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Claire's still at Samuel's carnival this episode, but she's starting to get suspicious about it all -- thanks mostly to Lydia sending Claire to Samuel's trailer when she knew he was going through the box he stole from Noah. Samuel leaves (to spend the episode with Emma, but we'll get to that), but tells Eli (the replicating man) to keep an eye on Claire. He does, and even after she knocks him out in the house of mirrors and takes a look at his files and a map of the valley, Samuel's protected. This time it's Doyle, who holds Claire hostage for a moment, before letting her go. Then Samuel comes back, tells her she's still free, then shows her his supposed plan to make the valley their new home by having a guy named Ian grow grass in the dry dirt.
The guy Ian is part of Samuel's plan with Emma. He pays her a visit, tells her he sent the cello, and then shows her what her true ability is (I know, right?! We were all wondering): To call people with her "siren song." So, basically, Emma's a siren. Samuel takes her to the park and, using the cello, she calls a dirty, homeless guy, Ian. Samuel takes him "home" and he creates the grass to impress Claire before Samuel sets her free. Right as he lets her go home, though, she gets calls from HRG and from Peter. The episode ends with a touching military funeral for Nathan. Peter talks about how Nathan got him ready, and now he is ready for whatever's coming.
Meanwhile, Hiro's spouting all sorts of geeky fanboy talk when he finally shows up in Tokyo after teleporting last year. He's basically combining Star Wars, Star Trek, Sherlock Holmes, Don Quixote, Batman and X-Men into a super geeky metaphor that Ando ends up deciphering: They have to go to Florida to a mental institution. Which is presumably where they'll find Mohinder (who narrated the whole thing, by the way), but that will have to wait for the second hour.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Mohinder narrates -- much less annoyingly than he used to, either because it's been so long or because the rest of the show has gotten so bad his narration is somehow tolerable -- that "There are many ways to define our fragile existence, many ways to give it meaning." Peter and Nathan's heartfelt "I love you" scene from Nathan's most recent death, and Peter lets go. My husband, at this point, finished narrating for Mohinder: "One way is to throw your brother off a building." But Mohinder continues much more boringly as Nathan falls, morphing into Sylar: "But it is our memories that shape its purpose and give it context." Peter tells Hiro he's sick, and Hiro agrees he's dying of a brain tumor. Then Damien grabs Hiro's head again and makes him flash on a bunch of stuff as Mohinder says: "A private assortment of images, fears, loves, regrets. We alone choose the importance of each." "Beam me up, Scotty." Mohinder: "Building our own unique histories one memory at a time." Emma asks if Peter sent her a cello. Mohinder: "Hoping the ones we choose to remember don't betray or trap us." Emma cellos a crack in her wall. She talks to Hiro and to Peter. "For it is the cruel irony of life that we are destined to hold the dark with the light, the good with the evil." Samuel kills his brother, then sends Replicator Eli (sometimes known as Eyeliner) to take files from HRG. "This is what separates us, what makes us human. And in the end, what we must fight to hold on to." Claire and Gretchen visit the carnival, but it's not Claire Samuel's after. And that's all you need to know, I guess. Though, let's be honest, knowing that won't help any of this make sense.
In her one-night visit to the Carnival, Claire's taken on janitorial duties, as we open with her picking up garbage with one of those spike garbage getters. The ground under her trash holds a chyron that says, "Chapter Twelve: Upon This Rock." She looks at Eli's and Lydia's circus-y Carnival posters, then turns and watches Eli watch her in slow motion. Lydia the Tattooed Lady approaches, and tells Claire Eli's harmless, and is just staring because she's new and everyone's walking. They make small talk about breakfast, which Claire already had and Lydia's taking to Samuel. But she suggests Claire take the pancakes to him instead, and "score some points" since Samuel loves Mrs. Comey's pancakes. Claire laughs and agrees. In the trailer, Samuel's rifling through HRG's files, which are very obviously in a Primatech box. When she knocks, Samuel says, "I hope you brought extra syrup" without turning to see who it is, and Claire stupidly says, "How'd you know I brought pancakes?" Uh, Claire, he knew Lydia was bringing pancakes, and he hadn't looked at you yet. Who is dumber: Claire or the writers of this show? Samuel covers the box, explains he thought she was Lydia, and scurries her out of the trailer.
