In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.
Hiro's spirit walk takes him and us to a year earlier, where Papa Petrelli and Mama Petrelli initially are all over each other like dogs in heat. However, we learn that Nathan's office was about to start a full investigation into Linderman, which would have exposed Papa Petrelli's nefarious doings, and Papa Petrelli was willing to kill his son rather than be brought to light. Papa Petrelli tries to get Nathan to back off of Linderman, and when he won't, it seems like he causes the accident that led to the accident that paralyzed Nathan's wife. Mama Petrelli clues in that her husband got Linderman to try to kill their son, and Papa Petrelli tries to mentally bend her to his will, as he apparently has many times before, but Linderman turns on Arthur and heals Mama Petrelli's mind so she's aware of her husband's betrayal. Mama Petrelli uses The Haitian to suppress her husband's mental powers, and despite the fact that she calls him a visionary, she poisons him. Her plan to incinerate his body fails, though, when Nathan unexpectedly returns home, so she has to pretend that Papa Petrelli had a heart attack. However, Papa Petrelli, even in his damaged state, is able to control the doctor to the point where he's forced to lie to Mama Petrelli that he's dead. At the funeral, Nathan and Peter's bangs sadly make out until Mama Petrelli tells them to get over it.
Flint and Meredith are brother and sister, and creepy Eric Roberts apprehends Meredith in a La Femme Nikita-type deal. Meredith, however, hates The Company, but complies with the directive to become an agent. Creepy Eric Roberts takes Meredith on a mission, and when Meredith unexpectedly kicks some ass, it looks like she's the newest Company darling -- until she learns that her brother was captured by The Company, who told him that they'd make him an agent too. Meredith, realizing from the fact that her brother is kind of challenged and that The Company has betrayed them, breaks Flint out, telling him that he can never trust The Company. Creepy Eric Roberts then shows up and tries to apprehend them, but Flint escapes, with brother and sister avowing that they're sworn enemies of The Company. Eric Roberts lets Meredith know that Claire is alive, however, before letting her go
Sylar is out of control, and tries to hang himself, only to be saved by Elle, who assures him that everything will be okay and tries to give him solace -- but it's all a plan, engineered by a ruthless Bennet, to try to figure out what makes Sylar, if you'll forgive me, tick. Sylar doesn't want to be a killer, and Elle believes him and falls for him at the same time, but Bennet pushes her to get Sylar to kill someone, so she invites a Goth Hero over, who Sylar tries to kill. Elle, having a crisis of conscience, zaps him to try to stop him, but she fails, and Sylar kills the guy. Elle is freaked at what she's done, while Bennet displays a scientific detachment about the whole thing, telling Elle they're agents and they follow orders. That always works out, right?
Finally, Hiro wakes up, only to find NeoIsaac decapitated and Papa Petrelli menacing him. I bet he really wishes Nathan hadn't interrupted that cremation!
Which Heroes have the best powers? See our list. Then come back on Friday for our complete recap.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Shut up, Mohinder.
Okay, I suppose I have to do a little more than that. We get a replay of Hiro eating the Magic Carpet Paste and collapsing. We zoom in on his milky eye...
...and then we're at a gala gathering at the Petrelli Manse, eighteen months earlier. Papa Petrelli is toasting Nathan as "the finest assistant D.A. New York has ever known," and no offense to Nathan or anyone else who's held that position, but we're not in the Batman universe where people might seriously care. Nathan and Peter are looking sharp in their tuxes, however, and I'm also happy to see Peter's floppy bangs again, not that they're aesthetically pleasing -- they just take me back to a time when the show was, you know, good. Papa Petrelli then praises Peter for his "compassionate heart," and Peter gets in a good one to his brother: "Told you he couldn't say 'nurse' out loud." Heh. Papa Petrelli then toasts Mama Petrelli (screw it -- they're "Arthur" and "Angela" from now on -- my fingers can't take it anymore) as "the love of [his] life," and due to the way they proceed to paw at each other, when Nathan tells them "Get a room," the thing out of my mouth is, "Jinx!" Angela lets us know that they've now been married for forty-one years, making her better preserved than I realized, and then Linderman appears and offers the two of them rather solicitous congratulations. (Does Malcolm McDowell have something on the writing staff? They keep finding ways to give him work, you know?)
