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With so little action, two episodes aren’t necessarily better than one

This review may contain spoilers.

The second hour of the “Heroes” two-hour "event” was better than its predecessor, but still lacked what one expects from a series about heroes with super powers: action.

The episode began in an interesting fashion, going back 86 hours, with Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) and Noah (Jack Coleman) removing the body of the late Nathan Petrelli (Adrian Pasdar) from the trunk of a car and arranging the plane crash that would serve as the cover story for the senator’s death. Unfortunately, the crash itself is not shown; instead, the episode jumps to the Nathan’s wake.

Once again, the episode focused heavily on Claire (Hayden Panettiere), who is angry at Noah Bennett, for lying to her about the death of her real father, Nathan. She is not angry enough, however, to run back to Samuel Sullivan (Robert Knepper) and his fellow carnies. It is probably the first bit of good judgment Claire has shown all season. Samueal, meanwhile, is obsessing over a woman named Vanessa, who I am sure viewers are destined to meet.

Speaking of the carnies, Sylar (Zachary Quinto) confronts Samuel in what, on the surface, appears to be the confrontation everyone has been waiting to see. Unfortunately, for some reason that is not made clear, Sylar can’t kill anymore. If he could, the season probably would have ended right here. Instead, Sylar gets to make out with Lydia (Dawn Olivieri), and learns that he must seek out Claire.

Peter continues to play his hero game, using his police scanner to look for people in trouble. It leads him to a situation in which he takes down a disgruntled worker who decided to go on a shooting spree at work, but gets shot in the process . Luckily, Claire followed him and had her healing power just an arm’s reach away.

Sadly, that really is about all that happened. If none of it sounds very exciting, well, it wasn’t. While I wouldn’t call the episode bad, it simply wasn’t important. For a two hour event kicking of the second half of the season, I expected more thrills and excitement. Neither episode delivered.

What Worked

Simply by focusing on Sylar and Peter, the episode was considerably better that its very weak lead in. Though I have grown a bit weary of the writers trying to decide if Sylar should be good or bad, Zachary Quinto is such a fine actor that he makes the series better just by being on the screen. And even though Peter’s hero act is starting to get a bit old, his character has been much more interesting this season.

What Didn’t Work

It’s bad enough that the writers decide to shove a political agenda down viewer’s throats, but it is shameful and illustrates a complete lack of skill when they actually have their characters take the time to explain that is what they are doing. When Noah was Edgar (Ray Park), Lauren (Elisabeth Rohm) appealed to Noah by telling him that “honey was sweeter than vinegar” and blatantly mentioned her “liberal agenda”. Clever writers can make political statements without broadcasting them. “Battlestar Galactica” incorporated obvious left-wing ideologies; “24” often exhibits strong right wing viewpoints, but neither show uses the characters as mouthpieces to spout rhetoric. Political commentary works better when it is subtle.

These two episodes exhibited poor cast utilization. Where is Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy)? Or, for that matter, where’s Tracy Strauss (Ali Larter) or Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg)? Tracy and Matt certainly aren’t my favorites, but I would prefer to see the entire cast utilized in a meaningful way. This season has focused way too much on Claire and Noah.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

"Heroes" stars Jack Coleman, Hayden Panettiere, Ali Larter, Adrian Pasdar, Masi Oka, and Milo Ventimiglia. “Let it Bleed” was written Jim Martin (III). It was directed by Jeannot Zwarc.

“Heroes” airs Monday nights at 9 p.m. on NBC.