Heroes 3.15 - "Building 26"

Finally, the first 'Heroes' episode, since I started reviewing the show, that hasn't given me much to complain about. Each of the four stories that took place in this episode were well acted, well written, and for the first time in a while, didn't seem forced.

The Sylar and Luke story continues to develop organically- Sylar hasn't killed the kid yet, even though Luke has willingly prolonged the search for Sylar's father. At one point, the super powered duo is attacked by government agents. Sylar was able to escape, but purposefully left Luke behind. Before the episode was over, however, Sylar returned, killed all the agents and freed Luke. Sylar's reason for doing so was not because he wanted to save the boy, but because he needed to figure out how the agents were tracking him. Yeah, right.

In my opinion, 'Heroes' has become the Sylar story. Remember when 'The Simpsons' first started and all the episodes focused on Bart? It didn't take long for 'The Simpsons' creators to realize that it was much more entertaining to follow Homer around. I believe the 'Heroes' creators have had a similar revelation, replacing Peter Petrelli with Sylar.

Since the show's inception, Sylar has gone from a faceless ghoul (The beginning of Season 1) to a nobody willing to kill to become more powerful (end of Season 1 and Season 2) to a monster trying to control his hunger, but getting manipulated by false parents (first part of Season 3) to the murderous anti-hero of this chapter. At this point, Sylar's story outshines all other stories running throughout this season. When the show is finally over, and done with, Sylar's picture will be the largest one on the DVD box set.

As a side note, to all my fellow horror fans, did any of you realize that Luke is the same actor that played the younger brother in 'The Hills Have Eyes' remake?

Finally, the Nathan Petrelli/Building 26 arc is starting to become interesting. If only we could overlook Nathan's bizarre religious conversion at the beginning of Season 3, or the fact that he was going to take over the Pinehearst Company, after his father died, his new mission would seem so much more compelling.

The fact that it was actually "The Hunter" instead of Nathan who set up Tracy's escape was an unexpected reveal. At first, I was convinced that it was Nathan who allowed her to escape, only so that she could use her power and kill someone in front of the President's liaison. The fact that it was "The Hunter" and not Nathan shows that Senator Petrelli actually believes in his cause, and that maybe he actually can be redeemed.

As you know people, we got a whole lot of Season left, and the redemption is a long way off.