Review:

"Run."

"Run!"

You have to wonder who came up with the exclamation point in the title. Probably someone in production who thought it would add a sense of drama and urgency.

Not that the show suffers from a lack of those things, but when an episode concentrates on three of the dullest characters, I guess someone figured an exclamation point could make all the difference.

It's not that this episode is dull. Just that it's a mish-mash of action, comedy and drama, and that some of the story threads work more effectively that others.

Where it counts, the slower threads move forward: Matt gets a chance to do more than fix leaky pipes and bicker with his wife, Jessica gets to do more than stand around feeling helpless like Niki usually does, and Mohinder gets to do more than sit in his apartment and theorize.

The one story arc slowing this episode down is Hiro's. How that happened is beyond me. How that happened to the guy who started out as the iconic face of the show and the one who made every scene sparkle is beyond me.

But somehow, after three episodes of sub-plots and stagnant story development, the character who was once the most compelling of the show ends up slowing it down.

That could change. It's not necessarily that Hiro needs to get his powers back, although the loss of his power in "Godsend" was the moment when his arc lost direction. It's just that, at this point, I'm beginning to wonder whether Hiro will spend the rest of the season traveling from state to state before he finds Kensei's sword. I'm beginning to wonder whether he'll end up going from one sub-plot to the next just to stretch the story out. Which isn't entertaining so much as exasperating.

The episode picks up where "Distractions" left off: Meredith's on the phone to Nathan, telling him their daughter found her. Adrian Pasdar plays all of his scenes brilliantly, but this was the first time we've seen the character speechless with shock.

Meredith tells Nathan that someone was out to get her. Subtle nod to Daddy Bennet's story in "Seven Minutes to Midnight". If nothing else, it explains why she ran from the fire and never contacted Nathan when everyone thought she was dead.

Was I the only one who thought Jessalyn Gilsig played Meredith last week as an honest, loving mother? I didn't get the impression she'd use her daughter to extort money out of Nathan. She struck me as more the kind who was devastated to lose her daughter in a fire and couldn't wait to get to know her daughter after discovering she was alive.

The implication here is that Claire's existence is a happy coincidence for Meredith to take advantage of Nathan, which is definitely convenient to the plot, but just about fits. The only part which feels forced is the way she sends Claire on her way after using her as a way to coerce Nathan. After the delight she showed about meeting Claire last week, I wouldn't have pegged her for the kind who'd use her daughter to blackmail the father and run.

That said, Jessalyn Gilsig plays the scene so that it's obvious she hadn't thought the plan through. The look of surprise on her face when Nathan offers her $100k to stay quiet signals that she only came up with the idea after her initial joy at finding her daughter alive wore off. I guess we're supposed to assume she only planned how to use Claire to help herself after that first meeting.

Canine Central. Daddy Bennet brings Sandra home after a visit to the neurologist. Sandra looks like hell. Ashley Crow's beautiful, but between the vacant stare and the way she's made up to look like a ghost, I almost felt as sorry for her this week as I did when she invited Zach and Sylar to dinner.

Daddy Bennet tells Claire that her mother's been suffering from headaches, and Claire's all, "You think it might be because you've wiped her memory a MILLION times?", only she says it in a way which doesn't give away that she knows about it. Still, the way she stands up to him here and lashes out at him later both hint that Claire's going to give up pretending she doesn't hate him very soon.

And for the most part, she's right to.

Family of non-superheroes. Niki blots out the frilly 'S' on her shoulder blade with make-up.

Why?

I get that it's a device to communicate how Jessica's in control, but doesn't the mirror image of Niki achieve that anyway? Covering up the symbol implies that it would actually mean something to D.L. or Micah if they saw it. Which makes zero sense because (1) they've blindly bought into Niki's miraculous victory over Jessica, (2) there's no evidence to suggest D.L. or Micah have ever seen the symbol before, and (3) Jessica now puts a jacket over the symbol and leaves the house before anyone has a chance to see it.

