RECAP DETAILS AHEAD (don’t read if you haven’t watched it yet) …

Picking up where we left off last week, Hiro and Ando manage to escape from Arthur, but not before Arthur copies Hiro’s power, which somehow results in Hiro mentally reverting to 10 years old, so that Ando has to teach him how to use his powers again, one by one, and after some hijinx involving waffles, they end up at a comic book store, where they find the “9th Wonder” comic books (who is creating these now that Isaac is dead?), which show them the future — an eclipse, which gets mentioned several times during the episode, mostly notably in the narration.

After some mysterious talk from his father about empathy being the key to mastering his power, Sylar learns how to exercise his power without cutting a head open, and uses it to leech away enough of Elle’s power to give her control of it again, but not before zapping him a few hundred times first, and it all ends up being foreplay for their budding romance. This, of course, confirms my previously stated suspicion that these raw powers are shaped by the personality of whoever possesses them. Because at this point, it’s clear that Arthur and Peter and Sylar all have the same power, but each has accessed it differently.

Mohinder is trying to make the hero-maker formula work, but can’t, because he’s missing a third part, some catalyst, which Arthur realizes Kaito Nakamura has kept from him, and he’s looking into this when Nathan and Tracy come to see him, and after he tries to convince Nathan to run for president, and Nathan flies away undecided, Tracy stays behind to offer her services to Arthur, claiming she can convince Nathan to be the friendly face of Pinehearst, since dead Arthur clearly can’t.

Newly reunited since his escape from Pinehearst, Peter and Claire are chased by Knox and Flint, Claire gets captured, Peter saves her, and they head to Primatech, where Matt and Daphne find the comatose Angela, and with an assist from Daphne — who tells him that she loves him — Matt is able to wake Angela up, in time for Nathan to show up, and they determine that Claire needs to be protected (AGAIN), because she is the catalyst that Arthur needs to make the formula work.

I really thought this episode was solid and fun. The episodes where everybody starts coming together each season are my second favorite behind the flashback episodes. It’s funny — with most TV series like this, the shows at the beginning and end of the season tend to be stronger, and the ones in the middle tend to drag a bit. Somehow, Heroes manages to rock the exact opposite formula. It’s really picked up steam since the premiere in September, and odds are, the logic will all go to hell in the half-season finale. So for now, I’m just letting myself enjoy the mid-season fun while it lasts!

Do you remember where you heard that?

RECAP DETAILS AHEAD (don’t read if you haven’t watched it yet) …

Give up? It’s from the opening scene of Blade Runner — one of many questions that make up the Voight-Kampff test being administered by Holden (a blade runner) to Leon (the patient), designed to provoke an empathic emotional response and thereby determine if the subject is a replicant/android. Turns out Leon is, and he proceeds to kill Holden.

Early in this episode, Sarah sees a tortoise on its back and helps it. Later, Cameron asks John why Sarah did this, and John explains that it’s just what they do, help things that can’t help themselves. “Empathy.” They determine that the other options would be to leave the tortoise as is, or crush it. When John asks Cameron which she’d do, expecting the latter response, she tells him that a tortoise is no threat, and that terminators “aren’t built to be cruel.” And she’s right, of course. Time and again, we’ve seen terminators walk right past humans who pose no threat to them. They may be cold, but they are never cruel. But the Voight-Kampff test remains true here — Cameron might not kill the tortoise, but she’d feel no empathy for it.

Figurative tortoises abound in Sarah’s fever-induced nightmares, along with nurseries and killer (or nurturing?) cyborg cacti. It all seems to have something to do with unresolved motherhood issues. (Another V-K question is: “Describe only the good things that come to mind about your mother.”) But buried in there is also the image of three dots in a triangle. Doc Sherman isn’t able to help her sort through the meaning of this, mainly because Sarah isn’t willing to open up to him, but when she goes back to the Wall of Blood in the garage, she finds the same three dots next to the doctor’s name. So it means something, which I’m sure we’ll find out next week.

Meanwhile, Derek’s girlfriend Jesse has captured somebody she believes to be a human traitor — a “gray” — from the future. And not just any gray, but Fischer, the worst one of them all. Apparently, in the future, Fischer collaborates with Skynet to use drugged up human prisoners to teach terminators how to question and fool humans. And according to Jesse, he did this to Derek. But Derek doesn’t remember it, and hypothesizes that maybe he and Jesse are from different futures, and that maybe this means he’s made a difference in the present. That he’s changed the future. Of course, it could also just mean that he dies before he ever reaches the future.

