Heroes recap: “The Kindness of Strangers”
Supergenius has better things to do tonight. The recap thus falls on me.
The show begins promptly a 7:58 Arizona time. Do ya think network execs know a lot of us record their shows on DVR these days? Recap of mostly boring crap ensues.
Cut to horn rim glasses guy looking at a cartoon of himself doing an impression of Moe Greene. Daddy wants to know who the boy in Claire’s life is — mama is oblivious. Cut to annoying Molly screaming with another bad dream. (Please let Sauron finish her off…) Whiny Matt and Mohinder are playing two men and an annoying baby. Cut to Grizzly Nathan stalking his sons at their school. Teacher is creeped out by him. Cut to grating Latino wonder twins escaping in prominently featured Nissan with El Americano. They almost run over Sylar who is sprawled out on the dirt road they happen to be traveling on. Curse those perfectly functioning Nissan anti-lock brakes! (Opening credits and commercials)
Uhura’s place in Nollins. Yay! Micah will get bullied by the kid living there! The women of the house make snarky comment to the bully and Micah chuckles — whatever it takes to make him more likable I suppose. Also, Micah continues his life of crime by offering to steal pay-per-view for bully. Older sister is working at a local Krusty Burger — she insists that there must be more than this provincial life. Oh and her super power is apparently tomato-sculpting while not looking. Her boss looks suspiciously like Chuck’s boss Big Mike. He tells her she isn’t assistant manager material because, um, she has a brother and a grandma. Later Micah heals the TV of its non-PPV-receiving ways and then tries his magic on Belle (aka big sis) — at least I hope that was what he was doing… Sumpin’ funky happens with her eye as she watches pro rasslin’. She later opens a can o’ rasslin’ whoop-ass on a robber at Krusty Burger.
Lady Petrelli confesses to killing Sulu and then chats with Parkman in her head. Parkman looks as confused as ever. Later Lady MacTrelli goes all noble on us (trying to save Nathan from Sauron I suppose) while Parkman and cleanly shaven Nathan get some brooding in. Still later Nathan and Matt do some amateur police work. Oh, wait — Matt is a cop. Anyhow, turns out Matt’s dad was in the original hero club. So Matt goes home and asks Molly to locate his dad and she gets all grumpy because apparently Matt is the son of Sauron. (Who knew?) Matt convinces Molly to track Papa Sauron down but it kinda doesn’t work out because Molly ends up trapped inside her own melon. (Does this mean a few episodes without that character?)
Claire gets invited to be on the cheer squad. She then tries to break up with Captain Creepy but the Captain is too persistent for her. Later at dinner with the family Claire lies to make it to her date with the Captain and of course daddy sniffs it out. (The family dinner scenes are strangely reminiscent of the basement stoner scenes on That 70′s Show). The date ends up on top of the Hollywood sign. Creepy romance ensues. Back home later Claire is getting better at lying — manages to trick dad.
Sylar sits comfortably in the spacious Nissan with Latino Zan and Jayna and El Americano. Sylar is shocked to see that Dr. Suresh’s obscure book was published in Spanish! Oh and he goes by the name Gabriel again these days. Anyway, the ticking sound is starting to work for Gabriel again so when El Americano sees that the Wonder Twins are fugitives Sylar kills him and nearly gets black-eyed by Jayna before Zan sucks the tar out of her.
Nathan practices his brooding while looking at actual high school pictures of the dude who plays Peter. His reflection in the mirror is some odd zombie-looking thing so he punches it of course.
Next week — even more new characters. Oy.
Many thanks, kind stranger. You took a bullet for me whilst I went to see the Go! Team (review tomorrow). Something tells me our nights were opposite (yours = sucky, mine = awesome).
Comment by Supergenius — October 16, 2007 @ 1:40 am
I thought this Heroes episode was pretty good.
I’m wondering how long it will take before Sylar kills off the kids for their powers or whether they will somehow be ‘saved’ for another day.
Comment by danithew — October 16, 2007 @ 7:12 am
Killing off the girl in the shack didn’t get Sylar her powers. So, I think that he’s decided to find another way to use them for his own purposes. HEEEE HAAAAA!!!
Why is Sylar using the name of a UK wrestling star?
Comment by Floyd the Wonderdog — October 16, 2007 @ 9:42 am
I quit.
Comment by tracy m — October 16, 2007 @ 9:59 am
Sylar didn’t kill the girl in the shack with his powers.
Comment by Clark Goble — October 16, 2007 @ 10:39 am
all set up, no resolution. Just like every episode so far this season.
Comment by Ivan Wolfe — October 16, 2007 @ 11:20 am
I am not going to quit on Heroes, even though I should. This season has been pretty bad. Last year I watched the ENTIRE season of 24; it was an investment and I felt that I had to finish watching, perhaps hoping for a payoff that never came. And with a DVR, it can be a leisurely viewing. Right? RIGHT???????
Last night’s writing and acting were awful. From the forced and overused Katrina references (it was like listening to some California teenager justify their decision to go Vegan — because, just look at like all those afflicted people by a Hurricane. It is just so terrible. I feel soo bad.) to the Padme-Anakinesque romantic dialogue between Claire and Superfreak — it stunk.
