HEROES 2.7 – "Out Of Time"

Writer: Aron Eli Coleite
Director: Daniel Attias

Cast: Milo Ventimiglia (Peter), David Anders (Kensei/Adam Munroe), James Kyson Lee (Ando), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohinder), Greg Grunberg (Matt), Ali Larter (Niki/Jessica), Hayden Panettiere (Claire), Jack Coleman (Mr. Bennet), Masi Oka (Hiro), Cristine Rose (Angela Petrelli), Adair Tishler (Molly), Jimmy Jean-Louis (The Haitian), Eriko Tamura (Yaeko), Nicholas D'Agosto (West), Ashley Crow (Sandra Bennet), Katie Carr (Caitlin), Stephen Tobolowsky (Bob), Randall Bentley (Lyle Bennet), Alan Blumenfeld (Maury Parkman), Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Swordsmith), Mark Harelik (DHS Officer), Leonard Betts (D.L), (Kenji Nakamura (Camp Supervisor) & Timon Kyle Durrett (Hazmat Guy)

Peter and Caitlin learn about a devastating virus in the future, Hiro is captured by Kensei, and the heroes grapple with Matt's father...

Nikki: Your nose; does it hurt?
Mohinder: Only when I breathe.

I don't want to get too carried away, but Out Of Time is definitely the best episode of season 2 so far. Of course, it benefits from having a sizable back-story to play with (no matter how slow and ponderous its development), but the episode makes a noticeable impact.

Out Of Time sees Hiro's historical story reach a conclusion, now he's been captured by treacherous friend Kensei (David Anders) and plausibly rendered powerless by drugging him with opium fumes...

While this entire story has been a silly distraction, Hiro's eventual escape with love-interest Yaeko (Eriko Tamura), culminating a sword-fight with childhood hero Kensei, all works very well. It's given particular resonance by the episode's close, when it's revealed that (as many suspected), Kensei is immortal and living in the present day...

The other time-traveller, Peter (Milo Ventimiglia), is now in a desolate New York with Caitlin (Katie Carr), having accidentally transported himself to summer 2008, where he discovers a virus has wiped out most of the world's population...

It's nice to see the stakes have raised to a genuinely global level for season 2 (instead of focusing exclusively on one city), and the post-apocalyptic sequences are well-constructed and atmospheric, with Peter and Caitlin's quick capture by a hazmat team particularly chilling.

In the present day, most of the heroes are busy trying to deal with Matt's father Maury (Alan Blumenfeld), who's revealed as merely the right-hand man of mastermind Adam Munroe (who gathered the "original heroes" and made Mr Linderman his disciple). Original hero Bob (Stephen Tobolowsky) is next on Munroe's hit list, so Maury has been dispatched to carry out the murder.

A large chunk of the episode is given over to Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy), Bob, Matt (Greg Grunberg), Niki (Ali Larter) and Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) trying to stop Maury – although Bob is adamant only Matt stands a chance, as he has the same mental powers as his father: the ability to control any sense, action and thought made by a human mind...

In some fun moments, Maury projects a vision of Niki's dead husband D.L (special guest star Leonard Roberts), provoking her to act as a brainwashed puppet in his assassination attempt, before Matt manages to project himself and Molly (Adair Tishler) into his father's personal nightmare – the Parkman family home he walked out on years ago...

In the weakest subplot, Claire (Hayden Panettiere) is falling deeper in love with West (Nick D'Agosto), whilst trying to keep her father's identity a secret to him, as Mr Bennet (Jack Coleman) was "the man with the horn-rimmed glasses" that abducted West. The story's not awful, but it's hardly the most engaging plot at the moment -- although the foreshadowing that West will be responsible for making Claire commit patricide, is quite compelling.

The Claire/West story is actually illustrative of a problem Heroes has in general – the show has great long-term ideas, but while the beginnings and ending are fun and exciting, the middles are frustratingly padded. I understand writing 20-odd episodes is tough going, but having a better spread of climaxes throughout the season has to be high on the agenda.

Nearing the end of episode 7, Hiro's friendship with Kensei comes to a literally explosive end, and the time-traveller returns to the present day and meets Ando (James Kyson Lee) in his office cubicle.

Yes, for the purposes of episodic drama, Hiro doesn't think to return a nanosecond after he left, but I'm okay with that. But did we ever find out when Hiro had time to write those scrolls and hide them in Kensei's sword for Ando to read in the future?

Maury is trapped in his own nightmare by his son, and Molly wakes up from her coma, although Niki only shakes free of Maury's mind-control by stabbing herself with the Shanti Virus to take away her powers. Unfortunately, Mohinder's natural antibodies don't work to revert the process in her, as it seems the virus has mutated into an immune strain. So is Niki the Patient Zero for the 2008 pandemic Peter's caught in the middle of?

Soon after, Mohinder admits to Bob about his undercover mission to bring down the Company from the inside with Mr Bennet's help -- although that particular mission just never seemed to be headed anywhere, anyway!

It's intriguing to see the Company being increasingly treated as the misunderstood good guys, while Mr Bennet is fast-becoming a dangerous rogue. This uncertainty is fun, although it's a little strange how quickly Mohinder's forgotten that Mr Linderman (and, by association, the Company) had planned to allow NYC to blow-up just a few months ago!

Bob seems to take Mohinder's revelation on the chin, and immediately informs him the only hope to find a cure for the Shanti Virus' new incurable strain, is to find Claire Bennet – whose regenerative abilities may be of help.

I guess it's "find the cheerleader, cure the world"?

Out Of Time ends with West discovering Claire's father is his abductor, while her father discovers Claire's lied to him about having a boyfriend. I'm still not sure why Mr Bennet doesn't just tell Claire about Isaac Mendez's painting that seems to show her killing him, as the future can be changed (as the season 1 finale proved) and she's aware there are super-powered people in the world. So why hold back on her?

Peter, having met with his mother Angela (Cristine Rose) in the future, witnesses Caitlin being deported back to Ireland, before accidentally zapping back in time to present day Montreal... only this time, the mysterious Adam Munroe is there, in the shape of a youthful Kensei...

Overall, I had a lot of fun with this episode and it better evoked the memories of early-season 1. All the plots were significantly developed, things were focused, distracting elements were brought to a close, most of the disappointing new characters were absent, the threat was made global and frightening, and we finally have a climactic scene that filled me with eagerness to watch episode 8, instead of ambivalence...

So, was this just an inevitably enjoyable climax to a disappointing half-dozen episodes -- or the real beginning of season 2 now that a handful of problems have been fixed? One thing's for sure, Out Of Time is the first episode that brings a sense of direction and purpose to the table... and Hiro having unwittingly created a super-villain in the past is a great idea.


5 November 2007
NBC, 9/8c pm