livecap/meta: 4.12 "The Fifth Stage"
Acceptance. Fuck that.
Pasdar gets the previously. *sob*
A the Carnival, Lydia looks hot. Also, water is wet. She goes to find Samuel, and tells him that she knows the truth. But that she's got a kid that she needs to protect, so she won't tell on him. Hey, Todd Stashwick! YAY! Samuel muses about how shitty everything is. I'm like "I KNOW". So the Stash has grown up in the Carnival, and Samuel offers him the First Officer position. And the Stash is a MULTIPLE MAN, which is awesome. And disorienting. And... PLANET!
Straight into the show with no commercial break. Bennet's wall of clippings. He takes notes on a pad of Post-Its, FlashForward style. A knock at the door! He opens it, and it's Lauren, wearing a slinky black top. He lets her in with a little quiver of desire. They are talking like they're comfortable new young lovers, but then Lauren says, "Who said anything about sex?" and Bennet suffers some shrinkage. He was SO hoping for sex. She looks at the wall of clippings, and he shows her what he's discovered - except that the compass is gone because Claire is a thieving li'l bitch. Noah calls her and leaves a terse voicemail. And... no more date with Lauren. Major shrinkage. Noah gives his phone number (everybody call him asap). Lauren gazes at him like he's made out of sunshine and puppies, instead of Corn Flakes and bad decisions.
Meanwhile, Claire is looking at the compass, which has led her unfailingly to the Sullivan Bros. Carnival of Identity Issues. Gretchen, as usual, is dubious and sarcastic.
Now for some heartbreak. Ouch. It hurts. It hurts in my heart. I apologize for the sloppiness of my recapping in these segments; I was watching. And drinking, and trying not to lose it.
Peter is at work. Angela comes in, and they're nasty to each other. She tells him about the Five Stages of Grief, which sucks and makes me mad. BEEN THERE. WE KNOW. Peter, though, refuses to give up. He gathers a bunch of vials of drugs, and a sexy Haitian - whose powers he takes. When Angela tells him that he might find out that there's no Nathan left, "I guess I'll just settle for revenge," he says. Yeah, OK. Go for it. That'll turn out well.
Carnival Lesbians On the Run. Claire tries to make Gretchen go home, but Gretchen lays down some soft fuzzy self-assurance, just long enough for Samuel to show up with a big smile.
ARMORED looks just like GAMER, but not as shiny. Milo? Whatcha doin'?
Drinking. Drinking. I'm glad that the Chuck promo uses one of my favorite songs. Yeah, I like Billy Squier. Wanna fight?
Carnival. Samuel reassures the girls, and gives them free passes to everything. Samuel tells them that things are square on the surface, but hints that they do what they have to do to survive. Also, hey, popcorn! It's the best in the world! Apparently. The girls are impressed; being college girls, they pretty much only eat popcorn, if I recall correctly. Oh, there's the occasional Emergen-C or half an apple, but that's about it. (Note: this is not representative of my college diet, which was high in Life Cereal, spanish rice, epsresso, and the occasional vegan Vietnamese curry.) "Stay until you finish the box," he says, "and when you're done, I'll walk you back to the car and you can go back to school!" Yeah, I'm creeped out too. And what do you bet that those popcorn boxes just don't empty? The Carnival is beautiful, it's true. So's Lydia, hiding out in her fortuneteller's tent. She exposes her sinuous back, and Gretchen gets all "raw raw rawr!!" Lydia purrs her job description, and sounds like she's been hitting the cough syrup pretty hard. Anyway, once Claire takes her hand, her back begins to ink itself in, with a picture of Claire captioned "Indestructible Girl". It's Claire's desire! Wow. Gretchen gets freaked, and pulls Claire away.
