Heroes: Generations Gap

Well, you gotta give it to "Heroes" — they actually decided to kill off characters people give a damn about.

You know what I'm talking about. Usually, whenever a show promises that one of the characters is going to die, the person who gets bumped off is the neighbor's cousin's brother-in-law who nobody really liked to begin with. So in that regard, the end of "Heroes: Volume Two, Generations" delivered.

In fact, I'd say the episode, while far from perfect, delivered in most aspects.

That included some actual hero-on-hero action. Actually, it was hero-on-Hiro, as the latter tried to stop Peter and Adam from releasing the virus. Again, I realize this show will never have the Spider Man 3's budget, but there are ways to make up for that in cleverness, and the mini-fight between Peter and Hiro in the beginning (with time frozen) was an example of that.

Of course, all of this was mildly undermined by the fact that Peter continued to be a gigantic idiot. I mean, even as they were disposing of disposable henchmen on the way to the vault, and Peter was questioning Adam's motives, he continued marching on like the vacant puppet he's become. Remember when this guy used to be the heart and soul of this show?! Anyway, he finally came to his senses with a little help from his brother, but not before taking out Parkman. He also rushed into the vault to stop and destroy the virus Adam had dropped from being released.

Two things the show did really well here: 1) Teasing us with the contents of that vault. There was a brain, a key and several other bits and pieces that I found more interesting than the actual teaser with Sylar at the end. 2.) I can't think of a better way for Hiro to deal with the immortal Adam (outside of slicing his head off and being rid of him, of course) than sticking him in a grave as he did. Well played, writers.

Even though I still wonder whether Peter's stupid Irish girlfriend is still stuck in some dystopian possible future or safe at home (oh wait, I really don't care), I really liked the way Volume Two's virus-themed plotline was resolved and hinted at things to come (the vault).

Everything else not so much. I mean, the Nikki (pictured, left) storyline wasn't too bad. With help from Micah, she rescued the captured Monica from a burning building (nice nod to DL's short-lived firefighting career), but couldn't get out herself.

It's a shame to lose a character we've been with since the very first episode, but her storyline had mostly run its course. She had been the unstoppable killing machine, the conflicted heroine who could sort of control her powers, and the relatively powerless mom she ended up as. Although we saw that she had other personalities buried within her, I wasn't really excited for another season's worth of good Nikki/bad whoever. Also, this opens up more opportunities for the now-orphaned Micah, who I always sorta found more interesting than either of his parents.

Two people I've never found interesting collided as Maya finally got to meet Mohinder, thanks to Sylar. After learning he had been injected by the Company and stripped of his power, Sylar demanded that Mohinder cure him of the virus. To make sure Mohinder was using the right cure, he shot Maya (yay!) and waited till she was brought back to life (boo!). Unfortunately, right as it looked like Sylar was about to take everyone out, Elle (trying to impress her dad) showed up and stopped Sylar from killing the good guys. I'm supposed to be happy about the fact that she saved the good guys, right? Sorry.

It's too bad too, because last night was the first time I actually enjoyed Elle. She was vulnerable and just wanted her daddy to like her. It was a lot more endearing than Elle's interpretation of what a badass should act like. I actually enjoyed her much more than Claire, who seemed on the verge of crying the entire episode and was upset about bringing down the company. I get that she thinks she lost her dad, but, as West brought up, why the obsession with taking down the company?

Fortunately, her dad turned up (in a nice emotional moment) to tell Claire to stop what she was doing because he'd ensured their safety by going back to work for the company and that he'd never be able to see her again. Fine then.

Claire wasn't the only one bowing to expose the company. Her (biological) dad was in the middle of a makeshift press conference to announce the same when he was gunned down. What is it about Texas and assassinations, anyway? I don't really get why everyone thinks exposing the company is the best way to go. I mean, as far as I can tell, with the older heroes dead, the Company consists of Bob, Elle, maybe Angela, and a bunch of inept henchman whose job is to get their ass kicked by Peter. Why not just go in there and clean house? THAT'S revenge.

I'm also not buying Nathan's death nearly as much as I am Nikki. I don't mean that I don't believe he's dead (I actually think that Nikki has a better chance of being alive), but I don't buy it as much dramatically. This one smells more of wanting to shock an audience.

Since the beginning, Nathan's ALWAYS been the one who has resisted acknowledging his abilities. I know the character's been through a traumatic experience and lost his family, but I'm not quite ready to believe he's ready to reveal what he is to the rest of the world. The main problem is that we hadn't actually seen Nathan in about a month (mostly a result of all the scattered and uneven storylines), so we didn't actually get to see what was supposed to be a major shift in his character play out. Instead, he just sort of decided, while standing in that vault that this would be the best thing to do.

And I'm REALLY going to miss Adrian Pasdar on the show. In a LARGE cast which can be up-and-down, he was always solid, and easily radiated authority. The character also had an underrated sense of humor that was on display in his scenes with Hiro, and last night in his brief sorta-rough landing from flying with Parkman (which apparently wasn't good for either of them).

So do you think this season finale delivered? Whose "World's Greatest Dad" apron was Maya wearing, Mohinder or Parkman? When (not if) will Adam return? Did the teaser for Volume 3 (which sort of ripped off the ending of X-Men: The Last Stand) get you excited for the return of "Heroes"? I've had my complaints about the show this year, but I'm certainly going to miss it. Any chance Nikki or Nathan aren't dead? Finally, who shot Nathan and who was his mom talking to on the phone about his death?