It's season finale time, y'all! (Please oh please oh please – is there any chance that Mohinder will be killed off this episode? In the meantime I shall ignore his voiceover as I have done all season.) Let's get right to it:
On the way back to D.C., Bennet pulls the car over in the middle of nowhere. He tells Claire and Angela that there’s a roadblock up ahead and they need to get out of the car now. He sends them cross-country to help Nathan and says he’ll catch up with them later. They start to hike and Bennet drives on to the roadblock where he is promptly swarmed by Building 26 agents.
Nathan’s senatorial office. Remember how Danko spiked Sylar in the back of the head, and then it didn’t work ? Well, that’s where we are now, and Danko actually looks a little nervous. He should: Sylar tells him that the shapeshifting works on the inside too, allowing him to move the magic spot to somewhere else - and he ain’t telling where it is now. That was actually a smart move. Sylar TKs Danko up against the wall and then, to negate that one good idea, he decides to confess his master plan, like all awful television and movie villains do: he’s going to absorb all Nathan’s memories, then go shake the President’s hand. But first he’s going to shift into Danko’s form and shoot a couple of agents. This is actually another good idea. As more agents rush in, Sylar shifts back into his cover form, Agent Whatsisname, and holds Danko at gunpoint. “He’s in here,” Sylar calls, grinning, and all the helpless Danko can do as the agents move to take him into custody is growl and grimace.
The Capitol. Angela and Claire have made it this far, but Angela tells Claire that from here, she’s on her own. Angela has to go find Parkman because in her dream, he’s the one who saves Nathan. Claire heads to her dad’s office. Upstairs, Sylar is getting dressed and talking to a still unconscious Nathan – from whom he can’t get any information what with the still being unconscious. When an aide knocks, announcing Claire’s arrival, Sylar morphs into Nathan and says to send her in. Knowing about the shapeshifting potential, Claire is a tad suspicious, even as her “dad” promises to head the President off before Sylar gets to him and also to bring down Building 26. But he manages to win her over by brushing his fingers over her necklace and extracting the Mexico memories. Claire says that she wants to go with him, to help in case things go south. “Nathan” thinks that’s just a dandy idea.
Building 26. Hiro and Ando watch as the agents bring a handcuffed Danko into the building. Ando thinks that Hiro needs to take a break from the heroics – he’s sick, and bleeding, and in pain (“Your head could explode!”). But Hiro is willing to take that chance as Ando’s red electricity just won’t be enough to attack the Building and he puts on his resolve face. Cut to Pulsating Tribal-Electronic Music a la Blue Man Group as Danko does the walk of shame past his glaring team. The agents throw him into a dank-looking cell. “Fancy meeting you here,” intones Bennet, stepping out of the shadows. Danko frowns; Bennet smirks.
Nathan – the real one – finally comes to back in his office, just as Peter gets there. Nathan staggers, nearly collapsing, as he says they have to go after Sylar. “Lot of help you’re going to be,” notes Peter.
Building 26. “Go ahead,” grumps Danko, "start the lecture.” He’s actually pretty penitent, castigating himself for being an idiot to trust Sylar. Bennet says there’s no sense moping about it now - they’ll need everyone on board to put a spike through the back of Sylar’s head once they find him. Danko chuckles mirthlessly and tells Bennet that Sylar “moved the spot.” Bennet: "Great." Danko asks him how he managed to do this job all these years, dealing with all of this insanity. Bennet replies that it’s all about living in the gray area – that, plus having an adopted daughter with powers which necessitated having an open mind. They agree to put their differences aside to team up, and stretch out their hands to shake on it – and then time freezes.
Because Hiro has managed to freeze pretty much the entire building (which is causing his brain to bleed out his ear, but never mind that right now). They find the room with all the sedated Heroes (including Mohinder – blech) and, in a stroke of genius, replace the Heroes with frozen agents. “Payback is kind of bitchy!” exclaims Hiro. When time is unfrozen, the agents are zonked out but Hiro himself staggers, hand to forehead. That cost him dearly.
Bennet and Danko unfreeze and see that their cell door is now open. “Something is very wrong here,” says Danko. But Bennet knows: “Hiro.” Back in the lab, resuscitated Heroes are shuffling to their freedom. Mohinder examines the ailing Hiro and tells him that his poor human body is rejecting his abilities. Over Hiro’s sputtered protests, Mohinder tells him that he must not freeze time again or there may be Dire Consequences.
