After the first two episodes of this season, I’m actually fairly optimistic about this show’s chances of redeeming itself, despite some persistently hammy writing. Many of the most flamboyant elements of the show have been removed for the time being, such as the ever-persistent Company and some of the more ambitious time-travel story arcs (I’ve been questioned for using that word too much on my last post, but it’s a word you’ll run into a lot when you’re talking about a narrative with several branching storylines). The episode narrows the focus to characters who are just trying to get by in a world that doesn’t quite understand their abilities and what they have to offer. This is an approach to the series that I had expected since season one, but never quite got enough of. But will a potential upturn in quality save the drama from sagging ratings? I hypothesize that too large a number of its fans have abandoned ship by season two, never to return, regardless of how much better it gets. I, meanwhile, will continue to watch. Things are starting to get a little interesting.
Story
My two favorite characters, Matt Parkman and Sylar, remain the best reasons to watch the show (go figure), despite some other strong notes in this episode. This time around, we see Matt try his damnedest to ignore the villain in his head whom he believes to amount to little more than an irritating hallucination. Unfortunately for the telepath, Matt would rather listen to Sylar. Sylar manipulates Matt’s own powers, driving Matt to beat the ever living crap out of the drug dealer, who is suspect for no reason. Matt then mind-wipes the cope’s partner into thinking everything’s OK. Matt’s a likable guy, and he’s got good intentions, but he’s constantly being forced into less-than-savory decisions to keep his life intact. That right there is a pretty solid definition of an dynamic and conflicted protagonist.
Samuel, the man who mans the land, is back on the hunt for another hero to help him reach a yet-undetermined goal. This time, his target is an embattled Peter, whose super humanly-fast emergency responses have him facing rumors of staging incidents for glory. With some clever manipulation (including a pretty nifty use of his ability to control ink), Sam manages to guilt-trip Peter into shaking his hand. But that’s all the pseudo-Irishman needs to imprint the paramedic with a somehow significant compass tattoo. (By the way, apparently, Sam’s ability to control the earth allows him to control mineral-based inks as well.) Then Sam obliterates a house. Yep.
Claire faces a threat to her cover when her friend Gretchen sees the former cheerleader heal herself. But after Mr. Bennet takes the two out to a tense dinner, Claire eventually ends up entrusting Gretchen with her secret. And, in perhaps the biggest twist of the episode, her father doesn’t really seem to give a crap. (Who sees a Haitian mind-wipe coming? Taking bets now.)
Finally, there’s a little side arc with new character Emma, a deaf woman who seems to be developing the ability to see sound. While this sort of synesthesia occurs in real life, Emma’s visuals seem particularly intense. This arc is interesting, because her power doesn’t seem like it could have a huge effect on the main plots of the show. It could, however, affect Emma in a very beautiful way, and Emma’s certainly got potential to be a solid character, pending further development. We’ll see how this pans out.
Powers
The single most plot-driving use of powers in this episode is Sylar’s use of Matt’s own power against himself. He convinces Matt through telepathic hallucinations that a drug dealing suspect killed a little girl, causing the cop to lose his cool in a very dangerous way.
Sam does a couple of interesting things with his earth manipulating ability. The most nuanced is a physical Photoshop job — he inks himself into a newspaper photograph to convince Peter that he was present at the site of an accident. Turns out that the ability to manipulate ink is actually pretty awesome — think about the legal documents you could mess with!–but of course, that ability stems from his primary ability to control the earth, which he does in a decidedly less subtle manner later in the episode. Dismissed by the occupants of his childhood home, he takes his revenge by demolishing it in a massive sinkhole. Hardcore.
Emma’s synesthesia, while not quite as obviously badass as earth manipulation, looks beautiful when rendered on the screen. It manifests most significantly when Emma picks up a random kid’s cello and, simply by watching the colors she sees, plays music that captures the attention of everyone around, including Peter.
Second Token Claire Brutalization of the season: Gretchen cuts Claire’s hand to see the healing for herself.
Sexy Factor
New character Emma is a cutie, and her random meetings with Peter suggest a possible developing relationship between the two. Actually, it would almost seem inevitable, romantic or not, because she would otherwise have literally nothing to do with any of the established characters.
When Gretchen learns Claire’s secret and the two sit in their dorm talking about it, I hear pretty strong echoes of homosexual experimentation. No kidding. “I’ve never done this before?” Come on. Definitely not that big a stretch. (As a side note, I don’t think Heroes has featured an openly gay character yet in its roster. There was that whole Zach thing, but even if he had been openly gay, it would still seem about time for a character who actually mattered on the show to diversify the sexual spectrum a little bit, no?)
Conclusion
These first two episodes of the seasons give me the impression that the writers of Heroes are trying their best to tone the ridiculousness of the show down, and put these characters back on a reasonable facsimile of planet Earth. So far, they seem to be succeeding. The line-for-line writing of this show is still as unwitty as ever, but the stories are finally becoming fairly relatable (as far as stories featuring people with super powers go). I do have a problem with this specific episode, though: Much like the season premiere, it does more setting up than moving along. But few moments in the episode caused me to wince, which is a victory of sorts. Anyway, things are looking up for this once-disgraced superhero drama. Let’s just hope the writers don’t drop the ball and smash it with a sledgehammer again.