Review:

At this stage, I'm starting to wonder whether this show might get through its entire run without putting a step out of place. Three episodes in, the show is producing one outstanding episode after another. The characters move forward, the dynamic between them changes and develops, and the consistency in their portrayal (at least so far) has been impeccable.

Which isn't to say that this episode wasn't without its fair share of problems, because as with any show trying to find its feet, there are parts which just aren't working. Niki's story advances, but it's no more captivating now than it was in the premiere. Isaac wallowing in misery over Simone's refusal to believe in his clairvoyance makes him no more of an identifiable character than he was in the premiere.

And Mohinder? He's the key to bringing all of the characters together, but his scenes saunter along so ponderously that you wish the guy would just take "One Giant Leap" and figure out how to unite the superheroes already.

That said, these are minor complaints in an episode filled with things to praise. Hiro is a delight to watch, as always. Matt gets the development he should have gotten alongside the other mains in the first two episodes. Sylar is introduced and the extent of his abilities revealed. And Claire dies and watches herself getting an autopsy. Which isn't as dramatic a twist as last week's, but for pure shock-value, it's enough to guarantee a substantially riveted portion of viewers next week.

Recap Guy's out. Mohinder's now doing the 'Previously on Heroes' announcement as well as voice-over duty. Is this guy being paid by the hour?

Peter's flight is covered, as is Claire's wish to meet her biological parents, Matt's telepathy, Hiro witnessing the explosion in Manhattan, and Niki driving the mobster corpses into the desert. You'll note that the Simone/Isaac thread and the Mohinder thread are both left out of the recap. It could be because the show didn't feel it needed a set-up to continue in this episode. Or, it could be because the producers have already realized that these aren't the parts of the show which are going to persuade viewers to keep watching.

A helpful caption tells us that Niki and Micah have arrived on the "outskirts of Las Vegas, Nevada." While Micah naps in the back of the car, Niki takes the shovel and begins digging a hole for the mobsters. Mohinder provides the obligatory cryptic voice-over. This week's is about how evolution "selects its agents," and how you "may be asked to do something against your very nature." The last couple of voice-overs, they were rhetorical and ambiguous, but they kind of made sense within the thematic context of the episode. This week, I really can't figure out how the voice-over ties in with anything that's going on in the episode.

Niki finds the skull in the sand as she did last week, but this time also officiates the charred remains of a hand with a ring attached to one of the fingers. The ring is in the shape of a skull.

Mohinder's VO continues, telling us how the "change" in life which should have been "wonderful" turns out to be "a betrayal." This is unintelligible. This is not even poetic in an alluring, mysterious kind of way. It's just really, really exasperating.

We cut from the corpse-storing trunk of Niki's car to the mascot-transporting trunk of Daddy Bennet's car. ClaireBear's mascot is ... also a bear. Bears are evidently going to be a theme on the show.

The contrast from macabre desert darkness to light-hearted high-school humor is nicely done. The neat part of it is the way the ominous undertone flows between the scenes. This is another one of those scenes where Daddy Bennet does or says something that's seemingly harmless, like pecking his daughter on the cheek and telling her to be careful, while the subtext drills home that the guy is eeevil.

That said, there's something gratifying in the fact that Daddy Bennet now knows about Anonymous Jock. The one comforting thought we can take from this scene is that the quarterback will be a dead man before long.

Meanwhile, in Tokyo, Ando oogles Niki via webcam.

First, does this guy do any work for the firm that's paying him? Second, is this a much older feed? Because you have to wonder how Niki can be stripping at the same time as digging in the sand in Nevada. Third, PRODUCT PLACEMENT! Buy an Apple iPod! It'll change your life! You too can download online videos of strippers writhing on their beds! Fourth, this is just speculation, but do you think it's possible that by weaving Niki's story arc into Hiro's, the show is hoping to somehow add some relevance to the character?

Hiro rushes to Ando's desk and tells him how he teleported into the future. Hiro furnishes Ando with the copy of "9th Wonders!" which he spent 1000 Yen on.

[Nerd note: the comic has the frilly 'S' in the top left-hand corner]

Ando immediately suspects a predilection for sake. Hiro insists that he witnessed an enormous nuclear explosion, and that it's now his and Ando's destiny to stop it. It's a Heroic Moment for the Honorary Member of the Merry Marvel Marching Society.

