TV Shows I'm Watching - Heroes (Episode 17)

Episode 17 – Company Man - **** out of 4

Yep, for me, this is the first four star episode of Heroes, an extremely well written hour that provides numerous answers, nerve jangling suspense, some tantalizing new plot developments, as well as a very touching and shocking ending (not as shocking as last week’s still unresolved cliffhanger, but pretty close).

Matt Parkman and Radioactive Man break into Claire’s house and threaten to bust some heads if they don’t get answers from Claire’s father. Simultaneously the audience follows Claire’s pop through a series of flashbacks that provide some pretty juicy plot points about his career (Angry Invisible Man was dad’s partner, Hiro’s dad knows a whole lot more about superpowers than he lead on, and his boss is Eric Roberts who has graduated from music-video cameo guy to featured guest star on a top rated tv show). Claire’s dad has been one of the most interesting characters on the show since day one, and these further layers and insights only help to make him more fascinating.

But the episode really gets cooking when Radioactive Man starts to get angry. A tense standoff scene ends cleverly (thank goodness the writers are having the superpowered heroes use their superpowers again), and an unfortunate bullet wound causes a nuclearific finale. It’s been a while since Heroes gave us a cool special effects moment (damn you limited television budgets), but this episode has a stunner.

And even though the ending is a teensy bit too melodramatic (a few too many “dads” in tonight’s script), it’s a welcome change of pace from Heroes-Mopesville Edition. I would rather have a cheesy heartfelt line or two rather than cold, blank stares.