Heroes: Family Time

There’s no denying that this season of Heroes has been traveling a very rocky road.  Ambitions ran high, but common sense ran low and lots of ideas that seemed good on paper just didn’t fly.  And while I’ll take a convoluted mess like season 3 over a plodding mess like season 2, there were still plenty of times I wanted to give up.  But like sunshine after a rainstorm, last week’s episode came along and brought with it the sense of wonder, menace, and infectious likeability that the show bursts with in the good times.  I have come to grips with certain realities: no matter what the writers throw at him, Mohinder will eventually revert to a spineless ass clown, and the show’s time travel logic will make even less sense than what is present in the Terminator franchise.  But having come to grips with those facts, I must say that this episode made me want to laugh, cry, cheer, and cower in fear in ways not seen since early season 1.

The award for most improved character goes to Sylar who after months of torturous flip flopping between good and evil gleefully regained the award for best serial killer on television (non-Dexter Morgan division).  Noah telling him the Petrellis aren’t his real family was enough to put him on the warpath, but his need to know for sure leads him to a human lie detector.  Sy shows up at the poor woman’s office on her birthday disguised as a delivery man (and not, as I started to suspect, a rental stripper).  He dives right into her tasty brain like Oliver Twist on a bowl of gruel and all he has to say when her horrified coworkers show up is “cake!”  That’s some villainy I can get behind.

The rich emotional core of this episode lies in Claire & Hiro’s jaunt into the past to explore the moment when Claire became a Bennet and, more plot relevantly, became the catalyst to Arthur’s formula.  Claire enjoys the rare opportunity to pull a McFly and hang out with her younger parents (btw, props to hair & makeup for taking 16 years off their appearances without looking completely gross and botoxy).  She changes her own diaper, gives mom a dose of confidence, and teaches dad a valuable lesson in putting loyalty to family before loyalty to the company.  Meanwhile, Hiro gets to treasure one more day with his late mother who, he discovers, has both the power to heal his state of arrested development and carries the catalyst within her body.  Hiro gets his memories back (gods be praised) and bravely volunteers to take the catalyst into himself, thus saving baby Claire from a fate not of her own deciding.

Just one small problem: Arthur randomly emerges from the shadows, takes the catalyst for himself, sends Claire back to the present as a messenger to Angela, and finally absorbs Hiro’s power for real (why this didn’t happen the first time they met is a question only the writers could answer, and they’re not telling because they’d be embarrassed to admit they make it up as they go along).  Matt, Daphne, and Ando spend the episode watching powerlessly via Isaac’s final sketchbook, and Hiro’s fate moves Ando to seek out synthetic time powers for himself.  I can’t imagine that going very well.

Finally, things are getting pretty heavy at Pinehearst.  The spontaneously moronic Nathan declares himself the new boss, Tracy shows off her scary new platoon of soldier boys all eager to try out a fancy superpower, and thanks to Arthur’s little time jump power play, Mohinder perfects the formula.  But it’s not all wine and roses for the villains.  Peter and the Haitian show up to finish Arthur once and for all, and god bless his heart, Pete actually has the stones to pull the trigger.  But nothing is ever quite that simple in the Heroes-verse and Sylar shows up to freeze time long enough to confirm with his shiny new power that indeed there is no Petrelli blood in his twisted veins.  He’s even nice enough to save Peter the Oedipal complex that comes with killing one’s father when he makes it clear that Peter isn’t a killer and instead puts the bullet through Arthur’s skull himself.  Robert Forster may be a great actor, but everything about Arthur and his schemes was this season’s biggest example of wasted potential and I’m glad he’s dead.

The stage is set for the finale, and I’m happy to be able to say that I can’t wait.  Putting up with this show’s occasional stupidity can border on physically taxing, but it’s still worth believing in.

Season 3, Episode 12: Our Father (originally aired December 8, 2008)

For another take on this episode, check out Inisia Lewis’ review here.

For more on Heroes, click here.

Mondays at 9/8C on NBC

Photographs courtesy of NBC