"How to Stop an Exploding Man" is the twenty-third and final episode of the first season of the NBC science fiction drama series Heroes. The episode was written by Tim Kring and was directed by Allan Arkush. It is the conclusion of the three-part finale for season one.^[1]

The episode started filming March 26. It aired May 21, 2007.^[2] The title of this episode is in reference to a question that Hiro Nakamura asked in "Fallout".

Plot

Mr. Bennet points a gun at Molly, threatening her in order to save Claire, and Suresh in turn points a gun at Bennet, to save Molly. The stalemate diffuses when Molly spots Matt Parkman, and Parkman recognizes Molly.

Sylar is seen painting the predicted fight between himself and Peter, whom he immediately recognizes.

Hiro tells his father he must save Ando and stop Sylar. He teleports to Isaac Mendez's loft, where Ando has been pinned against the wall by Sylar. Hiro arrives to face Sylar, and Sylar challenges Hiro to move faster than he can. To Sylar's surprise, Hiro transports across the room to Ando and they both disappear before Sylar can do anything more.

Having just killed Linderman, Niki and an injured D.L. continue the search for Micah. Once the correct room is found, Niki leaves D.L. behind to get Micah. When Niki enters the door, it appears that Jessica is in the room with a dead Micah. When she engages Niki in a fight, Niki sees the real Jessica in a broken mirror, who tells her that the other person is not her and that she still needs to save Micah. With a super-powered uppercut from the floor up, Niki throws the impostor across the room, revealing it to be Candice. She hears Micah screaming and rescues him. She then looks in a mirror and sees only herself.

Nathan seems to have finally accepted his responsibility as congressman and future president. Nathan's mother informs him that Mr. Linderman is indeed dead, and yet he is unsure if that is a good thing. He seems convinced that his brother Peter will indeed explode, and also that he has no plans to try and prevent the impending disaster. Molly appears to have relapsed into her health problem from "Landslide" and Suresh is treating her. As this happens, Mr. Bennet contacts Peter, who informs him of Sylar's new power gained from killing Ted Sprague. Bennet confides in him to stop Sylar before disaster strikes, and begs him to look after Claire. Peter visits Nathan and tries to recruit him in taking on Sylar, and asserts that Sylar must be the one who explodes; however he reflexively hears Nathan's thoughts and realizes that his brother has no intention of stopping the explosion. Peter realizes that Claire was right about not trusting Nathan, but turns to see that she has fled. He tries to locate her in an empty street, but his new "nuclear" powers start to take over as his emotions rise and he collapses.

Matt Parkman learns of Molly's amazing ability, but she is distraught to admit that she cannot find "everyone": there is one person she claims to be unable to find, someone "far worse" than Sylar, and that when she looks for him, he can see her. When Suresh, Parkman, and Bennet ask Molly to find Sylar, she locates him at Isaac Mendez's loft and Parkman decides to go confront him only to find that Sylar has already left for Kirby Plaza. Meanwhile, Bennet has left to find Peter and Molly tells Suresh that Sylar is now "here" and they try to make their way out of the building. When they arrive at the elevator, they see an injured D.L., whom Mohinder treats for his wounds, but they find that the elevator will not work. They wait until Niki and Micah arrive and Micah makes the elevator work. The entire group heads down for the final confrontation.

Hiro has teleported himself and Ando back to their office in Japan, escaping Sylar's clutches once more. Ando is determined to help in Sylar's defeat, but Hiro is adamant that his friend remain behind. Hiro assures his friend that he has already proven himself a hero: by facing Sylar without any powers of his own, Ando demonstrated true bravery and inspired Hiro to complete the quest. Hiro states that he must finish it alone, and gives Ando his Kensei sword, telling Ando, "so you know I'll be back."

Peter is in a flashback set during the time when he had first started caring for Charles Deveaux and sees his mother speaking to Charles about the bomb. He also views the first meeting of himself and Simone Deveaux. Peter believes nobody can see him until his mother leaves and Charles confronts him. He reveals that he knew about the plan to use Nathan as a catalyst to heal the world, but he felt that Peter is the only one with enough love in his heart to truly accomplish it. He then calls the other Peter, who comes to escort him back into the house. When Mr. Bennet awakens Peter, he thanks Peter for saving Claire's life, and tells Peter, "Call me Noah." This is the first time in the entire season of Heroes, that Mr Bennet's birth name is revealed.

