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We begin pretty much where we left off, with D.L. injured and Niki caring for him. They have to escape from some guards, so D.L. manages to phase them through a wall. He then convinces Niki that he's slowing her down, so she runs off to get Micah alone. Bennet and Mohinder cross guns over Molly, but Sean wakes up and declares that no one is going to hurt her. Over in Chinatown, Hiro wants to go after Ando so that Sylar won't kill him, but Daddy Hiro thinks that's a stupid idea. He eventually just hands over the Sword of Legacy to his son, and Hiro teleports after his buddy. Sylar paints a vision that includes Peter and he finds this mildly irritating, so he murders a canvas.
At Landslide Victory Central, Nathan's mother informs her son that Linderman's been murdered. Then she gets all handsy with him and says that the plan remains the same: he's going to be president, with or without Linderman. Nathan's on board with this idea. Bennet gets a call from Claire while he and Mohinder are arguing about Molly's future. Claire reports Ted's death. Bennet asks for Peter and then tells him that, since both he and Sylar have Ted's power, Peter's the only person who can possibly stop Sylar. Peter stoically just asks where to find him. Bennet decides to use Molly to find Sylar, but she's falling sick again, so this proves difficult.
Peter takes Claire to a parking garage, and Nathan's there. Claire's pissed because Peter lied to her and thinks they can't trust Nathan. Peter's scared and needs his big brother. While the siblings discuss the explosion, Claire escapes from the car, but she runs into Big Bad Grandma Petrelli. Peter listens in on Nathan's thoughts and realizes that he's the snake Claire thinks he is. Peter runs off to find her but he starts to go radioactive out in an alley and passes out. Speaking of passing out, Molly's really ill, so Mohinder gives her another transfusion. She recovers enough to locate Sylar in Isaac's loft. Bennet calls his daughter and learns that she's with her birth family; he convinces her to stay with them because she'll be safer. Bennet tells Matt that they have to find Peter, but Matt just wants to go shoot Sylar a whole bunch.
Peter wakes up to find himself in the greenhouse on top of the Deveaux building. He watches himself wheel Simone's father out onto the roof. They're accompanied by Mama Petrelli. Simone comes out and chats with Past Peter about dying and heroism and it's really sweet. Future Peter then listens in on his mother's conversation; Mr. Deveaux sings Peter's praises while Ma Petrelli basically says her youngest son sucks. She leaves and Mr. Deveaux announces that he knows Peter is there. Ando goes to kill Sylar, but he fucks that up. Fortunately, Hiro shows up and saves him. Meanwhile, Niki comes upon Micah's prison and Candice is there, pretending to be Jessica. She's also creating the illusion that Micah's injured or dead. Matt stupidly goes after Sylar and finds a painting that points him to Kirby Plaza and the death match between Sylar and Peter. Claire learns that the Petrellis know all about the explosion and are doing nothing to stop it. She jumps out the window to avoid a future with this fucked-up and twisted family.
Niki and Candice crash around the room a bit, with Niki on the receiving end of an ass-whupping. Luckily, Niki gets a glimpse of the real Jessica in a shard of mirror and realizes that Candice is a big fat faker. So she whomps her and rescues her son. Hiro takes Ando back to Japan and leaves him there. Peter talks to Mr. Deveaux and learns the truth. Peter is going to save the world because he can love, and, in the end, all that really matters is love. Bennet wakes Peter up and tells him that he's sticking around to shoot him in case he can't control the radioactivity. Bennet tells Peter to call him by his first name. Noah. HA!
Mohinder, Molly, D.L., Niki, and Micah join up and manage to escape from Linderman's guards. Down in the plaza, Peter and Bennet look for Sylar. They don't have to search long; he's right behind them. He tosses Bennet across the plaza and faces off with Peter. Time stands still. No. Not really. Sylar TK's Peter, then Matt shows up and shoots at Sylar, but Sylar just reverses the bullets onto Matt. Mo, Niki, D.L., and the Superkids exit the building and start to run off, but Mo goes to help Matt. Sylar hits Peter with a parking meter, but Niki intervenes and knocks him down. Score! An old-fashioned brawl begins with Peter and Sylar, but Peter's hands start glowing, so he freaks. Hiro shows up just in time with his trusty sword. He stabs Sylar through the heart. He goes down. Peter's hands are still glowing, though, so he asks Hiro to stop time. In his last dying gasp, Sylar TK's Hiro through the air, so Hiro has to teleport out of there to save himself.
Peter's still going to blow up. Claire runs up and Bennet hands her the gun. She walks to Peter and aims. He tells her to do it. She can't. Peter says there is no other way. But then Nathan flies down out of the sky and says there is. He says that Peter saved the cheerleader so that they could save the world. Nathan grabs his brother and they fly off into the sky so that Peter can detonate in space. Oh. My. God. Both Peter and Nathan are dead! AIEEEE! Volume One of the series ends and...Volume Two begins with Hiro landing in a field in Japan. Hundreds of years ago. During an eclipse. Oh, holy crap I can't wait for season. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Previously on Heroes: The entire season happened. No, really. That's what the previouslys are on this episode. We get an entire story arc on every important character we've come across during the past year. It's kind of awesome. It's also kind of tedious to recap, especially since I'm typing this in the Poconos on a computer that is not my own because somewhere between my apartment and the road trip, I managed to lose the flash drive with the nearly-done recap on it. That's right. I might be drinking right now. It might be 10:30 AM. On a Saturday. You heard me.
