Episode 13 - Upon This Rock
28 March 2012
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Synopsis: Claire begins to become suspicious of Samuel, especially with Eli creepily watching her. She breaks into his trailer and finds the Primatech files. Samuel seeks out Emma to help him recruit someone with the ability to grow plant life. Hiro returns to Japan, but seems to be talking gibberish. Claire leaves just in time to reach Nathan’s funeral.
The Good: Without looking deeper, this is passable stuff. Unlike some of Heroes past stories, Claire and Samuel’s interaction appears to have some depth and genuine conflict. Claire is understandably suspicious and works out what Samuel’s big sin was. But despite seeing through his act, she doesn’t condemn him entirely. She can see that he offers a real sanctuary for people like Lydia and Eric Doyle.
Then Samuel turns desert into Eden to underline the idea that he really is trying to provide a home for his family. His seductive skills remain strong as he explains to Emma how her power really works and once more extols the virtues of free will and choice (at least for now). We also get the answer as to who sent Emma the cello.
Meanwhile Hiro’s mental dislocation means we are kept guessing as to exactly where he is trying to take Ando. Now we know he is off to rescue Mohinder (which we strangely saw a clip of at the end of the previous episode).
The Bad: But once more I come back to the questions which have plagued this season. Is Samuel just another villain to be vanquished by season’s end? If so then all this time spent on him feels like a waste of time. The writers have made it clear he is a power-hungry killer and needs to be stopped. All his seductive PR exercises inevitably feel like filler as a result.
Hiro’s brain tumour leads him to quote every sci-fi genre imaginable. Which as you can imagine is a deeply unconvincing turn of events and again feels like time wasting.
Nathan Petrelli died at the end of season one, then again at the end of season two and once more at the end of season three. Just think about that for a second. Now you can imagine how little I cared about seeing his funeral.
The Unknown: We still don’t know what exactly was done to Hiro and how that has affected him.
Best Moment: Samuel using Ian Michaels’ power to turn the valley into verdant pasture. It made sense of all his staring at the earth and was another clever way to make him look like a good guy.
Epilogue: More of the same from Heroes, this was slow and deliberate but not in a good way.
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