Meanwhile, at the hospital, Peter is rushing out the door, and into an elevator. Someone else comes in with him - OH WRITTEN BY TIM KRING IS IT - and there's elevator music and of COURSE the nice black nurse lady is a shapeshifter who proceeds to morph into Sylar and start kicking Peter's ass. Sylar dumps out Peter's bag and taunts him - Peter beats feet, running in the other direction. Sylar just smiles a little and stalks him around, looking handsome. (WHAT? I'm not dead! I have the hots for Quinto! This is not news.) "Listen, Peter, I'm pretty disappointed in you," he snarls, and disses Peter's "plan". Instead of drugging him up, Peter thwacks him with a 2x4 in the back of the head. Because that works OK. And wow, Sylar has no powers. Right? "My Haitian friend," Peter says. "I took his ability. Mind-erasing; power blocking. NOW GIMME MY BROTHER BACK!" I feel you, baby. Fisticuffs ensue. "What are you gonna do - beat him out of me?" Sylar laughs. (Um...) Peter, having a better idea, picks up the nail gun. A nation cheers. Well, my living room does. Well, I do; the cat reserves judgment.
More wine please.
TWACK! Peter nails Sylar to the wooden board he lies on. Peter is WAY into this. It's incredibly, wrongly sexual. But there. That's Milo for you. "I want to make a deal," Peter begs, "I let you up, you give me Nathan." Christ, he's hot when he's evil. Sylar screams, then breaks out laughing. So Peter punches him some more. And then tries to erase Sylar from his own mind, leaving Nathan there. Sylar goes limp, and then starts to transform... and he makes it! It's NATE. Beautiful, beautiful Nate. Big shiner on the Nate. Peter cups Nathan's face between his palms and weeps with joy. HOOOOTTTTT. HOT HOT HOT like a very hot thing. And then they cut away so that we don't see the giant, bloody, intimate tongue kiss that follows because WHAT ELSE COULD HAPPEN. It's pandering and I don't care. Dammit, Kring, you always manage to dodge when I'm about to toss a molotov cocktail into your house. You throw something impossibly slashy on the table and I'm too busy drooling to have any dark thoughts. I hate you. It's official. I officially, seriously, honestly do hate you. But goddamn it, that was a really tasty moment.
Claire and Gretchen. Walking. Talking. Not paying much attention; I'm still coming down from my orgasm. Those popcorn boxes are still happening. The ladies run up to a ball-toss where a big dumb bully man is hogging all the turns while a petulant black kid whines to be given a chance. Claire figures out how the carnie is making the bully's tosses fail. Finally, the little girl gets a chance, and with the carnie's help knocks down all the bottles, and is rewarded with a gigantic stuffed unicorn. YAY! And also, metaphor for sex. Yes? Samuel comes up and asks if the girls want to go backstage. "Sure!" says Claire, because she likes the hole AND the pole. Gretchen looks peeved. Sorry, Gretchen, Claire wants to ride on Samuel's Tilt-A-Whirl.
Noah and Lauren are having the X-Files date (laptops, files, paranoia, sexual tension). Lauren psychoanalyzes him. She is wearing too much black eye makeup; it's too harsh with her golden-wheat coloring. She's really beautiful; I might have to tell Wendi to lighten up. Too late, I guess. Noah confeses to Lauren that they used to have a "thing", but that her memory was erased - by her directive. "I Haitianed myself," she whispers, which makes my mind go into dirty, wrong, twisted places. Anyway, a knock comes at the door before I can get any worse. It's Multiple-Man Stashwick! And he can project multiple images of himself around wherever he wants them. Lauren acts fast and gets a weapon; Noah shoots one, but that one's hollow. Noah runs to the bedroom, where he keeps the weapons. Also the guns, and rope, and plastic gloves. Just saying. When they go back out into the apartment, it's empty, as far as Noah can see. Also gone is Noah's box of files on the carnival. Oops. GOD, Bennet, you are slipping SO hard. I wouldn't hire him for my Company at this point. The guy's a fuckup.
