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Well, it's over. So it turns out that Bennet got Angela and Claire out of the car last time before he was captured, and after successfully escaping, Angela drops Claire off at the Capitol Building before heading off to find Matt, whom she dreamed would save Nathan. Matt tells her he came to destroy Building 26, but Angela convinces him that they need to rescue Nathan to save their future.
Sylar takes Danko's shape and, after explaining that he shapeshifted his weak spot to elsewhere on his body, frames him for shooting at his own men, and then uses that "knowing the history of an object" power to fool Claire into thinking he's really Nathan, so she goes with him to try to help. Meanwhile, Bennet and Danko find themselves sharing the same cell, and Danko admits that he effed everything up before they decide to team up, which could have been about the only truly interesting twist that's happened in quite some time. However, Hiro's recovered somewhat, although his power is still making him sick, and he stops time just before Bennet and Danko officially shake on their alliance. Hiro and Ando then find that room where all the Heroes are being kept, and free them and, unwittingly, Bennet and Danko. Mohinder warns Hiro that he's got to stop freezing time, but moments later, just as Danko is about to turn on Bennet by drugging him, which is disappointing but consistent, Hiro uses his ability again to save him and collapses. That's it for Danko and pretty much it for Hiro (although we learn he survives), which: Lame.
Peter finds the real Nathan (like, it took him longer to get to D.C. flying than it did for Bennet to drive there, show) and they go after Sylar and Claire, who have made it to the President's suite, wherein Sylar reveals himself to Claire (and Bennet, by phone). Sylar then talks at poor Claire for ages, which I suppose brings things full circle from the season premiere, while downstairs, Nathan reveals his power to one of the President's people before convincing him to let him and Peter up to Sylar, and the two Petrelli brothers head for a showdown with Sylar, which happens offscreen, like, what the shit, show? In the end, after separating from Peter, Sylar slits Nathan's throat, which as much as I've despised Nathan this season I was still quite afraid would happen. However, Peter has copied Sylar's power, and heads after him even as Sylar has taken the form of that staffer I mentioned earlier. Sylar catches up to the President (Michael Dorn again, which yay, for two seconds, which boo) -- BUT IT'S PETER, who drugs Sylar immediately. That was pretty awesome, I have to admit, although I wonder if Peter's going to stay a shapeshifter for any length of time.
And oh, is the aftermath screwed up, as Angela and Bennet charge Matt with using his power to permanently convince the drugged Sylar that he's actually Nathan, so as to cover up the fact that Nathan was killed by one of them, which would mean the end of their lives as they know them, or something. I guess this means Matt is the new Haitian, although it might have been better for them to ask Matt to use his power to RESTORE THEIR MEMORIES SO THEY'D KNOW THAT CLAIRE'S BLOOD CAN RESTORE THE DEAD. In the end, "Nathan" tells us that he talked the President down from the ledge…
…and then we get a preview of Volume Five, "Redemption," which starts six weeks later with a former Building 26 agent coming home and finding water in his apartment… which coalesces into Tracy, very much alive and pissed off enough to kill the guy, apparently. Also, a bit of Sylar seems to be surfacing in Nathan, which probably means this whole business was for nothing. And that's all we've got -- until season.
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Want more? The full recap starts right below!So after a ton of previouslies, most of which are totally unnecessary, we start... by showing a bunch of stuff from last week, interspersed with stuff that's new but annoying, like Matt, who we left in the middle of a standoff in which he was protecting his family, sitting on a train. I mean, I guess I shouldn't be surprised anymore when the show leaves off on a tense moment and pretends it never happened episode, but it's hardly worth getting irritated about when we see Bennet, Claire, and Angela outside Arlington, Virginia, which has to be AT LEAST three days' drive from wherever the hell Coyote Sands is, so unless Peter decided to fly around the world the other way for some reason, there's no way this timeline makes a lick of sense, but anyway, we're actually coming in a few minutes before what we saw last week, as Angela awakens with a start in the back seat and says that Nathan's in trouble. But he's apparently not the only one, as Bennet pulls over and informs Angela and Claire that a "construction site" they just passed was a government setup, and there's going to be a roadblock upcoming, so the two of them need to get out. Once they do, he gives them directions to get to D.C. on foot, and hands Claire what's presumably an untraceable cell phone before telling her to get to Nathan and make sure it's him and not Sylar. Grandmother and granddaughter obey Bennet's orders...
