Director: Jeannot Szwarc
Mohinder
Spoilers. Jesse Alexander, who wrote this episode, was recently sacked along with his fellow writer-producer Jeph Loeb. Both men have worked on Heroes since it began, and were part of the creative triangle with Tim Kring. Is this episode damning evidence for the decision to axe Alexander? Actually, yes…
"Eris Quod Sum" ("you will be what I am") is a prime example of Heroes' worst habit: throwing a slew of half-baked ideas and situations at the screen, before leaning on the special FX and cheap "surprises" to keep viewers watching. Dumb fun has been the base setting for season 3 thus far, but episode 7 is just dumb-dumb. Let's see what the circus got up to this week:
Mohinder, Maya & Arthur: Idiot egghead Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy) flees from his lab with the cocooned Maya (Dania Ramirez), after Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) and Tracy (Ali Larter) are helped in their escape by the arrival of Mr. Bennett (Jack Coleman) and his new partner Meredith (Jessalyn Gilsig).
After assumedly experiencing guilt off-screen, Mohinder then travels to the Pinehearst Company for help, where Arthur (Robert Forster) rids Maya of her debilitating power to kill people when she cries black tears. After that, it's time for Mohinder to be persuaded to help Arthur perfect Kaito's power-bestowing formula…
I'm not surprised to see Ramirez given her marching orders. She might reappear down the line, but I cant see it happening now she's lost her one vaguely interesting trait: her power. Still, Ramirez always looked mega-hot in tight white trousers and can lay claim to having the most glistening lips on TV. I'm sure she'll find work elsewhere; hopefully in a series that actually has a decent character for her to play.
It's become a cliché how easily Mohinder can be persuaded to help bad-guys, so at least writer Jesse Alexander thought to reference that fact here. Even so, you only have to show Mohinder a chalkboard of equations and mention "saving the world" to get him doing whatever the hell you want. Arthur knows this.
Claire & Elle: A big chunk of this episode is dedicated to super-blondes Claire (Hayden Panettiere) and Elle (Kristen Bell); the latter of whom was introduced as a kind of spiritual evil opposite of Claire, with a similar daddy's girl back-story. Considering the "Villains" title of this Volume, I would hope there's a plan to have Claire turn villainous as Elle turns heroic, but because we're only five episodes away from the climax of "Villains" and Bell's role has been reduced because her career is taking off elsewhere, I doubt that'll happen. Just as much as I doubt the writers' ability to have made Claire's downfall from perky blonde cheerleader to her raven-haired bitch at all plausible.
Here, Elle arrives at the Bennett's asking for help because her electrical power is malfunctioning and causing her extreme pain. Claire deduces that her own power must be similarly faulty (explaining her recent loss of pain sensation), so the pair form an uneasy alliance and travel together to Pinehearst for treatment.
Arthur, Peter & Sylar: Now that Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) has been drained of his power by his evil father, the comatose Angela (Cristine Rose) enters Sylar's dreams and asks him to spring Peter from Pinehearst. She can enter dreams now? Was this always part of her power, or have the writers just added it to get themselves out of a tight spot? Anyway, Sylar (Zachary Quinto) escapes from his "impenetrable", power-dampening cell (simply by trying harder?!) and rocks up at Pinehearst for a quick tussle with Mohinder and Arthur. He's easily beaten and quickly persuaded to join the baddies, after hearing from Arthur how his mother Angela wanted to drown him as a baby after she dreamed about his murderous future.
So, Sylar apparently joins forces with his father and later tries to kill Peter to prove his devotion to Papa Petrelli, by pushing him out of a high window. Oddly, Peter survives his John Locke-style fall and scurries away with Claire and Elle, indicating that Sylar perhaps slowed his descent and is actually playing Arthur for a fool. Ooh, clever. Weirdly, Arthur seems to believe Peter only survived through indeterminate factors -- because the plot needs him to think that. See?
Matt & Daphne: Knox (Jamie Hector) arrives to kill Matt (Greg Grunberg) because Daphne (Brea Grant) has failed in the same task, as instructed by Arthur. But don't worry, Matt uses his mind-abilities to trick Knox into believing he's killed them both during a big hallucination. The value of shock "deaths" on Heroes has been ruthlessly bled dry for awhile now, so I'm sure nobody was really surprised to see Matt and Daphne "killed" so easily. Whenever a death occurs in Heroes, my thoughts immediately circle time-travel, shape-shifting, regenerative blood, twin sisters, or hallucinations as a get-out clause. And is Matt in danger of becoming another character with too much power, if he has his dead father's abilities?
