Recap: Heroes: Sometimes The Most Interesting Things Happen By Accident

As we get further into the first season of Heroes, it’s becoming quite obvious that it is my favorite show on television. I like it so much, I don’t even wait for the Tivo to record for fifteen minutes just so I can skip the commercials. Yes, I actually watch this show live. Now the only problem I have is going to be deciding between Heroes and 24 when the latter comes back in January. Why do the TV Gods force us to make such a Sophie’s Choice? I guess I’ll just have to deal with that when the time comes, because there is still plenty to talk about when it comes to Heroes. This week’s episode could have been considered a little slow to some, but I enjoyed the way that they helped us catch up with all of the characters, and even the slow episodes of Heroes are pretty damn good.For those of you who may be reading for the first time, I warn you that I start all my recaps with a small diatribe about the stupid narrator at the beginning of the episode. Well, the narrator is still there, so I have to continue to rants. If you want to talk about the actual episode, feel free to skip ahead to the next paragraph. So, I am not sure if there are people at NBC-U that read my recaps, but if they are I am sure they are all getting a good chuckle that this is pissing me off so much. And there is nothing that I can do about it! It’s not like I’m going to boycott the show and I am probably going to see The Return just because it has Sarah Michelle Gellar. Therefore, I really need your help so we can stop this. Just remember, there should be a minimum of violence. I figure a 1 or 2 megaton suppository for every person on the board of GE should do the trick.

Another big surprise at the start of the episode was a distinct lack of Mohinder at the beginning. His character was annoying, but his preface to the episode was actually interesting. Instead we open with a scene of Peter talking about stocks with Charles Deveaux. Charles is Simone’s father, the one that Peter was taking care of all of this time before he quite to do something with his life. It was just last week that we saw him about to change the world. Was the call of the bedpan just too much for him?

Well, not quite. Peter is talking about stocks with Charles, who I now see was played by Richard Roundtree, aka Shaft, but some of you younger folks might remember him as Dr. Burke’s father on Grey’s Anatomy last month. Simone had said that her father was very close to Peter and it was quite evident when they both said, “I love you” to each other. I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with that, but isn’t it strange that he said “I love you” albeit in a platonic, I’m not trying to have sex with you kind of way, to the father before he said to his daughter, they one that he is sleeping with and wants to have a relationship with? It’s not like I’m dreaming about Don Banks, Arthur Gellar and whatever Rosario Dawson’s dad is named. Then again, it’s not like I’m sleeping with Tyra Banks, SMG or Rosario Dawson, so I guess I can’t relate.

The end of this strange love triangle was when Charles said that Peter’s power was that he could speak his mind, to which Peter replied, “Let me tell you a secret” and then proceeded to fly out the window. I am guessing I could have made that a whole lot more dramatic if I didn’t already say that it was a dream, but then you would all lie awake wondering if I dreamed about the fathers of all the women I am infatuated with. You win some, you lose some folks.

Before you start screaming, “just get on with the fucking recap J-UNIT!!!” I am actually getting to a point. Peter woke up with a knocking at the door. It was Simone, and her father just died, which is good news for Peter. No, I’m not saying that he wanted to see Charles die, but Simone said that she really needed to see Peter, and if you are the first person on your not-quite but really hope soon-to-be girlfriend’s list of people to visit when their father dies, it means that there is a good chance of she’ll keep you around long enough to comfort her that night, although I take no responsibility for any of you idiots who follow my advice and get slapped in the face.

All of that stuff is well and good, but we wanted to know about Niki after what happened to her with DL’s arm in her chest and everything like that. Well, Niki eventually woke up. My theory that DL accidentally killed Niki instead of Niki 2.0 was wrong, however, because Niki woke up with no problem whatsoever, except that her son was missing. Up until this point Niki had treated her alter ego as a part of her that wished never even existed. But now, with her son missing, Niki realizes that Niki 2.0 might be the only hope she has for getting Micah back.

