Say Hello To The Bad Guy: TIC v. Heroes 3.5!

Warning: Spoilers ahead!
Character bios and pics courtesy of HeroesWiki.


Not much of the ha-ha this week: finally, Mrs. Petrelli has met her match. in "Angels and Monsters," the season's Big Bad stood (well, lay) revealed before us – her own husband.

Arthur Petrelli, thought dead before the series even began, is revealed as the man behind Linderman's “reappearance” to not only Nathan, but to Daphne, who serves as his chief recruiter for a different Company -- Pinehearst.

Pinehearst, it stands to reason, is behind another of the episode's reveals: that a number of familiar superhumans actually received their powers artificially, including Tracy and Nathan. From a hospital bed inside the facility, Papa Petrelli, thru Daphne and Maury Parkman, has begun assembling his own team. Knox has somehow entered the fold, capturing Adam Monroe and recruiting ... Hiro?!

The rest of the Petrelli family isn't doing so hot this week, either: Peter seemingly comes unhinged during a confrontation with Sylar (by now acknowledged as his brother, without even a blood test), nearly literally punching his head off and almost slicing his mother open for more information, forcing her to place him into an induced coma; Claire has to confront not only Noah's working with the man who almost killed her, but his willingness to kill an innocent man to protect her (again); and Nathan, faced with the news he was the family's genetic slowpoke, calls Mrs. Petrelli out and storms off to get help from the “harmless” Suresh ...

... Who definitely isn't harmless anymore. This week we see him verging ever closer to the dark side; not only has he been kidnapping and webbing up his neighbor, a local drug dealer and Maya for reasons unknown – a cure? A meal? -- but we see he's on the list of recruits for Pinehearst, as is the younger Parkman. And as Mr. Petrelli's plan begins to pick up steam, we see him enter his wife's mind, taunting her, “You won't even be able to move.” Strong episode overall, especially with the thought of an all-out meta-war now within reach.

The Racialicious Scorecard:
Hiro & Ando: From bad to worse to shocking. The Dynamic Duo gets conned by Adam at a bar and soon enter a confrontation with Daphne and Knox, declaring, “We are very badass!” Unfortunately for them, Knox calls their bluff by daring Hiro to stab his buddy. No way, we were thinking. Hiro will just figure something -- SHANK!
Oh, damn. This isn't going to help their trust issues.

Knox: We learn he's part of Mr. Petrelli's new team, though not how he was recruited. He takes the initiative with Hiro and Ando, surprising even Daphne with his cold-blooded demand, leading to Hiro's seeming betrayal. You can pretty much bet he's going to be a player from here on in.

Stephen Canfield: A completely new character, Stephen is another escapee from Level 5, one with a particularly sad story: apparently he's imprisoned after his ability to conjure portals – to where, we don't know – leads to the death of his neighbor, the utterly lonely Stephen (“I love my wife. I love my children.”) briefly befriends Claire before being forced by Mr. Bennet to choose between his freedom and killing another man – Sylar. Instead, Stephen, remorseful over the first death he caused, seems to take his own life with one of his own portals.

Mohinder & Maya: Too late, Maya discovers what her new boyfriend has been up to – hoarding people in his lab. “What have you done?” she demands. “You're a monster.” And for the first time, Suresh is unrepentant: “I wish you hadn't said that,” he answers. Next thing we know, she's on his wall of shame.

The Haitian, Usutu, Micah and Monica: All MIA this week, although Usutu may finally see some character development and action soon, as Daphne and Parkman's respective storyarcs start leading them toward one another.

Next Week: Suresh takes a shot at Nathan and Tracy! Bennet family Russian Roulette!

Previously:
* Heroes 3.4
* Heroes 3.3
* Heroes 3.1 + 3.2
* Heroes Season Preview