Broken Frontier

While a bit talkative and uneventful overall, this week’s episode of Heroes, “Shadowboxing,” moves several characters’ stories forward and gives this season some much needed clarity and direction. It also provided one of the show’s coolest and most surprising moments ever, although the permanence of this event is soon called into question in the preview for next week’s episode.

Without getting too deep into spoiler territory—if you’re a Heroes fan, you won’t want the surprise ruined—the moment in question concerns Matt Parkman, who still has Sylar rattling around in his brain. Or is it Sylar who still has Matt rattling around in his brain? When we last saw these characters in “Strange Attractors,” Matt tried to force Sylar out of his mind by drinking himself stupid. Unfortunately, his plan backfired when he blacked out, allowing Sylar to usurp control of Matt’s mind and body. With a super-powered sociopath in the driver’s seat, Matt is forced to stand by as Sylar treks to New York to find out what happened to his body.

But Matt’s not entirely helpless, managing to thwart Sylar at the airport by planting a gun in his carry-on bag. Matt still has some control when Sylar isn’t paying attention. But Sylar fights back in his own way. When a Good Samaritan tries to help Sylar change his flat tire, he beats him to death with a tire iron. As far as everyone else is concerned, Matt is a murderer—not Sylar.

“The world is my hostage,” Sylar warns. Matt knows now that if he doesn’t play by Sylar’s rules, innocent people will die. And the blood will be on his hands. As a result, Matt grudgingly explains to Sylar what happened to his body. As Sylar exits the diner, he realizes that Matt has cleverly alerted the authorities. What happens next is a potential game-changer for this season.

In this episode, we see Peter Petrelli using his newfound healing abilities as a paramedic, but using this power is taking a toll on him. He soon learns that there are just too many people that need his help. Meanwhile, we learn that Emma Coolidge abandoned her medical training when her nephew drowned while she was babysitting him. But when she saves a young girl’s life when Peter could not—even with his ability—she’s convinced that finishing medical school might not be such a bad idea. I like seeing an act of heroism on this series that has nothing to do with super powers, and I look forward to what the Heroes creative team has in mind for this character. Emma’s bizarre ability to visualize sound as colored lights might not be all that interesting in the grander scheme of things, but her character has a great deal of depth considering that she was introduced this season.

Another major storyline featured this week is the relationship between Claire Bennet and her roommate, Gretchen. In league with Samuel Sullivan’s band of carnies, sorority sister Rebecca made an attempt on Gretchen’s life, using her power of invisibility to attack her and Claire during a scavenger hunt. She also impaled Claire on a metal spike right in front of two other girls. To prevent her secret from getting out, Claire tells the girls that they’ve all been drugged and are hallucinating. Surprisingly, this makes total sense to them. No one said college students had to be smart.

Gretchen is sufficiently freaked out about the whole attempted murder thing, so she leaves. Claire has a horrible track record when it comes to roommates.

Learning that his adopted daughter is in trouble, Noah swoops in to save the day, bringing along the memory-wiping Haitian for good measure. Noah confronts Rebecca, and we learn that he killed her father when he was working for the Company. Now, Rebecca wants revenge. At the same time, Samuel, Rebecca’s “uncle,” takes advantage of Claire’s shattered emotional state, telling her about his carnival and how she can find that acceptance she needs by joining him. Claire seems interested initially, but as it turns out, she’s only stalling Samuel until Noah can return to her dorm room. This makes for a pretty cool moment for the father-daughter team. Noah takes Samuel into custody, but one wonders if Samuel’s attempted manipulation will have any lingering effects on Claire.

It’s not all that exciting as far as Heroes episodes go, but “Shadowboxing” introduces some new story twists that should give fans hope that this season will ultimately pay off.