Heroes – ‘The Hard Part’ Recap

Well, it’s not just a low-level single with a strange video from Coldplay’s X&Y anymore; it’s also the 21st ‘Heroes’ episode of the season. If you haven’t watched it yet, be warned: it’s nothing like last week. In fact, it only further proves why “Five Years Gone” (Or “String Theory”) was a mistake for the show; while it was an exhilirating hour, there was no way that this episode could live up to it. Last week was a terrible tease, not giving us the real climax, and now it yanks it all away with Sylar spending time with his mother, and a series of go-nowhere plots that failed to really advance in the process. It’s not this episode’s fault, it was actually not a bad filler episode for the series, but coming after last week’s action-packed episode it just pales in comparison.

For those who haven’t watched it, and perhaps wish to be spoiled, head to YouTube for the Canadian Preview for Next Week.

For those who haven’t the recap remains. Sure, it’s a bit slower than last week, but setup is an important step to any process, and the stage remains well set. What took place, and what exactly is the hardest part? Read on to find out.

Previously on Heroes: Hiro traveled Five Years into the future and discovered a possible result of all of this…and it wasn’t good. Linderman believes that this tragedy is Nathan’s destiny, and we get to learn a few more things. We see Molly Parker, the girl Parkman saved after Sylar killed her parents early in the season while he was with the FBI (And who seemed to have some sort of powers, as we’ll see later), and then Linderman kidnapping Micah. And then Isaac dying. And then Bennet helping Parkman/Ted escape. And then stuff about the tracking system. This is a lot of previouslies. And now Hiro is teleporting back, and is ready to save the world. And now we’re repeating the end of last week’s episodes.

Hiro is excited, since this is his chance to save the future…and Hiro is struggling with the fact that Isaac has only drawn his comic book without putting in dialogue.

Oh my jesus, it’s Rena Sofer! It’s been forever and ever and ever since we’ve seen here, this is fantastic. Meanwhile, Claire stands awkwardly at the top of the stairs, clearly realizing that she is a burden on the family. Meanwhile, Grandma Petrelli gets her some clothes for Paris as Peter comes in to say goodbye. Peter says that she can’t leave, that she has a destiny (I typed that before he said it, I swear). Peter is stressing that her safety doesn’t need to be proven by Nathan since she can, you know, heal herself. Claire isn’t convinced she can save the world, but Peter lets her in on the nuclear exploding Peter theory.

Claire, however, has information Peter doesn’t; she knows who Ted is. And, it seems, Ted has arrived in the general area of New York (What happened to the bus?) with Parkman and Bennet. Parkman is trying to call his wife, but Bennet is totally not cool on the subject as Ted melts the snow off a car. And then starts it with his heat powers. Meanwhile, there’s a different kind of tracking system following them: newly artistic Sylar is painting Ted as I type, and through creepy annoying internal narration that’s overexplaining the situation Sylar tells us his…well, ludicrously obvious plan.

Mohinder, still somehow relevant, gets a call from Sylar. Sylar thinks he is going to kill a lot more people, as he thinks he is the exploding man. Mohinder doesn’t seem to be paying much attention to it, to be honest, until Sylar starts talking about genocide and destruction. Sylar realizes he shouldn’t have called…really, Sylar? Ya think?

“HEROES”

Commercial Note: Rena Sofer has been notably absent from both shows she’s been guest starring on, and she’s going to end up on both Heroes and 24 on the same night? Jeesh, how’d that work out?

Jessica and DL? Great. DL is currently considering why, exactly, Micah is doing a job for Linderman. DL is very logically blaming Jessica for this, and storms out in a huff to find Micah. Niki, in the mirrow, meanwhile spends some time convincing Jessica to go with him.

Candice, meanwhile, is playing babysitter to Micah and his BRAND NEW SUPER AWESOME PLAYSTATION 3 Home Entertainment System (Only $599! In Stores Now! Right Sony? Right?), and Candice feels this is a waste of her powers. She spends some time parenting (She’s a bit gruff, although he’s a good kid overall). It’s not as if Niki/Jessica were good parents, so it wouldn’t be a hard at to follow.

