WRITER: Jesse Alexander DIRECTOR: Greg Beeman
CAST: Hayden Panettiere (Claire), Jack Coleman (Mr Bennet), Masi Oka (Hiro), Milo Ventimiglia (Peter), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohinder), Adrian Pasdar (Nathan), Ali Larter (Nikki/Jessica), Greg Grunberg (Matt), James Kyson Lee (Ando), Zachary Quinto (Sylar), Leonard Roberts (D.L), Missy Peregrym (Candice), Noah Gray-Cabey (Micah), Cristine Rose (Angela), Eric Roberts (Thompson), Matthew John Armstrong (Ted), Rena Sofer (Heidi Petrelli), Adair Tishler (Molly), George Takei (Kaito Nakamura), Clea DuVall (Agent Audrey Hanson), Malcolm McDowell (Mr Linderman), Justin Evans (Simon Petrelli) & Jackson Wurth (Monty Petrelli)
Hiro takes his sword to be fixed, Mr Linderman's plan for Micah is put into action, Nathan prepares for the election result, Ted is arrested and Matt helps Mr Bennet sneak into the Kirby Plaza...The penultimate episode of the season is a mixed bag of contrivance, confusion and cool veneer. I think the main problem with Landslide is that the writers are struggling to sidestep the superhero-savvy audience, with events becoming predictable.
We've known things will build towards an attack on New York since Hiro's leap into the future back in episode 3. Interest was successfully cultivated in learning how this future event would come true, or be averted, with the rise of various peoples' powers.
The recent flashforward episode Five Years Gone (no matter how exciting in itself) has seriously undermined a lot of expectation that was building nicely. So much so that the contemporary events seem to be just going through the motions.
There's still a hazy question mark over who will eventually (maybe) destroy the city, although the choice of three (Peter, Sylar or Ted) is narrowed even further in Landslide. Elsewhere, the Molly Walker plot has been a neat link to the early season and sets up a dramatic moment here between Molly, Mohinder and Mr Bennet. But beyond that, Nathan is resigned to burying his head in the sand now and Micah's tech-controlling power ensures the titular landslide victory. If you didn't see that coming, you have no imagination...
Landslide puts a major foot wrong with Hiro, as his stern father Kaito (George Takei) returns in a terribly contrived manner. It appears he's been hanging around sword-repair shops on the offchance Hiro might snap his weapon! Anyway, he proceeds to teach Hiro how to fight properly, turning Hiro into an accomplished swordsman in, ooh... twenty minutes? They could so easily have had Hiro freeze time and spend weeks or months training, so why didn't they?
Now all the characters are in New York, most are wandering around waiting for the finale to, hopefully, end things on a high. The overall plot has been strung out too long now, not helped by inconsistencies and illogical treatment of its characters. Why didn't Matt know Bennet is planning to kill a person, not a computer, when he can read thoughts? Why didn't Ted put up any kind of fight against Sylar? How did D.L get behind Mr Linderman so fast and unseen, even with his "phasing" ability? Why does Peter put up with traffic jams when he can fly?
Of course, some answers are obvious -- a few characters' powers are too powerful for the show. Hiro would be unstoppable if he ever becomes adept at freezing time and teleporting, but there's only so many times the writers can have him lose his nerve and put faith in a sword placebo. If Peter used his multiple powers realistically, he'd have Sylar captured by now. After all, he can freeze time like Hiro and won't get nervous enough to unfreeze time when he goes in for the kill. If he leeches peoples' powers just be being near them, then why doesn't he have all of Sylar's powers? He's been in close proximity quite a few times now.
Still, for all its disappointments and niggling errors, Landslide is still entertaining and fun. I just expected more after the phenomenal and emotionally mature Company Man raised the bar. Oh well. As ever, the visuals are superb for a television show (watch Sylar flip that van), there are fun reveals of information (sexy Missy Peregrym isn't Candice's real appearance...) and even a few shocking deaths to spice things up.
Overall, Heroes has enjoyed a thrilling and enjoyable run but, to paraphrase Spider-Man, with great expectations comes great responsibility. I think the fans deserve a more surprising and exciting end than Landslide would indicate we're going to get.
Did the show hit its narrative peak seven episodes ago? It certainly seems we've been running on fumes for a while, but I'm hopeful next week's finale will succeed. Let's be honest; if they mess up the finale after 22 weeks of careful build-up, that would truly be a disaster.
But, right now, I'm less interested in how the "human bomb" scenario will conclude and more intrigued to see how Heroes could develop into a second season...
