Heroes Recap – Chapter III: One Giant Leap

By the time i fell asleep last night I was superhero’d out. I fell a week behind in my ‘Hero’ worship, so I had not one, but two hours of Heroes to catch up on. I couldn’t go another week with NOT reading Julie’s weekly recap, so I’m glad I am up to speed. And since I didn’t get to say it last week…Greg Grunberg is back on TV and all is right in the world. Well, it would be if that pesky Kim Jong Il fellow would just disappear. Can’t Hiro teleport his ass to a time and place far, far away?

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Title: One Giant Leap
Original Airdate: OCtober 9, 2006Las Vegas: A voiceover about self-preservation and survival plays as Niki digs up the desert earth. On the hand of a skeleton she unearths a skull ring, which she handily pockets. Um, hon, I don’t think it’s worth that much, and it’s definitely not your size. In the morning, when Niki’s work is done, Micah wakes up refreshed (just like I do after my mom buries people!) and they head to grandmother’s house. Grandmother, it turns out, wants to take care of Micah herself. She contends Niki is incompetent and that even her apparent murderous thieving double-crossing son DL (Niki’s absentee, prison escapee husband) would be a better parent.

Texas: Claire’s dad drops her off at school along with her effigy. Charming. Happily, it’s a big hit at the post-game celebratory bonfire, where Claire makes a love connection with the QB. Instead of making sweet sweet love, however, things go quite sour when ODQB tries to force himself on Claire while they’re making out on the bleachers. Things get physical, and he pushes her onto a sharp tree stump that gouges straight into her neck. Yikes. And that’s why you should be abstinent, kids!

Tokyo: Hiro’s back at work, comic book in hand, trying to convince his buddy Ando that he really can teleport, and that he needs his friend’s help to save a girl’s life. The eerily prescient comic book does the trick, and soon they’re off to some spot Hiro saw in the book where they’ll have a uniformed-schoolgirl from getting hit by a car. Things are about to go awry when Hiro stops time, runs over to the girl, and moves her out of the way of the truck. Duly convinced, the pair take a plane to the States (the book said they had to!). Ando, a big fan of webcam Niki, is excited that they’re bound for Las Vegas.

New York: After some failed attempts at flying off the monkey bars, Peter heads to Nathan’s campaign headquarters, where he tries to get his big bro riled up on all the research he’s done – research that involves Papa Suresh’s book, “Activating Evolution.” Nathan pushes him away, saying he has to deal with how to explain Peter’s fall to the press. Later on, at a big gala, Nathan announces to the people that Peter tried to commit suicide, and he wants to bring it to light to help erase the stigma of depression. Peter’s still feelin’ it, though, and after the gala he punches Peter out. Nice.

Also New York: Mo’s at his dad’s computer when Eden comes in with some mac n’ cheese. Mo “looks like hell” because his father’s algorithm isn’t working. Eden tries to ask him some prodding questions that could either be her pumping him for info or trying to help, but he just gets frustrated and throws the computer. If I did that every time I got angry at my computer, I think I would be the proud owner of about 17 thrashed, non-functional computers at this point. Mo, however, finds a small notebook hidden within, containing Sylar’s address and a key, among other mysterious scribbled notes.

Once they head to Sylar’s, they break in to find an immaculate apartment…except for the seriously disturbed area behind the hidden door – an area that contains a map just like Papa Suresh’s, only with more names, including Nathan’s. There are also a bunch of maniacal wall scribblings about sin and forgiveness. Say it with me now: “Psyyyyycho!” Of course, when they leave and come back with the police, the place has been completely cleaned out.

California: In FBI custody, hot cop Matt’s being interrogated by gravelly-voiced FBI chick. She doubts his ability to read minds, but when he reads hers thinking “nobody believes in me,” she’s sold. Would he like to work with the FBI? You bet he would, trying to read the mind of the girl he rescued last week…er…earlier that day? Time seems a bit wonky here.

Also wonky: the lights in the hall where the girl is being kept. That’s because Sylar came to get her. When Matt and FBI chick come across him, he ditches the girl and runs. While Matt makes sure the girl’s ok, FBIC follows Sylar. She corners him, but he somehow mentally controls her, forcing her to point her gun at her own head. Matt comes in to save the day, shooting Sylar several times before he seems to jump/fly away. Umm, what? That’s the kind of day that would leave you feeling a bit overwhelmed. Matt’s wife isn’t very sympathetic, however. She just thinks to herself, “I wish he’d leave.” Matt, hearing her, obliges. You’re better off without her, baby! Call me!

New York, again: Simone’s at Isaac’s, ready to sell off his paintings and get rid of all his drugs. But noooo! Without drugs he can’t paint the fuuuuuuture! Or some other melodramatic hooey. Does Simone care? No. He can paint a future “without her in it.” Burn. But, on the upside, it leaves her open to romantic entanglements with someone else, perhaps equally as self-involved…?

At the end, we’re left with some nifty cliffhangers:

Driving down the interstate, Niki gets pulled over. The cop tells her Mr. Linderman wants to see her, and takes her away.

Matt drowns his sorrows, glancing around and listening in on a few mental conversations. One guy, however, stares right back – and his mind is silent as a tomb. Before Matt can skedaddle, he gets a little woozy and collapses to the floor.

Isaac flips through one of his sketchbooks, looking at pictures of Simone. She’s much prettier when she’s not talking. Ruh-roh…one of the pictures shows her macking on Peter under an umbrella…

…just as it happens in real life. This, of course, after Peter told Simone he’d “been in love with her since he first laid eyes on her.” Playa.

Mo arrives at Sylar’s with the police in tow. Too bad the place has been completely cleaned out.

With the branch pulled out of her skull, Claire wakes up. On a slab in the morgue. With her chest opened up for the autopsy. “Oh, shit,” is right, Claire. Oh, shit.