Heroes episode recap – “Brave New World” S4E18 (airdate 2/8/10)

Wahoo! Season finale! Is there any chance, any chance at all, that one of the major characters will get killed off tonight? I shouldn’t get greedy, I know: we’ve already gotten rid of Nathan and Mohinder, but c’mon – just one more!

The teaser is a slight rewind from the end of last episode, just to bring us up to speed: Down in the buried trailer, Claire and her dad consider their options. There don’t seem to be many seeing how Lauren is standing right on top of where they’re buried and still can’t hear their cries for help. At Parkman’s house, Multiple-Eli threatens Parkman as well as Sylar and Peter. At the Carnival’s new Central Park location, Samuel speechifies once again, rallying the troops and saying that tonight, his Carnies can reveal themselves for the fabulous beings they really are, thus gaining the normals’ respect. Pretty much everyone seems excited about this; Edgar alone appears to be reserving judgment – but Ray Park’s not that good an actor so maybe that’s supposed to be his supportive face.

Multiple-Eli comes very close to stabbing Parkman to death but Sylar and Peter manage to incapacitate the main Eli, rendering the rest of them moot. Parkman is not that grateful: “What the hell is [Sylar] doing here?” He refuses to read Eli’s mind to find out what Samuel’s plan is so Peter swipes his power and does it himself. When Peter and Sylar turn to leave, Parkman manage to use his mind powers to convince Sylar that he doesn’t want to go.

At the Carnival, Samuel asks Emma to use her gift to bring the normals into the Carnival but for some reason she suddenly decides he’s a bad man and doesn’t want anything to do with him any longer. Luckily for Samuel, Doyle takes control of Emma’s body and makes her play the cello, drawing in the marks.

At the hospital, Hiro is ready to kick ass and take names, now that his ghost mom healed his brain tumor a couple of episodes ago. A nurse brings him a note and an origami crane from a patient down the hall. When he runs to the patient’s room, he finds a little old lady with red hair and a Texan accent. It’s Charlie, aged 67 years. Oops.

Benet tells Claire to stop trying to dig her way out: they’ll run out of air before they break free and then she’ll have to watch her father die right before her eyes. She refuses to believe that her father doesn’t have a plan but he wants to talk. He tells her that he can’t protect her anymore, not after the big reveal that Samuel is planning. I take it back, what I said up at the top: DON’T KILL BENET.

Sylar says that he knows what it takes to be a good person after having been inside Parkman’s head; he begs Parkman to look inside his and see if he hasn’t changed. Grudgingly, Parkman takes a look and finally, reluctantly, tells them to get out of his home. Then he turns his attention to unconscious Eli, mind-saying that he is about to do exactly what Parkman tells him to do.

Samuel is quite pleased at the crowd Emma has brought him. “Tonight changes everything, for all of us.” Edgar seems skeptical. I think.

At the hospital, Charlie explains that Samuel sent her back to 1944 and she had to live out all those years. Hiro takes her hand, apologizing. She doesn’t seem that upset about it, actually, saying that her aneurysm disappeared and she had a good life. Hiro ignores what she’s saying and insists that he can fix everything – go back to 1944 and then bring her back to the correct time. Ando pulls him aside and tells him not to do this: he would only be doing this for selfish reasons.

Benet is starting to pant and slur, telling his daughter how much he loves her and asking for her forgiveness. She cries. He asks her to promise to hide her abilities from the world to stay safe. It’s his “dying wish.” Seriously, now: do not kill the only decent character/actor on this damn show. Frantic, Claire scrabbles at the dirt and then steps back, startled as a wave of muddy water pours into the trailer. The water coalesces into Tracy who grabs the Benets, telling them that they’ve got to get out through 30 feet of dirt. “Hope you can swim,” she quips, reaching a watery hand into the dirt.

Because the special effects would cost too much, we don’t see how Tracy turns the buried trailer into a pond, allowing Benet and Claire to swim to the surface. Tracy herself does not reappear, sending the message with Claire that Benet owes her one. Lauren is there too and she’s brought a helicopter that whisks the Benets off to Central Park. They split up, searching for the bad guys. Soon enough, Edgar has a knife to Benet’s throat.

Peter and Sylar – having gotten to NYC from L.A. awfully quickly (this show does play fast and loose with spatial travel, especially now that Superspeedy Daphne and Flyboy Nathan are dead) – also split up: Peter to find Samuel and Sylar to stop/save Emma. He finds her in the House of Mirrors, fingers shredded and bloody from the rampant cello-ing. When he tries to take the instrument away from her, Puppermaster Doyle is there and ready for him.

Claire finds the Carnies and begs them to get away from Samuel, that their coming out party will in fact be a massacre of the normals. Funnily enough, the Carnies no longer seem to care. Meanwhile, Edgar tells Benet that he actually wants to stop Samuel as well: what’s Benet’s plan?

Hiro brushes Ando off and offers his rescue plan to Charlie. She thanks him for the offer, but reiterates that she already had a life, a wonderful life with a husband and four children and a whole passel of grandkids. Charlie tells Hiro that she doesn’t want to lose her family and her memories of her life, which would happen if she went back with him. Luckily, Hiro actually listens to and hears what she’s saying. And then Ando rushes in saying he’s heard from Benet and that their help is needed in Central Park. Hiro and Ando teleport away. Cutely, Charlie does get a misty look as Hiro pops out of her life.

Doyle taunts Sylar and Emma takes advantage of his distraction to smack him with a burst of sonic energy (?), knocking him across the room. Sylar then TKs a choke hold onto Doyle’s throat. When Doyle flails about, confused because Sylar is supposed to be like him – a bad guy - Sylar snarls, “No – I’m a Hero.” Oh, whatever. Next week, if there was a next week, you’d be back to killing innocent people again.

Claire explains to the Carnies that Samuel takes his power from them – that is why Joseph had kept their family small, to restrain his brother … and then Samuel killed Joseph in retaliation. Edgar and Benet show up to back her up, and then Multiple Eli also appears, on Parkman’s errand (and, again, having gotten from California to New York amazingly quickly), and confirms that Samuel ordered him to kill Lydia and make it look like Benet did it. The Carnies start to wander away, muttering. Samuel is WILD and quickly runs out in front of the crowd of normals. Proclaiming that “this is the greatest show on earth,” he starts to flex his earth-shattering power, pulling strength from the Carnies since they haven’t yet gotten out of range. People scream and run; Carnival rides start to topple. Edgar comes flying from out of nowhere and knocks Samuel off the stage and into Peter. So then Samuel and Peter have a standoff, facing each other from about twenty feet away and shoving the earth at each other while grimacing. It’s kind of silly.

Claire and her dad find Hiro and Ando, telling Hiro that he needs to teleport all the Carnies away from Samuel. He’s like, it’s too many! So Ando says he’ll supercharge his buddy. They all hold hands and it works, everyone winking out of existence. Suddenly, Samuel is completely powerless and Peter punches him right in the face. Samuel staggers to his feet, screaming, nearly incoherent, then falls to his knees and it’s over.

End of Volume Five / Start of Volume Six

Peter finds Emma who tells him that Sylar saved her. When they go to check on them, Sylar has Doyle tied up with light cords. Peter sort of rolls his eyes. Lauren calls in some favors and some old Company contacts take Samuel away. Claire complains that they can’t keep hiding the Heroes away from the world and, over her father’s protests, instructs the reporters (who had been gathered by Emma’s cello-playing) to watch her. Then she climbs up a Ferris wheel tower. Everyone – Benet, Lauren, Hiro, Ando, Peter – stare at her in horror, realizing that she’s about to change everything. Sylar seems okay with it but her dad looks as though his heart is breaking. Claire throws herself off the Ferris wheel and plummets to the earth. The reporters gasp, and then gasp again as she stands up and puts her shoulder back in place, a smug smile on her face.

See, here’s the thing. Heroes seems to spend so much time spinning its wheels and building up to the Big Finale … and then when it happens, it’s a big let-down. I mean, we get to see Samuel and Peter push some dirt at each other? What’s exciting about that? And my memory is foggy, but hasn’t it been like that even from S1? All of us all excited about the big Sylar vs. Everyone showdown and then pffft. Zippo. For all the build-up, no one actually loses anything – not like Buffy, when somebody lost something serious in pretty much every season ender, or BSG or Torchwood even. It’s hard to care when nothing’s actually at stake.

Do I care if this foolish show gets renewed? No, I don’t. I hope it doesn’t. They’ve ended this season pretty well, wrapping up the biggest loose-ends and leaving it in a place where viewers (if there are any left) can imagine just what comes next, now that Claire’s outed herself. To have it limp along for another season, rudderless and spineless … yeesh. But if it does come back – and if so, it better be Mohinderless as well – I promise you I’ll be right here to make fun of recap it for you.

Previously on Heroes / next time (if there is a next time) on Heroes

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

Thanks for stopping by, everyone. Hey – y’all should come on back tomorrow for Lost!

Heroes episode recap – “The Art of Deception” S4E16 (airdate 01/25/10)

We're going all short and sweet recap-wise again since it worked so well last week.  And really, it's not like I'm skipping over any compelling or eloquent dialogue.  This is Heroes, after all.  Enjoy!

Samuel is persona non grata in the wake of his swallowing the town. He’s a little cranky about it and vows to win his people back.

WHY WON’T PETER CUT HIS HAIR? I miss last season’s Peter-haircut. He wants to find Emma in the wake of a vision-nightmare (from the power he took from his mom) about her.

Sylar poses as an ex-partner of Parkman’s in order to make Janice let him into the house. When Parkman comes home from running errands, they sit down for a bit of a catch-up. (“Are you in my head again?” gasps Parkman. Sylar: “Oh, that was so two months ago.”  Okay, heh.)

Gretchen drives Claire to Benet’s apartment so the two of them can talk but her feelings are hurt when Claire doesn’t want/need her to come with her. Claire is dismayed to find that Benet is still investigating Samuel until Kate (Lauren) shows her footage of the buried town.

Parkman’s all, WTF, Sylar? Sylar wants the other man to go inside his head again and take away all his powers so he can live like a normal person. “How’m I supposed to do that?” squeals Parkman.

