We learned that stupid Suresh didn’t exactly help things very much this season. He was greeted by Sylar and Maya who brought him up to speed and they went to the lab with Molly. They arrive at Isaac’s old apartment and Suresh takes Sylar’s blood to see what strain of the virus he has. Meanwhile, Maya decides she’s not too fond of Sylar after all, seeing as he’s acting like a power-mad (powerless) thug. All this time, we learn that the Company has them on surveillance.

Mrs. Petrelli explains how she thought the only way to save humanity was to destroy it but she has since changed her mind (not buying it). She sends Matt and Nathan to stop Peter at Primatech in Odessa, but warns them that they may have to kill him with a bullet in the head.

We learn that Peter and Hiro’s showdown was pretty cool for about a minute there, but that’s it. Hiro warns Peter about Kensei/Adam, but Peter gets the jump on him with his Palpatine-hands. Adam takes his sword back from Hiro. Peter then lets loose with his powers, taking down guards before they get to the vault where the virus is held. Adam convinces him to open the vault with his mind, because everyone, including Caitlin (remember her, stuck in the future?) needs him. Nathan and Matt arrive having flown together (Matt, in the best line of the night, wants them to never bring that up again). Hiro sees Nathan, and says "Flying Man!" (second best line of the night, never get tired of that).

Claire talks to her mother, but she still plans to expose the truth. Then she more or less breaks up with West, who is the saddest flying man since Superman at the end of the first movie.

Bob is angry at Elle over her actions with Claire and Elle starts to dig into some things in reaction. She finds Noah in his room and tells him what happened. He tells her what Bob did when she was younger, pushing her powers beyond the limit to test them for the Company. Then Bob finds Noah and is panicking over what Elle will expose about them. She goes on to her dad’s computer and sees Sylar in Isaac’s apartment.

Micah tells his mother about Monica, and she tells him about Suresh’s plan to heal her. Niki drives Micah to wear Monica is being held. Micah is tracking Monica’s cell phone. Micah is even telling red lights to change green.

Back in California, Noah arrives and tells Claire that we learn that he made a deal that will keep them safe. To say that she is shocked is an understatement.

Maya talks to Molly about Alejandro and she (and we) learn that he is most definitely dead since Molly can’t find him. Now Maya really doesn’t like Sylar. Sylar has the same strain of the virus as Niki, then Maya rages at him, so he shoots her just where Isaac fell dead.

Peter tries to open the vault some more when Hiro arrives to stop him. Peter throws him against the wall. He throws Matt against the wall, saying he is on the wrong side. Then Nathan asks if he is on the wrong side as well. Hiro and Adam are teleported into the vault. Adam hold his sword to Hiro’s throat. He explains his plan to wipe away everyone he can with the virus, and those left will make him their hero. Nathan reminds Peter how much he loves him. Hiro knows Adam must die and teleports the two of them, but Adam drops the virus. Peter catches it at the last millisecond. He, Matt and Nathan regroup and Peter destroys the virus. We learn that all this time, they too are on surveillance. Nathan plans to get everything out in the open with a press conference.

Suresh injects Maya and the bullet leaves her body. Elle arrives and she and Sylar have a shoot-out. She goes Palpatine on him and blows him through the back door. Suresh remembers that Niki is next to be saved.

Niki and Micah arrive at Monica’s location. One of Monica’s gang member captors lights Micah’s comic book on fire. Niki shows up and crashes into one of their vans and beats on a gang member. He tells her where Monica is. Niki tells Micah to call 911. A wooden plank falls and Niki pushes Monica out of the way, but not before getting trapped. Monica runs outside to Micah and the building explodes with Niki in it. Well, we learned that NBC promos aren’t always misleading.

Ando finds Hiro at work. He tells Ando that Adam won’t hurt anyone again. Cut to Ando in a casket buried alive. That Hiro is hard-core.

Elle returns as Maya comes to. Suresh tells her that she is a hero and she seems like she could get used to that idea.

At Nathan’s press conference, he says… "Good afternoon. Most of you have no idea who I am. My name is Nathan Petrelli, and I was elected to Congress. Seems like a long time ago. I lost my position. I lost my brother. I lost my family. And I’m sad to say I lost my way. But while I was gone, I was able to see the world through newly humbled eyes. Witnessed amazing things. Seeing ordinary people each day trying their best to be heroes. These ordinary people, like you, like me, are capable of extraordinary things. You wouldn’t believe how extraordinary. But there are other people, organizations who don’t want you to know the truth. I myself kept secrets. But last year, something incredible happened to me. And it changed my life. At first, I was afraid. But I’m not afraid anymore. I’m here to tell you the truth. I have the abilit–" A shot rings out. Nathan is dead. Wow. Mrs. Petrelli is watching… she says it was unavoidable now that Pandora’s box is open. End of Volume 2.

