Can’t wait til Monday? Maybe this will help – it’s a 7 minute sneak peak at what now appears to be the season finale (as the writers are still on strike) “Powerless“.
It features key scenes between Sylar, Maya and Mohinder, Micah and Niki, H.R.G, Elle and Bob, and Peter and Adam slash Kensei:
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjhyTKVwQsw]
Buddy TV have an exclusive interview with Heroes star, David Anders, who plays Kensei slash ‘Adam Munroe’.
Warning some volume (Season) II Spoilers ahead..
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First of all, how did you get this role on Heroes?Well, I auditioned just like most people do. It was a breakdown that said recurring character, possible series regular, so my eyes widened at that and the breakdown sounded very similar to the breakdown for Alias five years prior. A worldly character with an English accent, so, I kind of sunk my teeth into that and came in with my Peter O’Toole impression, really drunk and they said, “We love you. We love the Peter O’Toole. Come back with a plainer version of Peter O’Toole.” And I came back and I got the part.
And when you first auditioned, what did you know? Because I imagine they wanted to keep the twist that you’re also Kensei and Adam Monroe a little secret. So did you know you were auditioning for two roles?
Not really. No, not really. I think they fed me morsels at a time of information to inform my character arc. The Heroes set is shrouded in secrecy even from the Heroesactors. As the scripts went along I kind of saw the direction it was going. I’d ask, you know I’d corner an executive producer or writer and say, “Come on, you’ve got to give it to me and tell me what the heck’s to come.” And they would. Still, even at this point I don’t know where Adam Monroe is going to end up. I don’t know, there’s some element of surprise and fun in that, but it can also be frustrating.
Exactly. How late into the game then, after you got the role, did you find out that you’d stop being this you know, feudal Japanese hero and come into the future?
It was probably about five episodes in when I realized that, when they told me that. Masi [Oka] would come up and he’d have some information he heard from a writer and then I’d have to go corner that writer. Dig for information.
I’m not sure how much you can tell us about what happened to your character, but the implication certainly seems to be that Kensei has just kind of been living on earth for 400 years, until he got to be Adam Monroe.
Yeah. 400 years, to be exact. 400 plus. And Kensei uses a night cream and a leave-in conditioner to stay looking so young. His blood has healing powers and evidently his blood also has non-aging abilities.
So how much then do you even know about what happened? Because that’s a lot of backstory to fill in. The writers can probably fill in anything they want for what happened in the 400 years.
Yeah, exactly. A lot of the writers … Jeph Loeb for instance likes to say that that one betrayal by Hiro back in 1671 Japan just kind of jaded him forever. He went along 400 years in and out of every war you could guess or pre-suppose. Never really getting to know anybody, you know? Meeting friends, losing friends, and just gaining this perspective that nobody else on Earth has that it’s all going to end, except not for him. I think he’s hated women ever since the one woman he loved betrayed him. And … I don’t know. It’s all guess work, you know?
Do you know at least, because volume 2 is wrapping up in three more episodes, you’re still coming back after that? You’re not just done with this volume.
Yeah. Yeah, I’ll be back.
That’s great. And thus far we’ve seen you kind of play and older, mentor figure kind of to Milo [Ventimiglia] and to Masi [Oka]. Yet you’re five years younger. You’re 26. You’re a very young man. Does that affect how you sort of play that dynamic?
I’ve always been asked to play these parts that are far beyond my years and hold positions or do things that are far beyond my years. I’d like to think that I’m an old soul, but I’m just a 26-year-old Oregon native who couldn’t get a part as an 18-year-old when he was 18, I might add. So it’s all come … I dunno, it’s all started to make sense, these parts that I get. They’re much older than I am. I don’t know, it’s fun being older than you are. It’s fun to pretend.
Two weeks ago I was interviewing Greg Grunberg and he was saying that if his character and your character ever met, it would be a massive showdown and that you would wind up the loser. And I’m just wondering how you would respond to that.
(laughter) Well you can’t kill me, Greg! You can’t kill me! How am I going to be the loser if the guy that toys around in your mind can’t kill you? No way am I going to lose to Greg Grunberg. No way!
Exactly. And since you work with him, you’ve actually done some singing work with his band, right? Band from TV?
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
And are you doing anything more with that? Because one of those other surprises that I think a lot of fans who just see on you TV don’t know is that you actually are a singer.
