Cautionary Tales (Heroes)

"Cautionary Tales" is the ninth episode of the second season of the NBC science fiction drama series Heroes. It aired on November 19, 2007.^[1]

Plot

The Bennet family is preparing to go on the run, but Claire refuses. Noah intends to force her, but Sandra interrupts and postpones the departure until that night. Claire lays out a message for West ("SORRY"), who comes down from his flight to school to meet her. He accuses her of working with her father to spy on him and refuses to believe her protestations of innocence. Meanwhile, Mohinder and Bob discuss the plan to kidnap Claire; Bob admires Mohinder for his moral principles, but claims Suresh needs a partner who can "execute." He introduces Mohinder to that partner – his daughter Elle.

Noah calls Mohinder, hoping to use Molly to track down West. Unable to simply wait for results, he leaves the house, only to be immediately swept into the air by West. West demands to know if Claire had betrayed him, but Noah assures him that she never even revealed his existence. His strength failing, West crash-lands. Bennet subdues him and insists he help convince Claire to leave town.

Mohinder informs Bob of Noah's call, and wants to use it to get him out of the way without killing him. After Suresh threatens to blow the whistle on the entire operation, Bob accedes. Elle also gives Mohinder the gun he is depicted using in one of Isaac's paintings. Mohinder and Elle head to a stakeout point, and Suresh calls Bennet, giving him the false location. Bennet, already with West, realizes the ruse. Nevertheless, he arrives at the given location, where Mohinder jumps into his car and forces him to drive off at gunpoint. At the rendezvous point, Elle reveals herself, but West catches her by surprise and knocks her unconscious. Noah disarms Mohinder, but West discourages him from killing the doctor. Instead, they take Elle as a hostage.

Bob tries to talk to Claire at school, but by addressing her as "Miss Bennet", tips her off. She runs home, but Bob follows, kidnaps her, and ties her up. Noah heads home when he sees Sandra. She is gagged with tape and her hands and feet are tied to a chair. She explains how Bob took Claire. Noah then ties Elle's hands to a chair and he ties her bare feet together and puts them in a doggie bath so as to make her shock herself if she tries to use her ability.

Noah and West call Bob to arrange a hostage exchange. Before Bob takes Claire to the trade, he takes some of her regenerative blood.

The swap goes smoothly at first. Once the deal is made, West flies away with Claire, but the newly freed Elle shocks the couple and they fall to the ground, with Claire cushioning the fall. Bennett then shoots Elle in the arm, and is about to kill Bob, when Mohinder ultimately shoots Bennet in the eye as predicted by the painting. West flies Claire back home, where she breaks the news to her mother.

Hiro goes back in time to save his father, who does not wish to be saved. Hiro takes them back in time to his mother's funeral, hoping to show his father the same grief he feels. While there, he encounters himself as a child. Little Hiro is determined to protect his father from the same fate of his mother, and present-day Hiro sees how childish he has been. He accepts his father's wishes and brings him back to the day of his death. However, before returning to the present, Hiro time-freezes the murder in order to learn the identity of his father's killer – Takezo Kensei.

Matt starts manifesting the ability to implant suggestions in others' minds. He initially tests this ability on Molly, and then uses it on his boss to get extra time to investigate Kaito Nakamura's murder. Once again he confronts Angela Petrelli, and with his stronger powers, demands the identity of Kaito Nakamura's real killer and the last woman in the Company portrait. Angela tells Matt about Adam Monroe but pleads that the unidentified woman just wants to be left alone. She warns Matt that, if he takes this secret from her, he will not just be like his father, he would be his father. The penultimate scene shows he has the woman's name: Victoria Pratt.

During the final scene, in a Company holding cell, Bennet is given a transfusion of Claire's blood, reviving him and healing his eye.^[2]

Critical Reception

In the 18-49 demographic, "Cautionary Tales" earned a 5.1/12 ratings share. The episode was watched by 10.80 million viewers.

Sean O'Neal of The A.V. Club gave the episode a A-.^[3]

Robert Canning of IGN scored the episode 7.5 out of 10^[4]

References

External links

• Cautionary Tales at the Internet Movie Database
• Beaming Beeman - Season 2, Episode 9 - Director's blog on the filming of this episode.