I'm stumped on how the temporal mechanics work here. Hiro shows Ando the pages of the comic depicting this exact scene word-for-word. Meaning Isaac had a vision of Hiro traveling forward through time and finding him with a sawn-off scalp. But more interestingly, it also suggests that Isaac had a vision of Hiro going back in time again and altering the timeline in which the explosion is set off.

Anyone following me? The point I'm trying to make, I guess, is that it seems as if Isaac's visions transcend the space/time continuum just as Hiro does. Isaac's comic now follows an alternate timeline in which its central character, Hiro, makes decisions on the basis of scenes in the comic book. The comic is now effectively guiding him.

Where am I going with this? Bah. Stay with me, it'll become relevant later on.

We cut to Peter standing amid rooftops with a grave expression on his face. Dramatic music plays. Peter looks up at the sky and takes a step forward.

My notes here read: "OK. This is getting ridiculous. It's now THREE EPISODES IN A ROW FOR THE GUY!"

The show surprises me by again demonstrating its ability to thwart our expectations and undermine our assumptions.

Peter repeatedly jumping off a climbing frame and into a sandbox to see if he can fly? That's funny. The kid with the blue shirt and the red cape? That's brilliant. SuperKid sucks through the straw to his drink and watches with mild amusement. Peter looks mighty humiliated. It's the kind of thing that makes this show remarkable. It parodies the momentous tone of its plot by undercutting it, but it also works as a parody to its own superhero allusions.

Those superhero allusions continue into the next scene when Nathan chooses between a red and a blue tie. It's complicated by the fact that Nathan is one of several characters we'd kind of like to see dead by the end of the episode. It's just, this scene didn't paint him out that way, at least not to me. Peter barges into Petrelli-For-Congress HQ, demanding that Nathan listen to his escapade on the climbing frame. Nathan tries to make pleasantries, inviting Peter to the fundraiser and pondering whether his brother will "break out the suit, maybe have a couple of drinks ..." It's supposed to make Nathan into a %*@# for not listening to his brother, but honestly, I just don't see it that way. Peter pulls out Chandra Suresh's book, urging Nathan to take their potential for flight more seriously. Nathan grudgingly listens to Peter recounting his attempt to get in contact with the author.

Let's put aside the fact that Papa Suresh's university seems to have no idea that he's dead. It's unlikely, given that Mohinder would have needed to give some reason for abandoning his teaching post in Madras, but at a stretch, it's possible.

Let's also put aside the fact that Peter doesn't seem at all interested in revisiting Isaac's apartment, even though the paintings he saw two nights ago hint at Peter's ability to fly and could shed some light on how it happened.

The simple fact here is that Nathan doesn't want to get involved in Peter's obsession, and he doesn't want to explore his own ability to fly. Which seems cold, sure. But it's also a choice he's entitled to make, especially when the implication is that Daddy Petrelli's suicide was directly linked to an ability to fly.

Then there's the b*****d-for-being-career-oriented angle, with Nathan fretting because he's a public figure whose relatives are systematically (albeit inadvertently) sabotaging his career. When Nathan tells Peter, "I've got an election to win and a family to feed," I can't help feeling for the guy.

It's not that I'm ignoring the fact that he acted like a %*@# on several occasions in the past two episodes, or that he'll later betray his brother in this episode. It's just that this scene turned Nathan into the kind of character who's being unfairly maligned. He's not getting his side of the story conveyed with the same attention as Peter's. And that, to me, is the only reason why we sympathize with Peter more than Nathan. We see the story from Peter's perspective because his actions and motivations are explained. They're supported by emotive music and lots of exposition involving Peter looking contemplatively at the sky. If Nathan got the same kind of attention, I'll bet you a thousand Yen he'd turn out to be just as sympathetic as Peter, if not more.

Unrecapped-Mohinder continues to work on Papa Suresh's algorithm. He seems to have found use of Anonymous Burly Bug Man's gun. Eden unlocks the door to the apartment and lets herself in. Without even looking at Mohinder, she apologizes for waltzing into the apartment. Is Lizard-Mohinder on set this week? Could we maybe let him try the same scene in Nora Zehetner's place and compare performances?

Eden perches on Papa Suresh's desk. It doesn't seem to occur to her that she might be disturbing Mohinder with some significant work. Eden mechanically tells Mohinder that he looks like hell. She then proceeds to rest her elbows on her knees and peer at Papa Suresh's laptop. It means that her face is inches from Mohinder's. It's intended to be an intimate, romantic moment between the characters. Bizarrely, there's no chemistry between them at all.