Yes I am. My early, my formative years were spent in the musical theater. So yeah, I do sing … I wouldn’t classify myself a singer. But yeah, I love to sing and I think I’ll be singing “Let’s Stay Together” by Al Green the next time Band from TV performs.
That should be good. And in these final three episodes, they’re kind of wrapping up this storyline. And their seems to be a long way to go with your character, as to what are his motives, what’s going on, what’s his ultimate plan. Can you give us a sneak peek as to anything that’s going to be going on with your character in these last couple episodes?
The whole Milo/Adam Monroe will see it’s fruition, I guess. You know how I can’t say much. It’ll pan out. It’ll pan out. And the audience will love it. Hopefully they’ll love what I’m doing with it. I can’t say anymore. I can’t speak anymore to that.
At least we know that hopefully, well you’ll have to survive it because your character is pretty much an immortal.
Yup. Yup. Yes sir. The only way my character can die is if someone were to cut off my head and I have yet to go do that.
SPOILER ALERT: Look away now if you don’t want to know any spoilery stuff for upcoming episodes!
OK, a bunch of spoilerific details for the upcoming episodes of Heroes, courtesy of Kristen over at E! Online:
Elle Is Super Kinkay: In ep 8, which flashes back four months, just wait till you see how sadistic our darling Kristen Bell can be as she gleefully zaps and zings Peter. Oh, and FYI, their lips might kinda sorta meet. And oh yeah, I might freak. I mean, Veronica and Jess lip-locking? Hello? That’s the stuff of TV legends! Maya Is Super Bad: And not in a fun Michael Cera of Superbad way—more like a Bill from Kill Bill kinda way. Just wait till you see what she did four months ago! You’ll think her brother is a saint. Nathan Is Super Lucky: You know that creeptastic burned dude Mr. Petrelli keeps seeing in the mirror? Sources confirm to me that’s most definitely Nathan just a few months back, and the reason he looks so good is that (a) Adrian Pasdar is genetically blessed and (b) there’s a cool new “cure” of sorts that could do a whole lotta people some good—including Nathan and, I don’t know, perhaps Isaac and D.L. and Simone and Daddy Suresh, to name a few.
Kensei Is Super Old: 400 years old and he looks that good without a smidge of Botox? No fair! And he might even have picked himself up an Anglo name! You’ll see very soon, and so will Peter, who gets a new bunkmate.A Hero Is Super Dead: Sylar’s gonna kill a Hero. A non-Hero’s gonna kill a non-Hero. And then Sylar’s gonna kill another Hero. Yeah, news flash: The guy’s still ridonkulously evil. Don’t let that shiny new Mylar fool you!
As for the remaining Isaac Mendez paintings that Noah got from his old Ukrainian mentor – here they are:
Well from that we can deduce that the person who shoots Noah (as seen in the earlier painting) is ‘possibly’ Mohinder, seeing as he has a smoking gun in this picture. Although I do have a theory that Noah doesn’t die OR that it is someone who looks like him (Papa Petrelli? Have a look at the ‘elders’ photo..he sure looks like him and could even be alive for all we know. Long shot I know). It also looks like we’ll see a dual between Kensei and Hiro before the ’Generations’ pod is finished (episode 11). Oh and is that Peter in the future? The ‘biohazard’ symbol would suggest so.
More spoilery stuff soon.
NBC have released 7 promo images for this coming Mondays episode “The Line”:
NBC went over board with “The Box..The Box” trailer for this episode, and it would appear that the excitement spread to Peter as he demands “Just tell me what I have to do to get my life back”. That’s funny, the last time I checked a whole life can’t fit inside of a little box. Of course the head Irish gangster wants him to pay his debt for being chained inside the bigger box and saving his sister from getting raped – that’s gratitude for you Peter! Peter agrees but his trustworthiness is placed in doubt after his Parkman borrowed mind reading power over hears another member of the gang planning to screw head boss guy over for the money. But hey, he’s family, he wouldn’t screw head boss guy over, right? Shame on you Peter!
Maya and Alejandro, bless em, continue their mission to get to America – I hope they know the streets aren’t paved with gold..well, unless Bob Midas is in town. Anyway, Alejandro being the genius that he is, decides to thief a set of wheels..wait for it..IN BROAD DAYLIGHT! They get spotted by police and Alejandro gets caught. Darn, stealing cars ain’t like it used to be!
