Heroes – Season 2, Episode 9 – “Cautionary Tales”

Yes!  Yes!  Yes!  For the first time all season, Heroes was awesome!  For the first time all season, I was biting my nails, writhing (or fast-forwarding) in agony to know what would come next, eliciting verbal reactions to the action on-screen that wasn’t a groan or a boo!  Oh man, oh man, I’m so pumped!  What a great ep!  Let’s break it down Passover style and see what made this night different from all other nights:

1. H.R.G. — Thank the gods for this character.  Without the realism and humanity of Noah Bennett, this show would have nothing in which to ground itself.  Everyone is running around, using powers or manipulating others for secret motivations or shady reasons, totally out of control.  Except for Bennett, who simply wants to protect his daughter.  See what happens when you use well-defined and realistic motivations for characters?  You get meaningful, compelling, organic storytelling!  It’s such a simple concept, yet one that Heroes shies away far too much.  Loved seeing HRG at the center of this episode, although is there anyone here who couldn’t predict the episode’s final shot?  Did you really think they were going to kill this dude off (though the painting did come true)?  No one gets killed off for real on this show except for Isaac.  Yeah, remember him?  He was awesome.

2. Claire/West — That’s right, I’m calling him West because now that he’s a man and not some whiny ass punk kid, he has earned my respect.  West is not scared or shy to use his abilities, something a lot of these heroes could learn a thing or two about.  I loved how West took on HRG, mano a mano, and then used his abilities again to bring Claire to safety.  I loved how Claire returned the favor by taking all the impact of that huge fall (another painting come true!).  I also liked how the writers didn’t have some big tearful scene with Claire after HRG got shot.  We already had a weepy Hiro scene and the episode was almost over.  Rather than indulge in the sappy emotional crap they think we want to see, it seems as if the writers finally understand that contrived, predictable emotional moments are best left unaired.

3. Hiro — Sort of lame, but at least he wasn’t in Japan and was using his powers like crazy.  Not gonna lie though– since all his crap is in subtitles and usually pretty actionless, I fast-forwarded  through his chat with little Hiro and his eulogy– if I can read it, why do I need to watch his expressionless face act it out?  And oh yeah, if you didn’t know, Adam Monroe/Kensei killed Papa Nakamura.  But we all knew that, right?

4. Elle/Bob/Mohinder — Bob Bishop’s (Bennett, Butler, Bishop– what’s the deal?  Run out of letters there, Tim Kring?) ruthless treatment of his own daughter is what spurred HRG to take such drastic measures to ensure Claire’s safety.  A brutal wake-up call for Elle, an excellent plot point, and a nice, edgy moment of genuine surprise and emotion.  I’m still confused as to why Bob is still a guest star and not a regular, seeing as how he’s been in every single episode, but whatever.  Either way, Bob is the big winner today.  He’s got Claire’s blood, H.R.G. is his captive, Mohinder is 100% on his team (I can’t believe he had the balls to shoot Bennett in the face!), and his daughter is alive, albeit bitter and injured.  Will Elle turn against her father?  Will Mohinder’s shame overwhelm him?  What is Bob’s real endgame?

5. Parkman/Angela — The missing lady is Victoria Pratt.  Parkman can plant thoughts in peoples’ heads.  That dude who gets shot in the jazz club in Collateral who plays Parkman’s boss looks like a bulldog.  Angela Petrelli is a good actress and one tough cookie.  But again, we didn’t get a glimpse of her power, or Papa Nakamura’s for that matter.  Didn’t you think we would finally get to see it, since he was about to die for real?  And since he said “We have the power of Gods”?  So what’s the power?!  I like that Parkman stole the secret about Pratt from Angela.  He has sky-rocketed to arguably the second or third most powerful hero after Peter and maybe Hiro or Claire/Kensei– will he allow these powers to control him and turn him into a sinister being like his father?  Or will his good heart win out over the endless possibilities his power provides?  For the first time, Parkman has become an interesting, conflicted character.  Let’s hope he stays that way.

Conflict.  It’s what these characters have been missing so dearly.  Parkman’s always been the predictable, lame good guy, but now he has a small speck of darkness in him.  Elle has been a weird, power-hungry hottie (oh god, how hot did she look by the pool?!), but now she has new knowledge about her beginnings that could cause her to rethink some things.  Mohinder, who has always done the morally right thing, found it necessary to kill (or so he thought) a man who was simply protecting his daughter.  Angela Petrelli, who has a cold as ice exterior, resists with all her might to protect the secrecy of her friend’s life.  Look at all this inner conflict!  I love it!  It’s human, realistic, developed, interesting!  Who wants to watch a bunch of predictable one-dimensional characters go through the motions when we can have three-dimensional characters who struggle to make the right decisions in difficult situations?

If Heroes can take this notion of conflict and run with it, we’re in for a rejuvenated series, mark my words.   I know there are only two episodes left in this volume, and so I’m praying this will be a big picture shift in the writers’ approach to the series.  Let’s hope the final two episodes deliver big, in terms of both plot and character, and that the show leaves us wanting more come hiatus time.  If not, Heroes is going to have to put in some super-human effort to keep already dwindling audiences from abandoning the series in droves.

Grade: B+