Heroes 3.16 "Cold Wars"

Let me see if you have heard of this pattern before:

One of the super powered characters has a plan to get back at the group that is currently hunting them. They attack the hunters, but end up getting captured. Either Nathan Petrelli or H.R.G. persuades the hunters to go easy on the captured hero and then the hero escapes.

Sound familiar?

Oh yeah, it is what has happened on each episode of 'Heroes' since this half of the third season started. Sure, we have had other types of stories so far. Some of them have bordered on useless i.e. Hiro's quest to prevent an Indian couple from getting married. Some of them are highly entertaining, like the Sylar and Luke road trip.

There was nothing to this episode, except for that tired pattern. In this case, Parkman was the captured hero. By the end of the episode, Peter Petrelli flew in and rescued him, after letting off a flash bang grenade.

We did get a glimpse into the perspectives of both H.R.G. and "the Hunter" (who I believe is named Nemko) through a series of overly redundant arguments between the two of them. "The Hunter" wants to use whatever means necessary to take out the heroes, while Nathan and H.R.G are trying their best to keep the heroes from getting hurt or killed.

We get it, ok? How many episodes do they think is necessary to set this idea up?

Sorry to keep ripping into this show, but 'Cold Wars' was the type of episode that deserves a good ripping. For example, at one point, Parkman uncovers the number of the hotel room that "the Hunter" is staying in. Peter flies off to the room, to confront and possibly kill him. Now, "the Hunter" seems to always be in building 26, and he also seems to spend all of his time explaining to Nathan and H.R.G why they should have zero tolerance for people with superpowers. So, then why the hell does he go back to his hotel room right when his team is about to move in on 3 of the main heroes? This is the kind of illogical moment that you find at least once per episode now.

The scenes without "the Hunter", that focused on H.R.G's interactions with other characters is what made the episode borderline redeemable. The writers made the intelligent decision to show what happened in the past few months through H.R.G's flashbacks as opposed to a time travel episode, thus making "Cold Wars" seem like the most praised of "Heroes" episodes, "Company Man", instead of another "Six months ago".

If we had gotten another "Six Months" type episode I would have started to ask for healthcare from the BGH crew, since that experience would have maimed me mentally. Oh, and did I call it or not with the Daphne still being alive statement a few posts back?

I am sorry for being so polarized with my opinions on this show, but you have to realize that at one point, I actually did consider it to be one of the best shows on television. Now, during this season, there are points where I feel like I am watch something as contrived as "Smallville".