In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.
This show finally -- FINALLY! -- starts to get interesting by moving the plot forward instead of just going around and around in circles. Still, I reserve the right to take back this positive opinion of the episode once I've seen the end result (and, really, once I've rewatched it), but so far, it's mostly not bad. But first, the bad: Sylar wants his powers to go away and forces Parkman to try to remove them by threatening Parkman's family. Matt finally buries Sylar's powers and puts him in some sort of nightmare version of his head, then decides he'll put him behind a brick wall (a la Cask of Amontillado and Oz). He's well on his way when Peter shows up looking for Sylar (after having his mom's dream that Sylar's the only one who can save Emma and everyone else), steals Parkman's power and realizes Sylar's in his basement, and heads down to free Sylar from his own nightmare. Parkman warns him not to get trapped in it, and then he seems to. If Sylar's "nightmare" is empty New York City streets. That's where we leave them, but since Emma finds her way to the carnival by the end of the episode, Peter & Co. are surely just behind.
In the Land of Storylines That Don't Suck, some boring buildup eventually brings us to Claire warning Lydia the Tattooed Lady that her dad's coming to kill Samuel and he should surrender so no one gets hurt. Samuel agrees, and Claire calls to tell Bennet (who's watching with Lauren -- and with Samuel in his crosshairs), and he agrees to the surrender. So, Samuel stands on his soapbox and tells his people what he's agreed to. Some of them are upset because they still trust him, even though he sinkholed a town. Then gunshots begin, and the first one hits Samuel. The one hits Claire, though, which is when anyone who's ever seen this show knew it wasn't HRG firing. Another one hits Lauren, but she's still alive enough to eventually call Tracy Strauss (who?!), since Noah told her to call her if anything went wrong. And the deadly one hit Lydia, who Samuel knew was becoming the leader of the carnival, so it's the one he most needed. HRG sees Eli the Replicator shooting and tries to shoot him, but it's a dummy Eli. The real one knocks HRG out and takes him back to the carnival, where everyone's calling for his head for killing Lydia. Claire tries to tell them he didn't do it, and then Samuel pretends to be merciful and has Bennet tied up in the Funhouse instead of killed. It's very creepy-Jim-Jones-manipulation, which seems like it would work on the same type of people that join cults and carnivals. In the end, Emma shows up to doctor up Samuel's wounds and get sucked into the madness. Claire's locked in Samuel's trailer, and HRG's tied up. But we all know Hiro, Peter, Parkman, Tracy (who?!), and apparently Sylar are going to swoop in and save the day. I'm just not sure when.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously: Samuel told Claire she could always come back. Mama Petrelli told Peter Emma's going to kill people and he can't save her. So he took his mom's gift and saw that Sylar could save her. But first, Sylar came to Claire to find out how to be more human. He took the shape of her bff/girlfriend and taught her a very important lesson: Go gay! And he learned he needs to get rid of all his powers, then he showed up at the Parkman House. Vanessa turned down Samuel's offer to make her dreams come true, so he sinkholed a town.
We open on Samuel's trailer, which says, "Chapter Sixteen: The Art of Deception," for a moment before a snake-skin cowboy boot steps onto it. It's attached to Samuel, who's looking all mopey wrapped in a blanket. He sheepishly watches carnies pass, then finds Lydia. He asks why it's so quiet, and Lydia says the carnival's closed since everyone saw what he did to that town. He asks if they're all afraid of him, and she asks if he can blame them, since they finally had a home here. He says she doesn't trust him anymore, and she asks why she should. Samuel says, "Out of trust is faith" (whatever that means), and it must be hard for her to come by since she can look into people's souls. He says he's done so much for all of them, but he's the villain and she seems to be the one who's replaced Joseph in their eyes. She tells him no one respects him anymore, and he says he'll win it back, then adds menacingly that he loves them, needs them, and will do whatever it takes to prove his worth. Opening title.
