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

Part 1. A Nifty Trick

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

So here I am, dutifully reviewing (or more accurately, synopping) a three and a half minute webisode.

This first part introduced letter carrier Echo DeMille (Kiko Ellsworth), who is running from someone we don't see. He is stopped by a 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 tales 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 no reason.) 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,

Billie Doux
Billie Doux's Review Site

Apartment 612, Brooklyn, New York: Mohinder enters to find Sylar casually at home in front of Mohinder's laptop. Molly's still asleep, and Maya's making breakfast wearing a “World's Greatest Dad” apron. Maya's honored to meet him. Mohinder's confused. She knows Gabriel's a killer, but she's taken lives herself. She explains about her power. She needs his help. Sylar's read about the virus and how it takes away power. Maya wonders if that's why Sylar's powers are gone, and Mohinder jumps at the opening. He grabs a knife, but Sylar's got a gun. During their standoff, Sylar admits he has the virus and needs an infusion of Claire and Mohinder's blood to cure himself. Maya finally realizes Sylar's lied to her. She uses her power, and Mohinder and Sylar start to collapse. Sylar tries to talk her out of it, even pointing the gun at her, but she doesn't back down until Molly stumbles out of her bedroom weeping black tears. Maya pulls back her poison, and Mohinder promises to cure Sylar. First they have to get to Mohinder's lab.

Thug: "You know what happens to heroes in the real world? They end up dead. Just like you."

Well, at least they didn't leave us with a cliffhanger, or kill off Mr. Muggles. (Heaven forbid.) And I got what I wanted: Peter, Claire, HRG and Hiro made it, and so did Elle and Adam. (Adam is still alive, after all; he could return. And if we thought he was nuts before, we ain't seen nothing yet.)

New Orleans: Since I haven't been all that much interested in her storyline, I was surprised by how affected I was by Niki's heroic death. Rescuing Monica from that fire was a deliberate echo of what DL did. And now Niki and DL are together, if you believe in that sort of thing. Poor Micah. I bet he'll feel guilty for the rest of his life. At least he still has family, and he and Monica have obviously bonded.

New York: Peter stands in the middle of an empty street surrounded by blowing paper. He grabs one at random and finds it's an evacuation notice. He watches in confusion as the biohazard-suited men wrestle another Peter and Caitlin to the ground. Both Peters call her name, and one Peter finds himself back in the Montreal warehouse still clutching the evacuation notice. Adam stands nearby. Peter was telling him about Caitlin when Peter started calling her name. Peter was in New York, a year from now, when the Shanti virus had wiped out 93% of the human race. He has to go back to save Caitlin. Adam pulls the company photograph from an old trunk (Back Row: Blonde Woman, Linderman, Petrelli Sr., Angela Petrelli, Kaito Nakamura, Bob Bishop, Victoria Pratt, Maury Parkman. Front Row: Indian Woman, Charles Deveaux (Shaft!), Man with Mustache, Man With Gray Hair (Man from Glad!)) Victoria Pratt was a bioengineer. On Valentines Day, 1977, she recovered a virus from an Indian girl named Shanti. Peter recognizes his parents, Linderman, Deveaux. The founders of the company. Victoria Pratt manipulated the virus to turn it into a weapon. Peter realizes they have to find her, make her tell them everything she knows so they can save Caitlin and the world.

Hiro: "I must avenge my father's death and save the world."
Ando: "Why is saving the world always your responsibility?"

Montreal and Searsmont, Maine: So Adam was initially imprisoned because he wanted to release the killer virus, "for the greater good"? Aha. So that's his evil plan. And thirty years in prison just made him want it more. Why is Peter so determined to believe Adam? Please tell me Peter is smelling a rat, and playing Adam. I was also disappointed in Peter's single-minded obsession with rescuing Caitlin to the exclusion of all else. Hello? 93% of the world's population doesn't come first? Peter, start thinking with your head again. The other head.

Victoria Pratt, with us so briefly and already gone, had the bad luck to shoot two people who could heal themselves. But we did learn that, like the immortals on "Highlander," when the head comes off, it's over. (How does Adam know that? Has he seen it happen to someone else?)

As I start to write this commentary listening to Simon and Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence".

I stop and think, will I write a simple, yet well out commentary summary like I often do, or will I start blurting out various political stances? I will not go in such a dire array, but such a subject matter cannot be escaped completely as the question remains.

What is Murder? What is justifiable homicide?

Butler House, Costa Verde: The family packs up. Claire comes downstairs and grabs her school books. Noah notices she's wearing her cheerleading outfit. Claire's decided she's not going to leave. Noah orders her to change and get ready to go, but Claire refuses and brings up his actions with West. Lyle and Sandra protest, but Claire grows angry with the way they cover for Noah. Noah wants her to have a safe life, but Claire knows it's not about her. It's about Noah and the things he's done. They'll always be running. She turns to leave, and Noah grabs the duct tape, intending to truss her up until Sandra intervenes. Claire's to go to school to make her goodbyes, then come home because they're leaving that night. Claire tells Noah she hates him, and leaves the house.

A Cemetary, Tokyo, Japan: Hiro sits beside his sister and Ando as the burial ceremony ends. It is traditional that the eldest son eulogize his father. Hiro steps up to do so, but can say nothing and walks away from the gathering. Ando follows him. Hiro feels guilty for being away when his father died. Ando tries to convince him it's not his fault and to return to the ceremony. Hiro can't say goodbye yet. He has to go back in time. Ando tries to stop him, but Hiro blinks out. He appears on the Deveaux Rooftop in New York a week ago, in time to see and overhear the confrontation between Angela Petrelli and Kaito.

Hiro: "Every hand I extend in kindness is his hand. And every blow that I strike for justice is his fist."

This was an emotionally resonant episode with a powerful, unifying theme. Fathers, and what they give their children. Good fathers, and not so good fathers. Kaito Nakamura made his son into a hero. Noah Bennet protected his adopted daughter from evil so that she could become a hero, too. And Bob Bishop? He made his daughter into a monster.

Hiro and his father, Tokyo and New York: Even though it was established in "Six Months Ago" that Hiro can't change the past (which was why I found 1671 Japan so confusing), it made sense that Hiro would use his powers to try to save his father. I finally warmed to Kaito Nakamura; I thought it was just wonderful that he used his final moments of life to give Hiro love and validation, to tell Hiro he was proud of him. Hiro's new wisdom and maturity becomes him. He's learned so much.

Part 1: Four Months Ago

Monroe Apartment, Montreal: In a replay of last episode, Peter calls for Caitlin, then frantically concentrates, trying to get back to the future. He hears a noise and fires a lightning bolt in its direction. The bolt strikes a hand, which burns and then heals. The hand belongs to Adam Monroe/Takezo Kensai, who steps into the room. Peter doesn't remember him, and Adam figures the Haitian has worked his magic. There is a way to reverse it, however: Peter can heal like Adam, heal his own brain. He just has to concentrate on something important to him. Peter pulls out the picture of he and Nathan together. Adam gives him Nathan's name, which sparks a memory transporting us back in time to four months ago.

Kirby Plaza, New York: Nathan carries Peter into the sky while Peter flares and sparks with out-of-control radiation. He begs Nathan, who is blistering from the heat, to let him go. Nathan can fly. Peter can't because it's taking all his concentration not to blow up. He tears himself from Nathan's grasp and falls. Nathan tries to catch him, but Peter detonates, blasting Nathan back and knocking him out. As Nathan falls to Earth, Peter zooms out of nowhere, already healing from his explosion, to catch him.