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Bennet's understandably freaked after seeing the ElderDeath painting of his own demise, and the only way he can think of to stop it is to prevent Claire's kiss in the painting's background. So he latches onto that, spooking Claire into trying to ditch West. It doesn't work, though, and she agrees to one conditional date. That goes pretty well, with a sweet moment atop (and hovering directly in front of) the Hollywood sign. Claire's cover story for her dad, so she can get away with continuing to see West? She made the cheerleading squad. Bennet says that's okay, as long as Claire promises not to date anyone. Claire agrees, lyingly, so Bennet feels safe in agreeing to accompany the Haitian Sensation to Odessa. The one in Ukraine, that is.
Maya, Alejandro, and their new stoner friend Derek nearly run over a derelict lying unconscious on the road. Guess who? It's Sylar, who is more than happy to assist the twins in their quest to find Papa Suresh. Especially when he finds himself present for a display of their respective powers and totally wins their trust. Oh, and he killed Derek, too, in case that isn't obvious.
Micah's host relatives have slightly more prosaic concerns. His cousin Monica is thwarted in her burger-management ambitions, and his other cousin Damon wants to catch the big wrestling match on pay-per-view. Micah's tech-fu only helps one of them. But the other one, Monica, may not need Micah's help, as she discovers her own power: she can do anything she sees somebody do on TV. Think she watches this show?
Matt's got problems at home and work; Molly's nightmares are getting worse, and Mama Petrelli has given a blatantly false confession to having killed Hiro's dad. So Matt enlists a newly shaven Nathan (who's still tortured by his disfigured reflection in the mirror) to help him continue the investigation and figure out what's really going on. That leads them to Nathan's copy of a photo of the ElderHeroes, a group that included not only Nathan's parents and Kaito Nakamura, but also Linderman, Deveaux, Tobby the Company Elf -- and Matt's dad. But when Matt shows Molly the photo to ask for her help finding his dad, she freaks. You guessed it -- Papa Parkman is her Nightmare Man. She eventually agrees to find Matt's dad for him, but at a high cost: in the course of tracing Papa Parkman to a third-floor apartment in Philadelphia, she winds up catatonic, while Matt hears her voice in his head screaming for help. Happy now, Parkman? Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Bennet sits at the kitchen table -- "Bennet House, Costa Verde, California," the subtitle helpfully informs us -- examining the JPG of his death foretold. In addition to his own bloody, mangled mug in the foreground and a cheerleader-skirted Claire getting kissed by a dark stranger in the background, the composition includes a lot of sky with a couple of unidentifiable objects zipping around either directly above Bennet's head or in the distant background, depending on their size. I hope they're not blowflies already. The missus and Mr. Muggles come in, prompting Bennet to close his laptop with his most innocent just lookin' at some porn, dear manner. Bennet ignores the wife's babbling about power-walking, because he's got a job this episode. And that job is to clumsily attempt to derail the prophecy of his own death, as fathers have been attempting to do ever since Oedipus's. It never works, but they're compelled to do it, if for no other reason than to make the inevitable end that much more poignant and ironic. Especially since they tend to do it stupid. To wit: Bennet asks his wife whether she knows if Claire's dating anyone. While they're discussing that, Claire herself comes downstairs, quickly realizing that something's in the air. She cringes when her dad brings up the subject of "boys," but it's not the sex talk -- it's her dad's warning that her getting involved with the wrong person could end up threatening the family. Claire all but accuses him of being paranoid, and Bennet quite reasonably says he would just want to meet any potential suitors, so he can help her decide whether they're trustworthy. When he puts it that way, Claire looks like she's considering it, then seems to remember that her dad already has met West, and a reunion probably wouldn't be a joyous one. So she says there are no boys in her life. Her parents seem to accept this. Bennet: 0; Prophecy: 1.
Manhattan skyline at night. Images of a table covered with sketches. One of those sketches shows an eye, and inside that eye is a golden "S" symbol. And Molly sits up in bed screaming. Matt bursts in instantly, followed by Mohinder. I happen to notice that neither of them is hastily buttoning his shirt or fixing his hair. So careful, they're being. Molly asks for water, but before Matt gets it, he has to have a quick, whispered conference in the doorway with Mo, while the little girl lies in bed recovering from her night-panic by herself. Matt says she's getting worse, and is up to two of these incidents per night now. Which has to be murder on her dads' sex life. Matt says that every time he tries to telepathically get into Molly's head during her terrors, he just gets pushed back. They snipe at each other like the sexually frustrated married couple they are, but neither of them has any idea what to do. Mo returns to Molly's bed and admits to her that he doesn't know when it's going to stop. But the lullaby he sings her in his native language would make any girl feel better. I think it's even working on me. If he would do that all the time instead of the voice-over (which is mercifully absent this week), I might watch this show more often.
