Recapping from last episode: A wounded DL and Nikki escape through the Linderman’s office wall, just as the guards break in; Mohinder and Bennet are in a standoff over Molly, but she recognizes Parkman, who comes to from being knocked out. The guys put down the guns and Parkman vows to keep her safe; Hiro must go find Ando, despite his father’s warnings; Sylar paints a picture of himself confronting Peter outside the organization’s building, which doesn’t make him happy; Nathan learns of Linderman’s fate is in his office after giving his acceptance speech. “It doesn’t change anything, the plan wasn’t just his,” Mama Petrelli says. Nathan knows that, and he’s going on with the plan.
Back in the building, DL urges Nikki to go find Micah; he’ll wait by the elevators. Meanwhile, Bennet and Mohinder are dragging Thompson’s body to hide it. Molly’s dangerous? Bennet seems to think so only because he doesn’t trust the organization one iota. “The only thing that’s important to me now is protecting my family.” OK, so maybe Bennet won’t kill the little girl. Not now anyway.
The three men—Parkman, Mohinder and Bennet—hover around Molly, who isn’t feeling well after a transfusion but has the strength to find Sylar. Parkman is a bit amazed by her power. She can find anyone just by picturing them? “Most people,” she says, but there’s one person she can never find. Someone worse than Sylar because when she thinks about whoever this person is, he can SEE her. Oh fun, another villain to look forward to. Meanwhile, let’s find Sylar, shall we? He’s in Isaac’s loft.
Claire calls Bennet. She and Peter are still in New York and she tells her dad about finding the dead Ted. Bennet now believes Peter is the only person who could stop Sylar because they both have the same nuclear power. Peter and Claire drive around, and he ends up taking her to meet Nathan in a parking garage. Claire is appalled because Peter has lied to her; Nathan can’t be trusted. But Peter thinks they can trust him because, well, Nathan is his brother—and Peter is scared. Peter gets out of the car to talk to Nathan but reads his thoughts: “It doesn’t matter, everyone is still going to die.” Claire was right, dammit. Nathan can’t be trusted. Peter turns to Claire but she’s gone. He runs out into the street and starts to go nuclear for a second before passing out.
Bennet calls Claire, but her grandmother answers the phone. She and Nathan are taking Claire away so she can be safe. Bennet tells Claire to go with them, no matter how she feels about these people. When she can later, she should try to get away. “Tell me you have a plan, Dad.” “I do, sweetheart.” Bennet has to find Peter, he’s the only one who can truly stop this. Parkman decides to go after Sylar himself.
Then we see Peter in Isaac’s loft, somehow reliving a past moment when he first meets Simone and her ailing dad. Who’s power did Peter absorb so he could do this? Hmmm. Peter watches a moment between his mother and Simone’s father, Charles, who seems to be in on the whole “plan.” Charles thinks maybe they are banking on the wrong Petrelli. Maybe Peter should be the one to pin our hopes on, not Nathan. Mama Petrelli doesn’t believe that, doesn’t think her younger son has the moxie to do it. “The bomb will go off—and Nathan will be the one everyone turns to.” Peter can’t believe what he’s hearing, this dream he is having. Then Mama Petrelli kisses her friend goodbye and walks away. Suddenly, Charles says, “I know you’re there, Peter.”
“Invisibility, I always thought that’d be a good one to have,” Charles laughs as Peter materializes. Peter doesn’t understand why he’s talking to Charles (because he died several episodes ago) or how he got there. Charles tells him he needed to hear the truth: Peter is the good one. He has the heart to love unconditionally and all anyone ever needs is love. Suddenly, Bennet is waking Peter up. He’s back on the street where he passed out. Bennet knows Peter is the key to saving the world, and the two rush off to find Sylar. “Thanks, Mr. Bennett,” Peter says. “Call me Noah.” Ah, so that’s Bennet’s first name.
