The second episode of “Heroes” gives the show the much needed hook that the first episode was lacking, although it takes a little while to get there. A few things have changed from the first episode: we now get character names included in the location subtitles telling us who and where we are watching instead of just where. Boy, those sure would have been nice for the pilot episode.
We also get introduced to a new character this week: Matt Parkman, a cop in Los Angeles. Considering Matt has been in the print ads for the show from the beginning, and almost every storyline this week picks up immediately after last week’s episode (even flashing back to the final moments of each character’s last episode appearance) I have a feeling this was originally intended to be a two-hour pilot that was split up. I could be wrong, but it seems odd to have a main character in the ads not actually be introduced until week two.
Before I get to the actual episode recap, I will say the show now has me hooked. The second episode gave me something to look forward to more than the first episode did and I’m looking forward to seeing where the story goes from here. Hopefully you are as well.
Warning: This is an episode recap – Spoilers for “Don’t Look Back” follow
Since breaking the storyline down by characters worked so well last week, we’ll do that again, picking up with the duo who left us with last week’s cliffhanger (and this week’s weakest plotline):
Nathan and Peter: The episode begins where the last episode left off, with Peter on the roof, jumping off to prove to his brother Nathan that he’s special. Peter then wakes up in a hospital bed with Nathan bedside. Nathan says Peter tried to kill himself and denies flying; that Peter fell onto a fire escape and Nathan only climbed up to save him. At the same time he has the look in his eyes that says he knows, and that he doesn’t want the truth to come out.
Later, Peter is doodling stick figures in bed (one appears to be flying… he just can’t give that up) when his mom comes for a visit. “There’s something you need to know about your father’s death” she tell her son. Apparently Peter and Nathan’s father didn’t have a heart attack – he committed suicide. This was his third attempt, all three of which she had told her sons were heart attacks. He had been diagnosed with depression since he was 23. And now that Peter has tried to commit suicide she’s afraid he may have carried on the depression, which can be transferred genetically and is sometimes signified by delusions of grandeur. “You were always my favorite,” she tells Peter. “I can not afford to lose you.”
Peter reacts to this news by going back up to the roof, this time of the hospital, where he is found by Nathan. Peter confronts Nathan about Dad’s depression and wants the truth about what happened the previous day. Peter is ready to jump again to prove Nathan will fly to save him unless he admits the truth. Nathan finally concedes and says they both flew. Peter was too heavy for Nathan to hold onto, and he dropped his brother (last week’s cliffhanger). But before Peter crashed into the ground he flew on his own as well. Peter accuses his brother of lying to him again; only telling him what he wants to hear. As he slowly charges toward Nathan, his brother points to the air beneath his feet. Peter has stepped off the ledge toward his brother, but not to the ground. He’s hovering several feet off the ground. As soon as he realizes he’s in the air, however, he falls. The camera cuts back to the stick drawing Peter was doodling earlier, which features a stick figure moving off a ledge towards a stick figure on the rooftop. Does Peter have Isaac’s powers too?
Isaac: Speaking of the painter, it was a light episode for his own storyline. We see Isaac sobering up, being treated by Simone. He admits to shooting up the night before and seeing the city engulfed in bright flames (the painting we saw last episode). Other than his appearance in Hiro’s storyline (see below, we saved the best for last) that was all we got of Isaac on his own.
Niki: We find Niki where we left her last episode: waking up to her son’s phone call surrounded by the dead bodies of the goons who were harassing her, with her reflection shushing her. She flees with the video camera that hopefully holds the secret to what happened that she doesn’t remember. She padlocks the garage (to keep the bodies safe and unfound) and heads off to pick up her son. She calls her Micah, letting him know she’s on her way, but stops to watch the tape, which starts with her stripping, getting hit by the men, and then going to fuzz as the men scream fearfully out of sight. She’ll get no answers here. Her cellphone rings, stopping her from watching the tape. It’s her son, telling her it’s been four hours since she called to say she’d be right there. What happened to all that time? Did she really spend four hours watching fuzz and listening to screams?
Niki’s friend gives her a hard time for leaving her son for so long, and urges her to call the cops, but Niki feels has to cover her tracks. Once Linderman finds out what happened to his goons he’ll be coming after her personally… although if one camgirl messed up my goons like that I would probably be less likely to pay a personal visit, don’t you think?
