With that power gone, Peter injects himself with the serum and gives himself powers again. His genetics already provide the structure for that new power - copying other powers - but does so in a very rudimentary form which may or may not develop into something more like his old power, or his father’s power.

I was thinking first, why the hell would he give you a hug, Nathan?

Didn’t he basically tell you in this episode to stick your opinions where the sun don’t shine?

You’ve discussed wanting to capture special powers individuals to keep people safe and he’s told you that you’ll never win, that he’ll never take your side and that he’ll do everything in his power to fight against you?

Then I was thinking, come on Peter! You have a medical license, you’re a freakin’ paramedic, you’re smart!

Don’t you remember what happened the last time you hugged a clearly skeazy/nasty Petrelli?

YOU FREAKING GOT YOUR POWERS SUCKED OUT OF YOU AND THROWN OUT A 4 STOREY WINDOW!

So then he’s walking towards Nathan and I’m like “Don’t do it, Peter! It’s a trap! Run Peter, run NOW! You have got to suspect this is a trap! Peter!”

Then he gets tasered and I’m all “See! See! This uis why you have to listen to me Peter I

I was definitely one of those confused by Peter’s power, though. I’m glad to know I wasn’t the only one. I remember thinking, as Peter reached for Mohinder’s hand, “what’s the big deal? He can fly” then saw online that apparently it was blisteringly obvious he lost his previous ability. While I definitely applaud making Peter less powerful (if only because I long ago gave up hope that the writers could be bothered to keep track of which powers he had and how to use them effectively) I agree that the logistics of his new abilities needed to be established earlier and more clearly in the episode.

I’m also very curious about Bennet; he could be reluctantly working with Nathan in order to protect Claire, but I could also see the “company man” in him responding favorably to what Nathan is proposing. My only hope is that his motivation is explored, and isn’t left to our imaginations the way Arthur and Angela’s motivations (and in fact, Primatech on the whole) have been.

“They could have fixed it with…

A. More character stuff”

I disagree with this a little bit. The episode struck me as very much a character-based volume-opener. The plot was basically “Nathan rounds everyone up,” and it seemed to me like the reason for the simplicity was because the emphasis was on where the main characters were, what they were thinking, what they were feeling and how they were adjusting to normal life. I’m not sure the show could have incorporated more character-based material than that into one episode.

“B. No plane crash/another ending”

Would that have made the episode less pedestrian or less generic, though? I’m not sure that would have “fixed” the episode. I thought it was an effective way to bookend the thing: it started with everyone trying to return to a normal life and ended with Nathan’s operation bringing it down in flames. That seemed like a neat metaphor to me, even if Peter’s the one who inadvertently caused the crash.

“C. No commandos … It would have been in keeping with the show’s mythology if the government ops. were trained by HRG …”

Do we know for certain that they weren’t?

Leigh, thank you, and thanks for reading. I really like the point you make about the Petrelli delusions of grandeur. I wonder if everyone in the family suffers from it on some level: Peter feels like he’s responsible for everyone, Nathan gained control through political power, Angela engineered large-scale change through The Company, through her dreams and through meticulous plotting, and Arthur was pretty much a superpowered thug who terrified everyone into obedience. They’ve all either acquired or been granted power of some kind, so I wonder if that’s what leads to the superiority complex and makes them think they’re expected to either lead or make decisions for everyone else.

Susan,

“I wonder if Angela may have seen something … like Peter leading the revolution …”

I really like this idea, particularly after the animosity she showed Future-Peter in 3.01 and 3.02. If it isn’t a hidden agenda, though, maybe Angela just wants to isolate Peter to prevent him from absorbing abilities that’ll corrupt him the way Sylar’s IA did. If Peter’s locked in a cell and can’t absorb new abilities then he can’t become the renegade incarnation she met at the start of the season, but more importantly, he can’t hurt himself or the people he cares about.

“Nathan really wanted to save Peter from this.”

I’m not so sure. I hear what you’re saying about the hug and the “Don’t hurt him,” but I think Nathan’s phone call to Angela says a lot — it says Nathan was already planning to capture Peter — and I think the visit to the mansion says a lot — it says Nathan wanted to find out how many abilities Peter had and gauge how much of a fight Peter would give when they tasered him later. I agree that AP played it with a caring undertone, but surely that’s part of what made Nathan so devious.

Nathan Dowdell, I really like your point about synthetic abilities vs. hereditary abilities. I never noticed it before, but the hereditary abilities are the ones we’ve seen develop (Matt, Peter and Sylar, as you point out), whereas the synthetic abilities are the straightforward “static” ones (flight, strength, freezing, etc). I too wonder if we’re seeing Peter’s ability in its early stage, but perhaps the fact that it’s synthetic implies that it’s a “diluted” version of his original empathic mimicry. Did shooting himself up with the formula restore Peter’s original ability, or is this like a cheap synthetic knock-off?

Pascal, with Ando, I see your point, but I thought the rationale behind his apathy was unspoken. I think it’s partly that Ando’s demoralized because there’s no one for him to rev up, but perhaps a part of it’s also that he’s seen how disastrous Hiro’s efforts to “help” people and “save the world” have been. Perhaps Ando realizes that doing nothing is sometimes better for the world, and he doesn’t want to enable Hiro after everything that happened with the formula in the safe.

Kevin, I know no more than you re: Micah. Anyone else remember a spoiler or a mention of it on BTE? I agree, it’d be really cool if the character came back, if only for a couple of episodes.

As for Adrian and Milo, yes they do play well off of each other. I just wish the show appreciated it more and would stop splitting them up for so long. Actually, Cristine and Jack could be added into this mix too.

Unfortunately, I’m scared the writers are going to keep him this way since they don’t seem to know what to do with him otherwise.

As far as Peter’s trusting Nathan, it being his “fatal flaw,” etc., I can see that. And appreciate it. HOWEVER, Nathan hasn’t exactly made a secret of his megalomaniacal plans, or his recent antipathy towards Peter (he basically said he’d have left Pete to burn). Eventually, you get to a point and trusting him is, in your words, “tragically stupid.” How many more times can Peter get the Judas Kiss before he gets a little more cautious?

I can see an arguement for Matt’s powers being mental in nature and therefore more compatible with . I could also see Hiro having the mush-induced ability, since his power involves the manipulation of time. But I suppose Arthur sucked the potential to manifest that power out of Hiro with everything else. Lousy plot device, though. I agree with others that they could use Angela for future-casts, and it would be more consistent with the plot.

I’ve read a number of poeple that suggest that the drugs in Peter’s system might be messing with his powers, and I suppose it is possible. Hope so, because I think one-at-a-time is a bit too limiting. Another possibility is that he has to learn how to better control this new manifestation of his powers, just like he did empathic mimicry. As you said, it was just left to unclear to be certain about it. We’ll see on Monday, hopefully.

Angela is just too hard for me to read, although the head-slicing incident had slipped my mind. I still think she has her own agenda. She’s been around for a long time and knows how to keep her own counsel. We’ll see.

Otto, I wondered if you expect to see any of Micah in this volume? His file was prominently displayed during Nathan’s meeting with the president. Micah was my favorite of the Hawkins/Sanders clan, and his power, in my opinion, is one that might be considered a serious threat by any government. Remember, he was the one that got Nathan his original landslide victory.