As was expected, we got confirmation that Peter can now only hold and use one ability at a time. This is surely a result of the formula, but why and is it only temporary? It has been a couple of months and from his behavior, it seems like a "permanent" change.

He's been severely downgraded and I'm not too sure I like it. His ability is still pretty darn strong and who knows what will happen when Ando supercharges Peter, as seems very likely to happen.

http://boards.9thwonders.com/index.php?showtopic=67460

Yup, just as it seemed to me last week. It's a bit crazy that Peter's ability didn't come back the exact same when he used the formula. I'd have thought that the same person would always get the same power but apparently not. And Peter seems to not know why it's different know either. Given that Peter would get a different power, this tactile one-power mimicry is a really good option imo.

I don't really mind the power level of Peter's power now. It's more at a balanced level with the other characters, rather than being outright better at the point Peter meets a person. It's at a similar power level to early season 1 Peter, who could only use a power when he was near the person who had it, and I liked Peter best during that time. The drawback of having trouble controlling his powers towards the end of season one wasn't too bad in conjunction with his power either. But since then, Peter's gone through all sorts of drawbacks that seemed to get away from the nature of his character, such as losing his memory, helping the bad guy, having the hunger, etc. I think it'll be nice to have Peter with a power where he doesn't need those drawbacks that get away from the core of his personality. Peter being Peter.

Originally I thought him holding one power at a time was lame. It didn't bother me as much as I thought it would though. I think eventually he will be able to hold more then one power at a time eventually.

They spared his life Wolfie. It was the only way. He was too powerful and was only going to get more powerful and people were only complain more about "Why doesn't Peter do this or that instead".


So yeah, he was downgraded, and it sucks because they changed him a lot but...if it keeps him around and more Peter like (Like he used to be) then I welcome it.

So what is the excuse for Sylar?

... and you think mind reading, mind manipulation, and foretelling are a weaker combo?

I remember, last week's discussion about it, half of the fan were like ''it would be awesome if it were the case'' and the other half were ''it would be lame''.

Personnally, I liked it. And he kinda used it nicely in this episode, when he took Nathan hostage in order to take back is power and fly away! Got me by surprise, I didn't realised he just switched for flying when grabing Nathan! lol

I don't know if he'll be able to hold more than one power in the future, but I don't care. I like it that way, but would also appreciate an evolution! Both way seems good!

As for the explanation, well, he got his power from the formula this time, while his previous power were ''natural''. Obviously the formula, even with the catalyst, has some problems!

Before the "I told ya so's" or "why would they do something so stupids" start rolling, what happens when he grabs 2 new specials at the same time? How is this so much different than what he was like in S1. He can grow his ability just like everyone else.

I pretty much expected them to go this route. I was expecting the confirmation that we got this episode, as well.

I really don't like it, myself. I don't mind the absorption by touch, but I don't like the "one at a time".

But I agree that we still have to ask if it will ultimately remain that way. There are some possible ways that he could get it "upgraded" so-to-speak so that he can retain more than one or something. Who knows if it's permanent? As was mentioned, Ando is one hypothetical way. Could there be something else, perhaps another evolved human?

Same here, but I think that's because I was all for him getting down-graded. I do think that he'll get his powers back eventually, whether it's through his touching Ando, or learning how to use the new ability to its fullest extent. I don't think they'll keep the "one power at a time only" limit on him for the whole season. Something will probably happen to him and he'll get the power back in his full capacity, his enemy's won't know that he got all of his abilities back for whatever reason, and Peter will use his abilities against them when the time comes.

Hypothetically, of course.

his power will probably start off weak (one power at a time) then it will get more powerful. eventually he'll probably get his 'original' power back. we don't even know if he started off like that to begin with (he did start off with flying though) so it's a possibility.

I love the "downgrade", personally. It means Peter is A hero, not THE hero. It also means other characters will have more screen-time during battles with the bad guys.

I want him to be able to retain and mimic more than one power for two main reasons.

