Heroes Season 4 Episode 11

Thanksgiving is a time for family: Peter, 'Nathan' and Angela; The Bennet family including Sandra's new boyfriend and Noah's old 'friend'. Isn't Thanksgiving fun?





Here's a whole new power struggle and one that's far more interesting – Nathan vs Sylar. Though Matt was a powerful telepath, even he couldn't control Sylar. Maybe Nathan will have more luck, he's very ruthless in his own right.





Lydia and Edgar are starting to ask questions – if Hiro 'fixed' the past, why is Joseph still dead? Edgar confronting Samuel just gives Samuel a scapegoat.





I like Noah calling Gretchen, I'm actually warming to her. This could be a sweet little romance if they continue to take it slow and sweet.

Thanksgiving dinner, the traditional family holiday is the focus of an episode on the very season in which families have dissapeared from this show; a fact the viewers are painfully aware of the minute the Bennets sit down without Lyle at the table and Hiro is the only familiar face among the Carnivale gathering.





No Molly in the same table of either Matt or Mohinder, no Micah or what used to be the Sander-Hawkings family, no Bishops, no Nakamuras, no Deveux. The Petrellis hoard what's left of the Greys in the form of Nathan and no matter how long Peter watches him sleep, no matter how much Angela pretends this is normal Elle's power manifest within what is and always has been Gabriel Grey.





Edgar and Peter found themselves protecting what has always been their respective brother's murderer.

Sometimes, it's the simple things in life that prove to be the most rewarding. 'Thanksgiving' is an unashamedly straightforward piece of work, stripping away the complexities of narrative minutiae to produce something that reads rather like a slice of minimalist theatre, predicated entirely on three thematically connected stories that remain, geographically at least, notably static. There is very little action here; movement is considerably restricted. The story pivots on the concept of Thanksgiving, taking three very different, but equally as psychologically messy, dinners - at the Carnival, the Petrellis' and the Bennet's - and using them to delineate a number of important character points, as well as to gentle nudge forward a handful of plot tropes.





Surprisingly, Claire's tet a tet with her parents actually proves to be a highlight. Where usually, the banality of her narratives cause the eyes to roll, here, Armus and Foster prevent its verisimilitude from ever becoming mundane with the aid of some highly naturalistic, and quite often understated, dialogue. For all its contrivance, HRG's appropriation of Lauren's assistance is actually rather engaging, precisely because their interactions feel human, full of awkward attempts to disguise the truth and repressed emotional feeling. And while Doug is a little silly, his interruptions at the dining table are deliberately kept to a minimum and used to great effect in conjunction with the issues surrounding the other characters. Take Claire's frustration at her power's tendency to alienate her from those she loves: excellently illustrated by a physical, as well as emotional, outburst involving a kitchen knife. The moment is considerably shocking, but the effect it has on Doug balances the horror with an element of humour, creating a satisfyingly rich tapestry. And then, of course, there's Gretchen's return, which actually feels welcome thanks to some solid and believable writing.





In the other 'households', the Petrellis provide some of the most wonderfully forced and horrifically awkward moments this side of an X-Factor audition. Cristine Rose is at her level best as a defiant Angela, trying desperately to cling to the illusion that her family is still together. Her confession feels refreshingly genuine, a trait that we don't often associate with the character, but one that looks decidedly good on her. Ventimiglia's disdain and distrust makes for a nice counterpoint, while Pasdar's increasingly unhinged and broken Nathan is fascinating to watch. When Quinto worms his way into the mix, things only get better; his taunting and manipulation carries on from the superlative work he has been doing with Greg Grunberg, coming across as deliciously sinister precisely because it avoids the hyperbolic. Sylar's psychological evaluation of the Petrelli family is absolutely spot on; so much so, in fact, that when Nathan starts to make a reappearance, it's almost disappointing.





