Broken Frontier

Okay, not bad. While the two-hour Heroes event on January 4 seemed to signal a disappointing end to this season—which has been pretty good overall—this episode, “Close to You”, was pretty watchable. However, the disorienting mix between hokiness and sullenness in this series is getting a bit out of hand.

Now, cheesiness is welcome—Hiro and Ando rescuing Mohinder from a mental hospital is a lot more fun than it sounds—but for every moment of levity there are three in which characters drone on about responsibility, fret over catastrophic visions of the future or just stand around being vague and morose.

Some might argue that this series has always been this disjointed, but it’s frustrating that the writers clearly want to embrace the ridiculousness of this series at this point, but attempt to balance the goofiness with gloom and doom week after week. At least the first season’s apocalyptic storyline was accompanied by  the joy of discovery as the characters’ powers began to manifest themselves.

Let’s jump into things with my favorite plot thread this week: Hiro and Ando’s hospital hijinx. As fans might remember, Hiro stashed Mohinder in a psychiatric hospital in Florida to protect him from Samuel (who, in a now-alternate timeline, killed Mohinder over a video about his past). To infiltrate the hospital, Ando has Hiro checked in, and since our favorite fanboy only speaks in garbled geek-speak since his brain got scrambled by one of Samuel’s goons, the charade is pretty convincing.

Wait, since Mohinder has super strength after the events of season three, why doesn’t he just break out? Hiro learns that his meds are keeping his senses dulled. As Hiro puts, it, he and Ando “must turn Bruce Banner into the Hulk.” While “visiting” Hiro, Ando switches Mohinder’s meds with aspirin, but to avoid getting caught by an orderly, he downs the pills himself. Drug-induced hilarity ensues.

Speaking of medication, Ando’s solution to Hiro’s scrambled brain is about as hard to swallow as a horse pill. When Mohinder explains that he was undergoing electroshock therapy at the hospital, Ando reasons that using his energy power can jump-start Hiro’s brain and reactivate his time-travel abilities. It works, and if you heard a loud smacking sound emanating from New York on Monday night, it could have been my palm hitting my forehead.

That said, contrivances and ridiculous scenarios are a lot more believable when a show seems to be at least having fun with the premise, which Heroes is in this case. And when the three teleport into Noah’s apartment right when he’s finally going to hook up with his former Company partner Lauren, well, that’s just comedy gold.

Speaking of Noah, he visits Matt Parkman, who is still reeling from having Sylar rattling around in his head. He wants the quiet life, aspiring to be a stay-at-home dad and making ratatouille (yes, ratatouille) for his wife and son. But he eventually decides to use his mental ability help Noah get information about Samuel from Vanessa, the devious carny’s old flame whom he’s been creepily stalking at her apartment. Matt and Noah tell her to call Samuel and tell him to meet her there (it’s a trap!), but Samuel arrives ready for a fight. He brings along his multiplying henchman Eli, whose duplicates are promptly tased by Noah.

Tasing people seems to be Noah’s “thing” these days, which is entirely too awesome. This new fascination merits a spinoff. Possible titles? Happy Tase? Tase of Our Lives? Just spitballing here.

Anyhoo, Samuel gets away after a brief standoff with Noah. Matt gets discouraged and decides he doesn’t want to be involved in pseudo-superheroics anymore. But he regrets letting his friends down later on. Meanwhile, Noah tries to patch things up with Claire.

The other big storyline this week involved Peter, Angela and Emma’s deadly cello. You read that right. You see, Angela’s had a vision in which Emma’s musical ability—which is becoming harder and harder to explain as this season progresses—will cause the deaths of thousands and thousands of people. Peter snags her power to confirm it. Sylar’s also involved somehow. Peter’s response to this prophetic dream? Smash Emma’s cello. What a jerk.

Heroes is still about as entertaining as it always was, provided that you take each episode with a grain of salt. As much as this show reminds us how serious it’s supposed to be at times, keep these two words in mind: killer cello. That will set things right.