After the Petrelli parents disappear, Linderman then turns to Nathan and asks, "Are the rumors true?" Notice how guilty Peter suddenly looks. Actually, he's heard that Nathan's office is about to launch a full-scale investigation "into all things Linderman," and after Nathan makes a joke that shoots for both menacing and funny and lamely achieves neither, he and Peter run off to keep the rumors alive, leaving Linderman to ask Arthur what he sees in Nathan's mind. Arthur uses his mind mojo (I wonder if he stole that power from someone?) and then replies, "Trouble." Linderman somewhat sarcastically says he can handle the heat, but Arthur tells him he's more worried about himself, and Linderman urgently responds, "He's gonna see your hand behind every enterprise I've been working on for the past twenty-five years!" I guess Caligula was too effed up even for Arthur. Actually, I forgot that we saw Nathan and Peter discuss this in Season One. Linderman suggests Arthur try one last time to convince Nathan to back off, but Arthur thinks that would be futile, so Linderman asks what they should do. Arthur: "Read your Shakespeare. When the son challenges the father, only one is left standing." Unlike when the son challenges the stepfather, and no one survives. Arthur concedes that he owes Nathan one more talk, but says if that doesn't work, he'll kill him. He then looks at Nathan, and given that he's been staring at him and Linderman like a psycho this entire time, I think Arthur's pessimism about their upcoming chat is warranted.
Six months have now passed, and we're in Memphis. We get an establishing shot of a convenience store before cutting inside, where the air is a bit smoky and Meredith is busy stealing from terrified patrons who are obediently lying on the ground and being forced to endure not only the robbery but also Flint sounding like a mental deficient as he repeatedly crows that he's the man and uses his power to insta-prepare some Jiffy Pop. Meredith, who I now see is almost a good foot shorter than he, rushes over and tells him to quit it, but Flint focuses his attention on a man who's not on the floor as he should be, but is instead standing with his back to the camera for no reason other than dramatic effect. When he turns, we see it's creepy, creepy Eric Roberts, so I don't blame Meredith for turning tail and running even though there's nary a puppet in sight. Flint, however, raises his hands to incinerate Eric Roberts, but Eric Roberts is too quick on the draw for him, as after he lets us know that Meredith and Flint are brother and sister, he pulls out a fire extinguisher and sprays dry foam all over Flint's hands. Meredith, however, turns back to try to save him, narrowly missing Eric Roberts with a fireball, but when Eric Roberts pulls out a taser, Meredith goes quietly while Flint runs off into the night. Thanks, bro.
In Brooklyn, Sylar and his nerd glasses have fashioned a noose, and if you ever wanted evidence of Sylar's meticulousness, you've got it right here. That thing is so well put together it would choke the life out of a small grizzly bear. We cut between shots of Sylar getting up on a chair and readying the noose with his memories of killing Brian Davis. He finishes tightening the rope around his neck, and at that moment, in the front of the store, Elle enters and calls a tentative hello, but Sylar either doesn't hear her or doesn't care as he kicks the chair away. I admit my outlook on life would be pretty grim as well if I had Sylar's flashback hair, which looks like Christopher-Reeve-as-Clark-Kent in Superman II, or, more succinctly for anyone who hasn't seen the film, roadkill. Sylar does the Spandau Ballet, but Elle rushes back and zaps the rope in time to save him. She then pulls the broken noose off him and asks with concern if he's all right. He looks at her and asks for forgiveness as he starts to cry, and she pulls him into an embrace. It's kind of awkward, but so is the whole situation, and also, I wouldn't imagine she's had much practice given her relationship with her father. The title card pops up, but instead of the normal one, the earth flares red and splits in half, and the text reads, "VILLAINS." Shout-out to Jeph Loeb and Jesse Alexander? You decide.
