Stranger, stop and cast an eye

As you are now, so once was I

As I am now, so you will be

Remember Death and follow me.

 

 

YAAAAAAAAAAAY, Heroes.  I love this show.  Love it love it love it.  The episode starts off with Hiro and Ando in Africa now....I bet they'll get to spirit walk too.  Find a turtle.  Yeah.  So anyway, Hiro doesn't want to go back in time.  Stop making stupid suggestion Ando.  The African guy asks, will you choose your own path or will it choose you?  That question doesn't really make any sense....does it?  Back in the Spider's Parlor and Suresh is mad at Nathan and Tracy for messing up his evil scientist experiments.  He needs a sample of their blood...and they're like.....uh, no.  So he un-velcros (that's a word, I looked it up in Websters) Maya from the wall and flies out the ceiling.  That was kind of overdramatic...but whatever.  Peter is at Pinehearst, locked up with no great Abilities.  They are gone forever...which I highly doubt.  Papa Petrelli tells him he needs to help them with the Greater Good.  The Greater Good?  That sounds very Hitler, doesn't it?  The Greater Good....actually it reminds me of Hot Fuzz and yes, I know I had that clip up on the site for about a million years but I love that movie.  Anyway.  Peter says, I'm going to make you pay for hurting my mother, and Papa replies - You're grounded.  <chuckle>  I'm sure that was supposed to be ironic, and not just dumb.  Claire Bear and her fake mom are home after defeating the Creepy Puppet Guy.  Mom says, I'm very proud of you.  Awwwwwwwww....and just when you think everything is going to be ok, the lights start flickering in the house.  Claire Bear's brother is passed out.  And there she is - the Static Cling girl, Elle.  Elle appears to be shorting out.  She tries to shock Claire Bear, but of course she can't feel anything.  And then Lyle dumps a bucket of water on her...well, that was handy.  Elle Bell says, I need help.  Hmmmmmmmmmmmm....Claire Bear is a Hero............that means she has to help her.

 

So Mohinder has made it to Pinehearst with Maya, apparently on the recommendation of Flash Fancypants.  Papa Petrelli sucks the abilities out of her and Maya's really happy about it, but she still doesn't want to see Mohinder.  You mean...because he's a freakin' monster!!  Ok, so now Papa Petrelli wants Mohinder's help with the Formula.  He bribes Mohinder into thinking if he solves the problem, he will end up helping himself.  But of course, we know that's not true after seeing the future.  Suresh agrees though and says, in a super creepy way, I need test subjects.  Ewwwww <shiver>.  Mama Petrelli and Sylar are both in comas.  But Mama manages to appear to Sylar in some kind of dream state.  She tells him to go help his brother.  And Sylar is like what are you talking about, I am incapacitated.  Mama says, oh no, you don't know the half of what you're capable of...she says get with the program and make me proud.  So he wakes himself up, rips the tubes out and goes to save Peter.  I am a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan.

 

The Claire Bear and Elle Bell show has begun.  The two of these characters together was actually kind of funny.  Claire Bear is like, is there something wrong with you?  Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  Elle Bell says, your dad always had the answers.  Some girl told me to go to Pinehearst for help, but I wasn't sure...and of course Claire Bear still has that Pinehearst business card from Vorty.  Elle Bell can feel nothing but pain and Claire Bear can't feel any pain...so they decide to go together.  And Elle Bell goes, well Dorothy, we're off to see the Wizard.  Oz references will be around until the end of Time, won't they?  But back at Pinehearst, Flashy is trying to defend her decision to not recruit Parkman.  So Papa Petrelli tells Flashy she has to go back and kill Parkman.  And now Papa Parkman is upset.  He says, that wasn't the deal, it was his safety for my loyalty.  So Papa Petrelli kills Papa Parkman.  Huh.  Just like that, huh?  Claire Bear's fake mom says Pinehearst sounds like a dishwashing detergent.  HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.  She thinks Claire Bear should call her father, which of course is what she should do, and which of course she doesn't do.  Back at Parkman's place and Flashy shows up to kill him, but can't do it.  Then he reads her mind and finds out his father is dead. 

 

Peter is apparently going to be Mohinder's new test subject.  This would be an excellent time for Sylar to save him.  Hellooooooooooooooooooo.  Peter is trying to convince Mohinder that he has seen the future and Suresh ends up as a monster warning Peter to prevent this from happening.  If I didn't know better, I wouldn't believe it either Suresh.  And just before Suresh can jab him with the needle, Sylar is there.  He throws Mohinder against the wall and then he kills the random scientist guy in the room.  Peter seems surprised Sylar is there, and Sylar is like, dude that's what brothers do.  <smile>  Ok, so he didn't say dude.  And then Mohinder attacks again, Peter gets away and Sylar is getting his head bashed in.  Papa Petrelli shows up and says, stop that's my son.  I guess Suresh is the only character on the show that didn't know that yet.  Peter keeps running though and gets away.

 

Back at the Spider's Parlor, Nathan and Tracy are waiting for the clean-up crew.  Tracy thinks they need to help the pod people, which of course isn't a good idea.  One of them tries to strangle her when Papa Bennett shows up and stuns him.  Papa B is like, I told you not to touch them.  And then Fire Mom walks in, his new partner....and of course Nathan's ex.  This is interesting.  Fire and Ice.  Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.  Claire Bear and Elle Bell are flying to Pinehearst, but Elle Bell keeps short circuiting and now she might crash the plane.  Claire Bear holds her hand though and all the electricity goes into her...which of course she can't feel.  And the plane doesn't crash and they save everyone from imminent death.

 

Back at Parkman's place and Flashy thinks they should run.  Parkman says no.  Fear guy shows up and is too strong for Flashy, he knocks her unconscious.  Then Parkman goes all bad ass on him, says I'm going to rip out your worst fear and make it eat you alive.  Wowee...that sounds scary.  But then the Fear guy turns it all around and kills him.  Huh?  Parkman's dead?  <infuriatingly timed commercial>  Oh no...he's not dead.  It was an illuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuusion.  I get it.  Does that mean Papa Parkman illuded (look it up in Websters) Flashy earlier and he's not really dead either?  Parkman wants to stop the bad guys, he says Primatech can help.

 

Peter is running amok in Pinehearst.  Papa Petrelli is levitating Sylar and he says, your mom isn't as great as you think she is....she tried to kill you when you were a baby.  Oh really?  That actually makes more sense.  Papa Petrelli tells Sylar needs to learn the truth about her.  Maya is leaving and Suresh is trying to say I'm sorry....but she's not buying it.  Bye Maya...I've been waiting for you to get off this show for a while now.  So annoying.  She says, get better.  Physician, heal thyself.  And she also said she's going to make amends for everything...so unfortunately.....we'll probably see her again.  Claire Bear and Elle Bell are at Pinehearst to get their help.  Peter see Sylar and Sylar says, we need to believe Papa Petrelli.  <confused look>  That doesn't make any sense...the guy talked to him for about 30 seconds....and converted already?  I'm not buying it.  So Sylar throws Peter out the window.  WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?!?!?  This show doesn't make sense anymore.  I'm starting to get annoyed.  Peter falls like 11 stories.......and isn't dead, but he has no Abilities, so that doesn't make sense either.  Claire Bear goes to help him, but Elle Bell is excited because she heard him say, 'they took away my abilities', which is all she wants.  So Elle Bell goes inside, and Claire Bear gets Peter in the car.

 

Sylar tells Papa Petrelli that Peter will never give up.  Never surrender!!  <smile>  Papa is like, yeah whatever....but how did he survive the fall in the first place.....hmmmm....Sylar acts very suspicious about this.  The Flashy calls Papa Petrelli and we find out she's actually his spy and did the whole act to get Parkman in on the deal.  Oh man....that sucks.  Peter thinks Sylar used his abilities to slow Peter's fall and saved his life.  Nathan and Tracy show up and Peter breaks the news that Papa Petrelli is still alive.  Nathan doesn't believe it and wants to go to Pinehearst, but Peter doesn't think it's a good idea.  He says, promise me you won't go and Nathan promises and then as soon as he's out of the room, he tells Tracy they're going.  Does Nathan know that Sylar is their brother?  I don't think Peter told him that.....Tracy apparently has been getting 'consultant fees' from Pinehearst for the last year.......that seemed like such a random piece of information.....like they had to add it for some kind of story twist.  We'll see.  Nathan says, oh I won't need your help getting in, I'm going to be kicking down the doors.  Hehehe.  Ok. 

 

The show ends with Hiro and Ando still in Africa.  The African guy has mixed up some turtle poop drugs and Hiro is going on a little white-eyed trip.  Hmmmmmmmmmmm....wonder what he'll see.

 

The title to this episode was 'Eris Quod Sum', which is of course latin for 'You Will Be What I Am'.  According to Wiki, this is from a Horace quote 'Eram quod es, eris quod sum.'  It was seen a lot on early New England gravestones.  I was who you are - you will be what I am.  Father to son.  An endless cycle.  Fate.  Inevitability.  We've seen the sons gain power and become more like their fathers.  While the daughters seem to get weaker and lose control.  That's also interesting.  And then of course, there's Mohinder.  Our Every Man.  He wants to be a Hero with none of the side effects.  I think Parkman's dad is still alive.  I think Sylar saved Peter.  I think the battle between Primatech and Pinehearst is nigh.  The sides are starting to take shape.  I think whatever Hiro sees will stay a secret.

 

This episode was kind of scattered and frustrating.  I hope they don't do that again.

 

Later gators,

Heather

So after an excruciating Friday afternoon commute home behind the slowest people on the planet, the Hubby called me on my cell phone.  Hang on...we need to talk about the commute.  People...<sigh>....you need to learn what the gas pedal does in your car.  Instead of choosing civility, you need to be choosing urgency....to mirror the urgency I have for getting home to some nice relaxing me-time.  I got none of that on Friday....first because of all the slow-as-molasses drivers out there.  People were driving in a fog, through glue, with their eyes shut, hoping they would magically make it home.  If I've never mentioned this before...I don't like people very much and I especially don't like people driving very much.  Now, once I got home, the Hubby called and reminded me of our plans for the evening.  Plans I had apparently blocked from memory because they sounded too ridiculous and too boring to focus much energy on.  So he told me like a week ago that we had been invited by some friends to a high school football game.  Not just any high school football game....a high school football game at my alma mater - Damascus High.

 

These so-called friends of ours have children who go to Seneca High in Germantown.  Their daughter is a cheerleader, so naturally they go to all of these events and pretend to care about football.  I care about football too...real football, not pretend football.  You know, because everything you did in high school was pretend.  But the Hubby made some ridiculous Man-Bet about shaving his legs if Damascus lost so he had a pretty vested interest in the outcome.  Going to a high school football game...especially a game at my old high school....was about the last thing I wanted to do after a long week in Audit-Land.  You see, there are two types of people out there - people who had a good high school experience, and people who would rather pretend to be dead than go to their reunion.  I'm the latter.  High school was ok....I mean nothing traumatic happened.  It just wasn't that cool....or I guess, to be more accurate, I wasn't that cool.  I had a twin sister, which apparently made me some kind of oddity.  I was the stage manager of all the high school plays, shushing loud and obnoxious pretend-actors.  I wrote disturbing teenager death poetry for the school's literary magazine.  I coasted through math class until I got to calculus and was pretty convinced calculus was code for some kind of made-up torture my sadistic teacher used to give his life meaning.  Science was gross and boring.  I didn't need to know anything about molecules or frog brains.  And everything I need to know about physics I learned from being the most uncoordinated person on the planet.  Gym class was by far and away my own personal inferno.  Volleyball and badminton and lifting weights and hating my round pumpkin sized body which matches my round pumpkin sized head.  I'm not sure who exactly taught me I should hate myself in high school....probably the same girl who bought stock in Aquanet.

