Homecoming: Heroes Ep. 9

 This episode has the mid-season climax. The Homecoming confrontation with Sylar that Isaac's paintings predicted. The confrontation that future Hiro hoped will change the course of fate. Save the cheerleader, save the world. We finally get to see the painting that Linderman bought because Nathan bought it back from him. He and Simone look at the painting and discuss it at the beginning of the episode before Nathan destroys it to "protect" Peter from himself. When we finally get to see the painting (because Simone had a digital copy) it shows what appears to be a dead Peter at the Homecoming game where Claire is going to be attacked.

It turns out Mr. Bennet's actions regarding Isaac did not result in him painting anything that would help them stop Sylar. He just erased the weeks of him getting clean for nothing. Since he can't convince the empath lady to make him go again, Mr. Bennet decides to ground Claire to stop her going to the homecoming game. It does not work, because her friend (the one who was tape recording her attempts) comes to help her sneak out. Claire's mom knows this is happening but doesn't stop it because she sees Mr. Bennet's actions as being unreasonable. 

Meanwhile, Simone shows Peter the digital copy and he tries to call Hiro to tell him, but Hiro is still gone. Ando answers the phone. Peter flies to Texas and meets up with Ando, but Hiro is still nowhere to be found. Ando finally sees the picture on the wall of Hiro which was taken 6 months ago at Charlie's birthday party. The waitress says that Hiro popped out of Charlie's life weeks ago. Ando still has no idea where or when Hiro might be.

In Niki, Micah and DL's story, Micah keeps trying to convince DL to go back for his mom, but DL will not listen. He tells him that Niki is different and that it's not safe with her. Micah keeps begging his father and finally breaks down and tells him about Jessica (Niki's alter ego). Meanwhile, Jessica purchases a long-range sniper rifle so she can take out DL without him phasing out since he won't see it coming. The man selling her the rifle muses that she really must hate the guy she's out to get since she wants to take him out without even seeing his eyes (this seems a bit strange to me because it would seem more like she hated him if she wanted to gun him down from close range). I feel like this move might be so that Micah doesn't suspect that she was the one who pulled the trigger, since killing his father might make Micah hate her forever. Although Jessica does look in the mirror after buying the rifle and we briefly see Niki looking slightly distraught, the audience can't tell if she is against the idea because she still loves DL, knows it will devastate Micah, or because she is just against killing in general. Whatever is the case, she obviously is not strong enough to take back her body to stop Jessica.

At the homecoming dance, Jackie (the cheerleader who took credit for Claire's heroic act) and Claire fight in the locker room. Claire confesses that it was her who saved the man from the fire and tells Jackie that she has it on tape. While they're still in the locker room, Sylar shows up. He grabs Jackie and flings Claire against the wall. He begins to saw Jackie's head off when and actually finishes killing her before he notices that Claire is actively healing from the numerous injuries that resulted from his violently tossing her away. He then begins to pursue Claire, but Peter finds her and they both run together. Claire is able to get away (not before the scene in two of Issac's painting's comes true. Her frightened on the steps and Jackie with her head cut open) and Peter manages to grab Sylar and jump off a high ledge seriously injuring them both. The clock (which was at 8:12 in the painting which seemed to depict Peter dead) gets to that minute just before they land right in front of the homecoming banner. All the paintings have come true exactly as they were painted, but Claire sees Peter and Sylar has already gotten away. Claire goes to him and he immediately begins to regenerate. By the time the police show up, he has not a scratch on him, but he is covered in blood. The police arrest him as he protests.

Sylar is limping when he meets the Empath who tells him he doesn't want to hurt her right before the Hatian shows up to neutralize his power. It looks like they won and stopped Sylar, but we know that this can't be the case because the season is nowhere near over.

Meanwhile, back in India, Mohinder struggles with what he should do. He goes to find the boy, his friend on the university arguing with him all the way, telling him that the boy is just a figment of his subconscious mind. Mohinder realizes that Chadra was trying to protect him when the boy shows him a memory of Chandra arguing with the same man and being told that he'll lose all credibility if he continues down this path and then a memory of him excitedly coming to Chandra about his book only to be told he's too emotional to be a scientist and that he should stay here rather than accompany Chandra in his journey. He then decides to continue his father's research and figures out that his sister's name Shanti is the password to unlock his father's computer drive with the answers. It turns out, Chandra has found a lot of people with the genetic marker and has them all in a database. Mohinder decides to go back to America against his mother's wishes.

