By TrinityVixen
Remember those string maps that Future!Hiro made to mark out where and when everything went to Hell? How come he couldn’t figure it out with all his careful planning, but our Hiro, brain-tumor and all, manages to change the past without royally screwing the future inside of two minutes? Even Samuel makes mistakes, which I wouldn’t previously have thought possible, so how does Hiro manage not to? Or has the future changed already and I just haven’t noticed because my own past has been rewritten? Does this mean One of Us, One of Them never existed? (Oh I hope, I hope, I hope!)
Hiro saves Charlie this episode. No use beating about the bush, that’s what happens. He needs her to live more than he really cares about the effects it will have on the show’s only good season. There are two complications: one, without the threat of Charlie being killed by Sylar, Hiro won’t go back in time to meet and fall in love with her; two, Charlie has a brain aneurysm that’s going to kill her anyway even if she survives Sylar’s attack. He has to do all this without ruining the future, and Samuel shows up, courtesy of his dying Carnival friend, to be sure he sticks to that plan.
Not surprisingly, Charlie is just a tool to forward a male character’s story arc, like many women on this show before her. Hiro manages around the aforementioned problems with saving Charlie’s life rather inventively. He pretends to be badass Future!Hiro to intimidate his old self into going back in time just to be with Charlie (thus solving the falling-in-love requirement) while convincing Ando just to sit around waiting until the other Hiro gets back. Charlie’s aneurysm is cured by, of all people, Sylar. Since Sylar’s ability is made of magic, he’s able to diagnose and fix Charlie’s aneurysm in exchange for learning about his future from Hiro. Sylar does not deviate from his season one plan even when he is told that he will die, alone and unsupported. Oddly, I find this all fairly plausible as developments go—probably because Sylar, at any stage of his existence, hasn’t really ever given a damn about having friends and being popular.
So the day is saved! But it turns out that Samuel’s motives in helping Hiro, and not the saving of Charlie’s life, are the real story here. (Know what’s definitely not the story? The time Mr. Bennet almost had an affair with that lawyer from Law & Order. I still haven’t reconciled myself to the Bennets divorcing, so I will NOT tolerate any casting of aspersions on the strength of their marriage.) Samuel assists in saving Charlie mostly so that he can threaten to fridge her and use her to secure Hiro’s help with a little problem he has.
It seems that Samuel went to see Mohinder eight weeks ago. The end result of that meeting? Mohinder ended up riddled with bullets, and Samuel had a huge credibility problem—or would have if anyone at the Carnival knew about it. Hiro un-murderates Mohinder, he gets Charlie back. I prefer Samuel more manipulative than this; he shouldn’t have to threaten and use people against their will given how effectively he talks people into doing whatever he wants. (Lydia puts its best when she says he could convince an apple it was an orange.) Worse, this means that Mohinder’s long absence is about to be corrected. I appreciate the twist—so that is where Mohinder has been! Dead! All this time! But it also means that we’re going to have to deal with Mohinder again. If it’s at all possible, could he leave his pretend degree from Nowhereland University behind him?
Worst of all, Samuel makes mistakes! Woe! Still looks pretty fabulous. That’s something, I guess.
Next week: Claire and the Invisible Girl face off, and Sylar takes Matt (and his body) for a road trip. I love Sylar’s road trips. He should just be permanently stuck in a car as one of his abilities. He gets so bitchy! I love it!
About TrinityVixen: There’s an asterisk on TrinityVixen’scollege transcript that assures anyone who reads it that, though there is no specific major, degree, or certificate for it, she did, in fact, complete some kind of creative writing program as an undergrad. Armed with that symbol of irrelevant experience, she has polluted the internet with her opinions and horrible fanworks ever since (and for quite a long while before). Living poor in New York until she finds a means to become independently wealthy, she must subsist on the juicy meat of fandom. Fandom and noodles. And instant soup.
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There’s an asterisk on TrinityVixen’scollege transcript that assures anyone who reads it that, though there is no specific major, degree, or certificate for it, she did, in fact, complete some kind of creative writing program as an undergrad. Armed with that symbol of irrelevant experience, she has polluted the internet with her opinions and horrible fanworks ever since (and for quite a long while before). Living poor in New York until she finds a means to become independently wealthy, she must subsist on the juicy meat of fandom. Fandom and noodles. And instant soup. 
You know. . . . if Mohinder is the big death of the season, I'm gonna be pissed. I hardly even noticed he was gone, except when pausing to appreciate the lack of a Mo voice over. Samuel has it all wrong: killing Mo wasn't a mistake. It was a favor to science.
For a second, A SECOND, I thought Heroes was going to have ovaries. Upon the news that no one gave a $h1T about his death, Sylar's face twitched in a very Spock sort of way – it bothered him a little. But, not enough to stop. What was really out of character for him was to keep his word to Hiro – Sylar would have taken care of the aneurysm, heard Hiro's piece, then killed them both.
That said, I didn't realize how much I missed S1 Sylar.
I missed S1 Sylar, too. The few seconds they spent with him being all faux-cheerful were some of my favorite in the episode, and his of the season. Much preferable to the "But I want to be good!" stuff since.
I wondered, too, if it wouldn't have been more interesting to see what if something had gotten through to Sylar sooner. Would it ever have been soon enough? You're right–it aaaaalmost seemed like he cared.
As for Mohinder, well, I'm just hoping he doesn't get a chance to talk much. He's so much prettier when he's not talking.
Sylar always cared. He didn't want to be the bomb that killed innocents. He didn't want to kill his mom. He tried to go back and STOP. He tried to commit suicide after his first kill. Even in S1 finale, he wanted to stop Peter and be the Hero. It was sick and demented and twisted, but all he ever wanted was to be special and loved. Its why he fell for the Petrelli ruse in S3, and its why life as Nathan changed his psyche forever. This show fits together so much better then all the HATERS have ever given it credit for, and all the needless picking apart of its characters for not matching our expectations, rather then thinking deeper to understand WHY… now the show's cancelled. Thanks.
Lol.
I never got any of this from Sylar. I always got the impression is that Sylar wanted to suck up all the special so he could be the most special special person in Earth. No one can say the dude wasn't loved – his mom loved him, but that wasn't good enough for him. He wanted Daddy love, too.
BTW, if the writers and showrunner had done their job well, there would have been nothing for me or anyone else to pick apart. The four seasons of Heroes do not fit together is a natural, reasonable way, Just because I notice that doesn't me that I'm the problem.