 

Anyway, that was high school.  I went to a few football games in high school.......and although I am trying to think really hard about this now....I can't really remember why I went to those games.  Probably to pretend I was cool, or give myself another opportunity to hate myself.  I went to more lacrosse games and volleyball games than football games.  The Hubby played volleyball and football in high school.  And yes, I did go to a few of his games even though I hated him then.  I'm sure it wasn't to see him...I'm sure it was for some other reason.  High school football in Damascus is a very serious affair.  This little cow town on the outskirts of Montgomery County is very VERY serious about its high school football.  The town basically shuts down on Fridays.  Everybody and their brother and uncle and great great grandmother is at the game.  Oh....and all the eight thousand kids that apparently go to that high school now go too.  Of course, when you're a teenager and you're at a high school football game, pretty much the last thing you're doing is watching the game.  That's what your parents are doing...not you, you're too cool.

 

So now that I'm old enough to go to a high school football game and actually watch some football, I could seriously care less.  The Seneca team are Eagles...which is kind of a cool mascot.  Magestic, symbolic, cool.  The Damascus team are hornets.  <pause>  Yeah....we're bugs.  I never thought that was a very cool mascot and I still don't.  Who is seriously intimidated by a hornet?  You just squash them if you see them.  They may sting you first, but then you're definitely killing them.  <shaking my head>  We drive in to Cow Town, USA and I am starting to experience post-traumatic stress symptoms like the urge to turn the car around and immediately drive home.  The Hubby pointed out that this was not an option since the hairiness of his legs is threatened.  After we find a parking spot in some outlying community and trudge the fourteen miles back to the high school, where I have to remind the Hubby you are no longer allowed to smoke on school property, I realize I have way too many clothes and jackets on for the 55 degree weather we are experiencing.  You know, it's practically November so naturally I assumed it would be freezing out...but no, it's not and now I have to carry my winter jacket and a stadium blanket around all night.  This is about the time I start trying to put myself back into the trance-like state that allowed me to survive high school in the first place....but it's too late, we're here.

 

The first thing I notice, that I hadn't noticed previously, is that teenagers never pay attention to anything.  I am not an overly imposing silhouette....I am often overlooked, so people running into me occasionaly is not very surprising.  But I am not normally getting run smack into, like you were walking into a clear sliding glass door.  People don't normally try to walk through me like I am a figment of their imagination or on me like a door mat.  People wouldn't do that because people are observant, unlike teenagers whose eyeballs apparently are not functioning properly yet.  And there is nothing that sounds more like your parents than some short round woman carrying a huge pile of blankets shouting 'EXCUSE ME!'  <sigh>  Of course I was mumbling under my breath R-rated profanities about the little f*****s.  And come on....let's please not pretend like your angel-children don't use that word....step back into the dimension called Reality for a moment and don't be offended by that.  After getting flattened and run into about four thousand times, we reached the bleachers where all the Damascus Folk and parents are sitting only to realize they are no seats left because this is Damascus and unless you got here three hours ago....you're out of luck.  I did find out that Damascus chose to play this particular game for their Homecoming which would also probably explain why it was so stupidly crowded.

 

So we walk to the other side of the bleachers.  Where we can watch the game.  Or rather, he can watch the game and I can pretend I am in hell watching my own face slowly melt off....which would have been more enjoyable than this night is turning out to be....the Hubby is screaming at the tiny little football midgets.  Seriously, they were tiny.  Not that I'm one to talk....I stopped growing upwards in the fourth grade.  But after being indoctrinated into the NFL-Sunday football religion....these little tiny people seem extremely.....well, tiny.  The hornets are getting squashed and the Hubby is starting to panic....remember, leg shaving is at stake here.  So in order to dull the anxiety of the impending razor burn, he decides this would be a great opportunity to break into our old high school and run amok.  This is exactly what he was like in high school....totally ignoring the rules.  <shaking my head>  Well, of course I hated him.....I mean, <sigh> rules are there for a reason people.  But when the Hubby decides he wants to do something, no amount of passive wife-complaining or annoyed looks can dissuade him.  He casually lifts up the bright yellow "DO NOT CROSS THIS LINE" rope plastered around the bleachers and tells me to look like I belong there.  Oh dear Jesus....why in the world do I want to be back in this building?  Oh that's right.....I don't.

 

So after we walk into some door on the side of the building that was wide open (so much for security), we start wandering around the hallways.  Some of it looks disturbingly familiar, but most of it doesn't.  The lockers look ridiculously tiny, but they're a different color than I remember.  And the library looks laughably small with little chairs and little tables.  They've added so much to this building, that a lot of it wasn't here when I was here....which I think makes this whole reminiscing process a little less painful.  So I start to pretend like high school wasn't that bad.  We walked by all the custodians, who could have cared less that we were in there.  We walked up and down stairs that I must have walked up and down a million times.  Even the steps seemed small.  The gym was on the opposite side of the building when I was there, and we did not walk down to the auditorium where all the drama club memories would have probably made me smirk a little.  But it wasn't as awful as I would have expected.  We heard some yelling outside, and figured we should probably check on the game, just in case a miracle happened and the Eagles were abducted by aliens leaving the squashed Hornets victorious by default. 

 

That did not happen.  The yelling was for a first down....which kind of proves how bad the game was.  We walked over to the visiting team's side of the field to say hello to our so-called friends and congratulate their daughter on being cool.  And really before I knew it, it was the fourth quarter.  Apparently they use tiny minutes to go with the tiny players, and the game just flew by.  In the fourth quarter, the Hornets staged a comeback.  With a few minutes left, they had a chance to win the game.  And the air was suddenly.....electric.  Maybe it had been the whole time...or maybe I just noticed.  But it really was quite something, looking at the faces of all the Damascus Folk and the parents and the cheerleaders and the coaches and the announcers and the cops keeping everything in order.  You looked at their faces, and they all looked the same.  Concern.  Excitement.  Hope.  These kids could win....their homecoming game, a few days after a tragic car accident, with a second-string quarterback because their starter broke his collar bone a few weeks earlier....these underdogs....these high school kids.....could win.  And I suddenly found myself pretending to care....

 

Fourth down, it was a pass play.  And this kid, this back-up quarterback with the world on his shoulders, threw an interception.  I kind of felt bad for the kid...but I didn't have much of a chance to be empathetic because the Hubby was howling and moaning about the now certain leg-shaving he would have to endure due to the lost Man-Bet.  So after about thirty more seconds of pretend-football, the pretend-game was over.  The announcer garbled out something that we couldn't hear over the screaming green Eagles fans, as we started trudging the twenty eight miles back to where the car was parked.  Some people would go back to high school if they had a chance, they'd do it all over.  For some people high school was the highlight of their lives.  For me?  Not so much.  But after going to this game, I was reminded, without much warning, of my own high school musical.  The last musical our little drama club performed my senior year.

 

What good is sitting alone in your room?  Come here the music play.  Life is a cabaret, old chum.  Only a cabaret, old chum.  And I love a cabaret.

 

<smile>  I do, you know.  I love a cabaret.  And probably more important than hating myself (which we women don't really need any special help with) high school taught me to love the cabaret.

 

And to never ever go back.

 

Later gators,

Heather

So we're back at Team Tooth after the booting of GC the Quitter.  Everybody is mopey and depressing.  This team is so ridiculously pathetic.  I have less than zero pity for them.  Ace is now scheming to take over the whole team...I don't think that will be too terribyl difficult.  Honestly.  These people are mindless drones.  Mindless hungry loser drones.  Someone come up with one semi-decent idea and you will triumph over these idiots.  Speaking of which, Matty Patty is telling the Camera Guy that he's playing for his girlfriend.  She means everything to him.  <pause>  If she meant everything to you Peppermint Patty, you would have proposed and she would be your fiancee, not your girlfriend.  <shaking my head>  So anyway, since Matty Patty is so desperate to win, he makes a pact with Ace, each of them swearing on the lives of loved ones to stay faithful to the pact.  This is always the point in the show where the Hubby finds it necessary to point out to me that if he ever made a pact like that, I shouldn't expect him to keep it if a million dollars was on the line.  I'm glad he feels this way, because that means I don't have any guilt over feeling the same way.  Seriously?  It's a game.  And if you're the sucker who wants to believe that anything I say is not a lie....well go right ahead.  Losers are always gullible.  Anyway, back to the loser alliance - they agree to keep Sugar and Ken.  Kelly and Crystal will be the next up on the chopping block.  <sigh>  If they lose again....

 

Over at the Evil Empire, Finding Himself Dan is starting to piss everyone off because he keeps stuffing his face.  This tribe is unbelievable.  They have a surplus of food...and they're getting snipey about a few extra helpings?  I love watching people stranded out in the middle of nowhere...they get these hyper-strong senses of justice and reason.  Everything is blown way out of proportion.  Love it.  Of course they're absolutely right when it comes to Dan.  That guy is annoying and his smile is creepy and he's got the crazy eyes.  He definitely needs to go.  But...the Evil Empire will never lose so that will have to wait for the merge.  Over with the loser Teeth, they think they have about six days of rice left.  <shaking my head>  Ace tells Sugar Spice that everyone knows she has the idol, and so her brilliant plan to thwart the other losers is to give her idol to Ace.  I think he must have hypnotized her into acting this retarded.  But now it's time for the Reward Challenge.

 

Both teams are tethered together to a big 200 pound snake-like thing.  The tribes start at opposites sides of an oval track.  They have to carry the snake and run around, the first team to catch the other team in front of them wins.  Tribe members can drop out if they get too tired, but of course that leaves more weight for the remaining tribe members.  This one is a no-brainer...but the reward is food and so you'd think the Teeth would be amped up for it.  The reward includes coffee....which is really one of the only sticking points to me sending in an audition tape for this show.  No coffee for more than a month?!?!?  I would go stark raving mad if I have to do that....no coffee.....that's just nuts.  So anyway, they win coffee and croissants and lots of other stuff that is guaranteed to make them sick to their stomachs after so long with no sugar.  <chuckle>  These producers have an evil sense of humor.  The challenge starts and it looks like the Teeth might be doign ok....at least it looked that way for about 4 seconds.  Then they started dropping likes flies.  And who can blame them?  They haven't eaten anything....they have no energy....poor Matty Patty and Ace are lefts trying to carry the whole 200 pounds by themselves.  And at that point it was just a matter of time...time meaning about half a minute before the Evil Empire won yet again.  So Jeffy poo makes the Evil Empire eat in front of the teeth because he's so sadistic.  The Wedding Hater makes a big show of it and makes Crystal cry.  Oh dear Jesus...why are they so pathetic?  Why is their always one pathetic team?  Oh, and Sugar Spice is heading back to Exile.  But you knew that already.

 

Back at the Evil Empire and in order to make sure Finding Himself Dan doesn't hoover up all the food for himself, the tribe decides the "fairest" thing to do would be to divide up the pastries among everybody and skip dinner for the night.  Dan thinks that will leave him hungry at night.  <chuckle>  Spoiled much?  The Wedding Hater thinks it might be a good idea to start distancing himself from this impending disaster (i.e., Dan).  Yeah....I think that's a great idea at this point.  Out on Exile, Sugar Spice is upset that she has all this food and the rest of her tribe is starving to death.  Why she doesn't try to smuggle food out, I don't know.  Ok so back at the loser Teeth tribe, Matty Patty wants to work work work, so they can rest rest rest tomorrow.  So Kelly leeches onto Ace to explain to him why Crystal is a big baby and why she should go.  Ace does, to his credit, seem less than convinced by Kelly's evil argument.  Crystal and Kenny are back at camp being losers; Crystal continues to defend crying.  There's nothing wrong with crying when you're such a loser....people kind of expect it.  So Crystal runs off after Kelly and Ace to explain that she is not a quitter...just passionate.  Ok.  I know she's not a quitter....and if she bothered to explain to people that she is a real competitor/Olympian, then they may understand. 

