Quote from: Conduit on October 02, 2007, 02:56:23 PM
My thoughts:

[spoiler]
It's interesting to see that Claire can regrow limbs.  Frying boy has just gotten more annoying and creepy.  How frequently has he been looking into the windows of Claire's house over the past 2 episodes?

Peter using all his powers would be cool, if it didn't make absolutely no sense.  In Distractions, he specifically said that he had to remember the original source of the power in order to use it (not to mention that he now doesn't remember Claude's training).  Unless something weird is going on, that's a major continuity error.  The only thing that suggests there may be more to it is how his abilities seemed to fire off semi-randomly.  He shot lightning at a thug, was confused, then pointed his hand at the other guy as if he was trying to do the same thing, only he TKed the gun instead.

Kensei is really cool.  "You look like a fish when you talk...Like a giant carp."  I also like Hiro's "Have you seen a scary white man?"  I also liked the scene where he dressed up as Kensei and disarmed all the samurai, especially when one of them said, "Why does he keep saying his own name?"  Man, we've gotten some good lines out of that story arc.  The only thing I'm worried about is Kensei's revealed power.  I really hope that there's a good reason why he pulled that "hide in a tree and pick them off from afar" trick instead of just walking into the group and easily killing them all with his sword.  I also hope that they don't try to make it so that Claire's power prevents the owner from aging, because Peter sure looked like he had aged a little in Five Years Gone.

It's good to have the Haitian back.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Just a few thoughts on this...

As I recall, Peter's ability was more caused by how that person made him feel, so by trying to be cold and emotionless during the training he effectively negated his own abilities. His emotions were firing off due to his confusion, so it's likely that even pure chance would instigate SOMETHING, even if it's completely random.

As for Kensei... a few things. Again, I think his power is being unable to die, not purely healing. He looked as shocked as Hiro when he healed, and even a coward would have picked up SOME kind of cuts and scrapes by now. If it's just mortal wounds he's healing from though, it would still make sense... he hasn't died before, so he wouldn't know he couldn't die, and thus would be a coward. [/spoiler]

[spoiler]

Quote from: Tomato on October 02, 2007, 03:28:38 PM
Just a few thoughts on this...

As I recall, Peter's ability was more caused by how that person made him feel, so by trying to be cold and emotionless during the training he effectively negated his own abilities. His emotions were firing off due to his confusion, so it's likely that even pure chance would instigate SOMETHING, even if it's completely random.

That could work, especially since they did seem to pop out randomly, but he specifically said "I have to remember her."  It's so specific, it almost sounds like foreshadowing.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler]

Quote from: Conduit on October 02, 2007, 03:24:31 PM
Claire's power heals damage after it occurs.  If Peter is wounded when he doesn't have the power on, the wound heals when it is turned on.  If it healed the effects of aging, then every time Peter turned it on his age would "reset" to around his early twenties.  So unless he never used it after about 2 or 3 years since the explosion (very unlikely), he shouldn't have looked any older.  There's also the fact that Sylar didn't get any younger after he stole her power.  If the power is different when it comes to aging, then that's good.

I don't think it would be that unlikely that Peter wouldn't have used Claire's power over those years.  Keep in mind that 5 years in the future, Peter had a giant scar across his face and Future Hiro said when he travelled to the past that he almost didn't recognize Peter without the scar.  That implies that Peter has had the scar for some time at that point.  So if he had used the power at some point, why wouldn't that scar have healed?  And if he hadn't used the power, why didn't he?
[/spoiler]

[spoiler]

Quote from: Adamence on October 02, 2007, 04:02:54 PM

Quote from: Conduit on October 02, 2007, 03:24:31 PM
Claire's power heals damage after it occurs.  If Peter is wounded when he doesn't have the power on, the wound heals when it is turned on.  If it healed the effects of aging, then every time Peter turned it on his age would "reset" to around his early twenties.  So unless he never used it after about 2 or 3 years since the explosion (very unlikely), he shouldn't have looked any older.  There's also the fact that Sylar didn't get any younger after he stole her power.  If the power is different when it comes to aging, then that's good.