The Sullivan Carnival, meanwhile, proves to be a delightfully warped place for a celebratory dinner thanks to a few important revelations about the fateful night that Samuel's brother died. While it is no surprise to anyone that T-Bag killed Joseph (who is played to perfection by Andrew Connolly), the sequence is so damn good that you forgive it its predictability. Seith Mann outdoes himself here: the greys and blues of the chiaroscuro are beautiful, amplified manifold by the inclusion of a sinisterly overbearing moon that looks bloody magical It's the sort of attention to visual detail that made season one, quite literally, such a feast for the eyes and it's certainly good to see it back. In fact, it's been somewhat of a staple of the season, particularly as regards this storyline, with its skewed camera angles and psychedelic designs. Robert Knepper actually does a lot to help: his grace, poise and manipulative slight of hand intensify the feeling that there is something indefinably fantastical about the whole thing.





'Thanksgiving' only really falters when it does try to amp up the action. The mysterious lightning strike that signifies the 'resurrection' of Sylar feels grossly unnecessary, a kind of tacked on visual designed purely to help spend the effects budget. Why wouldn't he simply transform? Why does there have to be a fanfare? Mostly though, this is a well-structured, cohesive piece of work that feels distinctly real while being considerably engaging. Not much happens on a literal level, but there's a whole hell of a lot going on under the surface, as the characters are nudged in different directions in preparation for the latter half of the season. Certainly one to give thanks for.

Previously, when they showed us Mohinder dead, I thought: "oh thank god". Well, hes back and they decided to bring his banal ex-girlfriend back with him. One step forward ; two steps back. I'm beginning to think Claire is the writers idea of a really sick joke. The character that you want to be killed off, more than any other in the history of television, yet she can't be killed -_- . Now, If you were to ask, "How can we make scenes with Claire even more unbearable?" I would reply, "Bring Gretchen back." Problem solved... If they had left it with Mohinder dead and Gretchen gone for good, there might have been a little redemption for the show. But with Mohinder dead he could no longer read the writers attempt at a "deep" monologue at the beginning and end of the show. And with Gretchen gone, all the perverts can't get off on the "potential"... When Sylar scalps Mohinder and sends Claire into orbit I'll start watching again. But lets face it, the people creating this story had only thought up to the point where Peter explodes. The show can't "get back on track" because one was never built.

Holiday-themed episodes have a tendency to play to nostalgia and tradition. They can be a cringe-inducing subset of the "very special episode" syndrome. The trick is to subvert the typical expectations that come with the territory. "Buffy", for example, managed to do it very well.





This particular spin on the convention is broken into three parts, where the coming together at a family meal brings more than just the usual level of conflict and recrimination. The treatment of each Thanksgiving dinner is more or less a success, and has everything to do with the strengths of the characters involved.





The best material belongs to Samuel and his carnival family, as the truth about Joseph Sullivan's death comes out. Suddenly Edgar's displeasure with Samuel from the beginning comes into focus. Hiro finally gets to show a bit of backbone, even if he's still mostly whining about Charlie, and one can only hope that this will lead to a permanent transition into a more serious character as a whole. (Especially since it is highly unlikely that we will ever see Charlie again.)





I still like Samuel, even if his motivations are now almost entirely villainous. Robert Knepper continues to give the character a sense of style and energy that has been missing from most of the cast for quite some time. Only Sylar seems to be given the same opportunity to stretch, and that had to be a concession to Zachery Quinto, to ensure that he remains on the show to the bitter end.





Speaking of Sylar, the Petrelli Thanksgiving dinner was a close second to the carnival festivities. While the carnival plot thread began to answer some lingering questions about Sullivan brothers, this plot thread took on the consequences of the third season finale. The emergence of Sylar brought on some deliciously evil moments, and I wasn't entirely sure that Angela was going to survive the night.





It occurred to me, however, that the writers managed to sneak some muddled storytelling into the mix. When Peter needed to follow Nathan in the previous episode, he absorbed Nathan's ability. But "Nathan" is really Sylar, programmed to believe that he can only use Nathan's flying ability. The core ability is still Sylar's innate ability to take on the abilities of others. So shouldn't Peter have absorbed Sylar's ability?





