Heroes Report: Angels and Monsters

I don't know why, but Monday's latest episode of "Heroes" felt like far and away the best episode of the season, and possibly the best of the past two seasons. I don't know why. Maybe I am just in a good mood after seeing the girlfriend for much of the weekend. Maybe it's because I'm on a geek-high after fixing two un-fixable computer problems in two days. Maybe it's just that last week's episode was SOOO BAD anything would look fantastic in comparison.

I don't know why, and I don't care, I just enjoyed this week's show. And I say that considering my new resolution from the start of the season, trying to go with storylines once the writers establish them and only crucifying the writers when they first come up with the initial bad idea to start a story.

While I still have plenty of reservations about this "Hunger" aspect to Sylar's and now Peter's powers (it turns Peter evil too easily and takes all the honor and mythos out of Sylar's possible redemption), Sylar really shined here. Between his interaction in the car with HRG (both early on while eating the apple and later trying to get underneath HRG's skin talking to Clare) was mischievous without seeming menacing, and saving Clare from the vortex was obviously a step in the right direction for the character. (Which, by the way, I now believe he and Clare are going to be shacking up sooner or later... his kid's name was Noah, after all...).

I also liked how he played the scene in which HRG tries to get Vortex guy to kill Sylar... Sylar could hear all that, right? Well, I just like the fact that Sylar didn't immediately run from the situation or try to attack Vortex Man. It not only showed a humility to the character, knowing he might not be strong enough to evade the vortex if need be, but it also showed that Sylar believed in the possibility that this dangerous powered guy may be just misunderstood, much like Sylar is hoping to become. Anyway, as long as Sylar did hear all that stuff going on, I thought it was a strong moment for him.

That said, my grand hope now is for Sylar and Peter to fight alongside each other at season's end, with Sylar sacrificing himself for Peter to live. That would not only get rid of one of these two impossibly powerful characters, but it would also solve the story problem with this simple fact: once Sylar goes good, turning him evil again would be pretty tough make people believe.

But, just to go back to the Vortex Man for a moment, how great was this power?!? I wanted him to stay around for a long, long time, just because his power was so cool. Plus, he did seem like a nice guy. Who knows, we may see him come back, since the whole idea of a vortex was pretty murky. For all we know, he may not be dead at all, just waiting to vortex himself right back onto Earth.

And before we get off of this group of people, I just want to know, what the hell was Clare thinking when she went into Vortex Man's home? Sure, she got the knocking him out part down, but what was her plan then? She didn't keep him sedated long enough to transport him, and even if she did, how was she going to move him? Little Clare wasn't going to be able to drag him to her car or anything! I'd call it bad writing, but she's just been a moron a lot of the time, so this was just a dumb move on her part.

Anyway, on to new business. Was I the only one who knew Maury was behind Linderman as soon as Linderman was seen talking to Daphne? Which, incidentally, bravo to the writers for that little trick up their sleeves. But, that said, I would have rather not seen Maury in this episode. I thought it was enough for them to show Parkman as their next recruit, dropping one last clue, before showing Maury in the flesh. Oh well, I guess there was a reason for the lack of deception at this point, one hopes. I do find this collection of characters very odd, though.

We're going to be looking at a team consisting of Knox and Adam (murderers), Daphne and apparently Hiro (both lovable non-murderers), they're going after a mostly straight-edge in Parkman, and if the clues so far have been accurate, another straight-edge in Clare and just a confused woman in Tracy. That doesn't strike me as a team that would work well together.

And speaking of Hiro, which time trick do you think he used to save Ando's life? I think he stopped time to add a whole bunch of fake blood packets to Ando's chest or something. No way is Japan's most dynamic duo since Godzilla and Rodan broken up yet.

Oh, and I love the casting choice for the leader of this little bunch, Daddy Petrelli. Robert Forster is a great actor to play an older mastermind, especially exciting given the odd choices for Bob and Maury last season.

OK, that's about it for the paragraph part of the show. Here are the Random Thoughts:

1) If I had that Puppetmaster's powers, I'd pull the "stop hitting yourself!" gag constantly.

2) Where, exactly, does Suresh secrete that webbing from?

3) On a more serious note, just how fast did it take for Suresh to go from do-gooder to serial murder?

4) Peter was going to murder his own Mother? Seriously/ You're not taking this "Hunger" thing too far or anything?

5) "Like the Cantina" is one of the best geeky Hiro lines in the past couple of seasons.

6) I miss Micah. More than that, I miss whatshername Micah's cousin. Her power had real potential.

7) One of the best things HRG had going for him was subtlety. He hasn't exactly been subtle lately.

8) Knox strikes me as an enormous tool. Just putting that out there.

9) When Meredith asked Mrs. Bennett if she "could do this (and created fire)," Mrs. Bennett should have lit a match.

10) Can it be that we've finally gotten rid of Maya for good?!?!? No, probably not.