Dude.
That is the entire description of how I felt about tonight's episode. Just... wow. Like Superman on crack, tonight's episode of Heroes was paced faster than speeding bullet and I can honestly say that I haven't enjoyed an episode of Heroes this much since Season One's "Company Man". Whatever problems they had last season have been completely washed away and without a doubt this is the kind of episode I could only pray for last year.
At least she didn't breastfeed himThe episode opens where we left off last week with Angela Petrelli's shocking revelation that she's Sylar's mother. She expounds further tonight, telling him that she wishes she had never given him up for adoption, which may be what she meant last year when she told Nathan that he "had no idea what she's given up". Apparently, Mama Petrelli's been a busy, busy woman (bow chicka wow wow). Along with a hinted at relationship with Kaito Nakamura, now we have the mystery of Sylar's father? Is Sylar a Petrelli through and through, or did Angela have a little "somethin' somethin'" going on with yet another super-powered pater familias?
"Personal Bubble? No, what's that?"
After that bombshell, she continues on the hit parade by telling Sylar that he's not a bad person, it's just "the hunger" to take other's abilities that he can't fight. She then does the unthinkable and introduces Sylar to Bridgette, a woman who can tell the history of any person or any object just by touching it. "What's she going to do to me?" he asks. "Feed you." she replies.
Again... dude. I knew she was cold-hearted, but daaayum!
Noah Bennett returns to the Company, but makes it quite clear that he's not "returning to the Company" - he's just there to round up the escaped prisoners and then he's going back to his family. He requests his old partner, the Haitian, but as he's on a special mission for Angela, she assigns him his new partner: Muthaf**kin' Sylar himself. Oh yeah, this is going to get good. Reeeeeally good.
No, no, no. I kill the bus driver.
Free in the outside world, the "Fraternity of Malevolence" (don't want those Marvel lawyers breathing down our necks, do we?) do the most logical thing they can think of after being held prisoner for so many years: they rob a bank. Yeah, that's a good idea. I'm starting to see how they got captured in the first place. Regardless of the intelligence behind their plan, we get to see some awesome super-powered crime - something we've been sadly without since Sylar's little cop rampage back in Season One. While "The German" uses his powers to crack the safe, Flint collects the money from the female tellers drawer's. Unfortunately, he also wants to get in the female teller's drawer's (if y'know what I mean), but Peter/Jesse stops him. There's a brief standoff, but thankfully The German gets the safe open and they both back down.
Why So Cereal?
Back at Casa Del Bennett, you could cut the tension in the air with a psychic decapitation finger (love that power). Claire's mother and Meredith (her biological mother) obviously don't like each other (another case of "One of Us, One of Them"), and it only makes matters worse when Claire comes down for breakfast. Ok, now I will give you 3 guesses as to what breakfast is, and your first 2 don't count - that's right, goddamn waffles. Apparently the Bennett clan is singlehandedly keeping the Eggo people in business. Claire, still resentful about being left behind while Noah goes after the criminals, announces that she's not going back to school, that she's done pretending she has a "normal" life. Meredith tries to play mediator, but Claire's mother puts her foot down and tells her she's going back to school.
Back at the Company, Noah refuses to work with Sylar, citing how he tried to kill Claire. Sylar pulls the "she can't die" card on Noah, which doesn't sit well at all. Angela, once again proving that her greatest superpower is being an ice cold b***h, tells Noah that she's letting Sylar loose no matter what, but that it's up to Noah whether or not it's under his supervision. Faced with a choice, there's only one thing Noah can do.
In France, Hiro and Ando arrive after tracking Daphne's signal there. Daphne shows up a moment later, and the witty banter ensues. These are some of my new favorite scenes, as the dichotomy between Hiro, Ando, and Daphne as Batman, Robin, and Catwoman is classic. Hiro continues to call her his "nemesis" and in a convenient bit of storytelling, she tells him all about her plans and how the second half of the formula is being transferred at a secret drop in the theater. When he asks her what kind of over-confident nemesis would tell him her whole plan, she lays it out for him, plain and simple:
You're 0 for 2 against me, Pikachu.