...and then we're back to what we saw last week, with Bennet stopping at the roadblock and getting swarmed by commandos. Glad to know it wasn't a surprise, at least.
We now once again see Danko stabbing Sylar in the head and Sylar recovering, only this time Danko doesn't tell the guy on the other end of the walkie that he'll call him back, and I think I'm just wholly tired of the show at this point, but seriously: Which is it? Did he say it, or not? The way this show is so in love with its own supposed cleverness and high drama to the point where basic continuity is regularly ignored is just positively bewildering. Anyway, Sylar telekinetically throws Danko up against a wall as he explains that he used his shapeshifting ability to move the "off" switch in the back of his head somewhere else, and you're more than welcome to make speculative jokes about where on his anatomy said switch is most likely currently to be residing, but I don't want to talk about Sylar any more than is absolutely necessary, which is of course way too much to begin with. Sylar moves Nathan's unconscious form into an adjoining room and closes the door, saying he'll kill him later, but first he has to use that ability he mentioned last week -- the one that allows him to see the history of an object -- to absorb Nathan's memories, so as to be as convincing a Nathan as possible. Personally, Sylar, I don't think you have much to worry about, because if people ever stopped staring at Nathan's hotness and actually listened to the things coming out of his mouth, he wouldn't be where he is today, in more than one sense. Anyway, Sylar takes many more words than are necessary in order to convey his plan -- shake the President's hand and become him -- and Danko breathes that if he wants to execute that idea, he'll have to kill him now. WHY WOULD ANYONE EVER SAY THAT? Anyway, Sylar smirks and says he's got something else in mind before assuming Danko's form as the voices of the team Danko summoned become audible. Sylar then picks up Danko's gun, steps out into the hallway, fires three times. We hear reports of at least one man down before Sylar releases Danko from his invisible grip, and as Danko recovers for a moment, Sylar then switches to Taub, that agent Danko had him mimicking, and calls to the team he's got Danko, and seriously, how dumb are these agents that they don't notice Taub just randomly appearing and disappearing at the drop of a hat? But rather than point any of this out, Danko decides to accept the frame job with just a seething "You son of a bitch" sent Sylar's way. You'd think the reference to his mother would cause quivery lips and misty eyes in our serial-killing mama's boy, but we can only guess if that's the case, because like all of us, the title card is so over this season it's beyond expression, and speeds things along by finishing its S3 duties right here. I only wish I were in the same position.
Angela and Claire apparently avoided getting mugged on the way to the Capitol Building, and once inside (I'm sure it's real easy to walk in and see a Senator in his private office without appointment, by the way) Claire asks Angela if she thinks it's possible Bennet evaded capture, and Angela replies no. "That was his plan all along." Oh, God, I hate to get bogged down yet again, but what are you even talking about? The plan he came up with in the ten seconds between seeing the fake construction site and you waking up from your nap qualifies as one he had "all along"? Anyway, Claire can't believe her dad's gotten in hot water again, but Angela snaps that he's doing it for her, and then hurls an anvil straight at my head with far more strength than I would have expected from a woman in her sixties as she adds, "You have no idea the lengths a parent will go to ensure the safety of their child." Angela, your disastrous grammar in that sentence is the clearest indication yet that you either need a long vacation or an early retirement. Anyway, after marching through half the building, Angela announces that she's not going in to see Nathan, because when you have a dream that your son, whom you just said you'd move heaven and earth to protect, is in trouble, the natural reaction is to turn around right in front of his door and go find MATT PARKMAN. I mean, she justifies it by saying she dreamt Matt would save Nathan's life (which she interpreted wrongly, obviously, because I can't believe she would call what happens at the end of the episode "saving Nathan's life," even just in a manner of speaking), and while she can't change what she dreamt (false, from what we've seen; she's had plenty of dreams that didn't come true) she can help "push its outcome" (and I don't even know what she's talking about at this point). The whole thing's preposterous, from soup to nuts, but the point is that Angela leaves, and Claire heads in...
