Spoilers. I can't really summon the will to go into much detail this week. Suffice to say, part 2 of what should have been a thrilling couplet of episodes was just another clunky, boring slog. Here's what happened during the darkness:Nathan, Peter & The Haitian: The best of this week's plots, which isn't saying much. Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) is captured in Haiti by the "God" Baron Samedi (Demetrius Grosse), brother of The Haitian (Jimmy Jean Louis). Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) teams up with The Haitian to rescue Nathan, despite the fact both don't have their powers. I liked the idea of these superbeings having to succeed without their powers, but Samedi is only defeated once the eclipse is over and Nathan and The Haitian are recharged. Which defeats the whole exercise. Still, Peter killing soldiers with a gun was more exciting than him flinging fireballs around.
Hiro, Ando, Frack & Sam: Hiro (Masi Oka) has lost his memories of everything after the age of 10, so he uses back-issues of 9th Wonder to catch-up on everything (his season 1 mission, his father's death, etc) and realizes he doesn't like the idea of growing up and facing such torments. Quite a nice idea, and we were given an explanation for how 9th Wonder is still predicing the future (posthumous publications after Isaac Mendez's death). Of course, this means Isaac was drawing events after season 1's "nuclear disaster" in NYC, so are we supposed to accept he knew that situation would be resolved after all? Plot-hole, ahoy!
Guest-stars Breckin Meyer and Seth Green get nothing to do as the resident geeks of Sam's Comics in Kansas, but I liked the idea that Heroes is a comic-book series and these guys are astonished people like Hiro, Ando (James Kyson Lee) and Matt are actually real. Shame the episode didn't play with that some more. Anyway, after noticing a comic panel showing Hiro and Claire (Hayden Panettiere) 15 years in the past, watching Kaito (George Takei) hand baby Claire to Mr. Bennet (Jack Coleman), they inexplicably reason that must be how Hiro will get his powers back. Like that makes any sense.
Oh, and wouldn't you know it, there's a geeky myth about a final, unpublished 9th Wonder comic Isaac Mendez inked before his death. Kinda like season 2's last remaining Isaac Mendez paintings. Sigh. Wasn't it nice of Isaac to draw the future plots to give our heroes some direction when they hit a brick wall in the narrative?
Matt & Daphne: The most dreary, unlikely romance in TV history? Quite possibly. So, Daphne (Brea Grant, who deserves better) has cerebral palsy. It's obvious that she'll soon be healed once the eclipse is over (man, eclipses really draaaag in the Heroes universe), so it's not a very compelling story. Matt (Greg Grunberg) continues to be a bland, cloying sap.
Elle, Sylar & Mr. Bennet: The second-best subplot of the lot, mainly because Sylar (Zachary Quinto) and Elle (Kristen Bell) have a history that provides an enjoyable twisted love-story. Here, the lovers are chased across town by Mr. Bennet, who has a fighting chance of killing these villains now they're de-powered and vulnerable. His lust for vengeance even clouds his reaction to news of Claire's hospitalization…
Claire & Sandra: Yes, Claire Bear's dying from her gunshot wound now that she can't heal. A doctor mentions that her immune system is unable to cope with an infection (as if she's never been sick in her life), which suggests she's had her superpower all her life. To be fair, there is a nice scene between mother (Ashley Crowe) and daughter, before death comes a-calling…
Mohinder & Maya: Gah. Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy) tries to search for a way to reverse the effects of the solar eclipse. So, in the Pilot, all the characters who already had powers didn't have to dea with this same situation? Oh, it's all a mess. Does this new eclipse mean more people will start exhibiting abilities, too? Anyway, Mohinder tries to patch things up with Maya (Dania Ramirez), now that he's lost those unsightly scales and (I assume) his homicidal inclinations.
We were supposed to feel real sadness when Mohinder arrived at Maya's door, only to find his scales had returned. He scurried away before she opened the door, sculking behind a corner like Beast hiding from Beauty. The thing is, their relationship was never that poignant or interesting, so nobody cares about this tragic love-story. The writers of Heroes aren't very good at love-stories, you may have noticed. Nice to see Ramirez again; shame she didn't wear those tight white jeans.
Another collection of half-baked, tedious stories, then. Incidentally, has Peter regained his powers after the eclipse as many expected? I hope not. Was anyone fooled into thinking Sylar was dead (having had his throat slashed by Bennet), or that Claire was a goner (having died of her gunshot)? And was it too much of a stretch that the sun could rekindle their regenerative powers after physical brain-death? Can anything kill these people?
In the final moments, Hiro teleports into a tense situation at the Bennet house and whisks Sylar and Elle to a remote beach -- where we're led to believe Sylar's yo-yo'd back to being a villain and kills his new girlfriend. But I suppose Elle's survival hangs on the work schedule of Kristen Bell. No idea why Hiro teleporting Claire back in time by 15 years will help get his memory back. Must be something to do with the presence of his 10-year-old self playing Gameboy? I'm not convinced any of it will make sense. Hey, there are only two episodes left till Volume III wraps up! And Bryan Fuller has agreed to return and help steer the ship next year, after the creative eclipse of season 2 and 3. Those are the real rays of sunshine here.
3 December 2008
BBC Three, 10pm
Writers: Aron Eli Coleite & Joe Pokaski
Director: Holly Dale
Cast: Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohinder), Jack Coleman (Mr. Bennet), Greg Grunberg (Matt), James Kyson Lee (Ando), Masi Oka (Hiro), Hayden Panettiere (Claire), Adrian Pasdar (Nathan), Zachary Quinto (Sylar), Dania Ramirez (Maya), Milo Ventimiglia (Peter), Ashley Crow (Sandra), Kristen Bell (Elle), Robert Forster (Arthur), Brea Grant (Daphne), Jimmy Jean-Louis (The Haitian), Logan Alexander (Police Officer), George Takei (Kaito), Ray Baker (Mr. Millbrook), Meera Simhan (E.R Doctor), Matt Shallenberger (Paramedic), Rene J. Cadet (Haitian Soldier #1), Jean-Pierre Vertus (Haitian Soldier #2), Dustin Hess (Drug Store Clerk), Sekai Murashige (Young Hiro), Sonalii Castillo (Older Haitian Girl), Tatiyana Cotton (Younger Haitian Girl), Demetrius Grosse (Baron Samedi), Seth Green (Sam), Breckin Meyer (Frack) & Blake Shields (Flint)
