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Adrian Pasdar gets a hero's farewell that's not quite earned, but he and Milo Ventimiglia sell it the best they can. It all starts with Peter on a mission to keep Nathan alive and get rid of Sylar. Rene shows up for a split second, so Peter can borrow his power, then he sets out. He finds Sylar right away -- in the hospital elevator, where he's shape-shifted into a nurse. They fight, with Peter using his Haitian power and a nail gun to gruesome (and awesome) effect. Then Nathan comes out, and Peter tries to talk him into staying in Sylar's body and fighting. But Nathan's tired and jumps off a building. Peter catches him, just like he caught Peter in the first episode, and after a tear-filled goodbye, he lets him go. When Nathan lands, he's Sylar again, and presumably Nathan's gone for good. It would be a lot sadder if it weren't the third or fourth time we've had a Nathan death scene. This show sure is good at temporary goodbyes.
Meanwhile, Claire and Gretchen show up at the carnival, and with Hiro not there to fill her in, Claire falls in love with the place. And even though she wanted nothing more in her life than Gretchen just last week, she's ready to give her up to join this traveling freak show. All of the Samuel's carnie friends help sell it, through lies and manipulation. So Claire gives Gretchen a hug on what has to be Friday night (at the earliest), and cries as she says she'll see her Monday. The tears make Gretchen and me think it's a lie. Lydia the Tattooed Lady isn't sure what good someone as innocent as Claire will be to Samuel (but then, she doesn't know what he's up to, now, does she?), but he says she's not the one he's after. Given that Nathan reminded Peter to take care of Claire, could it be him?
Or maybe it's Bennet, since Samuel's obsession with him is still going strong. This week he sends a new eyeliner-bedecked friend (a multiplier, or "The Replicating Man," depending on whether you're asking bag-and-taggers or carnival planners) to get files from HRG, which the guy has no problem accomplishing, since Lauren and HRG (on a date that ends up being more of a recon mission) give chase from him, leaving him alone with the files. So, now we have Sylar on the loose, Claire at the carnival, HRG and Lauren hunting for her, depressed Peter, missing Hiro and Parkman (and Tracy and Mohinder and Ando and... you get the picture). But we don't get another episode until January 4th. The good news is that there are no episodes until January 4th.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously (said, notably, by Adrian Pasdar): Lauren had Thanksgiving with HRG, and then he asked her on a real date. The Petrellis had a disturbing Thanksgiving in which Sylar-as-Nathan found out he was actually Sylar, but Peter promised to bring him back. Claire stole her dad's compass and set off for the carnival. Lydia the Tattooed Lady went back in time with Hiro and watched Samuel kill his brother, Joseph.
No fancy chyrons, just white letters on black background tells us this is "Chapter Eleven: The Fifth Stage." Then Lydia's walking through the carnival in a flowy, pink shirt. She finds Samuel and tells him she knows the truth, but she has a daughter to look after, so his secret is safe with her. Wow, that's quite a reversal from her reaction last week, isn't it? A guy with even heavier eyeliner than Samuel's or Lydia's shows up and asks if Samuel wanted to see him. Samuel starts talking about how he reads the newspaper, and it makes him wonder if we're destined to be the last generation of our species. The guy doesn't give it much thought, but Samuel spins around and talks to another version of this guy. He asks him if he'll be his new right-hand man (or men) now that Edgar's gone. It would be Eyeliner's honor, so Samuel tells him he needs some files from Noah Bennet's apartment. And he can definitely bring along his "friends." (Oh, and I guess the multiplier/replicator/cloner's name is Eli, so I'll go ahead and call him that. Though I don't think we learned that on this episode, but in the graphic novels, which I don't read.) Title card.
Bennet's staring at a newspaper (what's with it with newspaper in this episode; haven't these people heard of Twitter?) articles about the compass and the sinkhole, a post-it that says just "Danko," another one that says "Samuel," photos of Danko's dead body, and some other sciency-looking articles. Then he writes, "How does the compass work?" on another post-it, and sticks it up there. So ... not really getting very far, is he? He's interrupted by a knock. It's Lauren, looking lovely in her own eyeliner. He says he could have easily picked her up, since she lives closer to the theater, but she says she asked him out so she's picking him up. She asks if he's okay with that, and he says he is, but it's so long since he's dated he sort of skipped over the sexual revolution. She asks who said anything about sex, and he realizes what he's just said. Oops. But instead of dwelling on it, they move on to talk about his wall of weird. And she pronounces compass like "CALM-pus," which bugs me. Is that how people say it? Anyway, it's basically all leading up to him realizing Claire stole his compass. He calls her and leaves a voicemail that he knows she took it, and to please stop doing whatever she's doing now, because it's much more dangerous than she knows. Lauren cutely says, "Let me guess: We're not going to the movies?" Then she asks for Claire's number and says working for the CIA has some benefits, one of which is the ability to triangulate cell phone signals (using Google maps! Is that product placement?). Bennet thanks her for being so awesome.
