Heroes Vol 5 Ep 7 - Once Upon a Time in Texas

Welcome back to Texas. When we last left Hiro two episodes ago, he had gone back in time to save the one person he'd found in the world to love: Charlie, the girl from the diner with the encyclopedic fountain of knowledge in her head - which turned out to be a power. If you recall, she was killed by Sylar once he figured out she had a power.

In this episode, we pick up with Hiro as he arrives just in time to see Sylar enter the diner. He ends up saving her from Sylar only to have her start to succumb to her aneurysm. He makes a deal with Sylar - save Charlie, and Hiro will tell Sylar all about how he dies. Sylar saves Charlie by removing the aneurysm and Hiro tells Sylar that he will kill many people, but he will ultimately die alone; no one will mourn his passing.

So, Charlie is saved, but she's mad because she thinks it was selfish of Hiro to save her and risk the lives of thousands of other people.

I should mention that along the way, he meets both his past-self and Ando (it was nice to see Ando again). Both humorously commented upon his lack of a sword, a great throwback to those of us who've been watching since season 1.

The other big story was involving Noah. At this point in season 1's arc, he was investigating the future-painter who had drawn pictures of Claire's murder. We all know that part of the story, but what we didn't know was that during his investigation, he was being tempted by his partner. She was in love with him and wanted him to have an affair. We see him struggle throughout the episode with his devotion to his family and his obvious care for his partner - the biggest factor of that was that he didn't have to lie to her the same way he did with his family. In the end, he does the noble thing and declines her offer. Out of respect to his decision, she has the Hatian wipe the feelings and memories from her mind. This tale was particularly poignant in that we know what ultimately happens to Noah's family, and his blind hope that they can have a normal life here is uncomfortably sad.

I know that many people will disagree with me, but I thought this was a great episode - really well thought-out. The way the stories of Hiro and Noah parallel each other (and even intersect briefly) was fascinating, and the stories were, in their own ways, heartbreaking. I know it wasn't a balls-to-the-wall episode like we've seen in the last few weeks, but this was a welcome rest with some truly great character development.

But... where would I be without mention of Samuel??? The pieces of his plan are very slowly starting to come together, and we are starting to see why he is this season's very bad dude.

Back in the second episode of this season, he convinced Hiro that he needed to go back in time to fix all of his mistakes. Hence this whole save Charlie thing. Samuel uses Arnold, the almost dead time-traveler who works at the carnival, to send him back in time to monitor Hiro's progress. Which leads us right to... the cliffhanger ending!!

Charlie meets Hiro at the bar (where Hiro has just had a conversation with Noah) and says she's ready to travel the world with him. She disappears outside, Hiro following moments later.... only to find Samuel standing there. He confesses to having kidnapped Charlie, angering Hiro who travels back to present day. Samuel is impressed that Hiro has regained control of his powers, but all Hiro cares about is finding Charlie. In the process of looking for her, he finds Arnold, dead. Samuel confesses to working him to death. Arnold had the same brain tumor that afflicts Hiro, and Samuel's finally caused him to give in. His last act, according to Samuel, was to trap Charlie somewhere in time. The only way Samuel will tell Hiro where to look is if Hiro helps him undo a mistake he made eight weeks ago.

We see Samuel, apologizing to somebody. The camera turns, and we who I thought might have been Samuel's dead brother Jacob. But no, that's not it. It's actually the dead body of Mohinder. And suddenly, the question is answered as to why he has yet to be in the show.

Ka-BOOM. The show just got amazing. Maybe some more answers next week?

Anyway, best and worst time.
Best: Samuel killed Mohinder?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Hey, hey hey goo-ood bye!
Worst: Where is Ando? I kinda miss that dude!
Best Line: "The course of true love never did run smooth. It's a messy business, friend" -Noah, to Hiro

Heroes Volume 5 Ep 6 - Strange Attractors

First off, my apologies for skipping out on the summary of last week's episode, but I've been oddly busy the last several days.

