It's been a while.
There's been a lot of hype, a lot of, "We've had time to think and recharge, and this time we got it right." Lets take a look at the evidence...

Numbers in brackets are keyed to footnote editorial comments.

Volume III: Villains
Chapter One: The Second Coming

Manhattan, 4 Years in the Future: See Peter. See Peter with a scar on his face. See Peter run. See Peter duck into a concrete parking garage. Claire waits for him inside and raises a gun to shoot him [1]. He can go back and change things: no more experiments, no more camps. He can stop the world from finding out. She doesn't buy it and pulls the trigger. Peter slows time, dodges the bullet, takes the gun away and vanishes.

Office Building, Present Day: Scar Peter appears in a closet and hears Nathan making his confessional speech nearby. He grabs a hat from a coat stand, walks into the press conference and shoots Nathan [2]. Scar Peter runs away. Present Peter and Matt give chase, but lose him in the bathroom where Scar Peter vanishes[3].

Costa Verde California: Claire watches news coverage of the shooting and calls Peter in a panic. Peter answers from the ambulance carrying Nathan. She could help, but she's in California, so Peter promises to call her as soon as he knows anything. Claire subsides, petting Mr. Muggles and waiting to see what happens.

Hospital, Odessa Texas: Nathan's taken into emergency where they try to revive him. Hours later, the doctor emerges. Nathan's dead. Peter grieves, but only until Nathan suddenly sits up on the operating table.

Yamagato Industries, Tokyo Japan: Hiro, sitting in Kaito's office, amuses himself by watching a complicated clock while jumping back and forth through time. Ando enters. He's intimidated by Hiro's sudden success. Hiro has no interest in material success. He's bored. Kaito's lawyer enters and gives Hiro a DVD Kaito recorded before his death.

Bennet House, Costa Verde: Claire watches coverage of Nathan's shooting, waiting for Peter's call. She packs a bag for New York and opens her bedroom door to find Sylar waiting on the other side. While he monologues, she picks up a statue and knocks him over the head, then runs downstairs. Sylar recovers and telekinetically seals the house before she can leave, then blows out the lights. She grabs a knife while he stalks her and manages to get one slice in, knocking him down again. She runs into a closet and closes the door, looping a chain around the handle to hold it closed.

Suresh Apartment, New York: As the door starts to open, Maya waits behind it with a cricket bat. She wallops Mohinder as he comes through, thinking he might be Sylar. Mohinder only gets a bruise. Molly's on a plane to somewhere safe [5]. Mohinder's getting nowhere with his research so he's heading home to India. Maya's so angry at him for abandoning her when she's come to him for a cure that it triggers her power. She manages to calm down before killing Mohinder. That demonstration proves to be a revelation to Mohinder, who dissolves into technobabble. Powers are produced in adrenaline, not blood and he needs a sample of Maya's blood when she's angry again.

Yamagato Industries Office, Japan: Hiro and Ando watch the video of Kaito. Hiro must guard a dangerous secret that could threaten the world. It's in his personal safe, which must never be opened. Although Ando thinks doing so would be an insult to Kaito's memory, Hiro searches for a way to open the safe because it may contain a way for him to be a hero instead of just a sentinel [6]. The safe opens to his thumbprint, which he takes as proof that Kaito wanted him to open it. Inside is another DVD on which Kaito scolds him for opening the safe, then tells him it's half a formula. If it falls into the wrong hands, then the only hope is someone of pure blood who can be the "light."[7] Hiro opens the formula, which is part of some molecular diagram.

Suddenly, there's a blur of red and the formula is gone. Hiro stops time and sees a "light trail" which leads through the outer offices to a girl frozen in mid-run. As Hiro examines her, the light trail catches up to her and vanishes. She straightens up and wonders if he's a "speedster" too. She doesn't think he can stop time because otherwise, they couldn't talk[8]. She finishes by knocking him down, and when time has snapped back to normal, running away.

A Storeroom, Odessa Texas: Peter enters and begins rummaging through a box on a shelf. Matt follows, holding a gun up by a pencil through the trigger guard. Matt doesn't understand what Peter's doing there, how Peter knew where to look[9]. Peter tries to distract Matt with talk about the miracle of Nathan's recovery. Matt gets a headache from trying to read his mind. Peter's face changes: showing a scar across his face. It's Scar Peter, who came back in time to stop Nathan from revealing the existence of the Specials because that's where IT all began. Now that Matt knows, Peter has to send him away. Peter pulls Matt to him using telekinesis, and Matt vanishes.

Hospital: Nathan wakes up in a private room, clutching his chest in pain. He's surprised he's not dead, and seems fascinated by a suit hanging on a hook on the door. Peter enters the hospital, asks a nurse for directions, and walks into Nathan's room. Nathan's gone, and so is the suit.

