Review:

As Tim Kring scripts go, this wasn't the masterpiece you'd expect. It seems dumb to compare it to "Genesis", but in a way this is a premiere too: as a start to the second half of the season, and as an introduction for all of the people who heard about the show over Christmas and are watching it for the first time.

The thing is, "Genesis" managed to introduce the show's characters and story arcs at the same time as moving those arcs forward. We met the characters and got their backstory, but we also saw new story arcs unfolding: Mohinder left India, Hiro froze time, Claire pulled a guy from a train wreck, and Peter jumped off a rooftop.

The difference between "Genesis" and "Godsend" is the shift in emphasis between set-up and plot. There's a lot more set-up here and a lot less plot. The result is an episode which works well for the character arcs and the introduction of new storylines, but less well when it comes to matching the suspense and intensity of the premiere, or even of the past three episodes.

Which isn't to say the episode sucked, because in a lot of ways it represents everything that makes the show outstanding. Hayden Panettiere and Ali Larter both give remarkable performances. Nathan, Hiro, Isaac and Simone are now part of one giant story thread. And Mohinder gets a visit from Daddy Bennet, meaning the guy might finally have some relevance to the larger story beyond looking at his list and pestering the FBI.

Recap Guy again encroaches on Voice-Over Mohinder. That's two episodes in a row now there's been no opening V.O. Have they ditched the idea completely? I'm not complaining, but Recap Guy is nearly as annoying as V.O.-Mohinder is cryptic.

"And tonight," Recap Guy tells us, "the search for new heroes begins." Well, OK. It seemed to me like this episode was more about developing the heroes we already know. But if that's a reference to Christopher Eccleston's appearance at the end, well, (1) it's not like Peter was "searching" for him, and (2) darn, that was one REALLY brief cameo to justify the hype.

Two weeks later: Peter's in hospital and hooked up to an IV. Nathan's looking disheveled, although the manly stubble is SO working for him. And Mommy Petrelli's distraught about her son, but still finds the time to drape a designer shawl around her shoulder.

Niki's in prison and switching to Jessica on a regular basis. We gather this from a guard's bandaged nose and a couple of bruises. As with the opening shot of the Petrelli family in hospital, it establishes where the story thread's at. The problem is it asks us to believe that the worst Jessica would inflict on a prison guard is a broken nose and minor wounds.

This after we've seen her tear mobsters limb from limb, and before we see her snap a truncheon in half. Given those displays, you really have to wonder why we're watching this scene at all. Jessica would be out of prison within a day if she wanted to. The only reason she hasn't broken out is because it sets up the chance to explore the alternating Niki/Jessica personalities, and because keeping Jessica behind bars means she can't snap D.L.'s neck and run off with Micah.

House of canine obsession. Claire watches an article on the news about Union Wells High School reopening. The presenter mentions how Jackie was "brutally murdered." Claire wants to say, "Yeah, no %*^#, losing your scalp is pretty 'brutal'," but can't because Daddy Bennet thinks she's forgotten everything.

Hayden plays the scene perfectly. Her repressed memory story sounds exaggerated enough to remind us it's a pretense, but not such a charade that Daddy Bennet would realize she remembered everything.

So Claire's all, "How could I remember NOTHING? NOTHING AT ALL?", and Daddy Bennet's like, "Yeah, tragic, imagine if you remembered your friend getting her scalp ripped off."

But see, this is the part of the plot which feels hokey, and it continues to jar when Zach starts talking about his foggy memory. It's really not clear whether Daddy Bennet wanted Claire to forget everything about her ability, or just the events at homecoming. If he wanted her to forget everything (and we can assume he did), how long would it take for Claire to rediscover her ability? And if she did, how would Daddy Bennet know unless he was watching her? And if he's watching her, wouldn't he know she was already meeting the Haitian in secret and showing Zach her ability all over again?

Not a plot hole so much as a vagued-up story device, but it's something which could have used some explanation.

When the performance from Hayden is so remarkable, though, it's easy to forgive the details. Claire leaves the kitchen, and there's this amazing mixture of feelings lasting about ten seconds, with Claire going from a superficial smile at her father, to a frown of uncertainty, to a narrow-eyed look of loathing at the man who wiped his family's memory, to the final shot of Claire closing her eyes in discomfort and walking out. The range of feelings Hayden conveys in that one shot says everything about the character she's playing. More importantly, it says everything about the way Hayden understands the character she's playing.

