Heroes: “Landslide” – airdate 05/14/07

Peter finally reins himself in, moving away from Atomic-Ted, and Mr. Bennet tells him, Ted and Claire to get out of NYC until the tracking system has been disabled. If both the Explodo-Boys are out of town, the town can’t explode. Sylar, however, is lurking around the corner and overhears their plan with his stolen superhearing. Meanwhile, as Hiro mourns his broken sword (and, by association, destiny), Ando looks up “sword repair” in the yellow pages.

It is Election Day and Nathan is fretting about being behind in the polls; Linderman is not concerned. Nathan’s wife rolls in, but is perturbed to find Linderman there. He is, of course, charming, and as he leaves, holds her hand between his own , saying he would like to give the Petrellis a gift in anticipation of Nathan’s big win. Yeah, yeah, we know: he just healed her legs. Nathan is visibly conflicted (still) about being a Good Guy vs. Satisfying His Ego via Linderman; she tells him that “you’re gonna do great things, but you don’t have to sell your soul.” Too late! As Nathan leaves to go to his election HQ, Hiro and Ando come up to him, and Hiro asks for Nathan’s help in stopping the bomb. Nathan refuses them gently, saying that no one can stop it. Hiro is shocked and announces that Nathan is already a villain; Nathan looks abashed, just for a moment. Across the street, DL and Jessica decide to follow Nathan, figuring he can lead them to Linderman. Hiro and Ando find the sword repairman and – yatta! – Hiro’s dad, Mr. Sulu, is there. He and Hiro go in the back to talk; Ando worries that Mr. Sulu will try to talk Hiro out of his quest.

Micah and Candice are hanging out, Candice snarfing down French fries; Micah dryly notes that he has “a cousin who eats like you. He’s huge.” Candice smirks: “So am I.” Micah doesn’t understand why she works for a bad guy like Linderman when she could use her powers for good; she replies that “people are so mean to each other because of how they were born – or what they look like. Mr. Linderman will cure the world.” [Hopefully, she’ll survive the coming apocalypse so we can see what she really looks like. I’m guessing not pretty, based on her recent remarks.] Linderman arrives and bribes Micah with financial security for his family if Micah will help. Peter, Claire and Ted attempt to rent a car to get out of NYC, but Ted is nabbed by the FBI, led by Clea Duval. Peter grabs Claire and invisibles away into the crowd as Ted is loaded on a truck; Clea thanks her informant, “Isaac Mendez,” for the tip. Back at the sword repair shop, Mr. Sulu tells Hiro that he has known all along about Hiro’s power, and that he will teach him how to kill Sylar. It seems that Mr. Sulu used to be allied with the older generation of Heroes [but he does not admit to having a power of his own] until some of them (i.e. Linderman and Nathan’s mom) “lost their way.” Then, they get on with the sword-training. Cool!

Candice takes Micah to go vote and he reaches out to all the election computers (as they’re networked), changing the votes so that Nathan wins by a landslide. DL and Jessica, meanwhile, have tracked Nathan to his election HQ, demanding how to find Linderman. Nathan wants their promise that if he tells them, Linderman will never be able to come after him and his own family. DL and Jessica next find Mr. Bennet and Matt Parkman waiting for the elevator in the downtown building; Jessica gives Matt a look: “Didn’t I throw you out a window?” Poor Matt is not amused. And there’s a peculiar act break, because when we come back from the commercials, all four of them are in the elevator, listening to godawful elevator music, looking entirely uncomfortable. It’s funny. And I would have put the commercial break there, after that shot.

DL and Jessica move off to find Linderman; Mr. Bennet and Matt head out for the tracking system, i.e. Molly – who has responded to Mohinder’s transfusions and regained her power. In fact, she locates Matt, her “other hero,” right there in the building. Eric Roberts ambushes Matt and Mr. Bennet, totally stone-cold, comes up behind them and shoots Eric twice [twice!] in the head. Exit Eric Roberts. They find the tracking system and Matt is horrified that Mr. Bennet plans to kill a little girl. Mohinder, however, has grown a set of stones to go with his new spine, and knocks Matt out, grabs his gun and points it at Mr. Bennet, who is pointing his own gun at Molly. Standoff! Sylar flips Atomic-Ted’s transport truck onto its roof, using his telekinesis, and then pops Ted’s skull off to eat his brains. Exit Ted.

Hiro and Mr. Sulu finish their training to discover that Ando has bought his own sword and gone after Sylar on his own. Peter and Claire discover Dead Ted and realize that Sylar will be the one blowing up NYC. Claire says Uncle Peter will have to go after him. Peter says yikes: “Last time I fought Sylar, he killed me.” DL and Jessica find Linderman, who tries to bribe Jessica, knowing that she is more motivated by money than anything else. Jessica practically drools over the millions he offers her, but gets a grip and lets wimpy old Niki reemerge. Linderman, not well pleased, tries to shoot her and DL takes the bullet … and then somehow manages to get behind Linderman, as the old man is advancing on Niki, and phases his fist into Linderman’s skull. Exit Linderman. DL collapses and looks really bad; Niki holds him and whimpers. Bring Jessica back! Nathan sweatily gives his acceptance speech over a montage of all our Heroes looking troubled/determined/scared/desperate, and we close on Sylar up on a rooftop, practicing with his new atomic fireballs. Next time: boom!