This was a good episode. The acting was very convincing, and I wasn't pulled out of the story at all. All of the stories shown helped to move along the plot and even though Sylar's face was still kept in shadow we got to see a lot more of him. I'm pretty sure he didn't speak (although I may be remembering that wrong) but I enjoyed the scenes with him and am fairly confident that we'll get a face reveal in the near future. Since Hiro's story ended with how the picture of him and Charlie happened, we can expect the next episode to explore his time in the past. Ando from the future told the police in New York that he had not seen Hiro in five weeks, so there might not be a scene of them reconciling and Ando might end up heading back to Japan after this. Not sure about that. I have watched it before but have forgotten some details. Nathan Petrelli is still annoying AF, but I suppose he really was trying to protect Peter by destroying the painting. I'll give this episode a 9/10.

Seven Minutes to Midnight: Heroes Ep 8

We're getting closer to a Sylar reveal. This episode showed his silhouette. So excited about that. Didn't remember that it went this long with him just being a shadowy figure, only showing what he was doing but never revealing his face.

So, this episode begins with Mohinder. Back in India, he is spreading his father's ashes at the beach. His colleague at the university tells him that he saved Mohinder's classes and he can move into his father's old office when the semester begins. He is all set to move on with his life. He even gets a job offer from his ex girlfriend (who apparently said some things about his father in the past) as long as he is willing to put all of his father's research and theories away and never mention them again. Mohinder falls asleep at his desk and dreams of his father. Things he already knew and things he was never privy to, including an allusion to someone who his mother says Mohinder will never take the place of in Chandra's heart. In the dream, there is a mysterious boy who seems to be directing it. When Mohinder confronts his mother about the dream later, she admits that the conversation really happened and the girl that was alluded to was a sister who they never told Mohinder about because she died when he was two. Later, the dream boy also shows Mohinder the key that was stuffed into the back of his father's little book on the gifted. Mohinder realizes it opens a locked compartment in his father's desk, and it is there that he finds the file on the boy who can walk through dreams. 

In Hiro's arc, he and Ando are dining in a small Texas cafe when they meet this waitress named Charlie. Charlie has a plan to travel the world, and she also has a special gift. She has the ability to learn super quickly. As Charlie chats with the boys and other patrons, a creepy figure sits in the shadows with a broken watch, his eyes covered with a low pulled baseball cap. This, we understand immediately, is Sylar. Hiro takes an immediate shine to Charlie as she impresses him with Japanese skills she learned after only a week of studying a phrase book. Hiro even helps her. After she tells him about how she's been able to learn quickly in the last couple of weeks, Hiro almost tells her about his gift, but he stops himself and just says he can teach Japanese to anyone. She goes into the back to fix a dessert, and as she opens a can of strawberries, Sylar attacks her. All we see is the blood dripping down her face before she falls over. Then a co-worker of Charlie's discovers the body. All of this happens within the few minutes it takes Hiro to use the restroom. Hiro and Ando argue over whether he should use his powers to bend time and try to save Charlie. Ando is unable to convince Hiro and Hiro tells him that he'll be back before Ando can count to five, but after he counts, Hiro is still gone. The camera pans out from Ando, and we see the bulletin board at the cafe is covered with pictures and one of them has Hiro and Charlie celebrating her birthday together, proving that Hiro was successful in his attempt to travel into the past.

For Matt's story, they question Sprague and learn that Matt and him were both kidnapped by the same people, and Matt begins to think that his ability was put upon him by these people rather than being something he developed naturally. He thinks this because neither he nor Sprague remember having powers prior to the lost time and they both have identical marks as well as remembering the Haitian. We learn that he was suspended after he lied about the fact to the FBI woman in order to be able to sit in on the interview because her superior comes to transport Sprague somewhere else since they think he's a domestic terrorist. Then his wife talks to him about the affair and asks if they're over. Matt doesn't have an answer for her. Finally, the FBI woman calls to let him know that Sprague has escaped.

