Heroes
NBC, Monday, 8PM
“A Clear and Present Danger
Written by Tim Kring
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.
Finally, Heroes is back on track. After a needlessly sluggish third season opening, the second half of the season looks to reconnect with the type of storytelling that made Heroes a powerhouse. The newest episode in the series is well-written and does a nice job of setting up the premise for the rest of the season.
With Senator Nathan Petrelli leading the secret government team that has begun snatching heroes from the street, no one with powers is safe—not even Nathan’s own family. However, Claire is back to being a bright girl who knows both of her dads too well to miss the signs that something is happening. It isn’t long before her fears are confirmed while listening in on a phone conversation between Nathan and Angela. From here the episode takes off.
Claire attempts to warn both Peter and Matt, but her warnings come too late. Caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, Claire finds herself captured, drugged, and carted off to an airplane hanger where a dozen other heroes are being loaded for transport to an undisclosed location. However, Nathan’s soft spot for Claire keeps her safe. He sends her off in a limo from which she quickly escapes in order to sneak aboard the airplane moments before it takes off.
Soon, Claire is sneaking through the plane, setting her friends free. Hiro, Peter, Suresh, and Tracy are all unmasked before Peter sends her up to the cockpit to force the pilot to land. With taser in hand, she orders the pilot to land, and then turns to the co-pilot—who just happens to be her dad. The look of surprise on her face is priceless.
Meanwhile, in back of the plane, a fight breaks out and Peter accidentally blasts an icy hole in the fuselage. One of the hooded and drugged heroes is blown out as the plane plummets to Earth with Peter hanging onto Suresh’s hand for dear life. The plane crashes, and the episode ends with the television screen filling with flames. Now, that’s a cliffhanger ending.
The writing was hands down the best so far this season. The storyline was working triple time, lending depth to the episode that the season to date has been lacking. Some big character questions and plot developments were presented and should provide a lot of potential for some old school Heroes action.
The writers also worked on character development issues, which was a nice change of pace from earlier in the season. Peter, since regaining his power, must touch each hero again in order to mimic their powers. So, Peter effectively lost his abilities, which leveled the playing field a bit. Hiro also seems to have lost his power, something that I hope he regains. However, it’s sure to keep the season from bouncing around the timeline, which will be a nice change. Tracy is a bit of a wild card, since she showed signs of being a villain in the first half of the season, but she’s likely to join ranks with the heroes now. Ando is currently tracking Hiro, using the GPS system Hiro set up early in the episode. Things should really heat up once Ando arrives on site with his super-charging ability. Then there is Sylar.
Sylar continues to be the most interesting character on the show. He is on the hunt to find his true parents and he is still the most powerful hero of the bunch. When Nathan’s government goons track Sylar down, they plug him with half a dozen darts, which faze Sylar for a moment. Then, with lightning speed, he recovers and decimates his would-be captors. This development presents the opportunity for Sylar to make some new choices in his life, and it could set him back on course to being the person he wanted to become in the first half of the season.
All in all, there is quite a lot of opportunity for Heroes to turn itself around this season. There is no reason that the show can’t end season three on a very high note. I just hope it isn’t too late to regain the audience members who drifted away during the fall.