So, whatever, Heroes, powers, special, history, read the recaps, it's all in there, including how cute Milo Ventimigilia is and how all the Heroes are either hot or cute or lickable and how Linderman is evil and how Bennet is now kind of awesome. The unwelcome return of the Moyawnder voice-over is making my tongue itch, so I'll just sum it up for you in a quick run-on sentence: Why are we here, what is our purpose, what's the point of asking questions, maybe we should just let the show flow over us and enjoy it, who will hold our hand when the bad times come, who will touch our hearts and share the pain of trying, Sendhil Ramamurthy is hot. Did I miss anything? No? Great.
For tonight's episode, the final one of the season, we begin with a slight repeat of the scene between Niki and D.L. and Linderman wherein Jessica leaves, Niki shows up, she and D.L. hug, Linderman fires his gun, D.L. jumps in front of his estranged wife, falls to the ground, and then recovers enough to phase his fist into Linderman's brain, effectively killing the old bastard. D.L. grunts and falls to the ground and Niki goes to him, asking why he didn't just phase around the bullet so that it hit her. Because he loves you, duh, Niki. Guards clamor at the door and D.L. implores Niki to leave him behind. She refuses and tells him to pull it together so he can phase them through the wall. Of course, the second the guards make it into the room, they're totally gone, so it would appear that D.L. retained enough of his powers to do one last phase.
We get another slight repeat of the Thompson death scene, which I like to think is the writers' way of saying, "Thanks for watching." Because this scene is all kinds of awesome. "What am I thinking now, Parkman?" "Your last thought!" BAM! Kick. Ass. So, Bennet and Parkman head into the lab to find the Walker System and, of course, they come across little Molly Walker cowering behind her bed. Bennet points his gun at her, Parkman is horrified, and Mohinder smacks him in the head with something and takes his gun and there's a considerable amount of gun waving going on. Bennet insists that by killing Molly, he'll save thousands of lives, but Mohinder's not taking any of his shit. Molly's his girl now (ew! Not like that, pervs!), and he won't allow any harm to come to her. While they're arguing, Molly goes to scoot under the bed to hide and sees poor Matt on the ground. "Officer Parkman?" she gasps in surprise. "Molly?" he says, coming to. Bennet and Mohinder: "ERRRRUUUUMMMM?" Molly informs the gunslingers that Officer Matt saved her from the bogeyman and swore that he wouldn't let anything happen to her. Matt sort of shrugs and says that he certainly did promise that and therefore, no one's getting shot here today.
Ancient Sword Repair Shop. Hiro and his father exit the shop. Hiro's all concerned about Ando running off to kill Sylar. Hiro thinks Ando will die. Daddy Hiro agrees. Hiro doesn't want to abandon his buddy. Daddy Hiro couldn't care less. All he's worried about is Hiro completing his mission to save the world from batshit crazy Sylar. But Hiro wants to run after his boyfriend. Daddy Hiro is like, "You suck then." Hiro is like, "I totally don't suck just because I want to save my friend whom I'm totally not in love with." Daddy Hiro is like, "Sadly, I beg to differ." Hiro is like, "I'm really talented! I can go save Ando AND kill Sylar! I can do it all!" Daddy Hiro is like, "Whatevs. Here's your sword. Make me proud." Hiro is like, "Teleport."
Cut to the chyron, "How to Stop an Exploding Man," which is superimposed on a big-ass palette of paint. Sylar's vision-painting again, only this time, we get to kind of "see" what he sees behind his foggy white eyeballs. Images swirl across the blank canvas as Sylar appears to interpret them. Images also flick across the blank canvases of his eyes, but they're so fast they're hard to catch. What he sees must not be to his liking, however, because the second his vision clears, he goes, "PETER PETRELLI!" And then tosses some TK at the painting of Peter dropping off a building, slicing it in half. Leave the canvases alone, Sylar. They're not hurting you. Stop the innocent slaughter of canvases, you reprobate!
Total Eclipse of the Heroes for the last time until season! Gah!
After the break, we catch up with Nathan, who, instead of celebrating his landslide victory with cake and champagne, is just sulking around his office, glowering into any available reflective surface. His mother enters and informs him that Linderman's dead. Nathan gets this look on his face like, "Oh, shit. Mayhaps I shouldn't have told Niki and her husband where to find him, then." Ma Petrelli doesn't seem to notice the guilty look on her son's face, and she just tells him that Linderman was murdered, but this doesn't change anything about their plans to make him President. Then she walks over and puts her hands all over his back in this way that is either indicative of a secret incestuous crush she has for her eldest child or some heretofore unknown superpower she has that somehow requires her to get all handsy with people. Seriously, she comes up behind him and flattens both hands on his back in this really creepy way. Maybe it's just because she has bright red talons for nails, but still -- it's really unnecessary. Nathan thinks so too because he turns around right away and just tells her that he agrees that this changes nothing and the world is going to need him after the explosion, so he's still totally on board with the President Nathan plan. Ma Petrelli then grabs his face and kisses him on the forehead, even though she might really want to lick his lips or something because OH MY GOD WHAT IS WRONG WITH HER? I mean, I want to lick Nathan's lips too, but I didn't give birth to him!