But if you can get past that, it's really a very strong scene for Mohinder. When he rants about his father's enigmatic guise ("every question met with another question"), we get a sense of the tension between them. When he tells Eden that Papa Suresh only cared about proving that he was right, and that he left his country and family pursuing "this insanity," there's a hint at Mohinder's feeling of neglect. There's also a hint that Mohinder longed for the attention which Papa Suresh devoted to his project, and that it's part of the reason why Mohinder decided to continue with the same research.

The plot requires Mohinder to demonstrate that he is Very Upset. Mohinder must decide whether to (1) put his fist through the wall, (2) reprimand Eden for bad acting while letting out a heartfelt "mwa ha ha" and asking Lizard-Mohinder whether he'd like to take her place, (3) scoff the bowl of macaroni and cheese which Eden brought for him while contemplating his next 19 voice-overs, or (4) hurl Papa Suresh's laptop across the apartment.

You might not guess (4). And you might not guess that the laptop remains in one piece. You ever seen a piece of electronic equipment like that get hurled across a room? Not saying it's a hobby, but I have, and they generally don't stay in one piece like that. It turns out that this is a plot device to reveal Papa Suresh's diary, which is somehow hidden in a secret compartment in the base of the laptop. I don't want to moan, because by and large the details on this show have been spot-on, but this seemed awfully contrived.

At FBI HQ, Matt tries to explain that he's telepathic. Anonymous FBI Lady assumes he's insane, and asks him whether the tiny voices he's hearing also want him to rob a store or kill the president.

Clea DuVall still hasn't been named on screen, but apparently she's Audrey Hanson, and that seems preferable to me calling her Anonymous FBI Lady for the rest of the season (or at least until she's killed off).

Audrey tells Matt to stop wasting her time. It could be the way Matt's been put under observation and is being treated like a murder suspect that makes the guy so sympathetic, but I think it's more related to Greg's sincerity. This week, Matt becomes the most likeable character next to Hiro. We want to see him vindicated for his effort to help people. We want to see him have fun with his ability. A large part of that, I think, comes from the way we share his confusion and his disbelief at what's happening to him. Rather than immediately accepting his power and concealing it to Audrey, this scene shows him thinking out loud.

Interestingly, even though it lands him under investigation, Matt doesn't yet seem to look at his ability as a gift or a curse. It's a sharp contrast to Hiro, who actively embraces his ability, and Claire, who now gets a scene in which she denounces her ability.

[Nerd note: Claire's geometry book has the frilly 'S' doodled onto it]

We get an extremely well-written exchange between Zach and Claire, in which he tells her to stop pretending to be normal. Claire in turn speechifies.

"So what? I can live through a wood-chipper and live to tell about it. That narrows my choices in life to freak or guinea pig, in most cases both. What's wrong with wanting to be normal?"

Traces of Jeph Loeb's previous genius on Smallville? Methinks yes, but we don't yet know enough about the writing process on this show to be sure whether Kring is incorporating his own dialogue into every episode alongside the credited writers, the way Joss Whedon did on Buffy. But this passage definitely echoes some of the strongest character scenes for Clark and for Buffy. In spite of the inconsistency when it comes to filming her stunts and wanting to take credit for her heroics, this essentially gives Claire a rationale for wanting to deny her ability.

And yeah, sure, she's likely going to continue being an annoying, obnoxious, whiny %*@# as the show goes on (albeit a gorgeous one who I'll happily write poems for). But Hayden sold her performance in this scene. She sold Claire's insecurity and fear of being discovered so beautifully that the denial makes sense. When Claire asks Zach what's wrong with wanting to be normal, it's effectively a reversal of Hiro's dialogue with Ando in the premiere. Hiro can't wait to be different. Claire is determined to stay the same.

Meanwhile ... Unrecapped-Isaac is still painting! Hurrah!

The scene didn't grate with me as much as it did with some of you, although I can see why a lot of you find Simone the most annoying and uninteresting character on the show.

Isaac asks Simone what she's doing in his apartment. She replies that the door was open, but doesn't answer his question. With folded arms and a no-nonsense tone, Simone tells Isaac that he needs to get back to work because his comic strip is late.

It could have been played as concerned. With that posture and tone of voice, Tawny Cypress just makes it sound like scolding.

