Heroes (TV Series) Chapter Twenty-Three 'How to Stop an Exploding Man' (2007) User Reviews

Let's round up...

[bellapeligrosa · 7/10 · 28 May 2008]

Inconsistencies abounded in this last episode. I expected the final showdown between Peter and Sylar to be a sort of Harry Potter vs Voldemort extravaganza with the two heroes pitting all their superpowers at each other. Instead it goes Hollywood soppy, with Nathan making the ultimate sacrifice (yawn) after the words of his illegitimate daughter somehow convince him that blowing up half of New York City is not the right thing to do. I don't think he had to worry that much as apparently all the citizens of New York were sleeping or at home watching House, instead of gathering round and watching the showdown go down. Akira has a point there - if a bunch of people were running round with swords and lightshows the general populace would think it was street theatre and crowd around to watch! Sylar could have made a buck or two if he'd passed around a hat. Ah well... at least no-one was watching the really really bad baddie slide away into a drain. I mean puh-lease! The last few episodes of the show have been about killing Sylar. Admist the tears and cuddles and talk of home somehow he's forgotten???? As for the talk of a new ultra-baddie - that little nugget was so unsubtly dropped that the writers must have realised they didn't do a great job with episode 23 so they needed something to keep the general viewing public tuning into Season 2.

OK so the ending of season 1 sucked. I've had my rant! All in all this has been a great series, with some excellent acting from some gorgeous people. Hopefully Season 2 will be more of the same. Bets on Peter & Nathan's mother turning out to be the Wicked Witch of the West???

It could have been badder but certainly also better!

[rasmus-pindis · 7/10 · 22 May 2007]

Well who hadn't seen the ending coming?? Nathan grabs peter and flies away, finally he becomes aware of the true purpose with his powers and sacrifice his life, so peter can live on... Not that that plot is bad, no not at all, but it didn't surprise me as much as many other things in the series... The worst thing is that Sylar is allowed to live, I just don't understand why!! We just got the introduction to a new, and if I understood right, more evil villain than Sylar, the one Molly didn't dare to see. We got enough cliff-hangers to Season 2; Were's/how's Peter, did Nathan survive, what happens to Hiro back in the 17th century and who is the new villain! There's no need of letting Sylar live.. I think it's a great episode, but the ending just ruins it all, they just don't got the guts to kill Sylar, how many shoots (or impaling by ancient samurai sword) is he supposed to survive, remember he don't got any healing powers what so ever... Before the ending I would've given it 9 or 10, but letting Sylar live disappoint me so much that it's gonna be a 7.. My propose to a better ending: Sylar dies, and the "Heroes" get a brief sense of false safety. We got a lot of cliff-hangers as i said earlier, a cool thing could be, if they needed to add a cliff-hanger, that instead of letting Sylar live, could be to give a short introduction to the new villain, or not even a introduction, maybe just a picture or a vision from Molly, now imaging that ending, it would be a 10 of 10!! I like season 1 a lot, really much, and the last episode as well, the ending were's just a little disappointing. They come with so many flips in the story and introduce stuff i really didn't think about, in a cool way, but just ruins it in the end, just my opinion!

Last episode comments *Big Spoilers*

[Good-Will · 8/10 · 24 May 2007]

Great, until the denouement....

*Do not read this unless you have seen part 23*

Last warning.

Why on earth not hack Skylar's body into pieces, then incinerate the pieces and post the ashes into the four corners of the globe. Or why didn't Nathan fly him up with Peter to be killed in the nuclear explosion? He can't regenerate at that time

Everyone was so emotionally involved in their own family reunions (violins at full tilt) that they forgot their own mission, and although this last episode was partially satisfying, it just ignores the fact that Skylar needed eliminating. Nobody ever kills James Bond, or Skylar, apparently.

It reminded me of all the Halloween/Freddie/insert the name of your evil guy here/ and other cheap endings to franchises that could possibly justify another series. Keep the very last scene for the baddie to escape.......

Very bad move on the writer's part, IMHO.

Cheers, Will

P.S. And why wouldn't "Future Hiro" just transport himself back in time to kill Skylar, Peter and Ted at birth. Major plot hole.