Kirby Plaza. Again. Some more. Niki and D.L. are shuffling around, trying to find Micah. D.L. tells her to leave him behind because he's just dragging her down. She once again refuses to leave him, but D.L. insists. Niki pulls that, "I'm toooo weeeaaaak!" bullshit that she used to do back before Jessica took over and I'm just telling you right now, if this character comes back season, she better be on board with the idea that it's HER who has the superstrength, not her fucking alter ego, because this whining crap was old twenty goddamned episodes ago, so it's not like it's going to get more INTERESTING season. At any rate, D.L. tells her that she's the strong one, and always has been, and Niki seems to buy into this, so she kisses him and tells him to stay put, which, hi, he has a bullet in his gut, I don't think he's going anywhere, and then she runs off to find her son.
Elsewhere in Kirby Plaza, Mohinder and Bennet are attempting to drag Thompson's dead body out of the hallway and into the lab. What follows is this hilarious scene practically out of an early Coen brothers movie, wherein Bennet and Mohinder basically bicker like an old married couple at each other. Bennet's like, "We gotta hide the body so the guards don't wise up to us." Mohinder's like, "Perhaps you should have thought of this BEFORE you busted a cap in his ass." Bennet's like, "HE WAS GOING TO SHOOT PARKMAN. AND ME." Mohinder's like, "And Molly? Was that self-defense too when you screeched into her room and pointed a FIREARM at her?" Bennet's like, "Dude. I didn't know she was a KID. Also? She's dangerous." All this time, they're struggling to maneuver Thompson's body across the floor and into a big toxic waste container. Hee. "You're gonna have to learn to start trusting me, Dr. Suresh," says Bennet as he picks up Thompson's feet. "Yes, because that's worked out for me pretty well before," spits Mohinder, picking up Thompson's head. Hee.
Bennet says that the organization he used to work for used to have standards and morals and a guiding mission; now, however, it's just gone straight to hell and is run by a bunch of sneaky, murderous bastards. Mo picks up immediately on the "used to" part of Bennet's speech and questions it. Bennet's like, "Yeah, I used to punch in on their time clock, but now? All I care about is my family." Mohinder's like, "All I care about is Molly. And I won't let her be used for evil means. She can do good in this world." Bennet says that if the OWI gets their hands on her, he won't have a choice in the matter. Mohinder declares that because she has his antibodies running around in her system, he's responsible for her. That's when Matt runs in and says that something's wrong with Molly.
Bennet's phone rings and it's Claire. She tells him that they're still in New York and that Sylar got Ted's brain. Bennet's like, "Well, there goes Plan A, then." He tells her to put Peter on the phone. After I recover from a bout of giggles brought on by the ludicrous sight of Milo Ventimigilia with a bright pink Sidekick held to the side of his face, I'm able to concentrate on the scene at hand. Bennet tells Peter that since he has Ted's power now, he's the only one who can possibly stop Sylar. Peter stoically takes this news and just says, "Now all we have to do is find him. Any idea where we start?" He's very sexy in this moment, even while talking into that stupid bubblegum phone. Bennet says he has a tracking system they can use, but that it's being fixed right now; as soon as it's up and running, he'll call Peter back with Sylar's whereabouts. "Whatever you do, you keep Claire safe," says Bennet. They hang up.
Peter immediately drives into a parking garage. Claire's like, "What the hell are we doing in a garage?" Peter doesn't answer, but it soon becomes clear what they're doing there when he parks in front of a still-glowering Nathan. Is he in a permanent bad mood or what? Lighten up, Nathan! You're about to become the leader of the free world! Peter holds up his finger to Nathan in the universal sign of "Just gimme a minute here" as Nathan stares at them both. Claire's pissed. She thinks Peter lied to her and that they can't trust Nathan. Peter says they can and that Nathan's never let him down. He hasn't, really, but that doesn't mean you should trust him, Peter. The guy's constantly one step away from shady, dude. "Think about it, Claire," says Peter. "We can't do this alone." "No, YOU think about it!" Claire snaps at him. Hee. I love it when she gets all bitchy on him. Claire thinks Peter's being a tool. She says that Nathan doesn't care about anyone except himself. "He doesn't care about ME and I'm his own daughter!" Good point, Claire. Peter finally gets to the truth of the matter and says that he's afraid and he needs his brother to help them. He overhears Claire's thoughts, but since they're just a rehash of the "You lied to me" variety, they're not all that noteworthy.
