TVSquad

(S04E03) Let's talk candidly. After all, it looks like you and I are the only ones left watching this show. Remember the good old days when Heroes was the top-rated show on NBC and all the talk at the proverbial water coolers? It feels like it was only three years ago.

It's a shame that it looks like this ratings erosion is a permanent one, as tonight was a good installment. Unless things turn around immediately, it's a pretty safe bet this will be the last volume of Heroes. They need to sneak in some stunt casting or film a live episode or whore the stars out to all the talk shows relentlessly if they want to save the show. If they want to.

Robert Knepper's Samuel continues to be one of the most interesting new characters we've seen in a long time. After last week's skips around the world to touch base with almost everyone, this week we settled down and focused on three storylines. Of the three, the Parkman segments surprised me by being absolutely brilliant.

Matt's been pretty boring and annoying of late. The best thing that happened to the character, apparently, was getting a bit of Sylar's psyche trapped in his skull. Not good for Matt, but good for us. As I was watching Sylar totally screw with Parkman's mind in that dope kid's house, I realized what a great villain Matt would make. Certainly better than Mohinder was, who remains thankfully MIA.

If Sylar isn't an independent consciousness in there, then Parkman has already lost it. The way Sylar manipulated what Parkman was seeing in the house to the point where it was either Parkman use his ability to twist his own partner's mind around, or watch his entire life fall apart. An absolute master stroke for Sylar. And brilliant writing. Sylar is just as menacing without any of his powers. Granted, he used Matt's power, but even so.

As for Samuel, he went after Peter this week. I'm not sure what his game plan is still, but he used his powers to great affect in working over Peter. He explained his ability as the power to move the earth but he can work ink as well, in many ways apparently. He injected a bit of it into Peter and revealed the compass to him.

But, the masterstroke came after he lied to Peter about being on the bus. He then snuck into Peter's apartment and "drew" himself into the newspaper photo with the ink he'd absorbed earlier that day. Again, I'm not yet sure why he's done this, as he subsequently dropped the lawsuit against Peter. Was it just to encourage Peter to keep saving lives? He seems to want to push people into doing certain things, as we saw last week with Hiro.

If there was any confusion about what kind of a person he was, I think that was cleared up when he leveled the house he'd grown up in via a sinkhole simply for denying him entrance. His remorse and emotional distress over his brother's death seems genuine enough. He's a wonderfully complex character already.

The third storyline was less interesting, but only marginally so since I'm convinced there's a connection between Gretchen and Samuel. Which means I am paying close attention to everything that's going on, and particularly to Gretchen. Nothing ever goes smoothly for Claire, and I expect this to be no exception.

Other than that possible future relevance, though, this is all things we've already seen with Claire. She's opened up and revealed herself to Gretchen and she'll more than likely pay for it. Unfortunately, not with her life. She's still trying to be an independent woman and find herself and she still has dear old dad wanting to protect her. It's all rather blah-blah-blah.

But, I loved the introduction of the deaf woman who can apparently "see" sound. The nurse said it was common among deaf people, but I'm not sure if that's exactly what she meant. Somehow I doubt it. Any deaf people want to chime in and let us know if you see anything remotely like what she did with the cello? Not to mention that she could suddenly play it, even if she was faking it. Vibrato in the sound but none in her fingers? Not likely.

[Check out clips and full episodes of Heroes on SlashControl.]