Heroes
Title: “Godsend” (First Aired: 1/22/070
First, to recap: Niki/ikiN/Jessica were in custody in Nevada. Claire the cheerleader had survived the high school bloodbath, but people around her were mysteriously losing their gray matter. Turns out, Daddy Bennet had ordered the Haitian to mind-wipe anyone who knew anything about Claire’s powers. Said Haitian was even sent to erase Claire’s memory, but instead he brought her up to speed on what was happening for his own clandestine purposes. The villainous Sylar was in custody, but poor Sheena Eden was toast, having taken a bullet to prevent him from sucking up her powers of persuasion. Hiro was on a quest to find a magical sword while haunted by Isaac’s latest painting, which depicted the time-hopping hero facing off against a giant T-Rex. And, it was revealed to Peter that, after absorbing too many superpowers, a chain reaction was taking place inside his body, leading to one deadly big bang in midtown Manhattan. Phew!
On the Heroes clock, two weeks have passed. In Odessa, Texas, Claire feigns having no memory of the massacre, but shoots that secretive look that’s she’s playing Daddy B. and planning to beat him at his own game. Hottie Matt the cop thinks he’s tracked down Sylar to Daddy B.’s paper plant, but he is still unable to read the elder Bennet’s thoughts, because the parasitical Haitian is preventing him access.
Speaking of Sylar, it appears that his body is shutting down due to absorbing Sheena Eden’s powers right as she was blasting her own brains out. The prognosis for him is grim; therefore, the completely evil and shamefully sexy brain-sucker spends most of the episode in a fetal curl on a roach-trafficked cement floor (as an aside, eagle-eyed viewers reliving “Six Feet Under” reruns surely caught Sylar actor Zachary Quinto’s brief appearance as one of Claire’s art school colleagues during one scene, where he delivered a handful of lines — more than Quinto gets in this episode).
Meanwhile in New York, Mo-handsome shares Daddy Suresh’s gene-mapping flowchart with a government agent, who finally takes him seriously. During their discussion, it is revealed that Sheena Eden used to be known as Sarah Ellis, and that her body was just discovered in a lake in Ontario, the victim of what appears to be suicide. Mo-handsome processes this information, unaware that another agent will soon be making an appearance in his grungy, dimly-lit apartment. Back at the paper plant, Audrey’s boss berates both her and Matt for bungling the case. How great is it to see gorgeous former seaQuest DSV hero Stacy Haiduk back in action again, even if she’s playing a total bitch. Matt slams Daddy B. into the wall after getting his butt chewed, vowing to nail the sumbitch. Daddy B. urges him to try, but with an ominous warning.
At Union Wells High, the media swarms. Claire bumps into Zach, who has no memory of their tight friendship. Claire tries to recapture their closeness, but Zach blows her off. In Nevada, Niki’s lawyer hands down the bad news. Oh, looky — her pro bono is none other than that dude from the car insurance commercial, the one who gets the “you sure are purdy” treatment from a couple of toothless yokels after he breaks down in the desert. Alter ego Jessica surges back into control of Niki’s body, and lawyer-boy beats a hasty retreat out of the conference room before she manhandles him, too.
This bullet train of an episode speeds to its next destination, a museum where Hiro and Ando locate the mystical katana sword and recant its Shogun warrior legend. Hiro’s powers fail him, but he manages to slow time enough to swipe the sword and beat feet out of the museum. His euphoria is short-lived; the sword is a fake. According to the little sticker on its wooden blade, the original is owned by perennial bad guy Linderman.
Also in New York, Peter is burning up in a hotel bed. Hunky brother Nathan and Mom Petrelli hover around him, but Mom’s henpeckery drives Nathan out of the room and into action. He collects Simone, and together they head over to Isaac’s place for answers. Simone is stunned when a fresh-faced, cleanly-clipped Isaac greets the duo. He’s off the crank, has completely cleaned up his act, and is painting up a storm. Hiro and Ando also arrive for a meeting of the minds that culminates with them bantering — somewhat hilariously — about a “villain” who will cause Peter to go kablooey. Finding that villain becomes this newly-formed Justice League’s top priority. That is, until Peter screams himself awake from a terrifying vision of said villain and bolts from the hospital.
Back in Texas, Claire maneuvers Zach to the scene of her original home-movie swan dive, which can only mean one thing: the weekly gore-fest! Claire jumps while Zach films. He freaks, but even with a sucking chest wound and a bloody gash across the forehead, she calmly explains it just ain’t no thing. The friendship restarts where it began. At the Nevada lockdown, D.L. and Micah visit with Niki. D.L. phases a hand through the glass partition and comforts her. Unfortunately for all concerned, Jessica emerges, and when the guards rush her, she displays heretofore unseen superhuman strength, snapping a bash-baton in two like it was a stalk of celery.
Mo-handsome’s second visitor steps out of the shadows. It’s Daddy B., who admits he needs Mo-handsome’s help in harnessing the heroes’ powers for the good of the world. Mo-handsome has his doubts and refuses, but Daddy B. leaves his calling card in case he changes his mind. On the Matt front, he returns home to Janice, his cheating Katie Holmes-lookalike wife, and confesses to her about his psychic powers in an attempt to salvage their marriage.
Peter attempts to flee New York for the desert where the original nuclear bomb tests were conducted — until he spies the villain from his dream, the man who’s destined to make him go boom, stealing things from patrons of a sidewalk restaurant. Under all that facial hair, the new heavy known only as Claude is revealed to be the Ninth Doctor himself, Christopher Eccleston! Peter pursues Claude, who pitches a nutty. You see, Claude’s power is invisibility. To all but Peter, apparently.
As this awesome ep comes too soon to its close, Mo-handsome is mulling over Daddy B.’s offer. Sylar still lies dying in a pool of his own stink. Niki’s sedated and praying to God, but only the devil is answering. And Claude’s got Peter against a lamppost by the throat.
Next up, Hiro’s dad enters the action in “The Fix.”