Peter gets out of the car and goes over to his brother. Nathan asks what the emergency is and Peter tells him that it's Sylar who's the bomb, not him. Peter has to stop him from exploding. Or something. He tells Nathan that he knows this is a lot to process, but it's real, and they have to stop it. Hey, Peter, since Nathan knows he can fly, knows you can absorb powers, has a daughter who can regenerate, and watched Linderman make his wife walk again, I think it's safe to assume that he's already pretty damn sure all this shit is real. Nathan asks Peter what the hell he expects him to do about all this and Peter just pleads with his brother to help him. Nathan pulls Peter off into the foreground so that Claire can escape from the car and run off. There's really no other reason for this move.
Nathan tells Peter that Claire shouldn't be involved in all this because she's just a kid. Peter says that she has to stay with him because if they find Sylar and Peter can stop him and something goes wrong with Peter, Claire's the only person who can stop Peter. You get that? Nathan says that Peter will be fine and Peter looks at him like, "Wait -- you know something I don't?" Nathan, who has insider information, gets this look on his face like, "Um. Wow. I probably shouldn't have revealed that. Lemme just cover by saying that Peter can regenerate, which he totally told me, so he probably can recover from a bomb explosion." That's when Peter hears Nathan's thoughts and they say, "There's nothing you can do to stop it, Peter. They're all gonna die." Peter is horrified. He backs away from his brother. "Claire was right about you." Claire, meanwhile, has made it to an exit, but unfortunately, the Big Bad Grandmother Wolf is there to stop her. Peter turns to look for Claire and sees that she's missing. He runs after her, with Nathan following, but Peter goes invisible, leaving Nathan with no brother to chase. Peter runs out into the alley behind the garage and his hands start glowing. He hyperventilates, unable to control them. He promptly passes out, so tragedy is avoided for the time being.
Speaking of passing out, Molly's in bed with the Three Unwise Men hovering over her. Bennet would really appreciate it if the kid would wake up and start finding Sylar. Mohinder would really appreciate it if Bennet would stick it up his ass and have some patience because the kid just received a hefty dose of Mohinder Life Serum and she's still recovering from it. Molly wakes up and asks if they're talking about the bogeyman. They say they are. She says she can tell them where he is. They hand her an atlas and a push pin. Matt asks if she can find anyone in the world and she says, "Almost anyone." There's only one person she doesn't want to find and he's worse than the bogeyman because when she thinks about him, he sees her. She whispers this last part and it's really creepy, so I'm thinking that we might have our new villain for season somewhere in that statement.
So Molly does her finding thing, which seems to involve her fluttering her eyes a lot and thinking of Sylar. She locates him in New York, of course, on the Lower East Side. And, even though she's looking at an atlas, not a Streetwise New York map, Matt identifies Sylar's precise location, down to the damn STREET he's on. Bennet immediately recognizes this as the area where Isaac Mendez lives. Bennet calls Claire and Peter, only Ma Petrelli picks up the phone instead. Bennet's all, um, when did my daughter get so old? And rude? Ma Petrelli identifies herself as Claire's grandmother and says that Claire's with her family where she belongs. "I'm her family!" shouts Bennet territorially. "No, you're the man we gave her to to look after and keep safe," she coldly says to him. "A job you haven't done particularly well." Bennet asks what they're going to do with his daughter, and she just says they're going to take her somewhere safe. She suggests he get somewhere safe as well, seeing as there isn't much time. Bennet asks to say goodbye to Claire.
Claire gets on the phone and assures her dad that she's fine and that she's going to try to get the hell away from this whack-ass crazy family as soon as is humanly possible. Bennet tells her not to bother and says that she's at least safe with them, which is more than he can say for Peter or himself. He says that as soon as she's safely out of the city, she should try to get away. He wants to find Peter, but Claire has no idea where he is. She asks if Bennet has a plan, and he unconvincingly says he does. They tell each other "I love you" and ring off. Matt enters and Bennet tells him their new priority is to find Peter Petrelli. Matt thinks his only priority is to go find Sylar and fill him full of bullets. Bennet thinks this is stupid because, hi, Sylar's a bad-ass and only Peter can stop him and Sylar will probably make Matt dead within seconds of coming into contact with him. Matt's just all forced bravado and is like, "We'll see about that." Yeah. Guess we will, Officer Dumb-ass.
Meanwhile, Peter comes to in the alley, only he's not in the alley anymore, he's in the greenhouse on the rooftop of the Deveaux building. It's in the past, though, because everything is fresh and clean and still intact instead of ruined and dilapidated and filled with grumpy invisible men. Peter watches as his past self comes out onto the rooftop with Richard Roundtree in a wheelchair. Ma Petrelli is there too. Peter parks Shaft at a table, and Ma Petrelli takes a seat opposite him. Peter walks off and runs into Simone in the doorway. They introduce themselves and move toward the greenhouse. Future Peter ducks and weaves, trying to hide from them, but it soon becomes clear that either this is a dream, or he's invisible, because neither of them acknowledge his presence, even when they're looking right at him.
