By DeAnn Welker
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.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.