Blurry dream vision of Emma playing a bloody cello as people scream. Then Sylar comes in on his white horse (he might as well, anyway), all, "Don't worry. I'm here to save you." Peter bolts upright in bed, panting, and calls Emma. He leaves a message, then his phone rings and he answers: "Ma?" Quick cut to Matt Parkman arriving home with groceries. Sylar greets him, and Parkman asks if he's back inside his head. Sylar: "That's so two months ago." Sylar responds to Parkman's fear with, "Calm down, Parkman. If I wanted you dead, we wouldn't be talking." What Sylar wants is complicated; he's on a fact-finding mission. Janice interrupts, though, and says she took Matty to daycare, then her client canceled so she was there to greet "your friend, Gabriel." Which is odd, since Janice was holding Matty when Sylar showed up at the end of last episode. Janice and Sylar tell Parkman that he's been filling her in on "stories" from when they were partners on the force together. So, Janice has put together a late lunch so they can catch up. Sylar actually tells him to "take a load off, have a nosh..." I prefer snarky Sylar to whispery evil Sylar. Commercials.
In a car outside Bennet's apartment, Claire tries to talk herself out of going to talk to her dad, but Gretchen tells her she needs to go tell him that "a superpowered serial killer shapeshifted into a coed and then made a pie chart of your life." Claire says it wasn't exactly a pie chart, but Gretchen doesn't care; she just wants Claire to tell her dad. Claire points out her dad didn't tell her when Sylar killed her bio dad, Nathan (who, by the way, hasn't done well since he left the show; apparently he's so depressed at not being in it that he's drinking and driving). But then she acknowledges she should probably get over it already, since they were in a good place before all this. Actually, they were in a good place after all this since the death and deception happened all the way back at the end of last season, and their relationship was good between then and now. They hold hands, and Gretchen offers to go with her, but Claire thinks she should deal with it alone. Gretchen gets a weird blank look and says, "Yeah. Good luck," and sends Claire on her way. I still can't tell if Gretchen has ulterior motives, but I think there's something fishy there.
Upstairs, Claire knocks and Lauren answers the door. It's very awkward, though I'm unsure why. Claire peruses her dad's wall of weird and asks where he is. Lauren says he just stepped out for a moment. Claire says she brought him coffee to try to talk things over with him, then she asks, "I'm sorry. Why are you here exactly?" Lauren starts to explain their relationship, but Claire says that isn't what she means; she's talking about the Primatech files and carnival maps all over the place, which is all stuff Noah said he was done with. Lauren says she's just helping a friend, but Claire says friends do dinners and movies (or, in her case, becoming lesbians and making out). She tells Lauren to tell HRG that he needs to stop what he's doing here, but Lauren says it's not that simple and tells Claire about the sinkhole. They know it was Samuel. Claire asks if Samuel can even do that, and Lauren tells her how he gains more power the more "specials" he's around. I don't think they like to be called that; "special" implies something different than "hero." Lauren tells Claire that her dad will be back in a minute, but Claire says she actually has class and they seem to have this under control, so she leaves. Like the really stupid idiot she is. Because talking to Noah about this before he heads to the carnival makes much more sense than trying to talk to Samuel. I would think she'd use her influence in the relationship that she has had for more than a minute rather than trying to influence the creep she barely knows. Lauren tries to stop her, but with no luck.
