I quite understand and appreciate the desire to focus on characterisation, and there are certainly a few nice scenes that the actors probably appreciated getting to play, but the sense of storytelling malaise was pervasive. I took the season's quiet start as a sign of confidence, but four episodes in and there's a serious deficit of action and momentum. The creepy carnival are reduced to a denouement that adds nothing of value, beyond the knowledge Samuel (Robert Knepper) will next be targeting Mr. Bennet (Jack Coleman), and the episode's three other subplots were dull character pieces...
As I mentioned, Hiro takes it upon himself to try and prevent an employee called Tadashi from jumping off their company roof, after he realizes the man's troubles stem from an embarrassing use of a Xerox machine at an office party. Unfortunately, in not-so-hilarious fashion, it appears that whatever Hiro does to change Tadashi's past, the man constantly appears on the roof's edge with a similar tale of woe. Ultimately, Hiro realizes that tackling the man's problems with heartfelt words and an offer of friendship in the present is all that was required to save his life.
Mr. Bennet refuses to help Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) investigate the strange compass tattoo that appeared on his forearm, fearing he'll be dragged into another dangerous conspiracy. But most of his storyline consists of a father/daughter chat with Claire (Hayden Panettiere), who tries to talk him into getting a normal job. Yawn.
Tracy (Ali Larter) tries to get her life back on-track, by returning to work as Senator Malden's (Bruce Boxleitner) personal assistant, with a view to making a real difference to people's lives politically. However, Tracy's soon reminded that smarmy Malden only values her ability to charm businessmen with her good-looks and is expected to sleep with her employer.
The best subplot was arguably Nathan's (Adrian Pasdar), even if it felt the least relevant to anything going on this season, and more a way to end the Nathan/Sylar identity crisis. Angela (Cristine Rose) is trying to convince her "son" that he is who he thinks he is, but Nathan is troubled by an alarming memory of an old girlfriend called Kellie (Jamie Tisdale) dying in a swimming pool after accidentally smashing her head open after a dive. Nathan realizes that his mother covered up Kellie's death, as it could have been misconstrued as murder and damaged his fledgling political career, even going so far as to lie to Kellie's mother -- close family friend Millie (Swoosie Kurtz), who has always believed Kellie simply ran away from home.In scenes that at least gave Pasdar something half-decent to perform, Nathan decided to tell Millie the truth, and set in motion his own demise after Millie chooses to avenge her daughter's death "eye for an eye" style, by having a hitman kill Nathan and dump his dead body in an unmarked grave. However, Nathan's physical "death" has merely reawakened the invulnerable Sylar (Zachary Quinto) within -- last seen erupting from the ground in full-on zombie-mode, apparently restored to full physicality. Although I have to wonder if Sylar will be there in body but not in spirit, as his psyche is surely still trapped in Matt Parkman's head. Will we now have a few episodes with a braindead Sylar causing trouble like a Frankenstein's Monster?
This whole episode was about characters trying to get back to their old lives, in various ways and degrees of success. Tracy turned her back on politics, Hiro finally told his sister about his terminal illness, Bennet decided to get back in the game and help Peter, and Nathan unburdened himself of guilt. Unfortunately, "Acceptance" went about its business in bland and forgettable ways, which was all the more disappointing because season 4's now in desperate need of pace, panache, action and fun. This episode failed to deliver on all counts, resulting in an unfortunate damp squib to mark Bryan Fuller's exit.
5 October 2009
NBC, 9/8c
written by: Bryan Fuller directed by: Chris Misiano starring: Milo Ventimiglia (Peter), Zachary Quinto (Sylar), Greg Grunberg (Matt), Hayden Panettiere (Claire), Jack Coleman (Mr. Bennet), Robert Knepper (Samuel Sullivan), Cristine Rose (Angela), Dawn Olivieri (Lydia), Jamie Tisdale (Kellie Houston), Ray Park (Edgar), James Kyson Lee (Ando), Masi Oka (Hiro), Ali Larter (Tracy), Adrian Pasdar (Nathan), Swoosie Kurtz (Millie), Saemi Nakamura (Kimiko Nakamura) & Bruce Boxleitner (Robert Malden)
