Hi, My Name Is Not Lance, And I Am Not An Addict

I didn't think that I could care less about the main characters of a television show as the seasons progressed, but here I am. You know when you meet someone for the first time and they seem really interesting? They wow you with their charm and intelligence, and take you places you never knew existed before? You look forward to seeing them everyday, and plan the weekend around them until weeks later you found out that it was all an act? You find out later that this eloquent and beautiful person has really been an Ed Hardy-wearing alcoholic the whole time. You feel cheated, and break up with this lackluster person, right? Well that's kind of how I felt after I watched the last episode of Season 2.

Michael and Lincoln have successfully escaped from prison and are now on the run; everyone else has gone their separate ways. Now that the two of them are outside the confining walls of Fox River, their logic has seemed to shatter along with their shackles.

Lincoln wants to save his son in a courthouse filled with cops, Michael wants to go to city county buildings to get a map, and similar idiotic ideas dot the ongoing run from the authorities. They get so close to getting caught at least three times each episode, and it just gets ridiculous. No one on this green earth is that lucky. But that's television, and that's suspense.

The Warden is relieved of his duties in the manhunt as our Fox River Boys go their separate ways. Michael and Lincoln aim for Panama, Sucre goes to Vegas to stop Maricruz's wedding to his cousin, Vanilla Ice goes to a college town to blend in, and Abruzzi and C-Note go back to their families. T-Bag puts his hand in a cooler and forces a veterinarian to sew it back on. He kills the good doctor in a very Dexter-like fashion, tying the man to an examination table and injecting him with a hypodermic needle. He even wears a thermal while doing it. Intentional nod to the amazing Showtime series? I sure hope so. Either way, T-Bag does well to increase his body count as he travels across the country.

The Warden, Sara, and Bellick are all under investigation after the escape of the Fox River Eight. Sara apparently survived her overdose at the end of last season even though she was pretty blue in color when we last saw her. She is in the hospital awaiting parole and all of that craziness. The Warden resigns after Bellick is fired, and he stays low for most of the season. Bellick goes home to his mother's house and begins to stick a shotgun in his mouth. He almost goes throught with it until he hears about the $100,000 reward for the Fox River 8. He teams up with old C.O. Geary, and they follow our boys around the country as they try to disappear.

Federal Agent Alexander Mahone is played by my most favorite and frighteningly handsome William Fichtner. Mahone is leading the investigation against Michael and friends, and his weaknesses and neuroses are soon revealed to the viewer. He pops pills he hides in a pen, kicks tables over when he's angry, and has a few skeletons of his own in his closet. His obsession with Michael and his comparable intelligence make for a very close game of cat and mouse.

He meets with Paul Kellerman (our dark government agent from Season 1 that killed his partner), and the two of them both take orders from a "well-dressed Asian man" named Kim. Kellerman disguises himself as an addict in Sara's Narcotics Anonymous group and gives himself the alias of Lance. He claims to love crack, baking, and having sex with men. He pretends to be gay to earn Sara's trust, and the two of them develop a cute fake friendship over storebought blueberry pie.

Exhibit A:

Weird seeing him like that, isn't it?

Anywho, he does recon on Sara while Sara's father learns a little too much about Kellerman's boss. He sees him at his daughter's house eating pie, and then later sees him at the courthouse talking to Kim. He actually does the right thing and calls his daughter to warn her that Lance is not who he says he is. He goes on to say that Sara was right about everything and..... Whoops. She hangs up because Lance shows up at the grocery and freaks her out. Sara leaves immediately and tries to talk to her dad in person only to find out that he has hung himself. Or has he? Sarah finds a key on his person and keeps it for herself, figuring it has some sort of importance. She tries to go home and think things over, but her apartment is full of drugs and a government agent. She escapes somehow and is on the run from there on out. Damn. Now we are all on the run.

Abruzzi goes back to the Mafia, and, consumed with revenge, hunts down Fibonacci. He kisses his family and holds onto a golden crucifix that supposedly saved his soul in the first season. A friend tells him that Fibonacci is in the Globe Motel, and Abruzzi goes into the empty room with his gun at the ready. The sad thing is, if he had only held onto that cross and stayed with his family, his fate would be a lot brighter. The man that told him where Fibonacci was was actually an informant for the police, and Mahone shows up with a dozen cop cars outside the motel. Mahone tells Abruzzi to put down his weapon and kneel on the ground.

"I kneel only to God, and I don't see Him here."

He raises his gun to Mahone, and he is riddled with bullets, his fingers grasping onto the crucifix until the life flows out of them. Beautiful cinematography, and such a tragic death. I think that Abruzzi really wanted to do the right thing, but just had to get that one thing out of the way before he started on his clean slate. It just goes to show that you have to let things go. Some things aren't worth it, and you should never use the Lord Jesus Christ as a crutch, or as an excuse. Oh yeah, and don't piss off Alex Mahone.

Meanwhile, everyone is after the money D.B. Cooper buried in Utah back in the 70's. Our boys (minus Abruzzi) all team up again in Utah and find that the farm Cooper buried the cash under is now a neighborhood. They convince an old cougar that they are an electric company, and begin to dig underneath her garage for the five million dollars that's supposed to be there.

Vanilla Ice is forced to get the supplies needed for their operation, but gets caught after a gas attendant recognizes him and calls the cops. Damned cops. Mahone chases him and brings him into the station for interrogation. He asks Vanilla Ice if he was Catholic. Catholic, Mahone? Did you not look at his file and see that his real name is David Apolskis? Clearly this kid is not Catholic.

He sits down and ties in the joys of confession into the Catholic argument. He tells him a confession of his own about an inmate he had chased a long time ago. He tells him how good it feels to confess things, but doesn't get a word out of David. He gets angry again and kicks the table (maybe, I can't remember), but convinces David to wear a wire and take him to the house they are digging at.

They show David walking up to a house and our boys finding the five million underneath the garage. It's suspenseful as he walks up the drive, and knocks on the door. He smiles as the girl he drove to Utah with answers the door, and tells her his real name as Mahone and friends run up to handcuff him. He tells he he's going to write to her in prison, and that he likes her, and he redeems himself in the eyes of the viewer. What a stand-up guy.

Too bad Mahone doesn't play by the rules.

Whoops. Mahone pulls over to the side of the road and tells David that his Catholic confession earlier was a lie. He grabs him by the neck and shows him where he put the bullet in his old escapee. He tells him he is sorry and that it isn't personal before shooting him several times.

What a hot fucking mess.

R.I.P. David Apolskis, you were a good person, and all you ever did was steal a baseball card. :(

Meanwhile, Lincoln hears that his son LJ is being set free and all charges are being dropped. Lincoln leaves his brother and friends to dig up the money, strategically picks up his son without being aprehended by agents, and has a touchingly pointless road trip with his offspring. The two of them get aprehended by who they think is the feds, but turns out to be his father and the antithesis of "The Company". His father's crew takes him and LJ to a safe house, they almost get killed by one of Kim's rats. They escape after meeting up with Michael, but his dad gets shot in the process and dies in Michael's arms. I felt bad only because he was going to lead them to Stedman and get the evidence that would set Lincoln free. And to be quite honest, his dad was kind of an asshole.

Before Michael meets up with his brother and father, however, he is still with the boys in Utah digging up the money. They get all of it gathered up when Sucre snaps and decides to rob all of them and run away with the money. Damn.

Of course it is all a scheme of Michael's, and the two friends meet up in the woods after the rest of the boys went their separate ways. The downside? T-Bag switched the backbacks and gave Sucre the one filled with National Geographic magazines. Whoops. Now t-bag is on the loose with 5 million dollars, and Michael and Sucre decide to split once again to go after their different goals. Sucre goes to Ixtapa, Mexico, and Michael goes to find Lincoln and his dad as mentioned before.

T-Bag looks up his ex, runs into Bellick and Geary only to get tortured out of the money he stole, and ends up biting his hand off again. He finds his ex through a booty call with a postwoman, and forces her and her children to stay with him and play house. He channels Misery by boarding up the doors and windows and tying her to the bed while she sleeps. He tells her that he loves her all the while, and makes the three of them pack up and go on a vacation to the old house where he grew up. Finally, we get a substantial T-Bag flashback.

We see a young Theodore with his drunken father touching him inappropriately. He studied the thesaurus in order to impress his father, and it becomes clear how a "redneck" like T-Bag is so eloquent and charming. Theodore tells Susan (his ex) that he in infertile, and is the product of his father's sin. He tells her that with no children of his own, he can start over with her and her family, if only she could love him in return. She says no.

T-bag locks them all up in the basement and cries on a tree stump. Minutes later, you see him on the side of the road in his car crying some more with a cell phone in his hand. Susan and her children are found by the police in the basement. The police said that someone called about a hostage situation, and Susan said that no one knew they were there. Looks like Teddy has a heart, after all.

After Michael leaves Sucre and his family, he runs into Sara, offering her as much protection from the law that he can provide. There are some kissing scenes and whatnot, but she eventually leaves because she compares her life with Michael to a high. And she just got out of rehab or whatever. If I weren't on the run from the entire United States government, I might leave too, but Michael is all she has right now, so that is kind of stupid.

You know what they say, stupid is as stupid does. Sara runs into Paul Kellerman, or Lance, who has a gun pointed to her head. This is where he says my favorite line that sums up the immense amount of deciet in this show.

"Hi, my name is not Lance, and I am not an addict."

He proceeds to torture her to find out what her father told her before he died, but she doesn't break. You can see a bit of his frigility start to weaken in this scene, even though he prepares tarp and a bone saw in the other room as he leaves her to drown. Sara makes her way out of her bonds and escapes from the hotel room Paul was torturing her in. She is on the run again. Dumbass.

