Heroes Episode Review: Chapter 8 (1.08) Seven Minutes to Midnight

Stepping in for the Film Guru this week is Eric Jimenez, an artist/writer (check out his work here), who sends in this review for Episode 1.08, “Seven Minutes to Midnight”.

This is easily the most revealing episode yet. I don’t know how many of you out there are with me, but I’ve been simply enthralled with the motives of Mr. Bennett, Claire’s father, from episode one. He was introduced as the quintessential “super villain,” and so, from the very beginning, one had to wonder if something made so obvious could possibly be true.

Episode 8 does, at last, confirm Mr. Bennett’s status — not as a villain, but rather as a sort of anti-hero. He’s a man who is doing whatever it takes (be it cooking up heroin for a clairvoyant junkie or cutting into a telepath’s head) to save his daughter, given the knowledge and wealth he possesses. It remains to be seen, however, whether saving New York (presumably from Ted, the radioactive man) is a priority, or merely a convenient byproduct of his daughter, Claire’s, salvation.

We also get a very up close and personal encounter with Sylar, the hero killer. Hiro and Ando stop in at a diner in Texas, only to meet Charlie, a waitress with a hard drive for a brain. Sylar waits patiently to make his move and, when Hiro and Ando’s attention is diverted, gives poor Charlie the head slice treatment. Hiro journeys into the past to save Charlie, so no worries about her pretty head, but who is Sylar and why is he killing heroes?

It can be inferred that if so many people were gifted with special abilities, that one would be gifted with the ability to destroy the others, a sort of “hero control” mechanism, but Sylar is doing a bit too well.

Last, but certainly worth mention, are the psychedelic astral trips Mohinder Suresh has been taking back home in India. They provide some insight into both his father’s death and his family history. Is this Mohinder’s ability, finally revealed? Or is there something else at play? His mother confirms the life and death of a little sister Mohinder never new about, who was a very “special” little girl…

Find out more about Eric Jiminez and his work here.