Episode 4 - Acceptance
28 March 2012
Synopsis: Angela brings Nathan some childhood objects to try and trigger his memories. What she triggers is Sylar’s power to see the history of an object. Nathan realises that an old girlfriend of his died in an accident which Angela covered up. He confesses to the girl’s mother and she has him killed. Claire encourages Noah to get a job and Tracy confides in him about her insecurity at returning to work. She gets her old job back with Governor Malden but doesn’t feel right about it. Hiro tries to stop one of his employees from committing suicide but can’t seem to change Tadashi’s behaviour. Eventually Hiro realises that it is his own mortality he can’t seem to accept.
The Good: Heroes continues to patiently build the storylines for its main characters. But unfortunately after last week’s strong effort, this is the much weaker side of the coin.
The Bad: Hiro coming to terms with his impending demise is a weird storyline, particularly weird in this episode. First off, is he really going to die? It seems highly unlikely. Heroes has been damagingly lax at its treatment of death. In this episode alone Nathan gets murdered and we focus on Tracy, essentially a replacement character to ensure continued work for the actress. So the idea of fans mourning sorrowfully at the thought of Hiro leaving us doesn’t have any teeth. Surely a surprising cure is just around the corner and if so this story has been redundant.
Then there is Hiro’s new plan to change only small things about the past. Not only does it contradict every science fiction story about the butterfly effect but it contradicts Hiro’s own good sense of judgement. Specifically his sister says she has been dating Ando since high school. In that case Ando would be a completely different person. Not to mention the fact that Hiro and Ando’s interactions since Hiro discovered his powers have been so involved that surely she would have noticed something was going on by now. They did disappear to the States together for several weeks without explanation.
Even if you ignore all those details, the writers once more manage to trivialise death by having the unfortunate Tadashi’s suicide attempt be comic relief. There is just something incongruous about photocopying one’s backside being the source of such a tragic decision. The story at least allows Hiro to begin to accept his own demise before mysteriously disappearing. Presumably headed off to do battle with the carnies and learn he isn’t going to die at all.
Speaking of not dying, Nathan ends the episode emerging from his own grave looking like everyone’s favourite psychopath. As Sylar’s personality is locked inside Matt Parkman’s brain, I assume we are in for a confused Nathan realising what has been done to him. That could be interesting but how we got there was not so fun. And I shouldn’t have to point out that any time a main character gets shot and buried, it shouldn’t be a flippant end of the episode moment. To trivialise death like that makes it so much harder to get your audience to care when a character is in real danger.
Part of the problem is simply the subtext that Nathan is Sylar. Ergo everything Nathan does is just killing time until Sylar is back. It doesn’t help that the wealthy family cover up unfortunate teenage death story is a bit of a cliché. Some viewers may also be confused by Nathan’s ability to see the history of objects (not to mention how the most relevant memories come popping to the surface instantly). This power was fed to Sylar for apparently no good reason at the start of season three (In 303 by Angela). Another detail I would like someone to check is whether the Haitian had been discovered when Nathan was a horny teenager. It might have been just possible (as we don’t know how old Nathan is) but it seemed convenient writing to me.
Another concerning element in this story is how little concern Peter showed Nathan for his developing abilities. Presumably Peter doesn’t know who Nathan really is and so he ought to be a little more excited, concerned, sympathetic, supportive (take your pick) for his brother’s plight. After all Peter bugged Nathan constantly when he was simply dreaming about flying (101). Peter meanwhile goes in search of Noah and asks for his help in understanding why a compass flashed up on his forearm. Noah’s response really amused me. He asks sarcastically if they should rush out and look for the guy with knives and uncover some giant conspiracy. Umm. Maybe you should if there is one! Didn’t several of those large conspiracies nearly kill your daughter? I understand his fatigue but it seemed a case of the writers not understanding how their characters behaviour relates to real life. To the Heroes writers everything is giant conspiracies, to a real person that would mean something more significant.
Finally we have Tracy Strauss, a character we don’t know at all, being encouraged to remember “who she was.” Here she returns to her former sleazy life but feels both morally and physically off. It would seem she is heading toward a life of self discovery and more selfless behaviour alongside hunky divorcee Noah but it’s difficult to care. After back stabbing and murdering, the entire time she has been on our screens, it’s difficult to get excited about Tracy’s identity crisis.
The Unknown: Is Nathan Sylar now or does he just look like him? Where’s Hiro gone? What is Noah’s history with the carnie folk?
Best Moment: Hiro looking exhausted having spent hours trying to change Tadashi’s behaviour. “Tadashi?” Ando asks “The guy with the famous butt?” As Hiro had just returned from another attempt, it was particularly amusing timing.
Epilogue: It’s funny how different this episode comes across from the one before it. I can imagine the writers of Heroes can’t tell the difference. What is true is that in both they focus on their characters dilemmas and their essential morality. In both they slow down the story and draw out what is important. But this episode was full of shoddy detail work and instantly forgettable storytelling. A bad episode doesn’t ruin the whole season but it is a reminder to not get your hopes up.
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