CP review of latest ‘Heroes’ episode
Tim Kring has done it again.
He’s gone and done the unexpected, turning the corner on our “Heroes stories,” introducing us to new plot twists and turns most viewers didn’t expect.
Mr. Bennett recorded and then destroyed Isaac’s final eight prophetic paintings. They feature: Kaito Nakamura’s death, Claire’s body mangled on the steps, a vial held in an unknown hand, Niki/Jessica pounding on a door, Peter held in a cell showing a biohazard symbol, Hiro battles Kensei, Mohinder, with a broken nose, fires a pistol and finally Mr. Bennett lays (apparently) dead from a gunshot wound through his eye.
The paintings have no clear order, so he begins trying to establish some of it. He calls Mohinder, who insists that he has not been given any such pistol and would never use one.
Kensei holds Hiro, the sword-smith, and Yaeko captive in White Beard’s camp. Hiro is drugged to keep him from using his powers, but Yaeko frees herself and tries to bring Hiro out of his drugged stupor. She succeeds just in time for the three to escape.
After fully coming out of his opium-induced haze, Hiro goes back to destroy White Beard’s cache of firearms, meeting Kensei and defeating him in the sword-fight depicted in Isaac’s painting.
Hiro tries to turn Kensei back to good, refusing to kill him. Kensei refuses to forgive Hiro and is left behind in the explosion. Hiro returns later to find Kensei’s charred body.
Hiro is being thickheaded this time. He knows what Kensei’s power is, he cannot assume that as long as there is a shred of flesh remaining that Kensei will not regenerate. However, with the promise of firearms gone, White Beard’s army scatters. Hiro has won the battle and saved history.
Hiro now looks more like the future-Hiro Peter met on the subway in the first season. Tough, smart and heroic. He is no longer the innocent dreamer he was when we met him in the first season.
When Hiro returns to Yaeko and tells her that he must leave, she tells him he is the true Kensei and promises to spread his legend far and wide. Hiro leaves her and appears in Ando’s office,jubilant that he saved history. Then Ando informs him of his father’s death.
As speculated last week, cutting out his heart is figurative, having to leave Yaeko. And also, Hiro is the basis for the Kensei of legend, not the “real” Kensei.
Back in California, West is pretty proud of a newspaper article about a drunken cheerleader who claims she saw a flying boy. He sees nothing wrong with such publicity. He doesn’t have a clue that there are people out there aware of such powers and watching.
Claire, on the other hand, is quite experienced with these people but doesn’t know how to explain it or tell him about her father, “the man in the horn-rimmed glasses.” She tries, but can’t find the words.
West isn’t helping matters by showing up at Claire’s house to make breakfast and charming her mom. Unfortunately this leads to the inevitable, West sees Mr. Bennett and freaks out. Claire’s admission that the man who is West’s worst nightmare is also her father doesn’t help. He disappears, believing the situation is a trap and doesn’t respond to Claire’s texted appeals.
When Mr. Bennett decides that their cover is blown and it is time for the family to move again, Claire refuses to go.
Mr. Bennett’s secrecy is not helping matters. If he explained why he is so concerned, showed her the painting, then Claire would probably do what she could to prevent her beloved foster-father’s death. We’ve seen major characters die in “Heroes,” Bennett is not immune to death simply because of his major-character status.
Things are getting very bad at the Company. In the last episode we learned Matt’s father’s next target is Bob, Mohinder’s boss.
This week Matt and Nathan arrive at the Company to try to protect Bob. Bob reveals Matt’s father, Maury, is not the mastermind, only a tool. A man named “Adam” is the true enemy, the one or organized the elder generation of heroes, and the one who now wants them dead.
Niki reveals that Jessica has not returned. She sees the Company as her savior and chooses to use her abilities, learned from Jessica, in gratitude. She will do anything for the people she believes will save her from herself and let her be a family with Micah again. She is given instructions to use the virus (in a vial, one of the scenes in the paintings) on Maury.
However, Maury is already there, and using D.L.’s image to convince Niki that Bob needed to die. She attacks Mohinder, breaking his nose, and goes after Bob. She pounded on a door (another painting) and broke it down to reach Bob.
Matt discovers that he is able to break into Molly’s dreams. He finds himself in the apartment where he lived when his father left him. Molly is unhurt, but trapped in the apartment. In anger, Matt manages to bring Maury to the apartment, breaking his active control over Niki. Matt realizes that the apartment is Maury’s nightmare and traps Maury as he was once trapped.
With Maury under control Niki musters enough self-control, with encouragement from Nathan, to stop herself. She injects herself with the virus to release herself from her nightmare world.
So, what is Niki’s power? Jessica does seem to be gone, (or is she, what was that violent attack in an earlier episode?) but Niki can still use Jessica’s “talents.” Is Niki’s talent the physical abilities, and (the deceased) Jessica’s the power of possession?
It may not matter. Mohinder attempts to use his natural healing antibodies to save Jessica, but discovers that the virus altered by the Company is a new strain, immune to Mohinder’s treatment. Mohinder’s warnings that an altered virus could bring disaster were prophetic.
Mohinder is told to retrieve Claire, who they assume is the key to the cure because of her healing powers. He is given a pistol. Mohinder reveals that he is working with Mr. Bennett to bring down the Company, but Bob seems unconcerned.
The seventh painting is set-up, Mohinder now has the gun and a broken nose. However, is he the one who is responsible for shooting Mr. Bennett? In “Heroes” nothing can be assumed.
Peter is trapped in the future with Caitlin. They wander the streets, only to be caught by a biohazard unit. Once they have been decontaminated, the pair are separated. Peter is told that Caitlin will be deported along with other non-Americans.
He is initially placed in a cell (another scene from Isaac’s paintings) led to his mother, who he doesn’t recognize at first. He finally remembers her and he learns that more than 90 percent of the world’s population has died from a terrible virus.
Peter is brought up to date on the world’s ills, literally. He is shown stacks of bodies … from the last week alone. There is no expectation that anyone in the world will survive.
Why would they deport non-Americans at this time? If more than 90 percent of the world is dead, do they really have the manpower for such a petty thing?
As Peter and his mother leave they see Caitlin being led to her deportation (and assumed death). Peter tries to transport both of them back to the time when they belong, but arrives in the warehouse alone. Or not quite alone. The mysterious Adam, who left him the note, greets him. Adam reveals himself to be Kensei, un-aged and healthy.
There is little question as to how Adam and Kensei survived, the regeneration ability is powerful. However, he has not aged. Either someone (Hiro or Peter) has brought him forward in time, or his regeneration abilities also prevent him from aging.
Does this mean that at whatever age the healing ability manifests itself, the holder of that power ceases aging for all time? Is Claire a teenager forever? Poor girl.
So Peter would never age, either. Three immortals, they cannot age and they cannot die. Or can they? Did Claire’s first-season death give us the clues we need to defeat the new evil?
View the entire episode and next week’s trailer online at NBC.com.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Arwyn Rice at arwyn.rice@thecampuspress.com