 

The Evil Empire caught a turtle and cooked it and ate it.  I don't know why this bothered me....but it did.

 

Time for the Immunity challenge.  It's a relay race.  In teams of two, the tribes have to retrieve pieces from the jungle.  Once they get all the pieces, they have to construct some kind of flag pole.  Or something like that...it's a relay race/obstacle course.  The loser Teeth seem kind of amped up to win, as usual.  Sugar and Kelly go first and it seems like they're doing really well...until Kelly completely dies at the end of their turn.  She gives the Evil Empire a bit of a lead.  The last leg of the race is Matty Patty and Kenny against Hollywood and Finding Himself.  Matty Patty gets a lead by climbing over the obstacle, instead of trying to get through it....and they get back to the mat first.  But putting the flag pole together is where this race is going to get won (that is probably the worst sentence I have ever written)...and Ace is hogging the pole pieces from everybody, probably completely confident that he can win this challenge for everybody and be the hero.  Of course he's wrong.  Of course they lose, because they're losers.  And of course, Jeffy poo makes fun of them.  I am so mad this loser team lost again....it makes me sick to watch now.

 

So...Ace and Matty Patty are trying to decide who to boot.  Ace says it must be Kelly but Matty Patty wants to flush out the idol and get rid of Sugar.  Ace says, in a less than subtle way, that Matty Patty has nothing to worry about.....you know, because Ace has the idol.  And oblivious Matty Patty doesn't realize what he's saying.  Now when he tells everyone else who to vote for....they all start to get skeptical about his apparent allegiance to Ace.  So Crystal tells Kenny that they needs to get rid of Ace....which would be a great idea....but when has this loser tribe ever followed through on a great idea?  Never.  So Kenny goes to talk to Sugar Spice and she just blabs out that she gave the idol to Ace.  And Kenny, with mouth hanging open, is like....what the hell are you thinking?!?!?  He tells her to get it back, which she does.

 

Time for Tribal.  Matty Patty thinks the tribe is cursed.  Listen....if anyone is cursed it's the Evil Empire Turtle Murderers.  Those people will be haunted for the rest of their lives.  Kelly says their is no team work.  Crystal blames Ace for losing the challenge.  Ace accepts the blame.  Then Kelly calls Crystal unstable.  Oh no you di-idn't.  Heehee.  Crystal goes crazy....like a really......unstable person.  She tells Crystal that normal human beings get upset when they continuously lose.  So Kelly tries to pull Ace into the argument saying he agrees with Kelly, and he's like oh no....that's not going to work.  So on the note, it's time to vote.  Once the votes are read, the decision is final.  The person voted out will have to leave the tribal council area immediately.  Kelly votes for Crystal...but everyone else votes for Kelly.  <sigh>  Another golden opportunity wasted.  This team sucks.

 

Later gators,

Heather

 

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

 

by - Dylan Thomas

Time for Heroes.  The Hubby seems to be getting tired of this show.  He says it should be more about the Heroes and less about the Villains.  I'm sure some people agree with that....but not me.  The title of the episode is "Dying of the Light".  It's from a Dylan Thomas poem called 'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night'; I'll post it next for you uneducated heathens.  The poem refers to Thomas' father, military man on his death bed, and how he should be fighting to the death.  Fight for your life.  Fight as long as you have life in you.  But at the same time know that the fight is pointless.  It's a fight you can't win....but some of those fights are the most important.  When the fighting is more important than the winning.  It is about losing your father.  It is about that fear and helpless anger.  Some people want to die, when they are ready...they want to just close their eyes and fall asleep forever...but every child, deep down in some, will always be screaming these thoughts.  Don't go.  Fight against it.  Stay with me...even if you stay to curse me or to bless me.  Just stay with me.  I'm not ready to not have a dad....

 

And on that note, let's get to it.  The voiceover is back with Suresh, talking about the traveler and the path he chooses, and whether the path was worth taking....and sometimes, without realizing it, the path can lead you to an entirely different destination than you were expecting.  Yeah, yeah....we get it.  No one is where they thought they would be.  And Parkman has a turtle.  <tilting my head, inquisitively like I'm looking at a person who carries their pet turtle onto an airplane>  Alrighty then.  The real action starts back at the bar.  Remember Hiro killed Ando during the last episode.  Well, right off the bat they show us how he faked it...blipping to a magic shop that he magically knew how to find and getting a trick sword and fake blood and blipping to earlier in the night to warn Ando to pretend to be dead.  So he didn't kill him.  But Flashy thinks he did, and she is totally annoyed.  Hiro wants to meet the Leader of the Villains, but Flashy says, oh no.  You get an assignment, just like everyone else.  He has to capture the African guy, yeah Parkman's African visionary guy.  Of course...how do you sneek up on someone who knows you're coming.....

 

Now Claire Bear wants to save the Firestarter and Mama Bennett wants to help...one of us and one of them.  <shaking my head>  Oh, that's no good.  Switch over to the creepy puppet guy and we find out that he's done this to Firestarter before.  He just wants her to love him...ewwwwwwwww.  That guy is gross.  Now we're back at the mysterious Pinehearst insane asylum (I realize it's not an asylum...but it does sound like it should be one, right?)...the Fear Guy has Adam and he's leading him down the hallway.  Adam is not afraid of him....obviously because he can't die.  But then Adam sees Papa Petrelli and totally freaks out.  He tries to get out of the room, but he just made Fear Guy strong....so now he has to stand next to the bed and Papa touches him....sucks all the Life out of him....Adam poofs away into dust a la Joss Whedon vampires.  And now Papa is alive and well....he says, it feels good to breathe again.  Well, yeah, I guess so.  I assume this means he has the healing powers that Adam had....so, like Peter and Sylar, he can absorb powers from people.  That makes a lot of sense.

 

So Flashy is at the airport to find Parkman and is having second thoughts about this whole 'bad guy' thing.  Linderman appears and says, you can't leave...otherwise that thing we give you, we won't give you anymore...or something like that.  It was very cryptic.  But they obviously have something on her that will keep her loyal to the Pinehearst asylum.  Parkman is off the plane and talking to his turtle (smile) when he sees Flashy.  It must be fate!  Over to the Spiderman's Parlour where Nathan and Tracy want Mohinder to help them.  This is no good.  Tracy explains about Doctor Frankenstein and Suresh gets all creepy excited.  He says I think we can help each other....in a way that totally would have had me running for the door.  But it's Suresh right?  Can't hurt a fly.  So he injects the two of them with some kind of DNA marker....except it's not that....it knocks them unconscious, but before Nathan goes out, he finds the cocoon lair.  Now you're really in trouble.  Back at the airport and Flashy is weirded out that Parkman knows who she is.  Flashy says, join the team, rah rah rah.  Parkman is like, that's the only reason you're here?  She doesn't sound very convincing, but he's acting like a stalker, especially after he tells her about his future dream.  She's halfway across the planet when he yells out, we name our baby after your grandmother.  Which makes her come back, because he knew her grandmother's name.  Yeah...that would have gotten my attention too.  So she agrees to come back to the airport when she's done being a bad guy for the day.

 

Flashy's next stop is at Level 5.  She's there to break out Sylar.  But Sylar doesn't want to go.  He's a good guy now.  She says come to dark side, we have cookies.  He says no and then he tries to hold her there, but she flits away right after she gives him an asylum business card and breaks out the Fire guy.  So Sylar goes to get Peter.  He needs his help to save mom and find out about this Pinehearst place.  And suddenly we're in Africa with Hiro and Ando.  They try to sneak up on the African guy, and Hiro is stupidly excited to see Isaac-like paintings...until he sees one of him getting hit over the head with a shovel.  And he tries to go back in time....but he keeps getting hit over the head with a shovel....and you would think he'd have some brain damage by now, but instead they decide to sneak up on the African guy the old-fashioned way.  They are going to wait until he comes back to camp.

 

Now we're at the Puppet guy's house of horrors.  Mama Bennett pretends to want to book the creepy guy for a birthday party, except he hears banging around in the back and realizes Mama is in on it.  So he freezes her.  Claire Bear tries to break out the Firestarter, except Creepy Puppet Guy shows up with Mama and now it's all over.  He's got all three of them.  I'm sure this was not a part of the Plan.  Next on Flashy's to-do list is Mohinder.  She gets to the lab and tells him the Pinehearst people have already figured out how to make abilities and they need his help, or something.  Then she hears something in his evil lair of cocooned people....whizzes in there and sees Tracy....then looks at Mohinder and tsks him for being as bad as the others....then whizzes away before he can catch her.  Back with the Creepy Puppet Guy who has a game of Family Roulette going on.  Claire Bear has to pick which mom she's going to shoot....and she tries to resist but of course she can't and so Creepy Puppet Guy forces her to shoot, but the chamber is empty.  Next up - Mama B.  Claire Bear uses her kid-telepathy and tells mom, it's ok, it's me, do what you have to do.  Mama B is clearly smarter than I give her credit for, because instead o just shooting once, she keeps shooting until the gun actually fires and Claire is "killed".  Creepy Puppet Guy thinks that was great, until Claire resurrects herself and bonks him over the head.

 

When Peter wakes up out of his medically induced coma, he is not a happy camper.  Sylar brings him to Evil Mom, who is paralyzed remember.  Peter tries to look into her head to find out what happened, but he gets zapped and all he sees is the helix symbol on the Pinehearst logo.  Sylar tries to convince him that he can control the Hunger, that he'll be ok.  And then they fight....and that was cool.  Sylar loses and Peter puts him in the coma bed that he was in a little while ago and is off to Pinehearst to find out what the hell is going on.  By the way....when was the last time Peter smiled, or had anything other than that scowl on his face all the time?  Not that I mind....<whistle> he is awfully easy on the eyes.

 

So Papa B shows up at the Creepy Puppet house of horrors and shoots up the villain with sleepy drugs.  Claire walks out all full of herself and Papa B tries to recruit the Firestarter.  They need more Jedis if they are going to win the War.  Back in Spiderman's Parlour, Tracy woos him into believing she cares, and she says - maybe we're all monsters [please see my comments from the last episode and recognize my genious insight into this show].  Then she tries to freeze him.  She freezes her restraints and gets loose.  Then she gets Nathan loose and they almost get out, but Mohinder is apparently fine again and throws a desk at them....we're not finished yet....

 

So just as Parkman is feeling like a loser....talking to his turtle....Flashypants shows up again.  She says, you're too good to be in Pinehearst, stay away from them.  He says she should stay away too and tells her about his vision where she dies.  She would if she could but apparently she can't.  She runs off...trying to outrun the decision to pick a side.  Switch over to Africa and the African guy shows back up at his campsite and Hiro thinks he's got him....but instead the African guy, says good.  You stopped relying on your powers and started using your head.  He says, you're ready.  Hmmmmm....ready for what?  To be a Jedi knight?  He shows Hiro a picture of the 'Villains You Seek'.  It's Papa Petrelli, Papa Parkman, Fire Guy and Fear Guy.  Not Claire or Ando or Flashypants....or Mohinder or Peter or Sylar......hmmmmmmmm.  But then he shows them another picture, apparently of Peter hugging some old guy (Papa Petrelli...but I'm not sure Hiro knows who it is).

 

And now we're in the asylum.  The villains have gathered in the conference room (Fear guy, Fire guy, Flashypants and Papa Parkman) with Papa Petrelli.  Petrelli explains that they'll be able to decide who's 'Special' and who's not.  I get it, they can give people abilities and apparently, Papa Petrelli can suck them out of people.  Peter, who was invisible, storms in.  And sees his dead father.  That does make him pause....understandably.  He wants to know what's wrong with his mother...I mean, why she's paralyzed.  And why aren't you dead?  Papa Petrelli says everything is going to be Fine, give us a hug.  Oh come on....that's the oldest evil parent trick in the book.....but Peter falls for it, like his gullible adorable butt falls for everything.  And Papa Petrelli sucks all the powers out of him.  Peter tries to zap him, but of course he can't.  Now I bet he's wishing he went there with Sylar....or One of Them.