That's just regular confidence. Now while Daphne's acting isn't the greatest (is she reading off of cue cards?) she is a very fun character to have around, and dare I say it - the perfect foil to Hiro and Ando's comic relief. She starts to speed off, but finds that her powers are gone. Hiro and Ando decide to take advantage of the situation, but find that Hiro's powers aren't working either. And that's when we meet the courier for the secret drop-off: The Haitian.
Tonight, on a very special episode of Heroes...Claire is leaving for school when Meredith stops her and asks her about her sudden superhero impulses. Claire tells her that she feels like she should be out there helping, but Meredith isn't buying it. She tells Claire that she heard about Sylar's attack, and offers to listen if Claire wants to talk about it. Claire, however, just wants to move past it and learn how to fight against villains like that. Meredith asks Claire how she's going to learn to fight them, and when Claire asks her for her help, she accepts.
After she doesn't show up at his swearing in, Nathan goes to visit Tracy to see if she's OK. She tells him about the reporter and shows him the video from the Corinthian (which, by the way, I never get tired of watching - rawrrrr). Tracy asks him for some answers, but unfortunately Nathan has none - he really thinks she's somehow Nikki Sanders. All the info she could find on Nikki was an address in New Orleans (oh great...) so she decides to go there and find out for herself.
"Karl! Shoot Ze Glass!"
At the "Fraternity"s re-enactment of Heat, the cops arrive at the scene too early and the team is confused until Knox reveals that he called them. The German turns on him, but Knox uses his powers (turning fear into incredible speed and strength) to take The German's gun and shove it straight through his torso. Yeesh. Have I mentioned that I love the fact that they brought back the gore this season? Knox reveals that this is all part of his plan to lure and kill the one person who put them all away: the man with the Horned Rimmed Glasses.
At the Company, Sylar gets suited up Men in Black style, while Angela once again tries to convince him that she's his mother, which is exactly why I think something's up (more on that in the spoiler section below). She tells him that they're going to find a way to stop "the hunger", and Noah arrives to show them that the Fraternity has made the news with their bank heist. Angela tells them both about Peter being stuck inside Jesse's body, and that if Peter has Jesse's abilities, he doesn't know how they work.
Hiro, Ando, and Daphne all wait for the exchange to happen, and swap more and more witty banter back and forth. Hiro is disgusted that she would use her abilities for financial gain, while Ando tries to reason with her. Daphne calls him Hiro's sidekick, "like Robin to his Batman", and Hiro warns Ando that she's trying to split them up - Villainy 101, he calls it. Then, just as Ando gets done telling her they'll never split up, he looks up to see that Hiro's bailed on him again to follow the Haitian.
Why not just wear a sign Back at the bank, Knox tricks Peter into revealing he's not Jesse, which once again reinforces Rule #1B of the undercover scenario: "when impersonating someone else (or in this case actually physically inhabiting someone else), NEVER confirm nor deny specific information about yourself unless you know the information for sure". 99 times out of 100, it's going to be a ploy to get you to slip up, and Peter walks right into it.
"What do you mean, 'can I see your badge'? I'm wearing a suit!"
Noah and Sylar arrive on the scene, and holy cow do they arrive! Sylar as a good guy is so simultaneously creepy and yet so friggin' awesome at the same time. Seeing them walk down the street side by side like Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday on a mission made the little hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. It gives a whole new meaing to "good cop, bad cop". Noah tells Sylar to stay quiet and let him do all the work, but Sylar can't resist being himself. He takes control of the situation and pretends to be "Special Agent Andrew Hanson" and convinces the police to move their barricades another 30 feet back. Then, in the ultimate badass move, he tells them to go get them coffee... decaf. "You drink decaf, right Noah?" he asks. Noah just stands there, half angry and half impressed.
While Knox and Flint beat up on Peter/Jesse for a while, elsewhere the Haitian makes the exchange and reveals that this half of the formula belongs to Angela Petrelli. Of course it does. So - what's the formula to? And knowing their history together, why would Angela and Kaito each keep half? Is it the formula for the virus? Or maybe something even worse? Hiro and Ando catch up to the Haitian and Hiro makes a plan.
