Commentary: Heroes 3x19 - Shades of Gray
Previously, multi-media Rebel warns Hiro and Ando about Matt, Sylar’s memories are in black and white, Petrelli hugs never end well, Tracy freeze-dries some poor intern, and Danko straps up Matt with bombs.
And now…“Shades of Gray.” Get it? Like Gabriel?
That shot of Claire looking in the microwave is the cutest thing ever. But someone has bogart-ed her popcorn! It’s the Puppet Man, as we learned last week. Doyle says that Rebel told him to go to Claire for help. Doyle shows his Product Placement Phone as proof. Good job, Rebel. Guess complete mastery of the internet and all technology everywhere still doesn't give you manners.
Doyle asks a clever question, which is, “Why the hell are you running free?” He asks why the agents aren’t coming to collect a “Comes-back-to-live Barbie.” Heh. They burned down Doyle’s theater, which I think is really mean! Sandra and Claire don't agree. Doyle gets all sad about his sob story, but his pleas fall on deaf (or perhaps just paranoid) ears. Then he leaves, while conspicuously not killing Claire and her mom.
Back at Building, 26, suspicious Danko is suspicious, even more so when Nathan leaves via the roof access (subtle, Nathan) after he gets a call about Parkman being all bombed up and shit.
Nathan flashes his Senator badge at the cops and tries to get through to Matt while the media flock outside. Danko is again surprised that Nathan got somewhere quickly.Yes, he's just on the verge of putting the peices together. Danko eyes the big red button eagerly, alleging that Nathan will be a martyr for his own cause, and gives his techie assistant permission to set us up the bomb.
Luckily, someone (Rebel, thx) has blocked Danko’s computer system. HRG seems morally uncomfortable with blowing Matt up (despite last week's non-con mind-fuck three/foursome), but it’s Nathan that ends up providing the solution (read a bomb tech’s mind!) and disarming the bomb. Yay! Then he punches Matt, because he’s pissed that Matt had him so worried.("Don't ever do that to me again, Parkman!")
Menwhile, in Trailer Trashville, Sylar goes to visit his daddy. Daddy has a lot of texedermy around. Sylar’s getting more irritated by the moment as Dad employs the Socratic method. Also, his dad is kind of a pathetic old man. He also has cancer, and kicking his ass is going to be not-at-all satisfying. You were, perhaps, expecting an epic battle? Well bust out your Season One disks and watch Five Years Gone to see Sylar battle Badass!Future!Peter.
Nathan revels in being taller than someone for once, and threatens to fire Danko. Please also note that he’s not wearing a black suit, but rather a tweed one. Character choice? HRG is caught in the middle while Danko and Nathan engage in the weekly dick-measuring contest. But I sense the status quo cannot last much longer. One of the alpha dogs is going DOWN!
Tracy is brought in, presumably for questioning by Danko. She’s kind of tripped out, but she still sees Rebel’s message, which is “Don’t freak out. I got this.”
Noah advises Nathan to be more like his mommy. Nathan thinks about that for a minute, and then goes in (vest again this week, thanks show!) to talk to Tracy. Adrian knocks this scene out of the park. I mean, that man can pack subtext into anything. Mmmm....subtext...
Danko pumps Tracy about Nathan, and she leads with a great hook, “He was lousy in bed.” Oh, come on, Tracy! Start with a believable lie, at least. But Tracy comes through for him, and doesn’t spill the beans to Danko.
Claire’s genius plan is to get a job at the comic book store. Which is actually sort of awesome. But she cant’t answer the age old question: flight or invisibility. The comic book guy is hilarious, and Claire apparently doesn’t mind being a bit of a comic slut. The fanboys like her, at least, so she gets the job on the basis that horny teenage boys will come to stare at her. Here starts the road to stripper!Claire.
“Life never gives you what you want,” Sylar’s dad explains, and then gets out a cute bunny in a cage. This is where you might start to suspect that nothing good is going to happen this little critter.