In between breaks from Sara and Lincoln, Michael does a little bit of investigating of his own. He poses as a member of the bureau and goes to Mahone's ex-wife's house. He claims to be doing a security clearance for the fake promotion he is getting, and Pam is more than compliant. She tells Michael that Mahone scares her, and gives him evidence that Mahone killed Oscar Shales, the escapee he mentioned before capping Apolskis. She tells him that he kept digging in his back yard and wouldn't let her come back there. Blah blah blah. Michael freaks Mahone out a bunch and Mahone tried to kill him a bunch more.

Lincoln and Michael eventually meet up again and Mahone meets them at the Mexican border. he tries to kill the brothers but is stopped by Border Patrol who catches them and brings them in. They are both set to go straight back to Fox River. Fuck.

Only thank the Lord God above, Mahone is so fucking crazy that he arranges for a road block in a tunnel on their way back to Fox River. He wants them to escape so that Kellerman can assassinate them on Kim's orders. Michael and Lincoln don't see that its a setup for some reason and they go for it. They run through a system of tunnels and Mahone and Kellerman catch up to them. Kellerman goes rogue and shoots Mahone in the arm. He takes them under his wing and gives them all of the secret service know-how tips to survive their traps. Huh, who would have guessed?

Mahone doesn't die, he just gets hurt. he goes crazy over the tricks Kellerman is pulling on him with the brothers, and goes off the radar. Sara meets up with the three of them again and tries to kill Kellerman in the process of escaping. Kind of a bad mood considering he's helping them, but he did try to kill her. Even if her was just "following orders".

Anyways, a bunch of stupid stuff happens and everybody goes to Panama. sara has to go back for her hearing, and everyone is fighting and double crossing each other. Mahone tries to fuck Michael over, but he's Michael Scofield, so Mahone ends up going to Panama Prison. He calls his ex-wife reluctantly with tears in his eyes and tells her "Forget I ever existed." He is then put in handcuffs and taken away. No rest for the wicked, you dirty man.

It's kind of sad to see such a powerful man so vulnerable like this, but it is a long time coming. Michael told him he knew about Shales, Apolskis, and Haywire (who he tricked into killing himself), and that he was on the wrong side. I was waiting for something like this to happen and have the tables of fate turn. A man that unstable can't be in control for very long.

So listen, the last few episodes of this season are all scatterbrained and ridiculous. Mahone is in prison, t-bag is working for the feds but gets locked up with Bellick who once again gets framed for one of Bagwell's murders, Sucre is bleeding to death, and our brothers are leaving on a boat. But the cool thing has nothing to do with the aforesaid plotlines. Not one bit. Who saves the day at the end of this season? Paul "Lance" Kellerman.

Paul goes to find his sister and tells her about all of his cheerful memories of them as children together. He tells her that he has done a lot of bad things, and wants her to remember him the way he was when they were younger. He then dresses himself up in his Army uniform and sets all of his medals out in a hotel room. He sits in his chair and tries to kill himself, but the gun jams. Twice. Not a coincidence there, Paul. He calls his sister again and reminisces on his days in the Army and all of the stuff he did for Caroline (who resigned from the presidency after Michael blackmailed her, by the way). His sister tells him that the gun jammed for a reason, and that maybe he needs to make everything right and do the good thing.

Paul shows up as a surprise witness with documents in hand to prove his whole story at Sara Tancredi's hearing. He clears her, Michael, and Lincoln's names, and is under arrest for everything he admitted to. He goes willingly and takes one for the whole world. He seems to be at peace, and when he is being transported to Fox River, a road block appears and the driver gets out. He knows this story all too well. He looks at the guard in the back seat with him and says that it is an honor in some cultures to smile as you are being executed. He smiles, and the back doors of the van open up.

"What took you so long?" were his last words. And a smile on his face.

R.I.P. Paul Kellerman, you sucked, but then you were okay, and then you were super amazing. Great Jeeoorrrbbb!

Once again I am more tore up about his death than Veronica Donovan's. Oh yeah, she died in the first few episodes after calling 911 in Stedman's house. Stedman also killed himself when confronted by the Scofield Burrows boys, but I didn't really care much.

Anyways, this season had a lot of potential in the beginning, but lost wind towards the end. Fast. Michael and Sara get caught killing Kim at the very end when they are exonerated, and the police just magically show up. Michael takes the blame and is in the same Panama prison that Mahone and Bellick are in. That's the end of the season, Michael in a damned prison, again. Stupid. Kellerman saved it, but I left the season not really wanting to know what happens. Not even about T-Bag, and he's Robert Knepper. I love Robert Knepper. Ugh.

I give this season a B-. There were a lot of good moments, but the ending killed it. Part of me wished I hadn't watched it in marathon form so I had more time to theorize and digest things. I left out so much information on this review, but there is so much going on, it is hard to track and remember everything. Maybe that's why all the characters on this show are such a hot mess. At least on Heroes they leave some characters out to give the viewer's brain a vacation from thei information overload going on in all the different plotlines. But who am I to judge?

Happy Hannukah everyone!

Photo testing

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Phone test

I am testing my phones blogging abilities.

High School Friends

Isn't it weird when you see someone from high school you haven't talked to in five years? There is a part of you that wants to go up to them and catch up right where the both of you left off. Or if you weren't that close, there is a part of you that wants to show off how happy and skinny you are compared to them. But even though you might want to reconnect, there is that nagging voice. A voice that tells you to run away and hide because you haven't talked to them in five years. And if you haven't talked to someone in five years, there is probably a reason, or they weren't that important to begin with. A sad truth, but a truth nonetheless.

There are few high school friends I still keep in touch with, and just recently saw one. I gave into the voice that told me to say hello. I wish I hadn't. It was awkward and boring, and felt I got nothing out of it. Nothing but the knowledge that my old friend hasn't changed, and never will. Those ships have sailed, and I doubt I'll listen to that voice again.

Final

So this whole semester I have been going back and forth from overachieving and procrastinating. I would bring my bookbag to work with my on my long shifts in hopes that I would do the right thing. I would hope to God that I would push myself to the Nth degree and get A's in all the classes I needed them in.

The problem was, was that long with my bookbacg I would bring Dexter Season 3 and other movies that seemed like better ideas at the time than studying. By the time I was done watching these movies and shows, and challenging my mind with crazy plotlines, I would have to leave from work.

But when I wasn't at work, I opened up my bookbag. I read what I needed to, paid attention in class, took adequate (terrible) notes, and I think, my friends, I will end up with A's in the classes I need them in. Before I took my final in Anatomy 2, my grade was a 91.5%. I felt really good about this final, and hopefully it will keep my A sustained, or possibly make it greater.

Today when talking about the final with my classmates they all said they didn't strive for an A and have given up on the nursing program or whatever program they were going for. They called me superhuman for getting all A's. Superhuman? It's a nice thought.... but come on, people, it's a community college, and I barely do any homework. I'm just glad I did enough.

It's over! (For now).

Now I can relax for a few days.

Dexter Season 3

I started bringing Season 3 to work with me on my 16-hour shifts Saturdays and Sundays. There is only so much cleaning you can do after midnight when everyone is sleeping, so I need to keep my mind occupied and alert. Dexter is just the person for that.

Season 3 starts off with the relief of pinning Dexter's Bay Harbor Butcher tendencies on Sgt. Doakes, and Lila killing him in the process. With Lila slain by our antihero, we start off a new year with a pregnant Rita, and Batista as the Detective in charge of everyone. You would think this might cause conflict, but it doesn't, considering Batista's likability and work ethic.

Dexter finds a killer drug dealer named Freebo and goes into his house to try to kill him. What he doesn't expect is another man there, trying to find Freebo as well. Dexter and this man get into it, and in self defense (for once) Dexter kills him with his own weapon. Dexter flees the scene and panics, hoping that he covered all of his tracks in the heat of passion.

The man he killed turns out to be the brother of the powerful District Attorney, Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smits). Dexter's sister is of course leading this investigation in hopes to get her detective shield, and Dexter is in even more trouble than before. Miguel confides in Dexter, and starts spending time with him, becoming his first true "friend". This is fine on the surface, but conflicts with Dexter's obvious extracurricular activities.

Dexter finds Freebo and kills him systematically, only to be caught red handed outside by Miguel Prado who was searching for his brother's alleged murderer. Dexter freezes, but makes up a story about self defense and wanting to catch the bastard that killed Oscar (Miguel's brother). Miguel hugs him and thanks him, and walks away. What? He walks away? Yeah.

No, normally I would think this guy is cool, and I do think that for a lot of episodes. So does Dexter. Him and Rita double date with him and his wife, Silvia, and Dexter seems to be normal. he goes against Phantom-like visions of his father as a conscience, and embraces this new friendship. Who can blame him? He's been alone...forever. Even with Rita, we know he is alone.

This year instead of screwing the lead detective, Debra sleeps with a confidential informant named Anton. He was hired by a new white guy detective named Quinn, but the paperwork was shabby, and put the three of them in a lot of paper-work type danger. Even though Freebo was killed by Dexter, there is another killer connected to him called The Skinner, and he ends up getting Anton in his grasp. Debra just can't win when it comes to he vagina, can she? Oh well, maybe next year.

The series goes on, and Batista gets a love interest, Quinn turns out to be a decent guy, and they save Anton before he dies. They find out that The Skinner is a tree trimmer, and narrow his profile down. Debra finds a key witness and gets him to talk, but doesn't take into consideration that he is only a child. She ends up getting him skinned and killed in the process, and is haunted the rest of the season for it.

Dexter and Miguel end up spending so much time together that Miguel calls Dexter out on his vigilantism. He says that he respects him and that he wants in. He helps Dexter find victims to slay, but quickly gets carried away when he mentions Defense Attorney Ellen Wolfe. She, like Miguel, like pretty much every sad bastard that gets killed on this show, is very close with Captain Maria LaGuerta. She fights daily with Miguel, and he begs Dexter to kill her after he gets a few lessons in "Harry's Code". Dexter refuses, saying she hasn't killed anyone directly, but is only doing her job. Miguel doesn't like that, and pays her a visit by himself.

