Heroes Season 3 Episode 7

Wow, so this week’s episode of Heroes...

First, I’m coming at it a few days late, as I was really sick on Monday night and had to catch it on nbc.com. But all in all I thought it succeeded well in some ways and derailed horribly in others.

Nathan and Tracy do little to save themselves, and otherwise seem useless. Powerless Peter fails to be useful in any way; without his powers he seems even more clueless. Mohinder finally does something: he joins Arther Petrelli and the villains. Hiro and Ando do very little other than set up what looks like another future episode next week. None of these stories inspired me to care in any way for these characters, and at this point, I really want about half of them to die by the end of Villains. Nathan, Mohinder, and even Peter are really wearing out their welcome this season.

The episode did have a few bright spots. Claire and Elle proved to be an interesting pairing as we once again explore the dichotomy of the two characters. I hope Elle is back for a few episodes, but my gut says she will disappear in to Pinehearst for several weeks at least (or just lose her powers and disappear from the show forever). Parkman finally gets to use his powers in an interesting way to “rescue” Daphne, but we will have to wait and see where their story goes in the next few weeks. I am a little off put by effect his father’s death has on him this episode. I would think after the torture Maury put Matt’s adoptive daughter through last season, he would be less affected by the news. Anyway...

I am also happy that we continued to cull the cast a little. Maya seems to have walked out of the series forever, and I am only upset that it didn’t happen weeks ago. Her character wore out her welcome within a week of her first appearance, and her powers were virtually useless if the show continued. And the aforementioned death of Maury Parkman seemed pointless, but it does serve to continue the establishment of just how ruthless Arthur Petrelli is.

And the one bright shining hope for this volume? Sylar. Gabriel Gray has went from a character I was utterly uninterested in last season; a character I wouldn’t have minded putting on that farewell list, to being the best character on the show. Let’s just hope the writers can keep from screwing up that story arc like they have so many other characters this season.