The Unity Summit—where it all began.

Fresh off the heels of—by far—the best episode of Heroes Reborn to date, Hiro and Noah traverse the crowds of the June 13th Odessa Summit in search of Erica Kravid and the bombs that will kill thousands and, worse, created cavernous divide between humans and Evos. Noah’s previous experience at the Summit doesn’t help him as much as one would think due to the memories he’s chosen to forget. As the two men split up, Hiro reminds Noah (here on out designated as Current—or “C”—Noah) “no stepping on butterflies”.

On the outskirts of Odessa, Mohinder Suresh—the man framed as the architect of the attack—meets with Angela Petrelli. The matriarch of the Evo first family tries to tell Mohinder that Erica Kravid is not to be trusted. Angela knows what’s coming, already sharing the knowledge from her visions with Erica. Despite what Kravid has told Mohinder about saving everyone, the Renautus CEO has her own machinations for the fate of humanity. Of course, Mohinder doesn’t believe it and, when he arrives at the Summit, Angela’s warnings become a reality but it’s a little too late for Mohinder…

Welcome back, Angela Petrelli

While Kravid presses Phoebe into action, using Quentin’s safety as leverage, we get to see the happy family of Luke, Joanne and Dennis. The prize of his parents, Dennis has an affliction in which he cannot stand the sun—an ironic deficiency when one considers Luke’s manifestation of powers a year later—but, as Luke is astounded by what Evos can do, he also hopes that someone at the Summit can help heal his son. Joanne, looking much better and less psycho-y, is still the pessimist, unsure if her husband’s idea is fluff or a genuine possibility.

Back at the Summit, Past (“P”) Noah, after speaking with Stephens, the same coordinator C-Noah ran into, has a very bad feeling as to what’s going on. He tries contacting the Past-Hiro but the latter never gets the call and we discover how a man who can bend time and space was trapped in Evernow by Hachiro Otomo.

While C-Noah and Hiro search the old Primatech offices for any clues as to the placement of the bombs, Erica and P-Noah arrive. The two are able to hide and Erica’s megalomania and bigotry against Evos is shown once again. She’s searching hard for Claire and takes P-Noah into custody because her “big plans that are going to change the world” does not include dissenters. She even sends the Penny Man to wipe P-Noah’s mind but the Evo reaffirms his white hat status by helping P-Noah escape.

After hearing Kravid’s admissions to P-Noah, C-Noah and Hiro run into Angela Petrelli who tells the duo that Claire’s been admitted to the hospital for emergency surgery. Hiro rushes to stop the bomb while C-Noah and Angela rush to the hospital but they arrive too late. “Your daughter, a familiar nurse tells them, “died in childbirth.”

What, what?

You heard right, Claire was pregnant, with twins. And this is where things get very interesting or Star Wars-y, if you will. To break it down quickly, Claire’s two children are Nathan and Malina. Yes, that Malina. As far as Nathan (named by Angela after her eldest), we know him by the name of Tommy and it’s no surprise, considering the nurse that hands the newborns to C-Noah and Angela is none other than Anne Clark, Tommy’s “Mother”.

Hiro vs Harris (clone): was this ever going to be a fair fight?

A quick jump back to the Summit, Hiro makes himself known, initially saving Mohinder from a Harris clone but, when he temporarily arrests time to examine the fallout of stopping the explosion, he realizes there are “too many butterflies” to prevent it all. He returns to the hospital to tell C-Noah the news. “It’s time to go home,” he tells Noah but now that Phoebe’s dampening cloud is in effect, they can’t. They can only watch from afar as the Summit explosion happens. C-Noah, Hiro and Angela all share their secrets and, after she tells them about the extinction event and how Claire’s twins factor into it, C-Noah knows what he was tasked to forget. But more than that, he knows where to hide the children: in the past.

The aftermath of the explosion has Luke searching the rubble for his son, Molly Walker (with all of Mohinder’s research), C-Noah, and the Penny Man going to the hospital, and Erica Kravid solidifying her position and plans…She makes her way to the hospital, her mind still on Claire, when C-Noah catches site of her. He takes aim to end her but P-Noah glimpses his future self and runs toward C-Noah as he takes aim at an unsuspecting Erica…

Hero Space

  • Consecutive weeks of solid episodes though “June 13th-Part 1” did not maintain the same level of consistency as last week’s “Game Over”. Though Claire’s death is still a mystery (as is her pregnancy) the revelation that Malina and Tommy/Nathan are her children with a destiny to save the world was unexpected and pretty cool. Sure there’s still a lot of ways this particular plot line could trip up but, as a whole, it’s a positive step.
  • From the start, I expressed the opinion that Miko’s journey into the video game Evernow was an inane plot device. Well, after seeing the Past Hiro transported there by Hachiro Otomo, I stand by my original premise. Sure, the entire Heroes premise is one where we must believe the impossible but, as a writer, one must realize that even in an impossible world, there are things you shouldn’t do. The entire Miko in the game arc feels like a construction placed there as the only means of trapping a man that controls space and time.
  • Erica Kravid has as cookie cutter and uninteresting a villain as I’ve seen. She’s a paint-by-the-numbers antagonist, offering nothing of substance which makes you think “okay, I can understand her point of view”. Part of that is on the writing but the other aspect is that there is nothing in her performance which displays her love for humanity or true passion behind the perceived threat of Evos. It’s a shame, too, because she could have been a much more effective character.
  • It was great to see some of our old heroes make an appearance. The ever crafty Angela Petrelli and Mohinder Suresh played their parts well as did the (currently) deceased Molly Walker. Based on promos, we’ll see more of our season one favorites, including telepath Matt Parkman. The infusion of the new and old alike is starting to make Heroes: Reborn feel like a part of the Heroes universe and not just some hastily crafted addition. Will this also help the mini-series maintain the positive momentum it’s created these last two weeks? Only time will tell. Here’s hoping they don’t step on too many butterflies on the race to the end.