Stanton Hotel, Washington, D.C. Sylar-as-Nathan and Claire are cleared through the metal detectors. When they sign into the visitors’ log, “Nathan” signs with his left hand and Claire, suspicious again, asks about it. He bluffs that he’s ambidextrous – bats right, writes left – and ushers her onto the elevator. Claire’s poker face is pretty good.
Building 26. At the lab, a baffled Danko notes that his entire unit has been compromised. Bennet rolls his eyes and reminds him that he was warned that he wouldn’t be able to handle people with abilities. Danko pulls out a syringe, saying that the dope inside will take down an elephant; Bennet taps away at some computers, commenting that they will have to get close enough to the elephant first, not realizing that Danko is poised to plunge the needle into his neck. But no! The syringe disappears out of Danko’s hand: Hiro has snatched it away, teleportingly, and doses Danko instead. He drops like a rock. So does Hiro, nose bleeding again and this time, seemingly stroked out. Bennet orders Ando and Mohinder to call an ambulance – he’s got to get to the hotel to stop Sylar.
Hotel. Sylar-as-Nathan and Claire wait upstairs for the President’s speech to be over. When Claire’s cell rings, S-a-N watches her interestedly. Bennet gets more and more nervous as the phone continues to ring until finally his daughter answers. He asks where she is, whom she’s with. She says she’s with Nathan, then puts her finger to her lips, shushing the real Claire who is immobilized. Bennet barks out how can she be sure it’s him? And Sylar morphs back into himself and breathes into the phone, “Because it’s me.” All of which makes no sense dialogue-wise, but there’s no sense complaining about that at this point. Bennet = not a happy camper.
After the commercial, Sylar plays with Claire like a marionette, forcing her to open a bottle of wine for him. He makes her sit and pours a couple of glasses. Blah blah blah – he got to meet his real dad (big disappointment), you and I are so much alike (adopted, unkillable). Claire quivers with ineffectual rage. Then he starts getting creepy/sleezy again, playing with her hair and saying that he’s going to kill everyone she loves but maybe, over time, she’ll learn to love him. She could even be “[his] first First Lady.” Claire = not a happy camper.
Downstairs, Peter and the real Nathan try to get in past Security ... who is confused since Nathan is supposed to be upstairs already. They do some fast talking (off-screen, thankfully) and soon are being escorted upstairs by a Presidential staffer (and Nathan's old school chum), Liam. When Liam wants to take Sylar down, Nathan says that the team will get obliterated – Sylar is just that dangerous. Liam sneers, “He’s one of them?” And Nathan, after a quick look at his brother, sacks up and says, “He’s one of us.” Nathan levitates himself and Security draws their guns, but Liam waves them off. Nathan says that he’s been lying to everyone for a really long time, and he will take responsibility for his crimes, but right now they need to “course correct.”
The Petrelli brothers are given a five-minute head start. As they stride manfully down the hall, Peter’s plan is for Nathan to take Sylar low, while he takes him high: “Let’s cut the sonofabitch in two.” They manfully exchange vows of filial love and It. Is. On. They burst open the doors to the hotel suite and then have to duck as Claire comes flying out in their general direction. She bounces off the wall and crashes to the floor, then shouts exasperatedly at them, “Go!” The Flying Petrellis throw themselves at Sylar, who fires up Elle’s stolen electricity in preparation and then TKs the doors closed. Claire can’t get in and is forced to watch through a crack – which is more than we see, as the entire fight takes place off-screen.
When the noise dies down, Claire manages to open the doors. Feathers and smoke swirl in the trashed room. She walks in and finds only Peter, dazed and bleeding. He says they’re out the window and he can’t go after them. Peter and Claire run out of the hotel room; moments later, Nathan gets thrown back in through the window, landing on the ruins of the grand piano. Sylar levitates himself (???) back into the room and TKs Nathan to an upright position. Then he raises a finger and slashes Nathan’s throat. There’s blood, lots of it. It’s really gross and pretty gnarly for a 9:00 p.m. network show - wow! Nathan collapses into a chair, gurgling and gasping. Sylar steps up to him, smiling nastily, and says, “Claire’s going to be sooooo mad at me.” He morphs into Nathan and heads out. Now, just how is Parkman going to save Nathan from this? Are they the same blood type or something?