Isaac realizes that Simone is removing his paintings. She admits that she's taking them "to sell at the gallery" so that she can get Isaac "straightened out."

Again, it might have been written as well-intentioned, but it comes across sounding bossy.

Simone reveals that she found all of Isaac's "junk" and disposed of it. She insists that "nobody can paint the future," even though two weeks ago (heck, two DAYS ago if you're following the show's timeline) she told Peter that she'd seen Isaac paint the future with her own eyes.

Isaac, exasperated, barks that Simone should look at his paintings, because every one of them has come true. Refusing to concede the point, Simone asks Isaac whether that includes the larger painting on the floor, the one depicting the explosion in New York.

Simone gets a look of worry, and for a moment you see how the performance was intended to be seen: as a moment when anxiety and self-denial forced Simone to push her lover away. As it stands, Simone breaking up with Isaac doesn't come as a heartbreaking decision so much as a welcome change. I'm not saying I think Isaac's in the right for taking heroin and driving Simone away, but Simone's lack of sympathy and lack of trust towards Isaac underline just how nonsensical the relationship was from the start.

And that's disappointing, because it's the one instance so far where a part of the story emerged as arbitrary and flimsy for the sake of advancing the ongoing plot. By the look of it, Simone and Isaac were only together for the sake of connecting Peter and Isaac.

Then there's the phonecall from Hiro, chattering away in Japanese.

Now, THIS is an interesting detail to the plot: if Isaac has foreseen how Hiro visits New York, witnesses an explosion and goes back in time to prevent it, has Isaac also foreseen his own death? Moreover, has Isaac already foreseen that Hiro is now traveling from Tokyo to New York, desperately trying to contact Isaac?

In turn, if Isaac knows who Hiro is, what his abilities are and what he's seen, shouldn't he at least have some inkling about who's on the phone? The implication last week was that Isaac retains no memory of painting or drawing anything while he's under the influence. Nevertheless, the fact that Isaac has no clue who's on the phone to him seems to imply that Isaac hasn't even looked at the last "9th Wonders!" he churned out.

My point is it doesn't make much sense for Isaac to act all "huh?!" when Hiro calls him. He drew Hiro. He named Hiro in his comics. He'd at least ask, "Hey, dude, could your name be Hiro?"

Not a plothole per se, but definitely something skipped over and left unclear. It ties in with the point I was trying to make earlier: that Isaac didn't just draw a comic book depicting events which have yet to happen; he drew a comic book of events which unfold in an alternate timeline that exists as a result of Hiro visiting the original timeline, taking the comic book at the newsstand and traveling back in time to create a new timeline, and now constantly using the comic book from the original timeline as a reference to create the new timeline.

That's probably the weirdest sentence I'll ever write. Ever. Hopefully, you get what I mean. Basically, this is all one giant paradox, but an exceptionally well-written one.

Hiro gets his first chance to be genuinely heroic, freezing time and running into the street to pull a girl away from the path of a van. A couple of you have pointed out that, if Hiro hadn't taken Ando to the scene of the accident, and if Ando hadn't waved in the middle of the road and caused the van to swerve out of control, the girl would have never been in danger in the first place.

Which is true, and it sort of undermines Hiro's heroism if he effectively CAUSED this whole escapade.

That said, the scene serves the dual purpose of persuading Ando that Hiro's abilities are real, and allowing for the single coolest sequence on the show so far: Hiro making his way through a street of people frozen in time. The girl with the skipping rope is stuck in mid-air. The stall which the van knocked over sends action figures crashing, but for a moment they all hang in limbo. Hands-down the most impressive visual effect on the show so far, and that's counting Claire's super-healing rib and the explosion in New York.

So bystanders watch in confusion as a van crashes through a stall and two guys skip and dance in one another's arms with delight. It's a classic geek moment, with Hiro and Ando realizing their potential as a heroic duo.

Meanwhile, in a less compelling story thread ... Niki buries the two mobsters. It's now blazing sunshine in the desert, and looks like it's getting mighty hot. Micah, in the back of the car situated about twenty feet away, hasn't woken up all night, and wasn't in the least disturbed by the sound of Niki hauling two corpses out of the car's trunk and grunting as she dug the bodies a ditch.

That, or Micah's one smart kid who just isn't letting on what he knows.

The road trip being at its merciful conclusion, Niki takes Micah to her mother-in-law. Mom-in-law Paulette is thrilled to see her grandson, swinging him around in her arms and telling him how he's grown and such. She doesn't seem too keen about seeing Niki. Niki listens with pursed lips while Paulette flips crap at her for doing such a sorry job raising the boy, not giving him "a steady hand and a stable environment."