And, I would have a bit more faith with the introduction of new characters if the writers were able to juggle the established characters’ stories. But, they are are pretty close to botching those beyond salvation. And, that’s too bad. There was some potential for some of the stories. Sylar could have been stuck in this makebelieve world in the shapeshifter’s head (which would be a nice way to explain why he can’t use any of his powers, plus it doesn’t make the company look like complete buffoons). The Hiro-in-time episode couldn have been compelling (and funny) stuff, if they just had kept him as Kensei, and not the sidekick.
Alas, we are stuck with last night’s writing. And how lazy was that? I mean, everything is pretty convenient now. Mind-reader’s daddy is the boogie man. The Dynamic Mexican Duo happen across Sylar.
Don’t be surpised at next week’s big reveal: Peter and Hiro are stepbrothes.
Comment by Hayes — October 16, 2007 @ 11:25 am
Well, I’m not at all suprised by the little coincidences by now – it’s practically a trademark of the series. “What, Jessica has the broken helix tattoo? The same symbol as on Hiro’s sword? And…”
Still dying to know what the powers are of Heroes: The Last Generation.
I have to admit, I was kinda hoping that the twins’s story arc would be concluded by meeting up with Sylar. Ah well.
Comment by FHL — October 16, 2007 @ 1:04 pm
Hopefully he will kill the twins. Come on, Sylar!
Comment by Supergenius — October 16, 2007 @ 1:14 pm
Amen.
Comment by cantinflas — October 16, 2007 @ 3:24 pm
Okay, all the references to the Wonder Twins are killing me. Absolutely hilarious. Keep it coming.
Comment by David J — October 16, 2007 @ 4:42 pm
Yeah I agree with the Heroes criticisms. Reminds me of that aweful scene in the third Die Hard movie where they come up out of a man hole in the middle of New York coincidentally right where the bad guys are. Stuff like that really bugs me.
And the Claire romance is finally something worse than last year’s annoying dysfunctional marriage.
Man give me someone to care about…
Comment by Clark Goble — October 16, 2007 @ 5:48 pm
Agreed. Not much too care about in the first four episodes. The best storylines from last year: Peter, Hiro, and Sylar are being butchered or ignored, only to be substituted with some heavy-handed commentary on how tough post Katrina has been on families.
Wanna bet that when the wonder twins try and cross in to the country, there will be some diatribe about the status of illegal immigration, or a villification of some minutemen-esque character?
Comment by Hayes — October 16, 2007 @ 6:31 pm
BTW – what was up with cockroach over the dead body Sylar had killed at the end.
Also, any significance to the duplicate powers?
Comment by Clark — October 17, 2007 @ 10:37 am
Yeah, I noticed the cockroach, and they sure spent some time on it. I don’t know if it is symbolic (the only thing that survives a nuclear blast are cockroaches- Sylar “survived” the nuclear blast, etc…), or it may have been something as simple as how dirty the place was.
Duplicate powers? You mean, that Captain Underpants can fly, too? That Kensei can regenerate?
At this point I would assume lazy writing…but, call me cynical.
Comment by Hayes — October 17, 2007 @ 2:49 pm
The cockroach has been featured before. When Sylar was captured by Claire’s dad, there was a cockroach on his bed. When he “died” at the end of last season, a cockroach climbed out of the sewer.
I could totally dump the show at this point and not miss it, but I am wondering about some things.
The boyfriend is obviously untrustworthy, since he went on and on about how she should trust him. How’s he going to betray her, you think?
Is Kenzei still alive in the present day? He’s got healing powers. Could he have lived 100s of years?
My kids still love the show, at least, my daughter does.
Comment by Susan M — October 17, 2007 @ 3:23 pm
BTW, my youngest son was commenting on the Hiro-going-back-in-time plot. He said, “Hiro got to go back in time and meet his hero! That’s cool.”
I said, “It is?”
He (a huge Megadeth fan) said, “Yeah. I’d love to go back in time and meet Dave Mustaine.”
Comment by Susan M — October 17, 2007 @ 3:54 pm
Susan I think that Kensei is the big baddie for this season and that mind-reader’s dad is actually just helping him. We’ll see.
Like someone else mentioned, this season is reminding me of 24 last season. Disappointing and bad but you just keep hoping they pull it together.
Comment by Clark — October 18, 2007 @ 8:21 am
#16: Well, he might end up killing her dad. (Or maybe HRG just gets a hole in his glasses and is lying there, bleeding on the ground, but only mostly dead.) It’s unfortunate because now that Mr. Bennett is going after the company, he could use fly-by-night boy as a recruit.
Kensei seems too … simple to be a criminal mastermind.
The thing that I’m wondering about is Nathan’s little mirror depictions – they remind me a little of Nik/Jess. Did he have reconstructive surgery after the big blast? Did Peter’s blood mingle with his, giving him some regenerative powers?
Well, they promised us we’d get more details on what happened directly after the blast eventually. Maybe they’ll clear those questions up.
Also, anyone remember the Taskmaster from the comic books? Remind you of anyone in this episode?
Comment by FHL — October 18, 2007 @ 12:11 pm
Kensei is simple right now. (I assume you mean simple minded and not too straightforward) But he’ll have had a few hundred years to figure things out.
Comment by Clark Goble — October 18, 2007 @ 12:23 pm