Carnival. Samuel is telling stories to a passel of kids around a fire barrel. Gretchen is - you guessed it - dubious and suspicious. Claire argues that the carnies are on an honest grift. Hey, it's DAVID FUCKING LAWRENCE! <3 <3 Oh pitter pat, pitter pat. I love this man. He may not be a heartthrob, but I've got serious wood for anyone as sharply intelligent and determined as him. Plus, he smells good. Anyway, Eric Doyle is happy at the carnival; he isn't judged for his past, he doesn't have to lie about what he is, he can put on puppet shows, and he gets to wear that fly vintage 70s powder-blue prom tuxedo. He wants to talk to her, but he has to go load out first. Gretchen asks what the eff, and Claire is like, "well, he kidnapped me once... but..." GRETCHEN, GET OUT NOW. BITCH CRAZY. Samuel interrupts. He wants Claire to tell a story. I am getting a flashback to C-3PO telling his story to the Ewoks, complete with AT-AT sound effects. Gretchen asks Samuel what the eff. Samuel tells Gretchen that this place is home, and is full of love. Gretchen is... dubious.
NATHAN! ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ My beloved, wonderful, precious flying man! He's got the helix stamped in blood in his palm. He's tired. He and Peter are cleaning themselves up. Nathan says that he doesn't think he can hang on anymore. Peter's like "Sure you can." Nathan lowers his head sadly. Ohhhh the Pasdar. "Let's go get some air," Peter advises, and they stand up and walk out, Peter keeping his hand on Nathan's shoulders. NOT ENOUGH NOT ENOUGH MORE PLEASE MORE oh god i can't take this
Claire's storytelling hour. The kids love her. She's smiling. So pretty. But then, of course, everything gets kinda ruined, because Claire can never just have a nice time. The thwarted bully comes up and demands his money back. Samuel protests that they don't steal; it does no good. Bully punches Samuel in the face about thirty times. Samuel takes every single hit. Claire has had enough, and gets in the middle. Bully shatters a glass and slashes Claire's face with it. It heals. "You can't hurt us," Claire says, all spooky. Samuel smiles with satisfaction. Bully takes off.
Peter has taken Nathan to the Deveaux hospital rooftop, scene of Peter's first experience defying gravity. Nathan remembers the last time they were there; when he told Peter that they could both fly. Peter points out that at the time, Nathan denied it. "It was an election year," he quips. Hee! and *sob*! :( "Denial was the go-to." Yeah. Take your five stages of grief and shove 'em up your ass, Mr. Kring. And yet I can't be too upset; Milo and Adrian are practically necking. "I'm looking at YOU," Peter points out. "And you're gonna keep fighting." But Nathan shakes his head. "I can't. He's killing me. And I can't hang on anymore." Peter reminds him that Nathan came to find him. To find Peter! Because Peter could help! But Sylar kind of peeks out for a moment and says something scary and intense... then Nathan collapses. :( Peter takes him into his arms and begs him to fight it, to stay with him. .... fhasdfhfdygdf. (*&!HY!WUYTQ!I)^*! UGH! IT HURTS IN MY HEART! "I'm sorry, Pete," Nathan says, walking away, and throws himself off the roof. But Peter catches him before he can fall! "Let me go," Nathan pleads. Smiling. He's so ready to go. So, so ready to go. "You're gonna have to carry both of us, Pete. You can do this. Tell Mom I love her. Carry on the good fight." Peter is destroyed. :( It looks like he's going to weep tears of blood. Or acid. "I can't do this without you..." Peter sobs. Nathan just smiles and says "I love you..." and looses his hand... And then Peter tells him he loves him too... lets him slip away.
And Nathan falls. Slowly but surely. Arms out as though he was still holding Peter. Smiling.
