Episode 9 - Cautionary Tales
30 March 2012
Synopsis: Claire refuses to leave and so Noah ends up enlisting West’s help to save her. He turns the tables on Mohinder who tries to catch him. During the conflict Noah captures Elle, just as Bob heads to the Bennet house and abducts Claire. They agree an exchange but in the end Mohinder shoots Noah just as Isaac’s painting predicted. Hiro returns to the night his father died in order to save him. But his father assures him that his time has come. Hiro stays to see who his father’s killer is and is shocked to discover it is Takezo Kensei. Parkman discovers he can plant thoughts in people’s minds to force them to do what he wants them to. He uses it to get answers from Angela Petrelli.
The Good: As with most Heroes episodes which focus on a small number of plots, this is very good.
The key to the Mohinder and Noah stories has been the grey and uncertain morality surrounding the new version of the company. Noah’s revelations about what Bob did to Elle when her powers first developed add fuel to the doubts about Bob. We know of the cosseted life she has had to leave (208) as a result of her powers. Her seemingly warped sense of morality has come from this and the contrast between her and Claire reminds us of why Noah believes he is right to be so protective of her. But again Noah’s murderous intent pushes moral Mohinder to kill himself. The writers do a tremendous job convincing us of why he goes to such a drastic course of action. The story plays out believably and has some nice touches such as Noah’s way of keeping Elle in check and Claire offering her blood freely to Bob.
Matt Parkman could have a show all to himself. The good cop who has used his powers to gain promotion has now discovered that his power can push him even further toward where he wants to go. One can sense from the way he makes Molly finish her breakfast just how slippery a slope he is on. After all, once you can make people do what you want them to, how do you stop yourself? The scene with Angela Petrelli giving him answers is powerful stuff. Not just for the information but seeing her back bone in standing up to Matt and warning him of what his father became. Most important is her talk of the sacrifices she made to keep his generation safe. It is a reminder that Heroes has a rich history to draw on and that our heroes are not the first ones to face these dilemmas.
Which brings us to the death of Kaito Nakamura. It’s nice to see Hiro jump back in time to save him as naturally anyone would try to save their parents. Kaito’s line about not playing God is very important. It links well with Hiro’s speech at the end where he expresses his gratitude to his father for teaching him how to be a real hero. That scene is pretty touching and nicely bookends the episode. The revelation (for Hiro) that Adam Monroe or Takezo Kensei is the killer is a good one and his regenerative powers make it logical why he drags Kaito off such a high building.
The Bad: Claire’s anger at her father at the start of the episode is pretty silly. After the events of “Company Man” (117) and seeing what Sylar and Peter can do (123) it seems ludicrous that she would accuse her father of being a bad guy and abducting people for bad reasons. Later when she meets Bob she runs into her house exclaiming that her Dad was right all along. This quick change of heart underlines what a silly bit of “drama” that was.
Hiro’s visit to his mother’s funeral is very badly filmed. Young Hiro would never have been allowed to wander off the way he does at such a solemn occasion. Then Kaito calls him back with older Hiro and Kaito very close by. From the way it is shot they would have been clearly visible which is ridiculous. That scene in itself is far too swift a development as it only takes Hiro a few seconds to realise he is wrong about his father’s death.
Speaking of swift developments, Parkman discovers his ability to convince people of things far too quickly. We saw him struggle to understand how his powers worked over several episodes in season one. Where as here he almost accidentally convinces Molly what to do and by the end of the episode he is able to break Angela Petrelli with ease.
The problem with this episode is the swift nature of many of these developments. We may never know how much the writing was affected by the impending writers strike of early 2008 but many of these stories could have been fleshed out and made to have more impact.
The Unknown: Who are the other people in that photo and what are their children up to these days?
Best Moment: Nothing can tug the heart strings quite like the death of a parent. Kaito convinces Hiro to let him die and as they say goodbye they both begin to cry. Then Hiro says “Please give my love to mother” and leaves.
Epilogue: A very pleasing episode of television. Despite the rush it is full of good moral questions and characters we can care about. Once more, by reducing the number of characters featured we get a more dramatic and digestible show.
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