Sylar kills Brian Davis and is so guilt wracked that (presumably after meeting with Chandra and showing him his TK) he attempts suicide. He then meets with Elle and by the time all that's over Chandra is already dead.

Sylar could not have been the one to kill him he was too preoccupied. That either leaves The Company or an unknown person/party that has yet to be revealed.

that someone clearly HAD a "sylar" watch which was cracked... and the only one we know of is ... gabriel gray...

but he could've done it before he attempted suicide... he might thought it was normal, and somehow revealed he killed brian davis to chandra... but after learning of this news, chandra decided not to talk to sylar anymore because it wasn't what he expected? and sylar got mad of him not accepting who he was, killed him... then we finally got back to his place and realized what he has done, he felt so guilty not just about brian's death but also chandra *just not as much because he wasn't himself when he killed chandra* but mainly because of killing brian which started it all?

that would fit the story

This episode was pretty cool, but this is definitly one flaw in it, IMO. There was absolutely no mention of Chandra, minus a flashback. He should have been guilt ridden over killing him. I don't get where Chandra's death fits in the time line either.

Perhaps HRG and Elle were in town longer than shown... a week or two in NY on their stakeout would cover it.

You mean he killed Chandra some time between the suicide attempt and killing that goth dude?

I was thinking that he killed Chandra right after the goth dude... and HRG/Elle were in town until after Mohinder arrived.

I think they should've had Erick Avari guest star...

They probably couldn't get the actor who plays Chandra back to star in this episode. Anyway, here's the most plausible series of events:

Sylar kills Brian Davis --> Sylar is eager to help Chandra find more evolved humans at first --> Guilt kicks in --> Sylar's attempted suicide --> Fun with Elle --> Sylar kills Trevor --> Sylar's hunger is back --> Chandra helps Sylar find more evolved humans, Sylar kills two more people --> Chandra finds out --> Sylar kills Chandra --> Events of "Genesis"

Except the day after Sylar kills Trevor we see HRG get into Mohinder's taxi, which WAS his dad's taxi. That means Mohinder had to have had enough time to learn about his father's death, and fly over there and all that. I think we can assume it's only the next day because the very next scene, Angela and Nathan are just finding out that Arthur didn't make it. The time line with Chandra just doesn't seem right to me.

Nope. The Nathan-Arthur-Angela-Peter story is not happening the same time as the HRG-Elle-Sylar story.

HRG and Elle talking about Sylar killing does not happen the day after Trevor's death. At least, I don't think it does...

there's definitely a significant period of time between Sylar killing Trevor and HRG getting into Mohinder's cab (i.e. a couple of months). The Sylar/Elle story does not run in synch with the Petrelli family story at all tho

I think the most likely answer is that the whole thing holds true except HRG getting into Mohinder's cab was just an add on the writers threw in without thinking it through. I sometimes think the writers do this on purpose but as long as nerds like us are arguing about it we're gonna buy dvds and make sure we tune into the shows - plus we clearly enjoy debating about this kind of thing. So its a neat reference to the average watcher and something for us fantatics to get our knickers in a twist over.

Also there is the get out clause - it is not a proper flashback but a vision of Hrios and is more illustrative than narrative.