WRITER: Jesse Alexander DIRECTOR: Donna Deitch
CAST: Greg Grunberg (Matt), Hayden Panettiere (Claire), Ali Larter (Niki), Leonard Roberts (D.L Hawkins), Milo Ventimiglia (Peter), Adrian Pasdar (Nathan), Clea Duvall (FBI Agent Audrey Hanson), Noah Gray-Cabey (Micah), Masi Oka (Hiro), Tawny Cypress (Simone Deveaux), Elizabeth Lackey (Janice Parkman), James Kyson Lee (Ando Masahashi), Richard Roundtree (Charles Deveaux), Cristine Rose (Angela Petrelli), Rena Sofer (Heidi Petrelli) & Randall Bentley (Lyle)
D.L and Micah are on the run, Peter discovers who bought a painting that foretells the future, and Matt is back in pursuit of serial-killer Sylar...Ex-Alias writer Jesse Alexander pens his first episode of Heroes and brings the same clarity Star Trek's Bryan Fuller managed with Collision.
The early days of any new TV show are difficult, as new writers are never sure what the show's "feel" is until a few episodes have been released and audiences respond. But Heroes is a huge ratings success for NBC and a full season is secured, so things should improve as the writers fine-tune based on reviews (already the Petrelli clan's role has been lessened, despite being set up as unofficial leads). Heroes is pure ensemble at heart and, given its comic-book nature, characters should be able to come and go for years to come.
Nothing To Hide reacquaints us with some periphery characters unseen for quite some time, most notably Nathan Petrelli's family and terminally ill Charles Deveaux. It's good to see the show developing more character relationships, instead of relying on super-powered heroics and improbable coincidences. A meal with the Petrelli family and the reveal that Nathan is responsible for his wheelchair-bound wife's disability packs more interest than special effects.
That said, there is one unlikely moment that requires suspension of disbelief -- when D.L and Micah bump into Hiro and Ando on the road. Are all heroes fates to keep meeting up accidentally? It's becoming increasingly implausible that a handful of people keep running into each other like this! Oh, and Hiro regains some of his English fluency again!
The excellent Greg Grunberg continues his story as telepathic cop Matt, back helping FBI Agent Audrey Hanson (Duvall) track serial-killer Sylar. In true Heroes style, more progress is made in their investigation than you'd expect, leading to a meeting with Ted Sprague -- a man also blessed/cursed with super-powers.
I'm a firm believer that much of Heroes' success is down to its pace. The recent trend in television has been continuing serials, a movement spearheaded by Lost; but while Lost drip-feeds its story, Heroes gulps it down. Its possibly a lesson learned from last year's Invasion (great show, but one that moved too slowly for its first 12 episodes and lost potential viewers). I have no idea if Heroes can maintain its breakneck momentum, but for now it's a rollercoaster that isn't threatening to derail just yet.
Noah Gray-Cabey is a young actor who's been doing sterling work as Micah Sanders, the child prodigy of Niki and D.L. Gray-Cabey is one of those great child actors who doesn't overplay his role and become irritating. He just performs very calmly and succinctly and is a real asset to the show. In Nothing To Hide we finally learn that Micah does indeed have a power of his own... although quite why the Sanders family are so super-charged is anyone's guess!
There is also an excellent special effect that deserves a mention, when Hiro freezes time during a car explosion. These time-freezes have been achieved brilliantly by the visual team, and they deserve some recognition. Another creative piece of production design appears with a fire-ravaged bedroom; chilling and believable work.
Overall, Nothing To Hide is an episode with greater control over its story and writing than most other episodes. There's the odd lapse (Matt's convenience store hold-up is glossed over from last time), but this is more to do with the creative strain of creating numerous continuing episodes with different writers. Jesse Alexander's script doesn't get much wrong, and puts meat on quite a few character's bones (mainly the Petrelli family), while there's assured direction by Donna Deitch.
This is a very entertaining episode, with the emphasis on character, that contains plenty of new revelations for fans.
