Heroes – There’s always room for (red) jello – Guest Clack

This week’s Heroes review is guest clacked by frequent commenter Ivey West, more commonly known here as ‘Dorv’. Away from the internet, he’s lucky enough to run waterparks for a living. His job has him living in a hotel for three months, and he doesn’t know what’s harder: living in a small hotel room across the country from his friends, or not having a DVR (“To be honest, its probably the DVR; I can call my friends.”)

(Season 3, Episode 12 – “Our Father”)

Many people have given up on this show and, to be honest, the powers that be have given us quite a few reasons to at this point. Confusing storylines? Check. Too many storylines? Check. Dropped/forgotten storylines? Check, check, and more check. That being said, I’m considerably more forgiving of this show than I am of most. Mainly because I’m a geek, and this is a show about superheroes, but also because its a show that can reinvent itself so quickly, that I hope it can catch fire again. Did it do so tonight? Lets take a look at the characters….

Elle/Sylar
Elle is really dead. I just wanted everyone to know that, and that it sucks. That is all. Sylar has now reverted to his season one persona (which, if anyone is counting, completely trashes his story arc from this season; it was a shame, because domestic Sylar was pretty funny). Next week on The Office, Michael and Sylar face off about what kind of birthday cake to buy for Pam.

Matt/Daphne/Ando
I really love the Matt and Daphne pairing. To me, its totally believable that two characters compensating for deep seated insecurities would end up together (despite the fact that she looks like she’s Claire’s age). In trying to track down the sketchbook, Matt definitely proved that he earned that NYPD badge by using his mind-reading powers and not by his power of letting the subject ride away on a bike. Seeing Ando interact with others without Hiro around was interesting. I’m curious to see where the sketch book arc goes, as it did nothing here other than tell the group that Hiro was lost/stuck.

Tracy/Nathan
Tracy just likes playing both sides, doesn’t she (and man, Ali Larter can wear a red dress!)? As soon as Arthur high-tails it out of there, Tracy tells Mox that things change, and he’s the starting quarterback now. Nathan, I think, is poised to be the next volume’s big bad, if things keep going this way. I’m just curious where Pinehurst gets access to a platoon of Marines to test on? Are we finally going to see some kind of government group introduced?

Hiro/Hiro/Claire/Claire
I thought the scene where Hiro and Claire were both saying the same thing to each other in different languages was cute. Now that we’ve seen the catalyst several times, I still don’t know what it is (or, you know, was). Present Claire with past HRG was nice, but I swear by the end of it that he knew who (or what) she was. Kona in the chat was right though: HRG is WAY creepier without the HRGs. So, with Hiro’s mom passing the catalyst to Hiro instead of Claire, does that mean we’re spared storylines in the future where Claire’s safety is central to saving the world? In three words, “Fraking doubt it.” (And can anyone tell me what the Catalyst was?)

Petrelli Mania
Angela Petrelli is one sick, sick woman. OK, I understand her trying to kill Arthur herself before, but sending Peter to do it? Does anyone think Peter was capable? The Haitian was right; why not just let him (or anyone else, really) do it? Fortunately, Sylar let Peter off the hook. I got really excited that we finally have the source of future Peter’s scar! (What’s that you say? That injury is nowhere near where the scar should be? Do you honestly think that this show, who has completely abandoned characters in a future that no longer exists, prioritizes getting that detail right? Come on … we got the scar! It’s an answer!!! Suck it, Lost fans! We get answers!!).

Random Bits:

• So, Arthur is dead … you know, again. So, is it time for Nathan to follow in his footsteps (you know … again)?
• Hiro is lost in sixteen years ago. Maybe he can go and save Charlie.
• Maine Sergeant Kyle Baldwin gets injected with promicin (in all new red jello flavor). Who says they canceled The 4400?
• I didn’t have to fast forward through any boring “Mohinder exposition scenes” today.
• I mentioned it in the chat, but I really liked seeing the new pairings today. Ando with Matt and Daphne, and Hiro with Claire was fun. We need to see more of this. I’m just saying.

I mistakenly thought tonight’s episode was the Volume III finale. It looks like next week will setup some of the conflict for the next volume. I am looking forward to see if TPTB can improve on this season (which, I still think was a major improvement over last season).

Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Dec 09, 2008 @ 10:00 EST5EDT