D.L. and Micah are apparently thrilled to have Niki back at home, and can't wait to return to a "normal" life. They don't seem to wonder what happened to her at the correctional facility, or where her resolve to remain in prison and not hurt anyone disappeared to.

It's not like I'm trying to spot problems in the logic of the plot intentionally. There are certain deductions that I guess we're expected to make on a show with a plot as fast-paced as this. But there's a difference between asking the audience to make logical deductions to facilitate the flow of the plot and asking the audience to make deductive leaps to excuse an inconsistent plot. Generally that doesn't happen on this show, but this week it seems to happen a lot.

Micah echoes this sentiment: "Are we ever gonna talk about it? ... What we can do? I feel like we're supposed to be fighting crime or something."

It's a cute line from the kid who looks up to his dad as a superhero and dreams of joining the characters he idolizes in comics. But when it comes on the heels of that kid hacking into ATMs and the story failing to resolve that plot point with even cursory dialogue, it's asking us to excuse a jump in the plot instead of assume that it's already been resolved off-screen. It's asking us to think up a hypothetical scenario in which D.L. explains to Micah that stealing is wrong, and that he needs to return the money.

Or, alternatively, it asks us to assume he patted his son on the back and told him to make a dozen more trips to assorted ATMs.

Beyond that, there's the simple fact that we still don't know where or how D.L. got his powers, what Niki knows about D.L.'s powers, or even whether Niki or Jessica know about Micah's powers.

Still, the way the scene intercuts with Matt's works well. The way Micah's dialogue overlaps with Matt's scene, the way Niki's image was reflected in the television screen, and the way the image of Malsky segues into the photo in Jessica's hands flow very elegantly.

Props to Roxann Dawson because she came up with some really neat stuff like that this week. Truthfully, I never would have guessed she'd be the one from Voyager directing a show like this. I figured Tim Russ or Robert Picardo would be the Star Trek vets who'd make the transition from actor to director the most easily. But Dawson gets some amazing performances from the cast this week on top of neat visual tricks like the switch between Matt and Jessica's scenes.

The only part which doesn't work so well is the Hiro/Ando story. And that's probably more to do with the storyline than directing.

So Hiro and Ando return to the Montecito, the same place they were gambling in eight episodes ago. Ando even points this out. The only difference now is that, instead of trying to stop an explosion, they're looking for a sword on the off-chance that it will magically restore Hiro's abilities.

Hiro and Ando discuss how they're going to sneak into Linderman's hotel and steal Kensei's sword.

This after the recap at the start of THIS episode reminding us that Simone knows Linderman and started Hiro and Ando off on this adventure because she'd be able to help them retrieve the sword.

THIS is exactly what I'm talking about. We're either supposed to ignore Simone's implied offer to help them in "Godsend", or we're supposed to imagine something like this:

"Simone? This is Ando! We are in Las Vegas! We are at Linderman's hotel!"

"Who are you and how did you get this number? And why are you disturbing me? I'm in a restaurant with my boyfriend. Go away."

"What? Simone, I am Ando! My friend Hiro is very special! We met at the artist's apartment and told you about the sword we need to get from Linder-"

"Yes, that's very interesting. Why are you calling me? My boyfriend painted an apocalypse that happens in two weeks and I want to make the most of my time with him."

"You said Linderman was a client and we should return to Vegas. What should we do now?"

"Did I say I'd help you? I just told you to go to Vegas, idiots."

"But you will help us by speaking with Linderman, no?"

"Not tonight, I won't. Now go away. And don't call me again."

"But Simone, we counted on you! We need you to help us get the sword and stop the explo-"

"What made you think I'd help you? I was confused that night and you guys were gullible suckers. You're on your own, now!" [Hangs up]

[To Hiro, in Japanese] "I have spoken with the nice lady we met at Isaac's apartment. She says she cannot help us contact Linderman. We must steal the sword on our own!"

"Great-o Scott-o!"