Peter goes to see his mother, who is upset, missing Nathan and worried about Peter. She warns him to be wary of Sylar despite the vision-dream that shows him [Sylar] saving Emma and stopping her from killing all those people.

When Claire asks to borrow Gretchen’s car, wanting to head her dad off before he confronts Samuel, Gretchen demurs at first, saying that Benet should handle it – and Claire should try to retake her normal life. Then she caves, telling her indestructible roommate to bring it back with a full gas tank.

At Benet’s apartment, he berates Lauren for letting Claire go off all-hotheaded. Then, rather hotheaded himself, he loads his gun (not a euphemism) and tells her that they’re going to the Carnival.

Here’s the thing: they’re making motions like we’re heading towards a Big Showdown with Samuel and Emma and all our good guys, but there’s no tension or building suspense. It just seems hurried and forced.  And you KNOW they're setting up Sylar to be the big hero.  Again, forced much?

Multiple-Eli overhears Claire try to convince Lydia to get Samuel to turn himself in to Benet when he comes and rats them out to his boss-man. My gawd, does Samuel ever say a line without speechifying? Claire promises that if he turns himself in, Benet won’t harm him.

Meanwhile, Benet and Lauren have high-powered sniper rifles trained on Samuel from the hillside. When Claire calls to offer Samuel’s surrender, Benet is willing to deal. Lauren heads off through the woods to meet Samuel and bring him out. As Samuel makes his goodbye speech, however, shots ring out, hitting Samuel and Claire and sending all the Carnies running for cover. My bet is on Eli, instructed by Samuel to turn the Carnies against Benet.

Parkman has difficulty removing Sylar's powers and Sylar gets pissed, threatening that if Parkman doesn’t get rid of them, he’ll use them all. On Janice and the baby.

Benet finally catches sight of Eli, shooting down into the Carnival but then the multiplier winks out of existence. Another Eli appears behind him and cracks him in the head, knocking him out.

Lauren is shot, and hides in the woods, in too much pain to get a clear shot when Eli walks by carrying Benet back to the Carnival. Lydia is gut-shot and it’s bad: she dies in Samuel’s arms, but not before she learns from his touch that he arranged all this to create a villain worse than him.

Eli drags Benet back into the Carnival and the bespectacled one comes to long enough to tell his daughter that he didn’t do this. She believes him because when the Carnies begin to turn on them, she defends her father ferociously – until Doyle takes control of her body, immobilizing her. "Take her to my trailer," growls Samuel.

To protect his family, Parkman grows a pair and goes back inside Sylar’s head again: this time he pulls a trick like his dad did a couple of seasons ago and traps Sylar in a mind loop, alone. And then he gets all Cask of Amontillado on him and walls the comatose Sylar up in the basement (which is TOTALLY icky if you think it all the way through). Until Peter comes knocking on the door, interrupting him.

Emma wanders through the Carnival, disturbed by all the carnage. She patches Samuel up. He tells her that she’ll help him create a great new world.

Peter shakes Parkman’s hand, copying his power and reading his mind (since when does Angela have that power?) and rushing downstairs to bring Sylar back since his visions tell him he needs the multi-empowered psycho to save Emma and the folks at the Carnival. Parkman warns him that if he goes into Sylar's mind, he might not come back out. Peter forges on ahead and finds himself wandering a deserted NYC.  He flickers in and out, which is how you know it's in Sylar's head.

Lauren, panicked and bleeding, makes a call: to Tracy, as Benet told her to do if anything went wrong. Apparently he did not tell her to give Tracy their location or any details of what just happened which seems inefficient.  Then she staggers to her feet.

Samuel gathers the Carnival around and makes a speech: "The outside world has proven once again that people like us will never be accepted ... [i]t’s time we showed the world what we truly are."

See? Practically painless!

Previously on Heroes / next time on Heroes

Heroes episode recap – “Pass/Fail” S4E15 (airdate 01/18/10)

Let’s try an experiment, shall we? I think we shall, partly because I’m feeling a little under the weather (just a head cold coming on, nothing horrific) and partly because no one is reading these stupid Heroes recaps anymore … not because my recaps are stupid but because Heroes is. So we’re going to go all pared-down this time as I attempt to distill each scene to its absolute essence. Obviously, if there are a lot of Mohinder scenes, I’ll just be screaming “Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhh!!!!!!!”

Gretchen would be more attractive without that severe middle part. Claire really doesn’t want to talk about the Carnies or Nathan’s death, although she appreciates (sort of) Gretchen’s support. Also: Sylar is on campus.

Mohinder goes off to do something “heroic” (where I hope that “heroic” means “and is never heard or seen from again”) and Hiro faints, coming to his “senses” in the middle of a wonky trial in Charlie’s diner. It’s the World vs. Hiro Nakamura, where his father is the judge and Adam/Kensei is the blond and snarky prosecutor. It’s quite possible that everyone at the trial is dead, which makes me wish that Mohinder had gone there.

Vanessa is still cranky about Samuel having kidnapped her, despite his attempts to be charming.

Now, I’m super-happy to see Adam again but it pisses me off that we’re spending time on this dream world bullshit. Could we possibly move this damn show forward? No? Anyway, Hiro is on trial for bending space and time and stuff and crimes against nature or something. Whatever.

Sylar wants Claire to help him get his mojo back. She’s still angry about Nathan, if you can imagine that. However, Sylar has kidnapped Gretchen to encourage Claire to play along. If Claire doesn’t stop making that frowny face so much, she’s going to get wrinkles.

Sylar wants to figure out how he and Claire turned out so differently when they have so much in common: being adopted and abandoned; being raised by parents who didn’t understand them; having adoptive fathers who were killers; currently being indestructible. Claire’s like: you’re a damn psychopath. So Sylar thinks he’ll try pulling the answers out of her head using Lydia’s technique of touch (rather than slice) and he kisses Claire. It’s yucky.

Samuel starts to melt Vanessa’s frosty heart by buying her a strawberry milkshake. It’s a yummy looking shake, for sure.

Diner dream trial: Sylar is going to be the prosecution’s star witness.

Sylar tells Claire that she uses her power to build walls around herself, and she might end up being alone all her life, just like him. There’s quite a bit of “gosh, aren’t you closeted” too. So Claire stabs him in the eye with a pencil she had up her sleeve and runs off to rescue Gretchen. And because this show is SO LAME, Sylar writhing on the floor, screaming, with a pencil sticking out of his eye is actually FUNNY.

Diner dream trial: Sylar testifies that Hiro told him he could kill anyone he wanted if he spared Charlie. He lists a whole bunch of them, including Atomic Ted. Aw – I miss Atomic Ted. The prosecution rests.

Samuel has worn Vanessa down: they reminisce about the cottage they imagined together as children. Then he takes her to the gorgeous meadow he had his Heroes grow where he has … built the dream cottage. She says this is a fantasy, his fantasy, and while it’s very beautiful, she can’t live here with him. Samuel is crushed and very upset. This won’t end well, I suspect.

Claire finds Gretchen tied up but unharmed in their room. Then the lights fizzle out and all the windows implode. At this point, doesn’t Gretchen really wish she’d never met Claire? I mean, really?

The girls hide in a utility closet (like, SUBTLE, writers) and Claire stutters her way through apologizing for shutting herself off, and maybe the way for Sylar to regain his humanity is to lose all his powers. So then Gretchen morphs back into Sylar who pretty much says thanks for the insight and takes off. Claire finds the real Gretchen, alive and well, in the student center, and they hold hands, deciding to give being together a shot. This is so forced.

Diner dream trial: Hiro takes the stand in his own defense, stating that when he got powers, he vowed to only ever use them for good. Despite this, his father finds him guilty. And back at the hospital, in the real world, Hiro’s heart is failing.

After the commercial, another dream sequence: Hiro and Adam fight with samurai swords as Hiro fights for his life on the hospital table. Adam eventually gets a sword in the gut and then the sound cuts out on my stupid Comcast cable. But still, Hiro’s mom shows up to heal him, and then he recovers in real life.

Sad Samuel goes back for another milkshake and yells at the poor waitress. I don’t know what he’s saying but he gets angrier and angrier and finally swallows the whole town. The Carnies watch from a distance and are fearful.

Montage of Claire and Gretchen, Ando and Hiro … and then Sylar has shown up on Parkman’s doorstep to chat up Parkman’s wife. Don’t know why – still can’t hear anything – not sure I actually care.

There.  I captured everything pertinent and it was much less painful for all involved.  Especially since Mohinder left in the first scene and never came back.
 
Previously on Heroes / next time on Heroes

Heroes episode recap – “Close to You” S4E14 (airdate 01/11/10)

You know, I've pretty much given up on Television Without Pity because they've lost a LOT of their snark ever since Bravo bought them.  (Except for Couch Baron - I think he's still a great recapper.)  So I've switched to the A.V. Club for my own recapping/show beat-down fixes - check 'em out if you haven't yet.


Kate (Lauren – whatever) and Benet are continuing to try to track down Samuel via Benet’s computer for, oh, about six hours now. Kate suggests that they give Claire a call, seeing how she’s got a compass – Benet’s compass – and that might save them some time. Benet snaps that he’s not calling Claire: she needs space. So Kate immediately gets a “hit” on one Vanessa Wheeler, the girl whose family owned the estate that Samuel grew up on. When Benet calls, Vanessa doesn’t want to talk to him so he decides he must go to California to confront her. By the way, Vanessa is Ellen Tigh from BSG. The final Cylon - yay! Maybe she can save this show! But probably not.

Carnival. Samuel is obsessively drawing pictures of Vanessa as she’s the girl who got away. Lydia notices the drawings and says that Vanessa is beautiful. Samuel says that Lydia will meet her soon – it’s about time that he brought her here. Troubled by Samuel’s monomania, Lydia wonders if she can reach out to the one man who could save their Carnival family, the one man who even Samuel says could be the next Joseph. She closes her eyes and concentrates.

Far away in NYC, Peter gasps himself awake and clutches his arm: his compass tattoo is spinning.  Since when does Lydia have that power?  Now the writers are just getting desperate.

