Heroes: Nothing to Hide

by Sara

A Soulful Spike Society Review
www.soulfulspike.com

The armour of falsehood is subtly wrought out of darkness, and hides a man not only from others, but from his own soul.

E. M. Forster

I suspect even the most casual Heroes viewer had to appreciate the irony of titling an episode "Nothing to Hide," given how so much of the conflict and action on this show from the onset has revolved around secrets. And this episode, as you might expect, was no exception; indeed, "Nothing to Hide" was particularly rich in secrets and what motivates our heroes to keep them. Almost all of our heroes are, of course, hiding something, either from the people they know and love or from themselves and, in some cases, both.   So I have a hard time seeing it as a coincidence that the few characters who don't really have any secrets are also the one who are more or less comfortable and open about who they are and what they can do:  namely Hiro, Peter, and Isaac.  Conversely, the guy with the most secrets Nathan has discussed and/or used his powers less than any other hero we've followed, and then only ever under duress.

Indeed, any conversation about what our heroes are hiding almost has to start with Nathan dude probably needs a flowchart to keep track of what he's told whom. Let's consider all the secrets Nathan's hiding from various people in his life as of the end of this episode: there's his one-night stand with Niki, the fact that he's being blackmailed by Linderman, his success in procuring the painting for Peter, and, of course, his ability to fly. Not to mention the lie he told about Peter's supposed suicide attempt, his coverups of his mother's misbehavior, and his decision to let Heidi go on "hiding in this house for the last six months because your polling was afraid I'd make you look weak." Even Nathan's attempts at honesty involved lies: he brought Heidi back into the public, but did so while pretending they were a happy family who had brunch together every weekend. He admitted to Peter how good it felt to be with someone whose very face didn't make him feel guilty, not to mention told his brother about the attempted kidnapping, and yet sandwiched in with those two confessions was the moment he looked Peter straight in the eye and lied about his ability to obtain Isaac's missing painting. It makes you wonder if Nathan is even capable of real honesty anymore. So really, it's no surprise that Nathan's response to finding out he had a special power was and continues to be to keep this knowledge hidden.

On the flip side of the Petrelli coin we have Peter, who must at times feel like a stranger even when surrounded by his nearest and dearest. As evinced by his performance at the brunch table Peter can most assuredly play the family game very well, spinning lies on a moment's notice and selling them with the utmost sincerity. Yet Charles Deveaux had it right when his dream self told Peter "You speak your mind. You know who you are. You know what you want. That's your power. That's your strength." From the very onset of the series Peter has been driven by the desire to uncover the truth about his specialness and what it means, and has never cared who knows about his ability or if he's coming across like someone who's a few strings short of a guitar. In fact, I can't remember a time other than at the brunch table when Peter hasn't been perfectly straight with whomever he's speaking with and I suspect in Nathan's case it was mostly a matter of communicating with him in the only language Nathan appears to understand combined with a desire to spare Heidi any further embarrassment. Yet what are his first words to Nathan the next time he sees his brother? "You need to tell Heidi the truth." Yeah, I'd say it's little wonder Peter has gotten so far along the road of self-understanding while Nathan still can't even see the onramp.

Speaking of figuring out who you are, in this episode Niki continued to grapple with her hidden self. She took an important step forward by confiding in her friend about her alter ego who we now know has her own name: Jessica. Yet Niki also continued to hide from the aspects of her personality that Jessica appears to represent; she wanted to get Micah back, but at the same time couldn't reconcile her own sense of what a good person would do with her intense, almost primal desire to find her son immediately and by whatever means necessary. In a way, Niki's behavior throughout this episode, in particular how she spoke of part of her wanting to let Jessica out to do her dirty work for her, reminded me of Angel and how he constantly laid blame for his past misdeeds at the feet of his own doppelgänger Angelus, preferring to treat his inner demon as a separate entity entirely rather than own up to his own darkest impulses.

