Questions abound after Monday’s episode
NBC’s “Heroes” is back in old form. As usual, “Heroes” creator Tim Kring has us asking what the heck is going on.
Power-absorbing Peter Petrelli is back, but without memory. I assume that they will eventually explain how he went from exploding to being locked in a shipping container that was supposed to contain valuable cargo, but I wouldn’t expect it until at least mid-season.
Unlike “Lost,” known for piling on new mysteries without solving any old ones, “Heroes” actually offers answers with comforting regularity.
One thing fails to make sense, though. Why did the Irish mobster accuse Peter of starting a blood feud between him and his “client” due to Peter’s (heroic, of course) interference? Should Peter have let the sister be raped, injured or killed? Wouldn’t that be enough to start a blood feud?
On another note, does it really surprise anyone that Hiro’s hero, Takezo Kensei, has great powers of his own? His ability to heal seemed to come as much of a surprise to him as Hiro. Could Hiro’s presence have triggered the gene?
Obviously Hiro is going to reform this English mercenary into the hero of legend and lore, and we’re just along for the ride. How long will it be before some professor uses the Kensei-Princess Iako-Hiro relationship to illustrate a modern Cyrano de Bergerac situation? Come on, can’t they be more subtle with their foreshadowing?
Another question that arises is who killed Hiro’s father and attacked Angela Petrelli?
We couldn’t “see” anyone in the room with Angela, and we only know of two with the ability to become invisible: Peter and his invisible friend. And how did he survive the fall? Did he fly, like Nathan and Peter, or heal, like Claire? Could this be the evil man little Molly sees or do we have a second killer on the loose?
Claire really managed to gross me out this time. Even though she heals almost instantly, what sane person would endure the physical agony of sticking their hand in a pot of boiling water to retrieve a ring or cut off their baby toe just to see if it would grow back?
Ick, ick! Apparently her budding boyfriend was just as disturbed by the temporary toe removal. And does the stolen car incident have any real meaning, or is it just a stolen car?
Wes, Claire’s new beau, seems to be pretty clueless about the heroes community. Until Claire, his only connection was through Mohinder’s father, Chandra Suresh, and his book on the biology of these powers.
Is he a short-term convenient victim, or is his death a warning for Claire and family to get out of town? Or will he join our cast of heroes?
The Haitian is back, so we can’t count on anyone’s memories. We can’t even assume he really did erase Mohinder’s memory after being cured by the good doctor of the mysterious disease.
Finally, what is with the new girl, Maya, and her brother Alejandro? Let’s call them the yin and yang twins for now. Maya creates whatever that stigmata death power is, and brother Alejandro negates it.
Together they seem safe, but stay away from Maya if she’s alone. What kind of superhero power is this, anyway? Other than Niki/Jessica, this is by far the darkest power we’ve seen. Is it actual physical separation from Alejandro that causes the power to be unleashed, or is it stress situations? Every time Maya has been shown the power so far she has been separated from Alejandro in a high-stress situation.
Next week’s episode:
If you don’t want any spoilers, stop reading here.
The episode is named “Kindred.” The creators of “Heroes” have been pretty direct in naming things (“How to stop an exploding man”), so I think we can assume we will be meeting more new “heroes.” We should learn more about Wes the flying boy, and Peter will meet a thousand-year-old Irish mobster.
And you can be sure there will be more surprises.
View the entire episode and next week’s trailer online at NBC.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Arwyn Rice at arwyn.rice@colorado.edu
