Heroes Reborn 1.10 “11:53 to Odessa”

Connectivity and cohesiveness are pillars of the final Heroes Reborn episode of 2015…and the show demonstrates that unity by jettisoning a chunk of the cast 7,957 years into the future. In that separation we get a clearer picture of the grander scheme, especially Erica Kravid’s, whose fingerprints are all over this plot.

Last episode closed out with the surprise that Miko, the “construct” of video game character Katana Girl, was wandering the landscape of a barren future Earth and much of this hour unpacks that development. When she comes across a small, clean-looking settlement (called Gateway according to the title card) she’s immediately questioned by some men who namedrop Kravid. Subsequently, Miko drops them.

A large part of “11:53 to Odessa” revolves around Erica’s grooming of Nathan, formally Tommy, into becoming the “bridge” between present day and the settlement of Gateway. First, he wakes up all groggy with a weird scar on the back of his neck and demands answers. Kravid provides a lot of them, and shades of depth are revealed as we see that while Kravid is thoroughly harsh she also believes what she is doing is the best thing for the survival of humanity as a whole. In other words, she has no faith in Nathan to stop via the forthcoming solar fare and Earth’s magnetic flip flop and feels justified enacting her own plan of starting a settlement in the far future. I originally thought she was sending people backwards in time but I guess that would be the premise of the defunct Terra Nova.

BTW, are the characters saying “The Healing” when the talking about the extinction event? For weeks I’ve thought they were saying “the hee-lee” and I must’ve did a dozen or so Google searches trying to figure out what the hell science term they were using. Gah!

Nathan, not as big as a goober as once was, demands to see proof of Erica’s claims and she welcomes him to jump forward to check out Gateway. Once there we see the son of Claire soften a bit to Erica’s stance and plan, and he essentially agrees to help her as long as she consents to help everyone they can immigrate to the future. Accompanying them are the Fradys, and in a quick moment we see Quentin retreat from his evil ways. He questions Phoebe’s involvement with Erica as he’s not comfortable with a kidnapping. It’s a bit under baked, for sure, because it’s implied this dude changed his entire moral makeup over a year (which is possible, sure) and he just now realizing he might be working for a villain. Phoebe is an interesting headspace as she believes her powers are meant for evil, but again, that idea is not developed enough to really even pass judgment on at this point.

While Erica, Nathan and the others take their tour Miko continues to slink about Gateway like a badass ninja and comes across a familiar face: herself! The real Miko is found comatose and hooked up to a machine and from the shadows her father, Hachiro Otomo, explains that fake Miko’s mission is not yet done — she must find and rescue the Master of Time and Space…again! The scene is well acted and surprisingly powerful as Miko comes to realize what she is and the gravity of it.

Formally, the Master of Time and Space was implied to be Hiro, but as Nathan slurped those powers from his step-father (I’m still trying to get over that) he’s now the new wearer of the crown. Toward the closing of the episode Miko does find Nathan, fights off some Renautas foot soldiers and they teleport away. What’s weird about the scene is that Nathan just formed a pact with Kravid, then this Japanese girls flies down from the rafters and tells him she’s there to rescue him and he teleports away. I mean his agreement with Erica was certainly tenuous but jeez did he abandon that quickly.

Miko’s friend Ren Shimosawa has a comeback of sorts when he discovers he’s being stalked by a red samurai. The mysterious figure leads him to Otomo, or rather a construct of Otomo, who tasks him with finding a time traveler to save Miko (the real one). I’m eager for the show to unspool this scene because isn’t Miko/Katana Girl already with a time traveler? It almost seems Otomo is having the two criss-cross through time on the same mission.

A huge part of the episode attempts to deliver “pay off” in regard to the Sunstone Manor thread. Guest star Greg Grunberg is the pivot for a lot of what is going on there. He reunites Carlos AKA El Vengador with his former sister-in-arms, and apparent lover, Farah, who was shot way back by Harris. We see that Farah is fine, though not well, as she’s concerting much effort in repelling Matt Parkman from obtaining the location/mission of Malina, Claire Bennett’s other kid. Parkman attempts to break her will by introducing Carlos and putting a gun to his head. The scene is pretty pitiful as it attempts to rustle up emotion for two of the show’s more shuttered and dull characters. We’re suppose to believe they care for each other and that’s a harder sell than the Parkman face-heel turn.

