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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.
Matt's looking at his sobriety chips when Sylon appears behind him, freaking him out. Then Peter tears his latest heroic deed from the newspaper. Is it wrong that it bothers me that he rips these out without scissors or anything but then they are all hanging very neatly and crisply cut on the wall? I mean, with this show? Of all the things to nitpick? I'll try to let it go. Anyway, he apparently saved a bunch of people from dying in a bus crash. How heroic.
At the carnival, Samuel is mixing up a fresh batch of ink or something. Whatever. He tells Lydia it's not for her; he's found someone he thinks might replace Joseph (his brother whose funeral we witnessed at the beginning of the season). Apparently Joseph was an empath. But it doesn't seem to have saved him from death, so it might not be the best power to have. Lydia wonders why Samuel would put on a regular white shirt, and he says he draws attention being himself. This show is acting like he was dressed all wacky or something before; he wasn't. He would fit in perfectly well in many places, including New York City, where Peter is. Anyway, Samuel complains about the suit as Lydia ties his tie and flirts with him. She'd be happy to "do whatever" he wants if he stays instead of going out trying to replace a person, which cannot be done. He really wants his compass, though, and is afraid he's lost without it. Wait, what? Didn't he get the compass back at the end of the last episode? He creepily says they have a need, and he has a candidate. "I just want to see if he deserves a place at our table." Please tell me they aren't going to eat Peter. Then he reaches into the jar of ink, which fills up most of the frame, and the chyron appears on the full ink jar -- "Chapter Two: Ink" -- then gets sucked up into Samuel's hand with the ink. All filled up with ink, he combs his hair as Lydia asks if he might go home while he's "out there." He says he left that life and doesn't want to go back. He wonders how he looks, and she says, "Like everybody else," at which he smiles gleefully and we get our opening title card.
At Peter's. A knock on the door reveals someone wondering if Peter isn't himself, the one who saved that cop's life. Peter's all, "Yeah." The guy thinks it's awesome, but then serves Peter with some papers and says, "I guess you need to be more careful when you're saving people, hero." Really? So, the guys who serve the papers actually get to read them? I didn't realize that. Peter reads the paper, shakes his head, and scoffs.
Close-up of an alarm clock, which goes off along with a vibrating bed. It's a blonde, and for a second I thought maybe the third Ali Larter triplet was deaf, but it's not her. It's someone else, with a cat that she loves and snuggles as she gets up and gets ready for work. Then she walks into the kitchen and we hear water dripping in the sink. She walks over to it, and looks closely. Tiny flashes of blue come from the drop as they hit the spoon. She smiles and then weirdly grabs the faucet and looks up. Huh? What the hell was that?
Matt and Rick Worthy are sitting in a van as Matt looks all shifty. Rick Worthy wonders why Matt's acting so weird, and Matt pretends he's just wondering why the judge hasn't issued that damn warrant yet. Then he comes clean and gives back his 30-day sobriety chip, saying he "used" and is being haunted by the ghosts of his past. Rick Worthy is like, "Dude! Stop with the whining and grow a pair!" Or maybe that was me. Rick Worthy takes a call and leaves Matt in the van to whine with his imaginary friend, Sylon, who's in the backseat. Matt sees him in the mirror, and he's all, "I wish I was [sic] a ghost. It would be so much better than this hell, being stuck in your miserable life. I mean, have you seen yourself eat a burrito?" I wonder if Greg Grunberg is okay with all of the fat jokes at his expense. Matt tells him to go away, but Sylon says the only way that will happen is if Matt lets him go. Matt says he's a cop, so he'll never do that, especially since Sylon's annoying but totally powerless. Which is different than Sylar, who is annoying and powerful. Matt says he'll just ignore Sylon until he fades away like a bad memory. I would like it if Matt would at least try to actually ignore him instead of talking to him nonstop and even looking for him when he's not there. Talk about annoying. Then Rick Worthy gets back in the van and tells Matt they got the warrant. He tells Matt he wants him on this job, but he has to know he'll keep it together. Matt says he's been clean for one day now and he's ready to do this.
