Summary
Apologies if this seems convoluted. Try watching the
actual episode, it is much worse.
Before the recap begins, a quick refresher on the characters:
Nikki - the woman who takes off her clothes and sees
herself in the mirror
Peter - the nurse who thinks he can fly, Nathan's brother
Isaac - the druggie who can paint the future
Hiro - the businessman who can stop time
Claire - the indestructable cheerleader
Tawny - the dying man's daughter
Micah - Nikki's genius son
Nathan - a politician and Peter's brother
Mohinder - the professor whose father was killed for
his research
A man (Peter Petrelli, played by Milo Ventimiglia) stands
on the edge of a tall building, his arms stretched out.
The world tilts widely, as if the man has fallen, or
jumped, and the world is trying to catch up. Suddenly,
the man is woken up by a woman’s voice (Simone
Deveraux, played by Tawny Cypress). He’s sitting
in a chair in his blue scrubs, his feet on the bed of
a feeble looking old man. The man’s daughter is
the woman who woke him up. He tells her that her father
doesn’t have many days left and then jokes about
asking her out. In order to pass the awkward moment,
the nurse says he has to change the dying man’s
IV.
Three days earlier.
A professor (Mohinder Suresh, played by Sendhil Ramamurthy)
talks about the pinnacle of evolution with his students.
To him, the cockroach is that pinnacle. But what if man
is on his way towards evolving? The human genome project
has shown that tiny variations are become increasingly
common. As the class ends, an older man enters the room.
He tells Mohinder that his father has been killed in
New York City while driving a cab.
Mohinder insists that he must finish his father's work
and that his father was killed by people who were after
his research. He returns to his office and begins gathering
files and papers. A phone rings. It isn't his. There
is someone else in the room with him. He quickly pulls
together a box of papers and takes a photograph of a
large map on the wall and runs out the door.
A beautiful woman (Niki Sanders, played by Ali Larter)
poses on a bed. She moves her body to the music blaring,
slowly removing her clothes. Something beeps and she
stops cold. She walks to a computer and sends an instant
message to whoever is watching her striptease act; his
(or her) time is up. Anything more will cost him (or
her). As she walks past a mirror, she yells out a name,
Micah. Worried, she searches for him, only to find him
intently working on something at a desk.
She tells him he has to be more careful, that she has
been working to pay the bills. There is a knock at the
door. Niki grabs her son and the two rush out the back
door. As someone kicks down the door, Niki and Micah
make their escape.
As a handheld video camera follows her, a young cheerleader
(Claire Bennet, played by Hayden Panettiere) stands atop
a metal structure. The voice behind the camera is estimating
how far off the ground Claire is when suddenly she falls,
hitting the ground with a sickening thud. The camera
runs towards her, the voice shocked and worried. But
Claire picks herself up and pops her shoulder back into
its socket. Blood from a cut on her cheek trickles down
her face as she turns to the camera: that was attempt
number six.
Peter has another one of his flying dreams and this
time he wakes up on a bus. He stares out the window at
a billboard featuring what looks like a politician. He
moves from the bus to a cab and from the cab to a building,
where the politician is busy being a politician (Nathan
Petrelli, played by Adrian Pasdar). Peter tells Nathan
that he’s having the flying dreams again and that
when he woke up that morning, his foot actually hovered
above the ground. He thinks he can fly. But Nathan doesn’t
believe him, despite the brotherly bond between the two.
Nathan then gets a phone call that their mother has been
arrested.
Claire tells her camera operator that she's depressed.
He doesn't understand, what he just captured on film
was amazing. He thinks she's worried about not being
popular in the future. But she's not, because no matter
how hard she tires, she can't hurt herself. She says
this with two ribs sticking out of her side. She pushes
them back in as if they're more of an annoyance than
anything. As she walks off, she tells the boy that she'll
talk to him in front of other people at school.
A businessman (Hiro Nakamura, played by Masi Oka) sits
quickly, staring at a clock with Asian symbols on it.
He stares harder and harder, watching the second hand
tick by. Suddenly, it stops and then ticks backwards.
Hiro leaps to his feet and rushes down the hallway, yelling
that he's stopped the time/space continuum using only
his mind. But the man he rushes to tell doesn't care.
