My weekly vidcap'd recap'd coverage of HEROES REBORN continues with episode 9, "Sundae, Bloody Sundae"...
It seems like forever since we last saw Carlos (Ryan Guzman) and Captain Dearing (Dylan Bruce) on their road trip to the mysterious Sunstone Manor, which is a detainment camp for EVOs. That's because the storyline was shunted aside for the "June 13th" two-parter, although I can't say it's really bothered me. Anyway, now it's back and Carlos is being taken to Sunstone, having been drugged so he'll appear to have EVO blood and be admitted to snoop around and rescue Father Mauricio (Carlos Lacamara) and his nephew. More nasal intubation, too.
We finally learned that Erica Kravid's (Rya Kihlstedt) big project to save the human race is called 'The Gateway', and this episode had to further underline how villainous she is, so...
... there was a scene where she notices a deer in her garden, grabbed her rifle, and shot it for dinner.
Having spent some time with Nathan (Robbie A. Kay) with his memory of his family heritage in the "June 13th" two-parter, this episode wisely got that character back on the page as the rest of the audience. He was reunited with his grandad Noah Bennet, is told that Claire's his mother and Hiro's his adopted father, and that his powers extend to time-travel.
Luke (Zachary Levi) and Malina (Danika Yarosh) also got a bit closer in a diner, although Luke's still not up to talking about his dead son...
... but he does hate tomatoes enough to incinerate his meal using his power. (What will their waitress make of that when she comes back to collect the plates?)
Dearing delivered Carlos to Sunstone Manor and awaited payment.
Erica's rebellious daughter Taylor (Eve Harlow) was kidnapped by an organisation who saw her video implicating her mother and Renautas in wrongdoing, and it turns out they're the HeroTruthers. Weirdly, The Haitian (Jimmy-Jean Louis) is amongst their number, despite apparently dying in the premiere, and their leader is none other than Micah Sanders (yes, the little kid from the original run of the series). Looking forward to seeing him all grown up, to make me feel incredibly old. Micah's power is the ability to manipulate anything digital or electronic, so thank goodness he wasn't born in the 19th-century or before.
Uh-oh. Sunstone Manor is one of those weird cult hospital deals; where patients conform, all wear white, and stand around in fields doing exercises together, listening to someone on a speaker. That can't be good.
One of the episode's biggest action moments was a sequence where Caspar (Pruitt Taylor Vince) goes to the ice cream parlour where Nathan's girlfriend Emily (Gatlin Green) works, only to discover that Joanne Collins (Judith Shekoni) is also there and has an itchy trigger finger. Unfortunately, the resulting mêlée ends with Caspar shot in the forehead...
... before Nathan remembers he can stop time, and does so to save his girlfriend by manipulating a few things after Joanne's husband Luke enters the picture.
It looks like Taylor's now a part of the HeroTruther movement. You can tell they're a movement because they stand in circles in old warehouses.
In an echo of the way Malcolm McDowell was introduced in season 1, there's a scene where Sunstone Manor's "Director" is revealed to be none other than Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg), who monologues to Carlos while cooking. This scene may have worked a lot better, had Matt not been introduced last week already. "Sundae, Bloody Sundae" treated the reveal like it was going to be a huge shock, but it was pretty obvious Matt was the Director way before the camera confirmed it.
In creative scenes, Matt used his mind-control power to get inside the head of Carlos inside one of Dexter Morgan's kill rooms.
Inside, Carlos imagined himself back as a soldier and Matt duly learned that Farah (Nazneen Contractor) was his C.O.
Back at the hospital, Noah (Jack Coleman) learned of Quentin's (Henry Zebrowski ) betrayal after he took his grandson Nathan hostage with the help of power-dampening sister Phoebe (Aislinn Paul).
On the plus side, Noah survived the encounter and was united with his granddaughter Malina back at the ice cream parlour. I was a bit confused by this scene, however: isn't is the first time Malina's even seen Noah? And yet simply by him announcing he's her grandfather, she gives him a big hug?
Nathan is delivered to Erica, who has prepared that deer into the evening meal. Now she has a chance to put across her side of the story, about why he's so important in ensuring the survival of the human race.
In the epilogue, we jump forward in time over seven thousand years and discover the planet is now an inhospitable desert after the solar flare millennia ago. A small town appears to exist (populated by refugees from the present day, through Erica's 'Gateway'?), but the only sign of life is Miko (Kiki Sukezane) wandering the desert. Presumable, because she's just a digital character brought into real life, she's also immortal and has spent thousands of years searching for that town?
Final Thoughts:
Another good hour, strengthening a few matters as Heroes Reborn squints its eyes for the finish line. Now that the "June 13th" two-parter explained most of what happened in the past, to begin this story, this episode nudged us towards thoughts of the future. I like how Erica Kravid is someone who just has a perspective and opinion that isn't shared by the ostensible "heroes" of the show, although I really hope the fuzziness about why she hates EVOs comes into sharper relief. The solar flare appears to be a natural phenomenon, so why is she against utilising EVOs to save the world? Is it simply because she's using the end of the world as an opportunity to evacuate selected humans, leaving EVOs and other unfortunates to their demise? A chance to restart without any evolved people complicating society? Perhaps so, but I think we need a bit more clarity in this area. Or have I forgotten a scene or line of dialogue that did answer my question earlier in the season?
What did YOU think? I'm still enjoying this 'event series', but I'm very aware it's not exactly a big talking point online. And because it's not been bought by a British broadcaster (yet?), there's even less 'real world' discourse where I live. But it's good, isn't it? The story seems solid and it hasn't sunk itself with too much stupidity yet. A few storylines and characters could be improved—or better integrated into the main story, at least—but the broad strokes are surprisingly good and it's kept me entertained every week.
