Commentary: Heroes 3x20 Cold Snap
Previously, on Heroes (smarms Nathan): HRG is duplicitous, Daphne is alive, Matt is not dead, and there’s a hilarious case of mistaken identity, with babies!
Now… Heroes.
Danko gets ready for a day of EVIL. Shaving hasn’t looked this dangerous since Sweeney Todd. His high-tech security alarm goes off, and he goes to find Eric Doyle trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey. Sylar is very…thoughtful? But what happened to the bunny?!?! That's like old-timey movies that were played in weekly installments, where the train falls off a cliff at the end of one week's episode, and the next week the hero gets the tracks switched in time to prevent the train from going off the tracks. They cheated, because they knew you couldn't prove you remembered something that happened differently last week. But, helloooo! We have TiVo. We have the internet. We have HeroesWiki. We have Livejournal! We are unstoppable!!!!! But seriously, what happened to the bunny?
In New York traffic, HRG meets with Angela, but he’s a bit distracted. I can’t even think of anything snarky to say, because they are both so awesome. Angela does reference the fact that although Nathan will someday forgive her, she doubts that Peter ever will. Oh, you dear Petrelli boys! She gives him her umbrella, and says, “Don’t say I never did anything for you.” An umbrella is way better than a watch.
Back in Building 26, Danko shows Mohinder his Zombie Room (Or, as the door says, Human Resources. Heh.), and we are reminded a) that Daphne exists and b) that she is in mortal danger! With his extensive medical training (hey, a doctor is a doctor), he determines that Daphne is dying. Danko, unmoved, has his henchman knock Mo out (in classic one-hit fashion, which is the only way to do it on television), and they make up a zombie bed for him.
Tonight's episode is: “Cold Snap"! Tracy demonstrates by breathing cold air all over the title and erasing it. Hey, cut it out Tracy, those after-effects don't come cheap! But perhaps we could cut costs if we didn't have to pay the salary of a certain blonde actress... But we'll get back to you on that.
Also, I’m only seeing 3 out of every 5 seconds or so, thanks to the digital reception being not so good tonight. Randomly. Perhaps it's a bird migration thing? Or maybe it's based on karma... So if I misinterpret anything, let’s blame it on that.
Danko claims that he’s smarter than the average bear. Then he takes credit for the capture of the puppet man and tells Bennet he’d better pony up. I'm pleased that Danko continues to be fairly clever. At least as compared to many other characters on my beloved show. Bennet says he'll see Danko's puppet master and raise him one Rebel. Danko is intrigued, but not entirely convinced.
Back in the land of mistaken identity, Ando is better with kids than Hiro. He’s also way more observant. But apparently not observant enough to notice the Coincidental Broadcast on the television. Baby Matt has a power, it seems!
Angela’s precognitive dreams give her only a few seconds warning about the agents closing in on her. Like with Matt's super drawing skills, which showed him getting tazed just in time for him to say "oh shit" and then get tazed, this is not an ideal situation. Angela, however, makes better use of her few seconds than Matt or Claire. She uses her skills of awesome to hook up with some old dude and evade the authorities. Yay Angela!
Rebel shuts down the system at Building 26, so that Tracy can escape. She wisely enlists some help by pulling tubes out of the noses of everyone she knows (i.e. Matt and Mohinder). Although I'm not quite sure how she knows Matt, aside from the fact that they were in prison (and drugged up) together recently. I guess that's the kind of bond that sticks with a person. You're never the same once you've been on the inside, man. Tracy learns the benefits of teamwork when Matt mind-magics their way past the guards.
Tracy steals her way back toward the realm of the appletini-drinkers. HRG has followed her, however, and he lies like a rug to the poor little shop girl, calling Tracy his fiancé. Somewhere, Sandra is throwing back a bloody Mary and talking to Lyle about how to not be a lying, cheating, murdering, neglectful husband and father when he grows up.
Matt Parkman is a Baby Genesis Device! That’s kind of cute. Ando busts out his Dr. Phil knowledge and calls up his friend’s childhood issues. I like to think that in his cube at work, Ando alternated between watching Niki's porn and reruns of Dr. Phil. Hiro actually shows a real emotion and tells Ando about seeing his mom die when he went back to the future. It's a pretty good scene, and Hiro and Ando get to interact in a way that shows they might actually be adults!
OMG it’s Janice! Despite Hiro, Ando, and Baby Genesis’s best attempts at playing ET, Janice spots them.Really, it's for the best that Hiro and Ando are the ones in this story line, because no other actors on the show could compete with this baby for adoreableness. I mean, picture Milo and Adrian trying to sell this moment. Okay, you can stop now.
