After reviewing yet another inane Heroes episode this week, I've received a few pats on the back for my honesty and courage - and a few insults hurled at my mother.

People really seem to take this historically-low rated, utterly nonsensical TV show seriously!

Because I feel an insecure need to defend my honor as a critic, and because I wish to give readers a second opinion, I've tracked down the most recent review from Entertainment Weekly, perhaps the most respected publication in the industry.

What did author Darren Franich think of "The Art of Deception?" Read his full take here and check out the excerpts below:

On Lydia's death: She might just be the most ridiculous character in Heroes history. Using her amazing powers of empathy, she spent the first half of this season as the show’s umpteenth variation on premonition dreams and 9th Wonders!: She told Samuel what to do, and he would do it, not because it made dramatic sense but because that was what the tattoos told him he should do.

[Her] lack of emotion made her actions inexplicable and her character arc illegible. She kind of had the hots for amnesiac Sylar, or maybe it was all a ruse. She kind of didn’t trust Samuel, but she never did anything to move against him.

On Peter's storyline: Peter saw Sylar rescuing Emma in his dream. Or anyways, he saw Sylar run into the Hall of Mirrors and say, “I’m Luke Skywalker, I’m here to rescue you.” He went to see his mom, who’s still freakishly obsessed with Nathan even after death. She was agonizing over his headstone, and admiring a portrait of him. Adrian Pasdar grinned at us, as if to say, “Don’t worry, kids, I’m in a better place: Not on Heroes.!”

On the carnival: Am I the only one who thought that the Carnival was supposed to be, like, the main plotline of this season? So little has really happened with the Carnival, and what little has is of no interest to anyone but people who live at the Carnival.

Samuel Sullivan wants to do something more than lurk around corners and hand out compasses to anyone who comes his way. Could this mean… viewers, could this mean that next week, something might actually happen?

On a sidenote: Does anyone have any idea how much time is passing in this season? Some storylines seem to crawl forward about one day at a time, while other stories seem to take week-long leaps. I like the idea that the entire action of this season has taken place over a particularly eventful fortnight. Remember Season One, when we knew exactly how far away we were from the Congressional election?

On Sylar's storyline: Sylar was visiting Parkman for two reasons, one of them stupid and one of them stupid. You would think that stupid plus stupid equals less stupid, but the equation of stupidity is more complex than that.

I should note that this episode may have actually been taking place in an alternate reality, since there are no basements in California. That fact took me two seconds to look up online, but as we all know, the Windowless Writers’ Room at Heroes HQ doesn’t get any internet.

Could it be that Peter and Sylar will have a showdown… inside Sylar’s brain? That would be the coolest thing since never.

On Tracy: Also, Tracy Strauss made an appearance. This ends the Tracy Strauss portion of the recap. Check back here next week for more fun Tracy Strauss news!

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