Monday, October 22, 2007

The Kindness of Strangers 3

The Kindness of Strangers 2

The Kindness of Strangers 1

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Hiro Nakamura

Hiro Nakamura

Played By: Masi Oka
Ability: Teleportation, Time Travel, Freezing TIme
Age: 24

A young Japanese man and comic-book fanatic who, through the sheer force of his own will alone, discovers that he can stop the flow of time around him.

What We Know

Episode 1x01 - "Origins"

  • Hiro was living a very normal life in Tokyo, but was not satisfied being "normal".
  • Hiro is a fan of Star Trek and comic books (specifically X-Men).

Feats: His first feat was to make the train 15 seconds late, he was also able to stop the clock sitting on his desk at work. Hiro went on to teleport himself into the ladies room at a karaoke bar and finally teleported himself to New York city.

Episode 1x02 - "Don't Look Back"

  • Hiro finds himself in Times Square trying to talk to everyone, but he doesn't know any English.
  • He sees the comic book "9th Wonders" on a news stand and notices that the character on the front cover is an artist's rendition of himself!
  • Hiro learns from the comic book that the artist is Isaac Mendez.
  • Hiro goes to Isaac's studio and find the door open, a half complete comic page on a table and a gun laying on the ground. Then he sees Isaac's dead body laying on the ground with the top of his skull missing. The police bust in the door and Hiro faints.
  • When the police start to interrogate him, Hiro tells them to call Ando in Tokyo . We learn that Ando hasn't seen Hiro for five weeks! It seems that when Hiro teleported to New York , he also time traveled into the future.
  • A bright flash is seen out the window as a nuclear explosion goes off in the heart of the city. Hiro teleports himself back to the Tokyo subway just before being vaporized.

Feats: We learn that Hiro can time travel and teleport at the same time.

Episode 1x03 - "One Giant Leap"

  • Ando watches a video of LasVegasNiki until Hiro Nakamura bursts into his cubicle claiming to have teleported into the future. Ando thinks he’s joking to cover up a 2-day absence. Hiro shows him the 9th Wonders comic he picked up last episode, but Ando is still skeptical. Hiro offers to prove his claims, and his watch alarm goes off. It was set to remind him that they have to leave the office now in order to save a girl’s life.
  • The 9th Wonders comic shows them saving a schoolgirl’s life, but there are no schoolgirls around. A bell rings in a building behind them, and a flood of identically dressed girls emerges. Hiro and Ando search frantically for one with a red ribbon in her hair. They split up. Hiro finds her, but is too far away to stop her or the truck that is just coming around a corner toward her. He calls to Ando, who is closer, and steps out into traffic to stop the truck. The truck swerves to miss him and heads straight for the schoolgirl. Hiro concentrates, and the world around him stops. He crosses the square and pushes the time-frozen girl out of harm’s way. Time returns, and Hiro and Ando celebrate their good fortune, although Ando is astonished at what he’s seen. Hiro tells Ando that, since Ando now believes, they are both going to America. Ando looks trapped.
  • Ando and Hiro sit in coach class on a plane with a large woman between them. Ando wants to go home, but Hiro shows him a page in the book matching their present circumstances. It also shows the woman falling asleep on Ando’s shoulder. Ando looks terrified as the large woman sits back, turns toward him and closes her eyes.
  • At a car rental desk, LAX. Hiro and Ando rent a car. Ando is unenthusiastic, watching one of Niki’s videos on his portable player, until he finds out that their destination is Las Vegas, Niki’s home city.

Episode 1x04 - "Collision"

  • Hiro and Ando arrive in Las Vegas, and pass right by Niki and Micah as they are being escorted to see Mr. Linderman's associate. The associate proposes a deal set up by Mr. Linderman, in which they will forget Niki's debt if she does them a favor, which includes blackmailing a politician for leverage against him.
  • Ando is close to losing all of Hiro and Ando's money. Hiro, worried and unable to retract Ando's bet, stops time and forces Ando to win, also stopping on the way to help a cocktail waitress from dropping a drink. Ando thinks he won on his own, but when Hiro tells him what really happened he's even more happy. Then he convinces Hiro to help him cheat in the casino, so they can get more funds for their trip. Which causes them both some trouble later in the episode and ultimately leads to them getting kicked out of the casino and Hiro a punch to the face.

