Heroes – Episode 3-19 Review

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As I reported on my blog, Heroes has been renewed for a fourth season! Despite this news, I’m sure we’ll have an onslaught of people droning on and on about how the show is on the verge of cancellation. I’ll say what I always say: What other relatively successful shows does NBC have?

I do enjoy how the Hunter is slowly but surely coming to realize that there’s something suspicious about the way Nathan is able to get from A to B so quickly. I have criticized this show in the past for going a little too overboard with the “shades of gray” (episode title!) thing. They’re almost stubbornly reluctant to label ANYBODY as purely bad. And in the cases of “iffy” characters like HRG and Nathan, they seemingly can’t pull the trigger by making them decidedly good. That being said, I think this devious on the edge of betrayal relationship between Nathan, HRG, and the Hunter is absolutely fantastic. And hell, throw Angela on that list as well.

Anyway, one of my readers suggested Micah as the person behind the “Rebel” messages, and after this episode I think that makes perfect sense. I was initially reluctant to buy into this, only because he’s a young kid. Despite his maturity, heading a mutiny seems a bit….grandiose. On top of that, has he ever even met Claire? But it really does fit. With his ability to “talk” to computers, it would explain how he’s able to send all these texts, play videos over the computer, send instant messages, and deny access to the bomb trigger.

Possibly related to this, did anybody else catch how the camera monitoring Nathan, HRG, and the Hunter in the hallway shut off just before the Hunter shot the window and outted Nathan’s ability?

Of course, we could learn that it’s actually Nathan, hence his rescuing of Claire and his comment to Tracy about how he’s been helping them this whole time. This might disappoint me, however. I wouldn’t mind Nathan being good – he is one of my favorite characters – but why would he initiate such a broad and blind order if he had intentions of protecting some all along?

Overall, though, this was an exceptionally strong Nathan episode. I was very pleased with it.

I do have to wonder this, though: Is HRG in charge of the mission now? If so, why would his apparent first order of business be to lift the protective ban on his daughter? Or did the Hunter’s discovery of Nathan’s ability get him his job back?

For the first three quarters of the episode, I was prepared to discuss what a strange character Sylar has become. Notice I didn’t use those complimentary terms like “complicated” or “complex” or “intriguing.” No, he’s downright peculiar. And for the most part, I DON’T mean that in a good way. One second he’s portrayed as a psychopath serial killer, the next he’s buddying up with some pain in the ass teenager, paying his bills before escaping from federal agents, and rescuing said teenager. Then he’s sitting Indian style playfully learning about how to stuff a dead animal.

I WAS going to say all of that, until the scene with Sylar and his father intensified. The look on his father’s face when he realized Sylar had the ability to heal himself was brilliant. It really did make up for any criticism I had earlier. Is there a finer actor than John Glover? This guy gets the greatest father characters!

By the way, did ANYBODY miss Hiro and Ando before they reappeared near the end of the episode? The next time one of the two of them utter the words “destiny,” “quest,” or “journey” will be too soon.

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.