Heroes Reborn 1.08: “June 13th – Part Two”

As I was watching the second part of “June 13th,” it occurred to me that the date has a double meaning, not just referring to the bombing, but also to Nathan and Malina’s birthday.

Given that these are the kids who will save the world, that’s not a coincidence.

I expected this second part to provide a number of answers to what’s gone before in this series. I had no expectations that it would include revelations on the level of the twins but, still, the episode managed to include several surprises and throw just enough confusion on the present that I wish I was binge watching the show rather than viewing it week-to-week.

Part 2 also provided some lovely character moments, including Noah mourning future Molly while past Molly is working with him, Otomo and Miko’s parting, and Hiro’s sacrifice for his newfound family.

What did we learn?

We learned that Nathan has the Petrilli family ability to steal power from other Evos. That means when Hiro journeys back in time with the babies, baby Nathan takes his power, stranding all four of them in the past.  It also means that Nathan is responsible for his mother’s death, having absorbed her immortality power from her during childbirth.

“You’re a very bad baby,” Hiro affectionately tells his new charge.

This also explains why Malina and Nathan were split up as children: he would have inhibited the growth of her ability. Can’t have that, with the world at stake.

That leaves Hiro as Nathan’s guardian, a prospect that terrifies Hiro a great deal more than time travel.  “We have not been properly introduced, hero baby. Hiro Nakamora, former master of time and space.” Indeed, Hiro becomes Nathan’s adoptive father in a similar way that Noah Bennett became Claire’s father. Nice parallel, show.

Meanwhile, Angela Petrelli takes her great-granddaughter elsewhere, to what seems to be some sort of nunnery. No, no, the nuns don’t run around singing “What Do You Do With a Problem Like Malina?” but still seem to be benevolent guardians. I immediately connected this place to the mysterious Sunstone Manor that Carlos encountered two episodes ago.

Carlos’s connection to all this was confirmed when it’s revealed that Farah, Malina’s guardian, used to be his former lover. He covered for her while they were in the field together, and that’s how he became a decorated military hero. So perhaps Angela Petrilli has been the one paying people to bring Evos to her? That’s a brutal means to an end but Angela was always an efficient sort.

Meanwhile, present and past Noah catch up to each other when present Noah sees his chance to execute Erica, the women responsible for so many deaths. Past Noah stops him and past Quentin saves Erica. More on that later.

The Noahs have it out with each other. “What the hell are you doing?” “What the hell are you doing?”

It’s at this point that the situation becomes more complicated because it’s unclear if the attempted execution changes the timeline again. “You stepped on the biggest butterfly,” Past Noah says to his future self.

In the end, Molly, the Noahs, and Casper all band together to locate the babies in this present. But past Noah is captured by one of Harris’ duplicates and ends up being questioned by none other than Matt, the original Heroes’ telepath. Matt’s gone over to the dark side because it offers money and protection for his family, but he falters once he hears that Claire is dead.

Casper comes to past Noah’s rescue, takes out Harris, and Matt lets them go.

Aside: Harris gets killed. A lot. I wonder if that affects him at all psychologically? The show hasn’t been much interested in this character save for his being muscle for Erika but I wish it had given us a glimpse into what makes him such a loyal foot soldier.

Casper drops Past Noah is dropped off at the bomb site, while Future Noah and Molly find 13-year-old Nathan with his mom, Anne, the nurse from the hospital, and dad, Hiro. It’s a fun family reunion—including a side trip to visit Angela and Malina— until multiple Harris clones comes bursting onto the scene.

Nathan, Casper and his mom escape via teleportation while Hiro grabs his swords and prepares to cover their escape. Nathan insists on going back and, at that point, Casper wipes his mind to save his life.

That explains why Tommy had no memory of Hiro or how to control his abilities, and why his mother was so paranoid about Casper following them. Her world just collapsed. But does that mean the timeline is changed or are things happening as they did before?

Meanwhile, over in Japan, Otomo realizes his horrible mistake in banishing past Hiro into the video game. He uses his own Evo power to pull Katana Girl/Miko from the game and encode a backdoor to unlock her into it. It’s a poignant scene, as Miko is both his own creation and his daughter, and Otomo shows her how to cook in the short time allotted to them before yet another Harris duplicate comes to get him. Before he leaves, Otomo promises that Miko that they will be reunited at some point. I hope that’s not a reference to their encounter in the game and that Miko, somehow, comes back to life again.

We also check in with Luke and Joanna, who find the body of their son, and go into deep mourning in their hotel room. She blames Luke for bringing them to Odessa. When the young Evo that Luke saves shows up to thank Luke, Joanna goes nuts and begins screaming at both of them.

Scared, the Evo attacks Luke with a freeze power, and Joanna kills him with a pair of scissors. Luke is appalled but says they had no choice. Joanna…is not so appalled. That explains their transformation to Natural Born Killers. If Luke protects Malina from Joanna with his life, as I believe is coming, that will be because he’ll finally be able to save someone, even though it wasn’t his son.

The episode ends on a cliffhanger because, yes, it definitely seems like the future was changed on one manner: Quentin’s rescue of Erica ends up in a reunion with his sister on June 13. Aw, I thought, isn’t it nice that she doesn’t kill him? Except, maybe not, because the Quentin at the end of the episode, the one who finds Noah outside the Renautus facility, is working for Erica. He’s gone to the dark side too.

But, wait, if Quentin had found his sister, then he wouldn’t have come looking for Noah Bennett, and Noah wouldn’t have set out on his quest to fill in the blanks of his memory.

So, maybe this Quentin was a double agent all along? And where is Matt? Still working for Erica? Will Angela’s vision of the twins saving the world in the Clocktower in Odessa still come true?

I hope this is explained as well as the show has explained all the other dangling plot questions. And, while it might be too much to ask, I hope it’s explained why Erica is so one-note evil and determined to let most of humanity burn.

My theory is that perhaps Erica knows that, yes, the twins will save the world, but she’s been told by a time traveler that events have to unfold as they always did, with her capturing and killing Evos, and even the bombing, or else too many butterflies will be altered and the twins won’t be there to save the world.  Erica certainly seemed strangely prescient, even to the point of knowing how to pin the bombing on Mohinder Suresh.

That would be a cool twist.

Onto the next episode!


Corrina Lawson is a writer, mom, geek and superhero, though not always all four on the same day. She is a senior editor of the GeekMom blog at Wired and the author of a superhero romance series and an alternate history series featuring Romans and Vikings in ancient North America. She has been a comic book geek all her life and often dreamed of growing up to be Lois Lane.

Read all posts by Corrina Lawson for Criminal Element.