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So while we were out in Coyote Sands last week, Sylar was having yet another stupid identity crisis from which Danko, of all people, had to try to talk him down. It doesn't work, though, as Rebel warns some guy in Virginia to run from his place, but he's too late, as Sylar shows up and, after the guy demonstrates his power of disintegration, kills him and leaves the episode title in blood on his wall. Sylar then kvetches some more about his shapeshifting and losing his identity and whatever, and Danko tries to play Sylar-whisperer some more and it's so, so boring. Sylar then uses his agent identity to check into the murder of his stepmother, which you'll remember he committed, so he can... sniff her bloody sweater? You'd think it would be creepy, but it's just pathetic. He then whines to the ghost of his stepmother about how he never fit in, and then it turns out he actually is shifting into her form so he can have a conversation with himself, and good God, what is this show doing?
Danko turns up and reports that they've found Rebel, but Sylar breaks off from the team and gets to Micah first, who tells him he knows how special Sylar is, and that he can save them all. Hey, Micah's been pretty awesome lately, so I'm willing to believe this could go somewhere interesting, especially when Sylar takes his form and gets shot and falls into a river, giving the impression that Rebel is dead. Later, Micah witnesses the conversations between Sylar and "his stepmother," and Sylar shoos him out of there, but not before he suggests Sylar take Nathan's form so he can make a difference. Because Sylar is more easily convinced than an eager-to-please third grader, he complies, leading to the scene we saw at the end of last episode (and the beginning of this one), but from the "conversations" Sylar's had with his "stepmother," we know that he's planning to take the President's place. Nathan takes it upon himself to stop Sylar, but you know the rest of his family isn't just going to sit still and let him do it alone. Nathan heads back to his office to find Sylar there, and then Danko tranqs him and takes him into custody.
Matt checks in with Janice and learns she was released, so he decides to take his son home to his mother, despite Hiro and Ando's wish for Matt to come with them to Building 26. Before Matt leaves, he does them the favor of pointing out they don't have any sort of plan, so they hatch an ill-conceived one and bicker about stuff that's even more tired than Sylar, but eventually get it together in spite of the fighting and agree to be equal partners right as they get to Building 26 -- but unfortunately, something untoward happens to Hiro for reasons unknown.
When Matt gets home, he realizes there are agents parked down the street. Janice invites him to come away with her and their kid, but he realizes that although he wants to reconcile with her, he needs to contribute to the fight to preserve their way of life. Agents then swarm the house, and it's nice of them to give him his big chance, I guess.
In the end, Mohinder (?) gets captured, as do Bennet, Claire and Angela, Matt uses his powers to befuddle the agents, Hiro's nose bleeds (?), and Danko stabs Sylar in the back of the head – but Sylar recovers. It's just going to be him and the cockroaches – lucky thing I won't be around to see that.
Want more? The full recap starts right below! For the second straight week, we have scenes in the "previouslies" that never actually aired on the show, which I absolutely refuse to recap, because the quality's been low enough lately without paying homage to the Desktop from Dawson's Creek, wouldn't you agree? Anyway......we start by revisiting the end of last week's episode, but then move to "18 Hours Earlier," and we get a close-up of some guy's eye as he wakes up. Take a closeup of my eye halfway through this episode and it'll look like a reverse playback. Anyway, this dude is Sylar, who seems most distressed with his current appearance, and asks why this keeps happening, and although he's talking to no one in particular I'll still answer: Good question. He shifts back to his normal appearance and then grossly pulls a tooth out of his mouth before asking, again out loud, "Who are you?" Dude, do you ever have a thought you don't verbalize? Shut up!
