By DeAnn Welker
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.This episode makes very little sense -- even less than usual -- so bear with me here: First there's Claire, who goes from avoiding to confiding in to rooming with her annoying stalker Gretchen. Claire even disobeys HRG and tells Gretchen everything. And she lets her cut her so she can watch her heal, which is supposed to be touching or possibly flirty, but it's just weird because ... self-mutilation just doesn't do it for me, I guess. That's pretty much Claire's whole storyline, though. She went from wanting to be a hero last season to wanting to just hang out and do nothing now. It's as boring to watch as it sounds. And HRG gets to do nothing but be the third wheel, which is even worse, because he usually gives us something not boring to work with.
Sylon continues to mess with Matt, trying to get him to use his powers (wait, wasn't this what the last episode was about, and he did use them?). He plants a bunch of fake stuff in Matt's mind so that Matt ends up losing his shit and beating up on a suspect. When Rick Worthy is going to call it in, Matt really uses his power and makes Rick report it as if Matt was doing it to protect him. Sylon's gleeful Matt's using again (though I contend that having Sylon in his brain is using).
Peter's also being stalked, by Samuel, who comes to town looking for the empath Edgar told him about, to replace Samuel's brother, Joseph. Samuel pretends to be an accident victim whom Peter saved who's filing a lawsuit against him, even going so far as to put himself into the newspaper clipping on Peter's wall. This leads to a touching moment in which they shake hands, and Samuel secretly passes his power (which he describes as moving the earth, but it still is mostly ink) on to Peter. Before Peter knows he has it, though, he flirts with a deaf girl who is starting to see sound and then watches her play the cello in the park. At the end of the episode, Peter's called to a disaster site (a sinkhole, where Samuel's lurking, so he obviously caused it) and the tattoo compass shows up on his forearm and starts spinning. To be continued. So, basically, nothing happened but they promise something might week.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Before we get started, I have to share this. I was trying to explain to a friend who no longer watches this show (like so many former fans) what's been going on this season, and this is what I said: "There are these carnies who all seem to have some sort of tattoo powers. One guy pushes ink into people's skin using either a pen or his hand, and makes it do stuff, but he says that his power is 'controlling the earth.' Carnie girl seems to be able to create (maybe?) or at least explain the tattoos ink guy puts into her skin. They also have a friend, who played Darth Maul, who is a super fast knife ninja guy. That's right. That's a power. And now there's a new girl who is deaf but can see sounds. Again, yes, that's a 'power' now. Oh, and Claire's doing nothing except falling for her creepy lesbian stalker. And Bennett, who is supposed to be awesome, is getting sucked into that college drama and doing nothing interesting on his own. And, of course, Sylar's still Nathan, or thinks he is and has shapeshifted into him. But Sylar's brain is apparently inside Matt's head so Matt has this cylon-type Sylar in his brain, who I'm calling Sylon. It seems Sylon's whole purpose in life is to get Matt to use his powers, which he tries and succeeds at in every episode so far. Mohinder's gone, which is great, except that they added so many even more ridiculous characters in his place. The end. Only it's not even close to the end." Can't that just be my whole recap, since there's really nothing more than that going on? No? Okay, then.
Previously: Angela worried Sylar was emerging in Nathan. Sylar also was emerging in Matt's brain, in the form of a Six-style Sylon. Matt loses it -- as usual -- in his new job as an FBI agent. HRG's not sure he is the guy to help reform the Company. But he's still Claire's dad and giving her fatherly advice. She also has a stalker, who is completely annoying. The carnies came to be, and one of them met Peter, whom he told the carnie leader about, and his curiosity was piqued. Okay, then.Claire's in her dorm room with a pencil in her hand lest we forget she's a student, and someone is pounding on her door. It's her stalker, Gretchen, and Claire's not answering despite Gretchen's desperate pleas. See, Claire's scared because Gretchen saw her heal last week and Gretchen's a crazy stalker so she's not giving up until she gets to be Claire's BFF or whatever it is she wants from her. (Do I even want to know?) The music is all ominous and creepy here, as if there's anything weird or supernatural about Claire's storyline.