'Heroes' - "The Kindness of Strangers"

Although some important events happened on tonight's episode, it wasn't the edge of my seat excitement I've grown accustomed to while watching Heroes. Oh, I was entertained enough and, as I said, there were some crucial parts which moved the story along. There was no Peter, although Nathan and his mother were there. There was no Hiro, although there was the picture of his father. There was Micah and no Niki.

The Bennets (Butlers) in California

Coincidentally to Claire getting interested in West, her dad told her she may not date any boys. West convinced her to go out with him, telling her he'd fly her anywhere. She lied to her parents, telling them she was going to go to the library. Instead they flew to the top of the Hollywood sign on the hills.

West caught her as she went to leap off the sign saying he knows she has the power, but he never wants to see her hurt. He told her she should tell her dad a credible lie as the library was closed by the time they returned -- something else she was forbidden to do, but not a boy. So, she told him she tried out for cheerleading and was celebrating with the girls. Ho-hum.

The real thing of interest which happened with the Bennets was the Haitian showing up to tell HRG that he had to leave to go to the Ukraine. We don't know why, nor do we know what he'll say to his family about his absence.

Nathan, Mrs. Petrelli, Matt Parkman in NYC

Nathan met up with his sons Monty and Simon (great names) while sporting his beard, but looking more sober. He was told to leave the school area. But he was able to tell them that he's coming home before he went.

Next he showed up at the hospital where Parkman and his partner were getting ready to charge his mother with the murder of Kaito Nakamura (Hiro's father). They said her wounds were self-inflicted. She's ready to carry the weight of the charge even though she didn't kill him. She knows Parkman can read her mind and told him to let it go -- the only way out is to confess and if she doesn't, people like them would be in more danger.

Parkman and Nathan talked. Parkman told Nathan all about his powers and what his (Nathan's) mother "told" him. Parkman also told him all about his wife and all. Ho-hum. Nathan tried to talk her out of it, but she just told him to get into a program because she didn't want to lose another son.

Nathan told Parkman that his father didn't like Kaito, but his mother was a friend. They have the full picture of all of the "older generation" heroes. In the picture there's Linderman, DeVeaux, Mrs. Petrelli, Kaito, Mohinder's new boss whose name is Bob, and ... Parkman's father! I'll be mentioning that again soon.

Nathan saw the monster Nathan in the mirror and punched it, bloodying his knuckles. He's determined to make things right for the dead Pete (who's very much alive over in Ireland).

Micah at the Dawson home in New Orleans

His cousin Damon (?) Dawson is a bully, but the older sister Monica is sweet to him. The children were displaced by Katrina, lost their parents (I assume) and are living with their grandmother, Lt. Uhura. Er, Mrs. Dawson?

Micah blows his promise not to use his powers when he rigs pay-per-view on the TV for a wrestling match Damon is desperate to see. He gets in the good graces of Damon, at least for now.

While we didn't really see anything out of the grandmother, it turns out that Monica has powers of her own. All she needs to do is see something on television and she learns it. First it was making the tomato roses from the show the grandmother was watching, but then it was body-slamming a robber at the fast food place where she works.

Does she know about Micah's powers? I'm not sure. Monica seems to be a bit down on herself -- she thinks that she's selfish because she wants to leave the city while others are working to rebuild it.

I know that the grandmother must have some sort of power of her own!

Maya, Alejandro, Derek, and ... Sylar in Mexico

The Wonder Twins and Derek the car thief (from Jersey) found Sylar in the middle of the road looking very dead. Ah, but no! He told them he had been walking for three days and they have a new passenger in Claire's stolen car. He calls himself Gabriel Gray -- his original name, at least the Gabriel part. I can't recall if his last name was Gray. "Gabriel, just like the angel."

They told him they're headed to New York and Maya showed them the book by Dr. Suresh. Heh, Sylar's eyes lighted up at that! He knew they had to either have powers or a link to them. He told them he could introduce them to the doctor (who's long dead).

While stopped for a bit, Derek saw the wanted poster for the Wonder Twins. Thinking Sylar is normal, he turned to him. That sealed the hero connection for Sylar. He told Derek he'd stall them while he (Derek) called the police. Now, this didn't make sense to me. Like Derek, the car thief escaped felon would call the police for any reason!

But Sylar, as we could have guessed, confronted Maya about the poster. She admitted that it was them although Alejandro told her not to. When Sylar told them Derek already called the cops, Maya got into the start of her black-blood eyes murder bit which made Sylar feel intense pain. Alejandro calmed Maya down and Sylar was fine ... but they didn't know Derek was dead inside the building as the three drove away.

Mohinder Suresh, Matt Parkman, and Molly in NYC

Molly is still having her dreams. Well, nightmares. Matt is obsessed with finding his father since he found the picture of him and plans to use Molly to do the deed -- after all, she's the Walker Locating System or whatever that was.

Parkman told Mohinder that his father left him when he was 13, giving him $120 and he never saw him again. His father was a criminal who stole a lot of money from a lot of people.

It turns out his father is more than just a mere thief or thug. He's the man of Molly's nightmares. Although seeing the picture made her scream and refuse to help, she acquiesced and did her Molly thing.

He's in Philadelphia. But, fine, now Molly is in a state of shock and crying through her thoughts for Matt Parkman to help her.