Then we transition to a close-up of the compass in Claire's hand, and it pans out to Gretchen saying, "We came all this way to go to a carnival?" Claire guesses, since the compass is pointing right at it. (I'm skeptical about the practical use of this particular compass, especially by someone like Claire.) Claire says she never really took the "freak show" thing literally before. Back in New York, Peter's getting off work when his mom shows up to tell him he needs to leap over all the other stages of grief and get right to acceptance. That's easy for her to say, since she's been living in denial since last season's finale. But Peter's his mother's son, because he insists Nathan's in there, with Sylar. He says he's going to fight Sylar and take him down once and for all. She wonders how he's going to fight him with his powers, and the Haitian shows up. Peter says it won't be too hard once he takes the powers away. He thanks Rene for coming, and Angela tries to stop him, but he won't. She asks what happens if he finds there's no Nathan to get back. Peter: "I guess I'll just settle for revenge."
Claire and Gretchen are out of the car, but Claire's having second thoughts. Gretchen will have none of it, though, since they've been driving for over twenty-one hours. That's a long drive to make Thanksgiving night when you have school the following Monday, especially since it's roundtrip. Or maybe the compass led them in circles and all over the place and the drive back will be, like, ten hours. That would be nice. Claire says it was a stupid idea, and what if they run into psycho Becky. Gretchen says Claire will protect her, won't she? Then she tells her she's here to support her no matter what, because they've been on the road for a day, but Claire's been on it her entire life so she must at least check it out. Samuel comes out of the carnival and tells Claire he's glad she could make it. She smiles, but she doesn't look so sure she's glad she could make it.
In the carnival, Samuel gives Gretchen and Claire free passes to everything. He asks if they like carnivals, and Gretchen says she guesses. Claire's the friendly, happy one now, and Gretchen's suddenly the skeptic -- a quick change from that parking lot conversation, if you ask me. Samuel says they're on the move, from town to town, at least until they find a better, more permanent way to live. Then he gives them popcorn. He's the weirdest character ever. He tells them to stay until they've finished their boxes of popcorn, meet everyone, then after it's gone, he'll walk them to their car and they can leave. They agree. Gretchen wonders what they're supposed to be looking at, and Claire doesn't know, but she's got lots of popcorn left. They enter a circus where Samuel's voice is inviting people to step right up to see Lydia the Tattooed Lady's skin. We also see posters of Eli, advertising "The Amazing Replicating Man." And Lydia's "Tattoo Girl." That's original. Someone lets Claire and Gretchen into the tent, where Lydia's back is on display. Gretchen thinks Lydia's sexy back looks promising. Lydia tells them to ask a question, then take her hand. Claire asks if it's like a crystal ball, and Lydia breathes, "Something like that." Claire touches Lydia and asks if she's supposed to be here. A tattoo on Lydia's back shows Claire in her cheerleader uniform with an "Indestructible Girl" banner. Claire wonders if she'll have a circus act, but Lydia says this is Claire's desire, not the future. Because who doesn't desire to be in the circus? Gretchen, uneasy, suggests they get out of there.
Peter hops in a hospital elevator, which might as well be on Grey's or Private Practice once we find out who bumps into him here. Oh, but it's just Hiro's nurse. But once the elevator's closed and they greet, the nurse grabs Peter and chokes him. When the elevator opens, the nurse is Sylar, who has Peter's bag and is going through all the medications Peter had hoped to use to knock him out. Sylar: "You shouldn't have. No, seriously, you really, really shouldn't have." The ticking has a much more musical sound to it, less subtle. Which is appropriate considering how much less subtle Sylar and Zachary Quinto have gotten. Peter gives chase and Sylar slowly walks after him. He asks Peter if his plan was to syringe him in the neck with drugs, then adds,
es/an_invisible_thread_1.php?page=6" target="_blank">"Wasn't that the old plan?" He congratulations him, but says, "Fool me twice, you know?" Peter says he knows and busts Sylar across the back of the head with a board. They're in some sort of warehouse space in the basement of the hospital. It looks like a construction site. Sylar wonders why he can't use his powers, and Peter tells him he has the Haitian's powers. Peter asks for his brother back and punches Sylar a lot. They fight, and then Peter winds up on top with a nail gun. Sylar wonders what Peter's going to do: beat him out of him. Peter: "Something like that," as he holds up the nail gun. Commercials.
