Okay I'm just going to come right out and say it.  The latest episode of Heroes, S04E05 'Hysterical Blindness', was pretty good and easily the best episode so far this season.

All the talk about that lesbian kiss between actress Madeline Zima and Hayden Panettiere left me certain this was going to be another awful episode with a moment of girl-on-girl shock value action to try and redeem itself, but that wasn't the case.  The kiss was portrayed in a kind of fitting way, and it was fleeting enough that there wasn't any time to really dwell on it.  Most of all, the guesswork the writers have thrown in about Zima's character Gretchen is beginning to shine.  Is she a good gal, or a bad? I have no idea, and that's good.

The episode also seemed to commence the process of eradicating the stupid idea of having Sylar mind-wiped into being Nathan Petrelli.  I've never felt that storyline was believable in the slightest, so the sooner it's behind us the better.  The way it's unfolding is also good, because now we also have guesswork about where Sylar is headed and guesswork about what the Carnival is really all about.

My only criticism of the episode is that the sound-to-light vision thing was becoming very repetitive as the episode rolled on, yet even that issue redeemed itself before the credits rolled, so it's a slight criticism at most.

Heroes has for me become almost unwatchable with virtually all of the characters having been written into unbelievable situations with unbelievable motives.  But 'Hysterical Blindness' offered a moment of believability and enough new mystery to make me happy.

I know it's only one episode, but is it possible Heroes could find its feet again?  After two years of painful television, I doubt it.  But this episode offered a glimmer of hope, so I'll tune in next week to see.

I give it:

See larger image Heroes: Seasons 1-3 (DVD) Rating: NR (Not Rated) List Price: $159.98 USD New From: $60.99 In Stock Used From: $42.98 In Stock Released September 1, 2009.

Tags: Heroes