Home Featured TV Shows All TV Shows Movie Reviews Book Reviews Articles Frequently Asked Questions About Us

Heroes: Dual

Angela: "A child starved for attention throws a temper tantrum."
Claire: "Well, I'd like to give him a good spanking."

Lockdown showdown. *Yawn.*

There was a lot of running around and a lot of fighting in the darkened hallways of Primatech. Peter got his powers back. Mohinder lost his scales. Ando got a cool new power-amplification power, which isn't really a power on its own but is still neat. Although how he and Daphne could aim it at sixteen years ago in the Deveaux building in order to rescue Hiro strained credulity just a bit.

What the heck happened to Nathan? His heroism in previous seasons and love for his brother was epic, and now, in the space of two episodes, he's the bad guy? Can you say, left field? I had a theory that one of the despicable Arthur's powers was the ability to take over someone else's body, and that Arthur is now in Nathan's body. But even I have to admit that, as a theory, it's just too weird. I'll have to chalk up Nathan's current attitude as inconsistent writing, and leave it at that.

Although there was some fun consistency with previous episodes. I liked the quid pro quo of Peter saving Nathan from the fire, and Claire "killing" Sylar the same way that she and Peter "died." And the perversity of Sylar saving the world by killing Arthur was fun. I thought this episode could have used something bigger, though -- like, Sylar dying spectacularly and permanently in a great big dramatic way. Not that I don't like Sylar; he's been practically the only good thing about this season so far. But the whole nature of death on Heroes just doesn't work dramatically any more. Yes, let's give the audience another odd, ambiguous death that the writers can erase anytime they want. Even Arthur's demise doesn't seem permanent.

Did anyone die? It looked like Knox did. And possibly Meredith. Primatech is toast. Hiro didn't get his powers back. And what happened to the marines? Some of them got the red jello; will we be seeing a super squad this winter?

At least, we know for certain that Sylar is not a Petrelli. It's small, but it's something.

Bits and pieces:

-- Claire, Meredith, HRG and Angela were a really interesting family unit. Bio-mom, adopted dad, estranged/strange grandma.

-- When Mohinder fell into the red goop and his scales disappeared, I said out loud, "Quick, Peter! Jump in the goop!" Fortunately, there was a hypo lying about.

-- Nathan fired Tracy. Guess she's not going to be first lady, after all.

-- The title was given in the cable synopsis as "Duality." Actually, given what happened between Peter and Nathan, "Duel" might have been better than "Dual."

-- Flint had a helix-shaped cut on his face.

-- Sylar: "I could have been a nobody, instead of the monster I became." That sounded to me a lot like "I coulda been a contender. I could have been somebody. Instead of a bum, which is what I am." (On the Waterfront is one of my favorite old movies.)

-- Volume four will be called "Fugitives" and starts February 2. It showed Nathan talking to the president, who is African American. Art imitates life.

Readers rated this finale for me; it came out to two out of four stars, which isn't good. What did you think? Comments are always welcome.

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

7 comments:

  1. This episode bored me to tears. Halfway through the Primatech stalking scene I had to pause it and walkaway for 15 minutes before watching the rest of the episode, which is a first for me and Heroes. I'm done with Heroes till Bryan Fuller throws his hat in again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Billie,

    Yep, they've got some explaining to do about Nathan. Brother or not, I think I'd have shot him myself had I'd been Peter. What on earth's gotten into the man?

    And I've just had my first taste of webisode disappointment. Did you see the massive Heroes webisode payoff? Echo DeMille (from the "Going Postal" webisodes) was in the episode for about 15 seconds...little more than a shadow in the background. The next time we see him he's dead....throat cut. Not one line of dialogue. No action whatsoever. A complete waste of time.

    I wonder what the payoffs will be for the other characters? Maybe if we're lucky we'll see Santiago walking a dog in the background. Or maybe we'll see a small photo of Elisa on Nathan's desk.

    Bah, I'm annoyed about that. I'm beginning to think that the Heroes webisodes may be a royal waste of time.

    More satisfying payoffs please writers!!! Or I'm coming to get you!!!!!


    Paul

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm about to leave Heroes behind, but I did want to note that the Michael Dorn (Worf) did play the president at the end there. Another Star Trek alum is interesting, but probably not interesting enough to keep me watching if they don't amp it up.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I liked this episode but in an i'm annoyed that I liked it kind of way. The apparent character deaths didn't affect me at all, probably because nobody stays dead, and the poor character writing, particularly Syler and Nathan just irritated me. Syler stalking people at Primatech felt a bit like a bad slasher film complete with blond teenage heroine but without the scares too.

    Despite all that I'm curious about where the show is going, particularly Nathan and Peter being on opposite sides. I'm just praying that the writing improves and that the writers have some sort of plan because overall volume 3 just seemed to be a complete waste of time.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for your reviews Billie and thanks for not giving up on the show although it was tough. I'm just glad that the third chapter is over and hope that they can move on to better things in chapter four. Of course, that's what I thought about chapter two as well...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Most likely there won't be a super-army.

    The marine states after the credits that only he's been injected with the formula.

    Merry Christmas :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I just rewatched this episode as a standalone to remind me where everyone is at this point in the game, and I really like the episode.

    Now, I just finished a three week recep of the series (season one and two) and seeing it all so close to each other really works for me.

    Nathan's alegiance is challenging at best during season one, but in season two he is clouded by guilt over his death brother. This makes his choice in season three predictable. Gabriel Greay in season one is inconfident, a trait abused by Arthr and Angela during season three. Even Claire acting as she did was true to character

    I like season 3 so far, I really do. It's just that you need to understand the characters, and keep in mind what drives them... Can't wait to tomorrow, when I get to see the next epi.

    ReplyDelete

We love comments! We moderate because of spam and trolls, but don't let that stop you! It’s never too late to comment on an old show, but please don’t spoil future episodes for newbies.