Upon This Rock, Let It Bleed (2 Hour Special)

I was so excited for Heroes to come on after the seemingly eternal hiatus during Christmas Break. I had gotten my older sister hooked on it, and even watched a few episodes of Season 1 and 2 with her to get in the mood.

So when I spent two hours watching commercials and Claire mourning over Nathan while Peter sulked with her, I was a bit disappointed. Sure, that's not all this episode was about, it's not even how it starts off, but it was a major focus. I understand that the Petrelli and Bennet family need to grieve over Nathan's death. It's extremely overdue and very necessary, but I felt like it drug on. Maybe it's because I buried my great-grandmother a few hours before I watched this episode. Maybe watching her suffer from Alsheimers' disease for nine years until she finally let go made me bitter about Nathan's prolonged suffering even after his death. I might have been emotionally compromised while watching the funeral scenes, so my disdain for their duration is slightly justified.


Besides that, this episode(s) was alright. I think I just psyched myself up and expected too much. I didn't realize that this is a lot like the 6th Harry Potter book... not a lot happens, but you learn a lot. It also sets everything in motion so that the real action can begin. So, my outlook on this isn't as bad as it was five seconds ago. Harry Potter always puts me in a good mood.


This episode starts off with how Claire interacts with the Carnival on a daily basis. Which was good and enlightening, because I think that is a legitimate question that crosses everyone's mind every now and again. What goes on in the day-to-day of a travelling carnival? And a carnival with Supers on top of all that? Even though we've had moments with Samuel and Lydia sharing meals at the dinner table throughout this season, we still haven't met any other Supers. We haven't gotten to see anyone else besides them have a normal life like our protagonists. Maybe that is an intention of the writers to show how superficial and transient the carnival truly is, or maybe it is just a coincidence. I think it is intentional.

Claire seems to give the carnival life; to give it reality and humor. Everyone there just lurks in the shadows as they watch her smile and pick up trash. They pretend to be happy that she is joining their family. The only person who I truly believe to be happy that Claire is there is Lydia. She tells her how she always brings Samuel breakfast and tells Claire to do it to earn some brownie points. This friendly chore "accidentally" ends up in Claire discovering Samuel with Bennet's Primatech files. Whoops. Claire has the guts to confront our Irishman and he claims to have a lot of past with her father, but leaves it at that. He tells her she is free to go back to college, but orders Eli to make her stay. What a liar. What-ever. Samuel can't surprise me anymore. I've got his number.


He goes into the city after getting his outfit approved by Claire and visits Emma. Emma goes through her nice and very accurately-depicted handicapped apartment and answers the door. Samuel half-ass signs while talking to Emma and explains that he gave her the cello. He shows her his compass tattoo that matches the emblem on the cello, and she invites him in. They chat and take a walk through Central Park. He tells her that her power isn't only seeing sound, but she is a Siren. She can call anyone she wants to her with her music/sounds. He asks her to bring this guy who can create plantlife to them. She does it for him, and feels herself getting stronger. The three of them go to the hospital, get this guy cleaned up, and the two men go back to the Carnival. Emma stays. Smart girl.

Damn, it looks cold in New York. Not. Freaking Los Angeles... It won't stop snowing here in Indiana! Ughhh! Sorry, I digress......

The other storyline is Hiro's. He was Reverse-Haitianed by the Rastafarian guy at Samuel's carnival when he stood up to Samuel about where Charlie was. After the Rastafarian guy grabbed his head, we saw clips of what Hiro did to change the past in order to complete his "Bucket List" before he died. He then started talking about Sherlock Holmes and Star Trek before he disappeared in time and space right before Samuel's eyes. I, like most other people watching Heroes diligently, was very confused after this happened, and am still not far off.

