It’s Latin For “Meh”: The Racialicious Review of Heroes 3.7
by Guest Contributor Arturo R. García, also posted at The Instant Callback
Warning: Spoilers Ahead!
“Heroes is, at its heart, a family drama that deals with two main families in particular, the Bennet family and the Petrelli family.”
– Series creator Tim Kring, as quoted in Entertainment Weekly.
“Eris Quod Sum,” the series’ first episode since that unfortunate statement by Kring was published, inched things along for members of both families, but really, the episode just moved sideways. Is the show banking on another big finale to save its season? How are we to feel about the series’ other Heroes? More on that later.
This week’s best development was the prospect of a double-cross contest between the increasingly “good” Sylar/Gabriel and Mr. Petrelli. While breaking the de-powered Peter out of the Pinehearst facility at the urging of their mother, Gabe is detained by Arthur for a father-long-lost-son heart-to-heart, during which, we’re told, he revealed Mrs. Petrelli’s Deep Dark Secret.
When Peter later urges his new bro to “just kick his ass,” however, Sylar demurs, standing right by Papa P. and hurling Pete out of a seventh-story window. How does the mundane Peter stay alive? Looks like Sylar protected him, freeing his brother while he went undercover with Team Pinehearst. Hopefully this leads to a Lionel/Lex Luthor-like duel of wills between the newest Petrelli and the oldest. Hell, the show’s cribbed enough from the X-Men; why not throw some Smallville in? And can we get a side order of Buffy with that? What’s Principal Wood up to these days?
After landing, Peter is taken to safety by Claire and the returning Elle, fresh off a highly-implausible cross-country trip (last-minute plane tickets? Rental cars for people under 25? Could Elle at least have flashed her Primatech ID to explain this?!). While Elle’s excited by the prospect of getting her powers removed, Claire wisely turns to biological dad Nathan, yet unwisely does not turn to Mr. Bennet, who presumably would have more of an idea about how to deal with a superpowered cadre. Nathan, meanwhile, teases an actual working brain cell (he lies, promising Peter he’ll call the Justice Department on Pinehearst) before stomping off with Tracy in tow to “bust a few doors down.” Yeah, ’cause guys who can fly and do nothing else are soooo scary.
Elsewhere in Pinehearst’s tentacles, Daphne further ingratiates herself with hubby-maybe-to-be Parkman, who actually does reveal a working brain cell, by suggesting they go to Primatech for help; Suresh joins Mr. Petrelli’s cause in exchange for a cure for Maya, losing her in the process. But on the bright side, he got to give Sylar a righteous beatdown; and alleged covert op Hiro lands himself into a trance after tasting some of The Artist Who We Should Have Been Introduced To As Usutu‘s family recipe for Spirit-Walk Sauce, and much like the episode, flops to the floor.
You’ll note the limited involvement of anybody who’s not a part of Kring’s aforementioned Big Broods. In earlier years, you could explain these things as being part of the season’s natural rotation of characters in and out of primary storylines. And in earlier years, standout moments did involve the Petrellis and the Bennets (Company Man and the first-season finale come to mind), but they felt like natural outgrowths from the bigger story. Kring’s statement suddenly makes one question how seriously the creators originally took breakout characters like Hiro and Mohinder, and Parkman, and now Daphne and Elle.
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