Dexter finds out quickly of Miguel's disloyalty and confronts his friend. Miguel plays it off as a mistake that he should easily forgive, and tells him that he knows all of his secrets. He also gives him the shirt he was wearing the night Dexter killed Freebo, which has the deceased's blood on it. It is incriminating and Dexter could use it at anytime. Or so he says... Dexter tests the blood on the shirt only to find that it belongs to a cow, and that his friend has been lying to him this entire time. His "Friend" has been using him for his own volition, and he was blind to it the whole time. Dexter has a fantasy of tearing his lab apart and screaming Miguel's name angrily at the top of his lungs before blinking the thought out of his mind. This was really nice to see, considering we never see Dexter lose control like that. A real human moment for him. Very nice work, Michael C. Hall.

We soon find out that Miguel let The Skinner go free, and sicks him on Dexter in exchange for the favor. He gets caught cheating by his wife, and thinks that Dexter was behind it besides other things. Surprisingly, Dexter had nothing to do with it, and karma just kind of worked itself out. It also works out when Dexter sticks a needle in his "friend"'s neck and kills him in the way The Skinner does, and leaves his body out in the open. A perfect way to end a terrible friendship.

This scene was beautiful. As morbid as it sounds, the cinematography was the best it has ever been on this show. He strangles Miguel, and the color seems to leave Dexter's face instead of Miguel's. His face goes from tan to pale to white to almost blue, the background fading completely to black. Does this symbolize the loss of a friend? The loss of someone he could trust? Is he back to a heartless monster? Or is it relief? I think it's the latter.

Dexter gets ready for his wedding day, but is captured by The Skinner. He anticlimactically outsmarts the skinner while being hogtied, and escapes with a broken wrist. Debra finds out where The Skinner was hiding, and Dexter throws his body from the rafters onto a cop car before escaping into the trees.

He arrives at the church with a cast, and him and Rita get married. Debra is his new Best Man, considering that Miguel was his first choice, and Dexter has its first "Happy" ending. It seemed a little out of character, but the narration of our hero says that he might actually feel happy, like it is a new and strange thing. The way it is filmed compared to the rest of the season definitely sets this moment apart from everything else. Who knows what happiness his new child will bring to him in Season 4? Only time and DVD's can tell.
I think this was the best season of Dexter to date.
Great jeorb.

iPrison Break!

Alright, why would I want to watch this show? Do I have anything in common with these people? Can I relate to any of these characters? Do I think gangs or criminals, or earning street cred in prison is cool? No, no, and no.


But that's not what this show is about. Yeah, you can say it's about breaking out of prison, that is why it is called Prison Break, but it is so much more than that. It's about love. It's about devotion. It's about friendship and overcoming differences, and giving of yourself to the fullest extent. It's pretty deep, and if you don't know, it's also one of the most intense shows I've seen; almost up to par with Heroes or LOST.

What surprises me about this show is not how amazing the writing is. Or how disgusting and endearing and insane some of the characters are, but how much I identify with several aspects of this show. I thought I identified with Dexter, and although that show will always be one of my favorites, that cold part of me is dead now. I feel like I am looking through a window, and no longer through Mr. Morgan's eyes. Which, in retrospect, is a good thing. But Prison Break.....I feel. I feel almost as much as I felt when I first saw Dexter.

Aspects of prison life depicted in the show mirror the everyday life of a soldier in training. The beds are the same, the dining facilities are the same, and the interaction between inmates and soldiers (in training) are the same. Scenes between suck-up inmates and the Corrections Officers reflect brown-nosing do-gooder soldiers who volunteer for every detail the Drill Sergeants could think of. I even remember people saying "we would get more rights in prison" while we were training. Even though we were being trained to be ruthless machines, I have a hunch that they were right. Spending two minutes listening to the phone ringing before a loved one would answer is depicted truthfully; as is the joy in an imates eyes as he sees someone from the outside world.

There is a culture shock which was a nice touch as well. Different cultures, not just white and black, but north and south, separate the inmates into preconceived hatred and intolerance of each other. When confronted about speaking to a black inmate, the main character claims that

"Our relationship transcends race."

"Nothing inside these walls transcends race, Michael."

People choose sides, whether they are forced to or not. But choices in these environments aren't always bad. You can choose to accept and even love your "Celly", or in my case, your Battle Buddy. The two are interchangeable terms as far as I'm concerned, and the friendship that our protagonist forms with his cell mate mirrors exactly that. The two of them look out for each other, and have a seemingly unbreakable bond. The two of them have their conflicts, and even break up in a sense, but always come back to each other in the end.

The other comparison I noticed was the amount of time each inmate was doing. They were counting down until they got out and got to see their family. They would say things like "I have 16 months left", or "I am in for Life Plus One, what is one more homicide?". People who were on death row were at peace, waiting for their time to come. It is strange how sometimes Dying ad Going Home seem to be the same thing, symbolically. People in the Army who have been at the training site or in country longer than you often spoke of 'doing their time', and getting out. Not the same thing, I know that, but they are just an interesting parallel.

...But enough about me, let's talk about you...

Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) is an attractive young architect whose brother Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) was framed for the murder of the Vice President's brother. The series starts off with Scofield getting tattooed all over his arms and torso, tearing photos and newspaper articles off his walls, and robbing a bank in a three piece suit. His composure throughout the robbery and trial is surprisingly calm and cool. His legal council, who we find out to be a family friend and ex-girlfriend to brother Lincoln, persists that he fight against the odds.

Michael lays down for the judge and makes nice with all of the higher-ups at Fox River penitentiary. He wins the Warden's heart with his architectural skills, charms the lady doctor in the infirmary, but doesn't quite slip under the Correctional Officer's radar.

Michael finds his brother who has made peace with his death sentence, and shows him the blueprints that are hidden in the tattoo all over his body. He then proceeds to befriend other inmates who are key players in an ideal escape from Fox River. He gain the trust of Mob boss John Abruzzi who arranges transportation after the anticipated escape, the legendary D.B. Cooper who has money hidden outside for them, and an inmate named C-Note who scores Scofield an insulin blocker to fake diabetes and spend more time in the infirmary.

Those among Scofield's unintentional run-ins include his cell mate Fernando Sucre, temporary cell-mate Haywire, and sexual predator Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell. Sucre and Scofield form a bond that isn't without its faults, but by the end of the first season, it is thicker than gravy. Their comeradery is not only touching but is most often the greatly needed comic relief. Even this show was aired on something as benign as the Fox network, Prison Break is still a stressful and bleak storyline in an even bleaker environment. If it weren't for Sucre, this show would have no heart to go along with Scofield's soul.

Sure, the overtly sexual T-Bag makes you smirk as he licks his lips and smacks some asses, but his humor comes at a price. The wonderfully talented Robert Knepper plays him with charm and appeal, but always leaves the viewer with a bad taste in their mouth. T-bag ends up finding our protagonist's hole and threatens to squeal if he isn't in on the escape, and is the last of the motley crew in on the break. I just wish I didn't see him portaying Samuel in Heroes first, because as disgusting as T-Bag is, I still find him extremely attractive.

Meanwhile, outside of the prison, Scofield's lawyer is all of the sudden inspired to prove Lincoln's innocence three weeks before he is executed. The show gives us flashbacks and photographs as glimmers into the past Veronica Donovan had with Lincoln in college, but for some reason I don't care about this character at all. Her character gets shot at, almost blown up, and loses her engagement over this case, and the viewer still doesn't feel sorry for her. Sure, we want her to solve Lincoln's case and everything, but I think the audience's hope is more invested in Scofield's tattooed blueprints than her amateur investigatory skills.

Donovan runs into a fellow lawyer that is eager to help her clear Lincoln's name named Nick Savrinn. He turns out to be using her for her information to exonerate his own father the whole time. This isn't revealed until the very end of the season, but I figures it out three episodes in. Must be all of those LOST episodes finally paying off. Anyways, Nick redeems himself in the end by letting Donovan escape the federal spooks in exchange for a bullet between the eyes. The sad thing is is that I was more heartbroken over his passing than I would be if he had given Donovan up. That's how unrelatable and dry her character is.

That being said, Donovan does serve her purpose. She comes across a lot of pertinent information and helps Lincoln's illegitimate son, LJ, escape from the spooks that blew up her apartment. The Vice President has agents tracking them at all times, and one of them goes rogue towards the end, giving up his life to tell her the truth. He tells her that Stedman, the man Lincoln supposedly killed, is still alive and well, and is hiding out in a mansion somewhere in Montana. The rogue agent is shot by his own partner. This information prolongs Lincoln's execution date with some help from Sarah the doctor and her father, the governor. With no physical evidence, however, we are left at the end of the season with Donovan facing the man her ex supposedly killed, and the vice president poisoning the preisdent to take power. The puppet master is more maniacal than I thought.

The boys inside Fox River have a few false break attempts after running into a few architectural and authoritative problems along the way. Lincoln gets moved to more secure cell blocks, Michael gets put in the psych ward, and David (a new young insider) rats on our boys to Correctional Officer Bellick. When it finally does happen, however, Bellick and the Warden end up hogtied in different locations, and Sarah leaves the door to the infirmary unlocked for our boys to walk right in (or out, considering...). The Warden had called to move Lincoln to the infirmary before Michael tied him up in his own office, so everything was in place until D.B. Cooper falls victim to his wound from fighting off Bellick the day before. The old man tells Michael where the money is hidden, and dies in the infirmary literally feet away from his escape. Tragic, considering he was one of the few good people in the lot of escapees. Oh well, what do you do?

