Heroes (Series 3) Volume 3 - Villains - Episode 13 - Dual

The final episode of Heroes (Volume 3): Villains comes to a rather undramatic end, as two brothers go up against each other, in order to ‘save the world’.

Picking up from last week, with Arthur definitely dead, Nathan feels disappointed rather than aggrieved. Peter thinks that his father’s plot to give people abilities is over but Nathan has other plans. He sees it as an oppourninty to continue their father’s work but with their own ideas. Peter refuses and the pair have a stand-off before Peter punches his brother. With Nathan out of action for a while, Peter heads to the lab and confronts the ever-deteriorating Mohinder, help arrives in the shape of Knox and Flint – but it’s Peter who they help, not Mohinder! The pair want to stop people from getting powers then proceed to destroy every drop of the formula they can find.

Meanwhile at The Company, Sylar has got in and put the place in lockdown, which traps Noah, Angela, Claire and Meredith. However before hunting them down, Sylar explains that he is only after Angela, after she had lied to him about being his mother. To combat him, Noah releases the remaining prisoners and tells them ‘whoever kills Sylar will be let free’. Which is quite a silly statement, considering they are already free! However, they don’t last long, as Sylar kills at least two of them, the other - Meredith’s ‘boyfriend’ the creepy ‘puppet-master’, briefly had control of Sylar but ultimately failed in his attempt. Sylar would go on to stab Meredith with adrenaline, which made her lose control of her power (fire) and locked her in a cell, where she would be joined by Noah, not long after.

Another person who is trapped is poor Hiro, who is still in the past. After he gets himself from the flagpole, he persuades his younger self to help him find the formula and destroy it, before it can do any damage in the future.

Meanwhile back in the present, Daphne, Matt and Ando arrive at Isaac’s studio-cum-Mohinder’s lab, which doesn’t contain any hint of Mohinder. The trio quickly come to the conclusion that the only way to help Hiro is to get hold of the formula, which Ando agrees to inject himself with. With Matt being sceptical, Daphne speeds off to Pinehurst and steals one of the injections from Mohinder’s hands. Ando injects himself and after a while, realises that he has no time travel ability, just red sparks that emanate from his hands. However, after a moment where Daphne accidently travels back in time after touching him, we learn that Ando has a ‘supercharging’ ability, which enhances the quality of a person’s ability. Hence Daphne can run faster than the speed of light, which means she can go back in time!

Things aren’t going well for the two Hiro’s, as they are caught stealing the formula by their father who brings out a sword to threaten the older Hiro, who is masquerading as his cook! Hiro tries to explain but gets nowhere, so he rips the formula in two before Daphne and Ando come to take him away, just as Kaito is about to strike. But it’s no good, as we now learn that it was Hiro who spilt the paper in two in the first place. Even though Hiro goes on to destroy the formula in the present, which he steals from Tracy, surely Mohinder would have kept a copy or two?

Back at The Company and after separating Claire and Angela, Sylar bears down on the Cherie Blair lookalike and uses his newly-nicked lie detector ability on her. With her life hanging in the balance, she tells Sylar that she knows who his real parents are and the brooding murder is astonished when he learns that she’s telling the truth. Back in the cells, where Meredith is combusting with flames, Claire manages to get her Dad out but Meredith stays put and after just getting away, a huge flame engulfs the cell area. I wonder if Meredith is indeed fire proof? Noah and Claire find Angela and Sylar and Claire stabs the latter in the back of neck, which ‘shut down’s’ someone with the regenerative ability. I don’t think he’s dead – do you? The trio escape, just as The Company’s buildings blow up, thanks to Meredith’s flames.

Things are still being smashed at Pinehurst but as Knox goes to fetch Nathan, he is quite literally turned cold and falls to pieces – by Tracy. Nathan doesn’t feel thankful, so he ‘sacks’ her before going off to confront Peter. Mohinder is still sprawled out as Flint ignites the room, Peter sees no other alternative but to stab himself with one of last remaining formula injections and just about manages to fly and save his brother from being blown up. Nathan again, doesn’t seem thankful and lets his brother know that he wouldn’t have done the same and takes off. Mohinder also escapes and after sliding about in some of formula, it seems he’s cured of his infection. But as a scheming Tracy picks him up, where will this leave the troubled doctor?

We then fast forward 3 weeks into the next volume, called FUGITIVES and Nathan is in a meeting – with the President. Nathan tells the president about people with abilities and shows them case files of such people. Hiro, Micah, Mohinder, Tracy and Matt are all there but I wonder if Nathan included himself? Nathan tells the President that he wants funding for a centre to control these people and lock them all away, for the safety of the general public. The President agrees and lets Nathan know that he can have anything he wants….

It was an okay episode, not great but certainly passable. I was a bit disappointed though, to see how quickly Hiro found his way home. I felt that it could have worked for a few more episodes with him trapped in the past. I find his relationship with his father fascinating and I hope we get to see more of the marvellous George Takei, or ‘Gorgeous George’ as he is know to viewers in the UK, thanks to his jungle exploits! The relationship between Peter and Nathan has also taken a new twist, as the future that Peter saw could still happen. With Ando now having powers, it should be interesting to see how Hiro reacts to this. I wonder if Ando’s power can actually bring people’s powers back as well as ‘supercharging’ them? I also wonder if Peter has got all his abilities back after injecting himself, or it’s just the flying ability he’s got?

Overall, it was a good first half to the series and hopefully things can move up a gear when the other half arrives soon!

7/10

Next Time: We’ve not got long to wait for Volume 4! Heroes returns in February.

Heroes (Series 3) Volume 3 - Villains - Episode 12 - Our Father

A few of our heroes are no more after this penultimate episode of Volume Three: Villains, called – ‘Our Father’.

Following on from last week’s episode, Hiro and Claire are 16 years in the past, watching Noah who is handed baby Claire by Kaito Nakamura. Despite the language problem, Hiro and Claire decide to see their parents and we see for the first time, Hiro’s mother who is revealed to be the holder of the catalyst, which has been earmarked for Claire. But the grown-up Hiro manages to convince his mother that he is her older son and with his mother also having the ability to heal, she helps Hiro to get his memory back and gives him the catalyst. She then dies and an upset Hiro goes after Claire.

