Heroes Recap: Episode 3.15 "Trust and Blood"

The second chapter of the newest volume of Heroes wasn't quite as strong as the first one, but it kept things moving in a positive direction. I guess the writers were wanting to keep the fugitive heroes as weak in power base as possible, based on the casualty we experienced in this episode. In a way, I can say I knew it was coming, but was hopeful that it wouldn't. While I agree that the cast had gotten a little sprawling and out of control at times thorughout the series progression, I never thought this character was a problem.

And at the same time, we're working with a pretty small cast at this time anyway. We've got the band of fugitives, Nathan and his cronies, and Sylar's quest for fatherly love. I wanted the initial chase to last a little longer than it did. The idea of our heroes running through the woods trying to figure out how to get away from hunters hot on their tails was too good to wrap up so quickly and easily. And how good were those hunters anyway? They let everyone come back together at the crash site.

I guess I'm not as enamored with this chapter as I was with the first. As much as I got annoyed at the way Daphne pursed her lips, I liked her as a character, and she would have been handy to have around in their new lives. Not to mention adding some much needed estrogen to the fugitive band. The writers got Tracy captured, Claire sent home and Daphne dead. Don't think the ladies can handle life on the run? You don't have that many women on the cast to begin with.

We got some explanation of Peter's power, which makes it a lot more volatile and unpredictable than before. Not to mention a lot less powerful. Not only can he only have one power at a time, it looks like he has no control of the switch. Last week, when he touched Tracy he accidentally picked up her freezing power, subsequently losing Mohinder's super-strength.

So now we have a new game we can play. Right now Peter has Nathan's flight ability. But as soon as he touches anyone else, he'll lose that. Flight is a pretty handy ability when you're a fugitive. Certainly more effective than super-strength, power enhancement or even Matt's mental abilities.

Yes, Matt was able to take over that hunter and mow down the competition, but he can still easily be overwhelmed whereas Peter can just disappear. I would be interested to see what Matt is capable of when Ando-boosted, though. Assuming, that is, that he can learn to control the cacophony of voices he's overwhelmed by.

Hiro has switched places with Mohinder as the non-powered "hero" on the team. Now, when Peter got dosed with the serum, it brought back his powers, albeit in a reduced capacity. When Mohinder got doused with the serum, his power set was also reduced. So the door is open for Hiro to get a modified version of his powers back. I'm thinking, since they don't want the time travel he can settle for stopping time or teleportation.

Since they got rid of Daphne I don't think they want the fugitives to be able to move to new locations very quickly, so let's go with stopping time. Still very effective and potentially powerful, and it creates those cool visuals that made the show special in the beginning. Now we just get Nathan glowering at the screen all the time. At least it cuts away from Claire's whining scenes.

Heroes' Recap: Episode 3.14 "A Clear and Present Danger"

Welcome back Heroes fans! It’s been a long month without the confusing, usually head scratching antics of those silly writers, but here we are again with ‘Fugitives’. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been watching the previews with baited breath and wondering how this wasn’t just the X-Men redone. I’m a fan of lists, so here are the five things you need to know about this episode.

Number one: This is the big one. Nathan is rounding up all of the people with abilities he can find with the help of his mother and Noah Bennet. The first victim is Tracy who is ironically bagged and tagged while watching Nathan speak on television about ‘a threat to America that must be stopped’. The innocent citizens believe he’s talking about terrorists, but he is of course talking about our heroes. (He’s a bit of a hypocrite, eh?) This isn’t to say that he’s not willing to grant amnesty to the people he loves. He tries to get Peter on his side but Peter refuses and is subsequently drugged and taken into custody. When Claire is captured, Nathan lets her go. His mother is out roaming around, but for now she only seems to be doing it to keep from becoming a victim. It’s not clear what he’s doing with them all, other than subduing them and making it impossible for their powers to be used and loading them all onto a plane.

Number two: Sylar did not die in the explosion at Primatech. It’s not clear how he survived, seeing as how he was impaled in the back of the head, but we see him alive and kicking in a watch maker’s shop. The owner, Mr. Gray, confesses to Sylar that he did indeed run out on a young Gabriel and his mother, but Sylar isn’t his son. For a price, a man gave Sylar up and that man just happens to be the watch maker’s brother. After getting the address, Sylar heads off to find his biological father only to walk into a trap. Nathan’s men are there and try to take him down but they don’t do the old ‘back of the head’ trick. Instead, he recovers easily from the taser guns, then kills all of the men before escaping.

Number three: Matt Parkman is still seeing African-Isaac. The man is dead and apparently haunting Matt. Not to tell him anything helpful, like ‘Nathan’s men are after you, run!’ but to tell him that he cannot ignore his call as the new prophet. To be honest, I never even saw that one coming, but with little preamble, Matt’s eyes go the way of the milky-whites and he starts drawing the future. He draws a picture of him and Claire in the apartment looking at the pictures he’s drawn right before he gets abducted. Sure enough, Claire shows up just in time for the both of them to get taken in. (Then Nathan lets Claire go.) Also important to note: Matt and Daphne are apparently living together.

Number four: Hiro is still up to his wannabe super hero ways. Only Hiro doesn’t have powers anymore. So instead, he tries to live vicariously through Ando whose power pretty much sucks. (Remember, he’s a super charger of other’s abilities.) After his attempts at getting Ando to wear a costume fail, Hiro shoots his friend in the arm, placing a tracking device just under his skin. Hiro gave himself one too so that they can track each other. Ando doesn’t take to this lightly and takes off on the motorcycle Hiro bought for him. Living it up at the strip club, he’s arguing with Hiro via Bluetooth about not wanting to be a super hero when he hears his friend yell for help as Nathan’s men take him. Ando now has a mission: He must track his friend and save him.

Number five: Claire is still trying to be God’s gift to heroics. After Nathan lets her go, she sneaks back onto the plane all of the abducted heroes are on. She finds Peter, Matt, Mohinder and Tracy, and they all work to bust loose. Peter absorbs both Mohinder and Tracy’s powers as Claire storms the cockpit. When she tells the pilots that they’re making an unscheduled stop, she’s shocked to see that her father is co-pilot. Peter, meanwhile, accidentally freezes a section of the plane and when it cracks apart, the plane starts to crash. People start flying out of the hole, and I don’t see why it’s so sad that Peter got sucked out into the sky – he can fly last I checked.

So, how did you all feel about this episode? Is the show pulling you back into its good graces? I was entertained, but there are some pretty big things that have gone explained; Sylar being alive is one of them. I’m not excited yet but I’ll give it time, after all – the writers have a lot of making up to do. How did this episode leave you feeling?