Heroes Shades Of Gray Review: Sylar Meets Daddy

On Heroes Shades of Gray, we see a lot of that. Nothing is really black and white on this show. There really isn't a good and an evil. It just depends on your perspective. And that perspective can change. Let's get to it. There were three main storylines in this episode of Heroes: Claire helping Eric Doyle and wrestling with her own demons, Danko and Nathan in a power struggle, and Sylar's showdown with his father. Claire and Eric Doyle - At the end of last week's Exposed episode, we saw creepy Eric Doyle in Claire's kitchen, begging for her help. We pick up there, and Doyle says that he's changed--he's a good guy again, and he just wants to be left alone. He's tired of being hunted. Claire tells him to stick it, and Doyle leaves.

Later, Claire tells her mom that she should have helped Doyle. Her mom is still a little freaked that people keep popping up at her house, but Claire has a solution: she'll get a job at the comic book store. That way, people will visit her there, rather than at home. Claire interviews at the store, and it's obvious she doesn't know anything about comics. But the manager is a good businessman, and he sees her hotness will get a lot of geeks buying comics. He can teach her the rest. She's hired. BTW, I've always wondered why my local comic book shop didn't have a hot girl working there. I certainly would have picked up a few more issues each trip. After a long hard day of work at the shop, Claire heads toward her car. She spots FBI agents watching her, and it freaks her out a little bit. She doesn't know how to run this double life. Will she always be looking around the corner for someone? Claire gets a text from REBEL stating that agents have found Doyle. We cut to Doyle attampting to flee. A female agent tries to arrest him, but Doyle forces her to put her own gun to her head. Then he tells her that he should kill her, but he wants to go back to the way things were. Doyle pushes her against the wall (with his powers), and she knocks herself out. Another agent pulls a gun on him, but Claire sneaks up behind him and trips him, knocking him out. Two for two. Pretty impressive. I must have missed the episode where the Heroes went to 'knockout day' at the Academy. At a park bench at night (why is that the chosen place for every character to meet secretly on this show?), Claire hands Doyle an envelope with his new identity in it, and REBEL has erased any trace of Eric Doyle. Doyle thanks her and begins to walk off. Claire asks him if he was serious about changing, and Doyle gives her a wry smile. I'm guessing we haven't seen the last of him. What did we learn? Claire has finally come to grips that she's a mini-version of HRG. Only she appears to want to stay on the good side--not operate in the gray like her father.

- In Building 26, Danko and Nathan argue. Danko thinks Nathan helped Peter escape. Danko is definitely on to Nathan. We know it, but Nathan doesn't have a clue. Maybe Nathan is more like Peter than we thought. Cut to Parkman in front of the Capital building with a bomb strapped to his chest. He's been drugged, so he's a little freaked out. Danko is watching on video, and he notices that Nathan has intervened into the situation. Nathan has talked the SWAT Captain into letting him calm Parkman down. Danko wants to know how Nathan got there so fast. Danko, apparently, has the ability to remote detonate the bomb. He tells his computer guy to flip the switch. He doesn't give a crap if Nathan is there. A red light turns on. Danko gives the order to set off the bomb, but they lose the connection. The drugs are wearing off (funny--they prevented Parkman from reading Nathan's mind just seconds prior), and Parkman is able to read the mind of a SWAT bomb tech. Meanwhile, the SWAT leader wants to take a shot and kill Parkman. Danko's computer guy gets the remote connection up, and Danko orders him to 'do it'. HRG makes a mild attempt to stop Danko, but to no avail.

Parkman digs deeper into the bomb tech's mind and rips off a piece of the bomb, disabling it. Dansko is pissed. Nathan punches Parkman and knocks him out as the SWAT team swarms in. At Building 26, the computer guy tells Danko that someone got inside their system, but they don't know how. Nathan runs into Danko and tells the Hunter that he is relieved of his duties. Danko says he answers to the President, and that Nathan doesn't have anything on him. However, Danko tells Nathan that he knows Nathan has special powers. Nathan asks HRG to follow him. HRG tells Nathan to keep his head--that Danko is baiting him. Nathan enters the room holding Tracy Strauss and leaves HRG behind. He warns her that Danko is coming behind him, and that he--Nathan--is her last hope. Nathan leaves the room and watches the interrogation on a video monitor. Danko wants to know about Nathan, and Tracy tells him that Nathan was lousy in bed. However, she denies that Nathan has an ability. HRG pops into Danko's office. There is a video playing of Peter flying. Danko asks him if he knew of anyone that could fly. HRG tells Danko that Angela can fly (a lie), and that she would protect Peter. We next see HRG on the phone with Angela, informing her of the situation. We next see Danko approaching Angela while she is eating lunch. She tells Danko that Nathan doesn't have an ability, but Danko doesn't believe her. Angela is super cool--she's even keeled, almost having fun. She tells Danko that she knows men like him--men that have no family and are willing to do the dirty work. Valuable, indeed, but also expendable. Angela then tells Danko she can't believe he survived (professionally) an attack in Angola in the 1990s where a bunch of folks were killed. Danko gets up and leaves. He's surprised that Angela has anything on him. This, I believe, is the ONLY time I've ever enjoyed a scene with Angela Petrelli. That being said, I wish they'd kill her off. Back at Building 26, Nathan hands Danko a letter notifying Danko of his removal from the team. Danko says that the whole team will leave with him, but Nathan offers the opportunity to leave. No one does. And another surprise--Nathan has tapped HRG as Danko's replacement. The two walk down the hall, and Danko pulls a gun on Nathan. Danko doesn't understand why Nathan hasn't shown any fear, because these abilities scare the hell out of him. Then Danko pushes Nathan out a window. Nathan falls for a bit, then catches himself. He looks up, and Danko and HRG are looking at him. Nathan flies off, and Danko asks HRG if he knew that Nathan could fly. What did we learn? That everyone--and I mean everyone--now knows that Nathan has an ability. Forget that rise to the Presidency, Nathan, you now have to go on the run. This, unfortunately, will lead to another long and boring Nathan/Peter make up scene, where they hug at least 247 times.