Primatech Paper, where serial killers meet cockroaches. Sylar's still in his cell. He looks as if he just watched the entire Mohinder story thread uninterrupted. And the glass around his cell has been replaced.

This part of the episode disappointed me. Not for the fact that Sylar couldn't escape and work the scalp treatment on some other terrific guest star (and hey, at least Charlie and Eden got a mention this week), but for the fact that it wasn't even explained. Once the glass in the cell was down and Sylar was armed, you'd figure it would have been a quick and easy exit out of Primatech. For reasons unestablished, Sylar has somehow been overpowered and subdued, to the point where Anonymous Doctor can now pump him with drugs and study him.

The cockroach scurrying past Sylar was a neat touch. Clever link between the comparison to God in the premiere and the Biblical undertones of the name 'Gabriel.'

That, or the show just thought it'd look creepy. The simpler explanations tend to be the correct ones, but this show is generally so well written that a lot of the details seem to have a larger significance.

Daddy Bennet tells Anonymous Doctor that "they haven't authorized" him to let Sylar die. Another exasperatingly cryptic reference to the people Daddy Bennet's reporting to.

Some of you seem to think it's Linderman running the operation. I'm leaning more towards the Mr. Muggles theory, but that's only because I think having Linderman control everything and influence everyone seems like a creative cop-out. It's not like I'd be disappointed if the dog didn't turn out to be the Big Bad of the season.

Matt and AudreyClea orchestrate a SWAT raid on Primatech. They discover lots of paper, but no secret lab. Matt tries to read Daddy Bennet's mind, but again doesn't get very far because of the Haitian.

It's an effective scene, if only for the "Oops!" and the smug smile Daddy Bennet gives Matt. That said, it brings up a number of questions that undermine the plausibility of the scene: if Matt had been sitting outside Primatech for the past two weeks, wouldn't Daddy Bennet have ordered the Haitian to work another mind-wipe by now? And if Matt was following Daddy Bennet so closely, wouldn't he have followed him away from Primatech and away from the Haitian, to a location where he'd be able to hear Daddy Bennet's thoughts? And if he'd been trying to read Daddy Bennet's thoughts outside the Primatech parking lot for the past two weeks, wouldn't he realize by now that it's only going to give him a nosebleed?

Hiro and Ando finally get to New York. This after an eternity of caffeine at the Burnt Toast Diner. They visit the New York Museum of History & Technology. Why? Because that's the one which holds the specific sword which Hiro's looking for. So say "all the books" he's read.

Uh, yeah. OK. I would have thought it'd be a little more difficult to track down a sword based solely on the obscure symbol on its handle. I would have thought it'd be close to impossible unless you had a substantial body of research and reference material to work with. And even then, it'd probably take a lot longer than two weeks. But OK. It's a minor detail to forward the plot, and it's a convenient way to get Hiro to New York at the same time as searching for the sword.

Hiro exclaims in dismay at a video of T-Rexes chomping on baby dinos. Aw. Cute detail. He then starts telling Ando that he needs the sword to restore his strength, and that since Charlie died his powers have "gotten weaker and weaker."

Which means that leaving everyone frozen for extended periods of time during "Six Months Ago" didn't inflict irreparable brain damage on the population, but it did wear Hiro's batteries down to the point where he's now virtually powerless.

Alternatively, it could be that there's a link between Hiro's power and his frame of mind. When he's miserable or upset, he can't use his power. When he's upbeat and motivated, his power returns.

Peter's at hospital having flashbacks from his dream. He spends most of the episode like this. It's sort of like Ando at the Diner, only comatose.

Simone shows up with flowers and vase. Regrettably, we don't see how she swiped them a minute earlier from the old lady next door.

Oh, come on. You know Simone's totally the type who'd do that.

Simone hands the flowers to Mommy Petrelli, who gets this austere look that's like, "What, they were all out of tulips? And where are the chocolates?" Then Simone feels Peter's forehead and remarks that he has a fever, and it's said with mild concern, so it makes me dislike Simone slightly less.

It's established that Peter is 26. Which is about what I'd guessed, although I was clinging to the hope he'd be in his early twenties so that the Peter/Claire pairing would seem less immoral.

Mommy Petrelli starts thinking aloud, saying Peter's going to die of a heart attack. Nathan half-heartedly tries to reassure her that he won't. It's a short bit of dialogue, but it works for two reasons: it's in character, because we've seen that Mommy Petrelli tends to say what she thinks and not "edit" herself. But it's also believable, because after two weeks, family members really do start to despair, and relatives really do lose their conviction about reassuring one another that everything's going to be alright.

