I Will Make You Hurt: The Racialicious Review For Heroes 4.9
By Special Correspondent Arturo R. Garcia, cross-posted at The Instant Callback
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
Like a bad ’80s thriller or the opening of any “CSI: Miami” episode, “Heroes” wasn’t about business this week. Instead – pause for Caruso Pose – it was personal.
At the center of the grudge matches was the show’s new Dastardly Duo, Sylar and Danko – who, it turns out, does have some game with the ladies. Seems America’s Top Lawn Gnome, besides being married to his job, had himself a girlfriend on the side, a former call girl named Alena (Blonde #2,560,742, if you’re keeping score).
At least, he did until Matt Sr., seeking revenge for the death of Daphne, outed the “Hunter,” a confrontation that leaves both men emotionally broken. Lucky for Matt, not only is he rescued from the wrong end of the gun by Hiro (with an assist from Mohinder), but his mood brightens considerably when Hiro introduces him to a new reason to keep going – his own flesh and blood. The shot of the two Matts in the park, with Hiro and Ando, provided a smile-worthy moment.
While Matt rediscovered his sense of family, Noah saw his start to unravel in earnest, thanks to Sylar, who set out not to kill HRG, but “to destroy him,” personally and professionally. The cat-and-mouse game between the nouveau shape-shifter and the professional paranoid seemed to bring out more sincere evil in Gabriel than even the showdown with his dad a few weeks back.
Credit here should go to the cast members (Jack Coleman, Ashley Crow and Zeljko Ivanek) who aped the Big Bad’s Sylarisms when the occasion called for it, as Sylar’s powers pushed Noah into both a marriage-ending confrontation with Sandra (further props here to Coleman and Crow during a wince-inducing scene) and a career-killing showdown with Danko and some of his shock troops – HRG turns out to be right, but at the cost of the political capital he’d been building for the past few months.
In the end, the former spook is forced to turn to his own family for support, as he joins Angela and the rest of the Benetrellis in bumfu-k Egypt Coyote Sands, Ariz., where, it’s hinted, some heavy ish went down back in the day involving herself and, presumably, the original group of SuperFriends. And as the family digs for answers out in the desert, Mohinder is doing some digging of his own back in New York – it appears his own father was entangled in this web, as well.
Next Week: Everybody into the TARDIS, ’cause we’re going back to 1961!
The Racialicious Scorecard:
Mohinder: Speaking of being involved in stuff that actually matters on the show, the younger Suresh got a couple of nice moments: he not only seemed to finally mend his friendship with Big Matt, but his off-screen phone tip enabled Hiro’s last-second rescue. And his burgeoning quest to find out the extent of Chandra’s involvement with the metahumans of the past promises to make him – I hope – a player in whatever events close out this season.
Hiro & Ando: On the bright side, it was nice (if a bit implausible) to see Team Yatta make its’ way from literally the middle of nowhere to the right place at the right time. At least they mattered again in the proceedings. But their continued politeness just annoyed me this week. It’s one thing for them to be cordial to the “Asian Redneck” they encountered on the road, but after all this time, you’d think they felt comfortable enough to refer to their friends as “Mohinder” or just “Matt.” BTW, about said Redneck? I place him in the same category as the “La Cucaracha” horn and the name-dropping of Harriet Tubman – the less said, the better.
Micah: I want to talk about Micah here because his lack of involvement since being outed as Rebel a couple of weeks back only confirms a lot of folks’ worst fears. One of the season’s most-touted mysteries has seemingly been tossed aside, when it wouldn’t take more than a line or two since then (like Mohinder saying,: “Rebel arranged a flight for me.”) to establish that he is still acting as the Heroes’ agent. After all the emphasis on Micah’s spiriting metahumans to safety via members of the core cast – like, say, Baby Parkman – to not even mention him lately smacks of creative laziness.
