Heroes: Truth & Consequences

Hiro: "I must avenge my father's death and save the world."
Ando: "Why is saving the world always your responsibility?"

Montreal and Searsmont, Maine: So Adam was initially imprisoned because he wanted to release the killer virus, "for the greater good"? Aha. So that's his evil plan. And thirty years in prison just made him want it more. Why is Peter so determined to believe Adam? Please tell me Peter is smelling a rat, and playing Adam. I was also disappointed in Peter's single-minded obsession with rescuing Caitlin to the exclusion of all else. Hello? 93% of the world's population doesn't come first? Peter, start thinking with your head again. The other head.

Victoria Pratt, with us so briefly and already gone, had the bad luck to shoot two people who could heal themselves. But we did learn that, like the immortals on "Highlander," when the head comes off, it's over. (How does Adam know that? Has he seen it happen to someone else?)

Tokyo, Japan: The whole thing with beheading means, of course, that Hiro and his mighty Takezo Kensei sword may be the end of Adam Monroe. (Taken out by his own sword. There's a flavor of a Takezo Kensei fable in that one.) Unless Peter and his blue electric hands takes Hiro out first. Nah. I just don't believe Peter could kill Hiro, or vice versa.

Hiro took another jaunt in time, to November 2, 1977, to witness an argument between the gorgeous young Victoria Pratt and someone else playing Kaito Nakamura. (And if George Takei could play Kaito nearly twenty years ago, why not thirty?)

Cook Lake, Virginia: Maya is a whole lot more interesting when she's seducing Sylar, and he's playing her like a violin. It's hilarious that she thinks he's the perfect soul mate, since he accidentally killed his mother... just like she accidentally killed a zillion people at her (now dead) brother's wedding and other points south. A mass murderer and a serial killer: it's a match made in, well, whatever. I certainly wouldn't mind if Sylar made a snack of her. If he absorbs powers from both twins, will they wipe each other out? Will Alejandro go bad if Sylar doesn't snack on him soon? And how did Sylar get to Molly so quickly?

Costa Verde, California: Claire and Elle, tiny blonde superhero face-off. I absolutely loved it. (It reminded me of a Buffy quote: "I've had it with super strong little women who aren't me.") I actually thought for a moment that Elle would fry the bystanders, especially Mr. Muggles.

I also got a big charge out of Sandra Bennet pulling a gun on Bob. Sandra is such a fun character. Initially, her obsession with Mr. Muggles and the way HRG kept having her memory wiped made her easy to dismiss, but Sandra just gets cooler all the time. West remained cool, too, and actually gave Claire some good advice. The answer to grief really isn't to forget the one you loved. Besides, HRG will be back. He'll get out of that locked room and restraints somehow, I know he will. Maybe Mohinder will stop being an idiot and let him go. That would be nice.

New Orleans: This whole segment felt like Superhero Muppet Babies. Their caper to retrieve DL's medal was so sweet and child-like, probably because they're both kids. Watching Monica/St. Joan taken by those thugs was like a dash of ice water. They should have found a way to take Niki along. Even sick, she would have ripped them all apart.

So we've been bombarded with hints that someone, or more than one someone, will bite it in the "fall finale." Who will die? Whenever we're faced with this situation, I tend to look for justification for them not killing characters I like. Peter is my favorite, even with his recent, alarming tendency to have important stuff go right over his head, and he has the coolest superpower, so they won't kill him. HRG already escaped death. Hiro's story this season hasn't been my favorite, but he's a popular character and central to the story; I don't think they'll write him out. Claire is indestructible as well as immortal, so as long as she avoids swordplay, she'll probably be okay. I don't think they'll kill off any of the other younger characters, like Micah, Monica, and West.

So who do I think will die? Matt, Maya, Niki, Nathan. We've had plenty of hints that Matt is turning to the Dark Side. Does that make it more or less likely that he'll bite it? I don't like Maya. Bye, Maya. Nathan has had zero story this season other than a bad reflection, which is just too bad because I like Nathan. Niki's husband has already been written out and her extra personalities are gone. I've never been all that interested in Niki's story, anyway.

And what about the bad guys? I'd love it if they managed to hang on to Adam and Elle, because David Anders and Kristen Bell are both big favorites of mine and they haven't had near enough screen time yet. Bob is interesting, as well as ubiquitous, ambiguous, and insidious. I've become fond of Sylar, too. Good villains are hard to come by. I hope they don't kill them off too soon.

Bits and pieces:

-- Mohinder has graduated to a smaller nose band-aid that covers less of his face. But he still has too much stubble. As well as a bad attitude.

-- Not to be outdone by Peter, Sylar took his shirt off. And HRG was strapped down pretty much naked. Everyone's taking it off this season.

-- Elle didn't appear to be responding well to her Daddy. That was interesting.

-- Interesting use of the mirror image of Peter in that Montreal scene with Adam. For a moment, I thought we were going to get a split personality. Peter with a split personality would be pretty frightening.

-- Victoria Pratt said that both of Peter's parents were killers. That was also interesting. Lots of interesting stuff this week.

-- Why did they bring an actress of Joanna Cassidy's caliber in for a five minute bit? I was assuming we'd get a lot more of Victoria Pratt. And she's dead already.

Quotes:

Adam: "Parents sin. Children suffer."

Hiro: "Ando, be more careful. You are like a hamster making a nest."

Claire: "I've fallen twenty stories, been stabbed in the head, crashed a car at seventy miles an hour. I've even been on fire. This hurts more than any of that, and it's not getting better."

Three out of four stars, and I'm hanging in there for next week's "fall finale,"

Billie
---
Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

• Next episode
  
• Heroes season 2
  
• Heroes home