God, we get that Hiro is still tripping. Ugh. Elle is telling Sylar that everything will be okay, but he doesn't agree, so she urges him to talk about what's bothering him. He tells her that a man had something he wanted, but he took it at a terrible price, and if Elle didn't secretly know what was going on, I'd think her mind would go to a stranger with candy and a white van or something of that ilk. Elle sympathetically tells Sylar that he's going to get through this, no matter how unlikely it seems now: "Because you're not a bad person." Sylar, wanting to believe her, points out that she doesn't know anything about him, but she tells him she knows what she sees: "A man who deserves a second chance." She holds up the rope and tells him the fact that it broke was a sign. Either absent or unnoticed is a sign of a different type, those being the SCORCH MARKS on said rope. Sylar laughs, genuinely taken with her unrelenting optimism, and notes that he doesn't even know her name. She gives him the real thing, and they smile goofily at each other before he tells her she showed up just like an angel. She then pulls out the supposed errand that brought her there and responds: "An angel with a broken watch." I can see why she'd want to get that fixed -- God may be forgiving, but I still bet he hates it when people are late.
Let me just get this out of the way so I won't have to harp on it later -- this episode would be pretty good if you haven't seen the show before, but it takes so many liberties with continuity that I'm starting to wonder if the title card wasn't a joke and it's actually meant to be a totally different show. In the first place, if my recollection is correct, Elle hadn't even left the building for years until she went after Peter. More importantly, though, she was a sociopath with paranoid delusions who had no problem murdering someone who didn't even have powers. I don't really buy this whole crisis of conscience over Sylar at this point in time, not that Kristen Bell isn't acting the crap out of it. It's like they're rewriting history so when they inevitably throw Sylar and Elle together again in the present, we can be all, "Ah HA! They have a history!" Doesn't work if the past part makes no sense. Also, hadn't Sylar, at this point, killed not only Brian Davis but also Chandra Suresh and his supposed mother (although that last was an accident)? I just find it hard to believe that the twinkle in his eye he gets when he looks at Elle would be enough to stop this all-consuming hunger. I mean, Peter tried to kill his own mother because of it, and Sylar's like, "Cute girl, tee hee, problem solved?" Not that I really even buy the hunger idea anyway, but I could talk myself into oblivion here. Believe me when I say, though, that I haven't covered half of everything they're getting wrong here. Anyway...
Outside, Elle knocks on the side of a white van (I'm telling you -- never a good sign) with "Primatech Paper Co." all over it, and Bennet opens the back: "Cute meet." Heh. Elle says she doesn't get why they don't just take him in, so Bennet gets stuck delivering a tortured analogy about whale migration, the point of which is that Sylar's ability -- "the ability to transfer power from one vessel to another" (...okay) is extraordinary, and they need to study him in the wild, so to speak. Elle's like, great, but how do I get him to do it? Bennet considers this: "Pie." Elle's face: "I may have grown up sheltered, but I still know what that means, you sick fre...wait, you actually mean, like, apple pie?"
Creepy Eric Roberts has Meredith bound to a chair with her hands stuck in what look like flame-retardant mitts, which is smart enough of him that you wouldn't think he was running a company that's EGGING SYLAR ON TO BE A SERIAL KILLER. (Also, are we to think that Angela is okay with this? Or do we just figure that Arthur has a hand in it?) He conversationally lets us know some details of her rather checkered and fiery past before flipping the script and offering her the chance to become an agent. She summarily declines, so he asks why she hates The Company so much, and she starts to pipe up almost involuntarily before catching herself and simply saying she has her reasons. He tells her she can put those reasons aside, "or spend the rest of your life in an asbestos-lined cell." Wait, can they do that? What happens if the health inspector comes by? Meredith, as decisive and practical as she is, agrees on one condition: "Promise me The Company won't go after my brother." I have to give Eric Roberts points, creepy though they may be, for pointing out that she has zero leverage in this situation, and must do the same to Meredith for her resigned response: "When do I start?"
Out in the garden, Arthur is pruning some flowers when Angela practically skips out and asks him to reconsider coming to Peter's graduation party. Arthur does not directly call his son a fag, but the way he intones "nursing school" pretty much says it all. Angela whispers that when Peter's powers manifest, he'll become a great man, and she's in for enough disappointment on that front that I won't make jokes at her expense. Nathan then appears, and when Angela disappears, Arthur says that he's concerned, and he's asking not as a lawyer but as a father for Nathan, for the sake of their family, to hand the Linderman case off to someone else. Nathan, however, opines that Linderman is toxic to the family, and he'd be thrilled to put him away. Nathan starts to walk away, but sensing his father's unrelenting gaze, turns back and asks what's up. Arthur: "You look good in a suit, Nathan." Just in case that wasn't evocative enough of a funeral, Arthur turns and snips off a white carnation, and if this is the level of subtlety we're dealing with, why not pull a hearse around for your son while you're at it?
