Heroes
NBC, Monday, 9PM
“The Second Coming”
Written by Tim Kring
Directed by Allan Arkush
“The Butterfly Effect”
Written by Tim Kring
Directed by Greg Beeman
“One of Us; One of Them”
Written by Joe Pokaski
Directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan
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.
Heroes doesn’t waste time plugging the third season opener with filler scenes. Instead, season three opens with back-to-back episodes “The Second Coming” and “The Butterfly Effect” that blow away the slow pace of the second season within the first ten minutes.
“The Second Coming” opens four years in the future, when people with special abilities are hunted down and tested like lab rats. Peter Petrelli is running for his life and nearly gets shot by Villain Claire. Stopping time, Peter grabs Claire’s gun and jumps into the past to keep Nathan from exposing their special powers. Future Peter changes the future, but the change has placed the entire world at risk.
What does it mean to be a hero? Or a villain? Heroes finally examines these questions by giving the characters choices that put their wants and needs in conflict. Easy answers are gone. Claire wants to learn how to fight in order to cause pain to villains like Sylar. Hiro puts the world at risk in order to save it again. Peter wants to find a better future for people like him, but puts everyone at risk. Sylar tries to be a hero, forcing himself to struggle against his hunger to kill. Suresh wants a special power no matter the risk to himself. With increased internal conflict, Heroes generates characters that are much more realistic than in past seasons.
Throughout the season opener, nearly every character makes a choice that sets him or her on a different trajectory from the previous seasons. The choices made aren’t cut and dried. Rather, they deal in fine degrees of gray, and don’t fall into simple categories of good and evil. However, many of the choices made are driven by selfish motivations that result in blurring—and in some cases redrawing—of the lines between the heroes and the villains. Who would have considered that Hero Sylar would step in and save Noah’s life in “One of Us; One of Them”? It would never have happened, especially if Future Peter hadn’t tampered with the timeline.
Hiro Nakamura, a show favorite, makes one of the most selfish and thoughtless choices of the season. Driven by a desire to continue what he perceives as his “heroic destiny” to save the world, Hiro removes a world-destroying secret formula from a safe that only he can open. This choice is a huge disappointment, since it makes no sense. Hiro’s selfish decision is out of character. Instead, it looks like a pull of the string by the writers who need to ignite a plotline that puts the two halves of the secret formula into play.
One of the most interesting revelations of the season is delivered in a cross-over scene between “The Butterfly Effect” and “One Of Us; One Of Them”: Sylar lies strapped down in a Company cell with ability blocking drugs pumping into his system as Angela Petrelli leans down and whispers in his ear.
     “My sons have been such a disappointment. But you, I can give you what all sons crave from their mothers—inspiration, guidance, and comfort. Isn’t that right, Gabriel?” she says.
     “My name is Sylar, and you are not my mother,” Sylar says, glaring at her.
     “But I am, dear. I should never have given you up for adoption, but now I’m going to take good care of you, just like a good mother,” Angela Petrelli says.
     “My mother?” Sylar says, his eyes softening.
Angela’s revelation gives Sylar what he has always craved and never received—love and acceptance. This twist leads to Sylar’s possible reformation. What he does next is anyone’s guess, and this is a very nice way to develop Sylar’s character, since it echoes back to moments in the first two seasons that showed his desire to be good. The most painful of those moments was when Sylar returned home to his mother. Desperate for understanding, he only receives her hatred and fear.
In addition to the shifting characters, the story mythology is being tested by Future Peter’s actions and has begun to generate a few holes that need filling. The biggest plot hole is Future Peter’s scar. Either Peter has Claire’s ability to heal from any wound or he doesn’t. Another explanation might be that he’s lost his ability to heal or one of the tests that were performed on him caused him permanent damage. In any case, the persistence of this unexplained plot hole requires continuous suspension of disbelief. Right now, it looks like this is just a visual gimmick used to differentiate between the two Peters. Hopefully, the writers will address the problem of the scar sooner than later to keep it from appearing like a cheap trick.
Even with this flaw, season three looks like it will deliver the same type of breathtaking storytelling that made season one such a hit. The layering of good and evil within each character gives the series a more realistic feel that better fits today’s society.
Season three should produce some interesting episodes as Sylar struggles with his desire to be good and his need to consume powers. Adding to the mix, how will Sylar’s attempt to “go good” affect Claire after what he did to her? How will she view Noah’s decision to partner with Sylar? Where does Future Peter fit into the timeline since he erased his own future? Why does Ando betray Hiro? What will become of Suresh?
These are only a few of the questions set up in the first three episodes of Heroes. The third season looks exciting. Hopefully, the action and intellectual intensity of the first few shows will continue without succumbing to the filler scenes that congested the second season. All-in-all, Heroes season three is a show to watch.