Heroes: Season 2, Episode 3 Review: Kindred

Kindred
Original Airdate: October 8, 2007
Writer: J. J. Philbin
Director: Paul Edwards

Only three episodes in and already the season has gotten a lot of flack from critics and fans, which is expected as the honeymoon period ends. “Heroes” is one of the more entertaining shows on TV, but it is a flawed success. Unfortunately more of the flaws are visible right now. Now I want to remind my readers that I’m not out to write reviews merely to knock a show or gush excessively about it, which tend to be the two major factions of internet critics. Odds are “Heroes” will get trashed a bit among fans who won’t like it compared to the first season. That may be the case for me. However, I’m going to try to keep a critical eye on the show without being a superficial fan boy who screams “J*** T** S****” at the slightest provocation.

Unfortunately, this episode is lacking in momentum. Most of the storylines make little progress, as if they’re holding off until some major event later in the season. Essentially, they’re waiting for this season’s equivalent to Peter and Sylar’s first encounter in “Homecoming”. While the episodes at the end of the introduction of the season may be good, it’s like they didn’t have enough of an idea what to do for the six or seven episodes in between.

One such point would be Hiro’s adventures in 17^th Century Japan. As shown in previous episodes, a much larger force can override his time traveling abilities, such as being unable to save Charlie or times when he is propelled distantly into the past or future. Since he hasn’t finished his work with Kensei, he can’t go back. With no hint at what he has to do, this feels like another instance of them stalling for time until the modern plot requires Hiro to return, likely a third into this season.

Kensei’s reaction to his new found power could ultimately lead him down a dark path, despite Hiro’s persistence in setting him forth to accomplish his heroic deeds. Considering Kensei’s attitude using his power for personal gain, it could easily corrupt him. Kensei himself may be the Group of 12 Killer. With rapid cell generation, what natural causes would kill him? Considering the literal time distance from the other stories, it would be nice to see Kensei pop up in the present, if only for more David Anders.

Probably the best example of a stand still plot is Ando’s, who basically spends the episode reading Hiro’s accounts. Normally it wouldn’t matter why no one in over three hundred years opened that compartment in the handle and found Hiro’s letters, but this episode doesn’t get the same suspension of disbelief.

Obviously, Sylar’s return was the most hyped element, but unfortunately the ads backfired as this episode was essentially a reset for the character. The narrative in the first season practically demanded that Sylar die at the end of the story. However, Zachary Quinto grew into the role as the season progressed and became one the show’s biggest draws. Reprieving a doomed character out of fan adoration can be a double edged sword. Spike on “Buffy” was only meant to last half a season, but he made it to the series finale of spin-off “Angel”. On the other hand, “24” had trouble bringing back Nina Myers and Sherry Palmer for the third season after their stories had played out. Which camp Sylar will belong to remains to be seen, but I’m willing to believe he’s the first case scenario until proven the latter.

Following Hiro’s wound, Sylar evaded authorities because of Candice, who apparently didn’t use her illusion generating ability to cloak herself (either that or they needed an explanation for why they used a different actress, as Missy Peregrym is on another show). Now he’s convalescing in a shack somewhere while Candice uses her illusion powers to make it easier on him. Once he’s shocked out of that, his pain and still present wound are enough for me to forgive the writers for letting him survive when he should’ve been killed.

Sylar’s predicament is confusing. Who thought it was a good idea to leave him in a house in the middle of nowhere with one person and no guards? Sylar is a killer and wouldn’t hesitate to act on his urges if he knew someone had special abilities. Candice’s phone call hinted at bigger players wanting Sylar to get better, so why isn’t anyone else helping her? If this is how the Linderman group is operating without him, man the company has fallen apart.

If they’re trying to make West an endearing character, so far they haven’t hit that mark. West’s advances towards Claire are best stalker like and Claire’s reaction is appropriate even she wasn’t on the run. It’s understandable he would be happy to find someone else that had abilities like he did, but it doesn’t explain his lack of tact in confronting her about it.

Then suddenly he takes her on a flight and suddenly they’re kissing on the beach? This coupling is at best forced and at worst rushed. It would make sense if they took more time, adding Claire’s understanding of West’s secret to complicate their relationship until she developed feelings for him. Unlike other arcs that are waiting for future episodes, this one accelerates the pacing because it needed to be this way at this point in the season.

Things become even more complicated when West is revealed to have been one of Bennet’s past captures. Despite their desire to hide from their past, it found its way to them. West’s recalling of “the man in horn rimmed glasses” is as subtle as everyone seeming to know The Haitian’s nationality just by looking at him, another example of the characters speaking to the audience rather than naturally.