 

So here's what I think.  As far as this episode goes....and pretty much the whole show.....more Father issues.  Claire Bear and Papa B.  Hiro and Sulu, in the past.  Parkman and his dad.  Bing and Elle in the past (when's she coming back, by the way?).  The original father-son problem with Mohinder and his papa.  And now....now we have Peter and Sylar and Darth Petrelli.  <smile>  Nice.  Rage....rage against the dying of the light.  I think all the papas went bad in the end, right?  The dying of the light is not death, it is the good in them.  There is still good in you, I can feel it!!  All the characters with daddy issues are our Heroes.  And the Force will make them strong. 

 

That helix symbol has been around the whole time, by the way.  It was the symbol covering the pictures of the assassinated Company 12.  It was on the necklace Peter was found with when he mysteriously turned up in that crate.  And when Caitlin (the Irish lassie) tattooed him, the tattoo faded into that symbol.  When he tracked Adam to Montreal, the store had the symbol over it.  The symbol though was different in the earlier episodes....there was only one helix.  Now it is a double helix, like the DNA is complete.  They figured out the formula...the Great Abilities super secret formula.

 

Very cool how it's all coming together now.

Later gators,

Heather

I am so late with this post....sorry sorry sorry sorry.  Last week started back at the loser Tooth tribe after they voted out Jacquie.  Sugar Spice shows up and is just as annoyed as Ace that Kelly is still around.  Sugar tries to convince everyone that she gave up looking for the hidden immunity idol out on Exile island...but nobody is buying it.  You have to be a better actress Sugar....come on! 

 

Over at the Coca Cola tribe, Orville is acting like Captain Ahab netting all kinds of fish for the Colas.  Everybody is happy and fat on that tribe.  Switch back over to the Teeth, and some elephant is tromping around the jungle near their camp.  It would be kind of cool to be up close and personal with Animals in their Natural Habitat....a little diffferent than being at the zoo.  The tribe is gawking at the elephant like they've never seen one before and Matty Patty and Ace decide to paddle out in a canoe closer to where the elephant is wreaking havoc in the jungle.  I kind of expected the elephant to stampede out into the water and demolish the canoe and smash them....but that didn't happen.  Matty Patty is very awed by the whole experience.

 

Time for the Reward challenge.  The game is Fruit Cricket.  Toss a piece of fruit through a hoop without it getting whacked by the other team, put the fruit in your basket, as much fruit as you can.  The tribe whose basket weighs the most at the end of five minutes, wins.  The only highlight of this whole competition was watching a pineapple or something equally large go sailing into Ace's face.  Spacey Ace is a little wobbled by that and annoyed.  Being annoyed doesn't score any points though and Coca Cola wins again because they were throwing multiple pieces of heavy fruit....seemed like a no-brainer.....but you never know with these Teeth.  Finding Himself Dan decides for the entire tribe that Sugar Spice should go back to exile.  Jeffy poo asks why and Dan says, for comic relief.  No no no no no no....it's because she's the only one who could possibly have the idol and now you have her entire tribe pretty much just believing she has it.  You want her to have to play it.  It was the only choice he had...but stupid Dan made it sound stupid.  Stupid.

 

Back at their Camp, Coca Cola decides they are now the Evil Empire.  Nice.  I approve of this name change and will honor it from now on.  Dan morphs into this annoying motivational speaker and tries to convince everyone that they need to stay loyal to each other after the merge and vote off the other team....I don't know what that secret ingredient is that some people have that make them effective motivational speakers....but whatever it is, Dan doesn't have it.  He's annoying.  Hollywood thinks he's stupid.  But Hollywood is also suspicious of Sneaky Secretive Susie.  Never trust the quiet ones...they'll sneak up on you everytime.  And out on Exile, in her comfy Sugar Shack, Survivor's own Spice girl is living it up with a feast of fruit and relaxing hammock naps.

 

So back with the Teeth, and starvation is making everyone nuts.  Crystal jokes around with GC to finish his rice...since they have like none.  And GC gets all pissy and totally blows it out of proportion as usual.  Ace is pleased with this meltdown, obviously because the attention is no longer focused on him.  GC is a bitch, by the way.  I cannot stand people who are so whiny.  Now it's time for the Immunity challenge and GC has gone on a boat ride.  He is nowhere to be found and they have to leave.  Crystal could care less.  Kelly the Brain suggest he might have gotten eaten by a monkey.  <long pause>  He finally shows up, clearly noncomittal about helping in the challenge....so useless.....just get rid of that guy!! 

 

The Challenge is Plinko - Survivor Style.  One tribe member each is blind folded and stands at the bottom of the hill in front of these slots with different point values.  Another tribe member rolls a big ball down the hill through the obstacles and tries to get it by the blind folded person.  The blind people are directed by another tribe member which way to go to block the balls.  Ok...so Ace and Dan are the blind people, Sugar and the Wedding Hater are the callers, and everybody else is throwing balls.  Round 1 and both balls get in, but the Teeth are up 5 to 2 because of pure dumb luck.  Round 2 and the Wedding Hater actually manages to direct Dan in front of a ball, while Sugar Spice is apparently trying to communicate with Ace telepathically.  The Evil Empire scores another two points (still down 5-4).  Ace is annoyed...as usual.  Round 3 and the balls bounce around so much that Dan blocks his own ball and again, out of sheer dumb luck, the Teeth score two more points...because they are inept.  The world is so unfair, isn't it?  The score is 7-4.  Round 4 and Dan manages to block another ball, while Ace trips over something and breaks his neck...or it at least appeared to be that severe, considering how melodramatic he was acting.  The score is 7-6.  Last round, Dan blocks another ball and while Ace is heading for his ball, the Wedding Hater starts yelling at him to stop....and HE LISTENS!!  You moron!!  Why would you listen to the other team?!?!?  Anyway, so the Losers lose yet again.  The Evil Empire wallows in their victory by default. 

 

Back at the Tooth Tribe and GC wants to go home because he's a big baby.  He doesn't like who he is becoming....I don't know man.  I would like myself a whole lot if I were a millionaire....so everybody is annoyed because GC wants to go home.  Crystal is quite indignant about him being such a quitter.  Then they have an epiphany.  Sugar Spice most definitely has the idol...which they confirmed by going through her stuff....which she left in the tent in plain view of everyone.  They didn't take it....which I would have done.  But anyway, they decide that blindsiding Sugar would be a good move, since this is the only time she wouldn't be expecting it.  And I have a glimmer of hope for the Losers.

 

Now it's time for Tribal Council.  Jeffy poo asks how it feels to slowly starve to death and Spacey Ace points out that everyone's clothes are fitting looser.  GC whines.  Sugar tells Jeffy poo that GC wants to go home.  Matty Patty tries to make an argument for staying....but GC has no desire to....he just talks about going home....because he's a loser quitter bitch.  Jeffy poo even points out that everyone clearly knows Sugar has the idol...and she seems totally oblivious to the danger this poses to her.  Come on Losers!!  This is your chance!!  Now it's time to vote.  Once the votes are read, the decision is final.  The person voted out will have to leave the tribal council area immediately.  It's GC.  I'm too annoyed to even describe this....

 

Why would you try out for a show of survival and endurance...if you're a quitter?  Seriously, this was your chance!!  A lot of people didn't get the chance, because you did....and you throw it all away because you're a quitter?  I am sick to my stomach about this guy.  And about the Teeth, they had a shining opportunity to make Sugar play the idol.  Tell her you're voting for her, force her to play it...then whoever she votes for has to go.  It's a little bit of roulette because your fate is in her hands....but she probably would have voted for Kelly...and you needed to get rid of her anyway.  Or don't tell her, vote her out, get rid of the idol and break up the Sugar Spice Spacey Ace Alliance.  <shaking my head>  This is the dumbest tribe ever.

 

Later gators,

Heather

...the abyss will gaze back into you.  The title of this episode is called 'Angels and Monsters'.  Sticking with the theme from all season....we'll get back to that later.  We start off with Nathan and Tracy in bed.  And Nathan is narrating the opening, which is a first I think.  He says he's been given a second chance, that he has been touched by God.  Before he was plagued by demons.  And he wonders, am I an angel or a monster, hero or villain?  And why can't I see the difference?  AHA!  Eureka!  Excellent question to ask at the beginning of this show...pay attention now, pay close attention...see if you can point out all the angels and all the monsters.

 

Nathan gets out of bed and wanders into the kitchen where Linderman's ghost is waiting for him.  Nathan wants some answers from this guy, me too!!  Linderman says, you have received guidance from a higher power.  But Nathan scoffs at him, you're no messenger from God!  Linderman promises that the answers will come to Nathan eventually because God resides within us.  Hmmmm....that's actually kind of inspirational, if it wasn't for the creepiness factor of Linderman.  [p.s. Angels are messengers from God, so he's essentially saying, you're no angel.]

 

Now we're with Suresh, who is lurking in the park.  It seems like he's doing a lot of lurking these days.  He's eyeballing a drug dealer and I think he's probably going to go all 'Hero' on us and kill this guy like he killed the wifebeater...but he doesn't.  Instead of drugs, he tells the guy he needs him.  Whatever that means.  Maybe he's going to eat him.

 

In Sylar's cell, Peter is yelling at him - he will never be like his brother!  He gets so mad, he breaks Sylar's neck.  Oh my.  Sibling rivalry is no joke in this family.  Evil Mom is peering in through the observation window and runs in to stop Peter.  Peter freezes her and yells at her, what else are you hiding from me!!  She doesn't say anything, or he really doesn't give her a chance to say anything, before he starts slicing her head open.  Um, Peter....that's your mom dude.  So Sylar unbreaks his neck and throws Peter up against the wall to knock him unconscious.  And then Papa B shows up (HRG stands for horn-rimmed glasses, by the way...they refer to him that way a lot in this show) and tells Sylar they have another lead on a Section 5 escapee.  He's got that boy rapped around his little finger.  They're a very interesting pair, these two.  One of us and one of them.  One's good and one's bad....right?

 

There was no cheerleading retreat, the Dumb Mom is onto Claire Bear.  Firestarter says, don't worry I'll find her.  Mama B shows her a picture of a Vortex guy, who sucks people into vortices and makes them disappear forever.  But then Firestarter picks up a picture of a guy she recognizes and says....oooo, I hope she didn't go see him.  Way to put her mind at ease, Firestarter.  Mama B wants to help, but Firestarter is like, no you're useless.  Cut to Claire Bear who sneaks up on Vortex guy in his empty home and tasers him.  Nice!  But the guy didn't really sound all that evil....

 

So now we're in the cemetary where Hiro and Ando have dug up Adam, who is choking Hiro.  Hiro says, we need your help and Adam says no.  So Hiro blips him back into the coffin.  When Adam agrees to help, Hiro blips him back out.  Adam says, I told them to get rid of that formula.  And then he blames the whole thing on Angela.  But Angela is the one who enlisted Hiro and Ando...so Adam has a plan to figure out whodunit!

 

Now Flash Fancypants is talking to the Linderman vision at some place called Pinehearst.  What is that?  Sounds like an insane asylum.  Linderman wants her to recruit people for a fight.  He points to a file of pictures on the bench and as she's leafing through it, we see Fear guy and Suresh.  He says, find the others.

