Chapter One: Four Months Later
We open in Cairo with Mohinder giving one of his standard-issue nonsensical lectures while a few bored attendees stare at the beautiful nutjob yammering on about levitation and teleportation. Post-lecture, Mohinder is wined and dined by a representative of the evil Company (Stephen Tobolowsky), who can turn objects into gold with his touch.
Hiro teleports to seventeenth-century Japan, where he finds himself in the middle of: a) an eclipse, and b) a frenzy of flying arrows. He stops time and rescues his samurai hero, Takezo Kensei, who turns out to be a drunken, ignoble English fraud (David Anders). By muddling in affairs, Hiro wreaks havoc with the timeline and alters history.
We're introduced to two new Heroes, Honduran Wondertwins Maya and Alejandro, who are on the run. Their special abilities aren't yet revealed, but Maya uses hers to somehow (and possibly accidentally) slaughter a truckload of fellow refugees.
Back in New York, Kaito Nakamura (George Takei) and Ando wait at Kirby Plaza for the return of Hiro. Kaito finds a photo of himself with his face obscured by the omnipresent half-helix symbol. He predicts he'll be dead within twenty-four hours.
Nathan, bearded and drunk, argues with Angela Petrelli in Peter's apartment. Peter has not been seen since he exploded over New York; it's not yet explained how Nathan survived the blast. Angela blames Nathan for Peter's death; Nathan calls Angela evil. This can't possibly be the first time he's figured that out. Angela finds her photo on the door of Peter's apartment, the helix sign over her face.
Angela and Kaito Nakamura meet and argue on the roof of the Deveaux building. After Angela storms off, a hooded figure lunges at Kaito and knocks him over the side. They plummet to the ground together, but there's only one corpse at the bottom: Kaito's.
Matt, fully recovered from getting riddled with bullets by Sylar, has joined the NYPD. Now divorced, he's living in Mohinder's apartment, where they're both raising and protecting creepy little Molly Walker. Some thoughts on this:
- The rampant online speculation about this cozy domestic situation is wishful thinking: Matt's very cute, but he's just not in Mohinder's league. You know how last season Eden kept batting her eyes at Mohinder, and then he went back to India where his smoking-hot ex-girlfriend kept fruitlessly aiming for a reconciliation? If neither of those beauties could melt Mohinder's glacial heart, Matt doesn't stand a chance.
- Setting aside that Mohinder couldn't successfully care for a lizard last season, is Mohinder's apartment really the best place to raise a child, especially one in active need of protection? The place has been well established as a death trap: it's been ransacked and bugged, and people have been attacked, threatened, poisoned, tortured, beaten, and killed in it. And there's every chance Mohinder stores curare in the pantry right next to the tea bags.
- Nothing screams "potential for sexy and dangerous plot developments" more than looking after a small child!
In California, the Bennet family has relocated under a new name to hide from the Company. Claire, trying to keep a low profile in her new school, nonetheless attracts the attention of creepy, condescending, bullying schoolmate West. (Digression: You remember the introduction to Hayden Christensen as Anakin in Attack of the Clones, where he's stalking Padme and making inappropriate comments about watching her sleep, and it's okay in that context because we know he's going to turn out to be Darth Vader and thus should not be viewed as a traditional romantic leading man? If West doesn't turn out to be evil, I'm going to have words with the writing staff about this character introduction, because this kid comes across as several miles of bad road.) Oh, yeah West can fly, an ability he demonstrates by hovering outside Claire's bedroom window and spying on her. It's fair to say I loathe this kid. Meanwhile, Mr. Bennet, now working a low-level job at a copy shop, fails to fly under the radar himself when he attacks and intimidates his wretch of a supervisor.
The collective Bennets gather for a fabulously odd and strained family dinner. Now that they're in hiding, they've become all Gothic and bizarre and about eight million times more interesting than they were during last season's suburban tedium. Bennet gets a phone call from his new conspirator Mohinder Mohinder, it turns out, has offered himself up as very fetching bait to the Company as part of a grand scheme to destroy it from within. This is a pretty awesome development, although:
- It's not clear why Mohinder had to go to Cairo to set his plan in motion, considering how last season someone from the Company would drop by his apartment every other episode to try to recruit and/or threaten him. Perhaps he just needed a vacation from the cop and the small child who have invaded his personal space.
- I give it two episodes before Mohinder screws this up somehow.
Cork, Ireland: Peter Petrelli, minus his shirt, his bangs, and his memory, turns up chained inside a shipping crate, where he's discovered by a band of Irish iPod thieves.
Aaaaand we're off to a good start.
Chapter Two: Lizards
Cork, Ireland: Peter gets interrogated by the Irish iPod bandits. He still can't remember anything, though he still has the full spectrum of his powers. The thugs want Peter to help them with some kind of heist in return, they'll give him a box containing everything they found on him in the shipping crate, which might give him some clues to his identity. The teaser for next week's episode is really playing up this "What's in the box?" angle, but come on: this is sweet, dippy Peter we're talking about. Five bucks says the box contains nothing more exciting than his Metro pass, a Dunkin' Donuts punch card, and the condom he's been carrying around since 1998.
I miss Peter's bangs.
In Japan, anxious to restore history to its proper path, Hiro impersonates Takezo Kensei, defeats a horde of bandits with the aid of his powers, and woos beautiful Yaeko, the swordsmith's daughter, whom Kensei is destined to take as his princess. Kensei, still drunk and disgraceful, gets riddled with arrows by bandits. However, Kensei, like Claire, can regenerate as Hiro gapes, Kensei comes back to life.
New York: newly-minted detective Matt brings Angela Petrelli in for questioning about Kaito Nakamura's murder. When he tries to read her mind, she mentally yells at him to get out of her head. Nathan (still bearded, though possibly less drunk) arrives to bail his mom out and has an awkward reunion with Matt, of the "We previously met when you were bailing your now-dead brother out of jail for possibly murdering that cheerleader in Texas, remember?" variety. When Angela gets attacked by some kind of formless entity, Nathan and Matt rescue her.
Maya and Alejandro make it through Guatemala to the Mexican border. We see a little more of their powers: Maya can, um, make black goo seep from everyone's eyes? Something like that? And Alejandro can... make the black goo go away? Yeah, they're not being terribly specific just yet. The twins are cute, but their plotline hasn't advanced enough to justify the great chunk of time devoted to it thus far.
In Port-au-Prince, Mohinder wears a blindingly white shirt and looks more beautiful than any undercover geneticist has any right to look. He also speaks French, which knocks his sex appeal right into the stratosphere, thank you very much. Mohinder is assigned by the Company to track down the Haitian, who is suspected of carrying the same virus that infected Molly Walker and Shanti Suresh. Since prior to this new occurrence there have only been two documented cases of this virus, spaced thirty-three years apart, should we really keep referring to it as a "plague"? Really? We're okay with that? You sure? Mohinder finds the Haitian and cures him with his own super-special-miracle blood. When he discloses to the Haitian that he's working for the Company, the Haitian advances on him... and Bob, Mohinder's Company contact, finds Mohinder several hours later, his mind apparently wiped, staring blankly into space and claiming to have no recollection of finding or treating the Haitian.
Costa Verde, California: Mr. Bennet, working the late shift at his dismal copy shop job, calls Mohinder, who tells him the mission was a success: Bob was fooled by his claims to remember nothing. I highly approve of this new, sneaky, globe-trotting, less-incompetent version of Mohinder. Pat yourselves on the back, writing staff. The Haitian shows up at the copy shop and has a nice reunion with his former partner.
After suffering through the world's dumbest lecture on genetics in her biology class (a scathing indictment of the state of California's public schools, or just sloppy writing? You decide), Claire tests the limits of her powers by snipping off her littlest toe with a pair of scissors. Oh, Claire. That's so dumb it's almost endearing. Your motivations are still baffling, but you might be starting to grow on me. Fortunately, Claire's toe regenerates. Less fortunately, neighborhood stalker West peers through the window and views Claire's makeshift amputation...
Chapter Three: Kindred
Hey, look, Sylar's back! Still recovering from his injuries, Sylar shows up in the care of the illusionist Candice (now a red-haired bombshell instead of a petite brunette) in a grimy shed in the middle of nowhere. Candice, who is most likely still working for the Company, uses her powers to transform the setting into a tropical paradise.
Three episodes into the new season, it's probably time to check in with Niki and Micah, huh? They're leaving Las Vegas after paying one final visit to D.L.'s grave. Yeah, D.L.'s dead, presumably from getting shot by Linderman last season. Niki takes Micah to New Orleans and leaves him with D.L.'s aunt (a luminous Nichelle Nichols, who's been visiting the same fountain of youth as George Takei).