Of course, that would put Peter back on a level that is too high for the good of the plot, and would prevent the logical solution to the Sylar problem: getting everyone together at the carnival for one big "Heroes" smackdown. I still firmly believe that Sylar is going to return to the carnival, learn the secret of Samuel's power, and absorb it. If anyone can learn how to decouple Samuel's earth-moving power from the metahuman-cascade effect, Sylar could. And then the question would be: how do all those heroes fight Sylar, when just being around him suddenly gives him a massive power boost? (On the other hand, it could be the one thing that keeps Sylar in check, because he would have to stop killing everyone for powers to preserve his new power source.)





At any rate, this leaves only the Bennett family dinner, and as usual, that is far less effective than the other two plot threads. Those stories had Samuel and Sylar; this has Claire and the same Noah that has been grasping for a purpose this season. The antics with Sandra, Lauren, and Doug did provide a lighter counterpoint to the darker elements in the other plot threads, but it just underscored how little these characters have been measuring up.





I will say, however, that the return of Lauren was a nice touch, and the return of Gretchen was a pleasant surprise. The writers are doing a nice job of treading a fine line with Claire and Gretchen. While they are technically not together as a romantic couple, there are clear undertones of chemistry between them. I suspect the writers will keep riding that line, so that the viewers can draw their own conclusions, but this is less exploitive than it could have been.





The biggest problem with the episode is that it didn't move the plot forward overly much. This season has been all about the measured pace, but this brought the momentum down a notch. Nathan and Sylar could have had their final showdown already, and Claire didn't really need more time to decide that she was going to find Samuel. Hopefully this is simply the prelude to a more active next episode.

I liked this episode, nice Thanksgiving episode. Although it's odd because very little time has went by in the Heroes storyline but we've seen a Halloween and Thanksgiving episode.. and yea sure MAYBE the Halloween episode didn't actually take place on Halloween, but... still kinda odd.





Hiro has got to grow a pair, He's the most powerful hero, probably in the universe, he doesn't have to give in to negotiations, all he has to do is say "Look, I did your job, tell me where Charlie is or you'll be missing an arm before you finish your next sentence"





The Petrelli Thanksgiving was .. pretty intense. I almost thought we were going to have a Sylar-less episode for a moment. Sylar proves once again he's one of the most threatening and creepy villains on television. It must suck to be Peter, knowing he could previously go toe to toe with Sylar and was once the most powerful Hero, now being helpless to put up a fight. Although, I'm not sure how much more of this Sylar Identity crisis I can take... seems like they're going to drag it until the end of the season and make Samuel pretty much the main and only villain of this season. Kinda weird though that the main villain of the season is being contested only by Hiro at this point. Perhaps Claire pretty soon as well.





Speaking of Claire, The Bennett Thanksgiving had its moments, yea the guy was a tool, we all know it. and Mrs. Bennett was not very subtle with her jealousy, guess Claire got her lack of subtlety from her. I have to agree with most, that we're tired of seeing Claire argue with her parents, sure she's a teenager and that's what they do but... I think I just want to see her fight some bad guys.

I realy like this ep I think it was great. Sylar back in his body at least almost :P gretchen back lovely. Peter is getting more and more awesomen and Claire oh I just love her see is so great :D





and than there is hero well what can I say he is a little anoying but in this ep he brought anwesers to use and thats what I like :)





just a great episode I realy loved it heroes is coming back bit by bit and I like it can't wait till the next episode :D seeing forward to it :)

Heroes thanksgiving special was painful as hell, and there nothing I should be thankful for, for watching this. Ratings are still in the 5 million range, and hopefully the change to 9/8c slot should good enough so that viewers don't have to choose between Fox's House and this one.





This one hour of Heroes had 3 storylines. One, Hiro takes Lydia back in time to do a bit of snooping around on Samuel. They later find out that it was him who had killed Joseph. The second one is probably one which we saw coming. Sylar is finally able to connect his body to mind, but surprisingly encounters a problem - Nathan is still stuck in his head. The third one was pretty much a drag. Noah's track is already seeming like a good lullaby, and bringing back a buzz-kill like Sandra and her loser boyfriend didn't help things. Also Claire want's to quit school to seek Samuel's help, and bringing back the lesbian track with Gretchen is another lame decision by Tim Kring.