Previously: Racialicious Heroes Archive
Images courtesy of HeroesWiki
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
The Cruel Secretary wrote:
Welcome back, Season 1 Suresh! ‘Tis good to see Mohinder acting like he can cause an orgy just by standing at a podium and giving a lecture instead of causing floods of tears ’cause he’s getting played sooooo often.
I place him in the same category as the “La Cucaracha” horn and the name-dropping of Harriet Tubman – the less said, the better. *DEAD*
Posted 09 Apr 2009 at 12:44 pm ¶
PPR_Scribe wrote:
BTW, about said Redneck? I place him in the same category as the “La Cucaracha” horn and the name-dropping of Harriet Tubman – the less said, the better.
LOL! Yes, I’ll have to look at the episode a couple more times if I have any hope of deconstructing that trucker character and his interaction with the two from “the Mothership.” (Did he really refer to Japan that way or was it my imagination?)
Posted 09 Apr 2009 at 2:06 pm ¶
johnjihoonchang wrote:
This happened to be the first episode of Heroes that I’d watched in a long time and, like every episode I’ve seen so far, a baffling plot hole:
Despite the fact that Mohinder tells Hiro/Ando that Matt Sr.’s going to get vengeance on Danko… HOW IN THE WORLD DOES HIRO KNOW WHERE DANKO LIVES and that Matt’s going to be there instead of elsewhere? I mean, Matt had to tail Danko to find out where Eastern European girlfriend lived anyway. My guess what that he was tailing him to his apartment. But Hiro? How in the world would he know that Matt is at Danko’s apartment and where Danko’s apartment is?
I did enjoy Ando having to freeze his face all goofy though.
And so, I go back to not watching Heroes.
Posted 09 Apr 2009 at 2:35 pm ¶
Renee wrote:
Am I the only one that found the comment from the truck driver to Hiro and Ando “don’t go all foreign on me” to be problematic. I don’t like the fact that he was pushed into the episode for comic relief. It seems that is all people of color have a tendency to represent on this show.
Posted 09 Apr 2009 at 4:21 pm ¶
Arturo wrote:
Hi Renee,
Short version: No, you’re not the only one. We’ll be talking about it on this week’s Roundtable thread
Posted 09 Apr 2009 at 6:04 pm ¶
Madame Zenobia wrote:
Thanks for the review. This episode was just so-so for me. I’m ready for the Roundtable
Also, I too wondered where in the hell Micah was; I was for sure they’d reprise him this week. It’s been two weeks now…c’mon! Mohinder’s back on ‘the quest’. This is good, I think; and to make it that Chandra had something to do with the original clan of metahumans? I think that works.
ALSO I’ma just say it to say it CHARLES DEVEAUX….how awesome would it be if they brought Roundtree back? and put him with Peter somehow? How come Peter doesn’t “astral dream” anymore? Did he lose that power after Charles died? Charles’s apartment/building was SO CENTER to Seasons 1 and 2…everybody lived in that m.f. Obviously he was ‘more’ than a landlord, he was one of the twelve. He should have more of a voice, especially if they’re about to go back to the ‘past’. Or maybe I’m just jonesing for some Richard Roundtree???
Posted 09 Apr 2009 at 6:24 pm ¶
withoutscene wrote:
Can’t wait for the round table cuz I thought this one was a doozy.
Posted 09 Apr 2009 at 9:15 pm ¶
Lisa J wrote:
@PPR Scribe, yeah I’m pretty sure he called Japan the mothership. So strange and RANDOM but there may very well be a Japanese American truckdriver with a Texas twang who speaks no Japanese and calls Japan the mothership.
I thought the whole Danko GF thing was weird too. Garden gnome indeed! And what a crazy lie he made up with the fanstasy family. Strange and evil!
And where did Nathan get the flight jacket from he was wearing in the last scene? Last we saw him he was in a suit. Did Claire use her “drinking your weave pretty” money just to buy him a dumb jacket.
