"Heroes:" Sticking To Their Guns

Published: October 30, 2007 at 07:04 PM GMT
Last Updated: October 30, 2007 at 07:04 PM GMT

By Lisa LaValle

It was a little hard for me to figure out a running theme for this week's episode of Heroes, but then I realized something - many of our heroes actually grew a pair this week. Claire earned her rightful spot on the cheerleading squad, Mohinder refused to conduct a shady experiment for the Company, Mr. Bennet went all the way to the Ukraine to torture a guy and then kill him even though he got the information he needed, Peter did something other than kiss that Irish chick and complain about not knowing who he is, and Maya started to learn how to control her power. No more wishy-washy heroes; our characters are finally sticking up for themselves!

I'm sure Hayden Panettiere was psyched by the Bring It On-esque storyline Claire was in this week (FYI, Hayden starred as the elitist head cheerleader in the too-cheesy-for-theaters Bring It On: All Or Nothing. And yes, I have watched it start-to-finish. Don't judge). Claire's a good cheerleader, but the captain is a beeyotch (going so far as to call Claire "not extraordinary" - if she only knew) and cuts her during tryouts. Luckily West's other superpower is publicly humiliating popular girls, and he hatches a pretty intense plan to get back at Debbie. Claire wanders over to cheerleading initiation that night, where Debbie is the only one drinking, and a ski-masked West comes out of nowhere, grabs Claire, and then flies up and drops her, seemingly to her death. Debbie the Drunk calls the cops, but Claire and West have disappeared, so she gets suspended for drinking on school property. And - how convenient! - she gets kicked off the cheerleading squad, so the one girl who liked Claire asks her to join and Claire gladly accepts. All is right in high school once again.

Mohinder has brought Monica to the Company for the standard poking and prodding. If there's one word that's overused on this show, it's "extraordinary" and if there's one character that overuses it, it's Mohinder. Get a thesaurus, dude. When Bob/Midas tells Mohinder to inject Monica with a variation on the virus, which will allegedly take away her power without harming her, Mohinder refuses and says he's taking his superlocator foster daughter and getting the heck out! You tell 'em, Mo! 

I have to be completely honest: When Ando and the microscope guy appeared on screen, I audibly groaned. I know we all like Ando, but this is a ridiculous way to involve him in the show. Why can't the audience just live the story with Hiro as he's experiencing it? The scrolls are a clunky, unnecessary storytelling device. Here's what happened in Japan this week: Kensei, Hiro, and Yaeko find Yaeko's dad in White Beard's camp. Turns out ol' White Beard has an arsenal of guns that Mr. Yaeko taught him how to build. Kensei needs to save Mr. Yaeko and then destroy the guns so the age of the samurai doesn't come to an end. Hiro teleports Yaeko to save her from getting shot, she realizes he was the one that did the trick with the cherry blossoms, they kiss, Kensei sees them. Rather poetically, Hiro writes in the scrolls that this was "the kiss that fractured time." Kensei knocks Hiro out and appears to be cooperating with White Beard in some capacity, but I admit I was a little confused by that twist. Now that Hiro has actually changed the past, this storyline could be getting interesting.

The Wonder Twins and the Angel Gabriel are still working their way to the US. Alejandro doesn't trust Sylar and all his "your ability doesn't have to be a burden" talk. They reach the border and drive right through an opening in a fence and are pounced upon by the Citizens Border Patrol, a.k.a. Angry Old Texan Men with Rifles. Sylar helps Maya use her power against the Angry Texans and they make it across the border. Alejandro is rightly peeved that Sylar wouldn't let him stop Maya, and to make up for it, Sylar says he will kill them as soon as he gets his powers back. Too bad Alejandro doesn't speak English.

If there were an Emmy for Most Languages in Subtitles in a Dramatic Series, Heroes would win hands down. Adding to the Spanish and Japanese, we now have Ukrainian, in which Mr. Bennet is conveniently fluent. He and the Haitian do a sneak attack on a man named Ivan, tying him up and taking away memories (the Haitian is now able to target specific ones) in a form of torture even Jack Bauer never tried. We learn that Ivan works for the Company, he trained Mr. Bennet and his invisible partner Claude (I miss Claude!), and he knows where the Isaac Mendez paintings are. Ivan asks Mr. B to come back to the Company because they can keep him and Claire safe, but Mr. B will have none of it, and once he finds out that the paintings are in a warehouse "by the train yard where we tagged the liquid man" (there's a liquid man? Cool!), he shows no mercy and shoots Ivan right in the head. Mr. B is back to his cold-blooded ways.

The Last Five Minutes: Niki will be Mohinder's new partner at the Company, and it looks like she's not going to put up with any whining.

Mr. B and the Haitian find the paintings, and I caught the following images: a hand holding a syringe, Mohinder holding a smoking gun, Peter looking scared, Hiro and Kensei in a swordfight, and a blond girl banging on a wall (could be Niki, Claire, or Elle). Mr. B wonders "What does it all mean?" right along with the rest of us. Hopefully next week we'll be able to get a closer look and an idea of the order of the paintings.

Caitlin and Peter are in Montreal and enter the building that matches the one in the painting (of course it has the symbol on the outside). There is a note inside for Peter that reads: "We were right about the Company. The world is in danger. It's up to us. Adam." That's funny, Mohinder saw Bob holding a folder labeled "Adam Monroe" back at the Company. I wonder when we'll meet him.

Peter hugs Caitlin and begs, "Please tell me who I am and what the future holds..." and teleports himself to the answer: a backdrop of Times Square, empty and demolished. Caitlin picks up a piece of paper; it's an evacuation order dated June 14, 2008. Evacuate because of what? Or who?

The previews for next week definitely got me excited: 93% of the world's population is dead. Evil has decided our destiny and good will have to overcome it. I smell heroes working together toward a common goal, so I'm thinking you'll have one happy blogger next week.

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