Chapter One 'Orientation':
Volume: Five (Redemption)
Written by: Adam Armus & Kay Foster and Tim Kring
Directed by: Ed Bianchi & David Straiton
Original airdate: September 21, 2009
Synopsis:
A group of people gather around a freshly dug grave to honor the death of someone named Joseph. Samuel gives a moving eulogy about family before throwing a compass onto the casket and then, using his power, moves the earth on top of it, filling in the grave. The group moves off towards a carnival in the distance.
Claire meanwhile attends her first day at college, meeting her overachieving and judging roommate named Annie. Later with Annie she attends the first class of a specialized algebra class but after seeing the placement test equation, she realizes it’s over her head. Claire has a vision of being attacked and tranquilized before getting up and leaving, much to Annie’s disappointment.
Claire later meets Gretchen, a fellow former Texas resident who actually remembers Claire’s name from the Sylar incident many years ago. Claire explains that she did change her name at one point but really just wanted to be herself, hence the name change. Later Claire meets her dad and talks about how she wants to reinvent herself as someone who just tells the truth, mostly. She and Gretchen meet up at a party that evening and hang out, before Annie tries to get Claire to battle her in Guitar Hero. Claire instead takes the opportunity to invite Gretchen to play, preferring her company over Annie’s. Claire later returns to her dorm room and is shocked to see Annie has seemingly jumped out of their window to her death. The police interview her, showing her a suicide note that was left on Annie’s pillows, something Claire did not see when she returned earlier (Sandra shows up for a hot minute to help pad the episode, but I don’t need to say this in the synopsis).
Gretchen, wanting to figure out whether Annie was murdered or actually committed suicide, begins discussing things with Claire, gathering forensic textbooks and armed with theories from television shows she’s watched. This leads to Claire deciding to jump out the window herself to try and see if she lands the same way Annie did, and indeed she does, leading her to finally believe that it was in fact, suicide. Unfortunately, as she heals, pushing her ribs back inside her, Gretchen looks on from the dorm window, seeing it all, as the two girls awkwardly wave at each other.
In Japan, Hiro and Ando have started a new business called Dial A Hero but have yet to gain any clients. Kimiko is disgusted with both of them, blaming Ando for the business idea. As Hiro reminisces about the night he, Ando and Kimiko attended a carnival, they get a call finally. They soon find that it is to help a little girl rescue her cat. Hiro volunteers Ando to climb up and get the cat, but after he does so, the cat scratches Ando causing Ando to fall. Hiro stops time and gets Ando to the ground safely before starting time again. The girl is pleased but wonders what Hiro is doing. As Ando looks over, he sees Hiro is frozen still in time. Ando gets Hiro back to the office on a hand dolly where he finally awakens with a nosebleed. Hiro reveals to Ando that he has seen a doctor and he has a terminal illness. Ando insists that he go back in time and figure out how to stop it but Hiro reminds him that he has taken vow to never change history again. As Ando pushes him to try, Hiro freezes again, reawakens, and then suddenly finds himself back in the past, 14 years earlier, at the carnival in the picture, right before a fortune teller would tell his younger self that he would one day be a great hero. A Young Hiro asks Old Hiro to take a picture, the very picture Hiro was looking at back in the future.
Peter, back at his paramedic job, tells the dispatcher that he and his partner Hesam are on their way to the next job but Hesam points out that they are at a standstill in traffic. Peter decides to run to the location, ducking into an alley and then using his incredible strength and agility to parkour his way to the accident site. Later, Hesam congratulates him on saving the lives of the injured woman and her babies but Peter is adamant that he should have been faster.
Samuel injects some ink onto the back of a woman named Lydia which immediately forms into the face of Emile Danko, allowing Lydia to even state some information about him. Samuel sends a man named Edgar to take care of the problem, despite Edgar not wanting to go, stating that they’ve only killed before when they absolutely had to. Samuel presses him to go and get the compass back, injecting ink into Edgar’s hands which then travels up to his neck, forming into a hand that chokes him. Samuel tells Edgar this is the last time he will ask him to do this and Edgar leaves.