Hiro arrives in Present Day Japan after he leaves the carnival, and is making all sorts of comic book pop culture references. He rescues a woman's purse from a thug after grabbing a cleaver from a butcher. He gets arrested, but bailed out by Ando and his sister. He is talking nonsense about Arkam and Spock and Watson and all of this fictional craziness. He mentions the Danger Room, and Ando starts to catch on. He remembers it's the training room of the X-Men, but also where Hiro keeps all of his comics. Hiro is still very debilitated, but is somehow trying to tell Ando something very important. The three of them go to the Danger Room and figure out that something is in an Asylum he needs to get out.... We know that it is Mohinder, and I'm sure Ando will figure it out, because that's what the previews for next week show, but it takes him a while, so that's okay.

So, back to Claire and her madness at the Carnival.... She confronts Samuel about everything he's done and everything he's about to do. She tells him that she knows he killed his brother (after having a non-conversation with Lydia), and is skeptical about what he's going to do with this 'Promised Land' he keeps talking about. To be quite honest, she says a lot of bold things to him that I wouldn't dream of saying to a man that powerful who just welcomed me into his home. But then again, I can't heal or regenerate, so I guess she really has nothing to lose here, now does she?

Samuel sugar coats Joseph's death, saying he lost control and was only trying to protect his family from the government. He even goes so far as to compare himself to Mr. Bennet, saying that he was sure Noah had lied and even killed to protect Claire in dire straits. We all know this to be completely true, so we understand why Claire lets it slide for the time being. She still demands to know why he had a map of the valley where Joseph is buried and what he plans to do with it. Samuel shows her what Emma's Central Park friend can do, and together they build this very Eden-like garden with water and flowers and grass and everything, right in the middle of the desert.

Claire accepts this as a suitable answer to all of her suspicions and leaves temporarily. She got a call from Peter telling her Nathan had died, and that she should come to NYC for a bit. Probably a good idea. Peter fills her in on all of the Sylathan/Mattler business, and she gets pissed. So pissed, in fact, that she makes Mr. Bennet stay at home with Lauren, and not attend the wake. It makes sense, though, especially after Peter tells her that the man who staged her biological father's death as a plane crash was indeed her adoptive father. How Shakespearean. She continues to sulk with Peter, and cuts herself on accident because Peter still has the Haitian power. Stupid Claire, don't you know how to be more careful? Oh that's right, you don't.

Peter pulls a Mr. Incredible and listens to a police scanner on the rooftop after telling Claire the horrible truth. Angela tells Claire to go after him and smack some sense into him, and she finds him in an office building where some nutso got fired and started shooting everyone. Peter thinks that somehow the Haitian power can benefit this situation. Don't you know how to be more careful Peter? There is a running theme in this Godforesaken family, and it's just silly. Peter ends up getting shot after unsuccessfully talking the shooter down. It isn't fatal like the shotgun from Jeremy could have been, but I'm sure it hurt. He asks Claire to touch him so he can heal, and she hesitates. She tells him that he's acting like an idiot (it's about time) and that he needs to get his head on straight. She tells him that she won't always be there to help him. She tells him the truth, and that's what he needed to hear.

While Claire and Peter banter, Noah leaves his apartment window open and tazers Edgar whose been tailing him for a while, apparently? It came out of nowhere, but Noah seemed to be expecting it. Then again, this is Noah Bennet we are talking about, and we haven't seen him get rude in a good long while. Bring on the Plan, Noah:)

Noah speaks Japanese (Yay) to a sushi chef and pays him mad cash to close down for the night. He and Lauren torture Edgar in the freezer after injecting him with something that slows the heart down. Darth Maul won't talk. They find out that violence isn't the answer and decide to just ask him questions instead. Noah finds out that Samuel banished him and pinned Joseph's death on him. They come to an understanding and almost convince Edgar to help them take down Samuel when his Jim Jones Brainwash Job kicks in and Edgar freaks out, talking about his family. He says he can never hurt them and runs (quite quickly) away. Damn. Could have been a good plan. Sorry, Noah.

