Heroes s1:3 review

Since I watched the last episode of Heroes, I’ve learnt two important facts. Firstly, Hayden Panettiere was at least seventeen when she filmed her scenes, so I won’t be needing to hand myself in at the local police station just yet. And secondly, Peter Petrelli is still really annoying.

Three episodes in, I’m still finding it difficult to ignore his slanty mouth. If I really concentrate, I can block it out for a couple of seconds. But then all I see is his stupid floppy hair. Flop. Flop. Flop. However, on the whole, I’d say he was marginally less irritating this week, and his first scene of the episode also helped endear him to me. Attempting to fly from the monkey bars in a children’s playground, he falls flat on his face in the sand. I just wish it were possible to kiss gravity.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Heroes are struggling to deal with their newfound abilities. Matt Parkman, the mind-reading cop is being interrogated by FBI agent Audrey, but uses his powers to convince her he’s innocent. Of course, the natural thing to do when someone reads your thoughts and speaks them back to you is to run out of the room, screaming, covering your ears with your hands to stop your brain from leaking your bank details. Audrey, however, invites him to work with her. Clearly chuffed that he didn’t even have to hand over his CV, Matt accepts. Unfortunately, things quickly go downhill from here, as he runs into the rather unfriendly Sylar, and then ends up being drugged while drinking at a bar.

Elsewhere, Isaac continues to get high and paint the future. You do have to feel for the guy. He wants to save the world, but he has to take mind-altering drugs to see what’s going to happen. That said, perhaps he could try taking slightly less potent substances – Lemsip, maybe? Regardless, he should just be glad his brains haven’t been scooped out yet.

Continuing to make Isaac’s power seem rather useless, Hiro convinces his friend Ando to go to New York with him. This he achieves by stopping time, in order to save a schoolgirl from being squished by a truck. Prior to this, he’d already shown Ando the comic book, which manages to predict everything they say. Sceptical as I am, I think if I’d been presented with a magic, future-predicting comic book, with me in it, I’d probably hold my hands up and say, “Man, that’s some creepy shit. When’s our flight?” Ando’s response is to get back to work, like it never happened.

Psycho-bitch mum Niki continues to be a psycho-bitch mum, and I’m getting the feeling her power is pretty stupid. As far as I can tell, she has some kind of psychological disorder, rather than a super power. She’s seeing things and she’s prone to sudden, violent mood swings; nothing a bit of heavy medication wouldn’t sort out. Perhaps she should hook up with Isaac.

The highlight of the show this week (apart from super-Hiro, of course) was the final scene. Cheerleader Claire is attending a celebratory bonfire for the school’s American football team, where the quarterback attempts to rape her, before accidentally ‘killing’ her pushing her to the ground, causing a tree branch to lodge itself in her skull. At the morgue, the branch is removed, and she comes back to life, finding herself lying autopsy table, with her torso cut open. They say it’s what’s inside that counts, but personally I found her more attractive when I couldn’t see her internal organs.

And that’s how the episode ended – a fairly intriguing idea, which is enough to keep me watching. All in all, Heroes is starting to get interesting, and probably by about episode ten, Peter Petrelli will have been promoted to the status of ‘tolerable’.