Oh, because we have to relive the scene where Nathan's wife Heidi gets paralyzed. So the twist is, of course, that it was Arthur who was trying to have Nathan killed and Linderman was just the go-between, and as we already knew, Nathan's power manifested at just the right time to save him (possibly fueled by adrenaline, I feel unwillingly compelled to say). Later, at the hospital, Nathan's parents show up, and Nathan wastes no time in snarling at this father that it was Linderman's guys that ran him off the road. Peter drags Nathan off to make out (no, seriously, watch the scene), but not before Nathan tells Arthur that he's going to hurt Linderman. "And when I do, if you're standing to him, you're gonna get hurt too." I guess his aim isn't very good. Nathan tells Arthur it's time to choose a side, and then Peter yanks him away by the pants as Angela looks confused and worried. There'll be more of that coming...
...right after the commercial break, as Angela comes into the bedroom and tells Arthur that Heidi's spine is broken in three places before bringing Linderman up. Arthur dismissively says that Linderman wouldn't dare go after Nathan on his own, but Angela's got his number: "No. He wouldn't." Arthur points out that Nathan's prosecuted countless criminals, any of whom could have been responsible, and Angela agrees, but still needs to hear him deny he ordered Linderman to kill Nathan. Arthur firmly does so, and Angela apologizes and tells him she loves him. He reciprocates the sentiment while mentally putting her name on his list right below his eldest son's. Seriously, though, this episode was the chance to really make Arthur interesting, and it roundly failed -- he's just a one-dimensional Bad Guy with unclear motivations. Bleah.
In a shantytown in Austin (Lord, we can assume it's still one year ago until you tell us otherwise, chyron) Creepy Eric Roberts and Meredith spot a balding, bearded gentleman that Eric Roberts says is their target. Meredith asks if he wants her to "light him up," but Eric Roberts tells her this is just a training mission for her, and she should watch and learn. "No powers, unless I give the order." They approach the guy, "Danny Pine," and Eric Roberts adopts a friendly demeanor as he spins a yarn about being with the VA and affordable housing and blah, but Eric Roberts didn't bargain for there having been a real VA rep out just the week before, and despite Meredith's smooth attempts to cover, Pine turns his fist to metal and decks Eric Roberts. Meredith, however, enterprisingly takes that as the signal Eric Roberts was talking about as she flames up Pine's hand and then, while he's reeling from her attack, grabs the taser off Eric Roberts and takes Pine down. Meredith looks unexpectedly pleased with her battlefield prowess, and Eric Roberts manages a smile through his headache: "Welcome to The Company."
In Queens, Bennet is watching via a hidden camera as Sylar, in his apartment, is looking at a map showing the locations of Heroes and rifling through other information like he's going to get rid of it. He's interrupted by a knock at the door, and when he answers, it's Elle, holding her offering in one hand: "Hi. Do you like pie?" I'd be surprised. Elle then acts chagrined at her rhyme, which is funny, and Sylar, charmed, smiles and invites her in. It is nice to have these two actors working together so much. Elle sets down the pie as Sylar tells her he's so glad she came, and he wasn't sure she would. Elle replies that she's been wondering how he's been, and Sylar almost heartbreakingly smiles in wonder as he says he's better, great in fact, thanks to her. He goes on that he's getting rid of the stuff in his apartment that makes him think "bad thoughts," but, gesturing to the papers on the table, she asks what he's taking about. He uncomfortably clarifies that it's a list of people like him, and Elle smiles: "Nice, single guys like you?" You're setting me up hard here, Elle. She jokes that she should take the list, but he gets serious as he grabs it from her, crumples it up, and tosses it into the wastebasket. He apologizes before telling her that he has "kind of a power," and when she feigns a lack of understanding, he demonstrates his telekinesis to her as Bennet watches with a sly smile, which I'll let pass if he'll promise not to bring the whales up again. Sylar breathes to Elle that the other people on the list have powers too, and then brightens: "What kind of pie did you bring me?" Hee. Quinto kills me. Elle tells him it's peach, and Sylar smiles enthusiastically that that's his favorite. Unfortunately, when his back is turned, Elle fishes the list out of the trash as Bennet gives another appreciative smile. Good thing Eric Roberts is around this episode to make him less creepy by comparison.