 

Sylar and Papa B are on their way to get one of the Section 5ers.  Sylar says, cut me some slack, I'm trying to be good.  And Papa B says, I get it, killing is just in your nature.  Huh.  Pot?  Kettle?  Anyway, Claire Bear says she's taking Vorty in, but he wants to say goodbye to his family which he never got a chance to do before.  He says to her "you want to believe I'm a monster".  Then he sucks her taser into a vortex. 

 

Back to Mohinder, and he's dragging his drug dealer snack back into the lab.  Man, he looks gross.  Maya shows up again...she always has such bad timing.  Suresh is acting all creepy....don't TOUCH him MAYA!!! Maya shows Suresh the Missing poster of the wifebeater neighbor and then she sees the incriminating blood trail and gets the hell out of there.  Suresh gets back to munching on his drug dealer and we see the neighbor cocooned in the corner.  AHA!  "Will you walk into my parlour?" said the Spider to the Fly.  He's the real Spiderman.

 

Back with Vorty and Claire Bear, and he realizes she's not with the Company.  One of us and one of them, she has no partner.  He asks if she's with Pinehearst....what the hell is that?  Apparently, he accidentally killed his neighbor.  And now Claire Bear feels all bad and wants to help him.  So.....if you accidentally kill someone....it's ok.

 

Back to the Tracy and Nathan Show.  Nathan is worried about her...you know, because she tried to commit suicide and all.  What's wrong?  Nothing.  Translation from Woman-speak - "EVERYTHING!!"  <chuckle>  She admits she accidentally killed the reporter.  Lots of accidental killing going on here, huh?  She wants to confess, and Nathan convinces her that's no good.  He tells her about the assassination press conference, how he died, saw God and is now sure that he has a higher purpose.  Tracy is like, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight...you think God gave us these powers?  Oh no, it was Doctor Frankenstein.

 

Back to Claire Bear and she finds Vorty's family phone number in the Company file.  He calls them to set up a meeting but then Papa B shows up.  Oh my.  Quite the stand-off.  Claire Bear is like what are you doing here?  And Papa B is like what are YOU doing here?  Vorty grabs Claire Bear and then Sylar walks in and Claire Bear gets That Look on her face, like - oh no you di-idn't.  Vorty opens up a distraction vortex so that he can run away and Claire Bear almost gets sucked in, but Sylar grabs her and you can tell she doesn't want to be touching him.  The vortex closes by itself and Sylar tries to apologize to Claire Bear and Papa B says, you don't get to talk to her.  Hmmmmm....I'm starting to get annoyed with Papa B and feel sorry for Sylar....that's no good.  Claire Bear tries to convince Papa B that Vorty is an ok guy, despite having accidentally killed someone...she says, he just didn't have someone like you to help him.  Awwwww....but Papa B doesn't seem phased by this argument and Claire Bear ends up telling them where Vorty went after Papa B promises to make other arrangements for the guy.

 

Hiro, Ando and Adam are at some bar.  This is where people go to find Specials For Hire.  Hiro says, oh like the Cantina.  HAHAHAHAHAHA...inside sci-fi nerd joke alert!  Adam ends up getting in a fight and Hiro gets hit and knocked out.  Adam runs away.  And Ando is useless, as usual.

 

Evil Mom has put Peter into a medically-induced coma to keep him from slicing her head open again....thanks for giving parents some more ideas for disciplining their kids.  Nathan and Tracy are there and Evil Mom explains he has Sylar's powers now.  She knows who Tracy is and explains that she can't help, Doctor Frankenstein's work was classified.  He developed synthetic abilities and injected it into the triplets...and oh by the way, you too Nathan.  WHAT!!  I thought everybody in that family had Abilities??  Nathan was the black sheep, I guess.

 

Maya is back in the lab because she is nosy and meddling.  She is looking at the cocooned snacks and the neighbor's eyes pop open.  That kind of freaked me out!  So Maya tries to get him loose, but due to her impeccable timing, Suresh walks in and she has to hide.  Suresh knows someone has been there.  "The Spider turned him round about, and went into his den, For well he knew the Silly Fly would soon come back again; So he wove a subtle web, in a little corner sly; And set his table ready, to dine upon the Fly."  Maya gets so freaked out, she goes all black-eyed.  Suresh says, you don't want to be a killer again, do you?  Maya asks, what have you done?  You're a monster.  And Suresh looks at her....like a monster....and says, I wish you hadn't said that.  Yikes!!

 

Hiro and Ando can't find Adam, because he is hiding in a trash bin.  But when he jumps out, Fear guy is there to snatch him up and throw him in a van.

 

Back at Primatech and Nathan and Tracy are looking at their medical records.  Nathan says, you were playing God.  And Evil Mom says, we were trying to be better than God.  <smile>  Nice.  Evil Mom now has the gumption to ask Tracy for help finding the formula...I guess she thinks Hiro is a loser.  She needs help to stop the bad guys, she explains this is why Peter did what he did.  Nathan walks out and leaves her.  Then he suggests to Tracy that they go get help from Suresh.  Hmmmmm....not such a good idea.  Cut back to Suresh, and he is cocooning Maya in another corner of the room.  "He dragged her up his winding stair, into his dismal den; Within his little parlour - but she ne'er came out again!" 

 

Vorty is at the carousel and Claire Bear says, don't worry I talked to my daddy and he's willing to listen.  <skeptical look>  But Vorty's family never showed up, they're afraid of him and now he's really sad.  "Maybe I am a monster."  Maybe?  Do monsters even ask that question?  Papa B shows up, pointing his gun at Vorty again and says, I'll let you go if you kill my partner.  AHA!  Claire Bear is quite taken aback...Vorty thinks they're all nuts.  He says, I'm not a killer.  Sylar can tell something is up, but he's too far away.  Vorty, after pointing out that the Company took everything from him, sucks himself into a vortex and disappears forever.

 

Hiro and Ando are back in the bar and Ando is lamenting about how they're the worst heroes ever.  Yeah...pretty much.  And just when they think it can't get worse, Flash Fancypants shows up.  She says, I heard you're looking for work and didn't believe it.  Hiro goes along with it and says, yes sign us up.  Flash says, no you have to prove yourselves, so Fear guy suggests that Hiro kill Ando (with a sword hung conveniently nearby).  No way.  No way he's going to do this.  But he does, and looking at Ando with blood running down the front of him, he says I have to make some sacrifices.  I thought for a second that must be fake, Hiro must have frozen time to set something up....but remember Flash can see him when he freezes time.  I think he really stabbed him!  This must be when Ando turns into a villain....getting stabbed would make me bitter too, I don't blame him. 

 

Papa B drives Claire home and explains that he did what he had to do.  Sylar says, don't bother.  Claire finally sees you for what you are...he thinks I'm nothing but a monster.  He doesn't see our humanity.  That's an interesting argument....nothing but a monster?  Can you be something and a monster?  Papa B defends his actions - I was only trying to protect this family.  Tell me you understand Claire Bear.  And she says....I understand, in that way that tells you she understands a lot more than just his motives.  When she goes inside Mama B says, I'm glad Firestarter found you.  Uh oh....Firestarter didn't find her....where is Firestarter?  Cut to Firestarter having dinner with some guy.  He's controlling her actions.  He's making her eat.  And then he makes her kiss him.  Ewwwww...that's gross.  The camera pans out and we get to see his puppets.  Of course, the Puppetmaster.

 

Evil Mom is in her office now and she dozes off.  She dreams about the future, and hears someone scream.  She walks into the hall and sees Tracy dead, Nathan dead and Peter dead.  She turns around and some guy is talking to her.  He says her power to see into the future is too dangerous and she has to go.  She says, oh no, I'll stop you.  And he says, how?  You won't be able to move.  He has a ring on...did you see that?  When Evil Mom wakes up from the dream, she is still sitting at the desk..................and she can't move. 

 

Flash Fancypants is back at Pinehearst where the Linderman vision is waiting.  She tells him this is not cool, I'm not a killer.  I'm sure it was an accident sweetheart, no worries.  Linderman says, you need to find one more but this one will be difficult.  It's Parkman.  Then Flashy proves that Linderman is some kind of vision.  That's interesting....and Nathan just assumed he was crazy.  So she's off to find Parkman now.  And then from around the corner, we see Parkman's dad walking.  Um....wait a minute.  Isn't that guy dead?  Oh no...not dead, he was actually just trapped in his own head the last time we saw him.  Ok.  He walks into the Pinehearst building into a room where someone is on life support.  But this comatose patient is apparently still communicating with Papa P.  Papa P assures the patient that the team is coming together, they are building an army, Fear guy will be here tomorrow with Adam.  And then he calls the patient, Mr. Petrelli.  Oh.....that's just brilliant.  Just brilliant.

 

So Angel or Monster?  Hero or Villain?  Kind of the same theme we've been wrestling with all season.  Are any of them really one or the other?  Or are they all, both?  Our heroes seem to be killers (Tracy, Hiro) and our villains don't feel as bad anymore (Sylar, Flashy, Evil Mom).  The argument is very similar to what was posed in the movie 'Gods and Monsters' with Sir Ian McKellen.  Great movie by the way, you should see it if you haven't.  Anyway, the argument is that every human is both a god and a monster.  Both superhuman and sub-human.  That's our balance.  The scales of civilized society require us to be a little bit good and a little bit bad.  When Vorty said to Claire Bear, you want to believe I'm a monster.  Well of course she does.  We all do.  That justifies killing you or locking you up and throwing away the key.  People in prison or on death row are monsters.  They have to be.  I like the fact that they chose angels and monsters for the title though.  Angels fall and monsters are not necessarily evil, just frightening.  Angela obviously refers to Angel, so does Gabriel (who coincidentally seems to be turning good).  The frightening would of course be Suresh, who I think we can safely call a monster.  Peter maybe too.  Or maybe the "monsters" are all the people with synthetic abilities.  Like Frankenstein's monster, they were made.  They were manufactured.  They are unnatural.  And people fear them because of that....people want to believe monsters are evil so they feel justified in their fear.  The angels who are, by definition, all "holy" were born with their abilities.  But they can be good or bad.  With God or against Him.  Messenger or demon.  Yeah.....definitely....that makes more sense.

 

No questions this week since I figured it all out.  <smile>  My brain is tired.

Later gators,

Heather

Coffee tastes different at night.  It tastes like college.  This has been on my mind for a long time, Audit-Land inspires many thoughts to ramble around in this pumpkin-sized head of mine.  This particular thought has come itching and scratching out of my fingers as I sit here pecking away at the laptop in the middle of the night….when I should be sleeping….or burning up my synapses watching the TV…..or doing anything other than this really.  But here goes.  It’s a small thought….some people might think it’s not even worth the time I am taking to type it into the Internet ether, but since it is my thought and somewhat fragile and somewhat righteous, I think it deserves the contemplation that some wee hours of the night can provide and some college java.  I wonder when exactly I learned how to make coffee properly? 

 

People work for myriad reasons.  They work to put food on the table.  They work out of boredom.  They work because that’s what everyone expects them to do.  They work because they have a passion for whatever they are doing.  They work because they believe in something, because they are fighting, because they care, because they want to leave a legacy, because they want things to change, because they want things to stay the same.  People work for a lot of different reasons.  Although, more and more I find….people don’t really work at all.  People coast through the day, surfing and texting and daydreaming about anything other than their jobs or what they are being paid for.  Think about it.  How much actual work did you do yesterday?  Actual work-related work.  15 minutes?  Maybe 30?  Possibly an hour if you had to sit in a meeting, and only then if someone forced you to talk.  People don’t really work anymore.  They feel entitled to not work because they worked so hard to get where they’re at now.  They worked hard to get in this country or to pass an exam or to graduate, and now all that’s behind them and it’s Easy Street here on out.  People don’t really work anymore.

