Heroes: Daddy Issues

Hey, Everybody!  Come on down to the Heroes season 2 liquidation sale!  All plotlines must go!  No character too significant to be killed off!  Think Molly was too cutesy?  Gone!  Thought West was an emo d-bag?  Vanished!  We sold all the Adam Monroe left in stock last week, and you’d better act fast ‘cause Maury just got his neck snapped, Maya’s heading back across the border, and I’d be fairly surprised if the resurrective power of Claire’s blood ever gets referenced again.

Indeed, this week’s episode represents a definitive reevaluation of the past and a few more bold steps towards an increasingly epic future.  Last week’s events find Peter powerless and at the mercy of his presumed dead father.  In typical Heroes villain fashion, Arthur tells his son that he is working for the greater good.  Understandably skeptical, Peter lashes out with a “you’ll never get away with it” type rant, and dad just says, “you’re grounded.”

Events in the Bennet household prove marvelously entertaining thanks to the welcome return of Kristin Bell as Elle, lightning chucking sociopath extraordinaire and one of Season 2′s few bright spots.  Seems her showdown with Sylar in the season premiere left her with a few short circuits, her body constantly pulsing with current and drastically averse to water.  Claire agrees to accompany her to Pinehearst in hopes that each of them might restore their powers to a pre-Sylar state.  In a scene that nearly evoked the opening minutes of Lost, Elle begins to lose her cool on the trans-continental plane ride.  When the pilot asks all passengers to immediately shut off their electronic devices, Claire cleverly turns to Elle and says, “I think he’s talking about you.”  The cheerleader (and I don’t care how long this show runs, Claire will always be “the cheerleader”) saves the day by letting Elle channel all the stray voltage into her painless body.

Nathan and Tracy confront Mohinder and refuse to give him any of their blood, so the mad doctor responds by taking a crazy flying leap through a skylight with the unconscious Maya in tow and heads to Pinehearst in search of some like-minded baddies.  Once there, Arthur is more than happy to cure Maya and add another deadly blade to his Swiss Army Soul.  The old Mohinder rears his mopey head in a laughable attempt to reconcile with Maya, but she wisely shuts him down in favor of going home to sort her life out.  Dania Ramirez, you’re a fine young actress.  It’s a damn shame Heroes squandered you like they did.  Later, Tracy discloses that she’s done some consulting work for Pinehearst, so Nathan declares that it’s time to head on over and bust some skulls.

Daphne remains a wild card in the great Pinehearst vs. Primatech feud, even as she draws closer to Matt.  In a gruesomely memorable scene, Knox tracks down the future lovebirds, gets juiced on their jitters, and puts a fist straight through Matt’s chest.  Hell of a way to cut to commercial, but all is well when Matt steps out very much alive and apparently more in control of his father’s psychic manipulation powers than ever.  Speaking of the elder Parkman, Maury meets his end when he dares to criticize Arthur for reneging on a promise to leave Matt unharmed.  With a flick of two fingers and a sickening crunch, the Nightmare Man is no more.

Speaking of nightmares, comatose Angela uses her power to reach out to Sylar in dreams, inspiring him to snap out of his own daze to make a social call at dad’s place.  Mixed feelings abound at the family reunion when Sy finds Peter strapped down and on the verge of becoming Mohinder’s next guinea pig.  A heart to heart with Arthur sheds serious light on why Gabriel was raised a Gray and not a Petrelli.  At least according to Arthur, Angela had a dream of baby Gabe’s reign of terror so profound that she tried to drown him.  That’s some Greek tragedy level dysfunction.  Sylar believes him and proves his loyalty by tossing his powerless little brother out a seventh story window.  Pete’s body lands smack in front of Claire & Elle, and much to their surprise, he stands up a little scratched n’ battered, but very much alive.  Odds are that Sylar gave his bro a telekinetic reprieve to become a double agent.  I guess this psycho’s best friend really is his mother.

Finally, Hiro’s slapstick adventures on the savannah take a turn for the fascinating when his refusal to change the past leads Usutu to offer some of the same unpleasant muck that sent Matt into his vision of the future (now revealed to be a mixture of tree roots and hyena poo.  Yum!).  Hiro goes white-eyed and heads into an extended vision of the past that promises to hold loads of fun facts about the days before they were heroes.  But we’ll have to look forward to that look back for two weeks thanks to next Monday’s pre-election specials.  Don’t forget to vote!

Season 3, Episode 7: Eris Quod Sum (originally aired October 27, 2008)

For another take on this episode, check out I Am What You Will Be by Inisia Lewis.

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Mondays at 9/8C on NBC

Photographs courtesy of NBC