Unexpected

Finally an episode that captured my attention in much the same way as the very first. With almost all of the plot lines intertwined, I'm not even sure how to write this post, but you know I'm going to do my best. Highlight below to read more.

First off, Mohinder and Sylar found another one of the heroes (I hate to call them that since they are obviously not all good, but I don't have a better collective name for them). This one was a woman named Dale which threw Mohinder for a bit of a loop at first. After a few moments of convincing, she finally confided that she had super hearing, and that she didn't want to lose it. Mohinder, the naïve little geek that he is, agreed to return with "Zane" (Sylar) the next day to run a few tests. Interestingly, Dale's blood was identified through the human genome project; I wonder if all of the others on Mohinder's list were identified the same way, and if so, does that imply that there may be more people with powers that did not participate in the project and remain unknown?

Sylar, of course, returned in the middle of the night and murdered Dale to take her power. Who didn't see that coming? That's what I thought. It seemed like Mohinder was getting a little suspicious of "Zane" when they arrived at the hotel, but that seemed to be mostly gone by the next morning. I wonder what will happen next since Mohinder seems determined to call the police and report Dale's murder and Sylar, of course, doesn't want to have anything to do with it. For a smart guy, Mohinder sure doesn't know much about what the police do to the guys that run from the scene.

Along another thread, Hiro and Ando were still separated; each with one half of a crooked gaming commission scheme. I've got to tell you that normally I enjoy the Hiro/Ando subplot, but this week it seemed really stale. I didn't catch any great lines, and I'm really tired of Hiro not having his power. The one great moment in this whole story was the cameo by Stan Lee as the bus driver.

Now for all the stuff that's intertwined. Matt still has the diamonds that he took off of his dead client, and in a brilliant move he gave a ring from that loot to his wife. This guy really used to be a cop? Did he not ever work a burglary? What was he thinking giving his wife stolen goods? Anyway, his wife, of course, innocently took it to the jeweler to get it sized and was informed that it was worth about $40,000 and he wanted to know how she got hold of it. You guessed it, another fight ensued between the husband and wife and resulted in Matt agreeing to take the diamonds to the station.

Before Matt could make his move, he got a call from Ted. Ted had met up with Hana Gitelman back in Nevada and the two of them were planning to invade PrimaTech paper to discover the truth about HRG and the experiments that were done on them. Before they could carry out their plan, though, Hana wanted to bring Matt on board. Matt met them both in the cemetery where Ted's wife was buried, and they obviously agreed to work together. The next scene they are in together is in Texas at HRG's house where they are taking the family hostage and looking for answers. I wonder how HRG will handle this? I wonder what we will find out next week about HRG's employer? I wonder how Matt explained needing to go on another trip? And I wonder what's going to happen to those diamonds?

Earlier, though, Claire had continued to notice issues with her mother's memory. At first, she didn't recognize Claire or Mr. Muggles, and then moments later she knew exactly who everyone was and seemed normal. That didn't last long, though, before she collapsed. In the hospital Claire took a chance on the doctor after the doctor assured her that anything she said would be held in the strictest confidence. Under those terms, Claire confided that the Haitian had been erasing her mom's memories. Naturally, the doctor said she would have to talk to HRG about that. What's the deal there? Didn't the doctor just promise confidentiality?

Of course, that sparked a conversation between Claire and HRG where she was finally able to tell him exactly what she knew and how she felt about it. She's really turned cold toward him, and I like it. The question, though, is what will happen with Ted, Matt, and Hana in the house? Will Claire side with them or with HRG?

But before any of that took place, HRG was in New York talking to Isaac. Poor Isaac has the best intentions of saving the world and winning back his girl, but he's working from a place of ignorance. He doesn't really know that he's being manipulated and he doesn't really understand HRG's game. Of course, neither do we, but at least we know that he's not interested in saving Peter. Anyway, Isaac informed HRG that Peter was invisible which then let HRG know that Claude was also still alive.

HRG found them on the roof of the Deveaux building and managed to take Claude down before attempting to hit Peter. Peter stopped the taser nodes before they could hit him, though. Now, right there, I'm sure that there's going to be some discussion over whether Peter just stopped the nodes or whether he stopped time. Leah, at first, said that he stopped time because he picked that up from Hiro, but I disagree for two reasons. One, if he had just stopped time, he would have had to move out of the way and the nodes would have kept moving toward the spot Peter had been in, and two, if he had stopped time, Claude would not have been breathing in real time while the nodes hovered in the air. I agree that Peter should have the ability to manipulate time since he was with Hiro, but I don't think that he realizes it yet.

Anyway, Peter was finally a pretty cool character. He was pretty much past the whining about his condition and into the using his powers. It was really cool when he broke the staff and even more cool when he flew with Claude. Finally, it was just awesome when he showed up in Isaac's studio to confront him about HRG and Simone. Although I didn't really care for Peter as a bad guy (and I don't think he's going to be bad; I think he was just angry), I really liked seeing him use his powers with confidence. Unfortunately, the one thing that both guys wanted walked in the door during the fight and Isaac ended up killing Simone. Of course, she could come back, the show already has two people that could travel in time, but I'm not sure if I want her to. I think it will be better for the Peter/Isaac dynamic for her to be dead.

Lastly, before Simone could show up at Isaac's apartment she had to stop and speak with Nathan. She encouraged him to go public and Nathan explained that that would not be a good idea. I wonder if he will feel the same way after he learns that she's dead? Or will that galvanize him to actually use his powers and at least admit to himself that they exist?