Heroes – Episode 3-5 Review

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The past few episodes of Heroes have been reminiscent of the last season of Lost: We know where the characters end up, and we know where they are, but the fun is finding out how they get from A to B. And I know I sound like a broken record, but I have really enjoyed the unexpected twists and turns about who are the heroes and who are the villains.

Yes, I will admit, at first I did think certain revelations were a bit contrived. Like, honestly, Claire a villain? Sylar a hero? It felt a bit forced. But after just a few episodes, I’ve most certainly warmed up to the idea that the great villain escape of 2008 truly changed the mentality of certain characters.

And this episode perfectly illustrated that.

I was particularly fond of Claire’s scenes. While I the prospect of seeing the “HRG defends his family, Claire feels like she can’t trust him” story YET AGAIN makes me want to pull my hair out, I liked the idea of Claire first getting a hunger for vengeance and vigilance, but ultimately relating to these individuals who have been labeled as villains. It did a great job of foreshadowing his future persona, who almost beamed when she realized that she had successfully shot and killed Future Peter (and to all those people who are super confused as to how Peter could die, PLEASE pay attention: The Haitian was clearly there. And for all those people who believe that Peter should have regenerated when the Haitian left: No. That’s not how the ability works. When you’re dead, you’re dead. Claire remained dead until the obstruction was removed from her brain. In theory, the bullets should have been removed from his body. They wouldn’t have just “popped out” after he died. Rant over). She had that same look on her face when she shocked the slider. She was almost giddy being in a position of power.

Of course, her pathway to villainy was more solidly paved when she began to relate to her alleged opposition, and began to question the motives of her protectors. In a way, can you blame her? The man who had violated her was now coming to her aid, with no explanation whatsoever. And I’m really not going to get into that whole HRG distrust thing. That’s been beaten to death.

This episode also made me like Daphne quite a bit. We learned a bit about her background. She believes she works for Linderman – if she even knows who he is – and she’s gathering people with special abilities. We also learned that she’s not decidedly evil. Sure, she’s willing to do unsavory things for a price, but she’s not a killer. I suspect that next week will kick off the romance between her and Parkman. Oh, and I also loved how she and Hiro simultaneously exclaimed, “Kill Ando?!?!” And just so you know, I’m not really going to comment on Ando’s “death,” because I don’t believe for a second that he’s actually dead. But I did love how Ando brought up that they are, indeed, the worst heroes ever.

Perhaps the greatest thing about this week’s episode is that we finally found out what the deal with Linderman is. He’s not a ghost. He’s not a spirit. He’s not a figment of anyone’s imagination. No, wait, he kinda is that last one. It turns out that Parkman’s father (who, I guess, would also be named “Parkman”) is making people see him in order to get them to do Mr. Petrelli’s bidding.

Speaking of Petrelli, how about Angela’s surprising turn as a semi-do-gooder. She openly revealed that Tracy, Niki, and Nathan had all been synthetically given abilities (speaking of which, I loved how matter-of-factly Tracy said, “a doctor in Rosetta, California” when Nathan wondered who, other than God, could have given them these abilities), and she seems determined to stop her not so late husband from doing all sorts of bad stuff. She also admitted that giving people abilities was wrong.

I’m really not sure what to make of Peter’s reaction to Sylar’s ability. I understand that the writers are trying to show us that Sylar’s killing spree wasn’t about power, it was about knowledge, but I still feel like they need to do a better job of explaining how Peter could become a killer so quickly, despite the fact that (a) he naturally absorbs others’ abilities – thus eliminating the need to kill for their powers – and (b) he can read people’s thoughts, meaning that, theoretically, he shouldn’t have to cut them open to find out what’s going on inside of their heads. I’m not saying that it’s a plot hole, but I do feel like the burden is on the writers to provide a better explanation. And unlike other scenarios where you can say “we don’t know yet,” this is a matter that should really be addressed early on.

That being said, what an odd visual, seeing Peter attempting to kill his mom, and having Sylar come to the rescue.

And then there’s the boogeyman himself. I didn’t think I’d enjoy the rehabilitation of Sylar, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. It was quite unusual seeing him come to Claire’s rescue (oh, and I loved her “Just peachy” line. Awesome) just episodes after physically and psychologically torturing her.

Finally, there’s Mohinder. Since last season, I’ve basically ripped this guy apart, calling him the most idiotic, infuriating, useless character. Well, following this episode, my opinion has changed a bit. I liked the idea of him abandoning all of his morals and intuitions in order to achieve scientific infamy (the irony, of course, being that his serum was actually invented several decades ago), but I never would have dreamed they’d take it to this level. And I’m thrilled that he did. Mohinder the murderous killer (courtesy of the Department of Redundancy Department) is far more interesting than ultra enthusiastic Mohinder making the discovery that antibodies do something unexpected. This is most definitely one of the more interesting character developments.

Next week we’re promised that the lines are blurred even further. I look forward to seeing the insanity.

Matt Basilo has been writing for Inside Pulse since April 2005, providing his insight into popular television shows such as Lost, Heroes, Prison Break, and Smallville. You can visit his blog at A Case of the Blog.

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.