Boring episode.

I keep wondering when this show is going to get back on track with saving the world. During the show my imagination started changing things like, Claire's frozen foot somehow winds up in the turkey, Mr. Muggles and friend have a field day with it, and nerdy Mrs. Bennet's boyfriend jumps out a window in terror. And Claire's whining about college (again) causes Mr. Bennet to reach over and slam a meat cleaver into her head. That would have better emphasized his point of spending $40,000 on her self-centered pouty ass. I mean, where's the original story arc?? Hiro's nose-bleed joyrides to the past to please a megalomaniac would better be served if he just layed Charlie once and found out she wasn't worth it, that she had a mutated crab infestation or something, and so he could just time travel circus whacko Samuel back to the Paleolithic, dump him, and get on with dying with what's left of his dignity. And Sylar? Come on! They need to release the butcher! Let him finish off Momma Petrelli and give Pete a few permanent scars!

Sigh!!! Will someone please just kill off the Bennents? What was interesting about that story? Nothing. How many goddam times have we seen Claire moan "oh, I hate my life, Dad!" Enough already!! I don't even slightly care anymore. It seems that all Claire does is moan. And as for the rest of it... Sandra's new bloke is so cliche that he dosen't even deserve a review. And woo... pointless blonde girl is back to continue to be pointless :D Fantastic. The one thing I found remotley enthralling was Claire's decision to go after Samuel. Generally intriguing. And yeah... Gretchen is back. Lovely. Enough said.





What about that Samuel anyway? Well... we finally found out he killed his brother. Big betrayal much!!! His brother did sign his own death certificate though... I mean turning your brother over to Danko of all people!! Hiro is starting to annoy me with his, "no don't kill dangerous and potentially world destroying butterfly man... he might kill a texan chick I love!" Dear God tell me they haven't removed his memories? Done so much in Heroes now its untrue. And then we come to the Petrellis. Angela... ridiculously underused this season, was her usual self. Throught all that, when Sylar manifested, I was thinking go on Peter take his powers! Seriously... one time Peter had the potential to literally wipe the floor with Sylar and now he's damn well pathetic. Time to stop messing around now. He needs his powers back. The inner battle still rages on between Nathen and Sylar. Quite philosophical... as Locke would have said what makes me me is memories. Can the Petrellis really view Sylar as Nathen? Can he himself?





Overall... the Sylar and Samuel bit rescued this episode which didn't quite reach the heights of previous ones. Last one for a bit next week... lets see how they do.

This season of heroes has been nothing but fantastic. Sure the first couple of episodes started off a bit slow but they were setting things in motion for a number of spectacular episodes leading up to the fall finale. Somehow the show has got to retrieve viewers again. Maybe not putting it up against house would help? Because if this show gets canceled that would truely be tragic. The network has got to movie the series to another night because mondays are not working for it. Anyway, this episode showed three very awkward and intense thanksgiving dinners with three different families. The carnival family was probably the most exciting with Lydia using hiro to discover samuel killed his brother Jacob. Lydia is a very compelling character and the actress is a nice new face to see. Hopefully Lydia and the rest of the carnies will get more screen time. The Petrelli's "family" dinner with sylar was very exciting as well. At first I didnt think I was going to enjoy the whole Sylar has become Nathan storyline but now I believe it is one of the best storylines of the show. The Bennets household was more of a comic relief situation introducing Sandra's new boyfriend Doug. But it also had its moments. really like Lauren and think she is an excellent addition to the show and hope she sticks around as well. But this storyline also sets up Claire to have and exciting episode next Monday while she and Gretchen are now on their way to visit the carnival.