Matt's on the phone with Janice, who's been released from the agents' custody, and after cutely putting the phone to his son's ear, Matt tells Janice he'll get him home soon. Once they hang up, Hiro and Ando appear, and when they hear what Matt's going to do, they worry that the agents will show up again. Matt assures them he's got a plan, which isn't necessarily reassuring to those of us who have watched the show before, but after Hiro babbles about Matt possibly reconciling with Janice, Ando suggests he help them take out Building 26. Matt doesn't think that's such a great idea, and pushes aside Hiro and Ando's hero-worship of him in order to declare that he doesn't want to risk not being there for his son, which seems perfectly reasonable, especially since he came within a hair of dying at Danko's hand twice in recent memory. I'm surprised, though, that no one suggests Hiro and Ando track down Peter -- strength in numbers and all that. Matt concludes that his son is a "game-changer," and the use of that expression atypically doesn't make me want to punch anything, but what can I say, the kid really is cute. Hiro and Ando are also stymied by Matt's devotion to his son, so Hiro gives him leave to take the kid home while they head to Building 26. Matt, however, refuses to share its location with them, though, pointing out they don't have any plan and could get hurt or killed, and then takes off after Baby Matt cutely waves at his two friends. Aw. Once they're gone, Ando points out that Matt is right -- they don't have a plan. Hiro replies, "A hero never concedes defeat," which as total non-sequiturs go is reasonably inspirational.
Out in a park somewhere, Danko comes across Sylar and upbraids him for being in his true form, even telling him one of his people reported seeing him. Danko then sits to him as Sylar shifts over like a guy whose boyfriend is lecturing him on responsibility, which is pretty much what's going on. Rather patiently under the circumstances, Danko points out that the only way their plan will work is if Sylar stays dead, but Sylar whines that he's starting to lose some control over his shapeshifting ability, as he went to bed as himself and woke up as the agent, and even produces the bloody "extra" tooth and snaps, "Where did that come from?" Props, I'm guessing, and they did a pretty good job with it, too. Danko suggests that maybe staying as the agent for a while instead of shifting into twenty different people a day might be wise, and points out that as the agent, he can do whatever the hell he wants, but if he's Sylar, Danko will have to hunt him down. Sylar sees the wisdom in this and shifts back into the agent's form, which will last until a persuasive three-year-old or a well-written radio commercial suggests he do otherwise. Or until he uses his telekinesis to carve "I AM SYLAR" into his arm, which then heals, but not before the chyron reading "Chapter Eleven" appears over it. So the dramatic appearance of the title card is heralded by the revelation that Sylar is Sylar. It's not like this show's been long on subtlety at the best of times, but this is ridiculous.
Our first stop after the break is the home of a "Tom Miller," a middle-aged man from Richmond, VA, who's just making a cup of something when he gets a text message from Rebel suggesting rather strongly that it might be a wise course of action to vacate the premises posthaste. But alas, even though he uses the far more brief "Get out now!" to convey this sentiment, he's apparently not on his game, as out in the hallway, Sylar's shifting from his agent form to his true self. And he may be complaining about his power, but I'll point out it's evolved further in his favor as it now extends to his clothes as well. He then uses that other wonderful ability of his that allows him to go through doors without opening them or making a sound so he can magically appear on the couch singing the praises of hot cocoa. You'd imagine said ability would also enable him to drink the cocoa without slurping, but you'd be wrong. Mr. Miller, who right off does not seem like the sharpest tool in the shed, cautions Sylar that it's unwise to startle him, but Sylar merely talks for a while about something or other before Mr. Miller asks if he's Rebel. Sylar replies that he's "a rebel," which just goes to show that even after everything that's happened he can still sometimes make me laugh, and says that their kind is being hunted because people are afraid of them. This scene reveals nothing about Sylar's character, and it's not like it would matter even if it did because it would be changing within three minutes anyway, so let's stick to the facts: Mr. Miller demonstrates to Sylar that he has the power of disintegration, and also says that he trusts Sylar more than the agents, and Sylar responds to these confessions by, and I know it will surprise you to hear this, slicing his head open. Danko and his agents hear Miller's screams from the hallway, but by the time they get inside, all they see is his corpse and "I AM SYLAR" written in blood on the wall. Sorry, show, but it's not going to be the "REDRUM" no matter how hard you try. Danko is none too pleased, and gets even less so when Sylar, back in the agent's form, notes to him, "The guy's got some ego." Seriously, are the other agents that brain dead that they didn't notice this guy wasn't with them when they went in? For his part, Danko looks like he could use a vacation, not that I blame him...
