Heroes Redux: This Is Not a Drill, This Is the Future

Get a breakdown of what happened in "I Am Become Death"

The latest installment of Heroes, "I Am Become Death," didn't just have an impact—it had a blast crater!

Now, if you haven't watched Heroes yet, superspeed out of here, but if you have seen it, teleport on in, because we're breaking down the shocking reveals and spilling secrets about what's to come next week...

WHAT WE LEARNED

The Future Is Messy: Holy cow! In the future, Sylar nuzzles Mr. Muggles, and then minutes later, after the murder of his young son, Noah, in an attack by Company representatives Knox, Daphne and Claire, he is provoked into a nuclear meltdown and blows up much of California. This is considered to be proof that a world full of people with uncontrolled, extraordinary abilities is not a particularly safe world.

What else did we learn in this rendition of the future? Practically everybody can fly, and Claire's been paired with her father's old partner, the Haitian. Oh yeah, and Claire succeeds in killing Peter!

Across town, Matt Parkman and Daphne are married with a daughter, and they're raising Molly together. Holler! Which brings us to Daphne's tragic "I wasn't fast enough." How sad is it that she ran all the way home, racing supersonically away from the Sylarsplosion, only to still die tragically in Matt's arms? Sniff. (Do you guys like that pairing? I gotta say, I'm a fan. Post your verdict in the comments.)

The Second Mrs. Petrelli… Did you catch that in the future Nathan is not only president, he's married to Tracy Strauss! ("The first lady and I...") I'm thrilled to see that twosome finally together (they are so pretty), but I do sometimes ponder what became of Heidi Petrelli (Rena Sofer) and their two kids. We also learned that Tracy and Niki were two of a set of triplets, which explains their identical appearances, but where oh where is the third sister, Barbara? Can't wait to find out the answer to that mystery.

Sark Adam Monroe Is Back! TV's most unkillable villain, Sark Adam Monroe, is back. Yay! Hiro and Ando need help hunting down the formula, so they pop Adam Monroe out of the ground to get the guidance they need. Nice to see our old frenemy, don't you think?

WHAT LIES AHEAD

• Next week is a huge episode for Nathan Petrelli. We'll learn more about his ability, and he'll be taking Tracy home to meet mom. (You can only imagine how well that goes…) He also sets off a mission that leads him to discover the shocking secret of another Hero.
• Claire learns what her father is capable of when it comes to serving the Company, and she ain't the least bit happy about it. But on the flip side, during the same mission where Claire sees her father at his worst, Claire and her uncle Sylar bond. Crazy, I know, since Sylar was cutting off the top of Claire's skull just a few weeks ago, but oddly, the two of them do find a little common ground next week, while fighting a guy I'll call the Vortex Villain.
• As the previews promised, Arthur Petrelli finally appears next week, and he's been conspiring with another Hero's father...

I thought this was an outstanding installment of Heroes—emotionally touching and viscerally thrilling in equal measure. Your take? Post your thoughts on this ep in the comments!

—Additional reporting by Jennifer Godwin