After getting in touch with Peter, Simone decided to visit Isaac. I guess she decided to tell all of her lovers about her father’s death in reverse chronological order. When they get there, all of his stuff is gone, and although we didn’t see anything last week, you don’t have to be very smart to figure out that Eden had some back up and all of Isaac’s stuff was cleaned out. The last time this happened, it was Sylar’s apartment that was left empty. I never put two and two together before, but obviously Eden was at Sylar’s apartment and then it was empty, and the same thing happened to Isaac’s place. That’s not strange, but then you begin to think about how much HRG knows. If he has been doing this around the world for some time, maybe he’s one of the missing pieces to getting all of these folks together.

Peter knows nothing of this, but does wonder what happened to Isaac. Meanwhile, Simone is still talking about her father’s death. Simone’s father, who had been in a coma for a long, had suddenly woken up and started talking about flying all over the world, but it wasn’t the world that he recognized. There was lots of pain and nobody was looking out for each other. That’s not a strange world at all. They even have a word for it in some parts of the country. It’s called…Los Angeles.

The strange thing about Charles’ dream was that he said that Peter was flying there with him, which made him believe that there were people out there who cared and could make a difference. In the dream, Peter told Charles that he would save the world. This all sounds like stuff Peter would say, and he did leave a message on her phone saying that he needed one of Isaac’s paintings so he could save the world. Well, Simone doesn’t have the painting any longer, but she does have the name of the person she sold it to. His name is Lindermann, and yes, he does live in Vegas.

My other big complaint about the show is that they reveal way too much in their previews for the next episode. Luckily, NBC has fixed this problem by letting the show run over longer than scheduled, meaning my Tivo loses the final crucial seconds every time, which is another reason why I insist on watching this show live. Anyway, last week the big preview cliffhanger was the Heroes secret would be out. Actually, it was just one hero, and that was Claire.

Zach came over to Claire’s house to tell her that he found the tape. We all remember that tape she was making way back when, right? It featured all of her exploits and Zach had lost it. Personally, I am not sure why she decided to make a video other than wanting to make the guys from Jackass look like chumps. Therefore, when her father got hold of it, I was not at all surprised. Apparently, her father put it back because Zach said that he found the tape under his bed. Now was anybody else wondering what HRG did to get somebody inside Zach’s room so they could search around for the tape and then put it back? My vote is for Lance Bass impersonator, but I could be off.

When Claire got the tape back, I thought she would learn her lesson and destroy it, but the only security measure she took was throwing a hoodie on top of it while she leaves to talk to Zach. Therefore it was even less of a surprise when her brother Lyle found the tape. Lyle, like all younger brothers, has a duty to embarrass his sister in any way possible. If there is video evidence of something embarrassing, there is no way he can NOT look at it. While I will say that I hope Conrad and Barron Hilton didn’t try this with any of the tapes that Paris had left around the mansion.

Claire eventually catches Lyle watching her tapes, and although she tries to say that it is all special effects, Lyle picks up a staple gun and puts a staple into his sister’s hand. Now there are a couple of things about this that disturb me. First, why the hell is there a staple gun just lying around in the living room? Is that how they keep the dog from running away? Second, what does a staple prove? If you really want to see if your sister is invincible, pick up a real weapon. But if you must settle for a staple gun, aim for the eye! Now THAT would look cool. Claire pulls the staple out, and goes back to normal, and obviously the new revelation of his sister’s invincibility has instilled a new fear into Lyle that noogies and Dutch rubs could not because Lyle runs out of the house screaming and hides out in the family SUV, shouting that his sister is a freak.

I think Lyle is not acting out of the ordinary, but could you imagine what would happen is his dad found out that he tormented Claire Bear so much? Actually, it can’t be that bad. Zach recorded all of those videos of Claire Bear, and he is still alive, so maybe Horn Rimmed Glasses wouldn’t actually kill his only son. Lyle has some ideas with what he is going to do, like make millions by putting it on YouTube, until his sister reminds him that YouTube is free that is. Zach then tried to scare him out by saying that they were aliens and they were going to anal probe him, because, you know, Zach has had lots of practice. Eventually, Claire comes to tears. Lyle had threatened to tell their parents, but Claire is worried that they’ll think they made a mistake adopting her and send her back. It was kind of sad to hear, and even if HRG turns out to be a huge asshole that kills all of the Heroes, I hope Claire is able to realize how much her dad cares for her.