Michael, Lincoln, Sucre, Abruzzi, T-Bag, Haywire, David, and C-Note all cross the wire from the infirmary to the wall at the very last suspenseful second. Abruzzi has a van waiting for them, and tricks Haywire into getting out before they drive off. Michael tells David to leave because he knew he was the rat who caused them problems in the beginning, which leaves 6 in Abruzzi's van. Abruzzi sits behind T-Bag, and just as he reaches for a gun under his seat, T-Bag cuffs himself to Michael. he claims that no one can kill him because Michael is too important and will be carrying dead weight if he is harmed. Smart. Sly. This doesn't go over well.

The Oceanic 6, er sorry, the Fox River 6 get stuck in the mud and go on foot until they reach a barn where Abruzzi takes the liberty of relieving Michael of his dead weight. He cutsa off T-Bag's hand. Yeah, that's right. he cut off his hand. The five of them leave him there crying and reach Abruzzi's plane on the airstrip only to be left behind seconds before they get there.

That's how the season ends. They are being followed by all of the cops in the state, and are now on foot. Whoa.

I give this series a 8/10. Great Jeorrbbb.

The Fifth Stage: End of Act One

This episode is very somber, very sad, and kind of lackluster.

Claire's storyline, for once, is the highlight of this episode. How is this possible, one might ask? How did the Buffy rip-off of a character gain some depth in this series? I'll tell you how... she found Samuel and his carnival. Ooohhhhhhhh, I see. :)

Claire convinces Gretchen to drive 21 hours to the Sullivan Brothers Carnival after Thanksgiving dinner. Twenty one hours! And after a tryptophan-filled night of Mister Muggles and Doug passing out! I don't know if I would be up for the challenge, no matter how much I was in love with Claire. If my fiance said "Hey, let's go for a 21 hour ride to find a carnival," I would tell him to take a hike.

Claire has second thoughts about going inside the carnival, and she goes back and forth with the pros and cons of actually visiting Samuel. She uses Becky as an excuse, and starts to leave when Gretchen stops her.

"We've been on this road for a day, but you have been on this road your whole life."

Wow. Profound. I like Gretchen more and more with each episode. Too bad she is only listed as a Guest Star in the opening credits. I have a feeling she will return in the second volume, but more on that later.

Claire agrees that she owes this to herself to check out the carnival, and as if by some sweet Harry Potter Magic, Samuel greets them at the door... er, gate. He welcomes them both in and gives them small buckets of "the best popcorn in the world". Yeah, okay. Have you ever been to Carmike Cinema? THAT is the best popcorn in the world. He tells them to check out the carnival, and meet his family until their popcorn runs out. He said that when they were finished, he would walk them back to their car, and they could go back to school. He says this to both of them, but is clearly trying to reassure Gretchen and her protective look of skepticism.

Claire and Gretchen observe some 'normal' carnival activity, and meet Lydia. This is the first time we see Lydia in her element, at work. Her poster reads "Tattoo Girl" and she sits in front of a mirror with her back exposed to the customer. Tattoo Girl? Really? That's the best fucking thing you could think up at the NBC writers' office? Jesus, I could join the carnival and give Lydia a run for her money if that is all it takes. My tattoos are way better than hers, too. Stupid flower vine running across her..... ugh. Sorry, that's been bothering me this entire season.

Lydia explains that all Claire has to do is take her hand and ask her a question, and she "shows her what she needs to see". Sounds simple enough. Claire takes her hand and asks her if she is supposed to be here, and Lydia's back shows a tattoo of Claire with a banner that says "Indestructible Girl". Lydia then tells Claire that this isn't the future, it's her desire. Ohhhkay.....

The two girls go on to watch some games, and see a macho guy get ripped off at a ball toss. Claire notices the game master forces the customer's ball to fly haywire, and the customer gets irate before leaving in a huff. A little girl who was patiently waiting her turn throws the ball, and the game master helps her out with his ability; sending her off with a giant stuffed horse. Cute.

Samuel finds them as their popcorn has run out (again with the magic), and asks them to come behind the scenes to see where they live. Claire and Gretchen respond at the same time with opposite ideas. Kind of like Noah and Lauren with the "I'm glad you came", and "I can't do this". Gretchen says "No thanks" and Claire says "I'd love to". Whoops. Quick draw.

Samuel tells the children that live at the carnival a bedtime story. Wait, what? There are this many children living at the carnival? There are children at all? Oh man. Samuel creeps around the campfire and tells the story of an ogre who all the adults hate and are afraid of. He says that all the children knew that he was good and trusted him, because kids know best. Jesus, Samuel. You plan for everything!

As Claire and Gretchen listen to the story, Doyle walks over and hugs Claire. Doyle? I thought he died, but I guess I was wrong. Season 3 is so confusing. He is clean-shaven and in a sweet Dumb and Dumber turquoise suit. He tells Claire that Samuel found him and he has never been happier in his life. He says he finally belongs, and would love to chat with her later about everything. He asks if she'll be around and she says yes. Gretchen is disturbed by this and asks how they know each other.

"He kidnapped me and tried to get my mom to shoot me, but I got over it." Whoa. Talk about forgive and forget. Claire has finally shown a sign of maturity.

Samuel is all smiles and grabs Claire, telling her that the kids want to hear another story before bed. He forces her (kindly) in front of the campfire, and she tells the story of what I am guessing is Season 1, casting herself as a frog and Mr. Muggles as a tadpole. Classic, Claire, you should write a children's book... or not.

As Claire is talking about Lyle and Mr. Muggles, Gretchen and Samuel have a very interesting, very well-blocked conversation. Samuel is busy staring at Claire with adoration, his teeth shining brightly. Gretchen stands up from her chair and slowly walks up behind Samuel. She asks what his people want with her, defending that Claire is vulnerable, and doesn't need her emotions to be toyed with. She looks at the back of Samuel's head with such disdain, you can tell how much she really cares about Claire. You can tell that although she knows Claire likes it here so far, she isn't quite sure that Samuel is a good guy for her potential ex girlfriend to be living with. She knows this is a major crossroads for the both of them, and wants to be sure she can let her friend go and still be able to sleep at night.

Samuel's body language says everything. Gretchen is coming to him, asking about her friend's well-being and he doesn't even bother to turn around and face her. Almost as if she isn't worthy in his eyes, which, as we all know, is probably the case. He instead stares at Claire and hugs his own torso. He tells Gretchen that he and his family don't pretend to offer much, but he can offer her love. Love? Somehow this seems to convince Gretchen that he isn't that bad. Love. Bah!

Claire finishes her story and Samuel tells the kids to go to bed. Kind of cute and fatherly. Lord God, I can't believe I just said that. Anyways, one of the children walks up to Claire and hugs her. A defining moment, I am sure. If a kid hugged me in those circumstances, I might be swayed Samuel's way, too.

"They love you". He says before Jerkface from the ball toss storms into the living area.

Jerk demands to speak to the man in charge, and Samuel steps up to him, trying to calm him down. The jerk says he wants his money back and punches Samuel in the face. And then in the stomach. And then in the face again. Rinse and repeat. Samuel is bleeding a lot, and takes the beating until Claire steps in. She defends Samuel and the jerk slices her face open with a broken beer bottle. She heals in front of him and he runs away.

Samuel, Samuel, Samuel... You cheeky little devil. You set this whole thing up for her to love you, for her to defend you. You wanted to seem passive and defenseless and loving and.... bastard.

Claire cleans Samuel's bloodied face in what might be a romantic scene if she were older, but was just I don't know, endearing? Sweet? Something. She tells him that he should have fought back, and he goes on to ramble about being a second class citizen and a gypsy. He says that the path of least resistance is sometimes the best choice. Maybe he should take some of his own advice, eh? He gets insanely close to Claire's face and tells her that they are not that different, that they are finding out new things about themselves everyday. He'll say almost anything to get what he wants.

As much as I hate Samuel and wish he would die, I can't help but love him at the same time. I'm sure that's his plan. I'm sure that's the writers' plan as well, but I don't care. It's working. He's endearing and you feel like you want to join him... he could give Magneto a lesson in charm and tact, that's for sure.

Claire and Gretchen begin to leave the carnival, but Claire says she wants to spend fall break with Samuel. Gretchen is sad, but says that she is happy for her. You can tell it is genuine, and Madeline Zima portrays Gretchen's maturity and sadness with magnificent poise.

Samuel and Lydia watch as they say goodbye and Lydia expresses her confusion of Claire's purpose for Samuel. Samuel smiles and says that all of this will make sense to her soon enough; that it's not Claire he's after at all.

Claire comes into the carnival and Gretchen drives off, the carnival disappearing behind her. Mystical. Appropriate. End Scene.


Back in Sadville, New York, Peter gets a visit from Mom and Rene at the hospital. He takes The Haitian's powers after Mom lectures him on getting over Nathan's death, and stuffs his bag full of drugs. Probably illegal, Peter. You might get fired.

Peter steps into an elevator with a black lady nurse who chokes him out and throws him onto a very Die Hard-ish looking floor of the hospital. Oh, it's Sylar shape-shifted into a nurse. Ha, that could have been awkward. Peter runs away as Sylar dumps all of his drugs out of his bag and hits him over the head with a baseball bat. Shazam!

Sylar tries to do something with his powers, but Peter is blocking it with the Haitian's power. Alright, why didn't we think of this earlier? Maybe in early season 3? Maybe before all of this Matt/Sylar Nathan/Sylar bullshit happened? Maybe before Nathan went crazy and his dad stole Peter's powers? Maybe? Sometimes I wonder about the writers, but to be perfectly honest, the idea never even crossed my mind to use against Sylar, so I can't really point fingers now can I? No, I can't.

