Part 1: A Nifty Trick

Echo: "Next time, don't mess with the mailman."

This first part introduced letter carrier Echo DeMille (Kiko Ellsworth), who is running from someone we don't see. He is stopped by a letter carrier cliche -- a vicious, barking dog. He tries to reason with the dog, but ends up having to defend himself. Which he does by screaming "Back off!" at it. His voice is amplified tremendously in that Heroes sort of way. The dog slinks off, tail figuratively between his legs. (It was Doberman; their tails are pretty tiny.)

Two Company guys approach Echo. It's the usual Company team of one gifted guy with one normal guy. The normal guy gives Echo the usual Company spiel about helping him control his powers, but Echo isn't having any. The gifted guy, a creepy-looking bald guy called Constrictor, wraps his arms around Echo. (Clearly, Constrictor didn't get that name for nothing.) Echo uses his super voice again to get free, and runs away.

Normal-looking Company guy is on the ground, bleeding from the ears and with cuts all over the place. Constrictor shoots him dead and calls Bob, saying something like, "It's worse than we thought." Constrictor sees the cell phone that Echo dropped on the ground and picks it up; there's a picture on it of Echo and his girlfriend. Uh oh.

So much for part 1.

Part 2: The House Guest

Echo runs to his house, bursts in, and locks the door. He looks for his girlfriend Gina, whom he finds to be perfectly okay, wearing very little, and acting seductive. Upset, he starts to tell her stuff, not explaining himself well. Apparently, Echo's powers have just started to kick in. He leaves Gina alone, searches the house for earplugs, and finds them. Not in time, though.

Hearing the front door open, Echo starts running around the house searching for Gina again. He picks up a guitar to use as a weapon. (Blatant symbolism there, sound as a weapon.) He finds Gina, and sure enough, Constrictor already has his arms around her.

Echo has no choice but to use his voice. Gina apparently isn't affected, but Constrictor certainly is. While Constrictor is incapacitated, Echo supershrieks directly into Constrictor's ear and blows right through his head; blood shoots out the other side. Gross but kind of cool. Constrictor is toast. Except we know that people who die on Heroes aren't always dead forever.

How could Echo's supershrieks affect Constrictor but not Gina? I didn't see him get those earplugs to her. And in the first part, his shriek nearly kills the normal Company guy, not Constrictor. Yes, Constrictor had Gina pressed against his body with a hand conveniently over her ear. Was that enough to protect her? That still doesn't explain how Constrictor survived the first time, but not the second.

There's a knock on the door. End of part two.

Part 3: Let's Talk

Echo doesn't answer the door. He yells at Gina to get dressed, take his car and the earplugs, and take off. She protests but goes, taking her cat with her.

And it's two more Company men at the door. They come in and see Constrictor dead on the floor. Echo superyells at them, creating a sound wave that even reaches Gina, safely earplugged, outside in the car. (I wonder if it killed the cat.)

Cut. We see a card that says, "Thirteen Weeks Later." Echo is bound to a chair in a familiar-looking basement prison, with a high-tech gag of sorts in his mouth. Mama Petrelli is outside looking in. She welcomes him, puts a finger to her mouth, and says, "Shhhh."

Comments

I wasn't impressed. There wasn't enough time to get to like either Echo or Gina, and the only character that interested me appeared in the last few seconds. What was the point? Just to spend a few minutes in the Heroes-verse? I've sort of been avoiding webisodes for other shows, and now, I'm starting to think maybe that was a good idea.

Billie Doux
Billie Doux's television review site