Alan K. Henderson's Weblog

(Episode: Let It Bleed. Spoilers ahead.)

At the wake for Nathan, Claire is upset with Angela and even more so with her stepdad for the Nathan/Sylar scheme. At Claire's request, Noah is not at the wake. Angela tips her off that Peter is running away from his own grief, and he needs family he can trust to lean on.

Claire goes up to the roof where Peter is listening to his police radio, but only the radio is there. The radio says a disgruntled office working going on a shooting rampage. Claire instinctively he's gone off to play hero, and follows him to the scene. She finds him, is enlisted to put pressure on an office worker's wound.

Peter follows the sound of gunshots, returns to that seen, and the three are met by the shooter. Peter tries to talk the guy into surrendering, but winds up getting shot. Outside, he takes Claire's ability and regenerates.

Later they talk, and he brings up her old friend West, who can fly. Evidently Claire arranges an off-camera meeting so that Peter can grab West's flight ability, as he goes off flying in the final minutes of the show.

Edgar goes to Bennett's apartment to kill him. Bennett stands in the empty apartment, back to the opened window. Edgar goes in, Gurkha knives blazing, and Bennett (feeling the gust of wind caused by Edgar's entry?) spins around and shoots him with his stun gun.

Bennett borrows a restaurant from an old friend, no questions asked, for his interrogation session. Edgar's in the freezer; the cold tightens the muscles and thus disables his power. Lauren is present. Bennett tries the bad-cop approach at first, and gets nowhere.

Lauren points out that something's out of place - Edgar has no compass, the means to find the carnival. She counsels a more diplomatic approach, which Bennett heeds, and which produces results - at first. Edgar wants to stop Samuel. He tells of how Samuel covered up his own complicity in Joseph's death by framing Edgar.

They initially agree to isolate Samuel in a back area so Bennett can nab him, but Edgar backs out when Bennett talks about breaking up the carnival and reintegrating the members into regular society. Edgar secretly produces a long picklock from one sleeve, frees himself from the cuffs, and leaves. Lauren notes that cult psychology of the carnival.

At the carnival, Samuel telekinetically draws long-lost love Vanessa with his earth-based ink, as Sylar interrupts him. After exchanging words, Sylar is about to cut Samuel's skull but either can't or won't. Samuel stirs a sort of dirt cyclone that cuts into Sylar's skin and rendere him unconscious.

Sylar is placed in Lydia's trailer. She meets with him, and seductively uses her empathy to learn about Sylar. He in turn employs his rarely-used empathic mimicry to absorb her power without killing. He understands that she wants to manipulate Sylar to kill Samuel. The two part disgusted with each other.

He goes to Samuel and requests something to complete his new power - a tattoo. Initially I thought that her ability to manipulate the tattoos worked in conjunction with Samuel's power, that her "empathy" ability was similar to Sylar's empathic mimicry. But that's inconsistent with her inability to off Samuel herself. The ink is made of soil simply so Samuel can "inject" her skin with it; the ink could probably be made of anything to work.

Anyway, Samuel whips up some ink, transfers it to Sylar's skin, and eventually a tattoo shows up on his forearm. The image convinces him he doesn't belong at the carnival. He flies off, and at the end of the show he hovers outside the window of the person whose image still forms the tattoo: Claire.

What does Sylar want with Claire? Why does her image convince him he doesn't belong at the carnival? What will Edgar do next? Will the cops get suspicious about Peter's disappearance from the crime scene? Will Bennett assault the carnival when it's tour takes it to Waco, Texas? Stay tuned.

Update: Hyperlink is fixed. Originally, this and the previous episode were in the same Wikipedia article; they aired on the same date.

Labels: Heroes, Television