But, you know, I assume that most of his thoughts are drowned out by the remembered screams of women and children. Regardless, he’s got Matt unwillingly strapped to a bomb, and Nathan’s not happy about it. This is a good scene with Nathan defusing the bomb as Matt tries to pick up stray thoughts on how to do so. Greg Grunberg is a really good actor, by the way. I always like watching him do his thing. With the crisis averted, Nathan punches Matt out, because he “can’t have you using your power”. So, Nathan’s got something to hide beside the death camps? Interesting. By the way, Danko’s awfully willing to set off that bomb, isn’t he? It’s like he doesn’t care.
Heroesville: Heroes, Season 3, Episode 19 – “Shades of Gray” (Mar 10)
Sylar finally reaches his destination, his father’s crazy shack. This is a cool looking set, because it looks like a crazy guy decorated it. Sylar’s dad is played by Jason Glover, who used to play Lex Luthor’s dad on Smallville. He’s sick, dying of cancer. Well, this’ll make things a lot less fun for Sylar.
Back in Washington, Danko’s mad that nobody died. He just wanted an explosion, is that so wrong? Nathan fires him, which pushes Danko into playing Tracy’s “One of us” tape. Over and over. Hee. I love the idea that he took the time to loop the tape, just so he could have a big dramatic reveal. Danko’s a showman, you have to give him that. Well, one of these guys is going to be out by the end of the day.
We get a seriously creepy scene of Tracy being transported. Those tubes in their noses skeeve me out. She gets a flash of a message from Rebel, who offers encouragement. Hey, here’s a thought. Maybe Rebel is really Micah. He can talk to machines, so it’d be easy for him to transmit messages like that. Unless we’re just pretending that all the characters from Niki’s arc no longer exist. Still, it’s a possibility.
Bennet tries to cool Nathan down, as he doesn’t want Nathan and Danko to have it out just yet. He knows his stuff, because if Danko gets the upper hand, things are going to get a lot more dangerous. Nathan heads in to Tracy’s new cell to prep her for the coming interview – he keeps telling her that he’s her “last hope”. Is that his Messiah complex, or is all of this leading up to something? I can’t figure that guy out. When Danko shows up, Tracy does a good job of playing dumb, and still manages to insult Nathan while she’s at it.
At home, Claire regrets not helping Doyle. She has the idea to get a job, so she can help people without bringing the agents around the house. Don’t they just follow her anyway? She has to come home sometime. I don’t think Claire thought that out very well. And, oh joy, we get another scene in the crappiest set of all time. Oy. And yes, every time they set foot in this comic store, the dialogue gets really lame and insulting. I don’t know what’s going on here. I do think it’s funny that they need her to work on Wednesdays for “new comics day”, given that the set dressing they’re using would indicate that the last time they observed new comics day was in 1990. Ah, well.
Sylar is disappointed by his father, given that he’s a crazy old hermit. He gets a little more interested when Sylar Senior exhibits a new power, making a rabbit go to sleep. Hey Sylar, make sure that rabbit doesn’t have a number painted on his fur. Benry is very protective of those bunnies! (Sorry, my recaps are starting to merge.) Sylar Senior realizes they’re not so different – Sylar just uses his powers to hurt people weaker than he is, rather than taking care of business. Then, they slaughter a bunny together.
In Building 26, Danko pumps Bennet for information, specifically about people who can fly. To Bennet’s credit, he doesn’t bring up West. (“Well, there was this really annoying kid…”) Bennet seemingly gives up Angela Petrelli, but then he calls her and we see it’s all part of the plan.
Claire leaves the set that cost twenty dollars to furnish, and we get a shot of the agents following her. Special Agent Pretty Lady is back! And you know what she’s doing? Remaining vigilant. And hot. Anyway, Claire calls her dad for advice about leading a double life, which is pretty funny because she really isn’t. Basically, she got a job so that her stalkers would leave her house alone occasionally. Still, it makes me happy that these two are talking again.
Special Agent Pretty Lady finds Doyle, and he uses his powers on her. She puts the gun to her own head, and I’m freaking out. Leave her alone, man! Luckily, he decides not to be completely evil just once and just knocks her out. Her partner shows up with a taser, and Claire clocks him. Claire Bennet, Freedom Fighter!
Angela meets Danko for lunch, and I think it’s hilarious that she just keeps eating throughout the scene. It’s like she’s not even going to let him inconvenience her. He’s trying to prove that Nathan has powers, but Angela shuts him down by bringing up Angola, 1997. We don’t know what happened, but civilians were killed, and it shuts Danko right up.
Back in the Crazy Hut, Sylar Senior is teaching Sylar Junior some taxidermy. Well, of course he would be. He doesn’t even remember killing his wife – it just didn’t mean anything to him. Sylar cuts his hand and shows off his healing power, which is pretty great. “Hey Dad, look at me! Dad! Are you watching, Dad?”
Dad first shoots down his immortality with “You just have that much longer to suffer.” Geez, somebody’s a downer. Of course, he’s actually crazy jealous of this power, so he uses his powers to shoot his son in the chest with arrows. He then uses his tranquilizing power, which seems to put Sylar to sleep. That seemed like a good move to me, since his healing power doesn’t prevent him from getting sleepy.
But after the commercial, we see that good old Sylar was just playing along, as he pulls out the arrows. He won’t even share his power, since he wants Sylar Senior to die. But not from a slit-open head. Nope, he’s going to just let him die slowly and miserably. Well, hopefully Sylar’s done with his parent issues now. Also, nice job from both actors in these scenes – that’s a whole lot of creepiness crammed together.
So Nathan tattled to the President and got Danko fired. He’s picked Bennet to take the job, which would work out well for everybody. So of course, Danko pulls a gun on Nathan. I think somebody’s pulled a gun on somebody else in every episode of this arc. And most of the time, they even pull the trigger! Anyway, Danko shoots the window, which is kind of a relief. Then he tosses Nathan out that window, which is less so. Nathan, of course, flies away. On the plus side, this might mean that Danko will take Bennet into his confidence. On the minus side, well, Danko’s in charge now, and that dude’s crazy.
At night, Claire presents Doyle with all the paperwork he needs for a new identity. Wait, what? Claire’s an expert forger now? Let’s just assume that Bennet had some basic documentation stored away in his boxes, and Sandra has already shown some facility with forgery. So let’s just assume she cleaned everything up, otherwise we’re lost in the woods. Anyway, Doyle is free to start that new life of his, but he makes it pretty clear that he’s still an evil sleaze.
It’s Hiro and Ando! Long story short, they arrive to rescue Matt Parkman, only this Matt Parkman is a baby. In fact, it’s Matt’s baby! And Matt has thought all along that he wasn’t the father. (Although we found out that wasn’t the case in the “Five Years Later” future.) So, Danko’s plan has moved up to abducting babies? Yikes.
Claire gets a message from Rebel that the agents are coming for her. To me, that would indicate that Bennet is out now, too. We’ll have to see, but I can’t imagine he’d let that happen. Then, Danko comes home and Sylar’s lying in wait for him. That will be awesome. And then, in the last shot, agents storm the Bennet home, but Claire’s already outside, hiding with Nathan. OK, that makes him seem less like a bad guy, I have to give him that.
No episode next week, which means that NBC must know that it’s my week to recap Dancing with the Stars. Thanks for the help, guys!
