If last week’s episode “Lizards” taught us anything, it’s that the famous Takezo Kensei is not living up to his legend. And oh yeah, he apparently can’t die. Which, it would appear, comes as a total shock to our drunken faux hero, but a complete delight to Hiro. Is this, then, the first steps toward Kensei living up to the legend? From zero to hero, if you will?
“Kindred’ begins with a series of quick hits, picking up with our characters where we last saw them: Peter in Cork, Ireland with the Irish gangsters, who have an indecent proposal for him; still on their way to America, Maya and Alejandro are separated by the beefy arm of the law; and Micah and Niki finally make their first appearance in Season 2 — by visiting D.L.’s grave! I guess that puts to rest the “Is he dead, or isn’t he” rumors regarding D.L. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that he’s dead.
Helllllllo Sylar. Welcome back to the party, pal. Lounging on a beach in Maui with Candace, the Illusionist Girl — sort of. Of course Candice Wilmer is no longer played by Missy Peregrym, and the writers cover up the change of actresses with a good enough excuse. Candice can, after all, change her appearance at will. Also, now we know how Sylar escaped Kirby Plaza unseen at the end of last season. Oh, Candace, you wench. But you better watch out, Sylar has been known to — Awwww, nevermind. You have it coming.
Meanwhile, back at The CW — er, I mean, back in California with Claire, our perennially angst High School cheerleader is even more angst than usual. Not only has West spied her cutting off and then growing her pinkie toe back (if spying on pretty girls through their windows at night is wrong, I don’t wanna be right), she’s afraid telling HRG about West may mean moving yet again. And West proves to be more than just annoying, he’s also persistent. Oh, teen love. It was just as inconsequential and whiny as I remembered.
Back in the past, Kensei realizes that the emergence of his power means one thing — money! A guy who can’t be killed, whose wounds heal instantaneously, can make a lot of money in a land where Samurai warriors go around challenging each other for cash. Of course Hiro has other ideas, as he relates to Ando via a nifty time-travel device, and that includes pitting Kensei against some unsavory fellows called the 90 Angry Ronin, who are, apparently, angry. Plus, they have swords, which is never a good thing when angry people have swords. Good luck, Kensei!
But we’re forgetting about Peter. (Get it? Forget? Because Peter has amnesia? Ahem.) He’s still stuck in Cork, Ireland, trying to deal with the brutish Irish thugs who want him to help steal some cash using his powers. Powers that Peter can’t seem to call at will, which is probably why he’s allowing these doofuses to blackmail him into helping them in exchange for the box that, supposedly, contains his identity. Try “Up, up, and away!” Peter.
Down South, Maya is desperate to get Alejandro out of jail. And as we all know by now, Maya doesn’t handle separation anxiety very well.
Tonight’s episode features the return of two favorites — Sylar, the villain, and Niki, the schizophrenic wunderkind. We also meet, for the first time, Nichelle Nichols as Nana, a New Orleans resident who Micah has been taken to live with while Niki is off doing…stuff.
The beginnings of “Kindred” had me a little concerned. Peter’s storyline, in particular, seems to be quickly devolving into a series of Soap Opera-level plot contrivances. First the amnesia, and now Peter conveniently forgets how to control his powers, thus the Irish thugs are able to blackmail him for the box. The explanations work on some level (no memory means no knowledge of how his powers work), but on others, well, it’s getting a tad ridiculous.
The whole Claire-West storyline is also heading dangerously toward CW-level writing, but a number of progressions in the plot that conveniently (though very logically) links West to HRG is satisfying enough that I won’t bemoan the whole MTV vibe of the plotline too much.
All in all, a serviceable episode, one of those building blocks to something better in the near future, with a great re-introduction of Sylar.
Some notable events:
This is how I picked up girls in High School, too…
Uhura cometh…
We hardly knew ye, D.L…
See, I told him those glasses would be the death of him one day…