External Hospital, Odessa Texas: A reporter discusses Nathan's remarkable recovery in front of a news camera when Nathan himself walks out of the hospital and into the church across the road. The reporter follows. Nathan stares at the cross in the church and tells a woman there that he saw God, who gave him another chance to do great things. Peter enters the church and watches, hand on the gun, as the reporter asks Nathan whether he's going to deliver the message he had started earlier that day. Instead, Nathan launches into a religious message about how everyone is connected and how God isn't going to wait much longer for them to realize that[10] they have to save themselves to save the world. Peter comes forward and catches his brother just as Nathan collapses.

Suresh Apartment: Mohinder continues technobabble. He then expresses his sympathy for Maya's predicament, inadvertently grabbing her in his excitement. Both of them immediately become uncomfortable when they realize they're touching. Mohinder's done it, though, the thing his father never could: he's isolated the mechanism that gives people powers. He figures he can use what's in his syringe to give ordinary people powers. Maya's upset that he's found a way to give them instead of take them away. Mohinder heads to his loft laboratory.

Bennet House, California: Claire hides in the closet as Sylar wanders around in the kitchen, occasionally rattling the door. He rattles off a creepy monologue as he finds a file box on the table. Inside are dossiers on a bunch of specials in a folder marked "Level 5." While he's distracted, Claire sneaks out of the closet and stabs him. He goes down, but gets up again (with the knife sticking out of his ribs) while she runs away. He telekinetically slams her against a wall[11] and slices her head open[12].

A few minutes later she's conscious, but lying on the table while Sylar pokes around in her head. He's looking for answers before he bleeds to death. She asks if he's going to eat her brain, but he thinks the suggestion is disgusting[13]. After a few more moments, he finds something he's been looking for and pulls it out. He stands, removes the knife, and watches as his wound closes. He then takes the Level 5 file and is about to leave Claire dead on the table, but then turns back and replaces the top of her skull. She heals up and sits up before Sylar leaves, wondering why he didn't kill her. She's special, different from the others. He can't kill her because she can't die and now it seems Sylar can't either.

The Lab, Soho: Mohinder works feverishly. Maya enters and insists he stop his work and destroy his samples. She doesn't want anyone else to have her ability. Mohinder figures that with an infinite composition of brain chemistry, the range of abilities is likewise infinite[14]. Mohinder figures that it's already in the wrong hands, those of the company. Maya thinks maybe that's a good thing because someone is out there stopping people like her and Sylar. Mohinder could have stopped Sylar if he'd had the serum before. Maya insists that if the serum can't remove her power, then it's evil and he should destroy it. She leaves him staring at his work.

Hospital, Odessa Texas: Nathan, once more in hospital gear, awakens to find Peter sitting nearby. Peter holds up a newspaper whose headline proclaims Nathan's divine revelation. Nathan thought he dreamed it, but he believes it's true. Peter thinks there's a mortal explanation. Nathan believes that the Specials are an expression of God's will, angels, and they can't be angels if Nathan tells the world about them[15]. Peter, accepts this as proof that Nathan's going to keep their secret. After Nathan falls asleep, Peter asks his forgiveness for the shooting and then leaves. Nathan awakes again to see Linderman, who must have been the one to heal Nathan[16]. Linderman believes they are both meant for great things.

A Hotel Room: A man watches news coverage of Nathan's revelation. He tells "Tracey" that they've found their guy. "Tracey" comes out wearing a bathrobe and lingerie and turns out to be Niki Sanders. She addresses the man as "Governor" [17].

Desert, Daytime: Matt wakes up when a scorpion wanders across his face. He stands up, calls out and telepathically searches for other people. He doesn't find anything.

Tokyo Street, Nighttime: Hiro finishes telling Ando what happened with the speedster. Ando scolds Hiro for opening the safe, but suggests he go back to the past and ask his father what it's all about. Hiro refuses. The last time he went back, bad things happened[18], so this time he's going to go forward. Before Ando can stop him, Hiro vanishes.

Same Street, Future: An air-raid siren blows and the crowd rushes past Hiro. Above them, on a catwalk, Future Hiro holds the formula scrap in one hand and accuses Future Ando of betraying him. Future Ando denies it, but when Future Hiro pulls out Kensai's katana, Ando fires a beam of electricity and takes the formula from the hands of an unconscious Ando. Suddenly, Present Hiro hears a beeping and turns in time to see the lights of the city wink out. A moment later, the ground erupts, sending cars flying everywhere and Hiro teleports out an instant before being flattened by a sedan.

Same Street, Present: Ando spots Hiro a moment after his return and calls out to him. Hiro looks suspicious and uncertain, but Ando doesn't notice. All Hiro says is that they have to find that formula.

A Dock, New York: Mohinder contemplates throwing the syringe away, but only for a moment[19]. Then he injects himself[16]. He has a seizure and falls to the ground.

