Heroes pretty much hit fighting form Monday night. By skipping
the deadly Mohinder/Maya arc and moving quickly through other stories,
the show crammed in an amazing amount of plot. There were actually 32
segments (plus the traditional final montagey bit), spreading time
about between the Level 5 escapees, Peter (both versions), Nathan, Mama
Petrelli, Claire and her two mommies, Noah and Sylar, Hiro and Ando,
Tracy, Parkman, and others. The fast pace and consistently strong
effects made for a quick hour.
Hell, even before the opening, we have five quick bits that established
the tone. Mama Petrelli “feeds” the psychometric Bridget to newly
revealed Petrelli Boy Slyar; Tracy (Ali Larter) freezes some roses in a
test of her newly discovered powers; Future Peter hears Weevil-Peter’s
message from Nathan; Weevil-Peter (hereafter referred to as
Peter/Jesse) and the rest of the Level 5 escapees begin to knock over a
bank; and Mama, explaining that our old friend The Haitian is on a
pick-up mission, assigns Sylar as Noah “HRG” Bennett’s new partner.
Like I said: First. Five. Minutes.
From this point, we’re hopping between many disparate threads for the
rest of the night. The impressive thing was that some of the story
elements moved extremely fast. As the L5 gang began the bank takeover
(that’s not political! Leave me alone.), I got the impression that this
story might last awhile. Ha! Rather quickly, we had the magnetic German
smoked by fear-powered Knox in an argument, Knox’s discovery of
Peter/Jesse’s situation, Noah’s insertion, Peter/Jesse’s sonic scream,
Future Peter’s arrival and departure with Peter (leaving just Jesse),
Sylar’s intervention and slaying of Jesse, and the subsequent
apprehending and incarceration of the leftovers. ALL OF THAT happened
in just that one storyline, and that doesn’t even count Mama’s other
scenes of, initially, encouraging Sylar, then lightly rebuking him for
going too far on the mission.
Most of the plots moved like this, with forward action punctuated by
occasional character bits. I liked the training scene between Claire
and Meredith, primarily because it served as a bit of a test of the
indestructible girl. And while the answer to who Tracy is takes quite
the leap for even this show, I essentially see it as the show’s way of
shuffling off the nearly untenable Nikki/Jessica storyline while
managing to keep Ali Larter.
Hiro’s new arc hasn’t totally clicked with me yet. The interaction
between Hiro, Ando and Daphne in the movie theater showed promise, but
it was over pretty quickly. It would seem that the formula that both
sides are after can grant superpowers to anyone, but hey, isn’t that
what Mohinder’s already figured out?
On the other hand, teaming Noah HRG and Sylar is inspired. They should
absolutely hate each other, but it was fun to see moments of grudging
respect emerge on each side. Noah was clearly entertained when Sylar
ignored him and broke up the bank situation, but that amusement turned
to horror and disgust with Sylar’s murder of Jesse. Noah told the
Haitian that he plans to kill Sylar, but I could see this dysfunctional
partnership lasting a while yet. I hope that the notion that Sylar’s
powers drive him toward hunger isn’t the catalyst to try to redeem him
in some way; actor Zachary Quinto is charismatic, but I’d rather see
Sylar killed off than emasculated in some way.
Just as I’m having trouble with the Hiro arc, Parkman’s walkabout in
the African desert isn’t going places yet. The mysterious new artist
(with powers just like Isaac) has been drawing Parkman for years, and
Parkman’s future is changing. I like Greg Grunberg, but he’s getting
nothing to do.
Honestly, my biggest ongoing frustration with the show is the lengths
that they go to in order to keep the characters apart. While all of the
major characters have interacted over time, I’d like to see the
ensemble get to play off of each other with some consistency. Hiro and
Ando are good together, but after three seasons, I wonder if their
shtick will get tired. Hiro should be toughening up a bit, but he
rushes to embrace his geekier tendencies a little too readily now. He
should be more familiar with the stakes, and therefore, cannier.
Overall, this episode’s solid with some more room for improvement. What do you think? Favorite bits? Miss Elle? Discuss.
Related:
Post Game: Heroes Season 3, Episodes 1 & 2Tim Kring: Recapturing the Heroes Mojo in Season 3SDCC 08: A Gathering of 'Heroes'
