The Heroes Review - 4.10 Brothers Keeper

Posted by Jason Chamberlain on 11.17.2009

This week on Heroes, Sylar escapes Matt's body, but where is he now? Peter and Nathan learn a horrific truth and Mohinder's past is revealed!

AND MIKE WEYER

You can tell we're nearing the mid season climax because the disparate elements of this volume are weaving together in dramatic fashion.

I should totally get bonus points for use of the word 'disparate'.

Like I noted last week, I've always been a Nathan fan so I"m enjoying this current story even if (sigh...) I know how it ends, more or less. To me it was quite interesting to see 'Nathan' and Peter react the way they did to the revelation that Nathan is dead and that 'Nathan' is a collection of memories forced into Sylar's body. It really didn't seem to horrify Peter as the Haitian thought it would. Maybe there's a little denial there, but it's obvious that Peter's love for his brother runs deep and if memories are all that's left of him, he'll do everything he can to save them. I could get all existential and talk about souls and what not, but I won't for the sake of a much easier and less controversial review. But if, in the Heroes universe, a person really is no more than their assembled memories, than maybe this 'Nathan' really is worth saving.

That's what Peter thinks. But seeing Nathan cast doubt on this himself was powerful.

The interplay between Sylar and Matt and now presumably Nathan was also powerful. Bad news for Matt though, as without Sylar he just became a whole lot less interesting.

Mohinder returned to prove that he is still the dumbest smart guy around! First he disposes of his father's research in a garbage can, where just anyone could find it. Then he goes and gets it back, pores over it right in his living room and falls asleep, essentially reserving himself a place in his wife's (girlfriend?) dog house as soon as she wakes up. Then he ignores her ultimatum and takes off to America, again, to find another super powered dude, this one who set off esrthquakes by his mere birth (holy shit, eh?), essentially guaranteeing an ass kicking as soon as he finds him. Then he waltzes into Cirque Du Freak (good movie, by the way), starts asking stupid questions and fudging things up (a week or two after this, Sammy's brother is dead? No coincidence there!) and sure enough, gets himself good and killed by Sam Vicious.

You block head!

Heck, even when Hiro travels back to save his ass, he acts like a moron and refuses to let his rescuer take care of his business of saving Charlie. Serves him right, getting stuck in the nuthouse!

As for Hiro, I feel for him. As if Samuel is ever going to let him off the leash and give Charlie back. Although once he sees the film and realizes the more powered people around him, the more powerful he is, he may just bring her back for that purpose.

It was intriguing to meet Samuel's brother Joseph and learn more about him. It's easy to predict where the story goes from here, with Samuel finding out his brother was keeping the truth of his power from him. Is there any wonder at this point who killed him?

Just what could Samuel accomplish if his powers were multiplied a thousand times? Worldwide earthquake? Every 'normal' person swallowed up by the Earth, leaving only specials behind? The mind reels.

As for Claire and Tracy, that was alright, but only served to distract from the more interesting stories. Claire was looking GOOD, though. I'll say that!

Things I Dug

- Ah, Mohinder. He does have a great voice!
- And a way with the ladies!
- The Petrelli brothers, together again! Sort of...
- Haitian!
- Damn Claire, did you paint those shorts on? Giggity!
- “It’s me.”
- Oh God, don’t make Samuel shill for Sprint!
- “This should be good.”
- “We must do everything possible to keep this genie in the bottle.”
- “Ladies! How was your day?”
- “Do you really think Matt could purge every sick thought out of that head?”
- “Tell me I’m wrong, Pete.”

Here's Mikey!

A good episode that pushed a lot of storylines forward.

Mohinder: I’ll admit, Mohinder has always been my least favorite character from season one on and was worried about him back. However, he was handled very well and plays a key part in the plotline involving Samuel’s true nature. I liked how he seemed wanting to get a normal life like the others but pulled into his father’s past too much. Hiro’s saving of him was good although throwing him to an nuthouse seems a bit extreme. So, it looks like Suresh is coming back but hopefully it’ll work out in the long run.

Girl Talk: Larter and Hayden have a great chemistry together so their scenes were pretty good. I admit, I’ve always wondered how Claire would handle being frozen and the effects there were great (the part of the broken foot was hysterical). But Larter did a good job with Tracy’s terror of her powers out of control and how Claire inadvertedly convinces her to join the carnival was a nice touch. Plus, did love Noah’s reaction at coming home to the two in robes and a severed foot on the table.

Samuel’s Secret: So at last we get the reason behind Samuel’s actions and it makes sense. In order to increase his own power, he surrounds himself with other powered people, an idea I’m amazed hasn’t been used before. It was interesting seeing Joseph at last and Samuel as more of a loose punk figure. You get the anger when he realizes what Joseph has been keeping from him and I think we finally know what really happened to the guy as well. Knepper was great in the two different sides of Samuel and now that we know his end game, this is going to be more interesting than ever to watch.

The Truth Comes Out: Not sure how the Haitian Sensation (Still weird to hear him called “Renee”) knew the truth about Nathan/Sylar but maybe Angela was forced to tell him when she had him mind-wipe Nathan’s staff. On that, did love when the secretary talked about his “vacation” and Peter just mouths “mom” with an eye-roll. Really not sure why they’d keep Nathan’s body in a storage locker but since when did Angela think like a normal person? Padsar was great as “Nathan” handling the shock of this, realizing the truth while Peter denied it and the scene of Matt/Sylar in the hospital was a thrill to watch. Peter’s refusal to believe it strikes me as off a bit but still looking forward to when Sylar finally breaks through and we get a major showdown.

The 411: If I could use a baseball analogy, I'd say that every week, Heroes keeps belting out strong singles. They're not smashing homers but they're getting on base! Another solid episode tonight.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]