Angela calls Bennet and admonishes him for not getting the Company going and avoiding contact with everyone. He laments the loss of his family and cuts her off. He heads to his car and soon finds himself being attacked as water rushes into it from everywhere, the doors being iced over so he can’t escape. Danko shows up and shoots out the window saving him, asking him to join him on his personal hunt for Tracy Strauss. Bennet refuses, telling him he is trying to move on and start over. Angela later has a premonition of Sylar showing up to her lunch date instead of Nathan. When she attends the date, Nathan shows up as expected, but his conversation leads Angela to think that Sylar’s personality is trying to manifest itself. She calls Parkman and demands he fix it and erase Sylar’s mind again in order to cement the Nathan personality in its place but he refuses, claiming he is done with using his powers.
Tracy finds Bennet at a restaurant and explains what happened after she was shot. Bennet tells her to forget about Danko and he will make sure that the man stops bothering her. Later, he goes to Danko and using the Haitian, erases Danko’s memory of Tracy. When Danko returns home, he sees Tracy waiting for him but asks her who she is, not recognizing her. Tracy realizes that Bennet followed through on his promise and goes to leave, but suddenly sees Danko attacked by a fast moving man with knives who kills him. The man tries to attack Tracy but due to her new water powers, she is able to avoid being hit as the man escapes. Bennet, after trying to call Sandra and hearing another man pick up the phone instead, comes over to Danko’s place after Tracy calls him. He finds a key hidden deep inside of Danko’s eviscerated remains and investigates it, finding it belongs to a safety deposit box downtown. He goes there with Peter, telling him about the man who killed Danko and having a discussion about how Peter shouldn’t be alone, citing himself as an example. When the safety deposit box is brought in, they find a broken compass, but before they can figure out what it means, they are attacked by Edgar as Peter grabs the man, copying his powers, grabbing one of the dropped knives and facing off against him. After a brief battle, Edgar flees and they see that the compass actually moves when Peter holds it but not when Bennet does so. Peter tells Bennet he is done with this lifestyle, choosing to return to his job with his newfound power, which was the reason he came along in the first place, wanting the speed. Later back on his shift, he tells his partner he got him some clam chowder from a place in Boston, thanks to a “guy he knows.” They receive a call about an injured man, but Hesam tells him they aren’t on duty yet. Peter instead runs over the address and finds Bennet cut open, but still alive. He tells Peter that the compass was stolen. Tracy comes to Bennet’s hospital room to see him, Bennet having called her, unable to call Sandra and not wanting to worry Claire, but also wanting to not be alone.
In his office, Sylar/Nathan goes to grab his coffee and the cup seems to move into his hands of its own accord. He brushes it off but then finds a quick flash of blue lightning emanating from his hands for a brief moment, leaving him confused. He tries calling Peter about it but Peter has been ignoring all calls.
Samuel uses his ink again on Lydia who tells him of Hiro who was at the carnival 14 years ago and can help them. Samuel asks Arnold, an old and frail member of their group, to send him back in time, and the man agrees. Back in the past, Samuel sees adult Hiro and begins talking to him, revealing he knows what he can do, showing off his own magical compass tattoo on his wrist that actually moves. Hiro is adamant he can’t change anything but the man tells him it’s possible to NOT have a ripple effect in the future and shoves him into the past version of his sister Kimiko. In doing so, past young Hiro never bumps into Ando which would have caused him to spill his slushy drink all over Kimiko, causing her to hate him forever more. Hiro suddenly returns to the present, and sees that Kimiko is indeed not angry and hateful towards Ando as the two flirt and kiss. Hiro tells Ando that he fixed things so that Ando would be happy and decides this is his new mission, to undo the mistakes from his past.
Back at Matt’s home, he can’t find his son Matty, and is shocked when Sylar appears, holding him. The two verbally spar, with Sylar telling him that he is now part of Matt after what he did to him, demanding his body back. When Janice comes into the room, Sylar throws the baby in the air. Matt reaches his arms out but as Janice enters, he sees Matty asleep in bed, safe, and Sylar gone.
The next day, Matt shows signs of jealousy when Janice and Roy the Waterboy chat and play with Matty. Roy leaves, promising to come back later to fix their water heater and Janice and Matt have a heart to heart about how he feels bad he wasn’t there all these years whereas Roy has been a somewhat regular fixture. Matt attends a recovery group for cops and under the guise of being a “user” admits to everyone how he felt when he used to “use.” As he starts his story, “Sylar” appears in his head and causes Matt to start to lash out in the group, no one else seeing Sylar. Later, as Matt interrogates a man who isn’t cooperating with the police, not revealing the name of his supplier, he sees Sylar again who again taunts him, causing Matt to have what looks to be a psychotic break. After he throws a chair at Sylar, the criminal gives up the name he had been hiding. Matt returns home to find Roy the Waterboy back and feeling that jealousy, uses his powers to make him decide to request a new route from now on. Sylar appears again, satisfied he got Matt to use his powers for selfish reasons.
