So, Heroes has made its return for it's second installment in its third season.Does it end up being the Heroes yumminess that I learned to expect in season one? Is it rushed and disappointing like strike-shortened season two? Or is it more of the mixed bag of cool ideas and strange character development that permeated the first half of this third season?
Find out after the click.
The truth is somewhere in between.
To me I thought this episode came across like a system reset. It gave us a blank slate from which to start, and to be honest I liked that. I think this show needed a clear division between this half of the season and last half.
One of the problems that reared its head in the second season (and the beginning of the third) was a confusion as to who were the bad guys and who were the good guys.
This episode made that line very clear. Nathan is leading the anti-freak movement and is being aided by Mama Petrelli and Noah. I am sure there will be time for character repositioning later, but as for now the battle lines are firmly drawn.
That is except for the ever ambiguous Sylar.
But first, what did tonight show us?
Nathan thinks he is saving the world by doing away with all super-powered individuals (it's easier for me to type 'freaks'). You must of course forget that at the end of the last storyline, he wanted EVERYONE to have powers. Well, you know what they say about politicians... Waffles are on the house!
Freaks are captured by Nathan's henchmen and flown to God knows where. Claire throws a fork in the machine, and we are left with a cliffhanger where the aircraft (with Noah co-piloting) is going down. Kind of a weak ending (does anyone think anyone is going to die in this crash?), but I thought the new start given by the episode as a whole was strong.
This felt like the beginning of a new chapter. Time has passed. People's motivations have shifted, but we know where everyone stands. Politocos to the right of me; heroes to the left, here we are stuck in the middle with Sylar.
Which brings up Sylar. I am so glad that they didn't reveal Sylar to be alive as some surprising finale to the show. Everyone (even the characters) knew that he couldn't be dead. I like how that wasn't treated as a huge, shocking reveal. The whole trap at his real dad's place was a bit of a stretch, but it's nice to see a return of Sylar as the moral vague-osity. Sylar is best when he's the villain that you hope can turn good, and it seems like that might be the direction his character arc is pointing... at least for now.
No new powers are revealed except that Peter seems to have the power of 'power sponge,' but now it seems that he only has the power of the last person he touched. No more all-powerful Peter?
Previews make it look as if this season will be open season on Freaks. Fans of X-Men might see some similarities in plot ("Kill the mutants"), but I'm hoping that Heroes takes it into a new area.
But having the heroes band together in trying times and form a coalition doesn't sound bad to me. Part of me would like it if the freaks would just band together and go all JLA on the world. I wouldn't even mind if some Spandex were involved.
Overall, I thought the show was a good start. Yes, some character motivations bother me. (Is power-hungry Mohinder gone for good? Why doesn't Nathan seem sincere when he's supposed to be sincere? What is Noah Bennett's rationale for anything he does?)
We have a fresh slate for Heroes to reclaim its past greatness or to devolve into the schlocky derivativeness which sometimes rears its head.
As for me, I'm holding out for a Hero(es).
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