Heroes: I Am Sylar

Oh, what an episode. Our heroes, once again, contemplated the never answered Heroes question of who they are and what is the purpose of their individual lives. This time, though, things got a little more freaky than usual. Hiro and Ando finally team up to make the most banterific duo in super hero history, but is it too late? Nathan tries a last minute solo mission to fix what he, well, pretty much started himself. Parkman tried to save his family so that he could enjoy some “real” quality time with his son, not the on the lamb kind, you know? And Sylar had it out with his dead mother. Yeah, I know. That one needs a lot more explanation. But first…!

Dynamic Duo

Hiro and Ando do their typical back and forth, i.e. Ando saying, ‘You don’t appreciate me and what I bring to the table,’ and Hiro saying, ‘But what do you mean? Sure I do!’ They try to convince Parkman to give them the location of Building 26 before he takes baby back to mommy, but Parkman doesn’t really want these two dead or anything so he’s not about to divulge so they’ve got to think of a plan on their own.

But first Ando has decided that his new hero name will be The Crimson Arc. I don’t really get where it comes from besides the fact that his lightening is all red, but he seems excited so I’ll go with it. He calls Hiro Superman which I sort of agree with because he says, Superman stood for justice and was kind of a fascist, but pretty much Ando’s just pissed that Hiro wants to use him as bait for the umpteenth time.

The plan is to lure the agents to Issac’s old pad since it’s being watched, freeze time, have them take in Ando, and Hiro will stealthily slip in one of the agent’s places. Then, they can go back with the agents to Building 26 and voila! Besides the fact that at first Ando remains unfrozen, things seem to be going well until one of the agents realizes that Hiro is wearing glasses which doesn’t really make sense for an agent who never wore glasses before. Luckily Ando saves the day with some serious zappage, and Hiro finally realizes that doing things on his own may not be the best solution.

It seems like all is hunky-dory, once again, between the two, but in a scene very reminiscent of Lost (could this be a shout out or just lazy creativity?), Hiro gets a killer headache and nosebleed, leaving Ando lost and unsure of what to do.

Psycho

And I do mean in the crazy Norman Bates “Mother!” kind of way. Things are taken one step further, though, because Norman doesn’t have to put on a wig to be Norma anymore. He can just morph his physical body to resemble his dead mother and have split personality convos that way. Creepy, right? Totally!

You see, Sylar is in the midst of an identity crisis. All this morphing he’s been doing lately has made him feel like he’s losing himself. Every time he morphs, the restructuring of his DNA comes out a little different, and it’s freaking him out. I would freak too if I found an extra tooth in the back of my mouth and I had to pull it out.

Danko’s trying his best to keep him under control, and doesn’t give a rat’s ass that he’s worried about losing himself. If he doesn’t stick to the plan and live as Agent Taub, he’s pretty much back to being Wanted Man Numero Uno. He does impart some advice. Find an anchor that’ll remind him of who he is when he morphs. The writers must be running out of ideas because all I can think of is Lost and “The Constant” episode. The advice sounds so much cooler and less mean coming out of Desmond’s mouth!

So Sylar turns to his dead mother, the only person who ever loved him and who he murdered in Season 1 when she freaked out over his powers. But Danko’s right. By hashing things out with his mother, he comes to find himself again, and that’s why we saw him at a press conference on the news as Nathan Petrelli because Sylar can be anything. He can even be the President. If his mother could believe in him because he was special, then so can he.

There’s a slight hitch in the rediscovery when Sylar realizes that Rebel is Micah. When Micah utters the words so few have said to him…“You’re Special”…he decides to save Micah from the ninja agents and shack up with him. Though it only lasts for like 20 seconds because Micah butts in on his Mommy and me time, he shows what little bit of humanity is still left in him by not killing Micah for his oh so sweet powers.

Oh, No You Didn’t!

Nathan’s not too happy the evil dude has his body and is saying all sorts of crazy things about the President, and he rushes to his office to do something about it. Now I’m not sure what Nathan though he was going to do with his ability to fly and a gun against Sylar but okay, I’m behind you on taking action. (Even if it’s somewhat poorly thought out and idiotic!)

He’s got a couple of surprises when he gets there like Sylar holding him at gunpoint. Danko also shows up with some tranquilizer darts and takes him down, easy as pie. Danko tries one last time to reel Sylar in, but Sylar never played well with others. He knifes him in the back of the head, and I’m thinking, ‘Holy crap! Sylar is dead! Can Sylar really finally be dead?! And like that!’ But no, Heroes loves its villain. It’s like the Lex Luthor of Superman. He can’t die after only 30 issues! So he rises with a smirk on his face that he does so well, pulls the bloody knife out of his skull and says, “That hurt.”

Cut to black…

This was mostly a Sylar-centric episode, but Parkman did get to be the knight in shining armor. He realizes that he can’t keep running, and if he ever wants to see his kid grow up, he’s got to fight back. When agents drop in on Mama, Papa and Baby Bear, he shields them with his mind, though we don’t really know if he kept it up long enough for the agents to search the house and leave without finding them.

I guess we’ll figure it out next week along with what the hell is going on with Hiro and what Sylar’s going to do to the man who just stabbed him in the back…of the head….Juicy!

Season 3, Episode 24: I Am Sylar (originally aired April 20, 2009)

For another take on this episode, check out A Boy’s Best Friend… by Paul Secrest.

For more on Heroes, click here.

Mondays at 9/8C on NBC

Photographs courtesy of NBC Universal, Chris Haston