You have Peter at peace with his brother’s death, Sylar turning a corner and becoming an unexpected hero, Tracy achieving true redemption, Hiro fulfilling his quest (in a rather selfless way, incidentally) and doing something truly heroic — which would not have been possible without Ando’s ability, HRG and Claire coming to an understanding about their complex relationship, and the ushering in a brave new world in which those with abilities are now out in the open. And, in a rarity for this series, they actually SHOWED us an epic battle. The characters were all used pretty perfectly as well, with “minor” characters like Tracy and Parkman appearing minimally, and unnecessary characters like Mohinder being absent altogether. This allowed the major characters to all play crucial and individually heroic roles: Claire and HRG stopped Samuel, Peter fought him, Hiro and Ando weakened him, Sylar fought Doyle, etc. I’m pretty impressed, to be honest.

This episode also did a surprisingly fantastic job of bringing all of the central characters together for the big battle at the carnival. And, much like the first season finale (which understandably set the bar), it didn’t come off as contrived or forced. And, come to think of it, the remaining finales lacked that feeling of all of the characters banding together to take on the big bad. The conclusions of the other volumes came off as disjointed and disconnected — a poor maneuver for a show that finds its strength in connecting their central cast.

To tell you the truth, the only thing I took issue with was Claire’s reveal at the end. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the allusions to season one, with HRG saying that Claire is breaking his heart by exhibiting her powers on tape (although I did appreciate that he didn’t physically attempt to stop her — this showed a certain amount of growth in their relationship), and Claire’s “this is attempt number…” comment. I just felt like the scene was played out in an overall lazy and unrealistic manner. I mean, after all that destruction, wouldn’t there be a whole lot of rescue workers around? You know, cops and firefighters and such? And these people would just sit back in awe as some young woman climbs up a Ferris wheel? And yes, I know we’re supposed to believe that television journalists are ratings hungry monsters, but I still find it difficult to swallow that they’d just watch and instruct their cameramen to keep the camera on her as she attempts something so dangerous and life threatening. I understand what they were going for — and to a large extent it worked — but there were better ways to go around it than having a group of adults following her and just watching as she climbs to the top of a Ferris wheel.

Let me touch upon a few of the other things that happened in the episode:

I mentioned this in an earlier column, but I really loved seeing HRG and Claire fight side by side. By the end of each season they’re most certainly on the same side, but we’ve never really literally seen them fight together. Compare this finale to season one, where HRG did everything he could to keep Claire away from such dangerous situations. Now, he’s giving her orders to split up so that they can face their enemy from both sides. It really does show how far they’ve come. Plus, I’m a sucker for seeing these two together. One thing I will say: I am grateful that the writers relented on forcing their petty differences. Sure, they had their conflicts this year, but their issues had a certain maturity to them that was lacking in previous years.

I was satisfied with how they ended the Charlie/Hiro story. It was a good way of ending it happily, while still making Hiro look selfless. And I must say, that was an absolutely wonderful casting decision. The wide, dark eyes and big smile really captured the character — I easily believed that could be Charlie in 65 years.

Finally, I’m glad they decided to stay the course with Sylar as a reformed “good guy.” This character has been all over the place since season three — and especially this season, come to think of it — that yet another turn would have made the character unsalvagable, in my opinion. And it certainly would have showed that the writers have no clue what to do with him.

Now, one has to wonder, though: Does an awesome finale make up for a lackluster season? Unfortunately, I do not believe so. And in that regard, this episode failed in a major way: While I do have many, many fine things to say about the finale, it doesn’t really leave me psyched for the next season. And while I’d like to see the show continue, I don’t think I’d be devastated if it didn’t.

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. Be sure to visit his blog at [a case of the blog] and follow him on Twitter.
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So next week is the season finale (the season was shortended for the Winter Olympics) and I have to admit, I’m a little relieved. It’s not even that I need a bit of a breather from the show, it’s more that Monday is already a big TV night for me, and with Lost returning on Tuesdays, I just don’t think I’ll have the energy to do all these reviews in two days. I’m relatively optimistic that they’ll get a fifth season, so I’d like the writers to just put some real consideration of where they want to take the show next season (which I do think would be its last), because I have to say, this was one of the most schizophrenic episodes of Heroes in recent history. The episode was just all over the place in every sense of the way: my personal overall enjoyment, character histories and motivations, etc.

Case in point: When the episode began, I thought the Claire/HRG arc was far more interesting than the Peter/Sylar dreamworld (shocker). Yet, by the end of the episode, I was actually enjoying the Sylar/Peter portion more.

I thought the Bennet stuff started off really, really strong. I tend to dislike any form of rewriting a character’s history (I hate it every time they do it with Sylar, and I disliked it when Lauren was senselessly nudged into HRG’s past), but I actually had no issue with the revelation that HRG had a “past life” where he was happy, honest, married, and expecting his first child. I appreciated the fact that he lacked the killer instinct that he’s now known for, and I though it was clever how his wife’s seemingly random murder hardened him and set him on his current path. And I absolutely loved Claire’s sympathetic, mature reaction to this news. At first it wasn’t explicit, you could just tell that, to Claire, this was merely a part of her father’s past that he couldn’t tell her about. And you could genuinely sense that she trusted that there was some reason why he never told her. I really liked how she resisted learning more, insisting that this is his business, not hers. For the first time, she seemed to understand that her father is entitled to the same privacy any teenager or young adult demands. And after the scene played out, and we understood the tragic end, I actually thought it was nice that they had Claire verbally express what she had sensed — simply that this was a place her father couldn’t go emotionally.

And then, it all sorta fell apart. I absolutely hated how angrily she responded to HRG’s first kill. It was quite obvious that he was emotionally fragile, and his actions were so clearly self defense, as well. Out of all the things she’s seen him do, THIS is the thing she gets upset about? Considering what she had seen him go through, you’d think she’d understand him a little better. It felt like we had made so much progress, and then, out of nowhere, we’re jumping back to their midseason one relationship.

I was even more bothered by the discovery that The Company had seemingly arranged HRG’s family man persona. Sure, HRG claims that he truly loved Sandra — and I can even believe that — but I thought his “I chose your mother” argument was a lit empty. I mean, Thompson literally said to him, “the waitress will do.” And bam, that’s who he married. I have no doubt he eventually came to love her, but that was most definitely an “arranged marriage.”

And, to me, that really damaged his character. Heroes has a nasty tendency of trying to make their characters more complex than they actually are (hence why we can’t have Sylar just be a villain), but HRG was one of the only legitimately deep and layered characters. Part of the reason why he became so popular was because he was this arguably violent, dangerous man who is doing morally questionable things — yet he’s got this deep love and devotion to his family. The idea that this aspect of his life began as a work-related agreement cheapens that.

That being said, they did pick things up (a bit) in the end, with Claire showing that she’s not completely daft and revealing that she didn’t fall for Samuel’s manipulation. I actually did like the way she delivered her “did you really think I was going to turn on him?” line.

I initially found the story with Peter and Sylar frustrating. Sylar’s character, like this episode, is just out of control all over the place. It seems like his motivations are being rewritten by the episode. Honestly, this season alone he’s gone from bad to good to bad to good to bad to unsure. For the life of me, I just don’t understand why they won’t have him be the villain he was conceived as. Or, if they’re determined to have him be a hero, why they just didn’t go with it last season.