Despite being 16 years in the past, only Claire can be that annoying in both times! She manages to make friends with her mother and takes care of her younger self. In any other self-respecting sc-fi series this would be a paradox! But credit to Heroes for doing it different. Noah trundles in and at first is suspicious but Claire manages to persuade him that she’s no danger and he understands who she is.

Back in the present, Arthur is still getting things ready as Angela sends Peter and The Haitian to kill him. Yeah, thanks mum! Nathan has agreed to join Pinehurst but wants to run things ‘his way’. At first Arthur is reluctant but agrees, for now!

In New York, Matt, Daphne and Ando arrive looking for the last drawings of Isaac Mendez. After a run-in with the courier, they manage to get hold of the last sketches and learn that Hiro is ‘lost in time’. We rewind (or should that be forward?) 16 years ago and Hiro finds Claire and tells her he has the catalyst. They get ready to leave, when Arthur appears, takes the catalyst and Hiro’s ability and throws him off the roof. He also gives Claire a message to give to Angela, that he’s won and sends her on her way. Of course, Hiro isn’t dead – he’s stuck to a flag pole! But with no ability, he is indeed lost in time. Back to the future and the trio decide they must find the formula to try and get Hiro back.

Sylar, fresh from killing Elle and then acquiring another ability – a 'human lie detector', heads to Pinehurst to ask Arthur whether or not he is his father. Peter and The Haitian are already there and as Peter pulls the trigger, Arthur manages to overcome The Haitian’s power and stops the bullet in mid-air. Then, Sylar appears and asks Arthur the question. Of course, he lies and Sylar allows the bullet to kill Arthur. He then tells Peter he doesn’t need anything from him and proceeds to get himself more abilities. Peter sends The Haitian after him, to try and stop him.

In the lab, Mohinder is testing the formula, with the catalyst, on a group of Marine’s. He injects one of these, Scott and after a couple of moments, we learn that the formula has worked and Scott has gained the ability of super-strength.

It was easily a better episode than last week’s! It was nice to see the return of George Takei and Hiro’s back-story, especially with his mother. I’m disappointed to see the demise of Elle but isn’t it great to see Sylar back at his menacing best? I was also surprised to see Arthur killed off so quickly, I thought he was a great character. But in Heroes, the saying goes ‘Nobody is ever dead’!

8/10

Next Time: It’s the last episode for a few months, with brothers on opposing sides. Who’ll win the ‘Duel’?

Heroes (Series 3) Volume 3 - Villains - Episode 11 - The Eclipse - Part 2

Part 2 of ‘The Eclipse’ doesn’t really match up to the very interesting first part. We start with Sylar and Elle, who have obviously been ‘at it’ for quite a while. What the bloody hell has Noah been up to then, eh? He had them in his sights at the end of the last episode! Has he been having a quick ‘shuffle’ I wonder?

Meanwhile Claire isn’t well, her gunshot wound has got worse and we are treated to more tedious moments with her and her adoptive mother, moaning about Noah. Just sod off Claire!

Peter and Nathan are still stuck in Haiti and after Peter attempts a rather silly rescue mission and generally looks very silly, they all manage to get out alive. The Haitian even manages to sedate his brother, who has been in contact with Arthur Petrelli.

Daphne is still doing her best Davros impression and we are treated to a ‘lovely’ heart-to-heart with her and Matt. Meanwhile Hiro and Ando are still reading comic books with their new friends. It’s hardly the best use of actors I have ever seen, I thought the writers should have used Seth Green and Breckin Mayer more, to be honest!

Noah is still hunting down Sylar and Elle and after failing to nail them at a supermarket, the trio all end up back at the Bennet household and a shootout takes place. Just before this moment, all of out heroes get their powers back - as the eclipse clears. With Noah at his mercy, Sylar is denied by Hiro, who after reading he must travel back in time with Claire in his comic book, he teleports Sylar and Elle away and grabs Claire.

Things are looking up for Hiro as he and Claire arrive at the moment that a baby Claire was handed over to Noah. How this is going to help him – I’ve no idea! Back at the comic shop, Ando is told by ‘the two geeks’ that one last comic book, telling their future, does exist – but is more-or-less impossible to find.

It wasn’t the greatest heroes episode, in fact I would say it was the weakest of the series. None of the actors where used properly and I don’t understand why Sylar turned back into his old self, when he seemed to kill Elle at the end of the episode.

5/10

Next Time: Hiro finds out that he can’t be arsed with this saving the world shite and teleports back home and has a cup of tea.

Heroes (Series 3) Volume 3 - Villains - Episode 10 - The Eclipse - Part 1

‘The Eclipse’ finally comes and the Heroes lose all their abilities but that doesn’t stop them from being as murderous as ever!

The only person who is fully happy with this latest development is Mohinder, who has lost all the scales and sticky stuff that he started to spawn. Arthur isn’t happy though and threatens Mohinder to try and get all their powers back.

Arthur’s wife, the dead-ringer for Cherie Blair, has sent her sons to find the Haitian, whilst Matt and Daphne try to look for Hiro. Well its Matt and Daphne who have the most luck - as Ando and the still 10 year-old Hiro, materialise in Matt’s dingy flat.

Peter and Nathan find themselves in Haiti after Nathan’s flying ability cut out in mid air, somehow they survived and landed in the right country! After bickering, over Peter’s visit to the future, where Nathan was on their Dad’s ‘side’, they are jumped by the Haitian, who only speaks for probably, only the third time in the entire programme. But their chat is rudely interrupted by the Haitian’s brother, Baron Samedi, who the Haitian had come to find – and arrest, as he opens fire on the trio. Peter and the Haitian get away but Nathan is captured and Baron Samedi explains that he’s been sent by Arthur and knocks Nathan out.

After another argument, Daphne takes off and Matt, Ando and Hiro teleport to her childhood home to find her. She’s there but her father won’t let Matt she her, it seems her terrible secret is about to revel itself. Unfortunately, it’s nothing like we were expecting - Daphne has cerebral palsy and it seems her powers had protected her from it.

Hiro and Ando materialise in a comic shop, with Hiro hoping that he can find the next part of their ‘quest’. They bump into the two shop assistants (guest starts Breckin Meyer and Seth Green), who become astonished when the two Japanese men in front of them look exactly like they do on the front cover of a comic their holding!

