Heroes: Don't Look Back

Bennet: "I'm not done protecting you from the world."

More origin story. More connections between the emerging mutants. And a lot more questions.

The most intriguing question (for me, anyway) was what the hell was going on with Claire's father? He actually seemed like a pretty good dad. What was he thinking when he was watching the tape of Claire?

Claire was adopted, like all the immortals on Highlander. And she was, of course, wondering if she got her unusual talents from her birth parents. (Are all the other mutants adopted? I don't think so. What Peter's mother said to him about inheriting his father's tendencies toward depression make it unlikely.)

Los Angeles, California: We have another Gifted: a cop named Matt who can read minds, even though he can't seem to pass the detective's exam. I liked Greg Grunberg in Alias and I was pleased they added him to the show. They even gave him a strong actress to work with: Clea Duvall from Carnivale as FBI woman. And we got a serial killer supervillain: Sylar, who was Papa Suresh's "patient zero." Sylar, who seems to think sawing off skulls and taking brains has a purpose.

Las Vegas, Nevada: Obviously, Homicidal Mirror Woman not only kills people, she cleans up after herself and somehow acquires cars, as well. And she's leaving notes for Niki. If Mirror Woman was together enough to leave Niki a shovel to bury the bodies, why didn't she just bury the bodies herself? Did she want Niki to know? And who else did Mirror Woman kill?

New York, New York: So both of the Petrellis can fly. (I immediately thought of the Flying Wallendas. The Flying Petrellis.) Nathan doesn't seem to be too happy about it. I don't know. If I could fly, I think I'd be pretty happy about it. Is he afraid it will deep-six his political career? Why should he care? He can freaking fly.

Mohinder found his father's portable hard drive. Actually, that cute, young, big-eyed unnamed neighbor woman found the portable hard drive in the reptile tank. A cute, young, big-eyed woman who handles a gun pretty well. I wouldn't trust her if I were you, Mohinder.

Hiro, recently teleported to Times Square, had the surreal experience of finding a comic book all about himself that told him what he was going to do. (I wish I had one of those.) Hiro then found Isaac, very dead, with his brain removed. Is that where the evidence of the mutations are, in the brain? Is that why Sylar is doing it?

The fun part was that Hiro had left October 2 behind. It was, ah, will be, November 8, the day after Election Day. Petrelli won in a landslide, and New York exploded. Film at eleven.

Bits and pieces:

-- We now have seven gifted people, and they all have last names now: Claire Bennet, Niki Sanders, Hiro Nakamura, Isaac Mendez, Nathan Petrelli, Peter Petrelli, and Matt Parkman.

-- Papa Suresh was murdered in his cab.

-- A symbol, a long S with lines through it, was showing up everywhere: on Hiro's comic book, the pad Peter was doodling on, all over future dead Isaac's studio, Papa Suresh's computer. It was even in the swimming pool. What was it?

-- There was a robo call from the Petrelli campaign, and a phone call from Sylar on Chandra Suresh's answering machine.

-- Sylar killed someone in Barstow. Possibly just to watch him die.

-- Simone's last name is Deveaux.

-- Niki sent Micah into the house without going through it first. With Mob guys after her. Um, Niki? Niki's red-headed friend mentioned that the cops were after DL. Who's DL? Niki's boyfriend? Husband? Micah's father?

-- Jackie took credit for Claire's rescue. Maybe she wanted to impress Mr. Soft Hands, the football player. How did everyone miss Claire's Exorcist head twist on the football field, by the way? I mean, I have to suspend belief sometimes, but really.

-- Matt Parkman is married, and they're seeing a couples counselor.

-- Hiro works at Yamagato Industries. And he's an honorary member of the Merry Marvel Marching Society. That's a defunct Marvel Comics fan club, according to Wikipedia.

-- Peter's and Nathan's father committed suicide. Depressive disorder, starting with delusions of grandeur. Family secrets. Peter is his mother's favorite. If I were their mother, Peter would be my favorite, too.

-- Mohinder's big-eyed neighbor said she worked at an antique book store.

-- The comic book that Isaac created was called 9th Wonders. Interesting coincidence that when they called out all of the cheerleaders to find the hero (which they didn't), there were nine cheerleaders.

Lots of information, and we probably got a glimpse of where the story is headed (what with New York blowing up and all). Two out of four stars,

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

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