Hiro, Ando and Sylar
Hiro and Ando arrive back in New York the day before the election. Ando asks Hiro how they’re going to stop Sylar, and Hiro responds by pulling out the copy of 9th Wonders that he brought back from the future. It’s unfinished, with only the pictures and no dialogue, so Hiro decides to visit Isaac in order to find out what was supposed to have happened.
In Isaac’s apartment, Sylar paints in a trance. When he comes out of the trance he discovers that he’s painted a picture which includes himself and a glowing Ted.
Looking around the apartment, Sylar sees other paintings of explosions, and comes to the conclusion that he’s the one who’s going to explode. So now there’s both Peter and Sylar believing that they’re one who’ll be responsible for the explosion.
This is too much for him, and he phones Mohinder to ask for help. Mohinder tells Sylar to turn himself in, and tries dialing 911 cellphone. Sylar hears this and hangs up.
Sylar then phones his mother and arranges to visit her. While he’s getting ready, Hiro and Ando arrive at the apartment.
They find Isaac lying dead on the floor with his head open, just like Hiro found him previously. Before they can do anything else, they hear Sylar and take refuge behind a painting.
Sylar, with his super-hearing, detects their presence and approaches the painting they’re hiding behind. He moves it aside with his telekinesis, but they have vanished. The two appear in a nearby convenience store, and as they leave they see Sylar walking past and decide to follow him.
Sylar arrives at his mother’s house and gives her a present. It’s a snow globe, which she puts along with the rest of her collection. One of the globes has a picture in it of Sylar as a child.
Sylar and his mother have a conversation as he begins fixing her clock. He’s using proper watchmaker’s tools, but I’m not sure where he got them from.
Does he carry them around with him on the off-chance that they might be needed? Or does his mother happen to have a set even though she has no need for them?
In conversation, Sylar’s mother tries to build him up, saying that he could be someone special, maybe even president. Sylar protests, saying that all he wants to be is a normal watchmaker.
Sylar decides to show his mother his powers, and starts by creating a real-life snow globe by freezing the water from the tap. He then sends the snow globes floating around the room with his telekinesis. One of them breaks, cutting his mother, who retreats to her bedroom.
While Sylar tries to convince his mother to come out, Ando urges Hiro to go and kill him while he’s distracted. Hiro’s hesitant, and when Ando brings up Future Hiro, Present Hiro says that Future Hiro killed so much that he forgot that killing should be hard. In a final attempt, Ando reveals that the reason they didn’t encounter a Future Ando was that Sylar kills him.
Sylar’s mother finally emerges, and says that she’s leaving but when she returns she expects him to be gone. When Sylar tries to grab hold of her, she pulls out a large pair of scissors, which he tries to take away from her. In the struggle she ends up being stabbed with them.
She starts to fall forward but stops as Hiro freezes time. He draws the sword and places it against Sylar’s neck, but before he can do anything else he lose control and time returns to normal.
Sylar grabs hold of the sword and begins freezing it. Ando comes in, distracting Sylar, and Hiro teleports the two of them away.
When they reappear in Isaac’s apartment, Hiro discovers that the sword has been broken. This definitely means that the future’s been changed, unless Hiro can find a way to repair it – perhaps Ted can weld the two parts together.
Jessica and DL
DL accuses Jessica of handing Micah over to Linderman, but she denies this. I suppose Linderman must have indicated to the two of them that he has Micah, although it’s not really a huge leap to conclude that Linderman must have taken Micah after expressing an interest in him.
DL says he’s going to get Micah himself and leaves the house, leaving Jessica looking into a mirror, as is so often the case. Niki, still trapped in the mirror, asks Jessica to help DL, and after a moment’s thought, Jessica joins him.
The two of them break into Linderman’s museum (although technically they don’t break anything as they just walk through the walls), and there they see a painting of Micah trapped inside a burning building. Somehow Jessica is immediately able to identify it as New York.