And becomes Sylar. Still smiling. Floating? Whatever it is, he knows this isn't the end for him. He knows he's won. We don't see the impact; we just see Sylar's form stretched out langorously on the surface of a crushed car down on the ground. We don't get that satisfaction; we don't get the cleansing horror of seeing it happen. It's not Nathan, anyway. It wouldn't be. (Nathan Petrelli doesn't hit the ground. It just doesn't happen.) Peter is at ground zero, buried under a pile of flaming rubble, crying those bloody acid tears. And Sylar gets up, waves, and walks away.
...
Wait - can't we do bargaining first?
...
I'm not gonna bother capping "Slow Burn." Watch that shit on Hulu. I've got nothing to say.
*sob*
ANYWAY, as they say, the show must go on. Samuel washes his hands for the first time this year. Claire is in caretaker mode, sponging his face, and asking him why he let himself get his ass handed to him. "The path of least resistance is sometimes the wisest," he opines. "We're both learning new things about ourselves." Yeah, like how girl sex is pretty nice. He does the seductive, manipulative soft sell; telling her that he can tell that she can recognize this place. And that she can help out the carnies. And how she's welcome to stay there for the weekend. Gretchen walks on, and says that it's all like a bad Fellini film. (Not enough hats, dear.) Claire tells Gretchen that she's gonna stay at the Carnival. Gretchen "gets it". She gives in instantly. She's jealous of Claire's feeling of inclusiveness, because she's never had that in her whole life. Tell me about it, honey. They embrace, Claire kisses her hair, and tells her she'll see her on Monday. Yeah, like that's likely.
Hey Claire, by the way, YOUR DAD'S DEAD.
Samuel and Lydia talk calmly about what having Claire there means. Gretchen drives off in her Nissan Cube. In the truck next to it, the corpse of the bully guy bleeds out. Meanwhile, Nathan Petrelli is dead. And Sylar is on the loose. Somehow. I guess Peter really sucks at that memory-negating thing. Réne could have done it in his sleep.
Peter, you lose. You can never win again. You lost this round; no matter how many more people you save, you lost the one. Have fun living your hollow, vengeful, lifeless life.
But hey - half-season montage! Samuel talks, and we see some footage from the next couple of episodes... Mo, Tracy, Emma. "We have to bring in new members," Samuel says. "Here, we will be oppressed no longer - but none of that can happen until we've gathered the rest!" In the group of Carnies, Claire smiles her face off.
GROOOOOOOAAAAAANNNNNNN. That was a genuinely epic episode (not in a slang way either) but my God. This isn't a cliffhanger; this is the nailing shut of a coffin. Sylar won. Samuel won. Hiro is God knows where; Charlie is lost in time. Angela walks around free. Millie walks around free. HRG can't get laid to save his life. Mohinder is God knows where. Parkman is God knows where. And it's just NO BIG DEAL for any of them. Sure there's justice that it would be satisfying to see done, but... nothing that has me biting my fingernails. I honestly have no idea where it goes from here. I can't even begin to guess. The stakes are both SO high and yet so... not such a big deal; and I haven't given up my hope that the season ends in a total bloodbath that almost no one survives. I so actively want that now.
And yet Nathan's farewell was done very beautifully. Excruciating, yes. This was long and drawn out; a torture. I should feel relief now that the torture is over, but I'm so scarred that I can't stop feeling it.
Farewell, my wicked prince. I believe in you.
Fly, Pasdar. Be free.
And... is it too late to request a spin-off of Nathan's rise to power? Oh PLEASE??? I want a series, starring Adrian Pasdar, playing a magnificent, morally slippery bastard. NEED IT.
No more until January 4th. Thank God. I need a fucking break. Seriously.
But just as a bonus, here's a clip of Adrian Pasdar on the Today show from this morning... awww, look at Adrian. He is just such a happy, cheerful guy. I just love him so much. (And he's not even the slightest bit upset or bitter; but I can tell he's probably been sleeping in for the last couple of weeks and suddenly had to get up super-early to do this show!)
I'll probably do another go at the episode later this week; but hell, that might be it out of me for a while. C'est la vie. I do have gay porn to write. And an entire half-season to rewatch before January!
