Five Years Gone - Overview
Fives Years Gone gives us a look at the possible future five years from now, if the bomb isn’t stopped. It is a pretty grim outlook, but before we get to far:
Spoilers beyond this point.
Five Years Gone picks up where we left Hiro and Ando, five years in the future. they go in search of Isaac and end up finding future Hiro, who tells them that he has been trying to figure out the best possible way of altering the timeline to prevent Sylar from detonating in NYC. Hiro and Ando inform him that Peter did indeed save the cheerleader, but that Hiro hadn’t killed him. Future Hiro the says they must get them back to thier own time when the loft is assaulted by paramilitary types under the command of none other than Matt Parkman (Head of Homeland Security) with the Haitian. Hiro is captured, but future Hiro and Ando escape. Parkman doesn’t seem to realize that Hiro is not the person that he has been persuing, confusing him with future Hiro.
Future Hiro and Ando determine that they need to free Hiro, so that he can be returned to his own time to kill Sylar. To do this they must go to Las Vegas to seek the help of Peter Petrelli. Future Hiro teleports them to Vegas and they attempt to find Peter through his girlfriend, Niki. Niki is an exotic dancer at a club (seems that she runs the joint as well). She tells them Peter is not interested and she gets hostile, then they ask about Bennett (HRG), she tells them that he is still in Texas. Peter has been there the whole time, invisible. They have a spat and we learn that DL and Micah are dead.
Parkman questions Hiro about events over the past five years and is disturbed because Hiro can’t remember them and Parkman’s abilities are stumped as to why he wouldn’t know. He is still unaware that he has the younger Hiro. Parkman calls the President, Nathan Petrelli, to inform them that they have captured Hiro Nakamura the terrorist. Nathan seems convinced that it is a trap. He wants Parman to get more ‘forceful’ in the interrogation. Nathan then meets with Mohinder, who seems to be his top science advisor. They talk about the explosion and the possiblility of a cure for the abilities of superbeings. Mohinder states that it isn’t possible and Nathan speaks about eliminating supers through the use of a false vaccine.
Parman is roughing up Hiro, when he gets a call that Mohinder is in NYC in Isaacs studio looking at the timeline.
Cut to Primatech Paper. HRG is testing a young boy for abilities through a blood test, the boy test positive and HRG packs them up to go into hiding. Hiro is asking him for the help of some of the supers that he helped rescue. He refuses, until Ando tells him that hiro saved Claire by telling Peter Petrelli to save her. HRG then tells them that he will see what he can do.
Mohinder is with Parman in the studio discussing the meaning of the strings. Mohinder posits that Hiro can time travel. Parkman seems hesitant to believe him. Mohinder seems to have made a revelation while talking to him.
Claire is in a diner as a waitress with her new fiance. They are talking about the wedding, when he notices a creepy guy in her section. creepy guy being HRG. He warns her that some one knows about her and she needs to leave and gives her money. After a brief heated discussion she takes the money. News discussing the Linderman act playing in the background.
While waiting for HRG, Ando asks future Hiro about what has happened to him. before he can say anything Parkman busts in and tasers future Hiro with his gaurds. He is stunned to find a second Hiro and finally believes that Hiro is aa time traveller. Peter busts in and messes up a few gaurds before stopping time and teleporting Hiro and Ando away. Leaving Parman empty handed.
We learn that HRG is working with Matt by turning in the dangerous supers (Hiro), so that he can be allowed to save the harmless ones. They have a discussion and it is revealed that HRG has been hiding Parkman’s family as well. HRG sees his assistant shot on the floor just before Parkman pins him down and ends the arrangement. Out of fear of the President and his failure with future Hiro, Parkman decides he needs an ace in the hole to protect him. He puts a gun to HRG then gets Claires location out of his head. Then shoots him.
Claire convinces her fiance to elope with her and just leave. He agrees and she is ecstatic. Parkman is there and takes her into custody.
Mohinder is questioning Hiro about the past, looking through a 9th Wonders comic that Hiro has never seen before, presumably the one Isaac sent away before his death.
Peter and Ando in an apartment and Peter drops the bomb on Ando telling him that he died in the explosion. He tells him that Hiro became grim after that and that he is the reason Hiro is trying to fix the past. Niki walks in on them.