I don't think it would be that unlikely that Peter wouldn't have used Claire's power over those years.  Keep in mind that 5 years in the future, Peter had a giant scar across his face and Future Hiro said when he travelled to the past that he almost didn't recognize Peter without the scar.  That implies that Peter has had the scar for some time at that point.  So if he had used the power at some point, why wouldn't that scar have healed?  And if he hadn't used the power, why didn't he?

Once scar tissue is in place, it's healed as far as the body is concerned.  So he'd only need to not use the power while he got the scar and it healed on its own (I've speculated that he was knocked unconscious shortly after being wounded and stayed unconscious until it healed normally).  After that, if he turned on the power the scar would stay as it was.  I highly doubt that he could live for 5 years, much less spend much of that time fighting in a rebellion against the government and never get any sort of injury that would be more conveniently healed by turning on regeneration.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler]A few things.  I don't think that Angela is the big bad this time around either.  Seems pretty clear that the attack was genuine, but I could be wrong.  Also, I have this weird feeling that Kensei is the guy killing off the old group.  I mean, leaping off a building to kill Nakamura only to be able to walk away.  Although, I have an even larger feeling that it's a red herring. 

I'm kind of caught in between about Suresh being mindwiped.  I mean, how could Noah know that the Haitian was going to get ill?  He couldn't, and therefore the Haitian wouldn't know not to mindwipe him.  There is no reason for Suresh to truth the Haitian and vice versa, but I like how Noah pulled Suresh back into the loop.  I like this tearing apart from the inside that he, Suresh, and Matt are doing. 

I agree with most of you that Peter just seems to be acting out randomly, seemingly surprised each time he displays a power.  Although so far, I'm liking how this season is panning out, and not surprisingly, I'm most interested in the Matt, Suresh, and Noah storyline.  It has so many possibilities, and really allows the older generation to develop as we understand the company more and more, and understand thier differences.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]On Claire's regen:  There could also be a subconscious element to it, she's being regenerated back to what her mental image of herself would be, explaining hair length, nails, etc.  Her regen could keep her young, if it's active all the time (as opposed to only when injured....we've yet to see), but Peter's use of it is as-needed, so he's used to seeing himself in the mirror with all the normal effects of time.  It's also possible that she couldn't *initially* regrow limbs, at least not while conscious, until she essentially willed it to happen.  Knowing that she can do it will allow her to do it on the fly now, like any of her normal regen.[/spoiler]

I suspect the Peter storyline is tied to the Matt/HRG/Suresh/Hatian storyline.

Thoughts on the first two episodes, by character, Part 1:

Claire
[spoiler]
While Hayden is doing a great job selling Claire's frustration, I'm not entirely sure I buy shed be willing to cut off her own toe, just to see what happened (and don't even try to tell me she doesn't have some form of heightened pain resistance after that).  At the moment, her soon to be boy toy has gone way past cute and well into creepy stalker territory.

I do not think that because he can fly we've necessarily started to see duplicate powers.  I believe he has a power that allows him to fly; i.e. telekinesis, magnetism or gravity manipulation (which would also explains Claire's car- as I'd bet money he was behind that) rather than simply having flying AS a power. Oh, and since the comics are canon and he apparently flies to school, he's a complete moron, as well.

As for Claire's power, I think it merely returns her body to the point it was when her powers kicked in.  This would explain why her hair would regrow when burned off, but not when cut.

Kudos to Mr. Muggles trainer, btw. Him looking up into the air and barking while Claire stands clueless made me LOL.
[/spoiler]

Peter
[spoiler]
Ok first off,as others have mentioned Peter should not have access to his powers at all, as they are based on feelings associated with memories of a particular person. No memories=no powers, its just that simple.  I suppose I can get around this somewhat by saying that hes around people who remind him of people with powers (i.e. When hot Irish Gangster took care of him, that reminded him of when Claire took care of him so her powers kicked in)

In addition, I don't think the gangsters believe Peter stole the Ipods by himself, but perhaps that he was betrayed by the people he was working with and left there while they took the Ipods. 

