TV Recaps: ‘Heroes,’ “Thanksgiving”

Image courtesy of tvfan.com

What’s a start to Thanksgiving break without another Heroes episode based on this long-preserved American tradition? Thankfully, for all its preservation of a Heroes lack of subtlety, there’s some good stuff to chew on.

This episode, not so surprisingly, is about family. At the forefront of this subject is Claire, who as ever, desires to be normal. Enter father Bennet who wants a regular family dinner for Thanksgiving. While shopping and pitching this hare-brained scheme, Noah encounters Lauren Gilmore, that willowy office romance from a few episodes back. Yup, she’s at it again, and finds herself invited to this Thanksgiving dinner. Did I mention that Noah is attending this dinner at the behest of his former wife and her new boyfriend? Ah, the pieces start to fall into place. In Noah’s words, they’re a “complex modern family.” That’s one way to think of it.

The dinner ends up being a disaster. Claire and Gretchen have reunited, and it’s vitally clear that the producers intend to continue this weird lesbian plotline. Once more, I’m not homophobic, but I am afraid of bad plot lines, and this, my friends, is a bad plot. Claire has plenty to develop within herself – Gretchen is simply unnecessary, not to mention creepy. In any case, it’s vitally clear that Claire dislikes her mom’s new boyfriend Doug, who has an obsession with poodles. Like husband, like…wife. Anyway, Claire reveals that she’s contemplating leaving school who discover herself. Instead, Claire, in a really emo move, decides to stab herself with a knife. Enter chaos, as Doug faints, the whole table goes into an uproar, and Gretchen runs off into the night with Claire.

Lest the spoiled Thanksgiving theme end here, the Petrelli family has to deal with the whole Nathan/Sylar duo. uckily, Angela somehow explained the Nathan corpse as a shapeshifter who imitated Nathan to keep the press from going off its axis. Oh, OK. As if this farce wasn’t enough, Angela truly tries to convince Nathan he is indeed Nathan. Leave it up to Nathan/Sylar to make things dramatic, telling Angela quite abruptly that what they see is a murderer, not him. And then all of a sudden, Nathan/Sylar is Sylar/Nathan, and it’s hysterical. From his quip about existentialism to carving up the turkey as he points to Angela’s forehead. Thankfully, boring Nathan found a way to regain control, and he flew off into the distance.

Is this spoiled Thanksgiving family theme over? Nope. We then go off to the carnival, where there’s a conspiracy brewing. Hiro and Etch-a-Sketch Girl travel back in time to discover that Samuel was the one responsible for his brother’s death. Given last episode’s events, I hope this hasn’t escaped you, subtle viewers. During the dinner, however, Samuel accuses Edgar of this murder. Hiro, in a moment of supreme bravery, shouts at Samuel to let him have his Charlie. All of a sudden, a huge bearded man wraps himself around Hiro, and ta-da, kid Hiro is back and off to save the world. I’ll say it. Seriously?

Truly, there’s some imaginative, brilliant dialogue exchange. This episode, folks, could have been a lot worse, and the fact they are running a common thread through a variety of different characters and plots is compelling. Universal issues of trust, family and duality run rampant throughout this episode, and it makes the whole season much more cohesive. So, not quite a bravo, but it was much better.

Share