Chapter 58 - "I Am Sylar" Discussion Thread - 4/20/09

[kane9321]

What pissed me off the most was matt just running back to his skank wife. Hey matt what about daphne? I've never been more angry at this show

 

[amazingfantasy15]

Why is Sylar having a problem with this shapeshifting power, more so than all the other powers he taken?

 

[Ryudoz]

Well, aside from being misled about this episode from the previews about this episode, I'd have to say that overall I'm disappointed with this episode.

Oh wait.

Firstly, and I can't make this clear enough, I hate Sylar. He is a bastardization of what he was set up to be in the first season. So naturally I have any bias against Sylar-centric episodes like this one. That being said, the parts of this episode that didn't involve Sylar contributed to the overall "filler" feeling of this episode. Nothing of any relevance was really shown in this episode (except for more Sylar exposition who's had 39872 times more delving into his backstory than anyone else on this show; Is it absolutely necessary for this character at this point?), and when we finally got to the end we wind up with just as much information we had when we started. Sylar likes to kill. We needed a whole episode of him going Norman Bates just to know that?!?!

Aside from that, the side stories were almost as relevant. We know that Hiro is still a snob towards Ando. All Ando ever wanted was to even be in Hiro's league and now that he's the Crimson Arc, Hiro once again feels the need to be a jerk. I mean, for a guy who apparently became all emo in 5YG because Ando had been killed, he sure knows how to snub his nose at him. Getting just a bit tired of that dynamic.

Matt and his wife. Or ex-wife. Or something. Yeah, I understand that Matt and Janice have a history. They have a child together now. And now all of a sudden he wants to be back with her. Wait, didn't she break up with him, or he left her or... bah, nevermind. It's not like Matt has been sliding between women anyways. Especially ones he felt he was destined to be with because he went on a spirit walk or some nonsense. </dripping sarcasm>

The worst part was how Sylar took a knife to the back of the head, and just got right back up, as if getting 4 inch steel embedded through your brain will just leave you functioning no problems. Not even Claire can just bounce back from that. It's just another step to Sylar never getting his comuppance. Even Micah's indication that Sylar could be the hero everyone needs makes me sick. Wasn't that supposed to be Peter? Or Nathan? Or, well, anyone besides Sylar?

It's disappointing that every season builds to nothing more than, "Okay, we gotta kill Sylar," and "Well, looks like Nathan's going to be killed." You would think that maybe that part of the forumla is what's keeping this series stale.

Sigh. I miss Adam...

 

[Steyin]

What's funny is that 5YG is playing out more similiarly to S1 in small ways. Micah gave Sylar the idea to be Nathan (so Micah being planned to serve the 5YG purpose is still there), and the explosion we witnessed with hiro and Ando may serve the same purpose as the NYC one was supposed to. Also, I think Hiro will still go the badass route if it turns out he is the one who kills/is responsible for Ando's death. I also think baby Matt's powers only aide people temporarily, hence Hiro's condition. All in all it was an ok ep.

And as for the preview being misleading, I don't really see how as it was showing clips from the rest of the season, as a lot of other shows (Smallville) have been doing for the last few eps.

 

[Trainwreck2100]

Why is Sylar having a problem with this shapeshifting power, more so than all the other powers he taken?

It may have something to do with it reconstituting his dna

 

[RonStoppablefan]

What pissed me off the most was matt just running back to his skank wife. Hey matt what about daphne? I've never been more angry at this show

I know right? It was like Daph was just a fling for Matt

Any who the only part I really liked was Nathan/Sylar interaction at the end. Finally they meet, it was pretty good. I expect Nathan to die by Sylar in the next episode.

 

[The Spawn]

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=225&topic=49169674

"2. Sylar enjoys leaving messages for himself"

When was this?

 

[Sawyer]

You guys are saying the preview was mileading?! Welcome to the little invention we call television. Seriously, sometimes you guys hit the nail right on the head, but sometimes I think you guys just ***** for the sake of *****ing....

I rather liked this episode... I thought it was funny seeing Clint Howard in something that wasnt being directed or produced by Ron...

 

[Trainwreck2100]

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=225&topic=49169674

"2. Sylar enjoys leaving messages for himself"

When was this?

Either when he wrote on himself (as the opening tagline) or what he wrote on the wall of that guy he killed

 

[The Lizard]

Was Sylar always able to shipeshift clothes since he got this power?


Overall, a pretty boring and occasionally annoying episode. I for one never really bought into the Matt/Daphne relationship, but seeing Matt going back after his formerly cheating wife so quickly was still jarring.

The season finale had better be good, because A.) it needs to make up for the lackluster episodes preceeding it, and B.) it might end up being the final episode of the show if it gets canceled.

 

[3 Dev Adam]

Was Sylar always able to shipeshift clothes since he got this power?

No. It started this episode.

 

[The Spawn]

GameFaqs users suggested the clothing change as a 'warped and smoother version' of Sylar talking to his mom and that the clothes weren't actually changing.

That wouldn't explain Micah though.

 

[Deaths Head II]

Overall, a pretty boring and occasionally annoying episode. I for one never really bought into the Matt/Daphne relationship, but seeing Matt going back after his formerly cheating wife so quickly was still jarring.

