(Carol is on vacation this week, but the show must go on, so please bear with me as I attempt to fill her sneakers for this week's episode.)

Image of Kristen Bell in 'Heroes'"When confronted by our worst nightmares, the choices are few...fight or flight. We hope to find the strength to stand against our fears, but sometimes, despite ourselves, we run. What if the nightmare gives chase? Where can we hide then?"

Such was the theme of chaper five, as stated in the traditional voiceover by Mohinder at the top of the episode, and we open on my-two-dads Mohinder and Matt agonizing over their comatose ward, Molly. Mohinder argues that Matt owes it to Molly to track down his father (a.k.a., the Nightmare Man from Molly's dreams) in Philadelphia since it was Matt's request that she use her power to locate him that put her in her current state. Matt promises the unconscious Molly that she's going to be OK, then promptly exits stage left on his mission.

Monica is interviewed by the police in the wake of the attempted robbery that she foiled in last week's episode, but lies and tells the investigating officer that she's unable to identify her attacker. This despite the fact that the officer comes right out and tells her that he needs "sombebody to step up and...be a hero." Monica, don't you know that's your job? Damn, girl, it's right there in the title of the show!

Peter makes with the lip-smacking action with Caitlin, his fine young Irish lass in County Cork, and she rebuts his contention that he "could get used to this" by explaining that he's got a past and owes it to himself to discover it. But first, he'll carry her off to the bedroom, and this is where we leave them, literally behind closed doors.

While still in Ireland, the much ballyhooed entrance of Kristen Bell takes place, as she interviews one of the Irish thieves at the shipyards where the now-empty shipping container which delivered Peter to the Emerald Isle resides. She explains she works for a company that is interested in finding Peter, as he is a dangerous man. We then see energy crackling from her fingertips as she lightly grazes the crate while walking away.

Matt and Nathan meet in the police station, where Nathan insists that he join Matt on his mission to Philadelphia. Matt ultimately agrees, partially due to the fact that they can get there faster by utilizing Nathan's power of flight.

Back in the Irish pub, Peter is told that an American girl has been sniffing around the docks looking for him. Caitlin's brother Frankie assures Peter he'll handle it, telling Peter to hole up with Caitlin in her flat in the meantime.

Monica, when confronted by her co-worker Camille, admits that she learned how to throw-down on would-be robbers pretty much by watching TV. Question for the class: Can she only perform feats of (human) strength, or if she were to watch, say, an episode of Heroes, could she gain the powers of any fictional superhuman character? Hmmm...

Matt and Nathan arrive in Philly where Matt confronts his deadbeat dad at gunpoint, followed by his dad indicating that he's the next one of the older generation Heroes to be marked for murder. Matt's dad explains that all of the parents found each other years ago, and thought they could save the world. Matt attempts to read his dad's mind and suffers painful mental feedback –turns out Matt's a chip off the old mind-reader block– and his dad promises to tell them everything he knows if only Matt will remove the cuffs. Gee, anybody think this will end badly?

Monica returns home to her grandmother's house to find Micah playing piano like a prodigy. By the scene's end, we learn that Monica's powers of mimicry aren't limited to acts she's witnessed on TV, as she ends up playing a pretty mean piano herself, despite having never learned to play.

Mohinder calls Bennet to say that his concern for Molly is so great that he feels the need to take Molly to the Company for care. Bennet urges him to not forget whose side he's on, and Mohinder haughtily replies that he's on Molly's side.

Matt's dad confesses that when he first learned he was a mind-reader, he was a "real scumbag." Turns out he's still a real scumbag, as he goes on to explain that reading minds is merely how his power began to manifest. Then, as an object lesson into how powerful he is, he locks both Matt and Nathan in separate mental prisons; Matt in a literal prison, and Nathan in the ruins of a New York City where the crisis of last season's finale was never averted.

Image of Ando and a scientist from 'Heroes'With the aid of a scientist, Ando studies the Hiro-penned scrolls that he found in Kensei's sword handle. Upon reading the scrolls, which as we know (but Ando is just now learning) are letters to Ando from past-Hiro, we flashback to feudal Japan to check in with Hiro, Kensei and Yaeko. (Is anyone else utterly tired of this already overlong storyline?)

Micah shows Monica his power over electronics, by way of explaining to her that powers may run in the family, ergo her newfound abilities. He pulls out an issue of 9th Wonders featuring a hero who is a "muscle mimic" and suggesting that Monica needs to further test out her abilities to confirm that she is indeed a copycat.

