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‘Heroes’: ‘Villains’ ends, but what would Obama do?

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‘Heroes’ ends its ‘Villains’ chapter with all sorts of firecrackers (mostly due to Sylar). The tough times they’ve faced this first half of the season, with people after them, being lost (in time and in different places) and corporations going down around them ... and that’s just the writers!

The last few episodes have definitely been up to par. How much does the turnaround -- yes, I dared to use that word -- have to do with the dismissal of Jeph Loeb and Jesse Alexander, and Tim Kring taking the reigns more tightly? Probably not much, because many of these episodes may have already been shot and story arcs already planned. It’d be interesting to know, though.

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We’ll start with Hiro/Ando/Daphne/Parkman. This storyline has been fun but also the most uneventful of the Villains offshoots. And it still is. The only notable things to happen were 1) Got to see Seth Green and a comic book shop; 2) Ando now has the power to amp up others’ powers; and 3) Hiro smacked Tracy square in the face to take away and destroy the powers-giving formula (after she called him ‘Pikachu!’). I assume Hiro will get his powers back somehow, and hopefully not by having to travel back to the past to get them. This will definitely raise Ando’s standing -- both in the hero grouping and as a coveted player.

Firecrackers were mentioned, and they start and end with Sylar. Whenever the storyline lets Sylar be Sylar -- the monster that we grew to like, admire and fear -- it is for the best. The calculating killer sets up Claire, Noah, Angela and Meredith at the Primatech facility where he was once held prisoner. Sylar’s stalking of the group, and his murder of the inmates, including iron-hand guy and Doyle the puppetmaster, were not as creepy as the season opener’s Claire stalk, but seeing how smart and cruel he can be is fun to watch. I do wish I knew exactly what he did to Doyle. Telekinetic seizure/heart attack? Haven’t really seen Sylar demonstrate many telepathic abilities, but it’d be great to get a list of his powers.

Anyway, his plans are foiled when Claire essentially kills him by going for his Achilles’ medulla -- basically plunging a big piece of glass into the back of the head. Yes, he’ll recover when someone removes it, and probably go right after Angela because she let it slip that she knows who his parents are. I’m guessing she’ll be his next target, but that may not come for a while. And speaking of parents, seems there’s another R.I.P. due for Claire’s mom Meredith. Ironically, Meredith ends up burning down Primatech while her brother, Flint, helps turn Pinehearst to cinders as both seem to perish.

Angela’s squabbling sons help set up the ‘Fugitives’ second half of the season at Pinehearst: ‘Shouldn’t we give everybody powers?’ ‘Of course not!’ ‘We have to.’ Blah blah. The fight between Peter and Nathan got out of hand when Peter knocked out Nathan. He comes to only to watch Knox kill Mr. Soldier Guy With Powers, and then be killed by Tracy. Yep, Tracy flash-freezes Knox, but Nathan still doesn’t approve of her path and fires her. After Peter, with the help of bad guy Flint, destroys what’s left of the formula (after Mohinder bathes in it), he and Nathan have another showdown. Peter gets his powers back (hypocritically injects them), and Nathan gets the backing of the president (yes, of the United States) to go after anyone with powers.

Again, Mohinder is odd man out, but this time they’ve paired him with Tracy. They’re both important players, but afterthoughts at this point.

Nathan doesn’t seem as if he’s willing to kill people with powers, but with the authority he’s been given, we’ll see how far he’ll go. The military squad and high-tech restraints we saw in the promo point to the creation of another Primatech-type facility. And the cycle starts again.

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Now we have to wait until after the Super Bowl for our next installment. We’ll have a new president sworn in by then, one that seemingly influenced the depiction of the president in ‘Heroes.’ So, then, that raises the question:

-- Jevon Phillips

Top photo: Sylar (Zachary Quinto). Middle photo: Angela Petelli (Cristine Rose) and Claire (Hayden Panettiere). Bottom photo: Nathan Petrelli (Adrian Pasdar). Credits: NBC.com.

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