Hayden Panettiere as Claire Bennet on Heroes
© NBC

Mania Grade: A
Stars: Masi Oka, Ali Larter

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"Heroes: Six Month’s Ago”

What we have here is an origin episode.  I was afraid that we may be getting our first “filler” episode.  You know, that episode that really doesn’t have a lot to do with the main storyline.  In a way it was a filler episode, but it wasn’t any less interesting.  In fact, the episode is very necessary in that it deepens the motivations for many of the main characters, most importantly the super powered killer Sylar.  In this episode, we get to meet Sylar and see his back-story and his is the most interesting, and most comic book in tone.  We first meet him as Gabriel, a fittingly biblical name, the watchmaker.  He’s mild mannered, timid, and quiet, but he’s particularly talented at repairing watches. One day Chandra Suresh, Mohinder’s father, shows up in the watch shop to tell Gabriel that he may be the man he had always hoped to be.  Chandra has a list of people he has determined may have the genetic evolution that would give them special abilities.  When Chandra performs the necessary tests and tells Gabriel that he actually may not be special, Gabriel explodes in a rage and begins killing those that are on the list.  He first kills a man with telekinesis and some how, off screen, takes his power.  He returns to Chandra and demonstrates his new ability, putting himself back on the professors’ radar. It’s during that first murder that Gabriel takes the name Sylar from a watch in his store.  This story just feels so classic; the man dedicated to make mankind better creates a villain who only wants to be special.  I’ve seen it more times than I can count in comics and in classic literature but it still feels so fresh here.  Getting so much about Sylar this week really makes up for the lack of information from last week’s episode, even though we still don’t know why saving the cheerleader saved the world. 

The basis for this trip down memory lane is Hiro’s attempt to save Charlie, a waitress apparently killed by Sylar.  After witnessing the murder in the previous episode Hiro jumps back in time, intending to go back one day to save her life.  He actually travels six months back in time.  Rather than trying to go forward in time, he just chooses to live out the six months, or a good amount of it anyway.  He tries over and over again to convince Charlie of his abilities and of her impending doom.  She takes it all as flirting and it often comes off quite romantic because Hiro is obviously infatuated with the girl.  Hiro unfortunately learns a hard lesson that may have an overreaching effect on the series.  He can’t change the past no matter how hard he tries.  He may have prevented her from being murdered, but in the future he ahs created Charlie has a blood clot in her brain.  So, was Charlie always going to die of the blood clot or did time do this to her because Hiro stopped the murder?  It’s apparent that Hiro can change the future, but not the past, so how does that affect his little trip from the future in ninja garb to tell Peter to save the cheerleader?  You have to be very careful with this time travel debacle, hopefully we’ve learned much from STAR TREK in this regard.  In the end I was sorry to have seen the last of the instantly likable Charlie and the chemistry she shared with Hiro.  Her death is a necessary part of Hiro’s evolution as a “hero”.  All the greatest heroes have made the most tragic sacrifices, and now Hiro is well on his way.  His back-story just goes further in defining him as the most fun and interesting character on the show. 

The other back-stories weren’t as interesting as Hiro and Sylar’s but that did offer some solid groundwork for the development of the characters.  Nathan has always been an unlikable character, possibly even a future villain, but now we see where he’s coming from, and the weight he carries with him.  From this episode we now know that his experience with Peter wasn’t the first time he had used his ability to fly.  Seeing him leap from the car as it crashed was a jaw dropper, and as awe inspiring as the moment was it was also one of the darker in the series.  He simply hovered away as his wife crashed in the car leaving her wheelchair bound.  He’s so callus and self serving though it’s a little tough to see where they plan to go with him.  Does he feel guilt over what happened or does he not really care as long as his political career isn’t affected?  He sure likes sleeping with any cute blonde that might happen along.  Speaking of Nikki, her back-story has given her some required complexity and depth.  Having her split personality being named the same as her dead sister adds some potential for new ideas with her character.  Is her split personality a result of child trauma or is it somehow connected to Jessica and the biological evolution sweeping the world in a more literal way?  For the first time so far, I’m a bit interested to see where her character goes. 

Eden’s back-story also crosses with Mr.’ Bennett’s and his daughter Claire.  Bennett finds Eden and he uses the Haitian to help catch her and explain to her what her options for a future are.  She agrees to work for him, which leads us to her moving in next door to the professor.  The interesting part of this for me was learning that Bennett’s initial involvement seems to be to get Claire’s name off the list.  It’s simple, too simple, and it made me wish for more of a back-story on this shady character.  The biggest misstep of the episode is that of all the time given to Matt Parkman, the cop.  He gets a good amount of screen time but other than the fact that he has dyslexia, we learn absolutely nothing new about him.  I like this character a lot but he had no purpose in this episode at all.  Minor complaints aside we now have a great platform from which to see these characters evolve throughout the rest of the season.  I also think it was a brilliant more to do this now rather than during the opening weeks.  It’s interesting to know what the characters have done so far and what they’ve been through and then go back and learn what might have motivated them.  I’m sure we’ll get another episode like this because there’s much more to learn.