Heroes Volume Two, Chapter Three: Kindred


Hey, look, Sylar’s back! Still recovering from his injuries, Sylar shows up in the care of the illusionist Candice (now a red-haired bombshell instead of a petite brunette) in a grimy shed in the middle of nowhere. Candice, who is most likely still working for the Company, uses her powers to transform the setting into a tropical paradise.

Three episodes into the new season, it's probably time to check in with Niki and Micah, huh? They're leaving Las Vegas after paying one final visit to D.L.'s grave. Yeah, D.L.'s dead, presumably from getting shot by Linderman last season. Niki takes Micah to New Orleans and leaves him with D.L.’s aunt (a luminous Nichelle Nichols, who's been visiting the same fountain of youth as George Takei).


In Cork, the iPod bandits step up their game and steal the proceeds of a sports book with Peter's help; it's like an episode of Spooks, only with superpowers. Impressed by Peter's moxie, to say nothing of his ability to telekinetically toss around armored trucks, they welcome him into their gang and offer him the box containing the clues to his real identity. For no reason other than to vex and confound the viewing audience, Peter opts not to look inside it, choosing instead to stay with his new mates and start a romance with Caitlin, the head thug's feisty sister.

Mexico: Alejandro gets arrested for stealing a car. Maya slaughters everyone at the police station with her black eye-goo power and breaks him out of jail. They team up with some American kid and take off in his car, a Nissan with a conspicuous bumper sticker from Claire's high school. Most likely this is the car that was stolen from Claire last week (forgot to mention: Claire got her car stolen last week), though perhaps not – there’s a mysterious abundance of Nissans on this show.

Ando, back at his desk job in Tokyo, finds a series of tiny scrolls hidden in the shaft of Takezo Kensei's samurai sword, which Hiro left with him in last season's finale. The scrolls are chatty ancient letters to Ando from Hiro detailing his adventures with Kensei in the past. Hiro, back in feudal Japan, helps Kensei shape up and become the stuff of legend. Aided by his new-found regenerative ability, Kensei defeats the fabulously-named Ninety Angry Ronins and wins the heart of beautiful Yaeko. Hiro secretly pines for Yaeko as well; even though history now seems to be on the correct course, he opts to remain behind in the past for a while longer.

Home from his mission to Haiti, Mohinder creeps around his dark apartment, fixes himself a relaxing cup of tea, and almost gets riddled with bullets by his trigger-happy roommate (Mohinder's reaction – a weary "Oh, for God's sake" – suggests this sort of thing has been happening to him a lot lately). Matt, with a few digs at Mohinder's history of incompetence, expresses concern that Mohinder is in over his pretty little head with his scheme to destroy the Company from within. Matt is probably 100% right about this.

Bob from the Company sets Mohinder up in a snazzy new laboratory built in Isaac Mendez's former loft. Mohinder, still two steps behind the viewing audience, is shocked to hear of Isaac’s murder by Sylar four months ago; Mohinder, pumpkin, you’re lucky I find your cluelessness kind of adorable. Bob cheerfully informs Mohinder that, as he's very valuable to the Company, the Company will be keeping a closer eye on him from now on. This might indicate Bob knows Mohinder is out to double-cross the Company, though it's equally possible he just doesn’t trust him around expensive lab equipment without adult supervision. You know how I mentioned last week that Mohinder was growing more competent this season? I might need to retract that. Jury’s still out, but he’s not exactly a paragon of steely resourcefulness in this episode.

Let's check in with Sylar: he's discovered he's lost all his hard-earned powers. This makes him grumpy. Candice tries to console him by promising to help get his abilities back after he's fully recovered. In the meantime, she suggests ways to make his recuperation more pleasant: She transforms herself into a variety of potential sex partners – a geisha, busty blonde twins, even (ahem) Sylar himself. Sylar, who is not the kind of man who has any earthly use for busty blonde twins, kills Candice instead and steals her brain, only to find he can't access her power.

Costa Verde: West sweet-talks Claire by threatening to expose her secret, making her cry, and telling her to shut up. In an ideal world, Sylar will be snacking on this kid's brain before the holiday break. West demonstrates his flying ability to Claire and takes her on an impromptu flight up the coast. This makes her overlook his crummy personality and swoon over him. West has marks on his shoulder which identify him as a recipient of one of the Company's tracking devices; he reveals to Claire that he got it after he was kidnapped by a man wearing horn-rimmed glasses…

In the lab, Bob leaves Mohinder unchaperoned for a minute while he fields a call from Niki, who wants the Company to "cure" her – whether that means she has the virus or just wants to be rid of her abilities is still up in the air. At Mr. Bennet's urging, and not without a fair amount of dithering, Mohinder searches the loft for a final series of eight precognitive paintings Isaac made before his death. The first in the series depicts Kaito Nakamura's death; Mohinder finds the last painting… which features Bennet lying dead, a bullet through the lens of his horn-rimmed glasses, while Claire embraces a shadowy figure nearby. Mohinder sends a photo of the painting to Bennet, who looks suitably bummed at this evidence of his looming demise…

Comments

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