Fitting Her For A Black-Hat

I'm a fan of Heroes. It's been great so far; and looks only to get more intriguing as, well, the plot thickens.

There's just one problem, as I see it. Niki (aka Miss Split-Personality) isn't a Hero. Never has been. Aside from her super strong alter-ego ikiN, her main power seems to be getting into trouble.

What's her dayjob? She hosts a pornographic website out of her garage. Granted, to pay for her brilliant son's tuition at an expensive school, but still. She's shown remarkably poor judgment on a number of occasions. She married a criminal, for starters. When he was arrested, she turned to a notoriously violent loanshark for money; and in the face of slipping even further off the good guy list, tried to back out of an arrangement to wipe that slate clean. The attempt nearly got her killed.

Now ikiN steps in, taking steps to survive and keep her son. These steps just happen to include robbery, sexual blackmail, and bloody, bloody murder. She even knows where to ditch the bodies.

Most of our super-powered folks are comparable to an established comic book character. The only one who comes close to Niki is Two-Face. A bad guy.

Each of ikiN's actions fall neatly into the Villain pile, and she's dragging Niki along for the ride. The fact that she's being played in a sympathetic light doesn't make her crimes any less horrific. She's made messes of more than a few people.

Last night, Niki finally had a one-on-one with her other personality, and in next to no time at all, was taking orders from her more aggressive self. Ikin's become the Alpha Bitch.

How many comic book bad guys 'needed the money'? It is noble that Niki wants to provide what her son needs and deserves, but she's doing a lousy job of it. The words 'unfit mother' pop in my head, but I'd like to see the social worker that could go fifteen rounds with ikiN.

The show already established the main black-hat in Mr. Horn Rimmed Glasses; who has capably demonstrated he can get the job done. The only mistake he's made so far, really, was not taking care of Niki/ikiN when he had the chance. Underestimating her may come back to haunt him. Now he has some competition in the Bad Guy category, whether she realizes it or not.

Good thing she looks great in black.