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  • 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

"Heroes: Run"

By STEPHEN LACKEY     February 15, 2007


Greg Grunberg in NBC's Heroes
© NBC

This was supposed to be the week Claire meets her father, at least according to the promotions, but as is common for most ads for this series, it was inaccurate, to put it nicely.  While the story did move forward for some characters, for some reason this episode just seemed a bit slow and less interesting than previous episodes.  The best part of the episode was the Jessica/Matt interaction, the worst was Hiro and Ando’s near useless story, with Claire’s story somewhere in between. 

So, Jessica has taken to doing hits for Linderman in order to pay back her debt to him.  The first hit we see her do is on a man who has hired Matt as a bodyguard.  This leads to an exciting cat and mouse game between Jessica and Matt.  It’s interesting to see the two of them using their powers in this chase.  Jessica is of course using her super strength (and having a really good time I might add) and Matt uses his abilities to hear Jessica’s thoughts, and even Nikki’s when Jessica and Nikki are fighting.  In the end, Jessica is much better with her abilities and she makes the kill she was hired for and nearly kills Matt in the process.  Not only was the chase interesting, but the appearances of Nikki in virtually every reflective surface were fun too.  This may be part of Nikki’s attempts to take back control of her body.  I’d like to see the events from Nikki’s perspective and see more of her fighting to get control back.  While I’m on this part of the story, I have to talk about some irritating issues with it.  Why don’t DL and Micah question all of these Fed Ex boxes Jessica keeps getting?  Also, if DL truly cares for Micah, why does he not seem the least bit concerned having Nikki/Jessica in the house when he knows what she’s capable of?  This is just weak writing for Micah and DL. 

Hiro and Ando make it to Las Vegas and are right away conned by an Amazon of a woman to go up to a hotel room and steal a bag for her.  While there are some funny exchanges between the two characters the story just feels like another week of filler for them.  Will it play into something bigger?  Maybe.  If it does, it’ll get interesting then, but for now overall, I just found it boring. 

Claire gets determined to see her father, who we now know is Nathan.  Claire’s real mother tells her that he doesn’t want to see her, that’ll he’ll give them a bit of money but that’s really all he’s good for.  Back when Claire was conceived, that might have been true but Nathan is changing and he definitely feels conflicted about not seeing her.  Claire never sees the conflict on his face, she just hears him agree with her mother that not seeing her is for the best.  Claire’s mother even offers to call Claire but Nathan, making decisions based on a conversation with his own witch of a mother, decides it would be better for them not to meet.  At the same time, Claire’s adoptive mother may be suffering from brain damage due to all the times HRG has used the Haitian to erase her memories.  When will Claire snap and start taking some real action?  It needs to happen soon. 

I was thinking of something else.  We are seeing people appear who have apparently had their abilities for years.  Mohinder and his father have led us to believe that these abilities are a new evolution.  So, is Claire’s mother on the list?  What about Peter’s new teacher?  On this subject Mohinder and Sylar cross paths at the home of a new hero who can melt things.  Mohinder arrives too late as a calmer and even creepier Sylar has already killed the newbie and taken his power.  Rather than just killing Mohinder, Sylar decides to listen to what he has to say, and Sylar discovers a new and easy way to get to the heroes he wants to kill; partnering with Mohinder.  This may be the most interesting development of the episode as the conflict that’s sure to follow should be exciting. 

“Run” overall was a good episode but it did feature some sloppy writing and some stories that are treading water way to long.  I’m hoping the writers get things back into gear next week.  Next week’s big promotion is “someone flies, someone dies”.  Based on the track record of the marketing for this series, someone will probably hop over a puddle while crossing the street and someone else will get a paper cut.  The big cliffhanger with Jessica getting orders to kill Nathan will hopefully lead to some more action, and maybe even some super hero team sequences.  One can only hope….