In Cork, the iPod bandits step up their game and steal the proceeds of a sports book with Peter's help; it's like an episode of Spooks, only with superpowers. Impressed by Peter's moxie, to say nothing of his ability to telekinetically toss around armored trucks, they welcome him into their gang and offer him the box containing the clues to his real identity. For no reason other than to vex and confound the viewing audience, Peter opts not to look inside it, choosing instead to stay with his new mates and start a romance with Caitlin, the head thug's feisty sister.
Mexico: Alejandro gets arrested for stealing a car. Maya slaughters everyone at the police station with her black eye-goo power and breaks him out of jail. They team up with some American kid and take off in his car, a Nissan with a conspicuous bumper sticker from Claire's high school. Most likely this is the car that was stolen from Claire last week (forgot to mention: Claire got her car stolen last week), though perhaps not there's a mysterious abundance of Nissans on this show.
Ando, back at his desk job in Tokyo, finds a series of tiny scrolls hidden in the shaft of Takezo Kensei's samurai sword, which Hiro left with him in last season's finale. The scrolls are chatty ancient letters to Ando from Hiro detailing his adventures with Kensei in the past. Hiro, back in feudal Japan, helps Kensei shape up and become the stuff of legend. Aided by his new-found regenerative ability, Kensei defeats the fabulously-named Ninety Angry Ronins and wins the heart of beautiful Yaeko. Hiro secretly pines for Yaeko as well; even though history now seems to be on the correct course, he opts to remain behind in the past for a while longer.
Home from his mission to Haiti, Mohinder creeps around his dark apartment, fixes himself a relaxing cup of tea, and almost gets riddled with bullets by his trigger-happy roommate (Mohinder's reaction a weary "Oh, for God's sake" suggests this sort of thing has been happening to him a lot lately). Matt, with a few digs at Mohinder's history of incompetence, expresses concern that Mohinder is in over his pretty little head with his scheme to destroy the Company from within. Matt is probably 100% right about this.
Bob from the Company sets Mohinder up in a snazzy new laboratory built in Isaac Mendez's former loft. Mohinder, still two steps behind the viewing audience, is shocked to hear of Isaac's murder by Sylar four months ago; Mohinder, pumpkin, you're lucky I find your cluelessness kind of adorable. Bob cheerfully informs Mohinder that, as he's very valuable to the Company, the Company will be keeping a closer eye on him from now on. This might indicate Bob knows Mohinder is out to double-cross the Company, though it's equally possible he just doesn't trust him around expensive lab equipment without adult supervision. You know how I mentioned last week that Mohinder was growing more competent this season? I might need to retract that. Jury's still out, but he's not exactly a paragon of steely resourcefulness in this episode.
Let's check in with Sylar: he's discovered he's lost all his hard-earned powers. This makes him grumpy. Candice tries to console him by promising to help get his abilities back after he's fully recovered. In the meantime, she suggests ways to make his recuperation more pleasant: She transforms herself into a variety of potential sex partners a geisha, busty blonde twins, even (ahem) Sylar himself. Sylar, who is not the kind of man who has any earthly use for busty blonde twins, kills Candice instead and steals her brain, only to find he can't access her power.
Costa Verde: West sweet-talks Claire by threatening to expose her secret, making her cry, and telling her to shut up. In an ideal world, Sylar will be snacking on this kid's brain before the holiday break. West demonstrates his flying ability to Claire and takes her on an impromptu flight up the coast. This makes her overlook his crummy personality and swoon over him. West has marks on his shoulder which identify him as a recipient of one of the Company's tracking devices; he reveals to Claire that he got it after he was kidnapped by a man wearing horn-rimmed glasses...
In the lab, Bob leaves Mohinder unchaperoned for a minute while he fields a call from Niki, who wants the Company to "cure" her whether that means she has the virus or just wants to be rid of her abilities is still up in the air. At Mr. Bennet's urging, and not without a fair amount of dithering, Mohinder searches the loft for a final series of eight precognitive paintings Isaac made before his death. The first in the series depicts Kaito Nakamura's death; Mohinder finds the last painting... which features Bennet lying dead, a bullet through the lens of his horn-rimmed glasses, while Claire embraces a shadowy figure nearby. Mohinder sends a photo of the painting to Bennet, who looks suitably bummed at this evidence of his looming demise...
Chapter Four: The Kindness of Strangers
A strange yet satisfying episode of Heroes this week. No Peter, no Hiro, and you know what? Much as I love them both, I'm okay with that. And wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles the Maya/Alejandro plotline gets interesting in a hurry when they, along with Derek, the American they picked up at the jail last episode, stop to help a man passed out in the middle of the road... who turns out to be Sylar. Is there nothing the addition of a brain-eating serial killer can't improve?
In Costa Verde, Mr. Bennet quietly freaks out about the painting of Claire embracing a stranger next to his bullet-riddled corpse. He gets all overprotective and paranoid and forbids Claire from dating. Claire ignores him and sneaks around with West. I shall write nothing further about this plotline until such time as odious, pompous West is unmasked as a villain. This will happen in due course, I'm pretty sure. The writers can't possibly intend for us to accept this overbearing, bullying twit as a legitimate good guy/romantic interest, right? They have more respect for their audience than that, I'm sure of it. Right, guys? Right?
Katrina-ravaged New Orleans: Micah stays with his great-aunt Nichelle Nichols and his cousin Monica. Not that this show needs any more major characters right now, but Monica's a cutie: upbeat, cheerful, and totally oblivious to the way her life kinda sucks. Monica, who works double shifts at a burger joint to make ends meet after her mother's hurricane-related death, has the ability to replicate any motion she sees (both examples shown in this episode carving a rose out of a tomato and, somewhat more usefully, kicking the crap out of an armed robber are based on actions she observes on television, so it's possible her powers are limited by that).
Nathan visits his two small sons, who convince him to shave off the muskrat glued to his chin. You may be forgiven for not remembering Nathan has sons, as they haven't been seen or mentioned in too many episodes to count. Normally I get cranky when children are used as rarely-seen props on television shows, but Nathan's exactly the sort of guy who would have a couple of well-groomed kid-props whom he trots out whenever it strikes his fancy, then otherwise ignores.
Angela Petrelli, hospitalized after the mysterious attack at the police station, confesses to the murder of Kaito Nakamura. When Matt, suspecting a lie, reads her thoughts, she mentally urges him to let the matter drop. Nathan, now clean-shaven and sporting a flattering new hairdo, consults with Matt about his mother's arrest. Nathan offers to show Matt the group photo from which the mutilated pictures received by Kaito Nakamura and Angela Petrelli prior to Kaito's death were taken. Nathan wins this episode's Big Pile of Awesomeness award for his fabulously nuanced reaction stymied and uncomfortable, yet somehow easygoing and polite when Matt, without provocation, starts unloading on Nathan about how his telepathy ruined his life and his wife got pregnant with another man's baby. Nathan shows Matt a photo of twelve people at a Petrelli family gathering: his late father, Angela, Linderman, Charles Deveaux, Kaito Nakamura, Mohinder's boss Bob from the Company, and a bunch of strangers. Matt identifies one of the strangers as his own long-missing father.
In Mexico, Maya babbles excitedly to Sylar about how she and Alejandro are headed for New York to meet Chandra Suresh so he can help them control their abilities. Sylar mentions that he's an old friend of Chandra's and he'd be delighted to accompany them, leaving out the part about how he broke Chandra's neck. At a rest stop, Sylar quietly murders dead-weight Derek and heads for the border with the oblivious twins in tow.
Matt discusses his absent father with Molly and Mohinder, who looks like India's Next Top Model in a cornflower-blue shirt. Hats off to the wardrobe department for their rigorous and ongoing attempts to discover exactly which color looks most flattering on Sendhil Ramamurthy. (Answer: All of them.) I know I tend to go on about Mohinder's beauty, but here's the thing: there are many beautiful people in the world, quite a few of whom have found employment on this show. And then there are those precious few whose beauty, if properly harnessed, could either bring peace and comfort to a weary world, or cause mass rioting and the downfall of civilizations. Such is Mohinder.
(The above paragraph may be summarized thusly: Mohinder looks good in cornflower.)
Matt wants Molly to use her people-finding ability to locate his father. Molly looks at the photo and shrieks in terror: Matt's father is the man who haunts her recurring nightmares the man with the power to see her whenever she thinks about him. Despite Molly's protests, Matt decides to be a dick and asks her to find him anyway. Ever notice how the Dark Side is strong with Matt? He stole the diamonds last season, he used his telepathy to cheat on his detective's exam, and now he's jeopardizing a kid for his own purposes. Sure, he's still a few leaps away from becoming the Hiro-torturing, Bennet-murdering creep glimpsed in last season's Evil Alternate Future episode, but he's clearly on the path to evil . Peeved at Matt's request, Mohinder calls Matt out on his abandonment issues. Matt foolishly questions Mohinder's expertise in the area of daddy issues, whereupon Mohinder points out that his own daddy issues were the bedrock of his character arc last season and, indeed, the launching point of the entire series. Nonetheless, above Mohinder's objections, Molly agrees to swallow her fears and locate Matt's dad. She uses her ability to track him down to an apartment in Philadelphia... and then falls into a coma.
