Hey, this was a really good episode! Other than too much screen time going to the terminally boring Alex, a lot of great stuff happened here. I am a happy Heroes viewer right now!Of course, we lead off with the aforementioned Alex, who doesn’t want to flee. While I do like Claire applying some of the skills she’s learned over the last season or so, this feels like a rehash of her story from Season Two. But Sandra Bennet’s going to save this thing if you give her a second. Also, the comedic potential of Mr. Muggles running around with a sandwich is pretty much unparalleled. Anyway, Sandra finds Alex in the closet, and is naturally perplexed.
Over in Building 26, Danko announced that Peter and Matt are their top priority. Really dude? Not Sylar, the guy with a whole bunch of powers and a murder fixation? All right then. Danko authorizes lethal force, which doesn’t really excite Nathan. Bennet is really playing the good soldier here, which would be legitimately upsetting were it not for last week’s episode.
In the new hideout (Which if I’m not crazy, is the set they used for Isaac’s loft, even though it’s not supposed to be Isaac’s loft. Is it?) , Matt keeps painting the same image of himself as a suicide bomber. When he snaps out of it, they get an IM from “Rebel”, who tells them where to find Daphne and warns them of a coming raid. Man, Rebel’s got his finger on the pulse. This is probably the best place for my new theory. See, I’ve given up hope that Hana Gitelman is going to return. I think Nathan is Rebel. Clearly Rebel has access to really specific information. They try to point the finger to Ma Petrelli later in the episode, but she wouldn’t really have knowledge about specific raids to the split-second. Bennet’s out of the question since Claire got several messages from Rebel while he was in the room, clearly not texting. This might be where Nathan’s salvageable – maybe he’s trying to expose certain elements in the government and has taken extreme measures to do it.
Now, keep in mind, in Sylar’s world, Elle was an acceptable loss and Luke is apparently a delightful travel companion. Sylar and I are very different people. He stops at a trashed old diner – this looks familiar to Sylar, and I can’t imagine that any of Sylar’s memories are particularly pleasant.
I like when Sandra gets involved with the story – she’s a pretty interesting character when they’re not mindwiping her, and it’s good to see her as something more than a victim. She’s the first one to notice the van watching the house. And in a shot of the van, sure enough, there are government agents in there, doing the surveillance thing. By the way, let me just say that the female agent is ridiculously attractive. It’s not like they cast ogres on this show or anything, but she’s like, distractingly pretty. She’s making the regular cast feel bad about themselves, I bet.
As they’re getting ready to storm Building 26, Peter copies Matt’s powers, so they can control more minds. Matt points out that flight was crucial to their escape plan. Hee. Peter’s not exactly a long-term thinking kind of guy. Although, they do make their way to the mainframe pretty easily by doing the Double Jedi Mind Trick. Danko flips out big time – he’s taking this personally all the way.
Back at the Bennet household, Sandra’s showing us that she’s got some skills of her own, creating a fake ID with no trouble at all. And how hilarious is it that Lyle sort of doesn’t care that he gets grounded. It doesn’t really register with him at all. Lyle? Not a genius.
In a flashback to 1980, young Slyar and his father go to the diner. Something’s going on here, as we’ll see in just a moment. They do a nice job when Sylar starts to remember, using a variety of clocks as the sound effect. Way to go, sound guy.
A word about the commercials – I still have my misgiving about the Watchmen movie, but damn if the effect of the shifting patterns on Rorschach’s mask isn’t super cool.
Back to Claire and Alex, which is kind of a boring scene until Sandra steps in and starts running the show. She stashes Alex in one of Bennet’s hidey-holes, just in times for the agents to start poking around. I really don’t want to be that guy, but that is one hot federal agent. She needs to join the regular cast, or possibly get her own spinoff. (Dear NBC: If this happens, I promise to never make fun of Jay Leno again. Think about it.) Sadly, hotness is not enough to uncover Bennet’s secret hiding place, and Alex evades capture for now.
In Building 26, Peter finds records that indicate Daphne’s been transferred to a medical facility. I bet Mohinder’s working on her right now! At this point, Rebel sends them a video which shows the prisoner transfer from the beginning of this arc. Probably not the smartest thing to record, but it’s not surprising that Danko would do it. He’s making a Greatest Hits of Human Rights Violations compilation. Bennet knows how to take down the mind-readers “His senses are like raw nerves”. I love that Bennet has clearly spent time thinking about how he could take down his friends if necessary. They hit them with the floodlights and sirens, and Matt holds them off just enough that Peter can escape. Perhaps he’s going to not blindly trust everybody now that the success of the whole operation rides solely on him, right?
More of Sylar’s flashback. Basically, we see his dad sell him. Takes the money, leaves the kid. Wow. I thought Sylar was a baby when it happened. Nope, he was old enough to know that bad stuff was going down. And then, and I should have expected this but I didn’t, Sylar’s father kills his mother, right in front of Little Gabriel. Even worse, he does it with a wave of his hand, just like Sylar does. So, this is not going to be a happy reunion, I’m guessing.
In Costa Verde, Sandra creates a diversion by rushing the agents in her van, with a hooded Lyle standing in for Alex. This buys them some time, as Claire and Alex make a run for it. They end up hiding in a pool, in the one situation where Alex’s power is useful. They manage to escape, but hopefully it’s not the last we see of Special Agent Pretty Lady. (Yes, that should be the title of her spinoff.)
Peter calls Nathan to make a deal – a copy of the incriminating video in exchange for Matt and Daphne. You know what’s great about Peter? He thinks they’re going to honor the deal? That guy… Anyway, Bennet does his best to think a warning to Peter, but Danko manages to shoot him in the arm with a sniper rifle. Hey, payback! It’s a graze, but Peter falls off the roof, only to be flown to safety by Nathan. Danko’s really surprised by that one!
We get a little Petrelli reunion with Nathan, Peter, and Ma. Once Peter realizes Nathan’s not going to listen to his reason, he copies his powers and flies off. Ma talks Nathan down and tells him that “the game has changed”. She whispers something to him, and while we don’t get a clue, it’s worth noting that she has dreams of the future. So, you know, if she tells you change is coming, you should listen.
Out on the road, Sylar is dealing with his newfound memories. And the best part of dealing with them is that he slaps Luke around a little and leaves him behind, but doesn’t kill him. Sylar’s off on a mission to kill his dad now. Fight between two guys who can kill people by waving their hands? Yeah, that’s pretty awesome.
Then we have Danko, who’s getting some serious crazy eyes. He’s got Matt in the back of a van, and when he tosses him out, we see that he’s wired Matt up with a bomb, just like in the paintings. Poor Matt is a suicide-bombing patsy! And note that Danko got the idea from seeing Matt’s paintings, making his painting a self-fulfilling prophecy, and the basis of a stable time loop. But mostly, let’s just focus on how Matt’s strapped to a bomb.
Finally, as the Bennet house unwinds from a big day, the Puppetmaster shows up in the kitchen. But it’s not going where you think – he got a message from Rebel that Claire would save him. Rebel is apparently value-neutral if they’re going out of their way to save that dirtbag. Neat! That guy’s way creepy, and I want to see how they handle this.
Alright, creepy mentalists and bomb jackets about next week! Meanwhile, let’s hassle NBC about that spinoff….