Eric Roberts leads the cuffed Pine into Primatech as he compliments Meredith's work again: "You were born for this." Meredith eagerly asks if that means she's now an agent, but Eric Roberts cautions her that "getting scum off the street" is the easy part. "The real test is loyalty." Well, she could have turned on you after your jaw took a fistful of metal, so I'd say she's at least off to a good start. Eric Roberts, however, says that the true test is following orders with no questions asked, and I'd think, given what he just experienced, that he'd be a lot warier of throwing around anvils like that. Eric Roberts gives Meredith a keycard and instructs her to put him in a particular cell, and she goes to comply, but her enthusiasm dies when she sees Flint. She says she thought he got away, but he grins: "An invisible man tackled me in the alley." I was psyched for the shout-out to Claude, but then I realized that Bennet shot him years earlier, so I just got mad. Nice microcosm of my reaction to the episode. Flint simps that he's going to be an agent, and Meredith, realizing that The Company probably requires an IQ over 80 from their operatives in addition to undying loyalty, smells a rat. Eric Roberts then appears and asks if there's a problem, and Meredith denies that there is before leading Pine away. Flint hicks it up to Eric Roberts, who merely raises an eyebrow at the odd thing in the cell in front of him. Heh.
Bennet looks like he's had about a gallon of coffee, so intently is he watching Elle work her pie-fueled magic on Sylar as she tells him using his power must feel amazing. He confesses that it does, but it can be overwhelming, too -- "like a drug that you can't get enough of." Elle asks how many other people with powers are out there, but Sylar tells her he doesn't know, nor does he want to. He likens himself to an addict (...great), and explains that he covets the powers of others -- except since he met her, he feels like maybe it's not necessary for him to be so special. "Maybe I can just be Gabriel again." Elle, however, takes his hand and tells him he is special. "You're special just the way you are." If you think that's a cheesy line...
...you're not alone, as when Elle comes running up to the van, Bennet gives a golf-clap delivery: "Special. Just the way. You are." Awesome. He snarks that he thought she was about to burst into song, but Elle uncomfortably tells him she doesn't think Sylar is going to kill again, and she thinks they should look into someone else on the list. Bennet won't hear of it, but when Elle points out that the suicide attempt could easily have been a wake-up call, he gets it: "You like this guy." Elle can't face him to deny it, and then really gets agitated when Bennet offers a name on the list, "Trevor Zeitlan," and says they need to see Sylar kill. WHY? So dumb, seriously, not to mention the part where they're sacrificing innocent people to that end. Elle says she won't do it, but Bennet offers to turn her loose in New York, suggesting she become a waitress, before telling her that she needs to follow orders to be an agent. "You're not an agent, you're on your own." Hey Bennet, doesn't she get enough of this from her dad? Speaking of whom, Bennet adds that Bob's been training her to be an agent since she was four, and then, Svengali-like, suggests they introduce "Mr. Zeitlan to Mr. Gray."
At Petrelli Manor, Linderman is apologizing to Arthur, who tells him how badly he's screwed things up. Linderman wonders if a second attempt on Nathan's life is advisable, but Arthur tells him the plan for New York has been in the works for years before adding, "Sometimes I worry you're outliving your usefulness." Unlike Nathan, Linderman knows a threat when he hears it, so he offers that he knows a guy in Montreal who worked for him in Vegas, and he's good and can be flown in that night. However, we don't get to hear Arthur's reaction, as the camera swings around to reveal that Angela has just entered the room and heard enough to learn of her husband's betrayal. She rushes to the kitchen and grabs a knife with which to hold Arthur at bay, but he attacks her with his mind: "It has to be done, Angela." She's aware of what he's doing at first, probably because her own mental abilities give her some measure of resistance, but he keeps at her, and as Linderman watches, she finally says it: "Peter has to die." Oh, fine, she said the other brother, but my way would have been a lot better.