It could be much better... the season deserved it

[alejonebbia · 28 October 2009]

In general, the first season of Heroes was a 9.5 out of 10 for every single episode to me... except for the last one. What were they thinking honestly?

It would be nice to see a long fight between Peter and Sylar (like the glimpse of the real combat between them in the episode "Five Years Gone"), but I could also be satisfied with some of the other heroes finishing Sylar... Hiro (as predicted in the last comic book of Isaac), Claire or even getting his ass kicked by Jessica/Niki.

The problem with this episode is not the duration of the final fight or who killed (?) Sylar. Neither is the fact of Peter not flying by himself to explode in the sky (that might be explain by the fact that he was unable to control his powers at that moment... if he couldn't handle his radiation... obviously he wasn't able to fly or use any other of his abilities).

The big hole in the plot, in my opinion, is the (cheesy) fact that Nathan, melodramatically, came to help. Please, come on... did the fantastic 22 first episodes of this great series deserve a soap opera finale with the two brothers finally showing their love for each other?

It could be much better than that.

All your questions answered, and more questions to be asked!!! A real heart-breaker

[johnstoa · 10/10 · 21 May 2007]

The last episode of Heroes truly delivered. It brings together all the heroes for the first time to make their stand. The humanity and super-humanity existing within all these heroes truly inspire us to live through inspiration that we have the choice to heal and save this world without having to make any devastating sacrifices; but what we choose to do is entirely up to us.

Peter, is impossible not to fall in love with, he is, to me, the truest hero of the show. Built upon love and compassion, which is how we should heal the world.

This whole show is truly amazing, addressing all forms of prejudice, spirituality, tolerance, compassion, healing...and above all love.

Fantastic conclusion of first season

[chrichtonsworld · 10/10 · 22 May 2007]

The last episode ended with a bang! Not the bang you would expect,but on a emotional level! Most of the heroes come with terms of their unique abilities and power! Each hero play their part as foretold by Isaac Mendez! Of course we have been tricked a little with the ending! When Sylar is painting he is seeing several futures! This is somewhat new as we only have seen one alternative future (episode "Five years gone)!Who cares! This killer episode is moving and entertaining as the rest of the series! Most of all it is a satisfying conclusion! The tie in to the next series is beautifully done! I just can't wait how that will turn out! My hope is that the series will remain as good as it is now and that the heroes from the first season will return!

Movie references

[exael-1 · 9/10 · 23 May 2007]

Awesome finale! I think a lot of people were expecting "The Matrix Revolutions" for the final showdown but what we got was "The Iron Giant", a personal favorite. I saw an interview with Tim Kring on Wired magazine's site and he mentioned how "The Incredibles" was a direct inspiration for the show. Both The Iron Giant and The Incredibles were directed by Brad Bird and I can't help but think that The Iron Giant was an influence or perhaps homaged at the end with Nathan's sacrifice. Also, ending the episode by beginning season 2,with Hiro falling from the sky and being trapped in the middle ages, seemed very "Evil Dead 2/Army of Darkness" to me, but it's probably a coincidence. I don't think we needed so much recap at the beginning of the episode, practically showing the end of the last episode again (as if we all hadn't watched the last episode multiple times...seriously if you weren't on-board the Heroes train by the last episode, chances are you're waiting on the DVDs). All in all, I loved it.

How to Stop an Exploding Man an excellent season finale for Heroes

[tavm · 10/10 · 26 May 2007]