Past Peter and Simone share a flirtatious little moment in the doorway of the greenhouse, but then they start talking about death and nursing and it kills the mood. Future Peter listens in as Simone thanks Past Peter for being a nurse and taking care of her dying father, even though it must be hard. Past Peter says that nursing is easy; dying is hard. He tries to boost Simone's spirits by saying that her father's final days don't have to be sad; they can be beautiful. Simone looks like she'd like to hit him and then kiss him. Or maybe vice versa. Past Peter says that dying is the one thing that connects us all and Simone calls him a hero for tending to dying strangers. Then she takes his hand and says she's going to show him the house and get him settled in. Past Peter looks like she just said, "Come inside and watch me take my clothes off while you eat a bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy, big guy." They leave, giving Future Peter a chance to concentrate on the more important conversation happening at table six out on the patio.
Shaft Deveaux and Ma Petrelli seem to be discussing the Petrelli boys. Deveaux thinks that if her boys had powers, she'd know it already. He asks about Nathan, and she says that Linderman has declared that Nathan will be ready when the time comes. Deveaux says that Linderman might be banking on the wrong Petrelli son and that Peter has compassion and empathy and heart, which is what this world needs; not the strength that Ma Petrelli seems to value so highly in her eldest boy. Ma Petrelli exhibits her ice-cold heart when she says, "Don't get me wrong, I love Peter, but that poor kid can barely get out of his own way. He's ruled by insecurities. He's weak. No. Trust me. This bomb is going to go off. And Nathan is going to be the one the world turns to." Deveaux thinks the tragedy might not be inevitable and Ma Petrelli just says that, at the end of all this, one of them will be right and one of them will be wrong. Well, that's helpful. Peter watches all this with a stunned expression on his face. Ma Petrelli kisses Deveaux on the forehead and leaves. "I know you're there, Peter," says Deveaux, looking in Peter's general direction. Peter looks at him like, "D'oh!"
Superstudio. Ando enters with his borrowed samurai sword brandished. He looks terrified, but stalwart. He moves through the room and comes across a painting of Sylar and Peter facing off against each other in Kirby Plaza. We know it's Kirby Plaza because there's that big red helix sculpture in the background. Oh, and also because the words "KIRBY PLAZA" are actually scrawled across the top of it. Because how will anyone know where they are if they can't READ IT FOR THEMSELVES? Ando gets closer to the painting and slips in what looks like blood. I know there are debates raging about whether or not this actually is blood, but it's glossy and wet and when seen from above, it looks remarkably similar to the patch of blood that appears later in the episode (you know what I mean) and I think if it's not blood, it's some really high-gloss oil paint there because it's seriously viscous.
So Ando slips in it and gets this "oh shit" look on his face and, sure enough, Sylar's right behind him, looking all evil and stuff. Ando spins around and tries to use his sword, but Sylar just TK's it out of his hands and across the room. Sylar grabs him by the neck and TK's him up against the opposite wall. Ando chokes. Sylar looks amused as he picks up The Last Comic that fell out of Ando's jacket. "A comic book that predicts the future," sneers Sylar. "What will they think of ?" He pages through it and laughs as he comes across the final panel of him being stabbed by Hiro. He's like, "Oh, sure -- this is how I'm going to die? At the hands of a silly little anime character? I don't THINK so!" Ando's like, "Hiro's not silly! He's cute! Also? YOU CAN'T TAKE MY BRAIN." Sylar's like, "Oh, PLEASE. Like I want YOUR BRAIN. Do you do anything other than run around after your little buddy? No? No powers? KEEP YOUR BRAIN." Heh. Also? I love the way Zachary Quinto says "Braaaaaain." He's totally shouting out to us, y'all.
Sylar demands to know where Peter Petrelli is, but Ando has no idea. So Sylar starts TK-ing him somewhere on his body -- I really have no idea what he's doing, but Ando looks increasingly uncomfortable, whatever it is. Hiro shows up just then and, even though his father gave him a sword, he has to pick up the sword Sylar flung across the room. I...don't know. Hiro orders Sylar to let Ando go and Sylar just turns. "I don't think I'm going to," he says in his best serial killer drawl. "All you have to do is stop time before I slit his throat. Can you do that little trick?" Hiro lowers his sword and there's a pause. Then he blinks, disappears, and reappears to Ando. He blinks again and they both disappear. Sylar's like, "DAMMIT! Foiled again! If it weren't for those pesky kids!"
Uch. Time to go back to Niki and the Neverending Search for Micah. She tries a bunch of doors and finally comes across one that's ajar. She enters and there sits...Jessica, looking fabulous as always. Niki's confused. We're not, because we know it's Candice, but Niki's never been the sharpest tack in the pack, so she's thinking her alter ego has somehow separated from her. "Look what you did, Niki," trills Candessica. Niki looks around and sees Micah, face down on the floor. Candessica taunts Niki and calls her weak and useless and then she kicks her in the face.
