Episode Report Card DeAnn Welker: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT We're Thankful for This Episode
By DeAnn Welker | Season 4 | Episode 11 | Aired on 11.23.2009
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.HRG hosts an awesomely awkward and untraditional Thanksgiving dinner, consisting of Sandra and her new boyfriend, Doug (and their poms, Mr. Muggles and Miss Lovegood, of course), Claire, and his NOTmistress Lauren (I was wrong last week about Lyle and Tracy being there). Doug's a tool, Claire's upset, Sandra's jealous of Lauren, and HRG's just trying to keep everyone from going crazy. Claire does anyway, though, announcing she's quitting school and then slicing her arm open right there in front of Doug, who faints. Then Gretchen shows up and all is right in Claire's world again. Or so it seems, until she and Gretchen leave to go find Samuel, since she stole her dad's compass. This can't end well.
Speaking of Samuel, he's still being a big jerk, and now Lydia the Tattooed Lady learns the full extent of it. She gets Hiro to take her back eight weeks and she watches him kill Joseph. When she comes back and tells Edgar, Hiro won't vouch for their story (still hung up on getting Charlie back), so Samuel accuses Edgar of killing Joseph, and throws a rock at him. But Hiro freezes time and saves him before he gets hit and killed. Samuel knows Hiro saved him, but Hiro stands up to him and reminds him that he might be powerful, but so's Hiro. And as long as Samuel needs Hiro, Hiro's smart enough to know he's safe, so Samuel can just step off. Or something like that.
Peter and Nathan (in Sylar's body) are at Peter's apartment when Mama Petrelli shows up for another awkward Thanksgiving, in which the boys grill her about what she did. She finally comes clean and apologizes, and then Nathan turns back into Sylar right in front of them. He eats an entire pie while holding them in place, because apparently he likes to have people watch him eat. Then he starts to cut open Mama Petrelli's head, but the Nathan inside his head comes out and stops him. He asks his mom what she's done to him, and leaves. Peter promises her he's going to get rid of the Sylar and make sure to keep the Nathan, because he can't lose his brother and he wants revenge. It's all very sweet how much Peter loves Nathan, but sorry to tell him Nathan's long gone.
Discuss this episode in our forums, then see why we want to scrap the cast and start over again.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously: Gretchen left college because she was scared of not being like Claire. HRG and Elisabeth Rohm almost had an affair, but she Haitianed herself. Peter and Sylar-as-Nathan found Nathan's body and then found Parkman and his Sylon, and Sylar-as-Nathan touched Sylon-in-Parkman's hand on his way out, which we all know means... Sylar's back. (Thank goodness, because how sick are we of this Parkman Sylon, Sylon-in-Parkman, Sylar-as-Nathan nonsense?) [Granted, it's half the Sylar we've been dealing with, but who would have thought last season that we'd be happy to have regular Sylar back? - Zach] Hiro went back eight weeks and got a film for Samuel, but he still hasn't given him Charlie back. Mostly because she's still busy on Glee. But I cannot tell you how thankful I am that the previouslies are (mostly) from last week. I was getting so sick of every storyline alternating episodes, as if this show were two separate shows.
Samuel's watching the same video Mohinder watched last week of Chandra Suresh talking about seismic, in-the-womb Samuel. Samuel practically has an orgasm until Hiro interrupts him by banging on the trailer door calling for "Butterfly Man" (a nickname I think we can all agree should go away). Samuel comes out and ignores Hiro's requests for Charlie by talking about the beautiful day, and then finally saying the video he watched put everything into focus, and helped him discover the truth about his destiny -- "our destiny." Because, remember, he needs the other heroes to help amplify his power. Hiro demands he give him Charlie, but Samuel just says, "Sorry. Not yet." Hiro puts his hand on Samuel's shoulder threateningly, prompting Samuel to tell him to go right ahead; then he'll never find Charlie. Hiro tells him in Japanese that he's the devil, but Samuel corrects him that he's Hiro's savior. Then he tells Hiro to smile, since it's Thanksgiving.
HRG's shopping for a turkey, telling Claire over the phone that she has to come to Thanksgiving; she can even invite Gretchen. Claire says she can't, since she moved clear across campus [So far! - Z], so now she's officially a social pariah. HRG takes responsibility, and wants to make it all up to her with a real Bennet Thanksgiving. Then they discuss Lyle (he can't get away from school; but isn't he still in high school?), so HRG begs Claire not to leave him alone with Sandra and Doug. Apparently she goes nowhere without the new boyfriend, even to her ex-husband's Thanksgiving. Which is an odd place to spend a holiday, anyway. [Especially if neither kid is a definite attendee. - Z] Claire says there's something she needs to talk to him about anyway, so she'll see him at 4:30. HRG hangs up and bumps into Elisabeth Rohm, who's apparently CIA ever since Primatech exploded. He says he lives in Dupont Circle, so she wonders what brings him to this grocery store in this neighborhood. He comes for yams, of course, as he picks up a can of them. She never pegged him for a yam man, though she did peg him for a stalker. He admits it, but says he really is cooking Thanksgiving dinner for his daughter and ex-wife. Small talk: Yes, he's divorced but they're still on good terms, hence the ginormous turkey. She helps him out by explaining a frozen turkey won't work at this point, so she leads him to the already-cooked ones. On the way, he invites her to dinner, telling her it would be great to catch up. She ditches her single-serve turkey pot pie for Thanksgiving with the Bennets.