Heroes/Don't Look Back

Don't Look Back
Season 1, Episode 2
Airdate	October 2, 2006
Production Number	102
Written by	Tim Kring
Directed by	Allan Arkush
Stream
← 1x01 Genesis	1x03 → One Giant Leap
Heroes — Season One

Don't Look Back is the second episode of the first season of Heroes.

Starring: Santiago Cabrera (Isaac Mendez), Tawny Cypress (Simone Deveaux), Noah Gray-Cabey (Micah Sanders), Greg Grunberg (Matt Parkman), Ali Larter (Niki Sanders), Masi Oka (Hiro Nakamura), Hayden Panettiere (Claire Bennet), Adrian Pasdar (Nathan Petrelli), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohinder Suresh), Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli)

Guest Starring: Clea DuVall (Agent Audrey Hanson), Nora Zehetner (Eden McCain), Cristine Rose (Angela Petrelli), Stacy Haiduk (Elisa Thayer), James Kyson Lee (Ando Masahashi), Richard Steinmetz (Detective), Matt Lanter (Brody Mitchum), Danielle Savre (Jackie Wilcox), Thomas Dekker (Zach), Deirdre Quinn ("Texas" Tina)

And: Jack Coleman (Noah Bennet)

Co-Starring: Brian Tarantina (Weasel), Russell B. McKenzie (Beat Cop), Tadao Tomomatsu (Detective Furakowa), Dennis Chavis (Newsie), Karl T. Wright (Principal Marks), Ian Quinn (Fireman), Carl Ciarfalio (Jumpsuit), Josh Clark (Sheriff), Adair Tishler (Molly), Jim Devoti (Cop)

Plot Overview

As Hiro travels to New York, Peter and Nathan discuss Peter's tumble off of a skyscraper. Claire's ability is nearly showcased in front of the entire school after she finds that the tape of her injury attempt is missing. After Niki finds murdered thugs in her garage, she has no recollection of the incident, and begins to think that she's losing her mind. She is then paid a visit by Social Services concerning Micah. Beat cop Matt Parkman soon realizes that he can hear the thoughts of a little girl who has disappeared.

• Mohinder Suresh Voice-Over: "We all imagine ourselves the agents of our destiny. Capable of determining our own fate. But have we truly any choice in when we rise... or when we fall... or does a force larger than ourselves bid us our direction? Is it evolution that takes us by our hand... does science point our way... or is it God who intervenes... keeping us safe?"

• Hospital, New York City. Peter Petrelli wakes up in a hospital room. His brother Nathan is there. Nathan tells Peter that he tried to kill himself. He jumped off the roof of a 15 story building. Peter says that he didn't try to kill himself - Nathan flew. Nathan tells him that Peter jumped 25 feet and landed on a fire escape, and the rest is just crazy talk.

• Bennet house, Odessa. Claire Bennet's rescue of the man from the burning train has made the newspaper. She asks her adoptive father, Mr. Bennet who her birth parents are. She wants to know what they can do. Mr. Bennet catches the little slip and Claire amends it to what they do, like hobbies. He tells Claire that it might take a while to track them down, if it's even possible. He notes the train rescue story in the newspaper.

• Chandra Suresh's apartment, New York Mohinder Suresh enters to see a man in his apartment. He claims to be a pest controller, but Mohinder sees that he planted a eavesdropping device. Mohinder hits him, but the pest control man pulls a gun. Mohinder asks him if he was the one who killed his father. The man runs out of the apartment and bumps into Eden McCain, losing the gun. Eden picks it up and points it at both Mohinder and the pest control man. The pest control man tries to tell Eden that Mohinder is crazy and attacked him for no reason, but Eden notices the shoulder holster peeking out from under the pest control man's coveralls. He shoves Mohinder into Eden and flees.

• Times Square, New York Hiro Nakamura has just teleported into New York. He's elated and is happy to see everyone. As he passes by a news stand, his eye catches Issue #14 of the 9th Wonders comic book. It depicts Hiro in Times square saying "I did it!" and "Hiro arrives in New York" in a box on the bottom right. Astonished, he picks it up and starts reading it, but the stall owner tells him he has to pay for the comic. Hiro has no American money, so he gives the man 200 Yen and flees with the comic. He finds a safe place and starts reading it. The comic depicts exactly what happened to get him to New York, every line of dialogue the same. He flips to the end and sees the comic was written by Isaac Mendez.

