Lower Decks

The following review contains spoilers for Heroes through the current episode, “It’s Coming,” originally broadcast November 17th, 2008.

Last week’s episode, “Villains,” now stands as my least favorite episode of Heroes. Therefore, “It’s Coming” didn’t have to do all that much work to look good by comparison. And, in some ways, it was a very good episode that seems to have finally set the stage for the final confrontation between heroes and villains. Knowing Heroes, however, I imagine there will be a few more episodes filled with what appears to be filler before things truly start to shake up.

What I disliked the most about “It’s Coming” was Hiro’s unusual (and unexplained) regression to the mental age of ten following his encounter with Arthur. At least he still has his head, right? Poor Usuntu had his cut right off by Papa Petrelli. I’m sure Arthur’s master plan somehow includes Hiro — even a Hiro more interested in pranks and comic books than saving the world — otherwise he would have killed Hiro and Ando. How great was Ando’s attempt to attack Arthur? Running and diving towards him with fist at the ready. Granted, Arthur stopped him cold and tossed him aside with little effort. It’s the thought that counts.

In many ways, Hiro has been acting like a ten-year-old the entire season. After inheriting his father’s business, he opens a safe containing Kaito’s part of the formula after being expressly warned not to open it. He then tries to trap Daphne the speedster but instead allows her to get the other half of the formula. When he is captured by the Haitian and the Company, Angela has him dig up Adam. What does Hiro do? He goes and lets Adam escape. Adam, you’ll recall, is used to recharge Arthur. Hiro then tries to join Knox and Daphne by pretending to kill Ando. Finally, he winds up in Africa and is repeatedly hit on the head with a shovel before going on a lengthy vision quest that reveals absolutely no helpful information.

Whew. In other words, Hiro is to blame for everything. He’s the reason the formula is in the hands of Arthur, the reason Adam is dead and Arthur is no longer a quadriplegic, and he’s the reason Usuntu is dead. I’m sure if I tried hard enough I could find a way to blame Hiro for Sylar attacking Claire and then releasing those twelve bad guys or for Mohinder’s descent and transformation. Hiro has always been a character with quirks and that’s why viewers were drawn to the character. But so far this season, Hiro has gone from a lovable hero to a walking disaster.

Equally disastrous this season has been the character of Tracy Strauss. Killing off Niki at the end of Season Two only to bring Ali Larter back as Niki’s identical sister has never made sense. And now Tracy is siding with Arthur.  Wasn’t it only a few episodes ago she was first learning about her abilities and the existence of humans with powers? Didn’t she want to turn herself in to the police for accidentally killing a reporter? And correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Tracy consider suicide only to be rescued by Nathan?  Talk about a complete 180.

Shockingly, it was Matt’s story line this week that I was most intrigued with. At the end of “Eris Quod Sum” he and Daphne were heading to Primitech looking for help. But Daphne was double-crossing Matt and was still in communication with Arthur. During “It’s Coming,” they find Angela in a coma and Matt becomes determined to rescue her. He uses his ability to get inside her head, only to find Daphne inside as well. She stabs him. The real Daphne, watching over Matt, notices that he is bleeding. She grabs his hand and goes inside as well.

Before long, Arthur reveals himself and Matt learns that Daphne has been lying to him. But she tells him she loves him and promises she isn’t lying anymore. For some reason, Arthur releases Angela and everyone wakes up safe and sound. I’m not sure why Arthur did that, although I doubt very much it was because part of him still loves Angela. It was nice to finally see things work out for Matt (although I worry about the turtle being all alone) and hopefully Daphne has finally decided to turn away from Arthur.

Most of the other characters had very little to do in this episode. Sylar and Elle reconnected and Sylar let her electrocute him so she could get her revenge (he killed her father, remember). And Sylar learned that he can take abilities without killing and absorbs Elle’s ability. Moments after threatening to kill him and then begging him to kill her, Elle laughs and shows Sylar how to shoot bolts of lightning. That was an odd scene. Elle has always been a little bit out there (except in the flashbacks we saw in “Villains” when she was a normal young woman) but seeing her walk in with Sylar and the others as part of Arthur’s gang of baddies was disappointing. Especially now that Sylar has apparently taken away her pain. She only went to Pinehearst to try to find a way to regain control of her ability.

Nathan, Peter and Claire were hardly in this episode. Nathan went to see Arthur and left uncertain as to the future. He has given up his newfound religious inclination, it seems. Peter and Claire did a lot of running while being chased by Knox and Flint. Claire convinces Peter (who is powerless) to let her try to slow Knox and Flint down. But they aren’t after Peter. They want Claire. And they almost get her. If not for Peter noticing a gas leak and egging Flint on until he set it off, Claire would have been in Arthur’s clutches. Which would have been terrible because Claire is apparently the catalyst necessary for the formula to work. Really?  So how did the Company give normal folks like Nathan abilities decades ago? Was there another catalyst? Will we ever know for sure?

As the episode ended, the heroes and villains literally divided into groups around Angela and Arthur. Peter, Nathan, Claire, Matt and Daphne were with Angela while Sylar, Elle, Knox, Flint and Tracy joined with Arthur. Something is coming (hint: it’s an eclipse) and the ultimate showdown appears to be approaching. Left out of either group are Hiro and Ando (I don’t recall seeing Mohinder with Arthur’s group but he seems to be safely in that corner). And Noah and Meredith weren’t in this episode, but I assume they will join with Claire.

I’m hopeful that Volume Three: Villains will end on a high note while also setting the stage for Volume Four: Fugitives. But there are still four episodes to go before Volume Three wraps up. That means three more episodes before the cliffhanger ending, I assume. A lot can happen in three episodes. So, although “It’s Coming” ended with a sense of finality, a lot of things can still change.