Pasdar gets the previously. *sob*
A the Carnival, Lydia looks hot. Also, water is wet. She goes to find Samuel, and tells him that she knows the truth. But that she's got a kid that she needs to protect, so she won't tell on him. Hey, Todd Stashwick! YAY! Samuel muses about how shitty everything is. I'm like "I KNOW". So the Stash has grown up in the Carnival, and Samuel offers him the First Officer position. And the Stash is a MULTIPLE MAN, which is awesome. And disorienting. And... PLANET!
Straight into the show with no commercial break. Bennet's wall of clippings. He takes notes on a pad of Post-Its, FlashForward style. A knock at the door! He opens it, and it's Lauren, wearing a slinky black top. He lets her in with a little quiver of desire. They are talking like they're comfortable new young lovers, but then Lauren says, "Who said anything about sex?" and Bennet suffers some shrinkage. He was SO hoping for sex. She looks at the wall of clippings, and he shows her what he's discovered - except that the compass is gone because Claire is a thieving li'l bitch. Noah calls her and leaves a terse voicemail. And... no more date with Lauren. Major shrinkage. Noah gives his phone number (everybody call him asap). Lauren gazes at him like he's made out of sunshine and puppies, instead of Corn Flakes and bad decisions.
Meanwhile, Claire is looking at the compass, which has led her unfailingly to the Sullivan Bros. Carnival of Identity Issues. Gretchen, as usual, is dubious and sarcastic.
Now for some heartbreak. Ouch. It hurts. It hurts in my heart. I apologize for the sloppiness of my recapping in these segments; I was watching. And drinking, and trying not to lose it.
Peter is at work. Angela comes in, and they're nasty to each other. She tells him about the Five Stages of Grief, which sucks and makes me mad. BEEN THERE. WE KNOW. Peter, though, refuses to give up. He gathers a bunch of vials of drugs, and a sexy Haitian - whose powers he takes. When Angela tells him that he might find out that there's no Nathan left, "I guess I'll just settle for revenge," he says. Yeah, OK. Go for it. That'll turn out well.
Carnival Lesbians On the Run. Claire tries to make Gretchen go home, but Gretchen lays down some soft fuzzy self-assurance, just long enough for Samuel to show up with a big smile.
ARMORED looks just like GAMER, but not as shiny. Milo? Whatcha doin'?
Drinking. Drinking. I'm glad that the Chuck promo uses one of my favorite songs. Yeah, I like Billy Squier. Wanna fight?
Carnival. Samuel reassures the girls, and gives them free passes to everything. Samuel tells them that things are square on the surface, but hints that they do what they have to do to survive. Also, hey, popcorn! It's the best in the world! Apparently. The girls are impressed; being college girls, they pretty much only eat popcorn, if I recall correctly. Oh, there's the occasional Emergen-C or half an apple, but that's about it. (Note: this is not representative of my college diet, which was high in Life Cereal, spanish rice, epsresso, and the occasional vegan Vietnamese curry.) "Stay until you finish the box," he says, "and when you're done, I'll walk you back to the car and you can go back to school!" Yeah, I'm creeped out too. And what do you bet that those popcorn boxes just don't empty? The Carnival is beautiful, it's true. So's Lydia, hiding out in her fortuneteller's tent. She exposes her sinuous back, and Gretchen gets all "raw raw rawr!!" Lydia purrs her job description, and sounds like she's been hitting the cough syrup pretty hard. Anyway, once Claire takes her hand, her back begins to ink itself in, with a picture of Claire captioned "Indestructible Girl". It's Claire's desire! Wow. Gretchen gets freaked, and pulls Claire away.