Which sounds harsh, but, you know, provided Paulette isn't running a porn site and burying the mob in the desert, she's right.

There's the tiniest hint that Niki's story arc could improve. The implication that D.L. is able to evade police at least promises to add a more dramatic element to Niki's arc than the Mirror-Niki concept, which has so far been mildly intriguing at best, downright dull at worst.

FBI HQ. Suddenly not as impenetrable as you'd think. Sylar's MO is mentioned, one involving household objects and broken bones but no physical contact from the attacker. At this point, I think most of us are already getting the impression that Sylar is going to be the Big Bad of the season, if not the series.

It's very much to the show's credit that it's opting to reveal details about the villain gradually. We've heard him talk, but we haven't seen what he looks like. We've gathered that his abilities include telekinesis, mind-control, invulnerability and flight, but we don't know what his motivation is beyond rampant death and destruction. The whole scene opened up an array of questions, some of which are intentional, some of which probably shouldn't have been raised. Like, if Sylar is bulletproof and can get people to put a gun to their heads, why did he go to the trouble of that lengthy chase from Audrey and Matt? If he possesses all of the other superheroes' abilities, including telepathy, why couldn't he hear Molly under the stairs at the house?

Perhaps most intriguing of all, why does Sylar want Molly alive? Does she possess an ability, and if so, is her ability genetic? Will it turn out that all of the superheroes' parents possess abilities, including D.L., Claire's biological parents, and Daddy Petrelli?

Mohinder, in the meantime, uses the address in Papa Suresh's diary to go visit Sylar. He gets to said address, and knocks on the door.

Read that again. No kidding. Mohinder suspects that the guy who murdered his father might be behind the door, and he knocks?! It's sort of like the mobsters ringing the doorbell at Niki's house before they broke the door down. Really civil.

Eden asks Mohinder what he's going to do if Sylar's behind the door. It's another Great Predicament for Mohinder: do you break into the apartment of your father's killer and see what's in there, or do you call the cops, explain your suspicion, and hope they don't think you're insane?

The book opened to the page with graphic images of open scalps? The closet-door mirrors conveniently opening to reveal the hidden part of the apartment? They're such obvious devices to advance the plot that two theories come to mind: either this is really bad writing (which, in such an excellent show, I refuse to believe), or Sylar wanted Mohinder to find out about his sawn-off-scalp MO and his own hunt for the superheroes.

[Nerd note: all of the pictures of the superheroes on the map have the frilly 'S', and include one employee of South Pacific Airlines named R. McDaniel]

We get another light-hearted Hiro scene which establishes that he and Ando are flying to the U.S., and that a sleeping woman, as depicted in the comic, will make herself comfortable on Ando's shoulder. It didn't necessarily need to be in here, but it's funny, and it returns to the heroic context of Hiro's destiny. When Hiro wonders whether he should be wearing a cape and tights, I think it's difficult for us not to get a rather hilarious visual image.

Simone meets Peter as he leaves her father's apartment. Did we really need the caption at the bottom of the screen to tell us that the characters are named Simone and Peter? I mean, not to take away valuable info from the viewers who just tuned in, but it's a little superfluous for anyone who watched the rest of the episode in which the characters had ALREADY been named.

Peter explains that he was just saying goodbye to Simone's father. Evidently accustomed to getting everything she wants and never watching anyone leave unless she tells them to, Simone is floored by this news. "No!" she protests petulantly. Peter assures Simone that Caroline will take really good care of Mr Deveaux. Simone won't even let him finish that sentence before whining that Caroline's "not you."

Peter abstractly tries to tell Simone that being a hospice nurse isn't his destiny, although his ability to articulate the feeling in a way she could understand is beyond him. Simone, dissatisfied with this response, asks Peter to try. Simone eventually nods with understanding, smiles, and tells Peter that she'll miss him. It's the one nice thing she's said and done all episode.

The next scene is a tricky one to write about. I mean, this is a family-friendly site, and talking about attempted rape isn't exactly the kind of thing you'll want to read while you enjoy a slice of cake and sip a cup of coffee. Honestly, I was in two minds about even mentioning this scene between Claire and Anonymous Jock. It's so disquieting, and so plain horrible, that it's the kind of thing I'd almost prefer to gloss over.