When we come back. Peter's actually putting nails into Sylar's hands. It's pretty graphic and disturbing, and Peter's loving it. He asks if it hurts, doesn't it, with no healing power. Then he puts a nail into Sylar's ... knee, perhaps? Peter wants to make a deal to get his brother back for good, but Sylar thinks it sounds pretty one-sided, and Peter's going to need a lot more nails in that thing. Peter throws the nail gun aside and says it's fine; he'll just take away everything in Sylar's brain until Nathan's the only thing left. Sylar would like to see him try. So he does. And that is actually not a bad idea. Sylar eventually becomes Nathan, and they smile and look happy, as Peter caresses Nathan's face. Neither of them mentions the fact that Nathan's nailed to a board, a la Jesus. Which you'd think would be one of the first things you'd notice if you came to after a period of time.
Gretchen and Claire are still roaming through the carnival. Claire's amazed at how all of these people have figured out a way to use their abilities. Gretchen points out they're carnie people, but Claire says at least they're living in the open. Gretchen, who I finally, actually like, says, "Yeah, in a freak show." Claire says having the government hunt you is worse, and she could be the girl who gets sawed in half. Gretchen mocks that that's something to aspire to. Then they happen upon that carnival game where you throw a ball and try to knock over three metal milk bottles. A guy's doing well until he ponies up more money and acts like a jerk (cutting in front of a cute little girl's turn), and then it's clear the carnie's causing his ball to go way off-course. The guy accuses the carnie of cheating, but Claire finds it delightful. She even explains to Gretchen how he's doing it. Gretchen thinks the carnie doesn't have a right to rip him off. Then the guy helps the little girl win, and even Gretchen's heart seems to warm. The popcorn's gone and Samuel arrives and says he hopes they liked what they saw. Gretchen says, "Not really." He asks them if they'd like to see back stage, where they live. Claire would, but Gretchen wouldn't. Samuel tells Gretchen she's welcome, since they don't exclude anyone here. Claire follows him.
Lauren and HRG have apparently narrowed Claire's whereabouts to all of Southern Ohio (is that actually a twenty-one-hour drive from D.C.?), which he says is like a needle in a haystack. Lauren's looking in his files, but he says she won't find any leads in there since the carnival's a nest they never came across. She wants to try cross-referencing some of his files with the CIA databases, though. He stares out the window, as Lauren tells him to let it go: Girls lie to their fathers; he's not the only one. He says he deserves it, since you reap what you sow. She tells him if he'd like to wallow, have at it. Go ahead and unload. He says he's driven everyone away with his suffocating need for control: Sandra, Claire. ... "You." She says this ought to be good, and he tells her they had something together at Primatech. She admits to thinking he was cute, but they never had feelings for each other. He tells her about their breakfasts and that she Haitianed herself. He says he didn't want to tell her like this, but she deserved to know. She asks if now that he's newly single, he thought he could reignite the flame. You can tell the answer's yes, but he doesn't want to say it.
There's a knock at the door, and Lauren instinctively turns off her Sprint-whatever-gadget that's helping her cross-reference files. It's Eli, of course, and he does introduce himself as such. He says he's an emissary from Sullivan Bros. Carnival and asks if he can come in. HRG says no, but his multiples are already all over the place. They don't want anyone to get hurt, so they'll take what they came for and be on their way. Lauren throws HRG a gun, but he shoots one of the fakes. They head to the bathroom, where she takes off her fancy shoes and he gets another gun from under the bathroom sink. She thinks that's awfully prepared. She calls Eli a multiplier and says something about how it took them two weeks to find the right one last time, so what's the plan. HRG says to shoot them all and hope for the best. If by "best," you mean someone bleeding all over your apartment. But as you've already figured out, Eli's long gone when they leave the bathroom, because the files were sitting out there, unguarded. They quickly put it together, too.