Matt puts on sunglasses and they barge into the house. Inside, he takes the sunglasses off. So, basically a waste of time putting them on and now he has to carry them around. He's some agent. Rick Worthy's going to check downstairs and then Sylon's right there with Matt, everywhere he turns. Sylon ends up telling Matt where the drug dealer is and that he has a gun, just as the guy starts shooting out of the closet he's hiding in. Matt looks at Sylon, all, "What the hell?" And Sylon shrugs, "You're welcome."
Claire's reading a Biology book when someone knocks on her door. She actually gets up and answers it, starting to tell Gretchen she's tried to tell her... when she sees it's her dad. She's like, "What are you doing here?" But he reminds her that, "Hey, Dad. Thanks for bringing the housewarming presents" is a better greeting. He holds up the presents -- a fake fish tank and what appears to be a blanket or sleeping bag -- as Claire mockingly repeats what he just said. They hug and he tries to talk to her about her roommate, Annie, killing herself. Claire's sad about that, but she also misses her family. Even Lyle. Bennett wants to grab some lunch, and Claire agrees but thinks she should go get pretty first. Claire, you're on TV. The people in hair and makeup have already made sure you look pretty. Just go with him. Don't create a situation where you have to run into Gretchen to bring her into the scene. No one likes her. Not even you. Trust your gut on this. Bennett agrees, at least about the part where she already looks pretty.
She doesn't listen, though, of course (this is Claire), and thing we know she's brushing her teeth. Which I'll point out is not the same thing as making yourself pretty. If she'd said she wanted to brush her teeth, I wouldn't have protested, because I haven't smelled her breath, and it might be quite bad. A guy walks by wrapped in a towel, presumably because she's in the boys' bathroom to avoid seeing her stalker. We get a close-up of her toothpaste spit and then Gretchen's voice: "So, this is your plan?" She's standing behind Claire and asks if she's just going to avoid her. Man, how I wish she would. Claire says she's not, and Gretchen stutters that she's amazed that Claire's even going to avoid admitting she's av
oiding her. Gretchen's like, "So we're not going to talk about this?" Claire says she didn't see whatever she thinks she saw, and Gretchen spells it out for those of us who not only missed the last episode, but also the previouslies: "So, I didn't see you hurl yourself off the building and then push your bones back into place?" Claire says that's right, only not really, because she did test out the jump, push, fall thing, and it turns out Annie killed herself. Wow, Claire's a bad liar, what with the ADMITTING IT.
Claire storms back into her dorm room, and Gretchen follows her, and gets all sweet when she sees HRG. He wonders who Claire's friend is, and Claire introduces her. HRG invites Gretchen to lunch, to which Claire just says he doesn't have to do that and she's sure Gretchen has an art history paper due tomorrow, right? Gretchen says she does, but she's finished it. And she's starving. She smiles sweetly, so HRG doesn't know what a creepy stalker she is.
Back in the drug house, agents are tearing the whole place apart as Rick Worthy seethes at the suspect about how they can do this the easy way or the hard way, so why doesn't he just tell them where he hid the drugs. Suspect's still not talking, and wants to call his lawyer. That's a surprise. Matt gets in the guy's face, and Sylon taunts him to "Stop asking. Use your abilities." Matt tells Rick Worthy he's going to check in the bathroom, but Sylon's there too. He wants to help solve the crime, because he thinks he would have been an excellent cop. Matt quickly resigns himself to accepting help from someone IN HIS BRAIN. That makes about as much sense as everything else on this show. Sylon says that something doesn't fit in this picture and shows Matt a fuzzy toy bunny on the floor (they call it a "stuffed rabbit," but that might imply taxidermy instead of toys), and Sylon says something much worse than drugs goes on at this place.
Peter enters an office at the hospital and none other than our deaf girl who sees sound is sitting there, with headphones on. He starts telling her he needs a file, and she points to a sign on her desk that says all requests must be submitted in writing. He says it will just take a second, it's his accident report, and could she type it in? She just smiles and hands him a pen and clipboard. He's like, "Seriously?" And then he flirts with her as he fills out the forms, but she can't hear anything, of course. He thinks he's being ignored, until he sees her headphones aren't attached to anything. He asks who she's listening to, and points at her headphones. She sees they're not plugged in, and he's all, "It's cool. I like that band too." She knocks her tea cup off the desk and it shatters and glows sort of orangey-red to her. She looks at it in puzzlement and Peter wonders for two seconds if she's okay, but then sees the accident report, which tells him that the guy who's suing him is in physical therapy right now. Because, you know, accident reports list the full schedules of all people involved in the accident.