There's your bridge from A to B. Not necessarily the one the show would run with, but you get my point. There are parts of the plot which are starting to be overlooked, glossed over or ignored. Micah's ATM heist is one, Simone's offer to help Hiro and Ando is another.

Then a part of the plot which stretches credibility beyond breaking point. Bear with me here, it goes in stages:

(1) Hiro and Ando drag their suitcases through the hotel kitchen.

(2) No one stops them or asks whether they're trying to sneak into the hotel without going through the reception.

(3) They stumble upon a showgirl in the kitchen crying her eyes out.

(4) It turns out that said showgirl was waiting for exactly these kind of gullible suckers who'd drop everything to rescue a melodramatic damsel in distress.

(5) This chance encounter which hinged on Hiro and Ando hauling suitcases through a kitchen is what sets yet another Hiro sub-plot into motion.

*Sigh*

I like Hiro. I really do. For the way he's being written, for the way Masi portrays him, and for the hope and idealism he represents on the show. If I had to choose a favorite character between Claire, Daddy Bennet and Hiro, I honestly couldn't. That's why it's exasperating to me when I see the character stuck in a plot as lame as this.

Anyway, Ando's all, "We should give up, it's a lost cause," and Hiro's gravely spouting out pearls of wisdom like "A hero never gives up" and "A hero must have hope." They find Missi Pyle sobbing, offer to help, find out her name is Hope, and suddenly Ando's all, "It's a SIIIGN!"

If I can take anything from this story thread, it's that Ando this week got a chance to speak his mind. He stops being Hiro's chauffeur and translator and challenges why Hiro's always the one calling the shots.

It's great to see Ando take a stand and help someone. The only counter-argument is that he's not doing it out of an innate sense of heroism (as per Hiro trying to stop the bomb), or even out of an emotional attachment to the individual (as per Hiro going back in time and trying to save Charlie). Here, Ando's just trying to help Hope because he thinks she's hot.

But it's all played for laughs, so who cares, right?

Ando dresses up as one of the hotel staff and wheels a tray up to a hotel room. Hope's Bad Boyfriend opens the door and tells Ando he didn't order room service. Ando's all, "But it's complimentary! Look, buddy, help us out! Let us in so we can find the darn bag and get out of this ridiculous sub-plot!" BB assents.

Ando placing ice cubes in the glass one by one was funny, I'll give it that. And Hiro appearing from under the cloth covering the tray and adjusting his glasses on the tip of his nose is still a really cute mannerism. I know we see it nearly every episode, but it never gets old.

Hiro says what we're all thinking: "We're wasting time." Then Ando finds the rifle in the closet, and they're all, "Ye gads!" and rushing to get out. Only Ando's determined to help Hope, to the point where he locks Hiro out of the room and risks taking a bullet just to bring her that pink bag.

Now, does this make Ando the guy who's

(a) incredibly courageous,

(b) incredibly stupid,

(c) incredibly principled (he's doing it to save Hope from an ostensibly abusive boyfriend, remember), or

(d) incredibly driven by necessity of the plot so that he and Hiro can be separated and Hiro can end up locked in a closet.

Your call. You know my feeling about this story arc.

Suresh apartment of lizard love. I don't see Lizard-Mohinder in the apartment this week. Probably chewing on his last cricket and wondering whether his owner's going to take a trip to Virginia and forget all about him.

Mohinder calls up a lot of people on his list of super-powered individuals. They all think he's crazy and hang up. Dude, what happened to visiting them and giving them a copy of "Activating Evolution"? Try it! They either turn into loyal followers or serial killers, but at least you get a response.

And heck, if Mohinder can afford to give up the taxi job and spend all day on this stuff, it's not like he can't afford to travel across the country to meet them.

Anyway, Zane Taylor's one of said individuals, and decides that Mohinder's the one who can help him. He's basically the same character as Brian Davis in "Six Months Ago": the twitchy nerd who's terrified of his power and puts himself in the hands of the first person who shows up to help.