 

Sleepwalking is what it feels like to be dead.  Some people like being dead.  They like not having to feel anything or care or cry or get mad or get even….they like it because living takes so much…damn....energy.  And some people just sleepwalk through their jobs, just the first part of the day, or at least that’s what they tell themselves…but really, it’s like cursing.  If you curse with your friends, soon you’ll do it in front of you parents or your pastor, and then before you know it, you’ll be doing it at work.  It’s a habit, and the problem with habits….they’re so habitual.  The same goes for sleepwalking.  Before you know it, you’ll be doing it all day, and then you’ll blink and the world will have changed and you’ll be 70 and you won’t remember any of the good times probably because there weren’t any.  I have an idea though.  Start caring about your job again.  Not all at once, that might be too much.  Care just a little bit…for example, care whether you spell the word conscience correctly, or if you use to or too in the right context.  Or care if you answer the phone politely.  Or care if you show up on time.  Care just a little and see what it feels like.  Remember what it feels like. 

 

Some people work to live on the weekends.  Some people work to support their hobbies or other endeavors.  I can understand that, I can empathize.  I do not have any great ambitions as an auditor.  And I’m pretty sure my mechanic is not trying to take over the world either.  I’m pretty sure my dentist does not think he will be solely responsible for ending world hunger or poverty or disease.  That’s ok.  We do not need to break molds or make waves to live.  We can be ourselves, and Ourselves can be quiet and stoic and introverted and that’s ok.  Everyone has a place in this world and a role and not everybody’s role is to save the planet.  You don’t need eight people to change one light bulb, or solar panel.  That’s a joke for a reason.  If your mind and your heart and your soul tell you that taking pictures of bridges or painting butterflies or singing is what your purpose is, then do that too.  But there is no reason not to perform the rest of your life with a smidge of pride.  Pride is not a sin, despite what you may have heard.

 

Eight hours a day for five days a week for the majority of your adult life is a long time to spend doing something that you don’t take any pride in.  Where does that leave you at the end of it all, when you retire?  You can’t really call avoidance a career….but they’ll throw a party for you anyway.  Because you endured.  Congratulations.  You survived long enough according to the rules.  You did not fail or succeed, you endured and this is your reward…..now you must endure some more until the very very end.  People won’t miss you when you go.  In a year, maybe less, people will forget you were ever there.  It will be harder to picture your face.  You will not be invited to anymore holiday parties…or you will just stop coming because nobody knows who you are anymore.  If you sleepwalk through like a zombie, that’s how people will treat you.  With a shiver and a shrug and all of a sudden people will say, what was that guy’s name again? when they are referring to you.  But that’s ok because you won’t care.

 

Eight hours a day for five days a week for the majority of your adult life is a long time for not making any memories or friends or commitments or promises or inspirations or failures.  It’s a long time to be dead.  You have plenty of memories of your wedding or your children or your first car or that vacation where you almost broke your leg.  But what about the majority of your life spent working?  Any memories of that?  Did you fail fantastically and miserably at something?  Did you make a promise that was broken in desperation?  Were things ever dramatic enough to make you angry?  I mean, really really angry?  Failure can be fabulous by the way…it motivates more people than success.  And nobody ever forgets it.  You should really try to fail at something, at least once in your life.  But in order to fail, you first have to really truly try.  Nobody remembers complacency.

 

Let us be honest with Ourselves.  We are lazy.  We care very little about not caring.  We are selfish.  People who are not our People matter even less.  We do not waste much effort on these People.  We do not try very hard to communicate with them effectively.  After all….our People would have understood all this without me having to explain….unfortunately though, this whole planet is made up of People who are not our People.  It’s hard to get away from that fact.  And the majority of those People have to work, just like you and me.  Their reasons are probably different from yours, and they may or may not care, who knows.  Here is what I do know.  Talking to People is easy.  People can teach you a lot.  They can teach you how to be accepting and open-minded and patient.  They may even teach you how to love your job….or at least be proud of it.  I feel like feeling like this makes me old.  And I must be, because being old is not quite as scary as it used to be.  That may be the pride talking….

 

Focus on Now.  Now will be gone before you know it.  Now slips through our fingers before we realize what is happening…especially if we’re sleepwalking.  Focus.  Sit down and think about what it is you really want and what is actually important to you.  What do you want out of this life, this time.  Figure that out and go after it.  Focus.  Figure that out and make yourself better.  Do something more than just endure.  Enjoy it.  Revel in it.  Make something beautiful.  Make something ugly.  Focus.  Hard work is not so bad.  It doesn’t make you a pussy.  Or a pushover.  It also doesn’t mean you’re better than me.  Working hard just means you care.  And that’s enough.  Just care.

 

Coffee tastes different at night.  It tastes like college.  I’m going to wake up and read this and it won’t make any sense and I’ll wonder what I was rambling on about…but I’ll let you read it anyway.  I know it’s fragile.  I know it’s self righteous.  But so are a lot of things.

 

 

 

 

Later gators,

Heather

 

 

 

p.s. This is not about you.  Stop being paranoid.

Ok, ok, ok.  So this is late.  Sorry <not really>.  I had other things to do on Friday...like work.  And still other things to do this weekend...like watching the Redskins lose.  <sigh>  The only highlight to the weekend was the fact that Sister #2 invited us over to her house to watch the game, which of course meant I got to spend time with our brilliant and perfect niece.  She had on her little Redskins jersey and her little burgundy sandals, just precious.  She is now also speaking.  Or, to be more accurate, she is speaking one word <the same word> over and over and over.  And because it's our family, she's not saying anything normal like 'Mama' or 'Papa'.  Oh nooooooooooooooooooooooo.  She is saying 'Magic'.  MaaaAAAAAaaaagic.  She loves saying this word and must have repeated herself about eight thousand times while we were watching the game and because it was her and she can do no wrong this never even came close to annoying me.  If any other person on this planet had been acting the same way, I would have incinerated them with my Death Stare.  I'm sure you're also thinking that I probably taught her that word, since I'm a huge sci-fi geek.  Or maybe it has something to do with the mind-control of Walt Disney.  Nope.  That's not it.  The truth is waaaaaaay better.  You see, 'Magic' is the name....<wait for it>......of the dog.  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA.  Sister #2 spends all day yelling at the dog....so now Princess Alyssa spends all day saying the name of the dog.  So don't ever forget people, that kids are always listening.  Always.

 

Now, it's time for the Survivor recap, which I'm sure none of you need by now because you either watched it on time, Tivoed it, watched it online or read some other blog by now.  But I'm going to write this anyway, just to be consistent and so that I have the whole season in here.  So Coca Cola is back from Tribal Council, remember Palomino <snicker> went home last week.  Kelly is upset that her Pal went home, she was the only other person to vote against Ace.  Come on Kelly, get with the program!  Now Ace is adamant about sending Kelly home next, but he still sounds too confident to me.  That's never good.  The king is still the king....

 

Ok, so over at Team Tooth the rice is still disappearing...which happens you know....when people eat it.  Randy thinks they need to cut back to one meal a day and the Brain Trust of GC, Crystal and Ken think that's no good.  Are you kidding me?  Rice does not magically grown from little rice beans you throw in the air, you MORONS!!  The Wedding Hater is not making the rice disappear just by suggesting that you ignorant pigs eat less of it!  So stupid.  So Weddign Hater heads out into the jungle with Matty Patty, Finding Myself Dan, and Susie where they all decide that GC is Cancer and they need to radiate him.  Now it's time for the Reward Challenge now that we've firmly established who hates who.  Except hold on...this doesn't sound like a reward challenge really....Jeffy poo makes the players ranks everyone on their tribes from most important to least important.  Ouch!  Can you imagine being voted 'Least Important' on your tribe.  What an awful thing to say about someone!!  So on the Coca Cola team, the players go - Hollywood, Ace, Orville, Happy, Jacquie, Corinne, Sugar Spice and Kelly.  Kelly...everyone hates you.  And Hollywood is first huh...not Ace.  That's interesting.  Ok, over on Team Tooth, the players go - Matty Patty, Finding Myself Dan, Wedding Hater, Olympian Crystal, The Game, GC and Susie.  Poor Susie....and what is UP with the women all being in the bottom!!  That's no good at all.  So after they discuss where everyone is in the ranking, Jeffy poo drops a bomb shell.  Apparently it's time to switch up the tribes.  What?!?!?  Why do they do this?!?!?  Just as soon as everyone is comfortable and has some alliances established....they shuffle everybody around.  Hmmmm....I don't like it.  So the two most important people get to pick for their same tribes from the other tribe.  And then the picked person gets to pick next and so on.  Since there is an odd number of people, one person will be last and that person is off to Exile Island for like two days until after the next Tribal Council when they will return to whichever team lost someone.  <sigh>  Is this the only way they could keep Team Tooth from being decimated?  Probably.  So anyway, the new teams are as follows - Teeth are now Matty Patty, Ace, Crystal, Jacquie, the Game, Kelly and GC.  The Colas are now Hollywood, Finding Myself Dan, Happy (who was REALLY happy about still being with Hollywood), the Wedding Hater, Corinne, Susie and Orville.  The tribes do seem a little more even, but I'm giving the edge to whichever team doesn't have any Cancer.  Sugar Spice is left over and off to Exile, which is hysterical because she already has the Idol, so it's time for some R&R.  You go girl.

 

The new Coca Cola seems pretty happy with their new team, although the Wedding Hater is concerned that the old Teeth on this tribe are outnumbered.  Sugar Spice is living it up on Exile, eating a ton of fruit and wishing longingly to be on Ace's tribe.  Awwwwwww.  Over at the Tooth Team and Ace makes the same exact suggestion for stretching out the rice supply and didn't get nearly the same amount of crap about it as the Wedding Hater.  <sheesh>  So, he and Jacquie go to get some fruit for the Teeth and Kelly starts right in with how awful the King is and how he needs to go....which of course gives Cancer, Crystal and Ken a great opportunity to exploit the poor Colas.  But not before the Immunity Challenge.  This was basically Water Polo, Survivor Style.  Everybody had to sit or stand in their own little innertube thingys and using a paddle/lacrosse stick paddle out to a ball.  Whichever tribe scores three points first, wins.  Simple enough.  Instead of a long drawn out explanation of how the game went, let's put it this way.  Team Tooth still sucks big time.  Ace was trying.  And so was Matty Patty.  And so was Jacquie.  And that was it.  Crystal didn't move at all, GC and Ken didn't even try.  Pathetic.  Jeffy poo was so annoyed.  Hollywood was of course the star of the Coca Cola team and the Wedding Hater did quite well also.

 

After Jeffy poo tells them how terrible they are...the Teeth trod back to camp where Ace compares them to legless chickens up against sleek weasels.  Really?  Legless chickens.  That's an awful image.  And sort of funny....in a rubber-necking car crash kind of way.  Ok, so instead of voting for themselves as the weakest link, Cancer, Crystal and Ken decide first that Kelly needs to go....but then realize that Sugar Spice probably has the immunity idol by now....and Jacquie is more likely to align herself with Ace and Sugar than Kelly would be....so Jacquie clearly must go despite the fact that she was great in the challenge and Kelly is really annoying.  Matty Patty doesn't like the idea at all and fesses up to Jacquie.  Jacquie goes to Crystal to plead her case, and almost sways her.  Almost.

 

Now it's time for Tribal Council.  Matty Patty and Cancer decide that the strongest players need to stick around.  Ken says he can't trust any of the new members (even though he has another crush, this one is on Kelly....why does he pick the bitchiest women on the tribe?).  Ace of course agrees that the tribe needs to keep its strongest players.  Jacquie pleads her case....and Kelly <shaking my head>, brilliant Kelly picks now to throw Ken and Crystal to the wolves by pointing out they are 'weaker' than her.  Oh....oh ho ho ho....really?  Some people just cannot keep their mouths shut at tribal council, it's like Jeffy poo has this mesmerizing trance-like effect on people.  Heeheehee...well, I can sort of understand that.  Indignant Crystal swears that she was trying to swim in the challenge, the boat just wasn't going anywhere....uh huh.  Ok.  Anyway, now it's time to vote.  Once the votes are read, the decision is final.  The person voted out will have to leave the tribal council area immediately.  So they voted off Jacquie.  Because they're a terrible tribe and insist on self-destruction, despite the Producers best attempt to shake things up....it's still Teeth.  Bye bye Jacquie.  Sugar Spice will be taking your place. 

