S02E05: 'Fight or Flight'

Heroes still continues to stall despite now being five episodes into the second season.

A very effective trip to visit Matt's father is an engrossing, visceral subplot, but elsewhere there's little to be excited about. The introduction of electrical Elle, played by the alluring Kristen Bell, is most certainly underwhelming and lacking in any flair or mystery. Her arrival really should have generated some excitement, but we don't even see her dispatch Ricky to the afterlife.

There are more mundane goings-on in the Dawson household, as we're subjected to a tedious procession of Monica replicating various acts like playing the piano, skipping and performing some Bruce Lee moves. Bearing in mind that her powers were disclosed in a previous episode, this all feels like a waste of our time and adds nothing to the show on any level. Well, unless your an aficionado of street skipping.

As mentioned, the Parkman subplot fought a lone battle to sustain any interest. The visions of a post-apocalyptic city experienced by Nathan were laden with stark imagery and an air of mystery, nicely intercut with Matt's haunting experience with his estranged wife and a prison guard who speaks just like The Man From Another Place from Twin Peaks.

There's still no overt central plot to bind the disparate narrative threads together, which have simply failed to gel. How long can this lacklustre second season continue without gaining any momentum?


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