Nice going, Matt.
Chapter Five: Fight or Flight
Molly's still in a coma, thanks to Matt. Matt wants to stay with her, but Mohinder icily tells him to go find his father. It's my guess Matt will return from Philadelphia to find the locks to Mohinder's apartment changed and his belongings piled outside the door. Mohinder scoffs at Matt's suggestion to take Molly to a hospital, proclaiming, "No hospital is equipped to deal with this." Well... maybe not, but you could give it a shot, right? Just to make sure? I mean, the kid's in a coma... Mohinder hooks Molly up to an IV and looks after her himself. I know he has his doctorate, but he's not an MD. I'd really feel better about this if you took her to a hospital, guys.
In the Loneliest Subplot Ever, poor forlorn Ando, stuck by himself in Tokyo, reads more of the ancient scrolls left for him by Hiro.
In feudal Japan, nothing happens with Hiro, Yaeko, and Kensei that we haven't already seen several times over. This plot will probably become important and relevant and exciting someday. I wish today were that day.
Molly's condition deteriorates. Mohinder calls Bennet to tell him he's decided to sell his soul to the Company to save Molly's life. Bennet suggests taking her to the hospital instead. Mohinder ignores him. It never fails: present Mohinder with a decision, and he'll invariably pick the most disastrous course of action. Where's this new, smarter, more competent Mohinder we were promised this season? You can't see me, but I'm shaking my head sadly right now. I'd say Mohinder has gone over to the Dark Side, but it's more like Mohinder got distracted by a shiny object, tripped over his shoelaces, and accidentally fell into the Dark Side.
Bennet is none too pleased with Mohinder's decision, but he's presently too busy faffing about Ukraine with the Haitian to deal with Mohinder's latest bout of nitwittery. It's easy to forget how shady Bennet really is. Here, he's essentially counseling Mohinder to sacrifice Molly for the greater good a touch ironic in the face of all the harm Bennet has done to keep Claire safe. In fairness to Mohinder, turning to the Company for help might be the best of a bunch of bad options, if it keeps Molly alive. Still, Mohinder being Mohinder, this is bound to turn out about as well as his decision to give Sylar an unscheduled spinal tap last season.
At the Company medical facility, Bob gives Mohinder a taser and instructs him to retrieve another super-powered person. For crying out loud, Bob, don't arm him. Just then, Niki-as-Jessica breaks out of a room and goes on a rampage, shoving Mohinder and throttling Bob until Mohinder tasers her unconscious. Later, Mohinder secretly tries to help a restrained Niki break free, but, now that the meek Niki personality is back in control, she wants to stay the Company is the only place that can teach her to keep her murderous split personality in check.
Matt goes to Philadelphia to track down his father. For no real reason, he takes Nathan along for the ride. This is something Heroes does better than any other show: unlikely buddy pairings. Mohinder and Sylar, Nathan and Hiro, Mr. Bennet and Mohinder... now we can add Nathan and Matt to the mix of unexpectedly fabulous duos. Nathan scoops up an unprecedented second consecutive Big Pile of Awesomeness award for the savoir-faire he shows here. When did Adrian Pasdar transition from a good actor doing solid work to a scene-stealing bundle of personality? At one point he totes around a shotgun, and he's just a chainsaw-hand away from becoming Bruce Campbell.
Matt's father is a dark future version of Matt. He's a criminal and a con man, both sort of pathetic and sort of evil, physically unprepossessing and morally weak. He's a telepath like Matt, though his powers have mutated into something darker. He trapped Molly in a nightmare because he didn't want anyone to be able to find him. He claims he's been targeted by Kaito Nakamura's killer and shows them a photo of himself with the scrawled half-helix mark to prove it. He discloses a little information about the founding members of the Company shown in the group photo (twelve super-powered individuals who banded together thirty years ago with the intention of using their abilities for good), then traps Matt and Nathan into nightmarish visions while he escapes. Matt finds himself in a prison cell where he's confronted by Janice, who reveals that, despite his claims to the contrary, he's the true father of her baby. She claims he knew this and abandoned her anyway. It's open to interpretation, but this sounds like the truth.
Nathan, meanwhile, finds himself overlooking a burned and ruined Manhattan skyline, having apparently failed to prevent Peter from blowing up New York. A hideously burned and mutilated version of himself attacks him. Nathan fights himself, though it turns out he's actually beating the hell out of Matt, who uses his ability to break the illusion. In a search of the apartment, Matt and Nathan find a photo of Mohinder's employer Bob with the half-helix mark scrawled over his face.
Monica discloses the secret of her new-found ability to Micah, who likewise reveals his ability to her. They gleefully set out to test the limits of Monica's powers. After an exhausting day of super-powered jump-roping, piano playing, tomato carving, and Bruce Lee movie-viewing, Monica is startled by a late-night knock on the door. It's Mohinder, sent to bring her in to the Company for observation.
Veronica Mars blows into Cork looking for Peter. Oh, sure, Kristen Bell's going by a different name here, but she's still Veronica at heart. Only this time she's evil. And can shoot blue lightning bolts from her hands. Other than that, there's no difference. When the leader of Peter's gang gives her the runaround, she fries him. Before she can go after Peter, she gets a call from someone she identifies as "Daddy", who orders her to abandon her mission and return home. Peter, shacked up with his new girlfriend Caitlin, finally (finally!) opens the damn box with the clues to his identity. It contains Peter's passport, a photo of Nathan, and a plane ticket to Montreal. Peter channels Isaac's ability and paints a precognitive image of himself and Caitlin in Montreal.
Chapter Six: The Line
Claire tries out for the cheerleading squad. She doesn't make it, even though she's, like, so much better than the other girls, just because the mean head cheerleader is totally jealous of her. After a careful examination of Claire's high school scenes in both this current season and the last, I've decided the Heroes writers were raised by wolves and thus have been forced to piece together their collective knowledge of American high schools solely from repeated viewings of She's All That, Bring It On, and Never Been Kissed. There are many things Heroes does well. A realistic portrayal of high school life is not one of those things.
Mohinder and Monica are at the Company's facility in upstate New York. More than his genetics know-how, or even his super-special virus-curing magic blood, this is why Mohinder is so valuable to the Company: he's so gentle and pretty and non-threatening he can sweet-talk cute girls into accompanying him across state lines for the purposes of conducting unspecified medical experiments on them. Bob takes Mohinder aside and orders him to inject Monica with a modified version of the virus that killed his sister: it's non-lethal, probably, but it will take away her powers.
As is his wont, Mohinder freaks out at this. He calls Bennet, who is still in Ukraine with the Haitian. Bennet is not the man to turn to for moral guidance: he scoffs at the concept of "principles", orders Mohinder to go through with it, tells him not to let him down, and hangs up.
Bennet and the Haitian visit Ivan, Bennet's old Company mentor, who is played by Peter Parker's landlord in Spider-Man. Bennet orders Ivan to disclose the location of Isaac Mendez's final series of eight precognitive paintings, or else the Haitian will use his brain-wiping powers to... remove all of Ivan's happy memories. Eh. That's kind of a lame threat, Bennet. You can do better than that.
West and Claire commiserate about how it's so totally unfair Claire didn't make the cheerleading squad. They scheme to play a vicious prank on the evil head cheerleader. I've changed my mind about West -- he's a perfect match for Claire, who, here, is every bit as much of a jackass as he is.
Mexico: Maya, Alejandro, and Sylar approach the border. Sylar starts putting the moves on Maya. A flirtatious Sylar is a terrifying thing to behold. Maya thinks Sylar is an angel sent to help them. Alejandro wants to ditch Sylar at the soonest possible opportunity. Alejandro is the smart twin.
So, Ando: Still in Tokyo. Still reading teensy little scrolls. Still thinking fondly of the days when he was an integral part of this series.
Feudal Japan: Hiro's plotline hasn't yet become exciting and compelling, but it's showing small indications of maybe becoming exciting and compelling at some point in the not-too-distant future, which is surely a step in the right direction. Hiro, Yaeko and Kensei make plans to rescue Yaeko's swordsmith father, captured by bandits way back in episode one.
Ukraine: Ivan won't surrender the location of the paintings, even as the Haitian wipes away his happy memories. Ivan suggests Bennet rejoin the Company, as it's the only guaranteed way to keep Claire and his family safe.
