This week’s episode of ‘Heroes’ saw one cheerleader killed and another one saved. In addition to that horrifying scene, we finally got a small snippet of info regarding Hiro’s attempt to save Charlie as well as another glimpse into Eden’s abilities and Jessica finally catches up with DL and Micah. The only main character missing from the episode was mind-reading Matt. Otherwise everyone else was present and accounted for in varying degrees.
We’ll start small and work our way up. Jessica (Niki’s PMSy alter-ego) purchased herself a sniper rifle with the intention of using it to kill D.L. As D.L. has the ability to make himself non-corporeal, her comment, “The cops can’t stop him… but I can, as long as he doesn’t see it coming.” makes sense. If D.L. sees her shoot at him, he would probably have the ability to make the bullet pass right through him.
Micah tries to run away but D.L. catches up with him. Micah explains to his dad about Jessica, which confirms that he’s not only fully aware that his mom has an alter-ego, but that he somehow knows her name. The extent of Micah’s knowledge of his mother’s “power” isn’t elaborated further than that but he does go on to tell D.L. that Niki isn’t aware of Jessica. D.L. believes Micah (for all we know, Micah isn’t aware that Niki and Jessica have communicated to one another) and agrees to go back and help Niki. When we last see them, Jessica is perched on a rooftop with D.L. in her sights.
Micah confessed that he called his mother and D.L. is looking around nervously, about to get in his car when Jessica pulls the trigger. We don’t see whether or not she hit her target but judging by her aim, its unlikely that she missed. All we can hope is that D.L. was able to de-corporealize himself before the bullet hit him or that Micah’s ability to fix telephones works on the human body as well.
Mohinder, still in India, seeks out the boy who appeared in his dreams. He explains to his father’s colleague that the boy, Iyer Sanjog, is able to visit people in their dreams, alter their perceptions and is “a spirit guide” (all of this is in the boy’s file.) He finds the boy in the marketplace and has a brief chat with him. Iyer tells him that he doesn’t come to people, they come to him. Mohinder asks him which path he should take (referring to whether or not to pursue the hero stuff or give it up). Iyer tells him he already has the answer.
Mohinder has another dream and sees Iyer briefly before witnessing a conversation his father had with his colleague about his work and how it was going to cost him his tenure at the university. He then sees a conversation he once had with his father about the evolution studies. When Mohinder admitted to reading his father’s book, his dad became upset and urged him to drop the subject. He tells Mohinder that a scientist has to have a “heart of stone”. After waking from the dream in front of the computer, still showing the “Are You Sure You Want To Quit” message, Mohinder realizes his father was trying to protect him. He thinks for a minute then makes his decision and hits “no”. Rather than the program coming up, the computer asks him for a password. He tries to guess it but then takes a minute to think about his father’s words, “Heart of Stone”. He types in “Shanti”, his deceased sister’s name and it works. The program decodes and it’s a list of all of the people with powers as well as their locations.
Mohinder explains to his mother that he is going to continue his father’s work. She’s concerned for his safety but seems to respect his decision.
Ando is still waiting for Hiro to return to the diner. He eventually notices the picture of Hiro and Charlie on the wall behind Charlie’s memorial. He asks the waitress about it and she tells him that Hiro showed up about six months ago and that he and Charlie were tight. She also says that Hiro left weeks before she died. At the end of the episode we see Hiro, six months earlier, introducing himself to Charlie. The introduction is just moments before the birthday cake picture was taken.
Nathan receives the missing painting and he views it with Simone. We’re tortured as the two view the painting, debating whether or not the man shown is Peter. We don’t get to see what the painting shows because the two are obstructing the view. Nathan takes a bucket of paint and splashes it over the painting before we get to see it. He talks about Peter having delusions of grandeur and generally thinks the whole thing is unbelievable.
Luckily, Simone had a digital copy of the painting that was sent with it. She shows it to Peter and we finally get to see what it is. The painting shows a banner which reads “Homecoming”, a clock with the time set at 8:12 and a guy that looks like Peter lying on the ground, dead. Peter seems to understand the implications of this but he insists on going to find the girl. He and Simone share a teary eyed kiss before he leaves.
Peter calls Hiro but as he’s not there, Ando picks up. Ando lies about Hiro’s whereabouts. Peter tells Ando that the cheerleader is in Odessa, which, conveniently, is not too far from the diner. When Peter arrives in Texas, he stops off at the diner and Ando explains to him about what Hiro did. He doesn’t accompany Peter to the high school but before Peter leaves, the two briefly exchange words about the “powers”. Peter explains how he can mooch off other people’s powers but he seems to think this is somewhat useless.
Horn-Rimmed Glasses talks to Eden about Isaac. He’s disappointed that the painting Isaac did after Eden convinced him to take more heroine doesn’t seem to offer any clues as to how Claire will die. We don’t get to see the entire painting but what we do see shows a red figure with white spider-man-like eyes. The figure looks like its made of fire or perhaps, standing in front of fire and has his arms up over his head. Its very demon like. It doesn’t appear to have anything to do with Homecoming but it’s probably going to be relevant to some future catastrophe.
