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Lord, how to make sense of all this? Okay, Mohinder's skin is still peeling off, and as it gets worse, he gets more aggressive, although he mostly takes it out on a girlfriend-abusing jerk. Meanwhile, Zimmerman tells Tracy that she, Niki, and someone named Barbara were identical triplets, and he and others conducted DNA manipulation on them to give them superpowers. Unfortunately, The Haitian apparently erased his memory, so all he can remember is something vague about a Company. She almost sends him to an icy death like she did with the Greatest American Reporter, but manages to control her power enough so that doesn't happen. Distraught, she resigns from Nathan's staff so she can go jump off a bridge, but Nathan, at Linderman's urging, swoops in and saves her. They follow this up in the only way possible: drinking and making out.
A lot of the rest of what happens takes place in the future, with Matt watching in his trance: Present Peter and Future Peter go back to FP's reality four years hence, where basically everyone has powers. FP tells him that's caused people to go out of control, and the reason the future is still like it was is because of the formula Mohinder created (although they don't know it's him at this point). They then have a run-in with Claire, who uses a gun to shoot FP -- only this time it succeeds in killing him, because The Haitian is there to suppress his powers. In this reality, Claire is teamed up with Knox and Daphne, who collectively have orders to kill Peter -- orders that apparently came from Mama Petrelli. They also have Molly at their disposal, but using her isn't so easy, as Daphne has to convince Matt, now her guardian, it's a good idea. This errand is made easier by the fact that Daphne's his wife, though, so it turns out she is the blonde from NeoIsaac's painting. PP goes to see Mohinder, who tells him not to repeat his mistakes, and considering he's become some sort of light-averse troll, PP probably wants to listen. PP then goes to see Sylar, who's living in the Bennet house (!), has the nerd glasses back (!!), is open about his relationship to Peter (!!!), hugs his half-brother (!!!!), and HAS A KID NAMED NOAH (!Infinity!)! Peter wants to use Sylar's ability to save the world, but Sylar is wary as he explains about the hunger that comes with his power. Peter, however, has Sylar paint the future, and when he sees the coming apocalypse, he relents and teaches Peter how to use his ability. Knox, Claire, and Daphne track Peter down, though, and in the ensuing fight Noah is killed, prompting Sylar to explode like Ted Sprague and destroy all of Costa Verde. We then learn that Nathan is in fact President, and Tracy is the First Lady. PP and Claire survive the explosion, and Claire starts to torture PP until Nathan intercedes. He seems to be on PP's side, but when PP tries to read his mind, he's overwhelmed by Sylar's ability and slices Nathan's head off. Daphne dies in Matt's arms, snapping Present Matt awake, and to find her, NeoIsaac counsels Matt to find his Jungian totem -- that turtle. Ha!
Also back in the present, Ando tells Hiro what a useless dickhead he's being, and proves his point by being the one to facilitate their escape -- until The Haitian shows up and catches them and brings them to Mama Petrelli, who tells Hiro how he's cocked everything up, but can make things right -- by releasing Adam, which he does. Hiro may be an idiot, but I've got no problem with this move.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!In Mohinder's lab, we pass a chyron with the episode title floating in a ghostly manner, and then get to Mohinder, whose skin is still peeling off his back, the better to sprout bug-wings with, I guess. Still, you hope he's at least tried some Noxzema or Vitamin E oil or something. Mohinder listens to a tape of himself logging his progress, but it's all stuff he told Maya before, and this storyline is irritating enough without a rehash of what happened two episodes ago, not to mention the fact that this ruins the seemingly blessed lack of a voiceover from him. Mohinder makes another entry, saying that the only negative effect so far of taking the formula is an "unusual rash," and the jokes are too easy here so I'm going to let that one go. Mohinder is presently interrupted by the sounds of a domestic disturbance coming from somewhere above him...
