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4.5 Heroes & Demons

Bruce: "I ain't never seen no black elf."

This was a little more like it.

Interesting twist, having Johnny essentially communicating with the autistic Thaddeus through visions. I also thought the fantasy scenes from Thaddeus' viewpoint, with his dead mother as a fairy telling the story, and his life perceived and expressed through fantasy drawings, was interesting and well done. The end, where Thaddeus finally connected with his father, was touching.

Unfortunately, Fallon's former partner Stanton was the obvious culprit from the moment he was introduced. But the cell phone denouement -- Thaddeus humming the ringer sound, and Johnny not giving away to Stanton that he'd gotten a hit from it -- was a particularly nice touch. What I don't get is why Johnny didn't get the answer in a vision when Stanton let him touch the watch fob/key chain thing Fallon gave him earlier on. Dramatic license, I suppose.

It might have been too pat if Stanton's phone had rung with the old ring tone, but it also would have been dramatic and fun. I think they should have done it. I think they also should have made the crime sooner than five years ago and let the twelve-year-old Thaddeus do all the acting; the younger version of Thaddeus was unconvincing.

Thaddeus' mother/fairy described Johnny as "a man of uncommon power and compassion," (true) "a grand wizard named Eldgar." I liked Bruce as John's pointy-eared apprentice. I'm not up on fantasy literature; was this generic fantasy, or did it refer to something specific?

Bits and pieces:

-- The cartoon drawings were extremely professional.

-- Does Bruce finally have a new car? Was it in previous eps?

-- One of the cops called Johnny "Blondie."

-- Boris Kujo. :) A nice reference to Stephen King, but a little too cute, because I smiled every time they mentioned his name and he was a bad guy.

-- Cole Heppell, who did an excellent job as the older Thaddeus, also played the future victim of the abusive music teacher in season three's "Cycle of Violence."

-- Along with the Tolkien reference, we also had Thaddeus' twin cousins playing with cardboard "light sabers."

-- The gas leak vision was particularly cool.

-- The graffiti on the wall that they kept showing had the word NZONE on it. I write for a web magazine called @N-Zone. I'm just saying.

-- Nicole deBoer wasn't in this episode. And Chris Bruno was barely in this episode.

-- Lieutenant: "Now, if I can just keep the word 'psychic' out of my paperwork, I may keep my job."

-- Stanton: "Detectives Smith and Lewis. They're working on a case with me."

Better than last week's. But I feel like I'm still waiting for the fourth season to start, and that's not good. Dan thinks I'm being too critical. What do you think?

Two out of four stars,

Billie






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