This week also saw the return of Matt Parkman. Apparently his little episode in the convenience store didn’t mess him up at all because he was still taking advantage of his newfound power to give his wife the pleasure that she deserved. Matt hopes that this can lead to a whole new episode of honesty with his wife, so he decides to tell her about his ability, but he is stopped when he starts to hear her say things to herself like “I thought I’d been careful” and “Does he know?”. Matt decides that he should hold off on the little speech until maybe he knows more about what is going on.

When Matt is getting ready to go back on the beat with his partner, Special Agent Audrey Hanson comes in and says she needs some help. Again, I have few questions. First, are all FBI agents special? Wouldn’t you like to join the FBI just so you could say, “This is Average Agent J-Unit” or something like that? If you are in the FBI and a reading this, please let me know. Oh, and all those mentions of drug use are just a joke! Also, if you are Special Agent Tim Something-Or-Other, do you mind if I call you Special Agent “TIMMY!!!” or did you get enough of that five years ago? Finally, are all female Special Agents required to do their shopping in the LPGA business casual aisle, or is that something Ms. Hanson does on her own?

As you might have guessed, Sylar is at it again, so Matt is going back tot he FBI for a day. I guess I should say that they think it is Sylar because although the corpse SA Hanson showed Matt was killed in a most gruesome fashion, he was not frozen and the head, or what’s left of it, was still in place. The body had been burned to a crisp, but there was a lot of radiation around the body, which made people think it was Sylar. I don’t think I have the first episode anymore, but I don’t remember Sylar’s last crime scene in LA as having been radioactive, so I am not sure what made her think of Sylar.

“You hungry? I could go for some BBQ ribs”

I am sort of torn when it comes to deciding whether DL is a good guy or a bad guy. He always complained about being framed, and it turned out to be true, but he was stealing something at the time, so I don’t have much sympathy. DL found out that his wife framed him and she did hit him first, but whatever he did to Niki almost killed her. But how can I criticize a guy for wanting to protect his son from a woman who has admitted to killing about a dozen people?

Micah is having an even harder time than I am, not only because he thinks his mother is dead, but because the dreams of his father have been sort of smashed. Micah always believed that his father would come back and always said his father didn’t do it. When I first heard him say his father was innocent, I thought it was because DL had been visiting, but maybe it’s just because he really knows what his mom is capable of. Whatever the case, Micah turned his father into a hero, but heroes aren’t supposed to run away, they are supposed to help people.

DL gets to prove what type of Hero he is when the two of them come across an accident in the middle of the road. Two cars were involved, one is burning, and there is still somebody stuck in one of the cars. DL tells Micah to stay back while he tries to help the person inside. Unfortunately, the doors are locked, so there is no way to get in, or is there?

We know DL can walk through walls, and he uses his ability to reach inside of the car door and open it from the inside. Man, I could really use that sort of power. Invincibility is good, but I find that I lock myself out of places much more often than I am running into warehouse fires saving people. DL gets the person out of the car, but it looks like it is going to be too late. The fire has spread and the car explodes!

Was that the end of DL? Hardly! It just so happens that Hiro and Ando came upon the same accident. Hiro saw what was going on and stopped time just as the car was exploding. Although future Hiro was a bad ass, I have to say I am going to miss this Hiro. He’s always so happy with himself when he stops time; it puts a smile on my face just watching him get so excited. Hiro got the job done, but he did say he wished he was born with super strength too, and it looked like he was very tired after pulling DL and the crash survivor out of the way.

Micah was sure that his father was dead, but obviously it all turned out OK. For a moment, Hiro began to explain everything that was going on. Micah saw that he had a future issue of 9th wonders and Hiro explained that he could stop time. Things were about to get awkward because Micah recognized Ando’s face, since Ando did try and break into Micah’s house to visit his mom, but DL pulled Micah away and left.

I have decided that we really need to meet this Lindermann jerk. He is not only involved with the DL and Niki story lines, but also the one with Nathan, Hiro and Ando (sort of), and now Peter and Isaac. When Peter asked Simone about the missing painting, Simone said that she sold it to a guy named Lindermann in Vegas. To me, it seems a little too random, and there is just nothing that random in this show.