Peter walks into what is apparently a physical therapy room in the same hospital and asks the guy inside if he's William Hooper. He says yes, but we quickly see it's Samuel. He looks ominously at Peter, who scoffs and then -- after commercial -- says he's never met William before, so there must be some mistake. Samuel gives him details of the crash and adds, "You were fast. So fast. Negligent." He says Peter dislocated his arm. Peter says he remembers everyone who was on the bus, and he wasn't on it. He wonders if William's trying to scam him because he recognizes his family name and, therefore, money. Samuel says he doesn't want money; he wants empathy -- get it? -- since he lost his brother, Joseph, he's all alone. He just wants to take care of his family, but he can't on account of Peter. Peter says this was a mistake, and he'll let the lawyers handle it. Samuel asks if he hasn't been spread so thin from all of his extra shifts (he pretends his lawyer already checked into Peter) that he might not have noticed Samuel on the bus. Peter, ever sure of himself, says it's not possible. He storms out.
He walks by, but doesn't see, our new deaf "hero" in with her doctor (or nurse?), played by Louise Fletcher. Dr. Ratched tells Emma she's not going blind, and there's nothing wrong with her eyes. Emma asks what's wrong with her then, and Dr. Ratched asks if anyone else saw the lights and Emma snits -- via ASL, which is pretty great -- that, yes, she asked people if they could see Aurora Borealis in her coffee cup. Dr. Ratched asks Emma if she's heard of synesthesia, in which people with a missing or weakened sense can start to have heightened other senses. Dr. Ratched describes it as, "People say they can smell words, or hear numbers." She says it's very common, and could be happening to Emma. As Emma gets up to leave, Dr. Ratched tells her she's completely disengaged, filing records when she could be treating patients. She asks why Emma wears the headphones, and Emma says she doesn't want people asking for her phone number, or directions to the Statue of Liberty, then she actually speaks, "Hey!" Because Dr. Ratched looks away, which is pretty rude to do to someone who speaks in sign. Then she say she doesn't want to see their faces when they're all, "Oh... she's deaf." She puts her headphones back in and leaves.
Bennett lunch. They're having Indian food, which Claire makes the "stink face" at. Gretchen whispers that she might not like some of the food, so Claire shows her how to spit food into her napkin. Gretchen says she's very good at hiding things. Bennett tunes back in to the conversation and asks Gretchen's major. She says physiology and biomechanics, which upsets Claire because she thought it was art history, and you never want your crazy stalker to lie to you about anything. Gretchen says she changed her mind because she has a new obsession: how the human body works. Or, actually, her new obsession is Claire. She tells Bennett she saw this girl on YouTube who totally can't feel any pain, and she's practically been cloistered by her parents. Gretchen asks HRG what he does, and he says, "Retired. But I'm always finding new reasons to go back to work." Awesome. I hope HRG has her killed, so he can move on to something better. Because have they really decided this is the best use of Bennett? It's not even the best use of Claire, and she's never been all that useful.
Drug house. Pink bunny's sitting with Sylon, who's trying to help Matt solve the crime. Rick Worthy leaves to check out the garage and the suspect watches Matt talk to what appears to be himself. Sylon won't help Matt now, though; instead he psychoanalyzes him, telling him that Janice and his kid will never love him. The suspect swears he's innocent, but Matt finds a box cutter and a magazine with letters cut out of it. Then he finds a ransom letter made with those letters. It says something about "She dies or $200,000." Sylon wonders if Matt's man enough to save the girl. Recycled storyline alert!
Back at lunch, Gretchen tells HRG how good this food was, and gets up to use the restroom. HRG tells Claire he needs to contact the Haitian to clean up this mess Claire's made. He pulls out his phone, but Claire's like, "Hey! Gretchen is not the enemy." Claire says she's the only friend she's made, and she can handle this herself. He asks what Claire's plan is, and as he starts to dial, she tells him to stop, threatening to lose contact with him if he does it. She'll handle this herself. He puts his phone away as Gretchen comes back. It makes me angry how pointless everything about this storyline is.