...and we cut to him knocking on the door of the source apartment. Some brute answers, and we hit all the marks in rapid succession -- the girl cowering in the corner, the guy being a racist dickhead on top of being an abuser -- until Mohinder decides he's tired of this shit and bashes the guy's face against the door frame a couple times with his newfound strength. But of course the girl rushes over, screechily yells at him to leave them alone, and immediately tends to her tormentor. Look, I'm not saying this doesn't happen just like this all the time in real life, but this scene was baked in the Oven of Television Clichés in a very hasty manner, so maybe we could move on to something slightly more interesting, okay?
As Zimmerman talks to Tracy, we start on a closeup of two pictures: The first is that shot of Niki Big Hair we saw last episode, and the second is of Zimmerman, one of the triplets, a woman who looks suspiciously like Mary Kay Place, and, I think, The German. Zimmerman tells Tracy that she was one of three triplets, the other two being Niki and the mysterious Barbara, and they were ideal test subjects, as their birth parents died, so they separated them and used a formula to manipulate their DNA and make them incredible. "Speed, strength...is it something like that?" From the look on her face, if it were, she'd be knocking your glasses about fifty feet off your face right about now. Instead, Tracy angrily asks why, and Zimmerman tells her they were arrogant and selfish. He starts to tell her about The Company, but loses focus and explains, "They made us forget." He's presumably telling us that he had a visit from The Haitian, although frankly the fact that Zimmerman remembers as much as he does means either that The Haitian was uncharacteristically sloppy, or the writers are sacrificing sense for plot. Which is more likely is for you to decide. Tracy heads for an apoplectic fit as she tells him he has to take her power away, since it's hurt people already, but he says he can't, so she grabs him and starts toward a replay of The Greatest American Reporter's icy death, but before Zimmerman really solidifies into a popsicle, Tracy lets go, and the effect is reversed. Zimmerman shakily says he's sorry, and Tracy breathes, "What have you done?"
Speaking of repeating boring storylines, we get like 30 seconds of what happened last week with Matt and the Walkman of Second Sight, but this time we focus in on Matt's white eyes, and cut to...
...New York, four years in the future. We focus on a puddle reflecting the image of the world split in two, and then Present Peter and Future Peter disrupt it by materializing right in the middle of it. Visually, that's really nice, but that's rarely the problem with this show. The two of them start walking, the better to show off Blue Steel Squared, until FP tells PP that there's one big difference in this reality. Many of the surrounding citizens respond to this call by demonstrating their ability to fly and superzip and the like, and FP tells PP that a formula has made abilities available to anyone who can afford them. I'd like to see a price sheet on those -- I have the feeling that flying and teleportation go for a little more than, say, dreamwalking. I could be wrong, though -- some people don't like going outside. (Says the guy typing away when it's 80 degrees and sunny.) FP chomps the future scenery as he tells PP that these abilities will destroy the world, and people can't be trusted. PP says there will always be good people, and FP gets a good one in: "How could I be so naïve?" Heh. I bet everyone would like his past self to show up to be berated once in a while: "You bought an album by a band that calls themselves The Verve Pipe? What were you thinking?"