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ultrazilla2000 2/15/2007 4:06:37 AM
What was the "sloppy writing"? I didn't have much problem with DL and Micah not questioning things. Jessica has control and has them fooled into thinking she's Nikki full time again, as if her therapy worked. When it comes to the abilities being a "new evolution"...I guess it just depends on your interpretation of the word "new". Theoretically, evolution is something that takes place over millions of years, so having a "new" mutation in the human race could be anything that happened in the last century easily. I'm really feeling bad for Clair, she's really having her world pulled from under her. Real parents who don't want to be with her...adoptive parents who consist of a lying/secretive father and a mother and brother who may be getting their brains scrambled...she really needs some new stable people in her life! For some reason I'm predicting it will be Peter in her future. They seemed to share something special when they met.
ponyboy76 2/15/2007 4:17:55 AM
Heroes continues its run(no pun intended) as a great show. And I know a lot of people here don`t like the Nikki/Jessica arc, but I think its pretty damn cool to watch. Obviously, Jessica really enjoys killing people and Ali Larter really plays that up really well. I don`t know if its poor writing, as far as D.L. and Micah but it seems that they struggled so much without that they are just happy to have her back. My question is how come Micah doesn't realize that Jessica is in control. In previous episodes I was led to believe that maybe he could tell if it was his mother or Jessica. I guess maybe it was more to do with her actions then some sort of sense that he had. The writers didn't make use of Micah or DL but they can't use everyone in every episode so its understandable. They juggle the characters pretty well in my opinion. As far as Claire`s mother and the Invisible Man being on the list. I doubt it, considering people thought that they were both dead, for different reasons. The would be no way for Mohinder`s father to find any evidence of them. The Ando/Hiro parts were okay, but I guess it was more about Ando wanting to do something. He`s been following Hiro`s lead up until this point. I guess there will be some sort of end to justify this bit of filler in this weeks episode. After all, her name was Faith. I can`t wait to see what happens with Sylar and Mohinder. I mean its not like he can just have Mohinder find these people and he just kill them in front of him. After a few end up dead, Mohinder would have to figure out a connection. I definitely wouldn`t call this a "filler" episode as it does push along the story and leads to some wild developments. Looking forward to Next week`s ep!
dragon261 2/15/2007 8:01:35 AM
The reviewer fails to mention Matt's taking the diamonds which was a huge character shift and goes a long way toward developing his character. I think that the diamonds will ultimately draw Matt and Jessica back together for round two. And I think the Ando and Hiro scenes were unnecessary and should have been cut or shortened to allow for more meat to other areas of the episode. I like the Hiro character but he's been in every single episode, I feel that the character is becoming overexposed and may ultimately prove to harm the show in the long run.
EvilMonkey 2/15/2007 8:11:13 AM
I believe that both Claire's mother and the invisible man are on the list but listed as deceased.
mbeckham1 2/15/2007 9:12:09 AM
I beleive there is a story line revolving around an older generation of Heroes who had there powers before Chandra's daughter put him on the path. Peter's teacher in definitely on that list and I expect Claire's mother was too. Mr. Bennet did mention to Isaac that Claire's mother was one of the special people his organization tried to "help" and that things didn't work out. I liked the last scene between Jessica and Nikki when Jessica looked for her in the nearest reflective surface and instead to Jessica's surprise found Nikki's image standing on the stair way. That would seem to have significance. It may thay Nikki's on her way to take over again. I loved how Matt Parkman used his powers evade and then to hunt down Jessica and then to find the diamonds, he's getting better at taking avantage of his abilities. In fact he had the dropn on Jessica until his own ability to hear Nikki fooled him into thinking there was another hired killer, and Jessica was smart enough to pick up on that and use it to her advatage. And on the Nikki/Jessica and Hulk comparison. I can't really see the Hulk being that clever. I agree about DL, even if he thinks Nikki's therapy worked he should be taking precausions, and the audience should be shown that he's taking pecausions at least with Micah. It would make a great deal of since for Claire's adopted mother fogetting who Claire is to be the last push to get her out of the Bennet house. And I hope that's the case. Her mother was probably the main thing keepingb her in that house after finding out some of the thing her adopted father had done. It wouldn't take too long for Claire and Zach to Scooby out who Nathan is and where he lives. If her mother actually delivers on the "half" of the money she preomised then Claire would have the means to get a plane ticket and even a place to stay. Or as ultrazilla2000 pointed out she might look for Peter, the man who saved her life. Either search would take her to New York. I agree about Hiro and Ando. Their story was at best, clumsy effort at comic releife, that is really costing in narrative momentum. And now we have the futher stall that Hiro and Ando have been separtated and that Hiro may be in the custody of the Fish and Game guy, Hope is running from. I'll be a little happieer if this setup involves Linderman in some way that is more substantial than we've seen but for now it seems like just another annoying distraction. PS her name was "Hope" not "Faith", though either would work on a thematic level.
