While watching Heroes Reborn I was surprised by how much I missed the show in its far too long absence. The multiple month long break was a very big mistake because “Send in the Clones” picks up right where “11:53 to Odessa” left off. It is not a natural break at all. Yet while the break was weird and the episode itself is kind of a mess, Heroes Reborn is still a lot of fun. It is confusing, chaotic and often riddled with logic problems but there is nothing quite like it on TV (at this moment) that moves as briskly as this series. Even a bad episode will no doubt have more than a few stellar moments and “Send in the Clones” is a perfect example. It is Heroes Reborn at its best and worst.
Future Follies
The veins are a-popping in Erica’s neck. She’s not too happy that Katana Girl has foiled her plans once again. Away from Erica, Miko and Tommy go into full-on plotting mode to take the villainess down. Then Miko starts to arbitrarily blink out of existence because she’s still a construct (which is still a stupid decision). Anyway, this means that Tommy must send Miko back to present quickly. He sends her to Sunstone Manor to free the EVOs there. Tommy plans to join her there (or then?) himself when he gets the chance.
However, Erica has other plans for Tommy and takes him to her Gateway settlement in Odessa. Erica shows Tommy that she is true to her word. Erica has brought both Tommy’s mother and Emily to the protective facility. It is never actually explained if Emily’s own family is in the facility too. I guess they’re less important to Emily that this random guy she met two weeks ago.
Escape from Parkman Prison
Carlos is still in in the land of nightmares that is Matt Parkman’s “sanctuary” for EVOs, Sunstone Manor. Carlos (and Farah) regroup with Taylor and the Haitian in the lobby. The two pairs split up. The Haitian and Taylor are tasked with trying to take care of Parkman. Carlos and Farah go after securing the safety of the remaining patients and finding Micah.
Carlos also manages to find his El Vengador outfit and puts it on but he leaves off the safe helmet. (We can’t hide that brooding, sexy Ryan Guzman face, can we?) That silliness aside, Farah and Carlos are pretty successful in their mission. They rescue both Carlos’ family and Micah. Granted, while rescuing Micah, Father Mauricio is shot and killed by some Harris clones. Though, if you didn’t expect this wise, mysterious mentor figure to bite the dust at some point, you’ve clearly never watched/read/experienced any story.
Taylor and the Haitian are remarkably less lucky. For some reason, they have no other plan for dealing with a powerful mind reader like Parkman than trying to persuade him. This is easily the worst plan possible for dealing with a man who can literally control your thoughts and actions. Parkman does exactly that, too. Taylor and the Haitian are under his control within less than two minutes. Parkman does seem to believe their story that Erica won’t send him to the future. If anything, it makes him more selfish and power hungry, but it doesn’t endear the two to Parkman. Parkman escapes Sunstone with Taylor as a hostage.
Quentin Continues to be the Absolute Worst
Luke and Malina leave the highway and continue to wonder what happened to Noah. Luke is convinced that Noah is gone but Malina isn’t so sure. They decide to go to Odessa anyway. Their journey is cut short when they run into Phoebe, Quentin and one of Harris’ clones. Luke and Malina run into a nearby corn maze to hide and are shocked to discover that they can’t use their powers. Phoebe is dampening them.
Inexplicably, the two split up and Malina gets caught almost immediately. Phoebe wraps Malina in her creepy shadows and Quentin points a gun at Malina’s head. Quentin does that weird pursing lips thing a couples times and looks like he’s trying to squeak out a fart. I guess this is the actor’s way of playing the character struggling with a decision. It’s still super annoying.
It also takes up enough time so that Luke is able to arrive, knock out Phoebe, burn the Harris clone and point his gun at Quentin. Quentin buckles because he may be evil now, but he’s as much a punk as ever. Quentin then spills the entire evil plan beans. He tells Luke and Malina that Tommy is in the future with Erica. Luke wants to kill Quentin and Phoebe but Malina stops him. Malina has always been blandly moral but this is a step too far for me. (Don’t tempt me with taking away Quentin and Phoebe to just snatch it away with silly morality.)
Another Sacrifice and a Deadly Alliance
Back at Sunstone Manor, Miko arrives (time travel is weird) and confronts the prime Harris. There is a fight to the death and it’s pretty brutal and intense. The ending is ridiculous though. Harris gets the upper hand at the last second. Harris has Miko by the neck ready to slit her throat when she starts glitching. Her “body” is fading in and out of existence. It just so happens that the glitch is at the perfect angle for Miko to stab into herself and into Harris. She does and Harris dies, for real this time. When Harris is dead, Miko fades out of existence completely. Is she really dead this time too? Who knows? Nothing about her storyline has made any sense so far in the season. She could easily pop up in the next episode alive again and I wouldn’t be surprised.
With Harris dead, all his clones disappear. This leaves Sunstone unguarded and Carlos takes Micah to Parkman’s office. Micah uses Parkman’s laptop to do computer superpowers that allow him to communicate to the rest of the world. Micah shows the world evidence of Erica’s corruption, deviousness and how she was really behind June 13.
Erica won’t take this lying down though. She controls the news to try to minimize the damage and contacts a new right hand man for her plans now that Harris is dead. This time it’s a woman: Joanne. Erica shows Joanne a picture of Luke and Malina. Erica tells her that she wants Luke dead and Malina delivered to her. Joanne is only too happy to oblige.
Heroes Reborn airs Thursdays at 8pm on NBC
(Image courtesy of NBC)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Derek is a Philadelphia based writer and unabashed TV and comic book junkie. The time he doesn’t spend over analyzing all things nerdy he is working on his resume to be the liaison to the Justice League.
