Heroes season 2 episode 10 review

Well people, it’s the calm before the storm – let’s face it, there’s no way that 2.10 (dubbed Truth & Consequences) could maintain the pace of the last two brilliant episodes and still leave something in the tank for a premature season finale next week.

And that is how it’s going to be; next Monday’s episode will be the end of the current season for Heroes – and even if the WGA strike currently hitting all the shows is resolved in talks this week, season two will continue down the line in a very different mode. Trust me, that has been related to me from a first-hand source!

Indeed, this was very much a mid-game episode, moving the pieces around the Heroes universe assuming positions for the final exchanges. As such, the episode lacks the bite of Cautionary Tales (2.09), but still contains plenty of bark. Here’s the news…

Bob delivers Noah’s ‘ashes’ to the Bennet family – though we have seen that he is not really dead. Poppa Bennet is later strapped to a bed and in angry exchanges with Mohinder (who shot him, and now appears to be a fully paid-up company guy). He knows his family believe him to be dead, but I’m wondering why the company would want him alive – is it possible that Mohinder’s gone a little off the playbook?

Bob faces down a gun-toting Mrs. Bennet to deliver the ashes. He tells the family they’ll be left alone as per Noah’s wishes. However, he later sets the terminally annoying (and injured) Elle the task of following Claire on the QT. She’s not very good at it.

Nikki tells Micah about the virus she has… and we discover that he’s been planting ideas in the mind of one of the new Heroes, his aunt Monica – ladies and gentlemen, meet St. Joan. However, things don’t go too well on her first mission, as she’s captured whilst trying to recover some stolen things of Micah’s.

Adam Monroe (Kensei) and Peter discuss the future of the virus. The ‘old’ man tells Peter of the work done by Victoria Pratt to extract the virus from Mo’s sister in 1977. This story is later fleshed out in some time travelling by Hiro – who jumps back to see his dad lock Adam up, after he tries to steal a very deadly mutation of it developed by the company. We start to see that Peter’s being used by Adam, a bit like Maury before him.

Peter believes the only way to stop the virus is to find Victoria – so they hunt her down (she’s played by Joanna Cassidy aka Snakewoman from Blade Runner), and she tells them that strain 138 is stored at Primatech. Hiro knows this too, from his flashback. Adam manipulates events so he can shoot Victoria, without making it obvious to Peter that he’s still knocking off company members. If you think about it, there’s a distinct possibility that he and/or Maury are responsible for Peter’s dad’s death too… This could get really interesting.  

Sylar’s continuing to try and convince Maya that she doesn’t need her brother – getting her to control her emotions. He’s creepy that dude, but at the same time a too cartoon-villianish to be anything close to believable, Zach Quinto acts like he’s sending himself up. And can we please stop with the ticking clocks?

Anyway, with Sylar having convinced her that she doesn’t need her brother and that she can control her powers, she then tries to send Alejandro home (to what, I wonder, aren’t they both wanted fugitives?). Even after Al shows her evidence that Gabriel/Sylar is a wanted killer – for offing his mum, remember – she still doesn’t get it. Al’s not best pleased, but ends up on the wrong end of a knife when he confronts his sister’s new favourite. This storyline is, frankly, pants – badly thought out and annoying. Unfortunately, they’re just making more of a mess trying to wrap it up quickly.

Claire says goodbye to West (yay!) as they prepare an escape from Cali, and admits to thinking about getting in touch with the Haitian to wipe all memory of her dad from her mind. Later as they scatter Noah’s ‘ashes’, she spots Elle and is less than pleased with her presence. In a great little bit of girl on girl violence she threatens to make her abilities public and expose them all.

Mohinder receives a call, it’s from Sylar – he and Maya are in New York, at his dad’s old apartment. They have Molly… Where’s Matt? Who knows?

Adam and Peter arrive at Primatech and apparently just waltz in. Hiro zaps in with his sword in hand looking for revenge on Adam. Peter tries to defend Monroe. He and Hiro face off…

So that’s it, the battle lines are drawn for the final 43 minutes. Y’know what, I’m really looking forward to it – which is more than I would’ve said a month ago. Everything about this episode was nicely paced and realised – apart from the Sylar storyline, which continues to be terminally naff. The blame for that lies with some terrible dialogue and an overly-arch performance from Zachary Quinto. Yes, I know Sylar was always annoyingly self-centered and smug, but this performance (and the idiocy of the characters he is travelling with) really takes the biscuit, the coffee in the pot and a donut from the fridge too. My guess is that, now Alejandro’s out the way, Maya may not make it to season three either – she’s certainly in for a shock.

Check back next week to see how Powerless – for that is the title of 2.11 – works all of these strands out.