Mania Grade: B+
17 Comments | Add
Rate & Share:
Related Links:
Info:
- TV Series: Heroes
- Episode: Ink
- Starring: Hayden Panettiere, Masi Oka, Ali Larter, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Milo Ventimiglia, Jack Coleman, Leonard Roberts, Greg Grunberg, Adrian Pasdar
- Written By: Tim Kring
- Directed By: David Straiton
- Network: NBC
- Series: Heroes
Heroes: Ink Review
No Hiro Makes for a Better Hero By
Stephen Lackey
September 29, 2009
Heroes Review(2009).
© NBC/Bob Trate
There are some small issues with the story lines of some of these characters as the show continues but overall, this season so far is a step above the previous one. It’s interesting how the creators have made some really irritating characters from past seasons interesting and made other more interesting ones a bit on the boring side. Peter was a huge bore in previous seasons of Heroes but this time around he’s the only character that’s truly taking the idea of being a “hero” seriously. He’s a loner still in this second episode of the season and only interested in saving people. By seeking “redemption” for his past deeds, he has become a true hero. Finally his story arc appears to be dramatic and not just melodramatic. Yes: there’s a difference. In this episode, he finds himself sued by one of his rescues. Of course, this “victim” is Samuel who has come to check out Peter and see if he is worthy of becoming a part of Samuel’s family. Samuel and his family continue to be fascinating. There is one scene between Samuel and Peter in the hospital where it seems like Knepper can’t decide whether to give Samuel some sort of accent or not. Hopefully more of the “family” that Samuel refers to will be revealed in cameos only. This show doesn’t need more characters to deal with. More on that later in the review.
The character that was once interesting and is now a bit less interesting is Matt Parkman. Granted, there are some great scenes between him and Sylar this week but the basis of Matt’s story is feeling a little flawed. From last season to now there was no indication that Matt became addicted to using his powers but, in this episode in particular, the idea is shoved into the story a bit heavy handedly. Can’t Parkman simply make judgment calls on when to use the power and not? Jumping into a criminal’s mind is a good thing, controlling his wife is a bad thing. It seems fairly simple. Now, if the story is that having Sylar in his mind has been clouding his judgment so he decided to just stop using his powers then that’s a whole other thing. That’s not the story the writers went with though. Sylar is just now apparently toying with Matt. Those scenes between Sylar and Matt in the house of the drug dealer were quite entertaining though. Now, it appears that potentially Sylar could be gaining more control over Matt every time Matt uses his powers. Starting with the premiere and even more so in this second (technically third) episode the familiar sounds of clocks begin to be a part of Peter’s abilities being used.
This episode focused even tighter on a smaller number of characters in this episode which is something the series should have been doing all along. The new Claire story arc started with some potential last week but in this episode for as much as her character is featured not much of anything happens other than ridiculously she begins to trust the girl who seemed to almost be spying on her last week. There was a brief moment where the old hardcore company man version of Noah appeared only to be crushed by Claire making threats of punishing her father. Noah seems to be missing a purpose so far too. Preview for upcoming episodes suggest he will find a direction at some point but all he seems to be doing now is popping up at his daughter’s college dorm room to chat with her.
Just when the show runners seem to understand that the cast is too large, they add a new character. Admittedly, the new character has an interesting ability and there’s some potential for interesting story telling here but anyone that trusts the writers and producers to properly handle “more” characters in an already overpopulated show hasn’t been paying attention over the last couple of seasons. Now if they get rid of Hiro in favor of this new character that might not be a bad thing even though it’s definitely not going to happen like that. Peter and Samuel are at the core of this episode and they are intriguing and Sylar manage to make me smile a few times in this episode and he may actually find a way for Matt to be interesting to watch. Some of the other characters that appeared this week seemed to have very little to do though. The good things in the episode were intriguing and entertaining. Also, the episode gets a few points for not featuring Hiro at all. Unfortunately, the premiere only garnered 6 million viewers so even if the producers of the show are making some good decisions as far as fixing the show we may be looking at the final season. Viewers always drop off from the premiere so the numbers are sure to be lower as the series progresses.
LOGIN
REGISTER
RSS
HOME
I think Knepper dropped the accent in the Samuel and Peter scenes so that it'd seem like Samuel was trying to hide who he was.