Parkman home. Sylar spouts knowledge about Matty that he got from Parkman's brain, and tells Janice he knows stuff because he and Parkman have been through so much together: addiction counseling and demon-facing. Matt says he's going to show "Gabe" the basement, and the guys excuse themselves. In the basement, Sylar looks around as if there's anything in the empty room he's walking around in. Then he tells Matt he had to come here to remember what it feels like to be in his head, since he's actually found a way to be a husband and a father with his ability, so he's even stronger than Sylar. Matt laughs when Sylar asks him to go inside his head again, but Sylar says he can't live with his powers anymore and he needs Parkman to take them away. Parkman can't believe what Sylar's asking and asks how. Sylar doesn't care if he creates a mental block or represses them, or whatever. He just wants to be normal. Parkman says he passed that about fifty murders ago, and what makes Sylar think Parkman would risk going in his head again. Sylar: "Janice. And the kid." He says he does want to change, but he's insane and will do whatever he has to do. Parkman agrees to try, but only if Sylar lets Janice go. He agrees and then there's a weird, long scene where Sylar stares, looks like he just realized something, and then walks slowly up the stairs after Parkman. I actually can't figure out what that scene means, if anything. I'll go with nothing.
Angela's apartment. Peter's there to find out what's wrong (apparently she couldn't tell him via telephone?). She says it's Nathan. Or, more accurately, his headstone. She doesn't know what to say. Peter holds her hand and says he knows. She says she just needed to see Peter to be sure he's okay. They talk about her vision of Emma, and Peter says he saw it too, and he thinks Sylar was actually trying to help Emma. Mama Petrelli tells Peter to remember that one isolated act doesn't make Sylar Emma's savior. She puts up a picture of Nathan, and Peter tells her he needs her help finding Sylar, since he knows she knows where he is. Uh, what? How? She says, "Sylar's never been far from my thoughts." Again ... huh? If she knows because of her power, wouldn't Peter know, since he borrowed the power? She says she knows where he is, but she begs him not to go, since Sylar killed Nathan and has tried to kill basically everyone ever. Peter says Sylar can save Emma and others, and Nathan would never turn his back on them, so Peter won't either. What's with making Nathan the hero of the story? Peter's always been the more heroic brother, and I think we all know that.
Dorm room. Claire puts her hair in a ponytail as she tells Gretchen that her dad's going to the carnival to take down Samuel, which cannot end well. Gretchen suggests Claire go to class for once and that HRG was right about the carnival and she never should have gone there. Claire agrees Samuel's bad but the rest of the carnival is all family and children, who just want to live their lives being open about their abilities. She says they don't know they're giving Samuel their power, but Gretchen says she can't be sure about that. Claire asks to borrow Gretchen's car (what happened to Claire's car?) and she says no, and asks her to come to class with her. Claire takes Gretchen's car, and Gretchen just tells her to bring it back full and shakes her head.
HRG's apartment. He's trying to call Claire, and tells Lauren she never should have let her leave without talking to him. Lauren asks if she was supposed to drag her by her hair and lock her in his closet (yes, please; that would be infinitely more interesting than most of this season). Lauren asks what they do, and HRG says they have to go, because they can't wait around and see what Samuel does . Lauren agrees, but thinks HRG's too emotional. She says Samuel's a threat, and not just to Claire. Noah says he can handle this; she doesn't have to worry about him. But she says that's not an option anymore. Awwww. He smiles, and says, "Let's go."
Carnival. Claire's already there. She finds Lydia, and tells her they need to talk, but instead of talking, Claire holds up her hands and Lydia grabs them and feels what Claire's thinking. But Lydia is obviously as dumb as Claire because she says it out loud: "Your father is coming for Samuel?" Defeats the purpose of not talking, doesn't it? Claire says she came ahead because she's seen things like this go wrong before and she doesn't want her dad or anyone else to get hurt. She says there's not a lot of time, and then the camera pans away from them to Eli the Replicator, who's listening. Back with Claire and Lydia, Claire's laid out a plan off-screen and Lydia says Samuel will never go for it; he'll never turn himself in. She says he's not listening to her anyway, so she's going to get Amanda. Samuel interrupts and asks if it's come to her running away, though he can't say he blames her after what he did to that town, all those people. He acts apologetic to Claire, saying he wishes he could take it all back, like so many other things. Then he talks about watching trapeze as a kid and thinking they had powers, but they didn't: It was just gravity. He's come to realize gravity's different things to people, and Joseph used to be his. Which is why he's losing his way, and his family's afraid of him. Claire tells Samuel to take responsibility and turn himself in to her father; she promises he won't hurt him if he gives himself up. Lydia pleads with him to listen.
