Episode Report Card DeAnn Welker: B- | 216 USERS: B- YOU GRADE IT Everybody Hurts
By DeAnn Welker | Season 4 | Episode 12 | Aired on 2009.11.30
Gretchen and Claire are still roaming through the carnival. Claire's amazed at how all of these people have figured out a way to use their abilities. Gretchen points out they're carnie people, but Claire says at least they're living in the open. Gretchen, who I finally, actually like, says, "Yeah, in a freak show." Claire says having the government hunt you is worse, and she could be the girl who gets sawed in half. Gretchen mocks that that's something to aspire to. Then they happen upon that carnival game where you throw a ball and try to knock over three metal milk bottles. A guy's doing well until he ponies up more money and acts like a jerk (cutting in front of a cute little girl's turn), and then it's clear the carnie's causing his ball to go way off-course. The guy accuses the carnie of cheating, but Claire finds it delightful. She even explains to Gretchen how he's doing it. Gretchen thinks the carnie doesn't have a right to rip him off. Then the guy helps the little girl win, and even Gretchen's heart seems to warm. The popcorn's gone and Samuel arrives and says he hopes they liked what they saw. Gretchen says, "Not really." He asks them if they'd like to see back stage, where they live. Claire would, but Gretchen wouldn't. Samuel tells Gretchen she's welcome, since they don't exclude anyone here. Claire follows him.
Lauren and HRG have apparently narrowed Claire's whereabouts to all of Southern Ohio (is that actually a twenty-one-hour drive from D.C.?), which he says is like a needle in a haystack. Lauren's looking in his files, but he says she won't find any leads in there since the carnival's a nest they never came across. She wants to try cross-referencing some of his files with the CIA databases, though. He stares out the window, as Lauren tells him to let it go: Girls lie to their fathers; he's not the only one. He says he deserves it, since you reap what you sow. She tells him if he'd like to wallow, have at it. Go ahead and unload. He says he's driven everyone away with his suffocating need for control: Sandra, Claire. ... "You." She says this ought to be good, and he tells her they had something together at Primatech. She admits to thinking he was cute, but they never had feelings for each other. He tells her about their breakfasts and that she Haitianed herself. He says he didn't want to tell her like this, but she deserved to know. She asks if now that he's newly single, he thought he could reignite the flame. You can tell the answer's yes, but he doesn't want to say it.