For Claire's story it mostly focuses on her father, although it does show definitively that the woman who showed up claiming to be her birth mother is actually just a colleague of her father's. Mr. Bennett is attempting to get Issac to paint something that will help him save Claire, since the paintings seem to predict her murder at the hands of Sylar. However, Issac is clean and hasn't developed enough to use his ability without the drugs. Mr. Bennet convinces the empath woman who was plying Mohinder by pretending to be his neighbor to use her ability to force Issac to use. She protests that he promised she'd never have to do that again (indicating that she has used her ability for evil in the past) and he reminds her that he saved her from some kind of life she had before joining the company. We also learn that Mr. Bennet's front is a paper company. Claire shows up saying she needs paper for a banner for homecoming, but I think she had ulterior motives.

This episode had a few heartwrenching moments. I didn't really buy some of the acting at Chandra's funeral. It seemed a bit forced. I think that actor is better at portraying anger than sadness. Mr. Bennet's actor did a phenomenal job of convincing me he was desperate to save Claire when he begged Issac to help him. His voice even cracked and his eyes teared up. One thing I noticed in this episode was that Hiro seemed to know a lot more English than he did before when they were in Las Vegas. He was talking to Claire in complete sentences and seemed to understand most of what she was saying as well. It is unclear how much time has passed between this episode and them leaving Nevada, but it couldn't have been long considering that the future Hiro saw was only three weeks away. I think this could be somewhat of a plot hole used to help Hiro and Charlie communicate effectively so that they had a spark without Ando constantly jumping in to translate when Charlie wasn't speaking Japanese. Like I said, there's just a sillhouette of Sylar in the cafe, but his presence is ever menacing like a true villain. I'm going to rate this one a 7.5/10. 

Veronica Mars Ep 6: Return of the Kane

 This one was all about the student body election. The main story surrounded both Duncan Kane, who was being pressured to run for student body president by his father and friend Logan, and Logan Echoles himself. The election story was less interesting than most of the cases. We had a bit of foul play and a runoff election then some dirty politics. This storyline was the least interesting part of the show, so I'll cover it first. A girl named Wanda decides to run for student body president after one of the cheerleaders complains when she orders takeout (a privilege reserved for people who earn something called pirate points by being members of select school activities. Basically, a way for the rich student body to get extra privileges, since they dominate all the fields that earn pirate points. Wanda promises that, if she is elected, she will eliminate the pirate point program entirely, so a large portion of the disenfranchised student body is in her corner. When Duncan Kane wins instead, Veronica suspects foul play and she's right. Turns out the same cheerleader who complained about Wanda also sabotaged the voting system by printing out a misordered ballot.

However, after the runoff election has been called, someone accuses Wanda of being a narc, spray-painting her locker and putting up flyers that say the same thing. At first, Veronica suspects Logan. After all, he's the one who has been pressuring Duncan to run. Then Veronica learns from Weevil that the rumor is true. What's more, Wanda tries to get Veronica in trouble as well. Veronica ends up voting for Duncan. Wanda tells Veronica that the police were holding a charge over her which, if prosecuted would lead to her losing an opportunity to get into her dream school, but Veronica is unimpressed. 

The main story began to progress a bit as well, so we'll touch on that real quick before revealing the real meat of the episode and why I'm going to rate this one an 8/10 even though most of the episode was a bit mid. So the man who is accused of Lilly Kane's murder is no longer appealing his case and is scheduled for execution soon. This prompts Veronica to look into the case one more time hoping to see something she's previously missed. She does find it. In the crime scene photos, the shoes that were used as evidence in the suspects arrest are clearly visible. They can't be other shoes because they have specific doodles that Veronica herself drew on them. To be sure, Veronica compares the video coverage of the policeman holding up evidence with the crime scene photo. Veronica's dad finds out she broke into the safe and changes the code that opens it. Then she shows him the evidence she found after telling him she doesn't want to dance around each other playing spy vs. spy anymore. 