Outside, Claire comments on the box looking a lot like one from the paper company where her dad used to work. Samuel says she might have guessed that he and her father share more history than she knows. She tells him he can always fill her in, but then seems to be satisfied when he says he's not interested in the past, only the future. They talk about how he wants them to have a permanent home, and he'd love for her to stay and watch that happen. She has to get to class on Monday, though. He says that's fine, then asks if he looks good for going to the city, where he needs to make a positive impression on someone who's essential for the plan coming together (he says he means the homeland, but I think he might have a bigger plan in mind), and for their freedom. Claire says "Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you," and then awkwardly says "Sartre. College." Samuel one-ups her with lyrics from "Me and Bobby McGee". He tells her she'll see that they'll be able to stop running, and then she might want to stay. Claire, apparently not wanting us to miss that they were talking about FREEDOM, replies, "Or go." He says it's her choice. As they part, a couple of Elis are listening, and one asks Samuel if she's really free to go. Samuel: "Not in my lifetime. You make sure of that." Title card.
An open-air market in Tokyo. Hiro materializes finally. Remember when his time travel used to be instant? But now it seems to take several episodes for him to materialize once he's disappeared. Anyway, he looks around then spots a guy making noodles, runs up and says, "Good Citizen. I am a humble knight from the Starship Enterprise. I seek my first officer, Sancho Panza." The guy asks him if he'd like miso, soy, or salt with his crazy. But Hiro wants Sancho Panza, his sidekick. The vendor's like, "No sidekick. Noodles!" Hiro hears a girl screaming for someone to help her from a purse-snatcher. Hiro says, "A Jedi's work is never done," and heads over, after grabbing the noodle vendor's meat cleaver. He tells the purse-snatcher to "Unhand the princess or feel the sting of my light saber." When the guy ignores him, Hiro slices the purse handle with the meat cleaver and says "There can be only one." He hands the purse back to the woman and says, "Your handbag, my Dulcinea." Dude, whatever. Don Quixote loved Dulcinea, and if this show's continuity is to be believed, Hiro loves Charlie, so even with crazy head, he wouldn't call some random woman in an open-air market Dulcinea. He stands up straight and says, "Citizens of Caprica: You are saved. The Cylon has been defeated." When a cop stops him, he shouts, "Lancelot! C-3PO! At last, you can direct me to my faithful sidekick." The cop just tells him to drop the knife and then handcuffs him. Hiro screams for his sidekick as they take him away.
Across a canyon from the Carnival, Samuel walks up to a rock and as the camera pans around it, the rock becomes black and white and Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Karn Evil 9 starts up. When the camera gets around the rock, Young Samuel is trying to move Earth when another young boy (Joseph) with a thick Irish accent comes and tells him to give it up. Samuel moves a little bit of ground, and when Joseph's snide about it, Samuel tells him to just wait, that he'll move bigger rocks someday, and people will come from all over the world to see him. Joseph says Samuel must mean Vanessa and then teases him (as any big brother would), all, "Ooooh, Vanessa. Come and see my big dirt-moving show!" He can't believe Samuel's still carrying a torch for "that girl," since they're never going back there. But Joseph promises if Samuel can get people to buy a ticket to see a kid not move a rock, he'll invite her himself. Samuel tells him, "Just you wait," and then we're back with the Samuel of today repeating the "Just you wait." Because we all are sup
posed to care about this Vanessa character whom we haven't heard one word about until now? Commercials.
Back at the Carnival, Eli's still staring at Claire, as she sits down to eat. She sits at a table near Lydia the Tattooed Lady and her daughter, Amanda, who are arguing about a boy. Lydia: "The answer is no." Amanda walks and Claire laughs. Lydia asks if something's funny, and Claire says she's been looking for something normal in this place and she finally found it. She says they sounded like her mom and her, since they had some serious fights. She wonders if things might have been easier if she'd had a place like this growing up. Lydia scoffs, "Oh, yeah, it's a real paradise." Claire asks Lydia if, since she knows things, she knows why Samuel wants Claire here. Lydia says he's wanted a lot of people here lately, and it's seemed to become an obsession of his. She says he spent all morning in his trailer and Claire says OUT LOUD (even though she can't know if she should trust Lydia), "Yeah, with my dad's files."
thing we know, Claire's sneaking into the trailer, but one of the Elis greets her creepily. She pretends she's looking for Samuel, but we all know he's not really buying that. Eli replicates all around her and she looks sort of shocked (even though she's seen the replicating man posters at least twice now). She tells him it's a nice trick. He likes to think so. He asks her if she isn't on beautification duty and maybe she should "run along and beautify." I think he's talking about the cleaning-up she was doing earlier, but I still don't get how or why they'd give chores -- let alone picking-up-garbage duty -- to someone visiting for the weekend. Especially if they want to convince her to stay.
