Heroes – Episode 4-9 Review

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Rickey had this to say in regard to last week’s review:

Sylar lost all of the powers he stole in season 1 after he was “killed” except for his telekinsis

I’m not quite sure which “death” Rickey is referring to, but this is simply incorrect. Since the beginning of this season, he’s used his healing ability, his shape shifting ability, his ability to fly, and his ability to learn the history of items just by touching them. Hell, in this episode alone he shape shifted and flew. Sylar innately uses his telepathic ability, but his full resume is far more impressive.

Anyway, within an hour of posting my column last week, it was confirmed that Adrian Pasdar, who portrays Nathan, is officially leaving the show. I’ve discussed this at length on my blog. The first post provides my in depth thoughts on this matter, while a second column lays out what I feel would have been a far superior plan (using my own special ability: hindsight). I propose that the show would have really benefited from killing off Sylar at the end of season one. Give it a read for my reasons why.

When I read the story about Nathan, I figured the last time we saw him was when he was shot in that shallow grave. So I was pretty thrilled to see him appear tonight, even if it’s just to offer the character some much-needed closure. Honestly, between Sylar back to his physical self (but still thinking he’s Nathan), and Sylar now controlling Parkman’s body, it really felt like Sylar overkill.

I will say this, though: This current story with Sylar is undoubtedly the most interesting that has happened with Parkman in, well, forever. I actually enjoyed their game of one-upmanship, with Sylar using “the world as his hostage”—essentially threatening to kill innocent people (using Parkman’s body) if Parkman didn’t spill the goods on where his body is. In retaliation, though, Parkman used HIS ability to put “Sylar” in precarious situations. It culminated in a pretty neat moment, with Parkman seemingly sacrificing his life so that Sylar couldn’t harm anybody else. A LARGE part of me felt that this death should have stuck, but I do understand why it won’t. From a story point mechanism, this was just a tease. It’s just a vehicle to reunite Sylar’s mind with his body. But it still pains me that Nathan’s being written out and Parkman’s reign of boredom forges on.

For people who clamor on and on about how wonderful season one was, and use it as a comparison for how terrible they believe this season is, I provide you with this example: Compare the immensity of season one’s “Call me Noah” to this week’s nonchalant “Come on, Rene.” When Claire said that, I had to rewind it to see if I heard correctly. Even after a second time I convinced myself that she said, “Come on with me.” It wasn’t until the introduction to Gretchen that I said to myself, “Really? THAT’S how you’re going to tell us the Haitian’s name????” Like I said earlier, the revelation of HRG’s first name – a relatively minor tidbit of information, if you think about it – was this mega-climactic moment, one that many fans (including the author of this review) still allude to.

Besides, after introducing the incredibly humorous and clever expression “Going Haitian,” I’m sort of disappointed to find out his first name at all. But, nonetheless, it’s always incredibly awesome seeing HRG and the Haitian together (and similarly, the Haitian will ALWAYS be “The Haitian” as far as I’m concerned).

There isn’t a whole lot to say about the Claire stuff other than the fact that I genuinely appreciate the fact that the writers have refrained from rehashing the old HRG/Claire “I can’t trust you!” routine. They’ve had numerous opportunities to resort to this crutch, but instead they correctly responded with HRG showing compassion while Claire showed maturity. For the most part, I stand by my assessment that these two are a pure and consistent highlight of the show.

Cringe-worthy stuff, though: The preview of next week, with an exasperated Mohinder proclaiming, “I’ve made an incredibly discovery!” Good to see the writers came up with some new material for this character during his hiatus.

Matt Basilo has been writing for Inside Pulse since April 2005, providing his insight into popular television shows such as Lost, 24, Heroes, 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.