This episode was really good; I was hooked to the TV since begging to end. That been said now I can go into details, I like How H.R.G. and that ex co-worker are getting along they make a nice couple. Sandra new boyfriend don't really do it for me he kind of a tool, Claire had me annoying for a second I was like oh no she back to the whole "I am not normal dilemma" Thanks Noah for saying "Stop acting like a child" that was good and brave. The Petrellis Dinner was great can you say "Awkward? But really good I enjoy every part of it. This episode was nice it based on three families and it was well done. Samuel kills his own brother wow can you say he a badass or what? Hiro he should know better than that by now he always get pushed around and get used by other people I like how Hiro and Lidia connected but he is the master of time and space you can do anything, by the way good job saving Edgar. Now his mind is all mess up again like in S3. Anyhow I loved this episode I am going to give it a 10 and yes yes I am excited about the next and last episode before the xmas break.

Great episode! This review is not in order btw, but in order of subplot.





Okay Samuel finally learns his potential, and refuses to reveals Charlie's location, causing Hiro to get ticked.





Later Hiro and Lydia (hot chick and nerd pair lol) go an adventure in the past revealing Samuel killing Joseph (although he was remorseful). In the present at the Thanksgiving table, Lydia reveals the truth to Edgar, afterwards Samuel accuses him of killing Joseph, Hiro saves Edgar's life by stopping a rock and Edgar runs out of there. Hiro later mind swiped and sent away by the dreadlocked carnival dude, and Samuel is like wtf what that for!!





In other events Sylar emerges and holds Momma Petrelli and Peter hostage only to be losing control by the part of him that's still Nathan, he flys out. All the Petrelli scenes were so well done.





The Bennet family dinner was somewhat entertaining, but it resorted to Claire complaining about not being normal. She and Gretchen, who came for Thanksgiving, are out to find the Carnival.





Great episode. Next up Peter vs. Sylar.