Mohinder refuses to inject Monica with the virus. This is not a surprise. He throws a highly ineffectual hissy fit. This, sadly, is also not a surprise. He stamps his pretty foot, tosses his pretty hair, flares his pretty nostrils, hurls a chair into the case containing the virus samples, and tells Bob he's quitting. Bob manages to keep from giggling in the face of Mohinder's fury.
Mexico: Sylar and the twins cross into the U.S. through a gap in the border fence. Minutemen ambush them. Sylar tells Maya to use the Black Eye Goo of Death on them. Above Alejandro's protests, she slaughters their attackers.
West and Claire play a ghastly prank on the mean cheerleader. I have too much contempt for their actions to go into detail, but suffice it to say it's stupid and dangerous -- both to Claire, who has been expressly warned of the dangers of revealing her powers in public, and to the cheerleader, who doesn't deserve to be traumatized just for being a bitch. She gets kicked off the squad, Claire replaces her, and everyone's happy, except for the viewers, who are left dearly hoping Claire gets her comeuppance for this bit of jackassery in a future episode.
Hiro and Kensei rescue Yaeko's father, who has been forced by the bandits to manufacture guns. So guns have been introduced to feudal Japan far ahead of schedule; Hiro knows this means the timeline is still screwed up. When bandits open fire on them, Hiro teleports himself and Yaeko to safety, thus revealing the nature of his powers to her. Yaeko, rather belatedly, realizes Hiro is responsible for Kensei's heroic deeds. She confesses her love for him. Hiro frets briefly about the irreparable harm he's about to do to the space-time continuum, then throws caution to the wind and kisses her. Kensei observes them secretly. Enraged, he allies himself with the bandits, knocks out Hiro, and kidnaps Yaeko and her father.
In present-day Tokyo, Ando reads the final words of the final scroll from Hiro: "It was the kiss that fractured time."
Bob finds Mohinder sitting glumly by Molly's bedside, having finally realized quitting in a fiery huff doesn't do his still-comatose ward a lick of good. That's Mohinder: world-class beauty, world-class scientific brain, and the common sense of a chipmunk. Bob apologizes nicely for trying to force him to compromise his integrity, explaining that he's been under a lot of pressure to find some way to neutralize special abilities, as the Company is facing a new deadly threat in the form of a man named Adam Monroe. Bob promises to protect Mohinder from any further uncomfortable situations, then pats him on the head and gives him a cookie.
Sylar and Alejandro scuffle. Knowing Alejandro doesn't understand English, Sylar reveals his plans for the twins: after he gets his powers back, he's going to kill them both and take their abilities.
Ivan finally tells Bennet the location of the paintings. Bennet shoots Ivan in the head.
Bob escorts Monica safely back to her home in New Orleans. Meanwhile, Mohinder meets his new partner: it's Niki, though it's probably actually her super-strong, super-crazy, murder-happy alternate personality Jessica. This is the first time Niki and Mohinder have had a significant scene together, complete with meaningful eye contact and all kinds of crackling tension. Either these two gorgeous kids are going to wind up having crazy animal sex, which will delight half the viewing audience, or Jessica is going to beat him into a pulp, which will delight the other half.
Bennet and the Haitian find the eight paintings. We only get glimpses of them, but, in addition to the one depicting Kaito Nakamura's murder, there's one showing the after-effects of Claire's stupid prank, one of Niki banging her fists angrily against a wall, one of a hand holding a vial, one of Peter standing in front of a biohazard symbol, and one of Kensei and Hiro dueling. Number seven in the series shows Mohinder with a bandaged nose, holding a smoking gun and crying; number eight is the one we've already seen of Bennet lying dead. I'm guessing there's a certain cause/effect between those last two.
Caitlin and Peter go to the building in Montreal depicted in Peter's own precognitive painting. Peter finds a mysterious note addressed to him, signed by "Adam", telling him: a) the Company is behind it, and b) the world is in danger. While he puzzles over this, the ability he absorbed from Hiro kicks in automatically, and he and Caitlin teleport to...
...Times Square, New York. It's deserted and creepy. Peter finds an evacuation notice, dated June 14, 2008.
Cool...
Chapter Seven: Out of Time
Feudal Japan: A lot of stuff happens, some of which is even sort of important. Here's the key thing: this plotline finally ends. Hiro duels with Kensei, there's a big gunpowder explosion in which Kensei presumably dies, Yaeko promises to preserve the timeline by making sure the legend of Kensei is passed down intact, and Hiro teleports home to present-day Tokyo.
In Ukraine, Bennet glowers at the final series of precognitive paintings. He calls Mohinder at Company headquarters and asks all kinds of pointed questions about why it looks like Mohinder will shoot him in the eye in the near future. He wants to send Mohinder photos of the paintings, but Mohinder balks his new partner Niki is watching him too closely to risk it. Bennet insists, claiming his family's safety is at stake. Mohinder: "So that makes me expendable?" There's a long, long pause while Bennet tries to think of some answer other than "Yes". Mohinder squawks a bit about how they're supposed to be working together to bring down the Company, then notices Niki standing in the doorway, clearing her throat politely.
The sad part? Carrying on a chatty conversation about destroying the Company while Niki is within earshot is not the most reckless thing Mohinder will do this episode. Watch and wince.
Nathan and Matt, fresh from their skirmish with Matt's father, Maury, arrive at Company headquarters. They tell Bob, Mohinder, and Niki about the photo of Bob with the half-helix symbol, which indicates he'll be Maury's next target. The group schemes to take down Maury. Bob wants to inject him with a mutated version of the virus so he'll lose his powers; Mohinder's super-special magic blood can cure him after he's neutralized.
New York, 2008: Peter and Caitlin wander around the evacuated city. They're apprehended and decontaminated by men in hazmat suits. The evacuation is due to a super-lethal outbreak of a modified strain of the virus (they're calling it the "Shanti Virus" after Mohinder's dead sister), which has killed 93% of the world's population thus far.
Costa Verde: Claire wakes up to find West in her kitchen, chatting with her mom and making waffles. West gleefully shows her a newspaper article about last episode's idiotic prank. It's all attributed to the nonsensical ramblings of a drunken cheerleader, but the article draws attention to Claire's amazing regenerative ability.
Niki accompanies Mohinder while he fills a syringe with the modified Shanti Virus to inject into Maury. They debate about the Company: Niki's convinced it's a force of good, while Mohinder's still skeptical. Maury arrives and uses his mental powers to make Niki hallucinate about D.L., who goads her into trying to kill Bob. When Mohinder tries to stop her, Niki decks him with her super-strength and breaks his nose. Egad, Niki, why don't you take a jackhammer to the Venus de Milo while you're at it? Niki grabs the syringe containing the virus and goes after Bob.
Bob fills Nathan in about the mysterious Adam Monroe: he's one of the founders of the Company, and he's a) super-powerful, and b) really, really evil. He's also the man behind the attempted murders of the other founders; Maury is only doing Adam's bidding. Bob also tells Nathan that Peter's alive.
Niki, still under Maury's mental control, punches through the door to get to Bob. Nathan tries to calm her down. Niki returns to her senses long enough to deliberately infect herself with the virus, which takes away her super-strength.
2008: So, 93% of the world's population is dead, right? It comes as no big shock to find Angela Petrelli among the lucky 7%. At the decontamination center/morgue, Peter meets his mother and, after some initial confusion, recognizes her. Great merciful Zeus, his memory returns! At last, progress! According to Angela, Nathan died in the first outbreak of the virus. Peter must return to the past and prevent the virus from becoming an epidemic. Peter teleports back to present-day Montreal... but accidentally leaves Caitlin behind in the plague-ridden future.
Claire and West, easily the most loathsome couple on television, make out on the couch. Bennet returns home from Ukraine. West recognizes him as the man who kidnapped him a few years ago and flies away before Bennet sees him.
Matt's powers enable him to enter his father's nightmares. He finds Molly and frees her, then mentally battles Maury and traps him in a coma.
In Tokyo, Ando and Hiro have a joyous reunion. It's great to see them together and happy again... until Hiro asks about his father. Ando tells him of Kaito's murder.
Mohinder, who somehow manages to look beautiful and elegant even with his nose wrapped in plaster, can't cure Niki with his blood the virus has mutated too much. Bob thinks he might have another way to save her. He gives Mohinder a file on Claire: the Company was alerted to her whereabouts due to the newspaper article about her stupid prank. There's a chance they can use Claire's regenerative ability to find a new cure for the virus. He also gives Mohinder a gun: in order to bring in Claire, they'll have to get her father out of the way. Bob tells Mohinder that Bennet murdered Ivan. Distraught about the virus and horrified by this evidence of Bennet's increasing ruthlessness, Mohinder confesses he's been working with Bennet to destroy the Company. This little bombshell doesn't seem to surprise Bob.