I did think the dream world was a clever way of giving a reasonable explanation as to how Peter could possibly forgive Sylar for all he had done. It was reminiscent of The 4400, where Tom and Alana lived in a dream world that, for them, lasted many years — but to the outside world was mere second — resulting in them developing a deep relationship. Same deal with Peter and Sylar. They lived in a world where it was only the two of them, and they were really forced to rely on each other for their own survival and sanity. And they weren’t able to escape that world until both of them let down their guard and truly forgave and trusted each other.

But here’s the deal, Heroes writers: You made your bed. Sylar is now a hero. You’ve made your decision, so don’t end the season with him suddenly going bad again. And to the characters of the show: To that end, for the love of God, don’t let him rent a car!

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. Be sure to visit his blog at [a case of the blog] and follow him on Twitter.
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Now, it’s important to me that I don’t give off the false impression that I no longer enjoy this show, because I do. Yes, it can be immensely frustrating, but I still care about a lot of the characters and I’d still like for the show to succeed. So let’s start off with some of the positives.

First and foremost, there was no Hiro, Ando, or Mohinder. That’s a victory in and of itself! Okay, okay, that was a little cheap. That sounded more like a backhanded compliment. But actually, with such a large, ensemble cast – with a group of characters that are not necessarily used every episode – sometimes it is a gift to know which characters to focus on and which ones to put on the backburner, if momentarily. And, for the most part, I think they made some wise decisions here.

I was initially skeptical with the Claire/HRG thing, especially when I saw previews. I shuddered when I saw Claire warning Lydia about her dad’s impending attack. I’m thinking, “Really? She’s siding with the Carnival over her father?” But it was actually a rather noble thing for Claire to do. She agreed that Samuel needed to pay for what he had done, but she recognized that it could turn into a bloodbath (showing more maturity and rationality than her father, arguably), and she was looking to protect the innocent (the bystanders at the Carnival) and those she cares about (her father). So, I didn’t mind her warning. And I found her attempt to arrange a peaceful hand-off inoffensive. Actually, this was a somewhat clever way of handling their reconciliation.

I was also worried that they’d have Claire once again distrust her father by believing that he was responsible for the Carnival shoot out. Trust me when I say that there was a huge sigh of relief when she rightly figured out that he was being set up. And, again, this did a nice job of drawing some distinct battle lines. It’s now Claire and HRG against Samuel and his minions. And it’s kinda funny, but I don’t recall us ever truly seeing HRG and Claire literally fighting side-by-side.

Oh, and I absolutely LOVED that HRG had instructed Lauren to call Tracy if anything went wrong. I’m so glad that they didn’t completely forget about that relationship. It’s actually rather too bad, because this is the first time, like, EVER that any of Ali Larter’s characters have been interesting…and instead of going with it, they needlessly introduced a new character.

So yeah, it’s actually HRG, Claire, Lauren, and Tracy….not too shabby.

I really want to give the writers credit for this, so I might as well give them the benefit of the doubt here. It’s my interpretation that they weren’t trying to go for any shocking twist when the shootout began. I think they expected the viewers to know HRG wasn’t behind it, and that they’d immediately figure out what this guy was up to. If that’s the case, nice job, because it did add a fun new level of enjoyment as the scene played out, knowing that he’s getting away with this dangerous manipulation.

My biggest issue with this episode was this concept of Parkman “hiding” Sylar’s abilities somewhere in his mind that he’ll never find them. First, this is just plain weak. Secondly, there is a well established (for this show, anyway) precedent that people’s abilities have nothing to do with their memories. Peter got amnesia at the start of season two, but his powers kept emerging. Sylar believes he’s Nathan, yet his “Sylar Powers” kept activating. Even when Sylar had no memory whatsoever, his powers were still apparent (geez, this show is beginning to give Smallville a run for its money with characters getting amnesia). There’s just no basis for this idea that Parkman can mentally block somebody’s abilities.

Come to think of it, where was the Haitian? This guy has the ability to (a) erase people’s memories and (b) block people’s powers. He’s, like, tailor made for this mission.

Oh, I was dying for Sylar to follow through with his threat that he can be very creative with his – if only to finally confirm which abilities he actually still possesses.

I also find the idea that Peter would seek out Sylar’s help INCREDIBLY hard to swallow. They’ve done a nice job of strengthening Peter’s character over the past two seasons, and I fear that they’re having him take a HUGE step back with this. Peter had developed into a smarter, more confident person who didn’t blindly follow what others – whether they’re motivated by powers or simply power – told him. And that includes visions of the future. With that in mind, I just have a lot of trouble believing that he would turn to Sylar – who he just learned murdered his brother – for any reason whatsoever. And it’s not even like he attempted to think of a Plan B! And I’m not counting him breaking the cello!

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. Be sure to visit his blog at [a case of the blog] and follow him on Twitter.
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But it was kinda neat seeing David Anders compete with himself, appearing on both Heroes and 24.

I suppose I should be fair and admit that, given the topic matter, they did a commendable job. In fact, I have to applaud them for pointing out some of the erratic and borderline utterly selfish decisions Hiro has made over the past couple of seasons. Most notably, that he was willing to go against his code AND allow a ruthless killer to walk free in order to save the woman he loves. They didn’t merely gloss over the parts of the story that don’t conveniently fit into the argument they were attempting to make. And for that, I commend them.

A lot of his dream sequence was clichéd and cheesy (punishable by…..DEATH!), but I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume it was purposeful. As in, this is exactly the sort of scenario Hiro would dream up. But even that excuse goes so far. I mean, what the crap was with Ando’s soliloquy? Honestly, it sounded more like a movie trailer than a man pleading with his best friend to continue fighting. And for that matter, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that Hiro is descending into such cartoonishness that the boyish charm that made him so popular has all but disappeared.

Another side effect of the episode was that it reminded me of what Sylar SHOULD be. As I noted in the introduction, we were once again force fed this idea that Sylar is some torn and complex character (it’s gotten so bad that I’m pretty sure even Claire called him Emo). How many times have we seen this routine? Damn, how many times have we seen it this very season? It was so much more enjoyable watching him nonchalantly rattling off all the people he’s killed, without the slightest hint of remorse. That, on top of his lackadaisical attempt to remember Ted’s last name. I don’t understand their resistance to just allow him to be THAT character. The opportunity for him to be a quasi-hero has long past. I mean, are we supposed to feel bad for him that he doesn’t want to die alone? Are we supposed to root for him in that regard? And perhaps most bothersome – his sudden concern over dying alone is a direct response to what Hiro told him in the past, after he saved Charlie. Therefore, it obviously had a really profound effect on him. Yet we’re to believe that it didn’t alter his history in the slightest? I find it hard to accept that he’d be so concerned about never finding somebody, but would still kill Elle after making a legitimate connection with her.

I feel like a broken record, but that’s the biggest problem with Sylar’s character – and the reason why I can’t become invested in him. He’s just so inconsistently written. For example, the way it’s been portrayed, the “voice” in Parkman’s head WAS Sylar. It wasn’t a delusion, it was Sylar’s actual subconscious. And that man had absolutely no problem whatsoever killing people. And even when he gets reunited with his body he’s able to kill, despite his struggle with Nathan. But once he vanquishes all of his obstacles, he’s suddenly all bothered? Sorry, I don’t buy it.