Of course, Niki isn't the only one in her family with secrecy issues. There's also D. L., who's not only hiding from the police in this episode but also, I'd argue, from what happened in Niki's bedroom. I honestly believe D. L.'s primary motive for taking Micah and putting some serious mileage between them and her was to protect his son from a woman who'd just shown herself more than capable of murder. Yet even though it was a very understandable reaction, Micah himself questioned whether it was the right thing to do, telling his father "Heroes don't run away. Bad guys do. Heroes help people, dad." And the kid's got a point: once that burst of flight-or-fight adrenaline wore off, why didn't D. L. take a moment or two to wonder how it was his wife was suddenly able to throw him around like a rag doll, much less the radical switch in her personality from fearful and pleading to violent and homicidal particularly in light of what Micah said about his mom being special in the same way D. L. was? Then again, there is still that part of the whole deal where she tried to kill him...

In what was perhaps the most unexpected twist of the hour, we found out little Micah was keeping a couple secrets of his own and they're doozies. For one, we learned he does indeed have a gift separate from his high I.Q. Which isn't all that surprising, given he's the child of two people with their own special abilities; what is interesting is that Micah has yet to tell either of his parents about it. However, the "pick carpet fuzz off your chin" moment had to be when Micah asked Jessica to put his mother on the phone. Given her reaction, I'm thinking it was the first time Jessica had any inkling Micah knew what was happening to his mother. As for the audience... well, as I just noted above we'd already seen Micah demonstrate at least some awareness of Niki's uniqueness. But for Micah to not only recognize Jessica from the way she spoke but also be so matter-of-fact about his request to her that's a whole other kettle of fish. For one, it implies Jessica's been around a while; for Micah to have that level of familiarity with her speech patterns and mannerisms, not to mention be so clearly past the point of feeling any weirdness or unease, almost certainly means he's had time to absorb and adjust to the situation. If this is true, then it would seem that Micah, for whatever reason, consciously decided to let his mother remain in the dark about her alter ego. Was the reason Micah's belief in his father's innocence never wavered because he knew of Jessica's role in the crime? How did he figure out there were two personalities without ever confronting either woman? Questions, questions... always questions with this show. I love it.

However, of all the different takes on hiding and secrecy we saw in this episode, I actually found Claire's storyline to be one of the most compelling. Until now, I think it's safe to say many of us saw something a little cliché in Claire's "I just want to be normal" attitude, particularly those of us familiar with the saga of another blonde cheerleader who once yearned for a normal life. But with just a few lines of dialogue we gained a new understanding of and empathy for Claire's desire to hide her abilities from her loved ones and pretend she's just like everyone else. To be honest, it never occurred to me that Claire's status as an adopted child would have any influence over her behavior in this regard; she and her parents obviously share a deep love for each other, and it's clear her interest in meeting the "bioparents" was almost entirely motivated by her desire to figure out why she has a special ability at no time did she express any inclination to connect with them as people. Yet once she finally confessed her fear of losing her family, it was like the moment I finally saw the hidden images in those Magic Eye books an almost tangible shift in perception and perspective. Suddenly Claire was no longer just another vaguely whiny teenager afraid to jeopardize her standing among the in-crowd; instead I saw a scared girl who'd never forgotten she was already "different" to begin with. And then, of course, her determination to keep the truth from her family made complete sense to me and caused my heart to ache for her inability, even after all this time, to completely trust in her family's love.

Finally, there's Matt Parkman. Like most of the other heroes, Matt hides his ability from almost everyone around him. However, what's interesting in light of this episode's prevailing theme is that Matt is also the one person from whom nothing can truly be hidden. He may be able to block out some of the thoughts constantly bombarding him, or at least dull the impact with the aspirin he now tosses down his throat like Skittles. But if he really wants to know what someone is hiding, there's not a thing they can do to stop him. Which would seem like the perfect ability for a police officer to have; what is telepathy but the ultimate investigative tool? Audrey recognized this, which is why she wanted Matt with her when she closed in on the man she believed to be Sylar what better way to make sure she'd be putting the cuffs on the right guy, or even find that man amidst a crowd of people? But while it turns out that Matt doesn't need to do either, his ability does play a vital role in defusing (no pun intended) the crisis that unfolds when he and Audrey track down Ted. And in the process Matt is able to give Ted and his dying wife a priceless gift: the chance to say goodbye.

