We’ve all heard the saying, “those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.” Last night’s Heroes engaged us in a drawn-out but important history lesson on the origins of the Company and its methods, as well as a rare peek into Angela Petrelli’s vulnerabilities and motivations.

As you might imagine in a flashback-loaded educational episode, there was a whole lot of talking going on. So: what did we learn?

The connection between Coyote Sands and the Company: We finally got an explicit explanation for why for so many years the Company used any means necessary to hide the existence of evolved human, and went to such great lengths to track, lock away, and even kill potentially volatile heroes—the threat of a government-sanctioned genocide and cover-up is much more immediate and plausible when you’ve already seen it happen. And to your whole family, no less. Angela really does have reason to believe what she’s done is for the greater good.  We also got a glimpse of some familiar faces—Charles Deveaux, Bob Bishop, and Daniel Linderman—as teenagers turned co-founders, and the combination of their four powers (Angela’s precognition, Bob’s alchemy, Daniel’s healing, and Charles’s powerful mind-control) sync as a killer new business model.

Redemption is a family affair: For a show that sometimes suffers from too many or too disconnected storylines, “1961” was a refreshing reprieve that tied lots of characters and plots together along family lines. We saw that children inherit more than abilities from their parents: young Angela and Alice were eerie foils for overly protective Nathan and defiant Peter’s tough-love relationship; Claire and Angela connected as grandmother and granddaughter who both struggle between appearing strong and feeling lost; and it wasn’t lost on Mohinder that his father shared his flaws—when he self-loathingly spit out to Peter, “I’m weak, I’m corruptible, and I’m selfish!” audiences around the world were saying, “Yes, yes, yes!” Can Mohinder and Nathan turn around their wicked ways, and can Peter and Claire check their self-righteous attitudes? After digging up some much-needed self-awareness, signs finally point to yes. Maybe.

Where we are headed: So the “Fugitives” plot didn’t advance much in this hour, but we all grew a lot, didn’t we? And Sylar impersonating Nathan was a great twist, especially gratifying for viewers who have been hoping to see the Five Years Gone future play out in some shape or form since Season One. The newly-formed Petrelli-Bennet Company Family Band didn’t map out much of a plan yet, but of this much we are sure: Nathan will face-off (see what I did there?) against Sylar, and the group will attempt any means necessary (even necessary evils, we’re led to believe) to prevent Danko’s gang from creating another concentration camp for people with abilities.

Next week’s episode, “I Am Sylar,” is the last before our big finale. It’s appropriate that Alice Shaw has the ability to control the weather, because “1961” very much felt like a calm before the storm. I have a feeling that Angela is correct that we won’t see Alice again, at least in this season. But there’s enough going on already: What’s next for the Parkmans, for Rebel, for Hiro and Ando, for Danko and Sylar’s unlikely partnership?  Fuller and his gang have a lot to cover in two hours, and if the last couple episodes are any indication, they won’t be phoning it in this time around.

Read the Recap: Heroes Episode 3.23 "1961"

Hey, Heroes viewers: What did you think of Alice Shaw, and the flashbacks to Coyote Sands? What are your hopes for the next couple Heroes episodes? What are your predictions for the upcoming twists and surprises, including one major death?

-Meghan Carlson, BuddyTV Staff Writer
Image courtesy of NBC