Bennet finds out from his wife that Claire's been sneaking around with West. In a panic, he orders his family to pack up and leave town. Claire pitches a fit and refuses to go.
Back in Montreal, Peter meets up with the mysterious Adam Monroe... who turns out to be Takezo Kensei.
Chapter Eight: Four Months Ago
We kick things off with one of Mohinder's inscrutable voiceovers. They never make much sense, but I like listening to them anyway. The accent, you see. It's pretty. By the way, this is all we're going to get of Mohinder this episode. As much as a week without Mohinder is an ugly, joyless prospect, it's probably for the best. The poor boy's been awfully frazzled and flighty the past few episodes; he could use some time off to get his head together before he does something really reckless, like, say, shooting Mr. Bennet in the eye.
We pick up in Montreal with Peter's encounter with Adam Monroe, the man formerly known as Takezo Kensei. Now that he's an immortal, vengeance-driven villain instead of an inept samurai imposter, he's scads more fun. Yet another reason to celebrate the end of that damnable feudal-Japan plotline. When Peter fails to recognize him, Adam figures the Haitian wiped Peter's memory. He tells Peter to tap into his regenerative power to heal his mushy little brain. Peter thinks reeeeeeeally hard, and we flash back to...
Four months ago, to the epic battle against Sylar at Kirby Plaza: Peter's on the verge of going nuclear. Nathan grabs him and soars into the air. Peter urges Nathan to drop him and fly to safety. When Peter explodes, the blast hits Nathan, who plummets toward earth. Peter regenerates in time to swoop down and save him.
Nathan's looking a little extra-crispy, so Peter rushes him to the hospital. Veronica Mars pops up and hits Peter with a blast of blue electricity. Kristin Bell's name here is actually Elle, but that's the downside of playing an iconic character: Bell will be stuck with the Veronica moniker for the rest of her career.
Note to self: Form a band called "Veronica Moniker".
Still four months ago: In the Dominican Republic, Alejandro gets married. Maya snipes about how she doesn't like her twin's new wife. She's being kind of an ass about it, though her misgivings are justified when she finds the bride in flagrante with one of the guests at the reception. Maya freaks out and slaughters everyone at the wedding except for Alejandro with the Black Eye Goo of Death. So now we know why Maya and Alejandro are on the run.
Bob and Elle take Peter to Company headquarters, where Bob promises to help Peter control his powers. Thirty years ago, Bob claims, the Company tried to develop a formula that would suppress abilities, but abandoned their research due to complications. Thirty years ago, we recall, Mohinder's sister Shanti died from the very first case of the virus. It's looking like the Company engineered the virus in the first place. It's an interesting twist, though Mohinder's dance card is overbooked with blood vendettas already he doesn't need to add anything else to his list of grievances to avenge.
Four months ago: In the hospital, Niki and Micah learn that D.L., who was shot by Linderman, is going to make a full recovery. Bob shows up at the hospital and pays D.L.'s medical bills as the Company's way of making amends for all the trouble Linderman brought them. Niki has her alter ego Jessica under control now, but Bob worries another split personality might manifest itself to fill the void. He offers to help her control her abilities, but to do that, she'll have to leave D.L. and Micah and enter the Company's treatment program. Niki refuses, opting to control her mental problems through medication.
Elle gives Peter a haircut. AHA! We have Elle to blame for the loss of Peter's floppy bangs! I'm working on a theory that Peter's personality is entirely contained in his hair. The evidence backs me up: he went from a sweet, romantic dreamer with long bangs in season one to a short-haired moody lump in season two. While the Company works to develop their inhibitor, Peter takes a whole bunch of pills each day to keep his abilities under control so he doesn't explode. He strikes up a friendship with the man in the room next to his... who happens to be Adam.
Elle delivers Peter's daily dose of medication, flirtation, and light torture in the form of her electric shocks. Elle is at once infantile, overtly sexual, slinky, and sadistic; it's a doozy of a combination. She cheerily informs Peter she's been in the care of the Company since she was diagnosed as a sociopath with paranoid delusions as a child.
Nathan, still hospitalized with hideous head-to-toe burns, tells his wife Heidi, who has been fed some polite fiction about a car crash, the truth about his superpowers and about Peter exploding. Angela Petrelli takes Heidi aside, lies about Nathan having a hereditary mental disorder, gropes her a bit in the guise of offering solace, and speeds along her daughter-in-law's decision to estrange herself from the Petrelli family. Angela is a force to be reckoned with.
D.L. gets a job as a fireman, where his ability to phase through solid matter comes in mighty handy during rescues. Niki's meds make her bleary and depressed, so she chucks them down the sink. She manifests another personality, Gina, who runs off to Los Angeles to snort coke and go clubbing. So now Party Girl Gina joins Psycho Killer Jessica in Vegas Stripper Niki's brain. Why can't one of Niki's personalities be, I don't know, Brainy Astrophysicist Hortense? Literary Scholar Evangeline? D.L. tracks Niki/Gina down and gets into a scuffle with a shlubby club kid, who shoots him in the chest. Exit D.L.
At D.L.'s funeral, the omnipresent Bob approaches Niki once again. This time, she agrees to enter treatment at the Company.
Adam breaks the news to Peter that his stay at the facility might be somewhat less than voluntary. Peter is not convinced, even though: a) he's kept in a locked cell, and b) he isn't allowed to contact his family to let them know he's still alive. Sometimes Peter is kind of a dumb bunny. Adam tells Peter it's a pity they can't escape if they were only out of the facility, Adam could heal Nathan's terrible burns with his blood...
Peter stops taking his power-suppressing pills, then uses his abilities to break himself and Adam out. At the hospital, Adam injects some of his blood into Nathan's IV. Nathan magically heals and returns to his full handsome Pasdarian (Pasdaresque?) glory.
Elle and the Haitian track down Adam and Peter, who make a hasty plan to split up and meet again in Montreal. The Haitian catches Peter. Instead of returning him to the Company, he wipes his memories and chains him up inside a shipping container bound for Ireland. We don't know why he does this. The Haitian is rivaled only by Mohinder in the way he embarks upon random and unfathomable courses of action.
Back to the present: In Montreal, the little trip down memory lane heals Peter's scrambled brain. Adam asks, "Shall we save the world?"
Next episode: Bennet and Mohinder finally have it out, as their ill-conceived partnership comes to a bitter conclusion. It's all fun and games until someone gets shot in the eye. I'm hoping it's West.
Chapter Nine: Cautionary Tales
Huh.
What an utterly bizarre episode.
Ever since the discovery of one of Isaac Mendez's missing paintings way back in episode three of this season, we've known Bennet was destined to take a bullet to the eyeball at some point. For the past couple episodes, thanks to yet another precognitive painting, we've had a pretty good idea Mohinder would be the one pulling the trigger. We've all tried to puzzle out how things could escalate to such a point. How, we wondered, could their relationship deteriorate to a stage where gullible yet morally pure Mohinder would deliberately kill sympathetic yet morally gray Bennet?
Sure, there'd been some groundwork laid, what with Bennet growing increasingly paranoid and brusque with Mohinder, and Mohinder seeing evidence the Company might be less evil than Bennet had led him to believe, but still, it's a mighty big leap from misunderstandings to murder. Could Heroes possibly pull off the killing of Bennet in a way that doesn't undermine everything that's been established about Mohinder?
In a word?
Nope.
Nope, not at all. Not even close. Not within a country mile. Not in this universe. Not unless this is all part of Mohinder's ingenious scheme to embed himself deeper within the Company so he can bring it crashing down.
Which, for the record, it totally is. Or probably is. I'm pretty sure it is, at least. Remember how crafty Mohinder was back in episode two of this season when he managed to convince Bob and the audience he'd had his brain wiped by the Haitian? You know how he's been a reckless idiot in all his dealings with the Company since then? Either he's been erratically written a strong possibility in a season that devoted seven episodes to mucking about in feudal Japan or the writers are banking on the audience assuming Mohinder's a nitwit to give him a chance to pull off something really cool in a future episode. I think it's the latter. Call it about an 80% certainty Mohinder knows what he's doing here, even if the audience doesn't yet.
This, of course, still leaves a 20% chance Mohinder is a total moron.
We open in Costa Verde with Bennet ordering the family to pack up and leave town. Claire, as usual, is being a brat. She tells her father she hates him and refuses to leave. The upside to Bennet getting shot in the eye? It'll bring these tedious father/daughter squabbles to an end.
In Tokyo, Hiro and Ando attend Kaito Nakamura's funeral. Hiro prepares to eulogize his father, but instead decides to go back in time to prevent his death. He teleports to the rooftop of the Deveaux building at the moment of Kaito's meeting with Angela Petrelli. The subtitles helpfully tell us this was "One Week Ago."
