Robert Forster is a god among men…and I’m not even talking about his character of “Heroes.” I don’t know what it is about the guy, but he just brings something to his roles where he can deliver more coolness than ought to be allowed by law, and “Heroes” is certainly no exception to that rule. Mind you, even with that ability, he still couldn’t pull off that awful line that was teased in last week’s preview (“Son, until you change that attitude, you’re grounded”), but I refuse to believe that there will be a funnier delivery of a line by any other character this season than his delivery of the punchline, “Have you met their mother?” Genius. But while Papa Petrelli’s scenes this week with Peter and Sylar were great, his best moment came with his handling of Maury Parkman. Wow. Nice knowin’ ya, Maury.
Claire and Mom have bonded over her handling of the Puppet Master, but it doesn’t stop Mom from being hesitant to accept the idea of Claire going on a road trip with her new best gal pal, Elle. And, really, can you blame her? Elle’s got a villainous past. Still, you have to like the fact that everyone from Claire’s little brother on up is aware that all they have to do to stop Elle is pour water on her.
There was a time when I would’ve heard Claire deliver that line about how “something’s wrong with us” and I would’ve figured it was just the writers being lazy…or possibly Claire just being stupid and somehow forgetting that her problems didn’t start until Sylar sliced into her brain. But, no, it appears that she’s actually being smart for a change and blatantly using Elle to get her own problem fixed, even if its origins aren’t the same as Elle’s. But speaking of stupid, I couldn’t believe the ridiculousness of Claire and Elle flying on a commercial aircraft while Elle’s powers were sparking left and right. I have to believe that the entire scene only existed because someone in the writer’s room was too proud of the “please turn off all electronic devices” joke to let it go unused.
While I’m glad that Mohinder seems to be working his way back to being the same guy we remember from the earlier seasons, it seems like somewhat of an abrupt about-face. Maya’s quivering speech about how he needs to redeem himself for his previous actions is presumably supposed to be the impetus for his return to good-guy status, but it’s going to take longer than an episode or two to erase the whole MohinderFly thing from my memory…especially as long as those cocoons are still hanging around his pad.
Speaking of Mohinder’s place, the scenes that took place there, with Nathan and Tracy meeting up with HRG and Meredith, worked better than I had anticipated. They felt more…real, I guess. Instead of the “Heroes” equivalent of a comic-book crossover, where one hero’s adventures cross path with another hero’s adventures, it felt weirdly casual. (“So, you’re her biological dad, you’re her adopted dad, and she’s her biological mom…?”) That feel lasted into the scenes were Nathan and Tracy met up with Peter and Claire, when Claire offered up that great line, “Dads aren’t always what they seem.” Actual drama in “Heroes” rather than melodrama? Will wonders never cease!
I’m not sure what to make of the whole Matt / Daphne love story. I don’t blame Matt for being naively hopeful that the future he’s seen will come to pass, but how naive is he going to be, and how much is he going to let Daphne get away with? I did enjoy the scene where he pulled a fast one on Knox; it’s been so long since Matt really had a chance to let loose with his abilities that I’d forgotten he could even do that. Or was this the first time we’d really seen him do something as profound as that? I noticed that he made a comment about how his dad could do it, but maybe we hadn’t actually seen him use his own powers on such a level before this.
As for the Peter / Sylar sibling rivalry, Peter definitely got the better one-liner this week (“Just kick his ass, and let’s get out of here”), but I’m interested to see where the Sylar storyline will go. He’s getting to be more of a Mama’s boy each week, reaching a point this episode where Mama Petrelli played to his desire for motherly approval in a big way, but it looks like Papa has his ear at the moment. Then again, Sylar’s so freaking wishy-washy that he’ll probably switch sides half a dozen more times before the end of the season.
Lastly, there’s Hiro and Ando, who served as the episode’s bookends. As much as I could do without another trip through time, the series’ flashback episodes have always proven to be a lot of fun, and the idea of seeing Malcolm McDowell, Robert Forster, and Eric Roberts in the same episode is too much to resist.
