Heroes: One of Us, One of Them

Lords of Kobol be praised, Heroes’ ascent back to entertainment greatness is definitely more than a fluke. The season premiere promised great things, and I am ecstatic to report that episode 2 fulfills.  It is certainly a more character-driven outing than the premiere, and each thread provides thoughtful insights and developments as enemies try to become friends, friends fight to avoid becoming enemies, and estranged parents try to guide their offspring in the way they best see fit.  The most fascinating scenario of the evening is Angela’s increasingly twisted relationship with alleged long lost son Sylar, whom she gladly allows to kill an innocent woman.  Such an action demands reclassifying Mama Petrelli from unsettling and fascinating to an out and out power hungry sociopath with serious enabling issues.  As if providing treats for her little boy wasn’t enough, she then insists on deputizing the freakshow as a Company agent to pair him off with Noah, temporarily back in their employ for the purpose of recapturing the level 5 escapees.  Sent to diffuse a hostage-laden bank robbery committed by the jailbreakers (including the body swapped Peter), Sylar actually makes a few savvy moves.  But just like the parable of the fox and the scorpion, he just can’t fight his nature.  He gets hungry and adds a destructively loud voice to his ever-expanding roster of powers.  Oh, and future Peter sees fit to show up, freeze time, release his younger self, and whisk him off to the future in just enough time to not be in the body that soon became a brain snack.

Over in the land of the many minds of Niki Sanders, the show pulls off one of its most touching scenes ever when her apparent new identity Tracy meets Micah and discovers that Niki did indeed die at the end of last season.  The interplay between a child still mourning his mother and the woman he knows isn’t her but looks just like her is a truly sweet and heartbreaking scene.  Kudos especially to Noah Gray-Cabey, who continues to prove himself one of the best child actors on TV.  Micah helps discover that Niki and Tracy were born on the same day in the same hospital by the same doctor, but the situation might be more mysterious than separation at birth.

And since there’s always a few too many plotlines to go truly in-depth on, here’s your roundup: Claire’s biological mom forces her to confront her memories of Sylar’s attack, Hiro and new archrival Daphne have a run-in with the Haitian resulting in Daph making off with the other half of the formula and Hiro & Ando getting a one way ticket to Level 5, Matt’s still wandering in the desert, and for the first time ever, I was sorry Mohinder had no screen time.  Keep up the good work, Tim Kring and company.  It’s nice to have Heroes back for real.

(Season 3, Episode 2: “One of Us, One of Them” (originally aired September 29, 2008)

For another opinion on this episode, check out One of Us, One of Them by Inisia Lewis.

Mondays at 9/8C on NBC

Photographs courtesy of NBC