We kick things off with one of Mohinder’s inscrutable voiceovers. They never make much sense, but I like listening to them anyway. The accent, you see. It’s pretty. By the way, this is all we’re going to get of Mohinder this episode. As much as a week without Mohinder is an ugly, joyless prospect, it’s probably for the best. The poor boy’s been awfully frazzled and flighty the past few episodes; he could use some time off to get his head together before he does something really reckless, like, say, shooting Mr. Bennet in the eye.
We pick up in Montreal with Peter’s encounter with Adam Monroe, the man formerly known as Takezo Kensei. Now that he’s an immortal, vengeance-driven villain instead of an inept samurai imposter, he’s scads more fun. Yet another reason to celebrate the end of that damnable feudal-Japan plotline. When Peter fails to recognize him, Adam figures the Haitian wiped Peter’s memory. He tells Peter to tap into his regenerative power to heal his mushy little brain. Peter thinks reeeeeeeally hard, and we flash back to…
Four months ago, to the epic battle against Sylar at Kirby Plaza: Peter’s on the verge of going nuclear. Nathan grabs him and soars into the air. Peter urges Nathan to drop him and fly to safety. When Peter explodes, the blast hits Nathan, who plummets toward earth. Peter regenerates in time to swoop down and save him.
Nathan’s looking a little extra-crispy, so Peter rushes him to the hospital. Veronica Mars pops up and hits Peter with a blast of blue electricity. Kristin Bell’s name here is actually Elle, but that’s the downside of playing an iconic character: Bell will be stuck with the Veronica moniker for the rest of her career.
Note to self: Form a band called “Veronica Moniker”.
Still four months ago: In the Dominican Republic, Alejandro gets married. Maya snipes about how she doesn’t like her twin’s new wife. She’s being kind of an ass about it, though her misgivings are justified when she finds the bride in flagrante with one of the guests at the reception. Maya freaks out and slaughters everyone at the wedding except for Alejandro with the Black Eye Goo of Death. So now we know why Maya and Alejandro are on the run.
Bob and Elle take Peter to Company headquarters, where Bob promises to help Peter control his powers. Thirty years ago, Bob claims, the Company tried to develop a formula that would suppress abilities, but abandoned their research due to complications. Thirty years ago, we recall, Mohinder’s sister Shanti died from the very first case of the virus. It’s looking like the Company engineered the virus in the first place. It’s an interesting twist, though Mohinder’s dance card is overbooked with blood vendettas already – he doesn’t need to add anything else to his list of grievances to avenge.
Four months ago: In the hospital, Niki and Micah learn that D.L., who was shot by Linderman, is going to make a full recovery. Bob shows up at the hospital and pays D.L.’s medical bills as the Company’s way of making amends for all the trouble Linderman brought them. Niki has her alter ego Jessica under control now, but Bob worries another split personality might manifest itself to fill the void. He offers to help her control her abilities, but to do that, she’ll have to leave D.L. and Micah and enter the Company’s treatment program. Niki refuses, opting to control her mental problems through medication.
Elle gives Peter a haircut. AHA! We have Elle to blame for the loss of Peter’s floppy bangs! I’m working on a theory that Peter’s personality is entirely contained in his hair. The evidence backs me up: he went from a sweet, romantic dreamer with long bangs in season one to a short-haired moody lump in season two. While the Company works to develop their inhibitor, Peter takes a whole bunch of pills each day to keep his abilities under control so he doesn’t explode. He strikes up a friendship with the man in the room next to his… who happens to be Adam.
Elle delivers Peter’s daily dose of medication, flirtation, and light torture in the form of her electric shocks. Elle is at once infantile, overtly sexual, slinky, and sadistic; it’s a doozy of a combination. She cheerily informs Peter she’s been in the care of the Company since she was diagnosed as a sociopath with paranoid delusions as a child.
Nathan, still hospitalized with hideous head-to-toe burns, tells his wife Heidi, who has been fed some polite fiction about a car crash, the truth about his superpowers and about Peter exploding. Angela Petrelli takes Heidi aside, lies about Nathan having a hereditary mental disorder, gropes her a bit in the guise of offering solace, and speeds along her daughter-in-law’s decision to estrange herself from the Petrelli family. Angela is a force to be reckoned with.
D.L. gets a job as a fireman, where his ability to phase through solid matter comes in mighty handy during rescues. Niki’s meds make her bleary and depressed, so she chucks them down the sink. She manifests another personality, Gina, who runs off to Los Angeles to snort coke and go clubbing. So now Party Girl Gina joins Psycho Killer Jessica in Vegas Stripper Niki’s brain. Why can’t one of Niki’s personalities be, I don’t know, Brainy Astrophysicist Hortense? Literary Scholar Evangeline? D.L. tracks Niki/Gina down and gets into a scuffle with a shlubby club kid, who shoots him in the chest. Exit D.L.
At D.L.’s funeral, the omnipresent Bob approaches Niki once again. This time, she agrees to enter treatment at the Company.
Adam breaks the news to Peter that his stay at the facility might be somewhat less than voluntary. Peter is not convinced, even though: a) he’s kept in a locked cell, and b) he isn’t allowed to contact his family to let them know he’s still alive. Sometimes Peter is kind of a dumb bunny. Adam tells Peter it’s a pity they can’t escape – if they were only out of the facility, Adam could heal Nathan’s terrible burns with his blood…
Peter stops taking his power-suppressing pills, then uses his abilities to break himself and Adam out. At the hospital, Adam injects some of his blood into Nathan’s IV. Nathan magically heals and returns to his full handsome Pasdarian (Pasdaresque?) glory.
Elle and the Haitian track down Adam and Peter, who make a hasty plan to split up and meet again in Montreal. The Haitian catches Peter. Instead of returning him to the Company, he wipes his memories and chains him up inside a shipping container bound for Ireland. We don’t know why he does this. The Haitian is rivaled only by Mohinder in the way he embarks upon random and unfathomable courses of action.
Back to the present: In Montreal, the little trip down memory lane heals Peter’s scrambled brain. Adam asks, “Shall we save the world?”
Next episode: Bennet and Mohinder finally have it out, as their ill-conceived partnership comes to a bitter conclusion. It’s all fun and games until someone gets shot in the eye. I’m hoping it’s West.
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