Heroes is at its best when it’s focused and character driven, and with that in mind, I think this episode delivered pretty damn well. I especially appreciated the common theme, with Nathan trying to rekindle his bond with his daughter, while his brother Peter attempts to mend his relationship with his mother. In both cases you have a solidly good, if too often forgiving child, and a morally ambiguous and misguided parent.
I thought both ends of the spectrum handled their reunion well, however I can’t help but feel like Claire was just a bit too coy and easy going. I understand that Nathan just saved her, but he is the same man who put most of the people she cares about into an internment camp. All for what? Being special? All while he’s hiding the fact that he can fly. He’s also repeatedly threatened to relinquish her of her “free pass.” Yet she’s all glowing and smirking. It just seemed like we missed a whole lot. And I have to admit that while Nathan is one of my favorite characters, his whole redemption seemed very disingenuous. I understand that Nathan believed he was being altruistic by rounding all these innocent people up, but I found it slightly farfetched that the writers attempted to justify his actions to the viewers.
This falls back into that point I brought up in the past, which is that the writers have trouble definitively having one of their central characters switch sides. Despite the twists and turns, everybody essentially ends up back where they started (See: Sylar and Mohinder last season). I have no problem with them redeeming Nathan, because he’s one of my favorite characters (and few do the last minute motivational speeches better), but I’d rather they do it by openly acknowledging what he did instead of sugarcoating it.
I also couldn’t help but scratch my head when Claire said Nathan was absolutely amazing. When exactly did she think this? When he was willing to let innocent people in New York City die? Or when he became a belligerent drunk? Or was it when he gathered up all those innocent people with abilities?
For what it’s worth, may I also say that it’s a good thing that Claire has healing abilities and doesn’t really feel pain? Because she completely fits the profile of somebody that would find themselves in a physically abusive relationship. The men in her life completely crap her over, but she completely forgets about it the second they do or say something nice to her.
That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy the Nathan/Claire scenes. I couldn’t help but laugh at Claire’s “One night” comment – which she said in English – had a subtitle. I know I often criticize the writers for their weaknesses, but this show does subtle humor better than most.
What the Angela/Peter scenes lacked in action they made up with depth, in my opinion. While this series has focused far more on the parent/child relationship of Nathan and Claire, I think to a great degree the turmoil between Peter and Angela is far more prevalent. Since the beginning of the season, Angela has viewed Peter as the weaker, less significant child. It was clear that Nathan was her golden goose. And to a certain extent, she was right. The first two volumes followed Peter’s quest to be something heroic, yet both concluded with him faltering and Nathan ultimately coming to the rescue. Hell, she even seemed to have more confidence in Sylar when she was pretending that he was her son.
Nonetheless, the Peter we see now is a harder, more grown up version of the naive optimist we met in the series premiere. And he was the person who rescued her, despite their difference, after he other son indirectly (or directly, depending on your perspective) placed her in danger. Angela may never have abandoned Peter, but I daresay their relationship was in far more need of healing than the aforementioned one above.
When the agents first entered the church, I initially thought that Peter was having one of Angela’s dreams (notice how she grabbed Peter by the hands earlier in the episode), since she was unable to have them. I’m still not exactly positive whether that scene actually happened or if it was ALL part of Angela’s dream. But (a) I think this shows that HRG is most certainly a good guy (as he should be), and (b) I thought that while Peter’s scene with the Jesus statue COULD have been goofy, it was actually quite powerful. Bravo.
Again: When the writers focus on the characters and their emotions and relationships, they can be quite superb. They did a great job, which is especially impressive when you consider that they did nothing more than sit in a church all episode.
So can we officially change Sylar’s name to “Smilin’ Gabe” already? Man, first he’s wearing Chuck Taylors, now he’s giddy and giggly? This is up there with when they had Sylar – the psychopathic serial killer, mind you – pay his diner bill before eluding the federal agents. That criticism aside, I actually loved the slow deterioration of the Hunter’s confidence and mindset. Slowly but surely he fell apart. And ultimately he ended up doing exactly what HRG has been instructing him to do all this time: One of us, one of them.
By the way, while WE all know that the Hunter is a man of power and significance, for some reason I have a feeling that an angry, short, bald man with white hair isn’t exactly the greatest catch at the bar scene.
I’ll say this: This volume has done an excellent job of focusing on the characters, resisting certain crutches, and only including the characters that are necessary to that episode’s story (and, in turn, each episode seems to be building the foundation of the grander arc). I do hope that people who have given up on this show give it another chance. So far I have been satisfied. Each volume has improved since the disastrous season two. Give it another shot, people!
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.
