Broken Frontier

In December, this season of Heroes was shaping up nicely. Samuel’s true, evil intentions were emerging, Peter was finally becoming one of the show’s most interesting characters and Sylar was suitably badass. Fans had every reason to eagerly anticipate the show’s two-hour return on January 4. Unfortunately, these episodes were as lifeless as Nathan Petrelli.

What, too soon?

Maybe I’m being too harsh, but these new episodes, “Upon This Rock” and “Let It Bleed,” don’t deliver the kind of punch this show needed upon returning from a month-long hiatus. Is the potential for a solid conclusion to this season still there? Absolutely. That said, there’s a difference between unraveling a narrative slowly to tantalize an audience and stagnating things to the point of boredom.

Since we last saw Claire, she’s been living and working with the Sullivan Bros. Carnival and things seem to be going pretty well.  Sure, she abandoned college to lug around boxes of stuffed animals and pick up trash all day, but at least she’s with people who understand her. But Lydia—the carnival’s resident tattooed lady—informs Claire that Samuel isn’t what he seems.  She directs the former cheerleader to Samuel’s trailer, where she finds a filing cabinet loaded with information on people with abilities. He’s tracking people, but for what? Claire asks Lydia, who tells her that Samuel killed his brother Joseph—who formerly ran the carnival—and that things have gone downhill since he took over. Eli, Samuel’s henchman with the ability to duplicate himself, notices Claire’s snooping and nabs her.

And where is Samuel when all of this is going on? He’s visiting Emma, who has just been rejected from medical school after Peter had persuaded her to apply. Samuel meets her at her apartment, informs her that he—like her—has a special ability (she’s deaf, but can visualize sound). But the real power he’s interested in is her ability to attract people with her music, sort of like a pied piper. He’s in search of a man who can control plant life, but when his power began to manifest himself he freaked out and went into hiding in Central Park.. Samuel takes Emma there, she plays her cello (which we learn was a gift from Samuel) and the man, Ian, is drawn out of hiding. With Ian, Samuel can begin cultivating his sanctuary out in the desert for people with abilities.

When Samuel returns, Claire confronts him about what she’s learned. He takes her out to the valley so she can watch Ian build the carnival’s permanent new home. The visual effects here are pretty impressive for this series, as we see the barren valley become lush, vibrant and teeming with greenery. But Claire can’t be bought that easy, and she decides that she’s better off going back to her old life.

Meanwhile, remember when Hiro got his mind scrambled by one of Samuel’s carnie henchman? Well, as a result or that damage to his noggin, Hiro can only speak in a mish-mash of cryptic fanboy riddles. He tells Ando that they must travel to the land of swamp dragons to rescue Dr. Watson from Arkham Castle. Since you’re reading this on Broken Frontier, it’s safe to assume you know a thing or two about comic books, so that mention of “Arkham” probably rings a bell if you’ve ever cracked a Batman comic.

Ando is reasonably confused, but when Hiro mentions the X-Men’s Danger Room, he knows Hiro is referring to the room where the show’s resident geek stores his comic book collection. Once there, Ando decodes Hiro’s message and learns that “Castle Arkham” refers to Arkham Asylum, and “swamp dragons” are crocodiles. Hiro’s been trying to tell Ando that they must go to an insane asylum on Arkham Road in Florida, where Hiro stashed Mohinder Suresh (“Dr. Watson”) to protect him from Samuel earlier this season.

Watching Hiro speak almost entirely in science-fiction/fantasy references is actually pretty chuckle-worthy, and his reteaming with Ando is a great move by the writers. But one can’t escape the feeling that his character’s being shortchanged this season. Yes, Hiro is a source of comic relief, but he’s devolving into an over-the-top cartoon character who’s impossible to take seriously even when the story demands it.

There are some other cool bits in the second episode, including Noah interrogating knife-wielding carnie Edgar in ways that would make Jack Bauer proud and some powerful moments between Sylar and Samuel, but the scenes involving Nathan’s funeral  fall flat. Not only are they slow—literally, there’s slow motion involved—but it’s hard to get emotionally worked up while watching characters mourn someone who’s been dead, really, since last season. There’s a sequence after the funeral during which Peter and Claire (Nathan’s biological daughter) respond to a hostage situation at an office building, and it livens things up a bit. But these heroics seem like filler material even if it is  great to see Peter—the series’ only real superhero—actually saving lives again.

It’s a rough start to 2010 for Heroes, but this season could still turn out to be quite good in the end. It just needs to pick up the pace moving forward.