We're in Hiro's eyes as we hear Angela's hypnotized declaration again, and then Hiro sits up and cries, "Murder!" Ando is chagrined by Hiro's agitation, but NeoIsaac tells him to let him be, as Hiro is trapped between this world and the . "If he wakes now, he could be stuck like this forever." I'd ask NeoIsaac what the hell he's talking about, but I doubt he's going to have time for an explanation before his head rolls anyway. What a pointless scene this is, though. NeoIsaac instructs Ando to mix more of the stupid paste, and says that they have to help Hiro along, because part of him wants to wake up, but the spirit walk isn't complete. He takes the steaming bowl and holds it under Hiro's nose, and Hiro promptly collapses again. I'm going to have to start carrying one of those things around. We focus on Hiro's face...
...and then Meredith opens a set of double doors, with Hiro's face still superimposed on them. That was cool, if silly. Anyway, Meredith has decided to break Flint out, and as she hurriedly uses her security access to free him, she explains that there's a train yard about half a mile away, and they can hop a freight to Houston. Flint is still on about the agent thing, but Meredith is sugar-free: "They're tricking you because you're dumb. You remember what Daddy used to say? God gave you a big sister instead of a brain." Love her, and Daddy sounds like kind of a hoot himself. Flint looks at her balefully, but you know he's beaten...
...so we might as well cut to the train, on which Meredith tells him they'll head from Houston to Mexico for a while. She then reiterates that he can never trust The Company, and starts to make him promise he won't, but we hear the familiar crackling of a taser, and Meredith goes down to reveal Eric Roberts behind her. Flint thinks Eric Roberts actually killed her, and tries to incinerate him, but Eric Roberts ducks behind some crates, and Flint runs. Eric Roberts spares a glance Meredith's way to make sure she's unconscious, but once he starts off in pursuit of Flint, Meredith opens her eyes. Was that an act, and she's impervious to electricity as well as fire, or did she just recover really quickly? Neither seems all that likely, but you've seen this show before. Meredith moves and sees Eric Roberts heading toward her trapped and not-too-swift brother, so she yells in an attempt to get Eric Roberts after her instead, which succeeds. Flint then starts after Eric Roberts, but when Eric Roberts turns, Flint doesn't attack him for some reason, so Meredith is forced to fling herself at Eric Roberts, and not in the good way. While they're struggling (and Eric Roberts punches Meredith in the face), Flint manages to get the heavy door open and jump out. Eric Roberts can't believe Meredith screwed things up, and says that despite her misgivings, they could have given Flint purpose, but now he's their sworn enemy. She snarls, "So am I," and shoots flames in his direction. He weaves out of the way, but his eyes get momentarily dazzled, and she takes the opportunity to run past him. The fire quickly spreads, and they barely manage to get off ahead of the contents of the car exploding. I hope they don't end up hitchhiking in the same automobile, because that would be hella awkward for the driver.
Angela's cooking dinner when Linderman enters. He takes a moment to get to the point, saying it wasn't an easy decision to come there, but he's got a shred of morality left in him somewhere, and he can't stand by and watch Arthur destroy her. She denies knowledge of what he's talking about, but as you see her cast about for forgotten memories there seems to be a bit of doubt in her voice. Linderman tells her he can heal the scars left from all the times Arthur has invaded her mind. Angela gets agitated, and when Linderman tells her Arthur's going to kill "your son," she slaps him reflexively. He's undeterred, though, as he puts his hands on her shoulders and repeats that he can heal the scars. "But you have to decide. Do you want to live in blind obedience" -- his voice breaks with emotion -- "or do you want to know the truth?" Even as her face reveals her fear of what she's going to learn, she silently takes his hands and slides them up to her face. She closes her eyes, and Linderman concentrates -- and then she snaps to with a violent start: "Nathan!"
