TV Review: Heroes 3.9 – It’s Coming

Posted by Adam Sweeney (adam@filmschoolrejects.com) on November 18, 2008

Heroes, NBC, Airs Mondays 9/8c

Episode: “It’s Coming” (Season three, Episode nine)

Synopsis: Hiro (Masi Oka) gets his mind wiped … sort of. Elle (Kristen Bell) and Sylar (Zachary Quinto) have a reunion, and Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) tries to keep Claire (Hayden Panettiere) innocent. Meanwhile, Matt (Greg Grunberg) probes Angela’s (Cristine Rose) mind in search of a way to stop Arthur Pertrelli (Robert Forster).

Review: At a point in the episode Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) says, “something is missing.” This has been the same sentiment expressed by Heroes fans for much of the third season. But it looks like Heroes may be able to get back to being good. “It’s Coming” was a far superior installment to the flashback friendly one before it. We had action, depth and get this, there were clear positions taken in the story.

In honor of Heroes, who have been jumping from tangent to tangent, I decided to focus this review on all the random questions that popped in my head as I watched the “It’s Coming” episode.  So thanks Heroes for giving me the attention span of a 10 year old.

Another person who seems to have the focus of a 10 year old is Hiro, who has always been a highlight of the show. But instead of giving him the mind of a pre-pubescent boy, why didn’t Arthur Pertrelli just take away his powers? It took Hiro, what, a few hours to figure out how to alter the time-space continuum? Nice work, Artie. It is appropriate that Hiro would go to a comic store to remember who he is. Maybe that is what it will take for the show to remember how great it once was as well. Also, kudos to Heroes for being in on the joke that they have too many twists and turns going for their own good. Wait, they do understand that, right?

Last week I suggested that Heroes needs to get back to a simple premise. Save the cheerleader, save the world. Now it’s clear that they have been setting that up all along, as Claire is the catalyst that will trigger the effect of the super-power formula. So perhaps we owe the writers a bit of an apology for questioning their motives. However, I don’t think we should say sorry for attacking the method they used in getting to this point.

Here’s something else that has been bugging me a bit. Don’t all the heroes know you don’t stare at the Sun in a solar eclipse? Luckily for them, they got super-powers from it. Most people just go blind. While we’re discussing events that make it hard to see, why is it that the credits for Heroes extend thirteen minutes into the show? It’s kind of hard for me to focus on the story when I am being told who the key grip is halfway into the episode.

We definitely had a Watchmen moment between Elle and Sylar as they gave new meaning to electro-shock therapy. If you’ve seen the Watchmen trailer you’ll know that I am referring to the scene where Dr. Manhattan is blasted with radiation. I wonder how Zack Snyder feels about a blatant ripping of his shot. Maybe imitation is the highest form of flattery? Shot style theft aside, the idea of Sylar becoming Dr. Phil for superheroes is something I’d like to see explored.

As has been the case with other episodes this season, there were some painfully bad lines. For example, there is a scene where Claire is distracting the villains from finding Peter. Makes sense. But when I heard Claire say, “Don’t you know? I am the defensive player of the year,” I nearly kicked myself in the crotch. Yeah, it was that bad. I know the show is set in a comic book format but let’s leave the witty one-liners to Spiderman, please?

Here’s a few questions to consider heading into the next episode. Is there a connection between the Pertrelli brothers both being shot twice? Is Arthur Pertrelli the modern day Tupac Shakur? How did Daphne (Brea Grant) and Matt fall in love so quickly? What effect will another eclipse have on our heroes, and how many freaking solar eclipses happen in one’s lifetime to begin with? All these questions and more will be answered … I hope … in season three of Heroes!

Up Next Week: “After reuniting Sylar and Elle, Arthur orders them to apprehend Claire and bring her to him. Matt and Ando team up to help Hiro regain his abilities, then transport together to Daphne’s hometown of Lawrence, Kansas to discover the secret she’s been hiding. Meanwhile, Nathan and Peter Petrelli rush to Haiti in search of the only man that can stop their father from destroying the world, the Haitian. As an ominous eclipse spreads across the heroes’ world, Arthur’s powers seem to know no end.”

Did you watch the “It’s Coming” episode of Heroes? If so, what did you think?

Read more articles by Adam Sweeney