Now I personally don’t think that Peter would actually need the missing painting, because usually insurance companies want lots of pictures of art before it is shipped anywhere. I guess since Isaac is not quite Van Gogh, they decided it wasn’t worth the time. Peter knows Lindermann because it turns out that Lindermann was not just bankrolling his brother, but was also a friend of the family. Therefore, he goes to visit Nathan to see if he can get a little help with this thing.

As Peter gets to Nathan’s house, he finds his mother, his brother, his brother’s wife and two kids, and a reporter having brunch. The interview is not that interesting, but we learn a few more things about Nathan. I am never one to deny a man from getting his groove on, but I thought it was really stupid for Nathan to do it while he was running for office and his wife was sick. Not only was his wife sick, but she was in a wheelchair. And not only was his wife in a wheelchair, but it appears that Nathan put her there! She was paralyzed because of an accident, and he was driving. I am starting to wish that HRG and The Eraser had been able to hold onto him. Actually, the way Nathan is acting, I wish Sylar had caught up with him.

At first, Peter threatens to expose the whole flying thing to the reporter, but instead decides to use it as leverage to get Nathan to help him out. Instead, Peter goes outside and begins to lay it on really thick, saying that if Nathan takes care of the people half as much as he takes care of his brother, it will be an interesting city. Peter even has an answer when the reporter questions Nathan about the security scare and some blonde woman in Vegas. Peter says that his brother was looking a mental health clinic and the blonde woman was a doctor. Hmm, Peter is such a good liar; maybe he should be the one that runs for office.

In Los Angeles, Matt and Audrey go to find this Theodore Sprague guy they think is Sylar. The body of the burned corpse belonged to an oncologist at UCLA, and he was burned so badly that one of his bones had a fingerprint of good old Teddy. When they get to the house, I immediately knew that it wasn’t Sylar’s place. First of all, it looked like a generic “serial killer lives here” home; the only thing missing out front was a sign that said “Open House: New Victims Inquire Within”. Second, Sylar’s apartment was pretty neat other than all of that crazy writing in the back room. Third, it’s just too early to find Sylar.

When they do get inside, they see lots of pictures with the faces cut out, some x-rays, and a lot of things that looked like they were just burned in general. Audrey brought her little radiation detector with her, but most of the readings were normal, except for one room. I thought there was going to be some crazy shit behind that door, but it was just another room, except the radiation levels were so off the charts that the two of them had to take radiation pills.

What they did find in the house was some medication for Karen Sprague. Her doctor was the same oncologist who had been killed by the non-Sylar. When they go to visit her in the hospital, there is Theodore Sprague. And then it becomes obvious. Sprague was another person with a special ability, except his ability is radiation, which I guess means he could power a submarine, but what else is there to do? How about give your wife cancer?

That’s right, Theodore wasn’t Sylar, and he probably didn’t mean to kill the doctor, but it was clear that he was quite distraught over what happened to his wife. And you don’t want to see him get upset, because things start to go up in flames. Matt and Audrey try to take him in, but he takes a nurse hostage instead. It looks like things are going bad, but Matt starts to hear what his sick wife is saying. She is in a coma, but she is still speaking. She said that she wanted her Teddy bear to stop and she didn’t want him to blame himself. That calmed him down just enough to be taken into custody.

After the accident, Micah asked DL if they could go back to help his mother, and DL said that they could never go back. I have a feeling that DL knows that it is just a matter of time before Niki 2.0 finds them. And actually, we shouldn’t be calling her Niki 2.0 anymore. Her name is Jessica. Following the fight, Niki’s friend came over, which was lucky for us, because she explained a little bit about her alter ego, Jessica. Although her friend says there is no Jessica, Niki says that there is a part of her that wants Jessica to come back, but first, Niki is going to try another method, and decides to call the most powerful guy that she knows – Nathan Petrelli.

The problem with calling Nathan is that he has sort of figured out that other people are watching what he does, and it wouldn’t be good to be caught helping out a random blonde woman in Vegas a few weeks before his election. Maybe he also feels guilty because of his wife and kids. Speaking of his wife, she happens to catch him talking on the phone and just asks flat out “Do you still love me”. Before she answers, she says that she knows that the chair means to him, and let’s him know that she will walk again, but she has to have a reason.