FP and PP walk, and FP may have upgraded to leather, but he's still swinging his arms dorkily as he goes. It's a funny side-by-side similarity, but still: Put your hands in your pockets or something if you want to show how much your coolness factor has gone up in four years, dude. FP has taken PP to show him the painting of the world, and explains that he's considered an extremist and a VILLAIN in this time. He goes on that although Nathan didn't tell the world about them, he's seen through painting that the future is still screwed because someone in PP's time invented the formula that gave abilities to everyone, and PP has to stop it. PP asks why FP can't do it, and FP grits, "Because I made terrible choices." Let's not bring your acting into this. He adds, "Stepped on too many butterflies," which would be a better line if it made any sense. I mean, no matter what he's done up to this point, I don't see how FP messing around in the past is any different, as a practical matter, than PP using knowledge from FP to change his present. FP tells PP that they have to find Sylar, and if PP takes his ability, he won't make the same mistakes he did. You guys... this show is a soap opera. I don't know if it's always been and I've just reached my own personal tipping point -- it's certainly always taken itself a little more seriously than seems warranted -- but now it seems to me to be this kind of interconnected melodrama, where sense is sacrificed at the altar of (variably) entertaining developments and plotlines don't hold up to even casual scrutiny. I don't even think that's such a terrible thing -- I might end up enjoying the show more now that I've said it -- but this is a great example: The only way FP can think of to stop the spread of the formula is for his past self to take Sylar's power? Because Sylar is a walking edition of How It Works? It doesn't make sense. It just doesn't. Anyway, I'm not going to dwell on it, but I had to speak up for the sake of my own sanity. PP barks that he wants to see Nathan, Claire and Mohinder a lot more than Sylar, but FP tells him they're not the people he used to know. He tells PP that not all of them were born with abilities -- some were made, and a line was drawn that tore them apart. As if to emphasize that, he gets taken down by a couple of bullets shot by Future Claire. PP is stunned, but when Claire advances on him, he runs for his life -- and I mean that literally, because this time, The Haitian is there as part of the attack, which means that FP will not be regenerating anytime soon. I'm not sure why that means he can't recover once he's not in The Haitian's range, but I'll let it pass because one Peter is quite enough. PP bashes The Haitian in the head with a garbage-can lid on his way, and although Claire shoots several more times in his direction, PP escapes with his life. Claire's moue sends us into the title card.
At a Company facility, Claire is standing over FP's corpse, which has a bullet wound in the neck, when Future Daphne superzips in with Knox walking in behind her. Cool effect, but makes no sense, because like she couldn't walk normally from on the five feet from the door to the gurney, but let's focus on the positive, as her hair is much different -- kind of a straightened Bettie Page look. Really, it looks like a wig Syd would have worn on Alias, except blonde instead of bubblegum pink or purple or whatever. Daphne practically giggles as she congratulates Claire on killing Peter, but Claire tells her the bad news: that there's another Peter from the past running around. Knox lets us know they have orders to kill Peter, and Claire pointedly says they need to use Molly, a suggestion with which Daphne obviously has some trouble. Knox threatens Daphne, and although she tells him she's not afraid of him, Claire counters that she does fear Peter. "And you know he won't stop, not ever. Until we find him -- and we kill him."
Back in the present, Hiro and Ando are on Level Two, and Hiro's whining that they have to let him out so he can save the world. I feel like I should start referring to Hiro as "Brownie," just to emphasize what a hell of a job he's been doing in that department. Hiro then thinks they should try to escape through the vent, but Ando is steamed not about Hiro's incompetence, but the fact that Hiro said he didn't need him. Ando takes the long way to make the point that Hiro still holds that vision of the future against him, and Hiro admits it: "How could you kill me?" That blast of electricity looked just fine to me, but if you like, I'm sure I can come up with several other ideas. Ando says he wouldn't, "but I'm starting to understand why I might." I like how he's starting to think.
Nathan is staring out the window distractedly when an aide comes in and tries to get him to make a decision about a desk while Linderman watches. This is what I was talking about when I said the storylines varied in entertainment value. Nathan thinks Tracy should do it, but the aide informs him that she's unreachable at the moment. Nathan chooses to ignore Linderman's recommendation, and then he and Linderman have a boring conversation about Nathan not trusting him and missions of God and murdering millions and whatever. Linderman also tells him he wants to make him President, and at this rate I'm waiting for Simone to walk in like she never died, because how is this different from Season One, other than being a lot worse?
Maya enters Mohinder's lab and starts talking about what a mess it is and how the milk's gone bad and blah. Nag, nag, nag. Once you have super-strength-fueled bug sex with a chick, it's like she owns you. Mohinder seems rather sensitive to the light, so maybe he's turning into a bat instead of The Fly, and after she tells him he doesn't look well and playfully tries to get him to go outside, he half-yells that he's been working so much for her, to try to find a way to remove her abilities. She does not appreciate that the way he apparently thinks she should, though, saying that she came because she cares about him, and if he wants her to go, she will. If only she'd give the rest of us that deal. He chases after her and apologizes, however, saying he's just tired, and he wants to find the answers for her. She regards him for a long moment, and leaves. When she's gone, he makes another journal entry and confesses that the rash is spreading, and he's concurrently becoming more aggressive. "The formula is transforming me, and I fear... I fear what I'm becoming." He puts the recorder down...
