Friday, October 2, 2015

Heroes Reborn 1x03 "Under the Mask" (All Over the Place) [Contributor: Meredith]


"Under the Mask"
Original Airdate: October 1, 2015

I need to start this week’s review with a disclaimer: I was so underwhelmed by the two-hour premiere last week, that I approached the eight o’clock hour of Thursday night with a general sense of ugh. I was not excited, but I had committed to watching and reviewing this show, and I was determined to see it through. At the very least, I thought to myself, I could snark my way through this.

That said, while the first 45 minutes or so of this episode were just as, if not more, underwhelming as the premiere, the last 15 minutes really saved it for me. The pace picked up, threads started to come together, and I found myself perking up, paying closer attention, and wondering what was going to happen next.

The show's biggest weakness continues to be the fragmentation and the way it jumps back and forth between too many stories. Each story by itself is confusing, but when the viewer is being asked to hold onto what is going on in so many places at once, it makes the entire show hard to follow and lessens the enjoyment. With a few notable exceptions *coughZacharyLevicough,* the acting on this show leaves something to be desired, and the heavy-handed and over-the-top writing does not aid the actors. The show is trying too hard and it isn't even clear on what it is trying to be or wants to be. As for what happened this week, I’m still not sure what everyone’s name is. But I’ll do my best to boil it down to the main points.

The episode opens in the Arctic Circle? Antarctica? The North Pole? I don’t really know -- somewhere snowy and cold. There’s still a blonde (Malina? Maybe?) who is trying to control the weather... I think, with the help of a ghost, who keeps telling her to hurry. So. That’s a thing that’s happening. Later in the episode, though, the bad guys seem to have located Malina, and we end with them converging on her location.

In Japan, Katana, whose real name is Miko apparently, goes to an office building and sword fights a bunch of bad guys who kindly take turns attacking her. But then she gets captured and questioned by the head bad guy who actually turns out to be the head bad woman’s right hand man. Miko’s friend saves her by distracting the bad guy so Miko can chop off his hand. Miko and her friend escape, and bad guy’s hand grows back. And then his chopped off hand turns into another person. A clone, of him. Yes.

Carlos’ nephew is disappointed about something, which spurns Carlos into putting on his brother’s vigilante mask. He uncovers a crew of dirty cops (led by HOT PAUL FROM ORPHAN BLACK!) who are hunting Evos. He helps the Evos escape, but gets into a fight with Hot Paul (who is not Hot Paul here but will always be Hot Paul to me). Turns out Hot Paul is a self-hating Evo, maybe? Because he has powers of super strength. Carlos narrowly escapes their fight, and has been beaten badly.

Tommy’s mom doesn’t want him to go to a party. He goes anyways. His guardian Fat Hat Guy follows, and so does Mom. Mom tells Fat Hat guy to leave them alone. Then Mom and Tommy start driving away, and Mom is skittish. Rightfully so, because they end up getting slammed into by another car.

Meanwhile, Zac is questioning his mission to kill Evos, but his wife is not. She is still super gung ho and, like, ridiculously happy about this plan. They agree to head west, but Zac soon discovers that somewhere along the way, he developed powers! He can harness the sun’s energy through his body. This development is very troubling for him.

Finally, Noah Bennet is at a hospital, where he apparently held a guard hostage the previous year, but he doesn’t remember. Some stuff happens that is super confusing, but leads Noah and his sidekick to go help Molly escape the bad guy clutches. However, Molly doesn’t want to be saved by Noah. She tries to escape on her own, but gets captured.

Everything that has happened is super confusing up until this point. But as the episode draws to a close, we see the bad guys (led by the bad woman, who is the mother of Molly’s manipulative captor from last week) hook Molly up to a device. Then, the bad woman gives a presentation to an audience full of people, where she demonstrates her new E.P.I.C. glasses, which can identify and locate any Evo, worldwide, by using Molly’s power (she doesn’t tell the audience that part.) This also seems to be how the bad guys found Malina in the Arctic. And apparently we don’t want them to find Malina.

Once again, the episode is confusing and all over the place. BUT, the disjointedness is starting to subside a little as storylines come together, and the ending left me at least a little curious about what’s happening next.

It looks like Heroes Reborn is starting to find its footing. I’m cautiously optimistic. However, they definitely need more Zachary Levi next week. He’s the strongest part of this show, and there wasn’t enough of him in this episode. This episode was a slight improvement over the premiere. The last few minutes definitely saved it, and hopefully they can hang onto that momentum and continue to pick up steam next week.

WTF Lines/Moments (Now including Cool Lines/Moments):
  • HIRO! Hiro Nakamura, one of the main characters and breakout stars of the original series, was referenced more than once this week. And THEN... he was in the previews for next week! Color me excited.
  • I can not tell you how happy I was to see Dylan Bruce (a.k.a. Hot Paul) on my screen. I’m a huge fan! And the fact that he’s a bad guy is even better. He’s super hot when he’s bad.
  • I thought we as a society had moved past fight scenes where all the bad guys take turns waiting nicely to attack the good guy. I was mistaken.
  • Why did the guard Noah took hostage help him so nicely, when he knew Noah was wanted for, like, killing a guard?
  • Tommy uses his powers to “sneak out” against his mother’s wishes. But instead of teleporting straight to the party, he just teleports to outside his bedroom, in the hall, where his mother can see him. The kid has some learning to do.
What are you thinking about Heroes Reborn thus far? Let us know in the comments below!

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