Episode 1x05 - "Hiros"

  • Interior, Subway Car, New York. Mohinder’s voiceover talks about the migration of genes in times of crisis. Future Hiro approaches Peter while the other passengers and the car itself are frozen in time. He doesn’t have much time to give Peter a message because he’s risking “a rift” as it is. Peter has to save the cheerleader. Isaac can show him how. When Hiro calls, Peter must tell him where they meet. Peter had told Hiro many times how lost he felt before it all started. Now is what Peter has been waiting for, and he must be “the one we need.” Peter’s confused, but nods and tries to coax more out of Hiro as Hiro walks away. Hiro says “Save the cheerleader, save the world.” Time flows back into the car, leaving Peter shouting at someone who’s no longer there. Mohinder approaches, concerned.
  • Outskirts of Las Vegas. A van stops at the roadside and Hiro and Ando are thrown out of the side door, followed by their suitcases. After the van drives off, they pick themselves up, dust themselves off and wander into a diner conveniently nearby. Hiro wants waffles. Ando wants him to shut up. Although they were both beaten up, which has never happened to Ando before, Hiro got hit only once, while Ando got kicked a lot. They sit down. Ando blames Hiro for not using his powers to save them. Hiro blames Ando for convincing Hiro to use his powers to cheat. Ando doesn’t know why he came, and Hiro’s tired of telling him they’re going to save the world. Hiro thinks Ando should go back to America if he’s so sick of it. Ando’s sick of Hiro, not America. Hiro challenges him to go find his Internet stripper. Ando gets up and leaves to do just that. Hiro watches him go, and catches sight of Nathan coming in for a landing. Nathan touches down and skids along on his feet, hurting them.
  • The diner, Las Vegas. Nathan enters the diner, attracting stares and muffled laughter. He acknowledges the humor of the situation, and asks for a cell-phone. Hiro watches in awe. He then sits down at the counter and orders coffee, and one of the t-shirts the counter attendant is wearing.
  • Nathan sits at the counter. Hiro joins him, staring in excitement until Nathan acknowledges him. They introduce themselves. Hiro saw Nathan fly, although Nathan denies it. Hiro will keep his secret because he too is special, bending time and space, teleporting into the future. Nathan thinks he’s crazy, but listens warily as Hiro talks about the explosion that is coming and his plans to stop it. A car pulls into the parking lot outside and Nathan gets up to leave. Before he gets to the door he stops, wondering if Hiro’s glimpse of the future showed whether Nathan won the election. Hiro remembers the newspaper from his final minutes in future New York. Nathan will win by a landslide. Hiro asks for a ride back to Las Vegas, and Nathan sees no harm in it.
  • Casino parking lot, Las Vegas. Hiro and Nathan step out of Nathan’s limo and say their good-byes. Hiro takes his luggage to the car he and Ando rented, throws it into the back and climbs in the driver’s side. He’s excited about driving, but after he accidentally turns on the wipers, it’s clear he has no idea how. He finds instructions in the glove box, but they’re written in English.
  • Hiro stands outside the car, idly tossing the keys. Ando approaches. After a few moments of awkward silence, Ando suggests that they try calling Isaac again.
  • Isaac’s studio, Manhattan. Peter, his eyes back to normal, and Isaac crouch down together, staring at the completed painting. It shows a dark figure in a baseball cap casting a long shadow over the body of a cheerleader with the top of her head cut off. Peter has no idea how he painted it. Isaac is stunned, but is convinced that they have to save her. The phone rings. Isaac wants to ignore it. It’s just some Japanese guy who keeps leaving messages. Peter stares at the phone, and then runs over to answer it. It’s Hiro. Pete introduces himself and tells Hiro, “I have a message for you…”

Episode 1x06 - "Better Halves"

