Heroes Returns for Redemption
The fourth season of Heroes, also known as Volume Five entitled Redemption, debuted with a two hour premiere this past week, and suffice to say, the new season is already off to a good start with the characters attempting to move on after the shocking events of last season. To briefly recap those events, Sylar brutally murdered Nathan and as a means of covering up the death of a Nathan, a public government official at the hands of a powered person, and the only possible way of neutralizing Sylar as a threat, the heroes have Parkman use his psychic abilities to brainwash Sylar into believing he is Nathan, and use Sylar shapeshifting ability to transform him into Nathan. Yes, kind of complicated. Ultimately, this cover up causes the heroes to form a new version of the Company with essentially the same goal as the original Company, protecting the powered community while also using their abilities for the greater good.
This new season kicks off with a very alive Tracy Strauss tracking down and killing those involved in rounding and caging up people with abilities at the behest of last season’s villain, Danko. But a new villain has surfaced, and Robert Knepper gave a surprisingly impressive performance in the premiere as Samuel Sullivan, the owner of a traveling carnival and leader of a group of powered people, looking to recruit some of the powered people we already know into his “family,” such as Hiro. It’s refreshing to see Knepper tackle something different from the skeevy con man, T-Bag, his famous role on the series Prison Break.
Another newcomer to the cast is Ray Park as a speedster assassin who weilds knives who works for Samuel, and yes, there is a pretty great standoff between him and Peter, who fans know has the ability to attain the abilities of those around him. Ray Park has a pretty strong sci-fi background, best known for roles as Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode I, Toad in X-Men, and most recently Snake Eyes in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Needless to say, it’s great to see him join the cast, and hopefully we’ll get to see some of his acting chops, as well as some great fight scenes.
As for the rest of the returning cast, Peter is once again a paramedic, using his abilities while on and off the job to come to the rescue. Hiro and Ando have set up a company, Dial a Hero, but are easily defeated by their first task, saving a cat from a roof, as neither of their abilities are applicable. Parkman is attempting to live his life without his powers, disgusted by what he was asked to do to Sylar, and now finds himself haunted by Sylar. As for Claire, she has finally made it off to college in an attempt to lead a normal life, which is already proving difficult. And lastly, Nathan, well Sylar seems to already be slowly surfacing, which could be bad. Very bad.
Clearly, there’s a lot going on in the Heroes universe, and while at times the pacing of the show has been a bit slow and convoluted, the show really hit it’s stride in season three, raising my expectations for this coming season. After the premiere, the Redemption arc looks to be a promising one, and it should be pretty interesting seeing how everything comes together.
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Sep27