Peter informs Sylar that he no longer has his powers for the moment, and the two of them duke it out. Peter gets on top of Sylar and punches him a lot. He finds a nail gun and in a very Christlike display shoots them through Sylar's hands and feet. Intentional religious imagery? Doubt it.

He says he wants to make a deal. He wants his brother back, body and soul and he will leave him alone. Sylar respectfully declines and Peter tries to wipe out all the Sylar memories and keep all the Nathan memories. I don't know why he thought that was a good idea. Does he not remember what happened to Matt Parkman? Does he not remember how he got in this situation in the first place? Does he not remember that his brother was, to be frank, kind of an asshole?

What do I know? Peter ignored my silent reasoning and did it anyway. Nathan comes back and the two of them go for a breath of fresh air on the roof. They touch each other and reminisce about Season 1. There seems to be a lot of that going on lately. They talk about how much they love each other, and Nathan tells Peter that he can't fight off Sylar any longer. He freaks out and goes into strange convulsions and Peter holds him, begging him to fight it. Peter seems to forget that they are on a rooftop near the ledge, and sits his brother on the edge of the roof.

"I'm sorry, Pete," Nathan says before jumping off the roof.

Peter grabs his hand and holds his brother over the ledge. He begs him to hold on, and says that he loves him.

"Tell mom that I love her; look after Claire. Remember you are everything that's good in the world. Fight the good fight... I love you."

Peter lets go as tears drip from his eyes, and Nathan turns back into Sylar, losing the emotional and physical fight of the season. Sylar crashes onto the roof of a car and walks away without a scratch. He looks up at Peter and waves to him before walking out of our lives for a few months.

DUH. Peter, what did you think was going to happen? You should have killed him when you had the chance! You could have crucified him when you had the Haitian Power. You should have taken that nail gun and popped him in the eyes, ears and mouth. And then all over for good measure. You should have.... ugh, your brother just died (to you), so I will cut you some slack for now. But you better bring it come January.

As for my seeming lack of sensitivity....

RIP Nathan Petrelli. You were... an alright person. I guess.

The only other storyline going on in this episode is Noah's. Lauren comes over to his apartment to pick him up for a movie date they had planned, but he discovers his compass is missing. Whoops. he figures Claire took it, and calls her only to go straight to voicemail. Damned kids.....

Lauren helps him look for her by triangulating satellites and whatnot, and the two of them lurk on Googlemaps for about an hour. Product placement.

Noah goes into some self-pity spiral about how he has lied to everyone and has therefore made Claire lie to him. He feels like a bad father, and for some reason this week, I just wasn't feeling it. I really didn't care about Noah's so-called heartache. Maybe it's because he then went on to tell Lauren how his lies pushed Claire, Sandra, and then her away. He tells her the truth about her Haitianing herself from the Burnt Toast Diner, and she gets mad.

But not for too long because there is a knock at the door. Who could that be? One of Samuel's friends, a new character introduced at the beginning of the episode that I kind of sort of maybe forgot to mention on accident. Sorry. His name is Eli and he can multiply himself. Very cool.

At the carnival, Eli interrupts Lydia telling Samuel that she knows his secret and is going to keep it to keep her daughter safe. Samuel elects Eli as his right hand man "now that Edgar's gone", and he is obliged to be so. He is supposed to steal the files that Lauren and Noah are sifting through to somehow maybe find Claire? I don't know. What I DO know is that Eli looks like a better looking Dave Matthews with eyeyliner on and a better fashion sense. Just saying.

Eli multiplies himself into Noah's apartment a la Christian Bale in The Prestige, and gets what he came for. That's it..... really. Kind of lame, but we got to see someone with a new power, and I am pretty stoked to see that.

The end of this episode is much like the beginning of the first. Samuel and friends are all gathered around Joseph's headstone and he is giving a lengthy speech about The Promised Land. See, I told you he was Jim Jones. He talks about equality, about rising up, and gathering ranks to make a stand (Magneto). He says that this land where Joseph was buried will be their promised land, and with enough people they can make it happen.

As he is talking there is a montage of our heroes throughout the past semester. We see Emma with her cello (remember Emma, guys?), Tracy staring at her hands (where the hell is she?), and Hiro, Mohinder, and Ando running through a jungle or a forest. Maybe Hiro transported back to where he inprisoned Mohinder and is going to get rude on Samuel with him. It also shows Sylar intentionally putting his black hat back on his head. it then shows Peter walking up to Mom and hugging her, crying in her arms. This time they are both in black and dark blue. This symbolizes they have both accepted Nathan's death and are mourning, but trying to move on all the same. A beautiful shot.

The last shot is a pan around the people at Joseph's grave. We see Samuel, some weird people with freaky beards, an Asian lady, Lydia, and then Claire. She still looks out of place, but has an excited look on her face like she belongs. Poor, poor Claire. You have no idea.

Sophomore Success

I just recently finished watching season 2 of my other favorite show, Dexter. It's on Showtime, so I have to catch up years later when they come out on DVD. I also have to squeeze it in between LOST, Heroes, and The Office. Oh yeah, and spending time with my fiance, sleeping, working, and going to school full time. But that is neither here nor there.

Before I met Tony, the love of my life, I was what one might call a loner. I had been through a slew of terrible relationships, been lied to by a bunch of suddenly married men, and all that jazz. After these experiences I decided to give up on men. I gave up on people, on emotions, on everything. I was in a dark place to keep myself from getting hurt again, from being vulnerable, from being lied to. Stupid, I know, but it is what I did to survive those dark times and it worked for about two years.

All of my friendships started to deteriorate, I was a robot, men that were probably good for me were tossed to the wind because I didn't want to risk anything. I felt alone, misunderstood, and angry.

Then I bought Dexter Season 1 on DVD. It was on sale at Target for $19.99, so I figured "what the hell?". I immediately fell in love. Finally someone (fictional character or not) felt as shut out of the world as I did. Someone faked all of their emotions and habits to fit in like I did. Someone else couldn't care less what happened to their superficial and meaningless "friendships". Not that I was a serial killer or anything, but I felt like a monster all the same. I felt I was wearing a mask when I faked love with people I met... even when I tried to tell them the truth.... they would never listen. they never do.

Two and a half years later, I bought Season 2 and 3 on DVD, and began to watch them again. Who knew that a Showtime serial killer could show you so much about yourself. Show you how much you've changed, and grown up in the past two years. I watched this past season and realized that I have no longer shut myself out, that I chose to love, to be vulnerable, and to live. Really live. No longer just 'going through the motions'. True, my life is slightly more boring now, but it is on a more endearing, honest, and successful track.

Season 2 was great. Dexter's bodies get found at his dump spot in the ocean, and the whole season is centered around who killed all of these people. His sister sleeps with the lead FBI agent who is twice her age, Dexter cheats on Rita with a slutface artist girl who ends up ruining his life (almost), and Dokes gets blamed for Dexter's dead bodies. Whoa. Pretty Heavy, Doc.

I am never disappointed with Dexter, even though there are usually not a lot of episodes in each season. Sometimes I forget that this show is called Dexter, and not Miami Craziness. Most of the shows I watch have ensemble casts, and eighty different plot lines going on at the same time. No wonder they have more than twenty episodes each season. There is so much to tell!

Dexter, although murderous in nature, still cares about those closest to him. He loves Rita and her kids, he loves his sister, and was heartbroken when he learned that his actions were what caused his father to kill himself; not heart disease.

I started watching Season 3 yesterday, and it is already just as intense. Right off the bat. Rita is pregnant due to their romps and pudding intake. Oh no. Dexter as a dad? This should be good....

Fangsgiving

Mine was good. I ate way too much and slept a lot. Perfect.

Thanksgiving for our Heroes? Not as successful.

All I have to say about this episode is...... YES!!! Finally, we up the ante on the dynamic of the show. The characters are acting like themselves again, old relationships are being rehashed, new ones are being formed, and we're actually learning more about Samuel. Phew, I can take a breath.

Sadly, the only images released for this episodes are of the Bennet's Thanksgiving meal. I guess they didn't want to give too much away. Smart move,Tim, smart move.

Noah Bennet is having dinner at his new apartment with Sandra and her new boyfriend. He calls Claire to invite her over and runs into Lauren, his old co-worker from PrimaTech. He admits to stalking her and not really running into her so he could spend the holiday with her. Unlike Noah, but very cute. He is still human, and no one can put it past him to want to make Sandra a little jealous.

When Sandra arrives with her boyfriend at Noah's new apartment, I was a little shocked at how attractive her new man was. Sure, Sandra is nice and there is more to her than meets the eye, but let's face it: Sandra is dumpy and over 40, the chances of her finding a man that fast are slim to none. Especially compared to Noah and his good looks and charm. It just didn't add up tome until Doug (Sandra's date) opened his mouth. What a putz! Who is this guy, George McFly? Andy Bernard? What a joke! He is perfect for Sandra,comparatively speaking. I'm sure she wanted someone she felt like she could trust, and maybe even control. Well, Doug is just that guy.

The dinner is just like the rest of the episode.... Awkward. Lauren references to Noah and her working together and Sandra gets jealous. She asks if she is stumbling on something she shouldn't be able to remember, and then says "A memory can be erased only so many times." Damn, Sandra. Too bad nothing actually happened.

Claire gets bored with all of the adult awkward drama and tells her dad she wants to dropout of school and wants to "find herself". Noah asks if this was about Gretchen or Samuel, and Sandra immediately outs herself for not being in Claire's life anymore. "Who is Samuel, what is going on?" Poor Sandra. Claire tactfully ends the conversation by slicing open her arm in front of everyone and causes Doug to faint. This sets up a nice little scene for Lauren and Sandra to connect that was unexpected yet pleasant. I think I like Lauren. I knew I liked Elizabeth Rohm, but I genuinely like Lauren. She never says anything vindictive to Sandra and is very mature. Nice choice, Noah. Well-played.