Mohinder and Nathan are in Isaacs studio and Mohinder is trying to explain all of this to Nathan. Nathan tells him that Hiro can’t suceed and that he is going ahead with his plan to exterminate the other super beings. Parkman arrrives and tells Nathan that there are two hiros and that they have the younger one. He also says that he wants top put him down. Nathan decides that he wants Mohinders to do it as a test of loyalty. Parkman the reveals that he has found Claire.
Claire meets with Nathan and he gets all weird talking about Candice (Shapeshifter/illusionist) helping him get the presidency. It is then revealed that Nathan is actually Sylar. and he takes Claire’s head and power.
Future Hiro and Ando are catching up talking about how things have changed and weren’t what they expected. Peter and Niki are having a fight. Peter talks about DL, Micah and Jessica being gone. About accepting loss. Then reveals that Sylar was not the one that exploded, but rather him. He tells how Nathan blamed it on Sylar. He tells her that is why he must help Hiro.
Nathan/Sylar is giving a speech as Peter, future Hiro and Ando try and save Hiro. Mohinder and Parkman are getting ready to execute Hiro. They try to figure out how to get Hiro out with the Haitian there to shut thier powers down. Mohinder solves that problem by injecting the Haitian with the poison, rather than Hiro just like in the 9th wonders comic. Peter, Ando and Future Hiro arrive just as Mohinder is freeing Hiro to go back and stop Sylar. Hiro says he does know how to get back to his own time and Future Hiro says he will take him, but is then shot in the back by Parkman. Parkman calls Nathan/Sylar to tell him the Haitian is down and that Peter is preventing them from getting Hiro. Nathan/Sylar, who is front of a huge crowd, leaps into the air flying to Parkman.
While future Hiro dies, Nathan/Sylar pulls Peter through the door (DL’s Power) and throws him down the hall. Sylar reveals himself to Peter and they both nuke up to battle it out. the fighting gets intense and with Ando’s assurance, Hiro is able to get them back to thier own time on top of the Deveuax building.
This episode was phenomenal. Definitely the best one yet. Hiro going back will hopefully set things straight, but when Sylar’s involved, I’m not too sure about anything.
May 1st, 2007 at 2:55 am
Hi there. Don’t know if you’ve seen but there are some trailers/promos over at http://spoilertv-heroes.blogspot.com
May 1st, 2007 at 9:01 am
You are right that this was the best episode yet. Oh my holy heck… I cannot wait for next week!
May 1st, 2007 at 10:34 am
[...] String Theory Five Years Gone was a tremendous episode. Taking an established story and jumping five years into the future was something that could have been a ‘jump the shark’ moment. And, you know, at times during the episode, I thought that it might have done so. But it became one of the strongest chapters that the series has seen yet. [...]
May 1st, 2007 at 11:34 am
I absolutely loved this episode. It had everything from great stories, great effects, meaningful dramatic moments etc. If only all TV show could be this good. Click the link for my review/opinions.
Cheers
MrD
May 1st, 2007 at 12:55 pm
What I don’t understand is, since in the future Claire was still alive (up until Sylar fooled her into thinking he was Nathan and killed her), then that would mean he never obtained her powers from killing her before that point. But in the beginning future Hiro was telling past-Hiro and Ando that because Sylar had Claire’s powers, he did not die when he stabbed her, which is why he decided to travel back to New York on the train and tell Peter and “save teh cheerleader”. Am I missing something here? Claire was alive in the future!!
May 1st, 2007 at 1:10 pm
bob
May 1st, 2007 at 1:49 pm
While I too loved this Chapter, it left me feeling absolutely hopeless. It feels like nothing done so far has changed any future events which leads me to believe the future is set in stone in the show.
May 1st, 2007 at 1:59 pm
I’m wondering though…
What happened to Peter’s face so that he didn’t automatically regenerate?
Is it possible that Future Hiro didn’t exactly die - and then Sylar gets his power? I mean his brain technically is still fresh…
And why in the hell couldn’t Parkman read Sylar’s mind and know who he was in the first place is that the purpose of partnering him with “The Haitian”?