Meanwhile, at the hospital, Peter is rushing out the door, and into an elevator. Someone else comes in with him - OH WRITTEN BY TIM KRING IS IT - and there's elevator music and of COURSE the nice black nurse lady is a shapeshifter who proceeds to morph into Sylar and start kicking Peter's ass. Sylar dumps out Peter's bag and taunts him - Peter beats feet, running in the other direction. Sylar just smiles a little and stalks him around, looking handsome. (WHAT? I'm not dead! I have the hots for Quinto! This is not news.) "Listen, Peter, I'm pretty disappointed in you," he snarls, and disses Peter's "plan". Instead of drugging him up, Peter thwacks him with a 2x4 in the back of the head. Because that works OK. And wow, Sylar has no powers. Right? "My Haitian friend," Peter says. "I took his ability. Mind-erasing; power blocking. NOW GIMME MY BROTHER BACK!" I feel you, baby. Fisticuffs ensue. "What are you gonna do - beat him out of me?" Sylar laughs. (Um...) Peter, having a better idea, picks up the nail gun. A nation cheers. Well, my living room does. Well, I do; the cat reserves judgment.
More wine please.
TWACK! Peter nails Sylar to the wooden board he lies on. Peter is WAY into this. It's incredibly, wrongly sexual. But there. That's Milo for you. "I want to make a deal," Peter begs, "I let you up, you give me Nathan." Christ, he's hot when he's evil. Sylar screams, then breaks out laughing. So Peter punches him some more. And then tries to erase Sylar from his own mind, leaving Nathan there. Sylar goes limp, and then starts to transform... and he makes it! It's NATE. Beautiful, beautiful Nate. Big shiner on the Nate. Peter cups Nathan's face between his palms and weeps with joy. HOOOOTTTTT. HOT HOT HOT like a very hot thing. And then they cut away so that we don't see the giant, bloody, intimate tongue kiss that follows because WHAT ELSE COULD HAPPEN. It's pandering and I don't care. Dammit, Kring, you always manage to dodge when I'm about to toss a molotov cocktail into your house. You throw something impossibly slashy on the table and I'm too busy drooling to have any dark thoughts. I hate you. It's official. I officially, seriously, honestly do hate you. But goddamn it, that was a really tasty moment.
Claire and Gretchen. Walking. Talking. Not paying much attention; I'm still coming down from my orgasm. Those popcorn boxes are still happening. The ladies run up to a ball-toss where a big dumb bully man is hogging all the turns while a petulant black kid whines to be given a chance. Claire figures out how the carnie is making the bully's tosses fail. Finally, the little girl gets a chance, and with the carnie's help knocks down all the bottles, and is rewarded with a gigantic stuffed unicorn. YAY! And also, metaphor for sex. Yes? Samuel comes up and asks if the girls want to go backstage. "Sure!" says Claire, because she likes the hole AND the pole. Gretchen looks peeved. Sorry, Gretchen, Claire wants to ride on Samuel's Tilt-A-Whirl.
Noah and Lauren are having the X-Files date (laptops, files, paranoia, sexual tension). Lauren psychoanalyzes him. She is wearing too much black eye makeup; it's too harsh with her golden-wheat coloring. She's really beautiful; I might have to tell Wendi to lighten up. Too late, I guess. Noah confeses to Lauren that they used to have a "thing", but that her memory was erased - by her directive. "I Haitianed myself," she whispers, which makes my mind go into dirty, wrong, twisted places. Anyway, a knock comes at the door before I can get any worse. It's Multiple-Man Stashwick! And he can project multiple images of himself around wherever he wants them. Lauren acts fast and gets a weapon; Noah shoots one, but that one's hollow. Noah runs to the bedroom, where he keeps the weapons. Also the guns, and rope, and plastic gloves. Just saying. When they go back out into the apartment, it's empty, as far as Noah can see. Also gone is Noah's box of files on the carnival. Oops. GOD, Bennet, you are slipping SO hard. I wouldn't hire him for my Company at this point. The guy's a fuckup.
