Episode Report Card DeAnn Welker: C- | 135 USERS: C YOU GRADE IT Hiro Quixote and Ando Panza
By DeAnn Welker | Season 4 | Episode 13 | Aired on 2010.01.04
Back at the Carnival, Eli's still staring at Claire, as she sits down to eat. She sits at a table near Lydia the Tattooed Lady and her daughter, Amanda, who are arguing about a boy. Lydia: "The answer is no." Amanda walks and Claire laughs. Lydia asks if something's funny, and Claire says she's been looking for something normal in this place and she finally found it. She says they sounded like her mom and her, since they had some serious fights. She wonders if things might have been easier if she'd had a place like this growing up. Lydia scoffs, "Oh, yeah, it's a real paradise." Claire asks Lydia if, since she knows things, she knows why Samuel wants Claire here. Lydia says he's wanted a lot of people here lately, and it's seemed to become an obsession of his. She says he spent all morning in his trailer and Claire says OUT LOUD (even though she can't know if she should trust Lydia), "Yeah, with my dad's files."
Next thing we know, Claire's sneaking into the trailer, but one of the Elis greets her creepily. She pretends she's looking for Samuel, but we all know he's not really buying that. Eli replicates all around her and she looks sort of shocked (even though she's seen the replicating man posters at least twice now). She tells him it's a nice trick. He likes to think so. He asks her if she isn't on beautification duty and maybe she should "run along and beautify." I think he's talking about the cleaning-up she was doing earlier, but I still don't get how or why they'd give chores -- let alone picking-up-garbage duty -- to someone visiting for the weekend. Especially if they want to convince her to stay.
Back in Tokyo, the cop who handcuffed Hiro is now greeting Ando, wondering how long he's been missing. Ando says six weeks, and the cop explains it's a good thing Hiro had his business card or they wouldn't have known who to call. See, the cop explains, Hiro thinks he's some kind of hero. Hiro comes in, sees Ando, and cutely says, "Sancho! Sancho Panza!" as he runs toward him. I love that Hiro thinks Ando's his Sancho Panza, but I think if we're going strictly by similarities to the character, Hiro's more Sancho than Ando. Anyway, Ando's happy to see him, but Hiro calls him Sancho again even after he reminds him he's Ando. Hiro explains that "the swamp dragons have surrounded the castle Arkham, where Dr. Watson is being held, and it's all because of me." When Ando tells Hiro he's not making sense, Hiro gets frustrated and replies, "Hailing frequencies are open. Sancho, why don't you respond? I have betrayed the rebellion." Then, with a bow, "Sancho Panza, you're our only hope." Ando asks the cops to uncuff Hiro, and they do, but they don't leave without telling Ando the city has services for the mentally ill. Ando says he's not mentally ill; he has a brain tumor.