Episode Report Card DeAnn Welker: C | 252 USERS: B- YOU GRADE IT They Got Carnivale in Our Heroes
By DeAnn Welker | Season 4 | Episode 1 | Aired on 2009.09.21
Claire College. She picks up a flier as the slutty teen from Californication stalks her until she catches up and makes fun of cheerleaders. To which Claire manages not to reply, "I'm THE cheerleader, bitch!" Instead, Claire agrees, because she knows from experience. They introduce each other. Slutty teen is Gretchen, and she's from Texas, too, just like Claire. Then she's like, "You're not that Claire Bennet, are you?" Claire wonders how she heard about that, and she says you sort of remember when a cheerleader gets her head sawed off (and you apparently remember who was also nearby, not just said cheerleader?). Gretchen, who I loathe more every second, thinks Claire should have changed her name. Claire says she did that for awhile, but she wants to be herself and she foolishly thought people might forget. Then she excuses herself from this more-awkward-by-the-minute conversation.
Back in Tokyo, Hiro brings time back and Ando gives the little girl her kitty. She thanks him and says she loves Dial A Hero and is going to tell everyone. She and Ando turn and see Hiro is frozen, so Ando tells her Hiro's just joking. She leaves, but Ando still can't get him to snap out of it.
Angela's pouring herself sake in a sushi place when someone walks in and, in Nathan's voice, says, "What have you done to me, Mom?" Then we see him, and it's Sylar, who says it took him a half-hour to get here. He apologizes for his lack of manners, gives her a creepy kiss on the cheek and says she looks lovely as usual. Angela snaps awake in the back of a car as she is actually pulling up to the sushi place. [Which appears to be right near where Bennet lives, unless I'm going crazy. - Zach] Nathan arrives and says the same thing as before, but it's much less ominous coming from the real Nathan (or, you know, the Sylar-as-Nathan-not-knowing-Sylar's-in-there Nathan; as opposed to the Sylar-as-Nathan-with-hints-of-Sylar-coming-out Nathan). Angela looks pensively at him, so he asks if she's okay. She says she's just worried about the company, because Noah's been distracted. Sylar-as-Nathan eyes the sashimi in front of him as he distractedly tells her he'll talk to Bennet, then asks, "Do I like sushi?" She says he's the one who wanted it; she wanted Italian. He picks up a piece and eats it. He says it's interesting, and she says new horizons keep life from getting stale. He agrees and says he's been taking stock of a lot of things lately, and feels like there's a lot of change. He feels like when he looks back on his life, it's not his life he's looking back on. She brushes it away as self-reflection, which is natural when you hit 40. But Nathan's being serious: He's not happy with the kind of person, brother, father, son he's been. Seems to be Nathan here, not Sylar, but whatever. It's too confusing to keep up. He tells her he's going to reconnect with the important people in his life and be "a better me." She tells him his life is stressful and at his age, he starts to feel his own mortality. He says that's just it; he feels invincible. She tells him it's a midlife crisis, and he should get a sports car and a young woman, just like his father did. They drink more sake as he eerily asks what he would be without her? Well, uh, mostly Sylar.