Carnival. Samuel is telling stories to a passel of kids around a fire barrel. Gretchen is - you guessed it - dubious and suspicious. Claire argues that the carnies are on an honest grift. Hey, it's DAVID FUCKING LAWRENCE! <3 <3 Oh pitter pat, pitter pat. I love this man. He may not be a heartthrob, but I've got serious wood for anyone as sharply intelligent and determined as him. Plus, he smells good. Anyway, Eric Doyle is happy at the carnival; he isn't judged for his past, he doesn't have to lie about what he is, he can put on puppet shows, and he gets to wear that fly vintage 70s powder-blue prom tuxedo. He wants to talk to her, but he has to go load out first. Gretchen asks what the eff, and Claire is like, "well, he kidnapped me once... but..." GRETCHEN, GET OUT NOW. BITCH CRAZY. Samuel interrupts. He wants Claire to tell a story. I am getting a flashback to C-3PO telling his story to the Ewoks, complete with AT-AT sound effects. Gretchen asks Samuel what the eff. Samuel tells Gretchen that this place is home, and is full of love. Gretchen is... dubious.
NATHAN! ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ My beloved, wonderful, precious flying man! He's got the helix stamped in blood in his palm. He's tired. He and Peter are cleaning themselves up. Nathan says that he doesn't think he can hang on anymore. Peter's like "Sure you can." Nathan lowers his head sadly. Ohhhh the Pasdar. "Let's go get some air," Peter advises, and they stand up and walk out, Peter keeping his hand on Nathan's shoulders. NOT ENOUGH NOT ENOUGH MORE PLEASE MORE oh god i can't take this
Claire's storytelling hour. The kids love her. She's smiling. So pretty. But then, of course, everything gets kinda ruined, because Claire can never just have a nice time. The thwarted bully comes up and demands his money back. Samuel protests that they don't steal; it does no good. Bully punches Samuel in the face about thirty times. Samuel takes every single hit. Claire has had enough, and gets in the middle. Bully shatters a glass and slashes Claire's face with it. It heals. "You can't hurt us," Claire says, all spooky. Samuel smiles with satisfaction. Bully takes off.
Peter has taken Nathan to the Deveaux hospital rooftop, scene of Peter's first experience defying gravity. Nathan remembers the last time they were there; when he told Peter that they could both fly. Peter points out that at the time, Nathan denied it. "It was an election year," he quips. Hee! and *sob*! :( "Denial was the go-to." Yeah. Take your five stages of grief and shove 'em up your ass, Mr. Kring. And yet I can't be too upset; Milo and Adrian are practically necking. "I'm looking at YOU," Peter points out. "And you're gonna keep fighting." But Nathan shakes his head. "I can't. He's killing me. And I can't hang on anymore." Peter reminds him that Nathan came to find him. To find Peter! Because Peter could help! But Sylar kind of peeks out for a moment and says something scary and intense... then Nathan collapses. :( Peter takes him into his arms and begs him to fight it, to stay with him. .... fhasdfhfdygdf. (*&!HY!WUYTQ!I)^*! UGH! IT HURTS IN MY HEART! "I'm sorry, Pete," Nathan says, walking away, and throws himself off the roof. But Peter catches him before he can fall! "Let me go," Nathan pleads. Smiling. He's so ready to go. So, so ready to go. "You're gonna have to carry both of us, Pete. You can do this. Tell Mom I love her. Carry on the good fight." Peter is destroyed. :( It looks like he's going to weep tears of blood. Or acid. "I can't do this without you..." Peter sobs. Nathan just smiles and says "I love you..." and looses his hand... And then Peter tells him he loves him too... lets him slip away.
And Nathan falls. Slowly but surely. Arms out as though he was still holding Peter. Smiling.
And becomes Sylar. Still smiling. Floating? Whatever it is, he knows this isn't the end for him. He knows he's won. We don't see the impact; we just see Sylar's form stretched out langorously on the surface of a crushed car down on the ground. We don't get that satisfaction; we don't get the cleansing horror of seeing it happen. It's not Nathan, anyway. It wouldn't be. (Nathan Petrelli doesn't hit the ground. It just doesn't happen.) Peter is at ground zero, buried under a pile of flaming rubble, crying those bloody acid tears. And Sylar gets up, waves, and walks away.
