Heroes: Good Grief

“Heroes” came back this week from its month-long break, and I’m here to report that it’s…still not very good.

If you had told me going in that these two hours would have a 0% Mohinder/Parkman content (well 1% if you count the opening narration), I would’ve been giddy. Despite this happy development, the show’s laughably-bad writing and uninspired storytelling still outweigh the good.

I also wish I knew the show is SO intent on having the audience hate Hiro.

I mean, did Masi Oka not buy the show’s writing staff a nice enough gift after season 1? I guess they didn’t feel having him, literally, act like a child a while back wasn’t embarrassing enough, so they had to make him act like a moron.

It seems a combination of Hiro’s brain tumor and whatever Samuel’s dreadlocked friend did to him have scrambled his brain to the point where he’s regurgitating everything he ever learned from pop culture (more specifically Sherlock Holmes, “Star Wars” and Don Quixote). (Audible sigh) I’m just going to look on the bright side and praise the fact that the writers found a way to reincorporate Ando – he was the only one who could decipher Hiro’s ramblings – since the character hasn’t done a damn thing this year. It turns out that Hiro was trying to convey that they need to break Mohinder out of that mental institution in Florida (why Florida?), but since we saw the trio escaping at the end of last month’s fall finale, this whole exercise felt especially tedious and pointless. Also tedious and pointless? Bringing back Mohinder!

A good portion of the first hour followed yet another of Samuel’s recruiting trips. (He should’ve just recruited her when he made his pitch to Peter and saved gas.) Fortunately, he went to visit a character we’ve already met and who has the potential to play a larger role in the season’s main storyline. (Which NEEDS to get tightened and focused in a hurry.)

Samuel informed Emma that she could not only see sound, but that when she played the cello (that he sent), she could draw other people with abilities to her like a siren’s song. (Since young Molly Walker has apparently been written out of this show, having another character with the ability to locate people is mighty convenient.) Samuel used Emma to recruit a hobo who looked like Ricky Williams when he was REALLY into pot. Fortunately, the hobo cleaned up well and used his Miracle-Gro powers to seemingly build Samuel’s dream homeland for people with abilities.

Except that the show is obsessed with keeping Samuel firmly entrenched in the gray zone. I mean, honestly – would it be so bad if Samuel’s ONLY ambition was to build this homeland for his people? Sure, the character would still be part-villain (since he’s willing to kill for his goal), but at least his goal would be relatively pure.

Instead, we keep getting fed information that suggests Samuel is just a power-hungry tyrant. If that wasn’t enough, it now seems that another one of his goals is to reconnect with Vanessa, the love of his life who was referenced in a flashback sequence that featured his brother Joseph (who was much jerkier as a young boy.)

Anyway, just when Claire had decided that Samuel was a bad guy after some prodding from Lydia (I was pretty impressed by Dawn Olivieri in these two episodes – I hope they use her more), Samuel reveals his homeland valley and she’s back on-board with the carnival crew. So to recap, just when Claire was about to do something, she doesn’t. Which leaves us (the audience) nowhere. Then again, good on Claire for being able to overlook the fact that the Replicating Man (hey, his name is Eli!) spent most of that first hour stalking and terrorizing her under Samuel’s orders.

Then again, maybe the reason I’m annoyed about Samuel being stuck in the gray zone is because that’s basically what ruined Sylar’s character. Let’s be honest here – didn’t we like him more when he was all bad? Did we need to learn his sad back story (over and over and over again)? I LOVED that he showed up at the carnival ready to eat up some powers, but having him be “impotent” seemed like another gratuitous delay solely for storyline purposes. (It's probably bad that I was disappointed when Sylar did NOT kill him, right?)

Then I thought about it some more, and I appreciated the fact that the show was actually exploring what Hiro had told Sylar in the Texas flashback (that he was going to die alone). Unfortunately, I then started thinking about what sad shape “Heroes” is in that I’m actually delightfully impressed when this show displays ANY sort of continuity and I got sad again. Oh well, at least there was some shirtless Sylar for the ladies.

I realize I seem to be doing a lot of complaining (because I am), so here’s something good. I though the show’s transition from the first hour (ending with Claire getting the call about Nathan’s death) to the second (Nathan’s unnecessarily slow-mo funeral and wake) was very well done. I also thought having the flyover during Nathan’s burial was an excellent touch for our favorite flyboy senator. (I’ll even overlook the silliness of having Nathan’s illegitimate daughter make a dramatic entrance, while his ex-wife and kids get the long-distance camera shot treatment – come on, Rena Sofer, make a cameo!)

I’m also still digging Milo Ventimiglia’s Peter Petrelli this season. He basically did everything he could to get himself killed to avoid grieving. Sure, the hostage situation was COMPLETELY silly and very poorly staged, but Ventimiglia and Hayden Panetierre had some nice moments together. It was particularly nice to see the two bring up Claire’s ex-boyfriend West because I thought all characters were under strict orders to pretend like season 2 never happened.

Unfortunately, I don’t see Peter getting over this any time soon. Is anyone else feeling a special appearance by ghost Nathan telling Pete to let him go down the line?

So what’d you think of this episode? Why was there a stool in the Hall of Mirrors? (Think about it.) Will Noah and Lauren be able to find the carnival on their own since Edgar took off? (I’m actually liking them as a team.) Finally, what do you think Sylar’s wants with Claire?