In the climax, Peter, Bennet, and Parkman confront Sylar in the plaza. Bennet is immediately thrown against a wall, rendering him incapable of stopping Peter if he explodes. Parkman shoots at Sylar, who stops the bullets and turns them back at Parkman, who is hit in the chest. Niki steps in and knocks Sylar down with an uprooted parking meter and saves Peter. Peter then tells Niki that he can handle the rest and she should return to her family. He grabs Sylar and punches him repeatedly, with Sylar being unable to retaliate. After the final punch, Sylar can be heard laughing and stops as Peter begins to glow. His attack on Sylar having caused him to lose his concentration on controlling Ted's power, Peter realizes that he will be the bomb after all. Sylar gets up off the ground and taunts Peter, calling him a villain and indicating himself as the hero. As he is about to move forward, Hiro arrives and distracts Sylar. Before Sylar can attack, Hiro impales Sylar with a sword, apparently fatally wounding him. However, before Hiro can do anything about Peter's request that he kill him, Sylar's last act is to telekinetically throw Hiro into the air; Hiro teleports before he can strike a nearby building.

After this, Sylar collapses and his eyes glaze over. He sees images of people he has killed and an image of Sylar himself. As Peter's hands continue to glow, Claire arrives and takes Bennet's gun. She approaches Peter, gun raised. Peter tells her that she has to shoot, but, in tears, she begs him to think of another way. "There is no other way." Peter says, resolutely. However, before she is able to gather herself to shoot Peter, Nathan drops from the sky unexpectedly and says that Claire was right; the future wasn't written in stone after all.

Peter realizes what Nathan intends to do and tries to persuade his brother not to give his life. Nathan assures Peter that he had "saved the cheerleader, so we could save the world."

Peter reluctantly agrees and Nathan grabs him and flies off far above New York where a large explosion is seen in the night sky moments later.

Matt Parkman is shown being loaded into an ambulance, barely alive. At the end of this scene, the camera shows a trail of blood leading from where Sylar's body was to an open manhole with a cockroach crawling in, and the words "End of Volume One" appear on the screen.

Volume Two: Generations

After a fadeout, we are shown the opening of "Volume Two: Generations." Hiro lands in a grassy meadow. As he looks around him, he spots a group of samurai archers raising their bows towards him — he turns to run, but realizes that it a man wearing the emblem of the hero Takezo Kensei, poised behind Hiro, that they are about to attack. The subtitles then note that Hiro is outside Kyoto, Japan, in the year 1671. In a moment of confusion, Hiro curses in Japanese. Before anyone can act, the entire landscape is darkened by a total solar eclipse which creates the logo seen at the beginning of each episode.

Narration

The opening narration for "How to Stop an Exploding Man" is an expanded version of what was used in the first episode, "Genesis".

At the beginning

Where does it come from, this quest? This need to solve life's mysteries when the simplest of questions can never be answered? Why are we here? What is the soul? Why do we dream? Perhaps we'd be better off not looking at all. Not delving, not yearning. But that's not human nature. Not the human heart. That is not why we are here. Yet still we struggle to make a difference, to change the world, to dream of hope, never knowing for certain who we will meet along the way. Who among the world of strangers will hold our hand, touch our hearts, and share the pain of trying?

At the end

We dream of hope, we dream of change, of fire, of love, of death. And then it happens; the dream becomes real, and the answer to this quest, this need to solve life's mysteries finally shows itself like the glowing light of the new dawn. So much struggle for meaning, for purpose. And in the end, we find it only in each other. Our shared experience of the fantastic and the mundane. The simple human need to find a kindred. To connect. And to know in our hearts... that we are not alone.

Errors

The final scene depicts a total solar eclipse visible from Japan in 1671. However, there were no total eclipses visible from Japan in 1671.^[3] The only eclipse visible from Japan close to that date occurred five years earlier, on July 2, 1666. Although that eclipse was in totality over a small ribbon of Asia, it appeared only as a partial eclipse over Japan.^[4]

Awards

Milo Ventimiglia submitted this episode for consideration in the category of "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" on his behalf for the 2007 Emmy Awards. ^[5]

References

External links

• Beaming Beeman: Episode 23: How to Stop an Exploding Man, Director's blog on the filming of this episode.