Episode 8 - Villains
11 January 2009
Review
Synopsis: Hiro’s spirit walk leads him to see events from both a year and eighteen months ago. In the latter Arthur Petrelli tells Linderman that he will kill Nathan to stop him discovering his involvement in various criminal enterprises. He orders the attack which costs Nathan’s wife the use of her legs (from 110). Arthur mentally orders Angela to comply with his plans and she only turns against him because Linderman heals her mind. She then poisons Arthur, paralysing him. But he is able to instruct the doctor to pretend he has died.
A year ago we see Meredith and Flint (who are siblings) get captured by the company and made to work as agents. Meredith realises that Flint will be used and so tries to help him escape. She gets recaptured but Thompson lets her go when he realises that the company took away her daughter Claire and lied to her. Meanwhile Sylar decides to end his own life after committing his first murder (also 110). Noah sends in Elle to convince him to keep living. Noah is under orders to discover how Sylar takes powers from other people but Elle thinks they should try and save him.
Hiro wakes up and is captured by Arthur who has killed Usutu.
The Good: Heroes has a formula and they are sticking to it. In both seasons one and two we had an episode which jumped back into the past to fill in some gaps in our knowledge and suddenly make things clearer (110 and then 208). This season is no exception and that sense of purpose and the questions answered leads to a satisfying episode, by far the best of the season.
The opening Mohinder voice over seems to imply we will see here how people choose the path of being villains or being heroes. On the contrary though this episode is much greyer than that and far better because of it. The writers make it clear throughout this episode that everyone has a choice whether to do right or do wrong. This is the first time since last season when I’ve felt the writers really begin to tackle the issue of morality and how complex it is.
Grabbing the headlines will be Sylar. We now know why he implied Elle had made him who he was (302). I still don’t think he will ever be the amazing moral puzzle the producers clearly want him to be. He still took far too much pleasure in being a serial killer to ever be convincing as a good guy. But this story is a good faith effort from the writers to justify his shifting behaviour this season. His suicide attempt is an appropriate way to show his remorse and it’s entirely plausible that the lonely Gabriel would be seduced by Elle. The most interesting part of the story is Noah’s blind faith in the company as they essentially feed an addict drugs rather than help him through rehab. It is a well placed story because Noah’s behaviour was brought into question two episodes ago when Claire began to see the way he used people with abilities as if they were monsters or animals. Here Noah’s blindness to his immorality reminds us of who he was before his love for Claire began to affect his obedience.
It’s interesting that Thompson also shows the conflicting morality of someone in power. He is clearly deceiving and using Flint but still feels sorry for Meredith when he learns she has been lied to. Her relationship with Flint is an interesting twist and of course makes him Claire’s uncle. Flint also finally receives a bit of the character development I have been asking for all the new characters. Instead of being generically evil, he is simple and easily led. He clearly enjoys the power he has over people (which his fire abilities give him) because normally people would outsmart and deceive him. His development into a villain therefore is partly the companies fault for not leading him in another direction. By treating him like a criminal (like Sylar) they have pushed him into the arms of Knox and Arthur and those who would use him for evil. It’s a point well made.
The Arthur story is interesting and draws a clear moral line between him and Angela. Like Noah she is willing to do bad things but not risk her children’s lives. Where as Arthur clearly thinks his work and he are more important even than paternal bonds. Angela’s method of killing him is clever as is Nathan’s accidental return which allows Arthur to escape and keep living. It’s a nice story because Angela wants to protect her children from the full horror of who Arthur was but in doing so she allows him to go on living. Nice irony.
Of course for long time viewers, one of the highlights of this episode is seeing the writers skilfully link it to the established story. Meredith starting the fire which Claire rescues a fireman from (101) is a nice touch as is getting Thompson back for this episode (killed off in 122). Someone did a good job getting Peter’s floppy hair back. But more seriously, the Petrelli family story is well told. We heard a bit about Nathan’s issues with his father (110) before and now we see them fleshed out and the writers manage to give the impression that this was the plan all along.
The Bad: We still don’t know anything about what Arthur was doing. Again the talk of his and Linderman’s criminal activities remains irritatingly vague. By not mentioning what Arthur used to do we don’t get a real clue as to his agenda. We are still left in the dark as to who he is and what his goals are.
It’s not explained at all why Hiro can see these events. At least it was implied that Matt was experiencing his own future (304). What’s Hiro’s excuse for seeing such specific events and from different times in the past? I’m still not happy with the reliance on travelling through time to discover what to do next. Wouldn’t it make Hiro seem more heroic if he figured it out on his own?
Arthur is now so powerful that he figured out that Hiro was dreaming about him and where he was. That makes sense because he now has all of Peter’s accumulated powers. But there shouldn’t really be anything he can’t do now. He should be able to jump around the world in time and space and do as he pleases. Yet we know Hiro will escape this situation somehow. If the writers defined powers more clearly then we would get more invested in these fight scenes.
Elle should be way more shocked at Sylar’s telekinesis. If you had never seen that before you would freak out like crazy.
The Unknown: Why does Hiro see Meredith’s past? He seems to think he can tell her something important but we don’t know what. Arthur’s powers haven’t been fully explained. He seems to be able to read and control people’s minds as well as absorb their abilities.
Best Moment: Elle is upset and distraught at what she has helped Sylar become while Noah sits there unmoved simply fascinated by how Sylar kills another man. It’s a dark glimpse into the kind of compelling character story which Heroes ought to thrive with.
Epilogue: A solid effort to bring order to chaos. This is the first time I have felt the writers have a genuine plan this season. Arthur is still undefined though so I don’t think this will turn the season around. But it was fun while it lasted and gave the show some fig leaves of logic.
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