Zach's Heroes Watch - "The Wall"

Previously on Heroes: Samuel surrendered but schemed his way out of it, Noah’s a captive, and Peter’s going into Sylar’s noggin to fix Matt’s dastardly deeds.

Sylar’s cranium has space to rent, so Peter goes in looking for him. Sylar’s as time-displaced as a Lostie, but he doesn’t want Peter to come in and fix him. Peter insists that Sylar has to save Emma, but he’s uncomfortable with being a savior and even more unhappy that he’s stuck forever. Sylar gets snarky, Peter gets punchy, and Emma’s probably a goner.

Peter and Sylar walk around The Matrix and can’t figure out how it works, but Peter pieces it together that Sylar unconsciously wants to be here because he earned it. But they find “the wall” – the one Sylar’s buried behind. The old sledgehammer trick doesn’t work on the wall, but Sylar starts feeling guilty about killing Nathan and gets pissy about being stuck behind the wall. Sylar brandishes a sledgehammer menacingly, but he’s only going to help. Good for him!

Armsling Samuel has Claire in captivity, and he’s trying to convince Claire that Noah’s a bad dude. They meet up with Damian, and Samuel finally explains that Damian can reveal people’s memories – they turn him loose on Noah. Turns out Noah used to be a car salesman married to Not-Sandra, who was pregnant; attacked by a superpowered delivery man, Noah watched Not-Sandra die. Claire seems really uncomfortable with all of this.

Claire deduces that Noah’s run-in with Mr. Ability made him want to start bagging and tagging; it also led to a curious geography fetish and superstalking, trying to find Not-Sandra’s killer. Claire’s still uncomfortable. As car salesman, Noah was hired by Eric Roberts (Thompson) to work with Primatech – The Company. Two years later, Eric Roberts has Noah start up a family, suggesting sandwich waitress Sandra (perfect). Things get really awkward when Claire learns that Noah visited Gretchen, trying to find his daughter after she scampered off to the carnival and threatening to use the Haitian (good to see he’s okay after the earthquake).

At the carnival, Lauren meets Emma and tries to explain what Samuel’s master plan is. But when Samuel comes to her tent, Lauren hides, and Emma spills the beans; Samuel just wants to talk, but he’s in creeper mode. He’s not up for negotiations, and he blames the world for his badness. He promises Multiple Man that they’re going to “put on the best show” they can and goes to gather the family, leaving Multiple Man with Lauren.

Claire tells Samuel she’s not falling for her tricks, because she knows he didn’t kill Lydia. Samuel says it’s about trust, but Claire loves her daddy too much. Samuel reveals he wants to take his show to Central Park and that he wants Claire to be his legacy – she refuses, but Samuel says he isn’t counting her out yet. Multiple Man covers up sloppy writing by revealing that Lauren escaped, but Samuel’s not fazed because he’s going to bury the souvenir trailer – with Claire and Noah in it.

Peter buys Sylar a book, and they have a heart-to-heart about whether or not Sylar deserves to be forgiven. Just when Peter thinks Sylar has changed, the wall starts crumbling – with a white flash and a close-up of an eye (jeez, steal from LOST some more), they’re out, and Sylar joins the A-Team… except Multiple Man is going to stop them. And Noah & Claire are still buried alive. Suck.

Verdict? Leave the flashbacks to LOST, Heroes. I can’t say I was very interested in this episode, and the only thing that really keeps me watching (aside from a sense of obligation to you, the reader) is Robert Knepper, who’s back in evil-mode as Samuel. Maybe I’m just in that mindset, but this episode really felt like it was stealing a lot of thunder from LOST – not a good thing. Is this season finale going to be a series finale? God, I hope so.