3x05 - Angels and Monsters

I was unimpressed with this week's offering. We'd been doing so well! The editing was horrendous, and none of the scenes were fleshed out enough to finish a thought before they flipped to a taste of the next one. It was all very tough to follow, and had a thin feel to it, whereas most Heroes episodes are nice and meaty.

We begin this episode on a strange note: Nathan narrates the opening monologue instead of Mohinder. Which--given the individual strength of each character at the moment--was a smart move by the writers. It threw me, though--it sounded very strange... but I loved the content. Nice thoughts on God, angels, monsters, heroes, villains... All interrupted by Vision!Linderman. However, I was extremely annoyed by the heavy-handed use of the moster theme throughout the hour. They slathered it on so thick! Yeah, yeah, we got it, there are villains and then there are flat out monsters. If you did a word count I think you'd find more "monsters" in tonight's episode than "my friends" in a McCain speech.

Where was Mohinder sitting in the opening few flashes? I liked his positioning--the way he was sitting was very animalistic, as if he were stalking his prey, and I loved how he scratched idly at his right shoulder. The reveal of his back later was cool, too--what in the world will he eventually end up looking like? Will we have Sendhil in head-to-toe make-up, or will there be a stunt man cast as his body and he'll be relegated to Voice-over!Mohinder? What kind of animal cocoons their food to the wall like that? Spider? Worm? And no surprise here: Maya is still bothering me greatly. I'm glad she ended up mounted on Mohinder's wall with the others.

This was a very Peter-lite episode. We barely got to see him. And what we got wasn't too impressive, either. I understand that he can't handle Sylar's power, but it's like he's gone completely rabid. The special effects when he snapped Sylar's neck and he stood back up were awesome, but I hated Milo's delivery of his shouted "Tell me your secrets!" On the positive side, Angela's scream was fantastic. I like a good scream. Bad ones can really ruin a moment.

And I was glad to see that Sylar's back out in the field! We also got some Gabriel theme music as HRG tells him to suit up--I love that piece of score.

Steven was a very cool character. I like that they're coming up with powers that could still threaten Claire, despite her ability to heal. What I want to know, though, is where things go when they enter that vortex? The future, the past, an alternate dimension, Bloomington IN, where? Watching Claire get her first taste of crime fighting was fun, and I liked that she went after her first mark thinking the whole situation was black and white, only to find out Steven's story was all kinds of gray. I love that she ended up sitting down in his empty house getting a lecture from him. I would be very impressed if Steven showed up later this season after someone stumbles on the actual location of the other end of that vortex.

Adam's pounding and yelling was hysterical. Really wonderful moment of comedy in this otherwise obnoxious episode. David Anders was fabulous. When given good material, this guy outshines most other cast members (it's really too bad he got stuck with all that slow-moving Kensei nonsense last season... if you want some awesome David, check out Alias). Best line of the whole set was when he called Hiro a "Japanese Nazi," got popped back in his coffin, and immediately responded with a muffled, resigned, "I have a plan!"

We finally have an answer on why only some people can see Linderman, how he managed to survive his own death in 1x23, and who is the mastermind bringing the formula together. Maury Parkman! Who let him out? Didn't they lock him up after Matt trapped him in The 70's Kitchen of Eternity? I understand why Daphne would be working for him, but I don't get why he wants a world full of special people. If everyone is special, he loses some of his edge. A world full of powers doesn't advance him at all, does it? Unless he's looking to make a bunch of money off of the sale of the formula... Which doesn't make any sense, either, because he could just telepathically instruct a bank teller to hand over her whole drawer whenever he needed cash. Also, how in the world did a vision of Linderman heal Nathan after he was shot?

Tracy wants to turn herself in now? Why are they repeating all of season one? I loved it, yes, but I don't want to see it again. I did love Nathan's heartfelt, eloquent, touching explanation of his visions of God and the divine gift of an ability, followed by Tracy's deadpan response that the abilities were forced on them by "a doctor in Reseda, California." YoungPC's surprised response: "God lives in Reseda, California?"

Bad way for Claire to find out that her dad is working with Sylar! Poor thing. That planned reunion was going so well for Steven, and then HRG breaks in, guns blazing... Didn't work for your daughter, dude, maybe you should try talking to the man instead of treating him like an animal. I thought Claire was going to get such a talking to... but no go. I guess parenting really has been thrown out the window with this girl. I did love that Sylar saved her from the vortex, though. I'm really looking forward to his rehab storyline. If they do it well it'll be fantastic to watch. Then again, if they do it badly it'll be like when they de-fanged Spike and he became a whiny shell of his former badass self.

Maya has an incredible offensive ability and she's hiding under a table? I sat there through this whole scene hoping Mohinder would come home and mount her on his wall along with his neighbor and the drug dealer, and I was quite glad when it happened. Mohinder's turn to the dark side is actually starting to interest me now, especially since he's already on Maury's radar as an interesting talent to have on his team, along with Knox. This is another one of those plotlines that will be really cool... if done right. It also has the opportunity to go terribly, horribly wrong.

Okay, major issue for me. Sylar has super hearing--did he hear what HRG was asking Steven to do at the carosel? It didn't seem like it while it was happening, but he obviously knew by the time Claire got dropped off later. If he could hear them, they should've done the sound effect we've seen before when he's over-hearing a conversation from far away. And boy howdy, Steven vortexing himself was so predictable!

Ando: "We are the worst heroes ever." Well, the worst heroes episode ever, at least. I liked Masi's delivery of "We are badasses now!" But I didn't like how fast and sloppy they offered Hiro work and then had him shish-kabob Ando. There better be a cool explanation for that next week.

Puppet Man! So creepy! I like him a lot, actually, I think we have major potential here, especially given the trailer for next week. I'm really looking forward to that, I bet it'll be phenomenal. Puppet Man kind of reminded me of Jabba the Hut, though. Like next episode we'll see Meredith in a Leia outfit, serving him grapes.

Bits and Pieces:

* Funny line: "Rehabilitation doesn't happen overnight. I am trying."
* Claire goes after a bad guy in stilettos?
* Best Actor award for the episode goes to Zachary for his downcast eyes after HRG admonished him for talking to Claire.
* This is a show about ceilings--have you ever noticed how many times the camera angles up at the actors from below and we get a wide expanse of ceiling behind them? It's a cool shot, making the heroes seem bigger, larger than life, so it really works. We had Mohinder stuck to the ceiling of his apartment for an entire episode in the first season, as well as a cache of diamonds in another one. We have another really effective ceiling shot in this one with Sylar, Claire, and HRG as he says, "I wouldn't send anyone to level 5 who didn't deserve to be there."
* Ando and Hiro attempting to look tough was comedy gold, as was Ando playing with an unconscious Hiro's eyes on the bar floor: "Blink, Hiro! Freeze time!"
* Nathan has a synthetic ability! I'm assuming Sylar's and Peter's are congenital. Which brings up an interesting question: how old is Sylar? Where does he fall in the sibship? Nathan seems oldest, then Sylar, then Peter. We know Peter is about 27 by this time, since he was 26 in the first season.
* Mr. Petrelli can what--freeze people? Not temperature freeze, rather, just stop them from moving.
* I like the intersecting helix as the logo for Maury's company. What was the name of it? Is it really Maury's?
* Love that Sylar gets relegated to the back seat while HRG drives and Claire gets shotgun.
* How does Peter having Sylar's power help anything?

So all in all, that was awful. I'm so disappointed in you, Heroes. That's it. We're done. You're moving out, and I get to keep the TV. I'm not even watching next week!

...Okay, complete lie. :-) But you better shape up!

That's it for now,
GG