(S01E15) A rough week for some of the heroes makes for another pretty good episode, especially the Parkman and Jessica stuff.

For once, things appear to be going Matt Parkman's way. He's beaming as he heads off for his first day on a new job as private security. His client turns out to be an a-hole. Matt has not gotten used to overhearing the negative thoughts everyone he meets seems to have of him.

Just in from Vegas, recently-liberated Jessica has a new job herself; it's the first of what may be many contracts from Mr. Linderman. The cat-and-mouse chase up and down the stairwells was intense. So was Matt's near fatal fall. Jessica chucks him out a high window before finishing what she came to Los Angeles to do. Say what you will about Jessica, but she certainly enjoys herself more than Niki ever has. It was cool that Matt read both Niki's and Jessica's thoughts as they argued in the stairwell. [Note: that's how I interpreted Jessica & Niki's exchange in the stairwell anyway. See comments by Michelle @ 13 and Bill @16, etc. below.] Wherever they go, the mirror-twins seem to encounter an ample supply of reflective surfaces.

I actually thought at one point Matt would get to win one. Alas, it's not to be. The constant beat-downs that life gives Matt explains why he pockets his dead client's diamonds. That happens right after he reads the thoughts of yet another cop believing Matt is a loser. I don't believe Parkman will end up keeping the diamonds. He's too decent a guy. If anything that's why he encounters so much difficulty.

Besides Jessica's new hit woman career, I don't know what's going on with that family of Niki's. Micha Micah makes a good point when he asks "shouldn't we be fighting crime or something?" -- or just doing anything. D.L. seems to just hang out tonight. Why is he sure it's safe for Micah to be around his sharp-shooting mother now? And nobody seems all that curious about the occasional FedEx's that Jessica (as Niki) is suddenly getting now that she is out of jail.

Niki herself should be working on a way to get out of the mirror and back in control of her body. If Jessica can switch places, Niki should be able too. Although evil does seem to have a leg up, usually, in the ability-controlling department.

Speaking of evil, Sylar arrives on the scene at a short-lived hero's Virginia Beach home just a few hours ahead of Mohinder. Plenty of time to murder Zane the Melting-Things Guy -- and to steal his Ramones tee-shirt for good measure. Sylar is oddly calm now. The anger he's always shown before is gone. I guess he really had the epiphany, as he explains it, to Mohinder. He's even creepier now. Sylar toys with Mohinder for awhile, not even bothering to hide Zane's body much before entertaining Mohinder and making tea. Sylar wasn't expecting Mohinder, but [H]e makes the most of the meeting by proposing they team-up to "help" other people with special abilities. Which, for Sylar, means helping himself to their abilities. Mohinder has no reason to mistrust Sylar and really takes to the idea. Uh-oh.

The big thing this week was supposed to be Claire finding her father Nathan, but father and daughter fail to connect (to say the least). Meredith, Claire's birth mom, turns out to be no saint. She even low balls Claire on an offer of a cut of the money she's getting out of Nathan. Claire's not interested money, of course. The sad thing is, Meredith acts the way she does because of the kind of person she knew Nathan to be fourteen years ago. Very recent events have begun changing him, though that change is far from complete. If Claire could have seen Nathan's face, and not just overhear his voice when she hid outside the trailer, then she might have found that her birth father is not as indifferent to her as his words made him seem. Nevertheless, Nathan is soon back in his limo. Claire, feeling hopeless and betrayed, chucks a rock at the car out of bitter frustration.

Meredith told Claire that she's going back to Mexico, where the $100k will go farther, I'm sure. She was in Texas, what? Two weeks? Quite a coincidence that she turned up right when Claire started looking for her. Or is it? Can't imagine what Claire's next move is. At home, H.R.G. has pretty much destroyed his wife and his family, and the Cheerleader seems past the limit of what she can stand by and witness -- but then that's what I thought last week.

Hiro and Ando are no closer to the sword then ever, bless 'em. And Linderman is not an easy guy to get a meeting with. Ando can't help remarking on the irony that they are now back in Vegas. Really not that much farther along in saving the world than when they left from Japan.

Ando and Hiro have an initially-amusing role reversal. Sure, Ando's sudden passion for heroism has a lot to do with his attraction for the very tall, very strong, and very duplicitous Hope, but it's fun to seen Ando throw all Hiro's arguments back at him. "One doesn't need special powers to be a hero," Ando says, though it would certainly have helped. In another callback to Star Trek, Hope insultingly calls Hiro "Sulu" after he corrects her mischaracterization of him and Ando as a "couple of Chinese guys." Later he gives the gaming board official a traditional Vulcan greeting.

Next week is supposed to be a wild one. As we all know, the current teaser/catchphrase is "someone flies, someone dies." I guess "someone flies" could be Peter, learning from his new mentor, the invisible Claude, how to use an ability without being in proximity of its owner. But that does make him the obvious flier -- so, then again, maybe not.

As to who dies, I really don't know, only I'm guessing it won't be Nathan, Claire, or Hiro. I don't think it will be Nathan because he is the next person Linderman wants Jessica to kill, so, here again, this is too obvious. It won't be Claire because of H.R.G and her still unresolved parental issues, which are crucial. It won't be Hiro because there would be an open revolt among viewers (unless, say, Hiro dies and, through bending space and/or time, returns in another form). Parkman came pretty close to dying this week. It would be a shame if he were killed before he manages to have a victory of some kind. It could be Peter, come to think of it. He's always felt a little doomed.

Any theories? How about just plain guesses?