As scenes from the last 22 episodes are flashed on screen, Mohinder narrates about purposes. Hiro searches for Ando who took the sword and is seeking Sylar. Hiro's father reluctantly agrees and gives his son his own sword. In Issac's apartment, Ando finds Sylar and attempts to kill him. Sylar banishes him to a window and tries to cut his head off just as Hiro teleports there and eventually succeeds in transferring himself and Ando back to their Japanesse offices where he leaves Ando with his own sword and takes his father's with him back to New York. Mohinder and HRG are pointing guns at each other as little tracker girl Molly looks under a bed and recognizes a passed out Matt Parkman as the cop who saved her way back. Matt vouches Molly's character as all three use her to identify Sylar's whereabouts. Peter takes Claire back to his brother-and her bio-father-Nathan who, in private with Peter, tries to talk him into keeping Claire out of the situation. When Peter refuses he goes back to find Clarie gone. As he searches, Peter teleports from one place to another and, as he passes out, finds himself back to when he was a nurse caring for Charles Deveraux who is visited by mother Petrelli and his daughter Simone who meets Peter for the first time. After past Peter leaves Charles and Mrs. Petrelli, current Peter overhears his mother and Mr. Deveraux discuss the upcoming bombing and debate the merits of the Petrelli brothers. After his mother leaves, Peter is startled to hear Charles acknowledge his current self's presence and asks if he's dreaming or traveling through time. Charles says it doesn't matter and there is a reason for everything. At this point, Peter is awoken by HRG, as they prepare to go to the top of the Kirby building to stop Sylar. It's here that we find out HRG's-Mr. Bennet's-first name is Noah. In that building, Niki is propping bullet-ridden D.L. and leaves him at elevator promising to come back. She searches a room where she finds Candace-as-Jessica waiting to beat her. During the fight, Jessica in a broken mirror glass reveals to Niki she's not fighting her and convinces her to knock Candace out. She does as Candace turns to her real self. Micah, who was lying on the floor this whole time, vanishes as Niki hears his voice and opens to find him locked in a closet. They then leave to find D.L. It's at this point that Molly senses Sylar nearby as Mohinder and Matt leave to go to the elevator where Micah and Niki have arrived toward D.L. Molly tells Micah the elevator doesn't work but with his hand Micah fixes it as they all go to the top of the building. Up there, Peter and Sylar duke it out with Matt and Hiro helping out. Matt gets his bullets thrown back at him while Hiro's sword goes through Sylar's stomach but not enough to keep Sylar from throwing Hiro off the roof. Peter's hands are still lighting up, however, as he begs Claire to shoot him. Just then, Nathan appears and flies Peter off into space as the explosion detonates far, far, away. Mohinder, as narrator, sums it all up as "End of Volume One" prints on screen. Then we're in a grass hill as "Volume Two, Generations" is printed. Hiro lands here in what is 17th century Japan about to be surrounded by some samurai. Fade to black as the screen says for the last time this season, "To Be Continued"...A mostly wow finish with Claire going out the window several feet above then regenerating once again on ground one of the coolest effects ever. Loved seeing Richard Roundtree and George Takei again. Also loved seeing Niki hit Sylar with the parking meter. Maybe some inconsistencies but very enjoyable season finale nonetheless. Hope to be back next season. Until next time...

How the heroes develop

[Duntouchablesk · 10/10 · 23 May 2007]

When I first started watching Heroes, at the very moment I was hooked. Character who have super power to control the world. If you were to be one of the characters who would you be? To me honestly I would have to say Hiro. Stopping time and teleporting throughout the world, very interesting. As I saw the last episode I was in tears, especially the relation between Peter and Nathan. Remember their last word when Peter said "I love you Nathan, and he says I love you too" as Nathan grabs Peter and flies into the sky then boom. What I like most is how at the very end everyone were together. Parkman and Mohinder, (which I hope Parkman lives), Clarie and her father, Jessica/DL/Micah, and Molly. And when Hiro and Ando separated each other, as Hiro went alone to kill Sylar which he was successful. Ending got me in tears, yet a very thoughtful moment. Then they showed the spoiler for volume 2 "Generation" and right before hiro was thrown into the building he teleported, which took him to Kyoto Japan I think it was 1960's where his father was a samurai. That was a shocker, and it makes me wonder Hiro/Kyoto/Samurai hmmm.

Chapter Twenty-Three 'How to Stop an Exploding Man'

[Prismark10 · 8/10 · 22 February 2022]

The first season concludes with a showdown between Peter Petrelli and Sylar.

Thye location is Kirby Plaza. A tribute to Marvel's Jack Kirby.

Lurking in the shadows is not Sylar but Nathan Petrelli. Will he be the hero or villain?

As for Hiro, he needs to find his killer instincts.

It was a satisfying end to the first series while sowing the seeds of a second series.

It felt too low stakes. Maybe because too many of the Heroes were killed off by Sylar.

A lot of the action took place in a desolate plaza with just a few people about.