Back in Tokyo, the cop who handcuffed Hiro is now greeting Ando, wondering how long he's been missing. Ando says six weeks, and the cop explains it's a good thing Hiro had his business card or they wouldn't have known who to call. See, the cop explains, Hiro thinks he's some kind of hero. Hiro comes in, sees Ando, and cutely says, "Sancho! Sancho Panza!" as he runs toward him. I love that Hiro thinks Ando's his Sancho Panza, but I think if we're going strictly by similarities to the character, Hiro's more Sancho than Ando. Anyway, Ando's happy to see him, but Hiro calls him Sancho again even after he reminds him he's Ando. Hiro explains that "the swamp dragons have surrounded the castle Arkham, where Dr. Watson is being held, and it's all because of me." When Ando tells Hiro he's not making sense, Hiro gets frustrated and replies, "Hailing frequencies are open. Sancho, why don't you respond? I have betrayed the rebellion." Then, with a bow, "Sancho Panza, you're our only hope." Ando asks the cops to uncuff Hiro, and they do, but they don't leave without telling Ando the city has services for the mentally ill. Ando says he's not mentally ill; he has a brain tumor.
The only hospital in New York. Emma's looking through a stack of letters and finds one addressed to her. She opens it, and finds a rejection from whatever medical residency she applied to. But it encourages her to apply again year. Somehow, I don't think that makes her feel any better, though. Later, she arrives at home, with the letter still in her hands. She touches the cello, and gets ready to play it, when her doorbell buzzes. It's Samuel, who greets her as "Miss Coolidge." He signs that he's come a long way to see her, and is like her. She signs, "Not deaf," and he says no, he has a gift. She starts to shut the door, but he asks her if he can please explain. When he asks if she can read lips, she seems annoyed and signs, "Can you read hands?" She starts to shut the door again, but he stops her again by telling her he's the one who sent the cello. Then he shows her his compass tattoo and she notices that same artwork is also on her cello. Commercials, including Luke Wilson telling someone on a game show that the capital of Peru is Lima. But it makes me think he and the other guy are stupid, because a) the guy had to call him to know that? and b) he had to look it up on his phone? My emergency phone person if I am on a game show is going to be someone who knows that without looking it up.
Tokyo. Ando looks perplexed as Hiro tells him they must go to the land of swamp dragons and find the castle in order to rescue Dr. Watson. Ando, exasperated, says he heard him the first time. Hiro asks Sancho if his communicator isn't functioning, and sits down and writes "Swamp dragon" and "Castle Arkham." Ando doesn't get it, so Hiro says, "Transmission jammed at the source, Captain." I thought this amusing at first, but I think it goes on way too long and means nothing. I hate that nothing is happening on this show, yet they keep on making filler episode after filler episode instead of developing the plot. Kimiko comes in with the number of a top neurosurgeon, but Ando stops her from calling the number because he thinks Hiro's trying to tell them something. Kimiko protests that they have to get Hiro help since he's all the family she has left. Ando explains what Hiro was saying, and surmises from Hiro's use of Dr. Watson that these are clues. You know, because of Sherlock Holmes; get it? Yeah, I don't either, because Hiro would not be giving them clues if he could explain it clearly. He doesn't know how to communicate, so he's talking gibberish. But when Ando says Hiro wants them to figure something out, Hiro jumps up and with his "Yatta!" hands shouts, "Elementary!" Ando explains to Kimiko and the show's audience (who they seem to have forgotten actually get geek references) that it's like someone took a shabu spoon and stirred Hiro's fanboy brain. Thanks for the anvil, Ando. Hiro: "We must prepare for our quest in the Danger Room." Ando explains to Kimiko that's where the X-Men train. Ando gets it: The Danger Room is also where Hiro keeps his comic books. He leaves, and Hiro tells Kimiko, "Good you have done, Princess. Defeat the dark side, we will." She cries.