...and later, he enters his office to find Sylar, in his real form, waiting for him. Danko, again rather mildly, notes, "You gotta be you, is that it?" Sylar petulantly responds that he got Danko his target, and says he picked up a bonus as he hands over Miller's phone. Danko's pleased to see that Rebel is still in D.C., although that seems like a hasty conclusion to draw to me, and asks for Sylar's help in taking him down, but Sylar would rather whine about his shapeshifting being out of control some more, as apparently he got stuck with a blue eye for some length of time the day before. Danko does the best he can in the face of Sylar's thirty-eighth identity crisis of the year, saying that he's also led many different lives, but he still knows who he is, and Sylar can survive if he'll only find an anchor -- something that reminds him of him. He then produces a silver pocketwatch he says his father gave him some twenty years earlier, and while I admire Danko's suddenly saintlike patience in playing Sylar-whisperer here, he should certainly have known that producing a pocketwatch around Sylar was bound to lead to criticism. And indeed, Sylar examines it and concludes that it's running fast and gaining time, which reminds Danko that Sylar has the power to "understand how things work" (still hilarious, given that he continues not to have the first clue about anything) and prompts him to ask from whom he got that ability. Sylar actually snorfles a bit as he replies, "That's the only one that was ever truly mine," and I'd suggest cueing the violins if we didn't have way more maudlin stuff upcoming.
Hiro and Ando have decided to check out Isaac's loft/Mohinder's lab, which is kind enough still to be unoccupied, and while Hiro busies himself dealing with the motion detectors the agents apparently installed in the place, he informs Ando he's going to have to be the bait that gets captured so they can find their headquarters. Ando is not enamored of this plan, although he does undercut his position by telling Hiro that his superhero nickname is going to be "Crimson Arc," and I'll forestall commenting on that in favor of letting you know that Hiro and Ando are about to lengthily and tiredly revisit yet again their argument over Hiro not wanting Ando to be a superhero, or whatever, and it makes no sense that Ando would still be on about this after Hiro lost his own power and supported him, but anyway, let's move on to where agents bust in, and as they shoot at them, Ando pushes Hiro down and Hiro freezes time. Even as he happily surveys his handiwork, he puts a hand to his temple for a moment like he's in pain, and I do appreciate that he, at least, didn't look into a mirror and ask, "Why is my head suddenly hurting?" They then flip out when they realize that Ando didn't freeze along with the agents, and Ando happily exclaims that this means he doesn't have to be bait. Hiro gives him an unconvincing smile, like, "You just keep you mouth shut and look pretty."
A guy in a police uniform who looks like he came off the top of Central Casting's list for "Older Irish-American Beat Cop" shows up at Sylar's door and asks in a Noo Yawk accent if he's that agent, and Sylar replies, "So it seems." Heh. The cop hands over some boxes, saying they contain stuff relating to "the unsolved murder of Virginia Gray," and starts to ask why a Fed would want them. He gets Sylar's front door closed in his face as an answer, which suggests to me that he recently kissed the Blarney Stone. Inside, Sylar opens the box and finds the bloody blouse or shawl or whatever that his stepmother was wearing when she got the business end of those scissors, which he smells a couple of times, and it would have been both funny and just if he'd gotten a few moths up that honker of his for his trouble. I'd wager this is not what Danko had in mind when he counseled Sylar to find an anchor, though. Sylar moves on to the scissors, and after a couple of red-streaked black-and-white flashbacks to Virginia's death, he picks up a snow globe (why they had one in the box is beyond me) and throws it into the wall...
