Recap: I Guess It’s Time For a New Beginning

I am worried about the future of Heroes. This show is so good, I am afraid that so many people will get hooked that the FDA will consider it a mind-altering drug and have it banned. It’s so much better than almost anything else out there, I am afraid that other networks will want to add on some sort of suckiness tariff to keep the playing field level. Last night, Heroes was so in the zone that I think at least a dozen religions are going to start considering it the gospel. I could write a whole recap of hyperbolic analogies and I still wouldn’t get enough recursive hyperbole to describe how awesome this show was last night. I am so happy that this episode was great, because this is my last recap for TVgasm, and I really like to go out on top.Wha? This is my last recap for TVgasm? Well, yes, my run has come to then end, but I’ll explain that a little later. For now, let’s get to this latest episode. This episode was so good, the sucky narrator is only going to get one sentence!

This episode started a little earlier than where we left off last week. Matt and Ted Sprague had just broken into the Bennet’s home. Ted has enough control of his powers that he was able to simply melt the handle off of the back door. Man, I wish I had his ability sometimes, not because I want to blow shit up and give people cancer, but I am a dumbass and lock myself out of my apartment all the time.

Ted is not convinced that they should even be bothering with the house. He knows that HRG is way too careful to leave any evidence behind, but Matt reminds him that the FBI didn’t have a search warrant for the house, so perhaps there is something that they missed. Matt had wanted to get in and out before anybody noticed anything, but those plans were soon dashed when the Bennet family returned from the hospital.

Although Ted loved the idea of hostages, Matt was not really stoked about the whole thing. Then again, he wanted answers just as badly as Ted did, and he knows just how dangerous Ted can be. Maybe the best thing would be to play good cop/bad cop, or in this case good hostage taker/bad hostage taker, and try to make a deal.

When the Bennet family walks in, Ted appears first, and HRG knows that he is in deep trouble. When he turns around and sees Matt Parkman, he knows that he is about to enter a world of pain that he may not be ready for. From this moment on, he knows he has to protect his family. If he plays it straight, maybe he can just pretend nothing ever happened, and they are imagining it all.

Mr. Bennet says, “I am just a paper salesman.”

It sounds pretty convincing, but we all know that is not true. What we don’t know is how it all got started. I generally hate television shows that overuse flashbacks to explain what is happening, but in this case, it was entirely appropriate. What I love about Heroes is that it always leaves us wanting more. There have been a lot of questions accumulating lately, and I have been saying for a few weeks that they are going to have to start answering a lot of questions.

Oh was I in for a treat! Never in my wildest, conspiracy-filled dreams could I have imagined how satisfying these flashbacks would be. The first one takes us back 15 years ago. HRG is talking with another man about paper, and that man, who we know as Thompson and is played by Eric Roberts, just made HRG, who by the way can’t even be called HRG at this time because he isn’t wearing glasses, regional manager for Primatech Paper, before they both have a little laugh about the whole thing.

It’s obvious that Primatech is just a cover, and Thompson is in on the whole thing. They both work for “The Organization” and if you think that Mr. Bennet was a good soldier, he obviously has nothing on Thompson. We don’t know too much about the organization, but the way Thompson and Mr. Bennet talk about it makes is sound like a cult. They have a job to do, and think that because some people may not agree with their methods or tactics, that the world at large shouldn’t know what they are doing. On the surface, this doesn’t sound too bad, but we don’t know what the goal of this organization is. Are they collecting these Heroes because they want cure cancer, fly to the moon, make Diet Dr. Pepper taste even more like regular Dr. Pepper? Isn’t this a little extreme?

As Thompson and Bennet start to discuss what the job entails, including having to tread that “morally grey category” that some people are unwilling to deal with, Thompson introduces Mr. Bennet to his new partner. It’s Claude! Woah! That explains A LOT now doesn’t it? Primatech, or “The Organization” if you prefer, found Claude, and Claude helped find other Heroes. Therefore, nothing that Peter did surprised him

I am obviously ready for a lot more info on Mr. Bennet’s past, like why he thought Claude was dead, but we do have to deal at least a little bit with the present day. One thing that threw me off guard was the way that Matt and Ted were talking about their conditions. They acted like nothing strange was happening to them until HRG took them away. I had just assumed that everybody who had these powers knew they were born with them, and were only upset because they were having headaches and memory loss.

