They saved the finest episode of the season for the season finale. Warning: SPOILERS This episode was incredibly well-written, and in true Heroes fashion, paves the way for the future of the series.

Pretty much every character made an appearance in this episode. DL, Nikki, and Micah escape with Mohinder and the "TRACKING DEVICE" Molly after Parkman and Mr. Bennett refuse to kill her. The entire escape builds up to the final confrontation with Sylar.

In a final confrontation with Sylar, Peter Petrelli's absorbed explosion powers are out of control, and while Sylar contends with the group of gathered people, Hiro makes his appearance and finally has the resolve to stab Sylar. However, presumably in his last instances, Sylar throws Hiro to prevent him from stopping Peter's explosion. As Claire steps out to shoot Peter, Nathan makes an appearance and together he and Peter fly up into the night sky, and Peter's explosion happens in the form of a visible cosmic nova.

At the end of the episode, we see the place where Sylar's body layed and a trail of blood leading to an open manhole in the sewer, and the recurring cockroach sits atop it. Hiro ends up in feudal Japan in between an ensuing samurai battle, and up in the sky, the eclipse seen in the opening instances of Heroes is occuring.

As with every episode of Heroes, more questions are presented. Who is the one person that Molly cannot track who is worse than the Boogie Man (Sylar)?. What role did the dying man in Peter's dream sequence play in the events? What becomes of a still-alive Sylar? Ladies and gentlemen, we are set for Volume Two of Heroes, I personally await it with baited breath.

As riveting of an episode as it can be. Definitely a slower pace than before the hiatus, but it gives us more time to ponder and theorize. And as always, many new questions are brought up. All of the seemingly-tangled writing is starting to come together, but, not without leaving more questions. The sense of suspense is most built around Claire this episode, as she struggles, once again, to find her real parents. She learns that her real mother was supposedly killed in a fire 14 years ago, and that her daughter (who was Claire) is supposedly killed with her. Near the end of the episode, we finally get to see her mother, whom Claire contacts over the phone, and learn that she has the ability to create fire (pyrokinesis). However, her father clearly is suspicious of her when he sees the wind chimes that she uses to arrange a meeting with the Haitian man who works for her father.

D.L. visits Niki in the ward, and convinces her to fight off Jessica, because of the family's need for her. Niki, who speaks with a psychiatrist, refuses to let her speak to Jessica, but relents at the prospect of her walking away. Micah, who used his power to cause an ATM machine to dispense cash, brings it back to his father, whom he tells that he has a power, although, we don't get to see him elaborate.

Hiro and Ando are tailed by men while returning to their car, and eventually captured. While in the van en route to their destination, a man hands them two first-class plane tickets back to Japan, but Hiro states that his heart is resolute in his quest, and that he will tell the man's boss the same thing... until we learn that the man's boss is Hiro's father.

Peter Petrelli speaks to the invisible man that we encountered at the end of Godsend, and tells him of the explosion, and asks him to help him control his powers. The man tells Peter to leave him alone, and not to follow him. Peter does anyway, and they meet up again at the roof of the building on which the invisible man lives. He once again refuses to help him, but when Mohinder and Nathan come looking for Peter, Peter escapes them by being pulled to the side by the invisible man, causing him too to be invisible. He claims that he helped other people learn to control their powers before, but that it is both rigorous and painful.

And as for poor Matt, he convinces his wife of his mind-reading abilities, and then goes to a hearing, in which he changes his mind about his report when he hears the thoughts of the panel. He changes his story, telling him that he lied because he was sick of a menial job of giving parking tickets and directing traffic. It still did not prevent him from having his badge suspended for 6 months. He returns home to his wife, who he finds is having a baby and plans to keep their marriage going at least for a little while.

Sylar, who has been kept by Claire's "father", is told that he died while the doctor was doing experiments. However, when he goes to see the body, it is that of the doctor, and the episode is ended with a free Sylar standing next to him, leaving us with the words, "How's Claire doing?"

The episode preview promises that we will meet Claire's real father in the next episode. Besides that, everyone's plot (except for maybe Niki's) is developing sharply. I can scarcely wait.

Cowboy Bebop is the prime example of an anime that gets everything right. From the very beginning, we become attached to our fluffy-headed protagonist, Spike Spiegel. The shows specialty is a seamless combination of genres. Not only are most episodes action-packed, (if not bordering on RIVETING), but every one is different from the last. You get episodes of horror (Toys in the Attic, Pierre Le Fou), episodes of comedy (Mushroom Samba, Cowboy Funk,) and everything in between such as mysticism (Boogie Woogie Feng Shui), kung-fu classics (Stray Dog Strut), film noire (Sympathy for the Devil), and many others. The most powerful episodes, however, are the ones involving the main characters' back story. Most of the episodes have no true connection to one another, they're just one excerpt that has no plot elements that connect. However, the show does have a continuing plot that revolves around Spike Spiegel's past, and the episodes that deal with it are nothing short of breathtaking.

It is hard to describe everything the show conveys, and all of the different styles to different episodes. I can say this though, you will laugh, you will (nearly) cry, you probably will get a little scared, but you certainly will be kept on the edge of your seat by beautiful animation, sharp dialogue, and an all-together gritty, grinding, greatness you'll just have to see to believe.

Not every episode is a masterpiece, but every one is great in its own way. Every show has flaws, but there are very few, and many many many more things to make up for them.

This is one of the finest episodes of the series. It is also, save for the finale, the only episode in which all the violence doesn't come with some air of joking or humor within the show. We are introduced at the very beginning to Pierrot Le Fou, a superhuman, Penguin-esque villain who murders relentlessly. After Spike's initial encounter with him (which nearly kills him), we get to delve deeper into his dark past. The flashbacks of experimentation reveal partly the inner clockwork of why Pierre is as psychotic as he is. The entire theme of the episode is dark, if not downright scary. Pierre is a memorable character, and his violence and attitude are haunting. And, before he meets his end, crying like a child on the ground, we almost feel sorry for him. The entire episode sticks with you. Very scary indeed.

One would expect a series that made us laugh and kept us on the edge of our seat would be able to conclude itself in the same manner. However, the conclusion to the series is very mediocre. The entire series lead up to the climatic confrontation between Vash and Knives, but the battle itself is brief. Despite that fact, it leaves us with an unsatisfying cliffhanger ending. Some of the dialog between Vash and Knives is very well written, and gives us a deeper look at each of the characters, but overall, this episode is nothing to write home about. A small blemish on a shining series.