Subtitle: "Nathan Petrelli, Washington D.C." Nathan stands outside the wrought-iron gate of a private school and calls out to his sons, who happily run over to talk to him through the bars, probably because they recognized the familiar voice coming out from behind the giant black shrubbery covering Nathan's face. They don't dig it, and he offers to shave it. They think that's a good idea. He's there to tell them that their grandmother's in the hospital, and they should have their mom help them call when they get home. Is he going to provide them with the name of the hospital, or is he just wanting to give Heidi a little project? Nathan promises them that he's coming home soon. A teacher comes up, saying that Nathan's not allowed to be there. Nathan puts on a brave face as he sends his kids back to the schoolyard to play. Or, more accurately, a brave half-face, as the half covered with Amazon rain forest pretty much takes care of itself.
Subtitle: "Maya, Alejandro & Derek, somewhere in Mexico." Maya sits in the shotgun seat of Derek's Nissan, while Alejandro rides in the back. There's some pointless (and sweaty) jibber-jabber about Derek being from New Jersey despite having California plates. Maya's glad to hear that their driver's going so close to New York, but Derek says they'll have to split up before the border, since they're all wanted. Maya is just translating this for Alejandro when Derek suddenly slams on the brakes, because someone's lying face-down on the dirt road in front of the car. They all climb out of the car and gather around the body, carefully rolling him over to reveal a familiar face. "Help me," Sylar gasps at them.
And here's the eclipse, to explain why Sylar doesn't look remotely sunburned after an unknown amount of time wandering in the desert.
This week's episode title is superimposed over a glass slat on a lovely louvered window. From there, the camera pans down to Micah's sleeping face, which is about to be rudely awakened. As in, with a glass of water and his cousin Damon yelling, "Wake up, fool!" Sometimes "rude awakening" is not just an expression.
Time for breakfast and exposition at Nana's table. Damon says he needs $65. "That's funny, so do I," Nana smirks. Micah's other cousin, Monica, comes in all excited about going to work today. And why's she in such a great mood, despite the dorky Burger Bonanza uniform she's rocking? The fact that she aced the test for the regional manager training program. Wouldn't she have to start by being an assistant regional manager, or even an assistant to the regional manager? Damon decides this means he can hit her up for the $65 instead. Except not. Monica tells Nana that Damon only wants it for a wrestling pay-per-view. Wow, pay-per-view got expensive in the decades since I last paid attention. What's Damon's plan, to roll up three twenties and a five and then stick them into the coaxial cable? Monica guilts Damon about all the people living in FEMA trailers, and Nana says that Damon is better off watching an "educational" cooking show, like the one she's got on. Monica glances over at the screen as the TV chef carves a rose out of a tomato (shout-out?) and scoffs, "Who's got time to do that?" "Unfortunately, I do," says Nana. Monica cringes at her little faux pas and takes off for work. Damon hostilely wonders why Micah's smiling at him, and Micah says he might know a way to get the pay-per-view for Damon. Only without the pay. Damon's listening.
Swoosh from New Orleans to New York, where Mama Petrelli sits in her hospital bed and confesses to the murder of Kaito Nakamura. Matt remarks that Mama Petrelli's wounds were shown to be self-inflicted. Mama Petrelli calmly claims that her mental state at the time prompted her to attack herself. Matt's clearly got his doubts. And then those doubts are confirmed when he hears Mama Petrelli's voice inside his head: Write down the statement and let it go, Parkman. Matt's doubtful, but Mama Petrelli's ambiguous (and verbalized) declaration that "the only way out of this is for me to confess" is enough for Matt's partner Fuller, who heads out to start the paperwork. To Matt, Angela telepaths, If they keep digging, they will find out about all of us and what we can do? Let it go. Matt blinks like he's trying to let go of a stray eyelash.
