‘Heroes’ Season 1, Episode 9: “Homecoming”

Writers: Adam Armus & Kay Foster

Air Date: November 20, 2006

What It’s About: This episode of Heroes could be boiled down to the show’s once ubiquitous tagline, “Save the cheerleader, save the world!”

But if you want details…

Noble male nurse Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia) has to find a way to save “the cheerleader” from super serial killer Sylar (Zachary Quinto) or the world will be destroyed in the future. Complicating matters are Peter’s over-protective politician brother, Nathan (Adrian Pasdar), the cheerleader’s even more over-protective father, H.R.G. (Jack Coleman), and the disappearance of Peter’s one ally, Hiro Nakamura. Oh, and it’s Homecoming, and “the cheerleader,” Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere), wants to go so she can gloat over her high school bullies—even though her shadowy secret agent dad knows it would mean her certain death! Meanwhile, Jessica (Ali Larter) has a plan to take Micah (Noah Gray-Cabey) back from D.L. (Leonard Roberts) and Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) is wrestling with his path.

Why It’s So Good: A great superhero television series needs two things to be compelling: 1) Fantastic tension between the heroes and villains and 2) Relatable human drama. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. stumbled around on both counts in their freshman season, and whileArrow is stellar at setting up thrilling and tense fight scenes, it sometimes mistakes soap opera schlock for true human heartache. Heroes, however, nailed both parts in equal amounts in their first season. It was an ensemble drama with a rich mythology and perfectly plotted narrative.

“Homecoming” is a shining example of this. The episode juggles the actual fate of the world with one teenage girl’s mundane high school drama. The episode spends more time on the tensions between Claire and popular girl, Jackie, than it does on Sylar and Peter’s epic first showdown.

Oh, and then there’s that showdown….

Peter rushes cross-country to Claire’s aid knowing full well that all signs point to his imminent demise. Yet, he pulls courage and heart from within to face down the indomitable Sylar. The audience can tell that these two men are destined to be nemeses, and the show makes their first interaction feel less like a corny Saturday morning cartoon and more like a slick horror film.

It’s a landmark episode in Heroes canon that caps off a wonderful story arc and sets the rest of the season into motion. You can’t get to “Company Man” without getting into “Homecoming” first.

Don’t Forget the B-Plot!: There are so many characters in Heroes, that there are actually multiple B-plots.  In this episode, the two biggest ones involve Jessica/Niki buying a massive rifle so she can take down the literally intangible D.L. and Suresh’s yawn-inducing dreamscape. Both advance the story lines of the characters in them, but neither are as interesting as the Claire/Peter/Sylar/H.R.G. saga.

The Best Moment: As great as it is to see Peter meet Claire and Sylar showdown with the pair of them, I keep coming back to Jackie’s final moments. The mean girl not only comes clean about taking credit for Claire’s heroism right before she dies, but she also redeems herself in her final breath. She doesn’t scream. She doesn’t cry. She whispers to her frenemy, “Run.”

One More Thing: Claire’s recipient-less text to Zach isn’t nearly as bad when Kelly Rowland tried to text Nelly via Excel spreadsheet, but it’s not good.

You can stream Heroes: “Homecoming” on Netflix and Amazon.