All was well in Mudville… well that is what it seems like. Six months ago is how far back Hiro warped himself to save Charlie the supersmart waitress of his dreams. Six months ago, Niki was a year sober and happily married, and that pesky Jessica wasn’t around. Six months ago Peter was a new hospice nurse with a nice crime fighting brother that was gonna clean up, even if it meant exposing dear old dad as a mafia supporter. Six months ago, Nathan had a vision of life out from under Lindeman and a wife that walked. Six months ago, Papa Suresh was discovering the people on his list of people with genetic markers for the next stage in evolution. Six months ago, Sylar was just the make of a wristwatch not a dark forboding shadowy personage. Six months ago, Claire made the cheerleading squad and her Dad was looking out for her, while saving Eden from herself. Six months ago, things were better. But things were starting to happen too…

On to recapping: Mohinder continues his role as forboding voice over personage… and gets us caughtup on where we were last week. Charlie dead, Niki/Jessica on the hunt, Peter saving Claire from Sylar, Hiro flashing back to six months previously.

Hiro appears at Charlie’s birthday party, just in time to make the picture that keeps Ando frozen at the diner, drinking the never ending cup of Joe.

Six months ago, in Brooklyn we have a new character, a watchmaker. Papa Suresh thinks that “Mr. Gray” can help him, and so he can. Gabe fixes Suresh’s watch, gratis, because that is what he does. He has a talent for fix watches (along with tearing off the top of skulls with his mind… but not yet). Chandra Suresh came to find Gabriel Grey because he’s one of his people that has the genetic markers that will ‘activate evolution’, and gives him a copy of his book (He must’ve self-published and have boxes upon boxes of his book in his apartment…) complete with his name an address inside.

Six months ago in Los Angeles, Matt pulls over a clearly drunk Eden(who six months ago had long flowing locks). Dutiful Matt runs into the wall of the Jedi mind trick. Eden says “these are not the donuts you are looking for”, and Matt decides that giving her a ticket is lower on the totem pole than a trip to Dunkin, so heads back to his cruiser and goes on a donut hunt. *weird sounds means hero is close by* Its the Haitian (and I only know him as Haitian becuase IMDB calls him that) the dark and twisty one, stares at Jedi master Eden, and knocks her out…

Six months ago in Odessa, Claire gets her first of many (ruined) cheerleader outfits. Her BFF Jackie has pushed one rival off the squad to make room for Claire. Claire isn’t all excited to put it on, which sets up the line of the night from Jackie (M’kay most girls can’t wait to try it on, except Lori Trammel, she can’t wait to take it off – Hee). Typical teenage struggle ensues wherein Claire puts her hand through a plate of glass. Total bloody mess, and Claire’s healing power hasn’t bloomed yet, so Mom takes her to the emergency room. Cue convienent phone call to Daddy Bennet from Papa Suresh. He wants to speak to him about his daughter.

Six months ago in Midland. Hiro realizes that he’s warped back six months and not just to yesterday. He also realizes that he really sucks at the whole bending space and time and doesn’t have the fine control to get back to tomorrow or six months from now, or whatever. He’s stuck in six months ago. Hey.. I know lets name this episode Six Months Ago.

I guess we should realize that this is a vamp episode, just giving up some back story, and we’ll end up where we started… So on that vein, I’m stopping the recap, and just posting character backstory stuff.

Sylar: The only new story line really is the long awaited genesis of Sylar. Papa Suresh has a new apprentice, Gabriel, the watchmaker’s son. Gabe wants to believe that he is important and takes Suresh’s bait of a new phase of human evolution. Suresh is sure that the keys to the new step is in the mind, and preaches this point to Gabe pretty powerfully. Gabe doesn’t show any of the markers of the next step, and Gabe doesn’t like that at all. Gabe is getting a bit scary freaky obsessed with gaining powers, sorta like Peter, only with a dark and twisty side. Gabe gets the address and phone number of Brian Davis. Brian Davis visits Gabe and tells him he is Sylar (a name he gets from a watch-face) and Brian demonstrates his TK power to Gabe. Gabe uses his ‘tinkering’ power to understand that Brian is ‘broken’ his brain is messed up and Gabe can fix it. Unfortuately, that means that Gabe has to kill Brian, and Sylar gets his first victim, and the pyschotic break that Mohinder finds evidence of back in episode 1 begins. Gabe/Sylar shows of his new found/stolen TK power to Papa Suresh. Gabe/Sylar partners with Suresh to help find the others with power… so he can ‘fix’ them too, my pretties.

