HEROES 2.9 – "Cautionary Tales"

Writer: Joe Pokaski
Director: Greg Yaitanes

Cast: Jack Coleman (Mr Bennet), Hayden Panettiere (Claire), Masi Oka (Hiro), Kristen Bell (Elle), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohinder), Greg Grunberg (Matt), James Kyson Lee (Ando), David Anders (Adam Monroe), Cristine Rose (Angela), George Takei (Kaito), Nicholas D'Agosto (West), Adair Tishler (Molly) & Stephen Tobolowsky (Bob)

Claire is upset when her father decides to move the family on, Mohinder teams up with Bob and Elle, Hiro travels back in time to save his father, and Matt's powers develop...

"Stings like a bitch, don't it."

-- Mr Bennet (Jack Coleman)

After a dull and distracted start to the season, Heroes is beginning to show some form. Cautionary Tales is one of the best episode because it survives on its own merit – without relying on gimmicks or outlandish developments. Instead, it just utilizes the best characters, ties them together with a father/child theme, and entertains through character moments and simpler storytelling.

Jack Coleman again proves he's the best actor working on the show, and Mr Bennet is easily the finest character. Here, Bennet decides to move his family on from Costa Verde, following the revelation his daughter Claire (Hayden Panettiere) has been secretly dating West (Nick D'Agosto). He also suspects West may be somehow responsible for his eventual demise – as predicted in a painting by Isaac Mendez.

Of course, Claire's rebellious side is getting stronger and she doesn't want to spend the rest of her life on the run. Things are also complicated because her dad once abducted her boyfriend when he was a child, and West now thinks she's part of a scheme against him. After Claire persuades him otherwise, West abducts his former abductor, by plucking Bennet into the air and pleading with him to be reasonable.

Elsewhere, Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy) continues to wander through the season, bumping into practically every character and still dithering over whether or not to believe Bob (Stephen Tobolowsky) is truly one of the "good guys". In fact, his allegiance continually shifts throughout Cautionary Tales, which would be funny if it wasn't so indicative of the show's ambiguity – which seems born out of indecision, not purpose.

Hiro (Masi Oka) finally gets a story that plays well to his development as a character, if not the joyous optimism that fueled season 1. Having returned to the present from Feudal Japan, Ando (James Kyson Lee) tells his friend about his father's death – at the hands of a hooded assassin in the premiere. Hiro uses his time-travelling ability to jump back a week and eavesdrop on Kaito (George Takei) and Angela Petrelli (Cristine Rose) on the Deveaux Building rooftop.

There follows quite an emotional reunion of father and son, particularly once Hiro realizes his Kaito accepts his imminent death and won't meddle with his destiny. To try and change his mind, Hiro whisks his father back in time 17 years, to the funeral of his wife – in an effort to remind him how painful death is for those left behind...

However, after meeting himself as a child (don't you just love time-travel?), Hiro realizes that his viewpoint is childish -- so returns Kaito to the rooftop to await his murderer. This subplot is a little tedious and one-note at times, but it's affecting where it counts, and provides the best psychological reasoning for Hiro to never simply jump back in time and "play god" too much. As I've always complained, the ease of Hiro's time-travel is very problematic for the show, so it's nice to be given a slightly more plausible reason why Hiro won't interfere with history too much.

Amusingly -- just when it seems that Hiro won't use his powers like a normal human being -- he returns to the rooftop and freezes time so he can identity his father's murderer – Takezo Kensei/Adam Monroe (David Anders). This is, of course, a massive revelation for poor Hiro – but sadly not for the audience, who are often one-step ahead of Heroes' revelations this year.

The weakest storyline revolves around Matt (Greg Grunberg), who is still trying to crack Kaito's murder investigation, despite the fact Angela Petrelli has confessed to the deed. This subplot mainly serves to demonstrate Matt's development of his mind-reading power, into a form of mind-control. It appears that he can plant an idea into someone's mind and will them to act on it – which comes in handy for getting Molly (Adair Tishler) to eat her cereal, or getting hard-faced Angela to tell the truth for once!

The most interesting element of Matt's story is the undercurrent that he's becoming more like his villainous father. Both Parkman's walked out on their families (Matt recently ditched Janice and their baby), and both have immoral mind-controlling abilities they're not afraid to use for their perceived "greater good". Is Matt headed down a very dark path now – having extracted the name "Victoria Pratt" from Angela by a form of "mental abuse"?

Cautionary Tales' highlights come thick and fast in the Bennet dilemma, with Bob dispatching daughter Elle (Kristen Bell; good fun) and Mohinder to capture Claire - so they can use her regenerative blood to cure Niki. If only they'd just ask politely, eh? Claire would be more than willing to heal the world, make it a better place, for you and for me, and the... oh, you get the picture.

But no – it's not long before Claire is captured by Bob – although Mr Bennet manages to capture Elle using West, then inhibits her electricity-wielding ability by sitting her in Mr Muggles' doggy-bath! It again highlights just how calm, collected, professional, intelligent and downright cool Bennet is – which is no mean feat for a character unable to hide behind surface level super-powers...

I only wish Sendhil Ramamurthy could perform Coleman's trick as Mohinder, but it's not likely. After a "Claire for Elle" exchange goes wrong at Imperial Beach – Claire and West are swatted from the sky by a bolt of electric from Elle, and Bennet is killed by Mohinder before he eliminates Bob. D'oh!

But don't worry – Bob manages to extract some of Claire's magic blood, and uses it to restore Bennet back to life by the episode's climax. Did you really think the writers would ditch their best character? And since when did Issac Mendez ever paint anything you couldn't reinterpret?

Bennet's resurrection also highlights another problem for Heroes (to sit alongside too-powerful Peter) – namely, that death itself isn't to be feared in this universe now. Hiro could save people from any fate (well, if he so desired) and Claire/Adam have "Lazarus blood". Both destroy any sense of finality when a character dies, don't you think?

Overall, Cautionary Tales is one of the more enjoyable episodes this season, and part of a post-episode 6 run that has seen the quality rise. I still think season 2 is awash with problems that can't be shaken off now -- but at least the sense of pace and fun is coming back. It helped enormously that this episode limited itself to a handful of characters, including the always-excellent Coleman, and even managed to resonate with the parental angle (Bob/Elle, Bennet/Claire, Hiro/Kaito and Matt/Maury).

Great stuff; with Kristen Bell in a bikini, so what more do you want?


19 November 2007
NBC, 9/8c pm