Then Nathan implies that Simone is responsible for Peter lying in a hospital bed. Ironically, he doesn't realize how right he is after Simone showed Peter an image of the painting that depicted him dead and then proceeded to buy him a plane ticket to help make it happen.

Simone, too perfect to accept blame, evades the issue and says it was important to Peter. Nathan asks Simone whether she believes in clairvoyant paintings and end-of-the-world prophecies. Simone again evades the question by saying she knows Peter believes it, and she believes in him.

Which doesn't seem like a big deal, but you'll note that, by the end of the episode, both characters have reluctantly agreed to help Isaac and Hiro with their mission. They start the episode as skeptics and end as cautious believers. Simone doesn't surprise me, mostly because she flip-flops her way through every episode, but the fact that Nathan decides to help stop the explosion (particularly after he wrote it all off as "crap" in this scene) shows substantial character development.

So Nathan tells Simone to "take [him] to the artist." This in spite of the fact that they already met at Isaac's apartment in "Homecoming", and in spite of the fact that they know Isaac hasn't been there in weeks. But hey, they'll go check the apartment on the off-chance that Isaac will be there. Fortuitously, he is.

The scene with D.L. making peanut-butter sandwiches for Micah was nicely written; the dad tries to do something for his son, and the son's used to it being done differently. Subtle, but somehow very touching. It shows how D.L.'s trying to take care of Micah, and how he's trying to give Micah a normal life after everything the kid's been through.

Bonus points for good continuity: D.L. winces in pain as he's putting his arm around Micah. It'd have more credibility if we knew how D.L. explained the bullet to the doctor who treated him, but the fact that the gunshot wound in "Fallout" is even mentioned deserves praise.

So Hiro finds a statue behind a glass case, and it's wearing the sword he's looking for. The statue is of Takezo Kensei, a warrior that Hiro's father told him about when he was growing up.

Ando gets to do something besides play Hiro's chauffeur and drink vast quantities of coffee, clarifying that the frilly 'S' is a combination of characters meaning "great talent" and "godsend". Hiro decides that the sword is his "sacred object," and that he and Ando should take it.

Mohinder's apartment, where federal suspension of disbelief strains credibility. The FBI have responded to Papa Suresh's list of soon-to-be-deceased individuals. Apparently, there were "too many people showing up dead or missing."

So, let me get this straight. A guy calls up the FBI and says he has a list of people who are already dead or about to die. Some of those people then die. This understandably raises eyebrows, but not towards the person who submitted the list in the first place. Instead, the FBI assumes that Mohinder's visit to India absolves him of any involvement in the murders, and that Mohinder couldn't possibly have had accomplices carrying out the murders which are taking place, you know, ALL OVER THE COUNTRY.

Not a big deal. Just saying.

Mohinder starts off on the whole "they share a unique genetic marker that can be tracked using the human genome project" theory. The FBI agent's like, "Uh-huh, if you say so, buddy," and wants to hear more about Sylar. So Mohinder's all, "He murdered my father! I know because I saw it happen in my dream! And there was a boy with a football! And then my father's neighbor phoned me and told me it was true, but she never called me again!"

Mohinder finds out that Eden's dead, and that she was pulled out of a river in Ontario. That's really, really cold of Daddy Bennet. You'd think he would arrange a burial in the middle of nowhere, even if he wanted to keep the death under the radar. I can never figure out if we're supposed to love Daddy Bennet or hate him, or if we're supposed to alternately love AND hate him, which seems the most likely intention.

Anyway, Mohinder's floored, much more than he was when he heard that Papa Suresh was dead. Sendhil Ramamurthy does an awesome job of conveying Mohinder's shock and incomprehension, but also a tinge of regret that he never told his "friend" how he felt about her.

Primatech Paper, where FBI Lady's mightily peeved. Matt and AudreyClea stand in a corner of the warehouse. Matt's got this sheepish expression. AudreyClea's is sort of, "Hey, this is TOTALLY your fault! I'm SO telling Mom that it was your idea!" And Matt's gonna be all, "No, it was YOUR idea!", and they'll carry on like that until FBI Lady tells them to shut up and explain how she could be in Texas when there's no possible way she could have flown in from LA so quickly.