...and we stay on it, but the dust that quickly settles on it and the elephantine cockroach that crawls over it, as well as several progressively-more-electronicized repetitions of Mohinder's last declaration there, suggest that we're now four years hence again. Peter enters the lab, calling Mohinder's name, and looks around, checking out one of Isaac's paintings before Mohinder's voice cuts in: "What do you want?" We flash-pan over to Mohinder, who's wearing a hoodie and is completely in shadow, as Peter says he needs Mohinder's help -- he wants him to tell him everything he knows about Sylar. He then realizes, however, that something is rotten in the state of Suresh, and it's not the milk this time. Mohinder suddenly drops to the floor, and the Foley guys go nuts with the scuttling sounds until Mohinder grabs Peter from behind with a scaly hand or claw or wing or whatever, startling him. He tells Peter not to repeat his mistakes, and given that FP just basically told him the same thing, there's a lot of pressure building on him. Especially since, you know, he's an idiot. Peter asks what happened, and Mohinder breathes that he was selfish and impetuous in wanting abilities. Well, duh. If Maya figured that one out, it wasn't that hard to figure. He goes on that he got the formula wrong. "Several." Peter asks about Sylar, and Mohinder tells him his power is dangerous, and Peter doesn't understand. He won't give any more information up, so Peter simply pulls it from his mind -- Sylar is out at the Bennet house in Costa Verde. Mohinder cries for Peter not to go, but Peter teleports out of there, leaving us to look at another of Isaac's old paintings on the wall.
Peter enters the Bennet house, hands aflame (this is actually smart on his part, because he's using a power Sylar isn't known to have at this point, unless I'm remembering wrong) when a young boy comes bounding down the stairs and tells him, "Hey, Uncle Peter. Dad's making waffles." The kid runs off before Peter even gets to be all "Who in the what now?" so he follows him into the kitchen, where he sees Sylar wearing an apron and his old nerd glasses, and affectionately telling the kid that Mr. Muggles, who's fittingly mugging for the camera, has to get some waffles too. Sylar then sees Peter and comes over and gives him a big hug, saying he hasn't seen him in so long. As jaunty Yankee Doodle Dandy-esque music plays, he puts a brotherly hand on Peter's cheek: "If I'd known you were coming, I would have made extra." He fails to add that as it is, Peter is SOL, because if he cheats Mr. Muggles out of any of his waffles, the coming apocalypse will look like a walk in the park by comparison.
Via a chyron, we learn we're with "Gabriel and Noah." HA! Looks like Sylar found an innovative way of keeping a Noah as his partner. Sylar pours milk on Noah's cereal, but when Noah asks where Peter's scar is, Sylar tells him to eat up while he and Peter go talk in the other room. They repair to Bennet's old study, which has an easel conspicuously displayed, and Sylar notes, "You're not from around here, are you?" Peter reflexively backs up, but Sylar goes on that Peter must be from the past. "Which means to you, I'm the boogeyman." Well, whatever else may have happened, you did cut his bangs off a while ago. That alone means you can't be entirely evil. Sylar adds that it's a hell of a thing, Peter coming there to find out they're brothers, which of course shocks Peter (or it would if Milo Ventimiglia could act), but Sylar doesn't miss a beat, saying that he's not going to give Peter his ability. Peter tries his mind mojo on Sylar, and when that doesn't work, tells him FP is dead, and he needs Sylar's power. Sylar talks about the hunger that goes along with it, saying that it turned him into a killer, and every day now is a struggle to control it. "But I fight it, for him." Sounds like rhetoric he learned at Brainslicers Anonymous. I just wonder what his sponsor is like. Peter says that if he had Sylar's ability, he could understand the variables, and -- "save the world," Sylar finishes. Peter tells Sylar about the coming apocalypse, and dares Sylar to paint it. Sylar looks at Noah, and then tells Peter, "Don't let him see me. Not like this." Removing his glasses, he goes over to the canvas and closes his eyes...and when he opens them, they're milky white. I wonder how he did that without a Walkman, but maybe he just turned it invisible.
