And now, the miniatures are forgiven as Elle returns. The flickering lights don’t bode well, and when we finally see Elle, she’s looking more sparky than usual. Naturally, her interpersonal skills aren’t great, and Claire’s all doped up on adrenaline from taking down Doyle. Thus, a fight ensues. And I know I was not the only one hoping that they would accidentally kiss at this point. I realize Lyle is only protecting his sister, but throwing water on Elle is not cool. Jerk.
Suresh brings Maya to Pinehearst. See, he is trying to help her. When he isn’t trying to drain her delicious fluids. He’s starting to get sympathetic again, but we all know that isn’t going to last. I like his meeting with Arthur Petrelli, finding out that he faked his death. “What could possibly drive a father to put his children through such suffering?” – Is that foreshadowing? Are we going to find out that Papa Suresh is still alive? Or perhaps that’s ultimately what will prevent Mohinder from buying into the Pinehearst philosophy. He lost his father, and can’t trust somebody who would willingly cause that kind of pain. Or this is all moot because Mohinder is crazy.
Well, Maya gets what she wants as Arthur takes her power. “I take it all – I leave nothing behind.” I guess that answers that question – Peter doesn’t have any trace powers waiting around to kick in. There is a short list of people who should have the ability to kill people by looking at them, but Arthur Petrelli is not one of them. Although it seems to me, as we start to see the downside of the powers, Arthur’s got a whole mess of potentially unstable abilities. Sylar’s hunger, Maya’s Blood Stare, Atomic Ted’s exploding, even Elle’s unstable electricity – what this season is indicating is that superpowers increase over time, resulting in a potentially dangerous situation. And Arthur is taking everything on at once. This guy could melt down at any time.
Anyway, Suresh, in an increasingly rare moment of lucidity, wants to lose his powers, too. Arthur, being evil, would rather use his humanity as the cheese at the end of the maze. Interesting that the formula they worked so hard to put together is incomplete – they actually need Mohinder’s experience here. Considering that his formula seems to, well, suck, I’m not entirely convinced that Arthur’s playing this one straight. Anyway, Mohinder needs test subjects. This should go well.
Hey, it’s time for another episode of Sylar’s Mommy Issue Theater. Man, Angela knows how to work this guy. He’s her “favorite”, after all. Now, did Angela use some clever application of her own powers to astral project, or was that all in Sylar’s head? I’m of the impression that she did it, but that’s not really consistent with her future dreams. But, the older generation seems to be crazy powerful, so it’s better not to question it. Probably not the best idea to let Sylar know that no cage can hold him, though. That may have regrettable consequences.
Back in Casa de Bennet, we see that Elle has indeed lost control of her power. (Nice performance from Kristen Bell, by the way. She really is a good actress.) And of course, we know that Claire’s powers have amped up, too. Both of the changes are making them less human – Elle’s prone to electric surges now, and Claire lost the ability to feel pain. Will this end up with Elle losing her physical form and Claire losing all sensation? The future is bleak for these two.
Over at Pinehearst, Daphne’s in trouble for not recruiting Matt. This was the scene where I realized what a brilliant addition to the cast Knox really is. Every scene with him in it is suddenly exponentially more dangerous. Any tense situation is much worse when there’s a psycho who draws power from your fear. (And he’s one of the rare characters on this show with a power that doesn’t really have a precedent elsewhere.) But now that Arthur has Matt’s power, the actual guy serves no purpose to him whatsoever. When Bad Dad gets in his face, Arthur snaps his neck with telekinesis. Farewell, Bad Dad. If it’s any consolation, you’re like the fifth villain to die this season – at least you outlasted some people!
Over at Matt’s, he keeps his spirit turtle in the apartment. Hee! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Matt may be a little bit too literal for his own good. Also, he calls Mohinder for help. Clearly he hasn’t run into the guy lately. Anyway, Daphne shows up with a gun, and if there’s anybody who’s not ready to pull a trigger, it’s her. Once again, she alludes to some sort of dark past, but she doesn’t seem capable of violence. I think somebody broke her somehow. It’s important to note that Matt does not use his powers in this scene, even though he can now control people’s minds. He was getting really casual with that last season, and he’s pulled back now. Matt is redeemed, I think. Once a telepath goes the Dark Phoenix route, it’s only a matter of time before they go full evil and slaughter the broccoli people. (Sometimes I write jokes just to amuse myself.)