Tracy stops to get some cash and instructions--courtesy of Rebel. She calls a cab, and as she speeds away--ANOTHER OMG! IT’S NOAH GRAY-CABEY! And he’s all pubescent and shit! It’s a Season One reunion. And yeah, I knew he had to be Rebel, but… the reality is just awesome… Except for HRG having promised to shoot Rebel. That could be a problem. Because Noah may be comfortable with morally gray, but I don’t know if he’s willing to shoot a kid. [ETA: This isn't Lost, for God's sake!] The fact that we just might believe it is what makes HRG a great character.
Millie (who is Aunt Lily from Pushing Daisies, and I in fact originally thought that's what Angela called her), Angela’s friend, is reading a biography of Ronald Reagan. At first she’s not very receptive to Angela's pleas. We get some great insight into Angela's life before Arthur died (I'm seeing book clubs and probably a women's auxiliary of some kind). Of course, no one can resist the charm of Angela, so Millie coughs up the cash, and Angela's off and running again.
Why doesn’t Janice know about the footage of the government rounding up specials? Is it that the Matt footage is now playing 24/7? Because the same story is still on the television. In any case, when federal agents show up at the door, she decides to trust Hiro and Ando, and tries to divert the agents to the nonexistent babysitter’s house. However, they search the house anyway! There's nowhere to run for Hiro and Ando, and they're cornered in the nursery. Super-powered Ando manages to get in a zap at the commandos (uh oh, looks like he can kill Hiro in the future after all!), but then all seems lost. Hiro closes his eyes, expecting the blackness of certain doom, when---
Time stops. The baby fixed Hiro’s powers! Yay! But will it only work when he’s holding the baby? In any case, he seems unable to teleport, only to stop time. Interesting… And a good compromise between making Hiro entirely powerless and Too Powerful to Live.
In the hospital. Daphne wakes up to a concerned Matt, plus a room full of flowers and balloons for Gwen Stefani. While getting dressed, Daphne breaks down why their relationship is so not ever going to work, and then bolts. Yeah, knew that was coming.
In Union Station, Micah meets up with Tracy and reveals that He. Is. Rebel. Everyone is shocked! Unfortunately, Tracy leads the bad guys right to Micah. Tracy cops to betraying him, Micah's disappointed by what a douche she is, but he has a plan anyway.
Angela doesn't run from the feds. She walks in a dignified but brisk manner. She makes it into an elevator, but mentally prepares herself for the end of the line as they shut the elevator down. It looks like curtains for the intrepid Mrs. Petrelli. But Peter came back for her! Aww, Petey baby! He smirks at the soldiers, then flies them up through the elevator shaft to freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeedom!
Micah’s pretty disappointed in who Tracy turned out to be, and he's not shy about telling her so. The commandos catch up with them in the parking lot. Tracy advises Micah to set off the sprinklers, and once the place is soaked, Tracy freezes everything, herself included. There's cool insight into this on Greg Beeman's blog if you're interested. Danko wastes her, but Rebel gets away. Much to Bennet's chagrin. Because Bennet still doesn't know he's a kid, and now it looks like Bennet's security with Danko is contingent upon bringing in Rebel.
But uh… Tracy’s still blinking? Does that mean she’s alive, only made of ice? I don’t understand. Paging T-1000!
Hiro sensibly hauls time-frozen!Ando in a wheelbarrow to a bus station, where he steals milk (hey, at least it wasn't candy) from another baby. Hiro’s now adorable with the baby, telling Matt Jr. that he can cry if he wants to, but that when time resumses, he must be brave. ::wibble!:: And team Japan is back together, and not fighting anymore! No one can stop them and Matt, Jr!
Matt has found Daphne in Paris. Um… What? How come Matt can fly? She steps on his feet like she’s dancing with her dad, and he floats (like a butterfly, not like a fighter pilot). Daphne figures it out sooner than I do, and realizes that they’re still in the hospital. So… all of that was just to give Daphne a more dignified death? Well… At least it was that. A death they earned! Daphne flatlines in the hospital while Mohinder gives Matt a shoulder to cry on. Unsurprisingly, Mohinder doesn't seem that broken up. The best he can manage during the eulogy: "Well, thanks for keeping him warm for me, blondie. Now what have you done with Molly?!"
Meanwhile, Peter and Angela are hiding out in the crown of the Statue of Liberty, for some reason…I guess the new Petrelli Empire will be governed from there? We'll have to find out next week! Duhn Duhn Duhn!