Claire's new high school, where one of the cheerleaders is trying to draft her for the squad. Only if they change the school colors to red and white. Claire in that Dillon Panthers blue would just look weird. Claire puts her off for now, but accepts the parental release form in case she changes her mind, even though she currently has no plans to do any such thing. Don't worry, that release form will go off in the final act.
in Claire's face is West, who's all thrilled about how well they connected the day before. You know, not like anyone cares what I think, but I say it would have been a lot more awesome if we hadn't known West could fly until he swooped her into the air. That would have been a great reveal. Even better than the Hero reveal we get this week, for sure. Claire's like, "Yeah, about that. We're done." West thinks something else is going on, despite Claire's assurances that she likes him. "You think I was abducted by aliens, right?" West says, pointing to the mark on his neck. "I told you, it was a guy with horn-rimmed glasses." "It's my dad," Claire blurts, and then covers that by saying he's just really overprotective. West offers to talk to her dad. Already did! Not that Claire can say that. West makes her a deal -- he'll back off tomorrow, but tonight, he'll take her wherever she wants to go. Claire agrees, and West dashes off, looking like he could fly now if he couldn't before.
Nathan's at the hospital to see Mama Petrelli. He has indeed shaved the beard, and I don't know why he put it off -- that jaw of his looks like he could shave it with four strokes from a meat cleaver. He still needs a haircut, though. He confronts Matt over questioning his mother under the circumstances, and Matt says that Mama Petrelli couldn't wait to confess, but Matt knows she's innocent. When Nathan asks how, Matt pulls him aside and quietly says, "Same way I know that you can fly." Nathan doesn't bother denying it, but he has new respect for Matt, and asks if he's reading his mind now. "No. Yes. Sorry," Matt says. Heh. Matt's point is that he wants to find out the truth, because he's got a nightmare-racked girl at home and he thinks it's all connected somehow with Mama Petrelli and the murder case. Yeah, he has no idea. Matt shows Nathan the evidence-bagged photos of Mama Petrelli and Kaito Nakamura with the S symbol lipsticked over their faces. Nathan recognizes the photograph, and an alliance is born; he agrees to help Matt find the truth. Nathan asks for five minutes alone with his mom first, and Matt reluctantly agrees.
Nathan heads into his mom's hospital room, where she's putting on her about-to-go-to-jail coat, and asks why she's confessing to something she didn't do. Mama Petrelli's had an attack of conscience, saying that Nathan was right about her. He wants to help her, but she wants to advise him instead: "Just because you shaved doesn't mean you're clean and sober. You still have to get yourself into a program. Get your family back. Don't let your children hate you. Not if you can help it." Getting in as much mothering as possible before she has to go off to the clink, I see. As for the confession, she says she's committed enough sins that getting punished for this one that she didn't do won't matter. She also recognizes that Nathan's really just looking for redemption for himself, and trying to help her will only get him killed. And she's not up for losing another son. They hug, and Matt and Fuller return to cuff her and stuff her.
Maya and Alejandro's little traveling party just keeps growing. Maya and Sylar sit in the back seat, while Alejandro rides shotgun and Derek wonders why Sylar's traveling so light. "I got robbed," Sylar says, his voice returning. He says he was out there for three days. Alejandro has Maya ask Sylar where he's going, and he says he's going home to New York. Maya excitedly says they're going to the same place. Sylar politely asks if they're visiting family there, and Maya demonstrates her secondary superpower: that of not being able to shut up. She busts out their battered Spanish-language edition of Papa Suresh's book, Activando la Evolucion, and tells Sylar that's who they're looking for. That's got Sylar's attention, to say the least. "This is a coincidence," he understates. He says he knows Dr. Suresh himself, and that they're old friends. "You helped me, now I can return the favor," he says. "I can take you to him." Maya's beyond thrilled as she translates for Alejandro, but her brother isn't so sure this is a good sign. Maya asks Sylar's name. He looks at his watch. The crystal is cracked and the hands are stopped at 11:53, hiding part of the name on the dial, so that for a second, I think he's going to tell them his name is S__ar. But he just tells them his real name, Gabriel Gray. "Like the angel," Maya gasps. There's an angel named Gray?
