Episode 5 - Angels And Monsters
11 January 2009
Review
Synopsis: Peter almost kills Angela and Sylar stops him. Tracy wants to turn herself in for murder but Nathan tells her she can’t reveal her powers to the world. They go to see Angela and she admits that both their powers are synthetic and were given to them by the company. Mohinder begins collecting people in sacks like a spider, including Maya. Claire tracks down Stephen Canfield (one of the escapees) but learns that he is no monster despite his vortex powers. Claire helps Noah find Stephen but then Noah asks him to kill Sylar. Stephen refuses, preferring to die than become a monster. Meredith went looking for Claire but has been captured by a man with literal puppet master powers. Hiro loses Adam Monroe who is then captured by Knox. Hiro “kills” Ando in order to convince Knox and Daphne that he is now bad. Arthur Petrelli is behind Pinehearst and its recruitment of special people. He has been using Maury Parkman to create the image of Linderman.
The Good: The Stephen Canfield story should have been the whole episode. There is so much story to explore which Heroes glosses over. Here is a normal guy, his power is so dangerous that he accidentally kills his neighbour. As a result of this he is locked up and his family move on because they are afraid of him. Just the question of what should be done with him could have been the crux of the episode. It’s a great moral dilemma. He is a good man but his power is too dangerous to be allowed to go unchecked. He cuts a tragic figure and allows Claire to play the hero and help him make contact with his family.
The best part of the story is that Noah logically decides to use him to kill Sylar. Stephen’s ability is unique in being able to get around Sylar’s invulnerability. But Stephen refuses to become a murderer and kills himself rather than be the monster he was accused of being. It allows us to see the grey world Noah has had to live in and allows the arrogant Sylar to mess with Claire’s mind by pointing out that if Stephen wasn’t a monster maybe he isn’t either. And maybe it is Noah labelling innocent people as monsters that is the real crime. That’s the good side of this story, now see The Bad.
The idea that the company gave some people their powers synthetically seems to answer some of the questions about the shows mythology. The implication has been that a solar eclipse somehow allowed our heroes to first become aware of their dormant abilities (101, 123). But we also know that some people already had their abilities and this could explain the discrepancy between those two types of special people.
The return of Arthur Petrelli is again a lot less shocking than the producers think it should be. The show hasn’t built a great deal around Nathan and Peter’s missing father, so we don’t have a store of obvious questions waiting for him to answer. And the show’s treatment of characters and their relationships is so flimsy and half hearted that there is no buzz about the idea of seeing Arthur reunited with his family. But it might provide the show with two well defined sides to fight one another. It would be the kind of structure which Heroes would greatly benefit from.
Tracy wanting to hand herself in and Nathan talking her out of it is a logical development. He has just suffered the consequences of trying to tell the world about his abilities and so she would plausibly be convinced not to act her on guilt. Angela seems clever for recruiting Sylar to protect her once Peter had started to lose it. In an undefined way she has been well characterised as being a step ahead of most people. Mohinder attacking a drug dealer shows he is still somewhat him and “only” attacking low-lifes.
The Bad: Stephen Canfield’s story is rushed and is painted in broad brush strokes. It’s all written very generically – my wife, my kids, I made one mistake, they locked me up, they never showed up. When writing is so bland and lacking in detail it doesn’t ring true. Canfield’s life could have been filled with names and descriptions and real sounding dialogue. By dumbing it down Heroes is assuming that its audience aren’t sophisticated enough to understand his plight unless it is spelt out in simple words. The acting is understandably one dimensional too as Canfield tries to cram his tragic life story into a few scenes on the screen. It all makes you wander what a better producer and better writers could do with a story as complex and interesting as Heroes. Instead Canfield’s story ends so abruptly that it doesn’t have time to get you wrapped up in and caring about his life. It’s a real shame.
Peter threatens to rip open his mother’s head to learn the truth. What does that mean? How would ripping her head open get him the truth? Again it’s so ill-defined what each character is capable of that it just seems ridiculous. After all, Sylar never tried to rip “the truth” from someone’s head. He was searching for their powers and he cut their head off because he wanted to learn how their brains worked. Now Peter is acting as if Sylar’s power gave him this desire to cut people’s heads open for no good reason. It really needs better definition.
Similarly Daphne says she has no choice but to help Linderman. Why? All this time she has claimed it was for the money. Where was the scene where he threatened to kill her which would make that line make sense? Similarly Hiro’s claims to now be bad are laughable. Not only in the swift unconvincing change in behaviour but just what kind of bad guy refers to themselves as the bad guy? Real villains are selfish or immoral but they don’t go around referring to themselves as bad, they believe they are doing the right thing. Hence why Linderman tries to convince Daphne that what she is doing is part of something important. Hiro “killing” Ando isn’t the least bit shocking. There is no way he actually killed him and with his powers there are any number of explanations, one of which will doubtless be wheeled out next episode.
Hiro sending Adam Monroe in and out of his casket makes perfect sense. He has the power to push Adam around and so he does until he gets his way. But his power is so commanding it does make you wander why he and Peter ever get into fist fights or take crap from anyone. Why don’t they just stand there freezing time and forcing people to do what they are told? Yes yes I know it wouldn’t make for good television. But if the writers did a better job setting a limit and defining exactly how each power works, then we wouldn’t have this problem.
The Unknown: What is Mohinder going to do with all these people? What is Pinehearst exactly? Where has Arthur Petrelli been all these years? How did Maury escape the mental prison which Matt left him in (207)? Didn’t the company buy Isaac’s loft for Mohinder (203)? Aren’t they at all concerned with what he is up to in there? Shouldn’t they be looking to cut expenditure what with all the guards that must have been killed when all the inmates escaped (302)? Again there is no definition given to any of this which just makes you lose faith in the show’s ability to tell a proper story.
Best Moment: Noah asking Canfield to kill Sylar and Canfield killing himself instead. It’s a good moral dilemma and the kind the show ought to do more often and better.
Epilogue: The focus on the returning Arthur Petrelli seems to confirm that the producers of Heroes are more interested in mindless twists and shock value than creating authentic characters and stories. It’s a shame because there is so much they could do.
Feedback
Add your comments on this episode below. They may be included in the weekly podcasts.
’)