HEROES 2.10 – "Truth & Consequences"

Writer: Jesse Alexander

Director: Adam Kane

Cast: Dania Ramirez (Maya), Zachary Quinto (Sylar), Milo Ventimiglia (Peter), Noah Gray-Cabey (Micah), Ali Larter (Niki), Kristen Bell (Elle), Dana Davis (Monica), Masi Oka (Hiro), Hayden Panettiere (Claire), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohinder), James Kyson Lee (Ando), Jack Coleman (Mr Bennet), David Anders (Adam), Adair Tishler (Molly), Nicholas D'Agosto (West), Shalim Ortiz (Alejandro), Ashley Crow (Sandra Bennet), Randall Bentley (Lyle Bennet), Stephen Tobolowsky (Bob), Joanna Cassidy (Victoria Pratt), Carlon Jeffrey (Damon Dawson) & Nichelle Nichols (Nana Dawson)

Sylar tries to divide Maya and Alejandro, Monica embarks on a mission, Adam and Peter go in search of the virus, Hiro and Ando research Kensei, and Claire grieves for her dads death...

Micah: You're Saint Joan!
Monica: You really have to stop reading those comic books. Stay here, I'll be right back...

Truth & Consequences has enough pace to make it an entertaining watch, but it's another instance of Heroes dropping the ball this season; primarily because of an abundance of stupid characters, making stupid decisions.

Chief amongst them has to be Peter (Milo Ventimiglia), who has regained his memory and decided to work alongside Adam Monroe (David Anders), the British immortal who apparently wants to "save the world" by stopping a doomsday virus Peter knows will kill 93% of the world's population. But, more importantly, his Irish girlfriend.

I can believe Peter would follow Adam, but once the pair track down Victoria Pratt (Joanna Cassidy) -- a founding member of The Company who discovered the Shanti Virus in 1977 -- things get difficult to swallow. Victoria argues that Adam is a dangerous villain – incarcerated for 30 years because he tried to steal the virus from their lab.

After Victoria is captured and tied to a chair, Adam clearly unties her just so she'll threaten Peter with a shotgun and give him a reason to kill her and drop another of his "death cards" on her corpse. But Peter is unquestioning in his blind trust of a man he's known for mere days.

I guess by making Peter an amnesiac, and now a simpleton, the writers hope to counter the problem of his character being too powerful. I bet the writers wish they'd limited Peter to only being able to consume one power at a time, or factor in some kind of time-limit...

Mind you, it was fun to discover that people with regenerative powers (Adam/Claire/Peter) can be definitively killed by decapitation – although nobody mentions that "there can be only one". Hehe. I think we know how Adam's is going to bite the dust, though. Where's Hiro's sword when you need it?

Maya (Dania Ramirez) is major competition for Peter in the blithering idiot stakes, easily persuaded by Sylar (Zachary Quinto) into believing her brother Alejandro (Shalim Ortiz) secret hates her.

In a rather odd development, Maya learns to control her death-dealing power -- which nullifying the whole ying/yang twin conceit. Then, despite Alejandro discovering Sylar/Gabriel is a murderer (by trawling English-language websites in his motel room – huh?), Maya is quickly convinced by Sylar's sob story and falls for his snakelike charms – despite his tendency to speak in a creepy voice around her...

Maybe as a reaction to fan uproar surrounding the dullness of the Herrera twins, Sylar kills Alejandro after the furious Mexican confronts him about brainwashing his sister. While it's nice to see Sylar inject more nastiness into the show, and I'm no fan of the Herrera siblings, this kind of slapdash cut-your-losses solution was irritating to me...

A very similar problem arose in Lost's third season (with scorn poured on similarly-ethnic Paulo and Nikki), but the Lost writers crafted a very entertaining way to axe the characters whilst bringing clarity to their perceived inaction on the show. In effect, they went out on a high and even made some fans regret their vitriol. But that writing quality barely surfaces on Heroes...

