Episode Report Card Couch Baron: C+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Sins Of The Father... And Sister
By Couch Baron | Season 3 | Episode 23 | Aired on 04.13.2009
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.At Coyote Sands, the team continues to dig and unearth the bones of those killed, but Peter finally asks Angela what happened, which sends us into a flashback to 1961, when Coyote Sands was a "relocation center." We see a young Chandra Suresh greet "Angela and Alice Shaw," and he tells them and everyone else that he's there to help them. We also meet a bunch of the ElderHeroes' younger selves -- Charles Deveaux, Linderman, Bob Bishop -- but while Angela is charmed by them and excited for the adventure of being on their own, Alice is not. Angela, however, tells her that the place will make her nightmares go away, and I try to shy away from superlatives, but that could very well be the worst prediction ever. Back in the present, Angela tells Peter that her sister and many others died there, and they all need to settle their differences so history doesn't repeat itself. She goes on that when the government found out about them, they rounded them up, claiming they could cure them. When that turned out to be a lie, the ElderHeroes formed Primatech with the idea never to let something like Coyote Sands happen again. She also informs them that she's been dreaming that her sister is alive, and they need to get to the bottom of that.
In the past, Angela's dreams get worse, and Deveaux tries to make her see that the government doesn't have their best interests at heart. She confesses that her dreams are telling her not to trust Suresh, and then gets a jolt when Alice tells her she can control the weather. Said jolt carries back to the present, as a dust storm mysteriously kicks up, during which Mohinder appears, having followed his dad's notes to Coyote Sands. He and Bennet get each other up to speed, but what they don't know is that in the past, Angela warned Chandra that he was going to unwittingly kill everyone there, but he didn't believe her. In the present, Angela goes out into the storm alone to confront Alice, which causes the dust to abate but Angela to vanish, and the rest of them split up to look for her. As time goes on in the past, Angela and the ElderHeroes hatch a plan to escape and tell the cops what's going on, but they leave Alice behind, thinking she'll slow them down. We see Angela totally lie that she had a dream that it would be safe for Alice at Coyote Sands, so when Angela finds Alice in a bomb shelter, it's no surprise that Alice doles out a heaping helping of guilt for her sister. Angela gets Alice to admit what happened -- Chandra came for her and she got scared and resistant, so she summoned a storm, and chaos ensued, with the guards killing a bunch of the people with abilities. Angela apologizes to her sister and promises to keep her safe, but when she admits the lie she told, Alice freaks and starts shooting lightning bolts until Angela talks her down. However, Alice ends up disappearing, leaving us only with an explanation for Angela's penchant for stealing socks that could just make you cry. In the end, everyone leaves except Mohinder, who stays to come to terms with the sins of both his father and himself, while the extended Petrellis resolve to forgive each other and rectify their mistakes. Unfortunately, that may be even harder than it sounds, as Sylar is now imitating Nathan. We'll just have to see if he's willing to commit to brother-touching to make it really convincing.
Want more? The full recap starts right below! Man, I can't believe they aired an episode that's so completely filler when we've only got three to go. I was so psyched for Bryan Fuller, and yet the show has managed to completely ruin any momentum it had from "Cold Snap." So boring! Anyway......it's back around to day in Coyote Sands, and the team on hand has excavated many more corpses. Peter complains about what they're doing, as well he might given that I don't see any evidence that any of them have slept since they got there, and then Nathan tells him to trust Angela, which is kind of hilarious all around. Needless to say, Peter is not interested in having his traitorous brother weigh in on what he should or shouldn't be feeling, so Claire goes over to him and tries to get him to give Nathan a chance. "He knows what he's done and he's carrying enough guilt for all of us." Here's my exceedingly witty rejoinder: No he doesn't, and no he isn't. Seriously, it's Claire's business if she wants to make peace with Nathan, but for her to say that Nathan has earned that consideration from any of them, least of all Peter, the only family member he didn't protect from the government initiative, is funnier than anything I'm talented enough to write. Peter isn't particularly impressed with Claire's plea, and decides instead to do something constructive and ask Angela what the hell is up with them coming to find a sister they didn't even know she had. Angela cinematically swivels her head...
...and then we're thrown into a black-and-white flashback of an old-style bus pulling into the location we just left in the present as a chyron informs us it's February 1961. The place is fenced in, and a sign on the gate reads "Coyote Sands Relocation Center," and even without knowing what's coming, if that euphemism doesn't vaguely chill your blood, you're not paying close enough attention. Amid a line of people who've just disembarked from the bus, a teenaged girl turns to face the camera for a moment before Younger Chandra calls her name -- "Angela Shaw," and on looks alone, this is a great cast, because this girl bears a lot of similarities to Cristine Rose. YC also calls the name of her sister, "Alice," who looks perhaps the slightest bit, er, "off," before introducing himself and affably inviting them to follow him. As they walk, he points out the playground, dining room, and game room, and all the place needs are some canvas tents and an archery range to be the summer camp I went to when I was ten. After he sings the center's praises some more, Angela asks where he's from, and he tells her Bombay. "I've come a long way to meet you. To help you." He points to a building that he says will be theirs, and adds that their parents will be just across the way. He then tells them "Dr. Zimmerman" will escort them, but the friendly mood is dampened somewhat when Angela observes the presence of armed guards, and between them and the fact that their parents are there, I have to agree that the camp atmosphere is seeming less fun by the second. YC, however, assures them that the guards are only there to keep them safe, and Angela seems to buy that, which goes to show that mistrust and paranoia are made, not born. The bunch of them head off...