325: 'An Invisible Thread'
Wr: Tim Kring
Dr: Greg Beeman
Synopsis: Nathan tries to prevent Sylar from meeting the President. Sylar has his own agenda regarding his partner. Hiro finds there are consequences that come with the return of his powers.
Review: In keeping with the remainder of this most turbulent and underwhelming of volumes, 'An Invisible Thread' draws Fugitives to a close in a frustratingly schizophrenic fashion. There is much to enjoy here but sadly, it's weighed down by several disagreeable plot decisions that take the wind out of the episode's sails. Starting with the positive, Zachary Quinto is once again the beacon of light in Heroes' arsenal, proving without a shadow of a doubt that he's the best damn bad guy on TV. The scene in which he physically manipulates Claire is marvellously choreographed, combining his considerable acting talents with some skillfully slow-paced direction and decidedly eerie dialogue to create one of the creepiest scenes of the year. Surprisingly, HRG and Danko get a rather excellent little scene together in which some minor atonements are (potentially) made for the mistakes of the past, which is also superbly shot from afar to underline the distance that remains between them and the individuals they seek to 'protect'. The storming of Building 26 is brief but satisfying as Hiro and Ando take logical steps to ensure the safe rescue of the heroes. Nathan's death, while hardly unexpected, is fantastically gruesome. Greg Beeman pulls no punches in his direction here, lingering on the guy's slit throat as he bleeds out and subsequently snuffs it, which only further strengthens the credence of having Sylar as the central focus of the episode. And then there's the introduction to Volume 5 which, while made problematic through a particular plot decision that we'll come to in a second, does seem to offer considerable potential, particularly for Adrian Pasdar who will evidently get a chance to demonstrate his talent in portraying an unravelling Nathan Petrelli. Oh, and I'm not entirely convinced that the woman responsible for the mysterious drownings is a resurrected Tracey Strauss... if you cast your mind back to the early episodes of the season, it is remarked that there are three 'models' of Ali Larter, if you will. The remaining one is Barbara and while the manipulation of water does seem to tie in with Strauss' ability (freezing, ice, you get the picture), my money's on it being the other one out for some form of twisted revenge. But I guess we'll see.
Anyway, these elements are all certainly laudable, but they are hampered somewhat by certain other plot decisions that function rather less well. First, there's the disappointing resolution of Hiro's body's rejection of his power which seemed like a prominent obstacle last week but which amounts to little more than a few headaches and a brief collapse AT THE MOST CONVENIENT TIME in this episode. How about we see the two have to resort to more creative tactics to complete their mission, rather than being able to achieve their goal 'just in the nick of time'? Then we have Danko who, after having been built up as a legitimate threat for the entire volume, is passed off with barely a second thought here, cast aside in favour of bringing out the big guns with the Sylar confrontation. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm hardly advocating that the entire episode be about Ivanek but you'd think they could give us a form of closure more satisfying than being jabbed in the neck with a syringe. What else? Oh, there's Cristine Rose's woeful overacting when she finds Nathan's body which is just terrible and really should've been reigned in. The big fight scene between Peter, Nathan and Sylar criminally occurs OFF CAMERA which is just a complete kick in the face to the entire viewing audience. If you can't afford to give us an effects-laden action sequence guys, DON'T WRITE IT INTO THE SCRIPT AT ALL. Find another way. Don't hint at it but lock the door on us! This is absolutely the worst decision that could've been made as it just disheartens the viewer, leaving us bitterly disappointed. And then, of course, we have the biggest offender: how Nathan is, ahem, 'resurrected' and Sylar, ahem, 'killed'. While I do ultimately like the potential that comes with the solution that we're given, I certainly don't like how we got there. This smacks of a complete cop-out on the part of the writing staff, as if they felt gutsy for five minutes and then started worrying about it too much. Nathan's death, up until Parkman meets Sylar, comes across as a refreshingly bold move, a fairly shocking plot twist that makes the episode stand out. As soon as the 'resurrection' begins, all of this positivity fizzles to nothing. Heroes bails on yet another death, further denting the audience's trust in the writing staff as it just feels like we're being messed around. Characters die, they come back to life, they're good, they're evil, they have powers, they don't have powers. There's nothing constant about the show anymore; it's in a perpetual state of flux, moving pieces endlessly around a chessboard with no direction or aim. As a volume and season finale, 'An Invisible Thread' is entirely fitting in that it is a perfect representation of the show's current status, with all its various qualities and failings on display. It's just a shame that, at the point where Kring desperately needs to restore the viewing audience's faith in his ailing show, he couldn't really deliver. 6.7
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