
S03E06 - O Father
In the cold open we see a young Peter Petrelli playing the piano in a lavish estate. Out the window we see the New York City skyline and the Twin Towers. The boy is trying to play a Jazz piano melody, the sheet music in front of him is by Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight." The boy struggles to his the correct keys and looks frustrated. Eventually he slams the cover over the keys and slouches onto the piano. He is approached from behind by his father Arthur (Donald Sackford) who puts a hand on his shoulder and asks Peter if he knows the secret of Jazz. Peter looks up, wipes tears from his eyes, and shakes his head no. Arthur sits down next to him at the piano and lifts up the keyboard cover and starts to play the piece from memory. He doesn't hit every note just right and Peter tells him so. Arthur laughs and says "that's the point."
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Arthur turns the sheet music over and has Peter follow along with him on the piano. Arthur asks Peter if he knows the song by memory, and Peter says he does but not how to play it by memory. Arthur laughs and says real music comes from the heart, and that Jazz isn't about hitting all the notes on the page, but about what the notes you don't play mean. He confides in Peter than the missing notes and rhythms are like a code, a hidden message. Like having a double-meaning in the things you say or the things you do in your life. Peter stops playing and asks Arthur what that means and Arthur says, "maybe when you're all grown up, I'll tell you."
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After the Series 3 intro, we cut to an aerial view of New York City.
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Twenty Years Later.
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Late Winter, 2009.
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The full song "Round Midnight" is playing on a record in what looks like a well-lit apartment. We see Eve Mas sitting at an easel, painting and smoking a cigarette. The apartment is mostly white with a view of the New York City skyline outside, but doesn't show any of the damage from the Midtown explosion. The camera slowly circles around Eve and shows that she's painted a picture of Peter Petrelli in the dark, his face covered with scars and eyes wide in horror. She snubs out her cigarette on the painting, then turns to the sound of the door to her apartment opening. The view out the windows "turn off" revealing that they are flat screen displays and suddenly her apartment feels much more like a prison cell.
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Odessa Price walks in carrying a small leather case that she opens on a table near Eve, revealing several different syringes. Eve asks Odessa which one of those kills her, and Odessa says "it isn't like that." She walks over to Eve and asks her to roll up her sleeve and Eve laughs and says, "you don't have to tell me that every time" and exposes a vein. Odessa draws two vials of blood from Eve, then injects her with something and treats the injection site carefully. Odessa says she's envious of Eve, and Eve asks why. Odessa looks to Eve's painting and explains that she's jealous of the fact that Eve has an ability. Odessa regrets that she was born "normal" and Eve says that just means Odessa had a chance at a normal life. Odessa laughs again and tells Eve, "When you're born into the families that founded the Company, nothing is normal."
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Odessa leaves Eve's cell and we see that the flat screen displays are one-sided and allow for a view inside the rooms like a cage at a zoo. We follow Odessa through a concrete block hallway where other scientists and doctors walk briskly. There are dozens of cells just like Eve's, and Odessa stops at the next one and looks into a room with the furniture torn apart. Through the glass we see Magnes, sitting in the middle of the room surrounded by demolished furniture. Odessa purses her lips, then takes a deep breath and opens the door.
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In Manhattan, we find Delilah Quinn in a Chinatown market, picking up groceries. She is being stalked by Peter from the shadows who uses his teleportation ability to slip from vantage point to vantage point. He follows her home to her apartment building and when she goes inside and closes the door he teleports in behind her before the door shuts. Delilah feels the rush of air caused by Peter's teleportation and turns around, screaming when she sees Peter and dropping her groceries. Peter covers her mouth with a gloved hand and presses Delilah up against the door and tells her to be quiet.
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Delilah quickly recognizes Peter and calms down. Peter uncovers her mouth. She is shocked to find out he is alive after "what happened" with Cameron, but Peter is evasive. Peter asks Delilah where Eve is and Delilah says she stopped associating with Pariah and whatever they've become. Peter lets her go and we see Malcolm Parkins over his shoulder with a gun. He presses it to the back of Peter's head and Peter slowly raises his hands.
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When Peter turns around, Agent Parkins recognizes him and lowers his gun. He asks Peter what he's doing here and says he thought he was dead. Peter says Cameron tried to kill him but didn't realize what Peter's ability really was. Parkins says Peter is playing a "dangerous game" and asks him where he's been all these years, implying that they have worked together before. Peter tells Parkins about the abductions and that the Ferrymen captured and killed two drivers. Parkins says that it isn't the government or the Company and that people have been "looking into" it. Peter says that this isn't "what they agreed to." Parkins agrees. Parkins asks Peter if he told the Ferrymen about "what they're really doing" and Peter says he didn't tell them anything, they don't trust him.
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Parkins tells Peter he might have a lead, but he doesn't have enough information on it to officially investigate. He tells Peter that he has heard rumors about a company called Pinehearst that is connected to the abductions, based our of New Jersey. Delilah looks surprised by doesn't say anything. Peter repeats the name Pinehearst and Parkins tells him that's all he knows. He asks Peter what he intends to do, and Peter says, "Find Eve and find a way to bring down my brother." Peter then vanishes from sight.
