Volume: Five
Written by: Aron Eli Coleite
Directed by: Roxann Dawson
Original airdate: September 28, 2009
Synopsis:
While Claire zones out in her dorm room, ignoring Gretchen’s knocks, and Matt keeps seeing Sylar out of the corner of his eye, Samuel readies himself to go find someone to possibly join their group, telling Lydia about his past and how he was always supposed to be clean and prim and proper. Once he found his power though, that all changed for him. He says Joseph was his compass and he wants his compass back but Lydia says he can’t replace his brother. Samuel says he has a candidate now and wants to see if he deserves to sit at their table. Samuel absorbs the ink into his hands and leaves.
A woman named Emma lies asleep when suddenly her bed starts shaking violently, her alarm clock blinking brightly, but the woman simply reaches over and turns her alarm off. As she gets ready for the day, she notices water dripping from the faucet and sees a strange glimmer as the water drops fall onto a spoon.
Parkman and his boss are awaiting a warrant to search a house, with the boss telling him to just relax. Parkman gives him his 30 days sobriety pin, admitting to him that he “used.” Sylar appears and tries to goad Matt into letting him loose, but Matt is determined to keep him locked up in his mind. The boss says he won’t let Parkman go in if he can’t keep it together, to which Parkman agrees.
Inside, Parkman and his boss search the house, with Parkman constantly being interrupted by Sylar. He does help Matt by telling him to check the closet and he finds the criminal, securing him to a chair. The boss tries to get the man to give up the drugs but he refuses, Sylar continues to taunt Matt, and even starts trying to help him find the truth about the house, when they find a stuffed animal. Parkman continues to search trying to ignore Sylar who keeps telling him he has zero confidence and that’s why he will never be loved.
Matt finds a ransom note that was being pasted together from magazine clippings and begins yelling at the criminal asking where the girl is, eventually being bothered by Sylar enough into using his powers to hear the thoughts that she is under the stairs. Matt tears apart a small door and finds a dead girl causing him to go crazy on the criminal, beating him. The boss comes in wondering what he’s doing and Matt tells him about the girl but the boss goes to look and sees nothing except gift wrapping supplies. Matt, distraught, looks for the cut up magazine being used for the ransom note and it too is completely intact. When he goes to get the stuffed animal, he can’t find it, with Sylar laughing, telling Matt he used his own power against him. Matt and his boss talk about what to do next, with him telling Matt to lawyer up but Matt instead uses his powers to make his boss believe the criminal attacked them and that Matt was defending him. Sylar tells Matt that he is finally becoming more like him and how every day can be just like this, unless he will help him find his body.
Claire finally answers the door thinking it is Gretchen again but it is her father with housewarming presents. He offers to take her out for lunch and she leaves to go get ready, bumping into Gretchen who wants to talk about what she saw. Claire denies it all but Gretchen is shocked she would try and lie about it. Upon returning to the room, Gretchen meets Bennet and he offers to take her out with them for lunch to which she agrees much to Clarie’s annoyance. At lunch, Gretchen says she is changing her major due to being recently fascinated with the mysteries of the human body, mentioning a girl she saw on youtube who can’t feel pain, alluding to Claire. Bennet says he is retired but always finding reasons to go back to work, giving Claire the evil eye, thinking Claire told her about her ability.
Claire defends her when Gretchen goes to the restroom, not wanting to get the Haitian involved, telling him she will not talk to him going forward if he does, wanting to clean up her mess herself. Back at the dorm, Gretchen apologizes for pushing too hard and tells her about how she once was bullied, being called a bulimic. In turn, Claire tells her she will tell her the truth, wanting a confidant in her life. The two become closer as they discuss Claire’s abilities, but a call from her father interrupts them. Claire stands up for herself and he apologizes for being harsh at the restaurant. The two hang up with a new understanding of their responsibilities going forward. Returning to Gretchen, she asks her to be her roommate.
Peter opens his door to meet an enthusiastic delivery man who then tells him that he’s been served, now being sued by someone he saved. Peter goes to find out information about the man suing him, but when he talks to the nurse, she simply hands him a clipboard and points to a sign that says all requests must be submitted in writing. Peter does so begrudgingly and makes small talk as he notices the woman is listening to headphones and not hearing him at all. He hands her the clipboard and she prints out the information as he notices that the headphones aren’t even plugged in. As she gives him the printout, her mug accidentally gets knocked over and falls onto the ground, shattering, as she starts to see several flickers of light from the breaking shards.
Peter goes to find the man suing him, and it turns out to be Samuel using a different name. He talks to Peter, calling him by name, trying to play on his empathy about being the only one who can take care of his family now that his brother is gone. He talks to Peter about being spread so thin since he’s working so much but Peter tells him he doesn’t remember him being on the bus and just leaves. Hasem approaches Peter and tells him that some people think that Peter causes the accidents he saves, given how many times he’s always on the scene first, expressing his frustration that they are not quite partners, feeling more like Peter’s chauffeur.
Samuel breaks into Peter's apartment and looks at his news clippings. Touching one of them, he injects his ink into it to change one of the victims to look like himself. When Peter returns home, he sees the picture and begins to realize he may have been mistaken. Peter tracks Samuel down and apologizes for doubting him and promising to make it right. The two talk about family and grieving and Peter tells him about his time in hospice, caring for others and how he changed to a paramedic in order to save lives instead of watching them pass. Samuel says he’s exactly who he hoped he would be, giving him an extended handshake and telling him he is dropping the lawsuit and Peter tells him to visit his home since he made the trip all the way out here, despite Samuel telling Lydia earlier he had no desire to.
The nurse Peter met, Emma, is talking with her doctor through sign language about seeing glowing lights in a cup of coffee. The Doctor tells her about synesthesia and perhaps her body is trying to tell her something. She tells her to interact in the world with others but she chooses to just wear her headphones to avoid it, fearing people’s reactions when they see she is deaf.
Emma later sits in the park watching a cellist play for tips when she starts seeing a glow from his strings as he plays. Fascinated, when the man goes on a break, she approaches the cello, plucking through strings and seeing different colors. As she begins playing it expertly, she sees the colors shine brighter and brighter, emanating all around her and the stunned listeners in the park, amongst them Peter himself.
Samuel meanwhile returns to his childhood home, walking up to the door, seeing a party going on inside. He talks to the woman who answers the door, telling her of how his mother and father worked there as maid and butler, and how his brother recently died, but she rebuffs him, refusing him entry. Later, Peter and Hasem are called to that home due to a sinkhole having opened up underneath it, killing three people, as Samuel watches from afar. Peter suddenly feels a pain in his arm, looks down, and sees a compass tattooed on it, the needle spinning wildly.