Wait. This whole season thus far has taken place in one week? The murderously long sojourn of Sylar and the twins through Central America and Mexico, Peter's adventures with the Irish mob, Mohinder's treks to Haiti and New Orleans, Molly's coma and the subsequent drama with Matt's evil father... this has all taken place in one week? Really?
Okay. That's cool. Just checking.
Back in Mohinder's apartment, Molly offers to help Matt locate the remaining people (i.e. the ones Matt's father didn't get around to killing) in the photo of the twelve Company founders. Matt tells her he doesn't want her using her powers anymore. Molly kicks up a fuss, but a subtle mental suggestion from Matt quiets her down. This gives Matt ideas. Bad ideas. He tests out his growing abilities by mentally compelling Molly to sit back down at the table and finish her cereal. Bad, Matt. Very, very bad. But kind of funny.
Mohinder (whose nose bandage has officially outstayed its welcome) arrives in Costa Verde and meets poolside with Bob and his new partner, Elle, who, we learn, is Bob's daughter. Mohinder still insists he's not choosing sides between Bob and Bennet. He also insists he wants to do the right thing. Both these claims seem a tad disingenuous, considering how Bob and Elle are currently discussing how they're going to kidnap Claire for her blood and kill Bennet. This is the same Mohinder who, a few episodes back (which, in this season's condensed chronology, was probably yesterday morning) was apoplectic at the thought of injecting Monica with the modified virus. In what universe is Mohinder going to think kidnapping Claire and killing Bennet is an acceptable course of action? Sure, he wants to save Niki, but he's never been an end-justifies-the-means kind of guy before why would he start now?
West confronts Claire about how her father kidnapped and conducted experiments on him as a kid. Claire swears she didn't know anything about that when she met West, but West remains unconvinced.
Matt, still working on the Kaito Nakamura murder case, tries to contact the FBI. His boss tells him to give it up Angela Petrelli, after all, already confessed to the murder. Matt uses his new-found mind control ability to convince his boss to give him another week on the case.
Bennet confesses to his wife about abducting West. She's not too thrilled about this, but, because her character development is limited to "likes small dogs" and "dotes on her husband", she forgives him. He shows her Isaac's paintings, including the one of him lying dead, as explanation for his recent erratic behavior. He thinks West might be the one who winds up murdering him. He calls Mohinder and asks him to use Molly's ability to locate West.
Mohinder, meanwhile, is in the midst of being groped and fondled by Elle. This is all under the guise of fitting him with a shoulder holster, and under other circumstances, I'd be delighted at the prospect of some hot Elle-on-Mohinder action. Right now, however, I'm too confused and depressed by how Mohinder behaves in this episode to get excited about it. Elle proclaims Mohinder "adorable" and asks her father if she can keep him. Heck, Elle, he's only operating at about 45% of his usual awesomeness right now. You should see him without the nose bandage and the eye bruises and the surly disposition.
On the roof of the Deveaux building, Kaito and Angela replay their argument from the season opener. When Angela leaves, Hiro approaches his father and warns him of his looming death. Kaito is very Zen about it and accepts his fate.
West grabs Bennet, soars with him up in the air, and threatens to drop him unless he tells him whether Claire is scheming against him. Bennet convinces West of his daughter's ignorance. When West sets him back on the ground, Bennet tackles him. They wrestle for a while, until Bennet gets a call from Mohinder. Mohinder claims Molly used her ability to track West and provides a street address where Bennet can allegedly find him. Since Bennet is currently sitting on top of West at an entirely different location, he puts it together that Mohinder is lying. Bennet is smart like that.
Bob arrives at Claire's school and pretends to be a school board member wanting to talk to her about the incident with the head cheerleader. Bob slips up and uses Claire's real last name instead of the surname the Bennet family adopted for their new life in Costa Verde. Claire runs home, but Bob shows up there and apprehends her.
Mohinder asks Elle for permission to talk to Bennet before she, y'know, kills him. Mohinder climbs into the backseat of Bennet's car and has a terse chat with him about how he needs some of Claire's blood. It goes poorly. Bennet harangues him, rightly, about turning over to the Company's side, saying he warned him explicitly of the tactics the Company would use to indoctrinate him: "I couldn't have been more clear about that." Mohinder pulls a gun and orders him out of the car. Elle shows up and crackles her electric bolts ominously. Before she can attack, West swoops in and knocks her out.
Mohinder raises his gun, and it's the moment predicted in Isaac's painting. Bennet punches Mohinder (right on his broken nose! At this rate, he's never going to be rid of that bandage!), then prepares to kill him, until West talks him out of it.
Bennet returns home with captive Elle in tow and learns of Claire's capture. Where's Mohinder? He's not with Elle, and he's not with Bob. Did Bennet just let him walk off, knowing he's still armed and an active danger to his family? Or did Mohinder and Bennet have themselves a little off-screen powwow to compare notes about how this is going to go down? Boy howdy, I hope it's the latter. Via Bennet, we learn about Elle's ghastly childhood the Company tested the limits of her electrical abilities until she went half-mad from the pain, then wiped her memory. It's good to have unequivocal confirmation at last that, yes, Bob is a bad guy and yes, the Company is evil. No gray area about it.
Bob takes some of Claire's blood. Again I ask, where's Mohinder? Why is Bob drawing blood instead of having his pet geneticist do this? I think Claire's blood is a red herring. I think this whole mission has only two purposes: to test Mohinder's loyalty and to eliminate Bennet. If Mohinder and Bennet are sticking to their original plan, it's highly advantageous to them if the Company a) thinks Mohinder is willing to kill for them, and b) thinks Bennet is dead. Just throwing that out there. Bob receives a call from Bennet informing him he has Elle. They set up a hostage swap.
Hiro teleports himself and his father to Hiro's mother's funeral to show Kaito why he can't let him die just yet. Hiro meets an improbably chipper younger version of himself. It's nice to discover Hiro has always had his cheery demeanor, but... it's his mother's funeral! Shouldn't wee little Hiro be prostrated with grief? This all somehow convinces Hiro that Kaito is right about the inevitability of Fate, and he agrees not to try to prevent Kaito's murder. They teleport back to the Deveaux building, where once again the hooded figure rushes out from the shadows and pushes Kaito to his death. Hiro freezes time to get a look at his father's killer: it's Takezo Kensei, aka Adam Monroe.
Matt interrogates Angela Petrelli, using his mind control to extract the truth about Adam and the murders of the founders of the Company. She knows what he's doing and tries to talk him out of it, but Matt goes ahead and uses his powers anyway. Bullying Angela Petrelli seems like the kind of thing that will come back and bite you on the ass, Matt. She's a lot meaner than you are. Matt asks for the name of the final unidentified woman in the photograph. Angela pleads with him not to make her give up the identity. She warns him if he forces the information from her, it will mean he's turned into his father.
There's a standoff on the beach: Mohinder and Bob bring Claire, Bennet and West bring Elle. They swap blondes. As soon as Claire is released, West grabs her and flies to safety. Elle zaps them out of the sky with her electric bolts. Bennet shoots Elle in the arm, then aims his gun at Bob. Mohinder gets his gun out and, yep, shoots Bennet right in the eye.
Yeah. Taken at face value, it doesn't make much sense, does it?
I don't know how this will play out over the next few episodes. It's entirely possible we're meant to interpret these events at face value: Mohinder, despite the best of intentions, has drifted into the Dark Side. After all, we did get a glimpse of Mohinder's possible future moral ambiguity in last season's Evil Alternate Future episode, in which Future Mohinder is pretty much President Sylar's bitch. I hope this doesn't turn out to be the case: we've seen the character of the Morally Shady Indian Geneticist too many times (X-Men 3 and Street Fighter spring immediately to mind), and apart from being a clichι, there are quasi-racist overtones Heroes would do well to avoid. Mohinder's much more interesting as a vaguely insufferable straight arrow.
In Tokyo, Hiro returns to the funeral and eulogizes his father.
Matt examines the photo of the Company founders. The mysterious woman is now labeled as "Victoria Pratt". Seems Matt yanked the information out of Angela over her protests.
On a gurney in an empty room, an IV of blood drips into Bennet's corpse. The bullet hole in his eye repairs itself, his color is restored, and Bennet sits upright, alive and confused.
Chapter Ten: Truth & Consequences
Peter wanders around plague-stricken New York City circa 2008, calling out for Caitlin. He finds himself back in present-day Montreal with Adam, having failed to rescue Caitlin via teleportation. When Adam learns the future plague is caused by the Shanti virus, he tells Peter about one of the Company founders, Victoria Pratt, who first retrieved a sample of the virus from Shanti Suresh in 1977 and used it to create a biological weapon. Adam convinces Peter they need to destroy all remaining strains of the virus to prevent the upcoming catastrophe.
