Last year, if I were trying to get somebody who had never watched Heroes addicted to the show, I would have shown them “Company Man.” This season, I’d have them view this past week’s installment, “Cautionary Tales.” In my opinion, this was the definitive episode of the season, and while it was not perfect, it was a tumultuous, emotional roller coaster that very nicely tied up the main story arcs of the episode, as well as episodes from last season. All of the main stories shared the central theme of father and child, and how the father may not always teach his lessons in the most fair and compassionate fashion, but the child should still respect the father’s wisdom (acquired through age and experience) and heed his words.
I usually don’t kick off my columns with the huge, holy crap moment, but this week I will. In my recent Prison Break columns, I’ve discussed how the writers very effectively get you emotionally involved with their prison escape, to the extent that you actively feel frustrated when something goes wrong. That is exactly how I feel in regards to the character of Noah Bennet. Longtime readers will know I’m a sucker for those ambiguous characters, or those that display an excellent development in character (consider the ones I always fawn over: Bennet, Jordan Collier, and Lionel Luthor, all who exhibit those qualities). With this in mind, Bennet has always been my favorite character, with all of his competition absolutely blown away following “Company Man.” So when he was killed off, I was actually sad. Like, I yelled at the TV. A lot.
The final moment of the episode, with Bennet receiving a blood transfusion (presumably from Claire), allowing his injuries to regenerate and bringing him back to life was an awesome moment (one that brought a big smile to my face after all that yelling). My favorite part, though, was the allusion to last season’s “One Giant Leap,” where Claire wakes up on the autopsy table after “dying” and exclaiming, “Oh sh” before getting cut off by the closing credits. I must wonder, though, who brought Bennet back to life? Was it The Company? If so, who was responsible? Bob? Elle? Mohinder? Or perhaps it wasn’t Claire’s blood at all, and Adam was the donor. It would coincide nicely with the way he helped Nathan, to ensure that he would have an ally in Peter. This was one of the best cliffhangers I’ve seen in a long, long time.
The showdown at the episode’s climax is very reminiscent of one of my favorite deadly confrontations, which occurred at the end of Face/Off. Here, you had Elle squaring off against Claire and West, Bennet pointing his gun at Elle and Bob (who we finally learned are daughter and father), and Mohinder aiming his weapon at Bennet. In the end, West got blasted, Elle took a bullet to the arm, Claire got smushed, and Bennet got shot in the eye. By the way, Mohinder shooting Bennet was equally poetic because he was asked earlier, if Bennet had the chance to kill Mohinder, wouldn’t he take it? Mohinder argued he wouldn’t, and ultimately, he didn’t when the opportunity presented itself.
Let me just say that if this wasn’t a well planned ruse between Mohinder and Bennet, where Mohinder knew he could bring him back to life with Claire’s blood (similar to the showdown in, guess which episode…. “Company Man”), I can guarantee one thing: Mohinder is F’d once Bennet returns to action.
I have to admit, I was pretty annoyed at Claire at the beginning of the episode. I mean, I understand that she’s supposed to be a rebellious teenager, and I sympathize with the fact that this is the closest her father’s sins have hit her, but what really irks me is that she already knows what her father has done. She basically found out everything about him kidnapping and tagging those with abilities during “Company Man.” He’s also displayed, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that he’s willing to do anything at all in order to keep Claire safe. He willingly gave her up and allowed himself to get shot in order to protect her at the conclusion of that same episode. But now, suddenly, Claire is getting all riled up by the fact that he kidnapped somebody, referring to him as one of the “bad guys” and accusing his motives of wanting to go back into hiding as selfish. It is instances like this that I can understand how people criticize the show for failing to move forward with certain aspects. Basically, Claire should be beyond labeling her father as some evildoer that she hates.
