Heroes Review: "The Art of Deception"

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This week's episode of Heroes focused on one undeniable fact: Every character is a complete and utter moron.

We'll review "The Art of Deception" by pointing out the reasons why:

Parkman traps Sylar inside his biggest nightmare... and then buries him behind a brick wall IN HIS OWN BASEMENT! Really? This was the best plan Parkman could conceive? You have a little boy and a wife at home and you decide to wall up the world's biggest villain a few feet from where they do laundry. Nice plan, dude.

Peter tries to rescue his nemesis... all because of some hazy dream. Really? You have no hesitation whatsoever about sending Sylar out into the world simply because you had a dream where maybe, possibly, he helped saved lives? There's been no real build-up to this storyline, nothing remotely related to anything else going on. It's simply been Angela randomly telling Peter she had a dream about Emma; Peter taking his mother's ability; and then Peter going on a rogue mission to free Sylar.

This didn't work, of course, due to Parkman's nightmare spell. So now Peter has pulled a Hiro and is stuck inside some strange, alternate universe. Why does this show continue to think it makes for good television to have its characters trapped in other dimensions or timelines?

Aim Taking

HRG takes aim at the carnival... for reasons unknown. Yes, Samuel destroyed an entire village last week. But HRG was attempting to take down the carnival long before that, though it's unclear why. As we've asked all season long, what has been Samuel's grand plan? What makes him such an evil force in the world? This question has NEVER been answered! Seriously, think about it:

Why did he recruit Claire? Why did he summon Hiro and trap Charlie? Why has Samuel been featured at all this season? Yes, he's become one angry dude after getting rejected by his long lost love a week ago - but that's a new development, one entirely unrelated to anything he did or said for 15 episodes prior to that.

We'll give the episode one positive critique: at least HRG and Claire have been apprehended by the carnival. At least someone is actually in danger for a change.

Lauren got shot... and phoned Tracy for help. Good call! No doubt she'll come swooping in and be as useful as she's been all season. Wouldn't you have loved to have been in the writers' room when this storyline was mapped out? We'll have Lauren call someone, and it will turn out to be Tracy! Imagine the look of excited shock of viewers' faces when they see her return!!!

Sylar suddenly wants to be 100% ability-free? Really? Really?!? This could easily be considered the biggest development in show history and it received zero build-up after just one conversation with Claire.

Finally, no rundown of moronic characters would be complete with including Claire. She learns that Samuel has killed over 200 people and that her father is out to take him down. Does she help him? Of course not. She runs to a group of people to warn them... about what, exactly? That her dad wants to eliminate their evil leader? Did she think he has a nuclear weapon and would take out the entire carnival somehow?

There's never been any logic to any of Claire's decisions. One second, she wants to be normal; the next second, she wants to bond with people like her. If the show were written well, this might come across as your typical, confused teenager. Instead, it's simply an example of a character's actions conforming to whatever moves the story along.

One final question: How did Emma even get to the carnival? Lydia is dead, so who contacted her? How did she find it? Are we really meant to believe there's been no doctor on staff there? AHHHH!!!!

Check out the NBC promo for next week's episode and chime in with your thoughts on "The Art of Deception" in our Comments section below and/or Heroes forum.

The Art of Deception Review

Editor Rating: 1.5 / 5.0
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User Rating:

Rating: 4.8 / 5.0 (12 Votes)

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.

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