Review:

I think, looking back, it's unlikely that anyone will remember this episode by the title "Fight or Flight." It's more likely to be remembered as "The One When Kristen Bell Showed Up."

Which isn't entirely a bad thing. I mean, it hasn't bolstered ratings or broadened the fanbase or single-handedly rescued Peter's story thread from the gutter, but the character ended up equal parts intriguing and annoying. Which is less than I hoped for, but still more than I expected based on the hype built around Elle's introduction on the show. At least the episode didn't descend into The Kristen Bell Show the way the enormous press attention and marketing focus suggested it would, and although a couple of parts of the episode didn't work, both in Peter's thread and in others, for the most part it turned out fine.

We start out with Mohinder and Matt and comatose Molly. V.O. Mohinder returns to tell us we can either fight or take flight in the face of our worst nightmares, but that the nightmares sometimes come after us. It's bizarre how the voice-overs are being used so sporadically this season, and it's not like I missed them, but this one was as relevant and lucid as the one in the premiere. I wonder why they aren't being used more often.

Aaaaand the Matt dumbness begins.

Matt: "You really think my father did this to her?"

No, Matt, she's probably just taking a nap. WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Then he enters a state-the-obvious contest:

"She was so afraid ..."

I wonder what gave Matt this impression; the way she begged Matt not to make her look for his father, or the screams of terror when Matt's father discovered she was looking for him.

"I never should have asked her to look for him."

No, really?

Having put Molly into a coma to get Papa Parkman's address, Matt decides the best option is to remain at Chandra's Crib and pace across the bedroom. It was probably supposed to convey how concerned Matt was, but even before we get a sense of Matt's impending daddy issues, he comes across as indecisive and idiotic instead of guilty or concerned.

Mohinder: "You need to find out what your father did to Molly and put an end to it."

Matt: "Yes, but I'm scared! I haven't seen my dad since I was a kid! It could be distressing for me!"

Mohinder: "You HAVE to! For Molly's sake!"

Matt: "But ... I don't know what I'm dealing with. I ... Hey, what about asking the other people in this photo if they have any useful information?"

Mohinder: "Didn't I offer to contact the guy in the photo who looks like Ned Ryerson? DIDN'T I?"

Matt: "Yes, and I'm now thinking it might be a good idea, but ... The austere Petrelli lady looks nicer. She scares me by shouting in my head, but she's at the police station, and I feel safe there, so I think I'll see if she can shed any light on the situation before I go to Philadelphia."

Mohinder: "Matt, won't that give your father a chance to make a run for it and render Molly's effort to pin his location to an exact apartment useless? Wasn't the whole point of narrowing down the search for your father to ensure that we catch him immediately?"

Matt: "Bah! Let's just hope for the best."

Burger Bonanza. I can't call it that. Monica makes tomato roses and uses kung fu there. Let's call it Tomato Fu.

Was there a parallel here to Claire saving the guy in the train wreck and then refusing to take the credit for it? Claire kept quiet because she didn't want to draw attention to her ability, whereas Monica keeps quiet out of fear for her family's safety. Not a big deal, but it sort of depicts the tragedy of a hero forced into silence for the sake of protecting her family, to the point where she can't bring a criminal to justice. Subtly written.

McMemory Box Harbor. I love how the "Closed" sign on the door has the Gaelic translation as well. The show still can't get the accents right, but the props department bring their A-game to several scenes this week.

Caitlin closes the pub in the afternoon because she needs "a break."

Possible definitions of "break":

(1) Excessive consumption of alcohol.

(2) Excessive consumption of stew.

(3) Excessive make-out with Peter.

Peter's incentive to settle down in Ireland is mid-afternoon nookie? It would be great until the pub went bankrupt and forced Peter to rob another armored vehicle.

Peter: "I could get used to this."

Caitlin: "Right ... A guy who can throw a thousand volts out of either hand settling for everyday life in a pub in Cork? I'm not sure it suits you."