Or maybe AudreyClea told her they were planning the raid beforehand? But wouldn't FBI Lady, the type who likes concrete proof and adherence to procedure, demand some solid evidence to support the raid before she authorized it?

*Sigh*

Come on, guys, the show's usually awesome with stuff like this. And when it's a Tim Kring script, it should be airtight. I get that it was filmed in the run-up to Christmas and that everyone was exhausted, but what the heck was going on in the writer's room when this one was hammered out?

It gets even better: AudreyClea pulls a Mohinder!

She suddenly decides that Matt's telepathy is a "crazy idea," that she's wasting her time, and that they all need to get "back to reality."

Sudden loss of belief in the unexplained? Check.

Sudden skepticism about the absurd, even though she's been immersed in it and witnessed it first-hand over the past six months? Check.

Sudden need to return to normality and abandon the project she's been ardently pursuing over the past six months? Check.

Yep, it's safe to say that AudreyClea and Mohinder will get along famously when they meet.

Union Wells High School, where broken memories stay buried. Claire tries to talk to Tabula Rasa Zach. Zach offers sympathy for the way Claire lost her best friend. Claire doesn't get into how she and Jackie stopped being BFFs and how Claire usurped her Homecoming Queen title and decked her just before her scalp was sliced off. Because that'd just be too tragic.

So Claire starts telling Zach about this other "friend" she lost. Zach doesn't get what she's talking about, but we do, and it's heartbreaking because he really was such a great friend, and now everything that was done with the character over eleven episodes has been undone.

But hey, it's still possible to turn Zach into Claire's best friend once again before he's written out to go play John Connor.

Some of you felt it didn't work to turn him into Claire's confidant again, and that it just messes with the character. Which is true, in the sense that he should be either Claire's best friend or the aloof guy who was once her best friend but doesn't have a clue anymore. At this point, it seems like the show's trying to achieve both.

The thing is, it's written so poignantly that I can forgive it. When Claire tells Zach to look at her, when she asks him whether he feels like they could be friends, there's such an amazing sincerity in Claire's eyes. For a moment, her sense of loss from Zach's memory wipe outweighs her loss from Jackie's death, from her father's betrayal, and from the illusion she was under that her life could be remotely normal.

That said, the plot's riddled with problems. What's Zach going to think when he finds out he campaigned to make her homecoming queen? What's he going to think when he gets a bill in the mailbox for the copy of Activating Evolution that he bought online? What's he going to think when he finds Claire's number on his speed-dial?

Bah, why not just throw in a line about the water supply? Because self-parody excuses everything.

Niki learns that the DA's pushing for the death penalty. We get this incredibly well-acted scene where Niki and Jessica are rapidly switching back and forth. Ali expertly brought out the contrast between the two personalities in "Better Halves" and "Fallout", but here, she really rocks. The way she changes every nuance and facial tic to convey the difference between the characters is amazing. There's Niki's desperation and fear, and there's Jessica's impatience and hostility. Ali brings both of them out perfectly, although as always, you get the feeling she's enjoying the Jessica moments more.

Museum of replica samurai swords. Someone catches on that two Japanese dudes are totally planning to make off with an item. One of the guards stands next to the glass case with this look that's like, "I'm watching you!", and Hiro's all, "Hullo! Wazzup! Where is gift store?"

Hiro figures stealing the sword will save the museum from being demolished in a nuclear explosion, which I guess is consistent with the way he justified gambling at the Montecito as a way to finance the trip to New York. So Hiro struggles to stop time, but manages to slow it down so that everyone in the museum is moving at a pace which vaguely resembles any scene between Matt and Janice.

Neat effect, especially the guard casually throwing his bunch of keys into the air.

Hiro opens the door to the case. Conveniently, it's not locked. An alarm goes off. Conveniently, it's not one which immediately directs the guards to a specific display. Hiro grabs the sword and runs off, waves it in front of a dino in the next room, then restarts time and leaves poor Ando to get pounced on by a dozen guards.

Somehow, Ando escapes the museum and finds Hiro in an alley. And he's like, "That was amazing!", not at all ticked off by the fact that his friend just left him to get arrested.

Hiro's super-pumped about getting the sword, pulling it out of the sheath to wave it around a bit. When it turns out to be a fake, I swear it's almost as gut-wrenching as watching Hayden cry. Hiro's enthusiasm just evaporates. So he decides he'll take the item back. Because if he explains to the museum that he wanted the real thing instead of a replica, they're sure to understand.

