Heroes: Tabula Rasa Review - Mania.com



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Info:

  • TV Series: Heroes
  • Episode: Tabula Rasa
  • Starring: Hayden Panettiere, Masi Oka, Ali Larter, Milo Ventimiglia, Jack Coleman, Leonard Roberts, Greg Grunberg, Adrian Pasdar, Robert Knepper, Ray Parks
  • Written By: Joe Pokaski
  • Directed By: SJ Clarkson
  • Network: NBC
  • Series: Heroes

Heroes: Tabula Rasa Review

Hiro isn't so Bad?

By Stephen Lackey     October 20, 2009


Heroes Review
© NBC/Bob Trate

 

There really was never any chance that Hiro would die and deep down we all knew that. It was just wishful thinking on many of our parts. The truth was revealed last week in the previews for this episode where the kid that can heal people was revealed. Claire’s blood has had quite a healing factor in the past but with a couple of throwaway lines, the possibility that she could save Hiro was tossed aside this week. While it seemed a little easy, at least the issue of Claire not being able to help was referenced. Does this define Claire’s weakness? Sure, her body heals up breaks and cuts but is she vulnerable to disease or virus? If this series continues beyond this season the possibility might be an interesting one to pursue.
 
The thematic core of this episode is nurturing. Peter, having been a caregiver for the elderly and now an EMT, is the most nurturing of the characters so having Hiro appear to Peter as part of his destiny makes sense. Peter, of course, takes Hiro to the hospital. While in the hospital Peter introduces Hiro to Emma, who is still dealing with her new ability of seeing sound. Hiro’s unbridled enthusiasm is exactly what Emma needs to see the positive side of what’s happening to her. This may be the best that Hiro has been in a couple of seasons. Hiro is still way too silly within this show that’s mostly dark but this new position as a mentor seems to fit his character. He was one of the first heroes and the one that accepted his abilities with the most zeal so it makes sense that he’d be a good choice to help new heroes deal with the changes they are going through. There’s still a difference between comedy relief and just plain silliness and the writers behind Hiro still don’t know the difference.
 
Noah takes a somewhat predictable turn but a well executed one this week. He feels remorse for a wasted life. His job with the company was to deal with these powered individuals for the protection of everyone so indirectly he was helping people but he never felt he really did anything for anybody. This week, he really seems to find his place as sort of a Professor X sort of character. He even tells a troubled kid that his power is that he understands people like the kid and he can help. It’s a really interesting perspective that Noah in fact does have an ability and it’s his understanding of those who have powers. Sure, most of that was just get the gun out of the kids hand sort of talk but it also set a real direction for what Noah needs to do with the rest of his life. If he begins taking in individuals who are dealing with abilities, that could set him up opposite Samuel who does the same thing but with much different motivations. From a comic book perspective, this is really a Professor X versus Magneto sort of thing.
 
The carnival sequences this week could have been shot and directed by a different director than the rest of the episode. They just look that much different than the other scenes in the episode. Some of it works and some of it doesn’t. Nearly every shot at the carnival is shot with the camera leaning at an angle “Vertigo” style. This style of shooting, when done right, does a great job of making scenes feel surreal and out of place but there’s absolutely no subtlety with it here. It feels like the director wants to really slap you in the face with this stylistic choice and if you add in the overuse of “Star Trek” style lens flares and the whole thing becomes more distracting than effective. The buzz around this series is that someone will die and it’s in these segments of the episode that one death does happen and another seems like it might be in the works. Never make Sylar mad because that usually means heads will get chopped at some point.
 
Any episode that makes Hiro tolerable has to be a fairly good episode. The episode is nicely focused on the central theme and how it changes the characters this week. There’s not a lot of action this week but it doesn’t feel absent because the dramatic elements are so well done. The only issues with the episode come with the highly over stylized carnival segments. Not only does the look of these segments come off too chaotic, but so does Sylar’s current story. Honestly, this whole Sylar as Nathan thing has been drug out too far. Hopefully, the end is near. Overall, this is a solid episode of the show.