Niki takes her son home to start packing up, but the kid is too smart for his own good and knows there’s something going on, especially after he sees their house trashed by the goons. Niki goes back to the garage, but the goon bodies are gone. A set of car keys hang from a wire in the center of the garage, with a mirror sitting in front of it. Niki looks at the mirror, the keys, and a cherry red convertible sitting outside the house. She goes to the car and checks the glove box. The car registration is in her name, with a note attached to the back: “In the trunk: follow the map” Obviously Niki’s mirror image has been busy, but has a good sense of style. Niki checks the trunk and finds the bodies and a map. It’s clear what she has to do now.
When we next see Niki she’s driving the convertible down a quiet road in the dark. As she reaches the end of the road and begins to turn around the headlights hit something. There’s a shovel waiting for her. You’d think her mirror image could at least go ahead and dig the hole and all. After all, she’s been this helpful. As she starts digging, it doesn’t take long for Niki to discover what I suspected as soon as she arrived there: there are other bodies buried here already… it would appear Niki’s twin has been very, very busy…
Claire: Mostly brief follow ups to the cheerleader’s escapades from last episode this time around. Her storyline begins with her talking with her father about the possibility of meeting her birth parents. He asks Claire why she wants to meet them. She responds that she wants to learn more about them: “What they are like, what they can do.” Dad takes notice of the second question.
Claire’s dad says there will be complex issues with trying to contact the parents and suggests she instead try and keep things light and fun “like cheerleading.” The typical teenager, she argues that cheerleading is incredibly demanding as she leaves for school. Her father replies, “Trust me, I actually know a few things,” as he looks at the headline about the man that was rescued from the fire the day before, implying what he knows just might include his daughter’s abilities.
At school Claire is rounded up with the rest of the cheerleaders, who are presented to a police officer and several firemen who are trying to determine the identity of the girl who saved the man from the fire the previous day. The man Claire saved from the fire would like to thank the cheerleader who saved his life. Claire isn’t coming forward, but an officer picks her out of the cheerleader lineup. Before Claire can say where she was at that time, another cheerleader tries to take credit for the accomplishment. The cheerleaders celebrate in typical fashion, while Claire approaches the officer trying to find out how the man is. He’s burned, but still alive… “thanks to Jackie.”
Claire has bigger problems however. The videotape of her stunts from the day before is missing. She’s tackled by the football player from earlier, spinning her head around backwards. Thanks to her healing she’s fine however, and thanks to the limited attention span of teenagers, nobody saw her real injury.
When Claire gets back home she finds out Daddy called the adoption agency and tried to arrange for a meeting with her birth parents. The response is that it’s a lengthy process… it could take weeks (he’s hoping years, as I’m sure the writers of the show are). She promises to be his little girl as long as she can, unaware that last episode he was chasing down the one possible link the Heroes could have… and also unaware that he has the missing videotape. The Mysterious Agent knows what his daughter’s been up to.
Mohinder: Mohinder comes to his father’s apartment to find someone already there. Didn’t we do this last episode? In this case, the someone is an exterminator, although Mohinder is suspicious (rightfully so). The exterminator ends up attacking Mohinder and a brawl ensues, with the exterminator pulling a gun and, referring to Mohinder as “professor”. It’s apparent Mohinder’s identity as a cabbie isn’t much use anymore. Trying to make his escape, however, the exterminator stumbles into a woman in the hall, keeping him from getting away clean. The lady in the hall picks up the gun and holds it on the two men. Seeing the exterminator’s holster she realizes he’s not what he claims to be, but he tosses Mohinder into her and gets away.
Conveniently enough, it appears the lady (Eden) isn’t just a stranger. She knew “Papa Suresh” (what Mohinder’s father told her to call him). She seems quite distraught to find out he died. The two share memories of the dead professor, but it seems she was closer to Mohinder’s father at the time of his death than he was. Eden had a first edition of Darwin’s “Origin of Species” she wanted to share with the older professor, and through their conversations he had told her he was being watched. She thought he was just eccentric. Now Eden wonders if they are coming after Mohinder too. He points out they could have killed him if they wanted him dead and asks her to share everything his father told her about the map and his theories.
