Come To Daddy: The Racialicious Review of Heroes 3.6
by Guest Contributor By Arturo R. García, also posted at The Instant Callback
Warning: Spoilers Ahead!
“Dying Of The Light” was downright Shakespearean: all sound and fury, signifying nothing, dialing back the tension from last week and mostly focusing on the ever-shifting alliances in the roster of Heroes and Villains.
Newly-minted Big Bad Mr. Petrelli was again this episode’s mover and shaker: his herald, Daphne, literally criss-crossed the country rounding up and recruiting people for the Pinehearst team (Knox, Flint, Maury Parkman and a slightly reluctant Daphne); and he showed off his ability to steal others’ superpowers by not only draining an incredulous Peter, but going all Dorian Gray on last season’s antagonist, Adam Monroe.
Aside from Arthur’s antics, the other notable development was the apparent solidifying of the double-turn between Peter and Sylar. Sy – how long ’til he asks to be called Gabriel? — not only refused an offer to join Pinehearst, but urged Peter to help him save the comatose Mrs. Petrelli. However, when Sy refers to Angela as “our mother,” the increasingly unhinged and “hungry” Pete beats him down for the second time in three seasons (remember Kirby Plaza?) taunting, “I’m the most special!” And, as we’re seemingly always forced to do with Peter, we must step back.
The driving force behind Peter and Sylar’s switching places seems to be what everybody’s calling the Hunger: the uncontrollable urge to rip people’s powers off. During their encounter last week, Peter has allegedly “absorbed” the Hunger from his new brother. But, why now? The two have had multiple encounters (remember Kirby Plaza?) across several timelines; and Sylar’s bloodlust has only recently been cited as being fueled by addiction. Furthermore, everybody’s blind acceptance of Sylar into the Petrelli family tree is getting to be a distraction. Are the writers setting up another plot twist? Are they just hand-waving their way toward a heroic run for Sylar? Can we get Mr. Petrelli to absorb Gabriel’s eyebrows?
Ok, back to the Petrellis: unaware as to his brothers’ and mother’s condition, Nathan and Tracy get into their own share of trouble with another Pinehearst recruit, Mohinder. Mo slips the new couple a Spider-roofie and binds them for reasons inadequately explained but probably involving their metahuman blood. For a second, Tracy appears to get through to Mohinder’s humanity (“It all got out of control,” he admits. “I am a monster.”) but she chooses to double-cross him instead, and we leave the trio in the midst of a showdown.
Yet another recruit, Hiro, is revealed to have pulled some chronological slight-of-hand to save Ando – hey, whoever called “ketchup packets” last week got it right! — in order to earn his first assignment for the company: he and Ando are dispatched to “Africa” to take the still-unnamed Usutu off the board. In the most sensible use of abilities so far this season, Usutu uses his precognitive powers to get the jump on Hiro twice within a minute. Later on, Hiro and Ando do manage to approach Usutu, who assuages them with vaguely inspirational words about “choosing their own path.”
Finally, we come to the series’ other favorite family: the Bennets. This time, Claire finally gets to play the heroine, saving both Meredith and her adopted mother from the creepy-as-hell Eric Doyle, and earning more respect from papa Noah – who then turns around and asks Meredith to be his new partner. Oooh, there’s one person who’s not gonna like that …
The Racialicious Scorecard:
Suresh: We got to see some balance in Mohinder this week, as he’s clearly rattled by Daphne’s discovery of his wall of victims (“You’re just as bad as the rest of them,” she sniffs), enough to briefly trust Tracy. But her subsequent betrayal put him back on the dark path, as we wait for his showdown with Tracy and Nathan to pick up next week.
The Haitian: Speaking of betrayals, how is he going to react when he finds out Noah is getting chummy with Meredith? Will this lead to him ditching Primatech and joining Team Pinehearst?
Hiro & Ando: Hiro’s timely time-traveling saved not only Ando, but the team’s relationship – for now. Their subsequent journey to “Africa” (it’s a big place, you know) leads to an out-of-character remark about white people (“They all look alike to me”) by Ando and some, shall we say, Mystical advice from …
Usutu: He still doesn’t have a name, but at least he’s making his way up the character food chain, going from mentoring Parkman to outsmarting Hiro and Ando to giving them nuggets like, “When you started thinking of yourself, that’s when you found me … Now you are ready?” Ready to what, ask what country they’re actually in?
Maya: I’m pretty sure when a guy webs your mouth shut and sticks you to a wall, that you can probably consider yourself single again. It looks like she’s alive, but otherwise she was in no position to do anything this week.
Knox: Firmly entrenched on Mr. Petrelli’s team, and had no problem leading Adam to his doom. One can imagine how pissed he’ll be when he discovers Hiro lied his way into his good graces.
Next Week: Peter gets grounded! Will he lose his angst privileges, too?
Previously:
Racialicious Heroes archive
Character bios and photos courtesy of HeroesWiki.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
jen* wrote:
I loved this episode because I felt like we’re finally getting into the story – even if it took 6 weeks to get here. But more than ever, I feel like this show could be renamed, ‘Petrelli & Sons’.
We all knew Hiro was gonna save Ando somehow – and it looks like he’s gotten much greater control of his time travel. So, yay, on that.
And finally we know how future Peter got that scar on his face. Partly.
My fave character right now: Knox.
Posted 21 Oct 2008 at 11:22 am ¶
Renee wrote:
@jen..okay now I have to rewatch last nights episode, I didn’t see the part that explained where the scar happened.
