Heroes: A Shot in the Dark

Though it wasn’t a (mostly-intentional) laugh-fest like last week’s episode, “The Art of Deception” continued building toward a season finale that (gasp!) may not totally suck!

Yes, yes, I’m aware that all “Heroes” season finales are required (maybe by law) to suck, but I’m still holding out hope.

I mean, it took most of the season, but Samuel has finally (and not a moment too soon) embraced his evil side.

The leader of the Sullivan Bros. carnival sensed a mutiny was on his hands after he decimated a good portion of a town. The rest of the carnies were looking to Lydia for leadership and Samuel needed to do something.

Fortunately for him, HRG was simultaneously planning an assault on the carnival. Claire went to visit her dad to try to make amends, but instead discovered her dad’s plans and went off to the carnival to try to warn them. To be honest, my favorite part of this sequence of events was Gretchen calling Claire out for constantly whining about wanting a normal life yet repeatedly putting herself in situations where she could get shot.

And that’s precisely what happened. Samuel claimed he was going to give himself up to HRG, who was crouched in a nearby hill with a sniper rifle. (The scene with HRG talking to Claire on the phone while he had her in his scope was sort of excellent.) Instead, sniper fire started raining down on the carnival, hitting Claire, Samuel and mortally wounding Lydia. R.I.P. Lydia – you were a sneakily important character this season that no one will actually miss. That’s just how “Heroes” rolls these days.

Samuel was able to pin Lydia’s murder on HRG (it was really the Replicating Man in those hills) and tossed him into the Hall of Mirrors. Meanwhile, Samuel also summoned Emma to the carnival to treat his gunshot wound. However, we know the REAL reason she’s there is to draw more “specials” to the carnival since, as Lauren helpfully reminded us, Samuel becomes more powerful when he has more people with abilities around him.

Once again, I can’t say how grateful I am that Samuel has gone into full-villain mode.

Which bring us to Sylar.

God bless Zachary Quinto for making this stuff entertaining. When Matt asked if Sylar was a part of his subconscious, Sylar replied with, “That’s SO two months ago.” It turns out that Sylar envied Matt because he could live a normal life with his powers (an interesting thought) and he wanted Parkman to somehow suppress all of Sylar’s abilities.

Two things: 1.) I’ve been over the idea of reforming/remaking Sylar as a good guy for a few years now, and Quinto’s performance is the only thing keeping me invested in anything this character does. 2.) Even if Matt had suppressed Sylar’s power, we all knew there was no chance in hell that would stick.

That’s why I actually really enjoyed it when Parkman trapped Sylar in his own brain (it makes me sad how they’ve squandered the potential of Matt’s power by making him such a whiny loser) and preparing to bury him alive.

Of course, Peter had to swoop in and ruin everything.

Personally, I thought it was interesting that Peter was dealing with his mom’s power and having those horrific dreams of the future. I think it sort of helps explain why Angela can be such a cold-hearted bitch. Anyway, there was no time for that because Peter had to save Sylar’s life, since Sylar is the person who saves the day in that Hall of Mirrors dream sequence (now featuring Doyle controlling Emma).

Peter went into Sylar’s brain to get him out and, by episode’s end, he was stuck in there. Unfortunately, Sylar’s brain looks like an eerily empty New York City street, so Peter might be looking around for a good while.

So what’d you think of this episode? Where did the Replicating Man get a sniper rifle? (Is he able to replicate those too?) Finally, why don’t you just admit it – you’d kind of forgotten that Tracy existed, right?