Self-parody? If two writers on the show realize how lame it is -- and newbie writers, too -- it's at least a hopeful indication that we're not expected to find this tale of "everyday life" especially compelling.

But that begs the question, "Why are we being forced to sit through it?"

Caitlin: "I know the kind of man you are. There's only good in you."

There's at least one person she knows who begs to differ. But it's not a coincidence that this line came so soon after Caitlin had to scream at Peter to stop him from choking the life out of one of Ricky's extended family. The reason Caitlin got dialogue like this was because ...

"... because you hadn't kissed me yet."

It's bad enough that a central character on the show has been inflicted with a plot device as contrived as amnesia. It's also bad when said central character decides he doesn't want to know who he is because he thinks a life of crime and debauchery is preferable to anything from his actual life. But when it turns out that said central character deferred the discovery of his identity because his new girlfriend wanted him to make out with her?

There's a line between quality drama and soap opera, and it does seem like the show is intentionally channeling the worst elements of the Peter-Simone romance last season.

Ooh! Speaking of forgotten flames ...

Caitlin: "Pretty boy like you, there's bound to be someone looking for you. Friends, girlfriend..."

Keep going! "Wife? Kids? Mom in jail? Drunken, disillusioned brother? Aimless and isolated niece? Temporarily-powerless-but-still-psychotic arch nemesis on the loose?"

Peter: "Let 'em look."

I'm beyond words. Somehow, this made me recall the opening shot of the pilot episode, the one which captured so beautifully the noble and idealistic dreamer that Peter once was. And maybe Peter was always acting like a selfish d#*k, even when he was babbling about his destiny while Simone begged him to bring morphine to help Isaac. But at least back then he wasn't thinking with his d#*k.

Elle tracks down Peter's cargo container. How? We don't know.

She shows a photo of Peter to every person she meets. Where did the photo come from? We don't know.

Elle learns from Will that Peter's suffering from amnesia. Did she know about this? We don't know.

What do we know?

First, that Elle works for "a company." Which may or may not be THE Company.

Second, that Elle can shoot electricity from her hands. Which is where Peter's lightning bolts came from.

Third, that Otto really doesn't know how he's going to get through 13 episodes of this character. No joke.

I wanted to like her. I really, really did. Even though I felt bad for the other new regulars and guest stars on the show for the way Kristen got about fifty billion times more attention, and even though the actress seems more interested in being on a show BECAUSE HER FRIENDS ARE THERE! LOL! than because it's an exciting project and an outstanding show, and even though I liked Candice and generally don't have a problem with brazen, overconfident, abundantly sassy characters like this --

I've lost track of where that sentence was going, but the point I'm trying to make is that in spite of the enormous hype attached to the star -- for no reason that I can discern besides the fact that she starred on another decent show and is pals with several members of this show -- I still went into this episode with an open mind.

Kristen wouldn't have developed such a devout following from Veronica Mars if she wasn't talented. This isn't an attack on the actress. And if you liked the character she played in this episode, I won't hold it against you. But I can't stand her. And not because I'm supposed to love to hate her. From the moment she shows up, she comes across as a whiny, obnoxious, petulant, juvenile, irritating, persistent, childish, bratty, spoiled, stubborn, self-possessed, manipulative, deceitful, narcissistic, phoney, self-assured, fundamentally unlikable entity, the likes of which this show has not encountered since W-

Wait a second, Elle is West! She's the murderous blonde version of West!

Will wants to know who's looking for Peter. "Just me," Elle says, shrugging her shoulders (obstinately) and batting her eyelids (deviously) in that "I-know-I'm-pretty-and-I-can-get-whatever-I-want" way.