  • Isaac’s studio, Lower Manhattan. A look at Isaac’s prophetic paintings, including one of Niki face down on the floor. Mohinder’s voiceover indicates that evolution is imperfect, violent and cares nothing about right or wrong: it’s a fight to survive. In a replay of the close of the previous episode, Peter and Isaac stare at the painting of a dark figure in a baseball cap casting a long shadow over the body of a cheerleader. Isaac is convinced that they have to save her. The phone rings. Isaac wants to ignore it. It’s just some Japanese guy who keeps leaving messages. Peter stares at the phone, and then runs over to answer it. It’s Hiro. Pete introduces himself and tells Hiro to save the cheerleader and save the world. At Isaac’s prompting, Peter tells Hiro about his future self.
  • Cut to Hiro and Ando in their car. Ando translates as Hiro listens. Hiro is very impressed that his future self has a sword. Hiro and Ando want to know what cheerleader and where they can find her. Neither Isaac nor Peter know the answer, but suggest Hiro and Ando come to New York while they find out. The top left (first) panel is missing from the painting layout that Peter and Isaac have created. Isaac remembers painting a canvas of the right size a few weeks ago, but Simone took it to sell. Isaac can’t remember what was on it because he was high at the time. Peter picks up the phone to try to get it back.
  • Parking garage, Las Vegas. Hiro is still excited about having a sword someday. Ando worries that New York will explode when they get there. Hiro believes it won’t because they’ll be there to stop it. They’re on a heroic journey together because you don’t have to have power to be a hero. Future Hiro spoke to Peter instead of present Hiro because future Hiro was afraid to cause a rift in the space-time continuum. Ando dismisses this as speculation (“You’re talking out of your @ss.”) They are about to pull out when the Cowboy they cheated blocks them in with a van full of his friends. Ando locks the doors, but the Cowboy just wants to chat. He knows they cheated, but he hasn’t been able to figure out how. Instead, he wants them to use their powers to pay him back.
  • Poker den, North Las Vegas. Ando plays poker with Cowboy and two rough-looking men while Hiro watches. Hiro wants to leave, but they still owe Cowboy some money, so Ando wants Hiro to give the others good cards, but not too good. One of the other men, Ernie, is beginning to suspect he’s being hustled, but Cowboy reminds him they’re playing a friendly game and Ando insists Japanese people are just very lucky. Hiro stops time near the end of the deal and switches cards. When he starts time again, Ando bets a thousand dollars, surprising Hiro so much that he knocks over a cleaning cart. Ando bends down to help pick up some of the mess and sees that Ernie has a pistol on the edge of his seat. Ando panics and excuses himself from the table, taking Hiro with him to the bathroom. Once there, Ando tries to convince Hiro that Ernie’s planning to kill him. While they’re talking, voices from the poker room indicate that a woman has entered unexpectedly. Suddenly, there are sounds of a fight and screams of pain and terror. Hiro tries to stop time to prevent whatever’s happening out there, but Ando breaks his concentration. Hiro tries again, but this time the bathroom door cracks as something is thrown into it. Blood drips down the inside. Silence falls, except for the sound of retreating footsteps. Hiro is devastated by his inability to save them. Ando is terrified that they’ll come back. The two of them escape through the bathroom window.
  • Hiro and Ando walk back to their car. Hiro’s despondent over his cowardice in not saving the gamblers. He questions his heroism. Ando reassures him. Being a hero is a journey. You don’t start at the end. Hiro is worried he’s on the wrong path, but Ando figures that when Hiro can better control his powers, he can come back and set things right. Hiro cheers up at the thought of turning the previous night into a do-over.

Claire Bennet

Claire Bennet




Played By: Hayden Panettiere
Ability: Rapid Cellular Regeneration (Healing)
Age: 15

Biography:
Claire Bennet lives in Odessa Texas and is a cheerleader for Union Wells High School, the Trojans.

Known Relatives: Mr. Bennet (adoptive father), Sandra Bennet (adoptive mother), Lyle Bennet (brother), Meredith Gordon (biological mother), Nathan Petrelli (biological father), Simon and Monty Petrelli (half brothers), Angela Petrelli (grandmother), Peter Petrelli (uncle), Heidi Petrelli (stepmother)

What We Know

Episode 1x01 - "Origins"

* Claire has been performing experimental trials on herself recently to discover what happens to her body when she gets injured.
* She wishes to be "normal" and is not at all happy about her ability. She has the big game next week and the SATs are coming up soon.
* We learn that Claire is adopted but does not know who her real parents are.
* Her adopted family consists of a younger brother, a somewhat eccentric mother who shows dogs and a father who we will refer to as HRG (Horned Rimmed Glasses) who just returned home from "work". HRG's work as it turns out, has something to do with tracking down Mohinder because of his father's research.

Feats : Surviving the following; falling 80 feet, sticking hand in garbage disposal, rushing into a burning building and rescuing a man.

Episode 1x02 - "Don't Look Back"

* The train fire made the front page of the news paper, Claire reads it and asks her father is she can find out who her real parents are, "who they are, what they can do"
* Claire seems interested in the high school football team quarterback.
* The police chief and sheriff come to question Claire about the train wreck, but Jackie another blonde on the cheer squad steps forward and takes credit for saving the man.
* Zach tells Claire that the tape of her "experiments" is missing.