In any case, I haven't been this excited about Heroes since season 1. This season is really starting to turn up the tension, and that hasn't been more evident than in this most recent episode.

My initial liking of the episode came from Sylar, as we once again (finally) were treated to more of his torturing Matt Parkman. God, this story line is GREAT, and it just keeps getting better. For example, Sylar's first line in the episode was, ahem, "Forbidden fruit.... my favorite kind." In context, Sylar had taken over control of Parkman's body and had sex with his wife. This was shortly followed by Sylar and Parkman arguing, during which time, this line came up: "That is the second Parkman I've made scream today." Comic gold. Sylar is at his insidious best in this story, and I demand that they keep it up.

In other stories, Claire and Gretchen as well as two other stereotypical girls (the terrified blonde and the pseudo-strong black chick) are "kidnapped" by the heads of their sorority and put to a scavenger hunt in a very Saw-esque creepy slaughterhouse. During this time, the head of the sorority, who we had found out a couple of weeks ago was working with Samuel in his carnival and who can also turn herself invisible, was trying to kill Gretchen. You see, Samuel wants Claire to join his family at the carnival, and to accomplish this, he wants little invisible woman to make Claire isolated, which means killing off her best friend/lesbian lover Gretchen (blech). I was almost hoping that invisible girl would succeed if only so I didn't have to put up with Gretchen, whose lack of acting talent still drives me batty. Alas, Claire was too smart, and she foiled the murderous plans and exposed the head of the sorority as the invisible chick. In the process she was stabbed with a metal rod, and she ended up healing herself right in front of the stereotype twins. Uh oh, the secret's out. I guess she can kiss her normal life goodbye.

Speaking of Samuel...

In the last episode, we were introduced to Jeremy, who had the power to heal, and the power to kill. He can give life and take it away. Anyway, in the previous episode, he blows Peter's chest out with a shotgun then ends up healing him. Noah, who had previously had the kid's mind wiped by the Hatian, takes pity on the kid and decides to help him out. You see, the kid killed his parents, and Noah wants to make sure he can hide the kid away. The cops have other ideas, though, as they know he killed his parents and want him to pay. Noah calls in Tracy (lovely Tracy). He gets some fake papers to show that she is his aunt, she makes a connection with him via the fact that they both misused their powers, and he ends up going free. As they are walking to Noah's car from the jail, there is a crowd of angry townsfolk who don't agree with his release. One of said protesters charges Jeremy and ends up dying for it. Suffice it to say, they march him right back into the jail. Except... not.

One of the deputies gets the brilliant idea to get some justice, vigilante style. This deputy and his friend tie Jeremy to the bumper of his friend's truck via a chain... you can picture the rest. It was a horrifying scene, memorable because it was emotional and really hit home. The writers deserve some serious kudos for this one. This is powerful TV here folks.

Now where was I? Oh, right, Samuel. Did I mention that Samuel came to Tracy before she sprang the kid? Well, he did. He implored her to bring the kid to the carnival (using his seeming powers of teleportation to take them both from the dusty town to the carnival) where he could feel at home, be among people who loved him. He told Tracy that she was welcome there as well, and gave her a compass she could use to find her way back.

Noah and Tracy end up finding Jeremy's body later that night, battered and bloody, a truly heart-wrenching scene. All I could think of was how scummy those cops were...

Tracy, on the other hand, gets angry with Noah and demands that he never call her again. I felt awful for Noah here, as he is finally doing something good with his life, helping people instead of bagging and tagging... and it blew up straight in his face. Anyway, Tracy ends up alone in her car contemplating the compass.

