Titular "blank slate" Sylar has been taken in by Samuel (Robert Knepper) and promised the return of his memories, although Samuel is puzzled that the infamous Sylar is a tame beast, and confused that some of his memories don't appear to be his own. Sylar's rehabilitation involves getting close to the tattooed Olivia (Dawn Olivieri), which makes burly Edgar (Ray Park) jealous, and visiting a mystic in the Hall Of Mirrors who unlocks his memories and has his crimes projected in the mirror's reflections. With the truth exposed about his criminal past, will Sylar return to his old ways, or can he make a clean break?There was also another of those diverting subplots Heroes likes to play with occasionally; little stories with shallow depth and heaps of predictability. Here, Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) vowed to help the terminally ill Hiro (Masi Oka) by leeching his power and teleporting with Mr. Bennett (Jack Coleman) to visit a young healer who may be able to mend Hiro's condition. Knowing he lives in a world of superheroes, it's strange this never occurred to Hiro, really.
Arriving at Jimmy Keppler's (Daniel Newman) rundown house, Peter and Bennett discover the boy has since lost control of his ability and now has a tragic "death touch." But not to worry, after the paranoid Jimmy shoots interloper Peter with a shotgun, Bennett restores the teenager's confidence and his curative ability at the same time -- literally after a two-minute chat. Too bad his parents are now stinking corposes sat in their sofas, past help. Quite why Peter decided to take Jimmy's power and get a plane back to see Hiro was another oddity, as surely it would make more sense to teleport Jimmy to Hiro's bedside, lickety-split?
At the hospital, Hiro's now irritating nice-guy act has him resolve to prove to Emma (Deanne Bray) that her new ability isn't to be feared. He does this through performing a magic act for patients, where freezing time is an obvious benefit for making people disappear, and Emma is duly convinced her own power may have its uses, too.Really, I'm not even sure why ever Emma feared her power to begin with, as it's surely of great practical use to a deaf person. It may be quite unusual, but considering other characters quickly got used to flying and mind-reading, seeing sound as colour doesn't strike me as particularly problematic. Particularly as there's a real world condition called synesthesia that's very similar. Last week, we saw that Emma can control the soundwaves and use them as sonic weapons, so it would make more sense if she had been having real problems controlling that aspect of her ability before grouching about it. Still, one intriguing throwaway line confirmed that the cello Emma found in her apartment wasn't her own, so I'm guessing someone from the carnival left it there to poke her development along.
I think only having three subplots to flit between is a good move, as previous seasons got terribly convoluted with its four or five plot-strands. Of course, in the early days those five parallel storylines would each be involving and interesting, but those days have long gone. It's not that the stories here were bad, just that they feel a bit listless; Hiro and Emma were quite forgettable together, Bennett and Peter were stuck in a very predictable situation, so only Sylar's storyline actually had some weight to it. But I've grown tired of seeing Sylar face his own monstrosity and feeling guilty about it -- that happens in various ways most years.Overall, I couldn't get excited about this episode, but it certainly wasn't terrible. It at least treated the characters like proper human beings and I liked the theme throughout this season that people are trying to start over with a blank slate. I'm just waiting for the story to shift into a higher gear, as it's becoming a bit laborious waiting for the strings to be pulled together. I think we all know the carnival are basically manipulating superheroes into joining their travelling "family", but I'm not sure how interesting it'll be seeing them add to their numbers. And surely whoever is taken under their wing next won't stay long with notorious super-villain Sylar around?
19 October 2009
NBC, 9/8c
written by: Rob Fresco directed by: Jim Chory starring: Milo Ventimiglia (Peter), Zachary Quinto (Sylar), Masi Oka (Hiro), Hayden Panettiere (Claire), Robert Knepper (Samuel Sullivan), Deanne Bray (Emma), Ernie Hudson (Captain Lubbock), Jack Coleman (Mr. Bennet), Dawn Olivieri (Lydia), Ray Park (Edgar), Daniel Newman (Jimmy Keppler) & Ellen Greene (Virginia Grey)
