Remember when Sylar "peered" into Bryan Davis' head and said that he was "broken"? It is known that Sylar can sense when things are not wired correctly. Why didn't he notice that Jackie wasn't "broken"? Why did he kill HER?

Maybe because he knew that all heroes were broken, so he didn't bother looking into them to kill them/fix them

I think perhaps that he made a simple mistake. It is also suggested that he can only sense the power when used... Although that was in the Sylar thread back over in the character section.

So he knows there is a girl from this highschool, he sees a picture claiming she saved people, assumed it was her, and boom there ya go. However when Claire's powers activate to heal herself...he realizes that she is who he wants.

In the first scene with "Sylar", I was thinking his "power" was bionic hearing. He could hear that the watch was malfunctioning, and how he knew Papa Suresh' was malfunctioning too.

You think Suresh had a power, too?

Interesting!

So, what's the theory on how he can take over their powers? Somehow has the ability to just re-wire his own brain or something after looking into the brain of someone he just killed? Maybe he sticks in finger in there and sucks the ability out?

I don't know...we better find out next week!

That's a good idea, because I think the show emphasized the "ticking" before Sylar said that Suresh's watch was broken.

Perhaps... I thought it was a malfunction sensing too... and it makes sense that he only can see it when that part of the brain is triggered.

As for that... I have a couple questions now...

First, they made a big deal about his watch being broken. So, 1 - is that the "Sylar" watch (I assume it is.) 2- if he fixes things so easily, why is it still broken in the diner?

I read a theory on another board that in my words is...

I think it is his way of rejecting who he was, the watch maker/fixer. He is now the human "fixer" and no longer works on trivial mechanical time pieces.

I like the symbolism of the broken watch and Sylar leaving his watch maker past behind.

Then I read on hero wiki that the watch appeared to be intact on homecoming night. I hope not because the broken watch is cool.

People keep referring to Sylar stealing the powers of the supers he kills - but I can't recall ever seeing him use anything that can't be explained via TK. If that's the case, then why did he duplicate that power, but not the others? Maybe that answer will come next week...

I like the metaphor of the watch. I hope that it WAS broken at Homecoming. I have to watch it again and check!

With the revelation of Charlie's ability being linked to the blood clot in her brain and Mohinder's sister's death apparently brought on by a suggested ability she may have had, I wonder if Sylar only kills those who would die anyway? You know, only the "Broken" ones.

Sure, I doubt it
But still...

Maybe he has tried to get the powers of others, but wasn't able to since he already stole the TK power. Just a random thought. But all we seen so far can be explain by TK, but doesn't mean that it wasn't other powers that he could have taken as well.

what about the freezing power?

We cant assume it was slyar who froze the dude.
It could have been the little girl aiming for sylar for all we know. After all somthing got his attention to go after her again at the FBI station.

Is Sylar just a jealous serial killer? does he want super powers so bad he killed that guy ? I guess he has some sort of absorbing power like peter? able to use the powers of whoevers brain he - eats? I don't think any of the heroes are "broken", I think that's just a prejudicial statement made by sylar. In Xmen the last stand, when the cure was announced, storm said there is no cure because there's nothing wrong with them to begin with. you can't stop evolution, and why would you want to ?

Is it not possible to think that Sylar does have all these power that he "acquired" from the heroes he killed, but think, what power would he be the most comfortable with.

His First, TeleKinesis. So while, he may all these powers (freezing, etc) TK comes the easiest to him because he's been using it for six months now. Also, I don't think the TK covers the speed he has (In Ep 1.09 he crosses the amphitheatre AND climb the stairs in less then a second.) So it's possible he's a speedster as well (for that reason and the two point of a) There is no speedster in the show yet. Super Speed is a relatively common power in comics and superhero culture and B ) We never have any clues as to HOW Sylar goes from victim to victim. Super Speed covers that too.)

Not saying one way or the other, just a theory.

He can't "sense" anything.

He said the guy was broken because the guy had this great power, a power Sylar envied, but didn't want it.

This was the most fitting metaphor for someone like Sylar, who was spent his life fixing machines, to use.

He "fixed" the guy by killing him and taking his brain.