With that, we finally get to the end, and they certainly didn't disappoint in the cliffhanger department. Here we go:

• Parkman gets drunk and blacks out. He gets drunk because he believes it is a way to banish Sylar. Silly boy. While he is blacked out, Sylar "slips in" and takes permanent control of Parkman's body, leaving the real Parkman in the "you are just a hallucination" role. Truly a brilliant twist, and they used some neat camera tricks here. This was a very tasty way to escalate the Parkman vs Sylar story.
• In the final scene, we see Samuel, angry and vengeful, walk up to the bloody patch on the road where Tracy and Noah found Jeremy's dead body. It's within view of the police station. We watch the deputy and his friend walk into the station, then watch as Samuel brings the entire building down on their heads before turning and walking away. It was a profound moment, one that hits home on many different levels. We have yet to figure out what Samuel's ulterior motives are, but here he is exacting sweet revenge on those that murdered a Hero. And boy oh boy, was it sweet.

We'll see where all this goes next week. Until then...

The best: Samuel bringing down the house
The worst: The death of Jeremy. But that's the worst part in a good way. In a not-so-good way, they teased us with Gretchen's death but didn't actually kill her. Damn them all!
Line of the Week: "That is the second Parkman I've made scream today." -Sylar, to Matt Parkman

Heroes Volume 5 Ep 4 - Hysterical Blindness

Last week we left off with Sylar diggin out of Nathan Petrelli's shallow grave, and this week we pick up with him wandering dazedly down the road, bloodied, and we soon see him arrested. His story revolves mostly around him trying to figure out who he is. On the other side of the table, we have the sympathetic therapist and the asshole cop. The therapist tries to work with Sylar to discover who he really is... then hardass detective comes back with a fingerprint match that ties this lost Sylar to his former life as Gabriel Gray, and tells the cops that he killed his mother. Queue Sylar using powers instinctively without understanding what is happening. The acting here was absurdly brilliant.

The whole journey was really quite entertaining. It was interesting watching Quinto play Sylar as a broken husk of a man, and it was fascinating watching as Sylar struggled to remember who he is. This blank slate Sylar is more awesome than both the evil Sylar and the confused pseudo-good-guy Sylar, and that's a great thing for his character. I'm not sure yet how he stands up to taunting-Parkman Sylar, but we'll just have to wait and see.

The episode also puts us back into touch with Emma and Peter with a particularly fascinating comparison between the two characters. First we have Peter who is trying to get back in touch with his mother, who is busy worrying about the fate of the now (presumably) dead Nathan. On the other hand, we have Emma who is trying to shrug off her mother's concerns about her mental stability. Peter ends up saving Emma from being run over by a bus and in turn, gains her power to "see" sounds. They have a touching bonding moment at a piano with both of them seeing the vibrant colors of the music in what amounts to a trippy acid experience. Cool, but it lasted a bit long for my tastes.

Moving on, we had Claire who has an invite to join the sorority of which her mother was a part. Of course, she brings along the horrible actress who plays the horrid Gretchen. Stuff happens, then Claire ends up joining the sorority with Gretchen. The happenings between Gretchen and Claire during the episode end up with them kissing, which was an underwhelming moment, given all the hype for it. Perhaps part of it is that Gretchen is fugly as hell...

On the more interesting side of things, Samuel promises that Jacob's seat at the table will be filled by the end of the day. Little do we realize who that seat will be filled by...

Heroes this season is trademarking ridiculously awesome cliffhanger endings. There were several of them this week. Here we go!

• We learn that Rebecca, the head of Claire's new sorority is working for Samuel. She has been responsible for all the goings-on in Claire's life including her old room mate's "suicide"and the mysteriously appearing suicide note, her stumbling upon evidence that Gretchen was stalking her (it turns out that Gretchen was "crushing"... hence the kiss), and was responsible for making it look like Gretchen was trying to kill other people to whom Claire would talk. Epic. Maybe Rebecca will kill Gretchen sometime soon. that would be lovely.
  
• Emma finds she can use her power to destroy things.
• Hiro appears in Peter's apartment and promptly collapses.
  
• Sylar ends up escaping from jail, his therapist driving him out into the back woods, where he ends up getting shot. She allows him to run away after seeing that he healed himself, and he stumbles over a hill and beholds... the Sullivan Brothers Carnival. Holy shit. Samuel welcomes him inside, and as the cops chase Sylar over that same hill, the carnival is gone. this begs the question... how the f*** did Samuel pull that stunt? and how did he know exactly where to find Sylar?