So anyway, Fischer denies being Fischer no matter how much they slap him around, and it isn’t until they find his younger self (played by Warren the Evil Geek from Buffy) and slap HIM around that Future Fischer finally admits who he is. Shortly thereafter, Jesse shoots and kills Future Fischer, to save Derek the guilt of killing Young Fischer. But the damage has already been done, because Future Fischer has already used Young Fischer’s security clearance to access a military computer and install a “roving back door”, which — besides whatever benefit this gives Skynet — results in Young Fischer going to jail for life for treason, which indirectly saves him from Judgment Day, so that Skynet can later rescue him, he can become a gray, and Skynet can eventually send him back in time to use Young Fischer’s security clearance to access a military computer … and so on and so on. Yet another handy time paradox.

Meanwhile, it turns out that Fischer isn’t the only good liar in town. Because when John and Cameron return to Mexico to burn up Cromartie’s body, they discover that it’s gone, and immediately rush to find Agent Ellison — the only other person who knew about it. Cameron beats the hell out of him, but he insists he knows nothing, and John ultimately believes him. As it turns out, Ellison DID dig up Cromartie, and he gives it to Catherine Weaver to further the cause of protecting mankind from the future machines. Poor deluded Ellison. I have a feeling things won’t end well for him.

The funniest moment in the episode of course comes when Cameron, after beating the hell out of Ellison, before she leaves the room, leans down and rolls Ellison from his back onto his stomach. Thus recalling the tortoise conversation she’d been having with John a few minutes before. And you can see that she’s so pleased with herself after she does it. I swear, for a cyborg, she might just have the best sense of humor of any character on this show.

This week’s Amazing Race featured a particularly gruesome Detour, where racers had to dress up as a cow, drink their own juice, and then offer themselves to a butcher in exchange for a clue. Oh, there was and sauteed sheep ass, too! A vegetarian’s dream. Enjoy, Terence!

Our teams headed to Kazakhstan, where everyone went pretty light on the Borat jokes, thank goodness. Sarah impressed me by showing that she’s learned the words “fast” and “thank you” for every country they’ve visited so far. Dandrew acted like ugly little ignorant Americans by calling everyone in Kazakhstan mean and unhelpful for not speaking English. Hate them. Have I mentioned that?

Anyhoo, the first clue of this leg led everyone to a chicken factory (this really wasn’t your leg if you’re an animal rights person!) where they had to find a golden egg. There was also a Fast Forward available, which Nick/Starr and Sarah/Terence both decided to pursue. THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE. The FF led them to a restaurant for the traditional “eat a large amount of something gross while the locals point and laugh” challenge. Terence was dismayed to find that they were eating meat. It was more like fat, which is even more disgusting. To his credit, Terence decided to give it a try. However, Nick and Starr (Starr especially) wolfed the sheep butt down, and I think Terence/Sarah should have given up as soon as they realized how difficult it would be for Terence. To his credit, Terence took full responsibility and didn’t berate Sarah at all. They fell way behind at this point, and never recovered. I was actually sorry to see them go, as they were completely unoffensive this week. As compared to Dandrew, who fought the entire time and were even sent back to the Detour by Phil for completing it incorrectly. And they still beat Terence and Sarah. Ah well.

So Nick and Starr got the Fast Forward and won yet another leg. There’s no stopping them!

This week, everyone chose the same Detour, titled “Act Like Fools,” which was quite appropriate. Teams dressed up as a cow and then had to find their way to a milk stall, where they would see a clue in the bottom of a glass of milk. Both Toni/Dallas and Ken/Tina missed the clue the first time. Toni/Dallas recovered quickly, while Tina misread the clue several times. However, both teams managed to pull it together enough to land on the mat in second and third place. Toni/Dallas continue to delight me with their positive attitude. Dallas stomping down the street in that cow costume screaming, “MOO!” was a highlight of this season, I think.

Dan and Andrew also did the cow detour, and complained throughout the entire thing. They, too, misread their clue and took a cab to the Pit Stop when it clearly said they had to walk. They managed to go back and correct their mistake and land on the Mat in fourth place, as Sarah and Terence were still so far behind from their Fast Forward attempt.

