Lower Decks

The following contains spoilers through the episode “Shadowboxing,” originally broadcast 11/9/09.

I’ve been saying this since I started finally reviewing ‘Heroes’ a mere three episodes ago, during a season that seems like it’s going to be the show’s final year, but I think things are really getting good. The creators will tell you that they started working on winning back the hearts of their fans last season, specifically during the “Fugitives” second half arc, but it’s been evident that they really started pushing the effort with the new season, with new characters, less cluttered storytelling, and more individual arcs for characters that were introduced in the first season, which has been referenced numerous times over the last eight episodes, from subtle references to revisiting a character more directly last episode. Some of this might be seen by regular viewers as an extension of the work the show has done from the start, and perhaps it might best be appreciated by them. No matter what it did, there’s little chance the show might have enjoyed a similar level of renewed enthusiasm that ‘Lost’ did when it made a similar effort at the same stage. Much has been made since ‘Lost’ premiered about the merits of a serialized drama’s chances for popular success, where more answers sooner are appreciated more than a long-term impact waiting to be unraveled (with ‘Lost’ the exception that proves the rule; even ‘Babylon Five,’ the series that arguably began the phenomenon, couldn’t sustain interest past the fourth year of a five-year run). ‘Flashforward,’ for example, a show that seems destined to run for a single season, has lately been on a roll, developing to a remarkable degree its intricate plot, and the critics, dutifully, have noticed. ‘Heroes’ got that kind of buzz first, but once it started spreading a story into multiple seasons and further complications, it lost that kind of support overnight. “Shadowboxing” is an episode that rewards those who continue to stick around.

Since it’s possible to skip episodes and miss large chunks of the season, it’s sort of necessary to emphasize over the course of several reviews the number of things going on, and since this is the third review made in a run of eight episodes, I’ve still got a lot of ground to cover. Last episode it was basically the Hiro show, but there were things I didn’t really cover, such as Samuel’s unexpected revelation that he apparently murdered Mohinder, a series regular who hasn’t been seen all season (and who was frequently the butt of criticism by disgruntled fans; you’ll also notice that Lydia’s tattoo thing has replaced the Tim Sale art that was channeled through various characters throughout the first three seasons, and had gotten its share of ire as well). For me, this was a big deal, and immediately got me enthused about later developments in the season, but it was an awkward subject to casually mention in a review, but for a significant portion of a diminishing audience, it wasn’t so important. It was more important to highlight the way Hiro’s arc had reached a culmination, but perhaps not as much to note that Samuel now holds Charlie as a kind of hostage in exchange for keeping our Japanese friend as a time-traveling retainer.

I haven’t really gotten to mention Emma, perhaps the most innovative addition to the series since Sylar became a regular presence, or HRG stepped out of the shadows. Introduced as a facet of Peter Petrelli’s attempt at a return to normal life as a paramedic (with whatever power he can access that’ll help in his efforts, from the carnival Knife Thrower’s speed to a healing factor taken from Jeremy, the boy HRG tried to help), Emma is deaf, but has slowly discovered her own ability, at first manifested as a physical, light show representation of sound, but recognized later as a potential concussive blast, which doesn’t seem like something Emma would actually use. This episode, we learn a bit of her backstory, in which she quit medical school after she failed to save a boy’s life, which helps her bond with Peter that much more. She’s the rare character who, even struggling with herself, doesn’t seem to be headed toward anything more dramatic than her own life, which is the point the “Redemption” arc is driving at. There’ve been other attempts at adding characters like this, but Emma is by far the most successful.

Speaking of Jeremy and HRG, even though that story ended badly, Noah Bennet is still on that track in “Shadowboxing,” in which his daughter Claire and her friend Gretchen attempt to free themselves from the mini-arc that’s been plaguing them all season, the mysterious murderer who’s made their friendship possible from the start, who turns out to be another member of the sorority they’ve recently joined, who happens to be the second person in the series with the ability to turn invisible. While HRG and Rene, the Haitian, clean up matters that occurred about four episodes ago, Gretchen heads for safety and the girl left behind turns out to be linked to Samuel and the carnival, and in turn another messy piece of business from HRG’s past, the daughter of someone he had to kill when he was working for the Company. One might have expected at this point that the scenario might have caused HRG to reflect on Jeremy and his quest to start atoning for the mistakes of his Company past, but that doesn’t happen, which seems refreshingly natural for the character, who’s usually stuck in stories that are pretty one-track. What it amounts to is the opportunity for Claire to consider Samuel’s offer to join the carnival without having to sit through another “I’m doing it for you” moment from her dad (even though he basically does that anyway), which might actually help them finally break the patterns they’ve been stuck in since the first season. I don’t mean for some of these comments to sound like criticism so much as a source for affirmation that the ambition of the season might actually be working.

We see Nathan for the first time in five episodes. Since Sylar, who doesn’t know he’s Sylar, finally broke out of the Nathan trance, he’s been stuck at the carnival with basically no memories but the vague ones he remembered from his time as a Petrelli (this time a bit more authentically), but for the past few episodes, he’s sort of blended into the background, as other characters were courted to join the motley crew of powered people. Since Nathan was effectively killed off in “An Invisible Thread” last season, it was only natural to assume he might eventually be written out of the show, despite assurances from the creators, and the point seemed to be reached disappointingly early in the season. He practically doesn’t say anything during the episode, but Sylar has transformed back in Nathan, a form that seems to be back in control, who stumbles around confusedly until he nearly finds himself spotted, so he flies away. By the end of the episode, we catch up with him again when he stumbles into Peter, clearly distressed, a cliffhanger note worth mentioning for the casual viewer, a hook that hopefully can’t be passed up.

The other Sylar, for those ‘Star Trek’ viewers who might be interested in ‘Heroes,’ meanwhile, has been featured throughout the season, stuck in Parkman’s head. For a while, it was Parkman being haunted by Sylar, but it was recently switched to Parkman haunting Sylar (while both still occupy Parkman’s mind), and it’s been perhaps more rewarding this way, since it’s more interesting to explore Parkman than see his personal life in danger (I’m still of the opinion that these characters don’t need to be isolated to be worth enjoying, even though that’s what this season has been trying to say, perhaps mirroring fan desire), something that’s infinitely possible as he plays a mental game of chess with Sylar without having to worry about personal consequences. Well, until he makes a fateful decision, the second time this season he thinks he’s found a way to fatally thwart his foe. He puts himself in the crosshairs of cops, hoping his own death will end the Sylar threat once and for all.

Next episode promises a bunch of interesting new developments, which I look forward to following; any fan of the series at this point must admit to a certain level of intrigue at least. Well, hopefully…