Perhaps the reason he couldnt jump back to the future was because he tried to change too much in the past causing a rift. The same kind of rift he was refering to in Hiros. Mucking about in the past somehow negates his abilities and he has to catch back up to his starting point by simply waiting as time passes. (he did say he risked a rift by returning to the past to speak with Peter, first hand knowledge of what happens when a rift is created?)

Very interesting. Although he was very stressed and couldn't concentrate.

It was sorta explained already in the episode that Hiro's power is greater than he himself and that the past is already set in stone, therefore he can't change anything major in the past.

Yeah but Hiro goes back in time to change the past by telling Peter to save the cheerleader. So he can change things.

Early on, Hiro said something about not using his power selfishly. Every time he used his power, he was trying to help someone else. The only other time he used his power for personal gain - gamblling in Vegas - it backfired. Hiro wanted to save Charlie. He loves her. I think this is the reason he wasn't able to jump to the past. Charlie told him she was going to die anyway. No matter what Hiro did she would die. However much he concentrates, Hiro knows he will not save Charlie. This doubt, this understanding could cause Hiro to not be able to concentrate in the way he must to make the jumps. Look what trying to save the one you love did for Skywalker.

Exactly. Now we just need Hiro to go back in time to tell Peter to save the cheerleader and to get Charlie to a hero with healing powers ASAP.

I don't think Hiro could jump back because there would have had to be more episodes with themes like 5 months ago, 4 months ago etc.. I wouldn't mind that, but I bet new viewers would get even more confused than they already are.

How would getting Charlie to a healing hero help? She can't take other's powers, only Peter can.

I believe Hiro can change the past. If Charlie did not have the tumor, he could have saved her by taking her to Japan or something. But an inoperable medical condition is beyond his ability to fix.

I don't think he realizes that yet.

His future self comes back and alerts Peter to save the cheerleader and he does.

I know someone already mentioned this option, but I really believe that Hiro couldn't make the jump because he was too distraught over what he learned from Charlie. He was upset and freaking out. I don't blame him for not either. His mind was going a thousand miles an hour with so many things he was thinking about and all he wanted to do was go back to the past. Usually when that happens, it's hard to concentrate on anything. That plus the knowledge that he couldn't stop her from dying AND the fact that Hiro is still learning to master his gift? I wouldn't be surprised if he couldn't do it.

My little thing is that Hiro gets exhausted from jumps.
Remember when he told Ando to count to five?
Remember when Hiro mysteriously jumped back to the future.
And with Ando, after five, Hiro wasn't back. Well
My theory is that Hiro DID come back at five, but he came back to Japan.

"Hiro, aren't you and Ando suppose to be vacationing in America?"

Hiro must've subconciously jumped back to the present.

I think the key to Hiro's ability has to do with the direction of travel. If you recall, he was able to successfully change events that were happening in the present, but only with the knowlege provided to him from the future so-to-speak. Hiro had the comic book that was created by Isaac when he teleported to the future. He takes the comic back to present day and then uses it to figure out what he needs to do. In doing so, he is able to change the course of events by using knowledge from the future.

The question is, did he really change events or did they happen the way they were supposed to because Isaac already drew that particular future? That can really bake one's noodle if you think about it long enough.

So, I believe that Hiro's power is somewhat dependent upon Isaac (or Peter indirectly), as he can't change things in the past to affect the future. It appears that he can only change things in the present based on information that might have come from the future (if in fact, he is changing them at all).

why did he jump back to japan? he wasn't even trying to .

I think either he couldnt focus enough due to stress or his emotions, or the rifts...

As for why he reappeared in Japan...well that was just strange.

Perhaps part of his power is subconscious, shielding him from paradox. A time traveler has to be careful or he could accidentally erase himself.

Maybe future Hiro was intentionally very vague when speaking to Peter to prevent this defense mechanism from triggering. He failed in trying to change Charlie's future because maybe her death has too great an impact on his life to allow that change. If she lives, he might stay in Texas with her for the rest of his life, never becoming the hero he's supposed to be.

But if she dies, it galvanizes his morality to use his power properly, and continue on to save the world.

I think it's just because he doesn't have much control over it. I think he needs to pay HRG and the haitian a visit!

or if she lives they could be heros together, and get married be happy and all of that other gushy stuff.

we found out that charlie would die eventually because of a brain tumor. so maybe hiro going back in time actually did save her from sylar, but she couldn't avoid the natural cause of death. she dies regardless, which is why we still see the memorial in the diner. i hope someone (a coworker of charlie's) mentions that she died naturally, and not murdered in the storeroom ... then hiro would realize he was semi-successful, and kept sylar from acquiring her powers.

the reason hiro could not save charlie is because no one told hiro to do it, if hiro saves charlie, then charlie never gets killed, and hiro doesn't know to go back in time in the first place, it's called a paradox, and obviously father time won't allow that to happen. the only reason he could influence peter on the subway is because isaac's comic book/painting informed him of the cheerleader causality. saving her wouldn't stop isacc from painting the messages because he already had.

I wrote a time travel essay a couple decades back that suggested a reason why we aren't overrun by time travellers. My theory is that each temporal incursion creates a boll or callus in the time stream. The initial time traveller is successful but the temporal boll prevents any other time traveller from ever getting to that point.
In my essay I assumed the temporal boll was the duration of the intial time traveller's stay. But in the HEROES-verse I'd modify the theory to suggest a disturbance of a measurable temporal width.
In Hiro's case, Dark Hiro's trip to advise Peter caused such a boll. Let's say the Dark Hiro boll had an effective width of a week or so (= 2x the number of days from the subway encounter to Charlie's murder). "Light Hiro" could make a trip OUT but once he was in the timestream, any attempt to reappear widthin the length of the boll popped him off course.

I know, this is all arbitrary. But it does serve as a rationalization to limit the amount of time travelling a person can do.

And it means that Hiro will be in trouble as November 8th nears.

I've said it before, i'll say it again:

Hiro from the future came back to tell Peter that, because Peter always told him he would.

It's circular, predestination time travel.

How did you know to come tell me this.
You told me, Peter.
Well how did I know.
Because I told you.

Thats the long and short of it.

Ready for this?...

Everything Isaac has painted has come true. Has Isaac painted anything that he wanted to happen? Perhaps whatever Isaac paints comes true. High or not. The drugs could cause him to have delusions and crazy images in his head. He paints them and then they happen.

He's trying to get off the drugs. Maybe he'll realize that he can paint whatever he wants to happen when he's clean. That'd be an easier way to kick the drug habbit.

Right now he's just scared to paint anything...or thinks he can't because he's not high. I guess it won't matter because he's going to die soon...