"Heroes": The Learning Curve

Published: October 16, 2007 at 08:05 PM GMT
Last Updated: October 16, 2007 at 08:05 PM GMT

By Lisa LaValle

After a touchy-feely episode last week, things picked up a bit this week on Heroes. Though I was a little disappointed by the absence of Shirtless Milo Ventmiglia (my own personal hero), the new characters, the introduction of a brand new power, and one huge plot development almost made up for it.

Poor Claire. She likes this super-cute boy but her daddy has forbidden her from seeing him! Unfortunately, the superhero twist on this age-old storyline didn't breathe any new life into it. Claire lies and sneaks off with West, they fly to the Hollywood sign, they talk about trust, they kiss, she comes back late and lies to her dad again. I understand that Claire needs someone she can identify with, but the cheese is laid on a bit too thick with these two. One correction from last week: I mistakenly said West's name was Wes because that's how it was listed on IMDB last week. They've fixed it now, but just for safety's sake, I consulted Greg Beeman's blog, since he's an executive producer and all. West it is and West it shall remain.

Last week, Niki left Micah with some unknown relatives, but now we know much more about them. They are Micah's grandmother and cousins, and Cousin Monica has a power that involves more than flipping burgers. It seems that she learns very quickly, but it's more specific than that – she has to see it to learn it. Case in point: she was able to carve a rose from a tomato after watching a cooking show and defeated a robber with a kick-ass wrestling move she saw on her little brother's pay-per-view (brought to the brother for free courtesy of Micah's magic hands). But her boss said her results on the management test weren't in the top tier, so clearly studying by reading doesn't help her. Talk about a visual learner.

Monica's power is very interesting and I'm curious to see how she works with other heroes. Will she be able to mimic their abilities just by watching them? I had one little problem with this storyline though: I understand the poignancy and timeliness of the inclusion of Hurricane Katrina, but I could have done without the projected images when Monica was sitting outside with her co-worker. Though we may not ever experience it ourselves, we all can grasp what her family must have gone through; it came off as heavy-handed and could have been done in a much more subtle way.

Next up: The Wonder Twins and their new friend Derek. I didn't notice it last week, but it turns out their Nissan Rogue formerly belonged to Claire – Derek was the one who stole it. Traveling product placement! Their trip comes to a halt when they come across a body in the road. It's Sylar, who peps up once he's in the car talking about Dr. Suresh with Maya. Interestingly enough, it appears our baddy is not so bad anymore: when asked what his name is, he glances at his broken watch and says, "Gabriel. Gabriel Gray." I love that we get to see that Sylar is not invincible – that samurai sword really did some damage and he's paying for it. It's great to see him struggling when he was cocky and power-hungry all last season.

Over on the East Coast, Bearded Nathan visits his young sons at school, promising them he'll come home soon. Soon enough, he's back in New York, clean-shaven and ready to rock. Angela is in the hospital from that crazy attack in the interrogation room, but instead of implicating whoever roughed her up, she confesses to murdering Kaito Nakamura and says her wounds were self-inflicted. Of course, she was confessing to Parkman, so she told him in her mind to just let it go and accept her confession. Fueled by the knowledge that the killer is still out there, Parkman waltzes up to Nathan and does something I've been waiting for since this show started: he says he knows Nathan can fly and since he (Parkman) can read people's minds, they should work together to solve this case. Finally, a hero was honest, straightforward, and wants to work with another hero right off the bat!

Nathan goes through his mother's things and finds the original picture that Kaito and Angela's marked photos came from, and it is a group of some familiar faces and some new ones. We see Mr. and Mrs. Petrelli, Linderman, Charles Deveaux, Bob (aka Midas to me), and… Parkman's father! Parkman knows that his father wasn't a great guy – he left Matt when he was 13, he stole a lot of money from a lot of people – so Parkman thinks he could be the killer. But how to find him?

Good thing Parkman has a little girl in his apartment with the power to locate anyone anywhere. Molly agrees to give it a shot but backs off as soon as she sees the picture – Parkman's dad is the man she sees in her dreams – he is the nightmare man.

After Parkman leaves, Nathan is left alone with the boxes of family photos. He picks out a few shots of Peter and puts them up on the mirror. He glances up from the Peter's mid-90s haircut to see a gross, melty version of his own reflection, like he saw in the bar in the season premiere. Why does he keep seeing this? It clearly upsets him, as he bloodies his knuckles punching the mirror. Is it what he looked like after he flew Peter away when he exploded? If so, why does he look normal now? Third degree burns take longer than four months to heal, and no beard could have hidden that damage. Maybe it's just a manifestation of his guilt, but I'm thinking there's some other explanation.

The Last Five Minutes weren't quite as exciting as mind-blowing as they've been in the past, but things definitely gained momentum. After Derek finds a newspaper with Maya and Alejandro's mugshots on the front page, Sylar takes matters into his own hands. He kills Derek and then confronts Maya and Alejandro, asking them if they really are murderers. Maya gets all worked up and starts to cry, and we know what that means. Sylar starts to get the black eye but Alejandro is able to calm Maya before she does any damage. Sylar gets that special look in his eye and tells the twins that he understands what it's like to do things that you can't control. Would Sylar really want the crying power, since it's so clearly tied to emotion? Maybe he's Emo Sylar now.

After Claire lies to him about trying out for the cheerleading squad, Mr. Bennet meets up with the Haitian in the backyard. He has a lead on the paintings and they have to travel to the Ukraine. Japan, Mexico, the Ukraine; our heroes are certainly earning their passport stamps this season.

Finally, back with My Two Dads, Molly agrees to try once more to find Parkman's dad. She pinpoints him in apartment 9 on the third floor of a building in Philadelphia, but then he "sees" her and Molly goes into shock. The last thing we hear is her yelling to Parkman in her thoughts.

Next week: Kristen Bell finally starts her guest stint, looking as sassy and smart-assed as ever. I can't wait!

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