Rock Bottom: The Racialicious Review of ‘Heroes’ 4.3
By Special Correspondent Arturo R. García
“Ink”? The way this week’s episode slogged along, it was more like molasses.
The story, such as it was, mostly revolved around the Delusional Duo: Claire and Peter, who each found themselves being courted and, as usual, fell for it. In Claire’s case, not only did she tell the increasingly creepy Gretchen about her powers – not that she had much of a choice after her swandive out the window last week – but invited her to become her roommate, arguably just days after her former roommate was found dead outside her window.
A note of further explanation: the character of Gretchen has been crafted so ham-handedly it’s hard to get anything other than a Single White Female rip-off out of her interactions with Claire. If Gretchen is meant to ultimately be a villain, the surprise was lost long ago. If she turns out to be a quirky sidekick or a heroine, it’s liable to ring hollow after nuggets of dialogue like “some things are inevitable.”
As for Peter, at least his manipulation was carried out more skillfully, as The Mysterious Samuel, posing as an injured beneficiary of Pete’s Speedy Samaritan policy, ingratiated himself to Peter for reasons yet unknown. Apparently Sam wants Peter to replace his dead brother at the helm of the Mysterious Carnival. In a curious touch, Samuel follows up on Peter’s advice and visits his posh childhood home, where he’s turned away because the current tenants are having a party. You’d think that a guy as cunning as Sam would figure out that even non-carnival folk aren’t going to just let a guy in the door. But because he’s EEEVIL and Mysterious, he instead throws a sinkhole-sized hissyfit, while branding Peter with the Mysterious Compass Tattoo. At least it was on his wrist and not his lower back.
Along the way, we meet another new character – and thank goodness, because we don’t have enough people to keep track of on this show – in Emma, whose hearing impairment begins to evolve into an advanced form of synesthesia, as sound waves begin to look like waves of light to her, leading to a sweet Sprint advertisement moment where she can play the cello by following the colors in the chords.
Once again, it was up to Sylar to make the proceedings watchable, as his continued harassment of Matt Sr. during a stake-out and questioning of a suspect provided not just the episode’s only source of tension, but the unintended blessing of a perfect idea for a buddy-cop spin-off:
This detective’s new partner isn’t just in his ear – he’s in his head! Tune in for Two Of A Mind, Mondays on NBC!
C’mon, with Heroes’ ratings falling even further this week, you have to admit: that couldn’t be any worse than what we’re seeing now.
The Racialicious Scorecard
Nobody: At least not in the core cast; The Haitian got name-checked by Noah – as “The Haitian,” of course. We saw POCs as props and exposition points in the forms of Peter’s partner, the guy who served Pete his process from Samuel and Matt’s partner, but nobody of substance.
While we’re here, let’s bring in the Roundtable for their thoughts …
So, gang, just how bad was this episode? Has the shark truly been jumped?
Diana: Really bad.
Andrea: Diana, I was already a-cussing when they showed highlights from the boring-ass premiere–I really didn’t need to review my boredom. But I knew this show was aiming for the ramp when, yes, neither Samuel or his tatted synchophant, errrmm, girlfriend couldn’t tie a necktie. The show just went ::Bronx cheer:: from there.
Page 1 of 3 | Next page