L.A., I guess. Parkman pours his newly-haircutted wife a cup of coffee. He’s being Stay At Home Dad these days, instead of chasing super villains, and is making ratatouille for dinner. Wife, not sure that her former policeman husband is living up to his full potential, mentions that her brother might have a job for him. Parkman says he’s not interested and shoos her out, telling her to go make some money. As he closes the door behind her, Benet is there, snarking about the inefficacy of Parkman’s security system. He is there looking for Parkman’s help to track down Samuel: “He’s trying to recruit my daughter! Today it’s Claire, tomorrow it could be your son.”

Florida. Ando and Hiro’s plan is to get Hiro committed to the asylum where Hiro stashed Mohinder. As the orderly leads Hiro off to his room, Ando zaps the door’s control panel with his red electricity and sneaks down the hall, looking in the window of the room Hiro had pointed out. Mohinder is slumped inside, bound up in a straitjacket. No - leave him there!

L.A. Benet has found Vanessa after her rehearsal with the L.A. Symphony Orchestra (she’s a cello player, of course). She is not happy to see him and refuses to talk so Parkman pushes the thought into her head that they’re trustworthy fellows. So poor Vanessa literally turns on her heel and says why, yes, she is worried about Samuel and would very much like to talk to them about him.

NYC. Peter leaves a message on Benet’s voicemail about his compass tattoo freaking out which is thus is freaking him out in turn. Then he hears supernatural cello music and is drawn straight to her apartment. She throws open the door, thrilled that her calling him that way worked so well. Peter looks closely at her cello, noticing the compass on its back. He shows her the matching compass tattoo still spinning on his arm: “I woke up this morning with this.” But didn’t that tattoo show up a while ago? I’m confused but really don’t care that much. It’s so exciting now that Peter gets to be the messiah again – just Lydia’s Carnival Messiah, really, but still, it’s a messiah.

L.A. Vanessa tells Benet and Parkman that she and Samuel were close as children, but when Samuel’s family moved away, she moved on. When Samuel showed up again during her college years, they had a short “rock and roll” romance. Now he has been showing up more and more often, however, obsessive-like, just short of stalking. Benet asks Vanessa if she would mind giving her old boyfriend a call and she takes the phone.

NYC. Back now at Peter’s apartment, for some reason, Emma shows Peter the compass that Samuel gave her and he worries that the last time he saw a compass like that (unlike the one on his arm?), a friend (Benet) got stabbed. They are interrupted when Angela lets herself in, trilling about lunch. Ah – that’s why they had to go to Peter’s apartment – so there’d be a reason for Peter’s mother to walk in. Angela sees Emma and glares at her fiercely: “Peter, how do you know this woman?” Peter stammers that Emma is his friend but Emma notices the awkward and hurriedly lets herself out. Peter’s like: WTF, Mom? And Angela now glares at him.

Florida. Ando switches Mohinder’s meds for aspirin and then has to swallow Mohinder’s meds in order to get away with the bait and switch. Whatever.  I still don't know what they need Mohinder for.

L.A. Parkman and Benet stake out Vanessa’s place but when Samuel shows up, he’s brought Multiple Eli with him to distract the boys long enough for him to stash Vanessa somewhere else. When Benet catches up to him (after efficiently tasing the Elis), Samuel warns him to stay away from his woman and then uses his earth-moving power to rip up a huge rift in the pavement, bringing noxious dirt and gases out of the ground. Benet coughs and wipes his eyes - Samuel has gotten away. After the commercial, Parkman picks Benet up and they follow Vanessa via tracking device they planted on her.

NYC. Angela tells Peter that he can’t save Emma: she had a vision dream that Emma was going to help kill thousands of people – something to do with her cello – but Peter was unable to save her. Frustrated, he grabs his mom’s hand and steals her power, insisting that he has to know what she saw. She shakes her head and leaves.

Florida. Hiro peeks through the window on Mohinder’s cell and encourages him to flex his super-strength. He does so, now that the meds are out of his system, snapping the straps of the straitjacket and then busting down the door. He is slightly concerned that Hiro can only speak in sci-fi geek-talk, and is slightly more concerned to find Ando is doped to the gills on meds he swallowed and giggling on the floor. The three goobers make a break for it. Ugh.

Outside L.A. Benet and Parkman have tracked Vanessa to a vacant lot but she’s gone, vanished into the Carnival that used to just be there. Parkman wants to borrow Claire’s compass but Benet refuses. Parkman accuses him of burning bridges but Benet is adamant: as much as he wants to find the Carnival, he will do it without bothering his daughter.

Back at Parkman’s house, Benet is furious when Parkman wants to start making his damn ratatouille instead of helping find the kidnapped Vanessa. Parkman points out that some days you can’t save the whole world – some days you can only put your own house in order - and tells Benet to go home. About six different expressions cascade over Benet’s face (I heart Jack Coleman!) and he leaves.

NYC. Peter is having one of Angela’s visions/nightmares: Emma plays her evil cello in the House of Mirrors while people scream. Then Sylar is there, promising Emma that he is there to save her. Peter wakes up with a gasp. Shortly thereafter, he barges into Emma’s apartment and smashes her cello. Emma: WTF?!!! Peter insists that Samuel is going to try to make her do something bad with the cello but she won’t listen to any of it and throws him out of her apartment, falling to her knees beside her ruined instrument.

Florida. The three run through a swamp, men with dogs chasing them. When Mohinder gets snippy about Hiro’s confused geek-speak, Ando sticks up for his friend, telling the Indian that Hiro, who is dying, spent some of his last few days to rescue Mohinder. Then Mohinder has the brainstorm that perhaps Ando could electroshock Hiro with his red electricity and unscramble his brains. Ando does so and Hiro immediately unscrambles, happily teleporting all three of them out of there just ahead of the baying dogs. Well, that was awfully easy. Too bad they needed stupid Mohinder to figure it out.

Arlington. Benet knocks on Claire’s dorm room door. (The people on this show sure do move back and forth across the country awfully easily – even those who can’t teleport.) He says that he knows that she’s mad at him and he’s going to just let her continue to be mad without trying to talk her out of it, but he wants to make sure he hasn’t irreparably damaged his relationship with her. Awwww. Claire’s like um, okay, but can we talk later because I’m late for something. Benet backs away and lets her go. He has sad face.

L.A. Parkman is not listening to his stupid cheating wife prattle on about her stupid day since he is mired down in thinking that he is a coward. She tells him that he is needed here, in this family. She tells him there is nothing “cuyowedly” about being with his family and hugs him. Parkman looks unimpressed. Seriously: that was the most f’ed up way to say “cowardly” I’ve ever heard. Is American English not her first language?

Carnival. Vanessa is Mightily Upset about having been kidnapped. Samuel insists that he’s protecting her, keeping her safe from Benet but being held here against her will is not softening her up to his point of view. When she stands up he grabs her, telling her that he has something magical and beautiful to show her and if she’s still unhappy after seeing it, he’ll take her right back home. (I am very unused to seeing Ellen Tigh afraid of things.)

Washington, D.C. Benet is having a lonely beer (aw) when someone knocks on his door. It’s Kate. Is the actress pregnant? There’s one long shot when she turns and it looks like she’s got a big ol’ belly. They smooch – eeuuw – but luckily it’s interrupted when the Three Doofuses teleport into Benet’s apartment, still wearing their Florida asylum garb. “Hi, fellas!” smiles Benet, and he’s not even too upset to see them.

Previously on Heroes / next time on Heroes

Heroes episode recap – “Upon This Rock/Let It Bleed” S4E12 and 13 (airdate 01/04/10)

Mr. Mouse wants to know why I keep watching this show when all I do is complain about it and pick it apart.  I'm not really sure.  I keep hoping that it will get better even tho' there's no way it will, I guess.  Plus I don't want to be a quitter.  But seriously, I am being tested here, especially with the two-hour "events."

Upon This Rock. Claire walks around the carnival (picking up trash, actually) in slow motion while Multiplicity-Eli gives her the stink eye. Lydia checks in on her and sends the younger girl to Samuel’s trailer bearing breakfast. At the trailer, Samuel is going through the files Eli stole from Benet. He scrambles a little when Claire lets herself in, trying to hide the files from her. When she notes that those look like Primatech paper boxes, Samuel admits that he and Benet share more history than she knows .. but he’s not interested in revisiting the past – he’s a future kind of guy. He tells her that he’s going into the city to select someone else who will help them build their new homeland. They part friendly enough but Claire’s got a look in her eye like she might be investigating Samuel’s trailer later.

Tokyo. Hiro pops into a street market and starts babbling about being from the Starship Enterprise. The soba noodle vendor is not amused. When Hiro hears a woman shrieking that she’s being mugged, he grabs a cleaver from the food stall and chases off the mugger. Unfortunately for all of us, he starts segueing from sci fi classic to another – Star Trek, Star Wars, BSG … ugh. Remember back in S1 when we caught a glimpse of cool badass Hiro from the future? Well, it’s in the future now – when does he stop being such a tool?

Luckily we cut to a flash back where a teenaged Joseph catches a teenaged Samuel trying to move a big old boulder with his newly awakened earth power, albeit with little success. They argue over a girl that Samuel has crush on too, and Joseph sends his younger brother back to work at the carnival. Flash to now and adult Samuel muttering, “Just you wait, brother.”

At lunch, Claire overhears Lydia and her teenaged daughter arguing and chuckles, reminiscing about her own teenaged arguments with her own mom, and how things might have been different if she hadn’t been with a bunch of normals. Lydia notes that Samuel has become obsessed with collecting Heroes these days. A short while later, Claire tries to take a peek in Samuel’s trailer but Eli, many of him, intercepts her and sends her on her way.

Tokyo. The police have called Ando to come get Hiro, having found his business card in Hiro’s pocket. Ando comes down to bail his buddy out and is dismayed to learn that Hiro is completely off his nut, still quoting sci fi movies nonstop.

NYC, hospital. Oh, great. Emma (deaf doctor, remember her?) is dismayed to receive a letter from the medical board saying that her application to renew her license was turned down, or something. She goes home and is about to play her cello o’ sadness when Samuel knocks on her door. He says that he has a gift like she does; when she tries to close the door on him, he says that he’s the one who sent her the cello and shows her his compass tattoo. Stunned, she looks over at the cello – which has the same compass painted on its back.

