S02E11: 'Powerless'

Published Thursday, Jul 3 2008, 21:46 BST | By Ben Rawson-Jones | 3 comments

The season may have been less than stellar, but 'Powerless' wraps up the chapter in generally satisfying style.

There's a genuine sense of tension with the fight to prevent the release of the Shanti virus, but the brooding menace of Sylar ensures that our eyes are peeled throughout. Superbly played by Zachary Quinto, Sylar is cleverly accompanied by the sound of ticking clocks as he creeps into view at the beginning of this episode. It's a clever touch, linking back to his early days as Gabriel the watchmaker and ramping up the tension in the countdown to the climax.

The ongoing theme of parent-child relationships comes together superbly in the finale, epitomised by Angela Petrelli's revealing comment to Matt in which she gives him permission to kill her son should it be necessary. The new character of Elle also enjoys her finest hour, with Noah Bennet evoking her harsh childhood and compelling her to please her daddy by nailing Sylar.

It's not all a stroll in the park though. Frustratingly, the shooting of Nathan at his press conference is very predictable, while the circumstances that lead to Niki becoming trapped in a blazing warehouse are overly contrived. Without a satisfying build up to these subplots in previous episodes, it feels like the writers have hastily cobbled together scenarios to place the characters in jeopardy in order to meet the conventions of a season finale.

Moreover, Sylar's declaration of "I'm back" during the final scene underlines the fact that the show hasn't progressed this season and has had to retreat back to the former glories of its debut year. Still, the use of a spinach can to demonstrate his restored powers is a very neat homage to Popeye.

On the whole, 'Powerless' is far from impotent in the dramatic stakes despite its flaws, which mainly stem from the lack of foundations laid in earlier episodes.

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Mark, Birmingham, on July 6th, 2008
Series 2 was extremely dull, especially compared to Series 1. Hero's storyline was long and drawn out, and the whole "City under threat from an explosion" was just a compelte replica of Series 1. The character of Adam is extremely annoying, and Molly's horrific nightmares were very anti-climatic when it turned out to be a bloke in an apartment. Having said that, not all of it was bad. I think Monica was a great addition to the cast, and the last couple of episodes of the series were a lot better than the ones preceeding them. I'd give the last episode 4 stars, but the series overall a 2 out of 5. The thing I really didn't like about the last episode was Sylar re-gaining his powers... Will series 3 be similar to series 1 with Sylar going hellbent on his powers? I don't know, but the pictures I've seen look as though they're just repeating the first 2 series storyines and what threat will face the heroes next time round.

Mark, Tennessee USA, on July 5th, 2008
I think that the review was kind of unfair. You have to understand that the Writers' Strike impacted Heroes' season finale. I think that if the strike hadn't of happened that they would have made the episode as a mini-cliffhanger until January's episodes aired. BUT with that said, everything else was on point, mainly the fact that this wasn't such a stellar season. I agree that the Nikki stuck in a burning building plot was a big eye-rolling moment for me as the events leading her there was very...stupid. I can't think of any other word but that. But other than that it was an ok season that became the casualty of the writer's strike.

Ryan, Lancaster, on July 3rd, 2008
I saw this last year as i watched it at US pace... But you have to remember, this finalé was hastily cobbled together because of the writer's strike, so you have to give it a pinch of salt. they wrapped up a full season 13 hours earlier.

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