I was expecting it. Now that Matt has a kid to keep him going, it only made sense he might try to patch things up with the kid's mom.

 

[The Chris]

Watching this episode made me disappointed that they depowered Peter so much. I mean Sylar's got so many now, I see no threat. At least when Peter had all those abilities I anticipated the showdown (even with the disappointing encounters so far). Now it's not there.

 

[TheBlueRogue]

What pissed me off the most was matt just running back to his skank wife. Hey matt what about daphne? I've never been more angry at this show

Didn't daphne die?

 

[3 Dev Adam]

GameFaqs users suggested the clothing change as a 'warped and smoother version' of Sylar talking to his mom and that the clothes weren't actually changing.

Hm, no, they were changing as well. I have it on my HD.

And he also managed to mass-shift to the size of Micah, backpack and all.

 

[Sawyer]

I was expecting it. Now that Matt has a kid to keep him going, it only made sense he might try to patch things up with the kid's mom.

Yeah, seriously, you people make it seem like Matt just walked into a room with Janice and was like "Oh hi, Janice. *makeout*" There's a baby in the picture, guys... it's not like he's gonna blow off his kid and ex-wife just cause his "girlfriend", whose like half his age, died.

 

[jk_4000m]

You just cant please some people.
Matt wants to be a good dad because his dad wasnt there for him. Thats why he wants to try to have a relationship with his ex.

 

[badboy00z]

Can Sylar teleport or move through things now??

 

[badboy00z]

So Sylar can't die now or did Danko just missed the sweet spot? I loled at the last line.

 

[JPC4]

Watching this episode made me disappointed that they depowered Peter so much. I mean Sylar's got so many now, I see no threat. At least when Peter had all those abilities I anticipated the showdown (even with the disappointing encounters so far). Now it's not there.

I have vented on this many times. It is so hypocritical that the writers could never come up with enough creative ideas to allow Peter to function on the show with full control of his empathic ability. Yet, Sylar just gains more abilities each episode.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

This episode was a disappointment to me. Sylar has long since become a pathetic joke of a character because the writers clearly have absolutely no idea what to do with him. So now, instead of the daddy issues that pervaded every episode we saw him in for the last couple seasons, we've got mommy issues. Great.

Then there's Matt. Matt learns he has a son and his character literally transforms in the span of about a second. Gone are all his feelings for Daphne as if they never even existed, replaced with a burning desire to get back together with his wife, who left him because of his ability in the first place.

And as if that isn't enough, we get some fun retreads of crap we've seen about a hundred times before. Oh noes, the soldiers are capturing everyone! Oh noes, Hiro and Ando are b****ing at each other! Oh noes, Nathan's a dick! Bleh. After the last couple episodes, I was starting to think that Bryan Fuller had brought Heroes back to what it should be. But I guess it was too big a task even for him. I miss The 4400 more and more every time I watch Heroes.

 

[GL1]

Um... Matt left Janice for a non-explained reason after Kirby Plaza. Janice was always waiting at home for the guy. Matt's feelings for Daphne have been gone from the moment she died, and they were all based on "destiny"... they didn't actually have any kind of quality relationship.

But that's neither here nor there. The bottom line is that if Sylar survives into next season, I simply won't care anymore. He's long LONG overdue for death. We understand its fun to write for the Wolverineish anti-hero bad boy loner angst character. But writers: GROW THE ____ UP. We don't need to have your power fantasy shoved down our throats every week. Give us a cast that is full of varied, deep interesting characters and the ratings will reflect it. You'll become better writers, too.

It was good seeing Micah again though, and having him out-talk Sylar. That was pretty epic.

 

[Ryudoz]

But that's neither here nor there. The bottom line is that if Sylar survives into next season, I simply won't care anymore. He's long LONG overdue for death. We understand its fun to write for the Wolverineish anti-hero bad boy loner angst character. But writers: GROW THE ____ UP. We don't need to have your power fantasy shoved down our throats every week. Give us a cast that is full of varied, deep interesting characters and the ratings will reflect it. You'll become better writers, too.

It was good seeing Micah again though, and having him out-talk Sylar. That was pretty epic.

Well said. It seems as if Sylar tends to struggle of late with people who challenge him mentally, or at least, on a non-ability level. But it was very cool to see Micah, even though Sylar is the baddest of the bad, try to reason with him in a way that was smart (appealing to his need to be special). Very well played by Rebel.

RE: Anti-hero bad boy loner angst characters.

They're played out. We seem to have so many, that you can literally open any comic book and find one. It's kind of pathetic if the writers think they're the only kind of characters we relate to. Again, if they had spent even a fraction of the effort they've put into Sylar into any of the other characters, then this might be a moot discussion. Abandonment issues, Daddy issues, Mommy issues, rejection issues, issues of power and importance, we get it people. Sylar is messed up. Let's move on please.

 

[SuperT]

Um... Matt left Janice for a non-explained reason after Kirby Plaza.

Matt explained in season two (during the scene when him and Nathan went to face his father) that he left Janice because she was pregnant and he thought the baby wasn't his after she cheated on him with his police buddy.