The final episode of the fourth season (or possibly the last episode of the entire series) picks up right exactly where Heroes' last episode left off. Noah is still holding on for dear life while her daughter Claire shouts for help. It's pointless, though, because they are about 50 feet underground, thanks to Samuel, who obviously put Claire with Noah so she can watch him die.

For the time being, Noah and Claire make use of their time left to sort of their father-daughter issues. It's pretty emotional to see Noah, who is usually described as a man with a plan, feel hopeless and helpless. He asks for Claire's forgiveness for the things he's done in the past but reassures her that he did all those things to protect her. He also tells her that he loves her and that he can now die a happy man because Claire changed everything in his life for the better.  And before taking what looks to be his final breath, he makes Claire promise that her true identity will remain hidden from the world as Samuel makes his big carnival reveal.

While this should have been a heartbreaking scene, I don't really feel like Heroes is going to kill off Noah and unfortunately, my suspicions are correct. Out of nowhere, Tracy arrives to save the day, quelling whatever suspense there's left in this storyline. Oh and that's the last we've seen of her until the end of this episode.

Meanwhile, Peter and Sylar are trying to get info on the carnival through Matt Parkman, who remains skeptical about Sylar turning a new leaf. But Sylar begs for another chance to redeem himself since he's not the same person he used to be. They eventually learn about Samuel's wicked plan to gather people with abilities by looking into mind of Eli, who was sent by Samuel to stop Peter and Sylar from saving Emma.

Unfortunately, Emma is already playing her solo at the carnival against her will. Doyle the puppet master is manipulating Emma while Samuel is trying to convince his people that revealing themselves to the world is a good thing.  

Elsewhere, Hiro finds out that the love of his life Charlie is at the same hospital floor as he is. She's still the same sweet chirpy chatterbox she used to be only this time, she's 65 years old. Hiro apologizes to Charlie and beats himself up for how things turned out between them but Charlie is just happy she got a chance to see Hiro again before it's too late. Apparently, her brain aneurism is gone but everything else in her body is about go give up.

Hiro never learns because he wants to correct the past again in order to save Charlie but Ando convinces him not to, and Charlie seems to be at peace with her life now, having been married with children and grandchildren. Just like that, Hiro bids farewell to a storyline that should have never been dug in the first place.

Back at the carnival, Noah and Claire try and stop Samuel. Claire tells everyone about Samuel's plan to gather people with abilities so he can be the most powerful and then reveals Samuel's crimes such as killing his brother Joseph and putting a hit on Lydia. No one wants to believe Claire until Edgar and Eli step up to confirm everything.

To weaken Samuel, Claire tells everyone to leave but she needs a quicker solution to get everyone away from Samuel. Noah calls in Hiro, who then teleports everyone into an unknown place with the help of Ando's supercharging ability. Meanwhile, Sylar saves Emma from Doyle and now loves the idea of becoming a hero. And that, Heroes fans, is the conclusion of the Redemption volume.

The end, however, is only the beginning of yet another chapter. Because after her father spent years trying to shield and protect her from the world, Claire actually does the one thing that Samuel wants to do: expose herself to the world. Letting the cat finally out of the bag might be nice way of rebooting the series though I'm not sure if the people behind this show can actually pull it off--- that is IF and WHEN Heroes gets renewed for another season!  

Did you like the finale? How do you feel about Claire's decision in the end?




(Image courtesy of of NBC)