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Seven Minutes to Midnight (Heroes)
Encyclopedia
"Seven Minutes to Midnight" is the eighth episode of the first season of the NBC
science fiction
drama series Heroes
.
returns to India
to scatter his father's ashes. He debates whether to return to his job as a college professor. His former girlfriend
Mira invites him to interview for a job at a company doing genetics research where she has just been made a department head. However, she says he must not mention his father's research into the evolution of superpowers or consider continuing it. Moving into his father's office, Mohinder sees a running program on the computer; after pressing delete, an "are you sure you want to quit" message appears on the screen and Mohinder hesitates to select yes. Mohinder talks with his mother about her decision to let his father go to the United States to look for Sylar. His mother tells him for the first time about his sister, Shanti, who died when she was five, two years after Mohinder was born. Shanti was "special", according to her mother, and their father loved her so much that he was afraid Mohinder would find his love for his son wanting in comparison. Mohinder also has a series of dreams, depicting a young Indian boy who guides him to various scenes showing his parents arguing and showing his father's murder in his taxi cab by a man whose face was obscured, but was wearing a watch with a broken face, showing seven minutes to twelve (or midnight). After another dream where the boy was trying to get into a locked drawer in Mohinder's desk, Mohinder realizes the key in his father's journal was to that drawer, and opens it, finding a file titled "SANJOG, Iyer", containing a photo of the boy.
Continuing their journey to New York
, Hiro
and Ando stop at a diner in Midland, Texas, and meet a waitress named Charlie, who recently developed a near perfect ability to quickly memorize any information
. As Hiro talks to Charlie, the man in the baseball cap who earlier had attempted to kidnap Molly from FBI custody — Sylar
— is watching them talk. As he does so, he uses telekinesis to draw a cup of coffee to his hand from across the table. He also is shown wearing the same watch as the murderer of Mohinder's father, which also is set to seven minutes to midnight. Charlie is later found murdered in the diner's storeroom, with her brain removed in the same manner as Sylar's victims. Hiro tells Ando that he can prevent Charlie's death by going back in time to the day before and preventing her from going to work; however, Hiro fails to return five seconds after his departure, as he promised Ando he would. A worried Ando paces next to a wall of pictures, which he does not notice. One of the pictures, which before had shown Charlie with a birthday cake in the diner, now shows Hiro as well, implying that he went further back in time
than just the day before.
At the FBI office in Los Angeles
, Matt Parkman
and Agent Hanson are interrogating Ted Sprague, who becomes so agitated that he boils the glass of water in his hands using his power to emit radiation. During the interrogation, Sprague reveals that, like Matt, he saw the Haitian just before blacking out for two days, and when he awoke, he had two mysterious marks on his neck. However, before Matt can learn more, Homeland Security takes custody of Sprague, who tells Matt to find the Haitian. Matt has been suspended without pay for a month after having punched a superior officer who had an affair with Matt's wife. Matt's wife admits to her affair and asks Matt if their marriage is over. Matt says he doesn't know, but their conversation is cut off by a phone call from Audrey, who notifies Matt that Sprague has escaped from custody, leaving behind a burning car.
At the Odessa, Texas
paper factory where Mr. Bennet
works, Bennet tells Isaac
, whom Eden has kidnapped from his apartment in New York, that he and his associates have worked for a number of years to find people with special powers and to assist them in learning to use them. Sometimes, he says, there are unintended consequence
s. Fourteen years ago, a woman with special powers died in his custody, leaving behind a toddler daughter. Mr. Bennet and his wife, who were having trouble conceiving a child, adopted the little girl. Mr. Bennet said Claire
's appearance in his life was like a miracle.
However, Bennet knows that Sylar will kill Claire the next night, and he needs Isaac to help him prevent the incident by completing a painting of Claire being murdered at her homecoming game. Bennet has collected three previous paintings Isaac created that depict a terrified Claire close-up, running up the bleachers in a football stadium, and lying dead on the ground with the top of her skull removed. When Isaac says he is unable to paint without the use of heroin, and resists taking the drug, Mr. Bennet orders Eden to administer the drug. Back at the Bennett household that evening, Claire paints a banner for the homecoming celebration the next night, unaware of her father's concerns for her safety.