...and then, Virginia picks it up, saying it was her favorite. We're still in color, though, so you know something's up, and then Sylar looks at a bigger one that houses a replica of the Statue Of Liberty and muses that he bought it for her. She tells him she remembers, and look, the way the scene is filmed doesn't really support it, but I'm not going to bother pretending I don't know the twist here -- Sylar is actually shifting back and forth and having a conversation between him and his representation of his stepmother, sort of a shapeshifter's twist on a chat with a hallucination, and I can't claim any measure of objectivity here because I think Sylar's been a total waste for ages and his need to dramatically verbalize everything bugs me to no end, but I still think this is a really dumb and irritating idea here, especially because hearing serial killers whine to their mothers about how they never felt they fit in isn't really anything I'd describe as compelling. He continues his unintentional hilarity by calling his father "pathetic," and says he took the shapeshifting power because he didn't want to become him, but he's still lost, and "she" brings up the "special" word again before there's a knock on the door and Sylar morphs back into himself. Seeming a little disoriented, he looks around, but then answers the door to find Danko, who tells him they've tracked Rebel down, and suggests that if he's done doing his impression of Norman Bates As A Shapeshifter, he might like to come join him.
Hiro again looks like he's got a headache, although that could be due to Ando's excited babbling about how cool it is to see time frozen. Hiro realizes it's because they were touching when he used his power, which is lame, because I was hoping it actually had something to do with Ando. Anyway, this quickly devolves into yet another argument about how Hiro doesn't want to be partners with Ando and blah, although Hiro does do my job for me when he suggests that "Crimson Arc" has "unfortunate connotations." Ando refuses to clear his rectum, however, so Hiro puts an end to the bickering by unfreezing the commandos, leading to Ando taking enough tranq darts to bring down most land animals, or at least to give Amy Winehouse a really good buzz. Hiro then freezes the scene again, and soon notices that one of the commandos is Asian. He copies the position in which the guy's holding his rifle, and comments, "Just my size." The gun's like, "I highly doubt that."
Danko and his team approach an old building, and he tells them that Rebel is "somewhere inside." Just go with it. He has the power to the building and those surrounding it cut, and inside, we see Micah look worried as the lights go out, as well he might, as it means he's got no access to machines. The team moves, but Sylar hangs back, and when one of the agents notices he's missing, he turns around, but Sylar's already gone. Not that anything's going to come of that, but I'm glad at least one of these crack commandos isn't, you know, blind.
Micah's heading out, but Sylar turns up in that way of his, and they stare at each other into the commercial break. When we return, Micah is telling Sylar he should join his own kind, because the other side doesn't know him. "They can't see how special you are. You can save us all." If it turns out Sylar's shifting into Micah's form here, that's it for me for this recap. But no, Sylar merely looks like an eight-year-old who's just heard his first koan...
...so while his mind is being blown, we'll just cut to the commandos' truck, which is on its way back to Building 26. Ando, sitting amongst the commandos, is drugged up and unconscious, but Hiro surreptitiously slides his foot forward and then freezes time. He takes the drug shunt out and wakes Ando up and tells him he turned off the "medicine," but he has to play possum. Ando barely has time to bitch about this before Hiro restarts time, only to have the guy to him suddenly clue in that he's wearing glasses. Ando, no believer in Hiro's ability to talk himself out of tight situations, takes matters into his own hands by lighting up the inside of the truck, and thing you know, it's pulled off the road and he and Hiro are the only ones conscious. Admirably, Hiro keeps his complaining about this development to a minimum, instead grabbing a GPS off one of the commandos. The two of them start off on foot...