Claire’s Dad and Suresh meet to discuss Claire’s potential, and Mr. Bennent gets a schooling on Suresh’s theory. Mr. Bennet and Claire talk back at home, and Mr. Bennet gives her a stuffed teddy bear.. she has a LOT of bears! Her hand has healed … um… REALLY well.

Nikki Stevens: Six months ago she celebrated 1 year sober at the local Las Vegas AA meeting. She works 60 hours a week, a deadbeat ex-con husband, and a father back from the past. Awkward family drama between Nikki and Dad. Nikki’s sister Jessica died back in 1987 (she lived to be eleven, not died in child birth. Nikki thinks that her absent father’s money is the key to her families future success, and DL is the kind considerate husband, that allow Nikki’s dad to come back into their lives. Daddy bigBucks Granddaddy Hal gives his grandson Micah a new laptop, and Nikki blegs for Daddy to come through with the tuition for Micah’s school. Hal thinks Nikki is hiding something. Hal gets mad at Micah for tearing apart the laptop… because that is what Micah does. Hal gives Nikki a blank check, and leaves telling her that she doesn’t remember, and Nikki gets a look at Jessica in a reflection who seems to remember. Jessica hunts down Hal, and confronts him and beats him up with her freakish strength. Stuff the blank check down his throat and tells him to leave forever. It seems that Jessica and Nicole share a brain, and Jessica has control of the super-strength part.

Peter/Nathan Petrelli: Peter is graduating from Nursing school, with no help from Dad who is still alive though not at the party becasue, Mr. Lindeman. Nathan comes to the party with his wife who is walking, not in a chair. Nathan as an assistant DA, is getting pressure from the DA to prosecute Lindeman, which would submarine their father. Peter advocates … oh he is so wishy-washy, stay loyal to Dad, I guess. Nathan thinks that Peter isn’t responsible, and then gets run off the road by Lindeman’s goons. Well his car gets run off the road, Nathan in a fit of concentration zooms up in the air, leaving his wife in the car, with no one driving, and the car crashes, sending his wife to the hospital. Peter dreams this whole scene, a latent p0w3r? At the hospital Nathan and Peter commisserate the tragedy, and put together the peices (with help from Peter’s dream… like Mohinder’s dreams… *bling*) that Lindeman wants Nathan dead, and they decide that Lindeman has got to go down regardless of their father’s loyalty. Peter agrees to testify against his father. Nathan gets the bad news on his wife being wheel-chair bound. Peter finds out his father is dead from a heart attack just before he can stab him in the back at deposition. No wonder this family is all dark and twisty, and Nathan a bit conflicted.
Eden: With her Jedi mind trick has wracked up quite a wrap-sheet. But her human-whisperer powers fall flat with Mr. Bennent, and the Haitian in the room. Mr. Bennet sends the newly cowed Eden on a mission to remove Claire from Papa Suresh’s database of freaks.

Hiro struggles with trying to figure out how to get back to real time, and even ends up listening to himself. Hiro and Charlie have a neat relationship, and Hiro proves his mind-bending ways through his rock-solid control of the ‘freeze-time’ thing, he just sux at the moving along time thing. Charlie shows freaky ability to learn new things,ala John Travolta in Phenomenon, which sadly is exactly her problem. Hiro can’t fix it, or her. In the midst of finding this out, Hiro inadvertantly warps forward in time, back to Japan, after Hiro and he left to Japan. After trying unsuccessfully to warp again, Hiro takes conventional transportation back to present day Midland to hook back up with Ando.

Matt fell victim to Eden’s mind trick and almost misses the Detective test. But he still blows it because he is dyslexic. But we find out that Matt is really his wife’s hero, as Matt gets his first taste of his powers. Did it activate from Eden’s mind trick?

Sorry this is kinda scattered.. the episode was too. But it brings us back to present day, or present time… Some interesting threads opened up in this flashback, the beginnings of Sylar, the hopeless quest of Hiro, and Nathan/Peter’s relationship. Jessica/Nikki have an interesting past… Some things in the past we still haven’t seen, but this show has a way of being flexible with time, so another peek into that past wouldn’t be out of character.