It also had too many plot holes. When Claire fell to her death, Nathan could had flown to save her.

Solid, but Lacking

[beemo36 · 6/10 · 24 May 2007]

All in all a solid ending, and I'm looking forward to the next volume. A few things that didn't quite add up though. There's no reason for Nathan to fly away with Peter and ultimately kill himself, as Peter can obviously fly for himself. Also, DL and Parkman managed to both live an extremely long time after being shot (multiple times in Parkman's case) in the chest and/or stomach. There's no excuse for Hiro not finishing off Sylar, but now that he's left alive it leads us to think that Sylar will be a major factor in the future in addition to the new villain that Molly told us about earlier. My biggest problem with the final chapter was the anti-climatic fight between Peter and Sylar. This fight was built up so much in the Five Years Later episode, and it was way to quick and ended too suddenly. But something tells me we'll see the real fight in another four years since Sylar is still alive...

an underwhelming end to a great season

[jacksonwma · 7/10 · 22 May 2007]

this season started out so well. it produced some of the best sci-fi /superhero story lines and characters i have seen in my 45 years of TV shows i can remember(i am 50).the show was way too short. the fight between sylar,peter and hiro was almost laughable.these are super-powered beings.there should have been more carnage,chaos and drama.Tim kring brags that he has never read a comic-book.maybe he should. NBC should have shelled-out some major bucks for this. this is their only real hit. they should have gone all-out to make this one for the record books.maybe Alan Moore's miracle man finale of Olympus(issue#15) should be consulted as a reference.if Mr. kring is going to mine a genre,even one he does not respect,he should do some research.

Season 1 Finale... Not Up to My Expectation

[robertomf · 5/10 · 17 October 2007]

I guess I'm just like many Heroes fans out there that felt that there could have been more action during the Peter versus Sylar confrontation. After all the storyline of season 1 was hinged on the eventual nuclear explosion.

Unfortunately there wasn't much; i.e., since both have multiple capabilities then each could have been switching abilities to use against each other. Didn't Sylar even have a freezing (breaking Hiro's sword) as well as melting (after killing Zane Taylor) abilities? Instead he just focused on telekinetic powers. Peter himself did nothing much... no flying, no going invisible, not even using telekinetic powers himself. Instead he just used the old-style "beat the crap out of" Sylar after seemingly absorbing the strength of Jessica.

When sword-wielding Hiro teleported into the scene he was pretty far from Sylar and yet Hiro was able to do his "deed" even with Sylar seeing his approach. However, earlier Sylar was able to stop Parkman's bullets ala Neo of The Matrix. Remember, he also has melting abilities which he could've used with both incidences. I guess Sylar is more just a collector than a user of talents. Or maybe he just wanted to kill all competition? 8)

Hmmm... although when you think about it, Peter versus Sylar is not an even match with Peter having added abilities like flying, regeneration, and Jessica's strength... on top(?) of Sylar's abilities. The only thing is Sylar seem to have more confidence than Peter using his acquired abilities.

As to those complaining why Peter didn't do this and that like flying himself to explode somewhere... well... you folks might have missed what Peter told Nathan... "I cannot do anything..." ;i.e., he was like a Windows operating system that hang and cannot do anything else but go nuclear and explode (like Windows blue screen of death?) ;)

Not Impressed

[carts005 · 4/10 · 6 December 2007]

I live in England, and the last two episodes were shown as a double-bill on BBC2. Having seen all the trailers and having enjoyed the rest of the season immensely, I was anticipating a huge, action-packed finale. Boy, was I ever disappointed! Everyone kept changing their minds (Nathan, HRG to name but a few) and the 'killing' of Sylar was absolutely rubbish! After all that had happened, all Hiro had to do was run at him with a sword! Surely, having met Hiro previously and knowing of his intentions, Sylar would have moved out of the way! He just stood there and was like 'ow'. Pfft. The Nikki/Jessica character, whom I had previously liked, also failed to deliver (Ali Larter was great, her story wasn't) and I could not help but wonder why Nathan needed to fly Peter away - surely the bullet in the back of the head would have done it?! And WHAT was up with their mum? She was creepy, and seems to have some back-story we haven't yet encountered. Also, when Peter met Simone's father and he was banging on about Pete being able to love unconditionally, I was expecting Peter to have to do something. Instead, it was Nathan. Oh, and did anyone else raise their eyebrows when Peter asked Simone's father why he was there (a dream, going back in time etc.) and he answered 'Does it really matter' or something like that - I'm sorry, HOW lame? It's like the writers could not be bothered to think of a good reason for this. And there's a new villain in town? Fine. But kill off the original one first, please! A totally unimpressive ending to what started out as a very very promising series.