That said, Claire did redeem herself by the end of the episode, and I absolutely loved all of the awkward tension with her, Bennet, his wife, Bob, and Elle. I thought it was great when Bob casually greeted Bennet’s wife (speaking of Sondra, after all the coupley, loving moments she and Bennet shared, you just KNEW something tragic was going to happen) while pointing a gun at her and Claire. Elle’s playful “Hey you” when she was confronted by Bennet was equally enjoyable. This episode also exemplified how brilliant Bennet can be, the way he orchestrated Elle’s captivity when he realized Mohinder was lying to him, so that he could arrange a hostage exchange for Claire. Having Elle sit in a pool of water while soaking her so that she couldn’t use her ability was genius as well. Above all else, this scene was particularly wonderful because it so eloquently explained why Bennet hid Claire from The Company. Not only because he loves her, but he also didn’t want her to turn into Elle.
Speaking of these two hot blondes, I am now looking more forward than ever in seeing the Claire/Elle smackdown. And if Bennet is still alive, who the hell’s ashes is Claire throwing into the ocean?
I still hate West, and here’s reason #491: He relentlessly stalks Claire, despite the fact that she repeatedly tells him to leave her alone. He hassles her about her having an ability, even though she continuously insists that she doesn’t have one. She then goes to dramatic lengths to ensure that he never meets her family, which HE disregards by showing up at her house uninvited. Despite all of this, he believes that SHE was setting him up? That criticism aside, West grabbing Bennet in mid-flight as he exited his house was an absolutely awesome visual. It was actually kind of neat seeing Bennet and West working together, and their father-trying-to-bond-with-his-daughter’s-boyfriend scene, where Bennet asked West what kind of car he drives (while Elle hilariously rolled her eyes) was great.
Of course, some other stuff happened this episode as well. Parkman slowly began his potential turn to the dark side as he further explores the possibilities of his ability. Things began innocently enough, asking Molly to finish her cereal (and really, why did she pour herself a bowl if she wasn’t even going to touch it?) and urging his superior officer to allow him a bit more time to work on Hiro’s father’s murder. Things got much more sinister when he was so relentless with his mind control that he forced Angela Petrelli to reveal secrets that she swore to uphold (not to mention he made her nose bleed). As Angela noted, Parkman is no longer simply like his father, he now is him. Much like the other arcs, this story centers on the theme of father and child. In this instant, however, the child is following the more diabolical footsteps of his father.
I’ve toyed around with this theory before, but I have become convinced that Hiro’s ability to time travel has severe restrictions, namely that he’s unable to change the past. Consider this: Future Hiro travels back in time to prevent the nuclear explosion in New York City. While he effectively prevents the loss of millions of lives, the explosion still occurs. He also goes back in time to save Charlie, which he’s unable to do. When he went to feudal Japan and creates a massive rift in the time/space continuum, the timeline remains intact and all of the major events still happen. Even in this instance, he goes back to save his father, but he ultimately fails, albeit because he decides not to play God. Has there been any time that he’s gone back in time and effectively changed past events (and I am just referring to time travel, not when he freezes time and saves somebody)?
Overall, the scenes shared between Hiro and his father were genuinely touching, and a very fitting way to conclude that relationship. I also appreciated the fact that they didn’t have Hiro’s father tell him that he loves him. It’s a sweet thing to say, but it would have been very inconsistent with his character. Besides, having his father tell him that he’s proud was much more powerful, since Hiro never truly struggled with the possibility that he’s unloved, he was more worried about being a disappointment. And while the revelation that Adam/Kensei killed Hiro’s father wasn’t particularly shocking for the viewers, having Hiro make the discovery is an excellent way to continue that feud in the present-day. It’s also interesting to note that Hiro’s father was the one who, in a sense, idolized Kensei, his eventual murderer.
I already discussed the tangled web of alliances in my previous column, and it looks like things come to a head when Hiro confronts Peter (who is presumably still working with Adam/Kensei). The next two episodes look like they’re going to be extraordinary.
By the way, after writing last week’s column, something hit me and I regret not remembering to mention it. The last episode explained to us what happened immediately after the season finale, where we saw that the Haitian is working with The Company. The only thing is, by the end of last season, wasn’t the Haitian taken off of The Company’s Top 8 spaces? At best, The Company believes that the Haitian shot Bennet (at the time one of their employees) and kidnapped Claire. At worst, they know that he aided Bennet in turning against them. I may have missed a second of dialogue that clearly explained everything, but why exactly was he working with them under these circumstances?
