Heroes Recap: .07%

Heroes – “.07%”
Original Air Date: 4/23/2007
GMMR Recapper: Julie

Linderman gets a voiceover as we get a recap of where we last left our heroes. I’ll be honest, I never pay attention to these opening and closing voiceovers. They’re pretty interchangeable, as far as I’m concerned.

Mr. Bennett, jailed at Primatech Paper, has a visit from Claire…only, as he’s quick to notice, it’s really shape-shifter Candice. Once he pushes her away, Thompson enters to mess with his head a little more. Bennett talks a big game, playing unafraid, but Roberts says he’s just waiting for the order to kill him, ’cause he follows orders.

At the Corinthian hotel, Nathan and Linderman peruse the latter’s art collection — including eclectic pieces by Isaac and Japanese feudal art. Things get interesting when Linderman “heals” a dying plant, restoring it to a lush bloom. Whatever, Powder. I still don’t trust you.

Matt is roused by a voice in his head telling him to wake up. It’s Mr. Bennett, one cell over, feeding him some distressing thoughts about how he has no chance of surviving captivity, unless he does exactly what his fellow jailbird recommends. Despite serious misgivings (aka blinding hatred), Matt agrees. Following Mr. Bennett’s telepathic instructions, Matt extricates himself from his cell. Bennett then guides him to let out Sprague, but they catch wind of his plan and the alarm sounds.

Nathan spots a painting with Hiro. Small world, eh? “We all have our roles to play in the events to come,” Linderman opines. Vague it up, why don’t you, buddy? Linderman tells Nathan how he was much younger when he discovered his power. He banded together with other superfreaks to try to make a difference in the world. Things went well, until some of his buddies turned a little wrong. Now, he’s looking at the big picture, trying to impact as many people as possible. Even if it means NYC turns into a mushroom cloud? wonders Nathan. Turns out Linderman’s a “you’ve got to break a few eggs” kind of guy. What a shocker.

From the look on his face, Nathan thinks his destiny to use the impending tragedy to unite the people is kind of a downer. Seeing one of Isaac’s paintings depicting Nathan in the Oval Office fails to comfort him. He’s outta there.

Peter’s where we left him last, about to be brain drained courtesy of Sylar. One glorious lock of hair plummets to the floor (alas!), but then Peter starts to heal. He mentally pushes Sylar off him and releases Mohinder from his creepy ceiling levitation. Sylar heads for him, but Peter goes invisible. Sylar levitates a pile of sharp glass shards. Aiming it in all directions, manages a direct hit to the back of Peter’s head. Mohinder, however, manages to shove a bookcase up against him, knocking him out. Not that that does Peter much good — he’s blank-eyed and motionless on the floor.

Claire, now at her grandmother’s house, spots a picture of Nathan and Peter and gets the scoop on her family tree. Mama Petrelli knew about Claire all along, and she, of course, only wants the best for her — which, in her mind, means going to Paris to be protected.

Sylar awakens to find the computer — and the list — destroyed. He does find a remnant of Isaac’s name, though…and guess what Isaac’s up to? Turning in the latest edition of “9th Wonders”. Always a sweetheart, he gifts his trusty messenger his sketchbook with a smile. Messenger man is delighted; I’m freaked out. Why did he smile so good-naturedly at the sketch of Simone and Peter smooching? You’d think he’d be more tortured about the ex-girlfriend HE KILLED. Maybe the Haitian got to him…

In Vegas, DL and Jessica argue. He wants to leave with Micah. She’s unstable and — low blow alert — turning into her father, unstable and violent. A couple of Linderman’s thugs show up to take her to him.

A disheveled Suresh shows up at Mama Petrelli’s with Peter’s body. She takes it, and after staring for a moment at her son’s inert body, asks him to leave. Claire heads down the stairs for an unfortunate reunion with her uncle.

Jessica meets with Linderman, who needs “a favor”. He wants to “borrow” Micah, but Jessica’s concerned that he might not be returned in his pristine condition. She says her son is off-limits. Somehow I don’t think Linderman’s going to listen.

To silence the alarm, Bennett instructs Sprague (via Matt) to set off an EMP. “Don’t burn hot, burn bright.” That could so be the slogan to something. Slogan or no, Ted pulls off the EMP, it works, and the power shuts off, including the alarm. After some begging by Matt, the two head off to rescue Mr. Bennett.

