- Samuel's ultimate plan spells disaster for thousands.
- "Heroes" - "Chapter 18: Brave New World" - Feb. 8, 2010
We pick up with Claire and Noah in the trailer underground. Noah thinks they must have dropped 40-50 feet. They yell for help. Claire tries the door. We pull up and out and see Lauren walking right over the spot where they are, wondering where the Carnival went, she can't hear them.
Peter awakens outside the wall and Sylar busts through.
At his home in LA, Matt Parkman is raiding the fridge upstairs when the house shakes from Sylar freeing himself. Matt turns to find several of Eli the multiple-man standing there. Eli tells him he was sent to make sure his friends aren't a problem, neither is Matt. One of him talks to Parkman as one of him confronts Peter and Sylar on the basement stairs. Parkman suggests that Eli doesn't want to do it, but it doesn't work, so he tries to push the thought into Eli's head but his telepathy doesn't work on the duplicates. Matt grabs a kitchen knife to defend himself.
Samuel addresses his family saying that tonight will change everything. That they will show the world that normals should aspire to be like them, not the other way around. He says they'll pull back the curtain and after tonight they'll be respected. We pull back and are reminded that they are in Central Park.
Eli pins down and abuses Parkman, injuring his knee. The dupes each grab a knife and Parkman begs them not to do it. Suddenly they all begin to disappear, knives clattering to the floor. Peter arrives and helps Matt with his dislocated knee. Turns out that Sylar took care of Eli-Prime, who lands with a splat in the kitchen. Parkman asks what he's doing there.
At the carnival, Emma wanders the grounds and is greeted by Samuel. He says it's time for her to play her solo, that her music will bring people to the show. Emma says she now believes Peter's dream and that somehow her playing will kill thousands. He grabs her and says she disappoints him. She says she can't make him do anything. Ah, true, but Doyle the puppet master can and he emerges and seizes control of Emma saying, "I've always had a thing for blondes."
In the hospital, Hiro awakens and Ando tells him he had a lovely dream of the two of them and Kimiko back at Yamagoto. (yeahbuhwha?) Hiro agrees life was simpler then and that they can in fact get back to it if they fight for it. Ando wonders if Hiro is well enough to be up if his powers are back at full command. He flashes and goes back in time so Ando repeats himself, and says he is. Ando wants him to wait for the doctors to check him out, but Hiro says he's all done with doctors and they have to get the evil butterfly man. A nurse enters and hands him a note from a woman in another room. It says "Is it really you? come find me" and includes a room number and an origami crane, just like he made for Charlie in season one.
Parkman is confused. Sylar and Peter say it's a long story. Peter wants to know what's up with Samuel. Since only half a day has passed for Matt, he can't believe Sylar has changed and won't tell them. Still possessing Matt's telepathy, Peter reads the mind of the unconscious Eli and gets the New York plan out of him. He and Sylar turn to leave and Parkman says he can't allow it, trying to stop them with his mind, making Sylar change his mind.
Claire digs at the dirt surrounding them and Noah says they're too deep, that they'll run out of air before they dig themselves out. He says it's futile, for him anyway since her lungs will keep regenerating (not unless she can breathe dirt, she can't!). He says he thinks Samuel put her down with him so she could watch him die.
Emma plays her cello at the carnival under the bidding of Doyle.
Ando and Hiro roam the hospital. He enters the room number from the note and finds Charlie. She has aged 65 years. (She's now Martha Kent from Lois & Clark!)
Claire pleads with Noah to come up with a plan. He says there is no plan and he has to tell her about what she saw since she will get out of there. He says it was all true but it wasn't the whole truth, that we are all a product of our experiences. She tries to stop him. He tells her to stop trying to protect that's his job. And, she says, protecting her means that he believes that people like her can't live in the normal world? He says it doesn't matter what he believes since Samuel is about to expose them all. Claire says maybe it won't be so bad and the world is more ready than he thinks. He says there might be curiosity for awhile but once a single Sylar-type figure comes along the pitchforks will come out, he knows it, things change, people don't.
