Heroes: Happy Together

I think a reasonable number of “Heroes” fans can agree that last week’s action-packed “Cold Snap” was one of the best episodes since season 1.

That being said, it was inevitable that the subsequent hour — “Into Asylum”— would slow things down considerably after an episode that featured the “deaths” of two regular characters.

However, I enjoyed the more leisurely, character-driven pace of “Into Asylum” and I’d say the show has continued its winning streak (which is now up to two).

The hour focused on three pairs of characters we don’t necessarily see together very often (as opposed to the mostly-tired Hiro/Ando partnership) — Nathan and Claire, Peter and Angela and Sylar and Danko.

That’s right, the show’s Biggest Bad teamed up with the Big Bad from this volume to hunt down as many people with abilities as possible.

This week, we got confirmation that Sylar was the one who had gift wrapped and delivered Doyle the Puppetmaster to Danko’s apartment. Apparently, it was a show of good faith from Sylar, who tried to convince Danko that they had similar goals — hunting down and killing people with abilities. (I still say Sylar would’ve taken Doyle’s power before turning him over to Danko.)

The timing was impeccable because HRG had just suggested bringing back the “One of us, one of them” approach of tracking down people with abilities. Danko and HRG still needed a “win” badly, and Danko had become especially desperate after one of his targets had killed several of his men in the field.

Sylar helped him deduce that the culprit was a shape shifter and I wondered why it took the show so long to introduce someone with this cool ability. I really liked the sequence when the shape shifter escaped after getting close enough to shake Danko’s hand (and seemingly gaining the ability to copy him) and I like that transforming from one person to another was shown as a somewhat painful process (usually, it’s portrayed as being effortless). I wasn’t as high on the scene in which the two decide to work together by convincing each other that they live their lives like shape-shifters. (I get annoyed when the show becomes WAY too obvious.)

Anyway, things picked up again in the sequence with Danko and Sylar tracking the shape shifter to a club. They lost sight of him, but Danko eventually shot the shape shifter, before coldly allowing an eager Sylar to absorb his ability. I’ll admit I originally thought that the shape shifter was still posing as Danko. I rewound the scene and thanks to Zeljko Ivanek’s and Zachary Quinto’s subtle acting (a rarity on this show) I saw that, indeed, the shape shifter was posing as Sylar. (Bonus points to Ivanek, who got to do a kissing scene in this episode.)

Now, Danko and Sylar, disguised as a female(?!) agent, seem to be working together after “fooling” a VERY skeptical-looking HRG that the shape shifter’s dead body was Sylar. I like this partnership, and I can understand that both characters want the same things. However, I still feel like Danko needs Sylar a lot more than Sylar needs Danko. After all, Sylar had no trouble tracking down Doyle or the shape shifter. I’m going to give the show the benefit of the doubt and assume his endgame is to dispose of Danko at some point. That’s what Sylar and his dad (remember that whole thing?) had talked about, and I’m trusting the show not to completely forget the whole “Sylar and his dad” storyline happened.

Speaking of parents and their children, that’s what we got from the rest of the episode.

Peter and Angela (pictured, right) were in hiding inside a spectacularly epic-looking church. The show has had mixed-results at best when trying to introduce religion into the fold (remember Nathan believing he was on a mission from God in Volume III) and, though the head wrap Angela wore for much of this episode was silly, most of this stuff was effective.

I liked Angela trying to atone to her son for all her past sins (which keep her from sleeping at night). I also liked Peter defiantly asking God (through a Jesus statue) to live up to His end of the deal after Peter had fought so bravely and sacrificed so much in the name of good. (Kudos go to first-time director Jim Chory for handling the sometimes-questionable actors very well in this episode.)

Peter asked God to finally show up, but what he got instead was HRG in the confessional booth he and his mom were hiding in. (Thank heavens for small miracles, right?) Angela says she knows what to do know — she has to reunite her family, which apparently includes a sister (could this be Millie, the person she asked for help last week) and Nathan.

Fortunately, for her Nathan is on his way back to the country after getting a kick in the ass from his (biological) daughter.

The two had gone to hide in Mexico (but not before stopping by a stylist to get bangs for Claire). Nathan’s plan was apparently to live there for the foreseeable future on the strength of a few $50 bills Claire got for selling her necklace. Nathan thought he could get more money by winning a drinking contest, but Claire (Mexico’s a LOT more lax with IDs) stepped in and won for him. It helps that her regenerative ability doesn’t allow her to get drunk. I’m not sure how the science of this works out, but I’m willing to roll with it and her impression of a drunk chick was amusing.

The real heart of this storyline was Nathan’s guilt. His guilt for the mess he recreated with his “Heroes Rounding-Up Program.” His guilt for never being in Claire’s life. His guilt over reneging on his drunken plea to make things right from the night before.

Thankfully, Claire gave the angsty-teen act a rest and inspired confidence in Nathan by reminding him that he can do amazing things. Nathan strikes me as the kind of guy who never got positive reinforcement from his parents. He seems like the type who, even when he achieved something, felt relief instead of joy, because great things were always expected of him. (Once again, kudos to the director for helping the actors convey this stuff without coming right out and saying it.)

Now, he has someone who actually believes in him when he’s at his lowest (“You can fly!”) Which, come to think of it, is kind of how I’m feeling about these last two episodes of “Heroes” — this show is starting to fly again.

So what’d you think of this episode? Are you a fan of the SyKo partnership? (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.) Is Angela’s sister someone we’ve seen before or not? Finally, why DIDN’T Claire just sell her kidneys over and over again? (Just kidding. I realize that would've freaked out the Mexican black market surgeon.)