Bringing us right back to the very beginning, the train has crashed, and firemen are all over the scene. Eric Roberts is leading Meredith away, and asks again why she hates The Company so much. Meredith, the fight gone from her, says that they killed her baby girl. She's unaware, of course, that said baby girl is probably within sight of her at the moment, but we'll get to that in due time. Meredith gives the details: A Company agent caught up with her fourteen years earlier in "a little village off the Panhandle" and stormed in at night. "There was a firefight, and the place went up like kindling." When Meredith mentions her daughter's name, however, Eric Roberts realizes the whole situation, and after a moment, makes an executive decision to let Meredith go. He tells her to think of this favor as repayment for her "little girl," and although it's clear from what he said earlier that he knows Claire's alive, I don't think, on second viewing, that Meredith actually picked up on that. Anyway, Meredith takes off, and we shift to recycled footage of younger Claire rushing in and seeing the trapped fireman. We cut away before we see if she saves him, which is probably really suspenseful for all the viewers the show has picked up this season. (Sure, that was mean, but COME ON.)
In Sylar's kitchen, Elle takes a couple of deep breaths, steeling herself for what she's about to cause to happen, before plastering on a smile and saying the ziti he's made smells awesome. Goes great with Goth! She brings the stuff into the other room, in which Sylar, dressed up like a good little boy, is uncorking some wine, and they have a little chat about what they should do that night until there's a knock at the door. Elle's like, oh, by the way, I invited someone to join us! Because I figured you'd need dessert, and we were all out of pie! Sylar's face falls, as it well might given the low piano note that forebodingly plays on the soundtrack, and we get a brief Bennet-Cam look at the door opening and this kid "Trevor" entering. Elle introduces the two boys and says she thought they should meet, as Trevor has an ability too. I'll tell you that said ability is neither to moderate the amount of eyeliner he wears nor to wash his hair. Sylar's confused, so Elle says she hopes he's not mad, but she got Trevor's number off the list in the trash, and she thinks it's important for Sylar's mental health to know other people like himself. Trevor, for his part, looks way too pleased with himself generally, and when Elle invites him to demonstrate his power, he uses his fingers to simulate a gun and shoots at the two wineglasses, which shatter. Okay, Sylar, time to kill him. Elle feigns excitement, and then tells them to wait there as she runs out of the room, and Bennet overacts the delight at everything that's going on. Despite his checkered past, I'm not really buying that he'd be quite so amped about killing this kid, and I don't think it's really necessary for the story either, as it's possible to think the end is necessary and still hate the means, but this whole plotline is stupid and irritating and bugs the crap out of me. I am happy, though, as I said before, that it means Quinto and Bell will have more screentime together. See how that works, Bennet?
At the dinner table, Arthur compliments the soup Angela's made before asking, "Something on your mind?" You'd think a lawyer would be wary of making such a poor choice of words. Angela asks if he can't see inside it, and wonders if without his power, he'd know her at all anymore. Arthur possibly doesn't realize yet that her mind is dark to him, but regardless, that point becomes clear when he looks behind him to see The Haitian there. This, I liked, although it does underscore the fact that The Haitian is in many ways the most powerful figure on the show. Arthur looks at her, and the final piece is revealed as he starts to cough roughly, and she sarcastically asks, "Indigestion?" He doesn't seem to get it yet, though, so she asks him if he thinks he still knows her, and he replies that she's his wife, and he knows her like he knows his own heart. She smiles, deeply sad, and asks what she's going to do. "Am I gonna kiss you, or am I gonna kill you?" He's Italian, Angela. Those two things often go hand in hand.
So Elle's idea apparently wasn't to leave the room so the two boys could have gay sex -- instead, she's gotten more glassware for Trevor to demonstrate his power on, and she gushes almost orgasmically about how she just loves that, and he's so special. Sylar, however, has had enough of her word-of-the-day manipulation, and TKs Trevor into a bookcase, saying that he may be special, but he can't do that. Sylar holds Trevor in place as he grits to Elle that she needs to leave, but she has a crisis of conscience and lightly zaps "Gabriel," which causes him to lose his hold on Trevor for the moment. She begs Sylar not to do this, but he menacingly gets to his feet and asks who she is, and she backs up a couple steps, which prove not to be enough when he sends her flying. Bennet starts to get ready to intercede, but Sylar tells Elle to get out, and Elle does not have to be asked twice. Obviously, she could have incapacitated him, but I think her convictions in the matter simply weren't strong enough. Sylar then turns back to Trevor, who's just now recovering enough to try to use his power, but Sylar telekinetically holds his hands in place, and then wastes no time in cutting his head open. If only that fate befell everyone that uses finger guns.
