We had softball last night, so I just got around to watching the episode. It's a pretty good turn for things. Read below for more info:
First off, we see a strange green glow around the earth in the title scene. A foreshadowing of the holocaust that the Shanti virus will unleash, I imagine.
Next, Hiro and Kensei have finally gotten the end of their journey together. Or at least Hiro has finally been able to get out of his own personal purgatory called feudal Japan. Why he went there in the first place is still beyond me, but our theory that he would end up being his own hero, Kensei, has been proven true. After the real Kensei turned out to be bad, and he and Hiro fought, Yaeko swore that she would tell the tale of Kensei as if Hiro were the main character. Those are obviously the stories that Hiro heard as a child and so the show has conveniently avoided any time travel issues by making the events of Hiro in feudal Japan a part of the known history in this universe. Nice, neat, and thank goodness we're done with it.
Also, as we suspected from the start of the season, Kensei (aka Adam Monroe) is the main villain. His hatred for Hiro has been stewing for centuries, so he's primed and ready for making everyone's life miserable. According to Bob, he's using Maury Parkman to do his dirty work, and based on the final scene, it looks like he's working on using Peter to his own ends as well. I still wonder whether Adam and Peter have ever met before, but I am very confident in saying that Adam is not out to destroy the company (or at least not just the company).
Mr. Bennett saw, photographed, and destroyed the original paintings. All eight have been shown now, but I could only make out the details of seven. Several of the events depicted have already happened, so I'll note that beside each description:
- Mr. Nakamura dead. Of course, we saw this at the beginning of the season and while this painting wasn't among those that Mr. Bennett destroyed in the Ukraine, we know that it is part of the series.
- Mohinder with a bandaged nose and company pistol. This hasn't happened specifically but it must be coming soon. Mohinder's nose is now bandaged since Niki attacked him and Bob just issued him a pistol for protection and noted that Mr. Bennett is a threat to the company.
- Mr. Bennett dead (with Claire apparently in the background). This hasn't happened yet, but considering Mr. Bennett's dialog with Mohinder and Mohinder's dialog with Bob, I think that Mr. Bennett is beginning to believe that Mohinder may be a threat.
- A hand with a vial of the Shanti virus. We didn't see this directly that I recall, but it may refer to the fact that Niki took a vial and used it on herself.
- A woman banging on a door (possibly Niki). This could be Niki trying to get to Bob when she believed that he had been hiding D.L. and then had killed him.
- Hiro fighting Kensei. We saw this. It was the last time that the two of them have seen each other in nearly 500 years from Kensei's perspective.
- Peter behind a pane of glass with a biohazard label. We saw this while Peter was in the future. The Shanti virus has caused a global crisis.
- Something that looked like a man doing something. This one flashed too quickly to get a good look. No ideas here. Anyone else get a better look?
While trying to make sure I accounted for all eight paintings, I also noticed that there were other images between the frames. I saw two flash briefly, but I couldn't get the NBC.com player to stop right on those frames so I never got a clear look. They both look like landscapes or something. Maybe one of you has this episode on tape still and can identify the "pictures between the pictures." I don't know if there is anything of value there or not, but I'm pretty curious at this point. The first one is just as the scene cuts from Hiro's face to the paintings and the other one that I noticed is while the scene is cutting between paintings.
In other storylines, Parkman and Nathan show up at the company to try and protect Bob from Parkman's dad, Maury. Bob reveals to Matt that his abilities don't stop at reading minds. He should have the same ability as his father and be able to control minds essentially. I wonder why Matt has the exact same power as his father, but Claire doesn't have anything resembling her parent's powers and neither do Peter, Nathan, or Micah. Why is Matt different than the rest?
West has just appeared at Claire's house to make breakfast. At first, this kept me suspicious of his motivation as I still suspected that he was only using her to get close to her father. When Claire failed to reveal that her dad is the one that abducted him, and he saw Mr. Bennett on his own, I sensed a genuine fear and sense of betrayal from the character, though, so I think now that he genuinely believes Claire tried to set him up. Oddly, while West was making breakfast, he inquired as to the whereabouts of Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Bennett said that she couldn't recall. Was her memory wiped? Or was it really just unimportant to her?
Mohinder was faced with a moral dilemma when Maury first arrived at the company facility. Bob wanted him to inject the virus into Maury to eliminate his power. Mohinder was not sure about that plan because he didn't want to risk infecting anyone else. Should he save himself and risk the world, or protect Maury from the virus and risk the world? As things turned out, Mohinder slipped out of making that decision when Matt locked Maury in his own nightmare and Niki injected herself with the virus. Now the only problem is that this strain of the virus can't be cured. The only answer, of course, is the regenerative powers of Claire. Once again….save the cheerleader, save the world.
And if they don't, Peter and Caitlin have seen the future. The Shanti virus will create a devastating worldwide epidemic. It's not a nuke this time, but it's still oddly familiar.
Niki is still mostly a worthless character, but Ali Larter is totally hot, so I can put up with her a little more as long as she isn't the focus. I just can't understand why she injected herself with the virus. That seemed like the most idiotic decision that she could have made, but they don't ask me to write this stuff. The images that Maury put in her head got me to wondering, though. How exactly did D.L. die? I know he was shot at the end of last season, but he seemed to be doing okay. Is it possible that the company whisked him away for observation and faked a funeral so Niki wouldn't come looking?
Before you say that's ridiculous, let me point out that Bob revealed to Nathan that Peter is alive, and he showed Nathan relatively recent footage of Peter in the company facility. If they could get Peter, observe him, and not let Angela or Nathan find out, then why couldn't they cover something like abducting D.L.? The other questions here are whether the company took Peter's memory or if it was already gone? And did the company put Peter in that shipping container? Or did he simply escape?
Who is Adam Monroe? We've been asking that since last week, and as many of us suspected he turns out to be Kensei. I suspect that he is also the father of the lightning girl that was looking for Peter a few episodes back and that he was directly involved with Peter being in Cork in the first place. I think that he put the tickets to Montreal in the box and sent his daughter to nudge Peter into action. With a well placed note in his office, and a man that has little memory, he makes Peter believe that they are working together and suddenly he has the most powerful weapon in the world. Unfortunately, the only thing that Adam has going for him is that he can heal himself, so I'm not sure how he's going to deal with things when Peter gets wise to the game and brings all of his power to bear.
Interestingly, Bob indicated that Adam had been locked up for years and had only recently escaped. How did he get out? If electricity girl really is his daughter then she may have been instrumental. On the other hand, Bob could be lying through his teeth about Adam ever having been under their control.
While in the future, Peter meets his mother and Angela reveals to him that he is the most powerful of everyone. Nathan didn't make it to the future, but now that Peter knows he exists, I suspect that he will try to track him down in the present. Nathan has been put on the same trail by Bob, so they are likely to find each other soon. Suddenly Peter remembers his mother while they are talking. Did she give him that? Or did something just click in his head? And if she gave it to him, did she give him an accurate memory? I really wish that we knew for sure what her power is.
