'Heroes' S03E12: 'Our Father'

Oh no, not another Heroes episode in which the story clunkingly flits between past and present, with various characters being killed off but not staying dead for long. Those were the main fears during the opening few minutes of 'Our Father', which follows on from the dreadful 'Eclipse' two-parter. However, thanks to some fine acting and writing, Heroes actually pulled it off.

The time hopping worked well, as both Claire and Hiro shared emotive, tender meetings with their parents. The latter, mistaken for a chef, features in one particularly poignant scene where he hears his own father slating him while standing alongside his junior self! Besides, it’s a real pleasure to see George Takei ruling the roost as Kaito – as opposed to picking cockroaches out of Joe Swash’s orifices in the Australian jungle.

Sylar provides a great deal of the excitement and thrills throughout the episode. He’s recently undergone something of an emotional crisis, but his return to full-on villainy is superb and features plenty of enjoyably corny quips. In a way, Sylar is like an old rock band who decide to ditch their new material in favour of playing their greatest hits.

Sylar’s suggestion of “cake?” is a real gem when a group of office workers storm into a room trying to throw a surprise birthday bash for Sue Landers – only to see her in a less than celebratory condition. On a more serious level, his bullet-stopping confrontation with Arthur Petrelli, complete with a life-changing Q&A session, is one of the standout scenes in this inconsistent third season of the show.

Moreover, while it’s sad to lose Elle and Arthur Petrelli - both of them seem pretty dead and look likely to stay dead - given the recent revival gimmicks on the show, it’s nice to think that it’s moving in the right direction on this front. Or else there’s hardly any suspense or drama when it comes to the fates of the characters.

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