The Second Coming (Heroes)

Infobox Television episode


Caption=
Title=The Second Coming
Series=Heroes
Season=3
Episode=1
Guests= Bruce Boxleitner
Ashley Crow
Jimmy Jean-Louis
Jamie Hector
Francis Capra
Brea Grant
George Takei
Malcolm McDowell
Airdate=September 22, 2008
Production=301
Writer= Tim Kring
Director= Allan Arkush
Prev=Powerless
Next=The Butterfly Effect
Episode list = List of Heroes episodes"The Second Coming" is the first episode of the third season of the NBC science fiction drama series "Heroes" and thirty-fifth episode overall. It was written by series creator/executive producer Tim Kring and directed by executive producer Allan Arkush. It first aired on September 22, 2008 as the beginning of the "Villains" storyline.

Plot

The episode begins four years into the future. Peter Petrelli, who has a scar on his face, is being chased and enters a hangar. Claire Bennet tries to shoot him, but Peter stops time and time travels to the present day. At Nathan's press conference, future Peter shoots Nathan, as in "Powerless". Present-day Peter and Matt Parkman chase future Peter through the building, but future Peter appears to have escaped. Peter rushes Nathan to the hospital, and although he dies, he comes back to life after Peter kisses him on the forehead. Peter encounters Matt, who catches him trying to find the gun future Peter hid. Peter's scar reappears, and he tells Parkman that he is from the future and teleports Matt away because he knows too much. Matt wakes up in the desert, with no one in sight. Nathan walks out of the hospital to a church next door. A crew of news reporters follow him, and Nathan gives a short speech about how he was saved by God. Peter leaves, and Nathan gets another visitor: Linderman. The governor of New York learns about Nathan on the television, and tells Tracy, who looks identical to Niki Sanders, that he thinks he has found who he is looking for. Angela Petrelli visits Nathan in the hospital. She knows that future Peter is impersonating his past self, and tells Peter that he got the ability to dream the future from her. Future Peter tells Angela that he put his present day self somewhere safe. At the Company headquarters, in one of the Level 5 prison cells, a bald man screams that he is Peter Petrelli. Noah Bennet is also locked up in an adjacent cell.

Claire watches the news reports about Nathan when Sylar arrives. Claire hits him on the head with a blunt object and tries to escape, but is stoppoed by Sylar. While Claire hides in a closet, Sylar finds Noah's files. He is stabbed by Claire, but he pins her against the wall, and starts cutting open her forehead. Once he has cut off the top of her head, Sylar obtains Claire's power. Her skull heals, and Sylar says that she is special, and that she can never die, even if he wanted to kill her.

In his office at Yamagoto Industries in Japan, Hiro Nakamura tells Ando that he is bored without a quest. A video message from Kaito Nakamura is delivered to his office, which tells Hiro to never open Kaito's safe, which holds a secret. Hiro immediately opens the safe, and finds another video, with Kaito repeating that he was not supposed to open the safe. Hiro finds one half of a molecular formula, which gets stolen by a blur before he can comprehend what it means. Hiro stops time to see that the blur is a trail left by Daphne, a speedster. Daphne moves at normal speed while time stopped, and comments that Hiro did not stop time completely. She hits him in the face and leaves with the formula as time resumes. Hiro jumps to the future to see how the world is destroyed. He sees Japan in a panic, and himself talking to Ando, arguing about the formula. Future Hiro yells at Ando saying that Ando betrayed him. Future Hiro is ready to strike with his sword, when Ando shoots what appears to be red electricity at Hiro, apparently killing him. Ando takes the formula from Hiro's body and walks away. The sky opens up and the world starts exploding, and Hiro jumps back to the present.

Maya and Mohinder Suresh are at his apartment and he realizes that powers are controlled by the adrenal glands. Mohinder thinks he has isolated something that controls powers, and could give powers to anybody. Maya says the powers are a curse, and asks him to destroy the formula. On the docks, Mohinder considers throwing away the syringe with the formula. Instead, he injects himself, and collapses. Two muggers attempt to accost Mohinder as he lays semiconscious on the ground. However, he exhibits superhuman strength, repelling the thugs. In the background, there is a giant painting of the Earth exploding from the inside. In the closing scenes of the episode, Mohinder narrates the William Butler Yeats poem "The Second Coming", the title's namesake.