Samuel, having returned to the present, talks with Edgar about how he has put Hiro on a righteous path and will join them soon, and then again injects the ink on to Lydia, showing them the next three faces they will be recruiting to their cause: Claire, Sylar, and Peter.
Back-issues:
This episode was produced and filmed as two separate episodes, the episode's title for the second hour was initially announced as "Jump, Push, Fall"; however, it aired as a single double-length episode.
Co-Director Ed Bianchi is a long time working director, but he also created the title sequence for season 8 of The Cosby Show (the final season). We’ve also seen David Straiton before, he directed on Dawson’s Creek season 4 episode 16 “Mind Games” (Joey lies about having sex with Pacey, Drew puts Joey and Dawson in the yearbook as best couple, and Jen stalks her therapist).
Edgar was played by Ray Park. He has had many other roles, including playing Chuck Norris in The Legend of Bruce Lee, Toad in Fox’s X-Men movie, Darth Maul in Star Wars and Snake Eyes in GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
Gretchen was played by Madeline Zima. Her biggest claim to fame is in Fran Drescher’s The Nanny playing the young daughter Gracie Sheffield. She had a main role in David Duchovny’s Californication for the first few seasons, as well as the 2 premiere episodes of Twin Peaks playing Tracey. She played Space Case in a small handful of Doom Patrol episodes, and was in Diary of a Spy (a washed-up intelligence officer is given the chance for one last mission, recruiting an asset connected to the Saudi Royal Family). Most recently, she was a main cast member in Death in Ojai, and Subservience with Megan Fox (it follows a struggling father who purchases a domestic SIM to help care for his house and family, unaware she will gain awareness and turn deadly).
Lydia was played by Dawn Oliveri. She is best known for playing Monica on the Don Cheadle/Kristen Bell/Ben Schwartz series House of Lies. Recently, she’s been in Yellowstone, and a movie called Young, Sexy & Dead (a major fashion campaign goes horribly wrong when its star fatally overdoses on diet pills. But she is a good-looking corpse and there are deadlines to meet). She was also a lead in a movie called Behind the Curtain of Night, later changed to The Secret of Karma staring Brendan Fraser in 2020 (after being declared dead for a second time, a man comes back to life with the ability to see his past lives), it was made in 2015 but is now available on Tubi.
Robert Knepper played Samuel. He's likely best known for playing Theodore T-Bag Bagwell in Prison Break along side Wentworth Miller and Dominick Purcell (a structural engineer installs himself in a prison he helped design, in order to save his falsely accused brother from a death sentence by breaking themselves out from the inside). He was a lead in the show Nova Vita with Titus Welliver and Stephen Baldwin (a wealthy entrepreneur must face his corrupt business partner and a sinister organization in order to get his life back), had a bit part for 19 episodes of iZombie with David Anders (a medical resident finds that being a zombie has its perks, which she uses to assist the police), and was in 2 episodes of the From Dusk Till Dawn TV series. He did have some appearances in CW’s Arrowverse, playing The Clock King in Arrow and The Flash. He was in 13 episodes of the 24 episode series Carnivale, and a lead in the series Thieves (Johnny and his girlfriend Rita, two young and professional career criminals, make a deal with the FBI to work undercover for them to nail several other career thieves in exchange for Johnny and Rita not doing any prison time for their own crimes). He was also a main character in an unaired pilot called Doorways, written by George RR Martin (basically Sliders BEFORE Sliders, it can be seen on Freevee or YouTube).
Heroes EU:
Stolen Fate
Lydia and Hiro have a common carnival past.
Webisodes:
Episode Title: Slow Burn Part 1
Written by: Jim Martin
Directed by: Chris Hanada and Tanner Kling
Original release date: September 28, 2009
Synopsis: Edgar takes a big risk for Lydia as she reveals a big secret.
Episode Title: Slow Burn Part 2
Written by: Zach Craley
Directed by: Chris Hanada and Tanner Kling
Original release date: October 5, 2009
Synopsis: Lydia reaches out to her daughter who reveals she too has a secret. Samuel becomes suspicious.
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