So Matt and Daphne are a couple, and have custody of Molly, apparently, as well as a newborn baby, Daniela. They have a silly argument about using Molly to find Peter, but the real issue is that Matt can't believe Daphne's willing to risk her life going after Peter, but Daphne says she will in fact stop putting herself in danger -- but only after they catch Peter, which hopefully won't be that difficult. Sometime later, Daphne reports to Knox and Claire that Peter is in Costa Verde. Knox notes that Claire is afraid, and she retorts that she killed her uncle that day, so how about not being so ridiculous? She starts to head out, but Knox grabs her and says, "Unlike you, Daphne and I can die. So get your head on straight." Claire grabs her arm away, although it would be much more of a "fuck you" to Knox if she chopped it off and grew another one right in front of him.
Sylar has painted the same image of the world split in two, although at this point I thought that was the present, not the future, and also, given that we're seeing that damn thing all over the place, he must not get out much. Anyway, this is enough for Sylar to hand Peter his old Sylar watch, but currently the face is broken and the mechanism isn't working. Sylar querulously tells Peter that the watch is a reminder of what he was and what he can be again, and goes on that in order to access his ability, Peter has to fix the watch. "Listen to it -- like a symphony, every piece has its part, all coming together in perfect harmony." Sylar never struck me as the type to buy the world a Coke, but I suppose having kids can change anyone. Peter opens the back and start telekinetically playing around with the watch components as Sylar continues to wax philosophic about how this will allow him to understand how anything works -- action/reaction, even how to change the future. I could listen to you all day, Sylar, but I'm still not buying. Peter succeeds in fixing the watch, which is pretty good for someone I'm not sure could fix his shoes if they were tied together, and Sylar breathes that he has it now. "I'm so sorry." Just then, Noah calls urgently for Sylar, which we quickly learn is due to the fact that Daphne and Knox are holding him. Claire steps in from the other side of the room and tells Peter to come quietly, and they'll leave the other two alone. Sylar tells Peter to teleport out of there, but Peter won't leave, having brought the trouble into his house. Claire jumps all over this, saying it was her house, and Sylar took everything from her. The fact that Mr. Muggles didn't even come over to say hello does support her statement. She points the gun and tries for a villainous smile as she asks what it's going to be, and I think Hayden Panettiere is terrific but she, to use the show's own reference, looks like a Care Bear trying to act rough. They need to give her FP's scars now that he's dead, because her tough-guy act is coming off as overacted and false and is just reeeeeeally not working.
Peter steps forward and tries to tell Claire how he's not the same guy as FP, but she's not interested in the slightest, so he asks her how she got this way. Claire: "I learned how to take care of myself." She points the gun at Sylar, but Peter has absorbed Daphne's power, so he superzips toward Claire and decks her. So why did she take The Haitian before and not now? Did Daphne superzip them all out there (doesn't seem like that's how her power should work, anyway) and they couldn't take The Haitian because her power wouldn't operate in that case? Whatever -- until I'm convinced the show cares, I'm not going to, either. Daphne zips toward Sylar, knocking him through a wall, and when he gets back to his feet, he sends Noah into the kitchen to take cover. Daphne superzips circles around Peter, punching him like a speed bag (oof, sorry) and then running away, while Knox menaces Sylar, who's a brave little toaster, saying that he knows Knox feeds off fear, and he's not afraid of him. Knox, however, has a terrified ace up his sleeve -- Noah, and he uses his fear to throw Sylar down onto the table, which breaks, and then kick him and the debris across the room -- right into his son. Sylar frantically digs Noah out, but it's too late, and as Peter and Daphne both watch in horror (she's got kids too!) Sylar turns into his old self before our very eyes as he starts whaling on Knox, while Peter takes advantage of the opportunity by TKing Daphne into the wall, knocking her out. Sylar pounds away, but his hands are now glowing, Ted Sprague-style, and after he subdues Knox he cries out in pained rage. Peter desperately calls, "Gabriel!" and starts toward him, presumably hoping to do for Sylar what Nathan did for him, and Claire, having gotten back to her feet, points her gun, but they're both too late, as Sylar explodes, and we pan back to see a huge mushroom cloud. So this is the future they saw, and Peter unwittingly helped create it. Why is anyone even bothering to try to save the world here? It never works!