Still, I shouldn't have to fanwank quite this hard to explain their continuity errors.

The amnesia is a tad cheesy for my taste, and best not happen again- the only real storyline left for Peter though, once he gets it back, is the knock down, drag out with his ideological opposite that they cheated us out of last season.

However, given that, I actually don't have a problem with him not trying for the box yet. As far as he knows, these abilities have only manifested when he or someone else was in danger.  I doubt he'd be willing to risk his identity on whether or not he can manifest them at will - yet.
[/spoiler]

Maya/Alejandro
[spoiler]
Wow, welcome to the Niki/Jessica of season 2.  Just a complete drag on the show. Momentum and interest killers every time they appear (and they don't even have the stripper angle to make  me care, like they did last season).

While I do think that exploring the "Wow, my powers SUCK." theme is a valid storytelling choice, they really need to do it with better characters, not these whiny irritating peons.

Oh, and X-files called. They want their black oil back.
[/spoiler]

More to come

A response on Peter's use of powers:

[spoiler]Yes, last season he said that he could use other people's powers by remembering them, what it was like to be near them, etc, blah blah blah.  To take that explanation by him as being the *only* way he can ever access his powers is very limited, narrow-minded thinking (whether you're a fan or a writer).  The best parallel I can draw is any trained athlete (gymnasts & martial artists work best in this one) that feel they *have* to concentrate to be able to get the performance they want, suddenly being surprised by something & having to respond, without thinking.  They suddenly perform just about as well, perhaps better, than when they're "concentrating" on what they want.  A character with a self-imposed mental block on accessing their powers is not a new twist, and I'm a little disappointed no one here has brought it up before now.  We're all much smarter than this, and I expect more from us.  Hollywood can still get by with the "stupid" excuse.  ;)[/spoiler]

Panther-

I disagree. To violate, without explanation, established rules about a characters powers is simply bad writing.

If all of a sudden, Superman started getting MORE powerful under a red sun, not less, you wouldn't make the claim that "Superman only has powers under a yellow sun" is  limited, narrow-minded thinking, would you?

[spoiler]I think we're mostly overlooking the fact that Peter said, "I have to remember her, the way she made me feel."  So, it may very well be an emotional response, not a mental one, just as his emotions caused the release of Ted's power without him consciously focusing on it.  So, I think we can say that, by the end of the first season, they were definitely showing us a Peter not bound by conscious recollection in the use of his powers.[/spoiler]

Quote from: bredon7777 on October 04, 2007, 06:46:15 AM
Panther-

I disagree. To violate, without explanation, established rules about a characters powers is simply bad writing.

If all of a sudden, Superman started getting MORE powerful under a red sun, not less, you wouldn't make the claim that "Superman only has powers under a yellow sun" is  limited, narrow-minded thinking, would you?

Well aside from the fact that powers from a genetic source requiring a set of rules for them to work would be completely absurd (ie: What gene regulates having to think about someone, and how does it trigger the power?), I think the rules were Peter's own.  It was a mnemonic exercise that worked when he needed it to.  At first, he believed he had to touch someone, which was true while he believed it.  Then he had to think about someone, because that's what worked for him.  Now, he has no memory of anyone, but his body would still have the instinct of self-preservation.  Thus, a new trigger - in this case it seems to be instinct - is needed to control the power.  Eventually he should just be able to call upon the powers at will.  How much of a stretch is it to forego thinking about the person who has a power and simply think about the power, especially after using it for a time?  Its like martial arts.  When I was 15 I had to think about an incoming attack and how to block it.  At 35, my arm just does it even though I am years out of practice.  Same with cycling, swimming, skating (roller or ice) and skiing.  I, nor anyone else who is proficient, has to think about these things once they are learned.  I really doubt that life would evolve into something with that kind of counter-intuitive trigger mechanism.

I don't disagree, but my point was THEY should've explained that to US, WE should NOT be explaining that for THEM.

