After what was for too many of us an unnecessary hiatus, we jump right back into it, without taking a breath.
Mr. Bennet is locked up in a dank room. Suddenly, Claire bursts in–in her cheerleading outfit, no less—so happy to see her dad and apologizing for everything. Of course, the trick doesn’t work. Bennet knows it’s not Claire but really Candace in disguise. Thompson is just trying to find out where Claire is, but Bennet isn’t going to tell because he honestly doesn’t know where she is. Bennet wonders out loud why they haven’t killed him yet, to which Thompson explains he’s just waiting for the order. “That’s what we do. We follow orders,” he says.
In a nearby cell, Matt wakes up, with Bennet’s thoughts in his head. He guides Matt into an escape plan, part of which is freeing Nuclear Ted, who eventurally shorts out the security system. Once they are free, Bennet plans to take the boys to New York to destroy his company’s tracking system. An odd alliance, to say the least. Bennet also finds out from Matt that the big boss is Lindeman. Guess he never knew who was giving the orders. But now we see how Nuclear Ted ends up in New York—and who will eventually hook up with Peter, passing on his terrible power to blow up the city.
Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, Linderman is showing Nathan his art gallery. Turns out, Lindeman has a power of his own. He can heal things, including dead plants. Linderman tells Nathan a story about HIS generation of heroes trying to save the world. But some apparently turned selfish and undid all the good. Lindeman then admits he is orchestrating the cataclysmic event in New York, to give people hope. At least the ones who are left after the .07 percent of the city is destroyed. The plan is to make Nathan the leader of the survivors. Nathan thinks he’s completely nuts, especially since he’ll have to sacrific his brother to get the power.
As we saw in the last epsiode, Peter goes to Mohinder’s apartment and meets the dreaded Sylar, who starts to slice his head open. But of course, Peter heals himself right away, throwing Sylar across the room. The two fight, using their various powers, but it appears Sylar gets the upper hand and kills Peter with flying glass. Suddenly, Sylar is knocked out by Mohinder, who grabs Peter and runs. When Sylar comes to, the list is gone. He is none to happy.
Claire learns the Petrelli family history from Mrs. P. She has known about Claire all along and has even provided for her, secretly. Now the plan is to take her to Paris for her protection. Claire doesn’t want to go, of course, and it seems Mrs. P has a power, too, but she’s being cagey about it. Nathan comes home and meets his daughter for the first time.
Mohinder shows up at the Petrelli’s with Peter’s apparent dead body. Everyone is mourning, but we know the real deal, don’t we? Claire finds a glass shard in the back of Peter’s head and pulls it out. He immediately heals himself, to Nathan and Mrs. P’s surprise. Later, Nathan tells Peter about Lindeman’s plans. Peter might be able to survive going nuclear, but he doesn’t even want to stick around to find out. He also convinces Nathan to keep Claire around—or so we think. Father and daughter finally talk. Nathan tells her can’t be there for her with all that’s going on. He’s planning to win the election to fulfill his role. So it’s Paris for a week and then she can come home.
Isaac prepares the last Hiro comic and gives his sketchbook to a fanboy messenger. He then paints Sylar standing over his own body—then, Sylar shows up. Isaac knows his end is at hand, but he’s ready for it. He tells Sylar he’s seen Sylar’s future—and it isn’t pretty. But he won’t tell what happens. Instead, Issac has sent out his message on how to stop Sylar and the bomb as his one last heroic act before Sylar cuts his head open. Sylar then starts painting the future.
DL packs up to take Micah away from Jessica. She threatens him, but Linderman’s boys show up to take her to him. He needs to borrow Micah for his skills, but Jessica balks at the idea, despite Lindeman’s menacing presence. Later, she and Micah are leaving the house and it looks like she has given in, handing Micah over to Lindeman. Ah, but it’s just Candace, that wily shape shifter, posing as Jessica. The real Jessica pulls up just after the handoff, and Candace walks by. “Nice car,” she quips.
And what about Hiro? Five years in the future, Hiro and Ando survey the wreckage. They plan to find out what mistakes they made and then go back to stop it. Hiro thinks Isaac might have the answers but when they go to his loft, they find it littered with strings and clippings, Beautiful Mind style. It’s a complete timeline of the Heroes events. But then, suddenly, from out of the shadows, someone steps forth. It’s the future Hiro, hair slicked back, goatee and in full samarai regala. The Hiro we know and love is meeting his future self. Gulp! Talk about mind blowing.