Another good move on Noah's part is inviting Gretchen to dinner. Sure, she shows up an hour or so late and after Doug passes out, but she still shows. The look on Claire's face when she sees her lost friend is classic. She looks relieved and happy and excited all at once. Like her torture could finally end. They catch up a little as Noah gets Lauren's number, and they leave shortly after.

The last scene we see of these two involves Claire getting into Gretchen's sweet Cube. Claire brings out a compass she stole from her dad that belonged to Samuel. She wants to see where it leads and be herself in a place full of lollipops and gumdrops. She asks Gretchen if she wants to join her and go on an adventure. She warns her that Becky might be there, but her friend still obliges her. Must be love. Must be that this relationship is really growing on me, and it is sad to think that Gretchen will probably die at the end of this season. She is useless to Samuel. Kind of like when Harry and Cedric both touch the goblet of fire, and Voldemort orders Pettigrew to "Kill the spare". I see something like that happening.

Back at the Carnival, Samuel puts up a weird sheet in his trailer and watches the Suresh tape he stole from the past. This scene, although short, depicts Samuel's depravity. His face as he watches the tape goes from being interested, to excited, to almost turned on. His evil smile creeps across his lips and his chest heaves as all of the information is released. His emotional masturbation is interrupted by Hiro knocking on his door. Samuel tries to ignore it, but turns off the projector after regaining his composure. The light turns off, and it is hard to see his face, but it looks like he wipes tears of joy away from his eyes. Whoa.

He talks to Hiro, and listens to him demand the love of his life. Samuel just ignores him and talks about Thanksgiving, telling Hiro to be patient. Hiro gets fed up and puts his hands on him. That's right, Hiro is getting physical. We have never seen this side of Hiro before, not even with Sylar. No one has gotten under his skin like this before, which makes Samuel, to me, a more viable threat. Samuel looks at Hiro, and in Japanese, asks "Feeling brave, Samurai Warrior?". He challenges him to stop time and cut him into pieces, but knows that he cannot. He reminds him that only he knows where Charlie is, and if he dies, she dies too. Hiro sulks away.

Lydia runs into Hiro as he cries about Charlie. Ray Park.... I mean Edgar overhears their conversation. Hiro tells Lydia that he did what Samuel asked, but he has not kept his side of the bargain. He tells Lydia that he is a prisoner, and that Samuel is evil. Lydia consoles Hiro and tells her that no one is a prisoner, and that they are a family. She asked him why Joseph wasn't alive if Samuel sent Hiro back to change the past. She looks at Edgar and they both acknowledge that they have been lied to.

Lydia takes Hiro to her little section of the Carnival and asks to talk. She says they can help each other, and she changes clothes in front of him. Hiro, being our innocent and honorable hero, turns hi back on her. "Naked lady, I think you are trying to seduce me.My heart belongs to Charlie." Classic. I love Hiro for this, but I don't really think Lydia was trying to seduce him. I think she was just used to getting naked in front of Samuel and Edgar for her power, and didn't think twice. Or she's a huge slut. Either way, I don't think her intentions were bad.

She gets dressed and tells Hiro to touch her so she can read his soul. She sees that Samuel is a liar (so shocking),and demands that he take her back to the night Mohinder approached Joseph. This reminds me of the Prisoner of Azkaban when.... I'm sorry. Harry Potter again. Anyways, Hiro takes her back but says "You made us go back", like he didn't really try to do it. All a part of that cancer that Peter can't cure anymore. Such a bummer. Anywho, Lydia and Hiro see Joseph leave the trailer after Mohinder exits, and Samuel approaches him.

Samuel had just heard the conversation about his ability and how Joseph has been looking after him for 40 years. He tells his brother they need to talk, and they walk out of the carnival into fields of golden wheat. The moon is full and beautiful as the two men argue with each other. This was one of my favorite shots of this episode, their shadows sticking out in the bright field of wheat as Hiro and Lydia kneel down a hundred or so feet away.

Samuel is mad. Irate. Confused. He demands his brother show him what is on the tape, to relieve himself of the burden of watching over him. He is heartbroken that his own brother could keep something like this from him for so long.

Joseph tells Samuel that he is dangerous. Insanely powerful to the point where he can kill millions of people and cause natural disasters, etc. etc. He tells him that the secret to that power was on the tape, and he told Mohinder to destroy it. He says that he gave a man from the government (Danko) a compass, and that he was coming here tonight to take him in. To keep everyone safe.

Samuel hears the truth and freaks out. "You betrayed me?" Oh no, there's that look again. A rock floats off the ground as he screams at his brother. Joseph raises his hand in defense and says "I'm still your brother, I love you," and wham! Samuel sends the rock right through his brother's throat and kills him. Joseph falls on his knees and Samuel starts to weep. He runs to his brother and catches him before he falls all of the way. He rocks him back and forth and places his hand on his face lovingly. "What have I done?" he cries, pleading for him to come back.

Whoa, and I thought I was unstable at times.

This scene goes from very tragic to very suspenseful as Lydia gasps and causes Samuel to look for her and Hiro. Hiro places his hand on her and tries to time travel back, but is unsuccessful until the very last minute. Whoa, that was close.

What I liked about this scene besides the cinematography was the slight biblical nod. The wheat field was very Garden of Gathsemane. And when Samuellooks at his brother and claims that he has betrayed him as a government official is on his way, it brings me back to a certain scene. Not that Samuel or Joseph are Jesus, or Judas, but it reminded me of "Judas, must you betray me with a kiss?". Maybe they wanted it that way. Maybe I'm fishing. Either way, it was excellently executed.

Hiro and Lydia return to the present, and Samuel already knows what they were up to. He is at the head of the table talking to all of his minions when he says that there is a traitor in their midst. Seated at this very table, he said. Another nod. "One of my twelve chosen will lead to betray me." Damn, I've got Jesus on the brain. And I don't even go to Church. Sorry, Athiests, don't hate me.

Anyways, Samuel says he knows who killed Joseph and sold them out to the government. he said that he has seen the future, but cannot share it with them until the traitor is revealed and dealt with. We, the viewers know that it is he, himself, but it was interesting to see who would take the fall. Samuel stares at Edgar, Lydia, and Hiro, and they all shy away until Edgar stands up and says that Hiro saw him murder his own brother. I knew Ray would take the fall, I just knew it. I called it minutes before it happened.

Samuel twists his words like the snake he is and asks him why he is angry. He accuses Edgar of killing Joseph, and floats a bunch of rocks in the air behind Edgar's head. Hiro sees this and stops time to save his life. He begs Edgar not to kill Samuel in order to save Charlie, and convinces him to run away to fight another day. Hiro promises Edgar his vengeance, and starts time again. To everyone else, it looks like Edgar just used his super speed, but Samuel is smarter than that. "You saved Edgar," he says to Hiro after dinner. He says that betraying him will only hurt Charlie,and do Hiro no good.

Hiro gets another pair of balls from the store and says that Samuel will not hurt Charlie because he still needs him. He says that if he doesn't see Charlie, he will leave and never come back. Samuel chuckles and says that he will never let him leave.

"You are the devil."Hiro says.

"I'm your Savior, you just don't know it yet." Maybe that's why there is all of those biblical references. He smirks and then the reverse Haitian guy grabs Hiro's head. We see a bunch of flashes of instances where Hiro has changed the past recently... Ando and his sister, the cat on the roof, etc. We don't really know what that means, or what happened.

Hiro says "Must save Watson, beam me up Scotty," and disappears.

Samuel looks defeated and yells at the reverse Haitian "What did you do?". Who. Fucking. Knows.

The third storyline to this episode is dreary. Dreary and really bleak. It opens with Sylathan passedout on Peter's bed with an empty bottle of Ketel One Vodka in his hand. Nice product placement, not that the commercials on nbc.com didn't do it justice.

Momma Petrelli comes in with her rich servants and puts Thanksgiving dinner on the table. She is acting like everything is sunshine and daisies, even after Peter said "I found Nathan's dead body." Usually when a big thing like that is revealed, it is safe to say that the jig is up. But no, not Angela Petrelli. She made up excuses of a shape shifter, and blamed it on Matt Parkman's debilitating mental state. She said that Nathan is fine.

It takes a good long while for Peter and Sylathan to make their mom talk. They are both wearing drab, mournful shades of blue, and she is donned in the brightest of red. Peter's apartment remains neutral and bare, the cold, drab New York light barely brightening up the dark place. Very good imagery. Very nice.

Angela finally tells her boys the truth, and that she was stupid, and whatever, and she starts to cry. Neither of them really feel sorry for her, and they just stare at each other in awe. What a bitch, this woman is crazy and ruined their lives. She smiles the whole way through and insists they continue on with their dinner. "You are still my son, and you are Peter's brother, and we are a family." Good God, Petrelli family. How much denial can you serve up in a six month period?

Desert comes around and Angela is about to cut the pie with a huge knife. Sylathan puts his hand over hers and reveals that Sylar is coming back. Angela steps away and behind Peter as Sylar has an electrical storm of a seizure...or a Syleizure as my fiance called it. Ha. He convulses on the floor for a while and stands up as Sylar. Peter stands in front of his mother and protects her, even though this is all her fault.

Sylar uses his Puppetmaster power to make them watch him eat an entire pumpkin pie by himself. Impressive. He said he feels like he hasn't eaten in months, which, is safe to say that he hasn't. I guess I would eat all of that as well if my psyche were as split as his. He finishes his pie, and looks at Mom. He thanks her for "Raising the 'Evil Incarnate Bar' to a whole new level." He says he has something to strive for, looks at her longingly and.... what?!

Sylar kisses Angela Petrelli romantically.

