(S01E16) See, this is what happens when you give an ex-junkie a gun just in case a human bomb turns up, and tell him to use it to "save the world." Not HRG's best strategy, and a tragedy for Simone (Tawny Cypress). I think Nathan, succumbing to the more cynical side of his nature, will be relieved by this turn of events, because of his fears over Simone's earlier stated intention to go public with her knowledge of special abilities. Not that Simone would have been believed any more that Claire was when she opened up to her Mom's doctor.

Nathan, by the way, tells Simone exactly how he would handle persons with special abilities: treat them like lab rats and isolate them. This, as we know, is pretty much the philosophy of HRG's organization, anyhow.

Claire has seen her mother nearly destroyed. Now she finally openly challenges HRG. He's lucky here that Claire's super-ability is purely defensive.

HRG still believes that ignorance is bliss, that the family is somehow more secure with, for example, Sylar's recent intrusion of the home wiped from Mom's memory. The strategy makes is pretty hard for his loved ones to watch out for themselves. HRG describes his wife as "a sweet soul" who shouldn't be burdened with these potential threats. It's a quintessentially patronizing attitude. HRG wants to believe there is a sphere of his life that he by himself can keep pure and apart from the darker realities the he has become privy too.

That's about to come crashing down for him. A newer hero gets that ball rolling, when she makes her first onscreen appearance. Wireless arrives ready to rock. She's got full command of her powers and a snazzy leather outfit. She's already a hero, which is cool, because we've seen enough folks struggling to figure out their powers for one season. It's also great to see a new female character, especially a really powerful one, as the show's regular compliment of superheroes is quite dude-heavy.

Wireless is out to form her own superhero team and take down HRG. She explains the meaning of the neck marks to Radioactive Ted. Her plan is to nuke a certain Odessa Texas paper supply company, thus freeing all heroes and potential heroes from government persecution and tracking. Ted then helps recruit Matt. I was pleasantly surprised that they then get to it without delay. Showing up at HRG's home is kind of intense (with its potential to harm innocents) but I figure they had to try that in order to get at HRG away his secret compound. HRG , for his part, should invest in a better home security system in addition to wiping out his family's memories.

The call to arms from Ted, by the way, comes just at the right moment to prevent Matt from doing as his wife urges and returning the diamonds. I figure at this point Linderman will probably find out about the diamonds somehow before Matt has a chance to do anything with them. So, more trouble for him. I wonder if Matt's wife has an ability of her own by the way: Super-Quick Pregnancy Woman. She was really showing all of the sudden this week.

Dale, with the super hearing, is another person who is happy and accepting of her power. Unfortunately she doesn't guess the real reason Sylar's heart is racing when he and Mohinder first meet her. Her best line: "that was my favorite wrench," after Sylar melts it. On his return visit, Sylar (fittingly) has the creepiest line of the night. When Dale asks him what that sound is in his heart, "Murder," he tells her. But on that initial meeting Dale talked about how her power used to drive her crazy until she learned to control it. It's small comfort to her now, by Sylar suffers once he absorbs the power, which is a pretty good twist. So far as we've seen up to now, Sylar seems to control the new powers he absorbs pretty easily.

Several blurbs I saw online made it sound like Ando was going to be the one to die. Fortunately not, but he came too close to it for Hiro's taste. Hiro decides he must go it alone, despite his own reasonable arguments early to the Gaming Commission Agent, about the benefits of having a partner. I really don't want this to be the last of Ando, though the fate of Simone (not to mention Claire's mom) shows how dangerous it is becoming for the normal people who've become mixed up with the heroes.

Hiro leaves the trusty Nissan Versa with Ando, which maybe is a clue that Ando will return, since he is now in sole possession of this prominent product placement. Hiro them boards a bus driven by the legendary Stan "The Man" Lee, of Marvel Comics fame, in a cameo.

I'm looking forward to the showdown at Casa Bennet next week, and maybe, since nothing happened on this front tonight, Jessica going after Nathan. Also, what will Peter do to the Artist? He was justifiably pissed at Isaac selling him out to HRG. Isaac did this more out of jealousy than concern for the city, no matter what he says. Actually, Peter will probably fall back into an even deeper depression.

While in NYC, HRG remarks to Isaac that "someone we thought was dead is alive," meaning he and the Haitian thought Claude was dead. This explains why Claude has been staying invisible for years, even though he can evidently become visible at will if he wants too. The Deveaux building sounds like it is well know to HRG too, and probably not just because of Claude's pigeon coop. That rooftop setting has been seen many times in the series, and may be shown to have some major significance, even now that Simone, the last Deveaux, is gone, alas.