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.
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