Superstudio. Matt enters with his gun drawn, but no one's there. He sees all the paintings Isaac did of the future and he recognizes several people and situations. Then he notices the blood, which we now see is dripping off the bottom of the painting Sylar did of the Final Showdown at Kirby Plaza, so I guess it's...not blood? Or it's Sylar's blood? Or it's just really red paint that looks like Sylar dipped his brush into a bucket of pig's blood? The hell? Matt finally learns to read and sees the KIRBY PLAZA splashed across the canvas and he runs off. Gee, that was a productive scene. And so necessary too! We cut to Kirby Plaza where Mohinder is telling Molly that they need to get out of there because Matt called and he thinks Sylar is on his way. Molly does her creepy searching thing and says that Sylar's not on his way; he's already there.
Landslide Victory Headquarters. Ma, Nathan and Claire enter his office and Ma says that the helicopter will be picking them up from the roof in ten minutes. "When the jet lands tomorrow morning, you'll be safe," she says to Claire. "But everyone else will be dead," says her granddaughter. Nathan and Ma Petrelli exchange a long look and Claire can't believe that neither of them are going to do anything to stop this. Ma Petrelli explains that it's inevitable, but Claire shouts that the future isn't set in stone. Nathan fears that this future is. "If everything is so inevitable," says Claire to Nathan, "then why has she been trying to keep us apart all these years?" Nathan looks to his mother with an expression of, "Hmmmm" on his face. "There are things you simply aren't mature enough to understand yet," says Ma Petrelli. The girl can stab herself in the eye with a fork and grow a new eyeball, lady, how mature do you think she is? She's been almost raped, died more than once, and watched several people around her explode and/or get stabbed in the head with glass, let's try to give her the benefit of the doubt, you bitch.
Claire tearfully asks how she can let her own son die like this, and Nathan says that Peter won't die. "Thanks to you," says Ma Petrelli, "Peter has the ability to survive." "So he lives," says Claire, "and kills millions of people. How can you let him be responsible for something like that? And how can you live with yourself if he is?" This last question she directs at Nathan, who's looking increasingly unnerved by her questions. Nathan just moves to her and says that this is all going to make sense very soon, he promises. Ma Petrelli reaches out and says that they're offering her everything she's ever wanted; a place to belong, a family. Then she looks at Nathan and they have another one of their staring contests until finally, Claire moves into Nathan's arms and hugs him. Ma Petrelli looks smugly pleased with herself. And then the most awesome thing happens. Claire says, "I already have a family." AND JUMPS OUT THE WINDOW. It's so fucking cool. She just dives right out and splats onto the pavement below. Ma Petrelli and Nathan run to the window and watch as Claire slowly gets up, brushes glass off of herself and just walks away. "I know what you're thinking," says Ma Petrelli. "Let her go, Nathan." Actually, Mommie Fearest, I think he's thinking, "Damn. If Claire hates us that much, maybe we AREN'T nice people and maybe I SHOULD save the world instead of becoming pres-o-dent."
Cut to Candessica and Niki, ass-kicking currently in progress. Niki's basically just taking the beating and not fighting back at all. Fortunately, Candessica hits Niki into a mirror, shattering its pieces onto the floor. While Candessica takes a bit of a breather, the real Jessica appears on one of the glass pieces and tells Niki that that's not her and she has to stop her. Niki ONCE AGAIN whines that she's not strong enough and Candessica hears this. "Who the hell are you talking to?" Suddenly, Niki pulls back her arm and lands a punch square on Candessica's face, throwing her back about twenty feet into the air. Niki looks at her hands, all surprised, even though, back in the prison, she totally had a moment of superstrength that she couldn't attribute to Jessica, so I don't know why she doesn't just get over this shit already and start kicking multiple asses on a daily basis.
Anyway, with Candice down for the count, the illusion she created just melts away and Niki sees her for who she really is: some chick passed out on the floor. Micah shouts for his mother from elsewhere in the apartment and Niki runs to find him locked in a closet. She easily wrenches it open and Micah asks if it's really her. She catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror and sees that it's just her. They embrace and it looks like Niki's finally integrated Jessica into her personality. Now maybe she'll stop whinging about not being strong and shit.
Out in one of the hallways, Mohinder and Molly are trying to get out of the building without running into Sylar. They come across D.L. and, even though Molly warns that he could be a bad guy, Mohinder, ever the healer, says he needs to help the fallen man. He says they need to get him out of there, so Molly goes to hit the elevator button. It's not working. Mohinder tells her to keep an eye out for guards or bogeymen. Cut to Yamagato Industries in Japan. Hiro and Ando appear out of nowhere and no one seems to notice. Ando excitedly tells Hiro that he was faster than Sylar. Hiro says he'll go back now to finish his task. Ando wants to come too. Hiro puts Ando's sword down on his desk because he has his daddy's sword strapped to his back, even though he totally didn't have it in the scene with Sylar, so I'm not entirely sure where the hell he got it. Anyway, Hiro says that he has to finish this journey alone. Ando says he's not afraid. Hiro knows he isn't, but he still has to go alone. Ando says that, one day, people will tell the story of Hiro Nakamura. Hiro smiles and hands Ando his father's sword so that Ando will know he'll be back. Ando thinks that this means Hiro won't be able to kill Sylar, but Hiro says that it's not the sword, it's the man. "This man is ready," he says. "Hiro," says Ando, "You look bad-ass." Hee.