I am curious if they’ll strip him of his powers, though. A lot of people have made the argument that Peter became too powerful, so essentially having him start from scratch was a good thing. I’m wondering if they’ll have the guts to do the same with Sylar.

I wasn’t bothered by the stuff with Claire. People seem to hate her character, but for whatever reason I think she manages to bring out the best in whoever she shares scenes with. I noted that last week with HRG and Peter, but I think it’s true with Sylar as well. These two just have such a twisted relationship – and while it was laid on a bit thick by Sylar, the two of them really do share a special bond. Her self discovery also felt a little more genuine than Sylar’s. She is, after all, at that age that people attempt to “find” themselves, and she’s going through some mighty confusing stuff right now. It’s difficult for her to accept that she may have feelings for this girl, and she’s of course worried about being judged and labeled. The writers are constantly attempting to coincide Claire’s abilities with her attempt at being a normal teenage girl next door, and this is the first time (in a long time) that it feels like they succeeded.

I also have to complement the writers by NOT having the extras stare at Gretchen and Claire as they walked away holding hands. The easy, obvious path would have been for everybody to look at them and for Claire not to care. The better route – the one they decided to take – was to have nobody care, and to show the viewers (and possibly Claire) that she was making a bigger thing out of it than was necessary. This shows that this is something Claire has to overcome, not something everybody else has to accept.

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. Be sure to visit his blog at [a case of the blog] and follow him on Twitter.
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I’ve said it before, and a fair argument could be made that the writers have already hammered this point home, but I really do love how HRG’s actions – no matter how despicable they may be – can always be attributed to his love for Claire. Look at all he had gone through this episode, from tracking this woman down to attaining Parkman’s assistance to infiltrating the Carnival – it was all done for Claire. And all the while, he tried to be a respectful, “normal” father by keeping his distance when she needed some space. I know a lot of people tire easily of Claire – and I’m sure HRG’s fan club has diminished somewhat – but these two will ALWAYS be the highlight of the series for me.

That being said, while their final scene together was well written, nicely directed, and wonderfully acted, it felt a little flat to me, only because it didn’t truly feel like anything was on the line. They had only had their disagreement last week, and we’ve seen them fight so many times that it just didn’t feel like this could mark the end for them. And I feel like we were supposed to think that was a possibility.

But yeah, it’s kinda sweet that everything this man does comes back to him wanting to protect his daughter.

I will have to say, though, that while I found Parkman a bit more enjoyable this season than I have in the past, this whole ordeal of people with abilities struggling to find a balance between normal life and something greater is getting a bit tiresome. I feel like we’ve watched every single character essentially go through this inner turmoil – and it’s been happening every single season. Heroes has been on for four years now, and it’s a bit troubling that we’re yet to see any character emerge as a bona fide superhero. For the most part, everybody is still insecure and uncomfortable with their abilities.

I suppose if anybody’s there, Peter’s the closest. Of course, all of his heroics tend to happen off-screen, which doesn’t really help matters. I do now understand Emma’s purpose in this season’s arc – she’ll will people with abilities to Samuel, who will in turn become more and more powerful – but I still have trouble swallowing the fact this woman whose ability reminds me of a Skittles commercial can bring Ice Queen Angela Petrelli to a screeching halt and somehow cause the deaths of thousands of people. That being said, I do think that (presumed) chain of events is pretty clever, and I do like how it came together. I do have to wonder something, though: Emma clearly cares enough about Peter to use her ability to bring him to her apartment. Given that level of trust and emotion, there wasn’t a conceivable way for Peter to calmly explain the importance of destroying her cello? I don’t even really like her character, and even I felt bad for her. He just barges in, late at night, brutally smashes her cello, and leaves. And the girl was so excited about receiving it as a gift. That’s pretty messed up.

If there was a weak point in the episode, it was the Hiro/Ando/Mohinder trifecta, although that should come as no surprise. Truthfully, their scenes were a bit less harmless than they otherwise have been this season, but some of it was a bit hard to swallow. I mean, Ando can creepily hover around the medication and the orderly – evidently the only one in the room – brushes the behavior off after a single inquiry?

I do have to admit, I did laugh at Mohinder’s hurried and urgent, “was it in Florida?” line. His delivery was so matter-of-fact. Hiro, Ando, and Mohinder awkwardly waving like four year old children, on the other hand, was a tad over the top.

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. Be sure to visit his blog at [a case of the blog] and follow him on Twitter.
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That one exception, ironically enough, is the whole Sylar/Nathan story. I’ve been awfully critical of this arc, particularly with the lack of restraint exhibited by the writers, but I have to admit that they did a wonderful job of wrapping things up. It really was a genuinely heartfelt, touching, emotional, and nicely scripted character departure. They hit all the right notes, and the acting was spot on.

I believe I made reference to this last week, but I really did enjoy Nathan’s confused reaction to his utterly unique situation. He possesses all of Nathan’s memories (and by proxy his emotions) and he physically looks like Nathan, yet he knows he’s not Nathan. Despite everything he thinks and feels, he knows it’s all a lie. How does one react to that? How do you come to grips with that reality? Adrian Pasdar really nailed that rooftop scene, in my opinion.

Along with Claire and HRG, I’ve always felt that Peter and Nathan was one of the strongest relationships on the series. Most would argue that one or both of those above relationships are completely overexposed and often repetitive – which is a fair point – but I always find that even when the show as a whole is at its weakest, a great scene between these characters can really save an entire episode. And in some cases, an entire storyline.

And quite honestly, I do think this episode did a whole lot to redeem the disappointing Sylar/Nathan saga. Over the past two seasons, Peter has really grown up and become independent and strong. And he exhibited that here. While his brutal treatment of Sylar was wonderful and completely justified, I have trouble seeing Peter “going there” the first two years we knew him. Similarly, the two brothers reminiscing about their first exhibition of their abilities acted as a great contrast to their final moments together. In the past, it was Nathan who flew up to grab hold of Peter. In this episode it was Peter who let go of Nathan, releasing him so that he could face his proper fate.

Likewise, their parting words were also right on the money. For better or for worse, Nathan is the crutch that Peter has always leaned on. In fact, I do believe that every volume has ended the same way: With the brothers confronting each other and ultimately joining forces to save the world (or each other). Despite his growth, Peter has always had difficulty sealing the deal without Nathan by his side. In fairness, in season one he was talking about how scared he was and how he needed his brother. By the end of season three Nathan was merely reinforcement. Nonetheless, Peter pleading with Nathan that he needs him felt true, as did Nathan’s response that Peter can take care f himself. I’m also thrilled that Nathan mentioned watching over Claire. Does it strike it as odd to anybody else that these two were kept at a complete distance (physically and verbally) for the entire season?

And by the way, I’m glad they silently showed the embrace between Peter and his mother. It was definitely one of those scenes that was more powerful by allowing us to imagine how the conversation went down.

But honestly, they need to cool it with the Rene stuff. We found out the Haitian’s name, like, four episodes ago….and I feel like he’s being name dropped multiple times per episode ever since. I almost expected Peter to say, “Our Haitian friend….Rene!” when he explained to Sylar how he was blocking his powers.