Apartment of heroin-induced artistic endeavors. Nathan and Simone show up. Isaac emerges from the shower in all his topless glory. Simone's all wide-eyed, wondering if Isaac's been working out since she left him for Peter. And Nathan's like, "Yeah, whatever, I FLEW topless after a night with Ali Larter! Beat that!"

Simone tells Isaac that he looks "healthy." Great euphemism. Poor Peter. I'll bet the flowers in the hospital room are wilting already.

Then, to make it worse, the Simone worship begins. Isaac tells Simone (and I swear I'm not paraphrasing this, it's actual dialogue), "I'm only alive because of you, Simone."

WHAAAT?!?

Anything, ANYTHING would have been better than this. Isaac could have said Eden saved him. He could have said Peter saved him. He could have said Mr. Muggles saved him, and I wouldn't care because there'd be more truth in it than saying Simone saved him.

Someone, please explain to me how Simone saved Isaac. She demanded paintings which Isaac could only produce when he was high, then delivered the ultimatum that if Isaac didn't check into rehab she'd leave him, then promptly hooked up with Peter.

At what point did she save him?

On second thoughts, who cares? It's Simone. She's perfect.

I hope I'm not spoiling anyone here, but a bunch of interviews imply that a major character's about to be written out or killed off. If it's Simone, it really won't leave a hole in my heart. And I sorta hope it is, because so far she's contributed very little to the story, and she's written so inconsistently that it undermines every scene she's in.

Which isn't a reflection of the way Tawny Cypress plays her, because I think the actress would probably give an excellent performance if only the character served some constructive reason for being on the show. Tawny showed she could act when Charles Deveaux died, and her scenes with Ventimiglia and Pasdar in "Homecoming" were well played, even if they didn't make total sense.

So I don't think it's the actress who's hurting the character. It's the fact that no one seems to get what the character's doing on the show besides (1) giving Peter and Isaac someone to swoon over, and (2) connecting the characters to Linderman. The first of those really didn't need to be here, and the second could easily have been achieved differently, either with Isaac selling his paintings to Linderman directly, or through Linderman's business with Daddy Petrelli and Nathan.

The thing is, when Simone's being written as this paragon of truth and perfection who's beyond blame for indirectly sending Peter to his death, and who's somehow single-handedly responsible for saving Isaac's life, I just can't see how the show will bring itself to kill her off.

Because look how much everyone loves her. She's perfect.

The scene is redeemed when Hiro shows up to find Meester Eeezuk. As a bonus, he finds "FLYING MAN!". Yatta! Oka gets this delightful smile and wonders why he hasn't been working harder to persuade everyone to vote Petrelli. It's adorable.

We get to the scene with Claire and the Haitian at the abandoned iron construction. Claire tells the Haitian that "nothing in [her] life has been real," and that "everything has been a lie." On paper it sounds melodramatic, but Hayden just knocks this scene out of the park. More than in any other scene, she sells Claire's loneliness and sense of isolation. It could be that it was just well written, or it could be that Jimmy Jean-Louis raised her game higher than usual. But when Claire's begging the Haitian to restore Zach's memories, Hayden gives a more convincing performance than she's ever done so far. And that's saying something, because she's given a ton of amazing performances over twelve episodes.

Of note: the Haitian considers Claire's ability a gift from God, and it should be respected and used accordingly.

Meaning the Jackass Mutilation tape really shouldn't be starting up again.

And there definitely shouldn't be any more burned hands from the oven tray. Because that was just abuse of the ability and plain unnecessary.

Isaac's apartment of convening heroes. Hiro and Nathan swap stories. Hiro attributes his radically improved English to the waitress he met. "She teach me many things," he tells Nathan, and Nathan's all, "Say no more, my friend, good for you!", and Hiro beams with pride.

It's like the joke about the water supply. It's the kind of self-parody that explains how Hiro went from talking to Nathan in broken English about the POOKA in New York, to now learnedly conversing about the explosion he saw while he was in the future. But the "billain" sketch serves as a hilarious gag and a way of drawing our attention to the fact that Hiro will need another few seasons to become the American-accented Future-Hiro from "Collision".

Something about these two characters working together is magic. It's not just the humor or the comic timing or the dynamic between the actors. It's not even the contrast between the exuberant nerd and the deadpan politician. There's such incredible energy in the scenes between Oka and Pasdar. Hopefully their story threads will link up over several episodes and there'll be more like this.