Deveaux Rooftop. Peter's still in his coma-induced dreamtime. Deveaux says, "Invisibility -- always thought that that'd be a good one to have." Peter asks if this is a dream or if he's time-traveling. Deveaux doesn't think it matters; all that matters is that Peter's there. Actually, it does kind of matter, but I think the writers were out getting an end-of-season drink during the story meeting for this scene. Deveaux says that Peter came there because he needed to hear the truth before he could save the world. "I save the world?" Peter says in surprise. "You've had the power all along, Peter," says Deveaux. "You just needed to learn how to use it." "Why me?" asks Peter. "Because there has to be someone who's good," says Deveaux. "There always has. And your heart has the ability to love unconditionally. Like I told you, in the end, all that really matters is love." Deveaux looks off into the house and yells out that he's tired. Past Peter comes out to get him and they exit as the camera spins around on Future Peter's face. We hear Bennet shouting his name over and over again.
Cut to Peter, in the alley, coming to. He grabs Bennet and demands to know where Claire is. Bennet tells her she's safe with Peter's family. Peter tells him to get out of town, but Bennet says he's sticking by him because he saved Claire's life. "I told you I owed you for that," says Bennet. "Consider this payback." Peter worries that if he can't stop himself from exploding, no one will be there to take care of him and save New York. Bennet holds up his gun. "I'll put you down myself," he says with a terse smile. "Don't worry. I'm a pretty good shot." "Thank you, Mr. Bennet," says Peter. "Call me Noah," says Bennet. HAHAHAHA. I will never call him Noah, thank you very much. He will always be Bennet to me. Heh. They walk off to find Sylar in Kirby Plaza.
At the same time, Molly's telling Mohinder that the guards are coming. Niki appears with Micah and they both run to D.L. Mohinder says that they have to go right NOW. Niki walks over and easily removes the door knob from the door, making it difficult for the guards to enter. I like her now that she has her strength and knows how to use it! They all run to the elevator, where Molly tells Micah that it won't work. "Yes it will," says Micah. He puts his hand to the button and the elevator arrives. Niki easily lifts up her husband and she and Mohinder get everyone onto the elevator. The doors close just as the guards arrive.
Down in the plaza, Peter and Noah (ha!) are looking around for Sylar, but they see nothing. Peter then observes that Sylar might be hiding in plain sight, by which I think he means that Sylar might be invisible. This would mean that Sylar had to have killed Claude, which might explain the blood all over the superstudio. I don't know. I'm grasping at straws here. Either it was blood or it wasn't, but if it wasn't, then how is that Sylar shows up right now without anyone seeing him and he's directly behind Bennet as if he's been there all along? He taps Bennet on the shoulder and immediately TK's him across the plaza, smashing him against a pole. Peter backs off until he's standing opposite Sylar with some space between them. "What took you so long?" Sylar sneers with a teeny upturn of his mouth. Heh.
Let the endgame begin.
Sylar: "Haven't I killed you before?" Peter: "Didn't take." Hee. Sylar laughs for a millisecond, then "grabs" Peter by the throat with TK. Peter starts choking. Sylar: "You think I'm gonna let you ruin it all? Take all the glory?" Bennet is struggling to get his breath back; he might have several hundred broken ribs. Just then, Matt shows up and starts firing away at Sylar. Somehow, Sylar is powerful enough to keep Peter in a chokehold while using TK to stop Matt's bullets in mid-air. He grabs and twists them until they fire back at Matt, hitting him simultaneously in the center of his chest. He goes down. And yes, there is blood leaking from his chest, so I think those of you out there who thought maybe Matt was wearing a Kevlar vest might want to rethink that.
Mohinder and his motley crew come racing out of the building. They're all about to run to safety when Mo sees Matt in the distance. He runs to tend to Matt's wounds. Sylar still has Peter in his chokehold. He reaches out for a parking meter, just as Niki is covering D.L. with her coat. She sees Sylar clearly getting ready to kill Peter, so she gets up and runs over to him. Sylar gets the parking meter and hits Peter with it. Sylar: "Did you really think you could stop me?" He raises the meter in the air, intent on delivering a killing blow, but Niki's there and she stops him by grabbing the meter out of his hands and hitting him in the mid-section, HARD. He drops like a sack of wet noodles. Micah hollers out to Niki that D.L. needs her. Peter grits at her, "Go back to your family. I got this." She tosses aside the meter and runs back to her husband and child.
Peter walks right over to Sylar and hits him in the face once, twice, three times a lady. It's clear that Peter's absorbed Niki's powers. He hits Sylar a fourth time, but Sylar just starts laughing and laughing and laughing. Peter's hands start glowing, and I think that Sylar somehow knew that if Peter got overloaded with powers and also allowed his anger to get the better of him, he'd get taken over with the radioactivity and explode. Peter staggers off and Sylar gets to his feet. "Turns out you're the villain, Peter," he sneers. "I'm the hero." Peter tries to breathe and control the radioactivity, but it's not working.