Yeah. That just happened. He moves in, and slowly kisses her like a lover. I almost threw up in my mouth. This is almost as crazy as Sylar getting baptized. Almost. You can see the anger and heartache in Peter's eyes as he sits there defenseless; still Sylar's puppet. Sylar stands up and talks about religion for some reason and then says that he believes in blood, and starts to slice open Mom's head. Alright, cool, we're back to where we were. Thank God.

Nathan's mind stops Sylar and he shape shifts back before flying away. I would too if I just made out with my mother, but I know he just wants to keep his family safe. Lame.

This episode was really good. I give it an A. Even though Sylar is back and making out with Peter's mom before trying to kill her, he seems like a teddy bear compared to Samuel. Samuel is more subtle and manipulative, and just as powerful as Sylar. He is an unstable hot mess that could kill us all with a blink of an eye. Sylar is just misunderstood .

Just kidding.

But seriously.

Building a Blog Cabin

So I am going to be building a blog cabin, log by log... episode by episode. I'm new to all of this actual blog site business. I've used Facebook notes, Myspace profile blogs, message forum profiles, etc. to get a steady blogging network, but no one really cares on those sites. No one really blogs on them. They are all just trying to see who can look the cutest and post a bunch of silly pictures.

Sure, I love posting pictures as much as the next girl, but when I see my favorite shows (Heroes, LOST, The Office, etc.) I want to write in detail about it and not feel like I am the only one doing it, or paying attention, for that matter.

Even if no one reads this, I am still really excited to start up this blog. I've transferred my current Heroes blog which was in a Facebook note format onto here in hopes of continuing it. Other topics are sure to litter my blog in the future, but until that amazing thing happens, please enjoy the entries below.

Thank you and goodnight,

Brittany

Brother's Keeper

Mohinder Suresh opens the episode in his native India, teaching students about plate tectonics and Pangea. His girlfriend finds a box of his fathers research films from the 1960's and pitches a fit. She explains that Mohinder goes to a "Dark place" when he gets involved in his fathers work. Good thing he doesn't listen to her, and studies the LOST-y film reels anyways.
Mohinder discovers that Samuel caused earth quakes even while in the womb. He discovers that Samuel's power can be magnified "a thousandfold" if there are enough people with abilities within close vacinity to him. Shazam! Finally, the answer! I knew he had evil, selfish, alterior motives this whole time.
Mohinder goes to the U.S. to find Samuel, but talks to his brother, Joseph about how he has been spending 40 years keeping this secret from his brother. Joseph seemed to be trustworthy and very intelligent. Maybe he has the power of persuasion? Who knows, but it was nice to put a face to a name finally.
Joseph tells Mohinder to leave and never come back, and Samuel is revealed to have heard their entire conversation. He follows Mohinder back to his hotel and demands to see whats on the tape, how he can increase his power. Respectfully, our Indian professor declines, and is riddled with crushed rocks (not bullets like I previously thought). Samuel freaks out and says "I'm sorry" before running out of the hotel room.
Mohinder gets up from his wound, revealing a bullet proof vest and a happy Hiro hiding behind the bed. Samuel told him to get the film for him, but not to save his friend's life. Hiro decided to do both. He switched the original Suresh film out with a decoy when he stopped time before Samuel arrived.
Hiro tells Mohinder of Samuel's blackmail with Charlie, and tells Mohinder to hide for 8 weeks so it looks like he let him die. Mohinder refuses, and Hiro places him in a padded room in an insane asylum with a fake name. Sounds like something Bennett would do. But hey, Hiro has to do what he has to do.
Hiro goes back to the present time where Samuel is sitting at the head of the dinner table like a king, and hands him his precious film. Hiro asks him where Charlie is, and, like an asshole, Samuel says "Soon."
What? Soon? He just potentially let his friend die, and risked his own health for a stupid film and he says "Soon"?
He pats Hiro on the back and says "Sorry your friend had to die," and just walks away. Jesus, Samuel. You are positively prime evil.
Back in Virginia/Washington, Claire does laundry at Noah's apartment in some booty shorts. Clearly it was laundry day. She finds the door busted with ice and finds an unstable Tracy Strauss freaking out about her powers. She can't control them, and ends up freezing Claire solid. Oops! She forgets that Claire can heal, and she ends up being fine. The two of them talk things out and have a girls night in. Tracy talks about Samuel and his carnival and how she really wants to start over. Claire tells her to do it, that maybe it is what is best for her.
Does Claire not remember last week's stream of events? Oh well, Tracy isn't Claire, I guess. Noah comes home with groceries and he's all "Hey ladies". Like it is normal for Tracy to be there. Like Tracy didn't tell him to 'Never call me again." last time they hung out and got a teenager hogtied. Forgive and forget, I guess.
Tracy ends up meeting Samuel in a diner ready to start a new life. Should be a good edition. I like the two of them together, especially for how close she is to Noah. I hope she talks about Noah while she is with Samuel and he gets jealous. LOL.
Anywho, the big deal of this episode is that Peter can heal, and he thinks Nathan is still Nathan. The Haitian pays him a visit and gives him the location of a locker with Nathan's dead cold body inside. That's odd, my brother is right next to me.... "it must be a shape-shifter." He tells himself. De-Nial. Sylar/Nathan touches Nathan's body and sees flashes of Nathan's death. He hears Matt Parkman's voice in the flashes and decides to go to him for answers. Great. Just what we don't need. Peter and "Nathan' find out Matt's been shot, and go to the hospital. Peter heals him and Sylar convinces Nathan to touch him for just a second. An exchange of energy is distributed, and Sylar leaves Matt's psyche. Sylar is supposedly back into his body but still looks like our politician. He takes Peter and flies out the window, feeling all of this conflict and self-pity. He clearly still has a lot of Nathan in him. Which can be good, but there is no telling how long it will last.
Peter is in denial throughout the entire episode, even though his own brother says that Nathan is dead, and he is just shadows of different memories from these two people. The episode ends after this revelation with a black screen and the words "To be continued..." written in white text. Really? You're going to continue this story? I had no idea. I don't see why they even bother putting that there. Maybe it's a comic book thing that i should get, but don't. If that is the case, I apologize.
The Sylar Peter Nathan plot was kind of expected and boring in this episode. Samuel's past and motives being revealed really got me excited. I have never had to wait this long for a character/plot reveal in an episode/volume of Heroes before. Sure, it happens in LOST, but that is part of the beauty of its immaculate storytelling. And it is done on purpose. Here is was just irritating and almost maddening. Phew!
Now all of these thoughts of Samuel gaining this power are rushing through my head. I can imagine this beautiful battle between him and Sylar. Or Peter. Or him, Sylar, and Peter. Whoa. I wonder what he's done to Charlie if he doesn't want to reveal her to Hiro just yet. I wonder how many other people he's killed in his past. i wonder if he was the one to actually kill his brother, Joseph. Maybe he foud out he was being betrayed this whole time and flipped out on him. Only time will tell, but the bar has been raised. Samuel will be our new super villain. And he will have Tracy on his side. I am satisfied.For once (this season).

Shadow Boxing

The last episode left us with Samuel blackmailing Hiro with Charlie stuck in time. Now all of the sudden he has free time to get a Visitor's badge at Claire's college and find his niece, Becky. How this makes sense, I don't really know. One could argue that Hiro was stuck three years in the past, and all that is water under the bridge by now. If that is the case, then I digress. I just thought it was worth mentioning...
Claire's storyline has been sporadically missing from my blog due to the extreme impertinence of sorority life. If I wanted to learn how to try to fit in to college, I would just rent a bunch of shitty movies with Sean Williams Scott in them. But that is neither here nor there. Right now, Claire's roommate (the one she kissed, revealed her identity to, and developed feelings for) got scared and moved back home. Why was she scared? Was she afraid she might not be able to control herself around the adorable Hayden Panatierre? Hardly. An invisible sorority sister has been trying to kill Claire's new girlfriend to isolate her. She wants her to lose everyone around her so Samuel's carnival looks as appealing as a backrub after a hard day's work. Or does she?
Isolation is not the only motivation for our disappearing friend. When a make-upless Samuel awkardly knocks on Claire's door and gives her the "Be a part of my special family" spiel, he reveals that Becky is a "very disturbed girl". Yeah, I've figured that one out on my own. He goes on like he always does as Claire tactfully listens in the doorframe, her back to no one. Meanwhile, Noah has come to Haitian the two girls that saw Claire heal in the sorority hazing. Seeing Gretchen run away in fear of her invisible enemy, he searches Becky's room. He holds a tazer at the ready and she manifests herself after he threatens to hurt her. Nice. It is then that Becky reveals her alterior motives for targetting Claire.
Mr. Bennet had burst into Becky's house as a child, and as her father defended his home, Noah took his life. "Shoot now, ask questions later" Samuel mocked him. She hid under the bed and made it her personal vendetta to kill the man that caused her so much pain. Kind of sweet. Kind of cheap. I've seen this in Sawyer from LOST and Oren Ishii in Kill Bill. But whatever. It's kind of cool to see Noah's past catch up to him again.
Samuel explains this to Claire as Becky explains herself to Noah, and then Samuel challenges Claire's loyalty by asking what Mr. Bennet would do in her situation. Out of nowhere, Noah comes in with a gun and says "Yeah, what would Mr. Bennett do?" So badass. I want it as a ringtone. Noah keeps his gun pointed at Samuel and demands answers. This cuts to them somehow in a parking lot with handcuffs and an SUV? I dunno, it was kind of silly. Becky comes in all invisible and saves the day (Samuel) and gets out of control. Samuel ends up tazing her to stop it. Claire ends up stopping Noah from shooting them, but gets pushed to the ground by her own father. What the fuck, Noah? Samuel and Becky run away.
Peter and Emma continue to get closer in the hospital. Emma is becoming more confident in her human abilities (a la medical school), and Peter uses his Jeremy power to heal patients on their way to the emergency room. The downside? The healing power drains all of the energy out of him and he ends up looking like hell after each heroic act. Emma notices this, and they both encourage each other to... whatever, be good characters on the show. They end up saving some 5-year-old girl in a princess outfit in a supply closet (yeah, I don't know either), and have another heartfelt moment by the piano. "You saved her." Peter tells Emma.'You saved me." She tells Peter. Damn. Kiss him already!
Back in Los Angeles, Sylar/Matt goes on a trip to New York to visit Peter and attempt to kill him. Even though we all know it probably won't work, Sylar can at least try. Although Matt is no longer in control, he can mess with Sylar enough to postpone Peter's fate. He puts guns in Sylar's luggage, makes him get flat tires, all sorts of comical travel annoyances we dread when travelling cross-country. But you know what they say, "It's all fun and games until someone gets a tire iron to the skull." Or something like that. Sylar figures out that whatever he does in Matt's body gets blamed on Matt, so he isn't afraid to kill anyone and everyone. He claims that the world is his hostage. Ass.
The two of them end up at the same damn diner Charlie worked at in the last episode. He reminisces about it in a way that only Sylar could, "I almost killed a waitress here once." So much for my theory that that act could change his outlook on life. More like a knotch that never made it to his bedpost.Matt holds back and goes along with everything Sylar wants to do to prevent any more deaths. Or does he?
At the end of this episode Matt does what he should have done a long, long time ago. He sacrifices himself. While Sylar was busy thinking of Hiro and Charlie three years ago, Matt was controlling his hands and his doodles on the napkin in front of him. Matt/Sylar hands the waitress her money and a note that says "I have a gun and I'm going to kill everyone in here." Yes. As Sylar/Matt leaves the diner, a nice cutaway shot shows the waitress calling the police. By the time SyMatt reaches his car, he is surrounded by cops, weapons drawn.
Matt motions inside his pocket which makes Sylar do the same. It looks like he is reaching for a gun and Sylar pleads with Matt. "You'll die with me."
"I know." Our noble hero takes one for the team and pulls his hand out fast, getting riddled with bullets. Sylar falls to his knees, and Matt fizzles into nothingness. A shot later shows Matt in an ambulance, the paramedics stating that his heart isn't beating, and that he won't make it. But they never tell you for sure. I just hope this works out better than the Get Drunk To Kill Sylar idea.
Godspeed, Matt Parkman. You were always nice to me in those Mcdonald's commercials about online monopoly.

