Heroes: Vote Petrelli!

No Glasses Man this week, so the Heroes have to menace themselves, I guess. Niki's got that covered, but let's check in with the others:

Matt: The show earns my undying gratitude for pretending that the whole "mistakenly holding up a convenience store" thing never happened, and for bringing Matt back into the FBI fold. Agent Clea brings him in to help investigate a possible Sylar murder, one in which the body has been severely irradiated. Turns out it's the work of a mixed-up guy with a wife dying of cancer, who was just trying a little persuasion on his wife's oncologist. Extreme persuasion. The guy and Matt have the same little equals sign tattoo, by the way. Maybe it's Glasses Man's way of marking Heroes and returning them to the wild?

Claire: Her brother Lyle finds the tape of Claire not killing herself in various ways, and he knows it's true when he attacks her with a stapler and the blood actually sucks itself back in during the healing process. Sucks itself back in!!!1!! I cannot adequately express how much that freaked me out. In good news, however, I'm really loving Zach. It's great for Claire to have a friend so loyal that he'll help chase Lyle without having any idea what he did. And he's funny, so I have to love him.

Niki/D.L./Micah: Micah disparages his dad as a bad guy until they come across a fiery accident in the middle of the road, one that Hiro and Ando have happened upon too. Thanks to the combined efforts of D.L. and Hiro, they save a woman before the car blows up. This paves the way for a cute scene between Hiro and Micah, and I just love it when Hiro meets other characters we already know, because he instantly makes them his new best friends. Also, Micah reveals his power, because you knew he had one – he heals electronics! He uses an out-of-order phone to call his mom, and, to his credit, he knows the difference between his mom and her alter ego. Said alter ego actually has a name: Jessica. And the more I learn about Jessica/Niki, the more confused I am – is it a split personality situation? But then why does only Jessica have a tattoo?

The Petrellis: We meet Nathan's wife, Heidi, who's in a wheelchair after an accident in which Nathan was driving. Oh, the guilt. During brunch with a reporter, they get a question about Nathan's activities in Vegas, but Peter actually steps up and claims that the hot blond chick was a psychiatrist for him. Wow, good for you, Peter! Maybe you don't suck as much as I've been telling everybody you do. Peter asks that Nathan get Isaac's missing painting back from Linderman for him, and Peter does manage to get it back, but tells Peter he can't. Oh, Nathan. I can't decide if you're bad or just extremely practical, but I'm leaning towards "practical."

Special note to all our New York readers: Keep in mind that Wednesday is the day that your city goes boom. But before you're vaporized in a radioactive blast, remember to vote Petrelli. Early and often.