Emma's. Samuel tells her he's interested in people like them. He knows she can see what people hear, and feel them even more. She wonders how he knows that, and he says he knows many people with gifts and one of them is Lydia the Tattooed Lady, who helped her find Emma. He says they're all connected, and Emma invites him in. He apologizes for not telling her the cello was from him (this part I actually do like, because Samuel was there when Emma first noticed cello music, remember?), and says it was hard to part with, because it was for someone special to him, whom he was close with until one day he lost her. They hit us over the head with Hiro's fanboy references but give us nothing on this? Samuel tells Emma the cello's found its proper home, but she's not so sure given the ginormous crack in her wall from last time she played. He tells her that wasn't the cello's fault; it was her own fear, which is why he's here: to help her let go of that and find her "true ability." She's like, "True ability?" Isn't seeing sounds a superpower?! Oh, right, it's not. Apparently, the writers realized that and are changing tracks now. He explains he needs her help finding another hero; he can't find him because he's been overwhelmed by his gift, which is basically causing moss and grass to grow in his footsteps. He says the guy lost touch with everyone and lives in Central Park. Emma doesn't understand how she can help.
At the Carnival, Claire's carrying a box of stuffed animals. What a helper! She hands them to a carnie and then notices Eli's still stalking her. She walks away quickly, but he's a replicator, so he surrounds her. She runs into the funhouse and he chases her through the carnival (it's odd that a man, in triplicate, can chase a young blonde girl through a carnival without anyone noticing or caring) where Sylar saw his bad deeds and then Edgar killed Warden Leo. One Eli tells the other Elis to cover all the exits, but I have to wonder why he has to tell himself that instead of just, I don't know, doing it. Aren't they all him? Or am I confused about how replication works? In the funhouse, Claire looks replicated, with all the mirrors and he tells her, "Yeah, nice trick." She knocks him out and it's luckily the real guy, so the others disappear too. She runs to the trailer and looks through the files. There's one on her (which I'm skeptical of; I don't believe Noah would have a file on his daughter), one on Gabriel Gray, and other heroes we know (Maya, D.L., Parkman, etc.). She sees a map, some landscape pictures, and a picture of Samuel and Joseph as boys. Then she's stopped suddenly by something beyond her control and spun around, and knocked out the door of the trailer. Which, of course, means it's Puppetmaster Doyle. He picks her up and tosses her around, then stands her up and throws her against the trailer. He asks her what she thinks she's doing, "Barbie." Commercials, including Flavor Flav for Sprint. He must have come cheaper than Luke Wilson.
Doyle's grilling Claire on what she was doing. She tries to tell him that Samuel's bad, but he likes it here and thinks Claire must be a spy, working for her father. She says she isn't and came here on her own, believing in Samuel, but now she realizes Samuel's collecting people with abilities. Doyle says that's what a family is (uh ... no) and he's not going to let her ruin it for everyone. She tells him about the map of the valley and that Samuel's planning something (was she not there the two times that Samuel TOLD HER he's planning something: to settle them in a permanent home? I mean, sure he's lying, but she knew he had a plan. When did Claire get so idiotic?), but Doyle just wants in on whatever Samuel's doing.
Hiro's Danger Room, apparently. He's reading 9th Wonder as Ando repeats that they must rescue Dr. Watson from Castle Arkham in the land of the swamp dragon. They argue about whether Ando's Hiro's sidekick, and Hiro's argument -- "Everyone knows that Sancho Panzo is the sidekick of the great Don Quixote" -- sort of works. The captions in this scene change from white to yellow for some reason, too, which is weird ["Thanks to astute reader Mark for writing to let us know that the color changed when Hiro went from speaking Japanese to Spanish." -- DeAnn]. Anyway, Hiro goes on that "The castle Arkham is in the great Spanish land where Curt Connors swims with the swamp dragons." Ando figures out that Curt Connors is some sort of Lizard enemy of Spider-Man, and that he lived in Florida, which was a Spanish land. Oh, and there are alligators (swamp dragons) there. Hiro: "Elementary!" Ando then realizes Arkham is the asylum in Batman, so maybe Hiro wants to go to a place called Arkham in Florida. He Googles a psychiatric hospital of that name. Hiro stands and bows to Ando, telling him he's given this knight the chance to right the wrongs in his life, and he's eternally grateful. Ando guesses he is the sidekick and everyone's happy. Especially me, because hopefully now they'll do something other than jabber to each other about the geekiest stuff in the world.