Feats: Claire is accidentaly tackled on the football field and her neck is snapped 180 degrees around. Of course she has no problems getting up and tells everyone that she is ok.

Episode 1x03 - "One Giant Leap"

* Claire Bennet and her father take a paper-mache effigy of a bear in a football uniform out of the trunk of their car. There’s a pep rally night, and Claire won’t be home until close to midnight. They pass Brody, the quarterback, and Claire’s interest in him is obvious enough that her father picks up on it. Jackie, another cheerleader who has taken credit for saving a man from a train fire, stops them. She announces her intention to run for class president, and Claire rolls her eyes.
* Claire’s ready for the rally, but Zach, her videographer, is worried about the tape they made of her regenerating after an 80 foot fall. He can’t understand why she doesn’t embrace being different. She can’t understand why anyone would.
* Jackie tells others made-up stories about the fire rescue. Claire watches the bonfire nearby on which her effigy burns. Brody approaches. He’d have stuffed the head with firecrackers, and he’s wondering why she hasn’t been herself lately. Claire doesn’t understand how he would pick up on that when he doesn’t know her. Brody lists details of her habits and personality that make it clear he’s been watching her closely. The effigy’s head explodes. Brody had stuffed it with firecrackers in order to make Claire laugh. He kisses her, offers her a drink from a keg someone’s brought, and they head off into the night. A girl, clearly anxious, watches them go.
* Claire and Brody make out on the bleachers. Brody tries to go too far, and Claire fights him. Brody forces her, making it plain that he’s not going to stop and there’s nothing she can do about it. Clair wriggles out from under him and tries to run, but he catches her and throws her against the dugout fence. She tumbles to the ground onto a sharp stick, which penetrates her skull, killing her. Brody backs away, terrified.
* In a morgue s
* omeone pulls the stick from Claire’s head while Mohinder’s voiceover talks about life, death, and evolution’s disinterest in individual lives. Claire comes to on an examining table. She’s been cut open from neck to navel, her skin peeled back to show ribs and muscles.

Episode 1x04 - "Collision"

* Claire Bennet gets opened up on an autopsy table, where we learn that the no-good Brody, captain of the football team dragged her from the scene of his crime and dumped her into the river. She wakes up after the branch, which killed her for those few hours, is pulled from her head, pieces herself back together, and presumably runs back home, without being seen by the person who was performing the autopsy.
* Claire, after finding out that Brody is a womanizer and has hurt others before, asks Brody for a ride home and if she can drive his car. He agrees and after a conversation where Brody tries to blame Claire for what happened, Claire slams the car into the side of a wall.

Episode 1x05 - "Hiros"

* Hospital room, Odessa. Claire lies on a bed. Her father enters and sits by her side. She lost control of the car; at least that’s what she told her mother. Mr. Bennet closes the door to the room. Claire ran the car into the wall on purpose, but she wasn’t trying to kill herself. With a little prodding from her father, she tells him about what happened at the bonfire. Brody threw her down; she hit her head, and woke up somewhere else. She wasn’t the first that he’d tried to rape. She doesn’t want anyone to know what happened. Mr. Bennet promises that no one will know.
* Brody lies in a hospital bed bruised, bloody, bandaged, wearing a neck brace and hooked up to an I.V. Mr. Bennet enters and draws the privacy curtain before sitting down on the bed and introducing himself. Brody knows who he is and intends to sue because the crash was no accident. Claire isn’t human she’s a freak. Mr. Bennet brings up the rape, and Brody denies it. Bennet believes his daughter, and when Brody tries to end the conversation with a call to the nurse, Bennet pulls his hand away from the button and puts a hand over his mouth. Bennet knows Claire is special and going through a difficult time. She doesn’t need a punk like Brody complicating things. Bennet could Brody him, but he’s decided to give him a chance at starting over and making a good life. He gets up and pulls open the curtain to reveal the Haitian. Bennet tells the Haitian to hollow Brody out, to take everything, then leaves the room. The Haitian draws the curtains closed.
* Claire walks into Brody’s room to talk. What Brody tried to do to her was wrong, but what she did was wrong too and she’s sorry. Everyone deserves a do-over. Brody doesn’t know her. He doesn’t recognize her name, and he doesn’t realize that Brody is his. Claire stares at him in surprise.