. If only you found a place far enough away. So you run... to the edge of the Earth, where all is safe again, quiet and warm. The solace of salt air. The peace of danger left behind. The luxury of grief... And maybe for a moment you believe you have escaped.
At the end:You can run far, you can take your small precautions, but have you really gotten away? Can you ever escape? Or is the truth that you do not have the strength or cunning to hide from destiny? But the world is not small, you are... and fate can find you anywhere.
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
drama series Heroes
Heroes (TV series)
Heroes is an American science fiction television drama series created by Tim Kring that appeared on NBC for four seasons from September 25, 2006 through February 8, 2010. The series tells the stories of ordinary people who discover superhuman abilities, and how these abilities take effect in the...
.
Plot
MohinderMohinder Suresh
Mohinder Suresh is a fictional character on the NBC drama Heroes, portrayed by Sendhil Ramamurthy. He is from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India and is a genetics professor at the University of Madras who holds a PhD in parapsychology...
returns to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
to scatter his father's ashes. He debates whether to return to his job as a college professor. His former girlfriend
Mira invites him to interview for a job at a company doing genetics research where she has just been made a department head. However, she says he must not mention his father's research into the evolution of superpowers or consider continuing it. Moving into his father's office, Mohinder sees a running program on the computer; after pressing delete, an "are you sure you want to quit" message appears on the screen and Mohinder hesitates to select yes. Mohinder talks with his mother about her decision to let his father go to the United States to look for Sylar. His mother tells him for the first time about his sister, Shanti, who died when she was five, two years after Mohinder was born. Shanti was "special", according to her mother, and their father loved her so much that he was afraid Mohinder would find his love for his son wanting in comparison. Mohinder also has a series of dreams, depicting a young Indian boy who guides him to various scenes showing his parents arguing and showing his father's murder in his taxi cab by a man whose face was obscured, but was wearing a watch with a broken face, showing seven minutes to twelve (or midnight). After another dream where the boy was trying to get into a locked drawer in Mohinder's desk, Mohinder realizes the key in his father's journal was to that drawer, and opens it, finding a file titled "SANJOG, Iyer", containing a photo of the boy.
Continuing their journey to New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Hiro
Hiro Nakamura
is a fictional character on the NBC fantasy drama Heroes who possesses the ability of space-time manipulation. This means that Hiro is able to alter the flow of time. Previously, his ability allowed him to teleport, stop time, or travel through time, but recent events in the series have prevented...
and Ando stop at a diner in Midland, Texas, and meet a waitress named Charlie, who recently developed a near perfect ability to quickly memorize any information
Eidetic memory
Eidetic , commonly referred to as photographic memory, is a medical term, popularly defined as the ability to recall images, sounds, or objects in memory with extreme precision and in abundant volume. The word eidetic, referring to extraordinarily detailed and vivid recall not limited to, but...
. As Hiro talks to Charlie, the man in the baseball cap who earlier had attempted to kidnap Molly from FBI custody — Sylar
Sylar
Gabriel Gray, more commonly known by his assumed name of Sylar , is one of the primary antagonists and antiheroes in the NBC drama Heroes. Portrayed by Zachary Quinto, he is a superpowered serial killer who targets other superhumans in order to steal their powers...
— is watching them talk. As he does so, he uses telekinesis to draw a cup of coffee to his hand from across the table. He also is shown wearing the same watch as the murderer of Mohinder's father, which also is set to seven minutes to midnight. Charlie is later found murdered in the diner's storeroom, with her brain removed in the same manner as Sylar's victims. Hiro tells Ando that he can prevent Charlie's death by going back in time to the day before and preventing her from going to work; however, Hiro fails to return five seconds after his departure, as he promised Ando he would. A worried Ando paces next to a wall of pictures, which he does not notice. One of the pictures, which before had shown Charlie with a birthday cake in the diner, now shows Hiro as well, implying that he went further back in time
Six Months Ago
"Six Months Ago" is the tenth episode of the first season of the NBC science fiction drama series Heroes. The entire episode is set six months before the series' premiere, displaying how all the characters initially developed their powers.-Plot:...
than just the day before.