Meanwhile Claire is back under the protection of her father but after a training session in self defence – with a piece of wood (yes, I know) Claire seems to be softening up and opening up to her Dad. But they are interrupted as Sylar and Elle arrive and try to capture Claire. They discover that their powers have gone and Noah quickly takes advantage and despite losing his gun, violently attacks Sylar. But Elle picks up the loose gun and shoots but Claire jumps in front of Noah and takes the bullet. However she quickly realises that she can’t heal and horrified, Noah attacks Elle and picks up his daughter and goes home. Thankfully the injury isn’t that bad and Noah, with the objection of his wife, heads back to confront Elle and Sylar. As the pair share a kiss, Noah has them in his sights – of his sniper rifle….

Although not as free-flowing as the last couple of episodes, I still enjoyed this first part of ‘The Eclipse’. I think we’ve been left in no doubt that the eclipse does give people their abilities but precisely how and indeed why, I doubt even series creator, Tim Kring knows!

Despite not been as such a major player in this series as the previous 2, I’m beginning to like Noah more, which I couldn’t say in series 1! Everything is building up nicely and with only 3 episodes to go, a lot of things are still to be tied up.

7/10

Next Time: Matt challenges Daphne to a race – just to piss her off!

Heroes (Series 3) Volume 3 - Villains - Episode 9 - It's Coming

After last week’s breathtaking episode, I was a little disappointed to see how easy Hiro get away from the clutches of Arthur but what made it interesting is that Hiro now believes he’s 10 years old!

Ando tries to jog his friend’s memory but it seems that Hiro doesn’t remember anything beyond his 10th year. After almost giving up, Ando manages to teach his friend how to use his powers – but they aren’t as effective as they where. Hiro manages to teleport them into a bowling alley and he waffles on about waffles, before teleporting them to a comic shop!

Elsewhere Peter and Claire are on the run from Knox and Flint and with Peter stripped of his abilities, its Claire who acts the ‘tough guy’. Peter tells her that he saw her kill him in the future but Claire dismisses it and even looks horrified at the thought. Wonder if that’ll change? With Peter running away, like the true Italian he is, we learn that their bumbling pursuers have been sent for Claire. But thanks to a gas pipe and Peter standing up for once and being a man, they escape after Peter goads Flint into setting off one of his flames.

Meanwhile back at Pinehurst, or ‘Arthur’s Grotto’ as I like to call it, the main man is buttering up Sylar by telling him that it’s possible for him to take people’s abilities without killing them. Oh and the ‘grey one’ also know that it was Sylar who slowed down Peter’s fall in the previous episode. So to test out Arthur’s theory (feeling empathy) Sylar goes to the cell where Elle is now chained up and this reviewer liked that scene! She takes her anger out on him (Sylar, not me) by blasting him with her uncontrollable lightening bolts. But after a bit of touching dialogue about himself and why Elle must forgive herself – Elle can now control her power and Sylar has gained an ability – without killing anyone! We are then treating to a scene, where it seems Elle and Sylar are getting as close as they did in last week’s flashback episode.

Nathan gets into Pinehurst to confront the father he thought was dead. After refusing to ‘hug’ him (well done Nathan!) Arthur tells Nathan that he is ‘destined’ to be the President and that they could rule together. Nathan isn’t sure and leaves to think it over but Tracy has other ideas and cuts a deal with Arthur to persuade Nathan to join him. She’ll need ‘protection’ though!

More people are getting close, Fatty Matt and Dodgy Daphne get into The Company and after Matt sees a vision of the now-deceased Usutu, the building seems eerily empty. Matt finds Angela (or Cherie, if you prefer - I do, so I’m using it), who is still in a coma and he realises he must go into her mind to rescue her. She’s been trapped in there by Arthur, who’s lurking somewhere and Matt learns of Daphne’s double-agent role, when she pops up and stabs him. Of course this isn’t really her it’s Arthur! The real Daphne is in the real world, looking on, very concerned at a bleeding Matt. Thankfully he’s been stabbed in the stomach, so it’s like a pinprick to a normal person! However, she manages to persuade Matt to let her into his dream and she ends up confessing all her love for the bulky copper. There’s hope for us all yet! Cherie manages to make this version of Arthur look at the love that Matt and Daphne share (YUCK!) and reminds him they where like that once. Arthur releases his wife and the three wake up back at Cherie’s bedside.

Peter and Claire find their way into The Company and after Matt mistakes Peter to be the one that sent him to Africa, he attacks him. But once everything is settled, all is explained by Cherie, that they need to stop Arthur from getting one last piece of the formula – a catalyst. Who hold this catalyst in their blood (as explained by Mohinder, earlier), nobody knows but Claire realises about her encounter with Sylar and how he had looked at her mind and said she was ‘something special’. We then cut to Pinehurst where all of, sod it I’ll say it – ‘Arthur’s Team’ are lining up, with Elle and Tracy being the latest recruits. Arthur is drawing a painting, similar to one which Usutu had drew – an eclipse is coming!

It was another fascinating episode that could explain why Claire is so critical to the show’s plot. But when this volume, or series is finished, I’m not sure where they can go with it. But for now – I’m really enjoying this top yank drama!

9/10

Next Time: With Law and Order getting its own British spin-off, maybe Tim Kring might consider selling the Heroes format to the UK, after all – you always copy our shows!

Heroes (Series 3) Volume 3 - Villains - Episode 8 - Villains

What an episode of Heroes that was! I was arguing with myself to not give it 10 out of 10, but I thought - sod it! From the start of this episode, when the name of the program was changed to ‘Villains’, I knew we where in for something good. But I was still left shocked and surprised!

After eating Usutu’s paste at the end of the last episode, Hiro is now smacked up to his tits and presumably, the effects react with his time-travel ability to make him dream about Arthur Petrelli – 18 months ago.

We learn that Arthur was involved with Linderman’s dodgy dealings and it was he and not Linderman that tried to kill Nathan in the car crash that left his son’s wife paralysed. Nathan, who’s original profession was a lawyer, was investigating Linderman’s dealings, which would have incriminated his father and probably, The Company.