Anyhoo, the show is picking up some serious steam. The story pacing is great, most of the stories are fascinating and are moving forward, and I'm super-excited to see what Peter's going to do with Emma's power. More than enough to keep me coming back for some more next week.

Until then...

Worst Part
Gretchen and Claire kissing. Nasty and completely unnecessary.

Best Part
Sylar stumbling into the Sullivan Brother's Carnival.

Line of the Week
"Of course, the chocolate milk is great too!" Claire, to Gretchen.

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!!!

Heroes Volume 5 Ep 2 - Ink

The hooks are sinking in...

This episode treated us to very few things that annoy me and a whole lot of things that rocked my world. And this comes after watching the far superior House...

For starters, we have Sylar and Parkman in what is easily the coolest damned thing Sylar's ever done. The taunting continued and escalated. We were shown that Sylar can use Parkmans own powers against him to get what he wants out of Parkman. This turn is executed perfectly, and I am giddy with the prospect of what's to come. I hope it takes a good long time before Sylar is reunited with his body.

That is, of course, not to say that all was hunky dory in the land of superheroes. We were treated to more of Gretchen, who I am beginning to seriously dislike. We take an interesting story between Noah and Claire and we throw her into the mix and I just want to turn the damn thing off. Granted, this is the same storyline we saw between Noah and Claire the last 2 seasons, but it actually seems to be moving forward now. Thank god. Noah played the less cool than usual role of father rather than normal guy vs super dudes, so I'm hoping they kick him back into gear next week and we see some more of Tracy (who was oddly completely missing from this episode).

We were introduced to Emma, a deaf woman who suddenly starts seeing noise. She ends up playing a wonderful piece on the cello, and she plays it by seeing colors instead of hearing noise. It seems like that's her only gift (other than making very comical impressions of people's uncaring faces)... so I'm wondering where they're taking her.

As always, best for last. We finally see the true extent of Samuel's powers, as he levels the house he grew up in. No joke. "A sinkhole" they call it. The buildup to this moment was all quite spectacular and was very reminiscent of our beloved Chapter 1. On his way, he introduces himself to Peter, who he thinks could take the place of his brother Joseph at the Carnival. Samuel works some of his ink magic to create a tattoo of a compass on Peter's forearm when they shake hands. He also breaks into Peter's house to make Peter believe that he is who Peter thinks he is - a victim Peter rescued from a crash. We as the audience know this is untrue, but poor Peter does not.

Speaking of Peter, his rescuing ways come back to haunt him in the form of a lawsuit and the rumors around the hospital that he is a "glory seeker" and causes all those accidents himself. I'd go off on some tirade about how people can't just be grateful, but this serves to push Peter out of his rut and start being a person again. I most certainly applaud that. I can now get back into thinking Peter is awesome, just the way I like it.

So, the show ended with Peter seeing he's got a spinning compass on his arm while he and his partner are at the scene where three people were killed by Samuel's sinkhole. Where do we go from here?

I would like to suggest that they clear up a glaring plot hole that has come to light. When does Peter realize he has telekinetic powers? He obviously has them now... he and Samuel shook hands, and physical contact is what allows Peter to absorb powers. Once he realizes he has telekinetic powers, surely he'll realize that the man he met is not who he claims to be. Right?

Anyway, this season is dazzling so far in a way this show hasn't done in a very long time. I can't wait to see what happens next week.

Heroes Volume 5 Season Premiere Reaction

So, let's get straight to the point. Is Heroes back on track?

I'm not sure yet... but things are definitely looking up.

Heroes Volume 5 (season 4) kicked off last night with a 2 hour season premiere, and it was good, old fashioned, power-wielding fun. We had our old characters, we had some new ones introduced by way of the the Sullivan Carnival, which is headed up by the wonderful Richard Knepper, and his gang of bad, bad heroes.

