Heroes - Episode 3

I wasn't watching as closely as last time, so I may miss some details.

Synopsis:

Claire continues her quest to be a popular girl and fit in, in spite of her friend's urging to embrace her powers. At a bonfire/rally, she hooks up with a boy she likes and leaves the party. He comes on to her, but when she asks him to stop, he becomes suddenly insistent and then violent. They struggle and he hits her head on a sharp object that penetrates her skull. She is still and seems dead. Later, she wakes on an autopsy table after the object is removed from her skull. In a very gross and intense moment she finds herself flayed open. (This was pretty horrific)

Mohinder can't make any sense of his father's program and in frustration throws his computer, breaking it open and discovering a book concealed inside with a key. This leads him to Silar's (apparent) apartment, the walls of which are covered with Silar's rantings ("I am sinner" etc.) and a map like the one on his father's wall. Mohinder leads the police there later, but the place is empty and the walls have been painted over.

Niki takes her son to her mother-in-law's house. They fight. The mother-in-law wants to keep Niki's son, Noah, and tells her she can't stop her from seeing him. Niki tells her about the body she found in the desert; it was wearing a ring that she recognized as being worn by her husband's "crew" and Niki believes this is proof that he is guilty. Both her mother-in-law and Noah believe he is innocent and will continue to evade the authorities.

Matt is being questioned by an FBI agent and he tells her the truth, that he can hear people's thoughts. She taunts him, asking him to tell her what she's thinking now. At first, he hears nothing and then hears her worries about being taken seriously. He tells her that no one takes him seriously either. She is surprised and decides to trust him, asking him to talk to the little girl he rescued. Although reluctant at first, he agrees to help. The girl is in protective custody, but when they reach her, they hear her screaming and see a hooded man carrying her away. They chase him down an alley, where he drops the girl. The FBI agent points her gun at him, but he uses an apparent mental powers to shove her away and make her point her gun at her own temple. Matt catches up and empties his gun into the Hooded Man (Sylar?). He drops, but when Matt turns his back, he gets up and disappears.

Matt gets home later and finds his wife in an angry state; he missed a therapy session and she is hurt by what she interprets as thoughtlessness and hostility from him. Hearing her thoughts that she wants him to leave, he does so and winds up at a bar. He can clearly hear all of the thoughts around him, the dispair of those around him depresses him. Looking around the bar, his eyes settle on a man who seems to be watching him. From him, Matt hears no thoughts, only complete silence. He passes out.

Hiro brings the comic book from the future to show his friend as proof. At first, his friend is skeptical, but Hiro decides to try to prove his powers to him, by following the actions in the comic book. According to the book, he is supposed to save a little girl from being hit by a truck. He finds the girl at the last second and uses his time-stopping power to stop the truck and pull her out of harm's way. His friend can no longer deny his power and agrees to come with him to New York to find the artist.

Simone fights with Isaac over his drug use. He claims to need it in order to see the future and she, out of fear for his life, has flushed his stash. She refuses to believe that his paintings show the future (including one that shows a nuclear bomb going off in New York). Later she runs into Peter who tells her he is quitting his job. She is truly disappointed that she won't see him, but he tells her they will run into each other again.

At his brother's fundraiser, he does see Simone again. Nathan talks to the press about his brother's hospitalization; he tells them about his father's depression and suicide and announces that Peter is also depressed and tried to commit suicide. Peter is enraged and embarrassed; he confronts his brother after the party and slugs him for lying and betraying him. Afterwards, he sees Simone and tells her it isn't true, that he isn't depressed and didn't try to commit suicide. They kiss.

Isaac looks over his drawings and finds a picture of Simone and Peter kissing under an umbrella in the rain.

Thoughts: A good episode, even if I was distracted. Lots of mysteries still unexplained - is Sylar behind the killings and why? Was the Hooded Man really Sylar? Who is the Bald Man who can guard his thoughts from Matt?

The special effects were particularly striking this episode, too. Hiro's time-stop power looks particularly awesome, especially with the girl caught mid-jump. Claire's autopsy was pretty gross, but the scene does show a weakness to her power - an object can impede her rejuvenation power if left inside her long enough. My favorite scene was probably the most lo-tech: after the noise of the thoughts around Matt, the silence around the Bald Man made the hairs on my neck stand up.