Outside, Elle runs frantically for the van and tells Bennet they need to make Sylar stop, but Bennet is in his scientific-wonder mode, saying it's incredible -- he actually exposes the brain. Well, yes, cutting the skull open can yield that result. Elle breathes, "Oh my God"...
...and upstairs, Sylar regards his now-bloody hands, looks around the room in a bit of a panic for answers that are not forthcoming, and then exits...
...and we cut back to Elle, who looks devastated. But hey, at least you're not a waitress, right?
Arthur is pacing agitatedly and telling Angela that she can't let "sentimentality" get in the way of what they've worked for, and they were going to rebuild the world. The Haitian isn't speaking at the moment, but I'd imagine if he were, even he would be like, "Dude." Angela tells him that he was once a great man, but somewhere along the line, he lost his soul. And his heartbeat's about to join it, as he doubles over in pain and finally looks at the tainted soup. He looks at her like, "You put poison in my mother's recipe? Sure, I tried to kill our son, but that is beyond the pale!" She, however, has an answer: "I lied. It's not your mother's recipe." Nice. She takes a sip of wine as Arthur falls to the floor, and as The Haitian stands and silently watches him writhe, we go to the last commercial break.
In the kitchen, Angela is telling The Haitian where he can take the body to have it incinerated, but her plans are thwarted when she hears Nathan unexpectedly show up. She thinks hard for a moment, and then moves. In the dining room, Nathan discovers his father on the floor, and then Angela appears and pretends that this is new information for her as well. Nathan understandably thinks Arthur had a heart attack, but discovers that he's still breathing and makes a call. Angela can do nothing but let this play out...
...so we cut to the day, as Bennet is on the phone with HQ, saying there's just one loose end there. "No, not that thing, the other thing. I'll let you know." He disconnects and tells Elle, who for the record was not there to hear him on the phone just now, not to beat herself up, as the work they did was invaluable. Elle, however, does not want to hear that, and emotionally tells him that Sylar had a soul, and he could have been saved. Bennet tells her that wasn't the assignment, and they follow orders. "We're agents. That's what we do." A cab has pulled up across the street, and Bennet leaves Elle there, saying his ride has arrived. He runs over, and we get old footage intercut with new of Peter getting out of Mohinder's cab, and Bennet taking it and directing Mohinder to "JFK, please"...
...and then we're back with Angela and Nathan, who are at the hospital. The doctor comes out and tells them Arthur is dead from a massive heart attack. Angela keeps her eyes averted as she says she'd like a cremation as soon as possible, and then when the doctor leaves, she pulls Nathan into an uncomfortable embrace...
...but inside, the doctor tells Arthur, who's hooked up to the breathing tubes, that it's done. Arthur gives him some silent mental orders, and the doc says he understands, and that he'll get another body to be cremated. Knowing Arthur's prejudices, he'll probably have him pick a male nurse. Unfortunately, however, the poison caused paralysis that's likely to be permanent. "I'm sorry." He leaves, and we get a spinning overhead shot of Arthur in his new prison...
...before going to the funeral, at which Nathan and Peter are preparing to make out yet again as they reminisce about their family dog, "Izzy," and recall fond memories of Arthur. Angela, however, icily tells them to cut it out, and says Arthur doesn't deserve to be idolized. She repeats the bit we've already seen about him being "deeply flawed in ways you will never know," and after a closeup on the urn that contains someone else's ashes...
...we go to Africa, where Hiro finally wakes up. He babbles to Ando they have to warn the Petrellis, and that Meredith may be able to help them, but suddenly they hear a strangled cry, and rush over to find NeoIsaac's decapitated corpse, with the head lying several feet away. He picked a bad time to run out of paint, I guess. Arthur then appears to Hiro and placidly tells him, "I understand you've been dreaming about me." He blithely puts his hands on Hiro's head, and as Hiro screams in agony and Ando calls his name, we're told that the story will be continued.
John Ramos is a writer and producer living in Los Angeles. You can reach him at couchbaron@gmail.com.