May 1st, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Great episode but they cut out before we could see a mega battle.
May 1st, 2007 at 3:13 pm
I still don’t understand Claires timeline. How/why does Sylar kill her twice?
May 1st, 2007 at 3:35 pm
If Petrelli can regenerate, why does he have a scar on his face? And how did he get it?
May 1st, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Karen please say you are from Utah. oh holy heck can only be from utah.
P.S. that was the most fetching cool episode yet.
Travis
May 1st, 2007 at 3:43 pm
awesome episode, but one question. how can claire die if she can regenerate? skylar did the same cut head thing to peter and he regenerated on the spot (last week episode). so i’m wondering how didnt claire do the same. this episode was a great episode.
May 1st, 2007 at 4:33 pm
It was a great episode.
But you reminded me, and I quote: “Hiro and Ando inform him that Peter did indeed save the cheerleader, but that Hiro hadn’t killed him.”
They should not have needed to remind the future Hiro because he did, after all, live through the times and events in question. I have to interpret this as a gaffe on the part of the writers.(?)
May 1st, 2007 at 6:25 pm
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May 1st, 2007 at 8:35 pm
[...] Speaking of Heroes - wow, fantastic episode last night. You can read a summary at watchingheroes.com [...]
May 1st, 2007 at 9:41 pm
It was a great episode but with a couple inconsistantcies.
When Ando and Hiro meet Future Hiro (FH), FH asks what are they doing there. FH should know everything Hire knows since Hire is FH in the past, FH should have remembered this meeting. Also FH should have know Hiro did not kill Syler and that the cheerleader was saved instead of being surprised about it. Future Hiro would know everything Past Hiro knew. Even though Past Hiro was now 5 years in the future Future Hiro should have remembered everything that happened to him because it was his past self that it happened to.
May 2nd, 2007 at 1:27 am
when Hiro thought he was stabbing Sylar he was infact stabbing Peter (as revealed when Peter tells Nikki that he was the bomb), hence when Hiro says he healed. So that means that Sylar will have to kill Nathen prior to his becoming president (as well as killing that chick who can shapeshift) so that he can tell everyone that Sylar was the bomb.
Not really sure why Peter didn’t heal the scar though.. that really didn’t make much sence since since he had already absorbed Clairs powers (unless there’s a time limit to his use after he absorbs a power).
May 2nd, 2007 at 6:18 am
This episode is full of error.
If peter have claire’s power, how can he have this scar on his face?
And if claire still alive, why did futur hiro stab him and it does nothing?
And the worst of all, if peter control all his power now, why didn’t he stop the time to fight syler… I mean, it’s will be so easy to kill him like that
May 2nd, 2007 at 6:28 am
save the cheerleader .. save the world? am i missing something? since Peter was the one that blew up half of the city. What ive noticed from the previous episodes is that… Claires powers has something to do with the brain..if something is lodged there or disrupts it.. they cant regenerate.. i.e Peter seemed dead when Sylar pierced him with the glass at Mouhinder’s apartment.. until the pulled the glass out of his head.
What confuses me is the whole claire thing though. if they saved her.. then shouldnt slyar be dead, unless unexpected events happened. suspense..
damn kewl though!
May 2nd, 2007 at 8:28 am
Perhaps in this timeline, Peter never saves the cheerleader; but nonetheless Claire manages to not get killed when Sylar attacks her in the school ( she could have run away ). Because he didn’t save her, he never meets her and don’t gain her power.
If Hiro can travel thru time, and obviously believes he can change events, it must follow that he can (and must) travel between different alternate time-lines. If the past cannot be changed, then he would quickly realize his efforts are futile and give up. If he does change the past, his memories of the previous original timeline would remain, and he would no longer know what happened/will happen in the new current timeline.
May 2nd, 2007 at 10:24 am
Why does Peter have the scar?
I mean…he has Clair’s powers.
May 2nd, 2007 at 12:10 pm
Future Hiro didn’t stab Sylar. He stabbed Peter.
Peter said he was the one who was responsible for the explosion in NYC. Luckily, Peter already has Claire’s powers and so it didn’t kill him. My issue is that now regular Hiro is on a mission to kill Sylar, but as far as saving NYC, that will do nothing. Sylar isn’t responsible for NYC.