I take real issue with this whole Claire/Carnival thing. At its core, I just don’t buy it. Out of all the characters on the show, Claire is the most outspoken about attempting to live a normal life. And even if I accept that she’s simply given up on trying to hide and wants to be around people just like her, I find it incredibly hard to swallow that her solution to this would be to join a bunch of strangers who hide in plain sight. As I noted last week, her birth father, uncle, and grandmother all possess abilities. As does somebody in her sorority. She’s also become chummy with Parkman, Tracy, and Hiro. This girl is perpetually drawn to people with abilities, many of whom she knows and loves. I’m sorry, but I find it hard to believe that she’d rather take a compass on a whim, rather than, I don’t know, saying she wants to spend her Christmas break in New York City so that she can be around her biological father’s ability-ridden family.

Along with that, the whole bit with the Minor League pitcher was just lazy, unmotivated writing. I honestly find it hard to believe that, no matter how big a jerk he is and no matter how much his ego has been bruised, that some guy would go out and get completely drunk because he lost in a carnival game. I find it even harder to believe that he would break a bottle and take a swing at a teenage girl – one that’s barely over five foot, no less. It’s completely obvious that the scene was written backwards. The writers said, “We need Samuel to look sympathetic and for Claire to come to his aid. How can we make that happen? Hey, didn’t we feature a jerky baseball pitcher a few scenes back?”

And going back to my original question – is this the end of “Redemption”? If so, talk about leaving loose ends. What about Hiro and Charlie? And for that matter, why was Hiro randomly with Mohinder (ugh) and Ando? I can understand him time traveling to rescue Mohinder, but to swing around and pick up Ando as well? Why? And what about Tracy? She was the one character that seemingly had a logistical motivation to join the circus, yet she’s nowhere to be seen (except for a brief second) in the episode that seemingly is supposed to bring them together? And despite building it up rather nicely all season long, they suddenly do a complete 180 regarding HRG’s desire to redeem himself by now protecting those with abilities? Then there’s Parkman. He escaped the hospital and went off to….ya’ know, I’m not even sure.

Anyway, there’s no indication on the Internet whether this was the finale, so I’m assuming it’s not. I hope some of the above issues are dealt with in 2010.

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. Be sure to visit his blog at [a case of the blog] and follow him on Twitter.
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While “concept” episodes such as “A very special Thanksgiving” tend to be a risk, I think Heroes pulled it off. As I alluded to earlier, the episode revolved around three families – the Bennets, the Petrellis, and the Carnival – celebrating the holiday. And while all three families experienced turmoil, they ultimately arrived at three different destinations. The Bennets overcame their conflicts and began the mending process of becoming a modern nuclear family. The Carnival began to implode. And the Petrellis attempted to defy all logic and rationalization to somehow continue to be a family.

In my opinion the Carnival was the weak link of the episode, but at the very least their story progressed.

The high point for me may have been the Bennet family get together. I recall the DVD commentary for a season one episode of Heroes (may have been the infamous “Company Man”) in which one of the producers observed that since season one didn’t focus on any relationships, the tumultuous bond between HRG and Claire acted as the metaphorical “romance” of the season. And that’s a fair assessment: They began happy, they experienced trust issues, they had a falling out, and then they reconciled. And while their general turmoil did become a bit repetitive throughout the second season, they really have developed into the deepest relationship on the series. And with that in mind, I really enjoyed the fact that despite all the lies, deceit, and broken promises, Claire’s father is the parent that truly knows and understands her. Without knowing about their experimentation, HRG recognized how important Gretchen was to Claire. In fact, he went the distance of inviting her to their family dinner, when Claire’s mother wasn’t even really aware of her existence.

Claire’s differing interactions between her parents’ new beaus was pretty telling as well. While she shared knowing stares with HRG regarding her mom’s cartoonish new boyfriend, she remained relatively respectful and friendly with Lauren. Having said that (anybody know that reference?), I do think I would have preferred the HRG/Tracy relationship. If they’re keeping her on the show, they might as well continue with the one thing that was working.

I suppose if I had one negative thing to say about the episode, it’s that I don’t really buy Claire’s temptation to join the Carnival. I mean, it’s not as if this girl is hard pressed to find people like her. Her birth father has abilities, as does her uncle and her grandmother. Through her misadventures, she’s met several others – many of whom keep popping up in her life. Hell, there’s at least one person in her sorority that has abilities. It just seems to me that if Claire wanted to be around people like her, a group of creepy strangers who perform for others wouldn’t be her top option.

But don’t read too much into that rant, it really was a strong episode.

When Peter and Nathan found out the truth about Nathan’s death, I became particularly interested with Peter’s emotional dilemma. Could he continue loving his brother, knowing that he’s actually within the body of a murderous killer (and, indeed, the person who killed his brother)? But by that token, if it’s essentially Nathan’s mind and memory within Sylar’s body, is the exterior “shell” really that significant? Having said that, it’s still Sylar’s mind, heart, and soul. The memories are just manufactured. So is it truly Nathan in there either? To me, these were interesting questions. And I was worried and disappointed that there wouldn’t be enough time to explore these ideas. However, this episode left me pleasantly surprised.

In my opinion, Nathan, Peter, and Angela all hit a homerun with their emotional confusion. Angela surely felt remorse and perhaps regret, but she was still an emotional wreck as she recounted the scenario. It was great how, with tears in her eyes, it was obvious she was a heartbroken mother. Yet her words unsuccessfully attempted to make it seem like this was some sort of public relations decision. Likewise, the eternally optimistic Peter tried his hardest to make sense of this situation in a way that would allow him to keep his brother. And ultimately he realized that his love for Nathan was greater than his hatred for Sylar.

And despite being a tired character (or some would argue an amalgamation of two tired characters), Nathan/Sylar did the best job of wrestling with this impossible situation. As Nathan, he was resentful. As Sylar, he was vengeful. And throughout it all, it felt believable. The thematic symbolism was in full force here as well. While the Bennets were in a cozy apartment, sun shining, the Petrellis were in a cold, lifeless apartment, dark and unfeeling.

Finally, there’s the Carnival scene. Following Hiro’s revelation to Lydia and Edgar that Samuel had killed his brother, this family is slowly but surely beginning to crumble. And like any threatened villain, when he realizes the heat is on, Samuel diverts the attention to one of the people revolting against him. Anyway, just so I understand this correctly, what’s the deal with Samuel’s ability? The more special people he surrounds himself with, the more powerful he becomes?

I will say this, though: While Hiro’s boyish charm is part of the reason why the character became so popular, the writers need to remember that he’s not 11 years old. Referring to every single person by a child-like nickname and squealing when a girl undresses in front of him is taking it a bit far.

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. Be sure to visit his blog at [a case of the blog] and follow him on Twitter.
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Most of the people who have said “yes,” seem to believe so out of assumption (after all, he seemingly rarely uses any of those abilities other than telekinesis and his original power). In my opinion, that’s a weak argument. That’s like saying, “he doesn’t use any of those powers, except for the ones he uses.” I mean, when he clearly uses more than one of his season one abilities, I have trouble accepting such a blanket, unsubstantiated statement. Also consider that the Haitian (or, ugh, Rene) suffered from the Shanti virus, but his abilities were right back to normal after he received the vaccine. I know their powers aren’t exactly the same, but there’s really no basis for the belief that the virus would set him back to square one.