Suddenly, Hiro appears. "Sylar!" he calls. Sylar turns. "You..." is all Sylar says. Before Sylar can even react, Hiro just runs forward and stabs him through the heart. "Yatta!" says Hiro, breathing heavily. He pulls out his sword and Sylar stumbles a bit, and then finally falls to the ground, supposedly dead. Peter calls out for Hiro and they run to each other. "You can stop this," says Peter. "I need you to kill me!" But before Hiro can even lift his sword, Sylar raises his head and delivers one last TK before (possibly) dying. Hiro goes flinging off through the helix sculpture and manages to teleport himself out of there just before he hits a building. Peter looks over at Sylar and we see Sylar's eyes go white again and the scenes flash across them, ending with what we're supposed to assume is Sylar's death (although the jury's still out on that one, I think).
Peter's hands are still glowing and he can't stop them. He drops to his knees and time slows down. All the people surrounding him watch as they wonder if this is their last moment on earth. Claire comes careening into the plaza. She goes to her father and he looks at her. She takes the gun from him and runs over to her uncle. He's getting worse. He stands up as Claire takes aim. "Do it," says Peter. "DO IT! You're the only one, Claire!" "Tell me there's another way, please!" she says, crying. "Shoot me!" he tells her. "There is no other way!" Suddenly, Nathan swoops down out of the sky and lands in front of his daughter. "Yes, there is, Claire," he says. OH MAN I JUST GOT CHILLS WATCHING THIS AND IT'S EIGHTY DEGREES OUTSIDE.
"The future isn't written in stone," Nathan says, gently pushing the gun down. "I took his power, Nathan," says Peter, his entire body pulsing with white-hot light. "I can't control it. I can't do anything." "I'm not leaving you, Peter," says Nathan, walking toward him. "There's another way to end this and you know it." "I can't let you die," says Peter. "And I can't let everyone else," says Nathan, turning to look at his daughter. He turns back to his brother. "You saved the cheerleader, so we could save the world." He kind of gives Peter a look that's like, "Come on, bro. You know we have to do this." Peter, in turn, gives him a look that's pure heart. "I love you, Nathan." "I love you too." ACK! Nathan glances up at the sky. "You ready?" Peter nods and Nathan moves quickly over to him and takes his brother in his arms. They fly up into the sky as everyone looks up after them. I can't see the screen of my iPod because my eyes are COVERED IN TEARS. Everyone but Mohinder and Matt get up on their feet and watch the sky as we see a nuclear explosion beyond the atmosphere. "What happened to them?" asks Niki. No one has an answer. Bennet turns to his daughter and they hug. Molly hugs Niki. D.L. hugs Micah. Sylar bleeds.
Later that evening, Mohinder and Molly watch as Matt gets wheeled into an ambulance. Molly runs to him. "Please don't die, Officer Parkman! You're my hero!" It sounds cheesy, but trust me, it's really effective. Matt's an ashen gray color, so I'm not sure if he's gonna make it. "We dream of hope, we dream of change," says the Moyawnder voice-over. "Of fire, of love, of death. And then it happens. The dream becomes real. And the answer to this quest, this need to solve life's mysteries, finally shows itself. Like the glowing light of a new dawn." What? What the hell does that mean? Shut up, Moyawnder.
Bennet sits down to his daughter, his arm in a sling. "Let's go home," he says. "Home where?" says Claire. "Our house burned down." It's more like it exploded, sweetie, but that's an excellent point. "Home is anywhere our family is together," says Bennet. "You've got a plan, right?" says Claire with an air of irritation. He just raises his chin at her and they share a smile. He puts his arm around her and they walk off as Moyawnder CONTINUES talking about NOTHING. "So much struggle for meaning," he says. "For purpose. And in the end, we find it only in each other. Our shared experience of the fantastic, and the mundane." The camera pans over the fountain, where we can clearly see the outline of the "S" symbol drawn in lights beneath the surface. We then see the patch of blood where Sylar fell and I can tell you right now, it looks like a wolf. And then it looks like he dragged himself over to a nearby sewer. The grate cover is askew. "The simple human need to find a kindred," continues Moyawnder. "To connect. And to know, in our hearts, that we are not...alone." The camera closes in on the sewer cover and we see the cockroach from the very first episode crawling all over another chyron: "END OF VOLUME ONE."
Fade out. And fade in on a blue sky with a falcon keening through it. Close up on a field of grass with a mountain range in the distance. "VOLUME TWO" says the chyron across the blades. "GENERATIONS" says the chyron across the blue sky as Hiro falls out of it and onto the grass with a "WHUMP!" He groans as he raises his head. And that's when he sees a dozen or so samurai warriors on horseback in the distance. They draw their arrows at him. He gets up to run but stops when he sees a lone samurai on the hill. He's carrying the Kensei sword and flying the "S" symbol on his flag. The warriors shout at him as their horses go crazy. "Dai pinch," is what it sounds like Hiro says. But the subtitles say, "@#!&##!" so I think we can assume that Hiro's saying the Japanese version of "Holy shit!" Yet another chyron tells us that it's 1671 and we're outside of Kyoto. Suddenly, a shadow falls over the sun and we see that there's an eclipse coming. Everyone looks up at the sky.