Heroes:
Better Halves
by Erin
www.soulfulspike.com
Mohinder
posits, at the beginning of the episode, that evolution is “imperfect and
violent” and a “battle between what exists and what is yet to be born” and that
each hero must decide whether they will “survive or perish.” Which, then, is
the better half? What you are now, or what you will become? Surviving or
perishing? That last choice seems obvious, but take a moment to apply it to
Sylar.
With
all the dualities in question, it makes sense that the focus would be on pairs
of people, coming together, falling apart, or somewhere in between. Isaac and
Peter work together to figure out what will happen with Claire. Hiro and Ando
are reunited after their big fight and separation. Once together, they are
finally able to make contact with Isaac and pass on their warning, and Ando
pulling Hiro into the bathroom to warn him about the gun ends up saving Hiro’s
life. Even better, Peter is able to pass on Future!Hiro’s message to Hiro. We
can see the seeds of the future: both Hiros express concern about causing a
“rift in the time-space continuum. DL returns to Niki, hoping to pick up where
they left off. Niki’s alter ego reaches out to Niki. Eden and Mohinder finally
kiss as she tries to convince him to stay in New York. We find out that Mr. Bennet
and Eden are a pair, and at the end of the episode, Eden pays Isaac a visit.
Then there are less obvious pairings: Claire and Zach discuss whether she’ll
“come out” to her birth parents; Zach tells her: “I like that you’re the freak” (things are not always
what they appear) and Claire asks if he’s flirting with her. Mrs. Bennet
discusses breeding Mr. Muggles with a poodle to create a “poomeranian.”
However,
it’s family dynamics that are at the heart of this episode. Peter asks Nathan
for his help in tracking down the missing painting. Mohinder muses on his
relationship with his father, and decides to return to India to lay him (and
his research) to rest. There are two families in particular that receive the
bulk of the attention: The Saunders and the Bennets.
We
see DL’s return in “Hiros,” although he does not make his presence known, for
obvious reasons (a room full of cops). The show plays with ambiguity for a
moment, as DL sneaks up on Niki and says vaguely threatening things. They are
interrupted by the police officer stationed outside her house, and here Niki is
presented with her first choice: whether or not to let the police known DL is
there. You can see here, in her lack of response outside of a widening of the
eyes, why her alter ego is so strong; Niki is easily paralyzed by indecision.
When she does make a choice, it comes down firmly on the side of “what exists”
rather than “what is yet to be born”; in a beautifully lit scene, we see Niki,
in gold hues (giving the scene a “nostalgic” feel), contemplating putting her
wedding ring back on, while DL lays on the couch in the blue-lit living room
(cold, sadness) wondering whether to remove his. She ends up inviting him back
in. Yet, the return of DL triangulates their little family; in the blocking of
the scene in which Niki and DL discuss the implications of his return, between
them you can see a picture of Micah on a shelf. Their conversation, in fact, is
loaded with references to doubling; DL says he realized his plans to rob
Linderman would endanger his whole family, but when “[he] stepped out, someone
stepped in.” Niki tells him that “when you left, I became another person.”
Neither of them is aware of the subtext of the other’s words. Between Micah and
the “other” Niki, the triangle becomes a square: we see Micah and DL reading
comic books together and discussing superpowers, reestablishing a bond that
will be sorely tested by the end of the episode. Niki sees her double cuddling
with DL in the mirror; later, she tells Niki that DL is a threat to her
relationship with Micah, and we have the first conscious détente between both
of her “halves.” And four becomes eight, as Niki and DL’s respective pasts and
powers also have a role to play. DL’s power means no prison can hold him; Niki
is imprisoned by an alter ego that is stronger and dismissive of her. The
question here is: Did Niki’s alter ego create what she most feared? By keeping
Niki from being upfront with DL before she went in search of the money, the
situation went exactly as she predicted.
While
on the surface, the problems at the Bennet home seem less “life or death,”
that’s just the frosting on the cupcake. Claire expressed a natural desire for
meeting her birth parents, but she can’t tell her adoptive parents the real
reason. Mr. Bennet pulls a rabbit out of the hat and tracks them down on her
behalf; however, even before the reveal at the end of the episode, his previous
behavior makes it nearly impossible to believe that the “real” birthparents
have been found. Mrs. Bennet does a poor job of covering up her insecurities
both during and after the visit: she makes a point of telling them that she and
Claire are “a team’; later, she’s thrilled that Claire refers to them as “the
bioparents”: “Oh, that’s so cold and impersonal. And fitting.” At Claire’s
prodding, the “bioparents” compare what parts of themselves she might have
inherited: eyes, nose, diabetes, cancer. Unlike Team Bennet, they are “no
longer together.” In a subtle parallel to Niki, DL, and Micah, that isn’t
entirely true; they are part of a triangle with Mr. Bennet to put paid to
Claire’s questions about her origin, or, as Mohinder says: “evolution.” Even
more, like Niki and DL, both Claire and Mr. Bennet are hiding the truth from
each other; Mr. Bennet wants to protect his daughter, and Claire worries that
her father would “unspool” if he knew about her abilities. In both cases, it is
a matter of integrity: not in the moral sense of the word, but physical and/or
emotional integrity. Niki’s other half tells her, ironically, to “pull herself
together.” DL can enter or exit solid matter; he lacks integrity. Mr. Bennet,
through the Haitian, can enter and “clean out” a person’s mind; he too lacks
integrity. Claire, however, is self-regenerating, whole unto herself: burns,
broken bones, a tree branch through the brain, all heal and leave her looking
untouched. I’m not sure what this will mean for any of their futures, but it
seems significant.
Other
Observations
- I found Ando’s
“that’s how we roll” response all kinds of adorable.
- Spot the Continuity:
Micah is reading 9th Wonders comic book. My curiosity was
piqued by a picture of what look like a She Hulk (except not green) on the
cover; I was wondering if that was supposed to be a representation of
Niki’s alter ego.
- Ando’s wonderful
speech to Hiro about how a “journey does not start at the end” was nicely
underscored by the poster over Hiro’s shoulder that reads “Illuminate.”
- I’m still not
thrilled with Mohinder’s bookend narration; it still strikes me as
condescending to assume that the viewers can’t pick up the theme on their
own.
- For someone who
doesn’t want her secret to get out, taking a hot cookie sheet out of the
oven with her bare hands seems really stupid.
That’s
all for this episode; stayed tuned for Sara’s excellent review of “Nothing to
Hide.”
Please join in the discussion of this review at the Soulful Spike Society Message Board. Go there NOW!
If you enjoyed this review and are reading it from outside the Soulful Spike Society website (www.soulfulspike.com), then click the logo below to access the S3 in a new window. There you will find more great reviews, analyses, fanfiction and a link to our marvelous message board.
