1.14 Distractions

Claude now seems dedicated to teaching Peter how to control his powers, but his methods are somewhat dubious: he steals a handbag, hands it to Peter, and then takes off, leaving Peter to become visible and to be forced to turn invisible without him. Peter somehow escapes. Claude and Peter head to check out Simone, which is part of Claude’s quest to separate Peter from the family and friends and make him concentrate on himself and his powers.

Niki tries to resist bring Jessica out, even though the psychiatrist insists that it must happen. Although Niki is restrained, when Jessica does emerge, she immediately breaks the handcuffs and stops the psychiatrist from using the tazer.

Sylar knocks Bennet aside, locks him in the cage, and heads off, presumably to get Claire.

Simone visits Isaac and checks out his new painting of a city destroyed. Simone is looking for Peter because she is concerned about him. Isaac is also looking for him. But Isaac’s search is fueled by the belief that Peter is going to end the world. There’s a good reason why Isaac has been trying to paint Peter and failing: Peter invisibility! Isaac actually is painting scenes where Peter is located, but of course cannot paint Peter.

Claire convinces her mom that she and Zac are heading to an aquarium to check out a manatee for a school project. In reality, Claire is going to visit her real mom.

Hiro’s father tells him that he must return to his job in Japan. The company where he works is owned by his father, and Hiro will get the fast track to the CEO position if he returns. But Hiro believes his destiny is to save the world. When he tries to explain that, his father rips the painting into pieces. Now it is Hiro’s sister’s turn to try to convince Hiro that he must return home. Kimiko tells him that the company is struggling, and the father’s inability to control his own son is seen as a weakness.

Niki returns to find the psychiatrist lieing face down with multiple tazer burns. Niki is taken away by the guards.

At the trailer park, Zac leaves and Claire hugs Meredith, her real mom, for the first time in a long time. Ready to share her secret, Claire slices her own arm with a big knife and shows how quickly she heals. Not to be outdone, Claire’s mom flicks her hand and produces fire in her palm. They say goodbye, but promise to meet again – especially since Claire’s question about her father goes unanwered.

Sylar is inside Claire’s house, which is empty except for Mr Moggles the dog. When Claire’s mom gets home Sylar, who is wearing a Primatech Paper uniform, makes up a story about finding the dog in the street and letting himself in the open back door. Claire’s mom believes it entirely. Quite innocently, Sylar charms Claire’s mom into asking him to stay for dinner. Suddenly Sylar turns very nasty, confiding that he is there to kill Claire. When Claire’s mom tries to escape, he moves his hand and she crashes into a bookcase. Just as Sylar is moving in for the kill, Bennet returns home, gun blazing, with The Haitian in tow. Sylar escapes out the back door, with The Haitian in pursuit – with orders to kill. The Haitian loses Sylar, and returns to make Claire’s mom forget once again.

Simone visits Isaac again. Up on the roof, they renew their friendship and embrace, without knowing that they are being watched by Peter and Claude.

Hiro pretends he will take the Executive Vice President job as a way of goading his sister into stating how she would run the company. Her ideas are far better, and Hiro then points out that she should be the successor.

Niki finds out that she is going home: an inmate on death row confessed to all her crimes, and DNA evidence backed up his confession.

Claude keeps telling Peter he lives like an adolescent. Peter is now getting angry. Inivisible says Peter’s body knows how to do all the things it has been taught. To prove it, he throws Peter off the roof and tells him to fly. Peter fails, and crashes onto a taxi, suffering multiple, possibly fatal wounds. But although he hasn’t remembered how to fly, his body has remembered how to heal, and within seconds he pulls himself up and is able to stand.

Peter realizes how to channel power, but cannot control the input, and begins to lose control, until he is punched into unconsciousness by Claude.

Isaac paints a semi-visible Peter and calls Bennet to tell him. Bennet now realizes that Claude, who he thought was dead, is still alive.

Hiro’s father accepts the idea that Kimiko will run the business.

Niki is back home, but is ‘trapped’ while Jessica takes over.

Claire returns home and finds a mother who says she bumped her head, and has no memory of Claire telling her that she was going to the aquarium. Claire also finds a piece of glass and notices the bruise on her dad’s head.

Meredith calls Claire’s father – Nathan Petrelli – to tell him that she had a visit from their daughter.

Comments

This episode is just not as sharp as a couple of the preceeding ones. The supposed lighthearted comedy in the scenes with Hiro, Ando, and Kimiko just doesn’t work as well as usual.

Nits

When the woman’s handbag is stolen, she looks around and sees nothing. Then, presumably, Claude moves a suitable distance away from Peter, and the woman sees Peter holding the bag. He is standing right in front of her. But before Peter reappeared, why couldn’t she see just the bag, hanging in the air?

Why do Peter and Claude bump into people as they walk down the street? Why don’t they move out of the way? They are going to get tired or even injured if they keep this up all day.

Memorable Moments

• When Sylar is threatening Claire’s mom, he begins to slip in and out of his fake southern accent. In this same scene, there is a great edit where, in the wide shot, Sylar looks down to the right, and then in the closeup, he is still looking down there

• When Meredith’s palm erupts in flame, her pupils shine, reflecting the light. It’s only a subtle effect, but it adds a sense of reality to the moment

• The licence plate on Hiro’s father’s car is ‘NCC-1701’, which are the ID letters of the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek

Quotable Quotes

"God, it sounds like a bomb is about to go off!"
- Niki, prophetic when describing the sound of the metronome

"I care about you, Simone, more than I knew how to say when – when it would have made a difference."
- Isaac

"It’s a shame I have to kill her. But maybe I’ll kill you first. I really haven’t decided yet."
- Sylar to Claire’s mom