...while back at the darkened building, Danko gets an alert that Rebel is making a break for it. Cut to Micah being chased down a pier by the agents -- only it's Sylar in Micah's form, which I guess means that tomorrow he's going to be complaining to Danko about how he woke up with his hair in floppy curls. We see the real Micah observing what's going on as Sylar gets surrounded, and the one commando that can talk, the guy who noticed Sylar was missing before, hesitates at "Rebel's" tender years, forcing Danko to exhort the guy to go through with it several times. He finally succeeds, but not before Noah Gray-Cabey gives everyone a very Sylar-esque lopsided smirk. Sylar pitches himself into the water, and as Danko and the agents look over the pier to try to spot the body, Micah decides he's seen enough and runs for the nearest power plant...
...and we fade to later, as Sylar is just joining Danko at the pier, the other agents presumably having already gone home. Danko notes that it's unlike Sylar not to have killed Micah himself, particularly given what a juicy power he's got, but Sylar gives a convincing enough explanation about how he's having enough trouble with the abilities he's already got. Danko confesses they couldn't find Micah's body, and wonders if he should worry about it, but Sylar points out he's not a healer, so what could be the problem? Danko seems to accept that as he changes the subject to some new information they've gotten on dozens of "specials," saying he'll need Sylar to go after the more dangerous ones, and he can start that night. "Just as soon as you change your face." Go on, hunt them as Crazy Snow Globe Woman! And speaking of whom...
...Micah wakes up to witness a conversation between Sylar and "Virginia," and if the kid weren't so seemingly well-adjusted I'd be afraid this would be enough to send him over the edge. Sylar's questioning why he saved Micah, while "Virginia" opines that Sylar empathizes with Micah being lost and alone, with no one to love him. "Virginia" then sees Micah and turns back into Sylar, and Sylar explains that he can absorb people's DNA. Micah says that Niki could do "kind of " the same thing, which seems dubious at best to me but I'm not slowing down now, and adds that it made her "kind of " crazy, but she fought back and became a hero. Sylar growls, "I am not your mother," which is more unintentional hilarity on his part because duh, but Micah is undeterred, saying Sylar could change into someone who could make a difference -- like Nathan! Sylar boots Micah out with a warning that he'll kill him if their paths cross again, and Micah bails without further ado, which shows me at least one of the two of them knows when he's overstayed his welcome. Not that that means I don't want Micah on the show more, because I do -- he's actually the one who understands how things work, you know?
Sylar has wasted no time attending to the new little bee in his bonnet, as he's rifling through the desk drawer in Nathan's office. He then treats us to another installment in his Conversations With Simpleminded Mothers Who Fucked Up Their Sons With The Single Word "Special" series, as he complains to "Virginia" how Nathan was handed everything in his life, while he actually had to do the work of going out and slicing a bunch of people's heads open, or something. "She" then tries to tell him she knows he didn't mean to kill her, but he denies that, saying he wanted her to die. At this point, I know the feeling. He wonders how he can be anyone or anything when he killed the only person that ever loved him, and "she" realizes that's when he lost himself, even though I thought the show went to such great lengths to tell us it was Elle and Bennet who made him lose himself, but if the show's going to pretend Kristen Bell was never on, it's probably doing her a favor, so why should I complain? Virginia does her best Charlie-pre-Algernon that he can be President, and he agrees, holding up Nathan's toothbrush as he does so, which I wouldn't have thought would be his preferred way of obtaining Nathan's DNA, but I suppose his options are limited at the moment. He changes into the man in question, and then grins, "I won't let you down, Ma." It's no more convincing coming out of Sylar's mouth than it would be the real Nathan's, which is saying a lot.
Matt has made it back to Janice's, and he marvels to Matt Jr. at the size of the place before explaining to him that before he came to be, Mommy was slutting it up with half the men in his department... I mean, "Mommy and Daddy weren't getting along so well." He goes on that he fell in love with Matt Jr., but even still, he can't force Janice to love him again, because they can't use their powers on unsuspecting people. Not to mention it would out-creep even anything we've seen so far on Dollhouse. Janice then arrives and happily greets Matt Jr., and follows up by awkwardly and emotionally greeting her ex-husband, but before things can go any further, Matt senses that agents have followed her and are just down the street. He says he can "hold them off" for the moment but they have to move, and after Janice stutters about her parents' summer house, Matt encourages her to pack immediately. She wonders what he's going to do, and he starts to babble anxiously before saying definitively that he wants to be a part of his son's life. Janice opines they have a lot to talk about, but sensibly decides it can wait and heads off...