• Isaac Mendez's studio, Lower Manhattan, New York. Isaac and Simone Deveaux. He points to the painting on the floor of New York being destroyed in a nuclear explosion and warns Simone that this will come true. Simone dismisses his claim and gives him an ultimatum — her or the drugs.

• Union Wells High, Odessa. Star quarterback Brody Mitchum is flirting with Claire. Zach needs to tell Claire something in private, but they're interrupted by the principal who says the sheriff and fire department want to see all the cheerleaders.

• Niki Sanders' Garage, Las Vegas. Niki Sanders wakes up in her garage to find a scene of carnage. The thugs that had been forcing her to strip are dead, and there's blood everywhere except on her. One of the thugs has been torn in half. She sees her mirror image give her the "ssh" gesture. Niki gets the video camera and flees. She goes to Tina's house to get her son. At a stoplight, she plays the recording on the camera. After a thug hits her, it goes to static, but the thugs can be heard screaming. Suddenly she fins herself holding a cellphone, and she's in a parking lot. She calls Micah and discovers it's four hours later. Niki goes to Tina's house. She tells Tina that two of Linderman's thugs are dead on the floor of her garage. Niki also tells Tina that her mirror image sometimes moves differently then she does. She takes Micah and rives back to her house.

• Chandra/Mohinder Suresh's Apartment. Mohinder removes the listening device. Eden is surprised to learn that "Papa" Suresh, as she called him, was murdered four days ago. Eden tells Mohinder that Chandra told her he suspected he was being watched. Mohinder thinks whoever it is wants him alive. Eden says that Chandra told her about his theories and what the world map with the pins and strings is for. Mohinder asks her to tell him everything.

• Union Wells High. All the cheerleaders are lined up. The sheriff says that there's a man in the hospital who wants to know who to thank for saving his life. The fireman who checked Claire's arm for burns picks her out of the lineup, but Jackie steps up and says she did it, and claimed that she didn't want attention. While people are talking to Jackie, Claire asks the fireman how the man in the hospital is. A bit later on the football field, as Claire is bing grumpy about Jackie getting treated like a big hero, Zach tells Claire that the videotape of her regenerative abilities is missing. She stops dead in her tracks in shock, and gets bowled over by Brody. only Zach sees that the impact and roll twisted her head around backwards before she fixes it.

• Niki Sanders' House. Micah knows something is wrong and asks Niki what it is. She tells him to pack some things. Micah sees that the house is a mess. Niki goes into the garage, but the place is clean, with no blood or bodies. There is a set of car keys hanging on a hook. Niki's mirror image indicates a red convertible across the street. The registration in the glove compartment indicates that it was registered to Niki Sanders nearly six months ago. There's also a note in the glove compartment saying "In the trunk. Follow the map". Niki opens the trunk and finds the map and the bodies of the thugs wrapped in garbage bags.

• Hospital, New York. Peter is sketching a stick figure drawing of a man standing and a man hovering. Angela Petrelli comes to visit her son. She wants to know what's going on. He tells her that he'll explain later. Angela tels Peter that his father committed suicide, and all his "heart attacks" were covering up suicide attempts. He had Major Depressive Disorder, which has a genetic component to it. She's afraid that Peter might have it.

• Isaac Mendez's Studio. Hiro shows up looking for Isaac. The door is open. Inside he finds many paintings of the strange helix symbol. Hiro sees a trail of blood and a gun. He picks up the gun and discovers Isaac lying dead on the floor. His head has been cut open and his brain is missing. Police suddenly barge in. Hiro drops the gun, puts his hands up, and faints.