Sylar resents the idea of being an apple, especially since he likes to eat apples. His Dad has abilities (super-whistling!), and he draws Sylar into his tangled web of morality. The unfulfilling life is unfulfilling, says Dad. Sylar totally knows where he’s coming from. Oh Sylar, baby. All he wants is approval! Therefore, he engages in some father son bonding through bunny slaughtering.
Then there’s a trailer for Star Trek, and OMGYAY! I am there.
Danko starts asking questions about flying, and HRG’s past, and Primatech. HRG suggests he take a closer look at Angela Petrelli. HRG calls her to warn her. She has SOCKS in her purse! She shoplifted socks! Callback to the pilot FTW!
Claire calls her dad for advice on leading a double life. He is worse than cryptic; he's downright unhelpful. Then the agents watching Claire zoom off to nab Doyle, and Rebel asks for Claire’s help. We see that Doyle can’t actually kill the agent who’s after him, and then Claire comes to the rescue! She is a hero after all!
Danko and Angela have a dinner date. Angela is drinking champagne during the day, and being just fabulous. I mean really, really fabulous. She’s done her homework, and she calls out a 1997 incident from Danko’s past, in Angola. He doesn’t appreciate that, and he runs away with his tail between his legs. He has SUCH a hard crush on Angela.
Sylar Sr. suggests that a hobby is important, while he stuffs a bunny (presumably not the same bunny, since I don’t think he gave it time to cure and dry or anything), and Sylar Jr. puts in eagerly that he fixed watches. At least we've moved on from father-son bonding-through-butchery to father-son craft project. Sylar is uncharacteristically clumsy, and cuts himself. Probably just so Daddy Dearest can see his awesome ability, and brag about the fact that he can’t die. But Daddy has a very Chekovian response to this wondrous ability, saying, “Well then you just have that much longer to suffer, don’t you?”
But of course, Sylar, Sr. is not what he seems. He uses his Super Whistling ability to paralyze Sylar, because he has TEH HUNGARR!!!
Doped-up Sylar slurs his words as Daddy Dearest prepares to carve him up. Of course, the old man isn’t really a match for Sylar Baby, any more than Peter or a bunch of Feds or Anyone in the World are a match for him. Sylar was just playing opossum. He takes his damn bunny, and strangles his dad with his oxygen hose, just not enough to kill him. Sylar’s all about leaving people to die slowly, painfully, and in angst.
Nathan hands Danko his pink slip, and promotes HRG. Middle management no more!And that, of course, is that, with no reprecussions at all. Danko is soundly defeated by Nathan's beurocracy-fu, and all the specials will live happily ever after in a beefed-up Eagle Rock prison! Oh wait, only not. Because Nathan is standing by a window while Danko is pissed. I spent the whole scene cringing, knowing exactly what was coming. Danko shoots out the window, pushes Nathan out (what, Nathan, you couldn't manage to pull Danko to his death out the window?), and Nathan must reveal his mad flying skills in order to avoid Certain Doom. Cat's out of the bag now, bitches!
Doyle and Claire are on a park bench (HRG and Angela reference?), and Claire gives him some new paperwork. She wants to know if he’s really reformed, and he fails to answer. Raise your hand if you think we've seen the last of the Puppet Man. Yeah, me neither.
Mo-voiceover montage!
Hiro and Ando go to rescue Matt Parkman, only to discover that he’s a baby…?
Rebel warns Claire that her pass is up.
Sylar has brought his bunny to Danko’s house, and is lying in wait.
Sandra, Mr. Muggles, and Lyle are hanging out on the couch.
Nathan has flown to Costa Verde to SAVE THE CHEERLEADER! In a eerily West-like move, he holds Claire as they hover outside her window watching the feds search her room. Eeee! Nathan is back on the right side! Petrelli reunion ahoy!
So, I'm a very happy camper. No Heroes tomorrow, but that gives me more time to keep up with the latest Heroes Kink Meme. Which I promised I would stop writing for. And I will. I can stop any time. Seriously.