Mohinder is now outside meeting with Thompson, who wants to know if he is going to work with them. Thompson wants the formula, and Mohinder is trying to in some way shift the game into his favour. Thompson throws the “You led Sylar to kill those people” thing in his face, but accepts his desire to gain all of their information.

We meet Molly Walker, the girl who Parkman saved, inside Primatech. She is currently struggling from a nervous system illness, as her ability has not been able to be used. His father has seen this before: Mohinder’s sister died of this illness, and there is a cure of some sort in his father’s work. And, Thompson thinks it is important: because, you see, Molly can miraculously stop this entire thing from happening, and she’s the only one.

Hiro and Ando, meanwhile, are outside of Isaac’s apartment, currently Sylar’s swingin’ pad. He’s bust shaving when they come in, however, so all Hiro gets to find is Isaac’s corpse. You’d think the super hearing or any of his other multiple powers would have Sylar killing these people by now. But, of course not. Sylar is too busy putting on his watchmaker’s outfit…but then magically hears Ando swallow but NO OTHER SOUNDS BEFORE THAT. Sigh. Still, things look grim for Hiro and Ando.

Sylar lets them know that they should come out…but Hiro kind of just transports them in time and space instead. Smart move, Hiro. Conveniently, Sylar walks right by them as they exit the convenience store. Sylar, meanwhile, believes he is being watched. Hiro is worried about the time frame: Sylar’s death at Hiro’s hands is post-election, you see.

Meanwhile, Linderman’s stronghold is currently struggling to remain secure as DL and Jessica morph their way through the walls. Their first image: Micah in a fire-ridden New York City. And that’s when DL spots baby photos, medical files, report cards, all about their lives; DL is starting to put things together…and he believes that Linderman has been playing with their lives all of this time.

Mohinder, meanwhile, is trying to save some of those lives as he takes some blood from Little Miss Molly. Molly is convinced that the Boogeyman can’t be stopped: Molly’s ability is kind of impressive: she’s basically capable of finding people worldwide by thinking about them. Mohinder wants her to use it in order to find Sylar; I think it would be great at cheating at NBC’s “Where in the World is Matt Lauer?” Mohinder and I have different priorities.

Claire, meanwhile, is letting Nathan in on the Ted part of things. And then Peter lets him know that this needs to be done. And then Claire kind of geeks out over Nathan being able to fly, which is cute. Nathan, however, immediately rats them out to Linderman…or was it Linderman at all?

Meanwhile, Sylar is reunited with his mother…and it’s weird. And bizarre. And, uh, boring? Plus, we all know that daddy issues are much more likely in this scenario.

His mother, meanwhile, collects snowglobes from all North American states, one of which he has brought for her (She’s only missing Oregon: she’s clearly the Sufjan Stevens of snow globes, and much more productive to boot). Sylar is a little bit concerned about his future, and his mother agrees: he’s all “I want to come back to Queens” and she’s all “But TRAVeling is your PASSion!” (Get it? She’s from Queens. Perhaps she lives on Queens Boulevard?) Sylar and his mother are battling more than a little at this point, and she’s reacting quite violently. Sylar doesn’t think he needs to be special anymore, but his mother disagrees: and then plants the President bug we sorta got from the painting. That is dangerous. And Claire? A bit nervous about it.

Thompson (That’s who was on the phone, I see.) is asking Nathan to make a sacrifice, and…why is she just standing out there? And why is Peter continuing to try to get Nathan to help, it’s a seriously problem. And now finally Claire is running. Honestly, what took her so long? That was such a nothing scene.

Speaking of nothing, we’ve got Micah spending some time with Candice…who decides to have a shower even though Micah can, you know, break through locks…but soon discovers that every door within the place ends up leading right back into the apartment. Which means that Candice and manipulate more than herself, which is kind of cool; and, Micah is threatened quite clearly by Candice. She threatens to mess him up good. Harsh.

