Still from HEROES: Lizards.
© NBC
Mania Grade: B-
Episode: Lizards
Starring: Hayden Panettiere, Masi Oka, Ali Larter, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Milo Ventimiglia, Jack Coleman, Leonard Roberts, Greg Grunberg, Adrian Pasdar
Produced By: Adam Armus, Jeph Loeb, Tim King
Episode: Lizards
Starring: Hayden Panettiere, Masi Oka, Ali Larter, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Milo Ventimiglia, Jack Coleman, Leonard Roberts, Greg Grunberg, Adrian Pasdar
Produced By: Adam Armus, Jeph Loeb, Tim King
HEROES: Lizards
By: Stephen LackeyReview Date: Wednesday, October 03, 2007
I know Heroes has to be one of the toughest series on television to produce. I can’t think of a show running now that has as many important characters. Balancing all of these stories and keeping everything even a little bit coherent has to be a monumental task. With that said, this is season two of the series so the creators should be getting better at their jobs. After looking at last week’s episode a second time, I think I let my fan boy love of the show get in front of the critic in me and I went a bit soft on the show as far as the grade goes. I see the same kind of thing in the comments section all the time. It’s easy for us as fans to apologize for any issues with shows that we dearly love. I didn’t do it with the first six episodes of last season of LOST so I’m done doing it with Heroes too. My job here is to look at each show I review critically not fanatically. Now, with that said, the fact that I am a fan means I get it, so I won’t take points away from a show like Heroes because of comic book drama like I’ve seen on other sites. This is a comic book television series after all.
So, this week we return to Hiro, Claire, and Mohinder for the bulk of the hour but on top of that we get a bit of Matt and Peter. I have to say after the season premiere of Heroes, I did not care for Hiro’s story. I still really like the character but seeing him become his own historical hero didn’t appeal to me. This week ,overall, I’m still not completely engaged by the story but, there were some great moments in the story this week. As most people predicted Hiro would have to dawn the armor and fix the mess that he blames himself for creating. The battle that follows him suiting up is hilarious. Hiro seems to finally be in full control of his power and he’s literally showing off. In the end he returns the armor to the Englishman and tries to give him credit for the fight but I don’t think this will hold. At some point, Hiro will stop pretending to be the “hero” and literally become him. So, last season he spent so many episodes actually trying to steal his own sword. Now, the Englishman did reveal an ability this week, the same ability as Claire. He also has blonde hair. Could they be setting him up as an ancestor to Claire?
Mohinder was sent this week to treat someone with abilities who had apparently contracted the virus that seems to be spreading through the “heroes” or for lack of a better word, “mutants”. As you may have expected the victim is the mysterious Haitian. The Haitian was ready to die but Mohinder convinces him that it’s not his time. For a minute, when Mohinder seemed to be missing his memory, I bought it. What really happened is he was able to reunite Bennett with the Haitian and they seen to be ready to get to the work of taking down the company. I liked seeing Mohinder actually having an effect on this season’s mythology without using some power where he shoots lightening from his hands or something like that. Speaking of shooting lightening from hands…
Peter finds himself with amnesia and the captives of Irish thugs. They believe he stole something before they were able to steal it. So they give him a good beating before he finally remembers he has abilities. When enemies of the thugs show up Peter hands out some beat downs in full on super hero style using a myriad of powers. This was easily the most exciting scene in the episode. With Hiro and Peter truly utilizing their abilities in this episode, I have to hope we’ll see truer super hero events like these throughout the season. The heroes have matured and they understand their powers and they’re using them. In the end, Peter has to agree to help the thugs pull a job in exchange for a mysterious box that contains clues to who Peter is. This feels like filler, a way to slow Peter’s return to New York down for a few episodes.
Are we supposed to like the guy that is hanging around Claire? I don’t think so, but if we are I’m really missing the boat because he seems like an ass to me. He’s a super human and he believes that Claire is true and he’s out to force her to expose herself, at least to him. He’ll even stoop to peeping on her through her window. This kid just really ticks me off. I’d like to see Claire reveal her ability full on to him by finding a way to beat him down. Overall, this kid has no charisma, he’s just plain annoying.
Matt and Ando cross paths this week as Matt investigates Mr. Sulu’s death. The big thing that happens in Matt’s story arc comes during an interrogation of Momma Petrelli. While reading her mind, she communicates with him telepathically demanding he get out of her mind. Is she a telepath? I’ve been waiting to see what she can do and it looks like we’re finally going to start finding out. I’d still rather have seen her die than Kaito Nakamura. Matt’s story arc this week felt almost like a standard procedural with the cop having a special talent, a little like Medium.
The stories this week felt better paced than the season opening and easier to get invested in. At the same time, I still could care less about Maya and Alejandro. Their story just feels unnecessary and after two episodes I still don’t care about these characters. Let me say one other thing that I’m hearing from several friends that I’m actually inclined to agree with. I love that the show is taking on such an epic global feel with characters from various parts of the world. At the same time the show comes on Monday nights when viewers are home from the first hard day of work in the week and the last thing they want to do is spend half the episode reading subtitles every week. My favorite horror films come from Italy and Japan, so I don’t have a problem with subtitles when I pop those films in, but hearing people complain about such heavy subtitles in a night time drama week after week seems legitimate to me. It seems nit picky but I can only hear it from so many people before it deserves consideration. Like last season the show for the first few episodes, still seems to be finding its footing and setting the stage for the rest of the season. This time around it feels like things will settle out much quicker than last season though. Last year, it took four to five episodes for the show to find its rhythm. This year, I believe we’ll be on a solid pace by next episode based on how much better this episode was than the first. So, this year it only took three episodes! Hooray for progress!
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