February 12, 2007: All We Can Do Is Run
Tonight, everyone had a different agenda, and of course, plans went awry and things got messier than they already are. And what would a
Heroes episode be without some murders? I wouldn't want any of these people chasing me... that is, unless I had a power of my own. But there was a departure from the heroes using or testing their powers tonight, with the exception of Sylar (and he's no "hero" in my eyes). More on him later....
The episode picked up right where it left us last week: with Nathan. He knew nothing about Meredith (
Jessalyn Gilsig) surviving the fire and offered her $100,000 to keep her mouth shut. Hey Nate, I'll keep my mouth shut.... Do you hear me? Meredith's not even truthful! She only offered Claire $25K. She really creeps me out - her high, eerie voice doesn't help to convince me otherwise, either. At least Nathan has a heart and feels responsible, even though he's clearly afraid of getting involved and actually being a father to a new daughter. But I like seeing a softer side of him, even if his mother disagrees. "Beneath the gruff exterior, you're a sap." Well gee, Mrs. Petrelli, what a nice way to support your son.
Meanwhile, I've grown to love
Hayden Panettiere's portrayal of Claire. And I like how she approaches HRG hesitantly now, with eyes of steel and a look of constant disappointment. Her adoptive mom doesn't even know Claire is now protective over her, creating sort of a twisted alliance and forcing HRG to seem even more removed. "You're not my real father." You could feel the anger sizzling between her teeth. Claire's story gets more tragic by the episode: Her "dad" is shadier than the trees outside her window, her real father doesn't want to meet her, her adoptive mom can't even remember who she is now, and her flame-producing biological mother is a lying hideaway who makes most of us shiver. If that isn't a sad teenage story, I don't know what is. I guess being a cheerleader isn't all it's cracked up to be.
It was good to see
Greg Grunberg back tonight. He may be a "glorified babysitter," but there's something endearing about his character - maybe because he can't physically show people his power as well as other heroes can? His frustration draws sympathy, from me at least. And although I like Niki/Jessica's story line the least, I'm glad she's finally tied in with a hero besides D.L. and Micah again. We haven't seen her connection to Linderman since the beginning of the series, so at least something was circling back around to keep the story together. Little did she know someone was reading her thoughts while she was chasing Malsky (
Kevin Chamberlin) around. I'm getting tired of her smirk - I just want to wipe it off her devilish face. Her strength is something to be reckoned with, though. Tossing Matt out that window looked as easy as throwing a baseball. I thought we were going to lose him for a second, but I'm glad he's still standing, even if he has to hear mean thoughts like, "He can't even make it as a rent-a-cop." Keep the diamonds, Parkman! Show them what you can do.
Mohinder returned as well this week, but he wasn't having much luck with calling people on The List, until Zane left him a message. But when Sylar showed up in Virginia Beach before Mohinder, I cringed at the thought of another opened skull and stolen brains. Sylar is one sneaky killer. He sure puts on a nice face pretty quickly. There was a spark of evil hope in his lying eyes when Mohinder told him how many others could be out there - how many other powers are floating around the planet, waiting to be captured. Melting things into a liquid puddle is pretty cool, but he's clearly not satisfied yet.
Back in Vegas, Ando didn't have to look far to find Hope. And Hope... well, she was just the ticket into Linderman's world and that was enough to convince the constantly bickering pals to go ahead with her plan. This provided for yet another great scene between Ando and Hiro. "Stop saying things I said to you!" But Hope's waterworks led the duo right into another heap of trouble. Hiro gave me a brief laugh with his "I come in peace," but I don't think that will help him out of that storage closet or any closer to that sword he's eager to find.
I did miss Peter and Invisible Man this week. I was getting used to their love/hate relationship, but there are just too many people in this show to squeeze in every episode, and with all the pieces of this puzzle scattered all over the card table, we've got a long way to go before a picture is clear enough to decipher. A full picture, anyhow. It looks like next week will bring bigger moments and familiar faces. Can Isaac paint quickly enough? Will Simone find Peter? Will Peter cut his freakin' bangs? Whoops, I got off track there.
Nevertheless, we're really in the thick of it now. Mohinder's got Sylar on his trail, Claire's losing family left and right, and New York City is still expected to explode in the near future. Man, that's a lot to digest on a Monday.