1. To have a full-blown special effects laden powerhouse of a fight against Sylar. I've been wanting that since Season One, especially "Five Years Gone".

2. To see him open a can of you-know-what against a full team of Nathan's men, including Danko.

Peter from the future had all his powers. My guess is Peter recovers his power when he meets another empath... i.e. Sylar.

I think the Peter downgrade and loss of Hiro's abilities are simply lame. They both reflect the limitations of the writers, more than anything else. If they didn't want to deal with these issues, they never should have introduced them in the first place.

Peter has never been the brightest bulb in the socket, and Hiro has always been limited by his idealism and fear of his own time travel ability. Those are heavy limitations, and were working fine. Saying "oops, we made a mistake, let's radically change the character" is a cop out. Temporarily reducing a character's power and then having it return later is simply lame.

- Jesse

Let me get this straight. So Pete actually has to touch someone just to use their power again? (Like he did to Nathan at the end of the show) Or can he just switch to using a different one when he feels like it?

I agree, this is just a cop out on the writer's part.

These first two episodes have been full of very bad writing.

I agree exactly with everything you've said Pickingrinnin

The thing I don't get is, Pete and Hiro lose their natural abilities yet the writers still have no excuse for Sylar. Aside from "Family Issues", I find that to be a crock of you know what on the writers part.

Ok, ill accept Hiro's personality as a safeguard against his power (though thats for a different thread) but as far as Peter goes, I would much rather see him depowerd rather than mentally handicapped, which is what he seemed ever since season two..

I don't want to see a charcter make bad decisions and act stupidly jsut to see some explosiosn on TV... If the writers and Kring want to do that then they can. They'll just have to let some of the other character share the screen time...

I think that ultimately, Peters depowering will be the best thing for his character that we've seen since season one... I mean he's already like a gigamillion times smarter than we've seen him.

I like it. Plus, there's always room for his ability to expand and grow. Maybe one day he can hold up to two, three, four, even five abilities. I don't want to see one perosn have every power on the show. It's not fun for me

Not to get too metaphysical, but Peter's personality changes mirror his new powers. When we first met him he was trusting of everyone, always believing the best was possible in all people(to which even his future self said "How could I be so naive?") Now he's more cautious, takes time and moves in close to people before he opens up to them. What better representation of this internal shift could there be than a previously limitless power that functioned on strangers across a room, to transforming into the same one that only works up close and hesistantly, casting off previous powers like old relationships and shared history.
Whoa. That was deep, sorry about that.

I was reading someone's post and got an idea. What if Peter touched someone with Empathic Mimicry? Would he get their base power or the last power they used?

Here is the first of those "I told you so's" I don't understand how people can deny things that are right in front of them on screen.

*Maybe*, they have written this in to limit Peter so the whole Hunter squad works (obviously if he was full power, he'd have been as hard to take down as Sylar) and he'll regain his power as the season progresses. I would't count on it. If the current writing staff have shown anything, it is that they are in over their heads.

I'm sticking with this til ep 19 because Fuller takes over, but until then I expect them to jump shark after shark. Hopefully some sort of cohesion can be made of this mess for the last 6 episodes.

This is probably thier lame excuse for Pete's scar.

Don't get me started on the scar!!

They had the PERFECT excuse for the scar, his face got cut when Arthur was killed... BEFORE he took the formula!!

Cut... in the same place his future scar will be.... Arghgnghrghneghrnrnrnrnrnrn!!!!

I declare manatees....

It seems to me (or am I wrong?) that we only see the visual effect attributed to his "touch absorption" when he first touches and absorbs from a particular EH.

If true, I'm wondering what the meaning of that is, if there is one. I think it could easily be interpreted as meaning that he does permanently retain the powers, but (for now) can only mimic the different powers when he touches the original EH with the power. That seems to me to be like in Season One when he could permanently retain the powers, but could only mimic the powers when in the presence of the original EH with the power.

