At the end of last week's episode, Mama Petrelli told Sylar that she was his mother. I paid no attention because I figured she was full of shit, but they seem to be sticking with it because this week's episode picks up where the last one left off. Mama Petrelli tells Sylar that she never should have given him up for adoption and, when he asks her if she's for real, tells him that he always knew deep down that he wasn't "the son of a watchmaker and a woman who collects Hummel figurines".
On a side note, I spent six months working for an Ebay seller and learned way more about Hummel figurines than I ever wanted to know. I still dream of their empty, lifeless, unbelievably creepy porcelain eyes of doom. *shudder*
Mama then calls in a woman who can read the past of any object she touches to "feed" Sylar. Highly disturbing, and slightly annoying in its implication, since it was established last week that there is no eating involved. Nonetheless, when HRG shows up to help catch the escaped villains, they're just carting out the bloody body and Sylar is washing blood from his hands, so there's no doubt of the girl's fate.
Bennett requests his old partner, the Haitian, but is told that he's busy on a pickup assignment (that we'll get details of later in the episode), so he will be receiving a new partner for now. If you hadn't guessed from previews, Bennett's new partner is Sylar and HRG is not happy about it. So unhappy, in fact, that he initially wants to shoot Sylar until Mama Petrelli points out that Sylar can't be killed any more than Claire can. Mama then says that Sylar is just misunderstood and needs structure. She thinks Bennett is just the person to give Sylar that structure, but is putting him into play whether Bennett agrees to supervise him or not.
Nathan is in his new Washington DC office wondering where "Tracy" is (in her hotel room freezing poor defenseless roses with her new power) when Future Peter shows up, apparently summoned by Nathan. Nathan plays the message that Peter trapped in Weevil's body left him at the end of last show and Future Peter takes off to find Weevil/Peter. Ok, fine, I think Weevil's name is really Jesse, but I'm still clinging to my Veronica Mars memories, so I'm calling him Weevil. Just be glad that I'm not calling Elle "Veronica".
When Nathan finally tracks Tracy down, she asks him who Niki is/was and then heads to New Orleans to do some investigating of her own. When she gets to New Orleans, it looks like Nikki's funeral has just ended, since the closed coffin along with pictures of Niki growing up and with DL and Micah are still on display. When Tracy opens the coffin, Niki's body is inside so we now know that Nikki and Tracy are not the same person. Right when Tracy is about to leave, Micah comes out of a back room. Though he calls her by Niki's name, Micah immediately realizes that Tracy is not his mother. They talk for a bit and Micah tells Tracy about his mother. When Micah tells his computer to cross-reference Niki and Tracy's records to find any connections, he finds out that not only were they both born in the same hospital on the same day, but they even had the same doctor - Dr. Zimmerman.
When Tracy shows up on Dr. Zimmerman's doorstep in California, he calls her by another woman's name, which sounded like "Barbara". When she tells Zimmerman that her name is Tracy Strauss, he replies "oh yes, the one from Beverly Hills" and invites her in. Tracy asks him how he knows who she is and he replies "Know you? My dear, I created you."
Peter, still in Weevil's body, enters a bank with the other villains. When he suggests that they come back later when the bank is closed and there would be less people, he is told that would defeat the purpose. I won't even bother going into the robbery, because it isn't really the point, even to the robbers. Well, other than Magneto and, to a lesser extent, the pyromaniac that kinda looks like Kane from the WWE. Peter/Jesse/Weevil does a few things to make his fellow villains doubt his insincerity until, eventually, one of them catches him in a lie when he agrees that he can't get back to his friends and family in Detroit and the villain points out that Jesse/Weevil is from Las Vegas and has no friends and family. When the smart villain (Knox) calls the cops in the hope that Bennett will be sent to stop them, Magneto freaks out and wants to leave. Knox just punches out Magneto's heart. Which, really, is kinda hardcore.
Bennett and Sylar, of course, show up. Bennett tells Sylar to stay out of the way, to debrief the hostages when they come out and help on the outside, but to "stay away from that buffet in there" while Bennett trades himself for the hostages.
Kane and Knox are holding Jesse/Weevil (outed as not who he appears to be) hostage along with the other bank customers and employees and beating the crap out of him when Bennett finally comes to trade himself for the hostages. Everyone's let go but Peter/Jesse/Weevil, because his storyline has to move forward somehow. The villains prepare to kill both Peter/Jesse and Bennett when Peter finally discovers Jesse's power - he can create sonic blasts with his voice. Peter blasts the pyro across the room and begins to blast Knox and (caught in the crossfire) Bennett, but Future Peter stops time and removes Peter from Jesse's body. Future Peter offers to show Peter the future that he is trying to stop and they both disappear into the future.