...while Sylar is getting dressed in a suit, although I don't know why he's bothering, since his magic clothes-shifting power enabled him to appear in Nathan's form in a suit last episode. He then turns his attention to Nathan, telling him to wake up, and Lord, with all his powers, the best he can do is ineffectually pat Nathan's face a few times? Perhaps at least some cold water could have been tried? Anyway, despite the fact that Sylar's power can be used perfectly well on inanimate objects, the fact that Nathan is unconscious apparently prevents Sylar from taking his memories, so he decides to forget it, instead saying -- out loud, as so many people do when no one's listening -- that Nathan's diploma says he graduated Annapolis with honors, but "these cufflinks tell me a different story." Again, I do not even know what that means. Did Nathan use the shininess of the cufflinks to hypnotize the calligrapher that wrote the diploma while they bowed their heads in shame at being used as pawns in his twisted game? Anyway, at this moment, a woman comes in and says that there's someone there to see him, vaguely adding, "She claims to be your daughter?" Because again, this is consistent with the level of security at government institutions these days. Who would think to ask for a name? Sylar shifts into Nathan's form before turning to face the woman, instructing her to ignore his identical twin lying on the floor and tell the potential terrorist/reporter/Lolita to come on in. He does at least close the bathroom door so Claire, who's perhaps a little more on the ball than the silly woman we just met, won't see her real dad, and when she appears, he tells her that he found Sylar but "he got away," because it's credible that Sylar, who could cut Nathan's head open while disintegrating his torso and learning exactly where his legs have been, would run away from Nathan, who can -- gulp -- fly. "Nathan" goes on that Sylar is headed to the "Stanton Hotel" to meet the President, but he's going to intercept and warn him first. Claire asks how she knows it's Nathan and not Sylar, which is a brilliant way to get said information, and Sylar stalls for a moment in the face of her blunt-force approach until he fingers the necklace Nathan gave her in Mexico and spits out the details that power of his reveals. You'd think these people who are so hell-bent on catching Sylar would at least have gotten a handle on the powers they know Sylar has, but maybe Angela's embarrassed to admit how he came to possess this particular one, as well she might be, especially considering the reason she stated for giving it to him made no sense at the time and makes even less now. Anyway, Claire's convinced, and expresses the desire to go with him. Sylar agrees, and they get out of there...
...as Danko is being hauled out of the truck at Building 26. Hiro and Ando observe this from the street about 25 feet away, which is consistent with security practices in this particular episode, I guess, and even though Hiro says he fees better, Ando thinks his power is making him sick. He offers to use his ability instead, but Hiro hilariously says with all the security around, they have to stop time, as if verbalizing how tightly this place is watched is going to change the fact that they're practically calling, "Yoo-hoo!" at the commandos even as I type this sentence. Ando worries that Hiro's head might explode, but Hiro replies that that's just a chance he's going to have to take. Me too, guy. Me too.
Inside, Danko gets slo-mo perp-walked, because that's really important to see in the season finale, and finally ends up in a cell -- with Bennet. The theme song of The Odd Couple does not kick up, but given the off-screen fight sequence coming up, it's no surprise they didn't pay for the rights.
Nathan finally comes to, and moments later, Peter enters, probably having told that woman we saw before that he's Nathan's number-one fan, and would it be okay if he popped in for a quick second to ask for a lock of his hair? Peter basically hauls Nathan to his feet and carries him out of there, and given what's going to happen, it's nice that they got to be all handsy with each other one last time.