• Double homicide crime scene, Los Angeles. Matt Parkman is a patrolman putting up crime scene tape outside the house where an suspected serial killer has murdered two people. Matt is on traffic control. He didn't pass his latest test to become a detective. Matt hears a little girl repeating "please don't hear me". He follows where he thinks the sound is coming from. picking up snatches of thoughts from other people he passes. The scene inside is horrific. A woman has been impaled to the wall with kitchen implements, and a man has been frozen solid, and the top of his head sawn off. His brain has been removed. Matt catches a thought fragment from FBI Agent Audrey Hanson She thinks Sylar is responsible for this. Parkman draws attention as he wanders, and he finds a secret door. He opens it and discovers that the missing little girl Molly is there, safe.

• Mohinder Suresh's apartment. As Mohinder carefully places pins and strings on the map to match his father's map, he tells Eden that his father thought he could track evolutionary changes via gene migration. Mohinder checks the messages and discovers a conversation between Chandra and a man called Sylar.

On the machine, Chandra asks Sylar not to call anymore. Sylar says that he can't control the hunger, that he doesn't want to. He accused Chandra of making him this way. Chandra says he didn't make him a murderer. Sylar tells him that Chandra helped him discover his potential, and he wanted to see what he could do as much as Chandra did, and now Chandra wants him to stop? Chandra tells him it's over, and hangs up.

Mohinder tells Eden that in India, he discovered a conversation Chandra taped with Sylar, a man Chandra called "patient zero". Eden discovers that Chandra's pet lizard, also called Mohinder has a portable Hard drive attached to its collar. The hard drive contains Chandra Suresh's algorithm for locating people with abilities.

• Double homicide crime scene, Los Angeles. Agent Hanson and her colleague want to know how Matt found Molly. Matt says that he heard her whispering. The FBI agents don't buy it, and Matt can't explain it. Matt needs to leave for his marriage counseling session with his wife Janice, but Agent Hanson stops him. Matt tells her that he didn't kill the family, "Sylar" did. She tells Matt that only 6 people assigned to this case know the name Sylar, and obviously Matt isn't one of them. He said that he heard the name from her. Agent Hanson arrests him.

• Unknown Location, Nevada Desert. Niki follows the map to a road dead-ending in the desert. There's a shiny shovel sticking in the sand waiting for her. She starts digging, but finds a body just under the surface.

• Bennet house. Mr. Bennet tells Claire that the adoption agency will try and contact her birth parents, but it could take weeks. He tells Claire that he isn't done protecting her form the world. She tells him that he can't protect her forever. Mr. Bennet says he knows, and it breaks his heart. After Claire leaves, Mr. Bennet watches the video Zach took of Claire regenerating and says "It really does break my heart," to himself.

• Hospital roof, New York. Peter is on the ledge of the hospital roof. Nathan comes to see him. Peter asks Nathan if he knew their father killed himself. Nathan says that he did know, but everyone is entitled to their secrets. Peter wants to know what happened the day he jumped. He wants Nathan to say that he flew, or else he'll jump again. Nathan relent and tells Peter that they both flew. Nathan caught Peter, but he was too heavy and they spun out of control, and just before he hit, he did fly. Peter angrily stalks toward his brother and accuses him of lying to him because he thinks it's what he wants to hear. Nathan points down, and Peter looks and discovers that he's standing on nothing. He then drops to the roof. He's happy, and Peter and Nathan hug.

• Isaac Mendez's studio. A translator is interrogating Hiro. Hiro says that he teleported himself there, and he came here yesterday. He says that a phone call to his friend Ando will clear everything up. He calls Ando and the translator talks to him. Ando hasn't seen Hiro in five weeks. Hiro is confused, and insists that it's October 2. A detective shows Hiro today's newspaper showing that Nathan Petrelli won in a landslide. The date on the paper is November 8. Suddenly there's a loud noise form outside. Everyone looks out and sees an approaching shock wave shredding buildings. Hiro concentrates and returns back to the subway at the time he left.

• Mohinder Suresh Voice-Over: "For all his bluster, it is the sad province of Man that he cannot choose his triumph. He can only choose how he will stand when the call of destiny comes... hoping that he'll have the courage to answer."

Trivia

The Show

• The date on Hiro's watch while he is being questioned by the police in Isaac's apartment is October 2, which is the day that this episode aired.

Memorable Moments

• The audience discovers at the same time as Hiro that he's teleported five weeks into the future, then the nuclear blast happens.