Up in the trees outside the carnival, HRG and Lauren are ducked down looking through a gun scope and binoculars, respectively. They spot Samuel, but then Lauren notices Claire. She picks up her phone and then his rings. She asks where he is, and he says "Close." Then he thanks her for stopping by with coffee earlier. She tells him Samuel wants to surrender to protect his family. He asks if Claire trusts him, and she says they have to try doing this without anyone getting hurt. He agrees, and says to tell him to meet them in a field outside the carnival. "See you soon." He hangs up and tells Lauren Samuel's surrendering. Lauren doesn't think he's just going to give himself up, but Noah says Claire thinks he will and he has to trust her. Claire tells Samuel it's a deal, and Lauren asks Noah if he's sure. He says if it's a set-up, he'll just get a better shot at Samuel out in the open, away from everyone. Except couldn't a "set-up" mean he might not come alone? I would say Claire gets her lack of brains from HRG except they're not biologically related. Lauren tells HRG she'll go down and walk Samuel out. She tells him to keep Samuel in his crosshairs, and he tells her to be careful. She starts out and Noah does keep him in the crosshairs.
Eerie music picks up as Samuel puts out his arms in surrender and walks to a platform. Lauren makes her way to the carnival. Samuel speechifies as Claire starts to worry. The gist of his speech: He regrets what he's done, which has brought an agent to their door, so he's turning himself in. The carnies are all, "No! What?" Samuel says they just want him, and he knows they won't all agree, but it's the only way, since the safety of them all matters most to him. A gunshot fires and it hits Samuel. People start to scream and scatter, and for a minute I really did think HRG was the one shooting. But the fourth or fifth shot hits Claire, and that's when anyone who's ever watched this show knew it wasn't him. Gunshots keep on going. I don't know much about guns, but it seems the shooter would have to stop and reload at some point. I guess commercials are that opportunity.
Parkman's house. Sylar says he let Janice go, so now it's Parkman's turn. He tries to go into Sylar's head but it seems to cause him physical pain. Sylar's irritated nothing's changed; he knows Parkman can do this. Parkman doesn't know what's wrong, so he tries again. Once again: Physical pain and heavy breathing. Sylar tells him to try again, but Parkman says maybe it's him not wanting to let go of the powers. Sylar yells, "You're lying!" And Matt yells back, "I'm not lying!" -- just like five-year-olds fight -- when Janice comes back and asks Matt what's going on. Sylar uses his pointy power to push her up against the wall. Parkman begs him to let her go, and he'll try again, but Sylar says that's not good enough. "You will purge me of these powers, Parkman, or I will use them. I will use them all. And, trust me, I can get really creative."
Gunshots are still ringing out at the carnival. HRG looks confused and finally spots a Replicating Eli through his scope. Replicating Eli shoots Lauren, and she falls down. Noah doesn't seem to see this, but he shoots Replicating Eli, who just evaporates, since he's not the real thing. Noah: "Daaaaamn." Then he turns and Replicating Eli hits him in the face with the butt of his rifle. Back at the carnival, Claire picks her bullet out and tosses it aside as others gather and worry about the wounded. Damien drags Samuel to Lydia, who's been shot. She tells Samuel to put pressure on the wound, then tells Doyle she needs his help and takes off with him. Lauren's sitting up against a tree in obvious pain when Replicating Eli carries Noah by. She hides behind the tree and holds up her gun to shoot, but she can't risk shooting Noah. Samuel's alone with Lydia, holding her. He kisses her, and she musters all the scream she can, then pulls away and utters her final words: "You... did... this?" He says he's sorry and she cries as he says they needed a villain worse than him and she gave that to them. He thanks her and kisses her on the forehead and she dies. Claire comes back, but Samuel tells her it's too late and he cries. Everyone stands around, heartbroken, including Claire. It's pretty genius, actually, and exactly what you'd expect of a cult leader, to kill the person everyone loves the most and make it look like the person you hate did it. The camera pans out, and there's a really weird light shining in from the side as it slides out at a weird angle. It ends up behind Claire, but starting with her lower body before we see her face and, honestly? I hate myself for saying this and it might just be the angle, but she might want to cool it with the carbs if they're going to shoot her from this angle. More commercials.
