Lower Decks

The following review contains spoilers for Heroes through the current episode, “Dying of the Light,” originally broadcast October 20th, 2008.

At first blush, “Dying of the Light” was a major game-changer for Heroes. At the end of the previous episode (“Angels and Monsters”), Arthur Petrelli — the supposedly deceased father of Nathan, Peter and Sylar — was introduced as the previously unseen evil mastermind opposed by Angela Petrelli, the Company, and a slew of others. Our heroes were being forced to choose sides behind Arthur or Angela, on the side of the villains or the side of the heroes. By the end of “Dying of the Light,” these sides had become somewhat clearer.

The least shocking part of the episode was the revelation that Hiro had not actually killed Ando. I never for a moment believed that Hiro had done so. We learn that Hiro had gone back in time to pick up a trick sword and a packet of fake blood and inform Ando of his plan. After stabbing Ando and earning the approval of Knox, Hiro gets his first assignment from Daphne (who simply cannot believe that Hiro just murdered his best friend in cold blood). When Daphne leaves, Ando gets up. As disappointed I have been with the treatment of Hiro this season, I cannot believe that any viewers were shocked to see Ando alive and kicking during this episode.

What was shocking was the death of Adam during the early part of the episode.  Freed by Hiro and Ando to help Angela Petrelli, he quickly slips away and is picked up by Knox. Although he seems less than impressed with Knox, the moment he recognizes Arthur Petrelli, Adam becomes fearful and submissive. Knox easily overpowers him and places his wrist in Arthur’s hand. Within seconds, Adam has grown old and turned to dust, leaving Arthur Petrelli young and rejuvenated. I did not see that coming. I do wonder if Adam is actually dead or just somehow absorbed into Arthur. In other words, I would not be very surprised if we see Adam again.

The other big shock came at the tail end of the episode, effectively book ending “Dying of the Light” with shocking moments. Peter, freed by Sylar so the two can help Angela (who is in a strange sort of coma), peers into his mother’s mind and sees the strange helix symbol. Sylar recognizes it as the Pinehearst logo on the business card he was given earlier by Daphne. After a brief battle, Peter places an unconscious Sylar in the restraints he himself was in only moments before and heads to Pinehearst. He bursts into a room where Knox, Daphne, Maury and Jesse (who was earlier freed by Daphne) are standing. They all react quickly.

Arthur seemingly defuses the situation with three words: “He’s my son.” Peter is understandably shocked to see his father and just as shocked to learn that his father is behind everything. Arthur asks his son for a hug and after a moment of indecision, Peter embraces his father. Big mistake. “I’m sorry it had to come to this,” Arthur whispers in his son’s ear. Then he pulls out all of Peter’s abilities and absorbs them (like father, like son, in a way), leaving Peter powerless.

Compared to that, the rest of the episode seemed almost dull. Claire and Sandra head out to rescue Meredith. Very quickly, however, things go awry and soon all three are captives of the puppet master (a.k.a. Eric). He decides to play a game of Russian roulette with the women. After the first tense round, the spinning revolver points to Claire.  Sandra is forced to pick up the gun. Claire tells her to do what she has to do. Sandra reluctantly agrees and pulls the trigger. One click, two click, BAM. Claire goes down. Eric seems pleased. Then Claire knocks him out. Noah is called to clean things up and Claire ignores him. Meredith says Claire needs her space and offers to partner with Noah.

Nathan and Tracy go to see Mohinder, are drugged and captured only escape, and are last seen facing off against Mohinder. Every scene with Mohinder seemed to drag on forever. What was an interesting character during the first season has become anything but. He was the only main character without a power and that made him stand out. People came to him for help because he knew things about the abilities that were popping up and thus, even though he couldn’t fly or turn invisible, he had something important to add to the equation. Apparently all that helping gave Mohinder some sort of complex or disorder and now he is a sociopath and also slowly turning into a spider.

Matt spends the bulk of the episode sitting in an airport with his turtle. Almost immediately after disembarking, he runs in Daphne. She tells him all about Pinehearst, about how its his chance to do something wonderful with his life, but all Matt wants to talk about is their future marriage, baby and pet turtle. Just as she is about to run off, Matt mentions that the baby was named Daniella. That gets her attention. How could Matt possibly know that Daniella was the name of her grandmother? Unfortunately, she has to finish a few things (like meeting with Sylar and Mohinder) but promises to return so the two can talk. When she finally does, she tells him to stay away from Pinehearst. He tells her the same thing. He wants to protect her (recall that in the future she dies when she can’t outrun a nuclear explosion). But Daphne only knows one thing: moving too fast to get caught. She runs off, leaving Matt alone with his turtle.

Finally, there is the Hiro/Ando storyline. Hiro’s mission is to go to Africa and bring Usutu (Matt’s precog friend) to Pinehearst. Daphne warns him that capturing a precog is hard. After all, they always know you’re coming. Hiro learns that lesson well. While trying to sneak up on Usutu, Hiro spots a painting of himself being hit with a shovel. Strangely, the paint is still wait. He turns around and gets hit on the head with a shovel. He awakes up and Ando suggests that Hiro try going back in time to one minute before he was hit with the shovel and reminds Hiro that he did go back in time already (when he told Ando about the fake stabbing).

So, Hiro goes back in time one minute, sees another painting of himself being hit on the head with a shovel and is then hit on the head with a shovel. When he wakes up, he sees his future self talking to Ando about going back in time. Now that he knows that won’t work, Hiro suggests trying something the precog won’t expect: hiding. That future version of Hiro seen briefly is never mentioned again. Is that Hiro still wandering around Africa searching for Usutu? Who knows? In any event, Hiro and Ando are able to sneak up on the precog but only because he lets them. Usutu explains that they had to stop using Hiro’s ability and start using their brains. He shows them a painting depicting all the villains along with the Pinehearst logo/helix symbol. There is also a painting of two men hugging. Ando wonders what it means.

I am sure we will find out shortly. I also hope we find out what the point of Mohinder’s transformation is and how it will play into the coming battle between heroes and villains. Arthur already has both parts of the formula to give regular folks abilities, so why does he need Mohinder? Daphne told him that Pinehearst wants help and he wants help so they should get together and help one another. But what help can Mohinder possibly give anyone? He hasn’t done a very good job giving himself an ability, after all, and is busy building his collection of bodies so he probably doesn’t have time to help anyone.

Peter, one of the most powerful of the heroes, is now completely powerless. And the villains, in the form of Arthur, now have all his abilities. That is the game changer I mentioned earlier. It is muted somewhat by the fact that Sylar should have most of Peter’s abilities as well, if he was able to absorb them during their close proximity in this episode. Even if that is the case, the heroes side is still down Angela (unconscious) and Adam (dead) but might have Daphne. Mohinder is a wild card, as are Nathan and Tracy. Claire might also be up in the air, given her state of mind. The next few episodes should be very interesting indeed.