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Parkman’s papa is the Boogeyman haunting little Molly’s dreams. That startling revelation comes after Nathan Petrelli produces a photograph of the Old School heroes who are being killed off one by one.

During Parkman’s investigation into the death of Hiro’s father, Petrelli matriarch Angela confesses to his murder. Via telepathy, she tells Parkman to leave it be. He knows she’s lying, but she says that she must confess so the cops drop the case—and don’t find out about the heroes. Parkman goes to Nathan for help. He can’t tell his partner how he knows that she’s lying. A sober Nathan agrees to help.

Nathan recognizes not only the Death Mark symbol over ripped photographs of his mother and Nakamora, but he knows the photograph. He tracks it down and gives it to Parkman.

The Old School heroes include the dead Linderman, Simone’s father Charles (a good one), Nakamora, Bob—the new Company man that has Mohinder sequestered in a lab every chance he gets, the Petrellis (Papa’s face is in profile, and I find that interesting) and another man close to Parkman—the cop’s father. Parkman’s thief father left when Parkman was 13 years old. Parkman believes he must find him to figure out why Mama Petrelli is confessing—why she won’t just tell the truth about the Death Mark and what the Old Schoolers did so long ago.

He takes the photograph home and asks Molly to find his father. She screams and throws the photograph. Parkman’s father is the Boogeyman who haunts her dreams—the only one who can see her when she goes out and about to find people. He terrifies and terrorizes her.

Parkman and Mo argue intently—and for too long in this episode. Mo does not want Molly involved, but Parkman is certain his father knows something that could be useful. Molly agrees to help them. The man is in apartment 9 at an older building in Philly. But before she can get out of the trace, he “sees” her in the vision and pulls her into it—permanently. Molly goes into shock. In his mind, Parkman can hear her screaming for his help.

In other Heroes news:

Sylar escaped from his prison in the middle of nowhere. After three days of walking, he collapses in the middle of a dirt road. Soon comes a vehicle driven by Derek, the young American who escaped with Maya and Alejandro last week. They rescue him. Sylar’s gaze devours Maya when he discovers that they are looking for the elder Suresh. Alejandro doesn’t trust Sylar and tells Maya to shut her trap, but she just can’t keep spilling the beans. Derek discovers the brother and sister are wanted for murder. He goes to call the police, but Sylar bashes his head in with a brick. (Be nice if he lived somehow to foil the mighty Bad Boy, wouldn’t it?) As they wait for Derek, Sylar really puts on a show about how they are wanted for murder. He instantly earns Maya’s trust (stupid). He is going to take them to Doctor Suresh, his best bud in NYC.

Claire tries to cool off toward West after lectures from HRG about dating—and after finding out last week that West was hunted by her father. But West really likes her—he’s found his soulmate—and he’s persistent. She lies to HRG and goes out with West. She gets HRG to believe she’s in cheerleadinig. She feels guilty, but she’s not going to give in. She just wants to be normal, and in her book, that’s being with another hero with different abilities than her own. (I’ll be crushed if West turns out to be a baddy.)

End game shows the Haitian at HRG’s doorstep. They need to travel to the Ukraine on a lead on the all-important paintings of dead artist Isaac Mendez. I don’t know any other series where a dead character was as important as he is to Heroes. HRG is cooking up lies of his own to get out of town. He’s still focusing on the painting he got last week, which shows his own death and some dark figure abducting Claire.

Nathan visits his sons at private school, and we discover that he’s not supposed to be there. Still in beard, he tells them to call grandma in the hospital—and that he will shave the beard. Later, he looks at himself in the mirror and sees this horribly disfigured face—his face—which is what it would have looked like after the explosion last season.

We meet Micah’s cousin Monica, who is developing powers. She sees something once and can do it. She foils a robbery by using wrestling moves she’d seen just hours before on television.

While this episode was good, it wasn’t great. There wasn’t quite the action or pieces to the puzzle I was expecting. I’m not sure what I’d hoped for when I discovered it would dole out coveted info on the Old School heroes being killed off by an unsub, but what I got wasn’t enough. I think Heroes creators have spoiled me. I expect to get knocked off my rocker with each episode. While this one was good, it didn’t leave me with that omg! feeling afterward—even with the revelations about Molly’s Boogeyman.

I want to know about this Jekyll and Hyde with Nathan. Is he pulling a Nikki/Jessica? Who is the disfigured man in the mirror? Is it his dark half, split from himself during the explosion? Is it his imagination? I thought it would be interesting to find out that is the real Nathan now—that he looks disfigured, but he forces his mind to see himself as he was pre-explosion. That would explain the beard. But wouldn’t Parkman or the others show some kind of horror at those wounds? Maybe not if the tabloids got hold of them and posted them for all the world to see.

The storyline with Maya and Alejandro is dragging. They should have met Sylar immediately following their escape from the convoy where Maya accidentally killed people. Cut out Derek and the scenes at the jail. We know they are wanted. Have their troubles compound at the border, not in Mexico. They do not need to drag out Monica’s burgeoning powers as they have Maya’s and Alejandro’s.

Surprisingly, I like Claire’s romance with West. She’s a not-so-typical teen experiencing typical teen hormones and angst about who she is. She has that streak of youthful naiveté that makes her believe that she can live as she is—a hero with extraordinary powers. Even after the danger she faced last season (and the loss of lives) she still believes that somehow, it will work out.

I think the Petrelli family secrets—particularly about the dead father—could play a key role in finding the Old School heroes’ killer. Maybe that killer could face off with Sylar. Hm… that might be interesting…

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