Claire's calling her dad, pleading for him to pick up, when Samuel comes out of his trailer. She glares at him, and he just stares silently back, until Replicating Eli yells, "Samuel!" Then he tells everyone he found HRG on the hill with a gun. Claire asks him if he's okay, and he just tells her, through his pain that he didn't do it, he didn't shoot. Everyone shouts, "Murderer" and that Claire's one of them for bringing him here. Doyle makes Claire his puppet, and others start using their powers threateningly. Samuel stops them all and says, "We're better than this." (See? So stereotypical cult leader. I don't love a lot about this season, but I do love how well Robert Knepper portrays this character.) He tells his people to tie HRG up in the house of mirrors, and has Claire taken to his trailer. Doyle loosens his puppet grip as Replicating Elis carry her away. She fights and screams, "No! Dad! Dad!" As they drag her off. She still seems to think there's something redeeming enough in Samuel that she explains, "Samuel! He didn't do it!"
Back at Parkman's, he's still begging Sylar to let Janice go. Sylar says one cruel thought is all it takes with his powers, which make it so easy. Okay, maybe I do feel for him, because if all it takes is a cruel thought, I'd have killed a lot of people. Far more than Sylar. Maybe he really has the most amazing self-restraint in the history of the world. Parkman tells Sylar he doesn't have to use them like this, but Sylar says he does because his powers are him. He asks Matt how he compartmentalizes (did you ever think you'd hear Sylar ask about that?) and keeps the powers from overrunning the rest of his life. Parkman says he starts by accepting the fact that he's more than just his ability. He says they're people first, and asks Sylar to let Janic
e go. It seems to take some effort, but he does. Parkman says he'll try to do what Sylar wants, but he has to check on Janice first. Sylar says it's his last chance, and Parkman sneaks off with Janice. They whisper (whatever happened to Sylar's super hearing?) about how he's Sylar, and Janice tells Matt, "We have to bury him so that he cannot hurt anyone else." He says okay, and tells her to go away until he calls her.
Parkman goes back to Sylar and says he was holding back and is motivated now. He touches Sylar's head and we flash on him with Elle and with his mom, and then killing many, many victims. When Parkman finishes, Sylar doesn't feel different, so Parkman asks him to try something on him. He can't do anything, so Sylar says he did it! Parkman then says the powers aren't gone; they're just buried where he can't get to them. He says he knows exactly what scares Gabriel: Being alone with his immortality. He says he's trapped Sylar inside his brain, alone in a nightmare. He says the best part is that once Matt leaves, Sylar won't remember any of it and will live every empty day like it's real. Sylar tearfully says, "You said you'd help me?" Parkman says there's still some Sylon left in him, he guesses, because he lied. He tells him to enjoy hell, then he seems to vanish as we get various flashes of Sylar saying "Parkman. Parkman?" I have no clue what even just happened there. It makes absolutely no sense. So, he made Sylar's brain think he's alone with his immortality? Wasn't he anyway?! I mean, wasn't that the point?
Parkman basement. Matt's building a brick wall in front of Sylar, all Edgar Allan Poe or Oz, whichever the writers may have read/seen (I'm going to guess they watched rather than read, since I don't think the writers of this show are big on reading or writing, sadly). Time lapse as he builds and builds the wall. When he has most of Sylar covered, other than the head, Peter knocks on his door. Sam, annoyed, heads upstairs to answer. Commercials. I wonder if anyone actually plays the Heroes theme games at NBC.com? Also, Parenthood: What a great cast. What terrible promos.