A let down.......

[sin_shivam · 4/10 · 5 June 2007]

Too much expectations from the last episode..... it seems the producers were in a hurry to finish the season.... the story in this episode could have been faster and a huge battle between sylar n peter was expected with a lot of special effects(like 5 yrs down the line!!)... the earlier episodes set the tempo but the last episode terribly failed at that....the makers of the show it seems ran short of money for the ending.... sylar was eliminated (not sure) tamely n there could have been several other ways to stop peter (throw him in the ocean..... or he could have flown himself.... hiro could have teleported him in the middle of a desert..... or simply outcold him by hitting at the back of the head!!!).. tooo many flaws n bad action in this episode...... all in all a poor ending to a brilliant TV series.....

After a large number of episodes,

[frankie-dunn · 4/10 · 4 January 2008]

obviously with the normal ups and downs in a series, we are waiting for the final episode, the climax of twenty-two episodes, the time to open and close new arcs.

But after the end credits, the question is: "What? That's all? It's not possible, this is not Heroes". You feel like a kid whose new toys are not what he expected, toys very different from the fantastic TV advert.

Where is the epic, the action or the thrill that we saw during the previous episodes? You put all the characters in one place, together at least and this is the result? The fight between Sylar and Peter was the scene that all of us were expecting as the ultimate fight; in fact during the episodes is obvious that is one of the most important moments, with constant allusions in the script.

A final fight is everything except the "Heroes" final fight. I don't mind if they didn't have money or time to make the episode in a best way, I want an episode with the quality of the rest of the series.

This episode is the perfect example of how not to finish a season, "Heroes" deserved another final season.

Terrible!

[akirahasegawa · 2/10 · 31 May 2007]

I usually don't do this, but this episode was so bad, I just had to post a comment. And my critics go to the direction. This particular 23. episode is so pathetic and badly done it constantly jumps into your face. Look, the characters are made as if they are stupid. They are pure unintelligent. I asked my self a couple of times "Why? How come they don't do that or do this?" And Peter has a scene in the middle of NYC and there's nobody in the street. Have you ever been in NY? And the final scene is also 'empty', but immediately after it, people are walking all around. Where were they a minute a go?! And the lady sugars her coffee and leaves the scene. What!? Allan (director) please: you have to do your job (better). Peolpe are not that stupid or that illogical. All in all, the episode starts very promising and it gives you something, but as it goes on and develops, it just goes downhill. I'm so sorry THAT was the last episode of the season.

Season 1: Entertaining live-action comic book for adults but nothing more than that

[bob the moo · 1 October 2007]

When I heard about HBO's The Wire, it was many years after it had started and the people I was hearing good things about it from all who had seen it and had time to fall in love with it. I mention this because I am always a bit wary when a show comes out the opposite way - marketed with lots of hype and a campaign that suggests "hey, everyone is watching this – it is the next big thing", even before a single episode is shown. So it was with Heroes, which hit the US and the UK with lots of good things being said about it by the people who made it. Regardless I gave it a go.

What I found was a sort of X-Men comic book crossed with soap opera where there isn't a huge amount of characterisation or depth in the material but that it was pleasing easy to watch and had plenty to engage me as a viewer. On one level I do love shows such as HBO's The Wire, where there is so much depth and intelligence but on the flip side, after some very long days at work I do like to be able to sit back and enjoy some trashy television. And, despite the heavy voice-over and suggestions of complex and impacting characters and plotting, this is just what Heroes is – a comic book for adults. The delivery is aware of this and it does use devices to emulate that style to good effect. The many characters help fill the time by giving plenty to follow along with. It does sag badly here and there though and at times you do get impatient with it and want it to move on, but this is an increasingly common problem with some series required to fill 23 or so episodes that perhaps the material isn't able to do.