Hiro's fruitlessly trying to use his belt to do some business with the vent, and Ando gets frustrated with how useless and stupid he's being, so he grabs it, and the two of them have a little tug of war, won by Ando, who follows up by getting the belt hooked properly and pulling the vent cover off on the first try, because he is the member of the team that is not a useless boob, and I only wish someone would hand Hiro's powers to Ando and never look back. Speaking of which, how exactly are Hiro's powers being suppressed? Does The Haitian have to wait outside the door 24/7, and if so, did they at least give him something interesting to read? Anyway, Ando tells Hiro to enjoy his escape, since clearly Hiro doesn't want him around, but Hiro of course can't get up to the vent himself, so he asks for Ando's help again. Cut to Hiro struggling on Ando's shoulders, and as he does, he tells Ando that he's always been by his side, and he's been a terrible friend to him. Ando: "Maybe now is not the time for apologies." Heh, Hiro can't even get that right. Hiro swears he can change not only the future but also himself, and then he makes it up to the vent, and there is much celebration -- until Ando turns to see The Haitian standing there with an unamused look on his face. Hiro, sensing something's wrong, tremulously calls Ando's name. Heh.
There's a story on the front page of the "New York Chronicle" about the Greatest American Reporter being missing and feared dead. No offense to him, but... a front-page story? Really? Who cares? And why would anyone "fear" him dead? Couldn't he just be doing some freelance work? But this is all so Tracy can call the police and start to talk to the detective working the "Jim McCann" case, only to get upset and freeze the receiver in her hand. Here's a tip: Speakerphone. After several "dramatic" cuts (see what I mean about the melodrama?), she breathes, "I killed him," and drops the phone, which shatters, of course.
Mohinder logs his failure to reverse the formula's effects (wouldn't Claire's blood be worth a try? I mean, I know Mohinder's an idiot, but since he actually knows about its restorative effects, you'd think it might occur to him) and after we see some sticky webbing on his fingertips that suggests spider instead of fly or bat, he goes to answer a knock on the door and finds the abuser guy from upstairs, who clocks him one good and says he stuck his nose in where it didn't belong. The guy's not swift enough to be freaked out by the fact that that haymaker didn't even send Mohinder to the ground, though, but he sort of catches on when Mohinder snarls, "So did you," and grabs him by the lapels and pulls him into his lair. His last thought as Mohinder is cocooning him will probably be, "Is this a gay thing?"
Oh, Lord, Nathan's praying for guidance OUT LOUD (really, show?), but Tracy thankfully interrupts by turning up and handing Nathan her resignation letter. Completely contrived -- she feels the need to officially resign before offing herself? Of course, it would be a cool twist if within the resignation was a suicide note, but you'll forgive me if I'm not going to credit the show with anything clever that isn't a visual effect. Maybe she just wanted to say goodbye to him. I can understand that. Nathan's shocked, of course, that Tracy is leaving him, but doesn't make a huge thing about it, merely asking if there's anything he can do to change her mind. Tracy: "No. I know what I have to do now." Let me guess: Something to do with greenscreens? When she's gone, Linderman appears in Nathan's seat and tells him he must pray for guidance. "This is your path. You're just going to have to trust me, Nathan. You must help her!" Nathan looks stricken...
