Heroes: The Hard Part

Sylar: "I think I'm going to do something bad."
Mohinder: "You're a murderer. You don't get the luxury of regret."

Sylar made a pretty serious attempt to return to normalcy, to his life as a watchmaker – because, surprise, he didn't really want to blow up New York. And then his mother actually talked him out of it before he (not really accidentally) killed her. One of her snowglobes had a picture of Sylar in it. What did the snowglobes symbolize? Compartmentalizing life? Seeing it as artificial and perfect?

The other prevailing plot thread was Hiro's inability to kill Sylar. That, and Ted finally arriving in New York, gave me this feeling of inevitability, like nothing will keep the worst from happening. But we still don't know exactly how it happens, so how can they prevent it? Thompson said little Molly Walker, whom Matt found in a closet back in Chapter 2, was the only one who could stop Sylar. I always feel uneasy when they add a cute kid to the story; it never bodes well. But I'll try to reserve judgment.

We now know what Mohinder's power is. His blood is the cure. How does it work? Does it stabilize mutants, or take their power away? If it takes their power away, little Molly isn't going to stop Sylar, is she?

Nathan appears to be ready to sacrifice half of New York in order to be president, but as usual, it's impossible to tell what he's really thinking. Mama Petrelli, who is also in the nuke-em camp, is getting ready to take Claire to Paris and out of harm's way. What about Nathan's wife and sons?

One thing I really liked about this one was the natural way Claire and her new uncle Peter have bonded. I liked that he asked her to stop him if he starts to explode. Superhero family values. It has always seemed obvious that Peter would explode because he absorbed Ted's powers and couldn't control them. But they left us with Peter absorbing Ted's powers already, and there are still a couple of days to go. So much for that theory.

At least I finally figured out why Linderman wants Micah. To fix the voting machines, right?

Bits and pieces:

-- This episode took place on November 7, the day before Election Day. I think. New York explodes on November 9. If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will correct me.

-- This week's Most Obvious Symbolism was the art piece that looked like a twisted red staircase in front of the Kirby building. Climbing a staircase of blood to ascend to something better. Except the stairs didn't go anywhere. They were also part of a double helix.

-- Molly Walker is the no-wires mutant-tracking Walker system.

-- Hiro's sword is broken again. That can't be good.

-- D.L. and Jessica/Niki saw Linderman's files on them, and D.L. figured it out. Like I thought: breeding program.

-- Molly gave Mohinder a star on a piece of paper to protect him from Sylar.

-- Candice's impersonation of Niki/Jessica was faulty; she didn't have the broken helix tatt on her back. Candice said she could make Micah see anything she wanted, which confirmed that her power is a Jedi mind trick, not really shape shifting.

-- Sylar's mother will never finish her snowglobe collection. All she was missing was Oregon.

-- In this week's hair report, Peter's forelock appears to have regenerated after Sylar's little trim.

Quotes:

Hiro: "Don't worry, New York! We will save you!"

Claire: "You can fly? (Nathan shrugs) Cool."

Hiro: "I can't kill a man who is asking for forgiveness. It's not the Bushido code. Everyone deserves a second chance."
Ando: "No, Hiro. Not everyone."

Three 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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