So perhaps (for now) when he touches another EH that he's already "touched absorbed" from, he doesn't reabsorb the power but he "overrides" the last "touched mimicked" power.

I'm not quite sure about that, I watched him absorb the power from Nathan a few times over to make sure and there's a definite visual effect (red glowy) but its over pretty quick. There's also a sparking kind of sound to accompany it.

All I can say is "I told you since the last episode" but most people didn't wanted to believe that saying that what we saw on the plane doesn't confirm anything!
There you have it now.
And yes, I still say "It sucks".

I think it was an excellent choice. Peter was far too powerful before. There are already so many things he should've done that would have resolved various situations, which apparently we're supposed to understand he just didn't think of, that it strains the suspension of disbelief on the part of the viewer. Every other episode, you're thinking, "Why doesn't he just read Adam's mind?", "Why doesn't he just stop time?", "Why doesn't he just give Nathan some of his blood, or stop time and get some of Claire's?", etc. When the guy has just about every conceivable power at his disposal, he should resolve pretty much any situation with ease, and in order to get around this the writers have pretty much had resort to making him inexplicably and profoundly stupid and incompetent. Notice, since he lost his semi-omnipotence, Peter has become far more intelligent, assertive, and all-around likeable than he was for portions of the second half of Season I, pretty much the entirety of Season II, and the first few episodes of Season III.

Actually there are situations that nobody can think of this or that in time.

Other than that it was shown to us many times that peter rather were able to pull one power after another as long as he knew he had them while not using other absorbed ones he never knew he had at all. People who actually cared to look behind the character, its motivations and personality would never say he was too powerful and I keep repeating myself but still am for that point: He wasn't too powerful!

He was only for people that counted how many powers he has and wondering why he doesn't use enhanced hearing, clairevoyance, technopathy and multiple other powers he got even it was held in front of our faces season for season that he couldn't until these powers were unlocked!

Anyway.. you people got what you wanted so enjoy your "sylar has it all" show now while peter has to find people with abilities to make "high five" only so he can use ANY ability at all.

Absolutely love it at the moment. Of course, I would like to see him evolve to being able to start retaining a few (no more than five) in his back catalogue which he then has to selectively choose which ones to keep or discard. But yes, loving it at the moment.

It'd actually be cool if down the line he could retain more than one power, but couldn't control which one he used at any given time. Maybe he could need super-strength, but could only manifest flight or telepathy?

i have to remain optimistic that peter will learn to use more than 1 power at a time.

I watched the show simply for peter and sylar.

the good and the evil both mirror images of each other.

that's what made the show interesting for me to see both those characters evolve in opposite directions.

They should have killed peter instead of castrating him how ... humiliating ... to go from a god to ... this decrepit version, a broken image of your past self.

the season is good, the show is still good, the premises of this season are interesting but they killed a character without drawing blood.

and that's sad to see.

To all the people baaaawwwing about how the writer's killed Peter's character, omg this sux, etc.

Putting limits on a power are not necessarily a bad thing. Also, we still don't know if Peter only hangs onto one power at a time and "loses" it when he touches someone else, or if he hangs onto it and just hasn't figured out how to access it again later.

He's not less of a character just because they cut his powers. And because his powers were cut he might actually have to -- *GASP!* -- evolve and grow as a character. I know. Evolving and growing as a character is so tragic. But if we didn't have that, then what would we have to complain about?

I was one of the ones who didn't think they would limit Peter to one power. I wasn't getting into the debate about that one scene b/c I didn't think it was conclusive enough. I was wrong..at least for now. I still say he will/can not stay that way forever. The reason: Sylar. Peter is the only known living person who can combat him one-on-one. I just hope they keep the touch thing.

I don't hate any of the characters on Heroes, but Peter and Sylar have always been near the bottom of my list. However, Peter moved up my list quite a bit in this episode (esp since Sylar is boring me to death). Finally, his strength comes from within rather than a slew of powers.