He took the guy's power by doing something with the guy's brain.

Suresh had pointed him in the right direction by telling him that the power is the person's soul, and the person's soul is the brain.

What he's doing is either metaphysical or chemical.

He's not "sensing" or "fixing" anything.

You don't know for sure whether he is or isn't "sensing" or "fixing" people. He may be able to sense the genetic code in people when they use their powers. Hence the reason he slowly sawed off Jackie's head. He was waiting to see her use a power so he could sense it and learn the programming from it. That could be right, it could be wrong. We don't know for sure yet.

Let people run with theories as theirs are no more wrong than yours at this point.

FYI, Suresh did NOT say the power is in the person's soul. He said that the brain controls everything including involuntary actions, voluntary actions, emotions. He said emotions with an odd tone as well for some reason. Then he went on to say if the soul does exist, then scientifically, it would be in the brain. Never did he say their powers come from their souls.

Well, I think Sylar is just plain nuts. He is very unbalanced and removed from reality (as most people sense it), and therefore sees fit to make his own rules. This is very dangerous, and usually ends up in some serious problems if not crimes against society.
Becoming a serial killer is a slight problem for everyone else, but for him, and his off-kilter view of reality, he is fixing broken people. Whatever his perception is whether they are broken because they don't want their gift or because they are sick or whatever, he is the self-proclaimed fixer.
I also like the broken wrist watch. It shows that he is no longer concerned with that obsession and has moved on to a more time consuming (heh) 'hunger' that must be met. As far as we can see his new persona is completely enraptured in seeking out heroes and sucking their brains (or whatever he does).
I do wonder though, if he can make a variety of uses out of TK, which I think he does, why not use the other powers we think he may have gathered? I think he is either unsure of what powers he has (never saw them work maybe?) or he is striking out. Remember, Suresh's list and theories were still unproven and even he says they may not be true or effective. Some of the people he suspected of being heroes may not be at all. Some may be subtle such as Sylar's suggested "broken perception" ability and Charlie's memory.
I would imagine we will see this all revealed in the end, but the waiting for it is tough.

The freezing was done by HRG>

I totally AGREE! Sylar really looks like he's studying Jackie after he slices her head. When Brian Davis first used his power, Sylar immediately looked at Brian's brain, like something caught his attention. I think that Sylar can recognize how patterns work. Brian's brain patterns could have changed while he demonstrated his TK ability and caught Sylar's attention.

When it comes to killing, I believe that Sylar regards himself as the "rival male lion in nature." When a male lion spots a cub that is not his own, he will kill it. Only his genes have to survive. He is the strongest. He doesn't want to, but it's an "imperiative." Only he can survive.

what if sylar is only killing "broken" heroes, or heroes who dont want their power?

kind of like the jigsaw killer in "saw".. teaching a lesson of sorts.

Maybe Jackie WAS "broken." She lied about saving the man's life in the fire ... and she can't stand playing second fiddle to Claire.

Psychologically Jackie had a lot of problems.

Also, maybe Sylar starting out trying to fix "broken" mutants. All that killing probably warped him into a "Level 22" Serial Killer who doesn't discriminate on who he kills.

Someone's bionic hearing comment made me think...


what if Sylar isn't genetically altered at all. Remember he used a sort of laser'ish looking "finger" to cut off into the cheerleaders head...

what if Sylar is truely a tinkerer? Suresh was right, Sylar is not genetically different from any regular human being, but given his intelligence and tinkering abilities he decided to become special and because he envies those who are genetically altered..he takes them out, one by one.

Taking it one step further, he's tinkered with his own body mechanics. He's a bionic man...installed some sort of laser in his finger, boots of flying or hydrolics in his own legs, maybe even some sort of implant in his own head..etc etc.

I know, crazy talk but hey I figured I would throw it out there.

would he be half as scary if he had been working on a timex watch when he made up his identity?


Sylar got right back up after that fall, and after being shot, don't see either of those being explained by TK.

his face is shrouded in darkness, even when in a well lit room, like the diner, I still think that's a power; like in the shadow.

how did he freeze that one guy at the table, like liquid nitro, another power?

he's been at it for 6 months a lot of time to kill, and absorb powers sometimes bodies don't get discovered for weeks or months so there still may be more the FBI doesn't know about, just like when she asked Ted if there were any other bodies...