Tokyo. Ah yes, Hiro’s also quoting Sherlock Holmes and possibly Batman comics. But wait – Ando is smarter than me, deducing that Hiro’s brains are kind of scrambled and he’s trying to actually communicate real ideas but is getting the terminology mixed up. It’s still annoying tho’.

NYC. Emma lets Samuel in, asking why he sent her the cello. Samuel says they’re all connected, which of course doesn’t really answer the question. He does say that the cello used to belong to someone else, someone he was close to – and then he lost her. Emma tells him that the last time she played it, the wall cracked. He says it was her fear that did that, and he can help her figure out how to control her gift. Then he pulls out a Primatech sheet with a man’s picture on it. He needs her help to find this man who apparently lives in Central Park, homeless in part because he freaked out when his power manifested.

Carnival. Claire is getting squicked out because Eli won’t stop staring at her. She bolts into the House of Mirrors; one Eli follows her in; the others guard the exits. When he lunges at her reflection, she brains him with a metal stool, knocking him unconscious. Then she runs to Samuel’s trailer and paws through the files there. Until Doyle the Puppetmaster takes control of her body, marching her out of the trailer and pinning her up against the wall. “What do you think you’re doing, Barbie?” he growls menacingly. I knew he couldn’t be completely reformed! After the commercial, Doyle accuses her of being a spy for her father. When she says that Samuel is collecting people for some nefarious purpose, Doyle snarls that he’s not going to let her ruin it for everyone.

Oh. My. Frickin’. Word. Do you mind if I just skip over this “Ando figures out WTF Hiro is trying to tell him” bit and just bottom-line it? Oh no: they’re going to a mental hospital in Florida - to rescue Mohinder. That last part isn’t spelled out but who else is in a mental hospital these days?

NYC, Central Park. Samuel says that when Emma plays music, her emotions merge with the music and can draw people in. He asks her to play while concentrating on that photo of that man, and bring this guy to her. As she plays, people start to gather around, including a sketchy looking homeless type who is Samuel’s target. This guy has power over plants and as he listens to the music, the winter tree he’s leaning on bursts into bloom. Emma and Samuel smile. I wonder why Samuel wants a guy with a superpowered green thumb.

Back at the hospital where Emma and Samuel have brought Plant Guy to get patched up. Samuel thanks her, telling her that she’s always welcome at the carnival and handing her a compass. After she leaves, Plant Guy tells Samuel that he always thought he was alone because he was different; Samuel assures him that he’s not alone but he is, indeed, special. As they walk out, the television blares that the remains of Senator Nathan Petrelli have been found in a plane crash.

Carnival. Doyle tells Claire that the two Sullivan brothers changed his life, saved it. Claire protests, saying Doyle knows her – she doesn’t want to hurt anyone, but Samuel is acting suspicious. Convinced, Doyle lets her go and tells her to go see Lydia who knows what’s going on. Lydia tells Claire that Joseph, not Samuel, was the real father of this Carnival. Claire puts two and two together – that Samuel killed his brother – and Lydia murmurs that she’s scared, that Samuel is out of control. Claire replies that she likes this place and the only thing wrong with it is Samuel. Lydia asks her to help find someone who can stop him but as Claire steps out of her tent, Eli grabs her.

When he finally get back at the Carnival, Samuel is annoyed that Eli has kept Claire there against her will. She says she’ll leave but first she wants to hear from Samuel what happened to Joseph. He says that he lost control when he found out that Joseph had ratted them out to Danko. “So murder was the answer?” she says, incredulously. Then she asks his plans are out in the valley. So he takes her out there, where “Ian,” Plant Guy, is at work. When Ian says he needs water, Samuel brings some up out of the ground. Even Claire has to admit that’s cool. Then Ian sinks his fingers into the muddy soil and grass and flowers start to grow. As Claire watches, unable to keep the smile off her face, the valley explodes into verdant greenness. “This is why I need a bigger family,” says Samuel, “to build the future.” Claire says that she’s going to go back to her family and Samuel reminds her that she is still always welcome here. As she heads out, she checks her voicemail: there’s one from Peter, who says they have a lot to talk about.

Cut to Nathan’s funeral. OMIGOD PETER CUT YOUR DAMN BANGS ALREADY. Angela is looking haggard; a concerned Benet is relieved to see Claire pull up in a cab. She sort of blows off her family and stands by herself. Peter gives the eulogy. Everyone looks sad.


Let It Bleed. 86 hours ago, outside of NYC. Benet and Peter meet, and Peter says he wants to see “him.” Benet tells him, “I can handle this, Peter, you don’t have to have any part of this.” “I do,” says Peter. By the way, the body in Benet’s trunk is Nathan’s real body, complete with stitches on his throat from where Sylar cut it. Later, Peter is practically unresponsive at the wake.

Carnival. Samuel is interrupted at some magic inking when Doyle flies through the air, crashing into his table. He’s been thrown by Sylar who, old soul intact, has found his way back to the Carnival. And he’s hungry, ready to feast on all the Heroes Samuel has collected. “I got big plans for you,” says Samuel but Sylar isn’t interested and moves to slice open Samuel’s head. His slice doesn’t work, however, and so Samuel pulls up a whirling sandstorm that all but sandblasts Sylar’s flesh from his body. It’s pretty gnarly. Sylar collapses; Samuel grins.

Benet finds Claire at her dorm room, getting ready for the wake. She’s mad at him again, for lying about Nathan’s death and what he (and Angela) did. “Sylar,” she spits, “did you forget what Sylar did to me?” He tries to explain that they did the wrong thing for the right reason, giving Nathan back to the world for a little while longer and keeping Sylar contained. She is unmoved and tells him that she doesn’t want him at the wake.

Wake. Angela tries to talk with her remaining son but Peter is still pretty angry at her, at everything. She tells him not to go after Sylar; revenge will only get him killed. This awkward conversation is interrupted when Claire shows up; Peter grabs her and they hide out in the kitchen to talk. “That was a hell of lie,” she says, “… did they think they’d get away with it?” She switches gears, musing about Nathan. Peter starts acting weird, like Nathan isn’t actually dead or something. What have you guys done this time? DO NOT BRING NATHAN BACK – KEEP HIM DEAD.

Benet goes back to his apartment. There is something (or someone) lurking outside the window. Ooh! It’s Edgar! Eek! he’s brought his knives! But Benet is onto him and quickly tases him into submission before he can be sliced and diced again. Benet has commandeering some Japanese restaurant, having stuck Edgar in the freezer because the cold slows his superspeed down. Whatshername, Kate from Angel (I am so not looking her character's name up), joins him, having brought sodium pentathol as a party favor.

Carnival. Samuel puts the shredded Sylar into Lydia’s trailer, telling her to look after Sylar when he comes to. And find out what’s going on with him – why couldn’t he kill Samuel? Lydia goes inside, where Sylar has healed himself. He too needs a haircut. He’s kind of cranky when he wakes up so she gives him a smooch. They start doin’ it and she (he?) gets flashes of Parkman and Nathan and Claire. He pulls away. She says that he’s impotent, can’t kill anymore (but can still heal, so not all his powers are gone), and he doesn’t like to hear that at all.

NYC. Angela approaches Claire at the wake and Claire continues to express her disdain for the lying, manipulative older generation. Angela then asks her to keep an eye on Peter who seems adrift these days. Up on the rooftop garden Claire finds an abandoned police scanner but no Uncle Peter. Because Peter is too busy knocking a police officer unconscious somewhere where a crime is happening. Wait: is Nathan and/or Sylar’s powers now in Peter? Did that happen when Peter was trying to keep Nathan from falling off the building? And if so, would they please just let Nathan go already?

After the commercial, Claire has tracked Peter down: he’s trying to help an office worker with a gunshot wound. There are more gunshots and Peter runs off over Claire’s protests that of the two of them, she’s the one who’s invulnerable to bullets. Later, the disgruntled gunman has both Peter and Claire at gunpoint. Peter tries to talk him down. It doesn’t work, exactly. The cops eventually get the guy but not until after Peter gets shot. When he asks Claire for her healing power she is reluctant to share it at first, saying that he’s being reckless, but she finally lets him take her hand and he heals. She tells her uncle that he’s not honoring Nathan’s memory by doing this hero stuff – he’s avoiding it. Peter mewls that if he slows down, stops, then Nathan’s death is real. “I miss him too,” says Claire quietly.

Freezer. Edgar is rather bloodied by now and still not giving up any information. Benet seems about ready to start slicing the speedster with his own blades when Kate (whoever) pulls him away, asking him to stop torturing this guy. “Stop using him as a punching bag and start talking to him.” There’s something that’s being missed, she says. And Benet goes hmmm. When he goes back into the freezer, he brings Edgar some tea. What is it you need me for, asks Benet, what are you doing out here? They start to talk and Edgar says that it was Samuel who set him on Danko and Benet. Edgar is afraid of what Samuel has planned. “That makes two of us,” agrees Benet.

Carnival. A petulant Sylar is trashing things. Samuel reaches out to him, still willing to befriend the beast (for his own purposes, of course).

Benet, Edgar and Kate (?) formulate a plan. Edgar insists that his family – everyone at the Carnival except Samuel – must be taken care of, and left alone. But Benet thinks the Carnies will be better off and safer once reintegrated into the normals which upsets poor bruised Edgar enough that once Benet trusts him enough to loosen his bonds, he super-speeds away, taking all Benet’s carefully drawn out plans with him. Benet and Kate’s expressions: Well, that could have ended better.

Carnival. On Sylar’s request, Samuel has mixed up another batch of magic tattoo ink. He pokes Sylar with it, to see Sylar’s future. At first, the ink just wriggles and squirms all over Sylar’s body. When it coalesces, unseen by us, Sylar wigs out, saying that Samuel was wrong – he doesn’t belong here. Samuel watches him run off but doesn’t try to stop him.

NYC. Claire doesn’t want to go back to school, too worried about her uncle Peter. “I can’t have you lying to me too,” she says. Peter replies that he’s okay. Then, strangely, he asks if she’d mind calling that old flying boyfriend of hers (West) for him. “Why?” asks Claire. Peter just smiles. Later, he looks at a photo of him and Nathan and then flies off into the night sky. Am I just dim? This show isn’t that sophisticated – what am I missing here?