In what's likely to turn out to be a remarkably cool twist in the story, said first person turns out to be Sylar.

There are a bunch of plotholes I could point out about this. How did Sylar get the address? Does he still have access to Papa Suresh's list? If so, why would Sylar need or want to help Mohinder? Wouldn't Papa Suresh have contacted someone so close to New York sooner, at least by phone? Is it just a coincidence that Sylar dropped in on Zane at the same time as Mohinder contacted him?

But when it leads to Mohinder unknowingly providing information and working with the villain, the outcome is so amazing that it's easily forgiven. At this point, I'll take any implausible premise if it puts Mohinder at the center of the story and gives him a function on the show. Now we're probably going to see Mohinder inadvertently lead Sylar to one individual after another and indirectly become the cause of their deaths when Sylar scalps them.

Or Mohinder will be the one who bites the dust next week. My money's still on Simone, but that's probably just wishful thinking on my part.

Petrelli HQ. Nathan needs advice on what to do about the family he thought was dead. The first person he goes to is his mom. Aw.

Mommy Petrelli proves that she's colder than ice by telling Nathan he's a "glorified sperm donor," and that he mustn't let himself get "emotionally attached."

A lot of you said how wrong you thought Nathan was for the way he treated Meredith and Claire. Surprisingly, no one seems to be giving Mommy Petrelli a hard time. Which might just be because it's a given that she's cold-hearted, but this scene effectively establishes what made Nathan a b*****d in the first place: a mom with a heart of stone who doesn't give a crap about meeting her granddaughter and thinks her son's "a sap" if he lets himself care about the girlfriend and daughter he thought were dead.

Is Mommy Petrelli in character? It doesn't fit with the attention-seeking kleptomaniac of the series premiere, but it's totally consistent with the woman who orchestrated the fakest brunch ever in "Nothing To Hide".

I saw Nathan as more ambiguous. Mostly because I'm an apologist for the guy and look for justification in his actions, but also because Pasdar plays the role so well that his uncertainty here is palpable. Nathan's been opportunistic and goal-oriented since the start, but as with Daddy Bennet, it seems like the show's trying to portray Nathan as ultimately well-intentioned. Meredith's right when she says that Nathan's help doesn't extend beyond money, and it goes without saying he's a %*@# for handing her a check and driving away. But at the same time, you have to wonder what the "right" thing to do would have been. Should Nathan feel guilty for attending his girlfriend's funeral and starting a new family? Should he offer to adopt Claire and expect Heidi and his sons to accept her? Should he insist on meeting Claire and risk a scandal that could sabotage his run for congress?

Not saying Nathan's a saint and that he was right to deliver a check to Meredith and drive away. Just that, the way Pasdar plays Nathan in this scene and the scene in Kermit, you know that all of this stuff is going through his mind.

Interestingly, what seems to go through neither Nathan's nor Mommy Petrelli's mind this week is Peter. You'll recall that the last time Nathan saw Peter, he was making a rapid exit out of town and convinced that he was about to explode. And Nathan was so concerned that he visited Mohinder and wanted airports guarded to prevent Peter from leaving. By this week, Nathan's efforts to find Peter have evaporated.

And Mommy Petrelli? She's just cold as ice, so it's no surprise she doesn't care if her "favorite" son's still alive.

Canine Central. Claire sits in her room listening to her [PRODUCT PLACEMENT] iPod Nano. It's barely visible, though, so it's not as bad as the Nissan Versa.

Daddy Bennet tells Claire that he knows she lied about the trip to the aquarium. What's stunning is that he says he doesn't want to know where she was and doesn't seem to be tracking her whereabouts every second of the day from this point on. Or if he is, the story hasn't let us in on it. Either way, you have to figure Claire's taking a chance by later sneaking over to Kermit to see her bio-mom a second time.

