Heroes Volume 5 Ep 3 - Acceptance

Wow. Just wow.

This week's episode continued the wonderful trend of telling only a couple of stories per episode. This is a great move for Heroes, as it allows us to more deeply connect with each strand of the story. In Acceptance, we focused on Hiro and Ando, Bennett and Claire, and Angela and Nathan. The unfortunate part of this episode was that the carnies we've all come to love were almost entirely absent, with Samuel, tattoo lady, and Slicey McSlice'Em making only the briefest of appearances.

Claire came to Noah's house (an apartment he rents right above a Japanese restaurant, really) to try to convince him to get out of the depression he finds himself in without a family or a job to keep him going. This was an interesting role reversal with Claire ultimately playing the part of the parent. In any case, she eventually convinces him that he needs to go back to his old job. That wasn't her intention, mind you, but that's what came of it. I'm smelling a bit of the "Heroes' Reset Button" here, but I'm glad to see Noah back at it. We see him at the end of the episode trying to figure out what's up with the compass.

As an aside, Peter came to him to tell him of the compass tattoo he discovered on his forearm at the end of episode 2, and Noah waves him away. This was well before Noah came to the conclusion that he wasn't done hunting the baddies with the powers yet.

Anyway...

Tracy made brief appearances in this episode, as she tried to put her life back together the way it was before all this started. She soon discovers, with the help of Noah, that she wants to do more with her life, to help people. Dramatic turn for her character. I'm quite excited about it. Expect her to help Noah and Peter out as they hunt for the meaning behind the compass.

Hiro tries over and over to save a guy who is committing suicide. The guy is committing suicide because he was fired from his job (at the company Hiro's sister runs), and he was fired because he made a copy of his rear end at a holiday party. Hiro goes back in time to prevent this from happening, only to find the dude back on the roof, as he had made a copy of his behind at some other point in time instead. The point being, no matter how many times Hiro prevented the guy from copying his ass, the guy did it anyway and was always on the roof. Eventually, Hiro figures out that you can't necessarily change the future just by changing events in the past (which leaves us to wonder what that does to Samuel's plans for Hiro). Then he confesses to his sister that he's dying and disappears.

And, best for last....

Nathan and Angela!!! Whoo hoo! This might be a first. I've never been excited about Nathan... ever. But, he has discovered he has the power to absorb memories from objects - a power Sylar acquired near the end of Volume 4. Angela brings him some effects from his past, and he ends up touching a baseball cap, which shows hima memory of one of his teenage girlfriends laying face down in a pool, blood floating eerily on the surface. The folks behind the scenes with Heroes did this shot exceptionally well. Everything is black and white in these memories, except for the blood. Very Schindler's List-esque. Anyway, if you haven't seen the episode yet, stop here. Major spoiler ahead.

As Nathan investigates, he discovers that he was responsible for her death (caused and accident... he didn't murder her), which he confesses to both Angela and his ex-girlfriend's mother. Now, his EGF's mother hires a assassin to kill Nathan, which the assassin does, then buries Nathan, all while the EGF's mother has dinner with Angela. Now, for those us us who understand Sylar's powers, it was pretty obvious that Nathan would come back to life and "rise from the grave." Well, as it were, Sylar rose from the grave (yes, that would be Zachary Quinto, not the dude who plays Nathan). We end the show with Sylar, dirtied and angry, staring out from the earth.

What an amazing ending to this episode. Consider me completely hooked at this point. Thi show is back on track. Let's hope it stays that way.

Acceptance's worst parts:
5. Not enough Peter! We need more Peter now that he's not quite so emo.
4. Ray Park (Slicey McSlice'Em) needs more lines, dammit!
3. Too much overly-dramatic Angela. Booo.
2. Not enough Samuel. Hello!! He's awesome!
1. The woman who played Nathan's EGF's mom. She kept looking like she'd just been hit with a shovel, right in the gut. Made me want to really do it.

Acceptance's best parts:
5. Bennett's back on the job! No more depression!
4. Moving storylines! Say goodbye to the circle!
3. Less characters per episode! 8 instead of 20
2. No more Nathan (???)! Please, please, please, please! Pretty please with cherries???
1. No stupid, whiny-face Gretchen in this episode!!!