Not Out Of The Woods

The latest Heroes was considerably better than the last few. (Oddly, this review from TV Squad says "The good momentum established in the first three chapters of this volume were completely squashed as the action ground to a screeching halt in this episode.") "Cold Wars" had concentrated, relatively coherent, storytelling. It also set up an interesting future, where the three players at the top fighting the heroes are going in different directions.

We also got a lot of background information, which is what happens when Parkman goes into your mind. (However, when the squad closed in to pick him up, Parkman decided not to bend their minds so he could escape, which he successfully did last time he was in a jam.)

To no one's surprise, Daphne is alive. They would have played up her death scene otherwise. When Parkman points his gun at Noah and Noah responds the one you love is still alive, I (and millions of others) thought "didn't they do this scene last week on Lost?

Peter had a shot at Danko (whom the show is suggesting has secret reasons to hate people with powers--could it be he's one, too, or has he or someone he knows been hurt by them) but he either wimped out or Nathan convinced him not to. They don't want Peter to kill when not threatened, I guess--Peter's still the good guy, and it takes someone like Sylar to finish what Peter starts, as we've seen. Which reminds me, Peter landed hard on the car to stop Noah from getting away--hey Peter, that's not your car, maybe you can land on the ground.

They're trying to return to the excitement and momentum the show had at the start, and I wish them luck, but that doesn't mean everything from the first season should be copied. The episode ended with Parkman doing some clairvoyant-painting (how come he gets two special powers?). Knowing what the future looks like doesn't interest me--if anything, I find it oppressive that the show will be forced to make these moments happen. And apparently there'll be a big finale in D.C. instead of New York, where they had the showdown in season 1.

Ultimately, however, even "Cold Wars" was a step in the right direction, it's still not good enough. I'm no longer buying the characters or the situation, and if the show is to right itself, they'll have to do good work for a few episodes in a row.