So Nathan agrees to help find the exploding person in the painting. Which would be out of character for a guy who decided he was never going to use his ability to fight crime or save people, but when you figure Nathan really needs to help out if he wants to run for congress in a city that's still standing, it sorta makes sense.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Nevada desert, RadioTed makes fireballs with his hands. Dude, that's such a cool party trick. What are you doing hiding it in a shack? Take it to Vegas and reap the rewards.

The Jackass Mutilation tape begins again. This after the Haitian encouraged Claire to respect her gift. Meh, at least she didn't choose to reenact the one where Zach drove a car into her. Because that one's gonna be fun to square with the insurance company.

The scene was subtly different from the original one in "Genesis". Claire herself is different, of course, and there's more emphasis here on Zach's reaction to the jump than there is on the jump itself. But what makes the scene a great moment for Claire is the way it establishes her motivation for making the tape. Now we know that she was making it for her biological parents, hoping they could help her understand who she was. And now we know that she's making it again for herself, so that never forgets "what" she is.

Which sounds ominous, but works really well in providing a rationale for Claire documenting her ability at the same time as trying to ignore it.

So Claire climbs to the top of the refinery, makes the seventy-foot jump, pops a couple of ribs and gets a bleeding wound on the head which all insta-heal on camera. In a twisted, morbid kind of way, it's very cool.

The only thing you have to wonder is whether Daddy Bennet's going to find the tape all over again, and whether Zach's going to get so many memory wipes that he turns into a dog-obsessed zombie.

D.L. and Micah visit Niki at prison and talk to her through a glass barrier. Niki tells D.L. about Jessica, and D.L. phases his hand through the glass to hold Niki's hand. Very nicely done; not overemphasized or played as a superhero moment, but more a display of the way a loving guy would happen to use his ability to comfort the people he cares about.

Ali again delivers an amazingly heartfelt performance when Niki tells Micah to be strong, and that one day he'll understand what's going on. I don't know, Micah seems to have a pretty good idea what's going on already. It probably helps that Noah Gray-Cabey approaches the role with such admirable poise and maturity, but the expression he has when he's standing next to D.L. in this scene, sort of hopeful and supportive rather than confused or traumatized, is a testament to the actor's talent.

Niki starts crying and begs the guard to let her hug her son. The guard, understandably, doesn't want to let her. So we get the truncheon-snapping moment which everyone seems to have a different theory on.

My take on it is that it's Jessica who snaps the truncheon. It's Niki standing there, it's Jessica who catches the truncheon and breaks it in half, and it's Niki who finds herself standing there, wondering how it happened.

You could argue that it's Niki throughout, and it would definitely work. If nothing else, it would be a sign that Niki has Jessica's strength, which would serve to advance the story a little. But it seemed to me that this episode was all about showing how Niki and Jessica are now constantly overlapping.

I think a more relevant issue here is what it means for Micah to see his mom restrained and cuffed by prison guards, once again witnessing something that would scar a kid's memory for life. This after watching a team of cops raise their guns to a door which they think Micah's dad is about to enter. This after being carried out of his home while his mom lies unconscious on the floor. This after watching his mom shoot his dad. This after seeing his dad slam his mom with a shovel and his mom kick his dad across a forest.

Seriously, I feel so sorry for this kid.

Mohinder's apartment of dead lizards. After at least two weeks of not being fed, Lizard-Mohinder struggles to stay alive in his tank. Daddy Bennet shows up to say he eats crickets, probably rescuing the lizard from starvation.

You see why I say Daddy Bennet's a hero AND a villain, yes?

So Mohinder sees Daddy Bennet, and he's all, "Hey, you're the guy who scared the bejesus out of me in my taxi!", and Daddy Bennet's like, "Aw, c'mon, all I did was make some conversation about Papa Suresh, and you totally freaked out!", and Mohinder's all, "So, you here to kill me?", and Daddy Bennet's like, "I'm here to talk about Eden ... She was a good person," and Mohinder's sort of, "Yeah, suuure."

Which I guess is consistent with Mohinder's skepticism, and with the betrayal he must be feeling. But somehow it seems like Mohinder's grief-stricken reaction to her death in the previous scene has been replaced with bitterness awfully quickly.

