Doing good is good business.
Heroes Reborn offered viewers a peek under its mask in its third episode, and its true face is a lot more interesting than the one it presented in its two-hour series premiere. The focus on the Renautas corporation and collision of some major characters energized the show as its through-line story came to the forefront.
Spoilers for Heroes Reborn Episode 3, “Under the Mask,” below.
Looking back, it feels in many ways like Heroes Reborn’s first episode was a prologue, and that its function was simply to get viewers up to speed with this new world order so that the series could dig into the more interesting plotlines instead of starting off on a flashy note. While that might not be the most engaging way to get the audience back on board — and I, for one, wasn’t hooked from what was shown — some of the darker stories that Heroes Reborn is delving into are very strong.
We want to hear it.
The most significant one in Episode 3 is Molly Walker’s (Francesca Eastwood), specifically with how it ties in to Renautas. We learn that the corporation (whose slogan, ironically, is “doing good is good business”) is about to release a new technology called Epic, which is wearable like a Google Glass and allows users to locate any Evo. The catch is that the technology is powered by Molly’s ability, and her capture at the end of Episode 2 put her back in Renautas’ hands so the company, led by Erica Kravid (Rya Kihlstedt), can activate Epic. Long story short: she’s in a pretty awful situation.
But apparently it’s better than being with HRG (Jack Coleman). His missing memories from the night of the Odessa bombing continue to cause trouble for him as he gets flagged by a doctor at the city’s hospital and Molly gets recaptured to avoid being stuck with him. Noah and Quentin (Henry Zebrowski) are still in hiding at Renautas when Erica puts Epic online, so hopefully they can help rescue Molly and finally get some answers about what really happened during that mystery day.
All roads lead to Renautas in this episode, as Erica was in Yamagoto Tower when Miko (Kiki Sukezane) appeared in its lobby out of the Evernow video game. She escapes thanks to the help of Ren (Toru Uchikado), and so few answers are given about who and what she is. Erica does immediately recognize that Miko has Hiro Nakamura’s (Masi Oka) katana sword, though Miko doesn’t seem aware of that connection. Her video game power is still silly even by Heroes standards, but for whatever reason it’s one of the plotlines I’m most excited to get answers for. At least the other characters seem as confused/intrigued over it as I am.
Jack Coleman and Francesca Eastwood in Heroes Reborn
Also in the Renautas arc, the audience is introduced to Erica’s accomplice Harris (Cle Bennett), an Evo with cloning abilities working to capture and apparently kill or control other powered people. The idea of Evos working against other Evos was a major through-line in Episode 3, and the motivations behind that choice is something I’m really looking forward to Heroes Reborn exploring. Is it simply opportunity that turns powered people against others of their kind, or is there something more pitting them against good Evos?
Harris is one Evil Evo, as we’ll call them for now, and Dylan Bruce’s dirty cop Captain Dearing is another. There likely will be more to him than just an Evo intent on finding and killing other Evos — maybe he’s just after that sweet, sweet Renautas money — but for now his and Carlos Gutierrez’s storyline is pretty low on my “of interest” list. Their’s is a pretty straightforward good-vs-evil showdown, so hopefully something ties them together to elevate their material.
Also adding himself unintentionally to the Evil Evo category is Luke Collins (Zachary Levi), who became an Evo and absorbed a whole ton of solar power in a fairly rote plot turn. Luke and Joanne (Judi Shekoni) remain the weakest links in this series for me as we get through episode 3. They started so black and white — their son died in the Odessa bombing, and now they’re getting revenge on Evos over it — that it seemed clear something like Luke becoming an Evo would happen.
We want to hear it.
The addition of flashbacks to them with their son helped temper their arc by showing them with some humanity, and would have been a nice addition to the premiere despite it already being overstuffed with characters, but it’s frustrating how one-note Joanne remains as Luke evolves. His seeming regret over their murderous rampage might not have been earned, but at least presented him as a protagonist-to-be, while Joanne is still incredibly unlikeable. What she could use is some continued exploration about why she feels murder is the only way to fill the hole in her heart, and the absence of that makes her character seem cartoonish. Their story seems to be building toward a major blowout between the two of them when she inevitably finds out he is now an Evo, and hopefully Heroes Reborn has given them more shades of gray by the time it gets to that point. If not, I stand by my Joanne-can-go stance from the first two episodes.
Heroes Reborn airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on NBC.
After a clunky premiere, the potential in Heroes Reborn is shining through. The Renautas storyline significantly ups the stakes of the series in a dark, exciting way, and it’s a welcome change that Malina and her Aurora Borealis powers have come to the forefront. Maybe all it took was cutting through the exposition to get to the interesting Heroes Reborn waiting for viewers to find it, so hopefully the series can keep rolling out episodes like this one.