Hiro and Ando, meanwhile, decide to spend some time stalking Sylar at home as he enjoys his tuna fish sandwich. He basically asks his mother’s permission to kill people, and she’s all sketchy about it. Until, you see, Sylar decides to turn the faucet into a snow machine. And thus, he creates a giant snowglobe in her house…and then puts her inside of it. And then the entire apartment starts to shake. And the snowblobes start twirling around the room faster and faster. And then they start smashing into her. And then she runs away crying. For good reason, really.

Mohinder stares into a microscope and is getting all emo about it; in the process of frightening Molly, he decides to tell her that he knows where a cure is, he just can’t find it. In the process, she finds a picture of his sister that he hasn’t seen. It’s of his mother, pregnant, with his father and young Shanti. She decides to be all mature and ask whether or not she will die. Mohinder says he won’t be late, and I actually kind of believe him. She drew him a small star on a piece of paper to protect him…which is somehow a clue. I have no idea how. At all.

Sylar’s mother, meanwhile, is crying in her bedroom while Sylar begs her to come out. Ando wants him to stab him while he’s distracted, but Hiro doesn’t think he deserves it at this point. Ando says that cool Future Hiro wouldn’t hesitate, but Hiro is right: who wants to become that depressed quasi-terrorist who killed so much he stopped caring. Hiro is someone who cares. However, he also cares about Ando, who reveals that Sylar will kill him.

Meanwhile, in mother/son feud land, Mrs. Sylar is wondering where her son went, and decides to threaten him with sewing scissors and damn him to hell. And then Sylar turns the scissors into his mother, which is just all kinds of not good. Hiro, meanwhile, stops time at this particular point and tries his hardest…but Sylar, unfortunately, wakes up in time. Hiro can’t do it, but Sylar is about to kill him when he and Ando zap off…and Sylar realizes what he did. Which, really, didn’t he see that coming?

Mohinder, apparently, found the cure. Which was, apparently, in him. The idea was that Mohinder was in some way the cure to the illness…um, okay? Mohinder was born too late, unfortunately, and I think he figured this out based on the fact that his mother was pregnant…I’ll accept that. I still don’t get the star, though.
Hiro, meanwhile, warps back to Isaac with a broken sword. Peter, meanwhile, has found a handgun in their down apartment. Peter wants her to be his wingman in his attempt to stop Ted…and by Wingman, I mean “Woman who will kill him if he’s about to blow up.” Claire is, of course, on a path to meet her father…and she pulls together enough to grip the gun.
Grandma Petrelli, meanwhile, is visiting Nathan and reveals that she got a call from Linderman. She’s here to provide perspective; a lot of people took time and care, herself included, put a lot of time into this plan of sorts, and she thinks he’s capable of this decision (Comparing it to Truman dropping the bomb). His weakness, she says, is a lack of faith in the idea of destiny. His destiny, she continues, is to set people right after this disastrous event. They will thank him for his strength and his conviction. In her day, it was being Presidential.

“Can you believe? Can you be the one we need? (Nathan does not immediately recoil) That’s my boy.”

Meanwhile, Sylar spends some time…uhh, playing with his mother’s blood? Oh, he’s paining the future. Which, apparently, is still New York blowing up. Which is, you know, exactly where we were an entire episode ago. Yay complete lack of plot progression.

We end on Claire sitting in front of the Primatech building as Peter steps towards her. She is crying, saying she isn’t normal, and feels that she has hurt everyone in the process. She ruined everything based on who she is, what she is. She was only part of something when she met Peter, and he gets all big brotherly…but not. At all. It’s weird, and totally incestuous.

And then Claire reunited with her father as Ted and Parkman arrive. And, of course, Peter starts glowing. And glowing. And then he glows some more. And then it just kind of ends on an odd musical note.

Next Time on Heroes: Claire talks about destiny, Parkman is caught at gunpoint but Thompson gets a rude gunshot to the side of the head from Bennet (But whatever is Thompson’s power? We shall see.), and Sylar says “Boom” in a suggestive fashion. From what I can tell? Still just setup.