Well, sort of. Turned out the thought-dead brain-eating blackguard was actually hallucinating in some dumpy cement-block building marooned in the depths of the rainforest. Of course this he discovered only after chomping dead his keeper and latest victim, mind-bender Candice.
Pretty nifty turn for “Heroes” to take in its third hour of the season. (Watch it online here. With cast-crew commentary here.) Sylar (Zachary Quinto) actually got to show a little soul when he feared he’d lost all his purloined powers. And maybe he has.
But new powers were being revealed everywhere else, upping the action ante quite nicely. Still not sure, though, how I felt about that Christopher Reeve-Margot Kidder-“Can You Read My Mind” moment where fellow student West (Nicholas D’Agosto) swept Claire (Hayden Panettiere) up into his arms for a little Superman soar around the California coast. C’mon, producers -- you can do better than ripoffs of saccharine-sweet sentiment.
But the student’s capacity for flight was matched around the world and three centuries earlier when reluctant hero Kensei (David Anders) was revealed as being self-healing. The syrup wasn’t quite as sugary in ancient Japan, providing a warm moment for Hiro (Masi Oka) to pine over the white knight getting the babe he was not only yearning for but secretly courting, too. Hiro as Cyrano! Priceless. So was his sneaky scroll-hiding communication with Ando across history. [At right, NBC photo of James Kyson Lee by Chris Haston.]
And there was so much more. Peter’s bullet-spittin’ chest. (And I’m liking that Irish chick he’s been confiding in, too. And her creepy crook brother.) Niki taking Micah to New Orleans to live with hailing-frequencies-opening Uhura (Nichelle Nichols, all white-hair-helmeted now). Claire learning from her flying friend about an evil kidnaper who wears -- what else? -- Horn Rimmed Glasses!
So wait. The good guys are which ones? And the baddies might be -- ? Hmm. Not sure whom to root for now. Kinda cool, isn’t it?
(Still unpersuaded by that meandering Maya tale, though.)