He laughs and says that Hiro is like Spock, and then
turns back to his computer, where Niki stares back at
him, clad in a revealing outfit.
At that very moment, Niki sits across from a very severe
looking man. They discuss tuition and money and Micah’s
private school. Niki doesn’t have the money she
needs for tuition and is upset that she had to “donate” $25,000
just to get the ball rolling. When she asks for the donation
back, the man says it isn’t possible. Frustrated,
she gets up and leaves, passing a fish tank in the process.
She sees her reflection, only it isn't her reflection.
It's her, but not exactly her reflection. She tells herself
to leave herself along.
Peter and Nathan confront their mother at the police
station. She stole some socks. Despite the fact that
their father, and her husband, left her money, she
is still stealing. Nathan is worried about what it
will do to his campaign; Peter is worried about their
mother. Nathan leaves and their mother admits she
only stole the socks to feel alive.
As they leave the station, Peter argues with his mother
about his relationship with his brother. He insists they're
connected. He says that somehow, when Nathan had his
accident, he knew. He woke up, three hundred miles away,
and knew that his brother had been hurt. His mother slaps
him.
Nikki and Micah get out of their car and walk towards
a house. Micah doesn't want to be there because there
aren't any books. A woman opens the door with a sigh.
Micah goes inside for some ice cream and the women get
to talking. Nikki owes thirty grand to the mob and is
starting to see things.
Somewhere, there is a massive explosion. Firefighters
desperately try to contain a huge fire from a truck that
has collided with a train, or a barn, or another truck.
Claire tells her friend to turn on the camera and rushes
towards the flames. She runs into the barn or the bus
or the train and looks around, the flames roaring about
her. She sees a man, grabs him, and rushes him outside,
her cheerleading uniform in flames.
The firefighters see them and run towards her. One throws
his jacket around her, trying to smother the flames.
She cries out that she's fine and, indeed, she is. The
firefighter is stunned when he rips the sleeve of her
uniform and doesn't see any burns. She scrambles to her
feet and runs off.
In Brooklyn, Mohinder steps into his father's apartment.
It has been torn apart. The same map of the world that
was on his in India is on his father's wall in Brooklyn.
He begins placing thumbtacks on the map, connecting them
with yarn. He finds a cassette tape on the floor, with
the name Sylar on it.
In an art studio, a man in dirty clothing (Isaac Mendez,
played by Santiago Cabrera) throws paint (or paint thinner)
on some of his paintings. Simone walks in and yells at
Isaac as he tries to destroy his paintings. He admits
he’s still on drugs. He shows her a painting of
a suicide bombing in Israel that he painted three weeks
ago. Then he shows her a newspaper report of the same
bombing. The number on the fire truck in the painting
is the same as the fire truck in the report. He says
the only thing left to do is go off drugs cold turkey.
Peter walks in to his brother's campaign headquarters.
Nathan has managed to get their mother's police record
suppressed but it took a lot of his political clout.
He offers Peter a job, saying he needs someone who can
help make up the ten points he's behind in the polls.
Nathan tells his brother he needs to grow up and stop
watching old people die. But Peter doesn't want his brother's
pity and he walks out.
He sees Simone across the street hailing a cab. She
climbs in and he hails his own cab. The driver is the
professor. Peter leans back and looks at the ensuing
solar eclipse. The driver, whose name is Mohinder, says
that a solar eclipse like this is a global event that
really makes one think about how small the Earth is.
Peter asks the driver if he has ever thought about people
being special. Mohinder replies that some people are
special; some people are born with a genetic code that
will take humanity to the next level. It's destiny.
Claire down a length of train tracks, her friend running
behind her. In Japan, Hiro does calisthenics with his
fellow workers. He stares up at the sky. Niki walks into
her house, which has been ransacked. Mohinder and Peter
sit in traffic. Claire stares at the solar eclipse. Hiro
stares at the solar eclipse. Isaac stares at his paint.
Nikki stares at the solar eclipse.
And then she hears something behind her. Someone is
in her house. She tries to run, but a man grabs her.
