This week is very Sylar-centric, and I love me some Sylar, but I much prefer when he's joyously evil. Not so much when he's angsty and simply losing his damn mind. Which isn't to say that this episode was bad. Sylar's Norman Bates impression was very creepy and we did move the plot forward somewhat, but I really don't see how they'll wrap this up in one more episode, especially with what I've heard will happen before the "Volume" ends.
The majority of this episode takes place prior to the last scene of last week's episode.
When Sylar waked up with a different face than the one he went to sleep with, he begins to worry that he's forgetting who he is and spends most of the rest of the episode trying to remind himself. His initial solution is to walk around with his own face, but Danko reminds him that Sylar is supposed to be dead and, if he keeps showing up on surveillance videos, Danko will be forced to hunt him down and kill him for real. Danko relates Sylar's dilemma to his own - Danko has had to live separate lives, pretending to be different people all the time, but anchors himself by keeping his father's watch.
Sylar finds a .... unique solution. Impersonating a Homeland Security operative, he requisitions the case files and evidence from his mother's unsolved murder (Sylar killed her back in Season 1) and uses it to commune with her memory. There are a few confusing moments while the camera shifts back and forth between Sylar and his mother as if she's actually there until we see that Sylar's gone all Norman Bates and is shifting back and forth between his body and his mother's to hold both sides of the conversation. I love Sylar, but the dude's a little off.
Also, can somebody explain to me how Sylar not only shapeshifts himself, but his clothes? I presume it's just a convenient plot hole, but if there's an actual explanation I'd love to hear it.
Anyway, Danko interrupts Sylar's Norman Bates impression to tell him that they've found Rebel and wants him to come help capture him. Sylar confront Micah while Danko's men are still working their way to Micah's hideout. Rather than killing Micah, though, Sylar is convinced to help him escape. While Micah hides, Sylar takes his shape and leads the agents on a chase, culminating in him being shot with their darts and falling into the ocean to "die".
While Micah is hiding out at Sylar's apartment, he witnesses Sylar playing Norman Bates again. When Sylar realizes that Micah has seen his craziness, he demands that Micah leave before he kills him. Micah leaves, but first suggests that, with his abilities, he could save all of the "evolved humans" and could be anyone - even Nathan Petrelli - and even convince the President to stop hunting them. "Sylar's Mom" likes this idea and even takes it a step further by suggesting that Sylar could even be President. Sylar and "his mom" finally reconcile when "she" realizes that the moment that he killed her is when he began to lose himself because he questioned what kind of person could kill the only person who really loved him. "She" forgives him and he, newly resolute, breaks into Nathan's office and finds his travel toothbrush to obtain the DNA that he needs to take his shape.
Cue Sylar's press conference as Sylar. The new "Company" realizes that the President will have to meet with Sylar after being challenged so publicly, which will enable Sylar to impersonate the President. Nathan realizes that he has to go back to stop Sylar and begins to leave. The others want to help, but Nathan says that it's his mess and he has to clean it up himself. Nathan rushes out of the diner and Peter goes after him.
Meanwhile, Matt has decided that, with a son to protect, he's done fighting Danko and his people. He wishes Ando and Hiro luck, thanks them for saving his life, and gets into his car to drive Baby Matt back to California and his mom. When he arrives, he and his ex-wife begin to talk about giving things another try when Matt picks up on the thoughts of agents about to raid the house again. He initially plans to escape with Baby Matt and his mom, but then realizes that he needs to see things through to the end if he ever plans on having a normal life. He plans on holding the agents off while his family escapes, but the agents are too quick. We leave the Parkmans with Matt psychically hiding them all while agents search the house.
Hiro and Ando finally agree to work as partners, find Building 26, and plan to break in and stop Danko. They've discovered that, if someone is touching Hiro when he stops time, that person is left unfrozen with Hiro. Hiro makes contact with Ando and tries to freeze time, but instead gets a splitting headache and nosebleed. Danko probably has another Power blocking powers there, but I have no idea who. We leave these two sitting at a bus stop and trying to figure out what's going on.
When Micah escaped, he left some records behind, including the locations of many heroes/villains/powers/whatever you want to call them. Danko makes plans to round them all up.
Suresh, still at Coyote Sands trying to find some answers, is ambushed and captured by agents.
HRG, Claire, and Angela, driving....somewhere - I presume back to Washington - are stopped at a roadblock and also surrounded by Danko's people.
Nathan arrives at his office and begins digging through his desk. Sylar, in Nathan's form, steps out of the shadows holding Nathan's gun, which is apparently what Nathan was looking for. They do the typical banter, with Nathan being all indignant, Sylar laughing at him and telling him that he knows everything through his power to read the past of objects -specifically the jacket Nathan wore when he betrayed everyone during his meeting with the President, Nathan insisting that Sylar will never get away with it, and so on. Nathan gets sick of the trash talk and prepares to just kill Nathan when Danko steps out of the shadows and shoots Nathan.
Danko tries to get Sylar back in line and hunting the others, but Sylar's not interested in what Danko wants anymore. Danko realizes that Sylar's no longer under his control and puts a knife in the back of Sylar's head, which should kill him. Danko begins to call a cleanup crew to take Sylar to the morgue and Nathan into custody when Sylar gets back up, pulls the knife out of the back of his head, and just says "That hurt!"
To be continued next week in the finale!
The previews show that Sylar and Claire will have a talk next week about their abilities and how they're developing - could they both be immortal like Adam Monroe became?