...and we cut to a "bridge", on which Tracy is standing as she stares down at the "water." As I've said before, I think the effects on this show are normally deserving of awards and accolades galore, but I think someone was on vacation for this scene because this is the most fake-looking setup I remember seeing on this show. Charmed would have pulled this off better. Anyway, Tracy jumps, but we see Nathan swoop by, and moments later, he floats up, holding her in his arms like they're crossing the threshold. Which was probably the intention, given what's coming in the future, but wouldn't it be a nice dose of magical realism if they reappeared in a mess of intertwined limbs and pulled hair? I'm sure some of the first takes with Pasdar and Larter in the harnesses looked like that, anyway. They fly off into the commercial break.
When we return, they're at her place, and she's fixing them both a much-needed cocktail. He asks if she's okay, and she wonders if maybe she was overhasty in recommending him for Senator as she duhs, "No." They sit down, and are hilarious as she's like, "So... you can fly?" and he jumps her line, "Yeah." Hee. She then reveals her power, and he's impressed that her hands aren't even cold. I'd be impressed too, but if she froze my drink like that I'd still have trouble not slapping her. Nathan is not gay, though, so he refrains, and Tracy responds by grabbing his face and kissing him. If attempted suicide leads to Pasdar-sex an hour later, I'm surprised more people aren't giving it a shot.
Nice cut back to the future, where, in a plaza with a "Pinehearst" sign, Nathan, now indeed President, is giving a speech about the tragedy that destroyed Costa Verde. Tracy, the First Lady, stands by her man as he tells everyone to pray together as a nation. Said prayers are not going to be enough to stop his brain from flopping out of his skull rather soon, but let's not get ahead of ourselves...
...because it's time for some shirtless Peter. Hey, shirtless guys with good bodies is not one of the elements of soap operas I frown upon. He's tied to a gurney to his dead future self when Claire and The Haitian enter and Claire overacts about how his teleportation power won't work. Duh. As she picks up a scalpel, she tells him 200,000 people (and Mr. Muggles!) died in Costa Verde, and he needs to feel the pain of every single death. I don't usually find myself defending him, it's pretty hard to deny that said deaths are a thousand times more her fault than Peter's, but I'm finding that less compelling than I normally might at the moment. Claire cuts him once, and after enduring that pain, he tells her that her world doesn't have to be like this, and he can save her. She's unimpressed, and cuts him again, and I thought they were going to go for the ironic twist by having her slice up his face, but Nathan enters along with some Secret Service-types and says he wants a moment alone with Peter. Claire: "Is this the President or my father speaking?" Heh, I wonder if Claire's gone out for drinks with Chelsea Clinton or Amy Carter yet. He tells her it's both, so she reluctantly leaves the room, along with The Haitian and the SS types (are they really allowed to do that?). Nathan tells Peter he knows what he's doing -- he's seen the image of the world splitting in half. He releases Peter from his bonds as he tells him that he's strong, but "one man cannot save the world." When he has powers from a jillion and one people, I kind of think he can. Peter's stunned, though, to hear that Nathan intends to deploy an army of people with abilities, and Congress has agreed to "full proliferation" because of Costa Verde and him. Peter is speechless, so Nathan goes on (while looking at FP's corpse) that he knows he thinks the worst of people, but they were created in God's image, and there's a goodness to man. Peter grits that Nathan's been manipulated before, so Nathan invites him to read his mind. Peter immediately accepts that offer, but after he's done, he suddenly raises an arm and hoists Nathan into the air. Peter breathes that he sees that Nathan believes he's doing the right thing, but he isn't. I'm guessing that Sylar's power is giving him an ability to see the broader ramifications of Nathan's intentions, but it could be that he's just talking bollocks because he's hungry. Peter advances on Nathan in almost a trance, childlike in his curiosity, as he creepily breathes that he needs to understand, and he raises a finger and slices Nathan's head open. Given their history, it seems kind of ironic that Peter killed Nathan without even touching him. Once Nathan falls to the floor, though, the spell is broken, and Peter looks horrified as the SS types suddenly start banging on the door asking if Nathan's okay. And this is why you don't pick Sarah Palin as your VP. Peter teleports the hell out of there...