But the people making the show thought it was worth including. More so than Niki being beaten up by mobsters, or Sylar taking a brain out of a sliced-up scalp. So I have to figure they wanted us to witness this, and I have to figure they wanted idiots like me to sit here and write about it. So here it is.

It starts out with the celebratory bonfire. Half a dozen other anonymous cheerleaders and jocks stand around while Jackie recounts her heroism at the train wreck. Claire stands at a distance, admiring her mascot bear going up in flames. Anonymous Jock approaches and praises the effigy. Don't even mention those, dude. I'm imagining stabbing one that looks just like you right now.

Anonymous Jock warns Claire not to stand too close to the bonfire, gently pulling her a couple of steps away. Drinks and a conversation about why Claire is "bummed" follow. Anonymous Jock displays the extent of his fixation with Claire, pointing out her fondness for chocolate milk, mermaids in her margins, and crackers in her sandwiches.

It turns out that Anonymous Jock put firecrackers in the bear's head. This gets a half-hearted laugh out of Claire, and in turn leads to Anonymous Jock and Claire kissing and walking away from the bonfire hand in hand.

An unknown character watches them leave. She's not dressed as a cheerleader, and looks Very Worried. You figure it's going to have some significance in future story.

They get to the football pitch's bleachers, where much kissing and groping ensues. This leads to necking and hands in inappropriate places, which Claire doesn't like at all.

Then Anonymous Jock turns into the Anonymous B*****d.

I joked earlier about not liking the guy, but this? This gives us a plausible reason to hate him. When he forces Claire down and tells Claire, "Don't be a b***h!", we wonder how he was ever part of the high-school environment which represented 'safe' and 'normal' for Claire. When Claire is crying hysterically and trying to break free, and when she ends up falling onto a tree stump and getting a root through the back of her neck, you wonder what the girl did to deserve this life.

Which, I guess, was the point of this scene. To show that (1) Claire really has no one she can trust, and (2) Claire's life really, really sucks, and that she was justified in wanting a normal, happy life, if only one where her would-be boyfriend didn't turn out to be a rapist.

Meanwhile, Matt comes home to his wife. An argument about one of them getting what they wanted while the other watches in bitterness follows. The scene between Matt and his wife was short, but elegantly written and performed. Matt's guilt at missing the therapy session shows that, while the guy may be unreliable, he's at least thoughtful. Moreover, when he's telling his wife that he had "the craziest day," there's the slightest tinge of a smile on his face. He's excited by his power. He's keen to explore it. It's not Hiro-excitement, but it definitely gives the impression that Matt's enjoying his ability. You wonder whether he'll now use it to fix his relationship with his wife.

In other news: Niki gets stopped by a cop in the middle of the desert. Mr Linderman wants to see her. It's supposed to be a dramatic moment, but it really just feels like filler between the other character threads. The reference to D.L. and the implication that Micah knows his father’s whereabouts are relevant, but I'm finding it difficult to work up any interest in this thread.

Then the scene which cements Nathan's role as an ass. Although I seem to have taken it upon myself to defend the guy.

Peter attends the Petrelli fundraiser in a suit and with gelled-up hair, drinking what looks like ice water and looking very, very slick. Simone surprises me by acting sensitive, telling Peter that she's noticed a different look of "confidence" in his eye.

Yeah, jumping 25 storeys will do that to you. Not that I'd know. But I can imagine.

With a confidence reminiscent of the premiere, when Peter blurted out that his father-son relationship with Mr Deveaux would cause awkwardness if he ever wanted to ask Simone out, Peter professes his love to Simone. Simone looks deep in thought, but not exactly surprised or happy about it.

The moment is interrupted by Nathan telling the guests at the fundraiser that if they elect him, he'll try to do something about the rain. Oh, ha ha. That guy kills me.

Nathan adds that his brother is suffering from depression, and that he needs everyone's help to get through it. Mommy Petrelli, who this week seems to have toned down the earrings and necklace, casts a look of pride at her manic-depressive son. Peter just looks appalled at the way Nathan has betrayed him, and makes a hasty exits.

Which makes Nathan an opportunistic %*@# for using a story about Peter as a platform to convey his 'sensitivity' and 'understanding', but doesn't exactly put him on a level with Sylar or Anonymous Jock, or even Daddy Bennet. He twists a situation to his own end, and he winds up making his brother look a fool because of it, but if you can believe that Nathan did this to mask any suspicion about what Peter was really doing, or if you can believe that Nathan was trying to sabotage any chance of Peter trying to develop his ability for his brother’s own safety, then Nathan's really not the villain some of you are making him out to be.