Back at the bank, Noah tells Sylar that he's going in alone and unarmed. Sylar protests, saying that Noah is so concerned about proving he's better than Sylar that he's willing to get himself killed. "I am better than you", Noah replies. Sylar wants to help, but Noah tells him that under no circumstances is he to go anywhere near "the buffet" in the bank.
Tracy shows up at the address in 'Nawlins to find a casket surrounded by pictures of Nikki and Micah. Micah sees her and recognizes that she's not his mother, and introduces himself. They talk for a while and Tracy starts to leave, but Micah asks her if she's "special". She asks him the same question and he tells her about his abilities. To help her out, he pulls up every file he can find connecting her to Nikki Sanders, and finds that both Nikki and Tracy were born on the same day at the same hospital by the same doctor, Dr. Zimmerman. Tracy thanks him, and Micah can't resist hugging her before she leaves.
At the theater, Hiro has an elaborate trick planned out with Ando pretending to be an usher, but instead Ando just hits the Haitian over the head with a sandbag and knocks him out. With the Haitian unconscious, Daphne's powers return and she swipes the formula from Hiro while he and Ando argue over the plan. She bolts for it and Hiro tries to stop time but once again finds his powers aren't working. One look behind him and he realizes why: the Haitian is conscious again and not very happy.
Did Peter Petrelli have a stroke or something?
Knox releases the hostages and confronts Noah. Peter tries to talk him out of it, but Knox isn't listening. Instinctively, Peter yells out and unleashes Jesse's powers: a super-sonic voice (much like Echo's abilities in the "Going Postal" webisodes). The blast knocks Flint back across the bank. Peter stands up and lets out another blast directed at Knox, but time stands still (crooked side-talking lower lip and all). Future Peter arrives and pushes Peter out of Jesse's body and tells him that they he needs to listen to him. Peter tells his future self that he can't trust him (c'mon, if you can't trust yourself, who can you trust?) and Future Peter decides to show him instead. He places his hand on Peter's shoulder and teleports them out. Unfortunately, he leaves Jesse (who was apparently aware of everything that was happening) and Knox alone with Noah, and Jesse is pissed!
The downside of D.I.Y. Botox Injections
Meredith takes Claire to the docks and locks them in a cargo container, then puts a whole new meaning to "hawt" as she places her hand on the walls of the metal container and starts to heat it all up. She tells Claire that the first lesson is survival. Claire tells her that she's mastered how to survive - she needs to learn how to fight. "There's some things you can't fight, Claire", Meredith replies. Unfortunately, she's not talking about Hayden Panatierre's ever-growing physical attraction to me (as the restraining order obviously shows).
Noah tells Knox and Jesse that if they turn themselves in, no one will get hurt. "Who do you think you are?" Knox asks. "I'm just a guy with a partner standing behind you" Noah answers. And, like the cavalry arriving to save the day, Sylar powers up and stops them. He paralyzes Knox and telekinetically chokes Jesse so he can't speak. Flint wakes up, but Noah guns him down just as quickly. Noah tells Sylar that he said to stay put. "You just told me that to make sure I wouldn't, didn't you?" Sylar replies. Noah smiles.
Back in the cargo container, Meredith is slowly burning all the oxygen out of the air, proving to Claire that there are other ways to hurt her. Time and time again, she asks Claire why she wants to stop the bad guys, and time and time again Claire insists that it's to help people. Meredith isn't buying it though. She increases the heat and Claire drops. Without air, she feels trapped, and Meredith asks her if that's what it was like with Sylar - if she felt trapped, helpless. Finally Claire snaps and reveals that she wants to stop bad guys because she wants to hurt Sylar like he hurt her.
2 Girls 1 Cargo Container
At least I think that's what happened. To be quite honest I wasn't really paying attention, what with Claire all shiny and glistening and sweaty and.... sorry, where was I again?
