Heroes Reborn 1.7: Time Travel and Twins

An outstanding Heroes Reborn 1.7  last night - the 13-episode series has now really come into its own - in which Noah meets himself via time travel, and we meet Claire's twin babies.

Unfortunately, Claire dies in childbirth (of a heart attack, we're told) - an event with Hiro, now fully back in the story, is unwilling to stop via a little more travel to the past, because it could/would result in far worse consequences.  For the same reason, Hiro won't stop that horrendous June day in Odessa, Texas, either.

By the way, as side-note, it's interesting that Hayden Panettiere, who played Claire on Heroes and now Juliette in Nashville, has encountered serious life-and-death problems in having babies.  With any luck, she'll eventually surmount these challenges on Nashville.  In Heroes Reborn, she doesn't, and all we see of her in 1.7 is her trademarked hair.   We're also left with some intriguing questions including who is the father of her babies, where is he now, and why didn't she regenerate after her heart attack (a question Noah asks, which wasn't really answered).

The big payoff of the episode - the first of a two-part mini-narrative in the series - is that the twin babies - fraternal, not identical, and a boy and a girl - are none other than Tommy (Nathan) and Malina, who we've come to know in the year after Odessa, as they begin to manifest their powers, sorely needed to save the world.   Lots of nice connections revealed, including that the nurse who helped in the hospital with the twins has been Tommy's mother.   We also learn what got Luke and Joanne on their evo-killing rampage - they no doubt blame the evos for whatever happened to their son - and it's good to see Mohinder and Angela back in the story, too.

Time travel is very a trick business, as I often say.   It's difficult indeed to tie together all the twisted loops that travel to the past and future engender.   But, so far, Noah's running into himself, and Hiro's resistance to any change which can result in even worse consequences than those he's seeking to change, have worked in a pretty tight story.  Yes, what happened in Texas was terrible.  But if saving the world is at stake, and Hiro has seen how any changes in Texas might hinder that ultimate effort, Heroes Reborn is on pretty strong, logical ground.

See also Heroes Reborn: Good to Be Back ... Heroes Reborn 1.3: Carly Fiorina meets Steve Jobs ... Heroes Reborn 1.4: GPS RIP ... Heroes Reborn 1.6: Space, Time, Videogame

And see also Heroes Season 4 Premiere: Metaphysics, University, Carnival ...Heroes Meets The L Word in 4.5 ... Heroes 4 Mid-Season Finale  ... Heroes Season 4 Resumes ... Heroes 4.15: The Chess Game Continues ... 4.16: The Trial of Hiro ... 4.18: Penultimate  ... Heroes Forever

And see also reviews of Season 3 Heroes Gets Lost ... Heroes 3 Begins: Best Yet, Riddled with Time Travel and Paradox ... Sylar's Redemption and other Heroes and Villains Mergers ... Costa Nuclear ... Hearts of Gold and the Debased ... Seeing the Future Trumps Time Travel ... Superpowered Chess with Shifting Pieces ... Villains and Backstories ... The Redemption of Sylar ... Thoughts on the Eclipse, Part I ... The Lore of the Comic Book Store ... Hiro's Time Traveling Closure ... Augmented ... Shades of Recalibration ... Baby, Rebel, and Last Fantasy ... All that Shape Changes Remains the Same? ... Season 3 Finale: Hopeful Deceptions

Reviews of Season 2 Heroes: Episode 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... 4 ... 7. Heroes Meets 12 Monkeys ... 9. How Immutable Are Fate and Isaac's Futures? ... 10. Penultimate for the Fall ... Heroes 2 Finale: Heroes Who Didn't Survive

And from Season 1: Heroes in Focus ... Heroes Five Years Gone: Triumph of Time Travel and Comics ... Heroes the Hard Part: Only the Pictures Not the Words ... Heroes Landslide: Winnowing and Convergence ... Heroes Volume One Finale

#SFWApro

If time travel is your cup of tea ...

Nashville: 'The Wrong Song' in the Right Series

My wife and I have been watching and really enjoying Nashville on ABC-TV.  We started watching it because we thought Connie Britton was fabulous in Friday Night Lights.  And I was a fan of Hayden Panettierre, at least insofar as that excellent first season of Heroes.

The two not only act engagingly but sing up a storm of brand new songs in Nashville.  Consider, for example "You've Got the Wrong Song," written on the show by Rayna (Connie) and Juliette (Hayden) but really written by Marv Green, Sonya Isaacs, and Jimmy Yeary.  The song is a tour-de-force put down, replete with quoted titles of "Stand by Your Man," "Baby Come Back," and "We Can Work It  Out" - as examples of everything the song is not saying - with an infectious melody and knockout performance by Connie and Hayden (see vid below).

Although the superb songs on the show are not written by the actors and actresses, they do all the singing.   In addition to Connie and Hayden, Clare Bowen as Scarlet has the voice of an angel, and gives a just beautiful rendition of another new standout song, "When the Right One Comes Along" (written by Georgia Middleman, Justin Davis, and Sarah Zimmermann).

The men in Nashville are not quite as powerful as the women, but get the job done.  Charles Easten as Deacon is especially noteworthy as Rayna's former and likely future lover - not to mention Scarlet's uncle, and both Rayna and Hayden's songwriting partner.   And the actor also plays a little guitar.

Even the story line is a little better than you'd expect, with not only the customary problematic parents and spouses, but some politics mixed in, and, best of all, a pretty realistic portrayal of the evolving music industry.   It's definitely the right series, when you're in the mood for something different a little different and refreshing on television, which around here is at least once a week.