I really should have seen peter losing his powers coming. Clearly this is only temporary though.
I like how tough and sure of herself that Claire is becoming. It is nice to see a strong female character evolve the way that she has.
Posted 21 Oct 2008 at 1:55 pm ¶
Apurva wrote:
You know what I always thought was weird? It is how Hiro and Ando speak to each other in Japanese but Suresh speaks in English to his father/mother/sister.
Posted 21 Oct 2008 at 2:31 pm ¶
Shane wrote:
He get’s his scar because his father took his powers, thus leaving him without the ability to regenerate. I imagine at some point before he get’s his powers back he’ll get a great big cut across his face.
Posted 21 Oct 2008 at 3:05 pm ¶
Jack D. wrote:
I miss the sense of mystery from Season-1 (Season-2 never happened, as far as I’m concerned). I *enjoyed* not knowing exactly where powers came from or who was related to whom. It feels like they’re giving up all the answers too quickly and creating a cliche’d comic book series instead of leading us on a unique adventure.
Posted 21 Oct 2008 at 4:01 pm ¶
Pheagan wrote:
@ Apurva– that’s probably because Masi Oka actually translates all the dialogue into Japanese for the show. I’m assuming Mohinder doesn’t have the same linguistic abilities. How sad is it that this show depends on its actors for this instead of hiring some dang translators?
Posted 21 Oct 2008 at 4:24 pm ¶
OTM wrote:
Can we get Mr. Petrelli to absorb Gabriel’s eyebrows?
Okay, I sincerely LOLed at that.
Posted 21 Oct 2008 at 11:01 pm ¶
Sarah wrote:
@ Jen: I hadn’t thought about Peter’s scar! That makes a lot more sense now. I spent the first few “future Peter” episodes complaining about the plothole scar; guess they fixed that one!
I’m so confused about this “hunger” thing. So Sylar’s power comes with this evil urge to kill people right? Why did he kill that girl in Mexico with the illusion power then? His powers were suppressed so shouldn’t his “hunger” have been absent? My understanding is he opens someone’s head and looks at their brain to understand and then copy their power. With his power to understand gone, why the heck did he bother busting open that girl’s head? And then get upset when he couldn’t use her power? If Sylar loses his power is he just a really, really stupid sociopath?
Posted 22 Oct 2008 at 1:23 am ¶
hexy wrote:
Um… where have my comments gone?
This has been happening a bit lately!
Posted 22 Oct 2008 at 7:10 am ¶
Daomadan wrote:
“How sad is it that this show depends on its actors for this instead of hiring some dang translators?”
I don’t think it’s sad. From what I understand they did have a translator but the dialogue wasn’t authentic to the character so Oka took it upon himself to make it real for Hiro. I think it’s great they’re allowing an actor to do work on their character in such a way. (I just hope he’s being paid for not only acting but also the translation work).
Posted 22 Oct 2008 at 7:42 am ¶
hexy wrote:
If Sylar loses his power is he just a really, really stupid sociopath?
Well, he IS a Petrelli.
Posted 22 Oct 2008 at 7:43 am ¶
Renee wrote:
Well after seeing Papa Petrelli in action I believe Sylar as offspring. If you look at pops you can see that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. There is no way that man is sane.
Posted 22 Oct 2008 at 10:46 am ¶
jen* wrote:
I’m to the point where Sy/Gabriel is the only Petrelli I like. [at all]
I did like the Dorian Gray-ification of Adam Munroe, but that doesn’t mean that Papa Petrelli’s gonna live forever, does it? Cuz, he’s a plot mover, but still…eh. I just don’t like him. [Not in the "he's a bad guy and I don't like him" way, but the "he's a convenient plot device that just appeared when they needed him and he seems annoying" way.]
Posted 22 Oct 2008 at 11:20 am ¶
Erica wrote:
To be fair, The Haitian betrayed Noah Bennett first — back in Season One, when he didn’t erase Claire’s memory. Hopefully he just says “psssh, whatever” and moves on with his life. (If he’s ever going to show up again, that is. He really has become just the Power Blocking Piece of Furniture that shows up whenever needed. Deus ex
machinaHaitian.)@jen — “Petrelli and Sons” sounds like a plumber business! I love it.
Posted 22 Oct 2008 at 6:29 pm ¶
Shane wrote:
Sarah – He did get upset when tried to use the power after he killed her. He said “back to Maui” and tried but couldn’t.
Posted 24 Oct 2008 at 12:25 pm ¶
Moody wrote:
This was the best episode I’ve seen in a while. I liked how Hiro was serious when he said “That’s racist.”
Posted 24 Oct 2008 at 5:37 pm ¶
Jeremy Pierce wrote:
The hunger isn’t the urge to absorb powers. Peter can absorb powers without killing. The hunger is the urge to know, something that might take dismantling someone to see their brain. He doesn’t have the getting-powers motivation that Sylar has, but he does have the probing-for-secrets motive (although if he’d been rational he could just have used Matt’s power for that; apparently the hunger blocks rationality to some extent).
I don’t think Peter always knew about Sylar’s power, and apparently he needed to try to figure something out in the way that only Sylar tries in order to get it right, which was why he needed his help even to begin. So I don’t find that so implausible, even if I might have wondered myself initially why he didn’t already have it.
Posted 27 Oct 2008 at 5:37 pm ¶