Heroes: The Things They Do For Their Kids

My remote control is lucky to survive last night's episode of "Heroes", after my least favorite character killed my favorite one. I think the only reason I didn't fling my remote against the wall is because I was completely stunned when it happened.

In fact, "Cautionary Tales" was probably my favorite episode of the season so far, making for two consecutive very strong (non-flashback) episodes. That bodes well for where the season is going, but I also can't help but notice neither of these episodes featured the Wonder Twins or any of the other surplus garbage clogging this season.

Instead, last night was probably one of the most emotional episodes ever, starting with a fierce fight between Claire and Noah, after the father announced they were moving again. Claire, wanting to stay with West, objected and eventually left her father after declaring that she hated him. Although the dialogue was slightly melodramatic and it was basically a "Heroes"-up version of a typical father-daughter fight over a boyfriend, the exchange was saved by the strong performances of Jack Coleman and Hayden Panettiere (pictured, left), who have real chemistry as father and daughter.

Also having great chemistry were Masi Oka and George Takei. It nice that Takei got the chance to play Kaito Nakamura one more time after a distraught Hiro traveled back one week in time to save his father. Kaito, of course, refused Hiro's help even after his son took him back to his mother's grave to remind him how much it hurt to lose someone. Eventually, Kaito told Hiro that just because they "had the power of gods, didn't mean they should play God." Well said, sir.

I really liked that Takei got the play the more approving side of Kaito toward the end (as opposed to the stern father when he was introduced) and their final scene together when Kaito tells Hiro that he's proud of him right before he meets his death was one of the best from a very good episode. Also, I actually kinda cheered when Hiro stopped time and we actually found out who the killer was (LOVED Hiro's reaction when he saw it was his hero-turned nemesis Kensei) instead of having it drag on for another week or two.

Now that he's locked away in a nightmare room, Matt doesn't have to worry about his father anymore. However, Papa Parkman DID impart a bit of useful wisdom to Matt before he revealed himself to be fully evil — Parkman's abilities can develop, as they did last night. Instead of pulling people's thoughts from their head, he's able to push his own onto other people and have them do what he wants, first with Molly, then his boss and, eventually to Angela Petrelli. This was another rock-solid scene with Angela (Cristine Rose is great on this show) cautioning Matt that he was getting close to becoming like his dad.

Later, the show displayed some refreshing subtlety when it was revealed that the name of the woman in the picture is Victoria Pratt and Matt had ignored Angela's pleas and maybe nudged a bit toward the dark side.

Having slightly less chemistry as parent and child were Bob and, as was confirmed last night, his daughter Elle, who was assigned to be Mohinder's new partner. I lost track of how many times Mohinder has flip-flopped his allegiances, but last night it seemed like he was resigned to help capture Claire so they could use her blood to cure Nikki, (why does he care so much about curing Nikki again?) even if that meant killing Noah, which was part of his assignment.

Eventually, the show actually delivered with the action (which it sadly fails to do on a regular basis). After some questionable flying effects when West took Noah for a ride to find out if Claire had really betrayed him, we got some cool hero on hero action with West taking out Elle and later Elle turning around and taking out West and Claire as they tried to fly away and escape.

Then there was the shot hear 'round the world (well, my living room instead). Even though the first of Isaac's paintings came true (Mohinder holding the gun), I was holding out hope that something would happen to stop the second one from becoming true. Just to illustrate how essential Jack Coleman is to this show, try to imagine another actor saying the line "Did you remember to pack Mr. Muggles' doggy bath?" and make it sound half as badass as he did.

So obviously I was thrilled and genuinely surprised (nice one writers!) when it was revealed that Claire's blood was being used to bring Noah back to life. Still — Mohinder's dead to me.

So what'd you think of last night's episode? How long do you think it took Claire to gather enough rocks to put together that cheesy "Sorry" sign for West? Is West now firmly a good guy after it was teased that he might use his power for evil? How cute was young Hiro? Who in the world would give Mohinder a gun?!

Finally, who is keeping Noah alive? Is it Mohinder? (since it appears Noah is stashed away in some secret room) Maybe they came up with the plan in those few minutes when they were alone together in Noah's car. Or are Bob and the company keeping Noah alive in case Claire doesn't want to cooperate or out of some sort of compassion (in case you didn't get it from last night's hints, Bob and Noah are different sides of the same coin)?