Micah and Nikki make their long awaited return, and the worst kept secret is finally out – D.L. is dead. Never saw that coming! But it appears that Micah will lose more than just his father as Nikki leaves him with his grandma in the hope of getting ‘cured’ by Bob Midas and the Company. Wait, so does she have the virus or is she just tired of Jessica’s ways? I heard she always leaves the seat up and puts the peanut butter in the fridge! No wonder Nikki’s had enough!
Guess..Who’s..Back…!? Erm, Sylar? Yes, thank you for the hype NBC, but Sylar needs no hype..he’s Sylar! So he’s on a beach in Maui with Candice..who I thought died back in season 1? Wait, didn’t Sylar also die? Of course he didn’t..rule number 1, unless you SEE a person die, then the chances are they’re alive – see Peter and Nathan. Oh scrap that D.L. died and we didn’t even get to say goodbye. Anyway, back to Sylar, he’s not really on a sunny beach, it’s just one of Candice’ illusion tricks. He’s actually on a bed with his Kidney bleeding out and in total and utter pain. He soon finds out that he has no power – Dammit, I loved when he used to be able to move teacups with just his mind, it was the highlight of any episode! Sylar isn’t happy, Candice who is presumably working for the Company, tells him that he’ll be able to re-acquire his abilities once he gets better. Patience was never one of Sylar’s strong points, and he soon bashes Candice over the head in order to retrieve her power. Oh Sylar, you are clever!
Claire spends the episode moaning and growning at Noah..then at West, for spying on her cutting off her Pinky. Y’know you could’ve been doing more embarrassing things at that moment Claire..count yourself lucky! West isn’t in the least bit sorry and teases her in class by insinuating that she’s a Lizard-girl. Ouch..not nice West..not nice. Go on, make it up to he by taking her for a free flying lesson.
Mohinder comes home to Molly’s delight and Parkman’s concern. Those two sure do make a great couple - Who’s turn is it to wash the dishes by the way? Hiro risks breaking the Space-Time Continuum by leaving a message for Ando. Whilst he uses Kensei’s regeneration as a way of making him into a true Hero. AT LAST, the swine is gone and we now have a semi-decent character on our hands. It’s amazing what killing 90 odd people in battle can do for a man, huh Kensei? So, the Kensei (the real one, not Hiro) gets the girl, but Hiro is jealous and can’t bring himself to leave just yet. Hiro, you do realise that you risk ‘breaking history’ don’t you?
Hey, what about Peter? Well, he’s busy practising his “Hadoken” fireballs and Telekinesis..he even takes his shirt off for full effect, but alas, he just cannot seem to make it work. That is until he’s in the moment and successfully helps the mobsters to rob the betting shop. Maybe some day he’ll master how to use his abilities at will? Maybe some day he’ll actually open the box that NBC hyped us all about? I mean come on Peter, is your life REALLY all that great at the moment? Sure you got a kiss and you got beer on tap, but you’ve committed a crime. The real Peter would never do such a thing! Oh and have you forgotten Simone? She’s only been dead like 5 months and you’re getting jiggy with the sister of a madman who would snap you’re neck if he ever caught you. Oh, wait, you can regenerate..hmm, maybe life isn’t so bad after all. But just for the sake of my own curiosity, please open the darn box!
Bob sets Mohinder up in a brand new laboratory so that he can do all of his sciency stuff. Only he didn’t have the budget to get a brand new place and had to rent Isaac’s old studio instead. I guess that turning spoons to gold thing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, huh Bob? For real tho, Mohinder isn’t too happy about Bob breathing down his neck all of the time, but does manage to find painting number 8, which depicts our very own Noah mangled and dead – so the first is Kaito and the last of the elders to be purged is Noah. At least he has a long wait before it’s his turn. Go on, live life to the full Noah, West, I mean, “The Hooded Guy” will be a while.
Speaking of West, after a kissy-kiss on the beach with Claire, she discovers a marking on his neck, to which he reveals was put their by an evil man with Horned Rimmed Glasses. Oh the coincidence, huh! Please, if you can’t trust your father, you certainly can’t trust West! Sure, HRG may have experimented on him, but West pushed Kaito off the building!
Back to Maya..Ahh, beautiful Maya..apart from when she has blood gushing from her eye’s. Oh look, she has blood gushing from her eyes, as she kills the guards and breaks Alejandro out of prison. Alejandro being the stand up guy that he is, reverts her doings and revives the guards and his fellow prisoner, as the three of them escape. Before was an accident, but this time Maya consciously used her ability to kill those men..has she crossed the line this time? This certainly paints a different picture of her!
