is going in.

Richard Dower

Bad, bad, bad.

NBC is getting shellacked on Mondays now, Heroes continues to sink, Trauma dove below a 2.0 and The Jay Leno Show averaged a 1.4 and under 5 million viewers. NBC is touting that Heroes is still very popular with the DVR viewers, but while an interesting talking point, not particularly helpful when it comes to the show’s prospects for sticking around.

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/10/06/tv-ratings-most-shows-down-but-dancing-and-castle-on-the-rise-heroes-sinks-further/29635

PirateShampoo

Averageness itself.

I think the thing with the cap worked out exactly like Angela said, The accident happened and Asian wiped his memory. When he touched it he got the memory's back that where wiped.

I think the look on Angela's face when talking to Eleanor was a look of suspicion.

The way i figure it out is that even if Nathan reverts back to Sylar he will still think he is Nathan (abet a confussed one), has Sylars conciseness is in Parkman.

Richard Dower

Bad, bad, bad.

But does Nathan look like Sylar now...physically?....or maybe Sylar is back but looks like Peter on the outside, and Sylar tries to pull the wool over everyone and hatch evil plans etc.

Joneser

Averageness itself.

I thought it was a decent episode, considering it seemed to be just a filler episode in order to set up the story for the next episode. I think the guy shooting Nathan is the reason Sylar re-emerged, will be interested to see if this is the last of Nathan.

PirateShampoo

Averageness itself.

Richard Dower wrote: »

But does Nathan look like Sylar now...physically?....or maybe Sylar is back but looks like Peter on the outside, and Sylar tries to pull the wool over everyone and hatch evil plans etc.

Sylar appears to have reverted back to his own body, but i think he believes he is Nathan because Sylars personality is in Parkman.... Confusing lol

Monotype

PirateShampoo wrote: »

The accident happened and Asian wiped his memory.

Asian? Don't you mean the Haitian?

PirateShampoo wrote: »

Sylar appears to have reverted back to his own body, but i think he believes he is Nathan because Sylars personality is in Parkman.... Confusing lol

Yeah, that's what I'd say. He probably wouldn't know wtf is going on if he saw himself.

J-blk

Craptacular.

Pretty crap TBH - so much time wasted with Hiro and Tracy... seriously, who cares about them any more? The HRG/Claire stuff was some of the most boring crap ever in the show ("oooh, let's pretend you're at an interview"). Very poor episode.

Richard Dower wrote: »

That was a Sylar power right?, so when he touched the cap he remembered the girl who got killed...my point is, did she do it on purpose?....the look on her face during those scenes suggested she did it on purpose, knowing the dead girls mom would have Nathan killed....anyone see things like that?

It was one of Sylar's powers. Angela "fed" a girl to him that had the power to see the history of every object she touched way back in season 2, when the company had Sylar captive - that's where he got it.

I don't think Angela realizes that Sylar's powers are manifesting though (he hadn't told anyone up to this episode about the telekinisis) so I don't think she knew that was going to happen. She seemed puzzled about his reaction to the toy plane too. And I see no reason why she would want Nathan to be "killed", since she knows full well that Sylar can't die. I think things are starting to fall apart regarding her original plan - hopefully this means the end of Nathan... I just wish he took Tracy and Hiro with him...

Mr.Nice Guy

Averageness itself.

I liked it. I think some of the criticisms on here are fairly trivial. I mean the Claire/Noah stuff wasn't a major part of the plot. It was designed to get across Noah's uncertainty about his future and achieved its goal in that sense.

I liked the Hiro plotline and feel it was a good way to get back to the human side of the character. There was an attempt to show another side to Tracy which I thought was good. The stuff about Nathan's past was pretty interesting as well and was a different take on the Nathan/Sylar story.

Overall a good emphasis on the storyline elements and it built the season well.

Remember the days when it was all action and effects and very little plot? So far the season hasn't been like that and thankfully it's been reflected with these improved episodes.

tvnutz

It wasn't too bad. Didn't mind the Tracy stuff because it is building to something I don't mind her as a character.

The Claire/Noah stuff was fairly boring,we just need more Noah on his own getting back into the game,interesting how T-bag knows Noah.

The Hiro story was crap,they need to jsut find something decent or get rid of him for good.

The Nathan/Sylar thing is really good,I am very interested to see where it will go.

Overall I think it wasn't too bad,it was just the Hiro/Claire stuff that brought it down somewhat.

Nervous Wreck

Averageness itself.

Monotype wrote: »

Yeah, that's what I'd say. He probably wouldn't know wtf is going on if he saw himself.

