Last night, HEROES stole a page from LOST’s playbook and provided us — via flashback — with some serious insight into HRG, including how he started at Primatech Paper and what his motives are. (In case you’re new to the world of HEROES, HRG is short for Horn-Rimmed Glasses, and HRG is Claire’s father)
Turns out HRG is really a good guy after-all! Okay, maybe ‘good’ is a little bit of a stretch. Let’s just say HRG is acting in a very morally gray area. But, with one hell of a reason — to protect his daughter and his family’s livelihood. He gets points for that, doesn’t he?
So let’s talk about what we learned (which was a lot). Isn’t it great when flashbacks actually reveal interesting information about the show’s characters and/or mythology. Remember when LOST’s flashbacks used to do that. But I digress.
First off, I have to mention this to anyone who may be confused (and a quick glance online shows that a lot of people didn’t get this). HRG is not dead. He only got the Haitian to shoot him so that it would appear he kidnapped Claire (so that he could return to The Company reputation intact) I just wanted to clarify that for those who’re slightly confused. And really, there’s no shame in admitting it. I for one am confused all the time. Why exactly did we see an entire episode about Jack getting his tattoos last week? Okay, seriously, enough LOST bashing. I’ll stop.
Moving on. Apparently, it was Mr. Nakamura’s idea for HRG to adopt Claire. With the one stipulation being that if she begins to manifest powers, he’s to report it to the ‘Company’ immediately. Question: Does Mr. Nakamura know that Hiro has powers? Is Hiro adopted? Is killing bio-parents and stealing ‘special’ babies part of the Company’s mission?
It’s revealed that Mr. Invisible (or is it The Invisible Man?) was HRG’s first partner. It’s pretty clear as to why the Invisible Man is so mistrustful of pretty much everyone. HRG isn’t exactly the poster-boy for human kindness. That said, I can’t help but wonder what led to the security breach. Who exactly was the Invisible Man protecting? And does anyone else think that HRG helped Mr. Invisible fake his death on the bridge? There was something very ‘off’ about that first gunshot. If you catch the scene again, watch carefully and report back.
Ted went Radiactive and while I appreciate that a show revolving around super-heroes may not be that realistic. Are we really to believe that you can step a few feet away from Radiactive Ted and assume you’re safe from the radiation he’s emitting. Matt and HRG should probably be dead or at least Cancer stricken. That said, I love how Claire’s entire body peeled off… yet her clothes remained on.
That my friends (and by friends, I’m talking to you LOST writers), is how it is done. The flashback provided us with some fantastic insight into the show’s mythology while raising enough questions to keep the show interesting for seasons to come.
What are we left with? A talking Haitian (I wonder why he kept mute for so long?), Kidnapped Heroes (Matt and Ted being held by the Company), Claire’s secret revealed to her family and HRG’s boss, and HRG getting the Haitian to erase Claire from his memory (Should lead to a really freaky Claire torture scene later on in the season). So many questions. Now I leave it up to you, my dear readers, what’s next? 