Ever think your Thanksgiving get-togethers are awkward? Try finding out a carnival leader murdered his own brother, outting yourself as a superhero to your mom's ditzy boyfriend, and an even more psychotic-than-usual serial killer holding you hostage. Just another Thanksgiving for the heroes. "Nathan" sleeps in Peter's loft, Peter keeping watch over him. Angela storms in, wishing Peter a happy Thanksgiving, ordering hired help to spruce the place up. After they leave, Peter confronts her over Nathan. Angela shrugs it off, trying to say Nathan's body was actually a shapeshifter's, but Peter's not buying it. He asks what she did. "Nathan" wakes up, wanting to know the same. Angela promises to explain everything at dinner and not before, threatening disownment if they don't obey her wishes. Peter looks away, disgusted and stricken, "Nathan" shifting nearer to Sylar. At Carnivale, Samuel gets a front-row seat watching Chandra explain his awesome powers. Good-old Hiro comes in to ruin his fun, demanding Charlie. Samuel's more chipper and blunt in saying no, going on about how he needs Hiro's help more than ever and he's finding his destiny, etc. Hiro gets the clue Samuel's never going to release Charlie. He storms off, brushing past Lydia and Edgar, huffing over what transpired. This tips both off as suspicious since, why didn't Samuel try to bring back Joseph? Lydia pulls Hiro aside, questioning her logic. Hiro doesn't know why Samuel wouldn't ask to bring his brother back, he's more concerned about Charlie. Lydia offers to help, revealing her power to sense desires and strips near Hiro. Snort. Hiro looks away, embarrassed. Hey, he's only human. Lydia tells Hiro to touch her back. He complies and she senses how much Charlie means to him and asks Hiro to go back eight weeks ago, to the time Danko supposedly killed Joseph. Hiro refuses but his powers take the choice away from him. Hiro and Lydia see Joseph and Samuel storm away, Lydia following despite Hiro's protests to not muck with time. Hypocrite:}. Present-day, Noah trails Lauren at a grocery store, picking up a turkey while he's at it. Claire phones, and Noah requests she come to dinner. Sandra and her boy-toy are going to be there (Lyle MIA at boarding school) and he needs some support. Claire, still down in the dumps over Gretchen, agrees. Lauren approaches Noah, noticing his non-too-subtle spying. They awkwardly flirt for awhile, catching up, Lauren explaining after Primatech burned, she got a job at the CIA, when Lauren sees Noah's frozen turkey. She offers to help cook dinner and Noah happily accepts. Hiro and Lydia trail Samuel-Joseph's path and overhear what transpired. Samuel demands Joseph explain himself, enraged over what he overheard. Joseph cops to neutering Samuel and explains that Samuel is so powerful, he'd create earthquakes, move mountains, kill millions, if not billions of people. Rather than deterring Samuel as he hoped, Samuel is intrigued that he truly is that powerful. Never underestimate someone's egomania. Joseph can't let Samuel destroy the world. He admits he called Danko to ring Samuel in, for his protection. Samuel gets pissed, sanity snapping, hurling a rock into Joseph's chest. Realizing what he did, Samuel cradles his brother while Joseph dies, Lydia stricken over what she sees. Her cries alert Samuel and he crosses over to them, Hiro getting them out just in time. Back at Carnivale, Lydia wants to expose Samuel to the "family" but Hiro won't let her, realizing Samuel will realize he was involved and refuse to release Charlie. He begs Lydia to keep quiet but Lydia won't listen. She reveals all to Edgar and she evades Samuel's questions when he gets suspicious over their private conversation. Claire walks into Noah's loft, seeing it decked out, and meets Lauren. Lauren introduces herself while Claire gets defensive over seeing her father's little fling, probably sensing the chemistry between them. She asks Noah over how Sandra would feel and Noah shrugs it off, saying Sandra's all right with her boy-toy. Sure enough, Sandra walks in, happy to see her family, showing off her boyfriend. She also brought along Mr. Muggles (aww!) and it turns out, Sandra's boyfriend got him a little girlfriend. At least the dog's living a good life. Sandra gets territorial around Lauren, even when Noah explains she's not a date. Uh-huh. The Bennetts, Lauren, and boy-toy sit down to a delicious meal, boy-toy explaining how he and Sandra met. He explains that they met over their dog's attraction for each other and it becomes increasingly obvious that Sandra didn't choose him for his brains. He cheerfully suggests they go around and give thanks. Noah is a good sport but Claire's not in the mood, moping she has nothing to be thankful for. Way to bring a mood down, Claire. She lets the whole table know her future plans as a college dropout. Her news doesn't exactly go over well. Noah demands if it has anything to do with Gretchen and Samuel, Sandra confused over their private matters, and takes time to grill Noah and snark at Lauren over what Noah did to her in the past, boy-toy feeling left out but knowing the mood is being brought down, and when Claire says she has no friends, he says why not, she's a nice girl. This ticks Claire off. She snaps that boy-toy doesn't even know her, and to prove it, slices her arm with a steak-knife. Boy-Toy predictably faints when Claire regenerates, Noah ticked off Claire exposed herself to this smuck. At Carnivale, Samuel toasts his "family", feeling blessed to be around them, and to tie some loose ends with Lydia, Hiro, and Samuel, pins Joseph's death on Edgar. Edgar gets pissed, revealing it was Samuel who killed him, Hiro and Lydia even saw it. Samuel, finally