Quote from: bredon7777 on October 04, 2007, 08:28:47 AM
I don't disagree, but my point was THEY should've explained that to US, WE should NOT be explaining that for THEM.

So, your problem is that they didn't go through and explain every single detail of their powers. Because you know, we soooo want to waste the 20 minutes we have the fortune to get every week in these episodes with full and detailed explanation of powers. Those silly writers, expecting us to actually use our brains instead of hand-spooning us every single detail. My God, next they'll want to specifically hide information like who the new baddie is so as to create suspense!

You've picked out this particular phrase and are declaring it the all-encompasing description of Peter's powers when, as I mentioned in my last few posts and Benton clarified in his, you're only taking the first half of that line ("I have to remember her, the way she made me feel.") Then you get all mad and declare it lazy writing when your conception of what that line meant was not exactly what the writers were attempting to convey.

On a completely different, and less inflammatory, line, I'm a dedicated on-line watcher.  I am really impressed with the new video player NBC is using on their website. It is much smoother and the video and sound quality are VASTLY better than the set-up they had last year!

Quote from: Tomato on October 04, 2007, 11:49:16 AM
You've picked out this particular phrase and are declaring it the all-encompasing description of Peter's powers when, as I mentioned in my last few posts and Benton clarified in his, you're only taking the first half of that line ("I have to remember her, the way she made me feel.") Then you get all mad and declare it lazy writing when your conception of what that line meant was not exactly what the writers were attempting to convey.

You can't ignore the first part of the line, either.  He definitely says that he has to remember something.  Even if it's just the emotional reaction he had to her, he doesn't remember that either.  He doesn't remember anything.  Any way you slice it, that line indicates that no memory = no powers.  You can't just say something is impossible, then do it anyway without an explanation why or an acknowledgment that it should be impossible.  If the writers meant something else by that line, then they did an absolutely horrible job explaining it.

So i just wached the second episode:

1a.[spoiler]Why does everyone assume freaky boy had something to do with Claire's care being stolen?  And even if he stole it, why would that have to have had something to do with his powers?  Couldn't he have just stolen it?  And if Claire did leave the doors unlocked, it really could have been anyone.  And with no stolen car there needs be no freaky powers to move cars and there is absolutely no reason to assume Freaky Boy can do anything other than fly.

Stolen car does give her  chance to have her little speach to HRG and set up cutting off her toe.[/spoiler]

1b.[spoiler]While it's nice to try and justify things like Claire's regenerating hair within the story world, let's not forget that on a practical level there is a real-life flesh and blood actress who has to play the part.  I'm pretty sure that I saw some red polish on that newly regenerated toe.  Not to mention that when normal people regrow skin it will be untanned - and tell me Claire doesn't have a good base tan going 365 days a year.  With all the little willfully inflicted injuries shed look like a vitaligo patient by now.

It's not a very romantic explaination, I know.  But their CGI budget would be astronomical if they had to keep Claire up-to-date with her regenerating.
[/spoiler]

2.[spoiler] I also don't see why Kensei has to have anything more complex than a Claire-like healing factor.  We've seen Claire die before, and stay dead for as long as the offending "weapon" (or tree branch) meant the fatal injury couldn't heal. This was exactly the same thing that happened to Kensei (stick in the brain vs. arrow through the heart).  He dies because his heart is seriously injured and recovers as soon as he regenerates.  "Maybe next time I'll be a hero" could just be hyerbole or a reflection of his integration into a culture that believes in reincarnation.