Central Park. Samuel's teaching Emma about her true ability: Her emotions can become one with the music; she can bring people to her like a siren. He tells her to just play, concentrating on the mossy/grassy guy, and make her prayers into song. She plays, and it's all colorful and dumb. The guy she's been beckoning walks up, all bearded and dirty and homeless. Emma smiles as Samuel gets up to greet him, and tell him it's all right and to "Let the music fill you up." The guy leans against a tree, and all the leaves on it turn from brown to green before their eyes. What a totally useless skill. I mean, I guess you could use it to produce food for the hungry, so it's not as useless as some others, but still: Aren't there seasons for a reason, vegetation-wise?
At the hospital, Mossy/Grassy is being checked out. Emma tells Samuel his infection will be gone in a few days and Samuel's so grateful to her for helping get him in. She says it's easy to do when you're a file clerk. Samuel tells her if she ever wants to help more, they could use a doctor and a siren where he lives. He gives her a compass, which starts spinning. He tells her to find her direction. She says she will. As she walks off, Mossy/Grassy tells Samuel that Emma's different like him, but Samuel corrects him that they're not different, they're special. Mossy/Grassy's always felt alone in the world, and Samuel says many of them feel that way, but not for long. "Let's go home." As they walk out, there's a live newscast of "Breaking News": Nathan's plane crashed and he's dead. Oh, and he was the pilot and only person on the plane. Samuel looks serious about it, but I can't tell why he cares. Maybe he wonders if Sylar really might have died?
Doyle still has Claire up against the trailer, but she knows he's getting weak or he would have forced her mouth shut. He tells her not to tempt him, but he is visibly weakening. Apparently being at this place where he doesn't need to use his powers all the time has lowered his endurance or something? Because remember when he held Claire, Sandra, and Meredith for practically a whole episode? Claire tells Doyle again that Samuel's up to something and is lying. Doyle says Samuel's a good man; he's sure because he's good now and hasn't done anything bad since he got here. You know, other than pinning the occasional teenage girl against a trailer. Doyle says that Joseph set him straight and taught him what was good and true about his ability. Interesting that Joseph would bring heroes to the carnival knowing that they'd increase Samuel's power. It also makes me wonder if Micah helped get people to the carnival since he's the one who told Claire how to help Doyle when she sent him off to his new life. Claire asks if Joseph's Samuel's brother, and Doyle says he didn't want to let Samuel in at first but Samuel convinced him. Claire tells Doyle she doesn't want to destroy this place, but if Samuel's putting people in danger, that's a problem. Doyle lets her go and tells her to talk to Lydia; she knows. She thanks him and heads off.
When she finds Lydia the Tattooed Lady, she tells her she was in his trailer and wants to know why he has a map of the valley. Lydia just looks at her, but Claire pushes, pointing out that Lydia wanted her to go in there so she wants to know why. Lydia says Samuel wasn't always in charge; that Joseph was their real father and he made this place a home. She misses him; they all do. Claire asks what happened to him, and Lydia's silence gives it away. Claire: "He killed him, didn't he?" Lydia says he's lost his way and she's scared for everyone there. Claire says she woke up this morning unsure about this place, but she realizes now this place is a home for everyone and the only thing wrong with it is Samuel. Lydia asks Claire to please help find someone who can stop him. She says she will, and takes off. But Eli captures her and says, "No buried treasure for you, Nancy Drew." Whatever that means.