As Mohinder and his new friend are investigating the map, Eden realizes Papa Chandra still has messages on his machine, one of which is from Nathan’s ad campaign. The next message is of more interest: Mr. Sylar asking why Chandra won’t talk to him anymore, declaring that he can’t control “the hunger,” and stating that Chandra made him what he is. Mohinder reveals Sylar is what his father considered to be “patient zero.” Their conversation makes it sound as if the specials somehow come from an experiement Chandra performed on Sylar, which has since spread to the other specials (if he is indeed a “patient zero”).
Eden also finds Mohinder, the lizard. In the lizard’s cage is a portable hard drive. Mohinder discovers the hard drive contains a way to find the heroes, the specials. As my wife said: I hope all the bugs have been removed from the room, or else Claire’s daddy knows this new secret.
Matt: We are first introduced to Matt Parkmen on the job at a serial killer crime sight as he complains about being stuck directing traffic. The FBI (or someone) shows up, leaving Matt and his partner to talk about some test results that have come back. Matt isn’t hearing his friend’s complaints though. Instead he’s hearing a child’s voice pleading, “Please don’t hurt me.” He follows what he’s hearing into the building where the FBI (or whoever) agent is assessing the situation. We see the family’s father’s body frozen solid with the top of his skull sawed off. The mother is impaled on the stair banister. The pleading keeps going in Matt’s head. He opens a hidden room under the stairs and discovers the little girl is hiding.
Of course Matt’s supervisor and the FBI (or whoever) agent want to know how Matt knew where to look for the girl. Foolishly he tells them that he could hear the little girl – couldn’t everybody? They want to ask him more but he tries to ducks out claiming to have couples counseling. The FBI (or whoever) agent thinks Matt’s worthless… and he hears her thinking it.
It’s revealed Matt has failed his test to become a detective three times. Now his superior is wondering if he didn’t set up this situation to look like a hero. Matt replies: I didn’t kill these people, Sylar did. Apparently that was the wrong thing to say. Only six people associated with the crime knew the name Sylar, and Matt wasn’t one of them. She asks him how he knew that name. He claims he heard it, from her. “Like you heard the girl whisper,” the superior thinks. “Yeah.” Matt replies. Without even visibly reacting to the fact that Matt replied to her thoughts, not her words, she cuffs the officer. Guess he doesn’t get to enjoy those officer benefits for long in this show.
Hiro: Amazingly, the best storyline this week came from last week’s comedy relief character. Just teleported in, Hiro screams “Hello New York!” He runs through the streets saying hello to everyone, until he sees himself on the cover of a comic book titled “9th Wonders” screaming his “Hello”. He has no money to buy the comic of course, so he runs away, comic in hand. The comic refers to the events in Chapter 1, including dialogue between himself and his friend. He turns to the back cover and sees the publisher/writer/editor’s name is Isaac Mendez, and decides to seek him out and find out why he is on a comic that is predicting his actions.
Nobody appears to be home at the address the comic lists so Hiro lets himself in and sees Isaac’s collection of paintings, including more panels for the comic strip that feature Hiro. He also finds a trail of liquid that leads to a gun. Isaac has blown the top of his head off. Hiro, who foolishly picked up the gun, is standing in shock when the police arrive and he faints.
The brain is missing from Isaac’s body so the police aren’t exactly letting Hiro go. They ask how a man with no passport, money, or tickets managed to get to New York. He tells the truth: he teleported there. The police aren’t buying it, so Hiro calls his friend back in Japan, who claims Hiro has been missing for five weeks. For Hiro it isn’t October 2nd. It’s November 8th, as the newspaper declaring Nathan the electoral winner announces. As the date starts to dawn on Hiro, an explosion sounds in the distance and Hiro turns to see the vision Isaac painted. When the light fades, he is back on the train in Japan.
Presumably, it is October 2nd again. Isaac is still alive, and the election, and whatever explosion that will engulf New York City is still five weeks away.
Mohinder closes the episode as he waxes philosophically: “For all man’s bluster, it is the sad province of man that he cannot choose his triumph. He can only choose how he will stand when the call of destiny comes, hoping that he’ll have the courage to answer.”
As I said, a much more interesting hook this week, with Hiro showing us the future and Isaac’s vision confirmed. Will the show follow events in real time, putting us only five weeks away from that vision? Is Isaac really only a short term character? Is Eden really the innocent neighbor she’s told Mohnider she is, or is there more to the character we haven’t seen yet? Will the Mysterious Agent turn in his own daughter? And what is the deal with Sylar? More questions to be answered hopefully, as “Heroes” continues…