Subtitle: "Monica Dawson, Burger Bonanza, New Orleans." Monica's doing morning prep, singing "I Will Survive" as she slices the tomatoes. Her coworker/"friend" Camille asks her why she's in such a good mood, and ends up being kind of a buzzkill over Monica's ambitions, not to mention her eagerness to recover from Katrina. "It's not fair," Monica says. "One storm rolls in and blows away my whole life. My mother, my college education, my dreams." Her shame. Camille is still bringing her down, like becoming a Burger Bonanza manager is too lofty an ambition for common folk like them. And then Camille happens to look down at the tomato Monica's been working on. Because while it was outside of the frame, Monica appears to have transformed that grody sack of veggie guts into multi-petaled rose so delicate that it makes the one on Nana's TV earlier look like a bloody stool. But before they can marvel over that for too long, the manager asks for a convo with Monica.
Long story short, the manager tells Monica that she's "not qualified" for the management program. And it's not the test results -- it's because candidates have to be ready to work at any Burger Bonanza in the state, which he thinks doesn't work for Monica's family situation. Wait, is that even legal? Monica tries to explain that getting out of town is the whole point, and she can't make hamburgers for the rest of her life. The manager says she's good at her job, and should be happy to have one. So not helpful.
Dinner at the Bennets'. Mom is suggesting dessert at "that adorable yogurt place near the bus depot." Claire claims she has to go to the library for a research paper. "Haven't you ever heard of the internet?" Lyle snarks at her. Internet? What's that? Bennet listens with great interest as Claire spins a cover story about the paper being about libraries. Bennet offers her a ride, since she forgot that her car got stolen for reasons that have not yet been revealed. Claire quickly recovers from this unexpected wrinkle, and says she'll hoof it. Try not to get hit by a car! Because that would totally blow your cover.
So Claire walks to the corner, unaware that her dad is trailing her. As she disappears behind a bush, she pulls out her ponytail and shakes free her hair, which doesn't look at all like she's been wearing it that way all day. West says hi. Smiling, she says hi back. And when Bennet comes around the corner, they're both gone. He looks around, just as they pop up into the cloudless sky behind him and scoot off, unseen by him. I wonder if West ever nags his parents for a car, just to keep up appearances.
Nathan has invited Matt over to his temporary bachelor pad to look through some old photos, which he apparently took with him when he left home. As you do. Fortunately, he knows exactly the one they're looking for, a group shot of ten or twelve people that includes his parents, Kaito Nakamura (in regard to whom Nathan alludes to some history with his mom), Linderman, and Charles Deveaux. "A lot of them are dead now," Nathan suddenly realizes. Matt spots a picture of Nathan with his boys, and pries a little bit, which makes Nathan kind of uncomfortable. So Matt overshares about the breakup of his own marriage and his wife's pregnancy to try and even things out. "If you want to unload, go ahead," Nathan says, leaving unspoken the caveat that he won't be paying any attention. Matt tells an abbreviated version of his story -- LAPD, pregnancy, telepathy. Story time's over, though, because Nathan's found an intact copy of the group photo from which Angela's and Kaito's pictures were ripped. Nathan observes that half the people in the picture are dead (now, that is; they're not dead in the picture, because that would be macabre) and Matt speculates that the killer is one of the people in the picture. Nathan points out his parents, Deveaux, Linderman, Kaito, and Tobby (whom Nathan knows only as "Bob"). Those are the only ones Nathan knows. But Matt only has eyes for the smiling, beefy, gray-haired man on the right edge of the photo: "That's my father," he says. Dude. How many connections can you cram into one show, anyway?
Monica stares pensively into space, or maybe into the Katrina b-roll that seems to be playing behind her eyes. Camille comes to share a little break time at one of Burger Bonanza's tables, and to let Monica vent and express her conviction that she knows she's supposed to "be somebody." Camille tells her to take her time recovering from her losses in the storm, and Monica wonders if God's punishing her for wanting to get out of the city. Camille says that's pretty normal. Alas, "normal" is pretty much the last word Monica wants to hear about herself right now. Oh, don't worry, Monica -- this show will fix that good.
