Was this Heroes, or an episode of Growing Pains? There was so much family stuff going on, it totally seemed like Carol Seaver was going to storm off to her room screaming "How come Mike gets to read minds and I don't?"
The episode starts with Hiro in Africa, refusing to go back in time. Good, Hiro. Keep refusing. Nathan and Tracy confront Mohinder in his lab, he busts Maya out of her web and leaps through the skylight. Peter wants to know how his dead dad isn't dead anymore. Dad handcuffs him to the bed, actually says "you're grounded." Yeesh.
Power: Ability to make an supercharged world-in the balance battle seem very Nick at Nite.
Meanwhile, Claire's with her mom coming back from stopping the Puppetteer, and says "Is that weird? We just starred in a human puppet show..."
Weakness: The only thing worse than having a ridiculous go-nowhere plotline is when characters recap the ridiculous go-nowhere plotline.
When Claire and Mom arrive home, Elle is over there, making all the lights go crazy. Claire and Elle get into a little catfight, Claire wins. Elle can't control her powers, and says she needs help. Meanwhile, Maya's in a hospital bed, Soresh is watching her, and Arthur Petrelli introduces himself to the good doctor. Mohinder tells him he thought he was dead. Yeah, we all thought that, thanks. Arthur Petrelli takes Maya's abilities, which sure seems like a way to write her out of the show. AP shows Mohinder his formula and it's different from Dr. Soresh's, which means something, pseudo-scientifically.
Sylar's still lying in that damn cell, and he sees a vision of Angela Petrelli, who says "make mommy proud." All of the sudden he breaks through his handcuffs and busts out of the cell. Could the former supervillain murderer have done that all along, or did he need mommy? Chalk one up to the power of parental love. Elle tells Claire she wants to go to Pinehearst, says "we're off to see the wizard."
Weakness: Heroes writers think Heroes viewers are all seven years old.
More family matters: Arthur Petrelli wants Daphne to kill Parkman. Parkman's dad protests. AP offs him. Then, when Daphne goes to Parkman's place to shoot him, he says "we're going to love each other." She drops the gun. Then she tells him his dad is dead. If this relationship ever gets off the ground, it's going to have some Dr. Phil level problems. Meanwhile, Peter, sans his powers, comes after his father. That's not gonna work. Mohinder is going to inject PP, but Sylar comes in, cuts PP loose. Mohinder attacks Sylar, starts bashing his head in. Arthur tells Mohinder "that's my son." What is it with all this daddy mommy stuff?
Power: This episode is making me examine my relationship with my parents. I'm off to see the therapist.
Tracy and Nathan are in Mohinder's lab with the webs, and a guy reaches out and grabs Tracy's neck. It's actually scary. HRG pops in out of nowhere and stops the webbed choker. Scariness over. Claire and Elle are taking a plane to Pinehearst, Elle's nervous and angry, and her electricity is out of control. It starts messing up the plane, which looks like it'll crash. Claire says "dump your electricity into me." Claire takes it all inside her, the plane levels off, and after both Claire and Elle are leaning back and breathing heavy. Huh. That wouldn't have been on Growing Pains.
The guy from The Wire comes up on Parkman and Daphne, and seems to punch straight through Parkman. But no! It was a trick! He only thought he punched his hand through Parkman, because Parkman was messing with his brain. Aw, that's too bad. Sylar confronts Arthur Petrelli, and says "my mother accepts me for who I am," and "my mother loves me." AP tells him his mother wanted to kill him, and he found her drowning him in the tub. And that's not love? Then Peter attacks his father, yelling at Sylar "he hurt mom!" Does somebody need a hug? Instead, Sylar flings Peter through a window - and he falls seven stories, but somehow, despite not having powers, survives the fall - a topic that is discussed incessantly over the last ten minutes of the episode. Apparently, Sylar used his powers to slow down his bro's fall. Nathan and Claire come upon PP, and Peter tells his brother about how their father is alive- and really mean.
Nathan: "Pete, this is our dad we're talking about here."
Claire: "Believe me, dads aren't always what they seem." So true.
Tracy and Nathan decide they're going to Pinehearst, and the episode closes back with Hiro and Ando in Africa with the spirit walker, eating a paste he made from trees and hyena dung. (So of the two black people this episode, one feeds off fear and the other is a shit-eating African. Great.) After eating the shit paste, Hiro passes out. Will he be okay? You know, over there in another country without his mommy and daddy?
To be Continued...(In two weeks)
-- Jake Kalish is the author of Santa vs. Satan: The Official Compendium of Imaginary Fights
