Heroes – “Eris Quod Sum” S3E7 (airdate 10/27/08)

In Africa, Usutu (is that his name?) watches as Ando and Hiro argue: Ando thinks Hiro should go back in time to fight the four villains Usutu has painted; Hiro is worried about screwing things up if he goes back in time again. In NYC, Mohinder sulks that Tracy and Nathan have ruined everything: he claims he’s still trying to help Maya. If he could have just one more sample ... They refuse (of course) so he jumps like a big sticky spider to his web-wall, tears Maya free, and disappears up through the skylight with her.

Peter is lying unconscious in Pinehearst (yes, I’m now spelling it right), dreaming of family stuff, including the end of the last episode when his dad stripped him of his powers. He jerks awake and his dad tells him to relax - his body is still trying to recover. Arthur also tells him that his powers are gone forever. Peter is sulkily outraged, talking without unclenching his teeth, saying that with or without his powers, he’ll stop his father from his grand and diabolical plan. Arthur rolls his eyes and tells his petulant son that he’s grounded.

Claire and Sandra drive back to their house, Sandra asking if she’s okay. She tells her daughter that she’s proud of how she’s able to stay strong in the face of all she has to deal with. They go inside and the lights are all flickery, plus Lyle is collapsed on the floor. “Bitch is back,” he mutters and Claire stalks forward: “Elle?” Yes indeedy, Elle is there, surfing on the Bennet home PC, electricity crackling all over her skin. “Hello, cheerleader,” she smirks. “Yay!” says FM.

Claire orders Elle out of her house, so Elle sparks up and hits the younger girl with some voltage. She doesn’t know about the new painfree Claire, however, and is shocked (hee – sorry!) when Claire isn’t the slightest bit fazed. In fact, Claire grabs her by the arm and starts to drag her out, so Elle ups the ante, flipping Claire to the floor with a judo move and letting her have it with both barrels. Until Lyle douses her with a bucket of water. Elle screams and collapses into the corner. “I’m sorry,” she whimpers, “I need help.” Claire boggles.

Now at Pinehearst, Mohinder watches Maya as she lays in a much more high tech lab than his. Arthur introduces himself and asks how Maya is doing (terrified). Okay, says Arthur, watch this. He goes into Maya’s room, grabs her shoulders and sucks her power out of her. Oh shit – that is a really bad power for this bad guy to have. Maya is thrilled but still tells Mohinder to get away and leave her alone when he tries to approach her.

Later, Arthur assures Mohinder that no powers are left once he’s sucked them free. He takes the younger man to another part of the lab where there’s a partial formula up on some screens: they want Mohinder to help them finish the formula. Mohinder bravely says that he’s sure that Pinehearst has some hidden agenda but when Arthur calls his bluff, telling him to just leave if he wants to, Mohinder caves (since he still doesn’t have a backbone) and says he’ll need test subjects. Arthur smiles nastily.

At Primatech, Angela is still comatose but she’s dreaming in flashes and somehow telepathically communicating with Sylar. She tells him that Peter needs his help: stop feeling sorry for yourself and get out of this cage; she goes on to encourage him creepily, telling him to show “them” why he’s her favorite. And so he does, waking himself up out of the medically induced coma and TKing the cell door open. He pauses long enough to check on her, promising to help his ungrateful brother.

Claire somewhat smugly (and I can’t really blame her) asks Elle if she’s going to be okay. Elle says yeah, but when she stands up the electricity sparks out all over her. She says that she can’t control her power any longer; Daphne had stopped by and told her that Pinehearst could fix her, but Elle wanted to know more about them before submitting to them and figured Mr. Bennet had all the answers. Claire muses that maybe there’s something wrong with all the Heroes that Pinehearst could fix. Elle scoffs: there’s nothing wrong with you. When Claire complains that she can’t feel pain any longer, Elle spits that she wishes she had that problem. Poor Elle – she’s had nothing but pain all her life. Claire says that the two of them should go to Pinehearst together. “We’re off to see the wizard,” says Elle, agreeing to it.

Daphne strolls into Pinehearst: Arthur, Maury Parkman and Knox are all waiting for her, complaining that she didn’t successfully recruit Matt Parkman. Arthur says fine, but now go back and kill him. She starts to sputter that she’s a thief, not a murderer, but Maury is way ahead of her. Indignant, he gets right in Arthur’s face, saying that his loyalty was in trade for his son’s safety. So Arthur flicks his hand and snaps Maury’s neck. Thus endeth Maury (should have sucked out his mind-manipulation power first though, Art). Daphne is horrified; Knox is gloating, feeding off her fear. “Please,” she whispers as Arthur approaches her, “there has to be another way.”

