S03E03 - Long Walks & Short Piers
In the cold open we see Delilah Quinn in her Manhattan apartment, doing the dishes. There is music playing and she seems much happier than when we last saw her in Series 1. After a few moments, Delilah hears a knock at the door. She sets down her dishes and dries off her hands, then makes her way over to the door and opens it. We don't see who is on the other side, but Delilah looks surprised.
After the Season 3 intro we cut to an aerial view of New York City.
Late Winter, 2009.
Malcolm Parkins is at his office in New York, reviewing reports. We see that they are investigations into missing persons, the same cases mentioned in episode 2. He gets up from his desk and walks to his office windows which overlooks the ruins of Midtown. Malcolm's cell phone vibrates on his desk and we see the caller is listed as D. Quinn. Malcolm picks up his phone and answers it, he hears a panicked Delilah on the other end of the line. She says that she just had a run-in with Teo Laudani from her days in PARIAH and Teo informed her they just discovered an abduction plot and intend on taking a federal agent for questioning and asked for her help. She didn't know who else to call.
Parkins looks suddenly worried, looks at the reports on his computer, and asks Delilah where she is. When Delilah says she is at her apartment, he asks if they are still there, to which she says no. Parkins looks nervous and tells Delilah to stay there and that he's going to come check on her. Parkins hangs up his phone and briskly leaves his office. When his assistant asks him where he's going, he tersely replies "lunch."
The scene follows Parkins outside, into a parking garage where he places another call that we can't hear. He looks distressed the entire time, then gets into his car and speeds away. During the drive through Manhattan, we see a montage of police barricades blocking off streets and the remnants of night-time unrest and rioting. Parkins looks distracted and anxious and keeps checking his phone.
Parkins pulls up at the curb outside of Delilah's apartment building and hurries inside and up the stairs. He knocks on the door and Delilah call for him to come in, but when he steps inside of the apartment a gun is pressed against the side of his head. The camera pans to the side and reveals Norman Bennet. He greets Malcolm with fake politeness and invites him in to "sit and have a chat."
At Teo's apartment, he is pacing around nervously with dark circles under his eyes, checking his phone repeatedly. When there is a knock at his door, Teo rushes over and opens it. Gillian enters and Teo immediately asks her if she knows where Magnes is. Gillian shuts the door and says she hasn't seen him since the other night when he slipped out of the apartment to talk about how worried he was for Teo. Gillian then says he looks like shit. Teo deflects and says he's been calling Magnes all morning and he hasn't answered. Gillian doesn't look surprised says Teo needs to take a seat.
Teo is confrontational and tells Gillian to just tell him what is going on. Gillian decides to sit instead and tells Teo that Magnes has been abducted, Wireless found footage of him being grabbed last night. Teo is horrified and gets angry, blaming the Ferrymen for putting Magnes in danger. Gillian shouts at Teo and says he wasn't on an assignment and asks where Teo was last night. Teo suddenly realizes that Magnes probably went out looking for him and he breaks down sobbing.
Gillian grabs a newspaper from the kitchen table, rolls it up and smacks Teo in the side of the head with it. She says the Ferrymen need him to get his shit together to help look for him. Teo recoils onto the couch and looks stunned by Gillian's assertiveness. Teo says he can't help anyone, let alone the Ferrymen, and Gillian smacks him in the head twice more. When she goes to hit Teo a third time he knocks the newspaper out of her hands and it falls on the floor. They argue over each other until Gillian sees the headline about a murder of an Evolved patient in a Staten Island hospital. She sees the words "brain removed" in the article and tells Teo to shut up. Gillian snatches up the paper and looks at the article, and Teo asks her what's wrong. Gillian says nothing and drops the paper. She tells Teo he's a shit friend and Magnes deserves better and storms out. After Gillian leaves, Teo slouches against the wall and slides down to the floor.
In Delilah's apartment, Parkins is seated in the living room while Norman stands over him with his gun out. Parkins is visibly straining to concentrate and Norman smiles confidently. He tells Parkins he won't have any luck reading his mind, the Company trained him how to elude telepathic intrusion when he was half Parkins' age. Nearby, Delilah pleads with Norman not to kill anyone in her apartment. Norman tells Delilah to shut up and sit down. She reluctantly does.
Norman demands that Parkins tell him why the government is abducting Evolved off the street. Parkins says the government isn't and blames the Company. Norman says if the Company was going to do that it wouldn't involve vans and no one would be the wiser. He clicks back the hammer on his gun and demands Parkins not lie to him. Parkins calls Norman's bluff and tells him if he won't believe what he's saying to just "go ahead and get this over with." Delilah pleads with Norman not to shoot him.
