WRITER: Adam Armus & Kay Foster DIRECTOR: Greg Beeman
CAST: Hayden Panettiere (Claire), Jack Coleman (Mr Bennet), Milo Ventimiglia (Peter), James Kyson Lee (Ando Masahashi), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohinder), Nora Zehetner (Eden), Ali Larter (Niki/Jessica), Leonard Betts (D.L), Noah Gray-Cabey (Micah), Thomas Dekker (Zach), Danielle Savre (Jackie), Adrian Pasdar (Nathan), Tawny Cypress (Simone), Masi Oka (Hiro), Santiago Cabrera (Isaac), Erick Avari (Chandra), Javin Reid (Sanjog), Jayma Mays (Charlie) & Jimmy Jean-Louis (The Haitian)
Peter finds Isaac's missing painting, leading him to Texas to prevent Claire's death. Meanwhile, Mohinder tries to make sense of his dreams..."Save The Cheerleader, Save The World" has been the series' knowingly silly mantra since future-Hiro appeared in Collision, and now Peter Petrelli finally gets his chance to be a hero.
I expected Peter's quest to find indestructible cheerleader Claire to last much longer, which is another example of how quickly Heroes is rattling along with its stories. It's safe to assume that the New York explosion seen in episode 2 will be involved in the season finale, but the Sylar sub-plot takes an intriguing turn that I wasn't expecting so soon...
Heroes is certainly rough around the edges, lacking the assured style and written quality of other series. The writers almost scramble to set-up each episode, sometimes ignoring previous events (Matt's convenience store "hold-up"), writing characters into a dead-end direction before lurching them back into line (D.L and Micah on the run), characters tread water indefinitely (Hiro in Vegas), or are just constantly mishandled (Simone, Isaac, etc).
But its problems are actually quite endearing. Heroes is built for pure entertainment, and does its utmost to make each episode as exciting and mysterious as it can. The ratings have been huge in the States, making Heroes one of the year's sole success stories. Maybe audiences are becoming bored with the drip-feed style popularized by Lost?
Homecoming's story benefits from the huge expectation that has been building in previous weeks, and will surely thrill anyone who's been following the show. It's almost a "half-way finale" and essential viewing for fans.
Hayden Panettiere is adorable and convincing as Claire, while Milo Ventimiglia is growing on me as Peter, becoming less weedy and more believable as an Everyman hero. It's about time James Kyson Lee got a mention as Ando, an actor who has done well with a supporting role as Hiro's friend. Nora Zehetner's Eden is also evolving nicely, her "mind control" power further confirmed in this episode, and now sporting a sexier look.
Homecoming's focus is on Peter's life-saving mission to Odessa, but we're also given more information on Mohinder -- still in India trying to rebuild faith in his father's evolutionary theories. I'm disappointed by Mohinder's role in the show so far, as his character has undergone a jarring change from believe to skeptic that was uncalled for. However, thanks to some silly dream sequences (how often does he fall asleep at his computer?), I'm hoping the writers get a handle on the character and use him better in future.
In conclusion, Homecoming is a resounding success because of its central Claire/Peter/Sylar storyline, which builds a nice head of steam and culminates in an enthralling sequence with psycho Sylar attacking Claire in High School. It's a moment fans have been waiting for, and it comes in surprisingly blood-soaked fashion! The fallout to these pivotal events is disappointing given all the expectation, but that's probably to be expected.
We're not even half-way through the season, and if you're not yet gripped by Heroes' abundance of likeable characters, exciting action, breakneck pace, thrilling cliffhangers and sense of fun... well, you can't have a pulse.
