The Heroes Review - 4.9 Shadow Boxing

Posted by Jason Chamberlain on 11.10.2009

The battle between Sylar and Matt continues! Meanwhile, Samuel tries to recruit Claire, Gretchen bolts and Peter has power troubles!

AND MIKE WEYER

Beware, today's review includes a spoiler for upcoming episodes!

A pretty tight, impactful episode of Heroes last night!

First of all, seeing Nathan again (or 'Nathan' I guess) was pretty cool, but bittersweet. I recently had it spoiled for me that Adrian Pasdar, who plays Nathan, has been released from the show, which obviously mean our Nathan sightings are about to run out. Throughout the run of the show, Nathan has been a hard guy to hate and to cheer for, if that makes sense. But even with all his machinations and selfishness, his true core seemed to be that of a guy who loved his brother more than anything else. I was really sad to see him die in last season's finale and I'll be sad when he disappears for good.

The surviving Petrelli brother, meanwhile, is feeling some compications from his healing ability. Peter has always been led by good intentions and his hunger to save people is admirable, but can be taken too far and I was glad to see him take down his "wall of saves" at the end. Helping people isn't about keeping score and I think that's something he learned via helping Emma through her crisis. The story of her nephew was a heart breaking one and her guilt over his death was palpable. But neither Peter nor Emma can live in the past of either their failures or successes, and the path of helping people is a never ending one that now it appears they both want to move ahead on. Together? There does seem to be a spark! I hope so as I'd like to see more of Emma.

I was also sad to see Gretchen go, I was really digging that character. I hold out hope she'll reappear later on in the season, as friend deserves a true (special?) friend, but where's the drama in that? They handled her exit well, though, as you couldn't really blame her for her decision to get out of dodge, her crush on Claire not withstanding.

I was surprised as well to see the extra depth added to Becky as we learned she had a legitimate beef with HRG and thus, Claire. Though she's still off her rocker, that's for sure. Samuel was at his manipulative best, although Claire impressed me once again by keeping up and actually outfoxing the fox a little bit by keeping him talking. He DOES like to talk, doesn't he? But then, I like to listen to him!

Though he seemed to be fairly courteous, I have a feeling Sammy has less than pure intentions for Noah and I expect we'll see a throwdown between these two sometime this season. I just hope they both make it out alive.

Matt earned a few badass points this week by actually exerting some control over Sylar, but doesn't the big bad always have an answer? Seeing Sylar return to Charlie's restaurant and say he "tried to kill a waitress here once" was a nice touch. Matt playing the hero and getting Sylar and himself gunned down was pretty impressive, but we both know the big bad ain't going down that easy. Hey, isn't Peter healing people now? Yep, there it is in the preview. You stupid italian eagle scout!

Oh. And, HAITIAN!

Things I Dug

- Gretchen LOVES the girls!
- Peter the Italian eagle scout!
- Nathan! One last time :(
- Haitian!
- “No I didn’t. You did.”
- Samuel is the bomb.
- But so is HRG!
- Why can’t we get more Ray Park without the stupid Sprint product placement?
- “You seem to like to talk.”
- “Night Claire Bear.”
- “I think I’m in trouble Pete.”

Here's Mike!

College Daze: I’ll give Claire credit for thinking on her feet with the “drugs in the water” story but good of the show not to have them totally buy that. So a visit from the Haitian (Renee? That’s his real name?) made sense and always fun to see the guy.

Goodbye Gretchen: I really liked Madeline Zima and her quirky take on the character and was thus sorry to see her go. It did serve the story, though, as it makes sense someone would be unable to take this crazy life Claire has, no matter her feelings for the cheerleader. You could tell how it hurt Claire, wanting to keep one of the few people she could be open with by her but unable to do so and Zima was good showing how much Gretchen wanted to stay but unable to handle this. A shame as she was fun but it did serve the story.

Samuel’s Machinations: It says a lot that a calm and cool Samuel freaks me out more than T-Bag on a murderous rage. His pitch to Claire was interesting but smart of her to just be buying time listening while Bennett showed up. The origins of Becky made sense and reminded us all of how Noah’s past is far from pretty (I did like how his experiences with Claude as a partner made him sense an invisible girl). The showdown between them all was interesting with Samuel tasing Becky but Noah unwittingly proving Samuel’s point by shoving Claire out of the way like that. He may apologize but you can sense Claire is a bit more open to Samuel’s line, which is sure to play into things.

Peter/Emma: Frankly, I’m amazed Peter hasn’t tried to cop someone’s healing power before as it makes sense given his new obsession with saving people’s lives. The hospital scenes were pretty chaotic and real with him doing his best and Emma was good handling it too. I liked how natural the revelation of her doctor past was and the explanation as to why she stopped and got a great moment saving the little girl. I loved the talk when she tells Peter “you saved me” and it was clearly meant in more ways than one. It may seem a goodbye but given how we know her power is stronger than it seems (remember the cracked ceiling), I suspect she’ll be popping in sooner or later. I do like how the whole experience convinces Peter he can do more than just save people 24/7 as evidenced by his taking down the whole clipping wall at the end.

The Odd Couple Part Deux: The idea of Matt being the one trapped in Sylar’s head now is pretty interesting and Grunberg actually seemed to be having fun with stuff like the airport and on the road. The dialouge between them was funny (“You have no upper body strength”) as the two have a great chemistry. The fact that he’s in control of his power while Sylar isn’t was a nice touch that gives Matt an edge but of course, Sylar kills a guy to prove who’s really in charge. Having their mental “showdown” at the diner in Texas was a nice touch and loved how Sylar is as disbelieving of the true story as one would be. The showdown with the cops was great as Matt shows his true heroism, willing to kill himself if it meant stopping Sylar. A shame the previews give away his survival as it was a great moment that showed Matt at his best.

Welcome Back, Nathan: So at last, the shifting personality retakes itself and Sylar is back to thinking he’s Nathan. It’s a cool dynamic with Nate having no idea what’s going on but makes sense he’d go back to Peter. Personally, I’m waiting for Angela’s reaction to how it was one of her friends who tired to kill “Nathan” but either way, it seems things are about to get very interesting.

The 411: Heroes continues its run of solid episodes. What more can you ask for?

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]