Heroes Reborn 1.07: “June 13th – Part One”

I had several theories about what would happen when Hiro and Noah went back in time to Odessa on June 13th.

One, I doubted they would stop the bomb. Two, I thought that Noah was the one who mind-wiped himself.  Three, I hoped Claire would be alive.

Right on one. Two remains to be seen but the Magic Eight-Ball tells me it’s likely. Three?

There, the show threw a total swerve.

Claire was dead. But she was pregnant. With twins. Which she died giving birth to.

These kids are totally Tommy/Nathan and Malina aka the kids who will save the world from epic catastrophe.

My next question: Who’s Daddy?

This episode avoided many time travel storytelling pitfalls and was the best yet in this revival. Show, you have my full and complete attention now.

We began with the “previously on” segment at the beginning of the episode reminded us that the Haitian claimed Noah told him to kill himself, while Molly’s suicide reminded us that she told Noah to forget the past and concentrate on the future. All are indications that the bombing of June 13th could not be stopped. 

What did we learn?

We find out that Erica is far more evil than we thought she was. Seriously, could this woman get any worse than genocide to cull the herd? No, probably not, but seeing her hoodwink Mohinder and set him up as a terrorist hurt.

We learned that Hiro is worried about all the proverbial butterflies whose wings might change time and thus cause dire consequences. He concluded about halfway through the episode that June 13th was a fixed point in time. (No, he didn’t say it. But that’s what he meant. I wonder if we could ever have a Hiro/The Doctor team-up. Quick, someone write that fanfic!)

But first, to test his theories, Hiro fights Harris and his multiple clones, in a great sequence even if it is just him popping in and out of the camera frame.

We also learned, in a sequence set in Japan, how Hiro became trapped in the video game in the first place. The game’s designer believed he was saving the world by trapping Hiro. Instead, he was simply doing Erica’s bidding. More on this next week, I suspect.

We also learned Angela Petrelli has been a major player behind the scenes. Angela Petrelli had a vision about the upcoming worldwide global extinction event and she tries to warn our old friend, Mohinder Suresh. Mohinder blows off  this warning because he doesn’t trust her. Given Angela’s past actions, I can understand that.

However, Angela soon found allies in Future Noah and Hiro. At the hospital where Claire died, they all discover that, yes, Claire is truly dead but…SURPRISE!…she died in childbirth having twins.

What?

The new grandchildren hardly mitigate Noah’s fresh grief but the babies do give him a goal for the future, especially as Angela reveals that these are the kids who will save the world in her vision. At that point, it’s inevitable that Hiro will take the twins back in time so they can grow up to be Tommy and Malina. That’s exactly what he does, after Angela names the boy “Nathan” after his other grandfather.

Meanwhile Future Noah heads to the hospital’s security to erase any record of the twins’ existence. How he can cover over the fact that twins were born is unclear but given the chaos in the hospital due to being overloaded by victims of the bombing, I’ll go with that. Especially since the nurse taking care of them turns out to be Tommy’s foster mother.

Meanwhile, Past Noah is having a Terrible, No-Good, Very-Bad day. First, the Fairy Oddfather, aka Casper Abraham, seems to be a turncoat. Casper is about to brainwash Past Noah instead he pulls a triple cross and spring Past Noah from Erica’s custody.  Incidentally, Casper is a perfect name for a character who can literally wipe away any memory of his existence.

Casper and Past Noah head to the hospital after the blast.

That’s where Past Noah spots Future Noah.

And cut to the cliffhanger ending as Past and Future Noah collide. Or, more likely, collude.

I was so caught up in the Future Noah/Current Noah and Hiro segments that I became annoyed at seeing Joanna, Luke and their son, Dennis, in Odessa. Still, it was a nice glimpse of them as a happy family. It seems as if Joanna was always the realist and Luke always the dreamer. I’m guessing this element will become important now that Luke and Malina are bonding in the present.

Luke’s character arc would be complete if he saves Malina’s life and thus saves the world.  So I’m calling it now: Joanna tries to kill Malina, Luke saves Malina, but Luke dies, thus atoning for his sins.  (Perhaps Joanna dies too.)

Missing this week is what happened with Carlos but I suspect his plotline will play into whatever happens in the past, given the mystery surrounding Sunset Manor.

Overall, a terrific episode that paid off much of what has gone before. Yes, we guessed Nathan/Tommy was a Petrelli but I’m sure no one had “Claire was the mom” in the lottery.

I still have some lingering issues with the writing. One, Erica is the most mustache-twirling evil villain I’ve seen in a long time. Other than wanting to cull the herd, her motives remain shallow, and it’s unclear how she convinced Phoebe to cast a shadow that ensured people would die in the bombing because Erica is the coldest person ever.

For the first time this season, I can truthfully say that I can’t wait. 


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.

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