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HEROES REBORN: “Game Over” Roundtable Discussion plus Photos

By Liz | October 23, 2015

On this week’s Heroes Reborn, Noah and Quentin look for Hiro Nakamura, Miko and Ren continue to find a way into the Tower where her father is, Luke makes a final decision, Malina finds help in her search, Emily helps Tommy see his destiny and Erica’s plans encounter some obstacles. Rueben, Cay, Melissa and Liz discuss “Game Over” in this week’s roundtable, so gather ’round!

Discussion

1. We lost Quentin and Miko in this episode. Thoughts and reactions?

Cay: I’ll miss Quentin. He was such a likable every man, and to die at the hand of his sister that he worked so hard to find was just cruel! The whole Katana Girl storyline bored me from the beginning, so there was no sadness seeing her go. Maybe we’ll now be spared more Evernow scenes. Kind of reminded me of when friends post screenshots from WOW or other games – no thanks, if I wanted to see game scenes, I’d be playing.

Rueben: I was kinda saddened to see Quentin die especially at the hands of his sister. That was just so unexpected. I was surprised by the reveal, to an extent, about Miko not really being a real person. Perhaps that explains how she could transport between the real world and Evernow; but she sacrificed her “life” (as it were) to rescue Hiro so it was “worth” it. I just don’t know what other point she served except as the catalyst to get him back.

Liz: I was so surprised that they killed off Quentin, he was such a likable character! That being said, and while I don’t like it at all, he and Miko seem to have achieved their goals. Quentin found Phoebe and Miko found her father and her destiny.

Melissa: I was sad and surprised when Quentin was killed. He was basically a stand-in for the viewers, looking for answers, posing theories, being in awe of the Evos. And to have his sister kill him…that was harsh. Miko’s death was underwhelming. It happened so fast, and no one appears to be mourning her death, which makes for a pretty non-emotional exit. I hope Hiro and Ren at least acknowledge her passing next week.

2. Hiro is back! With him teaming up once again with Noah, do you think they’ll go back and fix what happened on June 13th or make things worse?

Cay: Save the cheerleader, save the world! I don’t believe for a second that Noah is going to go back and NOT interfere, the question will be what kind of interference will occur and what the repercussions will be. It wouldn’t surprise me if his daughter has been saved by the end.

Rueben: I have a feeling that Noah is going to do everything he can to change the events, but I don’t know if that will make it worse or better.

Liz: It was good to see Hiro back on the show, although I would have liked it better if they had kept that a complete secret. It was kind of anti-climactic. Hiro learned the hard way a long time ago, the perils of changing the past. I think he’s going to try to avoid that at all costs. Noah is looking for answers as to what happened to his daughter. If anything, he’d be the one to make that one move to save his daughter but causes that ripple effect that may have dire consequences.

Melissa: They have to save the cheerleader, right? I’m thinking along the same lines as Rueben – if they do save Claire, will that automatically mean a better future?

3. With Malina’s powers of restoration and Tommy’s power to control space, how do you think that will work together to save the world from what’s coming?

Cay: I predict a teenage love triangle between Tommy, Malina, and his ice cream sweetheart!

Rueben: I have a feeling that they will be crucial to saving the world with her control of the weather and his being able to control space; but whether they can combine their abilities and have it work the right way will be the true test. She’s been practicing for this her whole life, Tommy, not so much.

Liz: It will be interesting because Tommy seems to have to have physical contact in order to release his power. How is he going to do that with what’s coming? Unless Malina creates a way for him to do that?

Melissa: If Malina controls nature, Tommy controls space, and Hiro controls time (oooh, and Luke controls fire!), I think they’d be able to trap and disarm (or kill) Phoebe. She appears to be the linchpin for Erica’s plans now, so she seems a likely target. But will that actually save the world? Don’t they have to do something about solar flares headed our way, or am I imagining that?

4. What the heck is Phoebe?

Cay: Good question, indeed.

Rueben: I think that she is whatever that Shadow kid is, but beyond that I’m a little clueless. It was hard enough watching what she did to her own brother to think much beyond that.

Liz: It’s odd, because Malina was powerless against her. Maybe she’s destruction? Maybe that’s why Erica wanted her in her camp. It looks to me like Erica, instead of using Evos’ powers to stop the fire storm, she’s creating a world in the future, after the fire storm, completely in her control. Phoebe was recruited to help the firestorm along, maybe intensify it (?), while destroying anything or anyone that got in Erica’s way.

Melissa: Isn’t she Shadow Kid? Quentin explained that her power mutes other Evos’ powers, which makes her a powerful weapon when it comes to capturing Evos.

5. We’re about half way through the series by now. Care to evaluate?

Rueben: Sadly I’m not as sold on the show as I was in the beginning. I didn’t buy the relationship between Luke and Joanne, and was happy to see her walk away, but now Luke just seems like, for lack of a better word, a pansy. I don’t like Dylan Bruce’s character at all, but we’re not supposed to like his character. I wasn’t completely sold on the whole Miko/video game storyline either. I have enjoyed Tommy’s storyline and was happy to see Hiro back in play. But otherwise, I’ve been a little disappointed. Storywise, I hope they amp the last half of the show, as it really needs that special something that the show had in its first season.

Liz: I think things are going okay, but I feel like I’m ready for the story to move forward to the guts. Now that we’ve all been introduced to the characters and they are well on their individual paths, I feel like this episode was the pivot point. The players are all in place for what’s coming. While I understand the need and the logic of pivot points, I often don’t have the patience for them. I feel that Tommy’s road to realizing his destiny was kind of clumsy and lame. I feel like Miko and Ren’s story was patched together unevenly and there was no real emotional attachment to either of them. I still don’t know why Carlos is in this at all. While some episodes have been pretty good I feel like this story is stumbling along.

Cay (answering with an observation): So Luke kills a bunch of EVOs in cold blood, realizes he is one, sees the error of his ways, sells his practice, burns his house, tells off his wife, buys a boat, tries to kill himself, gets saved by Malina, and is now going to help save the world? Talk about a character turnaround!

Melissa: This wasn’t my favorite episode, but I recognize it as an episode that pivots the storyline. So far we’ve established the new characters, brought back most of the familiar faces (more to come next week), set up the new Big Bad, and introduced the next apocalypse. Now we’re turning toward the meat of the story: how these people will fight to save the world or destroy it and build a new one. I’d like to see some real emotion and a better handling of the “small” moments between characters to make me care more, though. So far Zachary Levi seems to be the only one rising above the clunky writing and characterization to give us anything meaningful. (I loved that scene between Luke and Malina at the vending machines!)