Elle gets an address from Will and promptly walks off without saying "Thank you" or "Goodbye." What a wonderful character. She then sends electrical sparks along the cargo container as she walks away, for no apparent reason except to clue the audience in to the fact that she has an ability. Which, on a show in which the abilities generally express something about the characters, their condition or their temperament, is saddening. I'm sure it'll be established that lightning streaks convey an aspect of her character, so in spite of a visceral reaction to the character, I'm going to reserve judgment. But on the strength of what we saw this week, the character herself is adverse, and her ability seems like it's designed to wow the audience with the visual effect and the lack of the owner's ethics when using the ability. It's impressive, but it also seems surprisingly superficial compared to other supers on this show.

Nathan's second bid for the How to Make the Male Cast Hotter in Season Two checklist: disheveled hair and designer stubble.

Nathan asks to go with Matt to Papa Parkman's apartment because he has to do this. To prove Angela's innocence? To alleviate his guilt over trying to be a hero and losing his brother? Or to help a little girl he's never met and whose ability and importance he doesn't even appear to be aware of? Your call. The image of Nathan carrying Matt across the sky from New York to Philadelphia was funny, though. Even better than Peter carrying Claire and RadioTed to Nebraska.

McMemory Box Harbor. Ricky walks in on Peter and Caitlin again making out while the pub is closed. Ricky seems to have no problem with this, but there's "an American girl" at the dock asking after Peter.

Possible responses from Peter:

(a) "Is she cute?"

(b) "Does she know where the iPods are?"

(c) "Can she tell me who I am?"

(d) "This is my problem."

Peter opts for (d).

Ricky: "I've got an investment in you now."

Because Peter likes to mack on his sister? Because he's good at creating diversions during a heist? Or because he can throw people against a wall and choke them with the power of his mind? This dialogue is open to many interpretations.

Ricky: "Some little blonde isn't going to scare me."

PING!

This week's first Dumb As Parkman Award goes to Ricky.

Would it not occur to anyone with a single brain cell that the individual following a guy with Peter's abilities might also possess similar or identical destructive abilities?

Tomato Fu. Is Camille a plant for The Company? Is that how Midas Bob was clued in to Monica's ability so quickly? I would have defended Camille by pointing out that she and Monica have been friends since kindergarten, but given the way Monica doesn't even think to call her friend to tell her that their workplace was broken into while Monica was on her shift, or that she had a gun pointed at her and managed to scare the robber off without getting shot, I'm wondering just how close these childhood friends really are.

Dana Davis sells the role as convincingly as she did last week. The character's fear and confusion come across believably without straying into self-pity and cluelessness. Two weeks in, I'm still sure of this thread's potential to become one of the most enduring of the season, if only because Monica is so charismatic and well portrayed that she can make every scene and line of dialogue sparkle.

Lair of the Nightmare Man. This was a brilliantly made set. I don't know if it even was a set, or if the show just found the drabbest and blandest apartment they could and decorated it with the most depressing wallpaper and furniture they could come up with, but it says so much about Papa Parkman, and it's so wonderfully in keeping with the slimy, sordid character we meet that you have to applaud the effort. Well played, show.

Matt and Nathan get to the door. Matt wonders whether he should have brought flowers or a card from Mama Parkman, then gets a reminder from Nathan that THIS IS THE MONSTER WHO'S BEEN SCARING THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF MOLLY FOR MONTHS AND WHO JUST PUT HER INTO A COMA.

Matt: "When I was 13, my father ran out on us ..."

I'm sorry, this is very moving and all, but could Matt just GET OVER IT for long enough to help Molly and determine whether or not this guy's a serial killer? I get that the idea was to emphasize how upsetting this was for Matt, but it made Matt look more preoccupied with his own issues than the suspect he's tracking or the comatose victim he's trying to help.

Matt and Nathan find Alan Blumenfeld with a shotgun, and a photo of Papa Parkman with the S-helix scrawled across it. And Papa Parkman thought a shotgun would protect him from Superhoodie? I think it's been pretty clearly established that, regardless of who he or she turns out to be, Superhoodie can't be stopped by conventional methods, and that a fellow ElderSuper would realize this. Maybe it was part of the sham which Papa Parkman was creating to fool Matt and Nathan.