Hiro, Ando & Usutu: Hardly a substantial subplot -- more a tease for next week's episode. In bookend scenes, Usutu (Ntare Mwine) gives Hiro (Masi Oka) a bowl of hallucinogenic soup to inspire another mental journey through Time and Space. Eyes white, flat on his back, "to be continued…"
Overall, a few entertaining scenes weren't enough to rescue this episode from draining my enthusiasm just as it had begun to spark. There's not much consistency on Heroes, which is perhaps a fault of the decision to assign different writers to individual subplots -- leaving an episode's credited writer then pulls together and polishes.
Occasionally, these plots can build to a decent crescendo, but the rhythm that pushes us there is very irregular. It doesn't help that Arthur's big plan sounds like nebulous guff (giving everyone superpowers, is it?) and the series creaks in its efforts to keep the characters active, while drawing them towards the latest big idea (Pinehearst, right now.)
Still, Heroes isn't anywhere near as turgid as season 2, but it definitely needs to rethink its big-picture strategy. Apparently, plans are afoot to radicalize the show during Volume IV's "Fugitives" (less characters, simpler stories, quicker plot arc's), but there are still five episodes of this dense runaround to get through yet.
5 November 2008
BBC Three, 10pm
Cast: Jack Coleman (Mr. Bennett), Greg Grunberg (Matt), Ali Larter (Tracy), James Kyson Lee (Ando), Masi Oka (Hiro), Hayden Panettiere (Claire), Adrian Pasdar (Nathan), Zachary Quinto (Sylar), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohinder), Dania Ramirez (Maya), Cristine Rose (Angela), Milo Ventimiglia (Peter), Kristen Bell (Elle), Jessalyn Gilsig (Meredith), Blake Shields (Flint), Brea Grant (Daphne), Ntare Mwine (Usutu), Ashley Crow (Sandra), Jaime Hector (Knox), Alan Blumenfeld (Maury Parkman), Randall Bentley (Lyle), Ron Perkins (Arthur's Doctor) & Robert Forster (Arthur)
MohinderWhat kind of father would put his children through such agony?
Arthur
Have you met their mother?
Have you met their mother?
Spoilers. Jesse Alexander, who wrote this episode, was recently sacked along with his fellow writer-producer Jeph Loeb. Both men have worked on Heroes since it began, and were part of the creative triangle with Tim Kring. Is this episode damning evidence for the decision to axe Alexander? Actually, yes…
"Eris Quod Sum" ("you will be what I am") is a prime example of Heroes' worst habit: throwing a slew of half-baked ideas and situations at the screen, before leaning on the special FX and cheap "surprises" to keep viewers watching. Dumb fun has been the base setting for season 3 thus far, but episode 7 is just dumb-dumb. Let's see what the circus got up to this week:
Mohinder, Maya & Arthur: Idiot egghead Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy) flees from his lab with the cocooned Maya (Dania Ramirez), after Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) and Tracy (Ali Larter) are helped in their escape by the arrival of Mr. Bennett (Jack Coleman) and his new partner Meredith (Jessalyn Gilsig).
After assumedly experiencing guilt off-screen, Mohinder then travels to the Pinehearst Company for help, where Arthur (Robert Forster) rids Maya of her debilitating power to kill people when she cries black tears. After that, it's time for Mohinder to be persuaded to help Arthur perfect Kaito's power-bestowing formula…
I'm not surprised to see Ramirez given her marching orders. She might reappear down the line, but I cant see it happening now she's lost her one vaguely interesting trait: her power. Still, Ramirez always looked mega-hot in tight white trousers and can lay claim to having the most glistening lips on TV. I'm sure she'll find work elsewhere; hopefully in a series that actually has a decent character for her to play.
It's become a cliché how easily Mohinder can be persuaded to help bad-guys, so at least writer Jesse Alexander thought to reference that fact here. Even so, you only have to show Mohinder a chalkboard of equations and mention "saving the world" to get him doing whatever the hell you want. Arthur knows this.