bjjdenver 2/15/2007 11:51:08 AM
B- ?? Ok, it was a weaker episode of Heroes, but only a B- on a scale compared to other episodes. Compared to the other shows on TV, I still give it an A. The ads however get an F. They don't need them to keep us coming back, only to draw more viewership, and that doesn't seem to be where they are directed. Do a catch-up show like Lost and Jericho and bring in new viewers. My problem with the Nikki/Jessica arc is this...who the Hell was her sister?? Why does she have the knowledge and skills of a super assassin? How does she outsmart and outduel a psychic veteran cop? It's not that easy to shoot accurately if you are a beginner, so where does she get those skills? I think the time is coming quickly to introduce Linderman, but I'm sure that will be towards season ending episodes.
CalamityJohnson 2/15/2007 3:20:36 PM
Okay, guess I'm in the minority here but I was hugely disappointed w/this last episode. Hiro's arc was laughable and ridiculous. Terrible wriiting, acting, direction, etc. So illogical in every sense. No one does that. No one. (I'm referring to the whole stupid bag in hotel bit and ridiculous arguments in the hotel room while huge security dude is showering... bla bla bla...). Nikki's part was by far the most interesting. Agreed, but even there was some huge writing holes. As a telepath Matt should be able to see through Nikki's subterfuge. Somebody might argue that Nikki is "shielding her thougths" or some stupid idea like that but how would she know? And, like any lover of fantasy/sci fi I understand that there has to be some suspension of belief but absolute voidance of logic is another thing entirely. To tell you the truth I was more intrigued by Claire's story as her's and Peter's are the only interesting ones in my opinion. Kill all the others off. I could care less. As for Sylar and Mohinder. Um, what does Sylar need w/Mohinder? He's been finding dozens of heroes on his own w/o any help so why does he all of a sudden need Mohinder? 'Cept for the necessity of convenience to bring the 2 together for some purpose. Weak weak weak writing and very unbelievable motives for the characters. D in my opinion. I wasted my time tonight. It's as if the show had planned from the beginning to resolve the explosion of New York in the final episode but then found that they had progressed too much (that's widely debatable) and had to fill in space before coming to their climax. Oh brother... When you find yourself saying that 10x's in an hour's length then you've gone from fantasy/scifi to the absurd. This was nothing but an hour filled NBC commercial black hole. I'll take Lost any day of the week. Medium too for that matter. Boston Legal..., um, Friday Night Lights... oh brother, pretty much anything was better than this. I wonder if that "Let's Make a Deal" show is any good...or whatever it's called.
Spiderparker 2/15/2007 9:53:18 PM
Pretty Harsh on Hiro and Ando storyline Calamity....... Try and think back to the first few episodes and see how the writer established the Hiro and Ando characters .....and it should not be a "so illogical" storyline. Ando has a fetish for any sexy blonde girl who gives him the time of day....remember the Nikki..incident. Ando's actual a pretty pathetic guy when you think about it. He always rides Hiro on when he starts talking about being a Hero and destiny....Ando no less has got his head in the clouds about the real world and the real dangers in it. These guys are freshmen...there naive.....this story line is perfect...(and fits with there character presently) What do you expect them to do. Automatically know karate and kick butt and take names later...come on. Just remember the Hiro who traveled back in time on the Subway train to talk to Peter with his sword on his back, full of confidence in his powers and his place in the world... Right now he's only got two out of the three ...but he's way ahead of the rest of the characters.. (except Sylar). I think the storyline was fun for the Hero and Ando, compelling and heartfelt for the Claire conundrum she's in, suspensely irritating for the Nikki/Jessica line, Peter's coming into his own-you thought he'd be the weakest Hero at first-but oh no. Stories like these don't happen in a rush. You've got to let the sauce simmer to get the spices to meld just right. Don't rush it guys....I give it an A- (why the minus- because I agree Nikki's family should have said something to the effect "what the hell are you doing out of the Psycho ward so soon babe!" I'm out til nex time.
jetpackjesus 2/15/2007 9:57:53 PM
Was Nathan with Peter when Claire saw him after homecoming? I can't remember, but it seemed like he recognized her when he looked at the picture. Given his stance on the powers and his brother, I suspect that might have been a huge factor is his decision to say no to seeing Claire. They also went to great lengths to show Claire didn't actually see Nathan's face. So yeah, anyone remember because that was the feeling I got from that whole sequence.
ponyboy76 2/16/2007 4:29:20 AM
Well, JetpackJesus, I`m pretty sure that they were never in the same room together or even saw eachother while Peter was in jail after saving Claire`s life. I think Nathan had left by then. There would have been more of an acknowledgment in his face if he recognized her.Maybe he just doesn`t remember her. She has probably seen him before which is why they made it so she wouldn`t see his face. Again, I respect everyones opinon but Calamity must not be watching the same show as we are. Every scene in that episode and situation plays on their characters. It makes sense for Sylar to take advantage of Mohinder`s list. HRG wanted to work with him to find the people on the list too. I`m sure they have the resources without him, but yet they still needed him. How is any of this weak writing. Why don`t you write an episode before complaining about this one or go watch Medium or any of the other shows you mentioned?
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