Back at her dorm (she got back to Virginia pretty quickly from NYC, no?), a sad Claire tosses herself on her bed and stares at the ceiling. Outside her window, hovering in mid-air, is Sylar. The tattoo on his forearm: Claire’s face. “Hello, cheerleader,” he says.

Next week: it’s the Hiro and Mohinder Show! Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhh.

Previously on Heroes / next time on Heroes

Recipe: Ropa vieja (sort of)

One consequence of having 90% of your worldly belongings in a storage unit far from your apartment is that you tend to have the same things for dinner over and over and over and over and over because all your cookbooks are tidily packed up in Box #114 at the back of the unit and damned if you're going to dig them out just because you're tired of chicken, broccoli and rice.  Luckily, there's the internet which provided me with a recipe for a variation on the Cuban dish, ropa vieja.  Of course, I didn't have several of the necessary ingredients so we ended up with a variation on the variation, but it was still tasty and wicked easy, so I thought I'd share it with you.  Pluswhich it's a crockpot recipe so you can just throw it together in the morning, go skiing all day, and come home to hot and tasty food.  Which is just excellent apres-ski, by the way.

28 oz. can of diced tomatoes, drained
2 red bell peppers, sliced in 1/2 inch sticks (I used green because they're cheaper)
1 onion, cut into 8 wedges
2 tsp. oregano (didn't have any; used a little marjoram and a little basil instead)
1 tsp. cumin (didn't have any; used hot chili powder instead, which gave it a nice kick)
1 1/2 lb. flank steak, cut crosswise into thirds (the flank steak was $$ so I got something less $$ instead)
1 cup rice     (1 avocado and 1/3 cup fresh cilantro for garnish)

Combine everything except rice, avocado and cilantro in crockpot, nestling the beef down into the vegetables.  Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 7-8 hours.  Before you're ready to eat, prepare the rice according to package directions.  Shred the beef in the ropa viejo; serve over rice.  Slice avocado, add it and cilantro as garnish.

I was worried that it would be too thick but the juices from the (drained) tomatoes and the other veggies are more than enough to make this into a sort of beef and vegetable soup.  You could add a bay leaf for more traditional flavoring, or add potatoes instead of serving over rice - any number of variations.  This recipe is easily adaptable and will now make its way into our regular rotation.

On a totally other subject: Heroes returns tomorrow in a two hour "event" - God help me with the recap.  And help us all if Nathan Petrelli doesn't stay dead.

Marketing geniuses

Heroes returns with an "all new" episode on Monday, January 4th, 2010, so y'all can start getting excited about that now.  But really ticks me off is that Mohinder is prominently displayed on the show's home page.  Since he has scarcely figured into this season so far (thank you!), that makes no sense ... unless he's going to be more prevalent in the second half of the season (noooooooooooo!).  Ugh: Mohinder.

Heroes episode recap – “The Fifth Stage” S4E11 (airdate 11/30/09)

Sullivan Bros. Carnival. Lydia finds Samuel and tells him that she knows the truth about what he did to Joseph, but promises to keep his secret in order to protect her daughter (whose storyline has really been only seen online or during those 60-second spots). Some random carnie comes up too, as Samuel has asked him to be his right hand man what with Edgar gone AWOL and all. This new carnie, Eli, is a Multiplicity-type of guy, and also a guy-liner kind of guy. His first assignment: Samuel wants him retrieve some files from Benet’s apartment.

Benet’s apartment. Ol’ HRG is making notes on the Samuel Sullivan investigation when he’s interrupted by a knock on his door. It’s Kate (Lauren), all decked out in fancy theater-goin’ clothes. Before they can leave on their date, however, Kate catches a glimpse of his investigation board. He looks for Samuel’s compass to show her and finds it missing, realizing at once that his daughter has taken it. This gets him pretty upset – he leaves an urgent message on Claire’s cell – and Kate realizes they won’t be going out tonight. She even offers to use her CIA contacts to help triangulate Claire’s cell phone.

Which is parked in Gretchen’s car outside the Carnival. The girls are leery but head towards the gate … until Claire starts to get cold feet, worrying that she shouldn’t do this. Gretchen encourages her to keep on this path and then, suddenly, Samuel is there, welcoming the girls and soooooo glad that Claire decided to come.

NYC, hospital. Angela finds Peter and tells him that although there are five stages of grief, he needs to skip over denial and get right to acceptance. Peter is on a mission, however, and has actually planned ahead enough to ask the Haitian over to borrow his power-negating power. That’s pretty smart, actually. Angela, frustrated, asks what if Nathan is no longer in there to save? Peter: “Then I’ll just have to settle for revenge.”

After the commercial, Samuel takes the girls on a tour, handing them free passes for the whole night. Claire asks Samuel what it is she’s supposed to be seeing here. He says that the Carnival is just “the show part of the business,” a way for his family to support themselves. He gives them each a box of “the best popcorn in the world” and tells them to enjoy themselves, walk around, meet his family.

They wander into the freak show tent where the first person they meet is Lydia. She tells them to ask a question and take her hand. When Claire does, Lydia’s swirly back tattoos show a picture of Claire, in a circus costume, with a sign that says “Indestructible Girl.” Claire scoffs, like I’m going to be part of the show? “This isn’t the future, Claire,” intones Lydia, “it’s your desire.” Gretchen and Claire get creeped out and leave.

NYC hospital. In an elevator, a large female nurse with dreadlocks accosts Peter, shape-shifting back into Sylar and grabbing Peter by the neck. When the elevator doors open, Sylar throws him into a wall, then dumps out the bag of sedatives that Peter had been carrying. As Peter runs off to hide in an under-construction portion of the hospital, Sylar sneers, following behind. Peter sneaks up on the bad guy and whacks him in the head with a 2x4. Sylar tries to TK him away but nothing happens, thanks to the Haitian’s borrowed power kicking in, so the battle turns into a non-superpowered slugfest. Finally, a bloodied Sylar still can’t keep his mouth shut, and asks if Peter’s going to beat Nathan out of him. Peter picks up a nail gun: “Something like that.”

Ah, a little Christ-imagery! Peter nails Sylar’s hands to a board then slams a couple nails into his thighs for good measure. Sylar gets a little nuts, saying that Peter’s going to need a lot more nails in that thing. So Peter tosses the gun away and says that he’s got the Haitian’s mind-wiping power too, and he’ll just strip away everything that isn’t Nathan. “I’d like to see you try,” grunts Sylar. And then, in remarkably short and undramatic (aside from a shrieked “Kill me!” from Sylar) order, Nathan is there and Sylar is gone.

Carnival. As the girls walk, Claire starts to be charmed by what it would be like to live in the Carnival, while Gretchen just thinks it’s kind of skeezy. When Samuel rejoins them, Gretchen is very nearly rude to him, wanting to leave. Claire, however, wants to see what life is like behind the curtain for the Carnie-Heroes.

Washington, D.C. Benet and Kate are getting frustrated with their inability to track Claire down. Benet takes this opportunity to feel sorry for himself, saying that he’s driven everyone away with his obsessive need for control: Sandra, Claire, Kate. Even though she doesn’t remember (due to the Haitian’s mind-wipe), he tells her that they had had feelings for each other; when she doesn’t believe him, he tells her that she “Haitianed” herself. Unfortunately, she’s a little cross about this revelation and not so hot for him now. There’s a knock on the door: it’s Eli, claiming to be an “emissary” from the Carnival. Benet doesn’t intend to let him in but he multiplies and suddenly there are Elis all over the apartment. All hell breaks loose as Benet and Kate dive for hidden guns. They barricade themselves in the bathroom to reload but when they come out, guns blazing, the Elis – and all of Benet’s files – are gone.

Carnival. Claire and Gretchen watch as Samuel entertains the Carnival’s children with a story. Gretchen is still being Debbie Downer but Claire is becoming more and more enamoured with the place. Then – surprise! – Doyle (“the Puppetmaster”) shows up, dressed in a blue tuxedo and still calling Claire “Barbie.” He’s nice, and enthusiastic, and really wants to talk to her later about how great it is at the Carnival. Claire, slightly taken aback but pleased to see that Doyle seems to be in a better place, says yes. Then Samuel invites Claire to tell a story to the children. While she does, Gretchen approaches Samuel and asks just what it is the Carnival wants with Claire. He says that this world is brutal and hard, but his family can offer her love.

NYC. Nathan wipes the blood from his palms, telling Peter that he’s exhausted, that he doesn’t think that he can keep fighting Sylar anymore. Peter puts his arm around him and suggests that they get some air.

Back at the Carnival, Claire finishes her story and one of the little kids gives her a big hug. This tender moment is interrupted when an irate customer barges up to Samuel, demanding his money back for being gypped at a ball-toss game. Samuel tries to talk him down and the irate customer just starts punching. Samuel refuses to fight back, taking hit after hit without even raising his own fists. Unable to take any more, Claire steps in between the men and for her trouble gets slashed across the face with a broken bottle. As the cut heals right in front of the irate guy, she growls, “You can’t hurt us.” The guy bolts, freaked out and much less irate. And Samuel staggers to his feet with a grimly smug expression.

The Petrelli brothers make their way up to the roof of the hospital, and reminisce about S1E1 when Peter threw himself off the roof in an attempt to harness his newly emerged power. Nathan looks BAD. (Ooh - do you think this foolish show is going to take an actual stand and REALLY kill off one of its man characters? Gawd, I hope so.) Nathan whimpers that he’s sooooo tired and just he can’t fight against Sylar anymore. He staggers, groaning, Sylar struggling for the upper hand. “I’m sorry, Pete,” he says, then lunges over the side of the building. Peter grabs his hand in the nick of time but Nathan refuses to help pull himself up. Then he calmly lets go of his little brother’s hand and poor Peter can’t hold him. And there’s more Christ imagery as he falls in Super Slow Motion, landing with a smash on a car far below. Then Peter watches, horrified, as Sylar heals himself and gets up off the wrecked car, giving a little wave towards the hospital roof before walking away.

