Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down: The Racialicious Review of Heroes 4.4

By Special Correspondent Arturo R. García, also posted at The Instant Callback

This week on SEXY TORTURE THEATRE: Noah and Mohinder, come on down!

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

After crunk-napping Mr. Bennet last week, Mo, Matt & Peter took him down memory lane to gain more intel on his role in Nathan’s Hero-hunting initiative. So why did Noah start playing HRG.I. Joe? The economy.

See, after Primatech was gutted awhile back, Noah ended up another recession casualty, with a (presumably) decent severance package and gold watch from Mrs. Petrelli. Sure enough, though, his old life comes calling when Nate recruits him – not to head up the operation, but to serve under the EEEEVIL Danko. Though the flashback sequences throughout the show made sense, it’s a pity that we didn’t see Noah get recruited by another prominent paper company in the NBCverse. Where’s corporate synergy when you need it?

Scoff if you will, but even a hint of humor, or something a little more relatable about Noah’s joblessness, would have livened up the multitude of flashbacks that framed the show. He even spells it out for us (and Angela) at the end of the show: “You know me,” he assures everyone. “You know I’m comfortable with morally gray.” I always enjoy Jack Coleman’s performances, but we get it, already. Hopefully Bennet’s newest gambit – cozying up to the Hunter – will yield a good payoff.

Hopefully better than the reveal surrounding Suresh: Apparently at least part of the reason he’s been so wishy-washy since escaping from Con Air two weeks ago is, he knew it coming; We saw Bennet recruit him just before the abductions started, and Mohinder didn’t tell anybody. You can imagine how his former co-foster daddy took that bit of info. In Mo’s defense, however, he allowed himself to be captured, ensuring not only an escape for Matt and Peter, but a tasteful set of iron cufflinks for himself, courtesy of Chez Nathan.

And, hey, Matt’s got it even worse — he’s the victim of another recycled plot, after painting a vision of himself as the latest Exploding Man. The big twist this year? Apparently Parkman is going to go off in Washington D.C. Rather than being shocking, the sight of Matt laced with frakking pipe bombs came off as yet another ham-handed attempt at social commentary – and made “Cold Wars” a call-back to the bad old days of Volumes II and II. That’s the kind of reminder the series can’t afford to give viewers anymore.

Next Week: Daphne’s back! Wasn’t her shooting really memorable now?
Previously: Racialicious Heroes Archive

The Racialicious Scorecard
With Mohinder being the only POC featured this week, I wanted to take this opportunity to issue a call on behalf of the Roundtable. We’d like to get one more member to join our ranks. If you haven’t given up on this show, or just want another forum on which to crack on Claire’s wig, let us know in the comments!