At the FBI office in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, Matt Parkman
Matt Parkman
Matthew "Matt" Parkman, Sr., is a fictional character of the NBC science fiction serial drama Heroes, played by Greg Grunberg. Matt is a police officer, who works for the LAPD and NYPD in Seasons One and Two respectively...
and Agent Hanson are interrogating Ted Sprague, who becomes so agitated that he boils the glass of water in his hands using his power to emit radiation. During the interrogation, Sprague reveals that, like Matt, he saw the Haitian just before blacking out for two days, and when he awoke, he had two mysterious marks on his neck. However, before Matt can learn more, Homeland Security takes custody of Sprague, who tells Matt to find the Haitian. Matt has been suspended without pay for a month after having punched a superior officer who had an affair with Matt's wife. Matt's wife admits to her affair and asks Matt if their marriage is over. Matt says he doesn't know, but their conversation is cut off by a phone call from Audrey, who notifies Matt that Sprague has escaped from custody, leaving behind a burning car.
At the Odessa, Texas
Odessa, Texas
Odessa is a city in and the county seat of Ector County, Texas, United States. It is located primarily in Ector County, although a small portion of the city extends into Midland County. Odessa's population was 99,940 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Odessa, Texas Metropolitan...
paper factory where Mr. Bennet
Noah Bennet
Noah Bennet, also known as the man in horn-rimmed glasses or simply Mr. Bennet, is a fictional character from the NBC drama Heroes played by Jack Coleman. The role was initially recurring, but became regular as of the 11th episode...
works, Bennet tells Isaac
Isaac Mendez
Isaac Méndez was a fictional character in the NBC drama Heroes. Portrayed by Santiago Cabrera, he had the ability to paint the future.-Genesis:...
, whom Eden has kidnapped from his apartment in New York, that he and his associates have worked for a number of years to find people with special powers and to assist them in learning to use them. Sometimes, he says, there are unintended consequence
Unintended consequence
In the social sciences, unintended consequences are outcomes that are not the outcomes intended by a purposeful action. The concept has long existed but was named and popularised in the 20th century by American sociologist Robert K. Merton...
s. Fourteen years ago, a woman with special powers died in his custody, leaving behind a toddler daughter. Mr. Bennet and his wife, who were having trouble conceiving a child, adopted the little girl. Mr. Bennet said Claire
Claire Bennet
Claire Bennet is a fictional character in the NBC science fiction drama series Heroes. She is portrayed by Hayden Panettiere and first appeared on television in the pilot episode of the series, "Genesis" on September 25, 2006...
's appearance in his life was like a miracle.
However, Bennet knows that Sylar will kill Claire the next night, and he needs Isaac to help him prevent the incident by completing a painting of Claire being murdered at her homecoming game. Bennet has collected three previous paintings Isaac created that depict a terrified Claire close-up, running up the bleachers in a football stadium, and lying dead on the ground with the top of her skull removed. When Isaac says he is unable to paint without the use of heroin, and resists taking the drug, Mr. Bennet orders Eden to administer the drug. Back at the Bennett household that evening, Claire paints a banner for the homecoming celebration the next night, unaware of her father's concerns for her safety.
Narration
At the beginning:The Earth is large. Large enough that you think you can hide from anything: from fate, from GodGod
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
. If only you found a place far enough away. So you run... to the edge of the Earth, where all is safe again, quiet and warm. The solace of salt air. The peace of danger left behind. The luxury of grief... And maybe for a moment you believe you have escaped.
At the end:You can run far, you can take your small precautions, but have you really gotten away? Can you ever escape? Or is the truth that you do not have the strength or cunning to hide from destiny? But the world is not small, you are... and fate can find you anywhere.
Ratings
The total viewership for this episode was 15.08 million. It earned an 8.8/13 share for the week.External links
- Watch "Seven Minutes to Midnight" at NBC.com