Vitals
- Products: Heroes: Season 3
- Franchises: Heroes
- Genres: Drama, Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Associated Luminaries: Bryan Fuller, Tim Kring
- Notable Characters: Claire Bennet, Sylar
- Cast Members: Hayden Panettiere, Masi Oka, Milo Ventimiglia, Zachary Quinto
- Network: NBC
- Air Date: September 2008
Heroes took a beating this Monday. Okay, that is old news – but with the thrashing in the past all eyes are on next Monday for an indication of whether or not Heroes can reclaim its glory – from season before last. After the revelation that Sylar (Zachary Quinto) was Nathan and Peter's brother elicited a collective groan from fans, the show is on the spot to follow up that lameness with a reveal, twist, or equally earthshaking denouement that will somehow makeup for it all. The good news is, while still relying on a cliche of sorts, Heroes does just that next Monday.
The notion of Sylar turning good is – at first – a little passe. That is what villains do when they start losing their edge, right? It's a classic dynamic shake-up that works every time, right beside heroes turning bad. By itself, this turn would have been as groan worthy as the reveal of his parentage – luckily, there is a little more to the story.
Sylar will become a company man next week, and be partnered with none-other than former arch nemesis Horned Rim Glasses dude himself, Noah (Jack Coleman). That's right, a week after taking off HRG's dauther's skull cap, the two will be teaming up as partners.
Episodes like "Company Man" brought HRG himself up from the realms of a sort of evil-everyman into one of the more complex and conflicted characters of the show, tilling some fertile ground for a pathos driven link up Sylar, himself one of the more multi-faceted characters of the show.
In perhaps the first real example of character meeting high concept this season, the Sylar HRG hook-up is not only believable, it's necessary. The level 5 bad guys aren't your average Heroes styled villains, they are super bad. We'd need more than the Haitian's powers of persuasion to help out HRG, we need Sylar's toolkit of stolen abilities to take these bad guys down.
The best part of this pairing, though, is the sheer hatred from the HRG side and the intricate evil from the Sylar side. Knowing the brain sucking bad guys nature, every scene will be saturated with tension, every exchange will be tempered with raw emotion, every scene will be overflowing with grandiose character dynamics – the sort that haven't been seen since season one. The only hanging doubt now is whether the rest of the show can stand up to the Sylar and HRG segments.
Heroes fans... there is hope.
