Oct 27 2009
Heroes Review: “Strange Attractors”
Almost amazingly, I thought last week’s episode of Heroes was pretty damn good. There was a lot of focus on Sylar and although the show didn’t have a lot of action, it showed a lot of potential. For the first time in a while, there were compelling storylines in Heroes worth watching. Would this week’s episode – “Strange Attractors” – make it two good shows in a row for Heroes? Keep reading the full review to find out.
This week’s episode started off with Sylar in bed with Matt’s wife, and he’s giving her the business. And she’s loving it. We find out that, of course, it’s not really Sylar, but Matt, and Sylar is controlling his mind. Matt’s wife comments about how great the sex was, and Matt realizes that Sylar can now pretty much take over his body. It wasn’t surprising that Matt’s wife enjoyed sex with “Sylar;” you just know Matt has got to be awful in bed. He’s such a pudgy wuss. I’d bet anything that about half the time, he cries afterward. But enough of that. Knowing that Sylar can control him, Matt forces his wife to leave for her own safety, calls Mohinder (ugh…I guess he’s coming back? Hopefully as a bug.) and then proceeds to get wasted.
It turns out that booze weakens the Sylar part of Matt’s brain and when Matt starts pounding the hard stuff, Sylar disappears entirely. Or not. By the end of the episode, Sylar appears to have completely taken over Matt. What about the alcohol? Hopefully we’ll get an explanation for that. I like the idea of a mind-controlled telepath running around and freaking out, so maybe the writers can continue to do something cool with this storyline. I’ve liked it so far.
The Claire storyline had all the makings of horrible television, but it wasn’t nearly as awful as it could have been. Gretchen and Claire are “kidnapped” by their future sorority sisters as a part of Hell Week, and are then taken to a slaughterhouse where, uh, I think they look for clues Scooby-Do- style or something. I’m not used to hearing sorority hazing stories about slaughterhouses; the ones I remember involve fellating a banana and standing in your bra and underwear so the sisters can circle your “problem” areas with a black Sharpie marker.
The invisible girl who is secretly working for Samuel attempts to kill Gretchen, but Claire saves her and then somehow manages to get impaled on something. I’m not sure what, but it was sharp. Two other pledges who had been tailing Claire and Gretchen witness the impalement, as well as Claire pulling herself down and healing. Will the Haitian be called in? Probably, but Claire’s secret being revealed to the world would be much more interesting.
Jeremy – the kid from last episode who can heal or kill just by touching -is locked up in the local prison because his parents were found dead. Noah does his best to get him out. but is unsuccessful. He reaches out to Tracy, figuring that as a person with abilities who was wrongly imprisoned, she could relate to him. Oh, and pose as his aunt so that he can be released. It doesn’t work, but then it does work (seriously – what?), and Jeremy is allowed to go free. Later, someone gets in Jeremy’s face (it seems a lot of people have beef with this kid), Jeremy touches him, and the guy dies. A cop takes issue with this, ties Jeremy to the back of his vehicle with a chain, and then drags him to death. So much for Jeremy.
Samuel had been doing his best to recruit Jeremy – through Tracy – and was pretty pissed off when he found out what happened. It was predictable but still awesome watching Samuel cause the ground beneath the prison to give way. At least, I think that’s what he did.
All in all, and despite a Claire storyline, I thought Heroes was pretty good again. What did you guys think?
As an aside, the main difference in the last few episodes of Heroes – as compared to the last couple of seasons – is that in these new episodes, we’re only seeing a few characters at a time. It’s not 20 people with powers jammed into an hour of television, and as a result, the characters can be developed more, and storylines can take their time developing. I think it’s one of the main reasons that Heroes has been pretty good recently. I hope the trend continues.