Now I can sort of understand where they are coming from, at least for Ted. If he thought he turned radioactive after HRG took him, it’s easy to see why he blamed Mr. Bennet for his wife’s death. As for Matt, what is his problem? He was hearing people before Bennet and The Eraser came into his life.

In any case, it doesn’t matter now. They tell HRG the only way to save his family is to tell the truth, and then they suddenly discover that they might already have an ally. Matt can read minds, and he hears Claire blaming her father, and realizes Claire knows. She is also still pissed at her father and will do pretty much anything to get the truth out in the open. Her father has hurt her so much over the last few months and she has felt powerless to do anything. I am sure she wished she could get her father to speak by some method other than at gunpoint by hostages, but for now it will do. Claire says, “He’s not a paper salesman.”

Let the inquisition begin.

We all know that HRG loves control, and seeing that he lost his daughter was hard on him. As Matt begins to interview Claire, HRG is trying to think of a way to get himself out of his predicament. Matt is just trying to get some answers so Ted doesn’t blow up the entire block. He starts to read Claire’s mind, and he hears the name Peter Petrelli. Suddenly, it all comes back. Save the cheerleader, save the world. Matt realizes that Claire is different.

We cut away to another flashback, this one only 14 years ago. Claude and HRG are talking…on the of the Deveaux building. Thompson is there, and so is, George Takei? Hiro’s dad knew about all of this all along? Wow. Wow. Wow. There are so many things to think about, but we finally figured out how Claire ended up with HRG. She was an assignment. Mr. Bennet would take her home, and as soon as she started to show powers, they would take her back! So THAT’S why HRG is working to keep Claire such a secret. He not only wants to keep Sylar away from her, but the rest of Primatech Paper as well. That would explain why we haven’t seen Thompson until this episode. By the way, how cute was little Hiro with his glasses on?

Since all of this happened on top of the Deveaux building, you know that Richard Roundtree Deveaux had to know about all of this going on when he was alive. It also happens to be the same building where Claude kept his pigeons. It didn’t make sense to me that Claude would spend so much time running away from this organization; only to spend most of his time on the roof of a building he knew people from the Organization had used. Why the hell did he get pissed at Peter for ratting him out?

Fast forward to the present once again, and Matt and Ted are trying to figure out how to pry information out of HRG. Without the Haitian around, Matt is able to read HRG’s thoughts, but HRG is actually thinking in Japanese! It must have been something Primatech Paper taught him in order to keep himself safe from the prying minds of people he should run into on the job.

Ted wasn’t having any of this and decided to call HRG’s bluff, and pointed a gun at Mrs. Bennet. Mr. Bennet finally told him that there was a safe behind the bookcase, but only wanted to use it as a diversion so he could grab a gun he had hidden in the fireplace. Unfortunately, he was way to slow, and didn’t get a shot off. Ted decided to show that he was serious and pointed the gun at Mrs. Bennet once again.

As soon as Claire saw this, she begged to be shot. After all, it would be easier for her to come back, and then HRG started thinking in English, so Matt could hear him. He knew that Matt was reluctant and told him that he has to shoot Claire because she can heal, but he has to do it before Ted pulls the trigger.

Parkman does pull the trigger, and Claire falls over dead, but as we know, not really. Matt and HRG take Claire upstairs, where Mr. Bennet tries to make a deal with Matt. Meanwhile, Claire has healed, and the bullet? She pulled it out of her mouth like it was a pumpkin seed or something. God I love that girl.

Anyway, Mr. Bennet tries to set the record straight. He didn’t do anything to anyone, and he’ll cooperate with Matt and Ted if they let his family go. Claire wants to go back downstairs, but HRG tells her that she has to stay put. Ted is unstable and if he finds out they lied about Claire, he could literally blow up. She can hate her father, but she should follow his advice in at least one area “Don’t put your family at risk.” Claire is still upset, but I think she is starting to realize that her dad has sacrificed a lot and never wanted to hurt her. Therefore, she says she’ll play dead while her dad tries to fix everything else.

HRG says that he needs to get to Primatech Paper. He wants to go with Ted and leave Matt with his family, but I think Ted is worried about what HRG will do. Frankly, I think he is worried that Matt is getting a little soft as well. He says that Matt is going to go to the factory, and the two of them will bring back some answers, but if they are not back within an hour. KABOOM!