Backstage at the carnival, Samuel's telling a story to a bunch of kids, about an ogre. He's acting it out, and he would make a decent ogre. Which is sort of what he's presenting himself as in this story about a harmless ogre who scared adults, but kids knew better. Claire and Gretchen are discussing it from afar, and Gretchen thinks the con artistry isn't all that admirable, but Claire thinks doling out karma is okay. They're interrupted by Doyle, of all people, who Claire greets with a hug, of all things. I just don't think there's a situation where you ever hug the guy who forced your mom to shoot you, even if you do have healing powers. I know she helped him later and all, but still: It's not like it was ever warm. Doyle says he tried to stay under the radar, but it didn't work out until Samuel found him, and everything changed. He finally belongs and can be completely himself. Claire looks like she likes that, but this is Doyle, Claire. Do you really want to fit in where he does? He says he wants to talk to her about this if she'll be around awhile. She says she will. He leaves, and Gretchen wants to know how Claire's BFFs with a carnie. Claire explains that he kidnapped her and tried to get her mom to shoot her, but she got over it. Gretchen (and all viewers): "Excuse me?" But Claire's entranced, watching Samuel talk to the kids.
Samuel calls Claire over to tell the children their last story before bed. She tries to resist, saying she doesn't know any stories, but Samuel says we all do. She gets up and he sort of pulls her toward him. It's pretty telling that she's pulled away from Gretchen, toward Samuel. And she winds up in the circle the kids are in, with Samuel standing between her and Gretchen, who's fading into the distance. Claire's story is about a frog who lived with mom, dad, brother and a tadpole named Mr. Muggles. Hmmm. I wonder if this is about anyone we know? Gretchen asks Samuel what they want from her, and says it's not fair to toy with Claire's emotions when she's vulnerable. Samuel says we live in troubling times. He says families come in all shapes and forms, and they don't offer much here, but they do offer love, in ample supply. Claire's frog is getting to a point in the story where everything changes.
Nathan's healing, sitting to Peter. He tells him he's tired. Peter knows. But Nathan says, "No. I mean, I'm tired." He says he's been trying to fight his way out, and he doesn't think he can anymore. Peter says he can, and then looks at him and starts to cry. He asks him to go get some air; he knows just the place. Our lovely Heroes music plays as they get up and walk out.
Back at the carnival, Claire's wrapping up her story, in which they save the Earth from total destruction and the frog goes back to its family and lives happily ever after. Samuel sends the children to bed, and one little girl hugs Claire. Why does it all feel like a set-up? Samuel tells Claire they love her. The guy from the rigged game earlier comes back and asks for the man in charge. He says they stole his money, but Samuel says they don't do that. The guy says it was rigged and he'd like his money back, but Samuel says they're games of chance and maybe the guy didn't possess sufficient skill. The guy punches Samuel an
d Samuel doesn't fight back. Gretchen wonders why. Then Claire jumps in to defend Samuel, and the guy says he'll take her on, or any of the freaks. The guy breaks a bottle and swipes Claire's face with it, but it heals. She tells him he can't hurt them and smiles as Samuel steps into the frame behind her and looks down at her like he owns her. It's very creepy, and does not bode well.
Our music is back as Peter leads Nathan onto a rooftop, and talks about the last time they were up here, when they talked about whether Nathan could fly. Peter asks if he remembers what he said, and Nathan says, "I said we could both fly." Peter asks if he remembers what he said before that: He denied it. Nathan says it was an election year, "denial was the go-to." Peter says it seems like a million years ago, and Nathan agrees it's been a lifetime. They walk to the edge, and Peter says they made it through it. Together. Peter says they can make it through anything, and Nathan asks, "Even death?" Peter doesn't know why not, but Nathan says it's because this isn't him; it's an illusion and is really Sylar. Peter says he's looking at Nathan, and he needs him to keep fighting in there, but Nathan says Sylar's killing him and he can't hold on anymore. Peter says he can, which is why Nathan came and found him. Nathan says, "I found you because I wanted to crucify you in Times Square." Peter manages not to say that he's the one doing the crucifying in this episode. Instead he tells Nathan that is not him. Nathan fights against himself, and says that's what he's trying to tell him. They hug, and hold each other tight, as Peter begs Nathan to stay with him.
When they break from their hug, they touch each other's faces, and it's way too homoerotic, even for this show. Nathan says he's sorry, and then leaps off the building. Peter catches him by the arm, which is totally unbelievable unless he's borrowed Nathan's super powers or something (he's obviously not using Rene's power anymore, or Sylar couldn't be shape shifted into Nathan, right?). As Nathan hangs there, Peter begs him to pull himself up, but Nathan asks Peter to let him go. He tells Peter to accept that he's gone. Nathan tells Peter he's going to have to carry on for the both of them. "Tell Mom I love her. And take care of Claire. (Forget about those other two kids I used to have, and actually mostly raised.) Fight the good fight. You've always been everything that's good in the world, and I've got a feeling the world ain't seen nothing yet."
