Angela: "A child starved for attention throws a temper tantrum."
Claire: "Well, I'd like to give him a good spanking."

Lockdown showdown. *Yawn.*

There was a lot of running around and a lot of fighting in the darkened hallways of Primatech. Peter got his powers back. Mohinder lost his scales. Ando got a cool new power-amplification power, which isn't really a power on its own but is still neat. Although how he and Daphne could aim it at sixteen years ago in the Deveaux building in order to rescue Hiro strained credulity just a bit.

What the heck happened to Nathan? His heroism in previous seasons and love for his brother was epic, and now, in the space of two episodes, he's the bad guy? Can you say, left field? I had a theory that one of the despicable Arthur's powers was the ability to take over someone else's body, and that Arthur is now in Nathan's body. But even I have to admit that, as a theory, it's just too weird. I'll have to chalk up Nathan's current attitude as inconsistent writing, and leave it at that.

Although there was some fun consistency with previous episodes. I liked the quid pro quo of Peter saving Nathan from the fire, and Claire "killing" Sylar the same way that she and Peter "died". And the perversity of Sylar saving the world by killing Arthur was fun. I thought this episode could have used something bigger, though -- like, Sylar dying spectacularly and permanently in a great big dramatic way. Not that I don't like Sylar; he's been practically the only good thing about this season so far. But the whole nature of death on Heroes just doesn't work dramatically any more. Yes, let's give the audience another odd, ambiguous death that the writers can erase anytime they want. Even Arthur's demise doesn't seem permanent.

Did anyone die? It looked like Knox did. And possibly Meredith. Primatech is toast. Hiro didn't get his powers back. And what happened to the marines? Some of them got the red jello; will we be seeing a super squad this winter?

At least, we know for certain that Sylar is not a Petrelli. It's small, but it's something.

Bits and pieces:

-- Claire, Meredith, HRG and Angela were a really interesting family unit. Bio-mom, adopted dad, estranged/strange grandma.

-- When Mohinder fell into the red goop and his scales disappeared, I said out loud, "Quick, Peter! Jump in the goop!" Fortunately, there was a hypo lying about.

-- Nathan fired Tracy. Guess she's not going to be first lady, after all.

-- The title was given in the cable synopsis as "Duality." Actually, given what happened between Peter and Nathan, "Duel" might have been better than "Dual."

-- Flint had a helix-shaped cut on his face.

-- Sylar: "I could have been a nobody, instead of the monster I became." That sounded to me a lot like "I coulda been a contender. I could have been *somebody*. Instead of a bum, which is what I am." (On the Waterfront is one of my favorite old movies.)

-- Volume four will be called "Fugitives," and starts February 2. It showed Nathan talking to the president, who was African American. Art imitates life.

See you in February,

Billie Doux
Reviews by Billie Doux