HEROES 2.5 - "Fight Or Flight"

Writers: Joy Blake & Melissa Blake
Director: Lesli Linka Glatter

Cast: David Anders (Kensei), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohinder), Dana Davis (Monica), James Kyson Lee (Ando), Masi Oka (Hiro), Milo Ventimiglia (Peter), Adrian Pasdar (Nathan), Noah Gray-Cabey (Micah), Ali Larter (Niki/Jessica), Greg Grunberg (Matt), Jack Coleman (Mr Bennet), Kristen Bell (Elle), Jimmy Jean-Louis (The Haitian), Adair Tishler (Molly), Katie Carr (Caitlin), Holt McCallany (Ricky), Dominic Keating (Will), Eriko Tamura (Yaeko), Alan Blumenfeld (Mr Parkman) & Stephen Tobolowsky (Bob)

A woman named Elle searches for Peter, Ando reads more about Hiro's exploits in the past, Matt looks for his father, and Monica tests her power...

"Peter, just because you don’t remember your past,

it doesn’t mean you don’t have one..."

-- Caitlin (Katie Carr)

The overall drive of season 2 is sorely lacking, with the cast riddled by characters serving no discernible purpose, new characters engaged in self-discovery that now seem quite pat, and old favourites are stuck in meandering subplots.

There's a tentative nature to this series, as if the writers are so wary of falling into last year's trap (writing fast-and-furious escapades that rarely resulted in satisfying conclusions), they've backed off entirely from that style. This was always going to be a "difficult second album", but the quality of writing on Heroes just isn't strong enough to sustain a slowly-unfolding mystery. It's better to provide the rollercoaster energy of last year, warts and all, if the other option is this tedious drip-feed...

Regardless, Matt (Greg Grunberg) is joined by Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) in an effort to confront his father in Philadelphia, as Mr Parkman (Alan Blumenfeld) is believed to be the "Nightmare Man" from now-unconscious Molly's dreams. After busting into his estranged father's apartment, Matt and Nathan encounter a frightened, overweight, nonthreatening old man – similarly marked for assassination by a helix-symbol photo of himself...

After establishing Mr Parkman can also reads minds (after Matt's attempt to extract information results in squealing "feedback"), his father shows his true colours by trapping Matt and Nathan in a hallucinated nightmare – Matt in prison, confronted by ex-wife Janice and a crying baby; Nathan stuck in a post-apocalyptic New York, fighting a radiation-scarred doppelganger...

It's interesting to learn from Mr Parkman that powers can be developed, as a progression of powers and character's capabilities is exactly what's required now. Obviously, Matt could become quite a skilled telepath if his father's any indication, but what about some of the others? Will Nathan be able to levitate objects? Could Claire one day heal other peoples' wounds?

Mr Parkman himself has a quite frightening power, but I think it's clear he's not the season's chief villain (well, unless he faked his own death card). More than likely he's under the auspices of some greater evil – and that's probably where he's scurried off to, now people are onto him.

The rest of the episode consists of rather humdrum developments. Monica (Dana Davis) refuses to identify the robber she fought off last week, as he's a dangerous crack-head and she fears a reprisal attack. As the overarching point of most characters on Heroes is to become heroic, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before she does the right thing to help her community...

Micah (Noah Gray-Cabey) soon notices Monica's new power – after she copycats his piano playing – so reveals his own machine-controlling ability to her. The rest of the plot is taken up with Monica testing her newfound talent -- by skipping and mimicking a Bruce Lee movie.

It's an entertaining distraction, primarily because of Davis' bright performance, but you can't help feeling Heroes has done all this "ordinary people discovering they have extraordinary powers" shtick. We want something new now; some real development and progression for the show. Oh, and I had to laugh when Micah assured his cousin these powers are "a good thing"; as his father was killed, mother developed an evil alter-ego, and he became personally embroiled in a plot to destroy New York! Isn't he even the slightest bit hesitant about these powers now?

Over in Ireland, Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) is still refusing to open the box that contains clues to his real identity. His relationship with barmaid Caitlin (Katie Carr) is also fast-progressing, tethering him to Ireland indefinitely. By now, this storyline is losing what little energy it once had, although it perked up slightly thanks to the debut of Elle (Kristen Bell) -- a beautiful blonde, apparently working for The Company (or "daddy", at least), who's able to control electromagnetism and is looking for Peter. How does she know he's in Ireland? Did her employers send him there? If so -- why?

Kristen Bell, a familiar face to Veronica Mars fans, is certainly given a memorable power to wield, and acquits herself well as the unofficial replacement for Nora Zehetner. Bell's a talented performer, so I'm sure she'll do well on the show, acting against type as a sexy femme fatale.

By far the worst subplot, there to obviously kill time, concerns Ando (James Kyson Lee) taking Hiro's scrolls to an expert to clean them up for reading. Again, the scrolls are used as a flashback device to Hiro (Masi Oka) and his unexciting adventures in Feudal Japan...

Here, it's sketchily explained that Hiro has been helping Kensei (David Anders) and Yaeko (Eriko Tamura) find Whitebeard's camp – but I'm having difficulty finding pleasure in fictional legends I have no investment in. Why couldn't Hiro participate in real history the audience have a working knowledge of?

If the use of Kensei has some bearing on Heroes' mythology – that's fine, but can we be thrown some scraps now, please? I thought the premiere's opening solar eclipse, appearance of the helix-symbol on Kensei's flag, and Kensei's regenerating ability would all have some historical baring on the show – but so far, nothing. It seems Hiro, the show's best character, is being ridiculously wasted in a wholly incidental plot.

Overall, Fight Or Flight is a half-relevant plot with a smattering of developments elsewhere – Mohinder, Niki and Mr Bennet are particularly ill-served by blink-and-miss scenes. It's not terrible, but it's not particularly exciting, and after so many missed opportunities, I'm beginning to wonder if season 2 actually has anything up its sleeve to ensure further loyalty.

I'm hopeful the season's disparate plots will begin to converge and make sense, but I think it's been a mistake to keep audiences in the dark for so long: it's not compelling and mysterious; it's just vague and frustrating.


22 October 2007
NBC, 9/8c pm