What I'm Watching: Heroes

Heroes: Season 1, Episode 21 "The Hard Part" (B-)

I feel like "Heroes" is slipping back to the state it was in for a while when I gave up on it, before eventually returning to catch up online. The plot is thinning, and the whole Nathan/Linderman storyline is getting convoluted and annoying. Besides all that confusion, this episode feels very much like the "Sylar Holiday Special" what with all the snowglobes and general holiday not-so-cheer. Everyone either knows way too much (Linderman, Mother Petrelli) or way too little (Claire, D.L.); there is just no in between where characters are momentarily satisfied with what they know and are able to find out more. Even the lines on "Lost" with the castaways/Others are not drawn so obnoxiously clearly. And I could not even begin to explain what is going on with the whole Nikki/Jessica mess, not that I much care to. It is a bit cool to see pieces from this present synching up to the future Hiro visited last week. I had not realized that the shape-shifter's name was Candice, but when I saw it on the screen I recalled Sylar's line to Claire: "A woman named Candice helped me to become president." Minor things like that, but fun nonetheless. I am also grateful that Rena Sofer, though credited with the coveted "with," said but two words in this episode, because Rena Sofer's terrible acting in both "24" and "Heroes" on the same night is something I had to put up with a few months ago, and could not have withstood last night.