Heroes Episode Review: Chapter 7 (1.07) Nothing to Hide

Episode Title: Chapter 7 (1.07), “Nothing to Hide”
Best Line: “Heroes don’t run away, bad guys do. Heroes help people, Dad.”
Best Moment: Matt talking to Sprague in the hospital room.
Rating: 4 out of 5

Hello, Heroes! It’s been another rollercoaster week on television’s best show. Plotlines are converging, characters are coming together, and more questions are arising. This week’s chapter is titled “Nothing to Hide,” which is a bit ironic considering that everyone with powers is trying to hide them, and some are trying to hide from each other. The episode has a number of great moments, including a heroic team-up between Hiro (Masi Oka) and D.L. (Leonard Roberts). The story also takes a darker turn as Niki’s (Ali Larter) mirror image is given control and a name.

Niki has awakened to discover that Micah and D.L. are gone. She confides in Tina (Deirdre Quinn) about her blackouts and her mirror image, whom she calls Jessica. This seems very dangerous to me. Telling anyone about Jessica is just marking them as a target for the next time she takes over. Jessica doesn’t leave witnesses, she leaves corpses.

On the run, D.L and Micah (Noah Gray-Cabey) race to escape Niki. Micah, naturally, doesn’t understand the implications of the fight between his father and mother. He assumes that because they are running away that his father has done something wrong. Yet, when D.L. sees an accident on the highway, his instinct is to help. Luckily, he’s not the only one present with special abilities. Hiro and Ando (James Kyson Lee) are right
behind.

Claire (Hayden Panettiere) has her hands full when her brother, Lyle (Randall Bentley), finds the tape that Zach (Thomas Dekker) made. She tries to pass it off as special effects, but Lyle staples her hand and realizes the truth.

Matt (Greg Grunberg) has been recruited by Audrey Hanson (Clea DuVall) to assist the FBI in another investigation. A burn victim has turned up whose body is radiated. A fingerprint seared into the bone allows them to discover the identity of the alleged killer, Theodore Sprague. Claire believes that Sprague is Sylar because of the inexplicable cause of death and no motive. Matt, however, isn’t so sure. Matt also has his own problems. Despite a recent reconciliation with his estranged wife, he telepathically discovers that his wife has been having an affair.

Meanwhile, Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) allows a personal tragedy to become public to help his campaign. He has never been one of my favorite characters. The guy is a sleazy politician who has proven his willingness to do anything to get elected. So far we’ve seen him cover up his mother’s arrest, use his brother’s “mental illness” as campaign fodder, and accepted a multi-million dollar bribe from a reputed mobster. This is all on top of his inability to admit to his brother that he can fly. This week, Nathan sinks even lower, using his wife’s crippling injuries to get a sympathy piece from the press.

Rena Sofer portrays Nathan’s disabled wife, Heidi. The circumstances surrounding her being confined to a wheelchair are sketchy. We only know that they are the result of a car accident in which Nathan was driving. She doesn’t seem paralyzed, because she tells Nathan that she believes she will walk again. All of this makes Nathan’s illicit rendezvous with Niki in Las Vegas unconscionable. Not because Heidi is in a wheelchair, but because she seems to be a loving wife and mother to their two kids.

Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) and Simone (Tawny Cypress) have discovered that Isaac (Santiago Cabrera) is gone � and his paintings with him. And the painting that Peter has been looking for, the missing piece in Isaac’s “comic book”, has been taken by Simone and sold. Surprisingly, it was purchased by a certain Mr. Linderman of Las Vegas. (He does keep popping up, doesn’t he?) Peter, naturally, goes to Nathan in an attempt to use his brother’s connection to Linderman to get the painting back.

Nathan talks to Mr. Linderman and acquires the painting, but then turns around and tells Peter that he couldn’t get it. What kind of game is he playing? On the other hand, Nathan is smart enough to confide in Peter about his “kidnapping” attempt in Vegas. He tells Peter about the guy with horned rim glasses and the “spooky Euro dude.” Perhaps Peter will be prepared when the time comes.

The biggest surprise of the episode was the revelation that there is another hero. It is a character already seen, and if one uses an ounce of common sense it only stands to reason that this person would have abilities too.

Now that we’re into sweeps month (the time when networks pull out the big guns in an attempt to capture big ratings), we can expect the series to crank it up a notch. Saving Claire is likely to play a big part of the series for the next few weeks, but there are other story arcs to consider as well. First, who is Horned Rim Glasses (Jack Coleman) and what has he been doing to those heroes he captures? Second, both Matt and Sprague have two small marks near their necks. Was something implanted? Third, now that Claire has discovered that Sylar is not the only dangerous villain in the world, will the FBI begin a manhunt for anyone with powers?

Finally, will someone please tell me why Peter still thinks he can fly? Hadn’t he explained to Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy) that he could only fly when he was around Nathan? Didn’t he mimic Isaac’s ability to paint the future? Does he only temporarily mimic their powers or absorb them? Someone on the Heroes writing staff needs to decide if Peter understands his powers or not.

Until Next Week,

– TheFilmGuru