Speaking of The Company, Thompson, played by Doctor Who and Batman star Eric Roberts, isn’t dead yet and we see him tracking down Meredith and her brother Flint. If we step back (or is it forward?) into the time, in which a smacked-up Hiro is in, Flint is now part of Pinehurst and was sprung from The Company by Daphne in the episode ‘Dying of The Light’. Thompson manages to capture the pair and offers Meredith a job. But despite looking comfortable being an agent, Meredith escapes, along with her brother – with Thompson in close pursuit. After the pair set fire to a train, Flint escapes but Meredith is captured. However, Thompson releases her when he realises that she doesn’t know what really happened to her daughter, Claire. In a cruel twist, Claire is shown running into the same train, to save the survivors, seen in the first episode of Heroes – Genesis.

Hiro then dreams about Sylar, like so many fangirls do, or so I’m told! Horrified at the killings he did, Sylar tries to hang himself but he’s saved – by Elle. It isn’t that straight forward though, Elle is with Noah, who has been sent down to watch Sylar. Elle starts to build up a relationship with Sylar and later, brought another person with an ‘ability’ round to his house. All this has been planned by The Company though as Sylar can’t resist killing to steal abilities. It’s a rather harrowing plot by The Company, who are just interesting in watching Sylar at this moment in time and when Noah tries to reason with Elle, he tells her ‘we just take our orders’.

Hiro finally wakes up and realises he must tell Angela about the revival of Arthur but as Usutu is nowhere to be found and along with Ando, they look for him and find his body – minus an head. The poor man’s bonce is quickly found though but then a hand rests on Hiro shoulder and spins him around – it’s Arthur, who is poised to take Hiro’s ability!

It’s a very interesting episode, which gives us a lot of back-story on characters that needed a lot more explanation. It was good how they made certain characters look like they did in series 1 and even the way they interweaved the footage of past episodes. It’s was great to see Eric Roberts back and even a Christopher Eccelston (Claude) reference. Hopefully he’ll make a proper return to the series, soon! However, the cliff-hanger made the episode as fantastic as it was! Will Hiro survive? I honestly don’t know!

10/10

Next Time: Hiro manages to teleport Arthur into the body of Russell Brand. It’ll probably improve him and make him a better person, to be honest. And that’s Brand, not Arthur!

RIP Usutu

Heroes (Series 3) Volume 3 - Villains - Episode 7 - Eris Quod Sum

Arthur Petrelli shows his nasty side in the latest episode of Heroes – ‘Eris Quod Sum’. For those who want to know, ‘Eris Quod Sum’ is Latin for ‘I was what you are, you will be what I am’.

After stealing his son’s powers, he locks Peter up, who refuses to join his father’s company. Meanwhile his wife Angela, still in a coma, visits Sylar in a dream and tells him to break out of The Company and rescue Peter from Pinehurst. Whether or not she has used her ‘dream powers’, is still unclear.

Mohinder, fresh from a confrontation with Nathan and Tracy, realises his monstrous behaviour and takes Maya along to Pinehurst. Arthur gets rid or her powers and hopefully that’s DEFINITELY the last time we’ll see her! Please! Mohinder stays behind at Pinehurst to help them research the second half of the formula, which in turn would help Mohinder rid himself of his self-induced ability. But Pinehurst have to first thwart an attack from Sylar, who manages to break Peter out but Mohinder arrives and sedates him, while Peter escapes.

Claire and Sandra arrive home to find that all their electrical equipment has shorted out. Don’t worry, they’ve not switched to E-on, Elle is back and she’s having problems controlling her electrical ability. With no Noah around, Elle is stuck for help but Claire produces the Pinehurst card and the pair go there for help. Claire, apparently still ‘can’t feel pain’, I think many people would love to have that ability, as well as being able to heal!

Back at Pinehurst, Arthur isn’t happy that Daphne hasn’t recruited Matt, so he tells her to kill him. His father, Maury protests and Arthur kills him on the spot. I was quite shocked by that, I think Maury was a great sinister character who wasn’t given enough screen time. Arthur then gives Daphne an ultimatum – kill Matt or I’ll kill you! I don’t understand why he can’t do it himself?

Peter is still sneaking around Pinehurst and goes back to help Sylar escape but all the time he’s been in Sylar’s company, Arthur has been having an hart-to-hart with ‘his son’. He tells Sylar that Angela saw ‘something evil’ in him and tried to drown him when he was a baby. He persuades him to work for them and he agrees – but does he? I’m not so sure. Peter bursts in and the three argue, Sylar sees that Arthur is getting angry at Peter and throws his brother out of the window – from the seventh floor. However, Peter’s fall was slowed down before he hit the ground - but was it Sylar who saved him?

Claire and Elle arrive at Pinehurst, just as Peter is falling to the ground. Peter tells the pair not to go into Pinehurst and Claire agrees. But Elle goes in, desperate to rid herself of her powers. Claire and Peter go and see Nathan, who is told about his father by Peter. He tries to persuade Nathan not to go looking for him but later Nathan tells Tracy that he has to go and see his father.

Daphne arrives at Matt’s, ready to kill him. But she can’t go though with it and knowing that she’s probably being followed, Matt hatches a plan. But it seems it’s too late, as Knox, the man who gets strong on people’s fear, arrives and kills the pair of them. He leaves quite happy but don’t worry – Matt and Daphne or still alive! Matt had used his mind-altering abilities to make Knox believe he had killed them. Unless I’m mistaken, that’s the first time Matt has shown he could do that. Matt then persuades Daphne to come with him to The Company but it all turns out to be a ploy from Daphne, who has been double-crossing Matt all the way, in order to get into The Company. Interesting times lie ahead!

Hiro, Ando and Usutu are still getting on like a ‘house on fire’ but Hiro dismisses the African’s advice on ‘choosing his own path’ and refuses not to go back in time again, to solve his problems. Usutu gives the pair a strange paste to eat. Hiro does eat it and conks out, Ando is mortified and accuses Usutu of trickery but he tells Ando that he Hiro ‘must be shown the right path’. So I presume he’s had some of the ‘drugs’ that Matt had and is now on a ‘spirit walk’ of his own? Yup, I thought so!