Back at the Carnival, Samuel is controlling his ink and drawing on a blank piece of paper. It is a picture of a girl that I thought to be Emma at first, but is a lot prettier than Emma. And guess what? She's blonde with what looked like blue eyes. Big fucking shocker, Tim Kring. Do you hate us? Did we hurt you as a child? Is there something about our chocolate hair and caramel skin that just stirs up hate inside of you? But only when it's women? Ugh. Tim Kring, you were confronted at Comic Con about having a lack of diversity in your female characters by a very correct fan. I have said this time and time again, but now this new love interest comes up and its the same thing? You promised us a woman of color this season, and you gave us Becky; an invisible girl who I am sure you are going to phase out just like you did Monica and Maya. Not like I liked Maya, don't get me wrong, but I liked Monica. Everyone did. And now where is she? Huh? No one knows, and you don't care. Give me an Indian woman, a Native American girl, hell a half Italian American woman that resembles Peter or Sylar or.... whatever. Give me something. Fuck.

Rant is officially over.

This woman in the drawing is called Vanessa. She is the girl Samuel has loved ever since he was a teenager, as seen in a wonderful flashback at the beginning of this episode. He speaks briefly of her to Emma, and then we see that this drawing is one of many obsessive sketches our Irishman has produced throughout the season. It's good to know that Samuel had a heart once. It shows that something terrible happened that probably altered his mindset for the rest of his life and made him the selfish bastard he is today. It's good to see him not raping dudes like he did in Prison Break.

But what's not nice? Is what the hell is going on with Lydia? The way he touches her and looks at her and dresses in front of her and has her bring him pancakes... it doesn't make sense to me. Maybe he is with her since he cannot be with Vanessa, but Lydia just seems to do as she is told. Her temperament is so hard to read with him. I know she is afraid of him, but did they sleep together a lot in the past? Is he just a touchy-feely guy? He got slightly jealous when he found out about her and Edgar in the webisodes, but let her make her own "mistakes"...

Which brings me to the current state of things. Sylar is back. He has the compass that Samuel gave Gabriel Gray, and he TKs Samuel to his trailer, only to find he can't follow through with the kill. Samuel uses his awesome earthiness to create a sandstorm around Sylar and rips the skin off of his bones. It was probably the coolest thing I've seen since I watched Cloverfield. And Cloverfield was a damned good movie.

Samuel puts Sylar in his old trailer to heal, I guess, and tells Lydia to go in there and use her "charms" on him. This is where I get confused about their relationship again. She says "I'm not just a piece of flesh you can toss around".

"You didn't seem to mind the first time he was here." Samuel retorts.

Anger? Jealousy? Not really, just fact painted with his usual charm. She seems more offended than anything. I have no idea what is between them. Maybe that's why they're bringing in Vanessa. The people want to see Samuel have a love interest, but not Lydia. I know I do. You know what else I know? I'll be pissed if Vanessa is somehow another version of Ali Larter. Anyways, he gets all touchy feely again and touches her hands, saying they meant for a smooth labor or something lame like that. She finally agrees and goes in to find a shirtless Sylar who is less evil but still bad. Like the Diet Coke of evil.

Lydia tries to tell Sylar that he doesn't want to die alone and that she knows what people feel. Yadda yadda grope kiss yadda whatever. Sylar isn't feeling it, and then he is, and then he empathetically takes her powers and head-buts her. He goes out to Samuel and demands he tattooes him so he can find out his next step. Pretty smart move on Samuel's part. Sylar no longer wants to kill him.

Sylar gets stuck by Samuel's rod and sees the tattoo take the form of Claire's face. He freaks out and is like "Say what?" to Samuel and Samuel just shrugs his shoulders.

The end of the episode is Sylar flying outside of Claire's dorm room window saying 'Hello Cheerleader", and that is it. I don't know how I feel about that, really, but the two of them will live forever and everyone else will die all around them. Maybe he wants to have companionship? Maybe he wants a good game of cat and mouse? Maybe Samuel manipulated the ink so Sylar will bring Claire back to him? Who knows. All I know is that it can only get better from here on out and I am very excited.

I give this Episode(s) an 8/10.

Shalom