I'm going to jump right in here and say that his motives, thus far not revealed, will keep me coming back for more. Knepper's character, Samuel Sullivan, is deliciously... dark. I had high expectations for Knepper in this villain role, and if the first episode is any indication, we are all in for one hell of a treat. I'll get back to him - best for last, after all.

As is the usual Heroes way, we find ourselves presented with several different storylines that will eventually intersect with each other. Yet, we have a strange and exciting mix of stories not yet seen in the world of Heroes.

First and perhaps most exciting - of the original characters anyway - would be that Matt Parkman has Sylar in his head. The idea of this is that when Matt Parkman was in Sylar's head making him believe that he was actually Nathan, part of Sylar's mind slipped into Parkman's. Now, Sylar comes out, hallucination-style, and quite literally taunts Parkman. This is a fantastic twist on Sylar's character, and I absolutely cannot wait to see what happens here. Sylar's ultimate goal is to reunite his mind (the part that's stuck in Parkman) with his body (currently in the form of Nathan Patrelli). His goal for this episode was to get Parkman to reneg on his promise to his wife that he would no longer use his mind control powers. He succeeds admirably and entertainingly. I imagine that Sylar will ultimately find his way back into his body, but until then, the ride should be entertaining and one of the show's high points this season.

We also have Noah Bennett, who is involved with Peter and Tracy. Put simply, Bennett is almost murdered by Tracy (recall that Tracy is back as the vengeance-seeking thing made of water). Things happen, and magically, I think, Bennett and Tracy are falling for each other. Talk about a one eighty. Anyway, romantic subplots aside, Bennett is working with Angela to put the company back together, but doesn't seem motivated. Claire is in college and his wife is seeing other guys. Oh, and Danko dies, which leads Bennett on a short scavenger hunt for a compass, which is soon stolen from him (leaving him almost dead) by a guy with super speed and a penchant for slicing people to ribbons.

Peter is a sissy as ever. I'm utterly bored with his I don't wanna do anything attitude. If I knew him, I'd punch him in the face. He's back to his paramedic ways, using his speed and strength powers to help people. Boring. Sure it's cool that a hero is actually using his powers to help people, but he whined about doing it enough last season that it really just irks me now. He goes with Bennett to find the compass, absorbs Speedy McSlice-Em's powers, and a cool knife fight ensues. He refuses to help Noah further, however, citing the reason for coming along as "speed will help me save people" yada yada. Punch in the face.

Anyway, Hiro is dying. Remember the nose bleeds from the last season? Well, it turns out to be something that is killing him, I'm thinking brain tumor. Anyway, he and Ando are running a Dial a Hero service, which ends up with them amusingly rescuing a cat from high places. Hiro stops time, then when he restarts it, he is frozen... something, something, they haven't explained it yet, moving on. Anyway, he ends up traveling back in time to the Sullivan Carnival when it visited Tokyo, Japan 14 years ago. There he meets Samuel (who also traveled back in time specifically to meet Hiro), who convinces him its a great idea to use his powers to go back and fix his previous mistakes. He does this by forcing Hiro to prevent the event that causes Hiro's sister to hate Ando. Upon returning to the current time, Ando and his sister are going out, making Hiro feel like a... well, hero, and making it clear that Samuel's logic is, in fact, bottled wisdom.

Nathan had a tiny role in the show, which is awesome because I'd like to hit him in the face with a shovel. He's easily one of the most infuriating fictional characters in the history of fictional characters. His role this week was blessedly short, boiling down to very little more than whipping out some Sylar-esque powers with confused expressions on his face.

Moving on.