Speaking of, Matt's storming toward the suspect asking where the girl is. The suspect's all, "What girl? There is no girl!" But Matt's overacting in his face about the ransom note, and Sylon's trying to get Matt to use his power. Matt does, or so it seems, and he hears, "She's under the stairs." Matt looks under the stairs and finds a dead girl. He comes back in and starts beating the crap out of the suspect. Rick Worthy comes in and asks what the hell Matt's doing, and Matt points Rick Worthy to the girl, but ... there is no girl. When Matt returns to see that, a clock starts ticking so we know it was all Sylon's work. There's no ransom note or pink bunny either. Matt look at Sylon, who says he used Matt's own power against him. Whatever. That's not actually possible, even in this world.
Peter's partner asks him if he's being sued. When Peter points out that guy wasn't even in the crash, Partner says he was according to his log, and the hospital is not going to take the fall on this; they'll blame Peter. It's a dislocated elbow, right? How much could that cost the hospital and/or the Petrellis? I think all will be okay. Peter says he's been nothing but committed as he looks at the lawsuit. Partner agrees Peter's always the first one on scene, and tells him that a couple people are floating the theory that Peter is causing the accidents for his glory-hounding. Peter says his partner knows him, and Partner's like, "And then you run off as soon as we get on scene. I'm your chauffer."
Samuel breaks into Peter's and touches the newspaper clipping about the accident. Peter arrives home, and Samuel hides. Peter looks at the clipping and sees Samuel outside the bus. Samuel's watching him from the door, where I presume he will at some point try to sneak out without Peter hearing? Instead of just looking on ominously? But instead we get a commercial.
We get our traditional Heroes music as Gretchen tells Claire she's sorry she was pushy, and she gets that she wanted to keep her
secret. She says people used to call her "Retchin' Gretchen" (hey! I think I had that Garbage Pail Kid!) because she smelled like puke because of her bulimia. Claire can't believe kids would make that up, and Gretchen's like, "Yeah, that's it." How stupid is Claire? And, also, how stupid is this storyline? Gretchen starts to leave but Claire dumbly calls her back and says she wants to trust her, but that's always been hard. But she needs a friend, so Gretchen can go ahead and ask her anything she wants.
Peter catches up with Samuel walking in a park somewhere. Because people are so easy to find walking around in New York City. He wants to apologize to him, because he realizes he actually was on that bus. He's sorry he made a mistake, but he's going to make it right. Samuel says there's no need to concern himself, but Peter thinks there must be something he can do. Samuel wonders if he's ever lost a brother, and Peter says he hasn't, but he used to work hospice and help people through the worst pain imaginable. Does that answer Samuel's question, OR tell us anything new? What is with all the pointless dialogue? It's even worse than usual. Samuel says he grew up nearby and thought he might go home, but he can't bring himself to go. Too many bad memories mixed in with the good. Samuel says he can't find any solace anywhere. Peter talks about death, which is I guess where his hospice expertise comes in. Samuel asks why Peter became a paramedic, and Peter says he wanted to save lives instead of watching them pass. Samuel tells Peter he's exactly who he wanted him to be, and Peter looks puzzled for a moment as they SHAKE HANDS. Until Samuel says he's dropping the lawsuit. Peter doesn't seem to know he's picked up a new power, as he just tells Samuel he should probably visit home since he came all this way (from where, Peter? Do you even know? Also, if Samuel grew up in New York, what's with the Irish accent? So many questions that I know will never be answered). Samuel says he thinks he just might.
Samuel leaves, walking by a cello player and then by Emma, who can see the cello player's shiny, red sound. We get mostly silence while Emma looks on in shock and then the cellist stops playing and leaves his cello sitting there while he goes to buy a hot dog or something. He's within eyeshot, but Emma walks over to the cello and touches a string, which turns blue. Then she starts playing, and the strings all turn blue. The cellist comes back and watches her play, as we see a rainbow of colors come out of the strings. Wow, what a cool power. It does absolutely nothing except make her all smiley and happy. Peter's still sitting in the park, and hears the music, so he starts walking. Many people have gathered around to watch/hear her play, all smiling and loving it. Apparently more than they loved the actual cellist's playing, since no one had stopped to watch him. Peter's watching, too, but he looks grim and puzzled. Or maybe it's supposed to be flirty. It's hard to tell with him.