Carnival. Claire washes the blood off Samuel’s face, asking why he just let that guy beat him up. He explains that, as gypsies, the path of least resistance is often the best choice for the Carnival folk. She sulks that it’s not right, but at least at the Carnival the Carnies can be themselves. Well, yes, he says, but there must be some way that they can be better, be more, not be second-class citizens any longer … and he thinks she might be able to help them get there.

When Gretchen starts walking back to the car, Claire tells her that she’s going to stay here for the weekend, to see what the Carnival is really like. Gretchen is actually not annoying and says she understands, giving her friend a hug. “I’ll see you Monday,” Claire promises. “I hope so,” is Gretchen’s reply.

Samuel and Lydia watch the two girls and he promises her that he’ll make things right. Lydia isn’t so sure that Claire will be much help in his machinations, what with being so innocent and all. “It’s not her I’m after,” says Samuel. As Gretchen drives away, the Carnival shimmers out of existence, and the camera pulls back enough to show the dead body of the irate guy, now lying in the bed of his pickup truck.

Blah blah blah – Samuel is speechifying again. He tells the Carnies that they are on the verge of coming into their own, even finding a permanent home - they just need to gather a few more folks. He smiles at Claire and she smiles back at him

Previously on Heroes / next time on Heroes

P.S.  - I wasn't paying attention after the show ended so if there is a "next time on Heroes" next Monday, the recap will be late because the Mouse In-Laws are coming to visit and it's rude to recap with houseguests.

Heroes episode recap – “Thanksgiving” S4E10 (airdate 11/23/09)

You know what I'm thankful for?  Mohinder being trapped in a lunatic asylum and nowhere to be found in this episode!


A fascinated Samuel watches the 1950s film, narrated by Mohinder’s father, and breaks into a maniacal grin when it gets to the earthquake that heralded his birth. His screening is interrupted by an irate Hiro pounding on his trailer door, however, demanding to know where he put Charlie. Samuel’s like, yeah, yeah, I got more important stuff to do – destiny stuff. Hiro tries to get rough but Samuel reminds him that if he is killed, Charlie will never be found. “Smile,” sneers Samuel, “it’s Thanksgiving.”

Washington, D.C. Benet, in process of picking out a turkey at the grocery store, is on the phone with Claire, asking when she’s coming over for Thanksgiving dinner. She’s kind of sad about Gretchen and not sure if she wants to come, so Benet begs her to not leave him alone with her mother and the new boyfriend (weird, but good that they’re getting along, I guess). Claire says okay and when Benet hangs up, he turns around and sees his old partner, Kate from Angel. (Yes, her name is “Lauren” here but I’m sticking with “Kate.”) They flirt. I’m less uncomfortable with it now that he’s no longer married to Sandra but still: ick.

Peter’s apartment, NYC. Nathan flails in his sleep, clutching a bottle of booze, as Peter watches him. There’s a knock on the door: it’s Angela, coming in with about ten waiters and a full Thanksgiving dinner. Peter is Royally Pissed Off with his mom and brings up the whole finding Nathan’s dead body in a storage unit thing. She lies without missing a beat, saying that it wasn’t Nathan at all but a shapeshifter who stole Nathan’s form – a new twist on identity theft - and had to be stopped. Peter cuts through her bullshit, demanding, “What did you do, Ma?” Nathan comes up behind Angela and grabs her wrist as he’d like to know the answer to Peter’s question too. She completely refuses to give her sons any answers, however. As she walks away towards the kitchen, Nathan’s face ripples and a flicker of Sylar comes through.

Washington, D.C. Claire arrives a little early for dinner, hoping to talk to her dad about something important, but Kate interrupts, charging right into the kitchen to help out. Then Sandra, Doug and Mr. Muggles show up, along with Doug’s Pomeranian Miss Lovejoy, because that’s how Sandra and Doug met – through the dogs. Things get awkward right away, of course. I would be drinking heavily right about then but Jack Coleman plays it totally cute.

At the Carnival, Hiro is crankily slamming down plates as he and Lydia help set the table for Thanksgiving. She wants to know what’s wrong and he snaps that Samuel lied to him even after he fixed the past for him. Hiro storms off and Edgar sidles up to Lydia, wondering what in the past was possibly broken that Hiro had to fix. So Lydia uses all her wiles to find out what secret Hiro is keeping, convincing him to take her back eight weeks ago to see what happened to Joseph. They teleport back just in time to see Samuel and his older brother arguing, with Samuel insisting that Joseph speak to him NOW. The two brothers go off and Lydia follows them, ignoring Hiro’s protests that they mustn’t change anything here in the past.

The Petrellis are seated and the boys are sullen. Despite Angela’s request, Nathan doesn’t want to say grace: “I’m dead, he knows it, you know it!” Finally, she acquiesces, telling her sons what happened to Nathan at the end of last season. She even admits that she forced Parkman do the switch, and asks for their forgiveness. “We are still a family,” she pleads. But Nathan can’t even look at his mother.

Benet proposes a toast. But it gets awkward again quickly, Sandra and Kate sniping at each other (I’ve missed Sandra, by the way), Claire sneering at poor dorky Doug. Frustrated and out of sorts, Claire finally announces that she’s thinking about dropping out of school.

Carnival. Everyone is gathering for Thanksgiving dinner and Samuel notices that Lydia and Hiro are missing. Hmmmm.

Carnival, eight weeks ago. Samuel and Joseph walk out into a field, Samuel shouting and complaining that his older brother has been controlling him all his life. Joseph finally tells Samuel that he can move not just earth, but cities and mountains, and has the potential power to kill millions of people. Samuel wants to know how he could possibly be that powerful but Joseph replies he’s already said too much. Samuel gets angry, and angrier still when Joseph says he’s called “the government” and a man is coming to take Samuel away – he’s even sent that man a compass (so that’s where Benet got it) to help him find the Carnival. So Samuel kills him, TKing a rock right down his brother’s throat. Meanwhile, Hiro and Lydia see it all, hidden in the tall grass, terrified. Samuel hears something and starts walking towards them and Hiro just barely gets his power together in time, teleporting them out of there a split second before Samuel would have found them.

Claire tries to explain that she just doesn’t think she belongs in college right now, but Benet immediately picks up that it’s about what Samuel said to her, about being with other Heroes like her. When an uncomprehending Doug tries to help, saying that everyone goes through these phases, Claire’s all, “Look, dumbass, I’m a freak!” and slashes her wrist at the table. She heals, of course, and Doug faints. Later, Sandra and Kate bond over the still-unconscious Doug when Kate says that Benet brought them all together like this today to show Claire that she’s got family who love her. Benet takes her recalcitrant daughter into his office, showing her the compass and his investigation into Samuel. He insists that Samuel is dangerous and not to be trusted; she whines that she’s not a child any longer. They continue to argue until there’s a knock on the door … it’s Gretchen. Oh, fantastic.

Carnival, now. Hiro and Lydia teleport back, Lydia shaken and angry, saying that they have to tell the others what Samuel did to Joseph. He begs her not to, saying he’ll lose Charlie but she says it’s too important and rushes over to bring Edgar up to speed. Hi, Edgar, I’ve missed you! However, a suspicious Samuel collects her and Hiro, bringing them to the table.

At Peter’s apartment, Angela tries to carry on like this is a normal dinner but Nathan has had enough, especially since Sylar has decided to re-emerge right now. “We never should have gone to Texas, Pete,” Nathan grunts before twitching spasmodically and coming all over with blue electricity. He falls to the floor and when he gets back up, he’s transformed back into Sylar. As Angela and Peter cower in a corner, he tucks a napkin into his shirt and sits at the table: “I’m starved.”

Carnival. Samuel pontificates as he serves out pie to his family of Carnies. He says that something big and wonderful is coming for them all, but he can’t talk about it now what with a traitor in their midst: Joseph’s killer is sitting at this very table! Unable to restrain himself, Edgar speaks up, announcing that it was Samuel who killed Joseph, and Hiro saw it! But Hiro won’t back him up since he’s afraid for Charlie. So Samuel accuses Edgar of killing Joseph and sends a murderously-intended rock towards him. Hiro grabs Edgar’s hand and freezes the rest of time, thereby saving Edgar’s life. He asks the Carnie to wait a while for his revenge until the time is right. “I’ll hold you to that,” spits Edgar, and superspeeds out of there. ‘Bye, Edgar! When time unfreezes, Samuel takes Edgar’s disappearance in stride, saying good riddance. Hiro just looks sick to his stomach.

NYC. Sylar has TK’d the remaining Petrellis into their chairs as he wolfs down pie. “Let me out of this chair,” grunts Peter, all tough-like. Sylar leans over and skeezily kisses Angela on the lips – eew – and then says it’s time to carve the turkey, pointing a finger at Angela’s forehead. She screams horribly, blood pouring from the slice he’s inflicting, but then it stops: Sylar can’t finish the hob because Nathan, still rattling around inside there somewhere, is fighting to regain control of Sylar’s body. Sylar howls, his face morphing back and forth until Nathan finally wins out. Angela and Peter slump forward, released from Sylar’s hold, and Nathan leans heavily on the table, unhappy and exhausted. He looks at his mother, a desperate, bereft look: “What have you done to me?” before fleeing the apartment.

At Benet’s apartment, Claire and Gretchen catch up with each other while Benet and Kate flirt some more. Sandra helps Doug stagger out to the car and everyone is friends again as they take their leave. Benet catches his daughter on her way out, saying that he just wants Claire to take her time and think about things before making any big changes in her life. She promises that she will, and thanks him for inviting Gretchen. Claire joins Gretchen in her car and says that she’s not quite ready to go back to school, bringing out the compass that she swiped from her dad. Ready for an adventure?

Carnival. Samuel tells Hiro that he knows he saved Edgar and points out that could prove dangerous for Charlie. Hiro stands up to him, saying that Samuel needs him. Suddenly, on Samuel’s instructions, another Carnie (the dreadlocked older man) grabs Hiro’s head, sending all sorts of memories flashing through. When the Carnie lets go, Hiro mumbles some science fiction nonsense in Japanese (something like, “I’ve got to save Watson! Full speed ahead, Scotty!”) and teleports away. “What did you do?” cries Samuel. Apparently that didn’t work quite as he had hoped.

