Continuing my obsession with this season's episode titles, I have some thoughts about Eris Quod Sum. It means "I am what you will be" and is a very old, Latin phrase used traditionally on gravestones. Which is just an awesome title: it invokes such a feeling of foreboding. Are they referring to sons becoming their fathers? Peter or Sylar into Arthur, and Matt into Maury? Are they making a specific reference to death (especially since they showed us the "death" of four main characters in this hour)? Are they referring to the millions of people with no current abilities who will soon purchase the serum and become what the heroes are?

And I know I've said this before, but I'm really quite impressed with the literary, poetic, and cultural references they've been making with this season's titles. Thinking back to season one, we had a bunch of Duh Titles: Homecoming, Parasite, 0.7%, Run!, Five Years Gone, Hiros, etc. Season two was only slightly less banal: Four Months Later, Fight or Flight, Powerless, Cautionary Tales, etc. This season we've had a reference to Yeats for 3x01, a nod to chaos theory at the turn of the century (1890-1906) for 3x02, a line from a Hindu epic poem and a quote from a nuclear scientist for 3x04, a reference to a 70s science fiction movie and a early 20th century poem written for a dying father for 3x06, and now this Latin headstone inscription. Very cool.

Very nice use of exposition: Peter's flashbacks of his father was a nice way to reiterate the storyline without the exposition seeming forced. And I loved Arthur's, "Son, until you change that attitude, you're grounded." Kind of cheesy, but enjoyable nonetheless.

The reveal of Elle in the Bennet's house, twitchy and barely in control of herself, was well done. I wasn't expecting that at all. I liked her unflinching attempt at electrocuting Claire, as well as how Claire dragged Elle towards the front door by her hair (cat fight!). I felt so bad for poor Elle, strung out and OD'ing on her own power, and just looking for a kind father figure to tell her everything's going to be all right. Also, did anyone else notice the two Wizard of Oz references in this scene? Lyle stops Elle in her tracks by throwing a bucket of water on her, and the final line of the scene was Elle's, "Okay, Dorothy. Let's go see the wizard."

Arthur's, "Have you met their mother?" explanation for why he faked his own death was funny. Now that's what I call an acrimonious split. But what I want to know is why Mohinder took Maya with him? Haven't they only known each other for a couple weeks? Couple days? I didn't believe his profession of "feelings" at all. But it's time for the Happy Dance! Maya doesn't have a power anymore! She can go home!

Angela's "Make Mommy proud," was creepy, but goodness: the way the door flew across the room as Sylar twitched two fingers and escaped was cool. That's one of my favorite Sylar moves: the conservation of movement badassness. (My two favorites of all time were his flinging of HRG against the wall of his cell--"That was for the haircut,"--and the way he flipped the police van that Ted was being transported in.)

Arthur's using his own son to test Mohinder's formula? That's cold. And I was wondering how long it would be before we were treated to a Sylar/Mohinder battle now that both of them are a little more evenly matched, and especially now that their outlooks on life, morality, and the use of abilities have undergone... rearrangement. But I was a little disappointed. Sylar just doesn't fight back anymore. These showdowns are no fun if Sylar just lays there and gets pummeled. This did clear up something for us all, though: Sylar is Arthur's son. No mystery Baby Daddy here.

"...Reminder for passengers to turn off all electrical equipment!" Funny line, fabulous character scene for both of them, but who in the world thought it would be a good idea to put that girl on a plane? Dumb. That's the one mode of transportation that I would think would be immediately ruled out when planning this little Sisterhood of the Traveling Powers road trip. Which is what it should have been. A road trip. On the ground. Still, aside from that, I loved the scene. Kristen Bell really impressed me in this episode. Kudos, babe.

Maury's dead? Maury's dead? Whoa! Where did that come from? I was super confused at this point. So Angela's latest vision is completely rewritten now, right? Two of the villains are dead. After a moment I let Maury's death go, but when Matt and Daphne both apparently bought the farm, I had to cry foul on theirs. No way was this actually happening. Not that I minded the obvious false-plot; I figured there would be a decent explanation. I could even have gone along with both Maury and Daphne being killed (easily and boringly), but Matt was too much. And once this bout of fake character deaths is over, Heroes, please quit it. Ando, Maury, Daphne, Matt... We're just not getting faked out anymore. This is turning into The Boy Who Cried Wolf. (I'm putting Maury in the "fake death" category because of all the other fake deaths this week, and because I think Maury made Daphne see that in order to convince her Arthur meant business. He's still manipulating her into recruiting Matt.)

I liked the suspension of Sylar in Arthur's office and the revelation that Angela tried to drown Baby!Gabriel. (If we can trust a single thing Arthur says.) But once again--what's with the fake deaths? You're not going to kill off Peter, and trying to make us believe it as the cliffhanger before a commercial break was just silly. And to expect us to believe that he fell that far and not die? I thought it was pretty obvious immediately that Sylar had tossed him out the window and then buffered his fall with telekinesis in order to save his brother. Still... Kind of cool. I'm curious where they're going with Sylar's allegiance here.

Ohhh... Bring on the exposition with Tracy, Nathan, HRG, and Meredith. I understand the relationships of this show are a little convoluted and complicated at this point, and I understand that new viewers are probably totally confused by all the heroic inbreeding there seems to be, but I didn't like Ali's delivery here about Claire's family. Exposition is often necessary, but there is a way it can be done that doesn't seem obvious, awkward, or heavy-handed. This attempt was all three of those. But speaking of awkward, the three-way "Soooo..." look between Tracy, Meredith, and Nathan after HRG walks away was actually very funny.

I liked the first few moments between Peter and Nathan when Peter revealed that their father was still alive. But just the first few moments. The acting continued to be good, given what was scripted for them, but Nathan took the news of a resurrected father amazingly well. "Seriously? Dad's alive? Nah. He's dead. Really? Are you sure he's alive? Huh... Okay." Little more confusion here was necessary. And does Nathan know Sylar's their brother, too?

Bits and Pieces:

* Turtle sighting!
* Daphne just looks so tiny next to Matt! They don't look like a good, believable couple. Not visually, anyway.
* No more flame-in-the-palm gags! Just stop. I'm getting really bugged here.
* Wow. Tiny Hiro clip this week. I'm guessing next week will be Hiro's vision? I'm on board.

To wrap up my review this week, I have a slightly off-topic funny finding to share with you. I was doing some research on neonatal amniotic band syndrome and I ran across a 2000 article in the Archives of Diseases in Childhood called "Fetal acalvaria with amniotic band syndrome." And the author of this commentary on the non-genetic causes of a rare birth defect? Dr. Chandran Suresh. :-) Not kidding, look it up! (True, it would be cooler if that "n" wasn't at the end, but still, I got a big kick out of it.)

GG

hehe.. did anyone else notice the "fire and ice" connection between nathan's two babes? hahaha.. XD

i did haha the line "well i see you've still got a weakness for blondes" made me chuckle
nice review as always GG