Heroes: Truths Revealed!

The Heroes writers must have dropped some hallucinogens the day they thought up this week’s piece of work because things sure did get a little random and wild. Tracy’s powers went haywire, Nathan finally learned the truth about his real identity and Past Mohinder reared his ugly head.

There were a lot of great things about “Brother’s Keeper”. First, all of our heroes were all getting together for the first time in a long time. And it’s about time. Second, we got to see Mohinder dead finally. (But more on that in a bit.) Third, we delved into Samuel’s back story, and he’s just as hardcore as he’s seemed thus far. But for all the good, it bogged down with a lot of MADNESS. The writers might want to ask the folks over at AMC’s Mad Men for their help. Some call Mad Men boring but its lethargic pace lends itself to lots of detailed storytelling and organic character development and often a great build up with a huge payoff.

“What you find might be more than you can bear.” The Haitian to Peter
Nathan explains to Peter that something’s up. (Waking up in a carnival without, at least, some kind of wicked hangover will give you that feeling.)  At Nathan’s office, the brothers find out that Angela’s mother spit some lies to cover Nathan’s butt in his absence (what’s new?) so that’s why no one seemed too worried when a U.S. Senator disappeared. André, The Haitian, pops up but only wants to talk to Peter. Angela wanted their memories wiped, but André’s not down with that plan. He gives Peter a key to a storage locker where he says Peter will find all the answers he’s searching for, but he warns him not to bring Nathan.

Of course, Peter doesn’t listen, and when they arrive, the two are in for the shock of their lives. Nathan in a box. Dead. (Now, that’s what I call a real out-of-body experience!) When Nathan touches himself (Teeheehee, I can’t help by reacting to that like a 13-year-old.), he gets a flash of himself in a hotel room, Sylar and a screaming Matt. With Sylar dead, they have a new mission. Find Matt.

When they look him up, they find out that he’s in critical condition. With Peter’s new-found healing skills, they head there and save him. Matt awakens in his body, arguing with Head Sylar and trying to quickly warn his friends about what’s happened. Sylar assumes Matt’s body again and tries to get Nathan to touch him so that his consciousness can be transferred. Of course, Nathan gets close enough to let this happen. Now Matt’s got his own body and use of his telepathic powers, and Nathan and Peter fly away before Matt can say anything about it.

Peter’s not so sure he really believes all that he’s learned, but for Nathan, the pieces are finally fitting together. He’s distraught with the idea that he’s living inside the mind of a maniac and realizes that no one, especially Peter, will be able to look at him without seeing Sylar. He asks Peter if he’s wrong, but his brother has no words for him.

“I’m sorry your friend had to die.” – Samuel to Hiro
Samuel tells Hiro that the only way for him to save Hiro is to go back into time and stop Mohinder from destroying a very important film reel.  Hiro isn’t sure that his powers will work, but Samuel doesn’t have time to care.

Nine weeks ago, Mohinder is a teacher in Chennai, India, and shacking up with his former colleague Mira Shenoy (Kavi Ladnier), a genetic researcher who offered Mohinder a job in “Seven Minutes to Midnight”.  She finds that he’s still holding on to a box of his father’s research and warns him not to get absorbed back into that old, crazy life of his. Basically, checking out Dad’s old research = bad. What does Mohinder do? Check out Dad’s old research. What happens? Bad stuff.

The film, from 1961, shows his father Chandra at the Coyote Sands Relocation Center. He expresses that there is a force that increases exponentially when a large group of people with powers are together and it’s dangerous. He notes a pregnant woman who is emitting seismic energy and shows her giving birth. As she does, the ground under the center quakes.

Mohinder gets wrapped up in this research and figures out his father’s equation. He creates a device that he says can be used to trace this energy. Mira finds him in the morning and is disappointed, but Mohinder’s married to no one but his work. He says that the child in the film, if surrounded with enough specials, could wield an insane amount of power. She says that if he goes again, she won’t wait around for him. (He’s dumb. This lady is beautiful) But he leaves.

Let’s speed recap a bit because, as you can see, it was a “cram as much into one hour as possible” kind of week. Mohinder uses the compass to find the carnival. He finds Joseph, Samuel‘s brother, who introduces him as a guy from India researching for a book. Samuel is drunk, and Mohinder is surprised. Joseph says that he‘s been keeping his brother’s potential hidden from him for his entire life. Clearly, Joseph sees how powers might affect his little bro. Mohinder wearily trusts Joseph and leaves when asked to, but Samuel’s been listening.

Samuel follows Mohinder back to his hotel where he kills him after realizing that he has already burned the film, the key to unlocking his power. (At least he apologizes after.) Flash-forward to Hiro going back to the  moment Mohinder was about to light it all on fire. We see him take the real film and replace it with a dummy.

Fortunately for Mohinder and not so much for us viewers, Hiro let Samuel think that Mohinder was killed when, in fact, he gave Mohinder a bullet proof vest. Mohinder died, but now he lives! (ACK!) Mohinder wants to stop Samuel, but Hiro needs him to lie low until he can save Charlie. Do we know Mohinder for his listening skills? No. So Hiro kidnaps him and puts him in a straight jacket in a padded room in a mental facility for safekeeping.

“Ladies, how was your day?” – Noah
“You know. Same ole, same ole.” – Claire
In the least interesting but equally ridiculous plot, Tracy visits Noah when her powers start going haywire but she finds Claire instead. First she freezes off the doorknob to the front door. Then she starts to freeze herself. Then, she freezes Claire. As Tracy is dragging Claire to the tub to try and put her in hot water, I’m thinking, ‘You’re an idiot.’ Obviously, a body part was going to snap off, and it happened to be her foot. As Tracy bawls and bawls, Claire heals from the intense hypothermia and grows a new foot, and all is well when Noah finally comes home. With a handle on her powers (which reacts to her emotions, albeit erratically), Tracy meets up with Samuel who welcomes her to the family and whispers to her about a plan he needs her help with.

WRAP IT UP
Seriously, this could have been a 6,000-word review, but I wouldn’t torture you like that. I wasn’t disappointed in this week’s episode because I finally got answers to a ton of questions that really piqued my interest this season. However, I think that all these revelations might have been easier to process (and enjoy) if they had been spread out over two or three episodes. Plus, a lot of our characters’ moves just seemed unbelievable. Nathan and Peter go straight to Matt instead of questioning their mother, no matter how unreliable she may be? Hiro has a aneurism and worries about his time-traveling capabilities, yet does so without a hitch? Tracy’s powers just start malfunctioning out of the blue? Not buying it all, but still happy that at least the ideas are fun and interesting. It was also good to have Nathan back even if only for a little while. Adrian Pasdar might be off the show, but his acting chops will be missed.

Season 4, Episodes 10:  Brother’s Keeper (originally aired November 16, 2009)

Mondays at 9/8C on NBC

Photographs courtesy of NBC , Chris Haston, and Trae Patton