However, the meat of this episode was actually about Logan Echoles. The story starts by showing a group of his famous father's fans gathered outside the Echoles estate. Logan tries to chase them off, like the vultures they are, but his father returns just in time and fawns to them making sure to have them take some pictures of him with his arm around Logan for good measure. While he's at a gas station, Logan has a homeless vet offer to wash his windshield. Logan says he's not going to pay him, but the man doesn't seem to care. Logan then offers the man $100 to come box for him and his friends. The man refuses. Logan finds some other homeless people to take advantage of and they hold the match on the beach, filming it on a handheld video cam. However, after the tape is leaked, the press gets hold of the story and begins to hound Logan's father. The movie star clearly threatens his son and Logan gets a look of genuine fear on his face. Logan's father takes him to a homeless shelter to volunteer (a PR stunt) and Logan gets back at him by announcing that his father has offered to donate half a million dollars to a homeless veteran charity exclaiming how proud he is. Back at their home, Logan is shown picking out a belt from a closet full of them and then presenting it to his father before his father closes the door as Logan removes his shirt. That scene made me tear up and is why I gave this episode such a high rating.

Never before did I think I would actually feel for Logan Echoles. He is an entirely unlikeable character in most regards, but the information that he is being abused in secret by his famous father just got to me. I did enjoy the moment when Logan gets the better of the phony piece of shit, even if he did end up paying for it in the long run.

Nothing to Hide: Heroes Ep 7

This episode starts with Peter back in the penthouse taking care of the dying man he was nursing at the beginning of the show. He tells the man that he has a secret, that he can fly. Then the camera shows his POV as he flies across the city right before waking up. That's when Simone shows up, her father (the man in the dream in case I hadn't mentioned before) has just died. Matt is talking with his wife about how good things have been lately, how he feels like they've connected more and been more honest and she starts to think about him finding out something. It sounds like she's been having an affair. He goes to work out of sorts but gets called out by the woman from the FBI who's tracking Sylar. She says he's killed again and this time he left a print. They tracked it down to a Kevin Sprague. She's bringing Matt along to help her get in his head and figure out why he's killing. When they show up at Kevin's house they find evidence of intense radiation. Photos of Kevin and his family have been burned, there is damage all over the house of some kind of explosion, but Kevin is gone. As they're leaving, Matt tells the woman that he doesn't think Kevin is Sylar. He shows her a prescription for chemo medication which was prescribed by the person who was the victim of the radiation burns. The recipient of the medication seems to be Kevin's wife. When they find the woman's hospital room, they find Kevin, who tells them that the doctor's death was an accident. He told Kevin that there was nothing that could be done to save his wife and Kevin lost control. They try to take Kevin in, but he grabs a nurse and holds her hostage. That is when Matt happens to hear Kevin's wife's thoughts and gives him one last conversation with her before she dies. The two of them finally book Kevin making sure his cell has the proper accommodations to keep him from accidentally harming anyone else.

Meanwhile, back in Texas. The kid who was helping Claire tape her attempts shows up. He found the tape in his room. Claire sets the tape down with her jacket and helps her mom out to the car since she's taking the family dog (Mr. Muggles) to a dog show. The younger brother (Kyle) happens to see the tape and foolishly watches it. Claire walks in on him. She tells him it's all special effects, but he doesn't believe her. Kyle uses a staple gun to shoot her in the hand, from which she immediately heals. He then runs away from her and locks himself in the car. She and the friend try to talk him down, but the guy isn't helping. He tells the kid that Claire and him are aliens and makes an inappropriate joke about probing. Claire then breaks down telling Kyle that if their parents find out they'll freak and think it was a mistake to adopt her. This finally gets through to him and he gets out of the car and surrenders the tape.

Peter learns that Simone sold the painting to a guy named Linderman. He recognizes the name as being one of his brother's campaign donors and so he shows up to surprise Nathan and ask for his help in getting the painting back. He happens to walk in on an interview Nathan is holding with a reporter. The reporter is getting nosy about Nathan going missing in Las Vegas and mentions that there was a woman involved. That's when Peter speaks up and lies to say that Nathan was helping him meet with a private clinic and that the woman was a doctor. Afterwards, Nathan's wife asks him if that's true and he lies to her. He calls Linderman but the man won't part with the painting, so Peter is out of luck. Nathan tells Peter about the attempted kidnapping in Vegas and asks him to be careful.