Start of Volume 3. Sylar lying in an alley. He uses his mind to get a tin can to fly to his hand. Uh-oh.

All in all, not as good as season 1, but a (marginally) better season finale. At least it ends strong.

So what did we learn this go-round? Well, we learned that Noah is definitely alive, thanks to Suresh giving him Claire’s blood, the first good thing he did all season. Foolish Suresh still likes the Company but Noah points out to him how there would be no virus if not for the Company. He soon finds a cure for Niki, but he wants to rid the world of the virus as well.

Meanwhile, Niki returns to Micah and breaks the news about her virus. Micah’s troublemaking cousin has taken his backpack with D.L.’s medal and comic books, which in turn was stolen. He and Monica try to take it back from the gang who stole it. However, once Monica arrives to their location, she is discovered and thrown into a van, just as Niki learns of the cure by phone. So we learned that Monica’s powers didn’t amount to all that much, and Niki might not die.

Bob gives the fake remains of Noah to his family (being watched by Elle), and Claire is enraged by what happens. They are planning to leave town. Claire tells West that she wants the Haitian to erase all memory of Noah from her mind. When she spreads her father’s fake ashes in the ocean, she sees Elle in a car and walks over to confront her. She tells her that she is going to tell the whole world the truth. So we learned that Elle and Claire are two of the best characters on the show right now.

Sylar convinces Maya that she doesn’t need Alejandro, and she soon learns to control her powers alone. Alejandro tells her that Sylar killed his mother, which he cops to, calling it an accident, getting on Maya’s good side. That night, Sylar kills Alejandro (behind Maya’s back) and the two of them head to New York. So we learned that Alejandro didn’t really serve too much of a purpose.

Hiro and Ando discover the truth about Adam/Kensei, and go back to 1977 when Adam tried to spread the virus everywhere, before he is captured. Victoria, a member of the Company who weaponized the virus, tells Hiro’s father Kaito to destroy the virus but he refuses. Victoria quits. So we learned a lot there.

Peter and Adam find Victoria in the present. Peter visits her on his own, and he tells her about what he saw in the future. She begins to  tell him where to find the virus. Then Victoria sees Adam and shoots the both of them - as she prepares to shoot Adam in the head (which would kill him - something else we learned), Peter knocks her out. They tie her up and Victoria appeals to Peter to stop working with Adam. Peter reads her mind and finds out the location of the virus. When she is freed by Adam, she tries to shoot Peter, so Adam kills her, and unbeknownst to Peter, leaves behind his Linderman/Kensei symbol. The two of them arrive at the location of the virus, Noah’s old paper company, when Hiro stops time - only Peter isn’t stopped. The two of them run at each other.

And at this point, I am dying for the (probable) season finale.

I’m going to do yet another take on a recap. Let us know here at NZone what kind of recap you like best.

I like to look at shows like Heroes and Lost and say, what did we learn? Isn’t that the main reason we tune in? And the main reason there has been a backlash in the past year or so against both shows at times… when we don’t really get much out of it at the end of 45 minutes to an hour (depending if you Tivo/watch online or watch live)? So, what did we learn 6 weeks in to a season that many fans have, at this point, grown disappointed with?

This episode, we found out that the bad guy Noah we remember from early in the series isn’t far gone after all. Noah paid a visit to an old associate in Russia named Ivan (so that’s what he was doing there) in order to get his hands on Isaac’s remaining paintings (I just hope we won’t be dealing with Isaac’s paintings 4 seasons in - that’s one hell of a prolific artist otherwise). Noah and the Haitian tortured the guy, wiped away the memories of how he met his wife… until Noah got what he wanted - paintings he doesn’t understand very much. Then, to make sure the Company didn’t track him, he mercilessly killed Ivan and did his best to erase his tracks. Now that’s what the kids call “gangsta.” And it’s far more interesting than Sylar 2.0.

Yes, Sylar was here and didn’t do much other than none-too-subtly threaten to kill the Wonder Twins and take their powers… but he didn’t make his move yet. Yawn.

Suresh helped out Micah’s cousin Monica with the copycat powers and this too was yawn worthy. Not sure when we will see her again, nor what the whole point of all this was yet, other than that Suresh (eventually after much protest) gives in to Bob and the Company by giving Monica their “cure” in vaccine form. Noah drops Monica off at home and tells her that the Company is there for her, and Suresh has a new partner, Niki (”one of them, one of us,” remember?).

Didn’t learn much so far. Let’s forge ahead, shall we?

Ando is learning more of Hiro’s trip to the past. He gets double-crossed by Kensei, who is jealous over his romance with the swordsmith’s daughter, Yaeko. The actor formerly known as Sark in bad guy mode, I can get into that. There’s something we learned.

