I know I made this comment at the tail end of last week’s blog, but after watching the “previously on” segment at the beginning of this week’s episode, I found myself saying to myself yet again, “Thank God we’re back to just one hour of ‘Heroes’ this week.” After this week, though, it seems that the producers are trying to pack that much storytelling into every episode this season. This is going to be a very exhausting year…

The evilest Petrelli – I’m referring to Sylar, of course – is on the slab and still trying to reconcile himself with this new information about his parentage. Enter Bridget, with her awesome ability to see the history of anything she touches, and…whoops! Bye-bye, Bridget! The relationship between Mama Petrelli and her little Gabriel is a little creepy, but whether it’s true that she’s Sylar’s mother or not, he clearly believes in the possibility enough to be off-balance. Advantage: Mama.

I’m really enjoying the way HRG is playing both sides of the fence, serving as Mama Petrelli’s right-hand man even though he’s clearly got his own agenda. Granted, you know she knows he’s got his own agenda…just as surely as she knows how he’s going to react when she tells him who his new partner is. But she knows she’s got HRG over a barrel, and when he’s presented with the choice to team up with Sylar or let the psychotic run amuck without supervision, his options are limited. And, thus, Sylar puts on a spiffy new suit and enters society. Nice line from Sylar about whether or not Mama is playing them: “Maybe…but aren’t you curious to see how it all plays out?” It looks promising for a few minutes or so, with Sylar taking on the role of authority figure with ease, but despite his success at getting free coffee, things ultimately played out about like I expected they would, with Sylar succumbing to his dark urges, with the only surprise being that HRG seemed legitimately horrified about it. (I figured he’d just shrug and say, “I knew this was gonna happen.”)

The bank robbery sequences were enjoyable, but, man, for about half the episode, Francis Capra was shaping up to have the easiest gig in the history of “Heroes,” since all he ever seemed to do is show up in reflection. And then when he finally did get his chance to shine, it lasted, what, for about two minutes before Sylar popped his top? It was a given that Peter was going to blow his cover sooner than later, if only because he’s not a villain by nature, but how embarrassing for it to happen in such an obvious way as it did. Shame he didn’t realize his host body had vocal chords like the freaking Black Canary ‘til the last second. In the end, I was disappointed that the villains were all back in their cells by the closing credits. Not that I wanted it to drag on, but I figured it’d last more than one episode, y’know?

I have to say, Claire’s comments to her mom about how she wasn’t even going to try and be normal anymore felt spot-on. Unfortunately, they proved to be the only lines of hers that I particularly enjoyed this episode. As much as I like the idea of Claire’s biological mom coming into the picture and teaching her about being a hero versus just being a kid with a chip on her shoulder, when Claire Bear had her great psychological revelation about why she wanted to fight the bad guys, it had about as much dramatic impact as that old don’t-do-drugs commercial where the kid looks at his dad and shouts, “I learned it from you, all right? I learned it from YOU!” Still, the tension between Biological Mom and Adopted Mom was nicely done, at least.

Parkman’s storyline continues to be intriguing, especially when his spirit guide tells him that his future has been changed. As if the guy’s ability to draw the future wasn’t reminiscent enough of Isaac, we also got a shot of the whites of his eyes…and, by episode’s end, the whites of Parkman’s eyes, too. This begs a very interesting question: are there a finite number of superhero “types”? For instance, is there someone else whose abilities mirror Claire’s? Or, God forbid, Sylar’s?

Tracy clearly doesn’t know what to make of her new abilities, nor does she want to believe that she’s this Nikki person (wait ‘til she gets a load of Jessica!) , but who would’ve figured that Micah would say, “You’re not my mom”? Not me, that’s for sure. But if they were both born at the same hospital and delivered by the same doctor, I think we can presume that, at the very least, they’re sisters, yes? However it plays out, it was just good to see Micah again.

Brother Voodoo’s back, baby, and I knew he’d be showing up the second both Hiro and Daphne the Speedster found themselves powerless. The relationship between Hiro and Ando is back to the way it was in Season 1, with this week’s semi-slapstick adventures not so far removed from their Vegas shenanigans from that period. Still, there were some funny lines, and having Daphne call Hiro “Pikachu” might’ve been the funniest moment of the week…well, except for learning how to say “holy crap” in Japanese. I’m very curious to see how well Hiro and Ando will fare in their current quarters, but I can only presume that their imprisonment won’t last much longer than the amount of time it takes Mama Petrelli to recognize Hiro.