I think that the whole thing about what being in a wheelchair means to him is talking about the fact that their sex life is not quite what it used to be. I know that this is a family site, but I see that his wife Heidi still has a working set of arms and appears to have no problem opening her jaw. Is it too crass to suggest that they get a little creative in their lovemaking? I saw Murderball and in the middle there are five disturbing minutes that really let us know that being in a wheelchair doesn’t mean it’s the end of your sex life. I actually loved the movie the surprising assortment of wheelchair sexual positions they threw in there towards the middle did throw me off a bit.

Obviously, I think Nathan is a jerk, but I am not letting Heidi off just because she is in a wheelchair. She says she needs hope to walk, and when her husband lies and says the blonde woman was actually Peter’s doctor, she just believes him. I don’t think that she can be that naive. My only hope is that the thing that motivates her to get out of her wheelchair is that she wants to stand up and kick her cheating husband in the nuts several dozen times.

Heidi wasn’t the only one that Nathan lied to that night though. After Peter’s performance at the brunch, Nathan decided that he would check with Mr. Lindermann about this painting. Nathan checked, and although Mr. Lindermann said it would be sent “directly to the gallery”, Nathan didn’t tell that to Peter when he went to visit his brother later in the day. Instead, he tries to convince Peter that there is nothing that they can do. He can fly places, but how does that help him stop anything? I thought Peter would counter back that everybody has to work together to make the world a better place, but he didn’t mention anything. It would have been the perfect time to mention Hiro Nakamoto, because that Nathan also met Hiro and would probably recognize the name, but Peter stayed quiet. Instead, his brother talks about how he was nearly captured by Horn Rimmed Glasses and “Spooky Euro Guy”. Nathan is not worried about saving others; he’s worried about what others would do if they found out he has powers, and therefore wants to keep his mouth shut.

You really have to feel good about Matt Parkman these days. Audrey not only praised him for his work on the case, she pulled some strings and got Matt another shot on the detective’s exam. His marriage has stopped falling apart. He’s back on the path to success that he always wanted. Man, there’s nothing that can make this a bad day!

Uh, wait a minute there. Not so fast. Remember that he heard his wife talk about “being careful”. He had avoided her messages all day, but finally called back to say that he was afraid of losing her and he wants to go forward without any regrets. There just so happens to be a big regret hanging out there. His wife was cheating on him. How did he find out? Because his partner was bragging about it in his head. Matt heard his thoughts and punched him in the face. The truth really does hurt sometime.

I guess you could call this a sort of slow episode, but the last few minutes made up for it. First, we see that Sprague has a symbol on his back, different from the f that we have been looking for. It is like two slashes, slightly separated, and Matt Parkman has the same symbol. It might not mean anything, but they took such great pains to show it, I am sure it will come up later on down the road.

After that, we heard that Mohinder was back! He was saying that you do not choose your destiny; it chooses you. Those who knew you before fate took you by the hand cannot understand the depth of the changes inside. Sounds like the perfect description of what is going on with Niki, don’t you think?

Micah decides to call his mom to see if she was OK, and the first thing we notice is that the phone is out of order. Then we notice that Micah is fixing it. I knew he was just too much of a genius early on in the episode. It looks like Micah has an ability and the fact that it is nothing like either of his parents ability tells us that this cellular mutation might be inherited, but that doesn’t mean people will have the same ability.

All episode, Niki was trying to fight Jessica, but after Nathan dissed her, Jessica decided to come out, and she was very happy to hear Micah call. At first, she tried to convince Micah that she was his mom, but he wasn’t buying it. Still, he didn’t hang up, and he even gave her enough information for people to be able to find him and his dad, but Micah didn’t sound worried at al. It makes me wonder if Micah knew that Jessica would come, but his mom would take over at some point. I can’t wait until we hear more about this kid.

This was one of those character episodes, and it was a little slow, but I liked it. We have yet another hero with this Sprague guy, and we can see how all the pieces are starting to come together. Save the cheerleader. Save the world. I still don’t like the phrase, but I’ll still be ready to see what happens.

What did you think of this episode? Will Jessica find Micah and DL?