When four ruthless, powerful Villains - "Knox" (guest star Jaime Hector), Flint (guest star Blake Shields), The German (guest star Ken Lally) and Jesse (guest star Francis Capra) - burst into a bank and begin brutalizing hostages, Angela (Christine Rose) sends H.R.G. (Jack Coleman) and his shocking, newly empowered partner in after them. Determined to derail a cataclysmic future, Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) must first find what he lost along the way. Meanwhile, Hiro (Masi Oka) and Ando (James Kyson Lee) track Daphne (guest star Brea Grant) and part of "the formula" to Germany, but run afoul of The Haitian (guest star Jimmy Jean-Louis). Horrified by her ability, Tracy Strauss (Ali Larter) leaves Washington, D.C. to search for answers about Niki. A distraught Claire (Hayden Panettiere) asks Meredith (guest star Jessalyn Gilsig) to teach her how to fight. As his romance with Maya (Dania Ramirez) intensifies, Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) finds himself unprepared when his experiment yields some unexpected results.

I just don't care for the 'rock paintings' as well. Hard to read.

NO! Sylar's mom is Peter and Nathan's too!
Mommy Dearest is EVIL!
She just let him kill that gal and smiled while he did it.
No wonder he's a nut job. Look at her.
Peter and Nathan must take after Daddy

So Sylar is going to be HRG new partner...how scary is that thought?

Not the partner I would want. How you could you even trust him?
And how could you trust her?

I don't know. She said she is his mother...

I love Hiro...Pikachu...I loved it she Daphne called him that.

So is this new power Nikki/Jessica/Tracy has due to the fire?

NASTY! Ewww. He left a big old hole in that guy.

I really don't get the spirit walk/teleport thing.
What am I missing?



I guess. I never can tell. She's like 'Sybil'. Always a new personality.
I miss the kid.

I am not getting it either, Lori. Plus the rack paintings are not very clear, like Issac's were.

Yeah that was nasty that Knox guy putting a hole in the other man. Ewwww.

Yeah I miss Micah...what happened to him? I guess we will find out eventually.

Does it seem like Mommy Dearest has a softer more indulging heart for Sylar?

Those paintings were more clear, but still not as good as the canvas.
I really wish I knew what was up with him being there.

I love Hiro and Ando

Sylar taking charge...interesting. It was sort of funny.

Yeah Hiro and Ando are a great team. Robin to his Batman. Poor Ando.

So I am thinking we will finally see Jesse's power come out soon since Knox now knows it is not really him.

Did Niki/Jessica literally split into a whole new person??

Nikki and Jessica are twins?!
You had to feel sorry for Micha.

I'm glad Peter is out of that guy's body, but poor HG.

Yep not a good time for Peter to be out of that body.

Maybe Niki, Jessica, and Tracy are triplets??

PP getting mad at his future self is sort of funny to me.

Sylar is so freaking creepy and evil...but I admit I do love to hate him.

PP

Triplets. Hmmm. And she took on the personality of the one? Maybe.

I'm glad Peter got out

Sylar is creepy, cruel, evil, and just gross.

Hmm I just thought of an odd connection...Peter Parker=Spiderman=Hero
Peter Petrelli=Hero (no particular superhero name for him) but they are both PP initials.

So is the girl in Matt's future painting Daphne (Speedster)?

So Sylar and Peter hug next week? That will be interesting to see. Evil Claire back in the future...well at least she seems evil.

I wonder what was in that box she was taking with her.

Tracy was created by this Dr. Zimmerman? Hmmm...

Nice to see the Haitian back.

The painting. I can't tell really. Maybe. Could be here.
Probably

Next week looks really good

It’s easy to forget how odd the pace of “Heroes” can be. Every time I think I know how the writers will progress with a plot thread, they surprise me by speeding things up or slowing things down. The surprises aren’t the problem; it’s the end effect. Sometimes, playing for the big moments too quickly can divest a situation of all its impact. It also doesn’t help when the script is full of logical errors.

