By DeAnn Welker
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.On his quest to figure himself out, Sylar finally gets in touch with Claire. He creeps out the whole world (or at least the few people still watching) by making out with her so he can use Lydia's powers to figure out how she connects. Turns out she doesn't know either, though, so he pep-talks her about how much she needs to connect with Gretchen. She does, and she's happy to finally hold hands and laugh. That doesn't solve Sylar's loneliness, though he does figure out his powers are the problem. Then he heads to Parkman's, where he shows up and ominously talks to Janice and Matty, which ends the episode.
Hiro drops a glass and ends up in a dream world where he's on trial for abusing his powers for personal gain. The best part is that Adam Monroe is representing the prosecution (the world), and the judge is Hiro's father, Kaito. It's nice to see them both again, and especially the beautiful David Anders. Hiro ultimately pleads guilty in his head as Ando tells him to fight in surgery to remove the tumor back in the real world. In his brain, his father gives him his sword back and he fights Adam. Still not tumor-free, though, he sees his mom and thinks she's there to take him to heaven. But she says destiny doesn't want him to die yet, so she heals him. In his dream. But let's hope there's an actual explanation, too, such as the doctors removed the tumor while he was dreaming.
In the only other storyline of the episode, Samuel tries to convince Vanessa he loves her even though he kidnapped her. He shows her the house he built for her, and she loves it and kisses him, but wants to leave. She says this fantasy is his, not hers. He lets her go, but then ends up so angry, he Sunnydales an entire town as the carnies watch from afar. So now he's evil. My problem (one of many problems, actually, but it's the biggest one) with all of this is that he seemed bad from the beginning, and now we're supposed to believe the plan he kept spouting off about was to win back Vanessa, and only her rejection will make him want to destroy the world. Whatever you need to tell yourself to make this somehow make sense, I guess, because it's definitely not going to on its own.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously (says Mohinder): Sylar made out with Lydia the Tattooed Lady and took her power. Samuel psychoanalyzed him, based on supposedly overhearing Hiro tell him he's going to die alone (but Samuel wasn't really there). Samuel hearts Vanessa, and she admitted to HRG that Samuel's a bit of a stalker. Hiro didn't want to change the past until Samuel talked him into it, and he went back to save Charlie and defeat Sylar. But now Hiro has a brain tumor. Samuel has something beautiful and magical to show Vanessa. Let's hope it's nothing sexual, because ... ew. Nathan died, and Claire was pissed that everyone lied to her about the fact that he was already dead.
College cafeteria. Claire's picking at her food, so Gretchen asks if she wants to talk about either life among the carnies or the death of her father. Claire doesn't know where she would start talking, so Gretchen tells her that's cool, but she's here if she needs anything at all. She puts her hand on Claire's, and Claire jerks away, pretending she is late for a study group clear across campus. Gretchen gloomily watches her walk away. Sylar doesn't wait before approaching Gretchen and asking if this seat is taken. Gretchen gives him a friendly smile even though a) he looks way too old to be hanging out with college freshmen and b) she doesn't like boys. Opening title card.
Bennet apartment. Hiro's drinking water, while Ando and HRG ask him if he's okay. We get an "artistic" shot of Mohinder through Hiro's water glass as HRG walks over there and asks him how it's coming. When the camera moves around the glass, we see on the table in front of Mohinder is a contraption that's supposed to be a homemade compass, and to it our chyron: "Chapter Fifteen: Pass/Fail." Mohinder reminds HRG the compass will only work in the hands of a hero, but at least HRG has Hiro and Ando, because Mohinder broke a promise to a girl and has to get back to make amends. HRG spares him the "responsibility" speeches he's given this season to Parkman and Peter and just lets him go, off to his new show or whatever. Once he's gone, Hiro drops his glass and passes out...