Ooh, another product placement! Hiro needs to say it three times to make sure we all get it.

Rent a Nissan Versa! BUY a Nissan Versa! NISSAN VERSA! Don't fly, silly, drive! It'll change your life! You can drive cross-country in one of these! You can even charge your Apple iPod in the car and enjoy the wonders of http://www.lasvegasniki.com while you're stopping for gas! Or you can VISIT the porn lady! She'll dig the Nissan Versa! Go! Buy a Nissan Versa today!

A road trip beckons. "Do you know how long that's going to take?" asks Ando. I can't be sure, but my guess is the better part of the season. And there'll be a bunch of further product placements along the way.

Matt visits a bar and starts hearing the voices of everyone around him. It's a cool moment, for the humor in the thoughts he hears (particularly the guy convinced that his date is "digging" him), but also for the way we see what it would be like to use this ability on a regular basis. It's hinted that Matt's ability could end up overwhelming him by turning into a deafening cacophony of voices, as per the "Earshot" episode in Buffy's third season, but the story possibilities relating to this ability are endless.

One dude in the corner of the bar apparently has no thoughts. Or if he does, he doesn't want to share them. He just wants to stare at Matt with a solemn expression. It's so unnerving that it makes Matt jump to his feet, right before collapsing.

[Nerd note: this guy has the frilly 'S' made into a pendant]

Mohinder finally calls the cops. He tells them that he was in the apartment. The cops don't have a problem with that, beyond casually asking Mohinder why.

In addition, Mohinder doesn't seem to mind that The Map might now be seen by police authorities and documented for all to see.

In addition, no one seems concerned that a bunch of cops oafishly barging into the apartment might alert Sylar to the fact that his secret has been revealed and warn him to stay away.

*Sigh*

Well, at least Sylar's smarter than Mohinder and these cops. He's already cleaned the place out. It looks like he even dusted the shelves once the books were removed.

"Holy cow! A talking dog!" Nathan gets a couple of punches in the face. Peter gets a thumbs-up. Somehow, Nathan's still the bad guy, and Peter's still the vilified hero who's justified for being violent.

We cut to a very nicely done montage of Isaac leafing through his sketchbook and finding that he's drawn the meeting we now see between Peter and Simone in the rain. Under a red umbrella, Simone tells Peter with infinite sympathy that she knows he didn't try to kill himself. They kiss. It seems a little cold given that Simone has hooked up with Peter hours after leaving Isaac, but I guess the plot requires it. Her behavior in the first half of this episode is forgiven. I like the character again. Now all the show needs to do is fix Niki's story thread.

Mohinder gets another voice-over. "This force, evolution, is not sentimental. Like the Earth itself, it knows only the hard facts of life's struggle with death. All you can do is hope ... trust ... that when you've served its needs faithfully, there may still remain some glimmer of the life you once knew."

Uh, translator, please? I sort of got this bit. I think. He seems to be saying that stuff happens. Or that life's a tornado. Or that there's no justice in the world.

Or something.

I give up.

Still, if you don't want to read into the profound rambling, there's Claire waking up on an autopsy bed and finding that she's been cut open.

Darn, if you thought the mangled hand was bad, skip this. Where's Mr Muggles when you need him? "Holy sh-" just about covers it.

I think the fairest thing I can say about this episode is that while the good stuff gets better, the mediocre stuff gets more and more obvious. This show seriously needs to pick up the pace with three of its story threads: Niki's, Isaac's, and Mohinder's. You look at Hiro's thread, or Matt's, or Claire's, or even the whole tedious Petrelli saga, and you can see how amazing the show is becoming. But when it's slowed down by a couple of characters whose story arcs really aren't pulling us in or making us care about the characters, you know something's wrong.

This show has been brilliant in parts, but I wish that brilliance wouldn't be restricted to four or five character threads when there are eleven, and soon to be twelve. I want the whole thing to be flawless. Is that too demanding? I don't care. When you see evidence that this show could become flawless, as this and the previous two episodes have often shown, you wish that the portions of the show that are letting it down could pick up momentum and keep up with the rest.

But honestly, three episodes in, that's really just a mixture of wishful thinking and nit-picking.

3.5 out of 5