Hospital, Odessa Texas: Angela Petrelli stands over Nathan's bed. Peter walks by outside the open door, and Angela walks out to join him. She knows who he is. She gave him his first ability: the ability to dream about the future. She dreamed about what he'd do, shooting Nathan. Peter figures if she can dream about the future, then she would know that the formula she and her friends tried to bury would get out and destroy everything. Shooting Nathan was the only way to prevent it. Angela's only seen the future that Scar Peter created. Because he shot Nathan, something worse happens. She demands to know what Scar Peter did with her son. Scar Peter put him someplace safe.

Mohinder's Voiceover: He recites "The Second Coming," by George Yeats[20].

Company Cell, Primatech Paper Sublevel Odessa Texas: A figure in one of those cells protests that he's Peter, and that he's not supposed to be there. The guard ignores him. The other cells hold a man who throws blue fire against the glass, and Noah Bennet, who's passing his time playing catch against the glass. The man who claims to be Peter doesn't look at all like him, and Noah frowns as he hears the name.

Bennet Home: Mrs. Bennet and Lyle come home to find Claire sitting on the floor, crying and still marked with a bloody forehead.

Desert: Matt stumbles along until the desert becomes grassland and he finds a rock curiously painted in black, green and yellow.

A Residential Street: Sylar strides along carrying the Level 5 folder.

Nathan's Hospital Room: Nathan sleeps while Linderman sits beside him.

Hotel Room: Niki/Jessica/Tracey/Legion watches Nathan coverage on television.

Dockside, New York: A couple of punks find Mohinder and try to roll him for money. When they discover he's broke, one pulls a pistol. Mohinder grabs it and crushes it and the hand of the man who holds it. While that one stumbles away screaming, Mohinder grabs the other man and throws him a good thirty feet. They both run away, leaving Mohinder staring at his hands. Behind him on a wall is graffiti of the same symbol Matt saw. Here, it's obviously a picture of earth with a white oval over Mexico/Central America and splatters to the northeast and southwest (the half-helix symbol again?).

[
1. Why would Claire shoot Peter? Is killing him somehow going to make everything all better? I think slapping the writers might have the same effect.

2. PIS*. Couldn't Peter have shot Nathan somewhere other than the chest? Or even just shot AT him to disrupt the conference?

3. Where did he go that Present Peter could not see to follow? Not invisible. Teleportation? The answer is later in the episode.

4. PIS. Is there no place in the house more secure than a closet with a flimsy wooden door? Sylar has flipped over armored cars. Is there something about dog chains that renders him powerless? If so, he could easily be defeated by Mr. Muggles, who has mysteriously vanished from the scene without so much as a bark.

5. Most gratuitous character disposal since the disappearance of Hicks, Newt and Bishop in Aliens III.

6. PIS. I just don't understand this at all.

7. Argh. Has Heroes really descended to the level of using the "cryptic prophesy" cliche?

8. Can he stop time? My take: yes. However, the disappearance of the light trail tells me that he's gone from stopping time to allowing time to pass slowly at this point. Just as Peter started out unaware of when he triggered his powers, it's possible that Hiro doesn't have full conscious control of his ability.

9. Fine. How'd Matt know where to look?

10. Wow. I always have a hard time sitting through bad melodrama.

11. My goodness. He's been concussed, slashed and stabbed and he's still coming. What does Sylar need Claire's power for? He's practically invincible already.

12. Not a good thing to see on a full stomach. Or even an empty one.

13. In a nice acknowledgement of fan curiosity, they inserted a moment of comedy in a scene of bloody gore.

14. Maybe so, but we've already seen two fliers. Infinity would appear to be a lot smaller than Mohinder thinks.

15. PIS. "We couldn't be angels if everyone knew about us." Sorry, Nathan. Lay off the painkillers because that doesn't make any sense. Besides, you're from New York. You know an angel wouldn't last five minutes in the hood.

16. There are certain comic book tropes which do not translate well into a live-action series that hopes to be taken seriously. One of them is the dead-character-reappearance (that one is actually seriously unpopular in comics too, although it's used frequently). The other is the scientist who experiments on themselves with an unproven formula (it worked in Spider-Man because Osborn was both psychotic and desperate. The combination of script and actor sold it to the audience. Here, the script couldn't sell donuts to a starving man).

17. Governor Captain John "Scarecrow" Sheridan -- actor Bruce Boxleitner of "The Scarecrow and Mrs. King" and "Babylon 5" fame.

18. Most of last season. Could he go back in time and prevent that? Please?

19. PIS. Mohinder has a sophisticated biological/genetics laboratory available to him. By definition, it must have facilities for the safe disposal of hazardous waste. Yet he travels all the way down to the docks to throw it in the river. Is he thinking of mutating the fish?

20. An attempt at injecting broader symbolic significance to the events that have unfolded. Unfortunately, the recitation of a piece of great poetry here makes everything seem trite and melodramatic.

*PIS: Plot-Induced Stupidity. This happens when a character, hitherto presented as intelligent, does something obviously and colossally stupid just because the plot requires it.
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