Episode:An Invisible Thread

An Invisible Thread
Season:	Three
Episode number:	325
First aired:	April 27, 2009
Written by:	Tim Kring
Directed by:	Greg Beeman
Previous episode:	I Am Sylar
Heroes Interactive transcript

There are nearly seven billion people on this planet. Each one unique. Different. What are the chances of that? And why? Is it simply biology, physiology that determines this diversity? A collections of thoughts, memories, experiences that carve out our own special place? Or is it something more than this? Perhaps there's a master plan that drives the randomness of creation. Something unknowable that dwells in the soul, and presents each one of us with a unique set of challenges that will help us discover who we really are.

Summary

• Danko gets framed by Sylar.
• Hiro and Ando rescue Mohinder and the other captivees from Building 26.
• Sylar poses as Nathan and, with Claire, tries to get close to the President.
• Peter and Nathan team up to destroy Sylar.
• Angela and Noah beg Matt to do the unthinkable.
• Six weeks later, Tracy makes a splashy return.

Synopsis

Beginning from where the previous episode ended, Sylar is shown to be unaffected after Emile Danko attempted to incapacitate him by stabbing Sylar in the back of the head. Sylar explains that by using his shapeshifting abilities, he has moved the weak spot. Sylar then morphs into Danko, killing some agents. The real Danko is framed for the murders. Sylar morphs into Agent Taub and helps apprehend the furious Danko.

Meanwhile, it is revealed that when Noah Bennet, driving his car had been stopped at the roadblock, Claire Bennet and Angela Petrelli were not actually in the vehicle. A little while previously, Noah had realized the construction crew roadblock was a set-up, and had Claire and Angela leave the car, resulting in only Noah's capture. From there, Claire and Angela head to the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., where Angela informs Claire to find her father, Nathan Petrelli. Angela says she had dreams of the future, and leaves to go find Matt Parkman; she says that Nathan will be in trouble and that Matt will be able to save him. Claire meets Nathan in his office, though actually Sylar, and wishes to accompany him to warn the President of Sylar. Sylar agrees, though he wishes to meet the President so he can become him. Claire notices part of Nathan's body in the bathroom, and quickly deduces who he really is. Sylar holds her hostage and begins to toy with the possibility of her becoming his First Lady.

Following his nosebleed, Hiro Nakamura is able to stop time and he and Ando Masahashi break into Building 26. Hiro and Ando find the prisoners hooked up to the drugs and replace them with the members of the Building 26 unit. When Hiro reverts time, he begins to feel dizzy again and starts to bleed from his ear. Also freed from among the prisoners, Mohinder Suresh informs Hiro that his body is rejecting his power, and stopping time again could result in his death. Also in the building, Danko and Noah are being held in a room, though Hiro had opened the door when he had stopped time. Danko proposes they work together to take down Sylar, intending to use a large tranquilizer dart to subdue him. However, Danko turns to use it on Noah, but Hiro stops time once more to take the tranquilizer from him and injects Danko with it. Hiro reverts time and then collapses, while Noah calls Claire to check up on her. Noah is shocked to find Sylar answering her cell.

Having followed Nathan, Peter Petrelli finds the now conscious Nathan, and the two head to find Sylar and Claire. They reach the room where Sylar and Claire are just as she is thrown out of the room. Nathan and Peter fly in and have a brief duel with Sylar, resulting in Sylar and Nathan flying off. Claire rushes in to rescue Peter, and they head downstairs to meet Noah. Peter confirms he has taken Sylar's power, and they can now stop Sylar. Meanwhile, back in the hotel room, Nathan is thrown by Sylar onto a piano. Sylar then slits Nathan's throat, which effectively kills him. He says that Claire will be very mad at him. He then shape-shifts into Nathan, leaving the room. Disguised as Nathan, then as Chief Aid, Sylar is able to meet up with the President. He enters the President's limo and shakes the president's extended hand. Sylar suddenly keeps shafe-shifting through different forms and finally himself. He is then injected with the tranquilizer by Peter, who absorbed Sylar's shape-shifting ability to take on the President's appearance.

