Heroes, Ep 15: Run

Is it just me, or have the last two weeks of Heroes been less-than-stellar? I think we could point to one reason: Hiro and Ando. They've gone from a charming, sometimes bickering twosome on a mission to a couple of slapstick characters, a modern-day Abbott and Costello, running about and getting into all sorts of mishaps. Hilarity doesn't ensue. Last week's H&A adventures were a little more interesting, because they involved Hiro's dad telling him to come home, and Hiro having to evaluate why his mission is still important to him, despite having lost his powers. But this week's was just stupid. It was clear they were being played (they had the woman in the preview unveiling herself as a con artist, so they'd kinda given THAT one away), so there was really no suspense or surprise. The H&A segment ended with the guy being from the Gaming Commission. Ooh. Oh no. I guess now we have ANOTHER week of Hiro and Ando NOT getting to Linderman and NOT going forward with their adventures. Sigh.

What was that the critics were saying about Lost not being as good as Heroes? At least Lost sustained one complete season before fans started complaining.

Of course, I'm not here to completely diss this show; I love it. After Lost, it's my favourite show on TV. But after a STELLAR first eleven episodes, they haven't been able to uphold the momentum, and that's what has me worried. I hated the "save the cheerleader, save the world" mantra, but at least it was leading to something. Now it's not clear where any of this is going. And I'll take "save the cheerleader, save the world" over the bombastic NBC, "Somebody flies... somebody dies." It became an onrunning joke between my husband and I during the episode. Hey, do you think he'll fly? Or DIE?

The Sylar story, of course, was awesome. We're introduced to a new potential hero, Zane Taylor, and Mohinder thinks he'll be able to reach just one person. But when Sylar gets there first -- and actually puts on the guy's T-shirt after slaughtering him :::shudder::: -- Mohinder appeared to be walking into a trap. Ooh, maybe Mohinder dies?! Or do you think he'll fly? I couldn't help but think as I watched the scene of the sadistic Sylar talking to Mohinder oh-so-calmly that this was the guy who only a short while ago was an unassuming watchmaker. Power has destroyed him utterly, and now he's SO creepy good I love every minute of him on screen. It's like watching Henry Gale last season on Lost. I was pretty worried Mohinder was going to be next, and my husband said he didn't really care, but I did. In the struggle for good over evil, Sylar and Mohinder are polar opposites -- both are trying to bring the heroes together, but one is doing it for good, and the other to destroy them. When they joined forces (ACK! I didn't see THAT one coming!) it ramped up the Mohinder storyline to a whole new level of interesting. I can't wait to see where this terrible twosome goes next. How long will it take Mohinder to catch on? Why isn't he aware of Sylar, yet he's been able to track down all these other people?

Matt was back, reduced to security detail on a guy who sees him as nothing but a working stiff. (Moments when you really don't want to hear the thoughts of others, #481.) When the guy is the target for new hitwoman Jessica, it changed everything for Matt, and for a while there it looked like one of the heroes was going to off another. Niki/Jessica has been a weird combo from the beginning, and again, whenever the storyline moves to her I let out a big sigh and hope something interesting will happen. The only time she was truly interesting was at the very beginning, and when she was separated from Micah. Then she became cool, but otherwise she's just not doing it for me. I like the actress, but I'm just not terribly interested in the characters. Matt stands in front of the elevator doors, and they suddenly whip open. Somebody dies? Oh... he's gone. He sends the mark off in one direction and he goes in another. Suddenly, he's thrown out a window. Oh my god... will somebody fly... AND DIE?? and from what we see next, it appears Jessica literally rips the 300-pound man in half. Then arranges him with head next to feet. ICK. Why is Jessica so inhumanly strong? Why do her powers render her psychotic? Just before Matt takes a header out the window, however, there's an interesting moment where he hears both Niki and Jessica talking on the stairs. Niki leaves her reflection and becomes an actual person standing on the stairs talking to Jessica... or does she? After all, the only two witnesses to the split body are Jessica, who is insane, and Matt, who is only listening, and therefore could just be hearing her thoughts. What makes me think he wasn't just hearing her thoughts is there wasn't that weird, muddy whooshing sound that usually accompanies his telepathy; instead, it sounded like he was overhearing a conversation.

Jessica isn't the only one losing her mind -- Mrs. Bennet is, also... quite literally. Looks like the Haitian is draining more than just her most recent memories. Is Bennet moved by this? Is he worried about his wife? Or does he care about her? How evil is this guy? On the one hand, we've seen that when he hates, he hates with such a horrible passion nothing gets in his way, and he seems to have a heart of stone. But when he loves, he loves with an equal passion: witness the way he protects Claire. Does he feel that same sort of protectiveness toward Claire? It was especially heartbreaking when she not only didn't recognize Claire by the end of the episode, but no longer knew who Mishtoo Muggoosh was. (For a second, I thought he was going in the pot of boiling water.)

Speaking of Claire, she gets a step closer to meeting Daddy, but Fire Mommy brokers a deal with Nathan instead of looking for a joyful family reunion. He offers her $100,000, and she tells Claire he'd offered $50,000, and that Claire was entitled to half (on the one hand, check out Scummy Mummy; on the other, I guess she didn't really have to tell Claire anything, and she did). In a conversation with his mother, Nathan tells her that his daughter has come out of the woodwork, and she refers to him as a "glorified sperm donor." What does she mean by that? Is she just being sarcastic, and she's cruelly referring to a one-night stand, or is there something more to it? Were his powers discovered years ago and he was part of some genetic experiment to take two mutants and make a new one? When Nathan and Claire's mom are talking, they discuss the relationship as if it's something long past, but a relationship nonetheless. Poor Claire; watching her overhearing her mother talking to Nathan was pretty painful, and the actress did a really good job in the scene. There seemed to be a look of recognition when Nathan saw the picture on the camera phone. Has he seen Claire before? Does he recognize her from one of Isaac's paintings? Did he run into her at all when Peter was in jail and she visited him?

And so... why is Nathan the next on Linderman's hit list?

Next week: Mohinder and Sylar join forces; Claire confronts HRG about the memory lapses; Mrs. Bennet collapses; Claude fights Peter and says he was trying to escape "them"; Hiro and Ando get caught in a gun battle and it appears Ando is hit. Will Hiro finally get his powers back?