Heroes Volume Five: Chapter Three

403 – Acceptance

What the hell is going on? Every time Heroes seems to be finding its feet and preparing to sprint again, the pace slows down so much you can almost feel the writers stumbling on their shoelaces.

This week: Hiro gets trapped in a comedy subplot time paradox thing that sees him repeatedly trying to stop a man committing suicide for being fired. It’s all a smoke and mirrors illusion though – the real point is for Hiro to finally admit to Kimiko that he’s dying. This, unfortunately, takes far too goddamn long to get through and the payoff is something we already know – time itself is making Hiro its bitch, instead of the other way round.

The other major storylines include Tracey getting her old job back working for a governor (last seen briefly at the start of Volume Three) but finds that it’s lacking – before she’s even spent a full day on the job, she starts questioning her life choices.

Elsewhere, Claire – presumably, with very little time actually dedicated to being on campus – pays old man Bennett a visit and tries to help him find a job. Mercifully, he’s not interested and starts looking into the compass plot device, motivated by Peter’s discovery of the tattoo on his arm.

The main thrust of the plot is dedicated to the mind-bogglingly boring journey of Nathan as he learns he’s done terrible things in his past – namely, an accidental killing that was hushed up and forgotten by all involved.

It’s a duff episode, devoid of superheroics, nail-biting decisions or even humour, easily one of the worst in the show’s entire run and that’s saying something. The only saving grace is that the cliffhanger suggests things might finally be about to kick into high gear. Here’s hoping they don’t trip on those laces.

1 star

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