Season 3 of Heroes has been a treasure trove of interesting themes to explore, which makes people like me very happy. Last week’s episode (number 11) might have disappointed on some fronts (especially with Sylar killing Elle – although that wasn’t too much of a surprise), but when it came to themes, it delivered.

Since I have yet to see this week’s episode and am currently developing lack-of-Heroes shakes as I am typing this (please forgive the typos), I decided to go back to last week’s episode and explore one striking theme a little further.

At one point during the episode, when Sylar and Elle are talking about who they are and what they are doing – or at least, trying to do – Sylar tells Elle: “We are all at war with ourselves. That’s what it means to be human. The trick is to figure out how to be on the winning side.”

Remember how, in the Review I wrote about Episode 11, I mentioned how people tend to give up because it’s just easier to let our lower nature, our bad habits, our carnal desires just take over? This comment of Sylar’s shows us that he is not going to choose sides for a long time, but rather spend it fighting himself until, potentially, he can achieve the level of calm and control he exhibited in the ‘future’ Peter saw when he went to acquire Sylar’s powers.

This is a great way for the writers to have a green card to rocking the boat with Sylar’s back and forth unpredictability, but also a good reflection of what all of us go through in our day to day lives. One day we might have our lying/stealing/cheating/selfishness under control; it doesn’t mean that we won’t lose that control the very next day.

It’s going to be interesting to see how Sylar is going to end up – will he win the battle to remain constant in his battle against himself, or will he give up permanently and become the evil Sylar from Season 1 all over again?

Ah, the shakes have subsided; I think I can tough it out for another 24 hours before they come back again. I can now go back to performing brain surgery.

Just kidding.