Yet for all the great things Matt can do with his powers, there is a downside beyond that of the near-constant headaches: he doesn't just hear the secrets he wants to uncover, but also the ones he might, in his heart of hearts, wish had stayed hidden. He went from a man who believed his marriage had taken a turn for the better, who was about to finally share his own biggest secret with his wife, to being filled with doubt and uncertainty culminating with Matt finding out Janice cheated on him with one of his most trusted friends. And given how most of the cops in the room gravitated towards Matt, the aggressor, and sent less-than friendly glances the supposed victim's way, I have a feeling that despite being telepathic Matt was still the last one to know. Personally, I'm all for Matt dumping Janice and eventually hooking up with Audrey; the simple fact that she's never felt threatened or weirded out by knowing he can read her thoughts, but instead always treated him and his ability as if he was any other cop with a special skill like marksmanship or computer savvy, speaks volumes to me about her overall character. But I also know things between Matt and Janice are still far from resolved, so my little Matt/Audrey 'shipper heart will just have to be patient...

Other thoughts:

· Loved Zach's teasing of Lyle, inappropriate thought it might have been. "Yeah, we're gonna... ANAL PROBE you." Too much fun, and it almost makes up for the utter predictability of the whole "Lyle finds the tape" scenario. Although the blood getting sucked back into Claire's wound was pretty nifty, continuity issues aside. ;-)

· Heidi's barely had any screen time, and she's already shaping up to be a fascinating addition. On the one hand she clearly has no problem speaking up when she thinks Nathan's full of it, as when she neatly deflated his "I'm not going to exploit my family" rhetoric by pointing out that's exactly what he did to Peter. Yet she all but begs Nathan to tell her what she wants to hear rather give voice to what they both know is the truth about his visit to Las Vegas. An interesting paradox, to say the least.

· On a related note, I thought they did a nice job on the reveal of Heidi's wheelchair. Nothing will ever top the impact the John Locke version of the same revelation, but this one still earns high marks.

· No Mohinder. Want Mohinder. Miss Mohinder. Mohinder pretty.

· Mohinder's voiceover, however? Still lame.

· As always, Hiro's scenes were a highlight; his entire demeanor as he made his way through the frozen explosion screamed "this is SO cool," and his remark about wishing he had super strength was absolutely priceless.

· Looks like Micah has to be in contact with a machine in order to work his mojo on it.

· I thought Tawny Cypress did a really nice job of portraying Simone's grief over her father's death. Not only did she look like someone who'd just lost a loved one, but she projected a palpable sense of anguish and hurt without ever going over the top with it.

· If Peter's dream is any indication, it appears the effects of absorbing another person's power linger well past his being in any sort of proximity to the person. I also appreciated how they tied the dream into Charles' death, and then used that as the stepping stone for Simone's growing belief in Peter's quest.

· Loved all the subtext Peter injected into his conversation with the reporter, sending barb after barb Nathan's way with no one else the wiser. And even then he still proved himself a way better brother than Nathan deserves.

· I thought the bit where we see the same marks on both Ted's and Matt's necks was very intriguing, but it would have been even better if we'd seen Matt discover his an episode or two earlier showing them for the first time in this ep made the moment feel a bit too contrived to have the kind of impact I'm sure the Heroes PTB were hoping for.

And I think that about covers it from me. If you haven't already read Erin's review of "Seven Minutes to Midnight," I urge you to rush on over and do so right now. Then be sure to hop on over to the board and praise us both in whatever fashion you deem appropriate. I hope to have my review of "Homecoming" done sooner rather than later, but really: what's the rush? I mean, it's not like anything major happened... Until then, stay heroic.

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