Time has sure done a number on the cast since we left them at the end of last season, reeling from Peter’s near-nuclear meltdown as he is taken by brother Nathan into space to explode in a bright light, thus saving New York. Here’s a basic rundown of what a few of our stalwart Heroes are up to:
1) Mohinder is traveling around the world, giving lectures about a dangerous virus affecting the Heroes, but no one believes him. He is approached by a man (Stephen Tobolowsky), who is from the Company, asking Mohinder to join them. Then Tobolowsky shows Mohinder his special gift: He can turn silver into gold. Mohinder later calls Bennet and tells him he is “in.” Looks like Mohinder is still in cahoots with Bennet, who is still hell bent on taking down the Company.
2) Claire and Bennet are now living in a new town, Costa Verde, Calif., under the last name of “Butler.” Bennet knows the Company is hot on their trail, so he warns Claire that she mustn’t do anything out of the ordinary at her new high school; she must fly under the radar, as it were. Then, Bennet gives her keys to the car. He’s sorry for everything he’s put Claire through and tells her how much he loves her. He finally gets to be the dad he has always wanted to be.
Running for class, she is almost hit by a car driven by a high school hunk who catches her eye. Later, in science class, he asks her if she’s a robot or an alien. Robots do what they are told and aliens do their own thing. Claire thinks he is strange—but definitely cute. Then, in gym class, Claire sticks up for a girl being taunted by the mean head cheerleader (is there any other kind?) who then challenges Claire to do a back tuck off the tower. Claire wants to show off, knowing she could do it in a heartbeat, but decides against it. Can’t do anything to stand out, remember? Right. But when everyone else has left, she does the back tuck—and breaks her leg, which immediately heals. Cutie boy comes in just as Claire heals. “What are you still doing here?” he asks.
Meanwhile, Bennet has a job at Kinko’s type establishment and gets chewed out by his annoying—and much younger—boss for being late. And then later for taking too long on his break. Bennet is supposed to play it even keeled as well, until the creep goes too far, and Bennet gets mad. He bends the jerk’s finger back and tells him he is going to work the way HE wants to. Not cool. At the Bennet family dinner that night, Claire and Bennet both lie about having uneventful days. And later, Cutie Boy spies on Claire through her bedroom window—floating several feet off the ground. Then, he flies off. Well, well.
3) After fleeing an attack from Sylar, Hiro has transported himself to feudal Japan, circa 1671, right at the start of a battle between two groups of warriors. Suddenly, there’s an eclipse (the importance of this isn’t really explained) just as one group takes aim and fires an arsenal of arrows, coming right for Hiro. He stops time—and the arrows. He walks up to one of the opposing warriros on his horse and recognizes the flag of the hero of his childhood, the legendary Takezo Kensei. Hiro has to save him from the oncoming arrows and teleports him to another part of the forest. But the man Hiro thinks is Kensei, is just one of Kensei’s lackeys instead. The real Kensei comes out, from behind a tree, to question Hiro. Then, Kensei takes off his mask. Guess what? The guy is not Japanese but rather an Englishman working as a mercenary. He came up with the name Kensei, meaning “Sword Saint” because he thought it sounded formidable. Poor Hiro is so perplexed because this is definitely NOT the honorable Kensei Hiro grew up hearing stories about. Then Hiro sees a village burning, which Kensei was supposed to protect but didn’t. A swordsman daughter comes up and berates Kensei for not doing his job and demands him to help her rescue his father. Hiro realizes this is the same woman in the legend that Kensei is supposed to rescue and fall in love with. So, Hiro makes it his mission to correct Kensei’s crooked ways and help him become the hero he is supposed to be.
4) Ando is now working for Hiro’s dad, who is patiently waiting for his son’s return to hand over the business. Suddenly, Hiro’s dad finds a torn half of a picture of himself with a strange symbol drawn over his face. Hiro’s dad tells Ando this means he will die in 24 hours—by “them.” Hiro’s dad then tells Ando to leave him immediately because he is now in danger, but loyal Ando wants to stay. So be it. Hiro’s dad tells Ando he needs a sword to fight this approaching evil menace.
5) Nathan is still alive, but he is in bad shape—mentally, that is. He’s disheveled, a drunk, having lost his wife and family, as well as possibly Peter. When he comes home, Mama Petrelli is there, looking longingly at a picture of both her sons. She thinks Peter is dead, but Nathan doesn’t believe it and throw his mother out, declaring her the “evil” one for almost making him destroy New York. As she’s leaving Nathan’s apartment, she, too, finds the other half of the torn picture with the symbol painted over her face. Oops. Mama Petrelli shows up at Hiro’s dad’s place, with her half of the marked picture. They meet on the roof and Hiro’s dad tells her there is no end to their suffering for all the things they have done. Hiro’s dad tried to seek redemption. Mama Petrelli—nee Angela–did not. She leaves, just as a guy in a hoodie jacket appears on the roof and charges after Hiro’s dad. Ando gets there but just misses saving Hiro’s dad, as both the hooded figure and Hiro’s dad fall off the building. Hiro’s dad is now dead. Was it Sylar?
6) Matt Parkman finally gets his detective badge. We also find out Matt is now divorced. Big surprise, but I wonder what happened to the baby the ex-wife is pregnant with. Anyway, Matt goes to pick up Molly from the school, the little girl who, from last season’s finale, was cured from Mohinder’s virus and who can find anyone in the world just by thinking of them. Her teacher talks to Matt and tells him she is worried about Molly, since she’s drawing intense pictures of evil eyes, with that same weird symbol in between the eyes. Later, Matt tries to talk to Molly about it, but she refuses. That night, he goes into her room to try to hear her dreams while she is sleeping, and he hears a horrible voice saying “I can see you.” Molly jumps awake but won’t tell Matt where this person is because he’s too dangerous.
7) We are then introduced to two new characters, Maya and Alejandro–a brother and sister who are on the run from the police somewhere in Honduras. Maya has a power that frightens her because she can’t control it. Her brother tells her no matter what happens, he’ll always be there to stop it from happening.They are want to go to the U.S. and try to get out with a group on a truck. But the guys driving the truck aren’t all that friendly, and they want the beautiful Maya to ride up front with them. Alejandro tries to fight them off but gets kicked off the truck instead. When Alejandro catches up to the truck later, everyone is dead, looking like they’ve been turned to stone–including the innocent people in the back of the truck. Then he finds Maya, sobbing over what she has done. He assures her once they get to the U.S., “the doctor” will be able to cure her. Guess that must be Mohinder.
No word yet on what’s been happening with Nikki, Micah and D.L., or with Sylar. But we do get a little tidbit about Peter. Dead, huh? On the contrary. On a dock in Ireland, a group of soldiers break into an abandoned crate on a dock and find Peter tied up. He doesn’t know who he is.
And so Heroes begins…