In their cell, Danko invites Bennet to have his "I told you so" moment, but Bennet isn't particularly interested in laying blame, instead saying they're going to need all their resources to stop Sylar. Danko shares the grim news that they don't know where Sylar's off switch is anymore, and then wonders how Bennet dealt with taking on these powerful Heroes for so long. They have a talk about how to handle such things, which was interesting enough on first viewing but is rendered totally irrelevant by Danko's actions later, and if he's not actually taking anything Bennet's saying to heart it hardly seems worth recapping it, so let's move on to where they agree to team up to stop Sylar, and stretch out their hands to shake on it... but time suddenly freezes, because Hiro and Ando have invaded Building 26. Hiro seems to be holding up until Ando notices he's bleeding out his ears, but he ignores that for the moment, and they soon find the room in which the drugged prisoners are being held. They locate and release Mohinder, and since I'm complaining so much this recap I might as well say how much I love these drugs that sedate people to the point of unconsciousness but completely wear off within five seconds of the feed being removed. Anyway, they release a bunch of prisoners and replace them with Building 26 personnel, a development upon which Hiro remarks: "Payback is very bitchy." Not particularly idiomatic, but it's hard to say he's wrong. However, when he releases time, he gets some payback of his own in the form of a headache that looks very bitchy indeed. Danko and Bennet complete their handshake and then notice that the door is now open (courtesy of Hiro and Ando). Bennet quickly deduces who's behind it and breathes Hiro's name...
...just as the man in question is starting not to look good at all. As all the prisoners take their leave, Mohinder examines him and says his body is rejecting his power, and warns him not to freeze time again, but you know Hiro's just going to babble about destiny and Bruce Wayne until his head explodes. Or mine does, at least.
Claire and "Nathan" get examined by security (which at least exists at the Stanton Hotel) and then meet "Liam Samuels," the President's Chief of Staff. Liam jokes to Claire that he and Nathan barely made it through boarding school together as Sylar gives him a side-eye of "The cufflinks told me THE REAL STORY ABOUT YOU, mwa ha ha ha ha!" Samuels tells them the President is making a speech that should last about 90 minutes and sends them upstairs to a suite to wait. But first, they have to sign in right there, and when "Nathan" does, Claire notices he signed with the opposite hand she thought he normally did, which is great, except she buys his lame coverup, so why bother with that little point at all? Anyway...
...Danko and Bennet bust out some tranquilizers that apparently have enough juice to take down a small dinosaur, and then Bennet stupidly turns his back on Danko, and Danko just as stupidly moves to inject him, because it makes total sense to have wasted Zeljko Ivanek on a character that ended up having no emotional journey whatsoever. Before Danko can go through with it, though, the hypo disappears from his hand and ends up buried in his neck, thanks to Hiro. Danko falls away unconscious, but then Hiro follows him to the floor in a catatonic state, which at least means there won't be any comments about how this is just like what Batman would have done.
Up in the suite, Claire's phone rings as Nathan eyes her inquisitively, and she takes a billion years to answer it, and then when "she" does, it's really Sylar in Claire's form, which is totally expected, because Sylar's a self-indulgent, moronic nine-year-old, and again, the show is so fucking in love with stupid reveals like this that I can't even stand it. This is the season finale, and this is what you think this is satisfying, or tense, or dramatic? Anyway, he shifts back into his true form and tells Bennet it's him before hanging up, and whatever, it's a commercial so let's just move on...
...to Sylar forcing Claire to open a bottle of wine. Yes, he's taking a page out of Doyle's book and twisting Claire around like a marionette, but it's not creepy when he does it, just irritating. It's odd -- I don't think I've ever despised a character this much while still both liking and respecting the actor behind it, but I've seen good work from him, and the writing and showrunning has been so bad when it comes to Sylar that I can't bring myself to fault ZQ for any of it. Not that I think he's really been trying lately, but I can't blame him for that, either. Anyway, we've got an all-powerful dude and a girl who can't feel pain or be hurt, so of course we're reduced to more speechifying from Sylar about how the two of them are eventually going to be the only ones left and blah, which again is obviously exciting enough to be season-finale material, and he eventually gets close and offers, "You could be my first...First Lady." Take out one of those "first"s and the sentence makes a lot more sense to me.
Nathan and Peter are stopped by a security guy downstairs, who calls Liam and is informed that Nathan is already upstairs...
