(S03E14) Now that's more like it! Yes, we're only one hour into this fourth volume ("Fugitives") of Heroes, but already we're looking at a vastly improved product. We're no longer fragmented trying to keep track of a million different seemingly unrelated storylines. Everything's connected, there's a very common and familiar enemy that needs to be dealt with, and it's a natural progression from where we've come.Nathan's progression to the point we see him tonight has been handled pretty well. From the beginning, he was always portrayed as kind of a dick who felt pretty differently than Peter about abilities and those with them. Now we see just how strongly he feels. The addition of Zejlko Ivanek (Damages) as the man in charge of the hunter squads is a great casting choice. Already he brings an intensity to the role that's much appreciated. It's early to say, but this reminded me so much of the tone and atmosphere of the first season that I think we can declare Heroes back.
Yes, it still has its logic flaws, such as the apparent change to how Peter's powers work, but as all comic book fans know, you can ultimately explain away any inconsistency. It's comic book logic, so it's illogical by nature. You can even get a "No Prize" for coming up with an explanation for a writer's screw up. With Peter, it's easy enough to say that since he lost and regained his power through an artificial stimulant, that they've come back in a modified way.
What this might mean is that he very well could have a very limited power set now. No longer does he absorb powers just from proximity. Apparently, he has to touch someone to get their ability now, which means he may only have Nathan's powers, and now Tracy's and Mohinder's. But then again, we don't know what he's been up to the past several months, and as we saw when he got Jessica's power, it may happen whether he wants it to or not upon physical contact.
It's good to have Mohinder back on the side of "good," such as it is. We can explain away his behavior by saying he was driven insane by his power. Still, he did some pretty dastardly things. I wonder if super-strength is the limit of his abilities now? I'm also very pleased that Hiro seems to be remaining powerless for now, and word is he will stay that way for awhile. The time travel element was making things too complex and ridiculous after the first season. Now we can have a straightforward linear plot happening in one era.
It's also good that we seem to have streamlined the cast a bit. Matt now has the artist's precognitive abilities (I hope he keeps Usutu as a guide in his head), and we're keeping things tight to our core cast. That's not to say that there may not be a few new faces underneath those hoods on the plane. In fact, I hope that there are, because this is a good and natural way to introduce them to the cast and the show. I bet the guy that flew out the hole Peter accidentally made was someone new ... and now dead.
Damn, it was just so good to see Heroes this good again. NBC did right by promoting this as the new season of Heroes, even though it's just the continuation of the third. Better for people to think this is all new. Maybe they should have put it on after the Super Bowl instead of The Office. It was tailored perfectly as a new introductory episode to the series. I guess, though, they did the next best thing: promoted the hell out of it during the big game.
Five changes Comcast should make to NBC
Gone Too Soon: Invasion
Scrubs season nine -- An early look
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
2-03-2009 @ 7:35AM
Jason said...
I agree. They finally got it right after two years of toilet crap. If this keeps up, I'll grant a +2 to NBC's stamina.
Reply
2-03-2009 @ 7:49AM
CRVBOY said...
Why o' why are they keeping Parkman? His character is still annoying!
And if I was Peter, I would have started calling Nathan Adolf.
Obviously Slyar survived the burning building, but how? They don't bother to explain that...
Reply
2-03-2009 @ 8:36AM
Ian said...
Going back to the "anything can be explained", Sylar has Claire's regeneration ability. Somewhere along the way the bullet was removed from his head. How and by who? I hope that gets answered. I assume Angela, since Sylar had info about finding his father...
2-03-2009 @ 7:56AM
Joseph said...
Actually I disagree, I think the series is still crap.
Reply
2-03-2009 @ 9:36AM
edgore said...
I have to agree here. Every minute of last night's show was completely grating. None of it had any kind of continuity - Nate going from "Everyone should have abilities!" to "Lock up everyone with abilities!", *everyone* suddenly deciding to get jobs so they can pretend it's the first season again, or the 'hey, we need someone to draw the future, let's make Matt do it!" crap. The fact that, now that's it's not nearly as relevant, they are doing a Guantanamo/Civil liberties storyline, about three years too late. doesn't help either.
This show is still flailing around, throwing up everything and trying to see what will stick to the wall. It's like someone decided to take every bad thing that comics do and make a show out of that, while completely removing all of the great things about comics.
Hopefully Brian Fuller coming back on board will help...
2-03-2009 @ 8:33AM
dray said...