It was another solid episode but I was quite shocked at the death of Maury Parkman. I didn’t think it was a wise move by Arthur, as Maury had been his right-hand man for what must have been many a year and he even had saved Arthur from certain death. I also think taking Peter’s powers away is very interesting. Now that he can’t use his abilities, it should be good to see how he works things out. In programs like these, it can be so easy just to use your powers to get yourself out of a situation!

8/10

Next Time: Hiro, Ando and Usutu make up their own Hip-Hop group, call themselves ‘The Time-Travelling Future Painter Dudes and The Other Useless Brother’ and take America by storm! Give me some skin, man!

Heroes (Series 3) Volume 3 - Villains - Episode 6 - Dying of the Light

We knew that Hiro didn’t really kill his best friend, didn’t we? Well I did anyway! It’s all turns out to be a hoax with some fake blood and a joke sword! Horrified at what he’s done, Daphne gives Hiro his first task – to go and capture Matt’s African mate, Usutu. The wily African knows he’s coming of course and we are treated to a couple of humorous scenes involving hitting Hiro on the head with a spade - twice! Ustsu eventually goads Hiro into not using his time travel ability and it works, but the man who can paint the future is always one step ahead and quite happily chats to Hiro and Ando. It looks like the trio are going to become friends now. Awww!

Meanwhile Arthur Petrelli is back on his feet, after he disposes of Adam and his regenerative powers, as he is turned to dust. It seems that Arthur has a similar power to his son Peter but instead of copying powers, he steals them from the original host. Now with the revelation that he has another ‘son’, Sylar, who murdered people to steal their powers, where does this leave Nathan, who was given his flying ability? I don’t think he’s a Petrelli!

Nathan’s going nowhere at the moment - he’s taken prisoner by mad Mohinder! Along with Tracy, Nathan visited Mohinder in the last episode to find out whether or not Mohinder has found a cure to rid people of their abilities. Despite having a number of people cocooned in his back room and now Nathan and Tracy, Mohinder seems horrified by what he’s doing. However he quickly dismisses that remorse, like you do!

Fatty Matt, on the other hand, has somehow afforded a flight back to the US from ‘somewhere in Africa’ and even got his tortoise through customs! At the airport, he meets Daphne, who is waiting to offer him a position at Pinehurst. She knows nothing of Matt’s dream about the pair, in the future. It becomes rather uncomfortable to watch, as Matt tells her the gory details of how ‘they will end up married’ etc. Yuck! Matt continues to pour his heart out and tells her that he will protect Daphne. Daphne reveals that she doesn’t like working for Pinehurst, but they have something on her? Wonder what it could be? Hope its some pictures of her in the nuddy!

Poor Daphne has got to put her chubby (but loveable!) stalker on hold as she is speeding back and forth like Lewis Hamilton, but faster. She has been tasked by Linderman/Maury Parkman, to recruit others to Pinehurst. She heads to The Company’s Level 5 to break out Flint, who was captured during the bank raid in the episode ‘One of Us, One of Them’. Before that however, she also offers Sylar a position at Pinehurst. He refuses and instead tries to tell Peter about the ‘other Company’. Peter is having none of it though and after a fight, sedates Sylar and heads to Pinehurst himself.

No Heroes episode is complete without boring, childish Claire! This week the super-cheerleader and her adoptive ‘mom’ try to free Claire’s birth mother, Meredith, from the clutches of the ‘puppet-master’, Eric Doyle. The pair are captured and we spend a couple of tense moments playing Russian Roulette with Meredith. I know I often take the piss out of Claire a bit but I thought this scene was her best for a while. Claire begs her adoptive mother to shoot her (as Claire can’t be killed of course!), she does and Claire manages to recover and whack Doyle over the head.

I thought it was a great scene and it showed that the relationship between Claire and her adoptive mother was as strong as it ever was. Despite her regenerative abilities it must have took some bottle to shoot her, the girl who she had brought up as her own and now her birth mother was watching on. Noah turns up and takes Doyle back to Level 5 but not before offering Meredith a position with The Company. A word on Doyle – I liked his character, which was sleazy and creepy in all the right places but if I had three women under my control, I certainly wouldn’t be trying to make them kill each other! What a tit!

Daphne is still running about and she visits Mohinder and offers him a job with Pinehurst. Who does she think she is? Alan Sugar? Well it’s Mohinder who ends up being FIRED as Daphne discovers his secret stash of bodies and makes her escape. What will Pinehurst make of this? Meanwhile Nathan and Tracy try to escape but clearly angry after the confrontation with Daphne, Mohinder does his best Hulk impression and chucks a bench at them…

Peter arrives at Pinehurst but finds Arthur giving a speech to his new found ‘team’. Peter bursts in, lighting bolts in hand and is left opened-mouthed at the sight of his dad, who he thought was dead. His dad asks him for a hug and Peter, clearly upset and disoriented, agrees. Peter suddenly collapses and realises that his father has taken his powers away from him, all of them…

It was a better episode than last week. It was sad to see the apparent death of Adam Monroe (David Anders), who went from a loveable rouge to villain during the course of the second series. This story arc is getting all the more interesting, as it seems Pinehurst are getting ready for a showdown with The Company. But there are plenty more stories to be told. Like when will we see the saucy photos of Daphne that Arthur is hiding?

8/10

Next Time: Daphne, Elle, Claire, Meredith, Tracy and Mr Muggles call into CyberColin Towers for a bit of ‘fun’ in the Jacuzzi!

Heroes (Series 3) Volume 3 - Villains - Episode 5 - Angels and Monsters

The latest episodes of Heroes chugs along rather nicely, without really trying. That’s not to say ‘Angel’s and Monsters’ is a bad episode, it just isn’t as good as previous episodes! You can even play a game whilst watching this – counting every time the word ‘Monster’ is uttered! There's even a nice change at the start of this episode - Nathan does the 'bollocks narration' instead of Mohinder!

Nathan is still being followed around by Linderman, who claims to have been sent by ‘a higher power’ to help Nathan. Nathan takes this to be ‘from God’ – the fool! Later, Nathan finds out that his powers where given to him by Dr. Zimmerman, the bloke who also worked on Tracy and her sisters. Now does this mean Nathan isn’t his mother’s son? Both of his parents and ‘brothers’ have abilities. Or does it mean the whole plot of abilities running in the family, is bollocks?