I also don't buy the argument that if he he knew had a Healing Factor he wouldn't be afraid of injury.  Getting injured hurts!!!  Even Claire, who in all honesty seems to be getting more than a little freaky about pain, still feels it when she gets injured.  And this assumes that Kensei had prior knowledge of his powers, which he may not have had.  We could have seen the first manifestation of his power (Afterall, the eclipse was only one day previously . . . ).  Or he may simply be a big enough coward that he hasn't allowed himself to get into life-threatening danger before.[/spoiler]

3.[spoiler]I also agree that the Peter story line is by far the weakest.  He manifests DL's, Sylar's TK, Niki's, Claire's and "Electro's" powers in very short order and he's going to let some guy holding a box over a fire blackmail him?  LAME!  And the crooks find a half-naked anesiac chained inside a shipping container and they think he had something to do with the missing goods?  DOUBLE LAME!![/spoiler]

4.[spoiler]I think it's pretty obvious that the Hatian did not actually take Suresh's memories.  Otherwise there is no way the last scene with Suresh calling HRG could have occured.  At the very least he might have taken some of Suresh's memories but left him aware that he had.  But I highly doubt it.  It's clear that HRG and Suresh had some kind of plan on how Suresh was to put the Hatian back into contact with HRG if he ever surfaced.  At least I hope this was the case, because the only other explaination for the last scene (Suresh/HRG phone call and Hatian reunion) was that HRG knew before the first episode that the Hatian was ill and that the company would recruit Suresh and then send him to cure the Hatian and then Suresh could tell him the deal with their counter-insurgency and Hatian would want to join then Suresh could put him into contact with HRG - and that would just be LAME![/spoiler]

About Claire's little stunt:

[spoiler]
Why is this so surprising or out of character?  When we first saw here, she was jumping off bridges and purposely hurting herself in other ways just to see what would happen.  She also has show a resistance to pain in numerous cases before, including allowing her hand to get ground up in a garbage disposal.  (although that scene was removed due to a lawsuit and seems, in light of her experiment with the toe, as she regrew several fingers in that scene, no longer to be cannon)
[/spoiler]

Quote from: Conduit on October 04, 2007, 02:42:37 PM

Quote from: Tomato on October 04, 2007, 11:49:16 AM
You've picked out this particular phrase and are declaring it the all-encompasing description of Peter's powers when, as I mentioned in my last few posts and Benton clarified in his, you're only taking the first half of that line ("I have to remember her, the way she made me feel.") Then you get all mad and declare it lazy writing when your conception of what that line meant was not exactly what the writers were attempting to convey.

You can't ignore the first part of the line, either.  He definitely says that he has to remember something.  Even if it's just the emotional reaction he had to her, he doesn't remember that either.  He doesn't remember anything.  Any way you slice it, that line indicates that no memory = no powers.  You can't just say something is impossible, then do it anyway without an explanation why or an acknowledgment that it should be impossible.  If the writers meant something else by that line, then they did an absolutely horrible job explaining it.

Bravo sir, very well said.

As for the phrase in question, given that Peter has the powers I'd say he's the best judge of how they work. If he says he has to remember something (whether its a self imposed mental block or not) then who the heck are YOU to come along and say- "No you don't."?  And if my conception of what the line meant is different from what it was supposed to convey, well- thats a sign of, you guessed it, poor writing.  Good writing is crystal clear.

The writers have done a really poor job explaining the rules behind Peter's powers. Can the fans step in and bridge the writers gaps with creative explanations? Absolutely.  There have been several in this thread alone. Should they have to? Absolutely not.

The writers need to step up and do a better job, and not simply leave it to the fans to fill in their gaps. That's the point that seems to keep getting lost.

Quote from: catwhowalksbyhimself on October 04, 2007, 05:51:31 PM
About Claire's little stunt:

[spoiler]
Why is this so surprising or out of character?  When we first saw here, she was jumping off bridges and purposely hurting herself in other ways just to see what would happen.  She also has show a resistance to pain in numerous cases before, including allowing her hand to get ground up in a garbage disposal.  (although that scene was removed due to a lawsuit and seems, in light of her experiment with the toe, as she regrew several fingers in that scene, no longer to be cannon)
[/spoiler]

[spoiler]
I dont recall anyone saying it was surprising or out of character. I did say it was a step beyond where I thought she would go, but it is on a logical character path.  However, there was a huge argument in the season one thread as to weather or not Claire had some sort of pain resistance, and I pointed out that this would seem to settle the question definitively.