"We thought we could help people, save the world."

OK, well, we've been hearing it since late last season, and it would be great to learn more in a volume which was supposed to focus on this, but at this point I'll take whatever I can get.

Did Matt inherit the same ability as Papa Parkman? It would be the first occasion when a super inherited an identical ability to a parent, but based on the way Matt later projects his thoughts into Nathan's head, and based on the way Papa Parkman talks about the ability starting off as mindreading and developing into more, it seems like this is the one part of Papa Parkman's act which isn't fabricated.

Dawson Superhome. Noah Gray-Cabey demonstrates virtuoso piano skills. Where did Micah learn to play? For a family which couldn't afford to pay rent or utility bills, you have to wonder if Micah was financing his lessons by rampantly robbing ATMs all over Las Vegas.

Monica copying Micah's ability to play was subtly done. Was I the only one who didn't see it coming? The tomato rose was so obvious that you knew it was coming. The 619 moment was obvious because of the reflection in Monica's eyes when she saw it on the screen. But this came out of nowhere; even when I saw it in the preview, it was a surprise. Nice pacing to the scene, as well; I like how Monica starts to play faster as she gets more agitated.

Noah advises Mohinder to take Molly to a hospital. Mohinder decides to take Molly to The Company. Which one is more deserving of a Dumb As Parkman Award? Tough call, but Noah's fear of handing Claire back to The Company means his plea to keep Molly away from them rings true, and I'm going to go out on a limb and say that even Mohinder's actions are justifiable, because even if he's terrified and rash and acting without thinking, he's out of options and watching a surrogate daughter die.

Lair of the Nightmare Man. Papa Parkman has ketchup and mustard and plastic cups on the table. I don't know why I find this trivia so cool, but I do.

Papa Parkman wants to know everything about Matt.

Everything?

EVERYTHING!

Well, this one time, Matt woke up in a lab, strapped to a table. What kind of sick individuals would start an organization that does that?

This other time, Matt used his ability to discover that his wife likes coffee ice cream after sex. How useful the mindreading was in those days ...

Then there was the time Matt got into a comatose woman's head and discovered that her nuclear husband was a sucker for the American Beauty soundtrack.

And who could forget the time he got coercion-whammied into eating a whole box of donuts?

Or the time he got suspended from the police force?

Or the time he got thrown out of a 10-story window and stole a bag of diamonds?

And then the time he used one of those diamonds to give his wife a shiny new ring and hoped she wouldn't ask where he got it from?

Or the time he took a family hostage and shot a young girl? (But she regurgitated the bullet!)

Or the ti-

ENOUGH!

Was I the only one who went to a scary visual place when Papa Parkman mentioned the ElderSupers doing "whatever they wanted" with their abilities? I couldn't help thinking of Angela. In Europe. In the seventies. Imagine what they could have gotten away with. There's no way Angela was this austere and uptight back then, or that she was interested in saving the world. Ten bucks says this is what she was doing at the time.

Nathan's very eager to hear about the ElderSupers, and Matt's very eager to hear about the extent of his ability, and Papa Parkman seems to have done a rather incredible job of wrapping these idiots around his finger and distracting them from the whole point of their visit.

Papa Parkman then uses a tactic so old that I'll bet even he didn't think it would work: "Eh, I got something in the back to show you..."

MATT FALLS FOR THIS?!

NATHAN FALLS FOR THIS?!

WHAT KIND OF GULLIBLE SAPS HAVE THESE GUYS TURNED INTO THIS WEEK?!?

DOUBLE PING!

That's Dumb As Parkman Awards for Matt AND Nathan for letting the weasel lure Matt out of Nathan's sight and fooling them into thinking he's harmless.