Mohinder continues his weird behaviour and confronts a drug dealer, as you do, and whacks him in some sort of cocoon, which he has also done to his neighbour from last week. Maya becomes suspicious after hearing news of the missing neighbour and after she investigates, finds Mohinder’s ‘secret stash’. She is discovered and whacked in a cocoon herself, hopefully this will be the last of Maya – she isn’t my favourite character, in fact I would go as far as saying she’s very sleep-inducing! It should be interesting to see what they do with Mohinder’s character, I suspect this is the beginning of the end though, for the Indian geneticist.

Meanwhile, picking up from the end of last week’s episode, Peter attacks Sylar and then becomes infatuated with what his mother is thinking and starts to cut open her head – until Sylar recovers and knocks him out. Will Peter become the main ‘villain’ now? I suspect not, as I reckon there is a lot more evil to come from Sylar and his new-found ‘mother’!

Boring Claire is on the trail of an escaped Level 5 convict – Stephen Canfield, who can create vortexes. We learn that he had accidently ‘murdered’ his neighbour by opening one up. He seemed remorseful and just wanted to find his family, who had disappeared when he was taken by The Company. Noah and Sylar turn up, Stephen gets scared and opens up a vortex and makes a run for it. Sylar ends up saving Claire and the three go and meet Stephen, who had also arranged to meet his family, thanks to information given to him by Claire.

Noah though, says that he’ll let Stephen go free if he trapped Sylar in a vortex. Sylar has got the ‘super hearing’ ability though, so it’s not a great idea! Stephen refuses and traps himself in one of his vortexes. What I want to know is: Where do these vortex’s go? They must go somewhere, in time or space….

Back at the Bennet household, Claire's real and adoptive mothers realise that she was lying about her trip to a ‘cheerleading retreat’. Her (real) mother believes that she has gone after a dangerous escaped Level 5 prisoner, Eric Doyle, who she happens to know. She goes after him but the man seems to have the ability to make people do what he wants. Then follows a lovely scene at his dinner table, which leads to the most awkward since Spiderman 1!

Adam, let loose by Hiro in the last episode, eventually agrees to help the loveable Jap to find Daphne. They go to a bar, which happens to be a ‘hang-out’ for ‘special persons for hire’. Adam gets into a fight and is thrown out, later he’s captured by persons unknown, who we learn later is ‘Pinehurst Industries’. Daphne and her friend Knox turn up and challenge Hiro to prove his worth, to join them. With Hiro desperate to go undercover, he completes the challenge set to him by Knox – stabbing Ando. Even though it was shocking to see this, I reckon Hiro will go back and ‘fix’ this. Surely he will?

Daphne meanwhile, is another who has been seeing Linderman. She returns to the mysterious ‘Pinehurst Industries’ and we learn that he has hired her and tasks her with finding one more person – Matt Parkman. However, Linderman isn’t Linderman – he’s Maury Parkman, who has been implanting the image of Linderman in Nathan and Daphne’s head. And that’s not all, after Cherie Blair had one of her ‘dreams’, the mysterious man who was in it turns out to be running Pinehurst from the comfort of his sickbed, her husband – Arthur Petrelli.

It wasn’t the most action packed episode but the amount of plotlines which have been revealed made up for that. I’m not sure about having The Company vs. Pinehurst plot and I thought Arthur was dead? It seems in Heroes (and in most sc-fi shows, to be fair) that dead doesn’t mean dead. Although in one case – I hope Maya is dead!

6/10

Next Time: Arthur turns out to be some random bloke who has no powers at all. I wouldn’t be surprised, considering how Heroes loves giving us ‘twists’!

Heroes (Series 3) Volume 3 - Villains - Episode 4 - I Am Become Death

We spend some time in the future, with the two Peter’s in this week’s episode of Heroes. Things have taken quite a bizarre turn, very bizarre!

The formula, which gives normal people abilities, as been made public and is available to buy by all those who are rich enough. Future Peter wants to avoid this and later we learn that the world would be destroyed if it carried on. Unfortunately for future Peter – he is a wanted ‘terrorist’ and is being hunted down by ‘The Company’, which now includes Claire. It seems that Claire wants to kill her ‘Uncle’ and she does, but she realises that the Peter from the past, the one that could change history, is still at large. Future Peter tells him beforehand to seek out his nemesis, Sylar. Peter goes looking for Mohinder, who thanks to his own drug, is living alone and in an awful state. He tells Peter where Sylar is before going to eat a small child or something!

The weirdness continues as Peter find Sylar - who is now living in Claire’s old house and is a doting Dad to his son – called Noah and calls Peter his ‘brother’. I suppose it’s a good contrast to the character he plays in ‘our’ time and it seems this series is trying to dilute his character by giving him an excuse to murder (the hunger!)

We learn that Peter is after Sylar’s original ability – the power to find out how things work, in order to ‘fix’ the past. Sylar is reluctant but after a ‘painting of the future later’, he lets Peter have it, with a warning that the hunger to want more, will come with it

Unfortunately Claire and her ‘team’ - Daphne and some bloke called Knox, arrive not long after and try to capture Peter. They take Sylar’s son hostage and accidently kill him, which enrages Sylar and he explodes, due to the fact he can’t control the power which he had stolen from Ted Sprague. Thanks to their regenerative powers, Claire and Peter survive and the latter is locked up and tortured by the former. Nathan, who is now the President and married to Tracy, arrives and speaks with his brother and allows Peter to read his mind. Peter gets curious though and wants to know how Nathan’s mind works – he starts to cut up his brother’s head in a Sylar-style attack, before stopping himself and teleporting back to the present.

Peter is back on The Company’s level 5, in Sylar’s prison cell, where he angrily attacks his new ‘brother’, as Sylar mocks him about his new found hunger. It’s turning into a rather brilliant storyline, one which makes sense for a start! The fact that Peter can absorb abilities whilst Sylar has to murder people, to steal them, is already a good dynamic and shows the two to be on two ends of the same scale. I still think this ‘brothers’ plot isn’t needed though!

