Courtesy of NBC
It’s mid-season finale time for Heroes Reborn as Erica Kravid (Rya Kihlstedt) tries to convince Tommy (Robbie Kay) to go along with her nefarious scheme.
Let’s bitch it out…
Well that was underwhelming. After taking a breather from our coverage of Heroes Reborn for several episodes because things simply weren’t coming together, the show immediately jumped into the past to revisit the events leading up to explosion in Odessa on June 13. The results were messy, but finally jolted the narrative out of its lull and into motion, bringing wayward characters into contact with each other and finally hinting at what Renautus’ plan was.
Coming back for the fall finale, I hoped that Heroes Reborn would seize the moment and really lay out its cards. Instead ’11:53 To Odessa’ does some minor work to partner up a few more characters, but the majority of the episode’s run time is spent on inane conversation between characters trying to convince each other of various plots. In a word: dull (as ever).
En Route To Odessa
Having reconnected, Noah (Jack Coleman) and Malina (Danika Yarosh) peel off cross-country, but only after after Noah disses and dismisses Luke (Zachary Levi), who only wants to help find Tommy. The family pair barely make it to the freeway before Malina demands that they pull over to stop a natural disaster threatening a bunch of dumbass humans hanging out in its path. Malina uses her Captain Planet powers to quell the burgeoning tornado, so naturally the humans immediately turn on her (makes sense). In the melee Noah is nearly killed by an upheaved car, but Malina and Luke have to scram to avoid the mob before they can confirm Noah’s living/dead status.
Meanwhile Ren (Toru Uchikado) is led on a strange spirit quest by Otomo (Hiro Kanagawa) who encourages him to follow the clues to find the Master of Time and Space (the same mission given to Kiki Sukezane’s Miko). This is easily the most bizarre story line in that it suggests that Ren is slightly crazy and/or infers that Otomo is capable of infiltrating any electronic and controlling people’s faculties now that he’s in digital form. Either way, it proves to be a lot of set-up just to get Ren on the titular bus to Odessa.
Sunstone Manor
Carlos (Ryan Guzman) and Farah (Nazneen Contractor) spend the majority of the hour trying to resist the mind-reading powers of Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg), who is seeking Malina at Erica’s behest. It’s pretty much the opposite of compelling because we barely know anything about Farah (and no, revisiting old footage from her aborted mission in Afghanistan doesn’t count as character development). Plus we know that Matt is being misled, so watching him interrogate and torture folks is frustrating because we know he’s doing it for all of the wrong reasons.
Taylor (Eve Harlow), The Haitian (Jimmy Jean-Louis) and a few rebel cronies eventually meet up with the soldiers/lovers when they storm the manor to find Micah (who has morphed into a very buff Noah Gray-Cabey). Unfortunately nothing more is accomplished before everyone scatters in the face of a few dozen Harris’ (Clé Bennett). This is easily the weakest cliffhanger in what should have been a barn burner of a finale.
7957 years in the future
First off, holy moly are the green screen effects in the future scenes atrocious. Like dollar store bad. Epic fail for the FX people in Heroes Reborn‘s employ.
Moving on…Erica tries to convince Tommy to reopen the Gateway. Initially Tommy seems to see through Erica’s BS, which is encouraging. Considering that Erica speaks and acts like a snake, I’m legitimately baffled when anyone falls for her schtick. Unfortunately Tommy’s immunity to her charms (?) fails after a brief stroll through the world of the future (so many greenhouse vegetables!). I’m unsure why this convinces him to trust her, but…whatever. It’s Heroes.
Luckily one of the show’s few bright spots, Miko, drops in to convince him to jump back in time and away from Erica. We leave the future with the Renautus head throwing a hissy fit because she has lost her asset (and presumably because she is now momentarily trapped in the future).
Courtesy of NBC
Other Observations:
- Out of nowhere Quentin (Henry Zebrowski) confronts Phoebe (Aislinn Paul), the Eeyore of the series, about whether they’re doing the right thing by helping Erica. It’s amazing how Quentin used to be one of the show’s best characters, but since the revised timeline he’s become just another unlikeable d-bag. Not as bad as Phoebe, but he’s certainly not fun anymore.
- It’s a bad sign that the thing that catches my eye most during the Sunstone Manor sequences is the bizarre pastel green country cottage wallpaper. I kinda love it and that makes me hate myself.
Your turn: what did you think of the mid-season finale? Did you find all of the talky bits unsatisfying? Do you understand why Tommy went along with Erica’s scheme? Did Ren’s story line feel contrived? Were you annoyed that Malina and Luke ran away from the scene of the accident? What will happen when the show returns in January? Sound off below
Heroes Reborn returns for its final three episodes in January 2016