I agree with you, the limitation doesn't make Peter less of a character.
I can see potential with the one at a time even when it comes to going up against Sylar, if you think about it suddenly trying to take Sylar's power is actually kind of tempting(especially with Peter's frustrations with not being strong enough) for as long as he's in one at a time mode.
Honestly, I don't care if they keep limitation, I'm happy either way.

I don't think Peter will stay this way forever, either. What I do think will happen is that he'll figure out how to harness the power to access all of the other powers he's absorbed, but he won't tell any of the "baddies" about it. Then he'll unload a can of whup****** on them when they have their confrontation (hopefully).

With as many abilities as Peter used to have, he had two possibilities: Come off as a god or as an idiot. Since the show couldn't handle a god, he made a few very poor choices and simply overlooked his abilities a good deal during seasons 1 and 2 (especially 2).

Now, with only one power at a time, he has to play smart, and he does. And it's got to be easier this way - both for the writers and for Peter. In a fight or in a tough situation, you can only win if you have a good overview over your options. Now, Peter's options are limited to "Who to touch in what order, and what to make of it?" I like that, and I liked how it was done this episode. I was actually surprised when he flew away after tackling Nathan. (Yes, I like my options limited, too )

Guys you are SO RIGHT! Now why don't we send peter to sylar telling him to TRY to touch him before sylar scalps him, gets his power and gets over with him? THAT would work right? Cause Sylar would DEFINATELY let him go there and grab its power instead of nailing him on the floor on the first site and killing him in the second.
Fun huch?

It's not as big of a stretch as your making it out to be. It's not like Sylar has any reason to believe that scalping Peter has any advantage to him, much less that Peter has anything to gain by touching him(Sylar likes to toy with people letting Peter futilely hit him might amuse him). Besides I said it would be tempting to Peter (if the opportunity presents itself), not that he necessarily would choose to(because if you recall the whole "hunger" thing creates a drawback for Peter).

i think this is one of the most brilliant moves on the writers' parts in a while.

i love this show, and it was really upsetting during season 2 and the early part of season 3, seeing people calling peter a 'moron' or 'brainless' and a giant, walking 'plothole.' anytime a 'plothole' error would come up, it was usually as a result of something peter did or did not do with whatever power the critic could think of. it was awful.

peter had amazing potential as this power sponge. his personality really mimicked that - he was very open, optimistic, and selfless. but, his power was just so big and it caused natural complications that many many people found infuriating or laughable. soon, it just spiraled down into people saying harsh things about peter as a result of his decisions.

well, that element has been removed. hopefully, with this development, the writers can get back to focusing on peter's character, and not his power. because with such a large ensemble cast, having peter so incredibly powered left little time for the writers to show him doing anything but using a cool new power.

i'm all for it.

you all cryed that he was too overpowered, they dumbed him down, and now there's more crying

Why couldn't you just all leave well enough alone and not complain, he was perfect in season one

now he's a wuss and has to use a gun

Thanks people, YOU ruined Peter and possibly the show

Thanks writers, for not having a set and doing whatever the viewers say

You've all caused the collapse of the greatest TV series ever

Newsflash for you simpletons out there, people that can absorb abilities are SUPPOSED to be overpowered

now sit back and enjoy the downfall you caused and then remember not to cry when the only garbage left on TV to watch is FLAVA OF LOVE

My 2 cents.

I don't like the way they changed his power. But As for a character I still love Peter. It is not the power that makes the character. Peter is the ultimate dogooder. No matter what power he has or had he will always be that. His ation may not be good to all but in his mind he is doing what he knows is right. We all know he makes more then his share of mistakes but this is not ever done with malice in his heart. The internal conflict Peter faces are IMHO what makes Peter great. Whatever his power becomes I still think he will be my favorite character because of it.

I doubt he'll stay with the one power at a time thing for long. At least i really hope he doesn't. I'll still love Peter as a character overall but I do still feel as though they have cheated him a little bit. That said, given the dire situation they are entering I think Peter going to have to learn to kick his power up a notch. I wonder if this will bring the possibilty of his scar back into play. Perhaps he get injured and since he can only retain one abilty at a time by the time he and Claire met up again the scar has already set in.

