Homecoming (Heroes)

The episode begins with Claire and her friend Zach walking into the high school amphitheater with lunch as Claire's former cheerleader friends wait anxiously for the results of the Homecoming Court vote. Claire downplays the entire ritual, but Zach encourages her to check the posting and see if she had won. To Claire's surprise, she has been voted Homecoming Queen, with her main rival, Jackie, merely a member of the court. Astonished, Claire and the rest of the cheerleaders turn around to see much of the student body proclaiming congratulations and support for Claire. She later discovers that Zach had been campaigning for her, working to win the "unpopular vote" by letting everyone know that Claire is not like the popular Jackie. Jackie, however, spoils the moment in an attempt to deflate Claire's victory by poking fun at Zach. Claire, beginning to see the importance of Zach's friendship to her, promptly punches Jackie in the face.

D.L. and Micah have stopped at a local diner as they flee from Las Vegas. Micah compares them to Batman and Robin, though D.L. jokes that he refuses to wear tights. A police car pulls into the lot as D.L. leaves the car to get a paper, and he becomes nervous, lowering his cap and turning to return to the vehicle when he sees that Micah is gone. Elsewhere, Jessica is testing a long-range Army sniper rifle at a firing range. She stresses the need for range on the gun. The seller replies that the rifle was known to pierce body armour at 400 yards (365 meters). As they walk back to the car, Jessica tells him that she is trying to kill "a man" (D.L) who had stolen "her" son. The seller says that she must really hate him. A glance in the car mirror shows a nervous Niki, but Jessica only smiles, stating that it's time to go hunting.

Ando is still in the Burnt Toast Diner, waiting uncertainly for Hiro. Suddenly he sees, pinned to a board, a photo with Charlie and Hiro together, smiling. Ando asks another lady when the photo was taken. She replies, "On Charlie's birthday. About six months ago."

Mohinder, meanwhile, remains in India, puzzling over the dreams he recently had and the identity of the boy within them. He seeks the child, paying 500 rupees to a man who tells him that the boy is playing near Mohinder. Mohinder asks him about his dream. The mysterious boy states that he does not come to people, but they instead to him. He tells Mohinder that he already has the answers. Later that night, Mohinder has more dreams and realizes that his father was only trying to protect him when shunning his son from continuing his research. Mohinder decides to continue his father's work. He discovers the password to the computer. After trying the name Darwin, he tries Shanti, his dead sister, and is rewarded with a list of heroes Chandra Suresh identified before his death.

Nathan Petrelli obtains Isaac's painting from Mr. Linderman and views it with Simone. To protect Peter from the painting's predicted events, Nathan splashes the work with black paint and leaves. Peter arrives later and sees the ruined work, but Simone reveals a digital photograph of the painting, which shows a man, whom they presume to be Peter, lying on the cement outside a school, a pool of blood forming around his head. Simone tells him where the school is located and to be safe. Peter calls Ando to tell Hiro that he must get to Odessa, Texas, where Claire lives, and Ando promises to tell Hiro (who unfortunately jumped to Charlie's birthday, six months in the past while trying to save her from Sylar).

Isaac himself is still in the care of Eden and Mr. Bennet, but his latest work of the future gives no answers to Mr. Bennet. Eden protests the abuse of Isaac and his talents, but Mr. Bennet is adamant that he will do everything to protect Claire from Sylar. Eden is finally persuaded to make Isaac paint, by seeing the photos of Charlie the waitress (head torn open and brain removed).

Peter finally arrives in Texas and discovers that Hiro is in the past and unable to help him. Ando protests that Peter must not go after learning that he is essentially powerless without the presence of another hero. Peter, however, rejects staying behind and leaves the diner for an uncertain fate as Ando waits for Hiro.

Zach enters Claire's bedroom via a ladder because her father grounded her from attending the homecoming game for fear Sylar will kill her. The two have a heart-to-heart about their friendship and embracing their "inner freak." Claire realizes that she hasn't been the best friend to Zach but vows to make it up to him as he urges her to be comfortable with who she is. Zach convinces her to sneak out and attend the homecoming game. As Claire makes her way to the locker room in the school to change, she talks briefly in the hallway with Peter, who had just seen a display commemorating Jackie's heroics and doesn't realize that Claire is actually the cheerleader he is meant to save. In the locker room, Claire confronts Jackie about her false act of heroism in saving the people in the burning train.

Suddenly, the lights in the locker room flicker and Sylar grabs Jackie from behind, believing her to be the cheerleader he is after. Claire arrives to see this (as shown in the image above) and tries to stop Sylar but is telekinetically thrown against the wall. As she is regenerating, Sylar lifts a finger, making a line across Jackie's forehead as an incision appears. Blood begins pouring down Jackie's face as she screams in pain. Claire rises badly hurt but then regenerates and Sylar sees that his initial target was incorrect. Before Jackie dies, she softly tells Claire to run as Sylar throws Jackie's dead body to the ground. Peter and Mr. Bennet have heard the girls' screams and run to assist Claire; Peter arrives first in the hallway. He attempts to hold Sylar off; however, the serial killer uses his telekinetic powers to rip off locker doors and hurls them at Peter (similar to a painting of Isaac's). Peter then retreats to the amphitheater as Claire flees the growing shadow, a scene reminiscent of another one of Isaac's paintings. Peter orders Claire to get help as he faces Sylar himself. The serial killer appears in front of Peter, the two grapple, and both fall to the ground below as a pool of blood forms around Peter's head, just as Isaac's painting depicted.

Claire finds Peter, who begins to heal himself due to Claire's presence. Sylar is nowhere to be found, but Claire finds comfort in finding someone with powers like her. She soon finds her father, who takes her home as she begins to confess her powers. Meanwhile, Sylar runs through the woods and is confronted by Eden and the Haitian. She first tells him, "You don't want to hurt me." He stops, and then Eden tells him to go to sleep.

Peter is found by the police, soaked with blood and lying on the ground. He is arrested for Jackie's murder.

The final minutes of the episode show Micah and D.L. deciding to go back to Las Vegas to help Niki/Jessica, as Jessica takes aim at D.L. and fires a shot. Before the outcome is seen, the shows jumps back six months to show Hiro arriving at the diner, informing Charlie that he has arrived to save her life.

At the beginning

We are, if anything, creatures of habits. Drawn to the safety and comfort of the familiar. But what happens when the familiar becomes unsafe, when the fear that we have been desperately trying to avoid finds us where we live?

At the end

We are all, at our cores, the sum of our fears. To embrace destiny we must inevitably face those fears and conquer them. Whether they come from the familiar or the unknown.

The following is the list of Heroes on Chandra Suresh's computer:

The list.

Asterisks denote names that are assumed or were truncated on the screen.

David Berman, one of the names on the list, played the character Brian Davis, who also lived in New York.

The total viewership for this episode was 16.03 million, making this episode the highest rated of the season. It earned a 9.0/13 share for the week.

• Watch "Homecoming" at NBC.com
• Homecoming at IMDb
• Beaming Beeman: Episode 9: Homecoming Director's blog on the filming of this episode.