Speaking of Parkman: he’s at the bus station when Angela finds him. She tells him that he has to come with her to save her son. He doesn’t want to but is unable to resist her irresistible force.
Hotel. Bennet finds Claire and Peter and after a little bit of explaining, everyone figures out who everyone is. Bennet asks if Peter took Sylar’s power and Claire realizes that Sylar can be stopped. Then the Secret Service comes up, guns drawn. Claire has no time for this. She walks straight up to them until a pistol touches her forehead. “You can listen to me now or I’ll tell you after you shoot me.” Secret Service Guy: “WTF?”
Angela and Parkman are now at the hotel, passing through all checkpoints using Parkman’s mind mojo. They find Nathan in the destroyed suite – Parkman tries to hold her back from seeing the body but once again, she cannot be stopped. She screams horribly, wild and crazed, and then clutches her eldest son to her. Rocking, she stares up at the currently useless Parkman, saying that she doesn’t understand - he was supposed to save Nathan.
Down in the kitchen, Sylar-as-Nathan catches up to Liam, the President et al. as they try to make their escape. He wastes no time morphing into Liam's body, easily accessing the President’s limo. The President is pleased to see Liam, and tells him that he’s done a good job today. “You too, sir,” says Sylar-as-Liam, holding out his hand. The President takes it and doesn’t let go. Sylar’s face bubbles, flexes, and he rapidly shifts through all the forms he’s taken before finally resolving into his own. He stares at the President, utterly confused. And then the President morphs into Peter, who neatly jams a syringe into the underside of Sylar’s jaw. “Bet you didn’t think I took that one from you,” growls Peter. Me neither, says Friend Mouse.
Back up in the ruined suite, Angela has covered poor Nathan with a sheet; Bennet drops the unconscious Sylar on the floor. They turn to Parkman who immediately starts backpedaling as fast as he can: you friggin' people are nuts! They want him to facilitate putting the contents of Nathan’s mind into Sylar’s brain so that Sylar can continue to pose as the Senator in order to protect the surviving Heroes. They tell him that Nathan is the only one who can convince the President not to hunt the Heroes down. Bennet says that the last thing he wants is for Sylar to keep living and for him to have to lie to his family about it, but this change will be “permanent” (how do they know that?). If Parkman doesn’t help them, Nathan will be gone forever.
Parkman kneels down and clutches Sylar’s face, mind power flexing: “You are no longer Gabriel Gray. Sylar is dead. You are now Nathan Petrelli.” Flashes of Sylar’s life flicker in and out, replaced with flashes of Nathan’s life. Sylar convulses, gags, moans, and his body morphs. Nathan opens his eyes and he sees Angela: “Mom?” Yeah, that’s so not going to last.
Mohinder borings his way through another voiceover as Sylar-now-Nathan lights a funeral pyre on which the dead shapeshifter-in-Sylar’s form (from a few episodes ago) rests. Everyone is there, thinking Sylar is gone at last: Peter, Claire, Mohinder, a weakened Hiro and Ando. As they watch the body burn, Bennet turns to “Nathan” and asks if the President agreed to it. “Nathan” confirms it: funding, resources, deniability … and Bennet will be heading up the new Company. “I can’t believe he’s really dead,” Claire says to her dad. “He really is, Claire. He really is,” Bennet replies. Parkman can’t stomach the lie and turns away, appalled.
Thus endeth Volume Four.
Volume Five: “Redemption.” Six weeks later, one Kent Harper, a former Building 26 agent, lets himself into his apartment after a long day at work. He is annoyed to find that his sink is overflowing, the puddle spreading across the floor. As he watches, stunned, the puddle goes vertical, coalescing into a naked Tracy. She grins, eyes rolling crazily, and informs the agent that he’s “[number ] four.” Oh fabulous: she’s next season’s Big Bad. Ugh.
Cut to “Nathan” reading a newspaper article about a fourth “mysterious drowning.” He puts the paper down, pensive. Angela interrupts, saying that she hasn’t heard from him in weeks. He is preoccupied and tells her that he hasn’t felt himself lately. She tells him to come to lunch with her but he brushes her aside, suddenly captivated by an elegant little clock in a display case. “It’s running a minute and a half fast,” he says bemusedly. And then he snaps out of it, hungry and ready for “Italian? Chinese?” Angela is dumbstruck, horrified. What - did she really not see this coming?
Previously on Heroes / next time on Heroes
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