As to why Peter didn’t just freeze time and kill Sylar, I think we might find this out next week. The preview shows Hiro freezing time and about to strike Sylar with his sword when suddenly Sylar’s eye rotates towards Hiro. So apparently he has some way of negating Hiro’s power.
May 2nd, 2007 at 3:29 pm
I thoroughly enjoyed this episode with its twist and turns. The burning question I have regarding this episode that I eagerly await the answer for is this:
1. In this timeline we know that Future Hiro Stabbed Sylar, but he regenerated and the explosion occured.
2. We also know that explosion although blamed on Sylar was actually Peter based on his admission.
So now I am really wondering how does killing Sylar prevent the coming explosion? Does it mean when Sylar dies we avert the even that causes Peter to go supernova? Or was it really the case that Hiro actually stabbed Peter.
You have to love wonderful writing like this that not only entertains, but leaves a lot of lingering questions that need to be answered. I can’t wait to see what the next episode reveals.
May 3rd, 2007 at 12:34 am
In the first season, Hiro traveled to the future when NYC was bombed…the newspaper’s date was November 2006. But we are now told that they traveled 5 years into the future, which should be 2011 not 2012 as the commercials and promos say. I’m so confused.
May 3rd, 2007 at 1:19 pm
OK. Hiro tried to stop Sylar from blowing up. But it was really Peter. Peter got slashed in the face with Hiro’s Kensai sword, which obviously is magical or has some special power to help Hiro and negate Peter’s regeneration power.
Hiro didn’t know it was Peter and thought it was Sylar, so he’s now on a quest to stop Sylar. Hiro still doesn’t know it was Peter who blew up NYC. So when he and Andro get back to present time they will still try to stop Sylar. If Hiro kills Sylar then Nathan can’t blame Sylar for the explosion, thus Peter won’t have to annihilate the city.
May 3rd, 2007 at 4:45 pm
There are plenty of good explanations for all of the inconsistencies that have been pointed out. One can only imagine which one the writers choose to reveal and which they let us imagine.
Peter could become scarred if he is cut and heals while his powers are somehow negated, the Haitain, for example.
As a time traveler, Hiro could be exempt from the paradoxical changes to time. It is possible that he changed the past and thus changed the future, but all of this would occurs while he is moving between times. From his perspective he would still remember the time that created him, the time that inspired him to go back and change his future. Then there would be two Hiros, one that came from the first (sylar explosion) past and one from the second (peter explosion) past. Since we know they can coexist in time there would actually be 3 (!!) Hiros in the “Five Years Gone” timeframe.
1) 2006 Hiro, leaped 5 years in the future
2) 2012 Hiro #1, future 2006 Hiro (peter explosion)
3) 2012 Hiro #2, (sylar explosion) the one that told Peter to save Clair and changed time creating a new path for 2006 Hiro, can never return to his time…he changed it
Nobody said time traveling was easy.
May 8th, 2007 at 12:30 am
[...] Episode 21: The Hard Part - Overview May 8th, 2007 by KeithR This episode picks up where we left off in Five Years Gone, with Hiro and Ando back in present time atop the Deveaux Building with NYC still intact. [...]
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:29 pm
[...] How to stop an Exploding Man May 22nd, 2007 by KeithR or a victim of my own expectations. I won’t call this a recap so much as a summary of my thoughts on the season one finale. This episode would have been an exceptional lead in episode, but to my mind fell a bit short of what I was hoping to see in the finale. I had already envisioned this grand battle of two superhero titans, Sylar and Peter. The unseen duel from Five Years Gone had fueled this expectation when Sylar andd Peter both fired up the nuke hands and went at it in the halls. [...]
May 28th, 2007 at 5:24 am
[...] good overview of the happenings in Episode 20, Five Years Gone.read more | digg [...]
August 28th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
[...] I, and millions of others wanted a rerun or better of the titanic battle between the pair from the Five Years Gone episode. Instead the series fizzled out and we were all sat there wondering what had happened. Did [...]
October 5th, 2007 at 5:23 am
[...] read more | digg story [...]
October 24th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
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