A Case of the…. Heroes – Episode 2-6

Shows

So the negativity surrounding this season has continued, and it’s left me thinking that people remember last season with rose-colored glasses. Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was a great season. In fact, I considered it the best show out of any show that aired last year. However, that doesn’t excuse the fact that, much like this year, there were a whole lot of slow story arcs. Sometimes it was like drying paint.

Last year Hiro was the breakout character, yet in hindsight his story was probably the slowest out of them all. Much of the beginning of the season revolved around Hiro trying to find Peter, which didn’t happen until, what, well after the tenth episode (and I’m not including Future Hiro or their various phone conversations). And how about Hiro’s mind numbingly long quest for him to find Keisei’s sword so he can reclaim his powers? If memory serves, he didn’t get the sword until the end of the 19th episode, and he “lost” his powers when he was unable to save Charlie (I believe the 11th episode). That’s, like, two months of him parading around not doing much of anything.

And lets not forget about Nikki, who went pretty much half the season just looking at the mirror and seeing her reflection giving her the “shush” sign.

My intention is not to criticize the show, because I truly do believe that it’s terrific, and everyone from the actors to the writers do a phenomenal job. If anything, it just irks me how people, after just four episodes, could possibly criticize the show for not having direction and not setting up for the finale yet. Are you kidding me??? What show does do that? Last week I used House as an example, and I think it stands. Apparently, we won’t find out which doctors House chooses for his team until late November. I can only imagine the outrage if Heroes spent nearly three months slowly building a story.

Some people might argue that I’m comparing apples and oranges, and that House isn’t a serialized, mythological drama. Fair enough, how about we compare it to Lost? Last year’s finale focused on the war with The Others and Charlie’s impending death. By the fourth or so episode, Jack, Kate, and Sawyer were still in captivity, Jack hadn’t yet performed surgery on Ben, Desmond’s ability was still a mystery, and we had no idea that Charlie’s life was in danger.

Of course, this may be a moot point, as the end of this week’s episode has seemingly set up the “save the world” story leading to the finale. I’m glad they did too, if only to quiet some critics, and honestly the show does work significantly better when it has some direction, but I was a bit underwhelmed at first. To be honest, it seemed a bit too reminiscent of last year’s finale, from the journey to the future to the glimpse of the destruction to the discovery of the exact date. However, I’m willing to give this a chance, since it seems to focus on the virus that was *cough* *cough* set up in the season premiere, and not a nuclear explosion like last year. And unlike last year’s finale, which threatened to kill off .07% of the population, this year’s ender appears to be looking to kill off an astounding 93% of the world’s population. Despite my initial reaction, I’m optimistic.

Did anybody else want to slap Ando for not letting us skip to the end of the Hiro story? The silver lining is that this story progressed, at least, but the writers have an uphill battle explaining how the time/space continuum has remained unscathed, considering the way Hiro has fouled things up. And I hope the explanation they offer is better than one of the characters simply asking, “Does it matter?” and leaving it at that. However, when you consider Hiro’s failed attempt to save Charlie, one might argue that Hiro’s time traveling abilities are limited, and that, ultimately, he’s unable to alter what has already happened. I suppose somebody could counter by bringing up that he did technically go back in time and save New York City, but then again, he didn’t prevent the explosion (it still happened), he just altered its impact.

The silver lining of this story arc is that Kensei, as many people have predicted, could end up playing a significant role for the rest of the season. Having the ability to heal, he could potentially be immortal. The climatic swordfight between him and Hiro (which was portrayed in one of Isaac’s eight paintings) could actually happen in the present-day, and not in the past as one might assume. Actually, I think that would be a wonderful end-all battle for the season finale. Now THAT would be a great way to tie in the first few episodes with the final one. In fact, wouldn’t it be interesting if Kensei is the founder of The Company?

Speaking of The Company, we’re seeing more of Bennet’s dark side. I think this is an interesting ploy by the writers. Bennet was, without question, the best developed and most complex character of show’s first season, and because of that, a lot of viewers considered him truly heroic. The fact that he was willing to go to such dangerous and morally questionable lengths just to protect his daughter and the rest of his family was endearing to many, to the extent that they were willing to overlook all the terrible things he had done. All they saw was a man who deeply loved his family.

Even in the premiere, Bennet was portrayed as a family man, far more than the person trying to take down his former place of employment. Most of his scenes focused on him taking Claire to school and having dinner with his wife and children. Now, I think the writers are taking a step back, and are challenging the viewers to say, “Wait, this guy might not be somebody we should be rooting for.” Is he a villain? No, I do not believe so. He’s venturing in the gray area, no doubt about it, but I do think he’s more “light gray” than “dark gray.”

Anyway, it’s totally awesome seeing Bennet and the Haitian working together again, and their psychological interrogation on Ivan was downright brutal. Taking away the memory of when he first met his wife, and threatening to take away all the memories of his late daughter .man, that’s cold. But it was a lot of fun to watch as a viewer.

Again, I think the writers are going to spend much of the season forcing the viewers to ask themselves, “At what point do the ends no longer justify the means?”

So now Bennet has the remainder of the paintings he’s looking for, and I’m curious to see what they reveal (the only one that sticks out is the one of Hiro and Kensei going to battle). I do wonder, though, how long they will use Isaac’s ability as a crutch, so far after his death. I mean, it seemed like he hadn’t really come to terms with his abilities until the end, to the point that it seems unlikely that he’d create these paintings and not send them to Simone or Linderman, leaving me to assume that he painted them when he was in The Company’s captivity (although wasn’t he having trouble painting while clean)?

Speaking of Linderman, I’m interested in seeing how they’re going to tie everybody together now that he’s dead. It’s funny, because there have been numerous times this season that something has happened, and I’ve said to myself, “If this were last season, Linderman would have been responsible,” like the location of Isaac’s paintings or when Peter and the Irish guys attempted the heist.

Not much going on with Claire and West, except for the fact that I still really don’t like West. First impressions are lasting, and the writers haven’t really done anything to make me change my initial perspective. That said, I am interested to see what impact his subtle rebel attitude has on Claire, and whether it ties in with Bennet’s predicted death. And despite the fact that people criticize this show to death for its slow build ups, I do hope that they put off the inevitable Claire/Elle battle for as long as possible. In fact, I’d like to see it not happen until the finale. I don’t mind them having numerous confrontations, I just hope things don’t get physical until the end (similar to Hiro and Sylar last year).

Mohinder, Mohinder, Mohinder. I don’t know what to make of this particular portion of the episode. A lot of people have spoken out about it. Some of even called for his character to be killed off. The Bennet of last season he ain’t, but I’m not sure I would go as far as to say he should be killed off, either. His new partnership with Nikki has some possibilities, and while I was never a huge fan of the character, Ali Larter has gotten the shaft so far this season. She’s barely on the show at all. I also like how it’s not clear whether Mohinder is dealing with Nikki or Jessica (the business suit is also a clever way of preventing us from seeing if she has the tattoo).

I like the struggle Mohinder experiences, not sure how much he’s willing to let The Company in. One thing I don’t get, though, is what exactly he’s doing to take The Company down. Is he merely an inside man whose role is simply to give Bennet updates on what’s happening, or does he serve a more active role?

Not much to say about The Wonder Twins, except for the fact that Sylan confirmed that (a) he is suffering from the virus, and (b) his motives are still pretty diabolical.

I’m a little disappointed we didn’t see the odd couple of Parkman and Nathan this episode, but there’s always next week

Matt Basilo has been writing for Inside Pulse since April 2005, providing his insight into various popular television shows. Be sure to visit his blog at [a case of the blog] and follow him on Twitter.