Heroes: Episode 9

Cautionary Tales

After such a lackluster start, it's so nice to see this show return to form in what I think is possibly the best episode they've ever done. Thematically, the writing was very tight, with the episode examining several father/child relationships; and the cinematography was stunning.

Parkman discovers that his power is developing - from simple mind-reading to something more powerful, like the power of suggestion, only it's done telepathically. Very much like his father. He first realizes what he can do when he thought-pushes Molly into returning to the table to finish her breakfast. Then he plays the Jedi mind trick on his Captain, convincing him to give him another 24 hours on the Nakamura case so that he can interview Angela Petrelli. He wants to know the identity of a woman in The Photo (it's Joanna Cassidy, Parkman, I swear!) and will question Angela to find out. In an amazing bit of acting, the awesome Angela is forced by Parkman to tell him what she knows: That Adam is behind the killings and that he is immortal because after regenerating often enough, the body stops aging altogether. The identity of the woman, however, is something she doesn't want to reveal because, she says, all the woman wants is to be left alone, and that she "made her a promise." She also tells Parkman that if he forces the information out of her, he'll be no better than his father. The scene ends, but later we see Parkman looking at The Photo again, and this time there is a yellow stickie above the woman's face with the name "Victoria Pratt" on it.

I think Parkman is standing at the top of a very slippery slope right now, and I can see him finding darker uses for his gift, not unlike his father. Remember the "dark" Parkman we saw in "Five Years Gone"?

Hiro is attending his father's funeral when he decides this is just not right and he blinks himself back to the roof where his father is standing right before his murder. Kaito doesn't want him to save him, and tells Hiro that he must not play God and that it was meant to be. Hiro won't accept this and blinks himself and his father further back in time to his mother's funeral in order to remind Kaito of how sad he was when his wife died. Hiro encounters his young (and extremely cute) self and realizes that he is being childish. (By the way, all of the funeral scenes were shot so beautifully). Hiro and Kaito return to the roof and say their goodbyes and I cry. Then Hiro blinks out of there and the hooded figure appears and tackles Kaito. Just before they go off the roof, though, Hiro reappears and stops time. His father and his attacker are frozen in midair. Hiro pulls back the hood and sees that the attacker is Kensei (Adam Monroe). He vows to avenge his father's death.

OK, now the big story. This plot was sort of serpentine, but I'll try to distill as best I can.

The Bennetts are packing up the house and getting ready to leave town. Claire tells her father that she isn't going. They argue a lot and she tells him that she hates him and storms out of the house. Claire! Don't ever say things like that! You'll regret it later on, believe me. After she leaves, Bennett finally shows his wife the death painting and explains why he's been acting so weirdly.

Claire tries to reconcile with West, but he's not convinced so he flies away and then swoops down and snatches Bennett from his yard to find out why he took him. They have a nice chat, agree that they both want to protect Claire and Bennett enlists West's help in keeping Claire from Bob and Company.

Meanwhile, Bob, Elle and Mohinder arrive in town and prepare to take Claire by force. We find out that Elle is Bob's daughter, which is what I was assuming anyway. Mohinder gets a big gun from Elle and through his not-so-superior spy skills unknowingly reveals to Bennett that he has been turned by The Company. Claire is kidnapped from her house by Bob (but not before she sees the death painting, finally!) while Bennett and West manage to kidnap Elle from Mohinder. While Bob has Claire, he takes some of her blood; while Bennett has Elle, he tells her that her father basically gave her to the Company for experimentation and that the reason Bennett kept Claire from the Company all these years was so that she wouldn't wind up like Elle. Ouch. Bennett arranges a swap with Bob - Elle for Claire - during a beautiful sunset on the beach. But the exchange goes wrong and Mohinder ends up shooting Bennett in the eye, just like in Isaac's painting! NO! WTF?! But then...

In the final scene we see Bennett lying on a hospital bed, with blood being intravenously pumped into him. The camera pans up and Bennett's obliterated eye begins to regenerate. He awakens, sits up and looks around, and says, "Oh, sh--." He lives!

So who do you think saved him? Did Bob bring him back to The Company labs and use Claire's blood? Was Mohinder in on it? Or did Peter and Adam have something to do with it? Maybe using Adam's blood? Is this a one time deal for Bennett, or will have the power to regenerate now? And if they can bring anyone back with Claire or Adam's blood, will anyone ever really die on this show?

What did you think?