Claire gets grounded and lashes out at Daddy Bennet by telling him he's not her "real" father. Jack Coleman tows the misguided-but-loving-father line as flawlessly as ever; he's crushed by Claire's words, and Hayden delivers them with so much hatred that you wonder how Daddy Bennet musters the courage to stammer a reply, but he takes the sting, tells her she needs to earn his trust again, and walks out.

Claire's hatred is, of course, justified, but the fact that the show can then twist our sympathy back towards the guy who wiped his wife's memory until it made her crazy says a lot; about its ability to craft a story, and about Coleman's ability to play such a morally complex character.

And a "yay!" for Ali Larter with sunglasses and power suit. I don't care if Jessica's a psycho-killer, she looks even more gorgeous here than Niki did writhing on a bed for Huggerz69.

As with the Hiro and Ando plot, though, this story depends on a lot of plot points turning out a particular way. Malsky decides he wants to exchange his $2m for diamonds. OK. Pointless, and in no way profitable, but OK. But here's the unclear part: why did Jessica wait for Malsky to get up the stairs and make the trade before she followed him? Why not get into the same elevator and put a bullet in him right there? Moreover, why did Matt only start to hear Jessica's thoughts when she was in the elevator? It's cool that we see him reading a person's thoughts before they're in sight, but shouldn't he have heard her thoughts when he passed her going into the building?

Regardless of plotholes, the scene is a gift for Matt's story arc AND Niki and Jessica's. When Jessica gets out of the elevator, gives that twisted smile and says, "This should be fun," it's like she's voicing the thoughts of the actress, the show and the audience: the Matt and Niki/Jessica arcs have finally gathered enough momentum to become compelling parts of the show.

Hotel of rhinestone-encrusted errands. Hiro gives up waiting outside BB's apartment and goes to find Hope. What was he planning to say before he found her revealing her deception on a cellphone? Who knows. But it's a convenient turn of events because now he hears Hope calling him and Ando "two Chinese guys," establishing that Hope really wasn't waiting for anyone specific to come to her rescue in the kitchen.

The "Chinese" label doesn't sit well with him. Over he goes with the clothes hangar. Hiro pretends for a moment that he didn't hear the phone conversation, but being called Chinese p**ses him off so much that he's going to speak his mind and tell Hope that she's a "bahd pahson." As weak as this story was, Masi plays Hiro as endearingly as ever. He may not be getting the drama he deserves, but the actor's comic timing is still perfect.

Hope calls Hiro "Sulu". Cute detail, and a subtle nod to Takei last week. Then Hiro gets the KO from a damsel in distress who acts like she could have waltzed into BB's room and decked her ex-boyfriend any time she wanted. I mean, if she's this tough, how hard would it be to tackle BB before he got to his rifle?

Diamond District of power-suited psycho-killers. Matt and Malsky tear-ass down a staircase. Malsky's gasping for air and needs to stop to use an inhaler. Neat detail. Doesn't contribute anything to the plot and didn't need to be there, but it adds a level of reality to the scene; chances are a guy as big as Malsky would be on the verge of a heart attack under the circumstances. Kudos to whoever thought that up.

Matt can hear Niki's thoughts as well as Jessica's. Well, OK. It's one of several unexplained details of Niki's thread that she and Jessica sometimes communicate via mirrors, sometimes occupy the same physical form and sometimes take on two separate forms. I get that a large part of it is perspective, and "The Fix" seemed to establish that, to anyone in the same room, it looks like two people in the same body. But as with the trigger which turns Jessica back into Niki, it's more speculation and fan theory than the show's own lore, which is part of why fans gave up on the character; the revelations are appearing too slowly.

Matt sends Malsky to the other side of the building. He sends away the guy who pays him to be kept safe. That's smart. Almost as smart as cuffing the attacker and asking her where her accomplice is and then not trying to read her mind.

By way of rewarding him for this incompetence, Jessica throws him out of a window.

Yes, it's dramatic. Yes, it's shocking. Yes, it's an edge-of-the-seat moment which makes you wonder whether the major character death is going to take place an episode early.