Parkman and his tortoise are back in his NYC apartment when Daphne arrives, gun in hand. She says that if she doesn’t kill him, they’ll kill her. He tells her to go ahead, it’s the only way he’ll be able to save her. She’s crying, saying that he thinks she’s a good person but she’s not. She tells him to turn around. He does, but he tells her that they get married, start a family, and love each other. She drops the gun, still crying. He picks out of her mind what happened to his father. “I’m sorry,” Daphne says, “it happened so fast there was nothing I could do.”

Arthur and some goons enter Peter’s holding cell. Peter tries to hit his dad with a piece of furniture but since he’s presently just a normal human, his resistance is futile. Arthur notes that it appears his son is not going to help him. Peter says, “Please, you’re going to destroy the world!” Arthur replies that one way or another, Peter is going to help him get this done, and so they strap him to a gurney and wheel him into Mohinder. The doctor tells Peter that his metabolism is primed to accept new synthetic abilities that have to be perfected. Mohinder moves to inject his subject but suddenly the syringe flies out of his scale-encrusted hand.

It’s our new favorite good/bad guy, Sylar! “Hello, Mohinder,” he says calmly, TKing Mohinder out of the way (and also impaling a lab tech on some random piece of equipment). “You came for me,” moans Peter. “It’s what brothers do,” replies Sylar, letting Peter up off the gurney. But before they can get away, Spider-Mohinder pounces on Sylar, pounding his head into the cement floor. Blood spatters and Sylar is unable to fight back. Arthur comes back into the room as Peter sprints away down the hall. Arthur lets him go, instead grabbing Mohinder’s arms. “Do you know how many innocent people this monster has killed?” he wails in protest. Arthur nods yes, but he’s also my son and I’ve been waiting for him. That shuts Mohinder right up.

I have a problem with this episode: too much Mohinder and no Mr. Bennet. In fact, Bennet has been far too absent for two episodes now. I don’t like that one bit ... but ask and ye shall receive: Nathan and Tracy are still at Mohinder’s lab, waiting for “some guy from the Company” to show up to take care of the bodies stuck to the wall. Tracy tries to help them herself and one of them ungratefully grabs her by the throat. Luckily Bennet has arrived (oh frabjous day!) and tasers the guy into submission. Nathan, seeing Bennet’s new partner: “Meredith.” Meredith, dousing her flames for a moment: “Nathan. See you still have a weakness for blondes.” Nathan has a funny little smile on his face that disappears as soon as Tracy glances at him. Hee.

Oh dear: Claire and Elle have decided to take a plane from California to Pinehearst (New Jersey). Elle is sparking all over the place and looking decidedly queasy: “I’m an anxious flyer.” Claire proves that she is a Petrelli (i.e., about as smart as Peter) and starts pushing some of Elle’s buttons for some reason: pointing out that Elle let the Level 5ers out while she, Claire, captured Puppetmaster Eric Doyle. Elle gets more upset, saying that her father pushed her into this terrible life and Claire should be grateful that she’s had it as good as she has. She sparks up some more and the plane lurches, people crying out. The captain comes on and reminds the passengers to turn off all electrical devices. “That’s you he’s talking about,” hisses Claire, worried that Elle will crash the plane. “If I knew how to turn it off I wouldn’t be here in the first place!” Elle can’t stop, and the plane starts to go into a dive, so Claire tells Elle to grab her hand and pour the electricity into her instead. The distressed girl does, releasing the massive charge, and the plane finally calms down. Elle jerks her hand out of Claire’s, but once again Claire’s proved herself. Good girl.

Parkman paces, wondering why Maury would sacrifice himself for his estranged son. Daphne snaps that he didn’t do it so Parkman could sit around and get himself killed. “We can’t let our fear stop us from doing what’s right,” says Parkman. Well, you better not, because Knox is right outside, feeding on it. He busts down the door and as Daphne turns to zoom away, cold cocks her. Parkman gets mad, ordering him to stop. Knox freezes in place but grits out that Parkman can’t hold him with his power. Parkman retorts that not only can he hold Knox, he can kill him too by digging around in his brain to find Knox’s own worst fear and make him eat himself alive. But Knox says that he’s not the one who’s afraid and then punches his fist clear through Parkman’s chest. Parkman falls to the floor, seemingly dead … but I have a feeling that this is a mind-trick on Parkman’s part. I hope so: I like Parkman and Daphne together.

