Gamma radiation is cosmic rays. Atomic bombs release neutron radiation.

Atomic bombs release EM radiation in the form of gamma rays, x-rays, UV, visible, and on down through the EM spectrum (in order of dangerousness, too). They also produce alpha particles (helium nuclei), beta particles (electrons), neutrons, as well as the elemental by-products of the fission reaction (i.e., fallout) that also release these same nasty things. The fallout is what lasts. The good thing is that if Peter is only releasing the EM equivalent of an atomic bomb, then there shouldn't be much fallout.

That's not pretty off, that's pretty office

heh.

Yes, he shot bullets back at Parkman. That was just fine, but why couldn't he have fought Niki/Jessica? I was looking for a kickass fight, is all. I wanted a telekinesis fight. Sylar shooting out ice and shit and then Peter coming back at him, until it turned to steam because he couldn't control Ted's power.

Given his track record, I can see some cause of overconfidence. Unlike Peter, he actually seems to master his absorbed powers pretty fast, and the one he's had longest is probably the most versatile physical power we've seen yet.

Still, since he's encountered dozens of people with powers, perhaps ignoring the slim woman who's striding purposefully toward him after watching him rip that parking meter from the pavement was an unforgivable error.

That was just fine, but why couldn't he have fought Niki/Jessica?

I think that he was just distracted and then she clocked him.

Here's the thing, though: If Nathan survives, his heroic sacrifice meant nothing (narratively speaking). Conversely, if Peter *doesn't* survive, then Nathan's heroic sacrifice, again, meant nothing, because it just meant that both Petrellis died instead of just one.

I'm wondering, now, if that scene with Mama Petrelli and Charles was just one big honking dollop of foreshadowing, in the sense of "You're betting on the wrong brother," and, of course, she was--but not in the way she was thinking.

While I thought the bit with Charles and Peter was lovely, just as dialogue, I really wanted to know if a) he had a power; b) Peter *had* that power from working with him, but didn't know until Charles told him; and c) that whatever that power was would Save The Day. Since none of those things actually happened, it was an entirely useless exchange that only gave me pretty pretty Simone, and was otherwise more of the narrative junk strewn around this finale.

I don't understand why Peter couldn't just fly himself the hell away, but whatever, I can handwave that for the bit of Nathan redemption in the end, as awkward as it was.

I kind of wish Nikki had beat Sylar's ass, and then Peter had finished him off. While I saw that the point was to bring Hiro back, it felt ill-timed and flat compared with the denoument I was hoping for.

I don't think he necessarily did. He could have just been punching him. Sylar didn't really have time to try to get up after Nikki knocked the crap out of him. Peter might have just been kickin' his ass old school.

I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be super-strength, because we've seen repeatedly that normal shows of strength just ends with him batting people away like flies.

I believe this is not the first roach we've seen in relation to Sylar, fwiw.

I think the cockroach was supposed to be a reference to Mohinder's introductory speech in the pilot, about how the only creature that's survived everything nature's put against it was the cockroach, and therefore it will rule the world someday. Or something.

Well, "Incest UST ignites human atom bomb on Heroes" sounds like a headline they want to avoid.

And yet sums up things so well.

Did anyone else think Mama Petrelli's power might be one of influence? It was more noticeable in this episode--she kept trying to convince people of things with imperative statements, and then put her hands on them, after which they would agree with her. At least, until Claire chose to dive out a window.

I loved the Micah/Molly bits. And I kind of have this idea about how Molly goes off with Mohinder, because it makes practical sense that she's stay with the one dude who can give her antibodies, but also because I really think the idea of Molly as Mohinder's apprentice would be adorable. And then she and Micah could email all the time, and talk about powers in code.

Oh! There was one more thing. Do you think perhaps, in the face of this Super Big Bad or whatever, that (assuming Peter is in fact dead and isn't going to pull a Superman and come flying back from space or whatever) Sylar might somehow migrate to good guy? In that, if there's someone stronger than him that he can't beat, he would be compelled to work to fight against him, and it would kind of be an evil-you-know situation for the other powers? That would be cool.

My pet theory about the bullet-turning-back is that there was nothing super about them, they were just bullets being shot by a telepath.

Molly as apprentice idea:

There is a bonus in that idea. As a bright little girl there is a good chance that she already has more practical common sense than Mohinder.

I was looking for a kickass fight, is all.

Oh, absolutely. Huge letdown on that front.

In that, if there's someone stronger than him that he can't beat, he would be compelled to work to fight against him, and it would kind of be an evil-you-know situation for the other powers? That would be cool.

You know, you say that, but I keep thinking of how I actually tend to get annoyed when that happens because the writers end up flipping them back and forth and it gets sloppy and irritating (see: Sloane, Spike, Scorpius, Slionel Sluthor).

My pet theory about the bullet-turning-back is that there was nothing super about them, they were just bullets being shot by a telepath.

...There's another theory?

You know, you say that, but I keep thinking of how I actually tend to get annoyed when that happens because the writers end up flipping them back and forth and it gets sloppy and irritating (see: Sloane, Spike, Scorpius, Slionel Sluthor).

Yes, but for me that's contingent only on Peter actually being dead. If he's not dead, and just wears black for all time (rowr) in mourning for his brother (a worthy death, that, if it gets Peter to fix his hair), I would rather see Peter become some kind of focal point for a powers-havin' superteam to go kick Sylar and Big Bad Numero Dos's asses.

and then put her hands on them

As soon as I saw her red taloned paws on Nathan's back, it was my thought that influence is her power. But a fairly shoddy one. Nothing she says seems to actually stick to anyone for very long.

I like the idea of the Molly and Mohinder team very much. When the shot of him kneeling next to her with his arm around her came up, I thought poster shot! I'm a geneticist, she's a human gps, we fight crime!

I loved Clare's calm, "I have already have a family" and then plunge through the window, but it also bugged on a technical level. I'm not a structural engineer, but aren't the glass exterior walls of highrises constructed such that one can't sort of fall against them and then plummet to one's death?

A preliminary chair through the glass would have felt a bit more realistic, even without super strength.