Heroes
NBC, Monday, 9PM
“I Am Become Death”
Written by Aron Eli Coleite
Directed by David Von Ancken
Warning: this review contains some spoilers. If you’d rather not know what the story is going to include, bookmark this page and read it after viewing.
This week’s episode of Heroes was entertaining to watch, but problems are continuing to develop with the season. “I Am Become Death” shifted back and forth so many times between present day and the future that it became distracting. In the opening scene, 4 years from now, Future Peter tells Present Peter that the others think he’s an extremist and a terrorist when all he is trying to do is save the world from ripping in half. However, before anything else can be said, Future Claire shoots Future Peter and then opens fire on Present Peter who runs away rather than freezing time or teleporting to safety.
There are inherent risks when writing stories that send characters traveling through time, making changes to the timeline. The biggest danger is losing the audience by creating too many time shifts and alterations to the timeline. The writers seem to recognize this since the characters have physical details to visually establish which character belongs in which time frames. Future Peter has a scar, Future Claire has brown hair, and Future Daphne has straight hair. It’s all starting to feel a little made up.
There is a clear sense that Nathan and Peter are polarizing characters who are drawing other characters to them. However, this storyline isn’t developing much beyond Future Peter trying to kill Present Nathan and Future Nathan leading the team charged with eliminating Future Peter. More attention needs to be placed on the Petrelli brothers’ changing relationship since this appears to be the spine of the season three story arc.
One of the best scenes of “I Am Become Death” had Sylar (Gabriel) cooking pancakes for his son and welcoming “Uncle” Peter home. The genuine conflict of will and the uneasy trust between these two characters was fabulous. With grave concerns for Peter’s well being, Sylar gives Peter his devastating ability to understand how things work—an ability that comes with an obsession to kill—in order to help save the world. Sylar’s growth as a character is the gem among stones.
Unfortunately, even Sylar’s storyline is having trouble due to logic gaps in the writing. Claire, Daphne, and Knox break into Sylar’s house and hold Sylar’s son hostage in order to get Peter. Yet, Sylar doesn’t use his abilities to save his son. Why not? He clearly hasn’t sworn off his powers, because he just used them to paint the future for Peter. Sure, he didn’t want Noah seeing him using his abilities, but is hiding his power worth risking his son’s life? Sylar would not risk his son’s life just to shield the boy from seeing daddy’s powers. It just isn’t believable given what we have seen of their relationship. After all, Noah’s death causes Sylar to set off a nuclear explosion that kills hundreds of thousands of people. Moreover, even if there is something restraining Sylar’s power, there was no hold on Peter. Peter could have used telekinesis or frozen time to stop his attackers. He’s already seen that Future Claire is quite willing and capable of killing him. Why were Sylar and Peter dumbed down? Together, they would be unstoppable. How did they lose that fight? This logic gap is too wide.
The recent logic gaps are endangering the series by creating too many thin storylines. For example, if Peter and Claire were able to survive Sylar’s nuclear explosion, Sylar should have also survived, since he took her ability to heal. Hiro and Ando fare little better than Peter and Sylar. Time and again, they fall into the trap of doing things that make them feel like they are on the path to saving the world, but result in unleashing trouble that they can’t stop—such as setting Adam free and losing the formula.
A little less exciting, but much more coherent, is the developing relationship between Nathan and Tracy Strauss. They each find themselves dealing with unexpected power—Nathan’s is political and welcomed, but Tracy’s is the power to insta-freeze anything that she touches. Unable to come to terms with her new ability, Tracy decides that she can’t live with herself and she tries to commit suicide by jumping off of a bridge. Out of nowhere, Nathan swoops in, catches her, and romance blooms. It’s a predictable, but solid, story line that has lots of room to grow.
Heroes started out with a bang, which was a powerful change from last season, but the show needs more substance. The storylines must be better focused to avoid fragmentation, the characters require more development given their new trajectories, and the story logic has to be reestablished, or the season will miss its mark. However, the season three flaws can be repaired, and the promising storylines can be developed to give more shape to the series. The polarization of Nathan and Peter creates room for other characters to grow, which requires greater focus on the present day storyline. In addition, Sylar’s redemption continues to remain fascinating. However, if the show spends too much time in the future, it will undermine how the audience perceives Sylar’s present-day character.
Much of the potential shown in episode one is still there, but Heroes is in danger of falling flat. Hopefully, the writers will shift to present-day storylines that are more content driven, which will stabilize the show and give substance to the exciting, fast-paced action of season three.