By Frederic Germay
“Trapped in a Nightmare” – that’s how I felt during this episode, as it slowly blundered along with only a few stabs at redemption. I feel as though it might still be too early to label this season as a sophomore slump, but unless things pick up this show will end up being a one-season-wonder.
The first mistake was placing most of the episode’s emphasis on Peter. Unlike last season, Peter’s role in this season hasn’t really been explained, and his contributions to the main plot remain unclear. I would think that if his storyline was going to be the central storyline for the episode, then some explanation of his relevance should have been delivered by the episode’s end. That relevance came in the form of Kristin Bell’s character who, despite being such a great actress, failed to live up to my expectations in this episode. All the scenes that she was in seemed so…fake, and she didn’t really end up delivering much information concerning the storyline either, except for the fact that she is a dangerous killer who works for her dad.
The second mistake was keeping Claire and Mr. Bennet’s stories to the sidelines when their potential for success could have been well-utilized in this episode. Instead, we are subjected to long boring stories concerning Nikki and Mohinder, neither of which have been interesting for quite some time. On the flip side the plot concerning Matt, Nathan, and Daddy Parkman was quite excellent. The fact that Daddy Parkman brilliantly played on Matt’s emotions and trapped them in their nightmares, only for them to wake up and realize that they were fighting each other proves that this seemingly unkempt man is really quite cunning. Dazzling scene!
Concerning the remaining subplots, I thought that Hiro’s story ran quite slow. Seeing as his character also fell to the background for the past few episodes, I thought that his character would have more screen time, but perhaps they (“Heroes” writers) are delaying his return for the cataclysmic battle that we will hopefully get to see, rather than get an annoying rendition from Ando.
On the other hand, Monica Dawson’s character blossomed in this episode, as she discovered more about herself, yet declined the opportunity to be a hero. My suspicions about the nature of her ability were confirmed as she proved her mimic-abilities were not limited to television when she started playing the piano after watching Micah. I’ve mentioned before how potentially powerful she could end up being if she chose to mimic Sylar or Peter, and she could become one of the biggest players in this game.
Overall, this episode dragged on quite a bit. Unlike the two episodes before it, this one counteracted the positive turn the season was taking. However, there is the optimistic possibility that this episode’s slow movement was solely to setup for the next episodes. That being said, I give this episode a 6/10