Anyway, here’s what some of the readers had to offer:

The future Gabriel also had the ability to “paint the future” which he hadn’t been using since the first season. In that season, Sylar learns how to take powers without killing, basically Peter’s ability. It is quite possible that meeting with Peter allowed the powers he lost to be used once again (and it’s possible that those powers had been aquired from Future Peter)

In my quick skimming of the recaps for both parts of Season 3 (chapters 3 and 4) I don’t recall him using any old power. He doesn’t even use some of the powers he aquires (Bob’s alchemy, Jesse’s scream) very often, but lightning is up there with telekenesis on “most used”. And healing of course.

Upon second thought, I may have been mistaken about Sylar-as-Nathan using Ted’s radioactive ability. Now that I think about it, it may very well have been Elle’s lightning. But, again, the fact remains that Future Sylar did use at least two of the abilities he acquired when talking to Peter – Isaac’s paint the future, and Ted’s radiation. But, as noted, he may have acquired those abilities from Peter. I find that to be a bit of a stretch, though. I mean, it’s almost a chicken-or-the-egg situation. Sylar’s absorbing Peter’s abilities while Peter is taking Sylar’s. Forget the butterfly crap – THAT’S gotta mess up the timespace continuum.

However, Kristina seems to shed some light on this issue:

In week 1 of Behind the Eclipse, in which writers/producers Joe Pokaski and Aron Coliete answer fan questions, this very issue was discussed:

Sylar’s telekenetic power has become a part of him almost as much as his original power, much more so than any other power he’s attained. That is why when he recovered from the Shanti virus he retained only this acquired power. All the others were lost because they weren’t as much a part of him.

Even though this comes from an undeniably reliable source, I still have issue accepting something that’s not officially canon (as in, explicitly stated on the show). That’s not me being stubborn – that’s just been my experience. I’ve seen instances in which a scene has been filmed but cut for some reason, and ultimately that story gets completely rewritten later on (and is totally contradictory to that original, unseen scene). Unfortunately, I can’t think of a specific example.

To me, the “Brian was Sylar’s first kill and his power is connected to emotional empathy” is extremely weak. It almost sounds like they realized this would make a good reason after the fact. And for that matter, I have a hard time believing that Brian was his most empathetic kill. How about Isaac, who he spent weeks stalking and preying upon before murdering in cold blood? And that kill was motivated by exceptionally devious and ambitious thoughts.

Anyway, I’m not completely closed minded. I am willing to accept that he lost all of his abilities (except for the ones he didn’t lose), but to me it really boils down to just lazy and inconsistent writing. When it’s convenient that he has a certain ability (like super hearing to eavesdrop on HRG’s plot with Slider-man), he suddenly has it. I suppose it’s a bit of a moot point, as he basically only uses telekinesis anyway.

Moving onto this week’s episode, then. I can’t quite put my finger on it. There were quite a few things I liked, actually, but I couldn’t help but feel like it would have been better suited for the season finale. Now that I think about it, there was actually quite a bit that was good about this episode. We learned more about the Carnival. We discovered that Samuel can be solidly classified as a villain. Peter and Nathan found out the truth about what had happened to Nathan last season. And Sylar-as-Nathan was reunited with Sylar-as-Parkman. Yet throughout this entire episode, even during the parts that I thought were entertaining and – to be generous – climatic, I couldn’t help but feel like it would have benefited astronomically from being properly built up. I mean, how much more powerful would that aforementioned reunion have been if we didn’t already see Sylar back in his regular physical state for several episodes? I’ve been saying this all season, but I feel like they handled the Nathan/Sylar thing incredibly prematurely. I can’t stress this enough, but they really missed the boat with the psychotic Sylar being imprisoned by a body with a single relatively weak ability, while generally good Nathan discovers that he’s got a plethora of abilities at his disposal.

It’s a bit ironic, I suppose. Season two was almost universally panned because of its terribly slow pace (honestly, the whole Hiro in Feudal Japan thing felt like an eternity). Yet I can’t help but feel like this season will come up short for the opposite reason: The writers failed to show any restraint whatsoever (for what it’s worth, I believe that season three – and not season one – was the best middle ground).

And speaking of irony, I can’t wrap my head around the fact that Nathan is being written off while Parkman – who is officially useless now that he’s no longer being possessed by Sylar – continues to exist. And holy Hell, they’re bringing Mohinder back? Honestly, the next time I hear, “I’ve made a remarkable discovery!” or that damn instrumental theme music again, it’ll be too soon. If Heroes is granted another season, I think they really need to sit back and re-evaluate their casting decisions. I would have kept Nathan but dumped Mohinder, Tracy, and Parkman, and a very, very strong case could be made for Hiro, Ando, and Sylar. Am I forgetting anybody? Honestly, at this point, I wouldn’t mind seeing a renewed focus on the younger characters, like Micah and Molly (what are the chances that she’s taller than Claire now?)

Speaking of the cheerleader, the girl bonding between Claire and Tracy was harmless enough. Truth is, I kinda like the budding relationship between HRG and Tracy, so I didn’t really mind the whole thing that much (and HRG nonchalantly greeting the girls when he came in was a bit sweet). I do have to wonder, though: Why didn’t Claire put her foot back on immediately? I mean, how incredibly creepy is it that she was just sitting around with a stump as her broken foot sits on the coffee table? That is beyond weird. And I do have to ask: Did we ever actually get an explanation as to why Tracy was losing control of her abilities? Did she just need to surround herself with estrogen?

And oh yeah – I’m on Twitter now! Follow me!

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. Be sure to visit his blog at [a case of the blog] and follow him on Twitter.
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Well said, though I think they are completely missing the boat with Ali Larter. Her original character had an interesting duality, though it became less interesting once the personality split was resolved, but Tracy is as interesting as a block of ice. However, when Tracy found the Doctor responsible for her creation, he said there were THREE of them. They could have left Tracy dead at the end of last season and moved onto the third, doing whatever they want with her.

I could be mistaken, but I had always assumed that the triplets were Niki, Jessica, and Tracy. That was my interpretation, anyway.

By the way, a couple of weeks ago I wrote an exclusive piece on my blog about how Heroes should model True Blood’s second season story arc. The popular HBO series reminded me a great deal of the first season of Heroes, as virtually all of the characters had their own stories, which culminated in a single climax. Click here to give it a read.

Moving onto this week’s episode. I spent a lot of last season talking about how this show really needs to distance themselves from the whole time travel thing. However, that was mostly aimed at characters going into the future, realizing something dire is going to happen, and then attempting to prevent it in the present. My issue with this formula – which they relied on for pretty much every single season – was that at a point I began saying to myself, “Why should I care if they stop THIS catastrophe? There’s only going to be a different one taking its place.”

So I was a bit surprised to discover that I actually really did enjoy this episode – especially since it focused heavily on two characters I’ve been extremely critical of this season (Hiro and Sylar). Sure,
Charlie’s “Wikipedia” reference was a little forced, but I actually liked watching the typically selfless and childish Hiro making a series of selfish and in turn adult decisions. Hiro could have killed Sylar and prevented a whole lot of misery, but he felt he had to preserve the timeline. Yet as Charlie rightly pointed out, he already mucked that up by allowing her to live (oh, and apparently Sylar now has the ability to cure brain aneurisms? That was just a tad on the weak side).