In re this and next week

Trailer for next week's episode shows Sylar in police custody being interrogated over his mother's murder (season 1) and not understanding why they think he's killed his own mother, as he believes himself to be Nathan.

Nervous Wreck

Averageness itself.

Richard Dower wrote: »

Thing is....did Elenor know that Nathan would see the past memory of his baseball cap?

That was a Sylar power right?, so when he touched the cap he remembered the girl who got killed...my point is, did she do it on purpose?....the look on her face during those scenes suggested she did it on purpose, knowing the dead girls mom would have Nathan killed....anyone see things like that?

Angela gave Sylar the power of clairsentience in vol. 3 so, yes, she knew that touching these things would trigger memories for "Nathan" but she had no real way of knowing what specific memories would emerge. She just wanted to ground Sylar in Nathan's life.

suspectpackage

best episode in a LONG time. much better than any season 3 episode. Unbelievable stuff.

The Don

It was a decent episode. It just setup the characters for the real plot. Sylar is back now whether he can remember anything yet. HRG and Tracy came to realise that they want to make a difference so they will be going after the compass.

I liked the carnival scene. It looks like come of the carnies aren't happy with Robert Knepper's character Samuel. They don't trust him but are afraid to do anything about it.

Sherifu

Solid episode even if not much went forward. Few good episodes of Heroes in a row now. I sense a return to form. Loved the last scenes with the mother meeting Angela, very Godfather like with the revenge killing going on in parallel. Zombie Sylar was cool too. Missed the carny folk a bit but Hiro's story was great for once so I didn't actually notice till knife guy & long legs appeared. Maybe i'm too much of a fan of Groundhog day and photocopying butts. Noah didn't do much but set up the carny folk on a collision course so that should be good. Claire wasn't even annoying again. All in all, good filler.

wolfric

Bad, bad, bad.

i like the way heiro naknamora can just change time 47 times whenever it suits the story but when he really needs to do it just once he bleeds out and nearly dies

Monotype

wolfric wrote: »

i like the way heiro naknamora can just change time 47 times whenever it suits the story but when he really needs to do it just once he bleeds out and nearly dies

I was going to mention that myself!

I wonder if the Haitian could wipe Sylar out of Parkman.

suspectpackage

What Heroes needs to many storylines going on at the same time. That's what this episode was all about. Continually interweaving between a number of storylines throughout the show. That is what S1 was all about. The more storylines going on the better imo. The viewer gets totally immersed in the show then.

EKRIUQ

Not very impressed with this episode, thought the story line declined. People rave about this Bryan Fuller guy but to be honest I can't see much of a quality difference.

There are still larger concerns about the writing, too. This week, it struck me that the exact nature of Tracy's powers has altered significantly since her earliest appearances, but without any explanation or acknowledgement. They used to be ice-based, but now they're water-based. Although the change is logical to a point, I'd feel better about it if there was any indication that the writers themselves remembered this.

This episode was peppered with philosophical-sounding one-liners that were incredibly trite, but delivered with grave seriousness. I'm not opposed to a show aiming high, but when Hiro's rather comedic plot illustrated almost effortlessly how he came to terms with his current, rather ambiguously-fatal disorder, it makes the meaningless proverbs that Nathan, Angela and Noah started spouting look all the more ridiculous.

PirateShampoo

Averageness itself.

EKRIUQ wrote: »

There are still larger concerns about the writing, too. This week, it struck me that the exact nature of Tracy's powers has altered significantly since her earliest appearances, but without any explanation or acknowledgement. They used to be ice-based, but now they're water-based. Although the change is logical to a point, I'd feel better about it if there was any indication that the writers themselves remembered this.

She still has the Ice power, she used it when she tried to kill Noah. Gonna go out on limb here and say she is probably gonna get evaporated by a Fire power at some point.

Ice-water-steam its all the same.

Nervous Wreck

Averageness itself.

PirateShampoo wrote: »

She still has the Ice power, she used it when she tried to kill Noah. Gonna go out on limb here and say she is probably gonna get evaporated by a Fire power at some point.

Ice-water-steam its all the same.

Indeed. All the characters' powers have developed significantly since their earliest incarnations. Except Nathan but he's both dead and a moron.

Volvagia

Mediocre episode.

Ending was good though, really didn't know who had stuck the syringe in nathan until the phone call, could have been so many different people.

Interview scene was painful except when HRG said "I'm a Company Man" That made me smile.

Was a good idea on angelas part to bring in all the old junk to revive nathans memories, couldn't have gone more wrong for her though.

Decent but not great.