The last scene is back in NYC, as Peter staunches his mother’s head wound. He grimly promises to bring his brother back. And, in the scenes from next week, it looks like there will be Peter, a nail gun and a screaming Sylar. Fun!

Previously on Heroes / next time on Heroes

Heroes episode recap – “Brother’s Keeper” S4E9 (airdate 11/16/09)

Carnival. Hiro is moping over his lost Charlie while Samuel gives a shout-out for recycling. Then, public service announcement done, Samuel tells Hiro that what he wants him to do is to go back in time eight weeks and find Mohinder, take a 1950s research film form him before he destroys it, and bring it back to Samuel. Then he’ll give Charlie back. Hopefully, just because Samuel gets this film he’s after doesn’t mean he won’t still kill Mohinder. I so want that jackass dead.

Nine weeks ago, in India. Mohinder has a job teaching junior high school students. His girlfriend Mira nags that he promised to throw away all his father’s old research, which only brings him pain. He dramatically dumps a box of stuff into a rubbish bin and they go off together, arms around each other. BLECK.

Washington, D.C., present day. Tracey mopes in a diner, staring at a poster for the Carnival while Samuel’s magic compass spins in her hand. She doesn’t know what to do – should she join Samuel’s crew? – and starts to get upset. Her power flares up: the cup of coffee freezes in her hand, startling the waitress. Tracey takes off.

Nathan’s office. Nathan and Peter try to figure out what happened to Nathan: why he woke up in a Carnival and why no one cared that a senator had gone missing. (Turns out Angela Petrelli told everyone Nathan was on vacation.) Then, before this can get much more boring, the Haitian shows up. He tells Nathan to stand back as he’s here to speak with Peter. Then, ominously, right before cutting to commercial, he tells the younger Petrelli that he needs to know “the truth.”

Benet’s apartment. Claire (wearing teeny tiny shorts) stops by with laundry. She’s displeased when the door is ajar, and grabs a knife. Inside it’s just Tracey. The door is busted because she can’t control her power anymore: she just touched the doorknob and the metal froze and shattered. Then, as she’s talking, Tracey’s own hands and arms start to crystallize. The two girls just stare at each other, horrified.

Nathan’s office. Angela sent the Haitian to clear out Peter and Nathan’s memories but he doesn’t want to do it, saying that he doesn’t want to be involved. But then, rather than giving Peter any straight answers, he sends him on some cryptic errand: go here, see what your mother has done, try not to get too upset about it.

India, nine weeks ago. This is just excruciating. Mohinder can’t sleep and pages through his dad’s old research materials in the middle of the night. He finds an old research film and sets up a projector: it’s from Coyote Sands and apparently Mohinder has never watched it before. On the film, Dr. Suresh notes that when too many Heroes are gathered together in the camp, energy flares are present. Also, there’s a Hero baby about to be born and an overload of seismic activity violently rattles the compound during the birth. Do we think this Hero baby is Samuel, he who can move the earth? Yes, we do!

Benet’s apartment. Claire puts a nearly frozen Tracey into a scalding hot bath and goes to get her some tea. While she’s gone, Tracey first thaws, but then her power reasserts itself and starts to freeze the water. She climbs out of the bath, nearly frantic since she can’t control herself any longer. Claire pats her on the shoulder – there, there, it’ll be all right – and then the younger girl freezes solid. Oops. Benet is not going to be pleased about that.

Nathan and Peter open a self-storage unit at the address the Haitian gave Peter. There’s a coffin in there. Nathan is inside it. Three-way! “This is just weird,” says Peter, master of the obvious that he is. As they stand there, Nathan starts to get flashes of memory: Sylar, Parkman, a hotel room. They decide to go to L.A. to find Parkman. But when they reconvene at Nathan’s office, they learn that Parkman is in critical condition in a Texas hospital, having apparently tried to commit suicide by cop. Peter points out that he’s a healer these days and if they can get in to see their friend, he can help.

As Tracey struggles to drag the frozen Claire to the bathtub, Claire’s foot breaks off in her hands. That was excellent. Poor Tracey just sobs. But fear not - Claire has thawed out and says: “Tracey, it’s okay. I heal – it’s what I do.” She takes the foot back from Tracey and sets it on the floor with a clunk. Hee.

Carnival. Hiro is struggling, unable to time-travel. Tick-tock, says Samuel.

India, nine weeks ago. Stupid Mohinder is obsessively frigging around with more of his father’s stuff, building his own magic compass using his father’s notes, but stupidly falls asleep while doing so. In the morning, Mira finds him drooling on the workbench and is pissed off, saying that he promised to let all this go. Mohinder babbles that he’s made a breakthrough: he can use this compass to find Heroes (“Specials,” he calls them) and that he’s learned that if the baby in the film (now grown) surrounds himself with a large enough number of Heroes he can … but Mira has had enough and tells him that she won’t wait for him this time.

Texas hospital. The Petrelli boys sneak into Parkman’s room and Peter heals him. Unfortunately, disembodied Sylar pops back into view too, and is practically drooling over Nathan. Thankfully not mincing words, Parkman tells the Petrelli boys what happened: Nathan, Sylar slit your throat and you died, but then I stuffed your consciousness into Sylar’s body. The Petrellis are all, huh? So then disembodied Sylar gets impatient and somehow pulls Parkman’s consciousness out of Parkman’s body, and jumps in himself, so that now the Petrellis think they’re talking to Parkman but they’re really talking to Sylar. Disembodied Parkman, whom nobody but Sylar-in-Parkman’s-body can see, squawks helplessly. Sylar-in-Parkman reaches out a hand and tells Nathan that he can fix everything – he just needs Nathan (by which I mean Nathan-in-Sylar’s-shapeshifty-body) to take his hand. Because if “Nathan” takes “Parkman’s” hand, Sylar can jump back into his own body, displacing Nathan’s consciousness. Or not, it’s hard to say. Good lord-n-butter. Could they possibly make this more difficult for us poor recappers?

After the commercial, Nathan thinks that this all makes sense, realizing that all these new powers that have manifested aren’t really his, and reaches for “Parkman’s” hand. Peter refuses to accept this and tries to keep the two of them apart, so “Nathan” uses Sylar’s TK and bats him across the room . A guard comes in and amid the confusion, Nathan touches Parkman’s hand. Sylar winks out of existence and Parkman is thrust back in his rightful body, shouting that he can’t see Sylar anymore. Nathan picks his unconscious brother up and flies out the window.

Carnival, eight weeks ago. Mohinder has found his way to the Carnival, using his handmade compass. He finds Joseph Sullivan, Samuel’s not yet dead older brother, and starts babbling about superpowers. Joseph cuts him off, introducing Mohinder as an author when Samuel appears, but doesn’t let the two talk, sending Samuel away on some errand. Joseph looks sternly at a sputtering Mohinder and asks to speak privately with him.

Desert. Nathan has flown Peter to some isolated mountaintop. He doesn’t think it’s safe for his brother to be around him, and tells Peter that there should be a road around here somewhere that will take him back to civilization. Peter’s like, um, no, and copies Nathan’s power. In it together, brothers forever, they both fly off.

Back at the Carnival, Joseph says that Mohinder is correct about Samuel’s increasing power but says that his brother doesn’t know the extent of it since Joseph has spent his life keeping Samuel away from too many Heroes. Samuel has a bit of a power-hunger to him and could be dangerous where he to know how strong he could be: “We must keep this genie in the bottle.” Mohinder protests, saying Samuel’s power could increase a thousandfold and Josef is all I KNOW, dumbass, burn that film and get the frack out of here. Mohinder leaves, finally doubting that he knows what he’s doing … and since he really hasn’t gotten a single thing right in the last four seasons it’s clear that he’s not a quick learner. As he leaves, the camera pulls back to show that Samuel has been eavesdropping on the two of them the whole time. This must be the awakening of a megalomaniac.

Later, in his motel room, Mohinder leaves a message for Mira, admitting that she was right, this trip was all a mistake and he’ll be on the next flight home. He picks up the infamous film and drops it into a trashcan. As he’s about to set it on fire, Hiro teleports in, freezes time and switches the 1950s film with a dummy one he’s brought. And before he leaves, Hiro whispers to Mohinder to be careful with Samuel.

Benet’s apartment. Tracey hasn’t accidentally frozen anything for over an hour and is feeling pretty good about it. She and Claire talk about Samuel and his magical band of Carnies, and Tracey says that she’s thinking about joining him. Claire sounds like she’s thinking about it too. When Benet comes home, arms laden with groceries, he sees Claire’s frozen foot on the coffee table: “Ladies, how was your day?” “Same old, same old,” smiles Claire.

Samuel bursts into Mohinder’s motel room, glaring at the flaming film canister. He shouts that Mohinder must tell him what was on the film, what it is that will make him strong. Mohinder refuses to tell him anything so Samuel crushes a rock and sends the shards flying into Mohinder’s chest. Mohinder cries out and crumples. Immediately afterwards, looking at the fallen body, Samuel gasps that he’s sorry and flees. After he’s gone, Mohinder sits up with a massive gasp: he’s wearing a bullet-proof (rock shard proof, rather) vest, compliments of Hiro. Stupid meddling Hiro. Why do the producers refuse to kill this damn, useless, annoying Mohinder off? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

After the commercial, stupid Mohinder realizes that he is the one that set Samuel off with his research: he must be stopped. Hiro’s like okay, that’s good, but you have to wait eight weeks because I have to save Charlie. Mohinder says that he can’t sit around doing nothing while Samuel builds his power for two months. They bicker, Mohinder adamantly refusing to wait, so Hiro takes matters into his own hands. He freezes Mohinder in time, then teleports him off to somewhere out of the way. To Riverdale Psychiatric Hospital, actually, and in a straitjacket. He won’t cause any trouble there. Nice job, Hiro!

Washington. Tracey goes back to the diner where Samuel joins her. She tells him that she’s not sure what she’s looking for, but she just knows that she can’t keep on living the way she has been. He says he’s glad she called and he knows that they can work together to make this a better world for people with abilities.