Oh yeah. Back at the bank, Sylar and Noah start to clean up the mess but Sylar can't resist his urges. Tick tick tick tick. Knox makes a run for it, but Sylar lets him leave and shuts Noah out of the building. Jesse tries to scream, but his throat is still swollen from earlier. Sylar bears down on him while Noah tries to talk him out of it. Sylar pins Jesse against the wall and Noah tells him he can fight it. "No, I don't think I can... it's the hunger." Sylar says, as he slices open Jesse's skull.
Meredith apologizes to Claire for tricking her like that, and tells her that it was for her own good. She tells Claire that it's ok to just be a "normal teenager" for while. Claire forgives her and they hug, but Claire is eyeballing Noah's case files in the corner. Later, Claire's mother dukes it out with Meredith again about Claire missing school, but before they can get into it the doorbell rings. Claire gets the door and tells her moms that she totally forgot about the "cheerleader retreat" (yeah right) and asks if it's all right to go. And yes, they both fall for it hook, line, and sinker.
Elsewhere, Tracy visits Dr. Zimmerman at his house. When he opens the door, he calls her a name. Baba? Barbara? I couldn't quite tell, even after backing up and rewatching it a few times. Tracy introduces herself, and the doctor says "Oh, the one from Beverly Hills". When Tracy asks him if he know her, Zimmerman tells her that he not only knows her, he created her.
The Gods Must Be Crazy Meanwhile, off in "quick-get-rid-of-him-for-as-long-as-we-can" land, Parkman continues his wacky African adventure. Yay! The Storyteller (as I'm dubbing him) shows Parkman all the paintings he's made, and they all chronicle Parkman's life. From saving Molly to chasing Sylar to helping Ted Sprague, it's all there. There's one painting of Parkman with a woman and a child that he doesn't recognize though, and the Storyteller tells him that it was his future, but now it's all changed. He picks up some paint, puts on his headphones, and starts painting. Parkman grabs him and sees that he has Isaac's power, weird milky eyes and all. When the Storyteller is done, the painting shows Parkman holding a dead woman in his arms, and Parkman asks how he's supposed to stop it. The Storyteller gives him some drugs, hands over his headphones (which no doubt have a repeating loop of Pink Floyd or the Greatful Dead on there) and in no time at all, Parkman's eyes go white. So... what? A few psychotropics and some rockin' tunes, and now Parkman has another power? Or can anyone see the future and start painting like Tim Sale with the right dosage of peyote and Led Zep?
"Dude, I'm cheesing my f-ing brains out!
Hmm...*runs to go test it out*
Nope. Didn't work. The purple coyote says hello though.
The end wrap-up montage shows each character, searching: Nathan reads the Bible (probably looking for a good story about Jesus taming Dinosaurs), Micah mourns for his mother. Claire (obviously not on her totally fake cheerleader retreat) has Noah's case files and is set on tracking them down. Hiro and Ando are locked up in Sector 5.
Angela hands Sylar his prison uniform again and he tells her that she must have been wrong about him. "We'll see", she replies and walks him to his cell. The Haitian asks HRG if he's been replaced, and Noah tells him that it's only temporary - Noah is going to keep Sylar around for long enough to find his weakness, and then he's going to kill him.
Another fast-paced, action oriented episode that still manages to highlight each character in their own unique way. I am more and more impressed with the direction this season is taking, but there's just a few things that are bugging me:
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And that wraps up Heroes Season Three, Episode 3: "One of Us, One of Them"
Come back next week for "I Am Become Death" where Peter embraces a "wild, dangerous ability" to better prepare for the struggle ahead, Hiro and Ando attempt to find the person who hired Daphne by talking to the one person who understands these villains best (Adam Munroe), Molly and Linderman return in unexpected ways, two Heroes make a Love Connection (my guess? Tracy and Nathan heat up those ice powers), and Moho gives in to an impulse - and no, it's not to dress up like an Indian Chief and dance the night away in the seedy part of Manhattan.
Peter Sorensen is a part-time reviewer and can't resist the hunger... for Cheetos. You can email him here or follow his updates on Twitter.
Thoughts? Opinions? Is Tracy a clone? Will Parkman need some techno and vitamin C? Post a comment below and let us know!
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