Claire is apparently being tempted into the dark side by West. They use their powers to convince a drunk cheerleading captain that she saw a flying man pick Claire up and drop her to her death. Claire doesn’t like the whole charade after the fact but it gets her on the cheerleading squad. So “using your powers for selfish/evil purposes” definitely seems to be the theme this season. So we kinda learned that, though we sort of knew it already.

Thankfully, having seen the following episode, I know that things pick up… maybe, not significantly but they do. And it all starts with Peter and Caitlin in Montreal. They enter the building from the painting and find a note from some guy named “Adam” who has been mentioned here and there in passing, who says they must fight the Company. This being amnesia-Peter, he has no idea what any of this means. Caitlin is scared and hugs him, asking him to tell her what the future holds. And - ta-da! They’re in Times Square, not unlike Hiro the season before (except the green screen effects are really obvious). And the place is empty (someone saw the trailer for “I Am Legend.”) Peter sees a flier saying that the city has been evacuated, and it helpfully gives us the date, June 14, 2008. We have story-arc, people! See you next time.
BY HENRY HANKS

After Molly’s mental encounter with the "nightmare man," who turned out to be Matt’s father, Matt went to confront him. Nathan joins him. At first, they have… well, not exactly a heart-warming reunion but Matt’s father doesn’t seem to be their man. The picture of Matt with the symbol over it is there. He is a target as well, it seems. Matt tells his father about his powers and his father tells him that their power becomes a lot more, and he has more to show him in a back room. Matt follows him. The door shuts behind them, and Nathan cannot open the door. Matt finds himself in jail being pushed around by a cop. Nathan opens the door to find himself on the now-familiar roof, on a snowy day with New York destroyed. Nathan then encounters the disgusting, bloody-faced version of himself. Matt meets his wife who tells him that he abandoned them and will abandon Molly too. She leaves and Matt is pushed away by the cop. Meanwhile, Nathan and his doppelganger start to fight. And Matt and the cop are fighting. Soon, it’s clear that they are fighting each other, until they finally snap out of it. Matt’s story arc is definitely one of the more interesting ones right now, while Nathan’s is a little more difficult to pin down but I am enjoying it so far.

Meanwhile, a woman named Elle (Kristen Bell), who can shoot electricity from her fingers, is looking all over for Peter. Peter, meanwhile, finally opens the box he was given with Caitlin and finds out his name and sees a few pictures, including one of Nathan, but not much rings a bell. He notices Caitlin’s paintings, and sees a blank canvas. Next thing, you know he enters Isaac’s trance, and starts painting. His painting shows two people, a man and woman, in Montreal. Elle soon finds Ricky’s (Caitlin’s brother’s) bar. Ricky claims not to know anything about Peter, despite the fact that Elle was told that Peter was at the bar. Ricky says he is sorry he couldn’t help her. Elle locks the door with her electro-fingers, says, "So am I," then blasts Ricky with an Emperor Palpatine-amount of electricity. Caitlin is called to the bar and finds her brother dead. Peter promises he will find them, as Elle is on the phone telling someone, hesitantly, that she killed someone in trying to find Peter… and the person on the other end of the phone is her dad. Nice to see Elle for the first time, but we don’t know too much about her, and hope to learn more soon. And dying to know who her dad is.

Suresh calls Noah, who is out of the country with the Haitian. He wants to know what to do with Molly and wants to take her to the Company. Noah warns against it, but Suresh has already decided. Later, Bob tells Suresh he made the right decision, but he needs him to do something for him, handing him a taser. Suddenly they hear something and Niki shows up out of nowhere, choking Bob and pushing him to the wall. Later, Niki apologizes to Bob and says she is better. When Bob leaves, Suresh tells her she needs to get out of there but Niki tells him that this is what she needs to get better.

Monica refuses to identify the robber at her restaurant for an officer. She goes home to find Micah playing the piano. She sits next to him and absent-mindedly starts playing the same as him… and she doesn’t play. Micah figures it out and demonstrates his power for her, as well. The two bond over their powers. Monica learns double dutch using hers. Still wondering when more will come of this story. Well, here’s a start: Suresh turns up on Monica’s doorstep.

Ando takes Hiro’s scrolls to a professional curator so they can be made clearer. In the past, Hiro and Kensei are training to rescue Yaeko’s father, the swordsmith. Kensei and Yaeko are growing closer as well. And here is where the curator stops for a moment, before he can work on them further. About time for Hiro’s journey to the past to come to an end if you ask me.

And that’s how this recap of a so-so episode ends. Thankfully I know it gets at least a little better. And I hope we will get a full season this year, what with the writers’ strike threatening to end it with volume 2, and not volume 3.

In other Heroes news, say goodbye, for now, to the Heroes: Origins spinoff, thanks to the strike.

And on that sad note, see you next time!