Carnival. Emma's arrived and is looking around, urgently. Doyle greets her and tells her Samuel needs her help. He leads her to him, and he greets her with, "Finally. There's a doctor in the house." He tells Emma they were attacked by people who don't understand them; people who fear them. He says what matters is that she's here, because she's not just going to heal him: She's going to help them make a new world for themselves. He says they'll show "them" how great "we" can be. She looks at him seriously, though I can't tell if it's disapproving or not.
Peter's still banging on Parkman's door. When he answers, he apologizes for taking so long; he was just working downstairs. They shake hands as they greet, and Peter takes his power and says, "Sylar is here." Then Parkman uses the power to realize Peter wants to take him. He chases after him: "You can't just take him." Obviously, Parkman. You can only take Sylar if you want to bury him behind a brick wall. That's how it works. I have a powers question for people who understand this show better than I do: Why do people now have to touch to do things they used to just do? For example, Peter touches people to borrow their powers now, but he used to just borrow anyone's power he was close to. And Parkman had to touch Sylar's head to do his brain-melting mojo, where he used to just look sideways and squint (or whatever). Peter tells Parkman that Sylar has to save people from dying. Peter sees what Matt's building in the basement, and is like, "What the hell did you do?" But wouldn't he know since he was reading Matt's thoughts? Since he knew where he was and all? Peter says he has to bring Sylar back and walks toward him. Matt tries to stop him, telling him he'll get trapped inside the nightmare too, but Peter approaches and touches Sylar's head. Then Peter's alone in the pretty, well-lit streets of New York. There's no one else there, making me wonder how this was filmed. Peter walks around, calling for Matt or anyone. But he's all alone, just like Sylar. Get it?
Lauren, still lying by her tree, musters the strength to use her phone. Tracy answers, and Lauren says, "Noah Bennet told me to call if anything went wrong." Samuel's sitting with dead Lydia. He closes her eyes, then Edgar speedsters in, looking concerned. Apparently Samuel opened the portal or whatever to notify him and bring him back. Edgar silently walks forward and kisses Lydia's hand. He's remorseful for going to Bennet. Samuel tells him to look what the "so-called normal people" have done, then Edgar asks him how he could let this happen. Samuel leaves his trailer and gathers his troops. He speechifies that he knows what he did was wrong, but that he was willing to sacrifice himself for all of them. He says that this has proven, once again, that people like them will never be accepted. Montage as Samuel continues. First we see Bennet, with Damien's reflection, though it's not clear what Damien's doing there. Claire's listening from the trailer as Samuel says they've all seen the eyes of the normal people at their shows, dazzled by their abilities, but filled with revulsion over who they are. He saw it in the small town he sinkholed yesterday, and today in the bullets that struck him and murdered Lydia (and what about Claire's bullet? No revulsion there?). Lauren shivers by her tree, then stands up in pain and starts to walk. Samuel says it's time to put fear behind them and show the world what they truly are. Camera pans above him, and he's surrounded so we can see he has certainly gathered his troops. This should make him awfully powerful, but no way can he beat the Ambiguously Gay Duo of Sylar and Peter.
week: Peter finds Sylar on the empty New York street and says he's here to get him out. Sylar says there's no getting out; he'd know since he's been there three years. Peter says it's been three hours. Time travel? What is this: Lost? Samuel tries to tell Claire HRG did the shooting, but her response is awesomely that if her dad shot anyone, Samuel would be dead. Samuel tells someone that Claire needs time to consider his offer. Claire tries to rescue HRG, but Samuel zaps the Earth into a small tremor or something.
DeAnn, a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon, advises against taking a gun to a carnival. You can contact her at twopmodmars@gmail.com.