Looking through the items stored in the museum, they come across information on Niki, DL and Micah, including photos, school reports, and medical records. They also find a calendar which shows that Linderman has headed for New York, and they decide to go there, reasoning that if they find Linderman then they’ll find Micah.
Micah and Candice
Candice is keeping Micah in an apartment in New York while disguised as Niki/Jessica. After a conversation in which Micah says that he doesn’t like Linderman, Candice takes a shower.
While she’s in the shower, Micah opens the apartment door by using his power on the security pad. He goes to the stairway door at the end of the hallway, but when he opens it he finds himself back in the apartment.
He tries this again and finds himself in the apartment once more. By this time Candice has come out of the shower, so either Micah escape attempt took longer than it seemed, or that was one very quick shower.
Candice no longer looks like Niki, and she tells Micah that she can make him see anything she wants him to. If he doesn’t help Linderman (presumably by helping him to rig the election), then she’ll show him things that will mess him up for life.
Mohinder, Molly and Thompson
Mohinder meets Thompson, and after Mohinder tries to dictate the terms of their relationship, Thompson takes him to see Molly Walker, someone who was on Chandra’s list and was mentioned by Future Hiro in the previous episode. She also happens to be the girl Matt found way back at the beginning of the season when he discovered that he could read minds.
Molly has contracted a virus which is destroying her nervous system, and the only other documented case is that of Mohinder’s sister, Shanti. Chandra had developed a cure, but was too late to save her.
The Company hasn’t been able to figure out what that cure was, which is where Mohinder comes in. Thompson tells Mohinder that Molly is the only one who can stop Sylar and then leaves him to get on with the business of finding the cure.
Mohinder learns that Molly has the ability to find anyone, but that the power isn’t working because she’s sick. His initial attempts are unsuccessful, but he is inspired when he sees a photograph of his parents with Shanti – the first time he’s ever seen her. He realises that he is carrying antibodies to the virus, and he is able to administer them to Molly.
HRG, Matt and Ted
HRG, Matt and Ted steal a car in St Louis by using Ted’s power to first melt the ice off it and then jumpstart the car. While Ted is melting the ice, HRG tells Matt that the company has a new system of tracking people, called the Walker system, which doesn’t rely on satellites and isotopes, which is why they’re sticking to the back roads and switching cars.
Peter, Claire and Nathan
In the Petrelli mansion, Claire packs for her trip to Paris. I’m a bit confused here as I thought that Claire had to go away before the election so that she couldn’t be paraded as Nathan’s illegitimate daughter and thus wreck his chances of winning. I don’t see what purpose it serves her being absent after the election.
Peter comes in and asks her not to leave, telling her that she’s there to save the world. When she’s says that it’s just a fantasy, Peter responds by telling her that he’s going to explode and destroy the city. Claire immediately makes the connection with Ted.
Peter and Claire relay this information to Nathan, who promises to get in touch with the FBI and ask them to find Ted. However, once Peter and Claire have gone, Nathan phones Linderman, telling him that there’s a problem.
Later on, Peter and Claire visit Nathan’s office where they see him in conversation with Thompson. They don’t hang around to witness it, but in that conversation Thompson reveals that they know about Ted and are prepared to blow up half of New York.
Back at the Petrelli mansion, Peter finds a gun in Nathan’s office. He takes it to Claire, telling her that if he does start to explode then she must shoot him in the back of the head where she removed the glass – a wound which he wouldn’t be able to regenerate.
Claire asks how he can be sure that the bomb is happening, and he produces pictures of explosion which he has drawn. One of them shows Ted, whom she identifies.
The two of them travel to the place in the drawing, which happens to be the same place that Mohinder met Thompson earlier. There they encounter HRG, Matt and Ted, who have just arrived there as well.
As Peter gets close to Ted, his hands start to glow as he absorbs Ted’s ability. He tries to bring it under control, but has trouble doing so.