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This review may contain spoilers.

Finally, after ten episodes and an unbalanced and largely incoherent season, Samuel has emerged as a potentially powerful villain, and it turns out that Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) is the one who started him on this obsessive and murderous path.

It makes me wonder, what took so long? Why couldn’t we have learned a bit more a bit sooner? The storyline finally appears interesting after one of the best episodes since the first season.

It just goes to show that when the writers advance the story in a meaningful fashion, excellent results can be obtained. The Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg) plotline had grown tiresome, but that was resolved with Sylar (Zachary Quinto) now occupying his own body but still having to struggle with Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) for control. This dovetailed nicely into the plot focusing on Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) and Nathan, who discover that Nathan is indeed dead and that his persona is occupying Sylar’s body.

These revelations would have been sufficient to consider this a successful episode, but there was more.

The disappearance and death of Mohinder was clarified. Not only did viewers find out what happened to Mohinder, but they also found out how he was connected to Samuel Sullivan. Hiro provided the link between the two story arcs by being forced to go back and save a film reel that Mohinder had destroyed. Of course, Hiro saves Mohinder as well, though he was not supposed to do so.

This episode, quite simply, was excellent.

It provided drama, suspense, action, and character development. It utilized nearly the entire cast and connected the divergent stories in meaningful ways. I really enjoy “Heroes” when they bring characters together. Nathan and Peter; Hiro and Mohinder; Sylar and Nathan; even Tracy (Ali Larter) and Claire (Hayden Panettiere) worked well this week.

With two excellent episodes in three weeks, and a story that has now been brought more clearly into focus, I have high hopes for the rest of the season. Please don’t disappoint me.

What Worked.

All of the storylines were relevant and interesting. The most important development though, was finally clarifying just exactly what Samuel is up to and why.

Though I get tired of hearing about his “father’s research”, I was glad to see the return of Mohinder Suresh, and even more glad that Hiro saved him, though he did end up in a nuthouse.

Claire and Tracy were little more than eye candy this week, but they did provide the comic relief in the episode when Claire’s foot broke off, and she grew a new one. Lucky it wasn’t her head.

I liked the dual meaning of the title: Brother’s Keeper referred not only to Joseph and Samuel but also to Peter and Nathan.

What Didn’t Work

Claire has become a directionless character this season. It’s too bad they can’t find a more meaningful role for her this season.
The rest of the carnival folk remain pretty dull and uninteresting.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

"Heroes" stars Jack Coleman, Hayden Panettiere, Ali Larter, Adrian Pasdar, Masi Oka, and Milo Ventimiglia. It airs Mondays on NBC. “Shadowboxing” was written Rob Fresco and Mark Verheiden. It was directed by Bryan Spicer.

"Heroes" airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.