The Pullbox

Heroes Episode 3.03

“One Of Us, One Of Them”

Written by: Joe Pokaski

Directed by: Sergio Mimica-Gezzan

Heroes is on a roll. We’re back to the Season 1 formula of every episode being better than the last. I find myself impressed by how many visual effects are used in each episode. Season 1, and even most of Season 2, used the visual effect sparingly in smaller episodes, so when they let loose and had a huge one with a lot of effects, it was so exciting. Of course that is done because of budget. Lots of other shows follow the same formula, including the other two I review on this site; Smallville and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Now I don’t know if Hereos got a budget raise this season but they are not being shy with those visual effects. They’re using them whenever they need them, and they always seem to propel the story forward, never feeling forced or excessive.

After the jump, read my SPOILER filled review. Trying to stick to more of a general review and not so much of a recap, but there are so many amazing moments that deserve mentioning. I’m so happy to be excited about this show again.

-SPOILER ALERT -

We again pick up where the last episode left off. Angela feeds a woman with a new ability to her Son, Sylar. Tracy is playing around with her new ability in one of those visual effect scenes you can’t help but love. And Peter is stuck inside Jesse’s body, in a car with the other escaped villains. They’re on their way to a bank robbery, which is one of those super cool plot devices I never expected to see on Heroes. Flint’s flame-thrower ability is used heavily in this episode. Seriously, these guys spared no expense. Knox is a pretty scary dude when he’s powered up by all the scared people.

In a weird twist, Angela pairs up Noah with Sylar in order to round up the escaped psychos. In that scene, Noah asked for the Haitian but Angela informs him he’s unavailable. Noah’s next line made me wonder. He said “I can’t do this alone. You know how it works. ‘One of us, one of them.’” And even stranger, Angela replies, “I have the perfect ‘one of them’ in mind.” Does Noah not know Angela has a special ability like the rest of “them?” I guess not or he would’ve said “one of us, one of you.” Hmm. Interesting.

We see a different Sylar through most of this episode. He’s actually giving this a shot. Finding out Angela’s his mother and that he could actually have a purpose in life other than killing everyone he meets with an ability seems intriguing to him. He even speaks differently in the episode. He doesn’t use his creepy, slow speaking Sylar voice he normally uses. It was almost as if Gabriel Gray was back for a short while. Noah agrees to taking Sylar on as a partner but only to keep an eye on him. But he’s not Gabriel come back, is he? Even before the scene at the bank robbery, where he gives in to his hunger, he showed signs Sylar poking through. When we first see Sylar fixing his tie, and Angela tells him he’s not a killer, its his ability that has made him this way; you start to hear the clocks ticking. That oh-so-familiar sound that means Sylar is about to strike. I think he wants Angela’s ability. Lucky HRG came into the room. Oh, and Sylar in a suit = Weird.

The Sylar to the rescue scene was our assurance that Sylar is still here and not a full blown hero. Sylaris a villain. Always has been. Always will be. Even if we see different sides of him, there’s always going to be that dark side that takes over. The Hunger will always win.

When Noah announces he’s going to figure out Sylar’s weakness and then kill him, the Internet fan community asked “Why not just walk in there with the Haitian, nullify his powers, and kill him?” My sister made an excellent point: He’s not going to kill Sylar as an agent of the company. Sylar attacked Claire and got what he was after. Now its personal. And HRG is an honorable man. To kill Sylar when he’s powerless in a locked room would be like shooting a man in the back, or killing someone who is unarmed and/or bound. HRG wants to do it right. He wants to prove to Sylar that he’s better and in charge.

Hiro and Ando’s scenes were incredibly funny. Hiro constantly referring to Daphne as his “nemesis” and doing funny superhero poses when in her presence cracked me up. He’s definitely pushing Ando away though and that’s going to have a direct effect on their future, as seen in last week’s episode. They run into the Haitian (welcome back buddy!) and attempt to steal the other half of the formula, only to screw it up, have it stolen by Daphne, and now they’re put in Level 5 by the Haitian. What’s worse is that Daphne’s employers now have both halves of the formula. I smell world destruction coming. One nitpick with this episode was Hiro and Ando’s surprise at hearing there was another half to the formula. Come on Ando, you knew this already. And Daphne’s facial expressions are all ridiculous and over the top. But that’s more an acting nitpick than anything else.

Claire clearly wants to be out with her dad stopping the bad guys but her mom wants her to go to school. Claire’s biological mother relates with her just enough to get involved. She takes Claire to get some “training” but really all she does is make Claire realize why she wants to be a hero in the first place. Its not for selfless reasons. Quite the opposite. She wants revenge. Lots of visual effects in that scene too. Gotta love it.

Every time I see Nathan on screen I can’t help but scream in my head “FLY! ZIP UP INTO THE SKIES! SONIC BOOM! COME ON!!!” *sigh*… And Ali Larter is still stealing scenes, which is hard to do next to Adrian Pasdar. I’m not just saying that because we share the same first name. The man is an excellent actor. He’s got a presence to him. Almost one of authority. I buy him as a politician. Someone in a position of power.

I’m not sure how I feel about Matt’s storyline. On the one hand, I’m happy this new character is here. We finally have a replacement for Isaac Mendez, a source for new paintings, and a more regular provider of information about the future. Plus, he’s a pretty cool character. But when he teaches Matt how to do it too, now we may be getting more precogs than we need. And I’m not sure how visions of the future relate to the ability to read and control minds. This is one of those wait and see things. I’m not against it just yet, I just have to see where its going. Still… Spirit walks are cool.

Seeing Micah again was a nice treat. And seeing Niki’s body in the casket was eery. It was confirmation that Tracy is DEFINITELY not Niki. But finding out Tracy was “created,” and so was Niki, and presumably Jessica too. How many more could there be out there? Micah’s hug was just heartwarming and I feel really bad for the little tyke. He’s an orphan now and we’re not going to see much of him this season. His one scene was pretty cool though.

My Favorite scene was definitely the climax of the bank heist. Peter using Jesse’s ability was cool. And the visual effects when Futurelli stopped time mid-scream were gorgeous. Futurelli literally pushing Peter out of Jesse and then seeing Futurelli and Peter face to face was so exciting. Especially finding out that next week we’ll probably be treated to an episode taking place in the future. Those are always good. 

Hilarious moments include Sylar using the term “lookie-loo” and asking HRG, “You drink Decaff right Noah?” His impression of a Tommy Lee Jones from The Fugitivetype character was pretty funny. Hiro asking “What are you doing?” and Ando replying, “Being awesome!” Followed shortly by “Popcorn?” Knox complaining about “Super-Guantanamo.” Awesome.

This episode is my new favorite… until next week, that is.

The A-Train’s “One Of Us, One Of Them” Rating: 5 out of 5 Eclipses!