Samuel shows up after a commercial break to find a bickering Claire and Eli. He asks Eli what he was thinking, but Samuel lies that Claire's not a prisoner; and if she wants to go she can go. Claire storms toward Samuel, "Not a prisoner?! It feels that way with copy boy over here." She asks if Samuel ever gets sick of him. Samuel tells Claire to stay or go; it's still her choice. She says she'll go after Samuel tells her what happened to Joseph. He asks Eli to give them a minute, and Claire smirks at Eli. Samuel asks Claire if Lydia told her, but she says, "No. I asked her. She wouldn't." Samuel picks up the picture of himself and his brother as Claire asks if it's true that he killed him. Samuel says he lost control. Claire, outraged: "Like that is an excuse?!" Samuel says he told the government about "us," and asks her if she remembers them. He says they lured him in, the people who had been chasing them for years. Danko, who worked alongside Noah and imprisoned Claire. He asks Claire how she thinks her father got the compass, but she says this is NOT about her father. Oh, honey, it really is. I'm more and more convinced that it's him and revenge Samuel's after. But Claire says this is about what Samuel did. At this point, Samuel starts to cry and act remorseful. He agrees it was awful, but Joseph put them all in danger after years of freedom. Claire asks if murder was the answer, and Samuel says Claire of all people should understand how far a father will go to protect his family. "Hasn't your father lied, cheated, even killed, to protect you?" Yes, Samuel, but the difference is that HRG is awesome. Claire asks what's going on out in that valley.
thing we know we're across the canyon in the valley, where Mossy/Grassy is standing looking at the ground. Samuel tells Claire that every artist needs a canvas and Ian (that's Mossy/Grassy) is Picasso. Ian says he needs water, so Samuel conjures some from the earth. Then Ian leans down and touches the ground, and green grass sprouts up all around him from the barren land. Claire smiles as the whole place becomes lush and flowered. Ian says it's beautiful, and Samuel tells him "It's you. It's who you are." Claire agrees that it's beautiful, and I think she's actually been convinced, but dear god, I hope not. How can she have discovered all that other stuff just to be convinced Samuel's good. What would be the point of the episode? She asks what this place is, and Samuel says, "Our new home. My brother would have loved it." He says Joseph never believed it was possible, or that Samuel could make it real. He tells Claire this is why he needs a bigger family, to build the future. He says this could be Claire's home, too, but she turns and says she has a home and she'd like to go back to it. He tells her of course, but to remember she's free and she can always come back to this home, whenever she wants. She says she knows and walks away. She looks back fondly at Samuel and Ian as her phone buzzes.
She listens to her two voicemails as she walks away. The first is from HRG, telling her they need to talk, Claire Bear, so call him. The second is from Peter, who says, "Um, you need to call me. Something happened. We have a lot we need to talk about." It turns slow motion as we flash to Peter walking by a flag-covered casket and around to his mother. HRG's there, too, very obviously looking for Claire. No sign of Rena Sofer, but there are two small boys in the front row of chairs at the funeral as we see a taxi pull up in the back and Claire finally gets out, to the relief of Noah, who never stopped searching for her. She walks up to him, and he touches her arm and says he's glad she's safe. She asks, "From what? Where I came from or this lie?" He says he knows she took the compass, and she says she's not giving it back. She walks to a point to the front row of chairs, which contain a dark-haired, veiled woman, two little boys, and Mama Petrelli. There's also an empty one, which is Peter's.
He's standing at the head of the casket, and starts talking. He says his brother, Nathan, taught him a lot: how to ride a skateboard, how to hook a marlin, how to catch a baseball (he doesn't mention how to fly or how to love another man). He says usually a father would teach his son these things, but Dad wasn't around, so it was Nathan. Peter wishes it had been his father, because Nathan didn't make it easy (as opposed to his easygoing father?). He says Nathan would throw high or low, and Peter would ask him to make it easy. Nathan would tell him that's not how it's going to come at him in a game and now Peter understands Nathan just wanted him to be ready for anything. Claire cries as Nathan touches the casket and says, "I'm ready, Brother. For whatever comes." Angela looks away as Peter kisses the casket. Then the military funeral stuff starts, with the honor guard folding the flag and presenting it to Angela, then the gun salute, and the military flyover. It's pretty sad, all things considered ("all things" being how many times Nathan's already died). Everyone watches, but we end on Peter. As we should. And then we get chyrons telling us there's another episode ... "Now!" Oh, we're so lucky.
DeAnn, a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon, cries at funerals -- even if it's the third or fourth time some
one's died. You can contact her at twopmodmars@gmail.com.
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