100% agree, this is the whiniest board I've ever seen and the most bi-polar

I really hate this change. It goes against everything we learned so far. (Last Volume we were told that powers depend on your genetic markup and thus will allways be the same for one person. And in the first season we learned from Claude, that Peters body can allways remember abilitys it has once used)

If you made a mistake, by making a character way to powerfull, you can't just break the rules of the universe you created as you please. That's cheating (yourself and the viewer). In such a case you've got to have the guts to kill the character, or completely depower him.

No, thank you and yours for whining during volume 2 so now everything must move at a breakneck pace and this show become X-Men lite. Heroes was a dramatic show about normal people with extraordinary abilities set in a realistic world and now it's become an action show about superheroes with "powers" set in a fantastical world. You'd rather see Peter and Sylar brawl for an hour than watch good dramatic character development. How did any of you even enjoy season 1?

Tim Kring showed how cowardly he is when he caved to fanboys, apologized, and changed how volume 2 ended, completely wasting everyone's time that had been watching.

Watching Peter the super God do nothing, EVER, was boring as it could get.

It's because people just enjoy having something to ****** and moan about, and you can't make everyone happy. You can make some of the people happy all of the time. You can make all of the people happy some of the time. But you can't make everyone happy all of the time.

I agree that his power was all right in S1 when he was "learning" to use his power. I'm still not convinced that he only has access to one power and then "loses" it when he touches someone else. I just think that he hasn't figured out how to use the new power to its fullest extent yet.

People will baaaaw about anything, seriously. Put limits on Peter! BAAAAAAAAAAW LIMITS ARE BAD. Make Peter godlike with all the powers in the world! BAAAAAW PETER IS BORING BECAUSE HE'S OVERPOWERED. There has got to be a happy medium in there somewhere.

Edit: Also, no, the writers didn't cheat. Yes, in S1 Peter remembered all of the powers he gained because he had empathic mimicry. Then in S3 Arthur took away all of Peter's abilities including his base ability of empathic mimicry. When Peter took the serum, there was no guarantee of what power he was going to wind up with. Ergo, no "cheating" involved.

Yes there was, as it was said last season, that the powers are determinded by peoples genetics. Unless peter had some gene-therapy I don't know about, he should have gotten the exact same power he had before.
And even if the power has changed. Why shouldn't his body be able to remember abilitys all of a sudden? Does it have alzheimers?

I probably wouldn't mind them breaking this one rule if they hadn't done some other very stupid things this volume. Nathans character development is completely none realistic and thus the whole premise for this volume, we are now at the point that they tried to prevent in season one, minus a few dead New Yorkers ("Save the chearleader, the world still goes to hell") and every character from season one seems to be bullet proof...

*Pause.*

*Blink.*

I think they meant genetically in reference to the people who were born with powers. When Arthur took his power, he most likely removed it completely genetically from Peter as well. I mean, his ability was completely and totally erased. Gone. Finito.

For exactly the reason in your previous sentence. His power has changed. Maybe he'll remember how to access his abilities again eventually, but for the time being he only knows how to access one of them at a time.

So Arthur changes genetics? Ah come on. We have no evidence of that. It was never said or hinted.
And it wasn't jst meant for people that are born with their abilitys. They talked about what abilitys people would get, when injected with the formula.


Yeah his power has changed, but he can still use multiple powers, which means his body should still be able to remember the old ones. That's wpretty much what Claud said. If a body has used a power once it can remember how to use it again.

Really just proof that you can't please everyone. I thought it was enough of a limitation that he had to touch to get abilities.

What if this is how is power has always evolved from the beginning? Maybe it starts out with touch and one power at a time. If I remember it correctly, Peter had already been in close proximity to Nathan after Nathan flew, and jumped off a building and had to be caught by Nathan. Maybe eventually he will only need to be in the proximity of people with powers and will retain them.