So Dandrew lives another day, and Terence/Sarah are eliminated. They gave a very sweet exit interview, and Terence didn’t piss me off once this week. Ugh, Dandrew, it should have been you.

Order of Finish:

1. Nick & Starr
2. Toni & Dallas
3. Ken & Tina
4. Andrew & Dan
5. Terence & Sarah (ELIMINATED)

Fang won the challenge and the greatest reward so far in the game: They visited a local tribe, were welcomed and honoured by them, fed and clothed by them. Then they danced, and Randy believed that one of the women of the tribe was hitting on him. I’ll just let that go because remember, he sacrificed his glasses early on in the game. The dancing was awesome. Matty had the greastest time and the aerial shot of them all dancing in the tiny villiage with nothing around them except for open African lands was really beautiful.

Corinne sent Bob to Exile Island in the hope that he would find the immunity idol and make their alliance stronger. He very easily followed the clues but found no idol, so he made one. It was spectacular! I would totally believe it was real.

At Fang, Randy made it clear how much he hated Crystal and called her a whole bunch of really nasty names while Corinne laughed her head off. Nice people, these. They discussed the treemail, which blatantly stated that they’d be making a fire at the immunity challenge. So instead of practicing, they talked about how lousy the other team was likely to be.

At the challenge, Jeff informed them that they were merging into a single tribe and they’ll be competing for individual immunity. The task was to start a fire and burn through a piece of string, something that Susie has had much practice with as she’s been the one taking care of camp since the beginning of the game. She won easily, with Sugar a close second. No one else even got a fire going!

After the challenge, they all returned to Fang where they spent about five minutes celebrating their new status and then everyone scattered to plot against each other. They named their tribe Nobag, and I am still laughing. Nobag. Rly? No-freaking-bag? NOBAG?

Former Kota was fueled by Randy’s hatred of Crystal while Former Fang was fueled by Ken’s anger at Charlie for spoiling his chance to secretly get that immunity idol during their feast last week. Sugar was the swing vote and I really had no idea who she was going to vote for until they revealed it. Marcus, who saw the whole thing from his spot on the jury, was dismayed to find that Charlie would soon be joining him. Charlie used up his time in the confessional to talk about how he couldn’t wait to see Marcus. Nothing against Charlie at all, but I am really enjoying how this game is going simply because things are blowing up in Corinne’s face.

The episode was dedicated to the memory of Marge Boesch, the wife of Rudy from Survivor Borneo. RIP.

What did we learn this week on 90210?

That when Naomi is Evil she straightens her hair. That when Annie is upset, happy, mad or excited, her mouth drops open. That Tabitha rules my world. That Navid’s mother was in Summer School. That nobody cares about Kelly’s visit with Dylan. That the principal thought it would be hilarious to joke about suicide even though Adrianna was right there. That the Jump Street storyline was kind of worthless and apparently over. THAT BRENDA IS COMING BACK NEXT WEEK!

My impressions of our new chefs after the jump. Join me!

Alex - Not too sure about him quite yet. Seems okay.

Ariane - I want to love our resident Jersey Girl, but she needs to seriously cut it out with the Eeyore crap.

Carla - Crazy.

Danny - Fine now, with the potential for asshole.

Fabio - CIAO!

Gene - Worked his way up from dishwasher and accidentally cooked Padma’s favorite masala. My early fave.

Josea - Couldn’t get too much of a feel for him this episode as I was trying to remember he isn’t Stefan.

Jamie - Would like you to know she’s a lesbian. Seems cool.

Jeff - As soon as I saw his hair, I began hating him and never stopped.

Jill - I honestly don’t remember anything about her.

Lauren - ELIMINATED - Taken out by the Apple Quickfire Challenge. She seemed fun.

Leah - Don’t remember much about her, either, but seemed okay.

Melissa - She talked really loud and I’m not sure about her bangs.

Patrick - ELIMINATED - Wanted him to do well, but he was just too inexperienced. Those noodles were awful. But he’ll be fine.

Radhika - Stayed quiet and out of the way. Looking forward to seeing more of her.

Richard - Our resident Bear. Great attitude. LOVE.

Stefan - Seems to have the capacity for douchebaggery, but at the moment is the favorite to win.