Mohinder has taken Molly to the Company, where his boss prepares to send Mohinder out into the field, armed with a taser. Just then, a psychotically driven Niki bursts in and opens a can of whup ass on Mohinder and his boss until Mohinder zaps her into submission with the taser.

Monica and Micah hit the playground to test her powers, and she jumps into a game of double Dutch, working the twin spinning jump ropes like a pro (despite having "always sucked" before), as Micah looks, laughing somewhat maniacally.

Peter and Caitlin retire to her flat where we learn that she's a budding artist. Peter agrees that he needs to open the box and find out who he really is. His passport is in the box, along with an open plane ticket from New York to Montreal, and a photo of him and Nathan (though he, of course, doesn't know who is pictured with him in the photo). Peter then goes to work on one of Caitlin's blank canvases with his Isaac-painting-the-future power.

Kristen Bell's as-yet unnamed character questions Caitlin's brother Frankie alone in the pub. He says he's never seen this Peter Petrelli before and, knowing that he's lying, she proceeds to use her energy bolts to begin torturing him.

Niki wakes up, strapped down, but back to "herself" again, and is told by Mohinder's boss that they're going to get her well again. Mohinder wants to free her from her restraints, but she tells him that she came here on her own to be cured of her sickness.

As Nathan looks over the destroyed Manhattan skyline, he realizes that Peter is on the rooftop with him...but it's the hideously deformed version of Peter he's (and we've) previously seen only in reflections. Nathan turns away from the sight only to be faced with a similarly deformed version of himself who cryptically intones, "you can't run from me, Nathan."

A squalling baby suddenly appears in Matt's cell with him, followed by the appearance of his ex-wife, who carries the baby out of the cell while accusing Matt of having left the baby just like his own father left him ... and just like he's going to leave Molly.

Flash-cut to Nathan facing the nightmare vision of himself on the rooftop and, as they begin to duke it out, we flash-cut again to Matt fighting with hisprison guard, as we realize before they do that it's Matt's father's illusions which
are causing them to whale on each other. Matt snaps out of it first and, in desperation, manages to broadcast the thought into Nathan's head that he should stop and wake up. Guess those powers are already morphing along, like father, like son. Nathan finds a scrap of photograph on the floor of Matt's dad's apartment, and it's Bob, Mohinder's boss who runs the Company...with the now familiar symbol scrawled in scarlet over his image indicating that he's a marked man. We know that Matt's dad is a real scumbag...could he be the murderer? (He's got my vote.)

Ando continues to read Hiro's scrolls and we briefly flashback again to feudal Japan where we learn that for their next trick, Hiro, Kensei and Yaeko must take on an entire army...and it's at this point that the writing on the scrolls becomes frustratingly illegible to Ando.

Image of Monica from 'Heroes'Micah walks in on Monica watching –and thus learning– kung fu from a martial arts movie. Monica struggles to understand what God wants her to do with this power, then busts Micah for staying up way past his bedtime. Micah assures her that their powers are a good thing. Just as Micah exits the room, Mohinder shows up at Monica's door promising answers to her many questions.

Kristen Bell's character is on the phone with (presumably) her contact at the Company, and we only hear her end of the conversation but, upon admitting that yes, she killed someone (Caitlin's brother) while carrying out her assignment to locate Peter Petrelli, she is clearly ordered off the case, which causes her to respond petulantly, saying, "sorry, Daddy, I'll come home now." If I'm correct in assuming that she's Bob's daughter, I can only go on to assume that his power must be to bear strikingly attractive children despite the fact that he himself is far from a matinee idol.

Peter completes his latest Isaac-powered masterpiece, and it's a moody street scene featuring two mysterious figures glimpsed from the rear (though seemingly a man and a woman) looking at a building with what appears to be a cathedral around the corner. The street signs are in French, prompting Caitlin to guess that "it could be Montreal...like the plane ticket." Caitlin answers her phone to discover that her brother has been murdered. Upon entering the pub to confront the awful truth, Peter admits that Frankie's death is his fault since they were looking for him, and he promises Caitlin that he's going to find them, and that he can't hide anymore.

Things seem to (finally) be heating up this season, and from the coming attractions, it looks like next week should happily be continuing the trend.

More From ComicsAlliance