Oh, and Sylar discovers that he still has no powers. Poor Candice, her death was in vein. However, I don’t think Sylar will be powerless for too long. After all, he’s Sylar!
So as Noah stares at an image of his own future death, Claire snoops on him through the blinds..it’s seems that West has rubbed off on her. Tut. Notice in the corner of the painting Claire is kissing someone..that someone being West, I’d imagine..there..proof that West is “The Hooded Guy”..why else would he be in that painting!?
All in all this was the best episode of the first 3, Heroes is finally living up to the hype!
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Stand out Performer: Dania Ramirez
Best Character Performance: Maya & Alejandro
Hero of the episode: Alejandro
Best Moment: Alejandro reverting Maya’s death spree
Episode Rating: 8.5/10
Check out these cool promo pix for episode 3, “Kindred” (Click image to view larger):
Another good episode, not as strong or as exciting as last weeks, but it was good enough. My favourite parts involved Claire’s story – the whole lizard/regeneration aspect was well done and is quite fascinating really – I like when Heroes uses ’science’. However, the scene with her chopping off her Pinkie was SO made specifically for those trailers and promos!
I also enjoyed seeing more of Peter’s story and his new collection of powers..by my count that’s now FOUR ‘new’ abilities that he’s acquired since 1.23 – ‘Phasing’ from D.L, ‘Super-Strength from Jessica, ‘Telekinesis’ from Sylar and his Ryu/Ken-like ‘Hadoken’ fireball..from..God knows who!?
The episode wasn’t ‘great’ – Hiro’s story is struggling when I compare it to how much it promised back in May – though it was cool to see him masquerade as Kensei and it was neat to see that Kensei does have a power after all – regeneration..or rebirth, take your pick. I’d go for regeneration, since the episode is titled ‘Lizards’.
Yet again there was no Sylar..this is bad..very very bad! Are they trying to tease us or something!? ..Ah well, I suppose it will be worth the wait.
As for stand-out story arc, it simply has to be Maya and Alejandro – by FAR the best and most interesting characters in season 2 thus far!
All in all I’d give this episode a 7/10 ..it just didn’t have that ‘magic’ or promise like last weeks did, but it progressed the story well enough to tide me over til next week.
What did YOU think of this episode? Feel free to vote in the poll:
What an opener we had last week – so many clues, so much confusion, but plenty of excitement..and that’s what I’m hoping for tonight!
Of course everyone is wondering about Sylar..has the bad boy gone good..or like the preview last week suggests, is he as bad and dirty as ever..only with less power? I just can’t wait for the episode to begin to see my favourite Heroes character back in action. After a pitiful encounter with peter at the end of 1.23, he needs to redeem himself somewhat.
So what can the episode title tell us about tonight’s episode? Well ‘Lizards’ are reptiles, cold blooded and hard skinned – not sure this describes any of our Heroes..but perhaps this might lend a clue: Many Lizards can also regenerate lost limbs or tails..um..Claire anyone? Hopefully we’ll also get updated on the rest of the Heroes that we didn’t see last week, like Nikki/Jessica, Micahand all the other newbies. Let’s see where this episode takes us, it needs to live up to last weeks if only because last season episodes 2 through to 6 kinda sucked when you really think about it.
So, get the popcorn, a beer/wine/cola and gather your friends rounds, Heroes episode 2 is on in a few hours! Enjoy and don’t forget we’ll have episode reviews, screencaps and analysis up throughout the week.
Spoiler images from 2.01:
Below are some images from the next Heroes installment: “Four Months Later” (Season 2 episode 1). Enjoy.
Mohinder in a lecture warning about a “plague” which is infecting those with abilities and preventing mankind from reaching the threshold of evolution. He is later approached by a man who offers him a job:
Claire & Noah at her new school, ‘Costa Verde’. Claire’s is attending under the alias ‘Claire Butler’ and Noah pleads with her to be “less extraordinary”.
Kensei laughs off Hiro’s claim to be from the future:
Maya and her brother, Alejandjro, run from the police:
Ok..so this is cool. Yamagato Fellowship is a site which has only really been around for a short while, however I thought i’d point it out for those of you who are unaware of it’s presence. It’s like a graphical documentary which allows us fans to explore the legend of Takezo Kensei.
Head on over to http://www.yamagatofellowship.org to check it out.
By the way it is an official site..but beware of spoilers, cos it delves into some of the themes from the upcoming season.