Entering with a “Ma?” that I wouldn’t expect from him, Nathan arrives at Mama Petrelli’s…just in time to see his dead brother. He sobs and cradles Peter in his arms. Mama Petrelli, by this point, has toughened up and resolved that they hide Peter so he won’t mess up the election. I wonder if her power is that she can freeze things, ’cause she is ICE COLD.

Claire steps in, saying she just wants to have a minute with Peter. She strokes his hair as she laments losing him before she even got to know him. “You’re the only one that made me feel safe.” She finds the blade of glass and yanks it out of his brain. In a flash he coughs and sits up, surprising his family — but probably not many viewers. We knew they wouldn’t kill off old Peter Floppyhair.

Later, we find Peter slick-haired (nice…and when did Milo Ventimiglia get nice arms? am I the only one suddenly finding post-post-mortem Peter hot?) and chatting with his bro about how, no, he can’t die anymore and yeah, that is kind of nifty, even if he’s going to explode and kill everyone else. Suddenly feeling full of the wisdom and zeal of being alive (I’m guessing) Peter starts counseling Nathan to talk to his daughter. She, the fabled cheerleader, could be the key to it all. He can’t let her go to Paris, can he?

Sprague, Bennett, and Parkman get their eat on in a cafe. Bennett promises to get them to the tracking system, so they can destroy it and end all the “bagging and tagging”. Its headquarters are in NYC. Is that where big bossman Linderman is?, wonders Matt. Bennett’s surprised by the name, a reaction that Matt gets a kick out of. He didn’t know his own boss! He’s middle management! …This appears to be something only Matt finds amusing.

Jessica? Niki? One of those beeyotches hands Micah over to Linderman, who hunches down, shakes his hand, and gives him a big creepy smile. “How would you like to save the world today?” Linderman asks. Uh-oh. Now I’m having flashbacks of the time I was 11 and a sketchy guy asked me to get into a van. If he offers Micah some candy, I will not be pleased. Wait — after Linderman drives off, we see that it was a beeyotch of a different color who let Micah go: Candice playing Niki/Jessica.

Suresh is having a pity party in his trashed apartment, and who’s invited? Well, technically he extended the invite to Mr. Bennett, but evil Eric Roberts intercepted the call and has showed up. Thompson suggests they work together to put a stop to Sylar.

Sylar, at that very moment, is at Isaac’s. For someone who’s marked for death, Isaac’s remarkably calm. “I tried fighting the future. It’s too big for me. Maybe you can do better.” Sylar, however, is annoyed. Like a typical egotist, he wants to see his future, learn how awesome he’ll be. Isaac don’t play that, so Sylar pins Isaac to the floor with a pair of paintbrushes (oh dramatic irony!). They banter for a bit (oh, those two) before Sylar’s had enough of Isaac’s lack of cooperation, and goes for the head shot. Bummer.

Nathan opens up the picture of himself in the Oval Office. Claire startles him as she heads in for a little father-daughter chat. Nathan tells her he wants to be there for her, wants to be a better person, but he can’t. (Cue eye roll from Claire.) He tries to open up and be honest, but she cottons on right away: he wants her to go to Paris. Just until after the election. Once it’s over, she can come back and they can be a family. He seals the deal with a slightly ominous hug.

Unsatisfied with ending the episode on an only slightly unsettling note, we next see Sylar, with his blood-soaked hand, having buckets of fun with his first future-painting experience. He’s painting Peter in the oval office too, but his drawing is crude and discolored.

Ooh, and now we’re back to Hiro! He’s atop the Deveraux building, five years in the future, looking at a bomb-ravaged New York. “We didn’t stop it. I failed.” He numbly tells Ando. Ando says he’s got the sword, he can transport them back, but Hiro is resolved. They have to head back, and figure out what to do to stop it. They can start with Isaac! Of course, when they head over to Isaac’s, they find an odd mobile, strings hung up throughout the room, scraps of paper clipped to them, forming a timeline of hero-related events.

The sound of a sword unsheathed…and present-Hiro comes face to face with badass future-Hiro.

Next week: What would happen if they didn’t save the world? We’re in the future. People are makin’ out, governing the country, getting angry, and OMG Claire’s hair is BROWN. You know I’ll be tuning in.

Julie is a GMMR recapper extraordinaire, but she also has her own fabulous TV website. Head over to TV and Sympathy to read more from Julie.

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Photos courtesy of NBC Universal.