Samuel shows up at a fancy gated home, and knocks on the door. A rich woman answers, and Samuel apologizes for bothering her, but says he grew up here. His father was the butler and his mother was the maid. His brother just died, and he was wondering if he could take a look around in the carriage house. The lady says they're in the middle of a dinner party, so this really isn't a good time. She apologizes for his loss, but I'm thinking that's not exactly going to appease Samuel.
Claire and Gretchen are making small talk about how Claire can't get drunk (which is a fun little reminder of all those shots she took last season). Apparently Claire heals too fast to get drunk. Gretchen creepily says she wants to see "it," and Claire's like, "What? The healing?" Gretchen: "If that's not crossing a line." Me: "IT IS!" Claire tells her the hand's always the favorite and gives Gretchen scissors to cut it. Gretchen says she's never done this before, and Claire's all, "I would hope not." Then she pretends it hurts when Gretchen slices her hand, but it doesn't. She heals, and then her phone rings. She has to take it. Gretchen watches Claire walk into the hall to take the call, clearly in love with her, or something. If this character were male, we'd all be creeped out, right? Well, I am anyway. She is scary and weird and will probably end up being a villain (let's hope).
Claire answers and doesn't let her dad talk, just telling him that she has it under control, and she told Gretchen everything. She knows he'll be mad, but this is her choice, since it's not just them anymore and she's going to have friends and boyfriends and all of that. On the other end, HRG's looking at a picture of the two of them, and asks if she rehearsed that speech. She says she did, and he says it was good. He apologizes for being a bit harsh at the restaurant, and Claire's like, "A bit?" He acknowledges two bits. He says he looks at her and sees his Claire-bear, and has an instinct to protect her, but he realizes she's growing up and he can't really do that anymore. He says he knows she can handle her problems, and he'll try to worry about himself now. They say good night and hang up. The only hope I have for this storyline is that it drives HRG back to doing something interesting.
Claire gets off the phone and asks Gretchen to be her roommate. Gretchen thinks rooming with Claire is way better than her boring roommate who smells like pickles. They shake on it, all "Roomie." Whatever, show. No one cares.
Drug house. It looks like maybe Matt killed the suspect? I don't know. I can't tell, but he's lying there all bloody in the chair. Rick Worthy says he can't see any way out of this, and Matt needs to find himself a damned good lawyer. Matt says this is going to ruin his life, and Rick Worthy's all, "Sorry." Matt says he is too, and he stands up and gives Rick Worthy his chip, then uses his power to tell Rick Worthy that nothing happened here. He says the suspect attacked Rick Worthy, and Matt stopped him, that's all. Rick Worthy says he'll go call it in. When he leaves, Sylon's standing behind him and says he's proud of Matt for becoming more like him. He tells Matt all of the days of his life can be like this, or they can go find Sylon's body.
Peter and his partner are walking together toward whatever crime scene they're at. The fire department is there, and apologizes to Peter and Partner for making "you boys" come out. Three people died, but it could have been a lot worse. Peter asks what happened, and the fire department guy is like, "Sink hole." Peter: "Sink hole?" They walk forward and see a big hole in the Earth where apparently that fancy house Samuel grew up outside of used to be. Samuel's looking on ominously, and then Peter feels some sort of pain and sees a compass tattoo on his arm, and the needle starts spinning. Close-up of Samuel's evil eyes, and then it's over.
Okay, so what exactly is going on with this show? Please tell me when you figure it out.
week: Tracy is back with the governor. Don't care. Lydia's showing Samuel Bennett's tattoo face, but Samuel wonders why since he retired. Don't care. Bennett's looking badass, dressed in black and with some purpose. This part, I like. Nathan tells Peter he's seeing memories that aren't his. Don't care. Angela says Nathan hasn't been himself lately. Don't care. Someone kills "Nathan" and puts him in a hole in the ground. Uh-oh. That's probably going to awaken the Sylar within. Can't decide if I should care about this, but I think I do anyway.
DeAnn, a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon, can't hear colors or do anything else this show might call a superpower. You can contact her at twopmodmars@gmail.com.
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