Heroes: Marital Whoa

It’s really a shame that former Heroes fans seem to be abandoning the show in droves, with each week setting a new record low in their ratings. Their competition over at 24 may be having a great year, but this week easily ranks among the best stories the show ever produced and propelled the Fugitives arc towards a deepeningly mysterious and potentially epic conclusion. Sylar’s newfound shapeshifting wrenched Noah’s paranoia to Hitchcock-ian levels, baby Parkman (who I’m just gonna start calling Jack-Jack, thank you very much, Incredibles) kept bringing out the best in Hiro & Ando, and even Danko earned a sad layer of character development. But first, a word about the Petrellis:

Angela’s trip to prophesizing dreamland sparks a demand for a family reunion in Ass End of Nowhere, New Mexico (aka Coyote Sands) where a little digging by Claire, Nathan, & Peter unearths some literal skeletons in the family closet. Whatever Project Icarus was, it certainly made for some dicey and unethical times in the swinging ’60s. And Mohinder’s on his way too after finding out that his dad was on the Coyote Sands payroll. I’m pretty excited that next week’s ep is titled 1961, ’cause I’m eager for a few answers and curious as to how this mad science will thread into the larger story of Danko’s campaign of destruction.

Speaking of the ghoulish a-hole, Matt spends the episode listening to the cartoon devil on his shoulder in an unsettling mission of vengeance to find and kill the person Danko cares about most in the world. In his sad case, that turns out to be an eastern European hooker with no knowledge of his real name or occupation. Props to the creative team for finding a way to make Danko simultaneously creepier and yet more pitiable. No longer content to merely project dire scenarios into his enemies’ minds, Matt actually goes so far as to hold a gun to the poor girl’s head. But the cartoon angel wins the day when he’s unable to pull the trigger, giving Danko a chance to shoot and Hiro a surprise chrono-stopping moment of triumph.

How Hiro wound up at that fortuitous place and time is a jaunty tale of fussy babies, funny faces, and a Japanese redneck. Seems that when Jack-Jack isn’t happy, nobody gets to be happy, so “Baby Touch and Go” flips the switch the other way and stops their road trip dead in the middle of Ohio. Enter a friendly trucker, the amusing aforementioned Asian-American southerner, who refers to Hiro and Ando as “from the mothership” and offers them a ride until the baby makes things no easier for a big rig than a fancy new Nissan (PLACEMENT!). The only thing that finally gets them moving is Ando making a hard to describe but, to my surprise, genuinely funny face at the tot to keep him happy and get them rolling. None of this was especially story essential, but I always want to be a Hiro fan and I continue to be happy that’s possible again.

What truly sent this episode into the stratosphere for me was Noah’s frantic mission to prove Sylar alive and Danko a hypocrite. Shapeshifting Sy will stop at nothing to achieve exactly what he wants out of people, including taking a spin in Sandra Bennet’s skin to tell Noah she doesn’t love him anymore and wants a divorce. It’s a shattering, marvelously acted scene that made me think for a moment that Hiro had teleported the broadcast into an episode of Brothers & Sisters, but I’m pretty sure Calista Flockhart never turns into a dude after her arguments. As Noah gets more and more desperate for the truth, he borderline tortures the real Sandra, creating some credence for the previously exaggerated rift in their marriage. Things climax when Noah brilliantly tricks Danko by posing as Sylar in Noah form to flush out the real psycho in disguise and even gets to go as far as taking him out. Unfortunately, Noah does so while Sy’s masquerading as an agent and he plays dead long enough to make Noah and everyone around him believe he’s nothing more than a rambling murderer falling apart at the seams, so he flees-likely headed for the powwow at Coyote Sands. Whatever mysteries the desert holds, life will probably never be the same for our Heroes and I’m ready to take the ride.

Season 3, Episode 22: Turn and Face the Strange (originally aired April 6, 2009)

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