Despite half of the episode taking place in the past, there weren't really any new revelations this week - just some added context. We find out exactly what caused "The Company" to be formed, in a sort of "everything has happened before and will happen again" type feeling. We also get to meet yet another member of the Petrelli clan, and she's somehow even crazier than the rest!
Via Angela's flashbacks or telling the story to the others (I'm not really sure which), we're taken back to the events of 1961 at the Coyote Sands relocation facility. We meet a young Angela and her sister Alice, who are greeted by Dr. Chandra Suresh and his colleague Dr. Zimmerman. You may remember Dr. Zimmerman as the man who "created" Tracy, Niki, and the as-yet-unseen Barbara. The girls are almost immediately welcomed by a group of teenage boys - Charles Deveaux, Daniel Linderman, and Bobby (Bob) Bishop. Noticeably absent are Arthur Petrelli and Kaito Nakamura, but I guess Arthur wasn't brought in until he met Linderman and Kaito was in Japan and thus didn't meet any of them until later.
The exposition fairy takes possession of Angela and Alice to let us know that they were referred to Coyote Sands by a family doctor who thought that Angela's dream "condition" could be cured there. Since it's a genetic condition, the whole family was send to be tested and observed. The soldiers with guns and constant testing and shots make it clear that this is just Danko's operation in an earlier, more idealistic form with a kinder face. The lab building is even Number 26 - nice touch. v When Angela begins having dreams that Chandra will cause the death of everyone in the camp, her concerns are dismissed by everyone but the boys and Alice. When Alice discovers that she has the power to control the weather, she becomes scared that Chandra will come for her next. Angela and the boys hatch a plan to sneak out and get help, but leave Alice behind for fear that she'd either get hurt or slow them down. To get Alice to stay behind, Angela tells her that she had another dream and Alice will be safe as long as she stays at Coyote Sands. While they're gone, though, Chandra comes to do tests on Alice. Alice freaks out when Chandra wants to give her a shout and, when a guard tries to hold her down for the shot, causes a storm that somehow sends a bold of lightning in through the door to strike the guard. She escapes the building, chased by Suresh. A man uses his powers to protect Alice from Chandra and is then shot by a guard. This starts a big battle between the "guests" and the guards. Alice, who is not anywhere near in control of her powers (despite that amazing lightning shot and the control you think it would require), gets so upset that she causes a flash flood.
Angela and the boys see the news report of the flash flood and apparently assume everyone has died. They decide right then to form the group that will become "The Company", to police themselves and keep the existence of those with powers under wraps. Kinda sounds like the X-Men, no? Or at least a perverted, corrupt version of the X-Men.
In the present, Angela lays out everything (or everything she deems appropriate, knowing Angela) to her family - what her plan has been, what she's done, how and why, as well as the story of Coyote Sands. Claire, now understanding what HRG has been doing while working with Danko, starts to consider forgiving him. Then Angela drops the bombshell - she wants to start a new Company, with the Petrelli's and HRG running it, to protect themselves from Danko and his cronies. Peter, still pissed at basically everyone for not living up to his high standards, rejects the moral ambiguity that Angela espouses and takes off. Nathan follows, to try to talk some sense into him. Nathan catches up to him at the same cafe where The Company was formed. They have a big back and forth where Peter basically accuses Nathan of being everything short of Satan incarnate, and Nathan basically agrees that he has been very wrong on occasion and asks for Peter to get the fuck over it and start some forgiveness.
I find it interesting that I've completely agreed with Peter about Nathan for so long (since their argument in Eclipse, Part 2, in fact), but now I just wish that he'd come down off that high horse with the rest of us, with their behavior being basically consistent.
Anyway, Peter finally agrees to try to get over himself and they head back to Coyote Sands.
While they're gone, Claire gets HRG to leave her alone with Angela to talk. Angela tells Claire that she's been having dreams that Alice is still alive and she's come back to give the exposition fairy a convenient way to move the plot forward. Ok, here's a slight problem I have. Obviously, Angela knew that Zimmerman and Chandra Suresh survived, why did she never bother to see if anyone else survived? We in the biz call that a plot hole, boys and girls. About this time, the wind goes crazy, just like in Angela's dream, and Angela runs off to find her sister. By the time Claire gets outside to chase Angela, the wind storm has died down and Angela has disappeared.
HRG is stuck out in the storm and stumbling around trying to find shelter when a piece of flying debris knocks him down. He looks up and sees Suresh, who thinks he's been followed there. Suresh drags HRG into a building for answers, and HRG spills everything. Suresh, ever the trusting sort, believes HRG's explanation for working with Danko and coming to Coyote Sands, so he shares his information with HRG.
Peter and Nathan make their conveniently timed return and are somehow totally unsurprised to see Suresh. Instead, Nathan just splits everyone up to look for Angela. This nicely pairs everyone up with the person they can most easily talk to about what's on their minds. Peter and Suresh talk about the sins of their fathers, the importance of family, and belief in redemption. Nathan and HRG talk about how badly they messed things up and how to make things right. HRG actually does double duty, because he and Claire talk about how nice "normal life" used to be and if they can ever go back to that.
Angela wakes up in a bunker surrounded by newspapers and canned goods. She hears someone coming and hides until she somehow recognizes her sister, fifty years older. Alice tells her that she's stayed there and done what she needs to do to survive because Angela had told her that she'd be safe at Coyote Sands, so she's stayed to keep safe and keep the world safe from her. Angela tells her that she's come back to take her home and everything will be okay. When she apologizes to Alice for lying, though, Alice loses it. And causes another storm, complete with lightning. Peter and HRG show up just in time to get blasted by lightning. Suresh tries to tell her to calm down, but Alice flashes back to Chandra doing the exact same thing and just goes even crazier.
Angela finally talks her down by telling her that this is Alice's family, the only family she has left, and she shouldn't hurt them. Alice stops the storm, but runs away and disappears. Nobody can find her, and they finally leave, figuring there are no more answers. Peter tries to get Suresh to come along, but he tells Peter that he isn't quite ready to forgive himself and move on, so he stays behind to confront his ghosts a bit more.
At the cafe, the Petrelli's and HRG agree to form a new group, but Peter insists that it not be a Company, but a family. One that forgives each-other and works towards redemption. They make plans to go underground and - HRG insists while looking at Claire - try to have normal lives. Nathan begins to make plans to go back to Washington, confront his mistakes, and talk to the president, but then sees himself on TV holding a press conference. I didn't catch everything he said, but it sounded like an announcement to run for President. Of course, everyone realizes that it's Sylar up there, which brings us back to the future that we saw in Volume 1, right?
Two more episodes to go. This hasn't been a bad season, but I really hope they can get away from the recycled Marvel plotlines next season, with Jeph Loeb gone.
Sorry, Jeph, but you need some new material.