COMMENTS AND RESPONSES

Showing items 1 - 10 of 10
1 
DayDrumFour 10/21/2009 1:55:01 AM

Not as good as last week. Parkman will find Sylar at the carnival at some point. The problem is, the Carney is trying to get the real Sylar. If so, what's to stop Sylar from feasting on everybody in the carnival? And won't Sylar still have that faulty power that makes him change into somebody else?

fft5305 10/21/2009 11:03:16 AM

I hope Sylar decides to make a new beginning. I'm getting a little tired of his whole bad guy routine. He gets annoying after a while.

ponyboy76 10/21/2009 12:57:53 PM

I kept on saying to myself whenever Samuel talked about wanting to get to the real Sylar, "no you don't buddy!" I do like what the writers did because there is no way in hell that the old Sylar could live in that carnival enviornemt. It would be like a fat dude at a Sizzler's buffet. We already know that he its not just because he is evil but he is actually addicted to stealing powers. When and if he finally does resurface, I feel sorry for those carnies.
I have always like Hiro. Yes, sometimes he was annoying but for the most part , out of all the characters he's had the best intentions. And he still could actually die, considering he is now 3 years in the past and doesn't know that Peter can help him.

MrJawbreakingEquilibrium 10/21/2009 6:24:25 PM

I have a feeling that Nathan is in Sylar's body and Sylar is in Nathan's but both of them are amnesiac and have only tiny little stains of memory from the body they are occupying now.  But who knows?

samson 10/22/2009 1:21:43 AM

I'm liking this season so far. Almost as much as I liked the first one.

On another note; I'm surprised no one pointed out that the kids in the hospital sene from last week were singing the theme song from "Greatest American Hero." I thought that was kinda cool.

Samson

redhairs99 10/22/2009 3:20:26 AM

Yes, the Sylar as Nathan storyline is dragging, but ya know what else is dragging?  The Deaf woman's powers!  Sorry, I do like her and yeah her power is kinda neat, but I wish they would get to the point already and explain what purpose her power actually serves.  Or, is it just something someone in the FX department said "Hey, ya know what would look cool?"

MJBE, not sure what you mean by "Nathan is in Sylar's body and Sylar is in Nathan's but both of them are amnesiac."  Nathan's actual body is dead and buried, supposedly 'cause you know these writer's have a difficult time actually keeping people dead i.e., Tracy and Hiro.

Also, the whole Nathan dying storyline still bothers me.  I mean, Claire was right outside the room where Sylar killed him and nobody thought "Hey maybe we can use Claire's blood to heal Nathan and that way we can keep Sylar dead."

DayDrumFour 10/23/2009 2:04:30 AM

Now we have a healing kid. It's an upcoming cheap writer's trick if there ever was one.

Noah should fix him up with his daughter.

silversurfer 10/23/2009 9:04:53 AM

I think that the healing kid was just there for the sake of Noah getting on the path that he needs to be on: Helping them instead of bagging and tagging them. I do like where the writing is going this arc. It seems as though the writers are being careful not to piss anyone off....Hiro can be tolerated because he's doing things that are off the cuff, and the focus isn't on him as much as it has been in the past. Same with Peter.

Ponyboy76: I said the same thing when Samuel mentioned that about Sylar, which means that, again, that the writers are keeping people interested. I like where it's going, but they do need to bring to an end about Sylar/Nathan/Matt....there should be some resolution to this coming up soon. According to some postings that I've seen Samuel is going to be there to stop Hiro from saving Charlie....it would make sense, and also add some more intrigue to Samuel's character.

Is it just me, but Samuel is something of a scene stealer? Robert Knepper is doing a great job as this character...good move for the show again.

dracor00 10/23/2009 11:03:39 PM

the nathan/sylar story is kinda boring and predictable. for all Samuels work I am 99% sure of exactly what will happen and its going to be exactly what happened in the comic book Exiles from which the idea was taken almost exactly when they trapt hyperion in morphs body and made him believe he truly was morph.  In the end hyperion released but he stayed so long as Morph that the 2 personalities merged to become a new personality.  I very much think that is what is going to happen with sylar/nathan. 

I do like hte idea of Samuel Vs Noah ala Magneto and Prof X.

I hope they explain what is causing Hiro's random teleport/time jumps. Yes his emotion controls it somewhat but when he"blinks out"  its not at his control and He didnt mention Peter or anything remotely before he blinked onto his doorstep. 

dracor00 10/23/2009 11:04:25 PM

and robert Knepper is fantastic just like he was on prison break

1 

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