Claire is in college, her room mate is almost as infuriating as Nathan, then her room mate dies by jumping (supposedly) out of their second story window. Police find a suicide note on teh pillow, which we as astute viewers will note wasn't there when Claire walked into the room and discovered the suicide. Claire also notes this and decides that her annoying room mate was murdered. Enter (somewhere along the way) Claire's new friend whose name I didn't bother to remember and who will only be noteworthy for the rumored lesbian relationship coming up between the two. Rock on. Oh, and at the end of the episode, Claire decides to fall out of her window to see if it is possible that her ex-room mate jumped, was pushed, or fell... and for some strange reason, her new found friend decides that this is the perfect time (so late at night that nobody on a college campus is wandering the streets and no lights are on in any dorm room, but for some reason this girl feels like just wandering into the room of a girl she, quite frankly, barely knows) to wander into Claire's room and see her misguided investigation techniques. Perhaps this has to do with the fact that this chick (ah, Gretchen is her name.... who names their kids that any more???) obviously has ulterior motives.

Moving on... to the Sullivan Carnival. This is what is going to make or break the show this year. Yes, Sylar's story with Parkman is interesting, yes I like Noah's character, but I doubt even these things will be enough to stave off the axe if the carnival characters flop. First and most certainly foremost is Robert Knepper's Samuel Sullivan character. The show opens with him giving a eulogy for his brother, the dead (and likely murdered) Jacob Sullivan. His speech serves as a diving board to launch us back into the story and the characters, yet it is him to whom we gravitate. His character is dark, undoubtedly evil, and is just a pleasure to watch. We know he seeks vengeance, presumably for the murder of his brother, but the hows and deatils of why haven't been revealed, and this is why I will tune in again next week. I'm curious as to his powers, however, because he seems to be able to do numerous things. He's obviously a telepath, as he covered his brother's casket by moving the dirt with his mind. Yet, he also seems to be able to do other things. His tattoo stick (henceforth, "the stick") delivers ink into the skin that does... things. It forms pictures on tattoo lady's back, and, in one part, it forms a hand around the neck of another carnival hero (actually, Speedy McSlice'Em) and almost strangles him. Fascinating. I definitely want to see where his powers take him in the show.

We've also been introduced to several of the carnival's other misfits. Wee meet tattoo lady who can give details about the faces Samuel makes appear with his ink (delivered with The Stick). We meet Speedy McSlice'Em and get to see him kill Danko (for shame, I liked Danko). We also meet an older gentleman who can time travel much like Hiro. Samuel uses this man to send him back 14 years to meet Hiro at the Carnival when he goes back in time.

It's clear that there are many things going on in Volume 5. And pretty much all of it hinges on how well the creative team delivers with the carnival misfits, and Samuels grand plan. One thing that was highly disappointing was the fact that I don't think Samuel had enough time in the show. I hope this is corrected later on.

Anyway, while not up to the standards set by Volume 1, the first episode of Volume 5 piqued enough of my interest to keep me coming back for more. There was moer story progression in this one episode than we saw all year long with Volume 4, and there were also more powers in this episode than the entirety of the last 2 volumes.

So, let's buckle up and see where this takes us.

Final Heroes Volume 5: Redemption Preview

In honor of the fact that the Heroes season premiere is on tonight, here is an extended preview. It's on tonight, though I won't be able to watch until tomorrow. Can't. Wait.

Heroes Volume 5: Redemption, Season Premiere Sneak Peeks

IGN's got some awesome footage from the first episode from Volume 5. Check it out, and remember, Monday is the full 2 hour episode on NBC.

I Got It

More Heroes News & Previews

Man With The Plan

Heroes at IGN.com

Heroes Volume 5 in One Week

Just a reminder, folks. Heroes Volume 5: Redemption hits next Monday. In just a week, we finally get to see if Volume 5 can redeem the once amazing show and bring it back to its former awesomeness. I've been getting pumped as we've been getting closer.

This could be so ridiculously good - new arch villain, carnival goodness, Tracy back for revenge, Sylar versus Matt Parkman, Claire's (probable) lesbian college sorority fling... and the possibility of an actual story line with meaningful dialog, worthwhile events that actually propel the story forward, and other cool things that actually make sense!!!! Whoo hoo!

Anyway, I don't actually have TV, just Internet, so I'm going to watch the season premiere as soon as it hits Hulu. Check back probably Tuesday evening for thoughts and reaction.