Time unfreezes and both Sullivan and Bennett are knocked over. Bennett thanks Jesse, thinking that he is still Peter and just saved his life, but Jesse tells him that Peter isn't there anymore and begins to beat on Bennett. Bennett warns them to turn themselves in and nobody else has to get hurt. They laugh and ask him what he knows that they don't. He replies that his partner is behind them and Sylar force-chokes Knox and Jesse while Bennett shoots Kane.
The two handcuff the villains and plan to tell the police that the villains are escaped federal prisoners but, when Bennett is loading Kane into the car, Sylar telepathically slams the bank doors shut and slams Weevil/Jesse into them. Bennett shouts that Sylar doesn't have to kill them, that he can fight the urge, but Sylar insists that he thinks he does have to do it and begins to cut Jesse's head open. It's assumed that Sylar also kills Knox, though it isn't shown.
At the Bennett household, tensions are high with Mrs. Bennett and Claire's real (biological!) mom, Meredith, both trying to mother Claire, who just wants to take off and be a hero. The funny thing is, the moms both appear to be on the same side (wanting Claire to go to school and try to live a normal life), but Mrs. Bennett has to turn it into a pissing match. Meredith agrees to help Claire learn to fight, but ends up just sucking all of the oxygen out of the room until Claire admits that she only wants to go heroing to get revenge on Sylar for making her feel helpless. Claire pretends have learned a lesson and agree to try to be normal, but then sneaks off in her car with her dad's files on the Level 5 escapees.
Matt is still on a "spirit walk" with the African Isaac (he can paint the future) and finds out that all of the African's paintings since he was a boy have focused on Matt and his life. Most of the paintings have already come true except for one of Matt holding a baby next to a woman who is probably his wife (possibly his ex-wife?). The African tells Matt that this future is no longer possible and spreads white paint all over it. The African then goes into a trance, white eyes and all, and paints a picture of Matt cradling the body of a faceless woman. When Matt asks him who the woman is, the African gives Matt a bowl of something to eat (presumably hallucinogens). Matt insists that they're doing nothing for him, but when the African puts his headphones on Matt's head, he goes white-eyed. I assume Matt will receive a vision of the future in the next episode.
About that drop that the Haitian is on? He's apparently picking up the second half of the formula that Speedy Daphne jacked from Hiro. Hiro has tracked Daphne, via the tracking device he planted on her last week, to a German movie theater. After some bickering and the reveal that Daphne has already given Hiro's half of the equation to her employer, she tries to run off, but has no super-speed. Hiro's powers aren't working, either, which is how we find out that the Haitian is present. Hiro recognizes the Haitian from their previous encounter (way back in the first season, I believe) and deduces that the Haitian is involved in the transfer of the formula, giving him an advantage over Daphne. Daphne, though, simply follows Hiro and Ando and begins planting seeds of doubt in Ando's ear, making him think that it may be time that his Robin (to Hiro's Batman) "start to fly". Hiro follows the Haitian to the projection room where he is making the switch (picking the half up for Mama Petrelli) and, when Hiro fails to trick the Haitian out of his briefcase, Ando knocks the Haitian out. Hiro picks the briefcase up, but Daphne has gotten her powers back with the Haitian unconscious and speeds past, stealing the briefcase while Hiro and Ando argue. Hiro tries to stop time, but the Haitian has woken up.
Hiro and Ando are locked up in Level 5 at the end of the episode.
After Bennett and Sylar escort Kane the pyro to his cell, Mama Petrelli hands Sylar a set of prison pajamas and sends him to his own cell, but implies that he'll be getting more chances to prove himself. If you'll excuse a comic book reference, it looks like Sylar has a Thunderbolts-type deal going.
The Haitian asks Bennett if he's been replaced and Bennett reassures him that he's only working with Sylar long enough to find a weak point, at which point Bennett will kill him.
So why did Angela Petrelli and Kaito Nakamura each have half of this formula? What side will Sylar ultimately fall on? What the hell is with Matt and this African dude? Is future Claire really going to shoot Peter? Since Peter absorbs other's powers, wouldn't he have absorbed Claire's powers before he was shot and thus be impossible to kill? Will Ando betray Hiro? Are Niki, Tracy and this "Barbara" clones? Ok, was Niki a clone, are the other two. Will this season be better than last, even though I thought last season was actually okay?
Maybe we'll find out next week, but I wouldn't count on it.