Back to Issac’s loft (a very busy place), Ando comes in with a sword. He sees the painting of Sylar and Peter confronting each other. Sylar, of course, is right behind Ando and throws him against the wall. “Where is Peter Petrelli?” Sylar queries as he starts to torture Ando. Hiro materializes just in the nick of time and teleports them out of there. Sylar is foiled again! Parkman shows up later and also sees the painting. Sylar isn’t there, thankfully.
In the building again (another popular place), Nikki comes into the room and finds Micah on the floor, seemingly dead. Jessica is waiting for her. “Look at what you’ve done to him, Nikki…you are weak.” Jessica (who’s really Candice, of course) starts beating the crap out of Nikki. Jessica appears in broken glass and tells her it’s NOT her, to go save Micah. Nikki doesn’t think she has the same strength as Jessica—but she does. She throws Candice clear across the room, while the fake Micah on the floor disappears. Nikki finds the real Micah. Mother and son, together again. Mohinder and Molly try to escape but the guards are chasing them. They come across the wounded DL by the elevators. Nikki and Micah show up. The elevator isn’t working but Micah makes it work. They get away. Meanwhile, Hiro teleports Ando back to Tokyo to drop him off, so he’ll be safe.
In the Petrelli mansion, Claire can’t believe Nathan and Grandma are going to just let everyone die. Nathan wants her to trust him, and tells her it’ll all make sense eventually. “You’ll have a place to belong, a family.” It looks like she’s giving in by hugging Nathan but then whispers in Nathan’s ear, “I already have a family.” Claire jumps out the window, mends herself and runs away.
Bennet and Peter run to the front of the building, and Sylar is there. “What took you so long?” He throws Bennet against the side of the building pretty hard, down he goes. Sylar and Peter face each other. Just then Parkman shows up and tries to shoot him, but Sylar turns the bullets on him and HE goes down. Then Nikki, Micah, DL, Mohinder and Molly run out of the building. Sylar has got Peter in a strangle hold and unloosens a parking meter to throw at Peter. But Nikki grabs it and whacks Sylar in the gut. Peter says he can take it from there and starts kicking the guy. But Sylar starts laughing, just as Peter starts to glow. “Turns out you’re the villain, Peter—and I’m the hero,” Sylar oozes.
Just then, Hiro materializes. He charges at Sylar and runs him through with his sword. He did it! Sylar collapses but has enough strength before he dies to send Hiro flying through the air. Hiro squeezes his eyes shut and teleports away before any bodily harm can come to him.
Peter is in trouble, though. He can’t turn off the juice and now everyone who could stop him is out of commission. That is, until Claire comes running onto the scene. She grabs a gun. “Do it! Shoot me! There is no other way!” Peter yells, but she can’t do it. There has to be another way. Indeed. Suddenly, Nathan lands in front of them. “The future isn’t written in stone…You saved the cheerleader, so we could save the world.” Nathan grabs Peter and they shoot up into the air, where they explode into a bright light. Such brotherly love, huh? Warms your heart.
In a nutshell, here’s how things ended…
New York was NOT blown up; Bennet and Claire are finally reunited; a severely wounded and unconscious Parkman is loaded into an ambulance, while Molly begs him not to die, he’s her hero; Mohinder holds the weeping Molly; Micah, DL and Nikki limp away; Linderman, Nathan and Peter are presumably dead; and there’s a trail of blood leading to a manhole, where the supposedly deceased Sylar WAS lying. Yeah, he’s too good a villain to die. End of “Volume One.”
And what happened to Hiro? Looks like that’s the start of “Volume Two.” The first episode, called “Generations,” has Hiro falling from the sky into a field of grass. Suddenly, a small army of Japanese samurai appear on horseback, ready to attack. Words at the bottom of the screen reads: “Outside Kyoto, Japan, 1671” Seems Hiro has teleported into the past. Only just as the samurai are about to shoot their arrows, the sun is eclipsed by the moon, casting a dark shadow over them all.
To be continued…