Remember: 2-hour season premiere Monday, NBC, 8/7c. Be there!

Also of note, my other favorite thing to watch on NBC, Southland, also returns next week. Season premiere of that one next Friday 9/8c. Watch that too!

More Details for Heroes Volume 5 "Redemption"

I'm just getting ridiculously excited for the upcoming season of Heroes. Back on the 21st, IGN posted a summary of their behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming season of Heroes. Please be warned: there be spoilers here.

IGN toured the set during the filming of episode 6 in the new season. They find Sylar is working for Samuel's carnival and were introduced to Edgar, a fellow carnival worker and another hero who has super speed and accuracy. Him and Sylar are likely not going to be pals, as Edgar was taunting Sylar and they end up fighting. Apparently Sylar is back in regular form by this point, and unlike poor Peter, has not lost his powers.

Of note, Edgar is played by Ray Park, or Darth Maul, Toad (from X-Men 2) and Snake Eyes fame. Woot!

What's more exciting is the bond that now exists between Sylar and Parkman. You see, apparently, the memory erasure from the end of Volume 4 didn't go so smoothly, so now a part of Sylar's mind is in Parkman's. Apparently, a lot of the tension that will exist between these two stems from Sylar wanting to get back in his body.

The more I hear about it, the more the fifth volume of Heroes really fascinates me. Like I said before, it seems like the folks behind this show are ready to get it back on track, so I cannot wait to see what Volume 5 "Redemption" holds.

Heroes Volume 5 "Redemption" Revealed

A few months ago, I blogged my thoughts on the current state of NBC's show Heroes. After a disappointing 4th volume (season 3.5), the ratings for the show were slipping, and NBC barely renewed it, and only renewed it for a short season at that. It was obvious that Heroes needed to step up to the plate to become the show that all its fans know it can be.

It seems they are taking steps in the right direction.

NBC has posted the trailer for Heroes Volume 5, which will officially kick off on Monday, September 21 with a 2 hour season premiere. You can watch that very trailer below.

One of the biggest issues I noted with Heroes is that it lacked a definitely evil bad guy. The elder Patrelli was killed off, and Sylar is just not cutting it any more. Low and behold, the writers went out and found themselves a potentially very dark, very evil villain in Robert Knepper. Astute readers will remember Knepper for his vicious and depraved character T-Bag in Prison Break. He was despicable, and, more importantly, audiences completely hated his character (while people still cared about the show, that is). I mean that in a good way. T-Bag was slimy, filthy, and just a heinous person. Knepper is one of the best people at what he does, and that's creating evil characters that fans love to hate. With luck, we will have an equally despicable villain for Heroes.

Knepper plays the role of Samuel, the leader of a carnival that recruits the super-powered folks for mysterious, and likely nefarious, means. He has powers as well, as we see at the end of the trailer, likely something telekinetic. Expect the character to be smart, manipulative, and full of bad guy charm.

We are also treated to our first real look at the tatooed lady, who can read the past based on what tattoos form across her skin, or so it appears. We see Claire's long-rumored lesbian lover as well. I'm curious as to what brought about this particular change in her character, so here's to hoping they actually touch on this rather than create a confusing Heroes dialog moment. WE also see that Nikki will indeed be a factor in Volume 5, as we hear her telling Noah Bennett about how she recreated herself with a thought and now only wants to kill the people responsible for trying to kill her. We see a possibly dead Noah Bennett (god, I hope not), and given the line of his brief conversation with Nikki and the water bursting into his car, he may be embroiled in some kind of feud with her. We also see Sylar, whole in body if not in mind, going after Matt Parkman and little Matt Parkman.

I am going to say it: this trailer makes me very excited to see where Heroes Volume 5 goes. It seems like the writers have their heads on straight and are moving the show in a positive direction. So long as they can avoid stagnating the story with the stupid Heroes Reset Button, I think positive things are coming for the series.

Anyway, enough talking. Behold, the trailer.