West and Claire are sitting outside somewhere as he gently mocks her for her choice of destination. "What can I say? I'm a cheap date," she says. And the camera pulls back to reveal that they are in fact perched on the middle O in the giant HOLLYWOOD sign. Nice. Someday this show is going to be able to resist an iconic image, and then we'll know it's over. Claire reminisces about the tower in Odessa she used to test her powers. She says her whole life there went away, and now she doesn't think she could ever open up to anyone again. West would like her to try, preferably with him. "I want to trust you," she says. So he tells her to jump. Ah. How will that help, exactly? "Trust begins with a leap," he says. "Cheesy but true." He's half right. Claire isn't up for it, at least not on a date: "No, it'll be gross. My arms pop out of their sockets and sometimes my feet come out facing each other, it's -- it's not cute." Yet somehow West talks her into it. She clambers to her feet, takes a deep breath, and pulls a Peg Entwistle. But before she belly-flops onto the hillside far below, West swoops in and catches her. Claire doesn't get it. "I know you can heal, Claire," he tells her, "but I never want to see you hurt." Dude, West has game. And then they make out in midair, hovering just in front of a spot between the two Os in WOOD. Don't tell me that shot wasn't framed that way on purpose. And the fact that they are literally between two big Os makes me wonder what else happened on that beach last week.
Damon skeptically watches Micah lay hands upon the TV. After a few moments, the screen lights up with illicit pay-per-view. Sure, it's only pro wrestling now, but if Damon is anything like my friends and I would have been under these circumstances, this variety of grappling is only beginning. But for now, Damon just congratulates Micah and settles in to watch. Just then, Monica comes home with a bag from Burger Bonanza. Spotting the screen (and seeing that Nana's asleep in her chair), she asks what's going on, and Damon's happy to call Micah "some kind of genius" and give him credit for fixing up the cable. Monica sits down at the kitchen table, looking defeated and miserable after the day she's had. Micah goes over to her and apologizes. Monica says she sympathizes with Micah's situation, but he has to follow the rules. Micah agrees. Monica brightens up and she gets up to get plates so the boys can eat their employee discount dinner in front of the TV. Micah goes to hug her. And it's a really long hug, as he holds his hand flat on her back like he's trying to fix her too. After a while, she asks if he's okay, and he says, "I just wish I could fix your dreams for you." Well, on the bright side, we know she's not a Cylon. Micah joins Damon on the couch, just as a wrestler on the TV throws a move that Damon identifies as a 619. I have no choice but to take Damon's word for it. It involves the wrestler running up to the ropes, swinging the lower half of his body horizontally outside of the ring, and then swinging back in so that his feet catch his opponent in the face. It's pretty slick. Even Monica notices, as we see the instant replay reflected in her frozen eyes. I knew something was going on here, but I hadn't yet figured out what. Don't worry, that comes later.
Matt paces the floor of Chez M3 with the ElderHeroes photo, waiting for his little family to come home. When they do, Matt gets right to the point, saying he wants Molly to find his father for him. In the sense that bloodhounds get a garment of their quarry to sniff, Matt provides Molly with a swatch of Papa Parkman backstory. "He left me when I was thirteen. Gave me $120 and a pat on the head." I would have bargained for $150 and no pat. Matt hasn't seen his dad since, and not for lack of trying. He says that Parkman, Sr. is a criminal who doesn't seem to want to be found. "My dad stole a lot of money from a lot of people," he tells Molly. "And the case that I'm working on right now, I have a feeling that he's in the middle of something really dangerous. And I need to talk to him, so I need you to help me find him." Molly agrees. Matt puts the photo down on the desk and points out his father. And Molly freaks. For some reason, her dads can't figure out why, even though we already have (and lots of you probably suspected it the minute Matt saw the photo), so she has to spell it out for them: "He is the man in my dreams," she whispers fearfully. "He is the Nightmare Man." Do pretend to be surprised, won't you? For Molly's sake?
As long as he's gotten all his old photos out, Nathan has apparently decided to spend some time wallowing in the past. He finds a shot from Milo Ventimiglia's freshman prom (nice white tux jacket and mini-mullet, by the way), and places it in the frame of the wall mirror. "I'll make things right, Pete," he whispers to the photo. How, with Photoshop? Nathan looks up from the picture. His face in the mirror is unrecognizable, burned and scarred and gnarled and desperately in need of a Phantom of the Opera mask. Dude, what happened to the Petrelli brothers up in the ionosphere, anyway? At least now we know why Nathan grew the beard. "Get away from me!" Nathan snarls at the reflection, punching the mirror and bloodying his hand. But at least his reflection in the spiderwebbed remnant is back to normal, which should make up for the seven years of bad luck.
