Masi Oka as Hiro Nakamura on HEROES.
© NBC

Mania Grade: A-
Episode: Five Years Gone
Starring: Hayden Panettiere, Masi Oka, Ali Larter, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Milo Ventimiglia, Jack Coleman, Leonard Roberts, Greg Grunberg, Adrian Pasdar
Produced By: Adam Armus, Jeph Loeb, Tim King

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Heroes: Five Years Gone

OK, I have to admit I wasn’t really looking forward to this episode because the ads made in feel like filler. You could look at this episode as filler in some ways and if you do it’s some of the most brilliantly done filler I’ve seen on television in years. So, Hiro and Ando have traveled five years into the future and run into well, Hiro. In this episode we meet the bad ass English speaking Hiro that we first caught a glimpse of so many episodes ago. Before I go any further let me say that Masi Oka has done a great job as the super geeky Hiro but as the bad ass Hiro, not so good. His acting is really sketchy in this role. Let the complaining begin! Say what you will, I like the character too, but Oka was weak in those scenes. Anyway Hiro and Ando discover from the future Hiro that after the explosion, blamed on Sylar, people with special gifts are feared and hunted by the government that’s now led by Nathan as President and Matt as his flunky. I’ve made reference to The X-Men before but it has never been more appropriate than in regard to this episode. Also, remember when I compared this episode to a What If? comic from Marvel, well did you catch the promo to the episode before it started? At least they are wearing it proudly.

Future Hiro tells the story of the last five years to Ando and present Hiro. He tells them of how he has worked on the timeline and finally found what must be done to set things right. Present Hiro must go back to his own time and kill Sylar. Just as they hash out the plan present Hiro is taken by Matt, now leader of homeland security and responsible for bringing in the “specials”. The President has been funding Mohinder to research the potential of reversing the genetic flaw that gives the specials their power. In the end though that’s not what the president wants, he wants genocide. IN the coolest twist of the episode we learn that Sylar isn’t dead, he has taken Candice’s shape shifting power and has been impersonating Nathan since the explosion. It wouldn’t be a “What If?” episode if other characters weren’t put in unique situations so also in this episode we see Peter and Nikki as a couple, sort of, and Matt’s partner is the Haitian. Bennett is working in secret hiding “specials” getting them new identities and money to start over. Future Hiro and Ando convince Peter that everything that has happened can be fixed but he has to help them save present day Hiro. This leads to a showdown between Sylar and Peter that starts off cool and then just happens behind a door.

A lot more happens in this episode but most of it doesn’t matter because after all it is a “What If?” but we had to see it, and Hiro had to see it, so he will do the right thing back in his own time. What will also be interesting to see is how much of this future still holds true when and if the specials stop Sylar and the explosion. The one to watch is Nathan. At this point he hasn’t committed to Linderman’s plan but he seems ready too. Now we didn’t see her in this episode but I’m very curious to see what role Nathan’s mother will play and what her abilities are.

This was overall a very entertaining episode. It’s fun to see characters in a series we are familiar with changed or thrown in different situations that might force them to act out of character. 98% of this episode was filler, but as I said it was well done filler, and implemented in such a way that all of it matters to the finale of this story because of how it affects Hiro and Ando. Hiro, the sweet guy who just wants to be a “hero” knows in order to meet that goal that he has to kill someone and Ando, the man without powers knows that in the future where the explosion happens that he will die, and the he plays an important part in Hiro’s life and success.