...and then the Petrelli boys are pedeconferencing with Liam, who, not unreasonably, asks who the hell is up in the suite. Nathan drops Sylar's name, but when Liam asks if he's one of them, Nathan confirms that -- before thinking better of it and, after a significant look at Peter, amends that to saying Sylar's "one of us." Aw -- it's true Nathan was responsible for the waste of millions in taxpayers' money and a desecration of civil liberties that Dick Cheney would find even better than Viagra, but at least we got this One To Grow On moment out of it! Sorry, I probably shouldn't be quite this sarcastic when Nathan has less than five minutes to live. Anyway, he punctuates this change of heart by floating up into the air, and after the security guys point guns at him and Liam gives us a good view of his epiglottis, Nathan admits he's been lying to the President, and will take full responsibility for his transgressions, but right now, he and Peter need to take on the threat upstairs. He also does us the favor of reminding us that Peter is a power mimic, and given that it's been some time since he switched, I can understand why, before asking for a five-minute head start. 'That's all I'm asking." Liam stares for a long moment...
...but apparently accedes to Nathan's request, as we cut to the Petrelli boys getting off the elevator upstairs, and the plan is basically for the two of them to fly at Sylar with the goal of having Peter touch him. On the way, Nathan tells Peter he loves him, and Peter returns the sentiment, which is nice. They get to the double doors of the suite -- which open to spit Claire out between the two of them. After she demolishes some innocent flowers in a vase with her ass, she tells them to get in there, and to accentuate that request, we see Sylar standing there, hands crackling with blue energy. The Petrelli boys fly at him, he hits them both with electrical bolts -- and the doors close and we see nothing else, like, WHAT TOTAL BULLSHIT, MY GOD. We endure Sylar for an entire season to get to this point, and instead of witnessing the climactic battle, all we get is some drunken Foley artists breaking everything they can get their hands on? Ugh. Anyway, after the noise dies away, Claire is able to reenter the room, but she only finds Peter -- the other two went out the window. Claire asks if he can fly after them, but in a reasonably understated moment, Peter says he can't. She doesn't dwell on that, instead saying they have to find them and running out with Peter limping after her...
...and then Nathan is thrown through a window into another room much like the one we just left, landing on a piano that gives a somewhat hilarious cacophonic groan in response. However, what ensues is no laughing matter, as Sylar, unceremoniously and without a word (I KNOW!) telekinetically slits Nathan's beautiful throat. Nathan gurgles a bit, falls to his knees, and dies, and after Sylar chuckles that Claire is going to be so mad at him, his face goes serious again, and he shifts into Nathan's current form (and outfit -- stupid power) and bails.
So Matt gets off the bus in D.C. to find Angela, who's all, "About time," because in the world she lives in, driving across the country only takes the better part of an afternoon. She babbles about Nathan and how he has to come with her, and he's like, Ixnay, I have to go blow some shit up, but she opines that having Nathan around will help them, and we're too close to the end for him to point out that as far as he's concerned, that's a joke and a half, so he settles for a beleaguered sigh.
Peter and Claire are about to split up when Bennet catches them, and after taking a moment to be sure she's not Sylar, Bennet asks Peter if he took Sylar's power, and Peter affirms that. They smile about that development, but moments later, some G-men appear and order them to freeze. Bennet tries to tell them about the President's life being in danger, to no avail, but when Claire walks forward and presses her forehead to the lead dude's gun all, "I dare you to shoot the new sassy bangs straight off my head," it looks like she's got his attention.
Upstairs, Matt and Angela run into the ONE GUY separating them from the scene of the supposed fight earlier, and Matt has no problem convincing him they're not the 'droids he's looking for, and then they're inside, with Matt valiantly trying to shield Angela from the sight of Nathan's corpse, and Angela pushing past him and letting out a couple of chilling, guttural shrieks before closing his eyes (that'll get you every time) and embracing him. She gasps that she doesn't understand, as Matt was supposed to save him, and Matt just looks guilty and uncomfortable for not having ponied up for Amtrak.
Adrian Pasdar does a pretty great Sylar walk into the hotel kitchen, where he witnesses the President's entourage hustling through. Liam heads over to greet him, and they shake hands before Sylar informs him his part in the story is just about done...