Production

"Villains" was originally designed to be included within the second season; however, due to the writers' strike, the volume was carried over into season three. The lead-in to "Villains" showed Sylar regaining his lost powers, shown as the final scene of the "Generations" finale. Tim Kring has said that the new volume will bring a cadre of villains to the show, hence the title. [cite web |url=http://www.heroestheseries.com/tim-kring-expains-on-volume-2-finale/ |title=Tim Kring on Volume 2 Finale, Possible Volume 3 Storylines |accessdate=2008-09-18 |date=2007-12-04 |work=HeroesTheSeries.com] On December 5, 2007, at the Jules Verne Film Festival Adventure, Tim Kring showed a video-preview of volume three. [cite web |url=http://www.julesvernefestival.com/spip.php?article133%E2%8C%A9=fr |title=Cult TV Show ’Heroes’ Live On Stage! |accessdate=2008-09-18 |work=JulesVerneFestival.com] According to an interview with Allan Arkush, filming for season three began on May 1, 2008. [cite web |url=http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TV-Show-Blog/Tv-Previews/Heroes-Burning-Questions/800038068 |title=Heroes Director Gives a Glimpse of Next Season |accessdate=2008-06-27 |author=Wright, Bekah |date=2008-04-22 |publisher="TV Guide"] On May 9, 2008, a season three promo clip was released with hints at possible "inner villains" within the heroes. The promo stated, "In every hero there could be a villain," before plastering the words "hero" and "villain" over the face of every major character. Finally, during the featured "Heroes" panel at the San Diego Comic-Con, the entire first hour of the first episode of the "Villains" arc was shown. [cite web |url=http://www.tvweek.com/blogs/blink/2008/05/good_guys_and_bad_guys.php |title=Good Guys and Bad Guys |accessdate=2008-09-20 |author=Vlada Gelman |date=2008-05-09 |publisher="TVWeek"]

In July NBC began airing a teaser for season three featuring Noah Bennet talking to Claire stating, "Since before you were even born, I was finding these people and locking them away so that they couldn't hurt anybody. Now a dozen of them have escaped, and they will kill...and they will terrorize...and they will conspire...and they will cause...unimaginable destruction to the world...they're villains, Claire," while a montage of clips play. [cite web |url=http://www.buddytv.com/articles/heroes/heroes-season-3-premiere-may-b-20917.aspx |title='Heroes' Season 3 Premiere May Be Screened at Comic-Con |accessdate=2008-09-20 |author=Don Williams |date=2008-07-02 |publisher=BuddyTV]
Zachary Quinto, who plays Sylar, has stated that the Villains story arc will last for thirteen episodes. [cite web |url=http://www.heroestheseries.com/season-3-spoilers-linderman-mohinder-nathan-and-claires-bad-side/ |title=Season 3 SPOILERS: Linderman, Mohinder, Nathan, and Claire’s Bad Side |accessdate=2008-09-20 |date=2008-07-08 |work=HeroesTheSeries.com]

Reception

At the San Diego Comic-Con 2008, Kring screened the first part of the "The Second Coming", which received a positive response from fans.cite web|url=http://www.thrfeed.com/2008/07/kring-unveils-h.html|title=Tim Kring Screens "Heroes" Third Season Premiere|author=Hibberd, James|publisher= The Live Feed|date=2008-07-26|accessdate=2008-08-02] Robert Canning of IGN felt that "The Second Coming" was "like a wasted opportunity". He saw the most noticeable difference between this episode and the last season as "the quick pacing", and found the revelation of Nathan's would-be assassin to be "the best part of the episode". He hoped that the Petrellis would continue to get focus, and questioned the choices made by Hiro and Mohinder, saying that their actions did not seem to reflect anything they would have learned from their past experiences. Canning said that although "The Second Coming" was "not exactly the second coming [,] it may well turn out to be a solid start to a season of redemption". [cite web |url=http://au.tv.ign.com/articles/911/911642p1.html |title="Heroes": "The Second Coming" Review |accessdate=2008-10-11 |author=Canning, Robert|date=September 19, 2008 |publisher=IGN]

References

External links

* [http://gregbeeman.blogspot.com/2008/09/beemans-blog-season-3-episode-1.html Beaming Beeman - Season 3, Episode 1] - Director's blog on the filming of this episode.