Heroes episode recap – “The Wall” S4E17 (airdate 02/01/10)

Now that I know for sure that people are reading these recaps, I feel all sorts of pressure to Get It Right. Fortunately, since people are reading these recaps, if I don’t get it right, someone will let me know!

Sylar and Peter wander in Sylar’s dream NYC while both of their bodies rest down cellar at Parkman’s house. Sylar’s all defeatist and “I’m crazy – leave me alone!” which Peter just does NOT have the time for right now. Maybe while they’re hanging out they could go get their hair cut together. But no: Peter convinces Sylar to let him try to get them out of the nightmare. He fails.

Determined to convince Claire that her dad is a bad guy, Samuel has the memory-revealer Damien (the dreadlocked dude who scrambled Hiro’s brains) broadcast Benet’s memories from 1985 in the House of Mirrors. First of all, 1985 Benet is rockin’ a Members Only jacket and selling used cars (not very well). Secondly, he’s married to someone else who was pregnant with his child. Until she was murdered by a telekinesis wielding robber.

Now trapped in Sylar’s nightmare for what is to them a month, Peter and Sylar are not getting along. Peter realizes that Sylar doesn’t really want to get free: he thinks he deserves to be here. Sylar admits that this is true and Peter asks him once again to help him. Then, suddenly, an enormous brick wall springs up around them. It’s the wall from Parkman’s basement. They have to break through the wall to get out of the nightmare.

Emma catches Lauren sneaking into the Carnival to steal medical supplies. As she helps treat Lauren’s gunshot wound, Lauren tells her that Benet is innocent of the shooting rampage. But Samuel comes into the medical tent; Lauren hides; and Emma uses sign language to rat Lauren out to Samuel.

After seeing his first wife’s murder, Claire understands her father’s motivations for joining the Company but Damien is not done revealing Benet’s past. In 1986, Benet is trying to track down his wife’s killer but ends up just a vigilante, killing innocent “Specials” in the process. Claire is horrified to see this, and rightly so. You know, I am not psyched about this calling the Heroes, the empowered humans, “Specials.” (I am, however, psyched to see The Crazies. Scary!)

Next 1980s flashback: scary Eric Roberts offers Benet a job with the Company. “We can help you find the man who killed your wife … and you can help us find the rest.” After a little while on the job, Eric Roberts instructs Benet to get married and start a family, which will balance him out and hopefully cut down on the number of fatal accidents for Heroes Benet is supposed to bag and tag. When Benet scoffs as to how he’s going to meet this new wife, Eric Roberts suggests the cute waitress who delivered their corned beef sandwiches. The cute waitress is Sandra. Claire is disgusted that the Company arranged Benet’s marriage, but Benet insists that he loved her mother.

Next flashback: Benet is waiting in the dorm room when Gretchen comes home after dropping Claire at the Carnival two weeks ago. He tries to intimidate her, to force her to encourage Claire to live a normal life, and the Haitian is there to back him up. Seeing this very recent memory is more than Claire can stomach. Furious at her father’s duplicity and brutality, she storms out, leaving him in the House of Mirrors.

Peter and Sylar are getting nowhere fast trying to break through the giant wall. They fight, tempers flaring, Nathan’s name being tossed around. For the record, Sylar does apologize for killing the elder Petrelli brother but Peter holds a grudge. Could they try to go over the wall instead of through it? It’s not like anyone else in NYC is using any ladders right now.

Lauren and Samuel have a bit of a standoff, although she can’t hide the fact that she’s terrified of him. She begs him not to move forward with his plans to take what he thinks the world owes him. He ignores her, leaving her in Eli’s multiple hands. Yick. Luckily, Lauren manages to escape. Samuel doesn’t much care, telling Eli that he’s got some other people to track down and take care of before they can interfere. Also, Samuel totally got off on Lauren’s fear of him.

Samuel finds Claire and apologizes for putting her through that. She’s upset with her dad, sure, but she’s not buying what Samuel is selling. Samuel’s too busy to really care, however: he’s going to move the Carnival to NYC, right in Central Park, and wreak some havoc there. And, in the grand tradition of stereotypical villains, he tells Claire what his plans are. Of course, he also tells her that Benet is in the souvenir trailer and when she goes to free her father, Samuel buries the whole thing in the ground.

One night – years later in their minds, Peter gives Sylar a copy of a book, The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (one of my favorites!), because he wore out his last copy. He tells Sylar that he appreciates what Sylar’s done to keep Peter’s sanity intact. They talk: Peter is still angry with Sylar for his role in Nathan’s death, but he realizes that Sylar is no longer that person. Sylar agrees: he is no longer that person. And this, my friends, is the breakthrough they need to break through the wall. In Parkman’s basement, Peter regains consciousness in time to scramble out of the way when the wall explodes into shards. Sylar staggers out. They check their watches and it’s only been half a day in real time. “Let’s go save Emma,” intones Peter. But Eli is there to make sure that they don’t, barring the way out of the basement.

Under the ground, the trailer is at least not yet crushed but Benet estimates that they’re buried 40 or 50 feet down. He and Claire start yelling for help.

Next week: the season finale of Heroes! Wait - does this mean there’s going to be another season?

Previously on Heroes / next time on Heroes

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