Ando visits the Kensei Fan Club at the Museum of Cultural History and finds Tatsuya Atsumi! The guy from the Yamagato Fellowship! OK, so I'm one of about five people who appreciated that. It's still awesome.

Parts of the scrolls which Hiro sent Ando have faded. It's believable, of course, but as near as I can tell, it's really just another way to keep Ando reading the scrolls and providing the audience with The Epic Hiro Recap. Did we need to get to Hiro's story via Ando's? It seems like an unnecessarily elaborate way to shoehorn Ando into the plot, but it's apparently also the only way to give Ando a relevant role in the plot, which I refuse to believe because there must have been a better reason to make the guy a cast regular than reading parchments. I hope there's a bigger plan for Ando at the end of this volume, or at least a major one in the next volume.

Kensei gets the location of the Hidden Fortress, Kensei and Yaeko are holding hands and making eyes at one another (probably while White Beard's torturing the heck out of her father and burning villages to the ground, but whatever), and Hiro is jealous. I'm supposed to say "Aww," but I just can't seem to. The two Hiro scenes this week were so brief and so random that it was impossible to feel anything about the characters and the story beyond disinterest.

At the Dawson Superhome, Micah persuades Monica to admit to her ability. It's all kinds of cool because Micah doesn't exactly rip the secret out of her or force her into confessing she's special; maybe it's just that Micah's really good at being empathetic -- ironically, better than Peter is at the moment -- and it's easy for Monica to be open with him.

Micah figures out Monica's ability after one instance at the piano? This from the kid who didn't even realize his mom had switched personalities? Well, OK. Amazing powers of deduction with very little information, but OK. The implication is that Micah expected to discover that his relatives had abilities, so it just about flies.

[Nerd trivia: The copy of 9th Wonders which Micah just happens to have is Issue #10, which was several issues before "Hiro In New York," Issue #14.]

Double Dutch? It's not as cool as the skateboard or the slam dunk would have been, but it's kind of a sweet moment. Monica gets such a kick out of it, and Micah's so thrilled to see her getting a kick out of it, and on a show where abilities lead to nightmares and electrocution and self-implosion, it's a nice contrast for someone to be doing something fun and useless with their ability. I hope Monica's story thread leads to more, but we haven't seen a character enjoy their ability like this since Hiro at the start of Season One, and it was quite an elegant echo of that.

New Company Medical. Molly gets a new bed and a new IV, but it doesn't seem like The Company has any more of an idea about how to help her than Mohinder did. Also? I can't help thinking there's some crucial dialogue missing from this scene. I mean, wouldn't Bob tell Mohinder whether there was anything he could do to break Papa Parkman's hold over Molly? Isn't the fact that a fellow ElderSuper is causing this affliction a pivotal detail?

Bob assures Mohinder that The Company will do everything it can for Molly. And amazingly, I can believe it, because even though they'll undoubtedly exploit Molly's ability once she recovers, it goes without saying that an operational Super-GPS is more useful to them than a dead one. So, if nothing else, Mohinder might have saved Molly's life by bringing her to The Company.

On the flipside, here's where Mohinder demonstrates why he won last season's Dumb As Award. Bringing the kid in because she needs treatment for a life-threatening affliction is one thing, but dropping off the kid with the guys who vivisect supers AND LEAVING HER THERE?!

Oh, Mohinder.

PING!

Chalk one up for Mohinder for leaving Molly to the fate of a twisted, sadistic, morally gray organization without either of her daddies to protect her.

Mohinder's going back into the field! And this time he gets his own tazer! I guess Great Aunt Uhura's pretty tough, and Micah could probably kick Mohinder's ass, but Monica? Did they expect her to Bruce Lee him out of the front door before he even finished introducing himself, like, "I know you must have lots of questions about what's happening to you, and I have some an-" CRASH! "Get outta my house, pervert!" At which point Mohinder bleeds out, and all hope of a cure to the supervirus is lost.