Still, this scene really is a godsend for Mohinder, if only because it promises to entwine his story arc with the central Bennet/Sylar/Petrelli/Matt thread. And that's something he desperately needs after weeks of isolation from the other characters. It could finally involve Mohinder with the other story threads beyond just loosely connecting him to Eden and Peter.

Then another Matt and Janice encounter.

Oh, joy.

Matt returns home and finds Janice standing there with a bag on the table. He looks upset. For the life of me, I can't figure out why. If it were me, I'd help her pack, boot her out the door and give AudreyClea a call. But that's me. Let's assume Matt really loves Janice and wants to make his marriage work.

Janice develops a conscience and starts telling Matt that almost all of their strife is her fault. And Matt's like, "No, sweetie, I've been a jerk. I pushed you away. I was jealous of your successful career. And I listened to your thoughts, figured out what would make you think I was this sensitive, thoughtful and caring guy, and I played you. There's plenty of blame to go around."

Some of us are only dozing (as opposed to snoring) when Matt starts telling Janice that there's something he really needs to tell her. And it almost seems like it's been lifted, word for word, from the first time Matt came home and wanted to tell Janice about his ability in "One Giant Leap".

Which highlights rather disturbingly how this part of Matt's story has gone absolutely nowhere over nine episodes. Besides Matt hearing Janice's thoughts and giving her what she really, really wants, and besides finding out that she was having an affair, this relationship has just been an interminable loop. It's great that the show wants to look at how abilities affect personal lives and damage relationships, but this really hasn't been the most successful part of an otherwise outstanding show.

Matt tells Janice that he can hear people's thoughts. Applause erupts across the nation as fifteen million people gratefully acknowledge that this tedious story might finally go somewhere.

Does Matt tell her how he's been reading her mind for clues on how to prepare dinner, which music to play and which flavor of ice cream to get at the convenience store?

Nah, 'cause that'd let her see how he manipulated her, and it'd likely result in Matt getting a black eye similar to the one he gave Tommy. Instead, Matt asks Janice to pick a number. Ooh, they're making this fun!

Meanwhile, at the hospital, Peter's still dreaming. He now sees Eccleston laughing maniacally. It's enough to make anyone bolt out of bed and scream their lungs out, but the way Ventimiglia does it is shockingly intense.

So Peter goes stumbling through the street, babbling on his cell phone that he wants the first flight to Nevada. Plus points for character consistency, because Peter's the kind of guy who really would leave his family and friends rather than put them in danger. Plus points also for the way this is likely going to bring him into contact with RadioTed and set the whole absorbing-nuclear-energy-and-causing-the-explosion arc into motion.

Eccleston makes his much-hyped appearance as the invisible guy who steals money from wallets and makes off with cell phones. For some reason, he gets very angry when it turns out that Peter can see him. Because NOBODY sees him! He's INVISIBLE!

Some of you joked that for a guy who's into sneaking around and not being spotted, Claude's awfully complacent about slamming Peter against lampposts, knocking stuff over and shouting out that he's invisible. I guess it's supposed to convey that he's eccentric, but the scene, and Eccleston's performance, felt a little over-the-top to me.

I wouldn't say that'll be the case as the character develops, and chances are his scenes with Milo will play out very well. But judging by the introduction of the character (and ignoring what we know is going to happen based on spoilers), Doctor Who's appearance in this scene wasn't an intriguing set-up so much as a ham-fisted attempt to say, "HERE! This guy has an ability, and he's going to be very significant!"

It was an intense way to bring Claude onto the show, but I'm not sure whether it was dramatic or melodramatic.

Niki's in a straitjacket, and Jessica asks her, "Who needs God when you've got me?" Unsettling religious undertones abound.

Voice-over Mohinder talks about discovery, elements, snowfall, and nightmares challenging sleep. I think he's saying something about how stuff changes, how everyone moves on but occasionally encounters the people and things they knew before, and how it's all very weird. But I gave up trying to find any serious meaning in these voice-overs after about the fourth episode, so your guess is as good as mine.

Overall, "Godsend" wasn't the show's weakest episode, but it wasn't the strongest either. Peter spent most of the episode comatose, Matt looked like an idiot for having a bad hunch, and Sylar, RadioTed and Claude got notable cameos.

My gut reaction here is that this was an average episode redeemed by a bunch of really amazing performances, by consistent characterization and by neat details in the story. Hayden was on top form, as were Ali and Masi. The Niki story thread is at least moving forward, and Matt's broken marriage, while still the weakest link on the show, at least shows signs of developing.

3.5 out of 5