Back in Peter’s apartment (?), Nathan is moping because he isn’t really Nathan, just a collection of memories in a mass-murderer’s head, and no one will be able to see him as anything else. Peter can’t really argue with him there.

Previously on Heroes / next time on Heroes

Heroes episode recap – “Shadowboxing” S4E8 (airdate 11/09/09)

Arlington, Virginia. Picking up right where we left off last time, in the aftermath of the screaming slaughterhouse sorority scavenger hunt, the other two pledges are completely freaking out, having seen Becky de-invisible herself and Claire heal after being impaled. Claire coolly covers by saying that the sorority sisters must have drugged their water bottles with hallucinogens, hence the seeing things: ooh, look, a pack of wild dogs! The other two (dumb as posts) pledges leave and then Gretchen starts her freak out in earnest: OMG, an invisible girl just tried to kill me!

NYC Paramedic Peter is ministering to a victim of a massive train accident. The guy seems paralyzed so Peter uses his newly acquired healing power to fix him enough that he’s not. This takes a lot out of Peter – he’s been doing this all day, apparently. In the hospital, Emma watches all the accident victims pouring in, turning the hospital into a war zone. She looks like she wants to help.

Los Angeles. Sylar-in-Parkman’s body is boarding a flight for NYC to wreak some vengeance on that “Italian Eagle Scout” (Peter Petrelli) since the last thing he remembers is Peter jabbing a syringe full of sedative into his neck, thus enabling Parkman to hijack his body for Nathan. Parkman’s consciousness floats around next to him, complaining impotently. However, Parkman somehow managed to get his service revolver into the bag Sylar was packing, which leads to Sylar-in-Parkman’s body getting arrested at the airport security checkpoint. Sylar tries to use Parkman’s mind powers to induce security to let him go but Parkman sneers that while Sylar may have his body, he sure doesn’t have his powers, and security hauls a screaming Sylar away.

Note: until further notice: when I say “Sylar,” I mean “Sylar’s consciousness in Parkman’s body whom the Parkman and the audience sees as Sylar, and the other Heroes characters see as Parkman.” And when I say “Parkman,” I mean “Parkman’s disembodied consciousness that Sylar and the audience see as Parkman, and the other characters don’t see at all.” Got it?

Carnival. Sylar’s body (oh poop - there goes my system) tosses and turns in his trailer but when he wakes up, he’s Nathan. And sees himself as Nathan in the mirror. He thinks this is WEIRD. So he gets dressed and goes outside, nervously flying off into the sky when he hears Lydia and Samuel coming. They are talking about Becky’s less-than-successful recruitment of Claire Benet to the Carnival. Lydia thinks Claire’s a lost cause but Samuel just replies that lost causes are his specialty.

College. Gretchen is still freaking out about why the hell is invisible Becky trying to kill her. Claire volunteers to go to the sorority house to go through Becky’s room to see if she can find some clues, and she tells Gretchen to lock the door behind her and not let anyone else in. Claire is finding scared Gretchen a little much – and totally unlike the stalker-girl who thought Claire being a Hero was just sooooo cool.

NYC, hospital. Emma is still standing in the way, watching the chaos in the hospital, when an ER doc, not recognizing her, asks her to keep pressure on a patient’s wound until the doctor comes to stitch her up. When she thinks nobody is looking, Emma just stitches the patient up herself. Peter sees her doing this and gives her a nod, then scurries off to another part of the ER to work his healing mojo on a burned patient. The strain of what he is doing almost knocks him over.

College, sorority house. Claire finds the other two pledges who’d seen what happened with her and Becky in the slaughterhouse and is relieved to discover that they have no absolutely memory of even being involved. AWESOME – there’s the Haitian!! Benet is there too, and only too glad to have been able to help his daughter when she called him.

Poop again: Sylar and Parkman are now on a road trip. They have to drive across the country since Sylar is now on a no-fly list, thanks to Parkman’s prank. Another prank: Parkman clouds Sylar’s mind enough that he hits something in the road and gets a flat tire. Luckily a kindly passerby stops to help. But Parkman is feeling petty and makes Sylar trip over his own feet, falling face first into the dirt, and grins that it’s going to be a looooong drive. So Sylar picks up a tire iron and beats the kindly passerby to death. Parkman is horrified: “You killed him!” Sylar smirks: Um, no, you did.

College, sorority house. Claire has asked her dad to take care of Becky, but she does not, however, want Gretchen’s memory erased because Gretchen is her friend and accepts her as she is. Instead, the Haitian goes with her back to her dorm room to protect her if Becky shows up. So who’s going to protect Benet?

Road trip. Sylar lays it out: no more sabotage by Parkman or he keeps killing innocent people.

NYC. Peter is near exhaustion when Emma finds him and makes him sit down. She suggests that maybe he shouldn’t use his power if it’s so hard on him. No way, man: “And be ordinary?” He staggers to his feet to continue helping in the ER. He asks where she learned suturing and she tells him that she dropped out of medical school.

College, dorm room. When Claire gets back, Gretchen is packing, saying she can’t take it and she’s going home. She has had it: she can’t handle this sort of life like Claire has. She thought it was awesome but it’s scary and dangerous and she wants no part of it. Claire begs her friend to stay but Gretchen is unstoppable: she’s already booked her plane ticket. Claire sobs, asking the Haitian to stay near Gretchen until she gets on the plane. After they’re gone, there’s a knock on Claire’s door. She turns, tears still on her face. It’s Samuel.

After the commercial, he apologizes for his bad timing, saying he’s looking for his niece Becky. WTF, says Claire, she just tried to hurt my friend, why would she be here? Samuel says that he knows that Claire is special, like him, like Becky, and if she’s got a moment to listen, he might have some answers for her.

Becky’s room. Oh shit: Benet has just found Samuel’s magical spinning compass hidden in the closet when the Invisible Girl gets home. He threatens her with a stun gun and she materializes.

Midland, Texas, Charlie’s old diner. Sylar orders ambrosia pancakes and a Coke, apparently planning to pack a bunch of pounds onto Parkman’s already chunky frame. When the waitress goes to put the order in, Sylar tells Parkman that he’ll kill her unless Parkman tells him where his body is and how Parkman pulled his consciousness out of it.

Claire’s dorm. Samuel is telling her about the Carnival, the people there. That a family is more than blood – it’s about trust and blood and love. He apologizes for Becky, saying that she’s damaged and complicated since her father was murdered in front of her when she was just a child. Hm, Claire ponders this. In Becky’s room, the Invisible Girl explains that she’s actually been after Benet the entire time – for killing her dad – and she’s going to hurt both him and his daughter. Things get slightly tense until two pledges interrupt. Becky invisibles away and Benet takes off. Claire’s room: Samuel goes on (and on), saying that he knows that Claire wants to fit into the real world but gets hurt every time she tries. When she asks how he’s learned to manage this, he tells her that he’s simply surrounded himself with people like him because they understand him. Which is why he’s approached her and not her father. Claire has her serious thinky face on but just then Benet arrives. He looks sternly at Samuel – who looks a little nervous – and wants to know what’s up.

When we’ve come back from the commercial, Benet has his gun out and Claire’s all, you think I would trust you over my dad? Samuel admits that Becky is damaged but Benet has some responsibility in that. Agreeably, Benet puts his gun away and tosses the compass to Samuel, saying okay, let’s talk responsibility: WTF with this compass, seeing how it’s shown up in several murder investigations (e.g. Danko’s). Samuel insists that it’s just to keep his people hidden from people like Benet but Benet wants more answers than that.

NYC, hospital. Emma finds a little girl on the floor and shouts for help. Peter arrives and she tells him that she can do the emergency procedure, but she needs his help. He helps and she saves the girl. Emma’s on her way back to being a doctor and I so don’t care.

College. Benet cuffs Samuel and starts to stuff him in the SUV when Becky, in invisible mode, appears and starts throwing the Benets around. Just as she’s about to really hurt Benet, Samuel nails her with the stun gun. Benet pulls his regular gun and trains it on the both of them, seemingly ready to shoot, but Claire screams no, dad, don’t! He lets the two Carnies go and Claire sort of glares at him.

Texas diner. Parkman explains how it (the Sylar/Nathan switch) happened and Sylar just gets crankier. He demands to know who else was involved and then answers his own question: Mama Petrelli and Benet. Answers gotten, Sylar tells Parkman that he’s going to find Nathan, get his body back and then kill everyone involved. However, when Sylar gets outside the diner, a bunch of cops show up because during the Q&A, Parkman made an unaware Sylar doodle on a napkin that he has a gun and is going to kill folks … and the waitress saw the napkin. The cops grow impatient. Realizing what Parkman intends, Sylar gasps that they’ll both die if he gets shot. And in a moment of self-sacrifice, Parkman makes his body reach into his coat as if for a gun and the cops fire repeatedly. Sylar collapses and once the body is down, Parkman’s consciousness fades from sight.

College. Benet takes Claire back to her dorm room and tries to encourage her, support her in her quest for a normal life. She’s pretty discouraged, however, seeing Gretchen’s empty half of the room. You’re better off without her, Claire – soooo annoying.

NYC hospital. Oh ferchrissakes: Emma is playing the frakking piano again. She’s frigging pointless. Peter finds her: she’s got a photo of her dead nephew with her who drowned while she was supposed to be babysitting. It was during her second year of med school and was why she dropped out. Peter really needs to go back to the shorter, no-bangs hairstyle of last season. They bond and then play a duet. Bleck.

Texas. Parkman is dying in the ambulance. College: Claire is sad in her half-empty dorm room. NYC: Emma pulls her lab coat out of the closet. Carnival: Samuel apologizes to Becky for shocking her and she apologizes for getting carried away with the Benets. Then he chuckles affectionately and says that she’ll get her revenge on them if she’s patient. Then Lydia comes up and tells Samuel that Sylar is gone. He is Not Happy about that. Washington, DC: Benet works on his wall of suspects. NYC: Peter takes down his wall of clippings and is interrupted by Nathan (formerly Carnival Sylar) who gives him a big hug and says he thinks he’s in trouble.

What’s that loud sucking noise coming from next week’s episode? Mohinder returns! (I thought Samuel said he killed him? Damn.)

Previously on Heroes / next time on Heroes