Heroes: Reborn ‘Under the Mask’ Review

The new Evos begin discovering the roles they play to save the world from the chaos their existence has wrought. Meanwhile, the kidnapped Molly Walker realizes her part in Renautus' plans are far darker than she imagined.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Under the Mask has a running theme of realizing the paths on which the Evos have all been set and stumbling to understand their roles. We find Carlos finally deciding to obey his dying brother's wish to don the mantle of El Vengador, despite not having any powers himself. While he isn't looking to be the hero his brother Oscar was, he plans on adopting the namesake of El Vengador (spanish for The Avenger) and finding his brother's killers. We meet with Tommy again, who seems to be adapting pretty well with his new surroundings. He's making friends and living the life he never got to live, even though he may not be using his powers for the most noble of means, mainly to sneak out to parties and steal beer. There's more mention of Tommy's involvement in the grand scheme of everything, notably the fact that the memory wiping "Penny Man" has actually been protecting him and making sure anyone who might bring him harm is dealt with.

As for the Katana Girl, Miko, her single-handed siege of Yamagato Industries (owned by Renautus, surprise, surprise) in search of her father brings her into the clutches of the mysterious MF Harris, who outright tells her the sword she has is not hers, alluding to the return of the fan favorite master of time and space, Hiro Nakamura. After she escapes during an altercation involving some shiny cutlery, we discover Harris is an Evo with the ability to "clone" himself by means of severed limbs.

Probably one of the more interesting side stories so far is that of the Evo hunters, Luke and Joanne Collins. From their complete indifference to massacre anyone who opposes them, particularly Evos, we essentially establish them as the villains of the series, save for Renautus. We've already gotten some insight to Luke, mainly the fact that he's been having some second thoughts about their killing spree, despite getting their hands on a file with dozens of Evo targets across the country. This revelation seemed to be the only turmoil the couple would have to face, that is until Luke started glowing! Out of nowhere, he manages to heat up a knife just by touching it, enough to cook his steak from rare to well-done in a matter of seconds. From the look of it, not only does he have powers, but he may have the same catastrophically deadly powers as the radioactive Ted Sprague from the original series. It's still unclear what he plans to do with this discovery, but it's probable he may be more worried how Joanne will react considering how bloodthirsty she's shown herself to be.

Besides all the suspenseful storylines this episode, the primary focus is Noah. Ever since discovering June 13th may not have occurred how he originally thought, he's been piecing together the memories erased by The Haitian, supposedly all part of a master plan to shut down whatever Renautus is planning. After discovering the still functioning Level 5 in the ruins of Primatech had plans for Molly Walker, he managed to track her down after being kidnapped and taken to a Renautus facility.

This is where the episode takes a very dark turn. Erica Kravid, the head of Renautus, plans to use Molly's power (to track anyone on the planet with a mere thought) to initiate Project E.P.I.C. In doing so, she needs to very painfully "plug" her into the system itself, which is linked to a series of high-tech goggles. These goggles have the ability to not only track any Evo in the world, but pinpoint them out of a crowd! The whole concept adds a "Days of Future Past" element that may lead to an all out war between humans and Evos, which would definitely be the shot in the arm needed to make Heroes a series to be reckoned with.

It seems like the current incarnation of Heroes is avoiding the slow build-up approach of its predecessor. The original series focused so much on everyone finding themselves and each other, while sharing the experience of discovering the secrets of their new abilities. While Heroes: Reborn has an element of that, the show essentially hit the ground running. Even though this is technically the fifth season of Heroes, it is just a mini-series and is only guaranteed the 13 episodes of this run, with no promises of any more seasons. It's noticeable how dense each episode is in order to get as much story told with what little time they have. This strategy would normally cause a series to get cluttered and convoluted, but Reborn is doing a phenomenal job of keeping the story moving along and never lingering on anyone for too long. The fast pace and darker tone is clearly a sign that Heroes is ready to keep up with the rest of the shows on the primetime line-up and, provided the ratings keep up, we just might see the permanent return fans have been clamoring for.