The Heroes Review - 4.8 Once Upon A Time In Texas

Posted by Jason Chamberlain on 11.03.2009

This week on Heroes, Hiro goes back in time to save his lost love from fate! Meanwhile HRG is tempted by an office romance and Samuel reveals his sins.

AND MICHAEL WEYER

An episode set in the first season (sort of...) reminds me just how much this show has changed!

Remember back when Heroes was new, everybody loved it unconditionally and were taking huge dumps on Lost (then in its third season) at the same time? Yeah, I remember. What a difference a few years makes, huh?

Seeing some of our characters as their younger selves was tres cool, as was seeing Isaac Mendez again in what I'm fairly sure was new footage. I don't remember HRG getting all weepy like that in the first season!

Seeing HRG be propositioned by his smokin' hot partner (seriously, SUCH an upgrade on his wife) was wild too, and reminded us how truly committed he was to his family back then, even though he had to lie to them constantly. Personally I think he should have got the hotel room rockin', and I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of this woman, probably in the present day, so with his wife now out of the picture, hopefully Noah gets some lovin'! The man deserves it.

The main crux of the episode was Hiro's attempt to save Charlie again, this time with some sage 'advice' from Samuel and a very unlikely assist from first season Sylar. You know, the real sick fucker who split heads and asked questions... never.

What really stood out for me in this episode was the awesomeness of Samuel. I know I keep harping on it, but hey, better to repeat something positive than negative! This man is the shit. He's so sly, so cool, so in control even when he's up against the wall with a murderous Japanese dude's hands around his throat. Poor Hiro went through everything to save Charlie, and he did, only to have her stolen away once again. And now he's an unwilling servant of "the family" until he helps Samuel erase... his murder of Mohinder???

So THAT'S why we haven't seen him this season. He's all dead and stuff. Interesting... I'm looking forward to hearing the story behind that. Something tells me there's more that Samuel wants fixed in his past, however.

And how ironic that Samuel killed Mohinder, then stole his monologues? And did them better, IMO.


Things I Dug
- Hiro in a Knight Rider shirt.
- “You can convince an apple that it’s an orange.”
- Hey, that’s Kate from ‘Angel’! She’s hotter now too.
- And HRG wants to tap that ass! Do it man, she’s such an upgrade.
- Isaac! I missed him.
- “You look like the cat that ate the canary.”
- “You can’t kill me Brain Man!”
- “He’s a doctor!” “I’m a doctor!”
- HD cheerleaders. Oh yeah.
- HRG loves Shakespeare!
- Samuel is one smooth cat.
- Mohinder? What the fuck?

Heeeeeere's Mikey!!!

First, while I know it may be a futile gesture, can we save as many of the “nice to see them going back to when the show was good” comments as we can?

Paradoxes: As I’ve stated before, I barely have a handle on daylight savings time so time travel paradoxes are hard to wrap my head around. Still, I appreciate how the show does tackle that very question with Hiro racing about to make sure things happen as close as they did before. It was funny with him tricking his own younger self and remarking “moron” and dealing with past-Ando (“Why does everyone keep asking about the sword?”) I also like Samuel warning of the danger of changing the past even as that’s exactly what he wants to do. Of course, Hiro did have a good reason for it…

Welcome back, Jayma Mays: If you’re not watching Glee, you should brilliant show and she’s fantastic in it. But it’s amazing to watch how easily Mays slipped back into that role perfectly after three years. Her fear and confusion over what was happening made perfect sense and I love the irony that Sylar killed her just when that aneurysm was about to rupture. But the show brilliantly dodged the obvious “Hiro can’t save her” story by having him make the deal with Sylar to save her. That led to the logical bit of Charlie actually upset about Hiro doing all this, claiming “why do I get to live? What makes me special?” But her smile when she told him she loved him at the end was simply gorgeous and made what happened next all the harder. I truly hope it’s not the last we see of her since this relationship deserves some closure at last.

Big Bad Sylar: While I disagree with the claims of Sylar “neutered,” it was great seeing the cool bad-ass of season one again. The bit of him stuck in the trunk was funny and it’s interesting seeing him back when all he cared about was claiming power after power. I was so expecting him to double cross Hiro and kill Charlie but guess the idea of knowing the future was too good to pass up. Quinto did a great job with the bit where Hiro flatly tells him he dies alone and unloved and you can tell he doesn’t want to believe it but knows it’s the truth. Indeed, that idea, of wanting to become bigger, does explain Sylar’s actions in the first season and I can understand his deciding to let Hiro go in the bigger game of Claire.

Affairs of the Heart: I’ve always felt Elisabeth Rohm was underrated as an actress and like her here. I believe she doesn’t have a power at all, she’s just another human agent of the Company. The idea of Noah needing someone to talk to about the truth back then makes perfect sense and the temptation to give in to Lauren was clear. But for all his faults, Noah still loved his family and she understood that. At the same time, she knew she couldn’t turn those feelings off, so a trip to our favorite memory stealer was the only option. On that, love how in the Company, the line of “going Haitian” was a regular thing. I believe this is more a set-up plotline so expect more of Lauren down the road.

Sneaky Samuel: Finally, Samuel is really stepping up his game. His minipulation of Hiro was brilliantly done, tricking him into saving Charlie to leave him open. His stealing of Charlie and sticking her in time was a clever move to get Hiro to work with the Carnival and you could feel Hiro’s pain at finally getting back his love only to have her stolen away once more. We also finally learn the reason Samuel is doing all of this…

RIP Mohinder: I had thought we’d seen the last of Suresh but it turns out there’s a good reason he hasn’t shown up this year: Samuel killed him eight weeks earlier. The reveal was a shocking twist, one of the best the show has done in a while and makes you want to watch more to learn why and how it happened. Of course, the idea of having to save Suresh doesn’t exactly make me feel happy but hopefully Hiro can’t undo it this time.

The 411:  Overall, one of the best of the season so far thanks to a great guest turn and twist.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]