At the Bennet home, Bob delivers an urn containing what he claims are Mr. Bennet's remains to the family. As Mrs. Bennet holds him off at gunpoint, Bob assures her the Company will leave the family alone out of gratitude for Mr. Bennet's years of devoted service.
Bob tells Elle to keep the Bennets under surveillance for a while. When Elle complains to her dad about her wounded arm, Bob reprimands her for her carelessness in getting shot by Bennet.
Bennet comes back to life in an empty room, befuddled and muttering Mohinder's name. Mohinder sails in, fusses with his IV, straps him down to the bed, and confirms he used Claire's blood to resurrect him. It's official: too many people on this show have magical blood. Bennet tries to give him hell about betraying him and stealing Claire's blood, but Mohinder takes the moral high ground, which is actually kind of hard to do when you've just shot someone in the eye. He tears into Bennet about his recent erratic behavior, i.e. murdering his former partner and being a total jerkwad to Mohinder: "You put us on this path with your violence and paranoia." Then he knocks a few dents out of his halo and goes swanning off while Bennet bellows after him. Ha! Bennet, you just got outmaneuvered by Mohinder. That's really embarrassing. Okay, sure, it's a little disturbing to see how Mohinder seems to have drunk the Company Kool-Aid (though I still think we're going to see a pretty spectacular double-cross from him somewhere down the line), but after his recent string of catastrophes, it's nice to see him do something that turns out well.
Somewhere in Virginia, Sylar and Maya share a romantic picnic lunch. They wear cozy sweaters and snuggle together while sipping wine beside a lake; it's both adorable and surprising to discover Sylar's idea of a perfect date comes straight out of the Napa Style catalogue. Sylar ruins the mood by telling her Alejandro probably hates her for murdering his bride. Maya freaks out and unleashes the dreaded Black Eye Goo of Death, but Sylar gives her a crash course in getting it under control without any help from her brother. Poor Alejandro just became 100% expendable.
Peter and Adam head to Maine to confront Victoria Pratt. Adam lingers behind while Peter does the talking. He tells Victoria about the future plague and the imminent death of 93% of the world's population. Victoria figures it's caused by an uber-lethal strain of the Shanti virus known as Strain 138. When Victoria discovers he's in cahoots with Adam, she shoots both Adam and Peter with a shotgun. Victoria tries to blast off Adam's head, which she claims will destroy him beyond the ability of his power to regenerate. How very Highlander. Peter regenerates and knocks her out before she can fire.
In Tokyo, Hiro and Ando sort through Kaito's belongings. From a photograph, Hiro discovers Takezo Kensei is now known as Adam Monroe. He also finds an order Kaito signed in 1977 authorizing the permanent confinement of Adam. Figuring this might be the reason Adam murdered Kaito, Hiro teleports to 1977 to investigate. He winds up at Primatech Paper in the middle of a bioresearch containment breach: Adam tries to release Strain 138, but is apprehended by Victoria Pratt and Kaito.
Alejandro, who was not invited along on the picnic, spends a little quality time googling Sylar. After sifting through all the pornographic fanfiction, he discovers a newspaper article about how Sylar is wanted for his mother's murder and shows it to Maya. Maya asks Sylar for an explanation. He sticks fairly close to the truth (he was defending himself when his mother attacked him after he revealed his abilities to her), though he leaves out the parts about how: a) his ability involves slicing open heads and stealing brains, and b) after killing his mother, he painted a nice mushroom cloud with her blood on her living room floor. Because she's a bit of a sap, Maya forgives him. She points out that she's killed simply loads of people herself with the Black Eye Goo of Death and feels very bad about it. Maya tells Alejandro she and Sylar are setting out on their own, now that she can control her powers without Alejandro's help.
Adam and Peter ask Victoria for the location of Strain 138. She accuses Adam of plotting to release it to start an epidemic; Adam claims he only wants to destroy the virus. Peter reads Victoria's mind and discovers Strain 138 is held at Primatech in Texas. It'd probably save Peter a lot of future bother if he'd take a second to read Adam's mind as well, just to make sure he's telling the truth about not wanting to destroy the world. Peter does not read Adam's mind. Peter's kind of dumb this episode. Adam kills Victoria under the guise of protecting Peter, and they set off for Texas; it's kind of like the Sylar/Mohinder road trip last season, only without all the unsettling sexual chemistry.
Niki returns to Micah in New Orleans and breaks the news she has the virus. Micah's odious cousin (and here I use "odious" with affection, in that I think the young actor is doing a dynamite job of making his character as loathsome as possible) steals Micah's backpack containing his valuable comic book collection and D.L.'s medal of valor, which in turn gets stolen from him by a bunch of thugs. Monica decides to use her abilities to get it back.
Sylar is confronted by Alejandro in his motel room. Sylar knifes him. Adios, Alejandro. We hardly knew you, and you were stuck in everyone's least favorite subplot, but you were cute and innocuous. Vaya con Dios. Maya knocks on Sylar's door. Thinking fast, Sylar whips off his clothes, opens the door wearing only a towel, and smooches Maya to distract her attention from her brother's bloody corpse. It works.
Mohinder comes up with a cure for the mutated Shanti virus. How does he do this? By mixing Claire's super-healing blood with his own virus-curing blood, thus creating some kind of turbo-charged mega-blood capable of both defeating the mutated virus and raising the dead. Oh, for crying out loud -- I'm throwing a bake sale to raise money for this show to hire a science consultant. Mohinder asks Bob to destroy all existing strains of the virus to prevent it from ever falling into the wrong hands. Bob doesn't think there's much risk of that after all, the Company has a great deal of security until Mohinder points out that he himself operated undetected for weeks inside the Company as the world's most obvious double agent. Just imagine what someone less incompetent could do! Bob can't argue with this logic, so he agrees to destroy the virus.
Mohinder then calls Niki to say he's on his way to New Orleans with the cure. Niki goes to tell Micah the good news and discovers he's snuck out with Monica.
With Micah standing guard in case of trouble, Monica sneaks into the house where the comic book thieves have stashed the loot. She gets nabbed by a roving band of arsonists, who throw her into the back of a van while Micah watches from his hiding spot. Micah: cute kid, but he makes a terrible lookout.
Claire scatters Mr. Bennet's fake ashes and monologues about how she's sorry her idiocy got her dad killed. Her mother and brother stand deferentially in the background several paces behind Claire; it's not at all clear why the scattering-ashes duty is Claire's sole province, apart from her being just a little bit more special and important than the rest of her family. By the way, you know how I sometimes also use the word "odious" in reference to Claire? In those cases, I'm not doing it with affection. Claire spots Elle observing the proceedings from a parked car. As Claire storms toward her, Elle has a divine bit of physical comedy where she tries to start her car with one arm in a cast and the other hand carrying a giant Slurpee. Elle and Claire get into a tiff which ends, weirdly, with Claire threatening to reveal her own secret to the world.
Mohinder is in a taxi, presumably en route to fly to New Orleans to cure Niki. He's got several vials of the super-powered turbo-charged mega-blood with him; I really can't see why he shouldn't siphon off a bit to heal his broken nose. He's had the nose bandage and the purple bruises for weeks now, and while I do understand it's supposed to be some kind of visual representation of his fall from grace, I've missed seeing that beautiful face in its natural, non-mangled state. Right now, Mohinder's probably feeling pretty good about resurrecting Bennet and finding a cure for the virus and not screwing up anything else, so naturally, in true Mohinder fashion, it's time for disaster to strike.
It does indeed, in the form of a phone call from Sylar. Sylar sits in Mohinder's apartment, stroking Molly's hair and barely suppressing his glee. With what might be best described as flirtatious malice, he tells a horror-struck Mohinder he gave the babysitter the rest of the night off and urges him to hurry home. While it would have been much smarter for Sylar not to give Mohinder this advance warning of his presence, I do appreciate the time and care he devotes to finding new ways to mess with Mohinder's head.
Hiro returns from 1977 and tells Ando about the virus. He teleports to Primatech to stop the outbreak. Meanwhile, Adam and Peter arrive at Primatech. Adam and Peter explore the facility, until time stops for everyone except for Peter. Peter looks around and spots Hiro, who has his samurai sword brandished. Hiro informs Peter he's chosen the wrong side in deciding to trust Adam and charges at him, sword raised.