Once Upon A Time In Texas

Hiro's quest in this episode is pretty simple; save the woman you love by going back three years in time and prevent destroying the time-space continuum in the process. Okay, maybe not so simple. But that is what Hiro aims to do when he accidentally teleports himself to Odessa, Texas three years in the past.
The show decided to use actual music besides the orignal score designated for each character. It started with Fleetwood Mac last season for Sylar's childhood flashback, and this time included some southern country song as Hiro entered the small town. Very fitting. Very funny. Hiro quickly realizes he is still in his hospital gown and finds some clothes hanging on a line. There he meets a young boy dressed as a cowboy with toy guns who tries to stop him. Hiro is obliged to fill the boy in on his noble quest, and the boy lets him take some of his father's clothes. The cowboy follows Hiro to the coffee shop, asking him questions about his quest. When they reach their destination, Hiro crouches down and says 'Don't worry, I'm the good guy!" The child smiles and places his white cowboy hat on top of Hiro's head.
"Good guys wear white hats; bad guys wear black hats."
It is then that a stranger says "Do you mind?" as the two of them are blocking the door. That person is Sylar, who in fact, throughout the entire first season, wore a Black Baseball Hat. Nice imagery, Heroes. Hiro backs away from the door and quickly remembered that three years ago, Sylar had no idea who Hiro was, and no one knew what Sylar even looked like. he had to let him pass.
In comes Charlie, our beloved waitress with an "Internet Brain" as Tony likes to call it. She has enhanced memory and doesn't forget a single thing she reads or sees. God, if only I had that in my classes! Anyways, like most blessings, she has a curse as well. There is an aneurysm in her brain that could kill her at any second due to her vast knowledge of the world. As we learned long ago, she has accepted death and is living her life in peace and happiness until it takes her away. This girl is my hero.
Back in Season 1, Hiro and Ando travel to this time in place to help Peter "Save the cheerleader, save the world". They stop at this diner and Hiro falls in love with Charlie, and goes back 6 months to try to save her from her brain aneurysm. He cannot save her, but ends up spending those 6 months with her in love and happiness and all of that. Upon his return, Sylar had split her head open in the back room and went off to collect Claire's ability at Homecoming.
Alright let me try not to screw this up. So now, 'Future Hiro" goes into the bathroom before Charlie is killed, and tells 'Past Hiro" that the Brain Man (Sylar) has already killed her. He tells Past Hiro to go back and save her, but it is really so that their relationship can happen. Past Hiro disappears, and everything is right as rain. So far.
Hiro returns to the rest of the diner and watches Sylar interact with Charlie. Talk about creepy. I miss the old Sylar. I mean he looked like a serial killer. He kept to himself, wore baggy clothes and a hat, was just plain firghtening. Now he wears DKNY shirts, slicks back his hair and has sex whenever her loses his powers or something crazy happens. I'm not really afraid of him anymore. I don't know, maybe it's just me. Charlie asks if she can take Sylar's order and he asks her what's the best thing on the menu. She tells him after rattling off everything she knows about his World War II Sylar watch. He figures out she has an excellerated memory and then asks her how her brain clot is doing. He gets rude and makes a sound of her head exploding before ordering the Tahitian Pancakes she mentioned before. A little frightened, Charlie takes his menu and walks away. Awkward.
We cut to other people in the diner, and look who it is. Noah Bennet! He is there with the lovely Elizabeth Rohm from Angel (Hell yeah, Angel) having breakfast and lying to Sandra on his phone for the eightieth time. Rohm's character is clearly into Noah and presents him with a motel key to 'stop this dance" or whatever people say. He doesn't deny her, but he doesn't agree either. He gets a phonecall from Eden at Primatech and rushes there to talk with Isaac about Claire. Old footage with new Noah close ups? Who knows. I guess it's not that important. Sometimes I forget all about Isaac.
Samuel made his grandpa-like friend send him back in time to antagonize Hiro in his quest. While Hiro tries not to be seen by the others, Samuel talks to him and asks him if he is making the right choice, if Charlie is worth all of this trouble. Hiro responds with a resounding yes. He leaves Samuel's side and freezes time right before Sylar kills Charlie. He moves Sylar into a storage compartment in a bus, and then returns to his love's side. She looks terrible and tells him that her aneurysm burst and she could die at any moment. Fuck. Maybe Sylar killed her at just the right time, originally. Maybe he shouldn't have gone back at all.
Hiro freezes time once again and tries to find Sylar. Sylar finds him and threatens to kill him for what he did to him, but Hiro is too fast for him. He toys with our villain for a while and they end up in a back alley "fighting" each other. Hiro is all in white, Sylar is all in black. Very Western, very symbolic. Hiro says he knows Sylar can fix things once he knows how they work. He makes a deal with him, saying that he will tell him everything he knows about the future if he can save Charlie's life. Sylar greedily agrees, and they go back into the diner together, claiming that Sylar is a doctor.
Although Sylar is still greedy and evil, he finds Charlie's aneurysm, and squishes it. The blood clot seeps out her eye and she is healed. Healed! Who knew Sylar could do that? I didn't! he smiles and then quickly asks for his part of the bargain. He wants to know his future. Hiro reluctantly tells him that he will kill many people with abilities, and become the most powerful of them all, him alone. He tells him that all of his kind will rise up against him, and that no one mourns his death.
Sylar's face drops. He is clearly sad about this news.
"No one will shed a tear when you die. No one." Hiro finishes.
This part gave me hope. Sylar's face had a shit ton of regret on it. Very foreboding. Was saving Charlie going to be a milestone in a completely different turn of events? Was he going to change his mind? No. He ends up leaving with his black hat on his head and that evil Sylar Smirk on his lips. I guess I was just too hopeful. He needs to go to homecoming and try to kill Claire for everything else to happen the way it does. Peter needs to find a purpose and get Claire's power, and Isaac's paintings have to come true, right? Damn the time-space-continuum.
We cut again to Noah and his life. He has a chat with Claire earlier about always wanting to be a Shakespeare teacher before she runs off with her cheerleading friends. He then goes to said motel and meets up with Rohm. The both of them look at each other and talk at the same time. She says "I'm glad you came", and he says "I can't do this". Thank God, Noah. I was getting worried for a second. They talk about thier "relationship" and why it shouldnt exist even though it never really did, and she ends up getting the Haitian to erase her memory anyways. Kind of a lame subplot, but nice to see that Noah is still of upstanding moral character.
At the end of the episode, Charlie agrees to go on a time-travel vacation with Hiro and they leave the diner together. Only Charlie is one step ahead of Hiro and he looks away for one second and she disappears. Samuel walks up to Hiro with a long face. Dammnit, Samuel.
Samuel somehow brings Hiro to the carnival like he does to everyone, and tells him that his grandpa took Charlie and put her in a place in time and space that only Samuel knows. He told him he did it because he needs Hiro's powers to help him, and he had to manipulate him somehow. He said that the trip with Charlie killed his grandpa. Hiro calls him a murderer and he just kind of shrugs like he could care less. He tells Hiro that he needs a few butterflies of his own stepped on, and that he did something terrible 8 weeks ago.
Having no choice really, Hiro agrees to help Samuel. He asks him what he did and a flashback of Samuel shows him standing over a bullet-ridden body of the one and only Mohinder Suresh! So that's where Mohinder's been; dead. I just don't see how you accidentally kill Mohinder. But whatever. I'm sure they'll explain it later, they always do.