Or not. Maybe it really is just "standard procedure." It's also very consistent with the "standard procedure" when Noah and the Haitian were trying to bag the invisible dudes.

Jessica tears down a door, sends Mohinder flying across the corridor, and starts strangling Bob. My notes here: "Looks like Sarah Connor. Acts like the Terminator. FOX is screwed." And kudos to Ali Larter, because she was seriously scary here, and, as always, seemed to enjoy playing the murderous personality infinitely more than the caring and good-natured one.

Interestingly, Mohinder immediately recognizes Niki. I'm not sure if that's just from the time they met in a corridor, or if it's because they've crossed paths in the four months between then and now. Jessica doesn't seem to recall much about Mohinder, though.

And here's a thought: if Jessica killed Bob right now, would that scupper Superhoodie's plans, or would it be a case of someone doing his work for him the way D.L. did with Linderman?

Jessica gets strapped to a hospital bed. And this holds her down when chains didn't? Oh.

Mohinder waits until Bob's out of the room, then

PING!

secures himself a second Dumb As Parkman Award by immediately trying to free Niki from the restraints to help her escape. I guess Mohinder can't be faulted for trying to help Niki get out without asking her if she actually wanted to get out, but it would have blown his cover as a guy who's ostensibly working for The Company instead of against it, it would have meant he'd never see Molly again, and it probably would have ended all research into the supervirus.

Niki: "These are the only people that can help me."

As with Molly, it's sad but true, and a moment when I can't help feeling sorry for Niki, because she handed her son over to unknown relatives for this.

Caitlin takes Peter to her "flat," AKA the McMemory Apartment of Clairvoyance, AKA the McMemory Box Potential Love Shack Impeded By Boxes And Clairvoyance.

Peter admires Caitlin's artistic ability. Compared with his stick figures and attempt to finish Isaac's painting, they're certainly impressive. But then, Peter also produced a rather brilliant sketch of RadioTed and New York in flames, so it's not like he's devoid of talent himself. It's also not entirely clear whether he picked that talent up from Isaac. Since Sylar didn't after scalping Isaac, I'm guessing Peter just miraculously developed an artistic ability at the end of last season which turns out to be extremely useful in this episode.

Peter idly wonders what it would be like to sleep on a real bed again. Caitlin parks herself on said bed and points out that "no one's stopping [him]," which is about as incredible an invitation as a guy could hope for. Startlingly, Peter chooses this moment to get contemplative and open his Box.

Which again makes me wonder whether Joy and Melissa Blake realize how exasperating this story thread has been for most of us, and whether they're again parodying their show by this time having Peter spurn Caitlin's invitation and open The Box. I kind of love these writers. I hope they'll stick around long enough to save Hiro's thread as well.

Caitlin: "OK, get on with it, then."

More emphatically! And LOUDER!

Peter finally opens The Box. His passport tells him his name, age, and gender (which, hilariously, turns out to be "F"; well done, Heroes props department), but the photo of Peter and Nathan fails to evoke any recollection of the Brotherly Bonding, or even a hint of jealousy from Caitlin. And even though Peter has his full name and city of origin and a solid starting point to find his family and return to his old life, he's rather dismayed. As are fans of the Petrelli brothers, because Peter really needed to dwell on that photo for a little longer.

Peter sees a watery image flash across a blank canvas. Subtle nod to Sylar seeing the image of Superhero Showdown on the canvas before he painted it. Is the implication here that Isaac's clairvoyance only manifests when the individual is close to a canvas? None of the clairvoyant supers on the show have tried to picture a watery image on a sheet of paper or a wall in an alley, but you have to wonder if that's how it works.

McMemory Box Harbor. Elle walks into the pub on the one occasion when Peter and Caitlin aren't making out next to the counter.

Most useful information all week: haggis isn't Irish.

Other useful information: neither are kilts.

Ireland has stew. And mussels. And stew.

And football. And Milo.

But no Apple stores.