The few thing I liked in this episode were the Mr. Muggles shout out (cute little yappy dog), Mohinder remembering his reason for this whole quest, namely sister Chandra, and Ando’s silly face. Too funny. Speaking of Ando, why didn’t Matt have any questions about the appearance of his baby? Like how is it that I haven’t seen my ex-wife in so long and she has a 6-8 month old who is mine? Where did you get him, how are you sure he is mine, etc etc? You know the typical questions any man would ask if suddenly confronted with his child?
Sigh, between the crappy episodes, and the end of my long time favorite ER (which I hung in with even when it got stupid) and the strange end of Life on Mars, I have very, very little reason to click my tv towards network tv at all. Thank Goodness for HBO and Showtime.
Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 12:44 pm ¶
Erica wrote:
Danko & his “girlfriend” creeped me out. They couldn’t even bother to make some silly backstory where he helped her escape a horrible life in Somewhere in Eastern Europe; instead, he’s just a former client turned full-time boyfriend. If that was supposed to be an attempt to make us sympathize with Danko, it was certainly an epic fail.
smacks of creative laziness — I am shocked, SHOCKED, to hear an accusation of creative laziness against this fine team of writers… yeah, ok, I can’t keep that up. I agree that Micah’s exclusion is ridiculous. Well, at least they aren’t torturing him in Danko’s Crazy Prison.
Posted 11 Apr 2009 at 9:11 pm ¶
Lilith wrote:
In response to LisaJ:
“…why didn’t Matt have any questions about the appearance of his baby? Like how is it that I haven’t seen my ex-wife in so long and she has a 6-8 month old who is mine? Where did you get him, how are you sure he is mine, etc etc? You know the typical questions any man would ask if suddenly confronted with his child?…”
His wife was pregnant when they split up – he originally thought the baby was that of the man she was having an affair with, but apparently not. (I think they touched on the suspicion that it WAS his baby in an earlier season with his father, but can’t remember exactly). I think the fact that the baby has a power sort of proves (to him) that it was in fact his baby. Also, I think maybe sometimes you just *know*.
Besides, at this point, even if it wasn’t really his baby — he’s probably so happy to have something to live for again.
As for Micah’s exclusion — I think perhaps “Rebel” isn’t doing much to help right now because a) Claire is on the run and she happened to be his #1 helper and b) Tracy is no longer in need of his help. His original plan was to save Tracy and disappear with her. I also think that maybe he’s laying low because he came so close to getting caught. Hopefully he’ll be back again soon, but I’m not surprised that it wasn’t right away.
Micah’s role as Rebel was more behind-the-scenes than active on-screen help anyway. He’s not going to bust into headquarters… he’s going to hack into the computer, therefore limiting his onscreen time even if he is actively helping.
PS: I LOVE these write-ups and roundtables. Although I still love the show and can’t help but watch it every week.
Posted 13 Apr 2009 at 2:53 pm ¶
Lisa J wrote:
@ Lilith, I know that Matt’s ex-wife was pregnant when they split, but that was like 4 years ago. Even if the time line is abbreviated, it seems like way more time has passed in the life of the show than the 12 – 14 months that would have had to elapse for say the remainder of her pregnancy (say she was 6 weeks when we last saw her) and 7 1/2 months of pregnancy and getting the baby to 6-8 months, which is what he apppears to be. That is why I asked the question. The timeline doesn’t make sense and I think I mentioned that in what I said.
Posted 14 Apr 2009 at 4:47 pm ¶
Lilith wrote:
@LisaJ: I think you’re assuming that more time has passed than it actually has? “Real time” has passed, but I think it’s actually less time on the show…
The newest episodes aren’t on Timeline yet, but based on their “math” it’s only been about a year and a half since Matt’s wife was first pregnant.
Posted 15 Apr 2009 at 12:40 pm ¶
Lilith wrote:
I do acknowledge that the fact that all this has gone down in like, 2 years, is pretty unbelievable… lol
Posted 15 Apr 2009 at 12:41 pm ¶