Norman asks Parkins what he knows about the vans and Parkins specifies that Homeland Security has been following reports of the abductions but doesn't have much to go on. He corroborates what Norman knows about the vans and that the teams are using clean suits so they don't leave trace particles behind. He says it is very organized but small scale and seemingly randomized. Parkins asks what Norman knows and he says the same, except that "one of ours" was abducted. Parkins says he's sorry that happened and Norman tells him to lie to his face again and threatens him with the gun.
Parkins says this might be something new and says that fighting won't help anyone. He asks Norman to come back and work with him on this. Norman tells Parkins to go to hell. Norman asks for Parkins' cell phone. Parkins becomes nervous, but hands it over. Norman smashes the phone on the floor and backs out of the apartment. The second the door is closed Parkins exhales and rests his head in his hands. Delilah apologizes profusely and says she didn't have any choice but to trick him. Parkins asks her if she told him anything and Delilah says he didn't ask her to do anything except call. Parkins stands up and wraps his arms around Delilah and apologizes for getting her wrapped up in this. They kiss.
At the Ferrymen's headquarters, Helena is looking over maps of Brooklyn and Staten Island with Lynette. Helena asks Lynette how she got involved in the Ferrymen and Lynette explains that her sister manifested on the day of the Midtown explosion and saved her life; she could absorb and convert energy. She protected them from the blast but got sick from absorbing radiation. Her sister was hospitalized and when the government found out what her ability was, she disappeared. The hospital claims she left of her own free will but Lynette believes she was abducted. Helena says she's sorry and Lynette tells her it's fine, that the pain helps remind her what she's doing.
Helena says she noticed Lynette do an "electricity trick" before, and Lynette says it's not that simple. Helena asks if she can explain and Lynette turns into a bolt of lightning and moves from one side of the room to the other. Helena jolts in surprise and then laughs, smiling and excited. She tells Lynette her ability is cool and Lynette remarks that it wasn't always so easy and she has to be careful of "grounding out."
Wireless comes in and escorts a sheepish Teo Laudani into the map room. Helena is relieved to see Teo and throws her arms around him. Teo isn't sure what to do at first, but reluctantly returns Helena's embrace. He says he's sorry he wasn't there for Magnes, but that he's had a "hard time" as of late. Helena says it's okay, that everyone has hard times, and then introduces Teo to Lynette. Teo says they've met and Lynette raises one brow and bites her bottom lip. Helena looks awkward and quickly changes the subject, asking Wireless how Norman's interrogation went.
Wireless says that nothing came of it and Norman is convinced Parkins wasn't lying to him about it not being a government job, but also that he was hiding something. Teo asks what he can do to help and Helena says there isn't a lot right now. They just have to wait and hope they find something. Teo says that's "bullshit" and Wireless snaps at him and tells Teo that if he hadn't abandoned them when they needed him the most, maybe they wouldn't be in this situation. Then she sharply tells him to "clean up." Teo looks hurt, but accepts the sharp criticism.
At sunset, we white van drives down a Brooklyn street. It slowly rounds a corner and slows down as it passes by a basketball court where teenagers are playing. One teenager is sitting on top of the hoop, catching shots and dunking them while laughing. The van stops and lingers. That teen floats down off of the hoop and lands on the court, joining his friends. The van slowly drives away.
We see across the street a man in a black leather jacket and a hoodie stand up off a park bench. Peter Petrelli follows the movement of the van with his eyes, then begins walking after it.
Late at night, Gillian drives over a bridge from New Jersey into Staten Island. London Grammar's cover of "Devil Inside" plays as we see the lightless, ruined streets of Staten Island and the distant light of a single neighborhood with electricity. We follow the headlights of Gillian's car through the dark streets as a pack of wild dogs cross the road.
In an abandoned tenement building we see Gabriel sitting barefoot and in a sweater on the floor. He is stacking bricks with his telekinesis while Eileen watches him with fascination in her eyes. Then with a twist of his hand, Gabriel turns one of the hovering bricks into sand that swirls around in the air, to Eileen's amusement.
Driving closer to the light of a distant neighborhood, Gillian sees residential buildings spray painted with old warnings that say "RADIOACTIVE" and "HELP US"
In the abandoned apartment, Eileen presses a hand to the side of Gabriel's face and turns him toward her. They kiss and she lays him back on the floor.
Gillian drives past a sign on an abandoned freeway that has a neighborhood's name crossed out in red spraypaint with "THE ROOKERY" written over it. The music montage ends and Gillian turns her car toward that off-ramp. It is followed by an owl.