Eden defends Isaac, explaining that he’s not a vending machine that can be manipulated. HRG tells her that her emotions are clouding her judgment. He demands that she gets Isaac to take more drugs when he wakes but she refuses and says it was a mistake to do it the first time. HRG’s biggest priority seems to be protecting Claire at any cost. He tells Eden he’ll keep Claire safe at home and that he wants her (Eden) to find Sylar and “neutralize him”.
Claire won the un-popular vote in the race for Homecoming Queen, earning her the title. Her friend Jackie, the girl who took the credit for saving that guy from the fire, was none too pleased by this. Claire’s friend Zach admits that he campaigned for her. He then gives her Mohinder’s father’s book, telling her he found it on the internet and thought it might help her figure herself out. Claire seems blown away by Zach’s kindness and tells him so.
Jackie shows up and teases Zach about being gay (which is still unconfirmed). Claire’s had enough of her and punches her in the face. When she returns home, her father grounds her without giving her a reason. He doesn’t care if she hates him for it, as long as she doesn’t go to homecoming and get herself killed.
Zach sneaks up to Claire’s room via a ladder and convinces her to go to the game and dance anyway. He talks to Claire about how he doesn’t care what Jackie or anyone thinks of him. He says he knows who he is and he likes who he is. He wants Claire to like who she is and embrace her inner freak.
The two sneak off to Homecoming and when HRG finds out, he goes after her. Peter runs into Claire in the halls as he’s viewing a display of Jackie’s heroism (which includes the newspaper clipping of how she supposedly saved the guy from the fire). Claire is not dressed in her cheerleader uniform at this point and when Peter questions her about Jackie, she mentions that Jackie is a cheerleader. This confirms to Peter that Jackie is “the cheerleader” that needs to be saved.
In the locker room, after the other cheerleaders head off to the game and coronation, Claire confronts Jackie. Jackie tries to put Claire down but her own insecurity is apparent. Claire tells her that she knows it wasn’t her who saved the fireman, going on to admit it was her and that she can prove it with a tape. The conversation gets cut off when the lights go out. This is when things get really creepy. The two girls walk through the locker room and there’s definitely someone else in there with them. Sylar.
Can I just take a minute to say how brutally disturbing this whole scene was? Sylar approaches the girls but he’s wearing a hat and we don’t see his face. He apparently came to the same conclusion Peter did in that Jackie, the girl who reportedly walked through fire, is the one whose brain he wants. He throws Claire aside, breaking some of her bones and part of her face in the process. He then lifts Jackie up by her neck and holds her up against the wall. He covers her mouth with one hand, still holding her up and points his finger at her. We see Jackie’s head start to split horizontally across her forehead. Apparently, this is how Sylar’s been slicing off the tops of people’s skulls.
Claire manages to set her bones and heal her face all while witnessing Sylar kill Jackie. Jackie manages to choke out “Run” before she dies, just as Sylar sees Claire’s face heal and realizes he had the wrong girl. HRG heard Jackie screaming and runs to find her, thinking it’s Claire. Peter also heard the screams and sees Claire when she came bursting out of the locker room. He tells her to leave and stays behind to face Sylar. Sylar uses his mind-powers to throw locker doors at Peter but he runs away. We get to see the scene with Claire running up the cement bleachers and falling just like in Isaac’s painting.
Peter catches up to her and again, tells her to get away. Sylar attacks Peter and the two fall over the edge of the bleachers, and onto the ground. There appears to be blood pouring out of Peter’s lifeless body but none from Sylar’s body. When Claire finds Peter, Sylar is gone (though we never saw him get up and leave). Peter’s ability to mimic other people’s powers kicked in the minute Claire showed up and he began to set his own bones.
Peter asks her to get help but before she leaves, she asks him his name and gives him hers. He asks “are you the one… saving you, did I save the world?” (thanks Peter, we were all about to ask the same thing!). Claire replies, “I don’t know… I’m just a cheerleader.” All evidence to the contrary, my dear.
Claire finds her dad and after making sure he's ok, he refuses to let her go back to help Peter, wanting to leave that to the police. He tells her that she’s lucky to be alive but Claire says “it’s not luck” and then says that there’s something she needs to tell him. We next see Peter getting arrested by the cops. It’s likely that they found Jackie and now believe he’s the murderer. A strange guy from out of town, covered in blood? Yeah things don’t look good for Peter. Unless Claire comes forward as a witness its going to take a miracle (or perhaps is brother’s political connections) to get him out.
Eden finds Sylar in the woods. He actually came across her. Whether or not Eden willed him to come to her or he just managed to stumble across the same patch of woods that she and the Haitian (aka the mind-sucker) were standing around in, is unknown. Sylar lifts his deadly finger at her but she tells him he doesn’t want to hurt her. She tells him they need to talk and that he can tell her all about himself but first he needs to sleep. The Haitian grabs his head and Sylar falls down.
What will HRG do with Sylar now that they have him? Also, what is Hiro up to? According to the waitress, he disappeared or “popped out of her life” a few weeks before she was killed. Perhaps at some point, Hiro figured out a way to save her but it required him to go somewhere/some-when else. Now Ando is stuck in a slightly altered version of the diner’s reality.
What did you think? Did the “save the cheerleader” portion of the story live up to your expectations? Were you as horrified at Jackie’s death as I was? Are the characters getting better and better looking or is it just me?