Elsewhere, Matt is still on crack, as he dreams he marries Daphne in the future (the one we saw with Peter) and they both adopt Molly and have a child of their own. But after Sylar blew up, Daphne isn’t quite quick enough and collapses in Matt’s arms – fulfilling the painting, which was painted by his African mate.

Hiro and Ando spend the majority of the episode trying to escape from their cell and the pair also have a heart-to-heart about the state of their friendship. But just as Hiro is about to escape, they are summoned by Cherie Blair. She tells him that his father would be disappointed in him for losing the formula but after Ando speaks up for his friend, Cherie sends them on a mission, saying that Hiro holds the ‘key’ to getting the formula back. That key is Adam Monroe, who Hiro buried in series 2! Upon waking up from his latest death, Adam angrily grabs his former friend and it looks like he’s in trouble!

Meanwhile, Nathan and Tracy ‘get it together’, as we learn that Tracy and Nikki where part of an experiment, which resulted in them, plus their unseen sister ‘Barbara’, receiving abilities. It’s all too much for Tracy and as she fails in an attempt to confess to the murder of the reporter, she tries to jump off a bridge – where Nathan flies in and saves her.

And it’s clear that Heroes have ripped off ‘Jekyll and Hide’, as Mohinder’s temper seems to getting worse. He attacks his neighbour, who comes back for a second confrontation. Mohinder isn’t having any of it and drags him into the flat. I very much doubt he wants him to be part of a threesome with Maya, do you? Again, that is certainly going to be interesting, to see that being played out. If it’s the beginning of the end of his mind-numbingly tedious and downright cheesy voiceovers – then most Heroes fans will be delighted!

9/10

Next Time: Angela ‘Cherie Blair’ Petrelli goes on Jeremy Kyle to talk about interbreeding in the family. Is this is how all our ‘Heroes’ get their powers? Magic formula indeed!

Heroes (Series 3) Volume 3 - Villains - Episode 3 - One of Us, One of Them

The third series of Heroes starts to get more interesting with this weeks episode ‘One of Us, One of Them’. We learn of Angela Petrelli’s plan for ‘her son’, we find out who Tracy is and Noah is back at the company and has a new partner!

After last week’s disappointing revelation that Sylar was the son of ‘Cherie Blair’, I wonder how this would start to play out. It seems she wants to use him for The Company's ends, she even ‘feeds’ him – by luring a company employee, who can know the history of any person/object just by touching it, to prove her intentions. She also plays with his mind, claiming that he has a ‘hunger’ that he can’t control. That hunger is of course, murdering people and taking their abilities. Sylar was then to join a disgusted Noah, who knows nothing of Cherie’s antics. I found this a bit strange, seeing as Sylar was fresh from cutting Claire’s head open!

Meanwhile one man who is certainly feeling the hunger at the moment, is fatty Matt, who is still stuck somewhere in Africa. Apparently his new mate has got the same ability as Isaac (he can paint the future) and has been painting about Matt, since he was a boy. It seems though, that he wants Matt to go on a ‘Sprit Walk’ and gives Matt his ‘magic headphones’ and Matt’s eyes go white like a crack addict. Not sure about this plot device, at all – magic headphones?

Tracy heads to New Orleans, to find out about Nikki, who is defiantly dead, as she finds out when she gets to the house and sees her coffin and opens it up. Little Micah is behind her and the lad (although to be fair, he’s probably hit puberty now) thinks she’s his mum. She isn’t and after a conversation, Micah helps Tracy to trace her roots and finds out that she was born at the exact same time as Nikki, at the same hospital and all this was supervised by the same doctor. Tracy leaves Micah, who I don’t think we’ll see again, and visits this Dr Zimmerman. Once there, we find out that he had ‘created’ her. This could result in a number of possibilities but I believe that Nikki’s ‘sister’ (or sisters?) are her other personalities and they all have a mental link. Sounds mental I know but this is Heroes, nothing is impossible!

Peter is still stuck inside the body of Jesse and whilst he and his gang are busy robbing money and threatening people, Noah and Sylar turn up. The other members of the gang want Noah dead, for capturing them. Although not all of them agree and the leader kills ‘The German’ by punching him right through his chest! Things would soon calm down but not before future Peter comes in, stops time and takes his present version away, to ‘show him something’. Sylar cleans up the remaining villains but not before locking Noah out and taking the powers of the men. He again comes up with the ‘I must feed my hunger’ line, which Cherie planted in his head.

Claire is taught a lesson by her birth mother, which got a little bit tedious for me. I’m starting to despise the Claire character, to be honest. Claire later drove off with one of her father’s boxes, presumably with files relating to The Company in it. Marvellous! But Hiro and Ando continue to impress, their ‘Batman and Robin’ partnership is getting better all the time. They track Daphne (aka ‘The Speedster’) down to Germany, where she is poised to steal the other half of the ‘formula’. The Haitian also pops up and does the exchange, on behalf of The Company. Hiro believes that they must follow him and after Daphne winds up Ando about his one-sided friendship with Hiro, they hit The Haitian on the head! This was to haunt them later as The Haitian caught up with them and locked them up in The Company’s prison. WHOOPS!

So with Sylar locked up as well, shower time should be fun! The Haitian is placed back with Noah and it seems Cherie has got one half of the formula. Daphne, or her employer, has the other but who is she working for? I can’t wait to find out!

8/10

Next Time: Hiro plays table tennis with Sylar, whilst Ando, the only one without powers, is crowned the ‘prison bitch’.

Heroes (Series 3) Volume 3 Episode 2 - The Butterfly Effect

After last week’s interesting opening episode, Heroes: Villains is now starting to settle down and flesh out its plotlines.

It seems that Angela ‘Cherie Blair’ Petrelli’s is going to be an integral part of this current overall storyline. She dreams that Hiro, Claire, Peter, Noah and Matt are all killed, in very viscous ways. She turns round to see Adam Monroe, Nikki, Maury Parkman and another man, who we learn later is an inmate at the company’s facility, with rather sinister grins on their faces. Sylar, standing behind her, then puts his hand on her shoulder, in a very chilling manner. Does this mean he’s going to get a group of villains together? Perhaps they’ve just set up a book club and want her to join!