confirming that Hiro doublecrossed him, delightfully asks if Hiro saw him do it. Of course Hiro actively denies he witnessed the event, apologizing to Edgar. Edgar braces for a fight, Hiro freezing time while holding onto Edgar's arm, saving Edgar's life. Hiro convinces him to run off until the time is right, after he gets Charlie back, promising Samuel's demise. Edgar holds him to it, zipping off, Samuel restarting dinner as if nothing ever happened, Hiro assuring Lydia he didn't totally betray her. Angela tries to get her boys into the holiday mood, but both aren't into it. She finally fesses to what she did, not expecting to be forgiven but hoping Peter and "Nathan" will understand. She says "Nathan" really is Nathan, a part of his soul living in Sylar's body. They start to eat dinner when Sylar wakes up. Talking through "Nathan", he knows that Angela and Peter see him as a monster, Peter realizing it isn't "Nathan". Sylar zaps "himself"? to get control, Peter pulling his mom away for safety while "Nathan" writhes on the floor, shifting back to Sylar. He pins Peter and Angela to their chairs, helping himself to dinner. Geez. He asks if Peter has any optimistic speeches in him:} but Peter's not in the mood, taunting that maybe Sylar should find out after he lets Peter go. Sylar congratulates Angela on her latest manipulation, applauding her that now he has a form of villainy even he can look up to. He goes for Angela's skull, shaking when "Nathan" tries taking over. Peter encourages his "brother" to snap awake, Sylar hurling him to the wall. Angela and Peter beg "Nathan" to wake up and "Nathan" finally does, Sylar pushed back. Scared, he runs out the window before Peter can get to him. Claire and Noah have it out while Lauren and Sandra talk, Lauren marveling over how much Noah loves Claire. Claire calls Noah on his renewed hunting obsession, seeing Noah's compass, and Noah calls her on revealing herself to boy-toy. Claire vents that she doesn't feel normal, is tired of faking, and is considering joining Samuel. Noah explains that Samuel's not exactly sane (duh!). Noah gets the door for a new guest, Claire looking at the compass, turning around when she sees it's Gretchen!!! Yea. The Bennetts finally have a good dinner, boy-toy believing he hallucinated with Claire after eating a peanut. Sigh, he must be really good at romance for Sandra to stick with him. Meanwhile, Lauren and Noah agree to go on a real date:}. Gretchen explains that Noah called her, Noah earning some much-needed brownie points, Gretchen considering moving back in with Claire, Claire estastic. Yea for more OC-lite. Anyways, Claire tells Noah she's going back to school, Noah wishing her the best. As for Claire, she plans on using the rest of her break locating Samuel to consider his offer, swiping the compass, and taking pal-Gretchen with her. At Carnivale, Samuel congratulates Hiro on not outting him to his "family". Hiro finally stops playing games and demands Charlie back or he else he'll leaves. Samuel is briefly stunned by Hiro's gutzyness, saying he won't let Hiro leave anyway. Sure enough, memory-guy wipes Hiro's mind, Hiro babbling Star Trekisms before poofing away. That didn't exactly go with Samuel's plans and he demands what memory-guy did. Peter tends to Angela before going off to look for "Nathan", saying that while he would like nothing better than to have Sylar dead, he'd rather have "Nathan" alive. It seems Heroes has found a good sweet spot and there is so much to like about this episode. Even though it was a lipservice to NBC, it was fun seeing how superheroes celebrate Thanksgiving. It was nice for HRG to get himself a little girlfriend. I think after all he's been through, he deserves at least that. Finally, Samuel is cutting loose a bit and revealing how much of a baddie he really is. Now, we know what really happened with Joseph and why Samuel wanted Danko dead, all convientely without Danko being there. Once totally dead, always dead. Or at least with the "minor" characters. Finally, Hiro grew some stones and confronted Samuel. Too bad he got punished for it. I will slightly gripe that I'm worried that Hiro's current pedictament will turn into what Arthur did to him in Volume 3, but I'll let it go for now. Seems Samuel's is slightly unraveling with Lydia in the know and Edgar on the run, plotting revenge. I do hope this is not the last of Edgar but I won't hold my breath too much. It has been a long while but I looooooved seeing Sylar-Peter interact, caught in their adversarial relationship, watching Sylar's devil-may-care attitude clash with Peter's, uh, "emoisms";]. The whole situation was good for the usual disturbingly dark but deeply hilarious humor. I wish there could have been more. Sylar kissing Angela on the lips in mock affection was the creepy but darkly rib-busting icing on the cake. Finally, we have more clarency on how Peter's taking this situation. Poor guy, his real brother's dead and what's left of his "soul" is lodged inside his serial killer nemesis' mind. You could tell he's barely holding it together. And even though he would like nothing better than to see Sylar dead, it would be a sweet revenge for "Nathan" to be the one who destroys him, to have that one piece of "Nathan" remaining behind. Turns out Peter has more in common with his mother than he thinks. We've been told to expect an "epic" fight between Nathan/Sylar and Peter but knowing Heroes' history with "epic fights" and the budgets cuts, I just hope it's not to be reduced to a slapfest. So next week, tune in to see the Nathan/Sylar war finally come to a close, with a hero permenately dead (I don't even have to spoil anything on who it is) and Claire and Gretchen finding Samuel's whereabouts.