Oh, and I didn't think the disposal actually severed any fingers.  They were extensively mangled, but I don't recall any growing back - or needing to.
[/spoiler]

I recall one or two being down to little nubs.

Nah.  A couple were hanging by little bits of flesh, but all fingers were accounted for.

There's a show currently airing in England called Inside Heroes which is a behind the scenes documentary on the show.  It's available on youtube.  In the second episode, they show the prop used in that scene and all fingers are attached, just extremely mangled.

I am not ignoring other perspectives- I am pointing out that other perspectives are going off into flights of fancy not actually established on the show.  Going solely on what has been established on the show, there are gaps in their presentation of Peter's powers.

Can these gaps be filled by plausible flights of fancy? Sure.  But, from where I sit its a sign of poor writing that they need to be.

No, I don't like being spoon fed. And if later on in the series they present a plausible explanation as to what happened, I'll take everything I said back.  But for now, I resent having to do the writers job and bridge the gaps in their writing.  If I have to do the writing, I should be on the staff :D.

And that is the last I will say about that(other than to say that even with the gaps its still better than 95% of whats on the air currently).

Quote
I am not ignoring other perspectives- I am pointing out that other perspectives are going off into flights of fancy not actually established on the show.  Going solely on what has been established on the show, there are gaps in their presentation of Peter's powers.

No, there isn't.  They really have said very little about them.  Just because Peter thought he needed to remember people to use there powers, or even if that's how he needed to use them, doesn't mean that's how the power actually works.  I mean, Peter used to think he needed to be around someone else.  He went from that to call them up at will in a matter of five weeks.  In fours months, is it that hard to believe that he's used them enough to just call them up at will?  Amnesia doesn't remove the ability to use things learned enough to call them up at will, like walking or talking.

This is not us filling in the gaps, this is just the logical, common place conclusion that people who aren't thinking too hard and criticising too much would come to naturally.

A couple points. And probably most of this has been said or at least touched on before.

On Peter's powers:
[spoiler]First, there is a tendency to assume we can draw more from a character's statement than just "that's what he thinks right now." We don't, as far as we know, have any omniscient characters on the show and normal characters can be wrong and often are, so their pronouncements about how something might work aren't particularly authoritative. And, even if they are correct in sussing a way something works, that's not indicative that it's the only way it can work. Claude had a lot of experience with specials and their powers (not least his own) and his speculation on how Peter could access his powers was incorrect. Meanwhile, Peter isn't a scientist and doesn't have any particular expertise about the nature of his powers. At the time Peter uttered the phrase in question, he was just getting a handle on one way of activating them. Not only isn't there much reason to think his hypothesis is definitive or exclusive, but it's likely that even his understanding might have gotten better as he used the powers more, but that we didn't get to see the thought bubbles when he figured things out.

As for whether this is a flaw in the writing, my tendency is to agree that when I don't understand something on a show that I would like to understand, then the writers aren't explaining it well enough. But, the reality is that not everything on a show like this is going to be explained. Furthermore, there is often an advantage in not having the viewers be sure what's really going on. Not only do the writers avoid painting themselves into a corner, but they can keep some mysteries alive, potentially to use in interesting story arcs later on. And, though some things might never be explained, the show can still be enjoyable. We got a couple seasons of BtVS where it wasn't entirely clear just how much impact Spike's chip was having on him, but I still liked those seasons.

In this case, we got Peter's early speculation on how he could learn to control his powers. Later on he was shown using them with more faculty, though we don't know whether he had changed his underlying technique or not. When we see something now that implies he isn't activating them the same way, it seems a reasonable conclusion is that there is more than one way to do it. We were never told that the original way was the only one, so it's not a case of breaking established cannon.[/spoiler]

On Claire's pain threshold:
[spoiler]It was interesting to me that HRG mentioned that if The Company caught Claire they would test her pan threshold in ways even she couldn't imagine. As far as I can tell, we almost never see Claire react to pain in any significant way. Even this season she has already boiled her hand, broken her ankle, and snipped off her own toe and she never showed anything really beyond looking a little grossed out. For sure, we have no reason to think she lacks sensory perception, but none of what she feels seems to register as pain to her.[/spoiler]

