Yaeko: "You must concentrate! You have to get us out of here!"
Hiro: "Why is everything so purple?"

Wow. This one impressed me. A lot of good storytelling, a lot of resolution, and a lot of new direction. We even saw most of the 8/8 paintings come to life. In fact, this episode was so jam-packed that at one point Dan said to me, "This one just keeps on going, doesn't it?"

Future New York: How much of what Peter saw will come true? I'm assuming that 93% of the world's population won't actually die of the plague (sounds a bit like "The Stand" by Stephen King, doesn't it) and that Peter and Nathan won't die. But will Mohinder kill Noah? And if Mohinder is no longer the cure, who is? Bob thought it was Claire. Peter? Possibly Maya and/or Alejandro? If it's like last season, it might just be everyone.


Poor Caitlin was the one who was really out of time. She is now stuck in the future and about to be deported. What happens if (okay, when) our heroes stop this disease and change the timeline? Will she pop out of existence like a soap bubble, or find herself back at the pub in Cork? And what happened between Angela and Peter? Did we see something of her power, or did Peter just read her mind and get some of his mojo back?

Montreal: I knew they had to get Kensei into the present day, and hallelujah, they finally did. No surprise that he was Adam Monroe, but it was still very cool. I'm so on board. Frankly, I think David Anders has the potential to make Adam Monroe a more complex, shuddery villain than Sylar. Sorry about that, Zachary Quinto.

Bob said that Adam Monroe was their leader, a visionary, and that he had a god syndrome. If Adam first became "special" in 1671, that makes him at least 360. Can anything kill Adam? Can anything kill Claire? Will Claire stay a teenager forever? And if Adam is that old, he could have many descendants by now. Is Elle (Kristen Bell) his daughter? She's certainly evil and she's blonde, like he is. That would explain why she was looking for Peter, too. And everyone on this show is related to somebody else. Are all the gifted ones his descendants? That would make sense.

One more thing. If Peter was a prisoner of the Company like Adam, the two of them must have escaped together. Maybe Maury got them out. And did Adam escape around the same time that Hiro went into the past? That would be an interesting coincidence.

Hartsdale: I love it when the heroes start working together. I was surprised and rather touched that Niki (not Jessica, after all) stopped herself the way she did. And I loved seeing modest, self-deprecating Matt find the power within himself to save Molly and defeat his evil, frightening father. If there's any justice in the world, Maury Parkman is now trapped in that apartment with that hideous wallpaper forever. Maybe he'll just keep watching home improvement shows where people are always removing hideous wallpaper while never being able to remove his own. Ugly apartment hell.

Japan: I think they wound this storyline up very nicely. And way past time, pun intended. Yaeko stayed in her own time to tell the legends of Kensei, while Hiro took his broken heart back to Ando and got a load of both good and bad news. Poor Hiro. He really did cut out his own heart to save his princess as well as Japan, although not literally.

Adam Monroe, without Hiro's influence, would never have become the hero of those stories. I thought the past couldn't be changed, since Hiro couldn't save Charlie. Was Hiro always destined to be Takezo Kensei? It's a paradox.

Costa Verde: West invaded Claire's space, introduced himself to her mother and Mr. Muggles, and made waffles. And then he managed to separate Claire from her daddy. (I mean, really. Just because HRG kidnapped West and marked him? How petty.) I'm all for freedom and finding one's true love, but this is so obviously not the right time. If I were being hunted, let me tell you -- I'd far rather have HRG watch my back than West. Even if he has started shooting his friends.

Bits and pieces:

-- The opening credits had the Heroes eclipse in green instead of gold. I'm assuming it's because of NBC's "green week."

-- We got yet more of Milo Ventimiglia with his shirt off.

-- The first case of the Shanti virus was on March 20, 2007. (Molly, I assume.)

-- Big, white bandage on his nose. Poor normal Mohinder. They keep doing things to make him less than blindingly beautiful.

-- Adam Monroe's storage room full of strange old things reminded me of Highlander.

-- In the future New York segment, you could see the jewelry traders building that Matt got tossed out of last season.

-- This episode confirmed that DL is indeed dead. Leonard Roberts got to come back as an hallucination. Will Niki die? Will Micah become an orphan?

-- The file room at the Company had seven volumes of files (why seven?) on several of the names we already know. And one name was mentioned that I didn't know. Who's Pratt?

-- I love Nathan's wild hair. He was so buttoned down last season.

Quotes:

Yaeko: "They always underestimate women. Their folly."

Bob: "With these abilities, sometimes people tend to think of themselves as gods." It appears to happen to a lot of them. Maybe that's why the Company fell apart.

Kensei/Monroe: "As long as I have breath, anything you love I will lay to waste. I swear. You will suffer."

Niki: "Does it hurt?"
Mohinder: "Only when I breathe."

Four out of four stars,

Billie Doux
Billie Doux's review site