Episode 1 - Orientation
28 March 2012
Synopsis: Six weeks or so have passed since we last saw our heroes. Samuel is the leader of a carnie troupe who are mourning his dead brother Joseph. He talks of finding others like them to join them. He soon sets his sights on Hiro. Hiro and Ando have set up “Dial a Hero” in Tokyo but on their first mission Hiro becomes frozen in time. When Ando revives him he admits that a doctor told him he is dying. He accidentally jumps back in time fourteen years to the night he was at a carnival. Claire is beginning her first semester at college and meets her high achieving room mate Annie and more down to earth Gretchen. She tries to fit in and be herself but is shocked when she finds Annie dead. Peter is back as a paramedic and using his powers to save all the lives he can. Tracy comes to kill Noah and Danko but Noah tries to talk her out of it. Samuel sends Edgar to kill Danko, which he does. Angela wants to reform the Company but is increasingly worried by Nathan\Sylar’s erratic behaviour. Matt Parkman wakes in the night to find Sylar holding his son and asking where his body is.
The Good: Heroes returns with pretty much the episode you would expect. All the regular characters (except Mohinder) are in place, making supposed fresh starts and the new villains are in place with Sylar soon to return to action soon. It’s like an ageing sports team who never accept new players, you tune in and see what everyone looks like this year. If you love these characters and are invested in their stories then you might be happy.
The new villains are most likely destined to be killed off, just as poor Danko is here. But for now they are at least somewhat intriguing and unusual. And no one has threatened to destroy the world yet which is a bonus. Their leader Samuel is played by Robert Knepper or T-Bag from Prison Break to some. He is a good choice. Rather like Danko, he comes across as well defined and purposeful. He delivers his lines in a smooth and calm manner befitting his mysterious carnie background. The way he manipulates and cajoles his “family” could be fun to watch.
Elsewhere what can you say? Hiro and Peter both set about being heroes in their everyday lives. Which makes sense, it’s how they have both responded to their gifts and marks them out as real good guys. It was nice to acknowledge that Hiro’s sister Kimiko is running the company, which Hiro clearly couldn’t do last season while running about as a ten year old etc.
Claire is trying to be normal again and not whining about it which is more fun to watch than at some points last season. I like that Gretchen knew about the murder at Claire’s school. That sort of horrific murder would doubtless be state wide news. It’s a nice touch to imply that the show’s past does matter to what happens now.
I suppose it’s so blindingly obvious that Sylar is coming back that there’s no point in dragging it out. It already feels tedious to see Nathan umming and arring and not knowing what’s wrong with him, so the writers are probably correct to move swiftly toward the conclusion.
The Bad: As usual there are detail issues. But the sense that nothing ever changes in this show is the real killer. Angela and Noah are back debating the start of yet another Company. Haven’t they learnt anything? The whole Sylar inside Nathan plot feels ridiculous. If Sylar really is that dangerous then they ought to kill him. More than anything it just feels like the producers want to keep the actor Nathan around.
Tracy Strauss is perhaps the most offensive case of this. Remember this is not Nicky from season one and two. This is Tracy Strauss who we know barely nothing about. What we do know is that she is power hungry and manipulative. She showed genuine remorse over killing a journalist (304) but within a few episodes was offering her services to Arthur Petrelli to help him manipulate Nathan (309). We know she sacrificed herself to save Micah (320) but then returned to murder the men who had tried to kill her (325). So what’s Noah’s expert psychoanalysis of her? “I don’t think you’re really a killer. That’s not who you really are.” Umm. She just killed four men. She had already killed two others on purpose (313, 316). It’s a reflection of the complete abdication of consistency by the writers. They like the actress, they want to now tell a particular story, so they ignore all the past behaviour of Tracy and claim she was a nice girl all along.
Hiro’s nose bleeds are the continuation of last season’s story. But I don’t think it’s a great idea. Hiro is the one untainted, noble character on the show. He also plays the comic relief. I don’t think people tune in to Heroes to see him dying. Which of course he won’t do because as the show proves time and again, its original characters are sacred. Which for those paying attention ruins any sense of tension in the show.
I also don’t follow Hiro’s logic at all about the fortune teller. He claims that was the day he committed his life to becoming a hero. But we already know he was obsessed with the legend of the heroic Takeshi Kensei before that age. And even if a fortune teller didn’t encourage him to become a hero, he would still have developed the ability to control time and space. So I don’t see how not having that fortune read would really have changed the whole future. Again it just feels like a convenient way to throw him into the path of the carnies.
Poor Danko, what a waste of potential. Poor Claire, she finds a new roommate and she turns out to be a suicidal girl. Even when not doing anything with her powers, tragedy still stalks her. That was of course sarcasm and there isn’t a chance she wasn’t pushed by someone after Claire.
The Unknown: Who are the carnies? Did Danko kill Joseph? What was Edgar sent to look for? What are Samuel’s powers? Lydia the tattooed lady? Seriously? Anyone else a Marx Brothers fan? It would be nice to have a season where no one painted the future. I don’t know if her tattoo pictures count, they probably will.
Best Moment: Samuel pushing Edgar to do his bidding. Unlike Sylar he didn’t sound like he was using grandiose words for effect or trying to sound threatening. He sounded calm and convincing, manipulative but in control.
Epilogue: More of the same from Heroes. Episode two was aired immediately after this, so watch on to have more questions answered rather than have me pointlessly speculate.
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