I had worried that this would be like Lost and just constantly keep any conclusion or significant answers just out of reach but Heroes did have the benefit that the conclusion that we were building up to was set in time and that even a show trying to be like Lost would struggle to stretch the time period of several weeks out over several seasons (in the way that Lost seems determined to just keep adding bigger questions to the pile in the attempt to keep the ratings high for as long as possible before eventually bowing out as they start to dip). Of course this device is not perfect and sometimes I did wonder why time was moving so slowly – with many episodes seeming to cover several days but yet the "bomb" remains the same amount of time away. However it is still a good device and the season did maintain a real sense of build as we went along, with some good episodes adding to the flow by spending 45 minutes of narrative six months in the past or five years in the future. After a short time though, the season did start dropping in things that made little sense to me but I suppose to some would have been "wow – there is a massive mystery I am now interested in" moments. Examples include Hiro's father being involved in the flashbacks of the organisation, Peter being visible to Deveaux and several other moments – many of which are not really explained but just sort of happen.

Did it deliver at the end? Well, for me the answer is "not really" as the solution is too easy and delivered in quite a flat way. It would have worked better had I cared more about the characters but mostly they are just comic book characters so I lacked a genuine emotional buy-in that might have made it work better. It also didn't help that the "volume II" teaser at the end was unimpressive and didn't really succeed in making me keen to come back for more.

The multiple characters do all help to create this sense of building towards something but I personally didn't find them engaging as anything other than characters coming to terms with and using their powers. I didn't really mind it but I do have to admit that the women characters do seem pitched to a male audience as they do include a stripper and a cheerleader and other various women who are very easy on the eye (my personal favourite being Missy Peregrym). Of the main cast, Oka is understandably everyone's favourite because as the show can be heavy and a bit self-important, Oka and Lee keep their thread light and fun with their performances. Ramamurthy does the opposite though and he is part of it being a bit heavy. Ventimiglia deals with it better and his character changes well across the season - Pasdar doesn't achieve this totally. Larter is pretty good, Roberts is only so-so but Gray-Cabey is a good little child actor and avoids being smug or precocious. Panettiere is OK but, being kind, the simple material suits her range. Coleman I enjoyed a great deal and he was well cast. Quinto was equally good. Others are all solid enough for what the material asked but I did tire of some of the "guest" spots from the likes of Roberts, McDowell, Takei and Roundtree but I suppose in a way it did help keep it fresh.

Overall then I found this to be a reasonably entertaining piece of trashy television. I had no characters that I identified with or cared deeply about, no interest in a bit conspiracy or the ethics of dealing with the heroes but I did have an interest in the overall of the flow. It sags at times and is far from being as good as it could have been but it is fun if you come to it as a sort of live-action comic book for adults and nothing more than that.

This is where they stopped trying

[allnewsuperfake · 5/10 · 20 August 2021]

While seing it's share of action and having a nonsensical, but comfortable conclusion, there is a shadow looming over this season finale, and that's the plan put into action here. I've seen villains pull off a lot of stupid stunts, but this might be actually be the worst I've seen in the past 15 years: A bunch of insanely rich, powerful and well-connected people with some top-grade X-men-powers and their own private FBI want to make one of their own president.

Do they put their money to use, their connections, their powers? Like, let's say, rigging the voting machines, *as they did just one f*ing episode ago*? Do they play the political game, only with the help of mind-readers, people who can give spread hallucinations, and of course dozens of other ways to threaten or kill or manipulate their opponents and voters?

No. They blow up one of their own. Not even a bomb, no, they wait 20+ years for their gifted son to grow up, manifest his exquisite power, and then they let him blow up in the middle of New York. These are intelligent people, people who have shown that they can think strategically, and who can build amazing organizations and fortunes. And that is their plan, because, and I can only quote, "This is how it has to be". And "This is what has to happen". And "You can't change it".

Except, of course, you guessed it, that's not what happens. The episodes before this one got dragged down by this nonsense,and it's like the writers ruined their talented brains with it while they where at it, because this is pretty much it. The new, and terrible, quality of the writing from here on out. So brace yourself. It's how it had to be. It's just what happened. You can't stop it.