And finally, Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy) also makes a strong bid to be crowned the stupidest character -- and he's always been a contender! Here, the brilliant scientist with zero common sense has been totally swayed by Bob (Stephen Tobolowsky) and is snug under the Company wing. In a reprise of last week's climax, it's revealed that Mohinder was responsible for resurrecting Mr Bennet (Jack Coleman) using some of his daughter's blood.

Quite why the Company want Bennet alive isn't explained, but Bob's arrival at the Bennet residence, to give them fake ashes of their dead patriarch, hints at some greater need to separate Bennet from his family forever.

Unfortunately, the ensuing moments of Claire (Hayden Panettiere) grieving for her loss is undermined by audience knowledge that her dad's safe and well. While it made a great climax to see Bennet "reborn" last week, that cool moment kills all emotion from this episode's Claire subplot.

The only thing of interest was Claire's threat to Elle (Kristen Bell; funny too!) that she may expose her abilities to the public and thus be protected from Company machinations. It's the first mention of superhero exposure to the masses in Heroes (that I can remember), and it's the one predictable development I've been hoping for since season 1. I just think Heroes would benefit from a X-Men style "them and us" element for the characters to deal with. The show can’t keep its characters secretive and split apart for another season, surely...

The weakest subplot (surprise, surprise) involves Niki (Ali Larter) and Micah (Noah Gray-Cabey). After a successful relocation of Micah into a family dynamic at the Dawson abode in New Orleans, feckless mother Niki returns and jinxes everything. The big, new, exciting subplot created for Micah, Niki and Monica (Dana Davis) involves... wait for it... the retrieval of Micah's school bag!

Oh yes, it transpires that Micah's bag has been stolen by a local gang of hoodlums, and contains his dad's bravery medal (and maybe some sandwiches and a few text-books). Micah suggests they get it back from using their superpowers, but spoilsport Niki isn't very keen...

However, Monica – the only person in the world who doesn't know anything about comic-book superheroes – decides to become a real-life Saint Joan (star of Micah's "9th Wonder" comic) and retrieve the schoolbag using her "muscle mimicking" ability...

Unfortunately, after skilfully infiltrating the gang's house, she's effortlessly captured and bundled into the back of a van. Way to go, Monica! I guess all those hours spent watching Kung Fu movies and wrestling matches were wasted because of a... lack of nerve? Anyway, I'm guessing Niki will be called upon to channel alter-ego Jessica, so she can mount a rescue...

Finally, Hiro (Masi Oka) and Ando (James Kyson Lee) research Takezo Kensei -- who killed Hiro's father. They discover his modern name is Adam Monroe and he knew Kaito Nakamura and a woman called Victoria Pratt back in 1977...

Hiro time-jumps back to the 70s, so he can eavesdrop inside Primatech's New York office... where the eternally-youthful Adam is arrested by a younger Kaito for trying to steal "Strain 138" of the Shanti Virus – a mutation that a younger version of Victoria Pratt confirms could wipe out the world's population if it was released.

It was good to see Hiro use his time-traveling in a believable way again, even if it was a writer's crutch -- although why Ando is being left on the sidelines is anyone's guess! Hiro/Ando were a memorable double-act last year, but poor James Kyson Lee has been utterly wasted in season 2!

Truth & Consequences ends with Peter and Adam arriving at Primatech in Odessa, where Strain 138 is apparently being kept nowadays. Hiro is right on their tail, appearing behind Peter and freezing time – although Peter is immune to this because he wields the same power. Then, despite Hiro telling Peter that Adam killed his father, and Peter having more reason to trust Hiro than Adam... the two friends face-off: sword versus electricity...

Overall, I quite enjoyed this episode, but mainly because the sense of pace has returned. When Heroes is moving fast, you tend to overlook some of the problems and stupid decisions being made. But that's unfortunately not the case here...

Instead, Peter, Maya and Mohinder are being unconvincingly led around by villains, and the audience has so much knowledge that most subplots just involve the characters playing catch-up.

It's a flawed episode, but not without some appeal.


26 November 2007
NBC, 9/8c pm