Peter cries, and it's totally heartbreaking. He tells Nathan he can't do this without him, and Nathan says he can do anything. Peter continues crying, as Nathan smiles and tells him he loves him. Peter's losing him, so he manages an "Ah. I love you Nathan." And then he loses his grip, and Nathan falls. The show goes slow-mo here, and Nathan apparently gives up halfway down, because he transforms awesomely into Sylar on the way down. The effects are at least still good enough to do that. When Sylar lands, he gets up and walks away. Peter keeps on crying. It's very sad, very well-acted, but it means so much less than it could have if the show hadn't killed Nathan off already so many times. Anyway, commercials, including the latest Slow Burn, in which there's a funeral for someone who Amanda killed. Lydia says it's not her; it's this place and Samuel. But Amanda says this is the only place for her. They hug.
Back at the carnival, Claire's cleaning up Samuel post-fight as both Gretchen and Lydia watch. Claire asks him why he let that guy do that to him. Samuel says it's a choice he has to make to protect the well-being of the family. He says he could have defended himself, but that the path of least resistance is sometimes the best for the family. She says it's not right, but he says that's how it sometimes is, and that the two of them aren't that different. He says they're looking for ways to live their lives on their own terms. She says they've found this out here, but he says only if they lie, bow their heads, keep their mouths shut, let people punch them. He says he's been sold a bill of goods, how to be a second-class citizen, his whole life. It's weird that when he started this scene he had an Irish accent and now he doesn't. Why does he even need one? It distracts from the rest of this. Samuel tells Claire that she could help them figure out how to be something bigger, better. He tells her she's welcome to stay a few days and do some soul-searching before going back to school.
As Gretchen and Claire walk out of the carnival, Gretchen says this whole night has felt like a bad Fellini film. Then, "Whoo! Twenty-one-hour drive!" So she'll be back Saturday night. So, Claire could actually stay two more days and get back to school Monday night. In order to make it to class on Monday, she can only stay one more day. Gretchen asks if Claire wants the first driving shift, but Claire stops and says, "I'll see you Monday." She says she's going to stay a couple more days. She says she knows it's hard to explain, but she just... Gretchen finishes that she needs to see for herself, and she gets it. She saw Claire's face, how she looked at them like she belonged, like she knew them. Gretchen's never had that feeling in her whole life, so she's happy for Claire. They hug, and Claire cries the tears of someone who's staying longer than a couple days. Samuel and Lydia walk up and watch from the carnival gates. Claire tells Gretchen she'll see her Monday. Gretchen hopes so. As Claire walks back, Samuel tells Lydia he'll make this right soon and it will all make sense -- Joseph, the gathering of the others, all of it. She says he's gone to great lengths to bring Claire here, but she's awfully innocent and Lydia's not sure she'll serve a purpose for him. He says it's not her he's after. Then we get a weird close-up of Gretchen driving away as if it's her, but I think that's just so that the camera can pan over to show us the guy who punched Samuel is dead in the back of his truck. I think Samuel's after HRG. Or Peter.
Samuel sermonizes that his brother Joseph had the right idea. He believed that alone, this family would be safe. As he talks, we watch Peter return to his apartment and cry when his mother embraces him. Seriously. Milo Ventimiglia is doing some great work in this episode, and it's pretty wrenching. Samuel says that the idea has worked for years, but how long can they live like this, wandering in the desert alone. We see Emma playing her cello; Hiro, Mohinder, and Ando (!?) running through a jungle; and Sylar putting his black cap back on (although it looks like past footage to me, from "Once Upon A Time in Texas"), Tracy looking at her hands. Samuel says they should stop living in the shadows and be stronger, but the problem is there are too few of them to make a stand. He says if they're to truly be great, they need to grow and bring in new members, and the newest can't be shackled with the same burden of wandering. They need a homeland, and he keeps coming back to this very spot, where they're all standing. It looks like Joseph's grave site from the premiere, though where is it? Ohio? Ireland? He says they'll plant roots here, and build a life and community. They will be oppressed no longer. He says they will live life on their own terms. But none of that can happen until they've gathered the others. Only then will they return to this place, and wander no longer. They will finally be home. The camera pans around and we see a smiling Claire in the crowd. I think it's Ireland; otherwise why the accent? And how did they get there if it's really within two days.
That's it until January 4. Oh, and Chuck is back January 10. And the previews have been ... awesome! And prolific. And it looks like it will be on Monday nights with this show again, so I'll see you there.
DeAnn, a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon, doesn't get what all the fuss is about setting down roots anyway. You can contact her at twopmodmars@gmail.com.
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