- Sylar pulls up to a run down trailer--he's finally at his destination. He finds his father sitting in a room, his back to Sylar. Sylar introduces himself and informs his father that he's there to kill him. His dad stands up and turns around. He has an oxygen tube running into his nose. The man tells Sylar to go ahead--if Sylar doesn't kill him, the cancer will. Sylar can't believe that his father is so pathetic. That he was a killer, and now he's a taxidermist. But Sylar finds out that his father has plenty of abilities--that he too can take others abilities. Sylar tells them that they are nothing alike, but Samson tells him otherwise. Samson knows what it is like to prey on the weak for their abilities. He questions why Sylar didn't take out the FBI agents, who actually put up a fight. Samson tells Sylar that eventually, it doesn't matter how much power you have if you don't have any challenges. Sylar realizes the he might be able to learn something from his father, so he puts off killing him for now. Samson tells Sylar that he doesn't remember why he killed his wife (Sylar's mother). That it didn't matter to him, because most things didn't. While helping his father stuff the rabbit, Sylar cuts his hand. The blood quickly goes away, and Samson is amazed that Sylar can heal himself. We immediately start to think--is the old man going to take down the son now? Sylar mocks his father, telling him that not everyone gets sick and dies. Samson counters with "You'll just have that much more time to suffer." Samson has a coughing fit, and turns to his oxygen mask. He asks Sylar to put the rabbit on the other side of the room. Sylar does, and when he turns back, two arrows hit him--one in the shoulder and one in the chest. I guess daddy really does value life. Sylar tells him that he can't be stopped, but Samson breaks out something new--a whistling ability--which lulls Sylar off to sleep. When Sylar comes to, he asks Samson why he's doing this. Samson says immortality is something he can't pass up. That this time, he'll accept every challenge. He'll get it right. Samson moves in with a knife to cut into Sylar's head (interesting that he doesn't have the Sylar finger cranium slicing ability) to extract the ability, but Sylar smiles at him. Sylar has been playing possum. He throws his father across the room with a flick of his hand, then pulls the arrows out of his chest. Then he flicks his hand and makes the oxygen cord go around Samson's neck. Samson pleads for his life--and for the power. Sylar lets the cord loose, then tells his father that it isn't worth it. Samson begs for Sylar to kill him because he realizes he's going to die slowly and alone, but that's what Sylar wants. Sylar leaves without killing his father. What did we learn? Well, for starters, if Sylar doesn't keep those bushy eyebrows nice and neat, we see what he'll look like down the road. Samson's gray brow hair could have sliced through an apple. Sheesh, buddy, cut those things down once in a while! Seriously, we know that Sylar said "I know what I have to do now", which is a phrase he's uttered before. This time, we're not sure what it is. We get a clue (see below), but we don't know for sure.

Right before the final minutes, we see Hiro and Ando in Los Angeles. They're entering a house, looking for Parkman. There is a young girl there, who thinks Hiro and Ando are babysitters. The men inform her that they are looking for Parkman, and she says, "You're holding him." Parkman is a baby. The episode ends with a Mohinder voice over, coupled with a variety of scenes. Claire gets a text from REBEL. It says her free pass is up, and that agents are coming. Danko seeing a stuffed rabbit on his table in his apartment. We see Sylar hiding behind a wall. Agents busting into Claire's house. Only Claire isn't in the house. She's outside her bedroom window in the arms of a flying Nathan Petrelli. All in all, a good episode. The Sylar/Samson showdown did not disappoint, and we're starting to see some of the Heroes (including Sylar, it appears) get on the same page. Should be an interesting last few weeks.