But couldn't it have been done with some character consistency?

When has Jessica killed a guy with any MO besides ripping him limb from limb? She breaks guys in half. It's what she does with Malsky instead of tossing him out of the building after Matt.

Then the scene that was so elegant and so beautifully performed that you can pretty much forgive anything dragging the show down this week.

Claire goes to Kermit and insists on meeting her bio-dad. Claire tells Meredith about Sandra's apparent brain damage and wonders if her rich and affluent bio-dad might be able to help. Meredith tells her she's entitled to half of $50k, but that she shouldn't count on her dad for anything else because he's the kind of %*@# who ditched Meredith after Claire was born and has no idea how to help either of them besides signing a check.

Meredith's a money-grabbing liar, but she's right. As much of a "sap" as Nathan is, as clear as it is that he'd want to meet Claire, and as much as I'll defend him for his reluctance to meet Claire, the fact that he gives up and abandons the chance of meeting his daughter bring resonance to Meredith's words.

Hayden brings an amazing performance to the scene. When she asks why Meredith told her about her dad in the first place, she brings this incredible mixture of confusion, hurt, disillusionment and disappointment to her expression.

So Meredith decides to up and move to Mexico. She leaves off the part about how she'll be $100k better off when she makes the trip.

I can't figure out whether Meredith felt anything for Claire, or whether she was planning to use her to blackmail Nathan the moment she learned her daughter was alive. The way Jessalyn played the character, my feeling is she cared about Claire. It's just that her sense of greed and personal gain outweigh her attachment. When she tells Claire to "take real good care" and takes a snapshot of Claire on her cellphone, the heartbreaking part isn't just Claire's look of emptiness and loss of hope; it's also the fact that Meredith genuinely doesn't see anything wrong with the way she's saying goodbye to her daughter.

By contrast, Nathan's visibly distraught when his car's driving away. Is he just reacting to the rock which hit the windshield? No way. Does he think it was one of the kids next to the trailer? Of course not. He knows it was his daughter who threw the rock.

Is Nathan beyond redemption after walking away from his obligation as a father? A lot of you think so. I see Nathan as more of a victim of Meredith's deceit than a negligent father, especially after the nervous hope in his voice when he asked where his daughter was. When he hesitates to look at Meredith's photo of Claire, Nathan realizes that Mommy Petrelli was right: the moment he sees her face, he'll want to adopt her and drop everything to look after her.

The counter-argument, of course, is that he doesn't. Nathan sees the photo, gets this look of recognition and guilt, then tells Meredith that she did "just fine" in sending Claire away. It's why Claire is justified for throwing the rock at Nathan's car. Not just because he abandoned her, but because Meredith offered him the chance to call her and meet his daughter, and because Nathan turned that chance down.

I think we'll all agree that Hayden knocked this scene out of the park. Dawson deserves a lot of praise for getting the performance out of her, but the way the camera stays with Hayden while her expression shifts from curiosity to hurt to anger is extraordinary. I praise almost every scene the actress gets on this show, but here Hayden showed once again how she can own a scene and bring her character to life.

Meanwhile, over in Virginia, Sylar takes Zane's Ramones T-shirt and fools Mohinder into thinking he's Zane. Sylar's quoting Maslow and talking about how he's had an epiphany and become one with life, nature and God. Mohinder totally buys into this, thus nominating himself as a contender for this week's Gullible As Ando award.

Sylar reveals the power which he scalped out of Zane: he can turn toasters into metallic goo. Mohinder sees this, and he's like, "Whoa! My God!" And Sylar's all, "Isn't it cool? Wanna see it again?" And Mohinder thinks it's the most spectacular ability he's ever witnessed, probably because he really hasn't witnessed very many super-feats so far. Sylar's seen a few now, but this one totally rocks his boat. He can't wait to melt another dozen toasters. Now he'll have a party trick besides sliding a cup of coffee back and forth across a table.