I thought that an hour wouldn’t be enough time. I know Odessa is not a big town, but I’m sure there is at least a little traffic, and you know how Parkman likes his donuts! However, we got another look back in time.

In this edition, we learn about the first time Mrs. Bennet got erased. It was not long after the Bennet’s got their new baby. HRG was working long hours, the baby was keeping him awake, and he was a little sloppy and left his gun and an interrogation kit in a place where his wife could find it. She started to ask some questions, and HRG was worried that she might be in danger. Apparently, Primatech Paper does not like it when people know their secrets when they are not supposed to.

Luckily for HRG, Thompson tells them about a young boy from Haiti that they just met. He can pull memories out of other people’s minds. Thompson adds “And you should thank him for saving your wife’s life.” Next thing we know, a young eraser is in the Bennet house, and goes upstairs to erase Sandra’s mind for the first time.

When we return, Matt and HRG are in Primatech Paper, but HRG has no intention of bringing back any answers. The only thing he has in store for Ted Sprague is a tranquilizer. Matt says that Ted deserves the truth, and while that may be true, HRG knows that Ted wants more than the truth. Ted wants his wife back, and if he doesn’t get that, he wants revenge. When Matt shot Claire, he mentioned that he heard Ted pulling the trigger in his mind.

As they leave, the Haitian joins them. HRG needs him, but he is just as upset. He told The Haitian to erase Claire’s memory and that obviously didn’t happen. And obviously he’s been speaking a lot more than other people know. When he was asked why he disobeyed the order, The Haitian said that he answered to a higher power. In the company? No. In Claire’s life.

SHIT. SHIT. SHIT.

So much stuff was happening at once, and new questions were coming just as fast as the new answers. The next flashback was a great one. It was seven years ago, and HRG and Claude were on their way to take care of a security threat. That security threat was Claude and HRG was sent to kill him. Claude’s crime? He found one of “them” as the people in the Company called the Heroes, and didn’t tell anybody. They didn’t tell us who Claude hid, but I was wondering if it was Claire’s mom. We know she was on the run for a while as well.

Claude knew his partner’s mission, because he had been in the office when he got the orders, but he tried to convince HRG to stop. HRG was always a company man, but having a daughter had changed him. He tried to stay distant because he knew he had to give her back eventually. Claude tried to use Claire to get HRG to rethink what he was doing, but he couldn’t be convinced.

I guess we now know why Claude was running, but I still want to know what they are doing with all of these superhumans. Claude said he didn’t like what they were doing to his own people, hunting them down, but did he not like the invasion of privacy, or was there something else going on in the labs that hurt them in some way? In any case, we soon learned why HRG thought Claude was dead. He drove out to the middle of a bridge, told Claude to get out. Claude made a few more attempts to convince his old partner, but HRG shot him anyway. He still believed in the organization too much to risk it.

As he was shot, Claude started to disappear. HRG fired some rounds in the general direction, and it looked like Claude was just about to fall off the bridge to a rocky death below, but they obviously never found the body. Yes, that’s as good a reason as any to run, and it’s obvious he should get out of Odessa, but why would he go to New York and live in a place most likely to have ties to the Organization? Did Richard Roundtree Deveaux give him safe haven? It’s either a huge oversight or there is more to that story.

OK, back to the present. While Matt and HRG were gone, Ted was busying himself, trying to practice his little nuclear tricks he likes so much. He had noticed earlier that Matt was a little too cooperative with HRG and why would Matt suddenly shoot a kid when he didn’t want to shoot ANYBODY moments before. He goes upstairs to check on Claire, but she was nowhere to be found.

Claire decided not to listen to her father and snuck out of her room. She made her way downstairs and as Ted went upstairs, she tried to free her mom and brother. This had to be the most nerve-wracking time for me. You just know that Ed was going to come back down, and sure enough, he made it back just as the family was making a break for it. Her brother made it out, but her mother couldn’t leave Claire behind. She couldn’t figure out how Claire survived the gun shot and the parental instincts kicked in. Mrs. Bennet wanted to protect her daughter.

Of course there was nothing she could really do, and Ted tied the both of them up, and he has a feeling that Parkman was on to the. Eventually, Matt and HRG get back, and Sprague is pretty pissed, but HRG did bring Sprague’s entire case file with him. Fuck the graphic novels, that is what I would like leaked on the Internet.

