Heroes: Not-So-Super "Villains"

I realize a lot of people (myself included) have been pretty tough on the last couple of volumes in the "Heroes" saga.

But after watching last night's conclusion to "Villains", can you really blame us? Basically, everything got (literally) burned to the ground and almost every major character introduced this season ended up dead (consider yourself lucky, Daphne). Even the show's writers seem to be acknowledging this show needs a completely fresh start.

It especially needs a fresh start after this scalding hot (even hotter than an adrenaline-fueled Meredith) mess of a finale.

Where should we start? Ok, why not start with the whole ridiculousity of Sylar turning Primatech into a deathtrap for Claire, H.R.G., Angela and Meredith (who conveniently rejoined the action last night). Sylar's mission was to turn them into monsters, the same way he'd been turned into a monster by Primatech. Unfortunately, he decided to do this by setting up absurdly elaborate scenarios for each of his captives. Hmm, I thought "Saw VI" didn't come out until NEXT year.

Ok, fine, locking H.R.G in with an adrenaline-charged, out-of-control Meredith (and one bullet to use at his discretion) was pretty clever, since we all knew what H.R.G. would do if it came down to it. Fortunately, Defensive Player of the Year Claire was there to crash through another hard structure and save them. She later went on to stick a piece of broken glass into the back of Sylar's head right after Angela (pictured, left) told the super villain his real parents were still out there.

Of course, this scene would've had more of an impact if I actually believed for a second that Sylar is dead (this is his second death in the last three episodes). The scene that had more of an impact on me was H.R.G. and Claire running away from the fireball as the Primatech building was about to explode. Sure, the impact it had on me was that it almost made me fall out of my couch laughing, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

Not to be outdone by its rival burning building, Pinehearst also eventually crumbled after Peter and Nathan failed to come to an agreement regarding the formula. Nathan still wanted to (naively) carry out his father's plans, while Peter (having seen the future) wanted to stop him. This led to Peter punching Nathan out (that nurse hits hard apparently) and teaming up with Knox and Flint to trash the formula. Of course, scaly Mohinder tried to stand in the way and actually chastised Peter for teaming up with sketchy characters. Again, this is Mohinder chastising someone else for joining forces with people of questionable character. HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Anyway, Knox eventually went after Nathan, before Tracy killed Knox. Nathan thanked Tracy by firing her for being such a scheming snake (the way the Tracy character eventually devolved into a generic power-hungry shrew is a real shame, since she actually had promise). Nathan grabbed a lead pipe from somewhere and kicked some Flint and Peter ass, before Flint simply decided to blow the entire place up. Since Nathan apparently forgot that he could fly, it was up to Peter to inject himself with the formula and fly his brother to safety. In the end, the brothers went their separate ways.

As a teaser for Volume 4, "Fugitives", we see Nathan meeting with the president (Michael Dorn aka Worf from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" — awesome!) and spearheading a campaign to round up people with abilities.

Here's the problem: we've been having visions of a future where people with abilities (including a scarred Peter) are in hiding since season 1 episode "Five Years Gone." If we're only now arriving to this point now, then what exactly was the point of volumes 2 and 3? Volumes 2 and 3 ended up having relatively tidy conclusions to their BIG crises (the Shanti virus and the future where everyone has abilities, respectively), so it just sort of feels like the show has been spinning its wheels the last year or so.

This is especially true when you consider that almost all the deaths in Volume 2 and, especially, Volume 3 feel a lot more like housecleaning than a legitimate way to advance plot. In an earlier recap this season, I joked that the show was trying to erase every shred of evidence that Volume 2 ever happened — well last night, the writers appeared intent on wiping away anything that might remind anyone of Volume 3 next year. It's a shame because I felt that "Villains" got off to a pretty promising start before going off the rails.

So rest in peace, Puppetmaster, Knox (Jaime Hector was wasted in this show — please go watch him in season 5 of "The Wire"), Less-Than-Super Marine, and Arthur (hey, Robert Forster received a credit for appearing in this episode, so why not? Meanwhile, according to the show's logic, Flint and Meredith should've been able to survive their respective explosions since we've been led to believe the fire they produce can't hurt them (like the Human Torch). Of course, I think the show will probably be done with Flint, (because no one cares about him) while there's a small chance they'll bring Meredith back.

(All this carnage and Mohinder STILL gets to live and be picked up by Tracy on the side of the road. Damnit all!)

It wasn't all bad. I actually sort of enjoyed the Hiro/Ando, Matt, Daphne storyline. Ok, I didn't really enjoy the Matt/Daphne part of it, but they were there, so they get lumped in with the positive. Daphne swiped the formula from Mohinder and Ando injected himself only to find out his power was to amplify and supercharge other people's powers. I thought this was kind of perfect — Ando was excited to gain an ability, only to find out his complementary power makes him no more than a super sidekick.

Ando and a super DUPER fast Daphne ran all the way to the past and saved Hiro, who was about to be carved up by his dad after ripping the formula in half. Hopefully the fact that, for now, Ando has powers and Hiro doesn't will make for an interesting dynamic between the two friends in Volume 4.

So what'd you think of this episode? Were you satisfied with the conclusion to "Villains"? Why didn't Hiro just tell his dad the truth when Kaito was attacking him? Finally, "Fugitives" has GOT to be better than Volumes 2 and 3, right?

I'll see you there next year (assuming you haven't stopped watching the show, of course).