Delilah turns to Parkins and asks him when he got a lead in the case. Parkins looks at her intently uses his telepathy on her and says, "you just came home and dropped the groceries." Delilah repeats those words back in a robotic, emotionless voice, and then looks around startled and embarrassed and apologizes for dropping the groceries. Parkins says it's fine and kneels down to help her.
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On Staten Island a young man is running thorugh a winding maze of alleyways at night. Someone is chasing him, but we cannot see who. A bird follows from above, landing on gutters, watching the man flee. He runs into a dead end alley and tries opening locked doors to buildings to no avail. Sylar emerges from around the corner, smiling. He says he's "enjoyed the chase" but that it is over. The man Sylar has been chasing takes out his wallet and starts to pull money out of it. Sylar says that isn't what he's here for, and bends down to pick up a brick off the ground. He slowly approaches and we see Sylar's shadow on the wall bludgeon his victim in the head with the brick multiple times.
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The camera focuses on Sylar's shadow and there are sick crunching and snapping sounds. We see gore reflected in the eyes of a bird. Eileen rounds the corner and watches Sylar, and her view of him is intercut with visions of events from Series 1 and 2 as well as glimpses of Sylar towering over a man with glasses, holding a bloody paperweight. Sylar looks up at Eileen and there is a sudden, visible shift in his expression. She asks what it was his latest kill "had" and Sylar lifts one brow -- an expression we haven't seen him make since Series 1.
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Sylar says his victim's ability was "flawless memory." Eileen looks startled and turns to run, but she is yanked back by telekinesis. Sylar is enraged.He speaks of the events from the end of Series 2, about Kazimir and how Eileen tricked him. Sylar lifts up Eileen with his mind and she is screaming for help. Sylar lifts one hand and the glow of laser light sparks on one finger. He is about to kill Eileen when he is shot in the chest multiple times. Eileen falls to the ground as Sylar collapses.
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We find Gillian Childs in the alley holding a gun. She is breathing heavy and shaking. Eileen screams for her to run and scrambles to her feet. Sylar starts to stand up and Gillian shoots him three more times, using the last of her bullets. Eileen runs past Gillian and then grabs her by the arm to drag her away. Sylar is miraculously not dead, once more benefitting from his remembered superhuman durability. Gillian and Eileen start to flee down the alley, Eileen asks how she found them and Gillian said she wasn't even looking for them, she was following a suspicious white van when she heard the screams. Gillian leads Eileen to her car and the two get in and drive away.
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Sylar comes staggering out of the alleyway, bleeding and wounded but alive. We see a white van pull up and Sylar looks confused until heavily armed men in biohazard suits emerge from the back of the vehicle. Sylar lifts one hand and we hear a gunshot and it fades to black.
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Late at night in New Jersey, we find Peter teleporting outside of a multi-level office building. He looks at a folded piece of paper with the word "Pinehearst" written at the top and an address confirming the location. Pinehearst is a medical corporation. Peter walks past the sign that says the company's name and its slogan "For a Brighter Future Today." Peter sneaks around the outside of the building and uses an ability we haven't seen yet—phasing—to pass through a back door. Peter skulks around the building, avoiding security, finding examination rooms and labs all shut down for the night. As he's exploring, Peter suddenly hears piano music coming from down a hall. Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight." Peter looks surprised and goes in the direction of the music.
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In New Jersey, Gillian pulls her car over and starts having a panic attack. Eileen helps her calm down. Gillian asks who she is and Eileen introduces herself and says she's been Sylar's captive and that he's forced her to help him hunt and kill. Gillian touches Eileen's shoulder and realizes she's Evolved. It is clear that Gillian never got a good look at Eileen during the Verazanno-Narrows incident last Series.
Eileen suddenly looks alarmed and says that the men Gillian was following found Sylar and she thinks they were looking for him. Gillian is surprised and becomes even more so when Eileen says they were able to subdue and capture him. Gillian asks how Eileen could know this and Eileen says "a little bird told me" and explains that she can see and hear through the eyes of birds. Gillian says that Eileen needs to follow the van, and Eileen nervously agrees.
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At the Ferrymen's headquarters in the subway, Norman is going over documents with the Pinehearst logo on them and photographs of the building. Teo is with him with a fat lip from his encounter with Helena last episode. Norman asks Teo if any of the names on a list sound familiar, Teo looks them over and says no. Suddenly someone enters the room and asks, "Let me see, maybe I'll recognize them?" It is Richard Cardinal.
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Norman is surprised to see Richard at their headquarters. He is with Wireless and Elisabeth. Wireless says that Richard knows about the Pinehearst company but was unaware of what they were planning. Richard finishes the thought and explains that he might have a way to get access to Pinehearst and see what's going on in there. Norman asks what, and Richard replies, "straight through the front doors."
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Back at Pinehearst, Peter is following the music. He looks increasingly confused and disoriented. Peter eventually emerges into a well-decorated office and discovers the record player that is the source of the music. Peter lifts the arm off the record and looks like he senses something, turning around to find a man in a wheelchair sitting across from him even though the room was empty a moment before. Peter looks stunned and is frozen in place. The man in the wheelchair rolls over and looks up at Peter. He has a large scar on his right temple. It is his father, Arthur. Peter tries to talk but can't form coherent words. He starts to cry.
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The man in the wheelchair smiles and says, "Hi son."
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