Heroes - A Clear and Present Danger

After watching three episodes of season five of LOST, Heroes seemed quaintly pedestrian. While the comic book (er, "graphic novel") series can't compete with LOST's dense mythology, it certainly kicked things up a notch with last night's episode.

Nathan has joined forces with Noah to round up all those with abilities. This begs the question: If Nathan is so concerned with people with abilities running around, why isn't he turning himself in?

Instead, he targets (ex?) girlfriend Tracy, who is rounded up by his goon squad at the beginning of the show.

This volume of Heroes apparently takes place several years after the last one ended. Claire is all grown up and choosing colleges. We know she is grown up because she is wearing an obscene amount of makeup. Claire balks at the plans for a "normal" life chosen for her by Nathan, Noah and Angela. She is sure that Sylar is still out there.

She's right.

Thank god the most interesting character on the show survived the fire at Pinehearst. Did we have any doubts about that?

Sylar is in search of his dad and he locates Martin Gray in a dusty old watch repair shop. He asks him, "How does a boy without a father grow up to be a man?" (And all this time we thought Sylar had Mommy issues...) Martin tells him, "You were given to me." Sylar resists the urge to use his laser finger and slice open Martin's head and heads off to find the man who gave him to Martin Gray.

The Sylar donor turns out to be Martin's brother, Samson Gray, taxidermist. Inside the creepy home, he finds all sorts of stuffed animals (not the teddy bear kind), a picture of a young Sylar and snow globes. He also finds Nathan's goons, who unsuccessfully try to subdue him with a taser.

The rest of the Heroes are dispersed around New York City. Peter is working as an EMT. Suresh is driving a taxi. Matt and Daphne are trying to live a normal life as a security guard and messenger. And Hiro has bought an abandoned fire station to serve as a lair for him and supercharged Ando.

Hiro has been reading way too many comic books (er, I mean "graphic novels").

He presents Ando with a spandex uniform, motorcycle and injects him with a tracking chip. Ando takes off on the Ando-cycle and Hiro tracks him to a strip club. "You should be using your powers for good, not to pick up girls!" Hiro admonishes Ando. "The Ando-cycle is a chick magnet," Ando replies.

Claire overhears Nathan scheming with Angela and calls Peter to warn him. She then heads to warn Matt. Matt is busy talking to his turtle. The tribal guy shows up and tells him that he's been chosen to be a prophet and reveal the future.

After killing off Isaac Mendez and the tribal guy, the writers need someone who can paint the future and apparently they given the job to Matt Parkman. If I were Greg Grunberg, I'd be a little worried given the lack of job security that painting prophet has historically had on Heroes.

Claire arrives to warn Matt, but the goons arrive immediately after. With the capture of Matt and Claire, the Nathan and Noah's goon squad have rounded up five of the Heroes including Mohinder (still possessing his super strength), Tracy and Hiro (who remains powerless). And with a Judas-like hug, Nathan betrays Peter to Noah and his taser.

So that brings the total of captives to six and Nathan has them drugged and cuffed and marched onto a plane bound for who knows where. He releases Claire and sends her back home--but she escapes and hitches a ride on the plane where she works to release the other Heroes.

Peter apparently still has the power to absorb other abilities. Touching Mohinder's hand gives him the strength to break from his shackles. While Peter fends off the goon squad, Claire goes to the cockpit where she discovers Noah along with the pilot. Peter absorbs Tracy's deep-freeze abilities and accidentally puts a hole in the side of the plane. As the plane crash lands, Peter struggles to keep from being pulled outside by the centrifugal force.

Kudos to the camerawork and editing of that last scene. It was pretty trippy.