HEROES 3.06

Tonight’s episode started off with a bang. I was never very impressed with the main villain of Season 2, Adam Munroe. The way that he was defeated was very anti-climatic, as well. Well, if you didn’t catch tonight’s episode, I am bringing you a spoiler- filled bit of bad news- Adam was killed. Arthur Petrelli, the main villain for Season 3, has a rather viscous power. He is able to remove a Heroes power completely and keep it for himself. In the beginning of this episode, Arthur absorbs Adam’s healing ability. Unfortunately for Adam, his 300 years of non- aging finally caught up with him, and he disintegrated in a moment of seconds, not unlike the way that guy bought it, at the end of ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’. Having taken Adam’s ability, Arthur is fully recovered. That isn’t all that went down this episode. Here is a recap of what happened to the main characters:

DAPHNE- Tonight’s episode could have been called “The Daphne Show”. The Speedster took center stage this time around, zipping across the continent, recruiting people for the Pinehearst Company. Hiro is the first person on her list (which I will get to in a minute) and then she runs into Parkman at the airport. Parkman at this point is carrying the turtle he found in Africa, which he considers to be his spiritual guide. This is where the funniest line of the show comes in. Parkman, who is on a quest to find Daphne, finds her waiting for him at the bottom of an escalator. Parkman happens to be talking to his spiritual guide (that isn’t embarrassing to watch at all) at the time, and says “High Five, Turtle!” After Daphne runs through her introduction speech, Parkman explains to her how they are soul mates. She isn’t buying his story, until he mentions that they will eventually name their daughter after her grandmother. She has Parkman wait for her while she runs off on her errands.
Her next stop is Mohinder’s lab, where he has Tracy and Nathan lying unconscious on two slabs (don’t worry, I will get to that too). Daphne discovers the many cocooned people Mohinder is hiding around his lab, and tells him “You are just like the rest of them”, meaning the other villains she has recruited. Daphne’s last stop for this episode is back at the airport with Parkman and his turtle. He warns her about her death, and tells her it is because of her involvement with the Pinehearst Company. It looks like, with Parkman’s influence, Daphne might be joining the good side.

HIRO AND ANDO- Please tell me I am not the only one who knew Hiro went back in time and helped Ando fake his own death, before the first time we saw him “kill” Ando, last episode. Extremely predictable. Daphne gives Hiro his first assignment for the Pinehearst Company- go to Africa and capture the precog- Usutu. The second funniest line in the episode is when Hiro arrives at Usutu’s hut, and calls out for him saying “Hello, Mr. African Eezak”. Hiro attempts to use his powers to sneak up behind Usutu and knock him out. He tries this twice, but Usutu gets the jump on him both times. Usutu then gives himself up to Hiro, but not before showing Hiro the “true villains” of the season. We don’t see the faces of the four villains, that Usutu has painted, but Hiro and Ando get a look at the Pineheart Company symbol. It looks like Hiro and Ando will be showing up for the final confrontation with the villains.

CLAIRE, SANDRA AND MEREDITH- Now time for the second most predictable moment in this episode. Claire, with her foster mother, Sandra, track down the missing Meredith. It turns out Meredith is the slave of a villain named Doyle, also known as “The Puppet Man”. Doyle gets the drop on Sandra and Claire, making them his slaves as well. What follows is actually the most twisted scene of this season. The Puppet man places a gun in the middle of a round table. Claire, Sandra and Meredith sit around it. The gun has one bullet, and Doyle, using his manipulative power, makes each of the women point it at each other and fire. If you are a fan of the show, you know the obvious thing that happens next. Sandra is forced to shoot Claire. On any other show, that would be a big deal, but Claire is good as new, a moment later, after her healing powers kick in. Doyle, of course is unaware of Claire’s abilities, and gets struck from behind, by the magically healing ex-cheerleader.

MOHINDER, TRACY AND NATHAN- Mohinder has two guests at the beginning of the episode- Tracy and Nathan. Mohinder is able to convince the two that he is able to rid both of them of their powers. He gives both heroes an injection, but instead of it being a cure, it is actually a paralyzing sedative. He straps Tracy and Nathan down onto two different slabs. In a moment of uncharacteristic naiveté, Mohinder holds hands with a distraught Tracy. She uses her ice power to freeze his arm. Why didn’t he see that coming? Tracy helps Nathan get loose, but before they can escape, Mohinder recovers. He warns them “I am not finished with you, yet!”

Just like the previous episode, “Dying of the Light” is focused more on answering questions and bringing plot lines together. It is easy to see from this episode, that all of the heroes are being drawn to the Pinehearst Company headquarters. As I mentioned before, I wasn’t very impressed with Adam as the main villain of Season 2. Arthur Petrelli is turning out to be a very deadly mastermind. He is as ruthless as Sylar was in the first season. Speaking of Sylar, this episode gave you a lot to ponder, when dealing with the Petrelli legacy. We now know that Nathan’s powers were manufactured, but it seems like Sylar and Peter’s powers are very similar to Arthur’s. Sylar has the incredibly strong hunger to steal the power of heroes, and Peter has the ability to absorb others powers, without completely stealing them. Arthur’s power lies somewhere in the middle.

I am excited about the idea of Peter’s powers being stolen. He had way too many to by this season. Comic fans sometimes make the argument that Superman isn’t interesting to read, because he is too powerful a character. Peter, who is essentially the main character of the show had actually become more powerful a character than Superman. Supes can’t fold time and space, and cannot instantly heal from any injury. Peter could do all that and more. Where was the tension, in the beginning of this season? Where was the real threat, if Peter could see the danger coming, could heal if he was killed, and could go back in time if he needed to prevent something? My guess is that he will end up injecting himself with the formula and get a brand new, less powerful ability. That will even up the playing field for future episodes.