...into Sylar's cell in the present. He immediately grabs Sylar by the neck and holds him against the wall and tells him he took his power. Sylar: "You took my ability. You have the hunger. You're like me." Peter tells him he'll never let himself become like Sylar, but Sylar smiles, "You already are. Brother." Family dinners around here are going to be one hot mess.
We see Matt lying twitchily on the ground, eyes still white, and then flash to the painting of the dead blonde in his arms. You'd think she would have been entirely consumed by the explosion that was strong enough to obliterate an entire town, but I suppose as image of him running his fingers through a bit of goo wouldn't have been as picturesque.
Back in the future, Molly and Matt watch a news broadcast about the tragedy in horror. Molly starts to blame herself, but Matt snaps at her that Daniela needs her bottle, and she should go take care of her sister. The newscaster somberly says that it's hard to imagine anyone left alive, which OF COURSE is the cue for a knock on the door, like the show doesn't have enough problems without over-reliance on cheap call-and-response bits. Anyway, it's Daphne at the door, and she smiles at Matt in a lame attempt to deceive the audience, but then she admits, "I wasn't fast enough." We switch angles to reveal that her back is burnt to a crisp, which of course still makes no sense, because I'm so sure with a mortal injury she could have run all the way across the fucking country only to swoon and die in his arms. But that is of course what happens...
...and then Matt snaps awake and babbles about the future, looking around at NeoIsaac's paintings and saying they're all going to come true. He rushes over to the painting of him and Daphne (and to be honest, the image that's supposed to be him looks more like his father -- is this NeoIsaac being clever?) and says he has to find her. NeoIsaac tells Matt that he needs to find his totem -- a spirit guide that attaches to his subconscious that will lead him on his journey. Matt asks if that's some "African mystical mojo thing," and NeoIsaac responds with one of the few bright spots this episode: "Carl Jung. Analytical psychology. You don't read much, do you?" HA! Matt so deserved that. NeoIsaac tells him that the totem is usually an animal, and if he thinks about his dream, he'll find his guide. He walks off, and Matt looks down -- to see that turtle again. Hee. He starts trudging after it with a resigned air before stopping with a "Seriously, WTF" face. If the rest of his storyline this season is just him aimlessly following the turtle, I will not complain at all.
Hiro and Ando have been brought in for judgment, and as The Haitian silently stands guard, Mama Petrelli asks them where Kaito's half of the formula is. Instead of telling her that Hiro lost it for no reason other than that he was bored with picking his ass, Ando asks what the formula does, and Mama Petrelli tells him, "It can turn people like you into people like us, and that will lead to disaster." Hiro confesses that the formula is gone, and Mama Petrelli tells him that means "they" have both halves, and their side has lost. "Your father loved you dearly, Hiro. He had faith you would grow up to be a great man, but he was mistaken." Looks like Mama Petrelli's opinion of the younger generation doesn't end with her own children. Hiro abjectly bows his head and says he's sorry, but Ando has had enough of this and tells Mama Petrelli that this is Hiro Nakamura she's dealing with, and he won't rest until the formula is safe. Mama Petrelli doesn't point out that the fact that he won't rest is precisely why the formula is not safe, instead leaning forward with a secretive air and whispering that someone powerful and hidden is manipulating them, and that entity must be stopped. She goes on that Hiro is the only one who can help. "You have the key to unlocking this entire mystery." Hiro's like, "Buh?" but it wouldn't be that hard to figure even if you hadn't seen David Anders's name in the opening credits...
...and we cut to Hiro and Ando digging Adam up. Too bad Hiro is being made to undo one of the few clever things he's done on the show. They open the coffin, and there's Adam lying there just as pretty as can be. His eyes pop open, and he quickly grabs his imprisoner by the neck and seethes, "Hiro, you son of a --" I think we've all filled in that blank at one time or another. See you week!
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John Ramos is a writer and producer living in Los Angeles. You can reach him at couchbaron@gmail.com.