Episode Report Card DeAnn Welker: B- | 214 USERS: B- YOU GRADE IT Everybody Hurts
By DeAnn Welker | Season 4 | Episode 12 | Aired on 2009.11.30
In the carnival, Samuel gives Gretchen and Claire free passes to everything. He asks if they like carnivals, and Gretchen says she guesses. Claire's the friendly, happy one now, and Gretchen's suddenly the skeptic -- a quick change from that parking lot conversation, if you ask me. Samuel says they're on the move, from town to town, at least until they find a better, more permanent way to live. Then he gives them popcorn. He's the weirdest character ever. He tells them to stay until they've finished their boxes of popcorn, meet everyone, then after it's gone, he'll walk them to their car and they can leave. They agree. Gretchen wonders what they're supposed to be looking at, and Claire doesn't know, but she's got lots of popcorn left. They enter a circus where Samuel's voice is inviting people to step right up to see Lydia the Tattooed Lady's skin. We also see posters of Eli, advertising "The Amazing Replicating Man." And Lydia's "Tattoo Girl." That's original. Someone lets Claire and Gretchen into the tent, where Lydia's back is on display. Gretchen thinks Lydia's sexy back looks promising. Lydia tells them to ask a question, then take her hand. Claire asks if it's like a crystal ball, and Lydia breathes, "Something like that." Claire touches Lydia and asks if she's supposed to be here. A tattoo on Lydia's back shows Claire in her cheerleader uniform with an "Indestructible Girl" banner. Claire wonders if she'll have a circus act, but Lydia says this is Claire's desire, not the future. Because who doesn't desire to be in the circus? Gretchen, uneasy, suggests they get out of there.
Peter hops in a hospital elevator, which might as well be on Grey's or Private Practice once we find out who bumps into him here. Oh, but it's just Hiro's nurse. But once the elevator's closed and they greet, the nurse grabs Peter and chokes him. When the elevator opens, the nurse is Sylar, who has Peter's bag and is going through all the medications Peter had hoped to use to knock him out. Sylar: "You shouldn't have. No, seriously, you really, really shouldn't have." The ticking has a much more musical sound to it, less subtle. Which is appropriate considering how much less subtle Sylar and Zachary Quinto have gotten. Peter gives chase and Sylar slowly walks after him. He asks Peter if his plan was to syringe him in the neck with drugs, then adds, "Wasn't that the old plan?" He congratulations him, but says, "Fool me twice, you know?" Peter says he knows and busts Sylar across the back of the head with a board. They're in some sort of warehouse space in the basement of the hospital. It looks like a construction site. Sylar wonders why he can't use his powers, and Peter tells him he has the Haitian's powers. Peter asks for his brother back and punches Sylar a lot. They fight, and then Peter winds up on top with a nail gun. Sylar wonders what Peter's going to do: beat him out of him. Peter: "Something like that," as he holds up the nail gun. Commercials.