Cast of Heroes
© NBC

Mania Grade: A-
Episode: Parasite
Stars: 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

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"Heroes: Parasite"

For all you folks that made such a big deal about LOST taking such a long break I hope you enjoyed this episode of Heroes, because it’s gone again, for another six weeks!  OK, Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, this episode of Heroes had a lot to live up to after the previous incredible episode.  While this one wasn’t as fantastic in visuals or in writing as last week, it was still one of the better episodes of any series we are likely to see this week. 

The most interesting part of this episode is the surprise that the Haitian was willing, and able, to trust HRG’s loony wife.  I wondered how the Haitian would deal with a memory erased HRG hot on the trail of his missing daughter.  Now we have an HRG ready to bring the company he works for down just to keep his daughter safe.  That brings me to the most boring new character on the series, the illusionist (that’s what the actress called her character in an interview I saw).  Her abilities are interesting and they offer the potential for some interesting new conflicts but the actress playing the part has zero charisma.  It’s as if she was hired just to be eye candy, and I thought Ali Larter sucked.  Larter has improved a good bit with each episode she appears in so I’ll keep my fingers crossed for this new addition.  I’m assuming that everyone reading this has already watched the episode.  If you haven’t, continue at your own risk as we are headed into spoiler territory.  HRG’s and his wife’s behind the scenes plotting don’t last long as the illusionist poses as his wife to get the truth out of him.  He’s busted by his bosses at the end of the episode leaving his fate in jeopardy.  

On the subject of Larter, apparently Nikki gets back in control just in time to keep from killing Nathan who is wearing a wire for the FBI as he heads to the meeting with Linderman.  Heavily hyped for this episode is the fact that Linderman is finally revealed.  Not only is he revealed but he shares with Nathan that he knows all about Nathan’s ability to fly, about Peter’s talents, and about Nathan’s daughter.  This sets up the potential for a deep conspiracy, especially when Claire escapes from the Haitian and heads right for Peter’s house where his mother seems to be a little too comfortable with who Claire is.  Suddenly, it seems that all the parents of these super heroes seem to know way more than we had originally been lead to believe.  At any rate, Nathan actually planned to kill Linderman but after Linderman reminds him that a few seconds after Nathan fires the gun Linderman’s men will be in the room and killing Nathan, he drops the gun and prepares to hear an offer from Linderman that involves a future in the White House. 

Finally, Mohinder shows his hand by drugging his new partner Sylar.  By all rights, Sylar should be too powerful for Mohinder to handle alone and he is.  We get some pretty powerful imagery when Peter enters Mohinder’s place and sees him hanging bloody from the ceiling.  This is a confrontation I’ve really been looking forward too.  Sylar and Peter are two sides of the same coin.  They both control a multitude of different abilities and are probably fairly evenly matched.  Sylar has the advantage of more experience using his abilities but maybe Peter’s Jedi training will help close that gap.  At any rate we are left with an extremely exhilarating cliffhanger, and given the six week zinger!   

The end of the episode also finds Hiro and Ando back together and they finally get the sword!  When Hiro uses his powers to get them out of Linderman’s gallery he overshoots it a bit and they end up on the all too familiar rooftop in the future post nuclear blast.  Isaac finds himself deeper into the company when they show up to clean away Simone’s body, and all of a sudden Nikki is taking back control of her body, only at the most opportune times for the plot to move forward though.  The Nikki/Jessica story arc needs to be more than a plot device. 

The thing that this series has done so expertly so far is to continue adding layers to the story without getting convoluted.  It would be easy for the story to turn into a big mess with so many characters and so many different plot threads.  With each question answered, we are given new plot twists that seem to fit perfectly within the universe the series is built on.  There have been hiccups along the way; it took a long time for Nikki’s story to get interesting and now it’s back to plot device land and Hiro has spent way too many episodes spinning his wheels, but overall my complaints are pretty minor for such a complex series. 

The ads keeping promoting the fact that we are on our way to the final chapter.  Do you think this means the final cliffhanger ending of the season or do you think they plan to wrap this story up at the end of the season?  Once the nuclear explosion storyline is done, there’s potential for many more stories of these super heroes saving the world from other villains.