 

I'll try to be on time this week, people.

Later,

Heather

I am suffering from a very irritating cold right now people...not sick enough to stay home without feeling guilty...but not well enough to make it through the day in the office without being miserable.  So...because I'm a masochist apparently, I have decided to go to work.  Which, of course, did not prevent me from staying up to watch the best show on TV (almost).  Let's start with the title of this episode 'I am become death.'  Did you recognize it?  Robert Oppenheimer referred to this quote from the Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita during an interview in 1965 describing his reaction on the morning of July 16, 1945 when the first nuclear bomb detonated at the Trinity test site in New Mexico (Hiroshima was the second).  I cannot even imagine the feelings of those men...the mixed reaction from their accomplishment but also knowing what it was capable of and how it would be used.  I don't think I'd be comfortable knowing my mind contributed to a mass execution.  I'm not saying I would be a better war tactician, that I would have been able to avoid the succession of events that led this nation to that decision...that's not it at all.  There are people programmed for that sort of thing, and just to be my normal sexist self, those people are usually men.  Men seem to have this uncanny ability to "turn off" when it comes to pulling the trigger, or detonating a nuclear bomb.  <shaking my head>  I couldn't do that.  And in general, I don't think many women could...that's the difference.  Men automatically fight because they turn something off in their brain, they don't think about consequences or reasons, they start kicking ass.  Women, on the other hand, usually have to be provoked and fight emotionally - you touch my kid and I will decapitate you.  Hell hath no fury....there isn't a right or a wrong between the two though.  We need people out there who can make decisions like that....as much as we all hate to admit it.  We need people on that wall.  The full quote is "I am become death, the destroyer of worlds."  Oppenheimer could read sanskrit and so the translation is his own....no other translation said it quite like that.....

 

And here is Suresh to start off the show.  Just when I was getting annoyed that they were ignoring him.  Here he is...still melting.  He is talking into his little microphone recorder thing and calling it an "adverse reaction".  Ok, Suresh.  That's a really nice way of saying your skin is falling off.  And then they show us he's a big bully now.  He hears his neighbors fighting, goes over there and beats up a wifebeater.  Hmmmm...it's all very borderline, as usual.  What he's doing makes him seem like he should be a hero....and yet....he just doesn't feel like a hero, does he?

 

Tracy is still talking to Dr. Frankenstein and finds out that she's one of THREE triplets!  Oh really, there was Niki, her and someone called Barbara...I think that's what the guy said...although it sounded like Baba, so I might be wrong.  He's telling her they manipulated the DNA, but he doesn't seem to know what she can do.  He worked for a Company, but he can't remember...they made him forget.  Yeah, yeah, we get it.  So Tracy gets mad and almost freezes him to death.  But then she doesn't.  Now she just wants to find out who did this to her.  So....some of the people have abilities they were born with and some of them were given abilities.  That's very interesting.

 

Parkman is still in the desert.  He's on his spirit walk/white eyes bug-out/seeing into the future thing.  He's seeing New York in the future.

 

And here are the Peters.  Hmmmmm....Future Peter and Present Peter....really can't get enough of Peter Petrelli.  Present Peter says everything looks the same (even though they are four years in the future in NY).  Remember, Future Peter blipped him away to show him what was going to happen.  Everything the same, but then...everyone starts flying.  It's creepy.  It reminded me of the Matrix.  Apparently, in the future, you can buy some kind of injection that gives you abilities....I guess Suresh figures it out in the end, huh.  Future Peter says that the Human Race cannot control themselves, and end up doing all kinds of damage with their abilities...but Present Peter can't believe that.  Jesus, he is the most naive person.  Why the hell does Future Peter have a scar, by the way?  That's been bothering me for a while now....so anyway, he says you have to stop Suresh.  Well...obviously.  And then he says, find Sylar.  He's the only one who can help.  What huh?  Sylar?  And then he says, Suresh and Claire and Nathan are not who you think they are....oh BOY!!  Are they villains???  That would be awwwWWWWwwwesome!!  And then they show up.  The Fear Guy (he really needs a better nickname, I know) and Claire in her evil villain outfit.  We know she's bad now because her hair is dyed darker...which is obviously a sign of being evil.  She shoots Future Peter and kills him....uhhhhh....isn't he her uncle?  And then she sees Present Peter and goes to shoot him too, but he gets away.  Flash Fancypants is there too.  Fear and Claire say they need Molly to find Peter.  Oh really?  Molly?  I was wondering what happened to her.  And Flashypants seems to know Molly for some reason that has not been explained yet...because she is hesitant about it.

 

Hiro and Ando are still locked up at the Company.  They are in Section 2 and Ando is refusing to help Hiro escape because he's a big baby.  Waaawaaaa, you said you didn't need me.  Oh...for crying out loud.  He DOESN'T need you, you moron!!

 

Nathan is in his office picking out furniture.  Tracy is no where to be found.  But invisible Linderman is there to give advice....Nathan wants to know what he is....yeah, me too.  Linderman apparently wants Nathan to be President.  Oh, that's rich. 

 

So Maya shows up at the lab to help Suresh but he's being a big butthead...and she storms off.  He says into his recorder, 'Journal Entry 13 - the formula is transforming me.  I fear what I am becoming.'  And you should Suresh.  So, is he become death?  His formula apparently is what ends it all....so yeah, I'd say he is the destroyer of worlds.  Jump to the future and Peter (the only one left now, pouty face) is at the lab looking for Suresh.  But Suresh has changed....he's in the shadows, in a hood and his voice sounds different.  Suresh says, do not repeat my mistakes.  But Peter wants to find Sylar.  Suresh says, I wanted abilities, but the formula is wrong, do not repeat my mistakes.  Oh boy.  So Peter reads his mind...remember he can do that, and finds out that Sylar is at the Bennett house in Costa Verde.  And he's off...to the Bennett house, which may not be the Bennett house since Sylar is there.  So he just walks in the house, and look who it is....Sylar playing Dad.  This is kind of creepy.  And there's that stupid dog.  Sylar is acting really nice to Peter and then the kid (named Noah!!!) says, Uncle Peter, where's your scar?  AHA!!  Brilliant kid.  Is that Sylar's kid?  Anyway, Sylar realizes Peter is from the Past, our Present, and tells him kind of abruptly that they're brothers.  Peter might fall down he's getting hit with so much info right now.  Peter says, I need to understand your abilities, and Sylar says, you don't want my abilities.  My abilities come with a Hunger.  Like being a vampire, right?  An Abilities-sucking Vampire.  Sylar says, listen Peter, the world always needs saving.  I'm not going to help you.  It's a struggle for me everyday to resist the Hunger.  And Peter says, ok then, paint the future and see for yourself.  So he does.

 

Now we're with Parkman in the future and apparently he ends up with Flash Fancypants and they have a kid too.  Everybody has a kid now....and they argue about helping the Cause and getting Molly involved.  Apparently in the future Peter is some kind of crazy guy and everyone wants to stop him...it's a little confusing honestly.  But in the end, Molly finds out where he is - at the Bennetts and Claire and Fear Guy and Flashypants are off to kill him.

 

So Sylar is giving Peter his powers.  He says, fix the watch and then you'll understand.  That's very very cryptic.  He hands Peter that same broken watch from season 1.  More cryptic than I am used to from this show...so Peter fixes the watch and poof! he has Sylar's powers.  Very weird.  The kid starts screaming from the other room, and they turn around to see the bad guys holding Noah.  Claire says, I'm going to kill you or that kid.  So Sylar and Peter are brothers, that makes Sylar one of Claire's uncles too and Noah would be her cousin?  When did she turn so evil?  She yells at Sylar at some point that he took everything from her....hmmm...a story for another episode I guess.  Peter asks, What happened to you Claire?  And now Peter is fighting them, Flashypants is really kicking the snot out of him.  And then Fear Guy tries to beat up Sylar and Sylar is like, I'm not afraid of you...yeah, but your kid is....Sylar yells at Noah to hide.  Fear Guy picks up Sylar and throws him across the room.  A table smashes into Noah and kills the kid.

 

And now.  You're all gonna die.

 

Everybody stops.  Stops moving.  Stops breathing.  Sylar starts to glow, like the Fire guy...remember?  And Peter at the end of the first season, remember?  And then Sylar explodes, no one flies him into the atmo...he just explodes and takes all of Costa Verde with him.

 

Hiro and Ando are still trying to escape the Company.  But they keep squabbling with each other.  Hiro wants to escape through the vent, but he can't get up there without Ando...aha!  You do need a sidekick shorty.  Finally Hiro gets into the vent, but don't turn around now.  The Haitian is in the cell with them!  Uh oh.

 

Tracy tries to confess to the police about killing that reporter but just ends up freezing the phone.  Back to Suresh and he can't reverse the formula.  Now he's gooey....and I think we're in trouble.  The wifebeater shows up and Suresh grabs him and pulls him in and probably eats him.  Or just kills him.  Yeah....I guess he probably just kills him.  But eating him would have been gross...back to Tracy in Nathan's office.  She's resigning, and she says, I know what I have to do now.  Huh?  What?  What do you have to do now?  So she leaves and imaginary Linderman says, you have to pray for guidance.  You have to help her.  Yeah Nathan, HELP HER!!  She's at the bridge, and wants to jump.  That's sad.  She thinks the only thing she can do is kill herself.  Seems noble though...is she going to turn evil too?  Anyway, she steps off the bridge and Nathan swoops in and grabs her.  Just like Superman.  Back at somebody's apartment and they are sitting in awkward silence.  Then Tracy goes, so....uh....you can fly?  Heehee.  Now that's a rhetorical question.  Then she shows him her ice queen abilities...and then they kiss.  Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

 

Back to the future and Nathan is President, Tracy is the First Lady and they are making a speech about how Costa Verde was blasted off the face of the planet.  Peter is on a slab next to dead Future Peter.  Claire walks in with the Haitian, so that Peter cannot blip away,  He's pleading with her to let him fix things.  "I saved you once, I can save you again."  And then she starts cutting him, I'm going to make you hurt for every single one of those people you destroyed (meaning Costa Verde, meaning she blames him for Sylar blowing up).  Is this how he gets the scar?  Then Nathan shows up and tells Claire to leave them alone.  He starts untying Peter and says, I know what you're doing.  One man alone cannot save the world.  You need an army.  An army of people with abilities.  He's building an army of superheroes...probably not a good idea.....there's probably no turning back from that.  Like building a bomb that can poke holes in the planet.  He swears that his intentions are good (aren't they always) and asks Peter to read his mind.  Peter does that, and then goes a little wacky....either he didn't like what he saw in Nathan's head, or he's got the Hunger.  He throws Nathan up against the wall and then slices his skull open.  And then Nathan falls to the ground.  And Peter blips away.

 

He blips to Section 5 with Sylar, who immediately recognizes that Peter has the same abilities.  Peter yells at him that he will never succomb to it...and Sylar says....but we're brothers. Peter says, I'll never be like you and Sylar smiles that Cheshire cat smile, you already are.  Nice.

