Heroes recap: "Four Months Later" – airdate 09/24/07 (S2E1)

Well, FM’s Fall ’07 Television Season is off to a portentous beginning: my DVR crapped out and I (a) missed the Chuck premiere entirely, (b) missed the first ten minutes of the Heroes premiere entirely, and (c) while I did watch the rest of Heroes live, I don’t have any notes because I didn’t dare press Pause to write anything down. This will be a sketchy recap at best, unless I can watch the episode online and fill in the blanks. (Maybe I can get Chuck that way too – and then if it’s terrible, I can clear the DVR of that show.) I did reboot the machine and hopefully that will work. Tomorrow’s Biggest Loser will be the test, I guess.

I’m guessing that at the start of this episode we see Claire’s dad dropping her off on her first day of school in their new hometown, Costa Verde, California. I’m also guessing that he tells her to keep a low profile because we see her not raising her hand when she knows the answer and staring longingly at the cheer squad (who are practicing in their uniforms – who does that, except movie and TV cheerleaders?). A cute-ish sort of guy approaches her, asking her if she’s an alien or a robot. I guess that means he’s edgy and a little weird. Claire certainly thinks he’s weird. During gym class, the Mean Girls pick on Claire and some other loners; after everyone leaves, Claire attempts a back somersault off some scaffolding, breaking her leg. Being Indestructo-Claire, she snaps right back, just as Edgy/Weird walks in, nearly catching her. At the "Butler" family dinner that night (that’s their new incognito name), conversation is stilted and awkward, everyone trying to make the best of it. Claire is having a tough time, though, and doesn’t think she can handle it. She sneaks a call to Nathan later for some cheering up. Oh, and Edgy/Weird is totally peeping-tomming her while hovering in midair. He can fly too, just like her real dad.

Her real dad, however, is in no mood to cheer anyone up. He is scruffy and bearded and drunk, and I’m guessing that he didn’t win the election. Earlier that day, he tossed his mother out of Peter’s apartment: she thinks her younger son is dead and blames her older son for killing him. Wait! Wasn’t Angela willing to sacrifice Peter for Nathan last season? She is evil AND fickle! (And what was her power again? Can't she see the future or something?) Nathan says they can’t be sure Peter’s dead and he’s keeping the apartment for when he comes back. As he throws his mom out, she sees a torn photograph stuck to the wall in the corridor. It’s her face, with that half-helix shape drawn over it in red.

Apparently that’s not so good and she goes to meet Hiro’s dad (George Takei!) who also got one with his face on it in his morning newspaper. He found it during a conversation with Ando about Hiro’s multi-month (?) disappearance. Ando is worried but George is finally proud of his son and will wait for him to return. But then he gets this photo, which means he’ll be dead in 24 hours. Ando thinks that’s terrible and George asks him to fetch a sword. Angela shows up while Ando is on his errand; she and George agree that they’re in big trouble – one of the remaining original nine empowered folks seems to be picking off the rest [Linderman, Peter’s dad, Simone’s dad, etc.]. Angela skedaddles with a very sour face. (They do need to start killing people off – there’s too many to keep track of – and I don’t mind if she takes a powder.) Just as Ando gets back with the sword, a Dark Stranger wearing a hoodie appears on the rooftop. George seems to recognize him/her and is surprised that it is whoever it is. Without further ado, the Dark Hooded Stranger tackles George and they both go over the side of the building. When Ando looks down, only George is crushed and bleeding on the sidewalk; the DHS is gone.

Hiro, meanwhile, is still in Japan of several centuries ago. He meets Kensei, his all-time favorite hero, who turns out to be that cute, short blond bad guy from Alias. Hm. Not so much Japanese, then. This guy is actually Kensei, but he’s a Brit who landed in Japan to make his fortune. He’s not much of a fighter but does like to drink. Hiro is horrified and tries to come to terms with this, explaining that Kensei must fight Whosis and Whatsisname, and marry the sword smith’s beautiful daughter. Then the sword smith’s beautiful daughter comes up, grabs the sword from Kensei, slugs him across the face, and heads out to rescue her father since Kensei won’t do it. Hiro is gob smacked. (I know this Kensei is going to end up having a power because the damn “next time on Heroes” spoils it, so either Hiro convinces the reluctant gaijin to become the Kensei of legend OR Hiro himself becomes the Kensei of legend and confuses the heck out of the timeline. I’m just guessing.)

Who else? Molly Walker now has two daddies with Mohinder and Matt Parkman, living in Mohinder’s NYC apartment. Parkman finally got his detective badge (he cheated and mind-read the answers; Molly is disapproving) as well as a divorce from his wife (who also cheated, if you'll recall). Molly is having horrific nightmares of the Big Bad she alluded to at the end of last season. Matt wants her to tell him how to find this guy so he can protect her, but Molly is afraid that the Big Bad will kill Matt so she's not talking. Meanwhile, Mohinder is in some foreign city, taking a meeting with a representative from The Company that Claire’s dad used to work for. (This Co. rep is SO familiar – he’s been in everything, including playing Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day.) After some wheeling and dealing, Ned Ryerson says they’ll pay for Mohinder’s expensive research if he’ll help them with their tracking and training/eliminating other empowered people. That night, Mohinder calls Claire’s dad to let him know that The Company has taken the bait: he’s in. Oh, Mr. Bennett (I should say “Noah,” but it sounds so strange), don’t you know that Mohinder can’t do anything right? Not my first choice as an undercover operative.

We also get introduced to a new hero, Maya. She and her brother, Alejandro (see what I mean about too many people? And we don’t even get to Niki – I guess that’s fine, actually – or DL or Micah, and whatever happened to Claude the invisible guy? I liked him. But I digress.) are trying to get to the U.S. from some Central or South American country that I missed because of technical difficulties. Maya has Mohinder’s father’s book and she wants a cure for her dangerous power. We don’t exactly see the power but we do see its aftermath: when she’s assaulted by some skeezy guys, they end up dead with blood-filled eyes … and the five or six innocent immigrants in the back of the truck end up dead too. She pretty much hates her power. Alejandro promises they’ll find help for her.

The final scene I think takes place somewhere in Ireland (?). Some thuggy-looking guys with suspicious Irish accents open up a freight container. One of them thinks he’s looking for a shipment of iPods; the stupid “next time” spoils us enough to know that the boss guy is not, in fact, looking for iPods. What they find, however, is a shirtless Peter Petrelli (methinks Tim Kring has been reading some fanfic), chained to the container wall. When one of the thugs threatens him, Peter hits him with a burst of energy/lightning/something, sending him flying. The remaining thugs demand to know who the frack (not really) he is. But Peter, surprise!, has amnesia and doesn’t have a clue. He also has a pendant in the shape of that half-helix around his neck. That can’t be good for the home team.

So that’s what I can recap for you, using only my memory. If I can get the episode online, I’ll go back and correct the errors. Feel free to comment, annotate and correct me in the comments. And please, think happy thoughts for my poor little DVR!