Nothing big really happened in "Tabula Rasa," the sixth episode of Heroes' fourth season, so I was a bit disappointed that the story didn't significantly make a big leap forward. There was also no mention of Claire's college adventures from last week nor did it tap on Angela's quest to find her missing son Nathan. However, I give credit to the coherence of the three student-teacher story arcs tackled through Noah and Jeremy, Emma and Hiro, and Sylar and Samuel.
Emma and Hiro

When we last saw Heroes, Hiro passed out in Peter's apartment after teleporting. Now Hiro is in a hospital bed and Peter knows that he's dying of a brain tumor. Hiro believes that destiny brought him to Peter because he needs Hiro to fix something in his life but Peter sees it the other way around. Peter then steals Hiro's ability and teleports to HRG in attempt to find a healer who could save Hiro's life but not before encouraging Emma to talk to Hiro about her special ability. Emma's still reluctant to embrace her new powers but after a colorful magic show, in which Hiro stops time, she seems convinced that her powers can be used for good.

Noah and Jeremy

Finally, Noah reveals what his real power is: to understand people with abilities. OK so it's not exactly a special ability but it comes in handy as he tries to convince healer Jeremy Greer to save Peter's life when Jeremy accidentally shoots him. Jeremy thinks he's a killer since his powers have turned the other way but Noah does a pretty good job persuading the kid into putting his powers to good use and thus saving Peter's life. Peter then absorbs Jeremy's powers and Noah stays behind to make up for his past blunder and guide Jeremy. When Peter returns to the hospital, though, he learns that Hiro has traveled back in time to save Charlie the waitress from getting killed by Sylar.

Sylar and Samuel

Sylar is supposed to be the most powerful of them all but all Samuel gets is a broken and beaten Sylar who thinks his name is Nathan. To get him out of his damaged shell, Samuel shows Sylar around the carnival where he sees people with abilities and asks Carnie Damian to bring back his memory through the magic mirror--- which shows every aspect of Sylar's life from the time he killed his mother to some of his most gruesome murders. Sylar' can't accept that it's his life he's seeing right before his eyes and proves that he's not a killer as he spared cop Lubbock (Ernie Hudson), who unfortunately meets his end at the hands of Carnie Edgar.

"What use is a lion that can't kill?" says Edgar, who questions Samuel's decision in bringing in Sylar to the carnival. Sylar is like a baby learning how to walk and he still doesn't know who he is or what happened to him. But Samuel thinks that things are better this way because he'll be able to hone and guide Sylar into the person he wants him to be. Still, Samuel's plan isn't clear yet and it looks like he doesn't have a problem taking his sweet time planning his next move.



-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
(Image courtesy of NBC)