The problem with introducing characters with time-travel abilities, particularly those with control like Hiro and Future Peter, is that bad decisions and troublesome events can easily be remedied. Villains have been released from Level 5 thanks to Elle? Future Peter should be able to jump right back to the moments before the circumstances of the escape, or even better, attack Sylar before he ever gets his hands on Claire. By the same logic, Hiro should be able to jump back in time to the moments before he opened the safe and tell himself that it’s a pretty stupid idea.

Of course, if either of those things happened, a lot of the drama would disappear. Angela Petrelli wouldn’t show her true dark side (which, at least, was previously displayed, though not quite to such a degree), and other characters wouldn’t struggle with ways to solve the problems without using the most obvious powers. Hiro imposes restrictions upon himself, which is hard to reconcile but at least is addressed, but Future Peter (and now Present Peter) both have no reason to hold back.

So where does that leave the story? The villains that were released turn on each other and force a confrontation with Mr. Bennett, and do so publicly despite the inevitable private opportunities that would have presented themselves in short order. (Oh, and Future Peter? I think the public display of powers by the villains might have wiped out the benefit of trying to kill your brother.) Why set up these released villains as a powerful nuisance if they were going to be killed or recaptured an episode later?

The answer seems to be: Sylar. Angela may be ruthless and cunning, but she’s incredibly stupid. Despite all evidence to the contrary, Angela believes that Sylar can be tamed and controlled. Sylar, on the other hand, continues his endless quest for more and more power, and now Angela (and indirectly, Noah) has become his enabler. If Future Peter and Present Peter were smart, the two pseudo-Supermen would team up before Sylar gets even more powerful and hand him back to Angela in a bucket.

Speaking of how to deal with invulnerability powers, besides employing a blender, cutting off their oxygen supply is the way to go. It may not kill Claire, but it will render her useless. Of course, that’s if the laws of physics still apply, which is a big question on “Heroes”. Claire’s biological mother delivers an odd lesson. Apparently she’s not affected when her flames remove oxygen from a confined space, and when she extinguishes her flame, oxygen magically reappears. (Oh, and as lessons go, teaching Claire to beat the crap out of anyone trying to stop her from breathing might be more effective. Just a thought.)

A couple of other plot threads continue to percolate. Matt Parkman’s magical mystery tour with the Magical Minority Isaac Clone feels like one big continuity mess. Did the writers decide they needed someone just like Isaac, and couldn’t think of a way to pull off the same exposition using another method? It feels like pure repetition, and badly managed at that.

Tracy’s plot thread finally intersects with Ali Larter’s previous appearances, and it turns out that there is a connection between Tracy, Niki, and the rest of her kind. Dr. Zimmerman may have been working for Linderman on further experiments on metahuman powers. Tracy looks like she might have been a clone of some kind (perhaps the result of fertility treatment modifications). I’m still not sold on the need to bring Ali Larter back, since it continues the trend of robbing death of any meaning on “Heroes”, but it could be interesting if handled correctly.

And that’s the question: can the writers handle it correctly? This episode exposed a number of the weaknesses still plaguing the series, and while some installments are always weaker than others, I’m not sure this is a minor issue that will shake itself out. It may be a desire to hew too closely to comic book logic, or worse, a focus on style over substance. Combined with the inability to focus on its main cast instead of constantly introducing new players, the logical gaps are keeping this series from meeting its early potential.

I like the idea of cloning or fertility treatment experiments for Jessica/Nikki/Tracy. What fire are we talking about though? I'm a bit unclear on previous episodes...

I also like the actor who plays "African Isaac", but on the other hand, I'm not sure I like the fact that there IS a new Isaac. Oh well, we'll soon see how it plays out. Didn't realize that the blond woman in the painting looks like Daphne, but it's true - she does.

But what is up with Linderman??? And didn't Future Peter say he brought Linderman to Nathan? I'm confused. Again...