Heroes: Dual

This week, on Heroes …

RECAP DETAILS AHEAD (don’t read if you haven’t watched it yet) …

So there you have it. A slightly better than sloppy ending to a sloppy season. When all was said and done, the good guys all went back to being good guys (except Nathan), the bad guys all went back to being bad guys (except Daphne), including Sylar, and for the most part, all of the bad guys died. And the super-power formula that’s been at the center of things all season was destroyed. Oh, and both Primatech and Pinehearst were burnt to the ground. Talk about wiping the slate clean for the next half of the season.

What, you need more details? Sigh. Okay …

Sawlar … sorry, I mean Sylar returns to PrimaTech to teach Angela, Noah, Claire, and Firestarter (Claire’s “bio-mom”) a lesson, Saw style, by locking them in the facility and pitting them against one another in convoluted ways, forcing them to make hard decisions. In the process, the Puppet Master and Hobolossus die, as does Firestarter, who takes the building down with her. But not before Sylar learns that Angela knows who his real parents are. Nobody bothers to kill Sylar, so I assume we’ll be seeing his ongoing parent search next year.

Over at Pinehearst, Peter and Nathan argue some more, then Peter knocks Nathan out and proceeds — along with Knox and Flint — to destroy the entire batch of formula in Mohinder’s lab. But not before some of it splashes onto Mohinder, clearing up his nasty complexion. Knox snaps the Super Marine’s neck, then when Knox tries to kill Nathan, Tracey freezes and shatters him. Peter and Nathan face off again, but this time Nathan has the upper hand, until Flint sets the lab on fire. Peter shoots himself with the formula, gets his powers back, flies he and Nathan out of there before the place goes up in flames, and then they part ways.

Back in New York City, the brain trust of Matt, Daphne, and Ando are determined to save Hiro from being trapped in the past. Daphne zips to Pinehearst (before it blew up), steals a shot of formula, and Ando takes it, hoping to get the ability to time travel. He doesn’t, but instead ends up with the power to temporarily supercharge other heroes’ powers. In this way, Daphne is able to move so fast that she can move backward and forward through time. She and Ando go back and rescue Hiro, who is just about to rip the formula in half (and just about to be killed by father), then — instead of just going back AGAIN and actually destroying the formula like Hiro intended — Daphne and Hiro go to Pinehearst and take the formula from Tracey, in one of the funnier scenes in the entire series to date. “Out of my way, Pikachu.”

And there you have it. End of Volume Three. Then we get a quick tease of the next volume, entitled “Fugitives”. Why? Because Senator Nathan has apparently made it his goal to hunt down and imprison all heroes, and has the full backing of the President (played by Michael Dorn, aka Worf from Star Trek TNG) to this end. Tune in next February to see where the show goes from here.

All in all, I thought the episode did a half-decent job of wrapping up a story line that was kind of wacky to begin with. Although I’m not sure whether I was sad or relieved that Hiro didn’t end up getting his powers back. Which on the one hand is good, because he can’t time travel any more (although Daphne/Ando can now), but on the other hand is kind of a bummer, because he’s arguably the most heroic and certainly the most sympathetic character in the lot. But I’m sure they have some plan for that.

I’m glad this half of the season is over, so I can start looking forward to what I hope will be big improvements on the other side of the season. Fingers crossed.