This episode also revealed that Nathan's wife is wheelchair bound but hopes to walk again and that her injury was a result of a car accident where Nathan was driving. Nathan excuses the affair with Niki to Peter as wanting to be with someone who didn't make him feel guilty every time he looked at her.

Hiro and Ando run into Micah and DL as they're attempting to flee. Micah tries to talk DL into going back for his mom, but DL says it's complicated and that they can't. As they're driving the come across a car accident. A woman is still trapped in one of the cars and there is a fire. DL goes to try and pull her out of the car, but the door is locked. He phases through it to unlock and open it and pulls her out but not before the explosion begins to happen. Luckily, Hiro freezes time and is able to (with great difficulty) move the two of them out of harm's way before unfreezing it again. Micah uses the rescue to once again try to convince his father that they should go back to no avail. During their encounter, Hiro shows Micah the comic book he got from the future, which happens to be the series that Micah has been reading. He tells him about traveling there. Then Micah recognizes Ando from the creepery at his house. Apparently, he knows a lot more than he lets on about everything. Hiro announces that he's called the police, so DL and Micah take their leave and as they're driving away, they pass a police car arriving to the scene. Later that night, Micah talks to a broken telephone so he can use it to call his mother. But Niki is her other self (Jessica) now. Micah tries to convince her to let him talk to Niki, but she says Niki won't come back until he's safe with her. Micah tells her where they are, but DL walks up and finds him. Since the phone says it's out of order, Micah is able to convince his dad that he's just goofing around with the phone. Jessica loads a gun (obviously intent on actually taking DL out this time).

After things wrap up with Sprague, Matt heads back to the station where one of his police buddies tells him that the FBI woman has convinced the people in charge to let him take the detective's exam through a series of interviews. He congratulates him, but then Matt hears that same man think "Loser. I'm screwing your wife and she's so fine," so he decks him. 

Not sure at this point whether to feel sorry for Matt or to dislike him. He's obviously the kind of guy who resents it when things don't go well for him and even though he wants his wife to be happy, the reaction of ignoring her calls after learning about the affair from her and then the attack after hearing her lover's thoughts makes him seem a bit toxic, but then again, betrayal can be hard for anyone to handle. Since the two of them were in counseling at the beginning of the show, it is obvious that things aren't perfect between them. Still, he's been handed a bad deck. Dyslexia prevents him from moving up the ladder in his job despite the fact that he has the brains to do the job. His gift helps him save people but also creates a lot of problems for him. It's unclear at this point whether Matt is a good person or not. It is clear that he's not yet a bad person even if that is the direction he will eventually go, but hearing other people's thoughts is not for the faint of heart.

At this point in the show, Linderman's motives are still unclear. He lives in Las Vegas, so you wouldn't think he would have a vested interest in getting someone into congress in New York, and yet he's willing to give 4 million dollars to Nathan's campaign. I want to say that this is probably the turning point of the show. It has introduced the person who is a nuclear time bomb which obviously has something to do with the explosion in New York (although we don't know what yet) and all of the main characters have shown off their abilities (Peter's seems to be that of an empath, but the full extent of his ability may not be apparent yet). It is also not yet clear why glasses guy returned the tape after watching it.

This episode didn't have any moments that were especially rivieting, but it did serve to move the plot forward. I rate it a 7/10.

Veronica Mars Ep 5: You Think you Know Somebody

 This episode was all about the new boyfriend Troy. It starts with him, Logan and a third guy named Luke having a weekend of fun in Mexico. Luke joins Logan and Troy with a piñata which is obviously full of drugs because of how he is acting. It is unclear to the audience if Logan or Troy know what is in the piñata because Luke lies to them about why he got it, saying all the other souvenir places were closed. The border patrol jokes "want to hand over your contraband?" and it seems like the trio might be done for, but he laughs and asks them to open the trunk. Next thing you know, they are eating at a restaurant on the US side of the border laughing and joking about their stay in Mexico.