The mind reader is then called into his office as Erica Kravid and her daughter is waiting for him. As seen in last ep Taylor is now working with HeroTruther, a rebel group looking to topple Renautas (yeah?) and is currently trying to locate their leader, the tech-controlling Micah. For those without short-term memory loss it’s was pretty obvious from the jump that the Erica in this scene was the shapeshifter we met last episode and Parkman quickly figures it out. Taylor manages to escape, but the shapeshifter (who was faceless I don’t know he was even given a name) is kill by Harris in a clever play on the classic evil twin trope.

Parkman picks up from Harris that he may not be a vital part of Kravid’s endgame so he goes to where Micah is being held and orders the now-grown Evo to dig into her person records. He does find Parkman’s family on some list so I’m not sure what the hell the point of the scene was, other to show us that Noah Gray-Cabey was casted in his old role. I wonder if he’ll get any lines?

Carlos manages to escape when he releases he’s jacked and knows a bunch of fighting moves and goes to free Farah. They run into Taylor who convinces them they’re on the same team, they then reconvene with the rest of the HeroTruther team (led by Renee the Haitian) but realize they’re in deep shiz-nit when the Sunstone staff confront them outside of the facility.

The scene with Taylor, Carlos and Farah is a situation and conversation repeated so many times it’s practically a motif. With all the dispersed characters and the need to keep things flowing strangers and friends keep running into each other at hub locations and then instantly trust each other. The show kind of played on this idea with the Quentin butterfly effect but it jumps Jaws when Malina and HRG meet.

Did the girl previously know Noah is her grandfather? ‘Cause at the end of the last episode she was a little too willing to go in for a big hug with a guy that clearly is not the appropriate age to be her paps. There is almost no rehash when we first see the two at the beginning of “11:53 to Odessa,” and there’s little context when HRG tells her they’re going to go find her brother. Is she surprised by this? Worried? Who knows, because the show needs to get Luke in the mix and isn’t slowing down for logic reasons.

Mr. Collins tries to latch himself on to the HRG/Malina wagon because he feels fated to follow the girl who saved his life. After Malina expresses her concern with Joanne’s appearance and murder lust Luke discloses that he has been hunting Evos with his wife and looks to atone. HRG, breaking from the motif, tells him to basically fuck off.

With Malina the four-eyed forefather heads to Midian, CO to find Kravid/Nathan and the car ride produces one of the episode’s sweetest moments. Malina asks about her mother and HRG nostalgically details her honest and brave spirit. It’s a reminder that yes, this show once did boast some really good characters, and still does, and never knew what to do with them.

The two discover that Luke is stalking them (getting all the characters where they need to be can be a little creep) but are essentially unable to shake him. I find it a little far-fetched that the pragmatic Noah wouldn’t shoot Luke in the kneecap or something, but I digress.

This all spearheads when the trio come across a huge storm while driving down the highway. Malina takes action and uses her annoyingly vague powers to calm to the storm, but not before a airborne car comes hurling for HRG. In keeping with the recent succession of great twists someone places a hand on his shoulder and blinks him away. We never see who it is and given how the episode is constructed it seems unlikely it was Nathan.

The scene ends with a moment that’s bit sobering, and kind of eerie, in the wake of recent world events. After saving a bunch of motorists from the storm a few of them decide to turn on Malina and one even welds a shotgun. Luke offers a fiery deterrent and recommends he and the girl flee the area, and they’re forced to do so without the suddenly absentee Noah.

All in all, this was not a bad installment of Heroes Reborn. It lacked much of logic flaws and wrought melodrama that has typically marred the franchise. There are still some really good ideas being thrown around and with the recent run of surprise endings the episodes are finishing on a high note. Though it’s been a bit meticulous, and sometimes a chore, to watch the characters and their missions are coming together, and not always in ways I expected.

What’s weird is how uneven critical reception has been to the miniseries. I’ll cover this more in later reviews but when I read other write-ups and browse social media, episode to episode people are all over the place with the quality and direction. I consider myself a moderate guy so that probably explains why I’ve graded just about every episode a 2 to 3 star affair.

It’s not bad, but it’s not good. Completely watchable but probably not a keen recommendation. I’m looking forward to getting to the end of Heroes Reborn, both because I really want to know how things shake out and I’m really tired of watching it.