Back at Parkman's, they try to explain about the nightmare and how long it lasted. Sylar asks for a chance to redeem himself. Matt is reluctant. Sylar says he spent a long time in Matt's head so he knows what it means to be a good person. He tells Matt to come inside his and search for evil. Matt does, then says what he saw wasn't Sylar's heart, just his twisted mind. Sylar asks just to be given a chance. Matt reluctantly lets them go, Sylar's prior misdeeds outweighing the fact there are thousands of lives at stake. Matt then turns to the unconscious Eli and tells him mentally, you are going to do exactly what I tell you to.
Emma plays at the carnival and draws a huge crowd. (This ignores the fact she had to concentrate on Ian to draw him out, and she's currently distraught knowing people may die because of her playing. You'd think she would drive people AWAY.) Samuel gloats to Edgar about them. Edgar wonders what the people have come to see, their acts? Samuel says of course, the world has come to see them and it will be their biggest show ever and tonight will change everything. Edgar thinks Samuel is nervous about what is to come, but he plays it off as pre-show jitters. Edgar doesn't believe him, knowing his true intentions.
Back at the hospital, Charlie is explaining what happened. She walked out of the Burnt Toast Diner in Midland, TX, then was dumped by Arnold, Samuel's previous time traveler, in Milwaukee in 1944 where she got a job at a munitions factory, explaining the differences between several types before Hiro stops her. Hiro apologizes and says it was his fault for leading Samuel to her and it was because he loved her that Samuel sent her away.
Noah and Claire are having a heart to heart. He gets teary talking about how her coming into his life made him so happy and now he can die a happy man. He asks her to find a way to forgive him. She says she doesn't need to, she is who she is because of him, and she loves him. He begs her to promise to hide when she gets out, to pass as normal. He says it's his dying wish before he passes out. She desperately digs at the wall and a little water begins to pour through. That water turns into Tracy (fully dressed this time, not naked like every other time), who says Noah's not dying on her watch. They grab the oxygen-deprived Noah, and she says they've got to get him through 30 feet of dirt. She sticks her hand in the small hole from whence she came and says "I hope you can swim." She essentially floods them to the surface and a waiting Lauren. Lauren explains Samuel is in New York and that a chopper is on the way to take them. Claire says she's supposed to tell her father he owes Tracy one. The chopper shows up and they take off, leaving a muddy puddle of Tracy behind.
Charlie says Hiro shouldn't beat himself up and she's glad she got to see him again before she died. Her brain aneurysm was cured by his "doctor friend" (Sylar, back in "Once Upon a Time in Texas"), but now she's dying of old age. Hiro says he can fix it. Ando pulls him aside and says there is no such thing as stepping on a small butterfly and that he is going back to 1944 to not help Charlie, but himself. Hiro says he is.
Emma still plays the cello and blood begins dripping down the strings from her fingers, just like in Peter's dream. Noah and Claire have arrived and survey the scene, realizing with the huge crowd it's going to be a massacre. They split up and Noah tells Claire to be careful. Sylar and Peter arrive and he realizes it's looking like his dream. Sylar says it won't happen and Peter should go find Samuel while he goes to save Emma just like Peter said he would. He tells Peter to trust him. Noah calls someone and tells them to tell Hiro to get there quick, it's an emergency. Edgar comes up behind him and puts a knife to his throat. Sylar enters Lydia, the empathic tattoo girl's, trailer where Emma is playing and announces he's come to save her. He grabs the cello, but then Doyle takes control of him, pulling him away and asking him what brings him to New York.
Samuel surveys the crowd and the TV cameras. The carnival performers get ready as Claire busts in. She says they have to get as far away from Samuel as possible, that this isn't their coming out party, it's Samuel's. Samuel arrives and says she's no longer welcome. She tries to explain but Ian, the recently homeless guy who has the power to make plants grow, points out that Samuel has no reason to do that and that he created a home for them all.
Noah explains to Edgar that he doesn't want to hurt his family, just stop Samuel. Edgar pulls the knife from his throat and says if that's the case, he and Noah have the same goal. He asks what the plan is. Noah spies Eli across the fairway.
