Hiro: "Now you know how it feels to be killed by your best friend."
Ando: "Good. So we're even."

Much better. Rather like the Heroes of old. Hiro and Ando actually made me laugh, Peter and Sylar came close to repeating their season one deathmatch, and Mohinder actually narrated again, even though he's (unfortunately) still evil.

Enter Arthur Petrelli, who seems to have a gift much like his sons Peter and Sylar -- he apparently sucks the powers right out of people. (If he's so powerful, how did he end up paralyzed in a hospital bed, then?) I was sad to lose Adam Monroe, but not so much for Adam's sake; it was mostly because of my deep affection for David Anders' villainous character Sark on Alias. At least they didn't leave him six feet under for eternity. (I'm assuming Adam is really most sincerely dead, since you don't come back from turning into dust.) (Usually, anyway. But at the rate people are resurrecting on this show, no promises.)

The scary PuppetGuy segment was better than I expected. It turned out to be a mother-mother-daughter bonding exercise over a game of Russian Roulette. I really loved seeing Claire outwit Doyle. (Claire may be more ready for super police work than HRG wants to admit.) I also liked that Sandra insisted on coming along: "One of us, one of them." I don't know why, but Sandra is one of my favorite characters. She started out as a dup with a dog, and somehow acquired a lot of interesting depth.

You know what else I liked? Matt and Daphne. They make a cute couple, and even though she has been forced to work for Pinehearst, she's a good person. Poor Matt. Stuck in Africa for five episodes, and he spent most of this one in the airport.

At least Peter didn't open up anyone's head this time. And now he won't, since Arthur Petrelli just stole *all* of Peter's powers. I guess all those worries about the lack of drama because Peter was too powerful have just been deepsixed. Who else was yelling, "No, Peter! Don't hug him! He just dissolved Adam Monroe!"?

"Precogs see you coming" should be a bumper sticker. Too funny. And loved the shovel, both times.

Bits and pieces:

-- The "previously on" told us that Arthur Petrelli was father to three of our "heroes": Peter, Nathan, and Sylar. But it wasn't mentioned in the actual episode. And hey. Sylar is officially a hero, now?

-- Yes, I was happy that Hiro didn't kill Ando. On "old" Heroes, I never would have worried, but lately, it felt possible.

-- The Hiro/Ando death scene was in the Angry Skunk Bar. Another great name to add to the list.

-- We now have six Petrellis in the story. Six is enough, people. No more secret Petrellis, please.

-- Tracy got to be cool, pun intended. But she and Nathan are not out of the cocoons yet.

-- Matt brought the turtle with him. :) There were papers in the turtle's cage that said "GE" on it. Inside joke?

-- I keep waiting for Elle. Where's Kristen Bell?

-- The Pinehearst card had a web site listed: http://www.pinehearstresearch.com. I think Heroes is taking a cue from Lost.

-- The cut on Meredith's neck disappeared in the next scene. Oops.

-- The African Isaac's painting of the four villains was hard to decipher. I don't like the painting style: too cartoony, too hard to tell one face from another. Anyone know who they are? I'm assuming one was Arthur and one was Knox. Who were the other two?

Quotes:

Hiro: "Hello? Mister African Isaac?"

Meredith: "You may have got your genes from me, but you got your heart from your mom." That was just lovely.

Three out of four stars,

Billie Doux
Reviews by Billie Doux