Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B+ | 1182 USERS: B+ YOU GRADE IT Crash Course
By Couch Baron | Season 3 | Episode 14 | Aired on 2009.02.02
Ando's back at the Ando-lair trying to figure out the password, and after he recalls that Hiro said it was someone important to him, he tries "Kaito" and "Kensei" before an affectionate smile comes across his face and he types "Ando." Aw, but it's interesting that he didn't even think to try that girl in Olde Japan who almost bored us all to death in Chapter Two. Maybe between the firehouse and the Spandex Ando's become less convinced of Hiro's heterosexuality. Anyway, the computer shows Hiro's present location...
...before we fade into said location, an airplane hangar somewhere or other, bright with overexposed yellow tones. Nathan is waiting, some commandos in tow, as a van pulls up and the prisoners are marched out. They're dressed in orange jumpsuits with black masks, goggles, and ear-muffling headphones, chained to each other, and the cumulative effect is to give the situation a chilling gravitas that it might not otherwise have had. Attached to the jumpsuits is a keypad and LED readout connected to a thin tube, which I'm assuming is a setup to keep the Heroes pumped with power-inhibiting drugs like The Company used. Nathan watches the tableau, looking more resolute than conflicted, until ZI approaches and says they have a couple situations. The first is easy for Nathan to guess -- they failed to capture Sylar. He grits that he told ZI they needed to put a bullet in the back of his head, and ZI assures him they're sending a cleanup crew, but there's something else. He waves over a commando, who leads a diminutive prisoner over to them, and removes the mask to reveal... Claire. Nathan and ZI exchange dark looks, and Nathan orders her cuffs removed. She woozily breathes that she hates him, and he'll never get away with this, but he leads her toward a waiting car and tells her whether she eventually forgives him or not, she needs to go home and forget everything she's just seen. She's still defiant, so he goes on that he's given her a free pass. "Don't make me change my mind." I wouldn't blame her for that, Nathan. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you've changed your mind about various issues -- your plan, your political affiliation, your sexual orientation -- ten times since this scene started. He loads Claire in and whispers some instructions to the driver, and they take off. When they're gone, the chain gang gets forced-marched onto the plane...