 

Parkman is still on his spriti walk/vision quest thing.  Molly thinks it's her fault that Costa Verde exploded and she and Parkman are worried about Flashypants.  She shows up at the door and for a split second you think everything is ok, and then her face falls, I wasn't fast enough.  Oh crap.  That's the picture!!  Right??  She falls in his arms, and poof! he wakes up from the white eye balls thing.  The African guy says he needs to find his totem, his spirit guide.  And Parkman goes, what is that? some African hoodoo voodoo?  And the African guy goes, no, it's Carl Jung.  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.  Don't you read?  HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA.  Funny writing.  He says, think about your dream and you will find your guide.  So Parkman starts following the turtle.  I think I would have picked something a little faster than the Slowskys. 

 

Back at the Company and Evil Mom is having a chat with Hiro and Ando.  She asks, where is the formula?  Gone.  She says, that formula turns you into us.  Hiro is despondent and apologizes, and Ando says, oh no - Hiro is going to save the world.  <chuckle>  They are so dorky.  Evil Mom says, with another Cheshire cat grin, good.  You're the only one who can save us.  You have the key that unlocks the entire mystery.  And you know what she's talking about just like I did.  They're digging up a coffin, and it's one of two people.  Sulu or .....yup.  It's Adam.  Eyes pop open and he grabs Hiro by the next and we're done.

 

I love the writing on this show.  It's very clever.  Comparing nukes to abilities is a genius analogy.  But then this whole idea that some of the heroes were born with their abilities (like the Petrelli family) and some of the heroes were given their abilities (like Suresh and Tracy)....some of them turn bad even though they have good intentions (Claire?) and some of them turn good even though they had bad intentions (Sylar).  Like building a bomb to protect your nation...only to find yourself staring down nuclear weapons constructed by an axis of evil more than half a century later.  Can there really be a "good" side to that argument?  Are the trade-offs ever worth it?  And some of them are just hungry for power....like a drug.....

 

And of course I have a thousand questions.  Is Suresh going to turn into some kind of bug?  Like the Fly?  Flashypants was obviously not working for Adam...so who is it?  Who has the formula now?  What made Claire turn evil?  Is it the same thing that makes Ando evil?  How did Sylar end up in Claire Bear's house and was that Sylar's kid?  Or Claire's?  And where are the Bennett's in the future?  How did Future Peter get that scar?  How is Adam the key to the formula?  How are Sylar's abilities going to help Peter save the world?  <sigh>  And now that Peter has the Hunger....does that make him the destroyer of worlds?  He almost blew everything up once before?  And by the by....since he survived the Costa Verde explosion, does that mean he can live forever too?

 

I like the fact that we don't really know who the villains are yet....and if Peter can change things....some people will never become villains.  Is that possible?  Is it possible to not become evil, if you already had it in you?  There's that whole nature vs. nurture theory....born with abilities vs. injected with them.  Can the human race ever avoid being villainous?  If it wasn't the Bomb....it probably would have been something else.  We have a remarkable talent for killing ourselves.  Did I mention I love this show.

\

Later gators,

Heather

 

Ok....now.....obviously there is a story behind the title of this blog and if you will indulge me a little story-telling time, I'll tell you all about it.  I am working in the beautiful and civil Howard County right now.  Howard County is sort of unique in that they kind of hide all the important stuff, meaning if you are looking for a grocery store or a restaurant, it won't be on any main drags.  It will be hidden behind a line of trees or a small forest.  My coworker put it very succinctly - "It's like they're saying 'you're not welcome here.'"  HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.  Which is obviously true.  The hiding of important stores has one glaring exception that I see every single day on my commute to and from the new job site.  The store is some local hardware store and they have this sign in their parking lot very reminiscent of one of those church signs...you know the ones with a new slogan on it every week.  You know, those witty little sayings...some of them are funny like - "Are you wrinkled with burden?  Come on in for a faith lift."  Some of them are kind of disconcerting like - "Read the Bible...It will scare the hell out of you."  !!!!  Regardless though, I always read them.  And the hardware store sign is a lot like those church signs.  This week though I nearly drove off the road when I saw the sign they had up.  And yes, I posted the picture I took when I pulled over to recover from my jiggly giggly belly laughing.  "We Have Solar Clothes Dryers"  Just think about that for a moment, gentle reader.  A solar clothes dryer......you mean.....like......the SUN?  The sun is on sale this week for three easy payments of $99.95.  Get yours while supplies last.  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.  The sun?  Ok....so after I stopped giggling, naturally I got out of the car and walked into this little hardware store and announced to the first person I saw that I demand to know where these magical clothes dryers are....the lady seemed very happy that I mentioned the sign and it was quite obvious, having come from work, that the sign was probably the only reason I stopped here.  So, we're wandering around the store and I'm getting high on that hardware fume smell...you know that mixture of lawn chemicals and nails and wood.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....so the Lady walks me up Aisle 4 and says 'Here we are..." pointing at....I am not kidding....a clothesline.  Yup.  Basically a string you attach from your house to a tree or some similar set-up....and so I go, because I'm an evil evil person wrinkled by burden, 'Ohhhhhhh, you mean...the sun dries your clothes....I get it.'  I said this in the most serious voice I could muster and looked this Lady right in the eye.  She had the most elated look on her face, full of triumph at her witty witty sign...since it was becoming more and more obvious that she was the one who thought of it.  'YES!!' she says to me.  So people, please remember - We don't change the message.  The message changes us.

 

Now on to Survivor.  Trouncing prouncing Survivor.  So the Tooth Team is back from tribal council and everyone is kind of depressed.  Well, of course you are losers.  What do you expect.  The Wedding Hater points out that everyone on his team is an idiot and they have no chance of winning anything.  <smile>  He is a ray of sunshine, isn't he?  Now the Wedding Hater points out that on Day 7, they are already running out of rice because the kids decided they needed three meals a day.  Three meals a day!?!?  What do they think this is?!?!  Prison!?!?!  Come on people....this is Survivor....you're supposed to be slowly starving to death....you're supposed to come home thirty to fifty pounds lighter with all your bones poking through your skin.  Forget Biggest Loser.  Just put those families out here in the jungle with a pot of rice and a fishing pole.  I'll bet they lose the weight just as fast.  So the Wedding Hater suggests to the Teeth that they cut back to two meals a day and GC is like, oh no...I'm not sacrificing for the wasteful ways of people on the first few days.  <long pause>  Where is the logic in that statement?  Could someone explain to me how this man's brain is working?  You don't want to sacrifice?  Except of course you'll be out a rice completely in another week at the rate you're going and then you'll be starving to death.  <shaking my head>  What a moron.  So then GC is confronting the Wedding Hater, accusing him of wanting to be the new leader.  Yeah, because you bailed on everyone GC.  And the Wedding Hater is like, get out of my face already.  GC is annoying me.

 

Over at Coca Cola and Ace and Sugar Spice are all buddy buddy.  Paloma is very bitter about this and is going on about how Ace is trying to run everything and be the King.  Hey baby, it's good to be the king.  It's time for the Reward Challenge and Ace suggests that they put in their weaker players today, so they have their stronger players for the Immunity.  I think it's a good idea...but giving away momentum has never worked out for anyone in the past...unless he just wants to go to Exile.  So the challenge is holding on to a big pole in the ground while two members of the other tribe try to rip you off and drag you over the finish line.  Very jungle-Survivor-basic instinct type of challenge.  Kill or be killed.  Coca Cola gets the first point because Ace was literally glued to that pole.  Then Ace decides that Paloma is the next up to be on the pole.  And yeah....there really is no way to describe this challenge that doesn't make it sound like it's taking place in a strip club.  So Paloma....little tiny miniscule Paloma is up next and she really doesn't stand a chance.  Point 2 goes to Team Tooth.  Ace and 'Finding Himself' Dan are up again for the last point....they must be tired.  And it is very close but after lots of tugging and yelling and grunting and body slamming and contorting of the joints...and dragging and clawing and yelling some more...the Teeth pull out a victory.  The Olympian is crying, everyone is happy.  Oh...they won blankets and pillows.  And they decide to send Sugar Spice to Exile, she says it's because they think she's dumb.  Ok sweetie...we'll see.

 

After the Teeth do their happy victory dance, we cut back to the new losers.  Ace is telling everyone it was a strategic withdrawal.  Good one...it's totally different now.  You're not losers...you're withdrawers.  Or withdrawals.  Oh, nevermind.  So Ace is chatting with Hollywood and says that Paloma has to go...I guess those evil death stares she's been giving him have started boring holes in his back and he's tired of it...Sugar Spice has made her way to Exile and of course picks the Clue and heads off in to the jungle.  I guess she went through the lake first, but they didn't show that.  Then she gets attacked by killer jungle bugs and goes a little crazy and then starts crying into the camera about her daddy who recently died.  No no no no no no no....we don't get sob stories on this show.  I am not interested in feeling sorry for a blonde retro pin-up model.  But the fact that she is lost in the jungle does make me smile.  Then suddenly she's not lost anymore and she has found the mystery sand crater.  So she starts poking around and finds the next clue.  And then the next one.  And the next one.  For the last clue, she has to wade through this disgusting water that looks like it must be full of leeches and crocodiles and monsters.  But in the end it was worth all of her annoying shrieking because she found the Idol!!!  Well, you go girl....I really didn't think you had it in you.

 

Back at Coca Cola and Orville appears to be some kind of swing vote...but not really...because I think the Large Onion Alliance still has more numbers than the other people, but whatever.  Ace tells Orville it should be Paloma and then Corinne tells Orville not to worry about it, her alliance has the numbers.  Now it's time for the Immunity challenge.  It's the Slip N' Slide challenge.  Slide down a mountain into the water and swim to get tiles.  Bring back all the tiles and then some other tribe member solves the riddle, get's the code for the treasure chest, unlocks the chest to get the hatchet and cuts the rope which raises their tribe flag and they win.  Sounds pretty straight forward, right?  Ok, so first the Teeth have the lead, and then Coca Cola.  It all comes down to the Game and Orville and who can solve the puzzle faster.  The Game wins for the Teeth.  I don't know how to describe this more dramatically.  So anyway, the Teeth are on a roll.  The momentum has clearly changed and now one of the Cokes has to go.

 

Back at Coca Cola and Paloma informs us that she is a predator who watches....and watches....and then prounces.  Really Paloma?  Prounces?  I'm pretty sure that's not a word.  I can't stand it when people make up words without knowing they're doing it.  I mean come on....prounces?  So anyway, after she gets done with her prouncing which involves lots of complaining and whiny voices to Corinne about how Ace is the devil and he's got to go, we're over to Happy talking about trouncing and now I feel like beating my head into a wall.  What is this?  Dr. Seuss?  Prouncing and trouncing and oh the places you'll go.  <shaking my head>  Corinne thinks Ace's accent is fake too, by the way.  Just thought I would mention that.  Why is it that we always assume the Brits are using fake accents....and why is it that they can do American accents so convincingly?  Weird.  Anyway, it doesn't seem to me like Ace is working hard enough to make sure people are not conniving behind his back...he's overconfident.  And that never bodes well, just ask Ozzy.

 

Here's Jeffy poo and immediately Paloma makes herself look like an ass.  Jeffy makes his incredulous faces at her, not even trying to hide the fact that he thinks she's off her rocker.  She says she's not going to worship King Ace and lots of other dumb things.  Kelly says he's condescending...I think that's Kelly...this is like the first time she has talked on the show.  So it's time to vote.  Once the votes are read, the decision is final.  The person voted out will have to leave the tribal council area immediately.  And the votes go back and forth between Ace and Paloma two times and Ace looks worried (finally!) but for no reason because the rest of the votes are for Paloma and that highly irritating Minnie Mouse voice of hers.  I hope I don't sound like that, but I probably do...I hope that was a wake-up call for Ace.  But I like the fact that the teams seem more even now....that's a good thing.  It's always more interesting when things aren't as lopsided as they were last season.  More Survivor, next week.  Stay tuned for the Veep Debate where they will discuss whether America can deregulate the sun and make our solar clothes dryers less expensive.  <evil grin>

 

Later gators,

Heather