Director: Paul Edwards
Cast: Greg Grunberg (Matt Parkman), Ali Larter (Niki Sanders), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohinder Suresh), Hayden Panettiere (Claire Bennet), Jack Coleman (Noah Bennet), Dania Ramirez (Maya Herrera), Noah Gray-Cabey (Micah Sanders), Dana Davis (Monica), Zachary Quinto (Sylar), Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli), James Kyson Lee (Ando Masahashi), Adair Tishler (Molly Walker), David Anders (Takeso Kensei), Nick D'Agosto (West), Shalim Ortiz (Alejandro Herrera), Katie Carr (Caitlin), Dominic Keating (Will), Holt McCallany (Ricky), Eriko Tamura (Yaeko), Stephen Tobolowsky (Bob), Rachel Kimsey (Michelle/Candice) & Nichelle Nichols (Nana)
Alejandro is arrested, Mohinder tries to find Isaac's missing paintings, Hiro helps Kensei with his power, Niki and Micah leave Vegas, and West reveals his secret to Claire...West: You can skydive without a parachute!
Claire: You can skydive without a plane!
There's not much to love about Kindred - it's just a series of occasionally likable moments. The script treads water and half-heartedly sets up new storylines (for Niki and Sylar), but you could easily watch the last 10 minutes and acquire all the information you need.
The Herrera twins are still suck in the series most boring plot since Niki sat inside a padded cell. Alejandro (Shalim Ortiz) is arrested by Mexican police and thrown into jail, where one-woman contagion Maya (Dania Ramirez) uses her power to free him. It's a dry, simple subplot that does nothing to endear these new characters to us. The only insight gleamed is that Maya's power seems to only kick-in when she's under stress.
Competing for "the most boring subplot" trophy is Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy), whose infiltration of the Company has to be the most unlikely development of season 2. Here, Mohinder has been given Issac Mendez's loft space to use as a high-tech lab. I guess the producers really like that set, eh?
Speaking of Isaac, the writers clearly miss using the artist's precognitive powers as easy foreshadowing. So there are now "eight missing paintings" Mohinder must uncover for Mr Bennet (Jack Coleman), with the first having already predicted Kaito's murder. How many paintings did this guy do? Maybe they'll discover a flickbook he made that dramatizes season 3 in stick-men form? It all seems very backwards-looking to me...
Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) continues his Oirish adventure, forced to help a band of thieves steal cash from a local bookmaker's. It's all rather perfunctory, only serving to establish Peter can't summon his powers at will and, in the end, isn't even sure he wants to open the box containing his real identity...
The whole subplot is mostly interesting for Peter's sadistic smile when using telekinesis on a turncoat (will he turn bad?) and its closing visual, where a tattoo of the helix motif vanishes from Peter's skin. Curious.
The comic relief from Hiro (Masi Oka) doesn't work in Kindred, as the cherubic office drone helps Kenzei (David Anders) accept his regenerative abilities. Hiro and Kenzei make an intriguing partnership, but Hiro's stewardship of the reluctant hero is forced and unbelievable here. How on earth does Hiro manage to teleport to the exact locations of mythical Japanese legends?
Even odder, Hiro sends Ando (James Kyson Lee) a message from the past, as tiny scrolls hidden in the hilt of Kenzei's sword, which Ando has in the present. While it's a fun use of time-travel lore, quite why Hiro can't just return to the present seconds after he left, or why nobody has ever looked inside a sword compartment marked "Ando, Open" in 400 years, is a bit of a stretch!
Usually in Heroes, Claire's storylines provide a heart and humanity to the show, as she's the only character who acts plausibly with her power. Hayden Panettiere also has a wonderful rapport with her screen father, who also ties her closer to the broader mythology.
But, after a promising few episodes, her storyline stumbles here, thanks to awkward scenes in a classroom with West (Nick D'Agosto). It all essentially boils down to West delivering a "different" speech, before whisking Claire up into the sunny Californian skies -- echoing Superman and Lois Lane, but with worse greenscreen.
For fans, the only really engaging storyline in Kindred involves the return of brain-muncher Sylar (Zachary Quinto), whose character may have been robbed of his mystique in season 1, but who remains an enjoyably perverted, villainous presence.
Following his near-fatal stabbing by Hiro in season 1's finale, Sylar awakens on a beach with illusion-caster Candice (now calling herself Michelle), played by Rachel Kimsey, who replaces Missy Peregrym. It's lucky for the producers that Peregrym's character is so easy to replace, given her ability! Of course, the exotic beach is just an illusion, and Sylar is actually in a drab shack in the middle of nowhere, minus his collected superpowers.
As I've been saying since season 1 ended; Peter, Hiro and Sylar are all too powerful for Heroes to sustain dramatically. In dealing with Hiro, they writers just ignore the inherent problems with a time/space-hopper and Peter's amnesia is a temporary stop-gap, but they've wisely decided to deny Sylar an easy return to former glory.
After a cute Watchmen gag (a yellow smiley on a mug -- well, at least someone acknowledges they've read Alan Moore's work!), Sylar kills Candice/Michelle and she reverts to her overweight natural form (a logic they missed in season 1), but finds he can't acquire her power...
To complete an episode of minor incidents, Niki (Ali Larter) and Micah (Noah Gray-Cabey) make their season 2 debuts -- carrying baggage as Heroes' most underdeveloped, disappointing and disliked characters.
Thankfully husband-father D.L is confirmed as dead, but in a continuing device of Kindred, the Sanders' subplot only provides set-ups: the introduction of Micah's Nana (Star Trek's Nichelle Nichols) and Niki's decision to ask Company man Bob (Stephen Tobolowsky) to rid her of evil doppleganger Jessica. Yes, she's the Rogue character from X-Men III, folks...
Overall, Kindred is a series of disappointing plots, most only laying groundwork for subsequent episodes. Of course, this kind of development work is necessary, but J.J Philbin's script doesn't deliver an entertaining, rewarding episode on which to hang them. Incidentally, is anyone else concerned there are now two new characters who share other heroes' powers? Are the writers that creatively bankrupt already? Someone force Tim Kring to read a comic-book...
Basically, Kindred finds Heroes clicking its heels, when it should be launching into a sprint. While the show was a phenomenal hit last year, many people felt let cheated by the weak finale, and season 2's tentative steps forward need a firmer direction. Put simply: where's this year's "bomb"?
8 October 2007
NBC, 9/8c pm