...and moments after, Sylar has taken Liam's form and is following the group down a narrow corridor. The President (Michael Dorn, again, whee!) gets into a town car, followed soon after by Liam, who wastes no time in shaking his hand. Dorn doesn't let go, though, as he lets his expression turn triumphant, and "Liam" looks down in consternation. He then quickly shifts into several of his recent forms (and Peter's among them, tellingly) before turning back to his true face -- just in time to get a hypo of that tranquilizer stuck into his neck. Dorn turns into Peter, which rules, and Peter breathes, "Bet you didn't think I took that one from you." Excellent development, although I'm not sure Liam's rapidly cooling corpse would agree with me.
Later, Nathan's body has been covered with a bloody white sheet, and I'll just get it out of the way now: Why didn't they try to use Claire's blood to restore him, as was done with Bennet himself? I could have lived with it if they tried it and it didn't work for some reason, but not even to remember it as a possibility is really insulting to the few people still watching who pay attention to continuity, not to mention the fact that it makes two of the smartest characters on the show look like complete chumps. Anyway, Bennet dumps the drugged Sylar in front of Angela and Matt as the latter complains that their plan is nuts. Judge for yourself: Bennet sent Peter and Claire on a false errand to try to locate Nathan in order to buy time so Matt could secretly use his mental mojo to convince Sylar that he's actually Nathan -- permanently. Matt's power will combine with all the memories Sylar already took from that other ability of his, and no one will ever know the difference. Even though it's been done in the comic-book world before, I could have gotten behind this plan if it truly meant getting rid of Sylar, but we already know from the look at Chapter Five that that's not happening. Anyway, Angela and Bennet tell Matt that without Nathan, there's no hope of convincing the President to stop the government initiative, which is difficult to believe given that Heroes JUST SAVED HIS LIFE, but Matt eventually gives in. Sylar twitches as Matt tells him he's no longer Sylar, nor Gabriel Gray, and we see memories flashing before Sylar's eyes -- his own first, then Nathan's. Sylar then goes into convulsions for a few moments before shifting into Nathan's form and regaining consciousness, and I just hope he's still too blurry to look over at the bloodstained sheet and be like, "Um...who's that?"
Mohinder babbles at us for the last time this season as we see him, Matt, Hiro, Ando, Peter, Claire, Angela, Bennet, and "Nathan" around a funeral pyre for "Sylar," who's actually the shapeshifter from whom Sylar stole the power a few episodes ago. I'm not sure how the people not in the loop here could think that this would actually get rid of him, as he burned in the Primatech fire and didn't die, but whatever, this show is ridiculous. "Nathan" puts his arm around Angela and tells her it's a new beginning, and she manages not to vomit, although she does exchange a side-eye with Bennet. After a little talk about the new direction the President has authorized, with a more research-oriented Company with Bennet at its head, Hiro's head hurts him again, and he and Ando decide to head home, because what every guy with acute head pains needs is an extended airplane trip. Claire moves close to her father, who assures her that Sylar's really dead -- "he really is" -- like, WE GET IT. Mohinder: Babble babble...
...and then we get a look at Volume Five, "Redemption," which takes place six weeks later. One of Danko's guys comes home and finds his kitchen sink overflowing. He then quickly learns this isn't due to a mere plumbing problem, as the water moves away from him and then coalesces -- into a naked Tracy. I had actually just read an interview with Bryan Fuller in which he spoiled the fact that Tracy wasn't dead, so this didn't surprise me, but anyway, she tells the guy, "You're Number Four." I suppose that means he's going to have some people with whom to reminisce over Building 26 war stories in the Great Beyond...
...because we cut to "Nathan" reading an article about a "fourth mysterious drowning" baffling the authorities. Angela then enters, saying she was starting to worry, as she hadn't heard from him in weeks. "Nathan" says he hasn't felt like himself lately -- fuck you, Show -- which Angela breezes over. However, when "Nathan" goes to look at the clock in his office and announces that it's running a minute and a half fast, she blanches, and even though he returns to his jaunty self, she stares at the clock in trepidation, and that's the end. I wish I could be even slightly optimistic about season, given Bryan Fuller's full-time return, but these last three episodes were so unsatisfying and awful in profoundly different ways that I don't think there's anything to do but rewatch the first season and call it a day. Thanks for reading!
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John Ramos is a writer and film producer living in Los Angeles. You can reach him at couchbaron@gmail.com.