NBC/Trae PattonHow great were the last five minutes of Monday's episode? Or for that matter, every minute of Monday's episode? So great I'm not sure how we'll all make it till the next new episode—Jan. freakin' 22—but dammit, we're gonna try.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: This show just keeps getting better.
Oooh...but before I carry on with more mad raving, I suppose we should all have a moment of silence for our beloved pixie Stinkerbell/Eden, who met an untimely death.
And it may indeed have been untimely. Don't forget the scoop I told you before—that producers decided to kill off a certain Hero earlier than expected, because the actor's agents were playing hardball in contract negotiations.
Anyway, Here's What We Learned Tonight (Yes, It's a Bit Spoilery)
Milo Is the Bomb: As we've seen before, Peter's dreams are actually reality. (Though I would like to know how Sylar crashed Peter's dream—did he eat Freddie Krueger's brain to steal his powers?) And the final moments of this episode foretold—awesomely so—what will go down in the season ender, when the world starts coming to an end, and Peter goes kablooey. The one hint I'll give is that I believe it's significant that Nathan Petrelli was not running from Peter like the others.
Niki and Jessica Can Appear at the Same Time: Or so it seemed, right? Niki is indeed headed for the authorities in order to protect her son, but fear not, for she knows the best prison-break guy around—no, not Wenworth but D.L. (P.S.: When this story first posted, I'd actually written Nick and Jessica, and that makes me laugh.)
Will Arnett Is Not the Only Cause of Nosebleeds: Pardon the old reference, but that is the exact moment that flashed in my mind when I saw Matt's schnoz start dripping blood. (Besides, it's an oldie but a goody!) I think it's clear Greg Grunberg (Matt) got the short end of the stick, since his powers are making him—and Peter—sick.
Claire and Peter Have Crazy Hot Chemistry: In the Q&A, Adrian teased that surprising "familial" connections will be revealed. One theory was that Claire and Peter might be siblings. But unless the show is going the route of incest (and I highly advise against it—it killed the WB's Young Americans), the genetic link must be elsewhere, 'cause Claire and Peter have some serious za-za-zing. My guess: the family bond is with Claire and another Hero. Who do you think it is? Sign in and comment below!
Isaac Got a Makeover: And I'm pretty sure he starred in a 1980s ad for Ogilvie home perm, 'cause I swear his 'do tonight was straight off the box for the "Natural Waves" my mom used on me when I was 13. Is beautiful, bouncy hair yet another one of his superpowers? Time will tell!
And on that ridiculous and completely unscoopworthy note, I bid you adieu until our next Heroes redux on Jan. 23.
Wait, what's that you say? There are other shows on television? Well, then. I suppose I'll cover those others in the meantime.
Oooh! And also in the meantime, Dr. Anna Graham has worked up another one of her fabulous recaps, so here goes...
Heroes: Chapter 11: Fallout
Recap by Dr. Anna Graham
Isaac is off the junk, gets his precog juju back and uses an assist from Eden to connect with Hiro and Ando. He paints Hiro on the set of Land of the Lost (T-Rex alert!), and the three of them begin deciphering the messages in the paintings. The one with the dinosaur is pretty much a gimme.
Jessica shoots D.L., but thanks in part to his powers, he gets away. Jessica and Niki rassle over who gets to use the brain that day, and mama bear Niki eventually wins. Niki realizes that Jessica is a bigger threat to Micah than D.L., so she finds a cop and confesses to murder.
Mohinder returns to New York and finds a "welcome home" Post-It note from Eden. Awww…
Parkman and FBI Agent Audrey Hanson (aka Special Agent Invisible Girl) investigate Sylar's murder of Jackie, the cheerleader he killed thinking it was Claire. During an interrogation of bloody-but-unbruised Peter Petrelli, Parkman tries to read Peter's mind and kicks off a telepathic feedback loop. Parkman vouches for Pete, but they keep him locked up all the same. Pete looks downright consumptive as he waits in jail for a bailout from Nathan. Claire stops by thank him for his heroism. Parkman, meanwhile, connects Sylar to Bennet and the Mindfreak, and gets a nosebleed for his trouble. I liked Bennet up until the minute he hurt Parkman by forcing him to bleed from the nose while trying to overcome the Mindfreak-installed telepathy condom. So now Bennet joins Mrs. Parkman on My List. My List is not a happy place. Shape up, dude.
Bennet, meanwhile, has gone from super-duper nefarious spook type to hapless schmuck. He's got Sylar locked down and, short of keeping him in the dark, seems to have nothing on hand to control his fiendish fiendosity. We also get a hint that there's a boss of him, someone on the other end of a phone line who just doesn't grok the realities of Bennet's ground war. Linderman? Benry? Bush?!
Suffice it to say, the paper-factory people (Eden, Bennet and Mindfreak) are enjoined from nuking Sylar. Instead, they devote lots of resources to isolating Claire from her sympathetic sidekicks and then preparing to wipe her mind clean of the past few days of distasteful superpowerdom. Oh, and Mindfreak finally speaks up. Dude earned his SAG card—congrats, man! (Misc. theory: When/if Mindfreak dies, all his brain interference measures fail, and Pandora's box opens…)
Anyhoo, just about the time Peter Petrelli is collapsing on the steps of the county jail and dreaming the impossible dream of spontaneous human fission (he dreams he's the bomb that blows up New York), Eden takes Sylar matters into her own hands. She tries to persuade him to kill himself, but he uses his ill-gotten telekinesis power to grab her from across the room. He says he's going to take her powers—the old Bond-villain mistake of explaining his diabolical scheme—which grants her a split-second opportunity to ruin his plan: She shoots herself in the head before he can stick a fork in her. She's done. Dammit! (The kiss! Did the Mohinder kiss mean nothing to you people?!) Stinkerbell, RIP.
Next spring on Heroes: Lists! Everybody's making a list, checkin' it twice; some are naughty, some are nice. You know the drill. (Happy holidays!)