Director: Allan Arkush
Spoilers. The flashback episode had to happen sometime. Where it was once an stimulating treat, it's now become something of a mid-season bandage (to fix current problems by providing a basis for them, retrospectively.) Oddly, this season's flashback comes under the heading "Villains" (the show's logo even changes), but it fails to properly justify what should have been a special, dark-hearted treat. Let's see what the villains got up to, nevertheless:Hiro, Ando & Usutu: The only "heroes" involved in this episode, Hiro (Masi Oka) is the narrative device, as Usutu's (Ntare Mwine) drugged soup causes him to mentally travel back in time -- as it's impossible to interfere with the timeline that way…
Elle, Mr. Bennett & Sylar: "Villains" takes place before the very first episode of the series, and this subplot focuses on Gabriel Gray (Zachary Quinto) before he embraced his villainy to become power-pinching murderer Sylar. Oddly, it seems Mr. Bennett (Jack Coleman) was partnered with Elle (Kristen Bell) in these earlier days, and uses the electricity-wielding blonde to get close to Gabriel and test his morality… by presenting him with a super-powered individual to kill.
Well, the question of whether Gabriel would choose evil was never in doubt, which drained the tension, but it was mildly interesting to see Elle involved in his origin. Bell is one of Heroes' better actresses, and she had her best material to work with here. It was strange to see her so removed from the psychotic bitch she was introduced as, though, and it's becoming comical how many partners Mr. Bennett gets through. Remember when we thought he had a years-long friendship with The Haitian (Jimmy Jean Louis)?
Anyway, this was entertaining enough as a Heroes prologue, but I fail to see the logic of The Company provoking Gabriel into becoming a killer. Shouldn't they be protective and helpful? Or just take away such a dangerous ability? What gives them the right to use other people as sheep-like bait, too? The Company are maddeningly inconsistent in their methods and allegiance, so this story ultimately tainted memories of early-season 1 for me.
It was also illogical, because a later scene had Mr. Bennett getting into a cab driven by Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy) after failing to stop Sylar becoming a killer… but fans will remember that Mohinder only came to NYC after his father was killed by Sylar. So, for the sake of reprising an old scene from the pilot, they screwed up their own timeline.
The Petrelli's & Mr. Linderman: The meatiest storyline (and most significant to current events) revolved around the Petrelli clan. Here, we see Arthur (Robert Forster) plotting season 1's destruction of NYC with Mr. Linderman (Malcolm McDowell) -- a plan that will require the death of his son Nathan (Adrian Pasdar), who is prying into Linderman's affairs…
This was the only subplot worth watching, as it filled in a few gaps in our knowledge regarding the Petrelli family, most of which had been correctly assumed for a few years. So yes, Arthur tried to kill Nathan in a car accident, resulting in his wife Heidi's paralysis. Angela (Cristine Rose) came across as quite sympathetic, as she has her mind routinely wiped/controlled by her husband, but comes to realize she's married to a monster thanks to Mr. Linderman, and manages to poison Arthur with the help of the power-sapping Haitian.
I'm not sure if it all bares close scrutiny (why didn't Arthur just mind-wipe Nathan if he's becoming a problem, for example?), but it was fun seeing how Arthur wound up paralysed in a hospital bed. The biggest downside was how it rewrote season 1 puppetmaster Mr. Linderman as little more than Arthur's henchman, and necessitated Milo Ventimiglia to wear a floppy wig.
Flint, Thompson & Meredith: Heroes again revealed two characters are actually related -- yes, Meredith (Jessalyn Gilsig) is fireball-thrower Flint's (Blake Shields) sister, meaning Claire now has an Uncle Flint. To be fair, associating Flint with Meredith helped his grossly underwritten character, but this storyline only really appealed because Company man Thompson (Eric Roberts) made a welcome return.
Thompson was one of season 1's more unfortunate losses, and seeing him back in action was a lot of fun. Unlike Mr. Bennett, he's a man of physicality, and seeing him plausibly outsmart, antagonize and defeat Flint and Meredith (who worked together as sibling robbers) was great. Loved the convenience store scene with his mini fire extinguisher and tazer gun.
But idiocy descended on this subplot, too, as criminal Meredith was recruited as Thompson's partner -- which isn't a convincing development and makes the Company seem overly relaxed about who it signs up! Just recently we've had serial-killer Sylar on the Company pay-roll for a few episodes, remember. Is having a super-power enough to make these guys forget a criminal past? Talk about bad work practices.
Overall, setting the story pre-season 1 did have leave a positive vibe, particularly if you approach it as an unseen prequel episode from that first season. Moments in Arthur's storyline dished out answers to some long-standing questions, and the other subplots were entertaining, if a little illogical and unnecessary. Thankfully, by following only three individual stories (instead of the more usual four or five), this episode didn't seem as freewheeling and crowded. Apparently, a subplot for Matt and Knox was jettisoned at the eleventh hour. It was also neatly bookended by Hiro's scenes, wisely relied on the stronger actors (Bell, Coleman, Roberts, Forster, Rose, Gilsig, McDowell), and ended on a cliffhanger that elicited a grin for the first time in a long, long time.
12 November 2008
BBC Three, 10pm
Cast: Zachary Quinto (Sylar), Kristen Bell (Elle), Jessalyn Gilsig (Meredith), Jack Coleman (Mr. Bennett), James Kyson Lee (Ando), Masi Oka (Hiro), Adrian Pasdar (Nathan), Cristine Rose (Angela), Milo Ventimiglia (Peter), KBlake Shields (Flint), Ntare Mwine (Usutu), Robert Forster (Arthur), Eric Roberts (Thompson), Malcolm McDowell (Mr. Linderman) & Ron Perkins (Doctor)
