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HEROES episode 4.06 “Tabula Rasa”
Airdate: October 19, 2009
What did you think of tonight’s episode on HEROES? I thought it was clever how of the writers to make you think one thing and then to bring out something else you didn’t expect. And “Tabula Rasa” had several of those tonight. Like Sylar/Gabriel for example. And Hiro’s illness.
OK let’s recap first and you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Sylar/Gabriel in the Carnie family. So Samuel (Robert Knepper) “adopted” Gabriel (Zachary Quinto) in he knew instantly there was something wrong about Sylar’s personality. Samuel has heard of “Sylar, the most powerful among us” and the person standing in front of him felt anything but. Although Sylar displayed his powers unintentionally, he was really more confused, scared and depressed than ever. So Samuel thought he would jumpstart Sylar’s mind. Samuel asks Damian (guest star Harry Perry) to show Sylar who he really is. Inside the House of Mirrors, Sylar was shown his heinous crimes – killing his mom, taking people’s brains out. But Sylar saw himself as the monster that he has been afraid of all this time! Instead of opening his mind and embracing his identity, Gabriel was even more confused and scared. Samuel even manipulated Gabriel to kill the detective who was tracking him. Instead, Gabriel warned the man to get out of the carnival as fast as he can. Unfortunately, Edgar (Ray Park) got to the cop and killed him. At the end of the night, Samuel took Gabriel in and baptized him into the Carnival family. Edgar complained that they have a tiger in their midst who doesn’t know how to kill, but Samuel took that as an opportunity to mold this new Gabriel/Sylar into their liking.
What Samuel never realized (and of course the viewers do) is that the man inside Sylar’s body is not him – it’s Nathan Petrelli (Adrian Pasdar). When Samuel had asked him what he wants to be called, Sylar first thought of “Nathan, call me Nathan”. Sylar identified with the sounds of military planes passing by – he recalls flying an aircraft like that, and for a fleeting moment, Sylar’s face shifted to look like Nathan’s. Sylar also thought he might have been a politician before. Plus, Sylar got attracted to Lydia (Dawn Olivieri), a trait that is more Nathan than Sylar.
So this gets really interesting! Nathan’s memories are inside Sylar’s body, and yet previously when Sylar took on Nathan’s form, it felt foreign to think of Nathan’s memories as his. Weird twist but very interesting.
I was waiting for this episode to get Sylar-the-villain back, but that would have been too easy (and too early in the season). This twist gives the writers opportunity to weave Sylar and Samuel’s fates – who is the real villain. We’ll have to see who emerges out of Sylar in the end.
Hiro, Peter and Emma and Noah. Hiro (Masi Oka) teleported to Peter’s (Milo Ventimiglia) apartment just before fainting. It’s not clear yet why Hiro went toward Peter – did Peter need help? “No.”(“Yes, really, c’mon). Maybe Peter is supposed to help a dying Hiro. So Peter absorbs Hiro’s powers and teleports to Noah’s (Jack Coleman) house to ask help from the Company man. Funny thing is, Peter ends up in the bathroom (his teleporting skills are rusty!). It just so happens that Claire (Hayden Panettiere) is in her dad’s apartment to do laundry. Peter explains Hiro’s condition and Claire volunteers her blood to heal Hiro (the same question on every fan’s mind!). Noah advises against that idea since Claire’s blood is regenerative – it will only make the tumor grow faster. Oh. But Noah knows a boy – Jeremy Greer (guest star Mark L. Young)- who can help Hiro, so Peter and Noah vanish into thin air and teleport to Georgia.
Earlier, Peter had introduced Hiro to Emma (Deanne Bray) as someone who can answer all her questions about powers and abilities and Hiro gets ingenious in teaching Emma that her abilities are not a curse but a gift to help others. Pretending to be Hiro the Magnificent, Hiro performs magic tricks in front of patients and hospital staff. He stops time to make Emma see that his powers can be about helping people. When Emma asks him how he keeps such a positive attitude, Hiro remembers Charlie, who taught him about joy in the midst of adversity. And that’s when Hiro had an epiphany!
Meanwhile, Peter and Noah arrive in Georgia and find Jeremy Greer’s house to be in shambles. Plants and animals around the house were either dead or dying. Inside, Noah and Peter find Jeremy’s parents dead in their seats. Something had happened to Jeremy’s powers so everything he touches dies! Noah tells Jeremy he has both powers – to give life and take it back. The frightened young boy has a big rifle aimed at Noah and unfortunately, it goes off and hits Peter right in the chest! Noah pleads with the young man to heal Peter – that he has it in him to do it – and Jeremy does! Whew. I thought Peter was a goner.
Peter absorbs Jeremy’s healing powers and goes back to New York (this time, the normally slow way). Noah asks to be left behind and get Jeremy’s life in order. He had bagged and tagged Jeremy four years back and erased his memories so he can’t use his powers, but Noah never thought to help the kid. Now is Noah’s chance to finally do something positive in his life.
Back in New York, Peter learns from Emma that Hiro has vanished. And the only clue left is a note from Hiro – “Save Charlie!”. The next thing we know, Charlie is in Texas, back at the Burnt toast diner and Charlie is alive.
To be continued… Next on HEROES, episode 4.07 “Strange Attractors”, next Monday October 26.
Images: NBC/Adam Taylor