Of course, this is meant to complicate Bennet and Claire’s relationship, but whether this works isn’t clear. Claire learning of her father’s real job was a major element behind their story, so why is she so cold toward her father when she learns her father captured West? Had they done a better job developing the West and Claire storyline, it may be easier to swallow, but it seems hard to believe she would begin to turn on her father after he gave up everything for her.

Considering all the fates in limbo at the end of last season, killing off DL was easily the safest bet. Generally their subplot tended to be on the weaker end of the ensemble, so hopefully DL’s death will jump start it. Despite that, it would’ve been nice to have him die on screen, because there is the obvious discrepancy between his death and when he was shot (it seems unlikely a guy in his shape would take two months to die from a single gunshot wound to the stomach).

DL’s death serves to disturb Niki’s sense of peace after being able to control her strength during her rescue of Micah. Being a single mother is hard, and has been for her in the past. Added her fragile emotional state, her power makes her a liability more than an asset. She wants to be the best mom for Micah, but she can’t let him be around her now, leaving her with presumably DL’s mother, played by another Star Trek alum Nichelle Nichols (perhaps she’s one of the twelve). It’ll be interesting to see what happens to Niki as she tries to get help from the company with Mohinder working as a double agent.

One of the more unusual things taken from this episode is the new coupling of Parkman and Mohinder. Mohinder and Parkman’s argument over whether Mohinder’s work in New York could jeopardize Molly’s safety (despite them still living in an apartment the company knows of) is reminiscent of a married couple. Whether this was unintentional or comic relief isn’t clear, but is a welcome element of the story.

Elsewhere in Ireland, Peter still struggles to remember who he was while the gang prepares their heist that they’ve “volunteered” Peter to help with. At the end of the season, Peter lost control of his powers which resulted in the explosion. In the alternate timeline, Peter has mastered his powers so that he can summon the appropriate one when necessary. Now he’s wondering how to summon them. It turns out naturally, as he moves the van in the way of the guards to facilitate their escape, as we saw in previous episodes when he used that energy blast to propel an attacker away from him.

With that blank slate, Peter finds himself susceptible to using his powers for less honorable causes, as evidence when he uses telekinesis to choke the dirty member of the gang like Darth Vader. Perhaps the power that put him in the canister wanted to vilify him, as his power makes him a valuable commodity among the special people. Perhaps Caitlin is in on it. Some have theorized that Caitlin wants to keep Peter from finding out the truth about himself. It would’ve made sense for Peter to use what was in that box to contact his brother or mother to tell them he’s alright, but she stops him with a kiss. It’s possible that is just misleading.

Maya and Alejandro’s subplot is the most frustrating of the bunch. While some fans are exaggerating the emphasis the producers have placed on these characters over the established ones, I’ll concede that their storyline has been repetitive at best. Each episode has this basic outline: the twins separate, Maya uses her powers to either kill or incapacitate everyone else around her and they reunite, usually with some apology for what she’s done. It’s understandable that they may want to keep these two from meeting Mohinder until later, but they should either do some other storyline or keep the characters out of the episode.

One of the few moments that did advance the plot was the reveal of Isaac’s last painting in the series, depicting Bennet lying dead (who appears to have been shot through his left eye) with a blonde female and another party in the shadows. It would be a safe assumption to think that the blonde is Claire and the male may be West. If that’s the case, it’s disturbing because it looks like the blonde is kissing the unknown party. It’s possible that Claire may be persuaded to help West in his quest for revenge, but that would be out of character considering last season’s story. Regardless of the truth, this one should make Bennet’s storyline much more interesting.

This painting connects Bennet directly to the Group of 12 Killer. Bennet’s role in the company was rather low in the hierarchy, not to mention he is about 20 years younger than the other members. If the killer is targeting the original founders, why would he or she target Bennet? If West is the culprit, then it would make sense because of the personal vendetta. It also suggests the killer’s plan to take them out one by one goes astray somewhere between now and when the painting takes place.

Despite the nice twist of the serial killer story, most of the stories in the episode are either stalling or moving too fast. The wide focus also doesn’t give the characters much in the way of development either. Perhaps future seasons of “Heroes” would benefit by taking a page from “Lost” and only covering a few storylines an episode. Hopefully this slump will end when stories begin to collide without a major dent made into the viewership, but who knows how patient fickle fans will be?

Overall Score: 6/10