Tv Episodes of Heroes Season 1 Episodes 11

One hero dies, another seems on the verge, and a captive villain proves more powerful than thought by his captors. Such is life in the Heroesverse, where the end of every episode seems to come with a cliffhanger. And with “Heroes” scheduled for Winter break, “Fallout” marks the last episode until Chapter 12, which is due to arrive on January 22 of next year. That’s right, kids. “Fallout” is your last taste of original “Heroes” for nearly two months. I’m sorry, Virginia, there isn’t a Santa Claus, after all!
Heroes Season 1

Episode 11: Fallout

But to give them credit, Tim Kring and company certainly put the phrase “cliffhanger” to good use, with a last 2 minutes or so that will reward a lot of observant and imaginative fans, while confounding the newer converts to the Heroesverse. The guy who is destined to blow up New York City via Isaac’s paintings and Hiro’s eyewitness account? It ain’t who you thought it would be. Surprised? Don’t be. This is “Heroes”.

“Fallout” picks up right after the events of Chapter 9, “Homecoming” (last episode’s “Six Months Ago” being little more than filler material, Hiro and Charlie’s festival of amore notwithstanding), with Peter cuffed in the aftermath of bitchy cheerleader Jackie’s, shall we say, hallway lobotomy at the hands (or is that finger?) of supervillain Sylar. As for the villain himself, he remains in the custody of HRG and his minions, the persuasive Eden and the silent and ubiquitous “Haitian”.

A surprise visit to a jailed Peter by a surprisingly tender Nathan leads to more questions, while L.A. cop turned kinda FBI agent Matt Parkman and his cute FBI partner (who still looks all of 16) arrives in Odessa, Texas hot on Sylar’s trail. A well-written (albeit all too brief) encounter between the telepathic Matt and the power-mimicking Peter leads to the episode’s most entertaining moment.

As promised by Mister Narrator at the end of the previous episode, a hero does indeed fall towards the end of “Fallout”, although one suspects that rumors of behind-the-scenes “contract problems” between the killed-off hero and the producers is mostly responsible for this very rushed and illogical killing. Come on, Mister Kring, I could fly a 747 through this particular gaping plot hole. Shocking the audience with a death is all fine and well, but in a show where a teen girl survives putting her hand through the garbage disposal and a serial killer enjoys slicing his victim’s heads open with laser-like precision, why am I supposed to be all a’twitter over the death of a peripheral character that I never really had much used for in the first place?
Try again, boys.

While nowhere the brilliant episode that it could have been (Winter break cliffhangers are a new concept, and hopefully, a short-lived one), “Fallout” is still notable for huge character progressions. Matt and FBI hottie Aubrey seems to be getting closer (she calls him “cute”, only to quickly regret it when he overhears her thoughts), Peter and Claire hints at the genesis of a potential romance, and Niki finally takes a stand against superpowered killing machine Jessica, though how effective her decision will be remains to be seen.
And of course, that final 2 minutes, when Peter finds himself in a trance-like state on the streets of a strangely deserted New York City. For the first time, we see all our characters together on the same patch of asphalt (or is that creative editing?), but it’s what happens to Peter that will have the fan boards buzzing. It’s a dozy, alright.