After meeting her granddaughter, Hiro explains his plan to Charlie. She says being young again sounds wonderful but that she's already had a life. She got married, had four kids, seven grandkids, had a wonderful life. She says if she went back now what would happen to all of her family? Ando calls Hiro to the hallway and says Noah just called for their help. Hiro looks back at Charlie, now with her family around her and realizes his work is done. Ando says that's good because destiny calls in the form of Samuel Sullivan in Central Park. Hiro blows Charlie a kiss and they blink out.
Sylar asks Doyle to please let them go. Doyle taunts him and asks if Sylar is a shape shifter and if he's changed. He scoffs at this. Doyle makes fun of Emma, turning just enough so she can't read his lips in profile. Emma realizes Doyle has turned his full attention to holding Sylar and she is free, and in striking one really big note, the power of the sound knocks Doyle to the ground. Sylar telekinetically grabs him and Doyle pleads with him, saying that Sylar is "one of us", Sylar disagrees saying he's here to save her and he's a hero now.
Claire and Samuel continue to argue, as she explains to the family members that they are the source of his power and that is why Joseph was keeping the family small, because he knew what Samuel was capable of, but if they walk away he will be nothing. Claire says Samuel killed his own brother. The family starts to murmur in disbelief. He says they won't believe her and that there isn't one person there who believes he'd be capable of killing Joseph. Edgar enters the tent and says there is one, that Lydia told him the truth before she died. Noah says two. Then Eli shows up and explains that Samuel had him kill Lydia. The Carnies all realize they've been used and begin to depart. He rails at them, yelling at their backs that they're victims like Joseph and that they should run as fast as they can because they'll never get far enough.
Samuel runs out to the crowd onstage and asks if they want a show, they cheer. He says this is the greatest show on earth and begins quoting various lines to get the crowd excited. He then begins to make the ground tremble. The crowd begins to run in a panic. Peter swoops in and knocks Samuel off his feet. Samuel begins to push the earth in front of him at Peter, but he stops it, having copied Samuel's power when he tackled him. The pair struggle for dominance over the small patch of earth. Samuel says the only way people will respect them is through fear, that respect is all that Peter's ever wanted, too, and that he was kept down by a brother just like Peter was. Peter says Nathan didn't let him down, he built him up.
Outside, the ground continues to move and Claire and the gang catch up with Hiro. She says he has to teleport them all out. He is daunted by the number of them but Ando says he can supercharge Hiro's power. They all grab hands and they wink out. Noah stays behind to help deal with Samuel...who has now used up his power with the loss of his people. Peter asks him how it feels. Not so good it turns out. He flails around screaming "you can't leave me! where are ya? you're nothing without me!" Noah catches up to Peter and says, "I gotta say, I never liked carnivals." Peter simply replies, "Yep."
We get a title card informing us that that was the "End Volume Five." Which is giving way, NBC willing, to "Volume Six: Brave New World"
Peter and Emma embrace on the fairway. She explains about Doyle and says his friend took care of him. They walk into a tent and Sylar has the puppet master trussed up between two poles by a string of lights. Doyle groans in defeat.
Claire returns to her father to see Samuel arrested by the CIA / NYPD and watch Lauren tell the media that it was a gas main break and everything else was special effects. Claire is exasperated that her dad still can't picture a world where specials live out in the open. He says she knows what will happen. The media runs over to them for an eyewitness statement, but Noah gives them a "no comment." They turn to Claire and at first she says, "What he said," but then she changes her mind. She says to her dad, "you're right, people don't change." She tells the cameras if they want to know what really happened tonight, to keep shooting her. She goes to climb the Ferris wheel as her dad calls after her. Lauren comes up to Noah and asks what Claire is doing. Noah replies, "breaking my heart."
After returning to the Carnival, Hiro tells Ando he's ready to go home, but then spies Claire, asking what is she doing?
Sylar is explaining to Peter how good it felt to save Emma, to have no thoughts for himself, or desire to kill Doyle. Peter is watching Claire, and asks what the hell she's doing, adding, "she's going to change everything." Sylar says beatifically yup, "it's a brave new world."
Claire reaches the top and takes a dive before the assembled media. They rush to her crumpled body. She pops up and pops her arm back into place. She says, "My name is Claire Bennet, and this is attempt number...heh, I guess I've kinda lost count." Noah deflates. She smiles into the cameras.
To be continued.... (?)
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