Heroes—The Fix

Here's a question, as we view the Previously On Heroes bit--I don't think it's been explicitly stated, but does Claire not feel pain? She must not, because otherwise I don't think she'd be so eager to jump off buildings.

In many ways, this episode was more filler than anything else, mostly just putting characters into place for whatever story bits are set to come next. It's a credit to the writers that they managed to produce an entertaining episode in spite of that handicap, and that they managed to squeeze in a bit of airtime for just about every major character. I think the only folks we didn't see tonight were Isaac and Simone.

Based on his dreams, Peter seems convinced that Dr. Who Invisible Guy is meant to mentor him, though Invisible Guy begs to differ. Searching for his brother, Nathan ends up teamed with Mohinder, who seems to think some research and possibly some genetic manipulation can keep Peter from making New York go boom. Unfortunately this seems more like a long-range plan than an immediate solution, so Peter is understandably skeptical.

In prison, Niki's being held in a padded room. A psychiatrist says she can help--Niki obviously has multiple personality disorder, and just needs the shrink to talk to Jessica. Niki feels this is a very bad idea, but agrees when the psychiatrist invokes Micah as a bargaining chip. In the meantime, DL is having a hard time getting by, unable to get a job, and unable to get Micah to not be a twerp. Micah, however, can do the whammy on the ATM machine, which seems to be one of the more useful skills possessed by his family.

Matt struggles to explain his powers to his wife. His attempts to hunt down Bennett lead to his being put on suspension. So now he's unemployed, telepathic, has problems with his plumbing, and his wife is pregnant. (I meant that plumbing thing literally--obviously his "plumbing" is fine... never mind.)

Hiro and Ando continue on their quest to retrieve the samurai sword from Linderman. They're grabbed by thugs who take them off to their secret headquarters. Apparently somebody has been keeping an eye on Hiro, and wants him to stop using his powers. The somebody, the Big Boss, proves to be Hiro's father, who looks remarkably like Lieutenant Sulu from Star Trek. Probably because it's George Takei. And, for the first time, Hiro looks really intimidated by someone. (Best line of the night... Gulp!)

In Texas, Claire enlists the help of both Zach and the Haitian to dig up information on her biological parents. Zach is reluctant, but falls back into his role as Claire's confidant. The Haitian is even more reluctant, and tries to get her to stop digging. But Claire is persistent. She's told her mother died in a house fire in Kermit, Texas, 14 years ago, presumably a few years too late for her to be one of the Yellow Eyed Demon's kids. That doesn't matter, though, because not only is it the wrong show, her mom's not actually dead, but alive and well, lighting cigarettes with her bare fingers.

In the meantime, Bennett seems to be getting suspicious, but he's got other problems. Back at the "paper factory," they've been experimenting on Sylar, who rudely decides to die in the middle of the proceedings. Except he really didn't, and when Bennett goes back to check on Sylar's corpse, he finds the guard dead. Sylar has escaped. In fact, he's standing right there...

Overall, a well-constructed episode, with some turns I didn't expect. And I have to say I'm really enjoying seeing Christopher Eccleston on my TV again.