Image from Heroes: Unexpected
© NBC

Mania Grade: A-
Episode: Unexpected
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: Unexpected"

Well I can’t believe it!  The promises made by the promotion of this series are finally fulfilled!  Someone did fly, and someone also died!  Also in this episode we get a new super group formed of Matt, Ted, and the new heroine Wireless.  Claire finally reveals to her father that she retained her memory and a lot more.  This episode was packed with action and events that will have a long term effect on the heroes, just what I was hoping for. 

Let me start with what I didn’t like, and haven’t liked in a few episodes: the Hiro/Ando story.  Their story has been nothing but filler for at least three episodes.  Last week, Ando was duped by an Amazon-like woman and found himself this week with a gun to his head after he discovered the truth about what he was helping her steal.  Hiro is approached by a man he believes works for the gaming commission but instead the man is the one that Ando stole the bag from.  A gunfight ensues with Ando and Hiro hiding out of the way and watching.  Hiro comes to believe that Ando should not be helping him on his mission because he will get hurt so Hiro leaves him at the end of their story.  This is the only bit of substance to their story line in three weeks.  The fact that Hiro’s power suddenly works to save his and Ando’s life may be significant too. The obvious problem I have with this story is that it’s just filler having nothing to do with the mission. 

I also feel that the partnership between Mohinder and Sylar is problematic.  While it’s interesting to have the man responsible for the death of Mohinder’s father now working with him, I think after the death of a new hero it should be obvious to Mohinder that there’s a problem.  The two go meet a woman with super hearing and agree to return the next day for testing.  When they return the woman is dead.  Mohinder’s a smart guy; I think he should be putting two and two together. 

I have really enjoyed the Jedi training of Peter and it continues in the beginning of this episode leading to Peter truly taking control of his abilities and flying in order to save himself and Claude when they are attacked by HRG and a hit squad.  Peter’s flight was exhilarating, more so than anything on Smallville so far.  Claude leaves Peter because he believes (rightfully so) that Peter has brought him back to the attention of HRG.  All of this starts after Issac calls HRG because he believes that Peter is solely responsible for the coming nuclear explosion, and he’s jealous because Peter took his girl.  HRG leaves Isaac a gun and tells him to use it if he sees Peter.  When Peter does appear Isaac draws the gun and Peter disappears causing Isaac to shoot and kill Simone.  I never really cared for this character but she may be the instrument that turns Isaac fully into a Lex Luthor type character committing him fully to working with HRG.  If that’s the case as much as I disliked Simone she served an important purpose.  I could only see her try to return that key so many times anyway.  Also interesting to note is that Peter uses one of Sylar’s powers during a training session.  Does he only have access to the power that Sylar used when they were together or does he now share all of the powers that Sylar has accumulated? 

I absolutely love how this series is assembling super groups in such a grounded and dramatic way. In this episode we get a team I’d liken to The X-Men.  They seem to be heroes but they are more interested in helping their own kind against the government at this point.  Ted, the radioactive man, and a new hero, a slick looking female named Wireless, and Matt form a plan to get the information they need from HRG to bust out all the others like them from HRG’s labs.  In an intense scene they bust into HRG’s house and take him hostage.  This is some real super group action and it got me extremely excited for next week. 

Claire finally reveals to HRG that she still knows everything and that she blames him for her mother’s current state.  He tells her that he believes that her mother shouldn’t have to know about all of this and that if word about Claire’s abilities got out that she’d be in real danger.  She tells him that she wishes she could run away but she has to stay to defend her family against him.  I’ve been waiting for this confrontation and it was worth the wait.  Claire is in the house when Matt, Ted, and Wireless show up to interrogate HRG.  It’ll be interesting to see if she tries to get her mother and brother to safety or if she sticks around to hear the interrogation.  

This episode seemed to clip along at a breakneck pace, just how I like it.  I’m sure next week we’ll see Jessica’s return as she attempts to assassinate Nathan.  I didn’t miss her this week and I’ll probably want to see her scenes speed by so we can get back to the conflict at HRG’s house.  At any rate, if Hiro would have had more important and meaningful scenes, this would have been a perfect episode.