The episode where Heroes died...

Okay, I've been watching this show since day one last year. I've read all the magazines, all the interviews. I've read stuff where Kring is talking about how he understands television and how guys like Loeb and the comic brains understand superpowers. I've read interviews (see Wired, May 2007) where Kring is going on about how he and the writers have story ideas for two, three seasons down the road. And I felt overjoyed. I had faith. But this season has been a phenomenally trying on someone who has gotten used to suspending disbelief in the comic book side of things while being absolutely in awe of how these characters behave and interact and something has gone seriously wrong. This ep, Four months ago, finally made me understand clearly how Heroes has lost its way.

On the surface this ep is very flashy. We were dying to know how people ended up the way they were, dying to see how all the little parts of these people lives unraveled after they were tied together in Kirby Plaza. Parkman's wife, why Nathan kept seeing his face disfigured, where his family went, what happened to the election, how they explained the nuclear fireworks, SYLAR, DL, Hiro, the Nightmare man, the Haitian, Claire and probably above all, Peter and where he goes from here. Does he embrace being a hero or does he live in seclusion like a hermit in the mountains? And this ep told us and showed us most of what we were dying to know. But there are 5 MASSIVE things that they did in this episode that I'm having a very hard time forgiving and I love this show, and I'm praying that someone can tell me I'm taking this too seriously or looking too much into things. So if you have an answer to any of these question please respond:

in increasing levels of incredulity

1) Nathan Petrelli telling his wife this fantastic story about how the last season of Heroes went down without a shred of proof. This guy's a politician for Christ's sake. He's going to tell someone a story like that without anything to back it up and expect them to believe that he can fly WIITHOUT GIVING A DEMONSTRATION. That's how he lost his family!?! Nathan is supposed to be shrewd and intelligent; he'd never do something so unbelievably stupid.

2) Peter leaving Nathan's side after taking him to the hospital. Did I miss something? I thought that I left the room for a second and missed another nuclear explosion. Because that's what it would have taken to take Peter away from his CRITICALLY IRRADIATED BROTHER WHO JUST FLEW INTO THE CLOUDS WITH HIM AND PROMISED NEVER TO LEAVE HIM. That was such a beautiful moment, that kind of hardcore courage, and Peter drops him off at the ER, sees a rent-a-cop eyeing him funny,...AND BAILS!!! YOU'RE BROTHER IS DYING IN THE OTHER ROOM!! And BTW, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU RUNNING FROM? DID YOU JAYWALK OR SOMETHING? Peter's not a coward, he'd never do that.

3) Peter Petrelli asking this guy that he's never met how to get out of a room with a door and windows. Okay guys, pop quiz: You're Peter Petrelli. You KNOW that you can a) move objects with your mind fly c) pass through objects d) punch a guy's jaw off e) stop time f) teleport and g) turn invisible provided you stop taking you tablets. Would anyone reading this wonder how to get out of a room with a door and windows? And by the way, how the hell did they find Peter in the first place? They didn't have Molly Walker, did they? But Bob and Elle know what hospital he's taking his brother to, what corridor he's walking down, and when he's going to stop being INVISIBLE! Did anyone see IR goggles like when HRG and the Haitian went after Peter and Claude? Nope, not gonna explain that...


4) DL Hawkins, an evolved human with the ability to pass through matter, being shot twice in the span of 4 months. Maybe he's just unlucky. But to have us think that he died from being shot by Linderman (at the beginning of the season), only to have him recover, in order to die the EXACT SAME WAY in a club in LA. When exactly did these writers go on strike? If they wanted him off the show so badly, why did they bring him back, just to throw him out AGAIN THE EXACT SAME WAY! So that Niki will feel guilty for what she's done? She didn't feel guilty already?!? Killing him the SAME STUPID WAY, not saving his wife's life, not doing something heroic, doesn't that seem like just good old fashion lazy writing to you guys!? This show is supposed to be defined by imagination...

5) and I realize this may just mean I'm a fanatic. I just have watched the episodes too much. But I remember a pretty important scene last season where Peter's trying to get training for his powers from this Invisible Man. And Isaac Mendez rats him out and the Invisible man bails. And Peter's thinking 'I'm going to go nuclear and kill millions of people and this guy's trying to kill me over a girl' (Simone Deveaux). So he goes over there and he's so ****** off he's about to rip Isaac's head off. He throws him across the room, roughs him up and if Isaac didn't go and shoot Simone, one of them would have probably killed the other. So Peter was pretty worked up over this 'I'm going to kill millions of people' thing...

Then Bob and Elle capture him and he wakes up in a room. And he says I know you Bob, you know my parents. And Bob says were going to help you and get rid of those powers so you don't go 'nuking half the eastern seaboard'. Peter asks how. And Elle says we're doing it right now. Peter tries to use his powers. They're gone. How did you do that? Oh this guy behind you, the Haitian, he can nullify your powers.

So Peter almost went mad trying not to kill everyone he loves. Then he almost killed everyone he loves. Then he almost killed his brother saving everyone he loves. He scared, he's on the run. He wakes up powerless. This Haitian guy could have stopped everything, EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING THAT HE'D BEEN MOST AFRAID OF HIS WHOLE LIFE - NUCLEAR ARMAGGEDON, THE END OF THE WORLD, MILLIONS OF DEATHS. AND HE DOESN'T EVEN SO MUCH AS ASK WHY THEY DIDN'T COME FOR HIM BEFORE HE WENT NUCLEAR! If Bob said they knew he was having problems with his powers and we had a guy that could have solved all that and we just didn't bring him by, PETER WOULD HAVE GONE BALLISTIC! WHY HAVE I BEEN TORTURING MYSELF, AND FIGHTING SYLAR TO THE DEATH, AND ASKING CLAIRE TO SHOOT ME IN THE HEAD IF YOU HAD A GUY WHO COULD HAVE STOOD NEXT TO ME AND MADE ALL THIS CRAP GO AWAY!?! Or better yet, why don't you let me absorb the Haitian's power so I could turn my powers off myself? Instead Peter's sitting in this room surrounded by people he doesn't know, powerless...AND HE TRUSTS THEM?!? That whole scene was just so empty. It felt like there was a millions questions he should have asked (like why did you shock me unconscious instead of just offering to help me) and he just went along with it. What about Sylar? Did you see him die? What if he still feels like going nuclear? What about your freaking mentor, Hiro Nakamura, the man that told you to 'Save the Cheerleader, Save the World?", the man who put you on the path? Did Peter spare one thought for either of them while he's telling his new best friend Bob, "Take my powers away. I don't care." Is this guy a hero or not?!?

Did none of this bother anybody? Are we really just okay with the way all this went down? The Haitian does Peter a favor by WIPING HIS MIND CLEAN! If he does that to his friends, what does he do to his enemies?