Episode 20 - Cold Snap
27 July 2009
Review
Synopsis: Danko finds Eric Doyle gift wrapped for him in his apartment. He tries to catch Angela but Peter saves her. Noah meanwhile tries to earn Danko’s trust by capturing Rebel. When Rebel helps Tracy escape, Noah corners her and offers her freedom in exchange for Rebel. But when she discovers that Rebel is Micah she sacrifices herself to help him escape. During her initial escape Matt, Daphne and Mohinder escape too but Daphne’s wounds are too severe and she dies. Ando and Hiro realise that the baby is Matt’s and he has the power to bring life where there was none before. Thanks to the baby activating Hiro’s dormant power they are able to escape from Danko’s men.
The Good: When Heroes changes direction, they really change direction. This episode is almost unrecognisable from the confusing mess of Volume Three. This is focussed, logical, full of good character moments and wonderful continuity. And for a show that so often felt rushed, they left out Claire, Nathan, Peter and Sylar and still delivered an excellent hour of television.
First off Micah is an ideal choice to be Rebel. As a season one and two regular he is not a random new character, his return feels significant and a relief. His power too makes logical sense as he would have been able to keep tabs on all of Danko’s manoeuvres. But the really good thing about Micah is that he is a real hero in the literal sense. He asked his parents why they couldn’t all fight crime together (208). He encouraged Monica to experiment with her powers to become a hero (205). Here his intentions are clear and forthright. He obviously feels a bond with his Aunt Tracy and tries to help her. But he calls her out on what she has become.
Micah’s return also draws our attention to an important theme in Heroes. That is the importance of the innocence and idealism of youth as compared to the corruption and cynicism of age. Most of the truly heroic and moral characters are the youngest (Micah, Claire, Peter, Hiro) and they are usually struggling against an older more conflicted relative (Tracy, Noah, Nathan). Not to mention the corrupt antics of Angela’s generation which gets brought up once more here (see below).
As for Tracy herself, if this is the end then it is pretty fitting. She remains selfish in her escape and that selfishness leads Noah to find her swiftly. It’s nice to see Tracy freezing the tags off the clothes she’s about to steal too. It’s those little touches of logic which make television shows so much more enjoyable. Then once she decides to freeze the whole parking garage we get a fantastic visual effect of all the men, cars and sprinklers frozen at once. Danko’s swift murder of her seems almost justified if she just killed all of his guards.
Angela too is on the run and we get a really nice simple glimpse into how her power has helped her survive. As she is asleep she sees a vision of her capture which is all she needs to slip away. Her cunning charm is also nicely showcased as she snuggles up to an unsuspecting man on the sidewalk and slips away. A by-product of Tracy and Angela’s stories is to reinforce how efficient Danko is and how much danger those with abilities are in. It’s nice to see Angela acknowledge "I have dug my sons a very deep hole and I'm just trying to dig them out again." That was one of the major underlying stories of seasons one and two and it builds a story of redemption for her to begin fixing the mess she is partly responsible for.
Then we have Matt Parkman who gives Daphne a loving send-off. It’s fascinating to hear her give voice to the criticism that their relationship had been rushed unconvincingly into the story. I don’t know if the writers were owning up to their mistakes. Either way it was also a nice touch to transition Matt into talking about his ex-wife Janice again. Seeing her back is another breath of fresh air and the continuity is superb. Way back we learnt that she was pregnant (113) and then we heard a throwaway line explaining that the baby wasn’t his (204). Now we learn the truth and it would seem that’s the new direction for his character.
And far from being an annoying comedy sideplot, baby Matt gives Hiro and Ando plenty to do. The comedy is what you would expect with Hiro addressing Janice as “Mother of Matt Parkman’s child!” and asking baby Matt to shake his rattle twice if he doesn’t understand him. But it’s really nice to see Hiro bring up his mother’s death again (312). It reinforces how important a moment that was for him and it makes his friendship with Ando more sweet as they both fight back the tears. But more than that it provides emotional resonance for Hiro as he is forced to take baby Matt away from his mother. Hiro’s power returning from its dormant state is roughly consistent with what has happened to Peter and has interesting implications (see The Unknown).
It’s nice to see Hiro have to work hard and sweat to save Ando (by wheeling him out of danger). It makes his journey to recover his powers seem more real. Ando acknowledging the pain from the punch he received was a nice bit of continuity. And of course seeing Ando use his ability to knock down a guard is a portent for what he did to Hiro in the future (301), assuming that future is still going to come true.
There are so many little touches here which I liked. Danko referring to keeping people with abilities drugged up as “Gun control” was very nice. It has such a logic behind it and so reminds you that Danko is no thoughtless villain but a man doing what maybe right in the wrong way. Even the seemingly unprofessional way he brings Mohinder into the room helps with the plot exposition of explaining how Tracy will find Matt to help her escape. Matt of course uses his power at the hospital which helps explain how he would escape immediate recapture once the doctors called the police. Janice explains that baby Matt started exhibiting powers after the eclipse is more good continuity (310, 311). Danko looks ruthless and efficient for sending his men in to search Janice’s house regardless of where she told them her baby was. Daphne claims she can run on water, which explains how she reached Japan amongst other places (315). Micah can’t control sprinklers because they aren’t computerised but he can talk to the fire alarm which controls them. Again more logic.
The Bad: Tracy’s wink as she was blown into a million pieces was confusing. If that was her sacrificial death then the wink took away the certainty of it. It that was meant to show that she will live on then it took away from her sacrifice a bit. We know there is yet another identical sister out there (304) which also takes away from the sense that Tracy’s sacrifice was really that significant a moment.
Otherwise there was nothing else wrong with this episode. The problem is that the show hasn’t earned the credibility for this episode to work the way it should. I’m still convinced that Danko and his team will be dismantled by seasons end and that all the heroes will be alive and healthy to see it. There’s nothing wrong with that in general but its certainty robs the show of the dramatic tension which comes from a true sense of consequence.
The Unknown: It would seem Nathan Petrelli didn’t take people’s powers entirely. Hiro’s are lying dormant apparently and Peter was able to regain a variation of his empathic power. So it’s worth asking whether Maya will ever start killing people again (307). Did Rebel tell Peter how to find Angela? Why would Sylar (I assume) capture Eric Doyle for Danko? Is Tracy dead? We still don’t know exactly what Noah and Angela are trying to achieve.
Best Moment: The visual of the frozen garage was spectacular. Danko shooting Tracy (Terminator 2 style) was a pretty brutal and effective end to her story.
Epilogue: Oh Heroes, where have you been? You get a sense now that all the heroes will work together to bring down Danko and the mystery becomes what is Sylar’s part in all this. It could be a very intriguing and enjoyable end to the season. But without real consequences and character development it won’t mean much in the long run. For now bathe in the logic, continuity and good writing.
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