West chivalrously deposits Claire back on the sidewalk from which he picked her up (literally) earlier. And you know, being able to fly is one thing, but if he didn't also have the upper body strength to hold onto a human being at the same time (even one as wee as Claire), he wouldn't be getting anywhere with her right now. She looks at her watch, and they both realize that the library excuse isn't going to hold up, because it's crazy-late. West says they're going to have to come up with a consistent cover story if they're going to keep this up, which of course they totally are. Claire sarcastically suggests that she could claim to be volunteering at a soup kitchen, and West expertly says, "The credible lies are the ones that make you look bad." He asks if there's something her dad doesn't want her to do. Besides West, you mean? Claire's got it. She starts to follow the light bulb over her head right back to her house, but West asks her to say good night. "You're killing me," she says, returning for a kiss.
Although it's late in California, it's still daytime in Mexico. I hope the show isn't trying to tell us the country is really that far behind. The twins and their party have stopped off at a roadside market to pee, pick up some necessities, and take in the local color (like goats grazing from the pavement). Derek picks up the heavy half-brick holding down the proprietor's stack of Spanish-language newspapers, and seems pretty alarmed by what's on the front page: the word "HOMICIDIO" in 1000-point font and line drawings of his two original passengers. Derek calls "Gabriel" over to look at the paper, and quietly freaks over the fact that he's had two killers riding with him for two days. The watch inside Sylar's head starts ticking and he says, "Golly, they seem so..." Heh. Derek says they have to ditch them. Sylar listens to the ticking some more, and seems to agree to Derek's plan. He tells Derek to go inside and call the police while he, Sylar, distracts the twins. Sylar watches the back of Derek's retreating head, and replaces the newspaper on the stack. But that brick fragment? Not so much.
Meanwhile, in the car, Maya and Alejandro wonder what's taking the gringos so long. And then Sylar pops into the driver's seat to urgently confront them with their newspaper cover. Alejandro tells Maya to lie, but she spills the truth, saying they didn't mean to hurt anyone. Sylar advises her to tell it to the police, whom he says Derek is calling right now. Maya starts freaking out, as she does, and Sylar gasps like he's been tear-gassed. Both his and Maya's eyes are going black. Alejandro does his thing, calming Maya down and absorbing the ebon optics until Maya cries a clear tear. Sylar realizes, "You both have power." He realizes that's why they want to find Dr. Suresh. He says he understands their predicament: "Being held responsible for things that you didn't mean to do. Being hunted." He promises that Dr. Suresh will know what to do. Maya asks about the police. "They have to catch us first," Sylar smirks, holding up Derek's keys and driving them out of there to the sound of a ticking watch. And what a shame it is that he lost his ability to brain-eat other people's powers before he met these two.
Derek, meanwhile, is in the market, at the phone. Except he's lying on the tile floor with the handset swinging free to his head, which is in turn lying in a puddle of blood to that brick fragment. And our old friend the cockroach is perched on the brick, getting ready to tuck into a tasty meal. You guys? I don't think Derek called the police. And the lady's newspapers are going to blow away.
Claire comes inside the house to find her father at the kitchen table, quietly enjoying a little bus-depot yogurt. "How was the LIE-brary?" he asks. I took some typographical liberties with that line. Claire starts to explain, but Bennet jealously says, "You were with a boy." Claire denies it, and she whips out that cheerleading release form from earlier, on which she forged her dad's signature. She says she made the team and the girls took her out to celebrate. She better hope she gets on the squad now. Bennet's pissed, saying cheerleading is something he specifically forbade. Claire says that cheerleading makes her happy, and she's given up everything else. "I just need one thing that's normal," she begs. Bennet's touched, and says he didn't realize it meant that much to her. "Took me by surprise, too," Claire says truthfully. Bennet gives in, on one condition: ABSOLUTELY NO DATING!!! Claire agrees, lyingly. She kisses him goodnight and heads off to bed, rolling her eyes at the fucked-upedness of all this. And it really is, so much more than even she suspects. She thinks he's only being paranoid and trying to stop his Claire-Bear from turning into Claire-Bare. And Bennet can't just tell her, "I'll die if you get kissed in a cheerleader outfit," because then he'll have to explain about the painting he's not supposed to have seen, because he's supposed to have given all that up. And aside from that, Claire would totally tell him about West, if not for her father's having fucked with the kid in his former life. Bennet's own lies so greatly outnumber those of his daughter, so now he's squirming helplessly under the point of destiny's sword. And you know what? I'll bet the guy kissing Claire in the painting isn't even West.