Actually, now that I think about it, shouldn’t Sylar’s super memory (which he originally acquired through Charlie) have made it exceptionally difficult for Parkman to wipe his memory clean? But on a lighter note, I do have to admit that the “where’s your sword?” response to “I’m Future-Hiro” did make me laugh after the second time it was said.

This may surprise people, given my typical lauding of the character, but HRG’s portion of the story was my least favorite. By a rather large margin as well. In my opinion, HRG was the breakout star of season one, and a big reason for that was the complexity of his character. Here was a guy who was willing to do bad things – but he did it all out of this perverse desire to protect his family. And that’s what made Noah Bennet so wonderfully complicated: Despite being the consummate “Company Man,” in reality he was nothing more than a family guy. Above all else, it was about his wife, son, and daughter.

These flashbacks, however, seemed to completely dilute this aspect of his character in order to make sense of where he is now and where they want him to go. Honestly, his desired redemption doesn’t make as much sense if we learn that his motives were always altruistic and that his fight was always a noble one. Along with that, the intriguing duality of his character – that despite his “badness,” he was devoted to his family – is severely hindered if we discover that he was emotionally cheating on his wife, and had come THIS CLOSE to physically cheating as well.

So no, I didn’t care for this part of the show. It felt cheap and it didn’t really mesh with what we already know about the character and the Company’s infrastructure, for that matter. And essentially rewriting the character, and “softening” his past self, really damages the personal growth he’s made over the past few seasons.

We finally learned a bit more about the Carnival, but not much. And while I’m not eager to see Mohinder again, I did find the final reveal pretty neat. Turns out, the guy was presumably murdered eight weeks ago. Is anybody else hoping that Hiro doesn’t so much succeed in saving him?

But, at the very least, Hiro and Samuel appear to be following the “Redemption” theme. And that’s a good thing, I suppose.

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].
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I suppose if there was any “A” story, it was Sylar’s continued haunting of Parkman. I will admit that I found it somewhat funny that this entire time Parkman has been pretending to be a recovering addict, and then in the end alcohol ended up overcoming his proverbial demon. And, actually, I enjoyed the climatic reveal that Sylar had officially taken over Parkman’s body. However, I can’t help but be disappointed that they’ve really missed out on the fun dichotomy of Sylar’s consciousness living in Parkman’s body, and Nathan’s consciousness living in Sylar’s body. Instead, we’ve just got this massive overexposure of Sylar. He is just all over the place.

But man, did I ever cringe when Parkman called Mohinder.

I’ve repeatedly stated that Ali Larter is the weakest link of the Heroes cast. For whatever reason, they just can’t make any of her characters work in the series. But, as I’ve noted, I’ve really, really enjoyed this progressive bond between her and HRG (yeah, you heard me). After all, these are pretty much the only two characters who are expressing the “redemption” portion of this volume. They’ve been a pretty fun pair. And, for the most part, I still feel that way. However, this whole thing with Tracy getting drawn to the carnival is a tad too reminiscent of what we saw last season, with Tracy joining up with that volume’s lead antagonist, Papa Petrelli. As I’ve indicated with Sylar, we don’t need to see the same characters having the same struggle over and over again.

And that’s why I continue to dig HRG – he’s one of the few characters that legitimately seems to grow as a person. I buy that he wants to make up for his past mistakes, and I thought his performance this week was really strong. He genuinely wanted to help Jeremy, and you could really feel HRG’s pain when he discovered Jeremy’s body.

Not much to say about the Claire/Gretchen thing, except that four girls seems like an awfully small pledge class, doesn’t it? Seriously, though, I was a bit relieved we didn’t have to sit through Claire and Gretchen going through some super duper awkward phase where they avoid each other and pretend like nothing happened for a gabillion episodes. No, I don’t think Claire will end up being a lesbian, but I was glad she handled the situation with such straight forward maturity.

I’d hate to sound overly negative, but I’m having a lot of trouble getting into this whole carnival thing. Personally, I’m more interested in the redemption aspect of this season, instead of force feeding a plot point that will eventually bring the characters together. This is one of the cases where the build has been a bit too slow. We’re a few episodes in, and I feel like I have no real understanding of who these people are. Or their motivations, for that matter. They may be manipulative, but are they decidedly evil? And without that distinction, I don’t find myself particularly invested in who does and doesn’t decide to join them.

What I think we need is a “Company Man” type episode that focuses solely on the carnival crew. And we need that soon.

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].
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I also felt that this was one of the stronger episodes of the season, mostly because it primarily featured three characters I have a soft spot for (HRG, Claire, and Peter) – who, incidentally, also bring out the best in each other, scene-wise – and while I tend to tire of the utterly redundant Sylar and Hiro, I felt they were, for the most part, harmless this episode.

Last week I joked about Peter accidentally acquiring somebody’s ability, only to discover that it was nowhere near as cool or helpful as the one he just had. Near the end of this episode, there was a lingering thought in my head that kept yelling, “Peter, don’t touch anybody!” I could just imagine him going through all of these obstacles to gain the capabilities to save Hiro, only to politely shake hands with the wrong person and realize that he can now shoot rainbows and silly string from his eyes. I am curious to see how they manage to have Peter maintain this ability until he’s reunited with Hiro. Very interesting.

I really do love what’s happening with HRG this season. When the powers-that-be decided to make Sylar the epicenter of the show, HRG’s character really suffered. And while they force-feed Sylar’s constant internal struggle, HRG is a legitimately complex character that I daresay the vast majority of the audience is emotionally invested in. Along with that, he’s perhaps the only character that hasn’t been terrorized by the inconsistent writing.

This Volume is titled “Redemption,” and I’m glad that this theme is focusing on HRG. His behavior throughout this episode in particular was wonderful, with him kindly and delicately talking down the healer, and then coming up with an explanation for what happened to his parents. I was especially touched by his epiphany that he had let the boy down, and that while he may have been monitoring these people, he wasn’t looking out for them.

Hiro is on a similar journey, using his ability to right certain past wrongs. With Hiro, it’s a fine line between endearing and annoying. His childish desire to fulfill his destiny was lovable the first season, but that was three years ago. You’d think his father’s murder and his impending death might alter his behavior a bit. Look at Peter: His character is essentially the same, and his charms are still present, but his perspective has certainly changed after everything that’s happened. But this episode, he was on the right side of that fine line. I actually did find him enjoyable, and his attempts to make Emma more comfortable with her abilities were sweet. I am also curious to see what happens with him and Charlie.

Regarding Sylar, frankly I’m disappointed they so quickly abandoned the Nathan story arc in favor of doing something we’ve already seen in the past two Volumes. How many times do we have to watch Sylar struggle with the concept of being a murderous killer? We saw it when he thought he was a Petrelli, and we saw it AGAIN when he was being haunted by his dead mother (and when he was paling around with that annoying teenager). Constantly resorting to this emotional mechanism is counterproductive. It’s hard to sympathize with him because we have already seen him consciously choose to become a killer numerous times before. At the same time, it’s hard to view him as a crazed murderer when he’s clearly so troubled by his actions. Unfortunately, this doesn’t make him complex. Instead, he’s just uneven and ineffective.