Couldn't we just spend the rest of this scene exploring cultural and culinary differences? Did Electro-Entity have to zap Ricky?

Long story short: Elle asks if Ricky's seen Peter. Ricky fails to grasp the rather basic Looney Tunes principle that if you want to keep anything hidden, you point in a random direction and say, "THAT WAY!" There's a rather intense moment when Ricky and Elle try to out-stare one another, followed by Elle chirping, "Cool, thanks," way too merrily for someone who knows she's about to singe a guy. It's really quite disturbing how Elle goes from a devious observer to a teenage brat to a psycho-killer.

Also? Elle uses her ability to weld the lock to the pub shut. That's great, Sherlock -- how did she get out of the pub after she killed Ricky?

Perhaps more relevantly, what does toasting Ricky say about her character? I guess that Elle doesn't enjoy being deceived, and that she doesn't feel too guilty about frying people with her power. Which is sort of one-dimensionally evil, but it's embellished by the ostensibly sweet, good-natured, love-me-because-I'm-adorable exterior, then complicated by the idea that Elle's supposed to be carrying out an assignment, and that she's abusing her ability on a whim.

I don't know, there might be some complexity in that. Right now, I'm stuck on how annoying I find her. But there's potential for the character to evolve, so like I say, I'm reserving judgment about the possibility that she'll become a well-rounded character. For now, she's the insufferable Electro-Entity.

Lair of the Nightmare Man. In spite of the way it was set up by Matt and Nathan's gullibility, this nightmare sequence was some of the best writing and directing on the show since it began, which, as far as I'm concerned, excuses a lot of this week's shortfalls.

Nathan on the Rooftop of Pigeonly Delight, looking out at New York in flames? I'm thinking this is why we didn't see Kensei fight the Angry Ronin, and why we didn't get to meet the Black Bear or the Serpent Women. It's a shame, but this scene is so legendarily, morbidly realistic that you can forgive it.

Nathan meets his scarred and mutilated reflection. Does that mean Papa Parkman's been putting the image into Nathan's head all along, or that it's just a part of Nathan's Ultimate Nightmare which Papa Parkman now taps into?

They brought Janice back! It's a "Yay!" for continuity and an "Ohhh, no, NOT AGAIN!" for the reprimands and rebukes. Look! She doesn't waste any time! Even Nightmare-Janice chooses harsh words instead of, you know, stabbing Matt in the neck or ripping his lungs out or something.

Is the baby reveal for real? I mean, is Matt in fact the father, and does he subconsciously know he is? Or did he read Janice's mind, and is he just unsure about whether he read the right thoughts? Or did he read the right thoughts and walk out on his own child, and is he just lying when he says it's McHenry's?

Matt projects his thoughts into Nathan's head and tells him to wake up. Cool detail. As cool as the effects in this sequence, as cool as the way the two character's fights intercut, and as cool as the idea that an ElderSuper wouldn't waste time killing his victims himself, but instead use his ability to put his enemies -- and his own son -- in a situation where their own fears drive them to kill each other.

Easily the strongest scene of the episode, but it's also kind of cool how, at the same time as being so intense, this scene dug into Matt's abandonment issues and Nathan's fear of confronting himself. For a moment, the show went back to what it does best: an incredibly dramatic and unpredictable story which just happens to be populated with characters we care a lot about.

Aaaaand we're losing momentum again ...

We can't even get to the Land of Sark without going through the Kensei Fan Club. The remaining manuscripts on the scrolls are damaged, meaning the Epic Hiro Recap comes to an abrupt end at a pivotal point in the story. For that, read, "We needed to stretch this story out and find a way to make it suspenseful, and this was the best idea we could come up with."

