Heroes: Season 2, Episode 8 Review: Four Months Ago...

Four Months Ago…
Original Airdate: November 12, 2007
Writer: Tim Kring
Director: Greg Beeman

Jumping ahead in time is an effective plot device to create mystery and start speculation as to what happened in between. However, after seeing this episode, one wonders whether it would’ve been a better decision to start the season where it ended. It’s reminiscent, to a lesser degree, of “Alias”’ two years later jump at the end of its second season. After that, the series took a significant downturn in quality and never regained its consistent top notch thrills of the early episodes. It isn’t as bad for “Heroes”, as this is one episode. However, it doesn’t help the series as it seemed to be regaining its footing.

The major loose end concerned what happened to Peter and Nathan when Peter went nuclear above New York City. This felt like a better starting point for Peter’s character this season rather than the surprise of him being in the box in Ireland four months later. Would we have rather seen a few episodes of him in the facility or convalescing in Ireland? I know I’d choose the former. That said, it would’ve botched the Adam/Kensei being alive reveal at the end of the last episode, but it’s possible they could’ve worked around that had Hiro’s wacky feudal Japan adventures been shortened and kept Peter and Adam apart until later.

As the second part of the first season progressed, Peter’s became increasingly worried as to whether he would lose control and be the bomb that was prophesized. Now that he almost killed .07% of the world’s population and severely burnt his brother, it makes sense he would want anything that would halt his powers, or at least suppress them. He was willing to believe anyone, making The Company’s pitch easier to swallow.

In sharp contrast is Adam, who has been held there for some time and has intimate knowledge of The Company’s operations, or seems to give a good hint that he does. Peter is being pulled by both The Company and Adam. The Company claims to want to stop his powers from harming others, but Adam convinces him that The Company is lying and that he could be used to save Nathan. Ultimately Peter’s desire to stop comes directly from his guilt over frying his brother, and luckily for him, Adam has a cure. If only more of the episode could’ve dealt with each side clamoring for Peter.

Having Adam’s blood grant temporary regeneration to its recipient is an interesting perk to his power. How he figured this out may be worth exploring. Of course, when a moment like this happens one has to wonder whether Claire and Peter could do the same. Since Mohinder is out to find her to cure Niki, it’s likely the case for at least Claire and Adam would be too difficult a donor to get.

The reason behind Nathan’s depression is somewhat explained. It’s not uncommon in fantasy for some miraculous cure to have an undesirable side effect. It doesn’t seem likely that Nathan knew Peter helped him as he felt genuinely surprised when he learned that Peter was still alive. Unaware of what helped him, he has the survival’s guilt of suddenly having no scarring while his brother is presumed dead.

This episode confirms Elle had something to do with Peter’s location in the first part of the season, explaining how he learned to use electromagnetism (and what happened to his stupid haircut). As for Elle, even she knows she’s a sociopath, and that’s clear with the excessive shocks she gives Peter, even when they kiss. With some excessive exposition, she mentions she’s been in this facility for sixteen years, likely with little human contact, which would explain her lack of compassion and empathy.

The Haitian’s involvement in Peter’s disappearance is shown, as he is the one who erases his entire memory and leaves him in the box. The build up hinted at a much larger plan with powerful players. Perhaps if this is what we saw in episode one it’d have been better off, but I guess they needed their big surprise at the end of the premiere. To build up that mystery only to have the answer be The Haitian improvising with few options available is rather anticlimactic.

Kring’s original plan for the show involved changing the entire ensemble cast each season, with possible cameos from past characters. However, the characters proved such a hit that those not killed off by the end of the season came back (except for DL). While some characters have a lot of potential for future material like Bennet and Hiro, others seemed to be brought along for little reason. Ultimately the one this applies to most is Niki. Ali Larter is hot, but I don’t see why it was necessary to keep her around this season, and this flashback is a powerful piece to that argument.

One peculiar thing about the premiere was that DL’s tombstone read 2007 despite him being shot in 2006. We were left to presume that he had succumbed to a gunshot wound several months after it happened. Instead of it being a production mistake, the story shows us he did die later, only it makes his initial survival pointless. Just what did him dying in February do for Niki’s story that couldn’t have been done had he just died as expected? They needed Niki to unravel, seeking solace with Bob’s possible cure, but this doesn’t work that well.

The fact that DL didn’t phase through the bullet screams of plot hole. He did it before when Jessica tried to snipe him and he phased through his soon to be killer’s fist minutes before he died! Linderman shooting him could be explained as a beginner’s mistake. The second time is just Kring needing it to happen and forsaking the character. The “why don’t they just use their powers to…” question is one common on “Heroes” and other supernatural themed shows, and can be mostly explainable or forgivable, but this just makes DL dumb. He was a fireman; couldn’t he have died doing something heroic there?

Maya and Alejandro continue to meander, as if the series really needed another “Maya lets loose, kills a bunch of people, Alejandro stops her and she cries about it” plot. For their storyline we give up seeing what happened to Bennet and Sylar, the latter of whom’s survival at Kirby Plaza would’ve been far more compelling to tell. Obviously Hiro couldn’t have been explored, as his storyline picked up right where we left off in the first season finale.

Ultimately this episode failed to capitalize on the momentum made by the last episode. The answers given for the loose ends aren’t very rewarding as we could fill in most of the blanks ourselves or not given enough time. Perhaps a flashback 30 years earlier would’ve been a better choice, seeing how that would’ve fit the reveal of Adam in the last episode. We could’ve seen how the 12 assembled. Or if they want to keep us guessing on Adam’s motivations, have the focus on Adam and Peter in the facility. Regardless, had the rest of the season been this bad, it would’ve warranted the negative publicity. Hopefully this episode is the final bump as the possible end of the season (should the strike run long) looms only episodes away.

Overall Score: 6/10