On Kensei's possibly duplicate power:
[spoiler]As for Kensei, he may have exactly Claire's power for all I know, but it seems very unlikely to me that he could have that sort of ability and not know about it. I think that's part of the reason people are speculating that his power only kicks in when he is mortally wounded. Of course, he might just have been covering it up or pretending somehow.[/spoiler]

Quote from: stumpy on October 04, 2007, 07:18:37 PM
On Kensei's possibly duplicate power:
[spoiler]As for Kensei, he may have exactly Claire's power for all I know, but it seems very unlikely to me that he could have that sort of ability and not know about it. I think that's part of the reason people are speculating that his power only kicks in when he is mortally wounded. Of course, he might just have been covering it up or pretending somehow.[/spoiler]

My rebuttal:
[spoiler] I think we could easily justify the "only" a healing factor in a number of ways:

1)We really don't know much about how or when folks first manifest thier powers.  Micah was a kid, Nathan a middle aged adult.  Claire may or may not have been an infant when she first healed (was she injured in the fire the "killed" her mother - we have no hard evidence of it) but I'm betting she was a teenager.  It's possible likely that we all just saw the first manifestation of Kensei's power.

2)Although it has been very poorly defined, eclipses seem significant in triggering bouts of power-dom.  Hiro observes an eclipse shortly after arriving in the past.  Kensei recieves his first serious post-eclipse injury just the next day.  Again, I'm betting we all just saw the first manifestation of Kensei's power.

3)It's possible that Kensei has never had a serious injury before being shot, so that while he may have had the power all along, he never realized it.  This is the least likely, but it's possible.

I strongly suspect that come next week we will find Kensei astonished to be alive and completely bewildered by what happened to him.  As the season progresses he will come to embrace his power and become quite a daredevil hero when he realizes that he is essentially immune from harm.  Thus over the course of season 2 he will become the historical Kensei that Hiro admires.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]1) Maybe. I agree that we don't necessarily know when the characters first exhibit their special abilities. But, we have no idea how long Nathan had been able to fly. His power isn't a passive one like Claire's, so he could have had it for years and never known. Either way, if Kensei's ability was like Claire's, then he would have had it in childhood.

2) I don't know what significance the eclipses are supposed to have. Until we have something solid on them, I am hesitant to draw many conclusions about Kensei's power from that.

3) It's not technically impossible, but it's practically impossible. Living in the 1600s, the idea that one could reach his thirties or forties or whatever Kensei is supposed to be without suffering any injury doesn't work without some real background to explain it. After all, Claire's power doesn't just heal life-threatening or serious injuries, it heals paper cuts and normal bruises as well. I could believe he's never had a serious injury, but I can't believe he's never slipped while cutting food, or gotten scraped from a fall, or anything like that.

BTW, I am perfectly okay with the show featuring characters with duplicate powers. From a science perspective, it's more believable that some of these mutations are similar than that each one would be completely different.

FWIW, I suspect you are right about what we will see next week regarding Kensei. It should be a fun arc.[/spoiler]

Eh, look at the movie unbreakable. Bruce Willis' character never suspected that he was invulnerable until someone pointed it out to him. It could happen that he just didn't know.

IMO, that was the least believable part of Unbreakable, which I liked, by the way. If it had been implied that this was a recent change, I could have bought it, but it was implied that Bruce's character had been that way since he was a kid. Kids get scraped and bruised all the time, not to mention colds and various childhood ailments. There's no way his parents wouldn't have noticed, either. And, there is no way that someone who works out (as he apparently had since high school and college as a football player, where he would have had a trainer or coach tracking his workouts) wouldn't know that he is unusually strong. It didn't really hurt the movie, but it was a weak point.

But, even as far out there as that premise is, it's still more believable that someone just thinks he's been really lucky and never really gotten hurt than that he does get hurt and it heals like magic over the course of just a few seconds and he never notices that.