...leading us back to "Nathan" giving his speech. He talks about "shaking up the power structure" in Washington and whatever, which must seem pretty rich coming from someone who wasn't even elected, and then announces that the President has refused to take his calls. We see Hiro and Ando, as well as Danko, are watching this nonsense as well, as Sylar goes on about real change and shaking the President's hand and being Mommy's Special Little Boy and whatever, but the scene ends on a moment I liked, as Sylar gives a toothier smile than you ever thought possible, and the real Nathan looks at him like, "Do I really sound like that?"
At Coyote Sands, Nathan tells everyone he's going to solve the Sylar problem on his own, despite everyone's warnings that it's a very bad idea. He bails, but Peter heads after him...
...and Ando STILL will not let the stupid partnership thing go, so I can't blame Hiro for trying to freeze time again. Unfortunately, his head hurts worse than before, and his nose starts bleeding profusely. Bet you wish you hadn't spent the last fifty minutes nattering at him, eh Ando?
Matt's staring pensively at his old badge, and when Janice enters the room, he tells her he can't go with her, because he needs to fight the good fight to make sure they all can have a life together. She seizes on the "together" part, and he admits that he's not sure what will happen, but he wants to get to know her again, and he's going to fight to do so. He gets more than he bargained for, however, when the commandos storm the place, but he tells Janice to stay close to him...
...and then Nathan is busting into his office and searching his desk for something. Unfortunately, Sylar is there, and holds out a gun as he asks if it's what he's looking for. He then turns back into his true form as he says that Nathan loathes himself, because he wants to destroy the one part of him that makes him special. "Your power." Oh, phew, I thought he was saying Nathan was going to do something to his looks. Nathan sticks out his chin and says Sylar has no idea who he is, but Sylar informs him that thanks to Angela, he's got the ability to see the history of any object he touches, and now that he's gotten his special hands all over the stuff in Nathan's office, he knows that he's betrayed everyone he loves. Nathan steps forward and snarls that if he thinks anyone's going to believe Sylar's Nathan, he's got another thing coming, but Sylar says he's not going to be him. "I'm gonna be better than you." Wouldn't be hard this chapter, and yet I'd bet against him. Sylar raises his finger, taking like ten minutes to do so in case Nathan wants to put up a fight, but that doesn't seem to occur to him, so it's just as well when he's suddenly tranqued -- by Danko, who tells Sylar that as a Senator, Nathan has to be handled delicately, and Sylar, for his part, needs to turn back into the agent so he can help him out. Sylar stares at him...
...and then we go into the voice-over wrap-up sequence, as Mohinder, who's examining the film reels he made such a big deal about saying he was going to leave alone, gets captured...
...as Hiro is not looking so good...
...and Matt uses his powers to befuddle the commandos...
...and at a police checkpoint, Bennet, Claire, and Angela are taken...
...and then we're back in Nathan's office. Sylar emerges from the bathroom, still in his true form, and Danko makes an executive decision that he's had just about enough of this shit and stabs Sylar in the back of the head with that big knife of his. Sylar collapses, but even as Danko sniffs that he didn't know his place and starts to call for a cleanup crew, he twitches and recovers. Hilariously, Danko's like, "Check that" into the walkie, but when Sylar gets up off the floor and yanks the knife out of his head, it looks like Danko is feeling the first stirrings of genuine fear. Sylar's like, "That hurt!" but we'll have to wait until week's season finale to see how he exacts his revenge.
John Ramos is a writer and film producer living in Los Angeles. You can reach him at couchbaron@gmail.com.
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