...
Wait - can't we do bargaining first?
...
I'm not gonna bother capping "Slow Burn." Watch that shit on Hulu. I've got nothing to say.
*sob*
ANYWAY, as they say, the show must go on. Samuel washes his hands for the first time this year. Claire is in caretaker mode, sponging his face, and asking him why he let himself get his ass handed to him. "The path of least resistance is sometimes the wisest," he opines. "We're both learning new things about ourselves." Yeah, like how girl sex is pretty nice. He does the seductive, manipulative soft sell; telling her that he can tell that she can recognize this place. And that she can help out the carnies. And how she's welcome to stay there for the weekend. Gretchen walks on, and says that it's all like a bad Fellini film. (Not enough hats, dear.) Claire tells Gretchen that she's gonna stay at the Carnival. Gretchen "gets it". She gives in instantly. She's jealous of Claire's feeling of inclusiveness, because she's never had that in her whole life. Tell me about it, honey. They embrace, Claire kisses her hair, and tells her she'll see her on Monday. Yeah, like that's likely.
Hey Claire, by the way, YOUR DAD'S DEAD.
Samuel and Lydia talk calmly about what having Claire there means. Gretchen drives off in her Nissan Cube. In the truck next to it, the corpse of the bully guy bleeds out. Meanwhile, Nathan Petrelli is dead. And Sylar is on the loose. Somehow. I guess Peter really sucks at that memory-negating thing. Réne could have done it in his sleep.
Peter, you lose. You can never win again. You lost this round; no matter how many more people you save, you lost the one. Have fun living your hollow, vengeful, lifeless life.
But hey - half-season montage! Samuel talks, and we see some footage from the next couple of episodes... Mo, Tracy, Emma. "We have to bring in new members," Samuel says. "Here, we will be oppressed no longer - but none of that can happen until we've gathered the rest!" In the group of Carnies, Claire smiles her face off.
GROOOOOOOAAAAAANNNNNNN. That was a genuinely epic episode (not in a slang way either) but my God. This isn't a cliffhanger; this is the nailing shut of a coffin. Sylar won. Samuel won. Hiro is God knows where; Charlie is lost in time. Angela walks around free. Millie walks around free. HRG can't get laid to save his life. Mohinder is God knows where. Parkman is God knows where. And it's just NO BIG DEAL for any of them. Sure there's justice that it would be satisfying to see done, but... nothing that has me biting my fingernails. I honestly have no idea where it goes from here. I can't even begin to guess. The stakes are both SO high and yet so... not such a big deal; and I haven't given up my hope that the season ends in a total bloodbath that almost no one survives. I so actively want that now.
And yet Nathan's farewell was done very beautifully. Excruciating, yes. This was long and drawn out; a torture. I should feel relief now that the torture is over, but I'm so scarred that I can't stop feeling it.
Farewell, my wicked prince. I believe in you.
Fly, Pasdar. Be free.
And... is it too late to request a spin-off of Nathan's rise to power? Oh PLEASE??? I want a series, starring Adrian Pasdar, playing a magnificent, morally slippery bastard. NEED IT.
No more until January 4th. Thank God. I need a fucking break. Seriously.
But just as a bonus, here's a clip of Adrian Pasdar on the Today show from this morning... awww, look at Adrian. He is just such a happy, cheerful guy. I just love him so much. (And he's not even the slightest bit upset or bitter; but I can tell he's probably been sleeping in for the last couple of weeks and suddenly had to get up super-early to do this show!)
I'll probably do another go at the episode later this week; but hell, that might be it out of me for a while. C'est la vie. I do have gay porn to write. And an entire half-season to rewatch before January!