But we know Yaeko's going to help fight White Beard's army. Her father taught her the way of the sword. To which I think we're supposed to quietly say, "But she's not a warrior, and she's *whisper* a woman." Thing is -- and this is where the female empowerment angle is unintentionally vindicated -- Yaeko's demonstrated more swordsmanship and gallantry at this point than Hiro or Kensei. I mean, we at least know for sure that she fought the 12 Stupid Samurai Who Were Afraid To Lose Their Clothes. We don't know for sure whether Kensei killed the 90 Angry Ronin to get the Fire Scroll, or whether he hid from them, snuck past them, bribed them, or described the story thread he's stuck in on this show until they were all laughing so hard that they couldn't lift a sword to stop him.

Point being, we've seen evidence of Yaeko's bravery, and I'd put faith in Japan's liberation from tyranny in Yaeko's hands before Hiro's or Kensei's.

Kensei, Hiro and Yaeko find the Hidden Fortress. It reportedly takes Kensei 11 days to kill 200,000 soldiers. For once, Hiro's decision to stay in the past makes sense: he could freeze time, hack them to pieces, then unfreeze time and watch Kensei make his way to the center of the camp to face off with White Beard. He won't, but the fact that he could at least lends some moderate credibility to Hiro's role in the plot.

Dawson Superhome. Monica finds the martial arts movies. Funny. And impressive. And very Buffy.

Micah: "I know it's scary at first, but this is a good thing, I promise."

The Ominous Foreshadowing Bell tolls, because a promise like this is only mentioned if it's going to be broken. I think Micah just jinxed Monica's character arc out of a happy, uplifting contrast to the rest of the show, and turned it into a bleak chronicle of pain and suffering. I hope not, because Monica's upbeat charisma is what makes her stand out on this show. But the dialogue here was telling.

Monica: "I'm just looking for some answers, that's all."

And the Heavens heard her, granted her wish, and sent her Mohinder!

McMemory Box Harbor. Elle gets a call from "Daddy" and gets pulled from the Retrieve Peter Assignment because she killed Ricky. And I know I'm supposed to wonder who "Daddy" is, and that I'm supposed to find the whole "I killed him, OK, what is the big deal?" dialogue funny. But all I could focus on in this scene was the way Elle's voice kept switching from steady and calm to high-pitched and whiny, and how unstable she seemed because of it.

And then the pout. Boy, that's an obnoxious pout. A pout that says, "I can get whatever I want to because I'm me, and this is the first time I've ever been refused anything, and I really, really wanted this."

She's not meant to be this annoying ... is she?

McMemory Apartment of Clairvoyance. Peter paints an image of two people in Montreal standing in front of a doorway with the S-helix above it. And helpful street signs. But not a caption that says, "Peter -- you must leave Ireland immediately and come here, but not before you find your brother and placate legions of adoring Petrelli fans."

Caitlin gets a call about Ricky's murder, and it's genuinely sad, because even though Ricky was a crook and a gangster and a thug and a robber, and even though he had a terrible Irish accent, he wasn't inherently bad, and Katie Carr conveys the inconsolable grief with enough sincerity that we sort of want to grieve with her.

And sort of hate Elle for killing him off so arbitrarily? Yes/No?

It seems like Elle's arrival in Ireland is at least going to prompt Peter to leave for Montreal. Which is a hopeful sign that his storyline is going to stop being lapped by stationary objects and finally gather some momentum.

After this episode, I'm not sure what Ando's doing on the show, but he's at least bearing promising news when he discovers that Kensei's journey is nearing completion, and that Hiro will have absolutely zero reason to stay in the past.

That aside, this episode had a bunch of other things working in its favor, almost all of them relating to the Matt/Nathan/Papa Parkman thread: the revelation that Matt's ability effectively extends to mind control, the entire nightmare sequence for Matt and Nathan, the idea of Papa Parkman killing off anyone who gets in his way with their own nightmares, and the prospect of Matt and Nathan's combined story arc continuing as the volume progresses.

Is that enough to make this a stand-out episode? To me, no. But the mixture of subtle writing and intense drama was such that this episode pointed the way to an excellent second half for the volume.

3.5 out of 5