Episode 3 - Kindred
30 March 2012
Synopsis: Hiro forces Takezo to realise his destiny by depositing him in front of the 90 Angry Ronin. He returns safe with the fire scroll but Hiro won’t yet leave him on his own. He sends notes back in time for Ando to read. West shows Claire that he can fly and they kiss. Then she sees the marks on the back of his neck and he tells her of the man in horn rimmed glasses who abducted him. Niki takes Micah to his family in New Orleans while she turns herself over to the company to be cured. Sylar wakes up with Candice looking after him. He has no powers and he finds he can’t take hers when he kills her. He is trapped somewhere in a huge forest. Peter helps the Irish gang steal some money and then saves them from a traitor, earning their trust and the affections of Caitlyn. Alejandro is arrested for trying to steal a car. Maya breaks him out by using her power to kill the guards. Mohinder finds the last of Isaac’s last paintings and sends it to Noah. It depicts him being shot through the eye while Claire kisses someone in the background.
The Good: There are some good things here. Seeing Candice as a fat girl confirms that particular theory. Niki and Micah return, but DL is dead. We don’t know quite what has happened to them but finding out should be interesting. The twist at the end of Isaac’s painting showing Noah dead should drive the story forward.
Maya using her power to kill the guards is a good story. Despite her own moral misgivings, she realises that without Alejandro she would be lost. So killing the guards is a necessary move and of course he can resuscitate them, so why not?
In the episode where Sylar returns we see Peter show the problem of having too much power. The scene where he gets carried away choking Will is very reminiscent of Sylar’s behaviour. It is a sign of what should become an important part of his story – power being able to corrupt. At the end Peter’s new tattoo disappears after being briefly replaced by the Takezo Kensei symbol. What on earth that means I don’t know but it is an interesting moment.
The Bad: Oh dear. It’s not looking good for Heroes with the direction they are taking.
I am getting sick of the recaps and characters repeating the major plot points at the start of the episode. Peter has a pointless couple of early lines which were taken care of by “previously on Heroes.” But it is Hiro’s recaps which are the most annoying. It seems that the producers wanted to include Ando and so Hiro writes him the story of Takezo which we already know. It’s tedious and unnecessary.
Both Peter and Hiro’s stories feel like a waste of time. With Sylar trapped in the middle of nowhere there is a definite undertone of irrelevance. In other words Peter, Hiro and now Sylar have been sent to obscure places on the globe in order to keep them out of the main action until later in the show. I’m sure their stories will have some relevance to the main story but the detail all seems frivolous. Both Hiro and Peter have a romantic interest which can go nowhere. Peter will return to the United States and Hiro to the present which will almost certainly leave their girls where they are. It makes an astute viewer realise there is no point in getting invested in those characters.
Peter has a completely unnecessary scene with his shirt off. With no doubt a certain demographic in mind, this is pretty shameless promotion for him. His decision not to look in the box is stupid. Not only does it feel ridiculous for someone with no memory to do but we know he will open it soon enough.
Meanwhile Hiro finds Takezo thinking only of money once he discovers his abilities. That is fine and consistent with his character. So Hiro drops him off in front of 90 Angry Ronin. Even with the ability to regenerate, defeating 90 well trained men would have been an ordeal beyond him. If you think about it logically, even ten men should have been able to beat him down long enough and attempt to cut off his head or cut out his heart. Anything to prevent him healing once more. Even more perplexing than this is why Takezo returns thanking Hiro for saving him from his heathen ways. Hiro forced him to fight, there is no reason he shouldn’t be angry or even jubilant that he will now make a fortune.
Claire’s story has a disturbingly O.C. feel to it. West flying her in the air feels like a scene we have seen too many times thanks to a million incarnations of Superman including contemporary teen drama Smallville. But the obvious tension that will result from West finding out who Claire’s father is feels more soap opera than sci-fi.
Why are Alejandro and Maya “somewhere” in Mexico? Couldn’t the writers have looked in an Atlas? Maybe they were just following the producers example as they were too lazy to build a new set, as Mohinder moves into Isaac Mendez’ loft. I am being slightly facetious with that one as it could lead to decent dramatic\nostalgic moments for the characters. But speaking of stealing; the scene where we pan from Sylar’s location to show where he is looks an awful lot like the opening scene from the Lost episode A Tale of Two Cities (301). The prisoner who Maya and Alejandro take with them had his car sitting outside the police station, unlocked and apparently with the keys in it. That was handy wasn’t it?
The Unknown: What happened to DL? What deal has Niki made with the company? Why have Sylar’s powers disappeared? Where is he?
Best Moment: Peter survives two bullets from Will’s gun. He then levitates him up against the wall with a raise of his hand. He then advances toward him choking him just as Sylar did (123) with a grin on his face. Caitlyn screams at him and he snaps out of it. Hopefully a portent of things to come.
Epilogue: Heroes seems to be aiming for a younger demographic with three paint by numbers love stories. Worse than the generic nature of them is the feeling that they won’t last long. That this is all a waste of time until our heroes return to the USA and begin the next big battle. Combined with a handful of foolish errors this episode is very poor.
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