Episode Report Card DeAnn Welker: B+ | 174 USERS: B YOU GRADE IT We're Thankful for This Episode
By DeAnn Welker | Season 4 | Episode 11 | Aired on 2009.11.23
Doug tries to ease the tension by saying his family's Thanksgiving tradition is to go around the table and have everyone say something they're thankful for. Claire and HRG somehow refrain from asking Doug why he's not with said family. How they refrain, we'll never know. It must be part of their powers. (I already said in my Dexter recap how weirdly similar this scene is to the Thanksgiving dinner scene on that show, so I won't repeat it here. Doug goes first. He's thankful for the two beautiful women in his life, who are (in this order) Miss Lovegood and Sandy. HRG's thankful his daughter Claire decided to come for Thanksgiving, which wouldn't be the same without her. Sandra seconds that. Lauren's thankful for canned yams. HRG gives a knowing smile. Doug asks Claire about her, and she smart-asses that she wishes she were thankful, but she's just not feeling it right now. HRG explains her roommate moved out, and Doug hilariously and idiotically asks, "Why on earth would she do that? You're so likeable." She tells Doug he knows nothing about her, and HRG tries to stop her. But she drops the bomb then that she's thinking about dropping out of school. Sandra looks at HRG as the tension in the room just about reaches its peak.
Thanksgiving dinner at the carnival. Samuel's making a toast, but first asks Amanda where her mother is. For those who don't watch the Slow Burn webisodes, her mother is Lydia the Tattooed Lady. She tells him her mom went to find the Japanese man, but I don't know how she knew that, since their conversation started organically when they bumped into each other, and then she followed him away. When did she fill Amanda in? Anyway, Samuel's clearly annoyed. But then we're eight weeks ago in a field outside wherever the carnival was then. Samuel and Joseph argue. Samuel wonders how long Joseph's been lying, and Joseph tries to get him to calm down, but Samuel's sick of being controlled and manipulated. He wonders why, and Joseph says Samuel's dangerous. He says Samuel can move the earth, but it's more than that. He can move cities, and mountains. He has the power to kill millions. Folks, we have our likely season-ending impending apocalypse. Woo hoo! Samuel says he always thought he was missing out on some untapped potential. (Only Samuel -- and Sylar -- would see the ability to kill millions as "potential.") He wants to know how he can be that powerful, but Joseph says he's already said too much. He says he didn't want this life for Samuel, but he had to be controlled, and Joseph gave up everything to watch over him. Samuel wants to watch the film and take responsibility himself, but Joseph says it's too late, since he told Mohinder to burn it. He never wants Joseph to know the truth. Joseph's arranged for a man from the government (Danko) to come and take him in; he gave him a compass to find them. But Samuel's done being betrayed. Joseph tells Samuel he loves him as Samuel picks up a rock with his power and buries it in Joseph's neck. Lydia covers her mouth nearby, in horror. Then Samuel breaks down crying, "What have I done?" and cradling his brother. Which you'd think is sincere since he thinks he's alone, but if it were, wouldn't he have sent Hiro back to fix this instead of to get the film? Lydia makes a noise, and Samuel gets up and looks for them. Hiro struggles to teleport them out of there, but eventually does, just in time. Then Samuel stands there, looking very cool in his trench coat in a field of tall weeds in the moonlight.