When they start to leave, they notice that the car is missing. Troy calls Veronica and Luke is visibly on edge. The next day, Luke is at the gym and the man who should be spotting him threatens to harm him if Luke doesn't bring his package. Troy tells Veronica that if his father finds out the car is missing, he'll ship him off to military school, so he enlists her help in tracking it down. The car has an anti-theft device, but to turn it on, you need to report the car stolen, and Troy says he's afraid that if he does that, his father will find out he borrowed it to go to Mexico.

Veronica tries to find out stuff about the car using a PI website and Wallace asks her if she can find out anything about him. There's nothing earth shattering, as expected. Wallace is pretty tame. The website comes into play later. Veronica's dad gets a message from his new girlfriend while she's there, so Veronica confronts him about the relationship. He tells her he just didn't want to bring it up before things got serious but that he's having fun and really likes her.

Veronica then uses the website to look up the councilor, finding a failed marriage which she hasn't gotten a divorce from yet and a very old case of check fraud. Veronica and her dad have a fight about her meddling in his personal life, but he breaks things off with his girlfriend because he realizes that this means Veronica is not ready for him to start dating yet.

Luke asks Veronica to help him get his drugs back, but they find out that the car has already been chopped and resold and that the sale is untraceable. There is no way to find the car without turning on the tracker. They do find the piñata, just as one of the kids at a birthday party cracks it open and candy (not steroids) falls out. So not only is the car missing, but so are the drugs. Veronica tells Luke that the only thing to do is to raise the money he needs to pay back the dealer. He does and Veronica delivers it. The dealer tries to tell her that he and Luke aren't square. She brings her pitbull along so he can't hurt her and keeps everything in public even though he tries to pull her into his office (smart girl). She also snaps his picture. When he tells her that he's not going to let Luke off the hook just because he got his money back, Veronica says he'll regret it. She uses the picture to print a watch out for this man poster and sends it to the border patrol. The next time he tries to make a run for steroids, he is stopped.

Veronica sends out untraceable phones to all her mom's old friends and acquaintances hoping that if she gets at least one, she'll reach out. While going through her mom's things, Veronica finds a safety deposit box key and learns that her mother was having her followed back when she was dating Duncan Kain. During a flashback where she learns about who Veronica's boyfriend is, she accidentally burns the waffles she's making and is visibly upset when she had been teasing Veronica moments before. This deepens the underlying mystery of Lilly Kain's murder. It is unclear if the friendship with Lilly began after the relationship or happened as a result of it because there doesn't seem to be any reason why she would be okay with the friendship but not the relationship (unless Veronica and Duncan are actually related like Veronica's mom had another child who was adopted by the Kains or his mother had an affair with her father or vice versa). I think if it turns out the two of them were related, that the mom should have come clean about it, though.

Back in the present, Veronica tries to sweet talk a male employee into turning on the car's tracking device, but the female boss catches them and tells him they're not supposed to do it unless the car has been reported stolen. Later, that same woman activates the device when told to do so by Veronica's father who helps as a favor to her. Afterwards, he gives Veronica an envelope of facts that he's collected about Troy and tells her it's up to her if she opens it or not.

Veronica and Troy follow the signal and find that the tracking device has been fixed to a dog's collar. Someone is a step ahead.

After learning Troy's secrets, Veronica confronts him about the fact that he used to smuggle drugs at his old school, but he still claims not to have known about Luke's deal. True to what Troy said, after his father gets back he is shipped off in a taxi. He does not get off at Albuquerque, however, he gets off at the restaurant where his father's car went missing and hands someone a roll of cash. He goes into the bathroom and takes a package out of the vent then drives off in the same car that had gone missing. Turns out he was playing them all along. He calls his old girlfriend and she tells him that some girl named Veronica who knows him has been calling her. That's when he opens the package and finds candy in place of the steroids with a note from Veronica telling him that the drugs have been flushed down the toilet.

Veronica is asleep listening to music when her phone rings. Her mother is calling from one of the burner phones she sent. She says she misses her and that once everything comes out in the open it will be clear why she is acting the way that she's acting.

I liked this one, but it wasn't the best one ever. Did not see the surprise ending coming even after Troy's past was revealed. Wasn't too sure about the dad's relationship so him calling it off didn't really affect me. Troy's betrayal stung a bit more since Veronica did turn to him in her hour of need and seemed to be starting to trust again after what happened with Duncan and at the party. I rate this one a 6/10. No emotional scenes. Plot was kind of boring, although it did have that clever twist ending.

