Heroes Vol 5 Ep 7 - Once Upon a Time in Texas

Welcome back to Texas. When we last left Hiro two episodes ago, he had gone back in time to save the one person he'd found in the world to love: Charlie, the girl from the diner with the encyclopedic fountain of knowledge in her head - which turned out to be a power. If you recall, she was killed by Sylar once he figured out she had a power.

In this episode, we pick up with Hiro as he arrives just in time to see Sylar enter the diner. He ends up saving her from Sylar only to have her start to succumb to her aneurysm. He makes a deal with Sylar - save Charlie, and Hiro will tell Sylar all about how he dies. Sylar saves Charlie by removing the aneurysm and Hiro tells Sylar that he will kill many people, but he will ultimately die alone; no one will mourn his passing.

So, Charlie is saved, but she's mad because she thinks it was selfish of Hiro to save her and risk the lives of thousands of other people.

I should mention that along the way, he meets both his past-self and Ando (it was nice to see Ando again). Both humorously commented upon his lack of a sword, a great throwback to those of us who've been watching since season 1.

The other big story was involving Noah. At this point in season 1's arc, he was investigating the future-painter who had drawn pictures of Claire's murder. We all know that part of the story, but what we didn't know was that during his investigation, he was being tempted by his partner. She was in love with him and wanted him to have an affair. We see him struggle throughout the episode with his devotion to his family and his obvious care for his partner - the biggest factor of that was that he didn't have to lie to her the same way he did with his family. In the end, he does the noble thing and declines her offer. Out of respect to his decision, she has the Hatian wipe the feelings and memories from her mind. This tale was particularly poignant in that we know what ultimately happens to Noah's family, and his blind hope that they can have a normal life here is uncomfortably sad.

I know that many people will disagree with me, but I thought this was a great episode - really well thought-out. The way the stories of Hiro and Noah parallel each other (and even intersect briefly) was fascinating, and the stories were, in their own ways, heartbreaking. I know it wasn't a balls-to-the-wall episode like we've seen in the last few weeks, but this was a welcome rest with some truly great character development.

But... where would I be without mention of Samuel??? The pieces of his plan are very slowly starting to come together, and we are starting to see why he is this season's very bad dude.

Back in the second episode of this season, he convinced Hiro that he needed to go back in time to fix all of his mistakes. Hence this whole save Charlie thing. Samuel uses Arnold, the almost dead time-traveler who works at the carnival, to send him back in time to monitor Hiro's progress. Which leads us right to... the cliffhanger ending!!

Charlie meets Hiro at the bar (where Hiro has just had a conversation with Noah) and says she's ready to travel the world with him. She disappears outside, Hiro following moments later.... only to find Samuel standing there. He confesses to having kidnapped Charlie, angering Hiro who travels back to present day. Samuel is impressed that Hiro has regained control of his powers, but all Hiro cares about is finding Charlie. In the process of looking for her, he finds Arnold, dead. Samuel confesses to working him to death. Arnold had the same brain tumor that afflicts Hiro, and Samuel's finally caused him to give in. His last act, according to Samuel, was to trap Charlie somewhere in time. The only way Samuel will tell Hiro where to look is if Hiro helps him undo a mistake he made eight weeks ago.

We see Samuel, apologizing to somebody. The camera turns, and we who I thought might have been Samuel's dead brother Jacob. But no, that's not it. It's actually the dead body of Mohinder. And suddenly, the question is answered as to why he has yet to be in the show.

Ka-BOOM. The show just got amazing. Maybe some more answers next week?

Anyway, best and worst time.
Best: Samuel killed Mohinder?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Hey, hey hey goo-ood bye!
Worst: Where is Ando? I kinda miss that dude!
Best Line: "The course of true love never did run smooth. It's a messy business, friend" -Noah, to Hiro