Claire & Elle: A big chunk of this episode is dedicated to super-blondes Claire (Hayden Panettiere) and Elle (Kristen Bell); the latter of whom was introduced as a kind of spiritual evil opposite of Claire, with a similar daddy's girl back-story. Considering the "Villains" title of this Volume, I would hope there's a plan to have Claire turn villainous as Elle turns heroic, but because we're only five episodes away from the climax of "Villains" and Bell's role has been reduced because her career is taking off elsewhere, I doubt that'll happen. Just as much as I doubt the writers' ability to have made Claire's downfall from perky blonde cheerleader to her raven-haired bitch at all plausible.
Here, Elle arrives at the Bennett's asking for help because her electrical power is malfunctioning and causing her extreme pain. Claire deduces that her own power must be similarly faulty (explaining her recent loss of pain sensation), so the pair form an uneasy alliance and travel together to Pinehearst for treatment.
Arthur, Peter & Sylar: Now that Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) has been drained of his power by his evil father, the comatose Angela (Cristine Rose) enters Sylar's dreams and asks him to spring Peter from Pinehearst. She can enter dreams now? Was this always part of her power, or have the writers just added it to get themselves out of a tight spot? Anyway, Sylar (Zachary Quinto) escapes from his "impenetrable", power-dampening cell (simply by trying harder?!) and rocks up at Pinehearst for a quick tussle with Mohinder and Arthur. He's easily beaten and quickly persuaded to join the baddies, after hearing from Arthur how his mother Angela wanted to drown him as a baby after she dreamed about his murderous future.
So, Sylar apparently joins forces with his father and later tries to kill Peter to prove his devotion to Papa Petrelli, by pushing him out of a high window. Oddly, Peter survives his John Locke-style fall and scurries away with Claire and Elle, indicating that Sylar perhaps slowed his descent and is actually playing Arthur for a fool. Ooh, clever. Weirdly, Arthur seems to believe Peter only survived through indeterminate factors -- because the plot needs him to think that. See?
Matt & Daphne: Knox (Jamie Hector) arrives to kill Matt (Greg Grunberg) because Daphne (Brea Grant) has failed in the same task, as instructed by Arthur. But don't worry, Matt uses his mind-abilities to trick Knox into believing he's killed them both during a big hallucination. The value of shock "deaths" on Heroes has been ruthlessly bled dry for awhile now, so I'm sure nobody was really surprised to see Matt and Daphne "killed" so easily. Whenever a death occurs in Heroes, my thoughts immediately circle time-travel, shape-shifting, regenerative blood, twin sisters, or hallucinations as a get-out clause. And is Matt in danger of becoming another character with too much power, if he has his dead father's abilities?
Hiro, Ando & Usutu: Hardly a substantial subplot -- more a tease for next week's episode. In bookend scenes, Usutu (Ntare Mwine) gives Hiro (Masi Oka) a bowl of hallucinogenic soup to inspire another mental journey through Time and Space. Eyes white, flat on his back, "to be continued…"
Overall, a few entertaining scenes weren't enough to rescue this episode from draining my enthusiasm just as it had begun to spark. There's not much consistency on Heroes, which is perhaps a fault of the decision to assign different writers to individual subplots -- leaving an episode's credited writer then pulls together and polishes.
Occasionally, these plots can build to a decent crescendo, but the rhythm that pushes us there is very irregular. It doesn't help that Arthur's big plan sounds like nebulous guff (giving everyone superpowers, is it?) and the series creaks in its efforts to keep the characters active, while drawing them towards the latest big idea (Pinehearst, right now.)
Still, Heroes isn't anywhere near as turgid as season 2, but it definitely needs to rethink its big-picture strategy. Apparently, plans are afoot to radicalize the show during Volume IV's "Fugitives" (less characters, simpler stories, quicker plot arc's), but there are still five episodes of this dense runaround to get through yet.
5 November 2008
BBC Three, 10pm
Cast: Jack Coleman (Mr. Bennett), Greg Grunberg (Matt), Ali Larter (Tracy), James Kyson Lee (Ando), Masi Oka (Hiro), Hayden Panettiere (Claire), Adrian Pasdar (Nathan), Zachary Quinto (Sylar), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohinder), Dania Ramirez (Maya), Cristine Rose (Angela), Milo Ventimiglia (Peter), Kristen Bell (Elle), Jessalyn Gilsig (Meredith), Blake Shields (Flint), Brea Grant (Daphne), Ntare Mwine (Usutu), Ashley Crow (Sandra), Jaime Hector (Knox), Alan Blumenfeld (Maury Parkman), Randall Bentley (Lyle), Ron Perkins (Arthur's Doctor) & Robert Forster (Arthur)
