In the interest of brevity, I’m not going to be recapping any scene with Claire and her new roommate unless something interesting happens. Since this scene opens with Claire talking about how great it is to finally be bored, I think we can write this one off. Actually, Wallace’s girlfriend from Veronica Mars tries to get Claire to join a sorority. That’s about it.
Holy crap, you guys! Ernie Hudson is on the show! Winston Zeddmore from Ghostbusters! Warden Leo Glynn from Oz! The Black Guy from No Escape! Awesome! Anyway, he’s ordered a psych consult on Sylar, who is locked up in an interrogation room. So he’s kind of a Warden, which is close enough to Oz for me. Anyway, Pretty Young Psychiatrist tries to ask Sylar questions, but he just looks all panicked and creepy. Eventually, he starts having flashbacks and tries to form sentences. The doctor wants to unlock his cuffs, which is always a good move when somebody freaks out. Ernie Hudson knows this isn’t going anywhere good and bails.
Back at the hospital with Deaf Emma, my new favorite character. This scene mostly just reminds us that she’s on the show, and that her doctor is also her mother. I’m pretty sure that violates the Hippocratic Oath.
Angela visits Peter’s fleabag apartment. He’s trying to talk about himself, but she just wants to know if he’s talked to Nathan. Peter asks “Can we just focus on me for a second?” As appropriate as that is for Peter, it’s not the greatest superhero catchphrase ever. It’s no “Hulk Smash” or “It’s Clobbering Time”. Certainly no “I am vengeance… I am the night… I am BATMAN”. But this is Peter we’re talking about. Even though his powers are all jacked up, his Peter-Vision is still working just fine. Eventually, he leaves for work and Angela hangs out in the Peter-Cave to wait for Nathan.
OK, I’m not joking when I say that I really love Emma. I had a real emotional reaction to her big scene last week, and I’m really excited to see what they do with her character. However, there’s a quick cutaway to her arguing with her mother, who manages to insult both deaf people and file clerks. Way to go, Dr. Mom. We do learn that she used to be a Resident at the hospital, and that Dr. Mom thinks she’s blaming herself for Christoper’s death. Ah, backstory.
Another scene with Claire and the other girl, this time at the Sorority house. Unless Books shows up and forces her to eat a bunch of pickles, this plot isn’t going to interest me.
Emma walks down a busy sidewalk, and she starts to see sounds once again. She accidentally steps in front of a bus, but Peter uses his speed to save her. After the commercial, she does the sensible thing and walks away from Peter. He can’t take a hint, so he walks after her, yelling. Keep in mind, he knows that she’s deaf. Peter gives up and heads down an alley. He tries to turn on his speed, but it doesn’t work. Yep, he’s copied Emma’s power now, as we see when he kicks a trashcan and it results in a flash of color. I like that he really just seems irritated by this development.
Samuel and Lydia discuss who his new recruit will be. He hasn’t decided which of our Heroes is joining the family. He then uses his earthmoving powers to throw some dust around. Usually I can tell what they’re going for, but I really don’t know what his ultimate goal was there.
Back in the Claire scenes, she’s starting to suspect that Gretchen is obsessed with her. Sure enough, her browser is full of pictures of Claire and information on murder-suicides.
In the Interrogation Room, Sylar is all cleaned up and using his words. He’s not clear on who he is or anything about himself. He’s excited about being able to feel things, though. The doctor thinks a memory exercise will help, and you know that can’t be good. There’s a nice bit where Sylar starts obsessing about the clock behind him and the doctor’s watch. I really like the way they remember the clock motif with him. Ernie Hudson calls her into the hall to tell her that they ran Sylar’s prints and they have an ID.
In the hospital, a visiting children’s choir is performing the theme to The Greatest American Hero, and Peter is marveling at the colors. He then realizes that Emma is watching, too. They indicate to each other across the room that they’re sharing in the experience of watching sound. I’m distracted because I can’t not hear George Costanza’s answering machine message.
Peter tries to explain to Emma that there are people with powers, and she’s one of them. Four seasons in, and we have a scene where one of the leads explains the premise of the show. Always a good sign. They sit down to play piano together and enjoy the colors. In my mind, that’s exactly what people do when they’re high. Peter invites her to lunch, but she gets uncomfortable and leaves.
Sorority party. We learn that Claire doesn’t really have any idea what a Venn Diagram is, but points for trying. Gretchen (apparently) tries to drop a flagpole on the girl that Claire is talking to, because we’re going there now.
Ernie Hudson yells at Sylar – he knows that he’s Gabriel Gray, the watchmaker who killed his mother. (Well, biologically she was his aunt, but Ernie Hudson can’t be bothered with all that.) Sylar is surprised, and accidentally uses his telekinesis to throw Ernie Hudson through the two-way mirror. From his reaction, you can tell that he didn’t know that was something he could do. He demands that his psychiatrist help him escape.
Claire and Gretchen argue over whether or not Gretchen is crazy, and then they kiss. Yep. NBC announced this was happening months ago, so it’s not actually a surprise. It’s also not hot. Like, if they thought girl-on-girl makeout sessions were going to help ratings, they should probably try to make them at least a little bit sexy. Maybe bring back last season’s Special Agent Pretty Lady. But enough about my fanfic…
Back at the carnival. Samuel is looking for answers in Lydia’s tattoos, but it’s not working. He throws a rag in disgust, but it stops in midair. He says hello to “Rebecca”. She turns visible and greets her “Uncle Samuel”. And Rebecca? Is the girl from the sorority who first approached Claire! And also Wallace’s girlfriend from Veronica Mars. I did not see that one coming. Well played, show. Anyway, she’s the one who tried to drop something heavy on Claire, to “push her” to Samuel and the carnival. She also, while invisible, knocked over the book that led Claire to check out Gretchen’s computer. Also, (drum roll) she pushed Claire’s first roommate out the window! And she’s the one who placed the fake suicide note after Claire left the room. Man, they did a good job with that setup. After this is all revealed, Samuel checks out Lydia’s tattoos again, and is excited by what he finds. They don’t show us what it is, though.
While the psychiatrist kicks Sylar out of her car, we get the twice-per-episode G4 Info Screen. This one features a glaring typo, which is bad enough, but it comes about in the service of pointing out a plothole. Namely, that Peter copied Emma’s power when he touched her, but he touched Angela earlier in this episode and didn’t copy her dream power. Hey, good point, TV station that is showing me this episode.
Anyway, Ernie Hudson brings a whole lot of cops to catch Sylar, who manifests his old electrical powers at just the wrong moment. Ernie opens fire, and Sylar and the psychiatrist fall into a ditch. Of course, he heals and runs to safety.
Emma returns to her apartment and sits down with the cello. Wait, she went and bought a cello since yesterday? Or did she steal the one from the park? Meanwhile, Rachel rejoins the sorority, and Peter returns home. Hiro teleports into Peter’s apartment and collapses. Emmas plays the cello more furiously, and her playing actually damages the wall. So she can use her sound colors as a weapon? That’s fairly awesome, even though the likelihood that Sylar will kill her just increased by a million percent. Sylar runs from the Ernie Hudson Revenge Squad and finds himself at the Sullivan Bros. Carnival, where Samuel is ready and waiting. But by the time the Ernie Hudson Revenge Squad gets there, Sylar and the carnival are gone.
That was more enjoyable than you’d expect from a Claire/Peter episode, really. The Rachel reveal really helped redeem the Claire scenes. Maybe the next episode will give us Bennet and Parkman and not focus on the characters I’m bored with. Here’s hoping!
