Episode 5 - Hysterical Blindness
28 March 2012
Synopsis: Claire and Gretchen get invited to a sorority rush by a girl called Rebecca. Once there Claire is nearly injured by a failing flag and assumes Gretchen was involved. Sylar is interrogated by the police and a psychologist helps him to work out who he is. When they find out that he is Gabriel Gray they try to get him to confess so he escapes. He winds up at the Sullivan Brothers Carnival where Samuel welcomes him in. Peter accidentally takes Emma’s ability and explains to her that she is not alone. She manages to damage her own building while playing her cello.
The Good: This feels like another setup episode, getting the characters in place for future developments. As ever viewers have to decide between the promise of these stories and Heroes track record of never paying anything off.
Emma’s story remains intriguing though it’s difficult to imagine where it’s going. The story is aided by her acting and her natural human reaction to her confusing new powers. It was nice to see her mother trying to help her and come up with explanations for her condition. We haven’t really seen many parents having to deal with a child with abilities when they didn’t know what abilities were. Understandably Emma pushes her mother and Peter away and is disbelieving when he tells her that other people have abilities too. We learn a little more about why she hides away filing instead of trying anything more ambitious (see The Unknown).
The Claire and Gretchen story is difficult to assess as well. Gretchen plays her confusion and affection for Claire very nicely and the twist works to keep her as an innocent party. However Heroes has failed conspicuously to develop any real friendships for Claire since Zach in season one. So now we are once again asked to care about Gretchen when history suggests she won’t last the season.
The Bad: The Sylar story is fine for what it is. He acts out his blankness just fine but it all feels like a waste of time. If Heroes had protected the sense of danger which Sylar should represent then these scenes could have worked much better. Suddenly the monster is vulnerable. Or perhaps even the chance for him to build a personality from scratch and become a better person. But this is Heroes, you knew he would escape and you should also know that his personality will be restored to him soon enough (see 403). By the way, is the murder of his mother really all they have on Sylar’s criminal record? We have seen him terrorise and kill in broad daylight before, are you telling me no one has pegged him for any other crimes? Plus wasn’t he part of a massive government search for people with abilities where his name and likeness were bandied around by dozens of people?
His arrival at the Carnival doesn’t mean too much either because we know nothing about the carnies. The writing has been studiously vague so that we don’t know who they are, where they are, what they do, why they do it and so on. All we do know is that they aren’t moral people. Instead of Gretchen being their spy with Claire, it turned out to be Rebecca. Her cold murder of Annie again marks them out as unmistakable bad guys without any possible redeeming motivation.
Peter’s emotional state and motivations could use some sharper definition right now. He loses the ability to move at amazing speeds and instead gains the power to see sound. That’s not exactly going to help him as a paramedic, shouldn’t he be a bit annoyed? Apparently not, he takes it all in his stride. So zen is he that he then tells Emma that there are people who can fly and teleport without for a second considering how that would sound to her. She says it’s a crazy idea and he responds “Is it?” Well yes it is Peter, have you lost touch with reality so much that you can’t see that? It’s just strange writing.
The Unknown: What kind of accident was Emma involved in? Did it cause her to go deaf? Why did Hiro jump straight to Peter’s apartment? Where is the Sullivan Brothers Carnival? Is it a real place or can they just conceal if from view?
Best Moment: Gretchen kissing Claire. Not for that reason. But Gretchen’s vulnerable acting was pretty decent and it was an interesting twist.
Epilogue: As these characters have changed and morphed so many times in so many situations it is difficult to emotionally commit to care about anything they do. There isn’t much in the way of intrigue for future episodes either.
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