By Couch Baron
A definite improvement, although there are still plot holes right and left. First the preliminaries: Sylar tells Arthur he's not working for him anymore, and after burning Elle's corpse, he goes to see a woman who knows when people are lying. She tells him he's on the wrong path, but he kills her and takes her power anyway. Daphne superzips Ando and Matt to Manhattan in an attempt to find the messenger, and after some judicious use of Matt's mind mojo and a quick chase scene, they get hold of Isaac's sketches, which depict Hiro as being "lost in time." Nathan shows up to Pinehearst, where he discovers that Tracy is already in bed with his father, figuratively at least. He tells Arthur that he's taking over the Pinehearst operation, and Arthur accedes to this power play while knowing that Nathan is a fluffy bunny whom Tracy will run like a dogsled. Tracy then takes Nathan on a tour of their New Order, and Nathan is somewhat chagrined to discover that the military types they're training actually want to obtain mutant abilities.
But the best stuff happens in the past, as Claire and Hiro observe Kaito and Hiro's heretofore-unseen dying mother. Turns out Hiro's mother was the holder of the catalyst, and she wanted to pass that honor on to Hiro, but Kaito overruled her, opining that Hiro was too immature, and chose Claire instead. Also, Hiro's mom was a healer, and Hiro and Claire both get the idea to get Hiro's mother to repair the damage to his brain. Elsewhere in the past, Claire adopts a pseudonym and helps her mother with her younger self, in the process getting some info on what her dad was like back then, and then even meeting his super-suspicious ass in person. Claire exhorts her past dad to protect her younger self, and gets him not to take her in to become the catalyst. Meanwhile, Hiro confesses his true identity to his mother, and they have a touching, tearful reunion before she restores his memory and tells him how much she believes in him. He gets her to give him the catalyst, which is her last living act, and after everything they've put Masi Oka through this season I am so glad he got to do this excellent scene. However, Arthur turns up in the past (er, how did he know exactly when to show up?) to steal Hiro's powers and send him over the edge of the building -- but Hiro survives by grabbing onto a flagpole. Haaaaang on Hiro, Hiro hang on! Via Isaac's sketches, Hiro's friends in the present see his plight.
Back at Primatech, Angela gives Peter and The Haitian a gun with which to finish Arthur off. On the way, The Haitian tells Peter that he knows he's conflicted about offing his father, but Peter sucks it up and says he has to get rid of him for the good of the world. The two of them successfully infiltrate Pinehearst and are about to kill Arthur, but meanwhile, Sylar has showed up, and after getting in the right frame of mind by enduring some elevator music, he stops Peter's bullet from killing Arthur -- only to use his new power to ascertain Arthur isn't actually his father and kill him himself. The catalyst leaves Arthur's body, seemingly gone forever, but as The Haitian goes after Sylar, Nathan, Tracy, and Mohinder watch the effect of the new formula on one of the military guys -- which is to give him super-strength will seemingly no ill effects. Unless there's a Jessica inside him, but we'll have to wait and see about that.
Who has (or had) the best powers? Find out. Come back Friday for our full episode recap.