Let's not get carried away. I think it's safe to say that the lighting is done merely for dramatic effect.

I think the trick is to activate the rest of your brain. In the first episode, Mohinder is talking to his class about humans using 10% of the brain. He talks about what abilities might be possible if we could use more of our brain. Also, Papa Suresh's book is called "Activating Evolution."

I think the heroes are using more fo their brains than the average person, the part of your brain used determines your ability.

HRG studies special people's brainwaves. I think Psylar is headed to HRG's lab...where he will discover lots of brainwave info. He'll either steal it or learn it all at the lab...thus making him much stronger.

I found this in the spoiler's section. There's a conversation with Sylar in captivity and HRG that's pretty cool. HRG obviously knows what Sylar does and they talk about it briefly.

As I said these are scenes from next week that are NOT in the previews we've been seeing. If you don't want to know anything about next week, please do not click on the link below.

http://video.accesshollywood.com/player/?id=47806

Getting back to Sylar's supposed ability to "detect" or whatever he's did to "look inside" Brian (which I am assuming is what he did, based on how they illustrated this effect for us - with him picturing himself as wearing his watch-glasses and looking into a magnifying glass as he stared at Brian's head). I like the idea that he has to consciously use this ability, rather than having it on all the time. It could easily explain why he killed Jackie before Claire (he had a fairly good look at each of them as he was choking Jackie). I'm going to just assume for a second that this is the case:

Earlier in the day, he sat in the Burnt Toast Diner for a hell of a long time (hours, at least). I assume that during at least part of that time, he was staring at various people around the room (how can you eat at a restaurant and not look around the room?). This could be how he "knew" to kill Charlie (in which case it was simply waiting for the right opportunity). If that's what he was doing, and he was using this "vision" thing in the diner... then wouldn't he have noticed Hiro's ability as well? It's possible that he simply didn't have the time to use his detection on Jackie.. but in the diner, he had time to scan every single person.. a dozen times over. Plus, Charlie told Hiro that she had the blood clot - which was supposed to be large enough that she was likely going to be dead within a few weeks. If Sylar can "look" into a person's head, you'd think he would have seen something that size.

I'm pretty sure Sylar doesn't any "hero detector" ability. Remember he had a map much like Papa Suresh's but with even more people on it.

I re-watched the segments at the Burnt Toast Dinner in "Seven Minutes to Midnight" a couple times. He, (Sylar), was likely there for Charlie, & if he was there just by coincidence, he over heard Charlie speaking of her brain remembering everything whether she wanted to or not.

Hiro's name does not come up once in the episode until he starts to time jump long after Sylar is gone. Sylar could have easily killed Hiro as well when he went to the restroom. But instead he waited till he was out of the way in the restroom in order to make his move on Charlie. For all he knows they're just a couple of Japanese tourists. The Hiro on the list should be in Japan.

He also has to look at the brain to figure out how it, (the power), works. Now I don't know if Claire is off Sylar's list as well as Suresh's, (Mr. Bennet wanted her off the original list), but we also see Sylar making the same mistake Peter did by assuming that Jackie was the super he was after by looking at the Jackie shrine. He started toe cut her open to examine her brain, but then quickly realized that he had the wrong person when Claire got back up.

So in conclusion;
He has no "hero detector".
He's likely going off his map/list seen in "One Giant Leap".
He has to crack open his victim's head to figure out how it works.

Now lets see how the show will crack my skull open to examine my brain.

I see Peter as a kind of anti-Sylar. They both seem to have the ability to absorb the powers of other heros, but Peter "shares" in a way, while Sylar takes. Peter is epathetic and cooperative and looks like he'll develop as an eventual leader, while Sylar is destructive, selfish and a loner (plus he's crazy).

I wonder if Peter would be able to absorb the abilities of multiple heros if they were all close enough to him?

Personally i'm hopeing for an upcoming scene where we see sylar consuming a brain! Uhhhhhmmmm Yummy!