Heroes: Villains
Flashback episodes are supposed to explain things, right? They should answer questions...clear up misunderstandings.
So what the hell was this?
I think I am more confused now than ever before. Here's the thing - writers take note - when you go back in time to tell the story of the past, the things that happened in the first and second seasons still have to make sense in context. I have absolutely no grasp of the show's timeline now. It's like everything happened on the same day. All of those cutesy little overlaps with first season scenes were the last straw. What was this, the busiest week ever?
Season one had an episode called "Six Months Ago," season two had its "Four Months Ago," and now with this episode my brain has officially melted. I need a diagram, or something. This is the kind of madness that drives Hiro to make his yarn-web rooms.
First of all, I was more than a little thrown by the insertion of Arthur and his murder-for-hire plotline into the Nathan's car accident scene. We have seen that before, right? Nathan, Angela, and Peter were at the hospital. Nathan's primary concern was that he had flown out of the car. But now they've retconned the whole thing! Arthur's there too. And Nathan isn't thinking about the flying, he's thinking about the attempted hit.
How long after the accident did Arthur "die"? Honestly, I had thought that Arthur was already dead by that point, but maybe I just forgot something. I don't know anymore.
Other Petrelli-related questions...
When the doctor comes out to tell Angela and Nathan that Arthur had died from a heart attack, why wasn't Angela suspicious? I mean, she *knows* he was poisoned. Wouldn't she expect the doctors to know that? There was no reason for her to have a super-sneaky plan with an untraceable poison - she was just planning to stick him in an incinerator.
Later, (chronologically, anyway) she told Peter that Arthur had committed suicide, but that she had covered it up. So...uh...apparently Nathan had never mentioned walking into the dining room and finding Dad on the floor? Or maybe Peter was meant to think that Nathan was complicit in the cover-up?
One good thing came out of tonight's Petrelli-mess, though. I totally ship Angela/Linderman now. I'm not much of a shipper, normally, but weren't they cute? I can imagine years of Linderman loving her from afar because (a) she loved her husband and not him, (b) Arthur's a scary son of a bitch who would not take kindly to adultery and (c) Arthur'd just make her forget about it anyway. I kind of loved Linderman tonight. Almost makes me sad that DL squished his brain in season 1.
Moving on...
The strength of Sylar's craving for braaaaaains continues to be variable. Tonight we see that he was almost at the point of being able to control himself until that villainous HRG forced him into it. (Now what does that say about Peter's irresistable urge to slice open his big brother the other week? That it wasn't really Sylar's power? That Peter is unusually susceptible to the power of suggestion, so he thought he couldn't resist the craving because Sylar told him it was hard? I think we have a winner.)
These revelations about Sylar's past cause even more problems.
1. If Sylar and Elle knew each other, why was there no flash of recognition in their previous meetings? nothing at the end of last season when she burst into the lab. Not even anything this season when he tried to take her brain out. That bugs me.
2. When, exactly, did Sylar kill Chandra? Tonight it seemed like he killed Telekinesis guy, then he was full of remorse for power-stealing so he tried to kill himself, then Elle saved and befriended him, then - after the dinner party from hell - we see HRG hopping into Mohinder's cab. No mention of Chandra anywhere. And Sylar was pretty clear that the reason he felt bad was that he stole the power...not that he had murdered an Indian scientist in a fit of rage. Even HRG and Elle don't mention it. Why?
And what about Sylar's secret room of creepiness? Did he make that before or after Elle? In tonight's episode he had the map up in his freaking living room, but in season 1 Mohinder found it in a weird little lair, didn't he?
What power did Sylar's snack have tonight, anyway? He can break things? Wow. Usefull. He should be an opera singer...trick everyone into thinking he can break a glass with his voice.
Meredith's story didn't make a whole lot of sense either. She finds out that the company may know something about her daughter so she decides to do what? Go home to Kermit and wait? Hope the kid will show up by herself? I mean, yes, it does work out pretty well for her, but come on. Not exactly a good plan. Also, back in season 1 it looked like she had been living quietly in that mobile home for quite a while. But no, less than a year. And season one Meredith seemed to have no idea that Claire had survived. So much for Eric Roberts' hint.
One more timeline question...Meredith's dumb brother said that an invisible man had nabbed him when he tried to run. Was that Claude? Wasn't Claude supposed to be HRG's partner? And shouldn't he have been on the run from the Company by then? Wasn't there a fake death involved?
I have a headache.
Did these bastards really kill off Mr. African Isaac? Why does it always have to be the likable, interesting characters? There was no good reason to kill him, anyway. It isn't like he has an offensive power. Arthur could just walk in and suck the power out of Hiro, and there's nothing that painter-guy could do to stop him.
And even if Arthur just felt like doing some killing, why pop his head off? Seems like a waste. (And yet another example of the show choosing special effects over coherent stories. No wonder they're chronically over budget.)
I wonder if that was Sylar doing the head-severing with his never-before-seen second acquired power.
Couldn't Ando run up and bonk Arthur on the head with a shovel? That seems to work pretty well.
There won't be a review next week - I'm going to be on vacation. Don't think I've given up on the show and thrown in the towel. I plan to stick around long enough to see if the recent personnel changes will make a positive difference in the quality of the show.
Fingers crossed.
Edited to add: I thought of one more thing that doesn't make sense. Ok, so Arthur can plant thoughts in people's heads and erase memories. Why doesn't he just do that to Nathan? Why leap to "Nathan has to die?" For crying out loud, he could just use his power - tell Nathan not to pursue Linderman - and the problem is solved!