Heroes: Carnival Atmosphere

Since almost every primetime network show decided to come back last week, I didn’t get around to watching “Heroes” until Monday.

(The fact that the show is a molten hot mess as often as it is good probably also had something to do with me not exactly rushing to check out the season 4 premiere.)

Well I’ve seen “Orientation” and “Jump, Push, Fall” and I’m going to try to sneak my stream of consciousness thoughts online before the new episode airs. (FYI in case anyone cares: I’ll likely have my “Heroes” recaps online Wednesdays after the show airs on G4 because there’s just too much damn TV for me to watch Monday nights.)

Here are my thoughts on the “Redemption” storyline so far and on every major character.

I thought Samuel Sullivan’s monologue at the beginning while burying his brother did a nice job of setting the tone for the season. I’m actually looking forward to the flashback episode (God knows “Heroes” loves a flashback episode!) where we see Joseph and find out the origins of the rest of the Sullivan Bros. Carnial. I’m also thoroughly enjoying Robert Knepper’s charismatic, creepy performance as Samuel. (I’m also thoroughly enjoying his tiny glasses.) Finally, what do we think his power is? He obviously has some sort of telekinesis from the way he moved the dirt over his brother's grave, but does that explain his tattoo-manipulation skills?

Claire: Claire is in college and feeling liberated from not hiding who she is anymore – and I kinda dig it. Her professor reading “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” = randomly funny. Ooh, Facebook reference – current! Ooh, Guitar Hero scene - not quite as current. Ooh, Google reference - nevermind. I thought Rachel Melvin was incredibly effective as new roommate is Annie – she was so good that I’m not surprised someone killed her. Madeline Zima is also good as oddball Gretchen, who probably has a power and who knew Claire from the homecoming massacre in Texas. I was down with the Claire storyline until she stupidly let Gretchen drag her into a murder investigation and accidentally revealed her power.

Hiro and Ando: One of my main complaints last year is that the show no longer appears to have any idea what to do with Hiro – the premiere wasn’t too encouraging from a Hiro standpoint. First we see him and Ando running a “Dial a Hero” business. (Oh brother!) Since when did he use his power for profit? Eventually we got to the meat of his storyline - Hiro is dying from over-using his power. (Whenever Hiro got frozen in time, didn’t it seem like he was buffering?)

He ended up accidentally traveling back in time to the night he first learned he was destined to be a hero. Of course, since there needs to be some sort of dramatic connection to the new season, it just so happened Hiro learned of his destiny from a Sullivan Bros. fortune teller. (Too convenient or WAY too convenient?) Samuel also made a trip to the past (will Hiro become that sick old guy if he keeps using his power?) and tried to convince Hiro to change one thing about the past. In the end, he (literally) pushed him to make it so Hiro’s sister and Ando ended up as a couple in the present. Things are great now, but we all know that won’t end well. I’m also cautiously optimistic that something interesting will happen with Hiro once he hooks up with Samuel and Co. for good.

Tracy: Nothing against Ali Larter, but more than any other actor/actress, this is the one the show just needs to let go. I mean, she’s played Nikki/Jessica, and Tracy (who have all been killed) and there’s still a third triplet out there. Anyway, Tracy is back and looking for revenge on the Building 26 peeps who hunted her. Danko was next on her list, and as soon as Zeljko Ivanek showed up, I knew he wasn’t long for this world. (The same way season 2’s Bob wasn’t long for the world when he made a cameo in the season 3 premiere). I wondered why the writers kept him alive at the end of last year, and they actually did a good job of utilizing Danko to not only wrap up a storyline from last season, but to set up one for Redemption (the compass).

I’m also not completely hating the idea of HRG and Tracy teaming up as a “One of Us/One of Them” partnership. (However, I AM hating the hint of a love connection that we saw.) Speaking of which…

HRG: Noah Bennett is struggling without his family (you can tell because he has almost nothing in his fridge – same as Peter) and seems genuinely remorseful for all he’s lost. You can see he wants “Redemption” too. (I enjoyed seeing him temporarily partnered up with the Haitian too - I seem to recall some sort of ill-advised military coup in Haiti from last season – yikes!) Jack Coleman remains the best actor on the show, and it’s nice to see a character evolving for a change, which brings us to…

Peter: It’s probably bad that I couldn’t immediately remember what power Peter was supposed to have. He’s now working as a paramedic and it was GREAT to see him not being all emo for a change. He’s throwing himself into saving people. I really enjoyed the scene where HRG tried to warn him against being a loser loner. I also kinda loved the really cool fight scene between Peter and super-fast (Daphe’s dead, so we need a new speedster) Edgar, despite the fact that it was a little cheesy.

Nathan: I know it’s been six weeks in the show’s timeline since the memory wipe, but I thought the whole Sylar/Nathan switcheroo would go at least one or two episodes in TV land without a hitch. So far, it’s interesting because Nathan obviously isn’t quite himself, and he instinctively feels a detachment from the people close to him. It’s a detachment the real Nathan fought very hard to ignore. It’s also kind of sad to see Angela desperately trying to push him to be act he was before (not exactly Family Man of the Year.)

Parkman: Can’t really blame Matt for being jealous of the water guy – Janice doesn’t have the best track record in the fidelity department. Visions of Sylar are now haunting Matt. Oh brother! You know, it wouldn’t have been the worst thing in the world for Zachary Quinto to sit out one or two episodes – absence DOES make the heart grow fonder. That being said, Quinto, as usual, is giving us a great, lively performance. Why is Quinto the only one actor on this show who gets to have fun?

Mohinder: Excellent use of Dr. Suresh in this episode. I could get used to this. In all seriousness, though he was referenced as the source of Peter’s new power, I’m sure he’ll end up playing some sort of part in this Volume. (Um, yay?)

So what’d you think of this episode? What do you think Samuel wants with the compass? (Obviously it has something to do with his wrist tattoo.) Who killed Annie? (Do we think Gretchen was involved?) Finally, did the season premiere hold promise for you, are you watching the show out of habit, or are you officially done with “Heroes”? (I’m guessing you wouldn’t be reading this if it’s the last option.)