Tai Freligh reviews episode 5 of Heroes Reborn, ‘The Lion’s Den’…
After last week’s most excellent episode, this week Heroes Reborn took a step backwards AND jumped the shark. We finally know what the world needs to be saved from, but not yet really how our heroes will exactly do that. The storylines all get touched on, but this week it’s all talk and little action. Let’s get to the recap.
Noah Bennet, Quentin and Taylor are all working together to figure out Erica Kravid’s master plan. Taylor is now firmly on Team HRG and tricks her mother into coming home to chat with her about their earlier argument. Once there, HRG and Quentin come out of the shadows to confront Erica at gunpoint. Noah questions her about her master plan, especially after seeing giant crates with animal seeds (embryos?) in them in Renautas HQ. She tells him that when they bought out Primatech, she was excited about him coming on board the program, but was disappointed when he didn’t. He asks if she killed Claire and she says no. She also tells him that Hiro died that day in Odessa and that big sacrifices need to be made for the sake of humanity surviving. Mr. Harris clones capture HRG and allow Erica to escape. Meanwhile, Miko breaks in and frees them after retrieving her sword, but Erica is free to continue with her master plan.
Turns out Luke was a doctor before Odessa and after revealing his powers to Joanne last week and ditching her, returns home to reminisce about better days…and reminisce….and reminisce. We get it. Life was good with your wife and son before the explosion, but do we need to be reminded multiple times during the episode? Luke contacts his old partner in the doctor’s practice and cashes out. He sets his house on fire and walks away…presumably from it all as he has left his wife, his practice and no longer has a home. What next for Luke, who still struggles with being an EVO?
Malina and Farah are walking…and walking…where we don’t know. Farah needs to meet a contact, so she leaves Malina in a warehouse, but the contact never shows up. Mr. Harris has been tracking them and attacks them, but Malina uses her powers to knock them down and they run. Malina questions Farah about knowing what to do to save the world. Again, Farah tells her she will know. Not sure how, because we don’t even know what she’s supposed to do. Later, Mr. Harris and his goons return to attack them, but this time he has The Shadow with him (Phoebe). Why didn’t he have her the first time and where exactly was she this whole time? Malina tries to use her powers, but apparently the Shadow’s swirling darkness renders her useless. Farah is shot and gives Malina an envelope that she says will explain all before she urges her to run before she’s caught. Malina hides in the back of a logging truck and is last seen being transported to the middle of nowhere and weeping about her shot friend.
Miko and Ren are sneaking into Renautas HQ using all the Evernow fans in costume as a distraction. Mr. Harris and Erica figure out their plan and decide to let them in so he can find her and kill her. Meantime, they decide to move the sword to Erica’s house so that Miko can’t get it. Miko and Ren break in and avoid Mr. Harris clone, who is scanning everyone with EPIC glasses. They see Erica and Harris take off in a car, but not before Ren puts a tracking device on it. They follow her to the house, where Miko breaks in, just in time to save Noah Bennett and retrieve the sword. She opens the sheath and teleports outside by Ren. Now she must go back in the game and find her father.
Agent Cutler is questioning Tommy back at police HQ. He reveals to Tommy that he’s adopted and that the woman he thought was his mother is not actually his mother. He wants to know who his real mother and father are, but apparently Cutler thought Tommy knew. Tommy did NOT know and is not happy about it. He teleports to his house. Back at police HQ, Agent Cutler tries to go after Tommy, but Penny Man shows up to stop him. Tommy arrives just in time to see the landlord putting an eviction notice up at his home. They don’t rent to EVOs and he needs to get out. Further enraged, he teleports to Emily’s house where she tries to convince him that it’s not so bad being adopted. He’s too angry to hear her and they go to the hospital to confront his mother. She tells him that there was never a good time to tell him he was adopted and she never told him who his real father was because she didn’t want him to try and save him (cue the Petrelli rumour mill). She’s ready to tell him everything, but Penny man shows up and asks if she’s really ready to tell him everything. He says he has been following them for a year because Tommy is very important and he’s going to help save the world. This does not sit well with Tommy, who already has enough teenager issues to worry about without having to also save the world. He says no thanks and teleports away.
Carlos returns to the garage to discover that his nephew and the Father have been kidnapped, presumably by the police. He heads to police headquarters to question Captain Dearing, but is told to wait. The Captain is not in a rush to see him. A package shows up for the police officers and it contains EPIC glasses. They can now detect EVOs much easier. Captain Dearing just happens to be walking by when they put the glasses on, and oops…too late. They see that he is an EVO! So much for all that camaraderie and nights spent bagging EVOs. They tranq him and drag him off. Carlos hijacks the cops as they try to transport Captain Dearing to who knows where. He uses his super-powered El Vengador suit to rip him from the car, beat up the cops and force him to reveal where he is holding the Father and nephew. That hydraulic suit is pretty badass!
Finally, at the very end of the episode we find out what the impending disaster is that Erica is preparing for and for which the Heroes will need to unite to prevent. Solar flare wiping out 97% of the Earth? Wow, did not see that coming. Erica’s scientist guy says it’s happening faster than they thought and will happen within a week. Um, wait. Earth is going to be almost completely annihilated and only this one guy at Renautas knows about it? Nobody else has eyes on the sky? No scientists, no government officials? Nobody has any clue? Shark meet motorcycle. How exactly does Erica plan on surviving the destruction? We know she has seeds and animals and EVOs hooked up to power her repopulation plan, but how will that work when everything is destroyed? Sorry, but this reveal was too big and too casually revealed to hold my suspension of disbelief. And, dammit, where are the original Heroes? Five episodes in and still no Hiro or Mohinder or Matt Parkman or Angela Petrelli? We KNOW they are in the show, so let’s quit teasing and show us the goods! This week’s episode gets a 6 out of 10. Next week you have a lot to make up for!
Official Episode Synopsis: HRG, Taylor and Quentin confront Erica over her plan to exploit EVOs; Luke looks inward, while Malina faces a deadly new threat.
Heroes Reborn airs on Thursday nights at 8pm EST on NBC.
Tai Freligh
(Article originally appeared on Flickering Myth)