After the commercial, Knox stares at their bodies then, shaking his head, turns and leaves. And tee hee! The illusion ripples away and Parkman and Daphne walk out of the back room. “That was amazing!” says Daphne, giving him a kiss. Very cute. She’s ready to beat feet out of there but Parkman reminds us (tells her) that he’s a cop and stopping guys like Knox is his raison d’etre. He says that they’ll call Primatech - Bennet will help them. And thus the lines are being drawn.

Back at Pinehearst, Flint (fire-handed guy) tells Arthur that the building is in lockdown but Peter is still on the lam. Arthur sends him to retrieve his wandering son, instructing him to bring Peter back alive (and not extra crispy). Then Arthur turns his attention to Sylar who is floating suspended in the middle of the room. Sylar’s all growly but Arthur brushes it aside, telling his third son that Angela is manipulating him to rescue her actual favorite son, Peter. Arthur goes on to say that years ago Angela had a vision of what Sylar would become and tried to drown him in the tub; Arthur got there just in time to save baby Sylar. Grown Sylar drops to the floor, confused.

Meanwhile, powerless Peter is still trying to get out of the Pinehearst building. He sneaks onto an elevator as Mohinder, wandering the halls, comes up to powerless Maya. She tells him to back off – she doesn’t trust him. Blah blah blah, his feelings for her are real but she says she’s going off to make amends for the wrongs she has done, and he needs to do that too. Goodbye, Maya. I hope we never see you again!

Claire and Elle have made it to Pinehearst. Elle apologizes for being a bitch and thanks Claire for helping her. In turn, Claire thanks her for letting her realize that she wasn’t alone. Aww. In other reconciliations, Peter has made his way back to Sylar, saying that he couldn’t leave his brother behind. He tells Sylar that their father is not to be trusted, just as Arthur nonchalantly strolls up. Peter: “Just kick his ass and let’s get out of here!” But poor Sylar doesn’t know what’s true anymore and TKs Peter out through the window. Unable to fly, powerless Peter plummets.

When he lands, Claire and Elle are there and run to him. They notice immediately that Peter isn’t healing and he tells him that he’s been stripped of his powers. Claire helps him up and starts back to the car. Elle, on the other hand, is quivering at the thought of getting rid of her electricity and rushes headlong into the building. Claire asks Peter how he managed to fall that far and still survive if he doesn’t have his healing power anymore. Good question, Claire! Peter has no idea.

Primatech folks take Mohinder’s websters out on stretchers as Bennet, Tracy, Meredith and Nathan catch up. Bennet recommends that they come into Primatech to make sure that the sedative Mohinder injected them with was only a sedative. Nathan gets a phone call and turns away to take it: it’s Claire. He glances at Bennet, then tells her he won’t say anything.

Sylar and Arthur watch out the broken window, ostensibly at Peter and Claire driving away. Sylar remarks that Peter won’t ever give up and Arthur replies that he wouldn’t expect anything less. They also wonder how Peter managed to fall seven stories and walk away. Then Arthur gets his own phone call: it’s Daphne. She says that Parkman believes she’s on his side and she’ll call Arthur as soon as Parkman reaches out to Primatech. Arthur reminds her that if she screws this up, he’ll stick her right back where he found her. Wonder what that means?

Claire picks glass out of Peter’s back as they discuss his survival. Peter’s theory is that Sylar controlled his fall, saving his life while making a show for Arthur. Nathan and Tracy walk in and Nathan immediately notices that his little brother is not healing. Peter brings him up to speed: no powers, and bad dad’s back. And if they don’t do something to stop him, he’s going to kill them all. Nathan wants to know where Arthur is; Peter won’t tell, but Claire has no such compunction. Nathan and Tracy head off to Pinehearst while Peter glares at his niece.

And, finally, we’re back where we started with Usutu. He’s made a vision quest initiating paste so that Hiro can take a spirit walk to discover his true path. “Vision quest sounds much safer than time travel,” says Hiro, gulping a clot of the stuff, and then he passes out, much to Ando’s consternation. Usutu points out that he did warn Hiro that if he didn’t choose his own path, the path would choose him. Looks like it’s been chosen.

Previously on Heroes / next time on Heroes

P.S. Friend-of-the-blog (and fellow Classics major) Kevin C. helped me with the episode title's translation: the source is from a Roman proverb (Sum quod eris; fui quod es/"I am what you will be; I was what you are") and was used on tombstones; the episode title is more like this: Eram quod es, eris quod sum/"I was what you are, you will be what I am" - which fits in with the episode nicely. Thanks, Kevin C.!