Here is No Why

<-Apology to the Guy at the Best Buy |Main|Thanks->

"Cautionary Tales" or "Fuck You, Mohinder"

November 20, 2007 4:09 AM

lright--another episode that reminds me of how good this series can be. From beginning to end, this episode was full of suspense and action. And, more importantly, it ostly executed well. For the first time in a while, each of the narratives felt cohesive and believable--with the exception of Hiro's decision to (yet again) travel back in time to try to save someone's life. Still, there was no Niki (although she was mentioned), and no Wonder Twins. That, right there, is a good thing.

Hiro
I still love Hiro, but the writers seem to be at a loss as far as what to do with him. He wasted all that time in feudal Japan, and, upon his return, the first thing he does is . . . *wait for it* . . . travel back in time! Yay. I mean, I guess if I had the ability to time travel and I found out that my father had recently died, I'd try to go back to stop it, too. But Hiro's been there and done that--remember Charlie? He couldn't save her, so why would he be able to save Kaito?

When he first arrived back at the roof of the Deveaux building, I was certain that we were in for some awesome revelation. I was sure that Mr. Nakamura would tell his son something shocking about his history or that of the Company. But, no, we get a nested time-travel adventure. Ugh. And then Hiro bumps into young Hiro? That seems problematic. And then older Hiro just changes his mind? Can we say "contrived"? None of that was necessary to set up the whole point of Hiro's journey through time: the reveal that Takezo Kensei killed Hiro's father. Taken on its own, that revelation wasn't much of a revelation. We know that Adam hates Hiro and is out for revenge, and who'd be able to fall from that height and survive but someone with the ability to heal. Still, it means that not only is Adam after Hiro, now Hiro's after Adam, too, which means that their confrontation should be pretty awesome. Add in the fact that Peter's working with Adam and you've got the makings of an amazing showdown. Although I'm sure that Hiro and Peter will end up on the same side at the end of the day.

I just wish the whole thing would have been done differently.

Parkman
There wasn't much here, but what there was was pretty good. We knew that Parkman's abilities were going to evolve, and it was nice to see that start. But, of course, the best part was Parkman forcing Mrs. Petrelli to finally tell us something true. I thought the acting in that scene--with Angela fighting Parkman's suggestion causing her to convulse and bleed--was awesome. I can't wait to hear more about the woman Angela was trying so hard to protect. She must be someone extremely important for Angela to go through all of that.

Also, we got a look at the picture of the twelve founders with all of them identified. You can see it here. Like Parkman said, all of them except for Angela, Bob, Maury, and the woman Angela wouldn't talk about are dead. Interestingly, one of the people in the picture is named Carlos Mendez. Like Isaac Mendez. I wonder what--if anything--we'll learn about that.

The Bennets and Mohinder
As the Bennets go, so goes the episode. Whenever their part of the episode is good, the episode as a whole generally is. When their part sucks, the episode generally sucks. It's the strength of this part of tonight's episode that makes this arguably the best of the season so far. The Bennets were firing on all cylinders.

Claire's positions--her distrust of her father, her frustration at their situation, and her eventual realization that Mr. Bennet was right--are all believable and consistent with her character. Mr. Bennet finally realized that it was time for him to trust his family. Again. Let's hope the lesson sticks this time, assuming he ever sees his family again. Still, we saw him at his best and worst; he's someone who's willing to do literally anything for his family, even if that means lying to them or killing. And Mrs. Bennet finally showed a bit of a backbone. Lyle, on the other hand, continues to be an annoying brat.

Elle's role here as the contrast to Claire was awesome. Where Claire is wholesome and good, Elle is morally grey at best and a complete sociopath at worst. And now we know exactly why Mr. Bennet fought so hard to keep Claire away from the Company. Also, it was awesome to see Elle get shocked by her own power.

Even West was tolerable.

And then there's Mohinder. I don't know what the fuck is going on in his head, but he's dead to me. There were any number of ways to keep Noah from shooting Bob, many of which did not involve shooting Mr. Bennet in the face. The fact that Mohinder did that, even though we knew it was coming, was pretty fucking shocking. I don't know why Mohinder chose to align himself with a Company he knows to be evil rather than a person he knows to acting in what he sees as in the best interests of his family. Mr. Bennet and the Company might both be evil, but Mr. Bennet is by far less so.

From start to finish, with minor flaws, this was a great episode that kept me on the edge of my seat and, more importantly, set up future plots while delivering plenty of action. This is what the first eight episodes should have been like.

1 Comments

frank x. said:

With respect to the Hiro thing. You've been brain washed by Back to the Future. In the Heroes universe, there is no meet yourself paradox. It's not a problem, it just happens and you move on. The reason I think that he changed his mind suddenly is that he was kind of stuck in a negative feedback loop with himself. By talking to himself in the past, he influenced his thoughts in the future, and thus accepted his fathers death. I also think that he when he saw the Japanese tradition of painting the Grave he was able to understand why his father did not fear death. As a child he wouldn't have been able to understand his father's feelings. Lastly, the reason he thought he could save his father when he couldn't save Charlie was that he is now in total control of his powers. Before he would end up in random places, but now he can go back to the places he needs to go. (sidenote: He sort of did save Charlie from Sylar, he just didn't know she had a blood clot in her brain)

November 20, 2007 10:17 AM