Meanwhile, we learn that ‘Nikki’ isn’t Nikki at all – she’s someone called ‘Tracy Strauss’. She would later go to see Nathan and persuade him to take the job, he had been earmarked for and he’s aghast when she turns up. She is stalked by a newspaper reporter, who also believes her to the Nikki we know. He threatens to publish details of her ‘past’, which she knows nothing about. Tracy gets angrier and when she grabs hold of the reporter – he turns to ice and smashes on the floor. Which leaves one question – what has happened to Nikki?

Fatty Matt is still alive and well – just! He’s lying in the desert and is helped by a local, who seems to know him. Thing is though – Matt is in a yet unspecified country in Africa! We learn that the local can paint the future and knew Matt was coming.

Mohinder is loving his new powers and just after he deflowers Maya, he finds out he has some kind of skin infection, something that looks like ‘orange scales’. You should have worn a condom before you ‘got it on’ with the bore, Mohinder!

Sylar is up to his usual tricks and this time Bob is the victim as Sylar breaks into ‘The Company’ and kills him. The reason behind this is that Stephen Tobolowsky, who plays Bob, had an horse riding accident and was only able to act in a chair. Apparently he will make a full recovery.

Back to the action as the corpse of Bob is discovered by his daughter, Elle, who then has a showdown with Sylar. This resulted in Elle letting out a massive electrical charge, knocking Sylar out but opening all the cells and letting out all the inmates – including Noah.

Noah then goes home but immediately explains to his family that he needs to go out and recapture all the escaped inmates. He turns down Claire’s request to accompany him and he brings in her birth mother, Meredith Gordon, to protect his family. Angela takes charge of the company and immediately sacks Elle.

The escaped inmates are a terrible bunch and we now know what has happened to ‘Present Peter’. The future version of Peter trapped his younger self in the body of an inmate, Jesse Murphy, in order to keep him safe inside the company’s prison. With all hell breaking loose and the escapees murdering people on the spot, things are going to get interesting!

Hiro and Ando are perhaps coming to beginning of the end of their friendship. Ando is annoyed at Hiro, after the pair teleport to Paris, in order to get the formula back. After a showdown with the ‘speedster’, we learn that she is working for someone and she escapes, cutting Ando in the process.

Sylar wakes up and is trapped in the company’s prison, accompanied by Angela, she has to spoil it all by muttering – I am your mother! I’m not sure if this is the right thing to do, it’s a plotline which has been done so many times in other television programs and having good family members, trying to save the world and evil family members, working against them, can only make the series end up in a terrible state, which most of the shows that use this device, do.

It should be interesting to see how the plots with Matt, Nikki/Tracy and Peter, pan out. The same can be said for Nathan, who we learn is the only one who can see Linderman. Does that mean he is dead after all?

I felt that the program is trying to do plenty of ambitious things too quickly. Even though I enjoyed this episode, that bit with Angela and Sylar really spoiled it for me! Although the series has settled down rather quickly, this will give the writers the opportunity to develop the characters more, something which I think the program doesn’t do as well as it needs to. And it’s nice to see them using characters and plotlines from the novels, some of which I need to get my sticky hands on!

7/10

Next Time: We learn what the term ‘Ice Queen’ really means, thanks to Tracy!

Heroes (Series 3) Volume 3 - Villains - Episode 1 - The Second Coming

Heroes is back! And things do move on rather quickly in this new ‘volume’ entitled ‘Villains’.

At the end of series 2, Nathan was shot by an unknown gunman, who wanted to stop him from telling the world that people with superpowers do exist. We learn that it was Peter, from the future, who shot him. Apparently the revelation would have caused war and the world would be in a state of ruin.

Meanwhile Hiro is getting his feet under the table in his Dad’s office. A video message from beyond the grave later and Hiro uncovers a DNA formula which will apparently throw the world into chaos. We learn later that Angela Petrelli was also part of this and she tells future Peter, in uncertain terms, to go back to the future. But where is present Peter, is he looked up with Mr Bennett?

Sylar finally gets the annoying cheerleader but unlike all the others, Claire doesn’t die and retains her power, despite Sylar taking it. Apparently she is ‘special’, well that’s one word that could be used to describe her, yes!

Mohinder continues to talk shite, before and after the show and Maya is somehow speaking like a native yank. Molly has been packed off to an unknown destination, to ‘keep her safe’. Looks like the writers strike took its toll on the actress who plays young Molly, she’ll be about 21 now! Thanks to Maya, Mohinder discovers a drug that can give people superpowers and despite the protests of Maya, Mohinder goes down to the docks and injects himself like a smackhead. The daft man has only given himself ‘super strength’ – I can see this ending in tears!

We are also introduced to a new hero, a woman who can ‘run really fast’. Not sure if she’s taking any kind of banned substance, but hopefully she’ll be at the 2012 Olympics! This new hero steals the formula from Hiro, who teleports into the future to see if anything’s changed. It has – the world is crumbling and Hiro sees himself ‘killed’ by his good friend Ando, who hits him with some kind of power, he has acquired and steals the formula from him. Hmmm, sounds interesting!

Back at the hospital, Nathan goes 'all David Icke' and believes that it was god who saved him. It wasn’t, it was a bearded English bloke who was in ‘A Clockwork Orange’. Yes, Linderman is back from the dead. How and why I don’t have a Scooby but I’m sure we’ll find out in the coming weeks. We also learn that Nikki is still alive - she is being a ‘Monica Lewinsky’ to a governor who takes a shine to Nathan’s ramblings about god on telly.

Poor Matt finds himself stuck in a desert after a confrontation with future Peter, the poor bastard can’t survive 10 minutes without something to eat. I hope he finds a Little Chef somewhere!

It was an episode that moved pretty quick and some of the plot from series 1 looks a little pointless now, after Peter and the others tried to prevent Sylar from taking Claire’s power. Leaving her home alone wasn’t the best idea was it? The episode doesn’t suffer too much from it though but it could have been a little more polished. I expect it to improve as the series goes on. Everything else, as always, was bang on but I didn’t feel as if it was the best idea for an opening episode – it moved too fast!

7/10

Next Time – Hiro accidentally teleports himself inside Matt’s stomach, which at this point, is about as barren as Angela Petrelli’s knickers!