Bennet's reverie is interrupted by the windchimes outside, heralding the arrival of the Haitian Sensation on the patio. Bennet goes out to meet him. The Haitian announces that he has a lead on the paintings, but they have to go to Odessa. Bennet seems prepared to return to Texas, but the Haitian means the one in Ukraine. I assume this means they'll be meeting Walter "Chekhov" Koenig, on and on until the show has burned through the original Enterprise's entire bridge crew. The Haitian asks Bennet what he'll tell his family. "I'm sure I'll think of something," Bennet says.
At Chez 3M, Mohinder has just finished tucking Molly in. Outside her room, Matt tells Mohinder he's sorry. "You didn't know," Mohinder says. But that's not what Matt meant -- he means he's sorry, but Molly has to find his father. Mohinder shoots that right down and starts to walk away. Matt waves the photo in his face, pointing out all the dead people in it. He says he has to find out if his dad is also dead, or the victim, or the killer. I have a theory. Mohinder points out Tobby, saying he only knows him as Bob, and offers to take Matt to him. Matt agrees -- after they find his dad. Mo objects to making Molly face her worst nightmare. Matt argues that maybe that's what Molly actually needs. Mo thinks that's just a lame cover for Matt's daddy issues coming to the fore. But before they can get too far into what I'm sure is an old "who's your daddy" debate between these two, which they would quickly resolve so they could get to the makeup sex, Molly comes out of her room and offers to find Matt's dad for him. Matt goes to her and hugs her gratefully.
At Burger Bonanza, there's nobody there but Monica and her manager. He decides to close up early for the night, and has her lock the front door while he gets the back. Monica takes the keys and is about to comply, but before she can lock the door, a shady-looking guy outside sticks his head in and says he's hungry. Rather than letting him in, Monica listens to the alarm bells in her head and says the boss is making her close early. So the guy forces his way in, yelling that he's hungry, and also, he'd like whatever's in the cash register. Which seems kind of bold of him, but then he's got a handgun that he's waving around that effectively backs up his position. He makes her sit down at one of the tables as he proceeds to the register. Monica sits there, wide-eyed, staring out the front window into the night, as the sound of a helicopter is heard on the soundtrack. And then she gets up, runs toward the support pole to where the robber is looting the register, and grabs onto it to swing her body around in a flawless 619 wrestling move that sends the robber crashing through a glass divider. I'm going to have to make my own instant replay on that. Here it comes...yeah! The robber gets up and flees, just as the manager returns. "Did you just see...?" Monica asks her boss, who nods uselessly behind her. "Where'd you learn that?" he asks her. "On TV," Monica says wonderingly. You know, I'm sure there are a lot of caveats and conditions and limitations, but for now? Best. Superpower. Ever!
Back at Chez 3M, Molly gets ready to find Matt's dad, with an atlas open in front over her and a thumbtack in her hand. Mohinder's on the couch to her, while Matt sits across from her operating the atlas. Molly sees Philadelphia, which Matt either locates on the map or recognizes from the Real World skyline footage playing inside Molly's head. She then zeroes in on an apartment building, but doesn't want to go inside. Mo assures Molly that the Nightmare Man can't hurt her, so she narrows it down to the third floor. Not good enough for Matt; he wants the apartment number. Molly sees a dingy apartment building hallway with a yellow door at the end and says, "He knows I'm here. He's coming!" Matt keeps pushing for the apartment number, so Molly zooms in on the door's sticker. It's nine. She gives Matt the number, and he tells her, "Get out of there, right now." But then Molly sees the table full of sketches again, and the door of Number Nine rattles in its frame and begins to open. "He sees me! He -- Leave me alone!" She starts screaming as Matt holds her and yells her name. Finally her eyes open; she softly says, "Matt?" and collapses unconscious on the couch. Mo quickly determines that she's breathing, but she's in shock and won't wake up. Panicked, Matt yells at her but the only response he gets is inside his head. Matt! Help me! Molly cries telepathically from somewhere in there. Matt! Nice job, Parkman. You broke her.