TV: Heroes

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Catholic_Kenpo

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Before I get on to my question, make sure you’ve seen the episode that aired on 11/9 (Shadowboxing) unless you don’t mind spoilers. If you read past this, it’s not my fault if the episode is spoiled for you :p.
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So I was watching the latest episode of Heroes the other night, and the battle between Parkman and Sylar really got me to wondering. I think we could all agree that Sylar is an unrepentant murderer and deserves whatever fate come his way. Matt was in a difficult position, however. He could acquiesce to Sylar’s demands and allow Sylar to regain his body, thereby releasing him to kill more people or he could trick someone into killing him, basically committing suicide, but eliminating Sylar at the same time. Matt had already proven that he didn’t have the ability to truly contain Sylar within his mind, so that really wasn’t an option for him. I thought it was an interesting twist for Matt to basically allow himself to be killed in order to make sure that Sylar never kills again, but it occurred to me that I didn’t know the theological repurcussions of that decision.

Was Matt justified in allowing himself to be killed in this situation? Would it have been better to let Sylar regain his body and hope that he can be contained at that point? Or is there another option that Matt should have gone for?

I don’t know that I have an answer; I just found it to be a very interesting question. Discuss.

-CK

EDIT: I should add that I don’t actually believe that Matt/Sylar are actually dead (Sylar is THE villain of the series, and as such can’t really die), but that’s irrelevant to the discussion at hand. For the purposes of the thread, we’re just going to assume that they both died here.
 
Very interesting question. I think it was well-intended, but morally wrong (suicide). Matt was fine in getting arrested, that was the right track. Eventually there may have been an opportunity to get a message to Noah Bennett, who would help him. Perhaps the Haitian could erase Sylar’s consciousness, who knows.

But I agree that we haven’t seen the last of either Matt or Sylar.
 
I don’t think it’s the last of “real” Sylar and Matt. But what if it is? What if this is the way Sylar becomes the “good” guy, with a kid, living in Bennetts old home? I forgot what season, but when Peter went to the future and met “good” Sylar. Unfortunately good Sylar ended up blowing up a small town, because his son “Noah” got killed :mad:
I love Sylar. I keep hoping for his redemption.

What if the new bad guy is Joseph and the circus?

Oh and Matt committing Suicide. I don’t know. If this were a real situation and you had a choice between letting a mass murderer free or killing both of you, which is the sin? I think Matt did the “right” thing in that way. There is a difference, in my opinion, between suicide for the sake of suicide. And suicide to save other people, possibly millions.
Not the same situation, but like the Flight that was going to hit the Petagon. Those brave souls had a choice, take the plane down (thus killing yourself and everyone else on the plane) or let the terrorists take down the Pentagon. The heroes made the right choice.
Matt did what he thought best.
 
He sacrificed his life to save other people. I don’t think it would be a sin. After all, didn’t Jesus do the same thing, albeit on a much grander scale?
 
I agree with the fact that Matt is “giving his life for his friends”. Not much different than Clint Eastwood in “Grand Torino”.

And if you saw the previews for next week, he doesn’t dies, and gets his body back. Although, Sylar is still around his mind. Good thing Noah and Peter are with him now.
 
Even law enforcement officials are not allowed to use lethal force unless there is an imminent threat. If they track down a serial killer, they can’t just pump nerve gas into his apartment, they have to attempt to apprehend the killer, and only use proportionate force as needed.

Sylar was walking out of a diner, not killing anyone. Matt should have settled with getting Sylar arrested, attempting to execute them both was disproportionate.
 
While it’s true that at that time Sylar was simply walking out of a diner and not hurting anyone, he had (earlier that very same day) just clubbed a man to death with a tire iron for no other reason than to keep Matt from sabotaging his plans. The guy he killed hadn’t done anything other than offer to help Matt/Sylar change the tire on their car.

I’m not sure that Matt getting both of them shot and possibly killed was the best way to take care of the situation, but then again, I didn’t have to suffer through Sylar tormenting me either. Matt, to me, had a much different perspective on the situation than any of us do given that he was actually living this situation. As such, I find it hard to really say one way or the other if he was out of line with such an action. Given what I know of the situation, I do find it hard to fault him, though. It was obvious that Matt knew he was wrong for having wiped Sylar’s mind from his body, and was looking to repent of this sin. The only way he saw of redeeming himself without releasing Sylar was to get them both killed.

It’ll be interesting to see what direction this takes…

-CK
 
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