“The Line” is a step in the right direction towards righting the ship. Not a huge step, but it is a little more quickly paced – making up for the molasses of the beginning of the season.

Claire tries out for cheerleading, knowing she can use it to cover for her budding relationship with West. Unfortunately teen bully Debbie dismisses Claire despite he being the best candidate. Another of the cheerleaders sticks up for Claire but it is not enough. When Claire is upset, West convinces Claire that they are the special ones and they should use their powers to put Debbie back in her place.

While drinking with the other cheerleaders and embarrassing more people, Claire asks to speak with her in private. She asks Debbie for one more chance to join cheerleading, but Debbie puts her down again. West suddenly swoops down afterwards and picks up Claire, dropping her from high in the sky crashing to the steps below. Debbie freaks out and runs away.

She comes back with police talking of a flying man and Claire being dead. When Claire shows up moments later completely fine, everyone is shocked except for the police who have found Debbies bottle of alcohol. Debbie is publically humiliated. She is kicked off the cheerleader squad and suspended from school, opening a spot for Claire on the team. It’s silly high school soap operas with powers….but it’s refreshing to see teen Claire doing some stupid teen things. It works well.

Mohinder tests Monica’s powers when they are interrupted by Bob. Bob orders Mohinder to inject her with a from of the Shanti virus which shouldn’t be fatal, but will take her powers away. Bob suggests they need to test it because there are some people who can’t have powers lest they destroy the world. Mohinder refuses citing the fact that this girl is not dangerous and actually enjoys her powers. Bob remains steadfast in his orders. Mohinder walks away and tries to call Bennet who tells him in order to maintain his cover, he should go ahead and inject her, especially now that they have Molly. Mohinder reluctantly agrees.

When it comes time for him to do it though, he destroys the syringe unable to go through with it. He goes to confront Bob, telling him that if he doesn’t, than someone will. Mohinder replies by destroying the cabinet filled with their samples.

In a nice way of keeping the story mysterious and vague, Bob thanks Mohinder for keeping their morality in check. He maintains that the need him to keep them in line as they have done some very morally gray things in the name of the greater good and he is glad to have someone like Mohinder around. He also says he will be giving Mohinder a partner to help him in his crusades.

We learn that Niki is his new partner because she owes the Company a great deal. We then see Bob bringing Monica back to her apartment and giving her an iPod full of videos for her to use to gain skills. It was a nice swerve as you almost expected Bob to inject Monica himself, but he didn’t. It made his speech towards Mohinder seem possibly genuine and you wonder if the Company is actually trying to change it’s directives a bit.

Back to the Still Pretty Boring storyline. I will talk about this storyline as little as I can, as I may fall asleep. Maya and Alejandro argue over leaving Sylar behind to cross the border. Alejandro wants to go on alone, while Maya wants to stick with Sylar because Maya is the most easilly manipulated person in history. She convinces Alejandro to stay while Sylar tells him in English that he can’t understand that he is going to kill both of them and take her powers. Sylar is the only thing able to keep me entertained in this story.

Meanwhile Bennet and the Haitian make their way to Odessa where they find Ivan, who reveals himself to have been a mentor to Bennet and Claude. Bennet begins to torture him to find the remainder of the paintings. He uses the Haitian to remove his memories of the day he met his wife and continues from there. They continue until Ivan finally crumbles when threatened with losing the memories of his dead daughter, the only thing he has left of her. He tells Bennet where the paintings. Bennet then reveals that he has to shoot him or else the Company will track them back down to him.

They find the paintings. They show:

1. Claire unconscious on a stairwell
2. a hand holding a vial
3. Niki beating on a door
4. Peter standing in front of a window, looking absolutely shocked
5. An unidentified man standing near a biohazard symbold.
6. Hiro and Kensei fighting
7. Mohinder with a broken nose and a smoking gun, and finally
8. Noah’s death.

Returning to Ando learning of Hiro’s storyline, we see that they have attacked White Beard’s camp. They find Yaeko’s father who tells them they have guns to overthrow Japan. As they escape, Hiro is forced to save Yaeko by teleporting the two of them away. After seeing what he can do, she realizes that it has been Hiro all along. Despite all of his goodness, Hiro can’t help but give into the temptation and the two kiss passionately. Unfortunately as we pan back we see Kensei looking on, heartbroken. Hiro finds Kensei a bit later, and Kensei betrays him to White Beard claiming to be the villain that Hiro made him. It’s an interesting twist, but it does seem a bit long to develop and much like Peter’s Ireland trip, you want Hiro to return to present time.

Peter and Caitlin make their way to Montreal as Caitlin wants to kill the bitch that killed her brother. They find a note left from an Adam to Peter, but suddenly Peter and Caitlin embrace and they open their eyes to New York in a future where everyone has been evacuated due to an unknown virus.

It’s an ominous ending, but it serves it well.

Overall, the story has begun to right itself as action permeates the episode, but it is not quite there yet.

B-

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Next – 2.07