Another man stands behind him. They manhandle her to
the bedroom where she does her business. She now owes
fifty grand, not just thirty. She tries to plea with
the two men. They offer her a chance to lower her debt
if she'll take off her clothes for them. She starts to
comply but then looks in the mirror. One of the men slaps
her. She tells him off and suddenly things go black.
In Japan, Hiro and his friend walk down a busy street,
discussing Hiro’s so-called power. His friend wonders
if Hiro can join the circus. But Hiro thinks he is destined
for greatness. They go into a bar and continue their
discussion. Hiro says he isn't a loser anymore. He's
a superhero and he won't use his power for personal gain.
His friend suggests he tries to teleport himself into
the woman's bathroom and then leaves. Hiro closes his
eyes.
Niki wakes up facedown on her bed, Micah’s voice
on her answering machine. She looks around and sees the
mobsters lying dead in pools of their own blood. She
fumbles with the camera and then catches her reflection
in the mirror. The reflection holds a finger up to her
mouth and smiles at Niki.
Simone calls Peter on his cell phone; he's still in
the cab. She asks him to meet her at her father's. He
gets out of the cab, leaving Mohinder staring after him
until someone else gets in the cab, going home to his
family. He begins to talk to Mohinder, noting his last
name is Suresh. And there used to be a professor by that
name in India. Mohinder abruptly pulls the cab over,
opens the door and runs off.
Claire sits down to dinner with her brother and mother.
She says their father is coming home that night. When
asked what she did with her day, Claire says she walks
through fire and didn't get burned. Her brother says
she's crazy, her mother says she knows exactly what her
daughter means. But she doesn't, she thinks Claire is
being metaphorical and she's proud of her.
At the bar, Hiro is pulled out of the women's bathroom
and thrown onto the street. But he doesn't care, he teleported
himself there. His friend doesn't understand why Hiro
wants to be different; Hiro doesn't understand why his
friend wants to be the same. He wants to be special.
He wants to boldly go where no man has gone before. As
he walks off, his friend yells after him: he's a “Super
Hiro.”
Simone searches through the various cupboards and drawers
in her father’s apartment. She’s looking
for morphine and expects Peter to help her with Isaac.
But Peter is more intent on trying to explain to Simone
how he feels, that he isn’t willing to just sit
and watch life pass him by. But Simone stops him, promising
to talk later.
Claire's mother offers to take her to the mall to try
on shoes. As she does the dishes, she tells her mother
she loves her. And with no buts, which is a surprise
to her mother. As she fidgets with her ring, it falls
off and goes down the garbage disposal. Claire reaches
in after it and pulls it out, getting her hand mangled
in the process. Her fingers slowly move back into their
correct positions. She quickly hides her dripping hand
from her mother.
She tells her mother that she thinks she's old enough
to know who her real parents are. As the two embrace,
Claire looks at her hand. It is entirely healed. The
door opens and Claire’s father walks in. It’s
the man who talked to Mohinder in the cab after Peter
got out.
Hiro stands silently on the subway, staring off into
nothingness. He sees a poster advertising New York City
and closes his eyes. Time suddenly flies forward. The
subway stops. As the other passengers get off, Hiro is
suddenly in New York City. He's done it: he's transported
himself to New York City.
Peter and Simone walk into Issac's studio, with Peter
skeptical that Isaac can really see the future. The power
is off and Isaac isn't responding. They find him lying
on the floor. He overdosed but is alive. Simone calls
911 but Peter is stopped by one of the paintings leaning
against the wall. It’s a painting of him, floating
in the air. Isaac manages a few words: “We have
to stop it.” In one of his paintings is a scene
of a nuclear explosion in New York City.
Later, Peter stands on the edge of a small building,
his arms outstretched. He looks down at the street
below. A taxi drives up and Nathan gets out, talking
on his cell phone. Another cell phone falls to the
ground at Nathan's feet. Peter calls down to him.
He's been standing atop the building all night. It's
his
turn to be somebody. Nathan tells him to stop screwing
around. Peter stares up at the sky and stretches
out his arms again. He closes his eyes and steps
off the
ledge.
As he falls towards the ground, Nathan is suddenly there
with him, flying. Nathan wraps his arm around Peter's
arm. The brothers spin around in the air, both shocked.
And then, Nathan slowly loses his grip and Peter begins
falling again...
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