At this point, I sort of just wish they pulled the trigger and turned him into a hero when he thought he was a Petrelli. Arguably, the most I ever cared about the character was when I saw him in the future, with a son named after HRG, and presumably married to Elle, fighting alongside Peter. If the writers had some restraint, I think I would have enjoyed sitting back and learning what events transpire that makes that future a reality. I’m guessing that future didn’t involve him renting a car, though.

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].
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That being said, I do love that the scenario that I’ve been waiting for has finally happened: Peter has a kick ass power, and accidentally loses it in favor of a significantly less impressive power. “Yeah, I had super speed and was able to save a lot of lives. Now I, um….see wavy colors in response to sounds?” That’ll sure come in handy!

Last week I discussed how disappointed I was that they rushed the return of Sylar. While I do think he was handled adequately enough, do we really need to see Sylar going through yet another identity crisis where he’s trying to be good, but ultimately can’t fight what he is? Honestly, Nathan’s memory and appearance forcibly taking over Sylar’s body, and Sylar’s subconscious taking over Matt’s mind is a far more interesting story, in my opinion. At least that’s something we haven’t seen yet. And, additionally, it’s a pretty fun commentary on the whole Nature vs. Nurture thing. Sylar is an undeniably bad person, but if his physical body and literal mind is taking over by somebody who is, for all intents and purposes, good and loved, will “Sylar” turn good as well? Likewise, can somebody like Matt – who has always tried to help others – turn bad after a little prodding from an evil man?

That’s far more interesting to me than watching Sylar’s internal struggle for the millionth time.

And, for that matter, does this mean we’re not going to see Nathan again?

So we finally got that long-hyped kiss between Claire and Gretchen. I’ll admit that they did a pretty effective job of setting up Gretchen as a wacko before turning it around and making her come across as pretty sympathetic. I’m not quite sure where they’re going to take it from here, though.

At times I’m not a fan of the whole “flashback so that we can explain how everything happened” when it appears to be pretty obvious, but I actually through the revelation that the invisible sorority girl was actually responsible for just about everything that has happened to Claire since coming to college was pretty neat.

And while I’m typically a proponent of taking your time and building up to something, I am beginning to hope that they reveal what exactly one of these heroes will be replacing at the carnival. When it comes to TV story arcs, I think I’m more patient than most people, but even I’m starting to get tired of the periodic (and increasingly repetitive) carnival scenes where we hear a lot of vague dialogue that doesn’t really provide a lot of substantial information.

This makes me a bit curious to find out how many people actually watch those carnival-centric webisodes, because these scenes really don’t make me want to see more of them.

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].
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So I restate the question: With Hiro’s current story arc revolving around his impending death, will the writers have the guts to pull the trigger and actually kill him? Considering the last “major” character they’ve conclusively killed off is Isaac, near the end of season one, I’m not exactly optimistic.

This episode seemed to revert back to the “things are destined to happen, no matter what happens in the past” time travel mentality. No matter what actions Hiro takes to prevent a certain event from happening, it’s bound to find a way to occur (kinda Lost-esque, actually). This method ran the risk of getting old, but I couldn’t help but snicker when Hiro answered the phone, greeted his suicidal co-worker, and told him he’d be right up on the roof before the person on the other line even spoke. And then, upon going up on the roof, they’re just casually sitting on the ledge talking. Although I’m not quite sure what to make of his epiphany, because it seems counter-productive to what I figured they’d be doing with the character for much of the season.

Shifting gears slightly, I was THIS CLOSE to commending the show for actually showing some restraint by not featuring Sylar AT ALL this episode. Then they went ahead and had Nathan transform back into Sylar (physically, anyway). Only, what, five episodes into the season? They had Hiro “find himself” in feudal Japan for what felt like 30 episodes, but they can’t stretch this potentially interesting arc out for at least an entire Volume?

Admittedly, my judgment may be a little premature. We’ve only seen a snippet of where this is going. But my disappointment lies in the fact that we jumped into the season at what feels like the mid-to-late point of this storyline. I would have really preferred seeing Nathan more or less as himself, and then slowly coming to realize that something just isn’t right. Instead, the season kicked off with Nathan KNOWING that something isn’t right (even awkwardly stating “it feels like my memories aren’t my own” – who talks like that?) and pretty much conclusively figuring it out within a couple of episodes.

Like I alluded to earlier, it’s amazing how easily this show can stall certain things, yet seemingly can’t show any restraint with intriguing stories that just need to be delicately developed.

That criticism aside, it is interesting (and I hope purposeful) that Nathan showed such a sympathetic and compassionate response to the prospect that he was in any way responsible for the girl’s death. What I find compelling is that this is a decidedly Nathan trait, not at all reminiscent of Sylar’s behavior. I mean, sure, Sylar may have shown some slight regret at certain dastardly actions, like killing his mother, but “Nathan” went to great lengths to unravel the mystery of what happened to this girl, and on more than one occasion attempted to take responsibility for it. Doesn’t sound a whole lot like Sylar, does it?

I do wish they held off on the big transformation, though.

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].
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I seem to remember saying this last season, but by the end of the year the method was a distant memory, but I do appreciate the fact that the writers are not forcing every single character to be in every single episode. For example, this week we didn’t see Hiro, Ando, Nathan, or Tracy, who all played a pretty significant role in the premiere. Likewise, we’re yet to see Mohinder (and thank goodness for that!) This episode was about three things: Claire’s growth and HRG’s acceptance of that independence, Parkman’s descent, and the manipulation of Peter. The characters that didn’t fit into that story simply didn’t appear. And that’s how it should be.

I feel like last season did a lot of damage to Hiro’s character, and part of it was because the writers seemingly couldn’t think of a good story. So as a result, the world nearly ended because Hiro made a stupid decision out of boredom. I think Mohinder fell into a similar rut: there was a desire to have him appear on the show, and as a result he either did more of the same, or was acting completely out of character. Neither concept worked.

Frankly, at this point, I don’t think Mohinder even belongs on the show. Honestly, I still believe he should have been killed off at the conclusion of the “Villains” volume. It would have been an interesting twist on his character, as we’d ultimately learn that this seemingly noble scientist was actually more interested in one upping his father than helping people. This ultimately turned him into one of the monsters he was apparently trying to save. And, in the end, that was his downfall. Instead the writers were unable to pull the trigger, and as a result he ended up right where he started, only a lot stronger.

Anyway, about this week’s three story points. As I noted last week (and countless times before that), I’ve long considered Parkman to be one of the weakest characters on the show. But this new development, with Sylar taking up residence in his head, has been a lot of fun. As I said in my review of the premiere, it’s kinda interesting seeing Nathan existing in Sylar’s body, and Sylar living in Parkman’s head. I was initially skeptical of having Sylar appear at all this season, but the way they’ve handled it – thus far – has been great. I really loved how Sylar used Parkman’s ability against him (making him see and hear things that weren’t actually there), and I thought the subtle sounds of the ticking clock just after Parkman submitted and began reading people’s minds was excellent. I also couldn’t help but laugh when an exasperated Sylar yelled, “Did he just…. People actually say that?” in response to the perpetrator’s

I would have done one thing differently, though: I wouldn’t have had Angela have visions of Sylar, as I think it takes a bit of the urgency away from Parkman’s haunting. It’s like, Angela sees Sylar, yet she’s able to live her life with semi-regularity. But when Parkman begins seeing him, he goes absolutely bonkers.