Angela manages to find Matt stepping off from a bus, who was intending to head to Building 26 to stop the agency. Angela convinces him to come with her, and they head to the room where Nathan was. Angela is thus horrified to find Nathan's body in the room. Noah then brings up the body of the unconscious Sylar, who explains that they intend to use Matt to alter Sylar's mind to believe he is Nathan, with Sylar's acquired ability of reading the history of objects enabling him to fully embody Nathan's personality and gain his memories. Matt initially doesn't want to, but Noah convinces him that Nathan would be the only person that could convince the President to shut down Building 26 or any such future agency. Matt finally agrees and does so, causing Sylar to forget everything about himself and become Nathan, and changes his appearance to look like Nathan. Noah, Angela, and Matt agree to keeps Nathan's death a secret. Volume Four ends with Claire, Noah, Angela, Peter, 'Nathan,' Mohinder, Matt, Ando, and a recovered Hiro all gathered around the burning corpse of Sylar, though actually the body of the morphed James Martin. The group then proceeds their separate ways, and Nathan confirms the President has indeed shut down Building 26, and the funds transferred so that Angela and Noah can start up their own company.

We are all connected. Joined together by an invisible thread, infinite in its potential and fragile in its design. Yet while connected, we are also merely individuals. Empty vessels to be filled with infinite possibilities. An assortment of thoughts, beliefs. A collection of disjointed memories and experiences. Can I be me without this? Can you be you? And if this invisible thread that holds us together were to sever, to cease, what then? What would become of billions of lone, disconnected souls? Therein lies the great quest of our lives. To find. To connect. To hold on. For when our hearts are pure, and our thoughts in line, we are all truly one. Capable of repairing our fragile world, and creating a universe of infinite possibilities.

Volume 5 begins six weeks later. Kent Harper, a former agent, arrives home and notices that water is overflowing from his sink. The water begins flowing, and it stops at his living room. Suddenly, the water rises and it morphs into Tracy Strauss. The woman says he is number four, and then drowns him. Sylar, who now has memories of Nathan and none of himself, sits in his chair at his office and reads a newspaper article about the drowning "incidents". Angela walks in, and exclaims she hasn't heard from him in weeks and was starting to worry. "Nathan" says he hasn't felt like himself lately. Angela says that he needs to be happy and that this is "his" time. "Nathan" doesn't seem to pay attention. She asks if he heard a word she said, but "Nathan" just stares at a clock across the room. He walks over to it, removes the lid, and turns the minute hand back slightly, stating that the clock is running a minute and a half fast. Sylar as Nathan is using intuitive aptitude. "Nathan" then takes his jacket, appearing to be in a much better mood now that the clock isn't bothering him, and leaves the room asking Angela her choice of food for lunch. Angela remains still in the room, visibly shocked.

Memorable Quotes

"Payback is very bitchy!"

- Hiro

"You cannot freeze time again, do you understand?"

- Mohinder to Hiro after Hiro's nosebleeds

"I'll keep trying to kill you for the rest of my life."

"Well, everybody needs a hobby."

- Claire, Sylar

"You can either listen to me now, or I’ll tell you after you shoot me."

- Claire

"I love you, Pete. You know that?"

"Thanks. I love you too."

- Nathan, Peter, before challenging Sylar

"Oh, Claire is gonna be so mad at me."

- Sylar (After killing Nathan)

"NOOOOOOOO!!!!"

- Angela, upon seeing Nathan's dead body

"Sylar is dead."

- Matt Parkman (When erasing Sylar's memories)

"You're number four."

- Tracy

"I haven't felt like myself lately."

- Sylar, convinced that he is Nathan.

Character Appearances

Nathan Sylar Danko Matt Hiro Ando Noah Claire

Angela Harper Nathan's aide DHS agent Peter Mohinder Liam Samuels Frank

Secret Service agent (I) Secret Service agent (II) Secret Service agent (III) Jason Secret Service agent (IV) Samson Virginia Martin

Brian Davis Arthur Monty Simon Heidi James Tracy

Trivia

• Nathan's last words to Peter are "I love you, Pete, you know that." To which Peter replies, "I love you too, Nathan." In How to Stop and Exploding Man, Peter says "I love you Nathan." Nathan replies "I love you too," before they seemingly die.

• Nathan dies in this episode.

See Also

• For images from An Invisible Thread, see images from An Invisible Thread.

previous: I Am Sylar

An Invisible Thread