WARNING: The following post contains spoilers regarding year three of Heroes. Well, it does for those who watch it on the UK schedule anyway. If you haven't seen both the first AND second episodes of the new season, DO NOT CONTINUE. It'll only end in tears.
Heroes fans are a notoriously difficult bunch. At the end of season one, they were unhappy with the show's 'anti-climactic', 'too character driven' finale (despite the programme being character driven from day one); during season two, they bemoaned its 'overly complex narratives', believing there was simply too much going on and that, well, it was all a load of boring twaddle, and now, in the aftermath of a frankly top-notch season premiere, in which old mysteries are resolved, new character arcs delineated, fresh, exhilarating plot elements introduced and action given absolute centre stage, they're still not happy. "We don't like where the show's going!", they moan; "we want more powers on display!" they nag; "it's all too sudden!" they shout, hypocritically, at the tops of their lungs. People, you can't have it both ways. You can't whine about there not being enough action and then, when Tim Kring suckerpunches you all with a hefty slam on the accelerator, complain that you're getting too much. Especially when, let's face it, you can never have too much of what Heroes has to offer. I don't know... there's just no pleasing some people.
Fortunately for Kring and his cohorts, I was rather pleased with 'The Second Coming' and 'The Butterfly Effect'. In fact, I was positively bowled over by them. The third season premiere has given the show a good kick in the pants and brought the franchise back to life with an almighty, sinister bang. So, we're into 'volume three' now, the promisingly titled Villains and we can dispense with the pains of self-discovery that typified the first season, as well as the struggles to 'reconnect' with the real world that characterised the second... now, folks, we can get down to business. No dicking around here. First curveball to the gut: future Peter shoots his brother. Well, I sure as hell didn't see that one coming. It's a nice twist though, and the decision to keep this hardened future version of young Petrelli as the main 'version' is an inspired one (at least we don't have to suffer any more 'little boy lost in a sea of his own abilities' acting from Ventimiglia for a while). It's also nice to see a nod back to the first season in the reappearance of his scar - one wonders how he still gets it in the new timeline - and also grants the opportunity for Angela's power to finally be revealed which, it must be said, ties in rather nicely, and makes for one deliciously disturbing sequence in which the collective 'villains' (anyone spot David Anders' 'blink and you'll miss him' cameo? Oh, and Parkman's dad? Oh, oh, and significantly, Niki/Tracy... now there's an interesting development!) murder the collective 'heroes'. Delightful. It's great to see Christine Rose getting such a significant chunk of the action: she's effortlessly serpentine, pitching each of her callous confrontational moments with pinpoint, spine-chilling malice. And of course, now that she's head of the Company, there can only be more of the same to come...
On the subject of the Company, 'The Butterfly Effect' gives us the crux of the current volume's emphasis as the bad-boy superpowers manage to escape from 'floor 5' with a little help from a newly revitalised Sylar and a now fatherless Elle (as far as I'm concerned, Bob's death couldn't have been more welcome... I was never particularly convinced by Stephen Tobolowsky's portrayal). The new evil quartet seem like a friendly bunch, flamethrowing members of the public to death for their own general amusement, and placing a contempo Peter amongst them is a stroke of genius... I can't wait to see what the guy whose body he's currently occupying's 'power' is (something to do with 'sound manipulation', apparently). Elsewhere, we have an intriguing new strand for Parkman as he appears to be about to embark on a voyage of discovery with the new Isaac Mendez, new character Daphne whose super-speed ability is one of the coolest things on the show (how awesome, by the way, is the production staff's decision to have her subtly 'twitch' when she stands still, like she's uncomfortable living life at its expected pace?), a fantastically puzzling plot for Niki... sorry, Tracy Strauss, whose new personality's quite literal 'ice Queen' nature is, in a word, awesome... and she gets to work with JOHN SHERIDAN which is cumtastic enough in itself, the re-introduction of the sublime Malcolm MacDowell who steals every scene he's in and more than a few that he's not, a fresh twist on Hiro and Ando's relationship with another superb flashforward sequence, and last but by no means least, a show-stealing sequence in 'The Second Coming' between Sylar and Claire that is marvellously choreographed, keeping the suspense and horror just the right side of irresistibly squeamish. It's wonderfully eerie stuff, all slow, creeping camera movements, dimly lit mise en scenes and dissonant musical underscores, beautifully woven into the narrative tapestry to manufacture a powerful sense of unease. Zachary Quinto hasn't been this good since he put pay to his poor mother late in season one, and Hayden Panettiere certainly manages to keep up the pace. The moment in which Sylar returns Claire's head to her body and comments on her 'special' nature gave me chills; truly fantastic stuff.
The only complaints to make are minor ones: having never been a huge fan of Mohinder's story, I can't say I was too excited by his sudden transformation into energetic superstud (how signposted was his sexy time with Maya?!) but, admittedly, this is all part of the over-arching mythology and, at least, is involved in moving the plot forward. What's the betting that the formula that Hiro and Ando must retrieve is related to Suresh's laboratory fumblings? Speaking of our favourite Japanese double act, their introductory sequence is a little clumsy; while it's nice to see George Takei again, bringing in a DVD just as Hiro is rabbiting on about 'destiny knocking on his door'? That's just the wrong side of corny. Oh, and speaking of corny, how ludicrously hokum was Nathan's sudden 'divine intervention'? The sequence in the church was embarrassing to say the least - no amount of attempts from an actor of even Adrian Pasdar's calibre could ever hope to convincingly portray lines as clunky as those. Thankfully, this only lasted a couple of minutes and any further reference to Nathan's new found enlightenment has been kept to a pleasing minimum. With the continued appearance of Linderman, it looks like this narrative will, hopefully, develop in another, less troublesome, direction in the not too distant future.
In all, Heroes' first instalments of season three are a great improvement on a weaker second year, and certainly kept me on the edge of my seat for ninety thrillingly jam-packed minutes. The haters really just don't know what they're talking about - Villains is currently bursting at the seams with potential... let's just hope Tim Kring and co. can keep up the good work.
Other points worth noting:
* What is the significance of "Ned's (?) here" as spoken by future Claire before she's about to pop off future Peter?
* Nice to see Claire's fire-toting mom again...
* While HRG didn't get much to do, just seeing him on screen again is enough to keep me satisfied. Oh, and hearing Sylar so contemptuously call him "Noah".
* The camcorder-filmed ambush of the Company agents by Sylar was hilarious and inspired.
* Was I the only one willing the train to mow Claire down? I love her character to bits and all but I would've quite enjoyed seeing the messy aftermath of that one.
* Angela is Sylar's mom? REALLY??!! Holy smokes.
301: 'The Second Coming': 9.3
Wr: Tim Kring; Dr: Allan Arkush
302: 'The Butterfly Effect': 9.3
Wr: Tim Kring; Dr: Greg Beeman
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