Meet Rebecca: The Racialicious Review for Heroes 4.5

By Special Correspondent Arturo R. García

SPOILER ALERT

There goes the neighborhood: for the first time in what feels like ages, three POC characters were directly involved in the key goings-on in Heroes – and all of them lived!

At the center of the big twist, including the salvaging of what Roundtable member x called the Claire Gone Mild plot, was Rebecca, who, it turns out, has been making Gretchen look more murderous than creepy, in an effort to push Claire-Bear into the open arms of The Mysterious Samuel and the Carnival.

Now, you might ask: isn’t it an amazing (expletive) coincidence that Sam and Rebecca not only knew Claire was going to attend Barbie Arlington U., but had the foresight to establish Rebecca in a position of authority at the Jumpa Da Sharka sorority? In a word, yes. But Tessa Thompson’s evil smirk won me over, and it added a nice layer of surprise to the Claire/Gretchen reveal. Nice to have an honest-to-goodness villainess on the show again, what with Mama Petrelli and Tracy now seemingly back on the side of good.

Speaking of the side of good, that’s where we met Dr. Gibson, who set out to help the newly amnesiac Sylar figure out who he was before the cops, led by Captain Lubbock – and hey, it’s always good to see Ernie Hudson – figure out his identity.

The finish, of course, was ridiculous: Samuel knew exactly where to take the Carnival to swoop in and save Sylar from police pursuit, and looked like a complete goon waving his arms for Sy to join him. The Carnival vanished without a trace (an extension of Rebecca’s power, perhaps?) and the cops just packed it in without even checking for residue or giving Lubbock his David Caruso moment. Blah.

As an aside, the episode featured a short film/advert on “Responsibility” featuring Masi Oka, and it was pleasant enough seeing him do the Hiro thing … but the ending, where the Token “Hot Girl” (Olivia Munn) is so impressed that she gives him his phone number? Trust me, that ish was the most sci-fi moment in the whole hour.