It seems like Sprague is happy that he has some answers, and by this time, The Haitian had come in to get Claire and her mother out of harm’s way. Unfortunately, another person had come along for the ride as well – Thompson. And we know how Thompson operates! He shoots Sprague, but it is not enough to kill him. Instead, it is just enough distraction that it looks like Ted is about to blow.

HRG still has his tranquilizer, but there is no way he can get close enough without dying. The only person that can do that is Claire. She was outside, but when she saw Matt and Thompson come out and knew that her dad was inside, she knew that she had to help. She went inside, HRG came outside and as the neighbors began to gather around, they all watched to see if Claire could stop the explosion. Well, there was no nuclear detonation, but there was a big enough blast that you were worried both of the people inside were dead. Hell, I was worried that everybody within a mile radius would get cancer.

Claire was able to do it. She came out the front door looking like an extra from Backdraft 2, but she was alive, and walking, and was healing pretty quickly. HRG was happy to have his family back together, but now he has to deal with Thompson.

So did Thompson punish HRG? Not really. Somehow, he believed that it was the Haitian who was hiding Claire’s powers. The Haitian had gone on the run soon after Thompson came on the scene, and they couldn’t find him. For now, they had Ted Sprague in a Sylar-like holding cell, trying to figure what gets him so steamed up, and Parkman in another lab. Would they do something to Parkman? Thompson suggested that he would be a great new partner for HRG. After all, he is looking for work.

There is also another cute brunette in the background who Thompson said is very promising (the same phrase he used to describe the Haitian) that will help them all clean up the mess. There is only one thing left for HRG to do. Bring in Claire.

As Mr. Bennet is driving his daughter to Primatech, he has one more flashback. He and a young Claire were helping him pick out glasses. She was wondering if she would need glasses some day. It was at this time he decided to tell his daughter she was adopted. It was hard, but you could tell how much HRG loved her. He may have been distant seven years ago, but that is not the case now.

I’m not one who cries during television, but the next five minutes probably had a lot of people in tears. After telling his daughter that her family is not where she comes from, but how much they love her, HRG follows it up by saying, “You didn’t grow inside your mother, but you did grow inside our hearts.” It is so very cheesy, but I can’t make fun of it because it was so sincere, and it really was an important turning point in Claire’s life. She picks up a pair of glasses, the ones that HRG made so famous, and when he tries them on and says “How do I look?” Claire says, “Like my dad.”

But the tearjerking did not stop there. On their way to Primatech, HRG stops on the side of the road. He is about to hand Claire off to the Haitian, but in order for them to make it look like it was real, the Haitian has to shoot HRG. But it gets worse. After hearing about the “very promising” new girl, HRG was worried that they would probe his brain and get information, therefore he tells his friend to erase any memory of his daughter that would give her location away. He spent all of that time protecting her, and now he has to give her up. Claire finally realizes her father’s sacrifice, and I think my heart was broken like a thousand times by now.

Wow. Was that amazing or what? And next week should be even more amazing because A) we finally get to meet Linderman and B) it turns out Simone is alive. Now, I am sure that we’ll only get two seconds of Linderman at the end like when they revealed that Nathan was Claire’s dad, but the Simone angle is interesting.

If Simone is alive, she has to have some sort of power. It would explain why she believed in what Peter was doing, and that Isaac could paint the future. Perhaps she was adopted as well. And the same thing goes for Hiro. It’s obvious his dad wanted him to go to Japan because if Hiro showed powers, he would have to turn him in. It’s the reason why he was so upset he told his son those stories about the samurai sword.

There is so much speculation, but unfortunately, I won’t be here to guide you through it. Yes, after nearly three years, it is time for me to say goodbye to TVgasm. I’ve become a little burned out and have decided to take some time off from the Internet. I’ll still be kicking around the forums, and if you need to contact me, you can contact me through the member contact form there, or send me an e-mail at my current address, which I will keep for a little while. I want to thank all of the fans that have stuck by me through this great time. I started TVgasm because I love television, and it always made me happy to be able to share my thoughts and obsessions with other people. My last request is to keep the comments section here about Heroes. I have created a thread in the forums if you want to say goodbye. There is probably a lot more I could say, but I suck at goodbyes. I do, however, hope everybody keeps in touch.

Yours Truly,

J-Unit