Very nice review. As someone that's been rooting for Heroes to return to its former glory, last night's episode was a nice surprise and all the points you make are terrific. That being said, I'm still skeptical of the show's heavy focus on Claire and Peter. How long can an audience be subjected to Claire's whining and bratty teenage rebellion? And are we expected to believe that despite warnings from Claire and some not-so-veiled threated from Nathan himself that Peter still allows himself to be captured? Clearly this was a foundation-laying episode, but what differentiates Heroes from being a great show is that a great show focuses on character growth first and foremost not stringing together a ton of unlikely occurrences and hoping that the characters grow from them.
Reply
2-03-2009 @ 8:39AM
Odimerus said...
I'm hoping that Peter only has the powers for a limited time, so he has to touch someone every time he needs powers. Also this was the FIRST episode that really made Claire look heroic. The only thing that really bothered me was Usutu showing up and giving Matt the ability to draw the future. I'm as sick of pre-cog artists as much as time travel.
Reply
2-03-2009 @ 9:34AM
MikLamb said...
Yes, and isn't it great that Parkman drew a picture of something that was going to happen 3 seconds into the future?
I also think that Peter may not have his borrowed powers for very long. If he did, why was he so intent to stay inside the plane -- he could have just flown out.
2-03-2009 @ 9:01AM
Matt said...
Good review, but Peter took Tracey's powers, not Jessica's. I'm assuming Jessica is still laying at the bottom of a burnt up building somewhere...
Reply
2-03-2009 @ 12:50PM
Josh said...
Niki/Jessica isn't lying around burnt up. Tracy saw Niki/Jessica in a casket last fall. Remember, the whole bit with Micah helping Tracy find Zimmerman?
2-03-2009 @ 10:05AM
crispy said...
I'm kinda hoping the prisoner who flew out the hole in the plane was Micah.
Reply
2-03-2009 @ 8:00PM
Val said...
I hope you mean you hope hes back on the show and not dead *chuckle*
Ive been waiting to see if they are going to bring him back.. writers haven't said that hes off the show.. have they? His power is cool and could prove invaluable to the x-men.... er.. heroes..
2-03-2009 @ 10:06AM
robert said...
it seems to me that Peter can still absorb any power but now he has to do it through direct contact and only has one power at a time.
he told Clair on the plane he didn't have super strength but got it from touching Mohinder and then during the fight after he accidentally touched Tracy he was getting his ass handed to him by the guard so the super strength was obviously traded for her freezing ability.
that's why he didn't let go and fly out of the plane, he knows he only has one power at a time and was unable to fly anymore
Reply
2-03-2009 @ 11:08PM
Dorv said...
That's a really good catch. The touching thing I picked up on, but him only being able to have one power at a time puts a very interesting twist on his character.
2-03-2009 @ 10:26AM
Ryan said...
I think the show is back, at least if they keep up the quality of this very very good episode.
Reply
2-03-2009 @ 10:53AM
Gill Garcia said...
Hey!
I've seen this sort of thing before...rounding up people...government agents...
Didn't they do this in X-Men already?
I can't wait until they have those flying robots coming out to capture them as well!
Yes!!!!
Reply
2-03-2009 @ 11:37AM
Naiche said...
Sylar Sylar Sylar!!! ITs about time they make him badass as! I cheered, rewound, and cheered again when he took down those guys. You dont mess with Spock!!!...er...Sylar
Reply
2-03-2009 @ 1:57PM
Samuel McConnell said...
My take on Peter's power is that he only has the power of the last person that he touched - it looked like he lost his super-strength (of Mohinder's) when he touched Tracy and gained her ice power. This is a great way to give him his old power back while not making him majorly over-powered.
Reply
2-03-2009 @ 1:27PM
Michelle said...
Great episode, almost a return to Season 1 form, but I have one small gripe. So how many times is Peter going to fall for the, "Give me a hug," shtick? His dad asked for a hug and drained his powers, and then Nathan asked for one, and took him down. I assume that the next time he goes to hug his mom, there's some sort of sinister motive involved. Gosh, he's like Barney with the hugs!
Reply
2-03-2009 @ 4:56PM
Lisa said...
At the beginning of season 1 I truly disliked Sylar. I used to swear I'd stop watching if they did not get rid of Sylar. Now I am hoping he kicked butt. I was so happy to see him kick some attackers butt. I actually cheered a little and laughed. Good for Sylar.
Reply