Better Halves: Heroes Ep 6

 Lots of stories came to a point of conflict in this episode. Hiro and Ando get told by Peter that a Hiro from the future said: "Save the cheerleader, save the world" only no one knows where to find the cheerleader. 

In Issac's loft, Peter and Issac try to find out if there's a clue in the paintings about who the cheerleader might be, only there's a painting missing and Simone probably took it to sell, so Peter leaves to try and get it back.

Back in the car with Hiro and Ando, the guy they cheated decides they're going to cheat for him to get his money back. At the game, Ando sees a gun under the tables and drags Hiro away. While they're gone, something or someone attacks and the guys at the game are all killed horribly. 

DL shows himself to Niki and tells her he's about to get the name of the woman who double crossed him and stole the money after killing his men. Then, as the two of them wake up, DL tells Niki she kept getting up the night before. When DL goes to meet the guys who can clear his name, it ends up being that same poker game.

Hiro is ashamed that he couldn't save the men at the poker game. He says hiding is not heroic. Ando tells him that maybe he'll bend time and come back to save them. This is the first time I kind of like Ando as a character.

Mohinder leaves to go back and (Evie?) the neighbor girl tries to talk him out of it. After she fails, she calls Claire's dad who still doesn't have a name.  Turns out she was a plant the whole time (big surprise). She tells him about everything Peter told Mohinder, including the message from the future about saving the cheerleader, then asks what she should do with the precog (Issac) and he tells her to bring him in.

Niki tells DL that she's seen men torn apart like that before, in their garage and that she thinks she did it. He thinks she's being set up until Micah says that she has a secret power too. That's when DL catches Niki retrieving the stolen money. She attacks him and he reveals an ability to phase through objects (how he escaped from prison), which he uses to incapacitate her and he takes Micah away even though Micah clearly doesn't want to go.

I think the reveal that DL has this power shows a couple things, mainly, why Niki's other personality is afraid he will kill her despite her super strength, and why she chose to set him up rather than kill him (although that might partly be on Micah's behalf since both personalities clearly want to protect him).

Claire's dad claims to have found her birth parents and arranges a meeting. Claire is kind of hoping to find answers about what is happening to her, but after talking to them, they seem way too normal. Then Claire's mom tells her that they tried to find her bio parents when she was a baby because they thought she had some kind of disease. Claire pushes for answers but her mom just says it was a bad cough. Claire's dad is going to leave for business again and they hug goodbye but Claire has obviously decided that he's lying about having found her bio parents. As they hug, her fake smile drops and she gets a serious look on her face.

Overall this episode was good for a mid season climax. Matt didn't appear, but all the other main characters had some kind of pivotal point in their journey. Sylar still hasn't shown his face and I'm starting to think maybe we won't see it until near the end of the season. I'm rating this one a 7/10. The story and character progression was good, but there weren't any heartwrenching or warming parts that made it especially stand out. There was a bit of chemistry between Niki and DL but it still felt a bit forced (maybe that's what they were going for, though). Good acting from the kid who played Micah, though. Very believable reaction to walking in on his parents physically fighting and then being dragged away from the scene by one of them after the other has been knocked unconscious. 

Apologies

Just a quick note to let you know that I will start posting my regular blogs again next week. This week I just couldn't make the time for it. I noticed a sudden surge of views on some of my recent posts so if you're new here, hi. Welcome. Hope you like what you're reading. Without any interaction, I can't tell if the views are from fans or haters, so I'm going to be hopeful and think someone liked what I posted and encouraged others to come read it as well. I have started watching the new season of Haunted Hotel (also on Netflix) so I may begin blogging about that show too, not sure yet. Right now, since this blog is purely for fun (and to stretch my writing skills) I need to focus most of my time on more fruitful endeavors. Like many people, I've been in financial straits recently. Google Adsense still says this blog is "low quality" whatever that means, so unless someone at Netflix wants to sponsor me (pretty please?) it'll stay that way. Lots of love, catch you next week.