TV Shows I'm Watching - Heroes (Episode 15)

Episode 15 – Run - *** out of 4

I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but….oh man, it pains me….one, two, three….alright, here it is. I enjoyed the Niki storyline in this episode. That’s right. For once I actually thought it was kind of the highlight of this back-on-track episode.

So finally, our heroes are back to doing heroic (as well as villainous) deeds. Ando and Hiro find their roles are reversed when Ando desperately wants to help an abused woman in Las Vegas. Matt Parkman becomes a bodyguard for hire and escorts a business man to a dangerous diamond exchange. In less heroic, but still interesting storylines, Claire encounters her birth father, and Suresh unknowingly makes a deal with the devil in the episode’s best subplot (involving our favourite serial killer supervillain Sylar).

But, it’s true, Niki (or should I say Jessica) steals the show. See, apparently in order to get out of jail she had to make a deal with Linderman to become a hired assassin. So, Jessica/Niki desperately tries to kill the business man Matt Parkman is protecting. Much of the episode involves a rather clever game of cat and mouse through an LA office building. It’s suspenseful, unpredictable, and finally allows Parkman to make a choice that isn’t clean cut.

I'm really not enjoying the whole Hiro-has-lost-his-superpowers storyline. Hiro was interesting to watch because he was so enthusiastic about his powers. Stripping him of this joy is far too frustrating and it's not fun watching him join the mopers (which for the record currently includes Isaac, Simone, the Petrelli Brothers, and Suresh).

Hopefully this episode is putting into play a few more plot devices that will finally get back to the whole New York blowing up storyline. I’m still not feeling the urgency there, but Run is a step in the right direction and hopefully means the midseason slump is over.