More Unreal Posts
- Heroes Review – “The Art of Deception”
- Heroes Review: “Brother’s Keeper”
- Convoreview: Heroes – Shades of Gray
- Heroes Review: “Shadowboxing”
- Heroes Review – “Ink”
I really think the explanation to the alcohol issue it that Sylar was screwing with Parkman the whole time. The Alcohol was never making him weaker he was just making Parkman get blackout drunk so that he could take over for good. I’m not sure how happy I am about because Parkman acting like Sylar, or rather the guy who plays Parkman acting evil seems like it’s going to be cheesy.
I didn’t really understand at all why Parkman’s wife returned with his partner. Does she think his being in AA or whatever support group he’s in has something to do with being addicted to an actual substance? Why would she think that, she’s pretty much the only person he could be honest with about wanting to quit using his power. It was all very confusing.
I had a scheduling conflict last night (Gossip Girl will always outrank Heroes as I find Chuck Bass sexier then Sylar *it is a close race tho*) anyways I’ve learned trying to follow Heroes during commercial breaks is hard. I think I’m more excited for the preview of next week’s episode that goes back in time again but has old school Sylar, hopefully they don’t screw this up. I’d like to know why Samuel is so against Hiro helping Charlie (she will now always be Emma thanks to Glee)
GET IT? IT’S LIKE THE MUTANTS ARE BLACK PEOPLE. HEROES IS SO DEEP!
They said Claire was a virgin. They lost all credibility by saying Hayden Panetierre was a virgin.
so i guess this is the second time Heroes has used alcohol in a bad a manner. not that i’m complaining though. good episode btw.
@ Warren
Hmmm, maybe that’s the case. Was Sylar just messing with Matt? I guess that would make sense. Anyway, I’m glad he took over.
@ Cheryl
Next week should be good, yeah. Old school Sylar is always welcome. I just hope Hiro doesn’t do something dumb and screw up time for the 500th time.
@Paul
Oh, come on…right when I start to like this show again, you’re going to hate it???
@ Josh
Eh, Claire isn’t Hayden. Pretty sure Noah would kill any guy that got to second base with Claire.
@ Sean
We got heroin, too, that’s the Isaac (was that his name?), the painter from Season 1.
I am LOVING the season thus far, apart from the fourth episode Acceptance. Although I’ve always loved this show, probably because I started watching during season 2 and thought it was amazing and didn’t see season 1 til later. But for the first time and a longgg time I felt human emotions after watching an episode of Heroes! I didn’t even care about Jeremy that much, but his death was SO SAD. And I LOVE Ali Larter and her characters, and I really think it’s a shame she isn’t utilized more because Ali Larter acts the crap out of every scene she’s in (ik you hate her, but I loved Tracy last night and she was basically the best part of the premiere).
And I LOVE the Carnival people too! They are incredibly intriguing, and Samuel makes a fantastic villain. His plan is slowly shaping up I think. It seems pretty much like this: he wants to gather as many “heroes” as possible so that they can attack the regular humans. That’s what it seems like anyway.
AND (totally ranting now, sorry) I really like Emma, the visuals to her power are really striking, and it’s really cool that it has a sort of destructive twist. ANDDDD the cello that was sent to her in Hysterical Blindness was from the Carnival! They must have some sort of interest in Emma!
NEXT EPISODE LOOKS FANTASTIC! Anyway, I’m done now
- I loved Samuel and his brand of justice at the end. We need more of this as it baffles my gf and I as we watch people like Parkman and Jeremy being little bitches about their powers.
- RE: The dragging scene with Jeremy. There was no way I thought they would really do it. Living in Texas, the Jasper TX dragging death story is still very well known and I thought Heroes showed some balls with that graphic of a death.
- Want more carny folk! I want to see some more of their powers, if not just quick glimpses (like the family of “fire breathers”).
- And the Sorority: Founded in 1920′s? Hell Week already before they even pledged? or had a pledgeship? It’s the top house and there were only 4 in their pledge class? Yeah, sounds like a smart kid (Honors) Sorority rather then a real one.
@ Shaun
I agree about powers – why the hell wouldn’t you use them to get ahead?
And about the dragging scene, yeah, that’s the first thing I thought of, too.
[...] Read last week’s review HERE. [...]