Chapter Eleven: Powerless
Mohinder arrives at his apartment and finds Sylar sitting at his desk. Sylar welcomes him home and expresses concern about his broken nose. Mohinder asks what he wants. Sylar advances on him and, after he's whipped up a suitable aura of menace, smiles and replies, "Breakfast." Mohinder turns to see Maya in his kitchen, cheerfully cooking up a mess of chilaquiles. Because this scene was insufficiently preposterous on its own, she's also wearing a "World's Greatest Dad" apron. Maya gushes about how she's honored to meet Mohinder she's read his father's book and has so many questions about her own abilities. Mohinder asks if she's aware Sylar's a murderer. She confirms she is, but it's okay, seeing as she's killed many, many people herself with her own ghastly power. Maya guides a shell-shocked Mohinder to a chair, and they all settle in for a deliriously uncomfortable breakfast. Maya paws Mohinder and yammers on about the Black Eye Goo of Death, while Mohinder blinks back tears and wonders why his only meaningful relationship on the entire show has to be with the brain-stealing serial killer. Sylar mentions he spent some quality time snooping on Mohinder's laptop and asks about the Shanti virus specifically, does it really take away special abilities? Maya, bless her, asks Sylar, "Is that how you lost your powers?"
There's a pause while Mohinder processes this nugget of information, then he grabs his butter knife and lunges for Sylar. Sylar draws a gun and jams it into Mohinder's neck. Advantage: Sylar. Thanks to Mohinder's files, Sylar knows Mohinder's blood is the cure for the virus. What's more, he knows about the Mohinder/Claire turbo-charged mega-blood. It finally finally! dawns on Maya that Sylar might be a bad egg. She flips out and unleashes the Black Eye Goo of Death. Everyone collapses. Even little Molly staggers from her room, wailing and dripping black goo from her eyes. Sylar reigns in the mass hysteria and gets Maya under control by convincing her if she kills Mohinder, she loses her best chance of getting help with her abilities. Mohinder comforts Molly and agrees to help Sylar get his powers back.
Apparently, Matt and Nathan went to Maine and found Victoria Pratt's body in a scene we didn't get to see. Both Adam's and Peter's fingerprints were discovered at the crime scene. Matt and Nathan meet with Angela Petrelli, who gives them some background on Adam and tells them Strain 138 of the Shanti virus is held at Primatech in Texas.
At Primatech, Hiro stops time and confronts Peter about Adam's ill intentions. Peter still thinks Adam is swell. Peter hurls around lightning bolts, but Hiro teleports here and there and dodges Peter's blasts, until Peter finally manages to electrocute him. Hiro falls unconscious, and time unfreezes. Adam steals his sword back from Hiro and heads off with Peter.
Claire is still bent on her lunatic plan to reveal her abilities to the world. When her mother tries to talk her out of it, Claire tells her she can't understand how she feels because she isn't special like Claire. Claire has been a real charmer this season.
Bob bawls out Elle for escalating the conflict with Claire. Chastened, Elle visits Mr. Bennet and asks for more details about how her father tested the limits of her electrical abilities as a child. Bob comes in, shoos Elle away, and tells Bennet Claire is becoming a problem for the Company.
Adam and Peter hack and blast their way through Primatech until they reach the vault containing Strain 138. Peter tries to open it with telekinesis.
Mohinder takes Sylar, Maya, and Molly to his laboratory in Isaac Mendez's old loft. Sylar orders Maya and Molly to stay out of the way so he can manhandle and intimidate Mohinder without interruption. Sylar points out the exact spot where he murdered Isaac. Sylar hasn't quite mastered the art of appropriate small talk. Mohinder insists on drawing blood from Sylar to make sure he has the virus. Sylar, who has good reason to be wary of Mohinder wielding needles after last season's unfortunate incident with the unanaesthetized spinal tap, balks at this. They stare each other down and growl at each other until, amazingly, Sylar gives in and lets Mohinder jab him with sharp objects which, by the way, Mohinder enjoys far too much. Mohinder spent all season being hapless and ineffectual with everyone he dealt with (Bennet, Bob, Elle, Niki), and yet he's the only one who can get away with bullying Sylar. When Sylar's attention is focused elsewhere, Mohinder shoots a desperate glance up at a mysteriously blinking wall fixture...
Elle sneaks into Bob's office and snoops about on his computer. Bob has surveillance cameras fixed in Mohinder's lab; Elle wonders aloud if Mohinder knows Bob is spying on him. Based upon the way Mohinder just looked right at the hidden camera, the answer to that is plainly yes, but it doesn't look like Bob knows Mohinder knows this. Mohinder: not as dumb as advertised. On the monitor, Elle sees Sylar in the lab with Mohinder.
The comic book-stealing arsonists tie up Monica in a deserted building and set it on fire. Micah and Niki search for her; Micah uses his ability to tell his cell phone to find Monica's cell phone and pinpoint her location.
Nathan and Matt fly to Primatech. Technically, Nathan flies, with Matt riding piggyback. Upon their graceless and mortifying landing, they make a pact to never mention their flight again. Outside Primatech, a jubilant Hiro greets Nathan.
West stops by the Bennet house to tell Claire he thinks her plan is idiotic. Claire breaks up with him, and West sadly flies away. This would be a touching scene, if only these two weren't so vile. Mr. Bennet shows up at the front door, alive and well, and greets his daughter.
In the lab, Molly and Maya are left to twiddle their thumbs while Mohinder and Sylar circle each other and exchange meaningful glowers. To cheer Maya up, Molly offers to use her ability to locate Alejandro. When Molly can't find him, Maya realizes her brother is dead.
Mohinder examines Sylar's blood and discovers he's got the same strain of the virus as Niki. Sylar is outraged to learn the Company deliberately infected him. Just as he's working himself up into a righteous lather, Maya storms up to him, shrieking about how he murdered Alejandro. Sylar shoots her in the heart. He demands Mohinder produce the turbo-charged mega-blood, whereupon Mohinder reveals he's been carrying it around all this time. Showing a gift for understatement, Sylar tells him, "You and I have trust issues." He orders Mohinder to test out the blood on Maya: if it brings her back to life, he can use the remaining syringe to cure Sylar.
Bennet reunites with his family. To keep them safe, he's struck a deal with the Company, but it means he has to leave them. He walks out of the house and meets up with Bob. Again, this would be a touching scene if the entire Bennet clan hadn't exhausted every ounce of my good will in recent episodes.
Peter finally opens the vault. When Hiro tries to stop him, Peter hurls him out of the way. Adam advises Peter to get rid of Hiro permanently. Matt tries to mentally persuade Peter of Adam's evil; Peter refuses to believe him. Nathan confronts Peter and, at long last, gets it through his brother's thick skull that Adam is trying to release the virus, not destroy it. Hiro grabs Adam and teleports away with him, just as Adam drops the vial containing Strain 138. Peter catches it before it smashes on the ground, then creates a mini-nuclear explosion in his hand and destroys it while Matt and Nathan watch. A hidden camera in the vault records their actions.
Mohinder injects Maya's corpse with the blood. The bullet wound begins to heal. Sylar picks up the remaining syringe and tells Mohinder, "I'm sure Maya will understand if I'm not here when she wakes up." He turns to leave. Wow. Sylar really intends to let Mohinder and Molly get out of this alive. Yes, Mohinder, there is a Santa Claus. Elle arrives and hurls blue lightning bolts at Sylar. He opens fire at her. The two of them blast each other for a while until Elle knocks him out a window. Sylar takes off, with Elle in pursuit.
Niki intercepts the arsonists as they make their getaway. Even though the virus has deprived her of her super-strength, she does a pretty impressive job of kicking the crap out of them. Niki rushes into the burning building and saves Monica, but it explodes before Niki can escape.
Hiro teleports to his Tokyo office and reunites with Ando. Ando asks about Adam. Because Adam can't be killed, Hiro buried him alive in a coffin. For such a sweetie, Hiro has a mean streak.
Maya comes back to life. Elle slumps back to the lab, afraid her father will be furious with her for letting Sylar get away. Mohinder reassures her, claiming she saved all their lives. This is kind of a lie, seeing as Sylar was on the verge of releasing them anyway, but it seems to make Elle happy. She beams at Mohinder.
Nathan decides to go public with his powers. Nathan, honey, this wasn't a good idea when Claire wanted to do it, and it's not a good idea now. He throws a lame press conference where he spouts some tripe about how he's seen wonderful and amazing things; honestly, Nathan, I expect more from you. Before Nathan gets to the punchline (i.e. "Oh, by the way, I can fly"), he's shot twice in the chest by an unseen assailant. Pandemonium erupts. Matt searches the crowd and sees the back of an unidentified man in a dark coat walking away.
Angela Petrelli watches a news broadcast about the shooting. She speaks to someone on the phone: "You do know you've opened Pandora's box."
Sylar, in an alley, injects himself with the mega-blood. The wounds from his fight with Elle heal themselves up. He tests out his telekinesis by trying to move a tin can and discovers that, yes indeed, his powers are back. And it's about time, too.
