Parkman steps up on 'Heroes'

Heroes narrowed its focus ever so slightly Monday -- even though yet another new character made her debut -- and the result was possibly the tightest episode this season. That's good.

Then again, Adrian Pasdar shaved and we spent entirely too much time with West. That's not good. Still, I think the former outweighs the latter tonight.

(Spoilers for the sadly Hiro-less but blessedly Peter-free episode coming up.)

The biggest and most important information came courtesy of Parkman's investigation, and to this I say: About time. About time Greg Grunberg got a compelling story for his character, and about time Parkman became a central figure in the show's ongoing narrative after spending a good portion of last season as part of the JV.

Investigating Kaito Nakamura's death, he and his partner -- who, by the way, is named Bryan Fuller  -- interrogate Angela Petrelli, who offers up a bogus confession. Fuller is happy enough to close the case, but Parkman knows she's lying, while she mentally urges him to let it go, lest people "find out about all of us."

If the alternative is all the previous generation ending up dead, though, is that such a bad thing? And Angela, even if she is having major regrets about her life, doesn't seem like the noblest person around -- so whatever or whoever she's protecting must be pretty freakin' big.

Parkman enlists Nathan's help in trying to turn Mrs. Petrelli around, and the newly de-bearded one also offers up a group photo from which the torn image of Kaito and Angela was taken. The whole gang is there -- both elder Petrellis, Linderman, Kaito, Charles Deveaux -- and, interestingly, to us anyway, Stephen Tobolowsky's Bob. Parkman, however, zeros in on the guy at the edge of the picture: It's his dad, whom Matt hasn't seen in 20-odd years.

Oh, but that's not all. When Matt asks Molly for help in finding his father, she freaks out. Papa Parkman, it seems, is also the guy who's been haunting her dreams. She eventually relents and agrees to find him, over Suresh's objections, only to be ... what? Sucked, Freddy Krueger-style, into a nightmare? That's what it seemed like, anyway, although she's still conscious enough to send a mental distress signal to Matt.

Giving Parkman a past like that makes the character exponentially more interesting. The stakes for him now go up a great deal, and that can only be to the good of the show. Heroes has been at its best when it allows its characters to become more than just their abilities, and this story has the potential to do that for Parkman.

We already know a fair amount about Claire and her relationship with her father, so I'm less enamored with the shopworn story she's involved in, sneaking out to be with a boy and lying to dear old dad about it. Or maybe it's just the boy. It's not just me, right? I mean, maybe I'm just getting old, but his particular brand of teenage romanticism ("I know you can heal, but I never want to see you hurt," after which my notes say "ewwwwwww") makes me want to punch the kid.

Elsewhere, we met Micah's cousin Monica (new regular Dana Davis), who's got big dreams about getting out of New Orleans but, at least according to her co-worker, trouble putting them into action. Of course, now that she realizes she can do anything she sees someone else do -- whether that's carving a rose from a tomato or copying Rey Mysterio's signature move -- maybe that'll change. That's kind of a cool ability; I wonder, though, if her skills will be limited to copying regular folks. If she sees Nathan fly, could she take off too?

(And did you notice that Monica's manager at the burger place was Big Mike from Chuck?)

Maya and Alejandro also got more interesting this week, though only because they crossed paths with Sylar (who for now has re-assumed his given name, Gabriel Gray). So I guess that wasn't an island he was imprisoned on last week, just a remote spot three days' walk from wherever in Mexico the twins came across him.

Sure, it's a contrivance, with Maya blabbering on about Chandra Suresh's book and how they need to find him and all that. And yes, we had a Travels with Sylar story last season. But I think watching Sylar manipulate them and try to hold his hunger for their powers in check could be entertaining.

One more thing: HRG and the Haitian are on their way to Odessa ("Texas?" "Ukraine.") to track a lead on the paintings. Not much else there at the moment, but given what's in the first and last pictures in the series, the other six are probably worth finding.

Having dealt with Parkman and the twins, Heroes next week will try to make Peter's Irish sojourn cool via the introduction of Kristen Bell. Works for me.

How about you? Psyched to see Veronica Mars with powers? Happy to have Parkman front and center for once?

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