Woooooowww..... *dies*
OK, that was pretty intense. Yeah...wow. Let's start with what I didn't like (much as I dislike starting off on a negative note).
Um, WEST. GO AWAY!!!!! I hate what West is doing to the characterization of Claire. She had so many ridiculously sappy lines in this episode, and it annoys me so much. And all West is good for is standing around with puppy-dog eyes, hugging Claire and being wholesome and earnest. I just don't see the purpose he serves. So that got on my nerves.
MAYA. WTF?! Why do you not see what is going on here? Now not only do you cry a lot, but you also refuse to see what's right in front of you. I understand that Sylar is promising her a lot, and that she's had a hard time and just wants to be taken care of and to find Mohinder to get a cure. But honestly, when your brother presents you with evidence that your traveling companion is a murderer, at least look at it! No matter how much you trust him, look at all the information you're being given and make an informed choice! Also, I totally didn't buy the whole "Maya could control her powers if she just tried hard enough and got the hang of it in one go because Sylar believed in her" thing. Just...no. I like plot resolution, but not overly quick and easy answers.
SYLAR SHOULD NOT EVER BE KISSING MAYA. EVER.
GOIhsiehasoieh Sylar's in the room with Molly. OMG. That seriously was freaky to me, and made me very nervous for what's going to happen to the Matt-Molly-Mohinder family in the next few episodes. Something's going down, I'll tell you that much.
MOHINDER WHY ARE YOU BEING SO GULLIBLE? What do you mean, the company is just trying to find a cure? You know that's not true!!!
WTF is up with Dark Side of the Force!Peter? I agree with the very astute point that someone on one of the communities made: why doesn't Peter just read Adam's mind to find out what his true intentions are, so he can know for sure which side he's on? That was the last of several frustrating moments in this episode when a character, faced with the possibility that their perceptions of a situation might be incorrect, chose to blindly trust their circumstances rather than question or investigate them. Our Heroes need to be smarter about this!
Not nearly enough of Monica's awesome power- although that eye thing where she had the little screen reflected was cool.
That brings me off of the ranting and into the good- and there were a few things I really liked.
I can't believe I'm actually going to say this, but...Elle wasn't bad in this episode. I felt for her a little when Bob was chastising her in the car in the first half of the episode. My comment from last week stands true: the fathers who most care about their daughters seem to be the ones who, like Matt and Mohinder and Bennet, didn't biologically father them. Also, since I was ranting before about how I dislike Claire being so weak in this series, I must say that the confrontation between her and Elle was well done. See, that's the kind of character I want her to be. West has no part in that. She needs to be her own individual and learn to save the world by genuinely wanting to, not because an innocent looking, attractive guy tells her to. I would like her character a lot more if that happened.
What was up with the gratuitous Sylar nudity? That really threw me for a loop. I mean, obviously the fangirls went wild, because of the sexiness, but still...why the nakedness again? It made me laugh a little, because of how random it was.
Not too upset about Alejandro being dead. All it means is that Maya's character will move in a somewhat different direction now.
WARNING: THIS NEXT BIT CONTAINS SPECULATION ABOUT NEXT WEEK'S EPISODE. I DID NOT READ ANY SPOILERS FOR THIS, SO IT SHOULDN'T BE SPOILERY; IF IT IS, THAT'S JUST A COINCIDENCE. DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO GET ANY IDEAS.
So in the conversation between my friends and me after the episode, we decided that two people were probably going to die in next week's finale. We couldn't come to a definite consensus on one of the people, but calmlyquixotic seemed really sure that Hiro was going to be killed in the next episode. Now, Hiro is my favorite character (now that Claude's not around) and he has a lot of potential, so this makes me sad. And I can't say I don't think it's likely, because at this point it's probably very likely. But I think it would be throwing away a lot of good uses of that character, although that's not always cause for a character to keep living, as we've learned before on TV.
I swear, if Mohinder dies in 2.11, I'm going to be so pissed. Because it would just confirm my season-long paranoia that Mohinder's gonna die, which I really don't want. He's been remarkably frustrating in recent episodes, but that doesn't mean I want him to die. Elle, West, or Bob would be much more preferable- although Elle's too new to die, and West probably wouldn't be involved in any immediate action enough to get in the line of fire. So that leaves Bob.
Oh well; at least we know it won't be Sylar. Been there, done that last season, right? ;)