‘Heroes Reborn’ Review: “The Lion’s Den”

Sabrina Petrafesa ‘18 / Emertainment Monthly Executive Publisher
Copy edited by: Brooke Hoppe
A lot happens in every episode of Heroes Reborn. The same holds true for “The Lion’s Den,” but nothing that happens in this episode really matters.

Although the story is finally picking up, it’s still not being told well. “The Lion’s Den” held many revelations like what Renautus is doing and what their big plan is, the fact that Tommy Clarke (Robbie Kay) is adopted, Luke Collins (Zachary Levi) burned his own house down, Farah Nazan (Nazneen Contractor) died, and yet, none of those things carried any sort of impact on the audience. The death of a character should always impact the audience, but it’s just not there. Farah’s death was sudden, but the audience has only known her for two episodes. It’s hard to be affected by a death when there is no attachment. It’s hard to feel bad for Malina (Danika Yarosh) losing Farah when you don’t even care about Malina either. The events of this episode were important and revealing events to the plot, but it’s hard to care about these characters in any way shape or form.
It’s truly evident, however, that the episodes are trying to get more interesting, but the writers aren’t putting too much effort into the really interesting characters like Miko Otomo (Kiki Sukezane), Ren Shimosawa (Toru Uchikado), and Carlos Gutierrez (Ryan Guzman). Very little screen time this episode was dedicated to furthering the story line of these characters. These actors are phenomenal, and their characters’ storylines are the most interesting, but we don’t get nearly enough of their background. Like, why is Miko’s father important? What’s going on in Evernow? Why did Miko’s father have Hiro Nakamura’s (Masi Oka) sword? Where is Hiro? There are so many questions and the only ones getting answered have nothing to do with the best characters.

Carlos gets the least amount of screen time per episode and he’s been building himself a super suit that finally came to fruition this episode, when he fought some sketchy police officers to save/kidnap James Dearing (Dylan Bruce) after being outed as an Evo. The audience barely knows what his background is, the audience barely knows anything about him at all; how does he fit into the larger plot? It’s like he’s just been thrown in for no reason. Carlos is a character with a lot of potential and we are getting nothing out of him because the writers are focusing so much on Renautus and Tommy.
It’s also evident that, even though the original cast has been promised to reprise their roles, the writers and producers are holding out on fans to make viewers watch next week. Fans have their fingers crossed that next episode Hiro finally makes the appearance that keeps getting teased in every episode so far.
You can watch Heroes Reborn Thursdays, 8/7c, on NBC.
Episode Grade: C