Oh, and there’s one thing that I don’t quite understand. I’m guessing that those in Parkman’s support group don’t actually know he can read minds. As such, I assume that he’s leading people to believe that he’s a recovering alcoholic or drug addict. If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be a pretty big deal if he slipped. As in, if he just “used” – which, to me, sounds more like drugs than alcohol – wouldn’t certain precautions need to be taken before sending him in on a raid? A drug raid, no less?

Moving onto the Bennet story arc. I sort of cringed a bit when Claire threatened HRG that she’d banish him if he wiped Gretchen’s memory, because I couldn’t help but think, “again with this conflict?” but ultimately it proved to be an example of something I’m constantly begging for with this relationship: Some growth and maturity. Ultimately, Claire stood up for herself and, in a very adult manner, laid out how she wants to handle the situation. In the end, HRG relented. Part of me expected us to see the Haitian sneak through the window and wipe Gretchen’s memory while Claire was in the hallway talking to her dad on the phone, but instead we just learned that HRG had decided to respect her decision. He even apologized!

By the way, the ultra tense, feigned happy lunch date was wonderful. The glances between Claire and Gretchen, and HRG and Claire, were spot on. I loved the fact that you just KNEW HRG was completely wise to the fact that Gretchen knew about Claire’s abilities, but was putting on a show as the clueless, sweet father. While it can be fun not knowing how to read certain characters, being “in the know” for such acts can be just as enjoyable.

And, finally, we have the Peter portion of this week’s episode. Again, I had one of those moments when I said to myself, “No, not Peter getting manipulated by somebody AGAIN.” Between Nathan, his mother, his father, Adam, and just about anybody else who has the ability to smile and show him some affection, Peter’s been outwitted for practically the entire series (the lone exception, as best as I can tell, was the “Fugitives” volume). But they handled it pretty well, all things considered, with Peter taking a strong stance in his belief that he was being scammed. He was confident and sure, without those insecurities we saw over the first two seasons. It wasn’t until he was provided “evidence” that would have convinced most anybody that he finally relented. And even then, he handled things on his own terms. He didn’t cry to his mother or run to his brother. He faced up to what he had done and attempted to rectify it. Yes, he was still manipulated. But he wasn’t made out to look like a schmuck.

That being said, I really don’t have any interest in seeing Peter used as a pawn for evil deeds YET AGAIN.

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].
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And truth be told, I didn’t even mind last season. I thought it was a HUGE improvement over season two, particularly the “Fugitives” arc. Part of me wishes the actors and producers would take the Matthew Fox/Lost approach, and basically just say, “No, the critics are wrong. The show is still great. You’ll see.” And he was right. A lot of fans argued that the third season of Lost was weak – I don’t agree – but ultimately, I believe, those same fans would agree that it paid off in the grand scheme of things.

There’s owning up to things and there’s taking ownership. Last year those involved with Heroes rightly owned up to the previous season’s weaknesses. This year I would have preferred they taken ownership of what was an adequate and acceptable season. Did they capture that same magic we saw in season one? No – but they never will. So they shouldn’t even try. Using Lost as an example again, the writers aren’t trying to recreate the first season (time travel comments aside), they’re instead progressing the story. And that’s why I was partially disappointed to read that these characters are “going back” to living normal lives. I don’t want them to “go back” to anything. I want them to move forward – the one thing the show has constantly struggled to do.

Nonetheless, I have come into this premiere with a positive attitude. Admittedly, I am more skeptical than I once was. My greatest hope is that the writers will show some restraint, and the real, for me, will be whether Sylar appears. And if he does, in what capacity. Last season, I made the bold suggestion that they wait until the finale before we see him emerge from Nathan’s persona. I doubt that’ll happen, but I’m curious to see what sort of self-control they show.

For what it’s worth, I suggest everybody check out my blog later this week, as I’ll use the latest season of True Blood as the template Heroes should use. But until then, here’s my review of the premiere.

Personally, I thought the episode worked, partially because they didn’t attempt to outdo themselves. Yes, they’ve lost a lot of their audience, but hopefully they’ve come to the conclusion that people that still watch are going to watch pretty much no matter what. 24 has a similar mentality. They no longer have to “screw the pooch” in the premiere in order to ensure that they have an audience for the rest of the season. This was a fine set of episodes that told properly told us where the characters are and gave us a hint of where they’ll be going.

And I think what made the episode really successful was the strong focus on HRG. I’m very grateful that they kicked the season off with him and Claire on good terms, and drifted away from any indication that there could be trust issues between them. In fact, they seemed almost at peace with each other, both understanding what the other had to do to live their life. Their interaction, as it almost always is, was genuinely sweet. And I know a lot of people don’t like Claire, but I find her adorable. Oh, and it
was also beyond great seeing him and the Haitian working together again.

For that matter, I thought his budding relationship with Tracy – one of the weakest characters on the show – was fantastic. It actually made me like her character, whereas I beyond rolled my eyes when it was revealed that she survived in last year’s finale. I enjoy their mutual quest for redemption, and I just hope that the writers resist the urge to have one of them turn their back on this mission.

I always love the interactions between HRG and Peter. Ever since their “call me Noah” moment, it just seems like these two have a special bond. And it made total sense to me that Peter would be the person he would go to for back up. Even when they are seemingly on opposite sides – as they were for part of the Fugitives arc – there still seems to be a certain amount of trust between them.

Well, as you can see, Sylar was in this episode. And quite a lot. So far I’m cautiously accepting the way they’ve gone about it, with him being (for all we know) hallucinations shared by Parkman and Angela. And, if handled correctly, the idea of Nathan living in Sylar’s body, while Sylar’s living in Parkman’s body, could be very interesting.

But actually, my bigger complaint is with Nathan. I thought they laid on his identity crisis far too thickly. I would have preferred seeing him live his life normally, and having little things occur (like him reaching for his glass and it gliding towards him, unbeknownst to him) that might make him raise an eyebrow. But when he says stuff like, “it’s almost like my past is not my own,” it feels like a kindergartener is writing the show. And it doesn’t exactly make it seem like they think their audience is very intelligent.

I enjoyed the new carnival characters, however I can’t help but have that sinking feeling that we’ll see the same old thing happen: They’ll introduce new characters that are really fun and exciting – a great refresher from some of the bland original characters – only for them to be killed off. And see all of the original players survive.

One thing that did slightly disappoint me, though, was that they had Hiro successfully change the past. Purposely or not – and I suspect not – all of Hiro’s attempts at changing the past have failed. The result might have changed, but the event itself still occurred. Case in point: the first season finale. The explosion still occurred, Nathan just prevented it from killing all of those innocent people. Although I guess one might argue the same thing happened here. The event literally still took place, as the slushy did get knocked into the air, only this time adult Hiro took the ice, instead of his young sister. With that in mind, I guess I’m not even disappointed.

But haven’t we all had just about enough of Hiro going back in time and changing stuff? And does anybody else find it odd that he could be convinced to go back in time to save his sister’s dress, but couldn’t be talked into saving his own father’s life?

Matt Basilo has been writing for Inside Pulse since April 2005, providing his insight into popular television shows such as Lost, Heroes, and Smallville. You can visit his blog at [a case of the blog].
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