Mohinder speculates that, with time and research, he'll be able to find "hundreds" or even "thousands" of individuals with abilities. I could be wrong here, but I don't think the show would have put the line in there if it was planning to kill Mohinder off next week.

You could argue that it gives Mohinder's death greater impact after the guy was planning to contact every hero on the planet. But somehow the line sounds less like an ominous hint than a solid foundation for the character's ongoing arc over the course of the series.

Color me stunned if we're saying goodbye to Sendhil Ramamurthy next Monday, but this really seemed about as definitive a hint as the show could make that Mohinder's going to stick around.

Unlike Ando, who's now told by Hope that Hiro "didn't need [him] anymore." As with Meredith, you question the untrustworthy source, but you don't really question the fact that she's right. As awesomely as James Kyson Lee plays Ando, the sad truth is Hiro's thread could continue without Ando and lose none of its drama or suspense. It would probably lose some of its comedy, but given that the past four episodes have been nothing BUT slapstick comedy and banter for Hiro, I'm beginning to wonder if the only thing that will end the light-hearted sub-plots is the departure or death of his closest friend.

In the meantime, Hiro meets BB, who turns out to be S.R. Gustavson, part of the State Gaming Commission. You can see it now: another three episodes of Hiro stuck in the Montecito, trying to convince this guy that he didn't cheat at poker. Adventures with showgirls and pink bags abound. Could the character PLEASE just find the sword, rediscover his power and go back to saving people?

Matt finds Malsky's diamonds in the ceiling. He puts his fingerprints all over the suitcase, leaves the suitcase where any idiot can find it, then pockets the diamonds and makes a hasty exit.

Is Matt right to take the diamonds? Sure. On the most obvious level, they were stolen in the first place. On the next most obvious level, they were traded for money that belonged to a mobster.

On a deeper level, you could argue that Matt's reacting to his experience in "Don't Look Back" and "One Giant Leap", and figuring no one's going to believe he just happened to find the suitcase and recover the diamonds on a hunch.

Beyond those reasons, there was probably only one thing in Matt's mind when he heard the detective predict he'd never wear a badge again: his family.

But then, that's the ironic part of Matt's story arc, and the part which goes some way to redeeming everything objectionable about it so far. Matt's ability indirectly led to him losing his career and stealing evidence from a crime scene, but it's also partly what saved his marriage, and what might support his family if he doesn't take another job as private security.

Which in itself doesn't signify great drama, because Matt trading a bag of diamonds for a suitcase of cash and raising a kid with Janice obviously isn't the route the show will take.

It isn't, right?

But in what this decision by Matt represents, and in the way it signals Matt's corruption and loss of integrity, it hopefully marks the start of a much more compelling story arc for the character.

Claire returns to Canine Central and finds her mother throwing oven mitts at Mr. Muggles. Now she doesn't even remember her daughter and dog.

Poor Sandra.

Poor Claire.

Poor Mr. Muggles.

Poor family for its ruthless and misguided yet fundamentally well-intentioned patriarch who set all of this in motion. The amazing part, though? You don't even need to see the preview to next week's episode to know the show will come up with another great scene where Coleman totally makes us sympathize with his character.

As a set-up for Jessica hunting down Nathan and Sylar using Mohinder to track down every super-powered individual on the list, "Run!" serves its purpose remarkably. But even as a self-contained, character-driven episode, it's remarkable. For the way it weaves Matt's thread with Niki and Jessica's, for the way it links Mohinder's story with Sylar's, and for the way it underlines that Claire's now completely alone.

The Hiro sub-plot? It wasn't great. And based on the way it ends, it doesn't look like it's going to dig its way out of the rut it fell into anytime soon.

On the plus side, the show this week dug out Matt, Niki and Mohinder from their respective slow-paced story arcs. You have to figure that if it could do that with characters who have widely been regarded as the weakest, it can easily do that with one of the strongest.

3.5 out of 5