Episode 1x06 - "Better Halves"

* Claire and her mother, Sandra, bake cupcakes with red and white icing for the school bake sale. Sandra natters on about her dog, a Pomeranian named Mr. Muggles, with a poodle. Claire pulls a tin of cupcakes from the oven, severely burning her fingers. When her mother smells something and wonders if they’ve burnt the cupcakes, Claire tells her they look fine. Mr. Muggles hates poodles since “that incident at the dog park.” Sandra thought “that big dog” was going to tear off Claire’s hand, ending her cheerleading career. Claire’s cheerleading career is not going well anyway, but the discussion is interrupted by the arrival of Mr. Bennet. He’s been on the phone for an hour with Claire’s birth parents. They want to meet tomorrow, if Claire’s ready to meet them. Claire is excited and apprehensive, but believes she’s ready.
* Zach and Claire walk home after school. She’s trying to figure out how to ask her biological parents whether they have the same power she does. Zach hopes they don’t. He likes the idea of her being unique and special. Claire thinks he’s flirting with her, but he denies it and wonders if she’s ever going to tell her adoptive parents what she can do. Claire dismisses the idea. Her dad’s a simple guy and he’d never be able to handle it.
* Bennet house, Odessa. Sandra greets Claire’s biological parents at the door. Zach, who gathers up his backpack to leave, offers to push them into something on his way out so that Claire can see whether they heal like she does. Claire laughs and declines.
* Claire and her parents sit awkwardly on a couch facing her biological parents on another couch. Claire has her father’s nose, and wonders what else of theirs she might have. Silence falls. Sandra offers them lemonade. Soda. Cupcakes… making them is a “thing” she and Claire do. Bio mom and dad accept the lemonade offer, and Mr. and Mrs. Bennet leave the room to get it. Claire looks like she’s been left to face the lions. Her bio father wants to know what else they can tell her about themselves.
* Claire’s bio parents aren’t together any more. They had split up before graduation, after her bio father found out that her bio mother was pregnant. He wanted to keep the baby, but bio mom didn’t. Mr. Bennet eavesdrops on the conversation from a nearby room. Sandra walks in, complaining that the awkwardness is giving her lip sweat. She starts to chide her husband for listening in, and then joins him. Claire presses her bio parents for more information about any medical conditions. Bio mom has diabetes. Bio dad has a history of cancer and heart disease. Claire tries not to show her disappointment. Mr. Bennet’s cell phone rings, revealing him and his wife. He apologizes before taking the call. It’s work, so Sandra leaves him to it.
* Claire and Sandra clean up after their guests. Mr. Bennet is walking her “bio parents” to their car. Sandra finds the term both cold and fitting. Mr. Bennet exchanges pleasantries with the bio parents until they reach the car. Then bio dad changes to a serious tone, making it clear that much of what went on in the house was an act. Things went well. If Bennet needs anything else, he’ll let them know. Inside, Claire’s disappointed at the interview. She was hoping her bio parents would be able to tell her who she is. Sandra’s surprised at how easily Mr. Bennet found the bio parents this time, given that they couldn’t be found the first time the Bennets looked for them. When Claire was a baby, they thought she had something wrong with her chromosomes and tried to find Claire’s bio parents to see if they were carriers. Claire’s upset by the revelation but hides it and tries to find out why they thought something was wrong with her. Sandra dismisses Claire’s concerns, since all she had at the time was a cough. Mr. Bennet enters, and father and daughter console each other after the experience of meeting the birth parents, which terrified both of them.

Episode 1x07 - "Nothing to Hide"

o Zach shows up at the Bennett house to tell Claire that he found the tapes under his bed. Claire slaps him, "Didn't you look there before? Zach mentions he did several times, but he looked earlier in the day and they were there.

o Lyle gets ahold of the tapes and watches them. Claire walks in and tries to blow the tapes off as special effects. Lyle doesn't look like he buying the story. He staples Claire's hand. Claire responses in pain, but after removing the stapple, she is not able to stop Lyle from seeing how quickly she healed. Claire begs for Lyle to keep the tape a secret. But a scared Lyle makes a run for it.

o Claire chases Lyle across the lawn and gets Zach to help her corner him. Lyle locks himself into the family car. Lyle suggests that Claire and Zach are aliens. Zach plays along and Claire tells Zach to stop because he is scaring him. Lyle wants to sell the video on Youtube, but Zach reminds the moron that Youtube is free. Claire finally convinces Lyle not to tell the family because she fears that their parents would regret adopting her and that they will not be a family anymore.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Four Month Later Part 4