Peter gets out of the handcuffs and then tries to attack his dad. Peter’s scrappy, you have to give him that. I like Arthur’s line: “I am better, Peter. It’s not a belief. It’s a fact.” Anyway, powerless Peter makes a great test subject. Hopefully. I like Peter’s attempts to talk Mohinder down, mentioning the future. Mohinder is very worried about the future these days, what with turning into a spider and all. “What do I look like?” That’s what’s great to me. Peter says Mohinder looks like a monster, and Mohinder decides that he’s screwed anyway, so he might as well just commit to evil. Once Sylar shows up, note that he kills the other doctor – that guy’s got a gaping chest wound. He’s not all the way non-homicidal, after all. Mohinder then wails on Sylar and beats him unconscious. Remember Sylar doesn’t have super-strength, so even though he heals, you can still lay a pretty good hurt on him.
I’m not sure why Bennet only gets so little screen time these days, but I’m always glad to see him. And every week he shows up just long enough to bail people out and give them perfectly good advice which they will ignore so that he needs to rescue them again. Also, everybody becomes cooler when they partner with him. Meredith was living in a trailer park a couple of seasons back, and now she’s all cool.
Elle’s scared of flying, eh? That’s so endearing. Now, Claire is unnecessarily mean throughout this scene. Sure, there’s a bad history there, but Claire is really cold here. Way to hold onto your humanity! She redeems herself by helping Elle through her potential plane-crashing terror. Of course, my Elle-bias is well-known by now, so obviously anybody who is nice to her is more likeable to me.
Knox shows up at Matt’s, and it’s never good when that guy kicks in the door. We get this week’s “Holy Crap!” moment when Knox clotheslines Daphne and then punches a hole in Matt. But after he leaves, we see Matt and Daphne were hiding, and it was an illusion. He could have taken control of Knox, or done the Bad Dad trick of trapping him inside his own mind. Nope. This is new Matt with a spirit turtle – no more unethical uses of powers.
Over at Pinehearst, Arthur’s exploiting Sylar’s Mommy issues. Does anybody believe for one second that she tried to drown Baby Sylar? Here’s the thing. If Ma Petrelli gets it into her head to drown you, you stay drowned. Are you currently alive? Then Ma Petrelli never even considered drowning you as a baby.
In the middle of all the Sylar fun, Maya bails once and for all. Is it possible that we’ve seen the last of her now? Or is she just going to hang out with Micah, Monica, Claude, and Hana Gitelman in the Lobby of Forgotten Heroes?
Sylar and Peter fight over their father, but it’s a little more lopsided than usual, as Sylar puts him right out the window. Peter looks pretty messed up when he hits the ground, even though he’s less dead than he should be. Claire heads off with Peter, but Elle heads to Pinehearst anyway. A dude getting tossed out a window would dissuade me, but I guess I’m just not spunky enough. And then after Peter plummets, he gets a call from Daphne. She’s a fink after all! OK, that was legitimately surprising. Poor Matt.
Nice awkwardness with Claire’s biological parents and her adopted father. I would like to see a long scene with those three. Nothing but awkward silence. Nate gets a call from Claire, and bails on Bennet. Guys, stick with Bennet. He gets people out alive every time. Don’t you watch the show?
Peter’s pretty convinced that Sylar used his powers to slow down his fall. Hmmm. Does that mean Sylar’s cutting down on murder, or is he maybe not as sold on Arthur Petrelli as we might think? I like that Nathan’s gotten tired of explaining Tracy to people, as he finally just tells Claire “It’s all right. She’s good.” Hee. And why exactly does Tracy collect a consultant fee from Pinehearst? Just a way that they’re keeping known (to them) Specials under their thumb? Or are her powers a coincidence and they’re all about the political influence?
Finally, we come back to Hiro and Ando in their tiny, tiny hut. It’s rare that somebody really encourages Hiro to go back in time, especially somebody who really seems to know what’s going on. Still, Usutu is pretty sold on it. As always, his solution is powerful hallucinogens. When somebody can manipulate time and space, it’s probably better when they’re not tripping, you know?
No episode next week, but in two weeks we get a big pre-series flashback. Looks like a bunch of dead characters show up, too. Flashback episodes are generally big game-changers, so this should be all kinds of fun. See you then!
