Campus Press reviews the latest episode
In the newest episode of Heroes, “The Line,” our heroes are in trouble. They have made poor decisions, “crossed the line” and now have to find a way out.
Mohinder refuses to inject Monica with an altered virus. Bob is initially threatening, but becomes suspiciously contrite, releasing Monica with her powers intact but promising that there was a person who could ensure that there would be no more “misunderstandings.”
Mohinder gets a clue when Niki arrives and announces that she is his new partner, it’s clear that she isn’t Niki, she’s evil-twin Jessica, and she’s there to “ensure” that Mohinder doesn’t think for himself again. But does Mohinder really “get it” this time? This guy’s head is as thick as a redwood.
Hiro’s visit to ancient Japan has gone wrong, again. His love for Kensei’s “princess” Yaeko has betrayed him, possibly “shattering time.” After the successful rescue of the sword-smith, Kensei witnesses Hiro and Yaeko sharing a kiss. Yaeko has realized Hiro’s role in her romance with Kensei and has fallen for Hiro.
Hiro tries to fix the situation but Kensei has already betrayed them all to White Beard. To make matters worse, there are no more notes in Kensei’s sword. Hiro’s last words to Ando are that he may have shattered time.
Idiot.
He should have left once he had history on course, but no, he had to stay to be near the woman he loves. Was there any way this could have gone off without a disaster?
Of course Hiro is going to find a way out . again. But there is a lot to fix this time. The legend of Takezo Kensei, told in the first season, says that Kensei dies when he plunges his sword into his own heart and gives it to the dragon to save the life of his princess. Now that we know that Kensei has the power of healing and seeing Claire’s re-growth of her toe, could Kensei actually die from this?
Either Kensei has a remarkable turnaround or Hiro takes his place. It may also be possible that Hiro is the dragon, a competitor, and Kensei must dredge out his own “heart” (love) to show Hiro and Yaeko that he is worthy of her love. This may be more about Kensei’s growth as a hero than Hiro’s own story, and possibly the historic foundation of everything that is “Heroes.”
Claire has definitely crossed the line. Desperate to make the cheerleading squad after being rejected by the stereotypically evil head cheerleader Debbie, Claire’s boyfriend West persuades her to enact a plan using their powers. Claire finds the cheerleaders in the middle of a cruel “weigh-in” where the head cheerleader writes the weight of each girl on their foreheads, denigrating them as she guzzles from a liquor bottle.
Claire lures Debbie away from the squad, ostensibly to plead her case and West, in a dark costume, flies in, picks up a screaming Claire and drops her on the school steps (bleeding and broken, of course).
When Debbie reports the incident to the police there is, of course, no body on the steps and Claire shows up unharmed. The police find the bottle; Debbie is found to be drunk and is removed from the cheer squad. Claire is, of course, invited to take her place.
The cheer squad and its leader seem remarkably similar to an episode from last year’s Cold Case. While the “Heroes” writers are amazingly original, they seem to be struggling with this one.
At least the method to get the “evil one” out of the way was original, and in the end it wasn’t Claire’s prank that got her kicked off the squad, it was her own actions (drinking alcohol on school grounds). Still, Claire is using her powers for her own ends, not to help others, a cardinal sin in the superhero business.
Sylar succeeded in getting Alejandro and Maia across the border, but had to use Maia’s powers to kill a civilian vigilante border patrol group to do it. Admittedly, the vigilantes were threatening their lives, but Sylar would not allow Alejandro to end the power attack until they were away from the border, leaving the vigilantes dead.
After Alejandro beats Sylar in revenge for using his sister in such a fashion, Sylar waits until the English-speaking Maia is out of earshot, graphically describing to Alejandro (who speaks no English) exactly what he’s going to do to each of them once he gets his powers back. Even if he does not get his powers back Sylar, plans to kill Alejandro and use Maia to his own ends.
But does Alejandro really speak no English, or does he simply leave English to his more linguistically talented sister? Did Sylar make a mistake?
He may have simply because, although Alejandro may not know the words, he certainly would have heard the malice in Sylar’s voice. He positively radiated evil intentions. Alejandro will be on guard.
Peter and Caitlin arrive in Montreal at the location in Peter’s precognitive painting. The building has a helix symbol engraved over the door, what looks like a fresh cut in the wood. The interior holds a variety of household goods, like a huge storage unit, and a note taped to a mirror addressed to Peter. It says that the Company is doing something that may destroy the world; that Peter needs to help stop it.
Peter has no idea what the Company is or anything about the warehouse.
Suddenly Peter and Caitlin are no longer in the warehouse. Peter unwittingly uses Hiro’s time-travel powers to send the pair a year into the future. Peter and Caitlin witnesses a new disaster in New York, the streets are empty and evacuation notices fly in the wind.
Here we go again. How many times do they have to save New York?
View the entire episode and next week’s trailer online at NBC.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Arwyn Rice at arwyn.rice@thecampuspress.com
