After the blow-out that was the season premiere of Heroes, it’s almost hard to imagine that we have a whole season left ahead of us. In just two hours, the lives of every one of the main characters from the first two seasons had dramatically changed, not least of which was with the bombshell that Sylar is actually the third Petrelli brother.

The episode begins with Angela Petrelli telling Sylar that she is actually his mom, and had to give him up for adoption. Angela tells Sylar (or Gabriel, as she insists on addressing him) that he is special, and that it isn’t his fault that he needs to kill in order to absorb other people’s power. It’s his hunger, and she will help him overcome it. She then summons in a Company super named Bridget, who has the power of psychometry, and gives her to Sylar.

The beautiful Tracy Strauss is sitting at home, playing with her freezing powers, while Nathan is starting his first day as Senator. For his part, Nathan gets a visit from future-Peter, and he immediately asks where his brother is. He plays the phone message left for him by Peter/Jesse, and future-Peter explains that he doesn’t know where to find them, but that he will get Peter back.

As for Peter/Jesse, he and the other Level 5 escapees have decided to rob a bank. But this isn’t a conventional robbery. All of the escapees revel in using their power, and they go out of their way to both hurt people and to blatantly display their abilities.

And at their former “home” Noah Bennet arrives so that he can put the “villains” back into captivity. Angela comments on being amazed at how long it took him to return, to which Noah says he is there only for this one job, and then he is going back to his family. When he asks for his partner, Angela tells him that the Haitian is on another assignment, and she shows him his new partner – Sylar.

Back at the bank, the Level 5 inmates are lording their power over the people in the bank. The German is using his his magnetic powers to break into the vault while Peter/Jesse stops Flint from either torching or raping one of the prisoners. Before Flint can object too strongly, the German finally finishes opening the vault.

Claire’s biological mom, Meredith, is not integrating real well with the Bennet family. The tension between Meredith and Sandra is tangible, and only gets worse when Claire comes down to tell her moms that she won’t be going back to school. Sandra rejects this option out of hand, and orders Claire to go.

Speaking of the Bennets, Noah refuses to work with Sylar – for all of the obvious reasons. Angela however, gives him little choice about working with him. Basically she tells Bennet that Sylar is going out there, and he can either be free range, or under his supervision. It’s obvious which choice Noah will make.

Hiro and Ando track Daphne down to find the formula. They get to the place where she’s about to steal the other half of the formula, and both Hiro and Daphne realize that neither of their powers work. It’s the Hatian – the job he’s on involves retrieving and relocating the formula.

Meredith talks to Claire as Claire is on her way to school. Meredith wonders what’s up with Claire’s superhero kick. Claire tries to explain that what she wants is to fight back and help people, and wonders if Meredith will teach her. Meredith agrees to help Claire play hookie.

Nathan goes to find Tracy after his swearing in. Tracy comments on Nathan calling her Nikki, and then shows him the video of him and Nikki making out at Las Vegas. Tracy wants to know everything Nathan can tell her about Nikki, which isn’t a whole lot. She then says she’s going to tack Nikki down to her last known location in New Orleans.

The Level 5-er’s bank robbery has been interrupted by the cops, which is actually Knox’s plan. Knox wants the Company to arrive. The bank robbery wasn’t about the money, it was about revenge. When the German says all he wanted was the cash, Knox kills him, and says that the plan is to wait for the Company and then kill Bennet.

Parkman and his new African friend are still on their spirit walk. Parkman sees that the African has done numerous paintings about his life.

Sylar is putting on his suit for his first day on the job with Noah. Sylar wonders if Angela is really his mother, and she explains that his need to kill is a side-effect of his powers – and one they’ll fix. Noah has found the news about the bank assault, and shows it to Angela as he prepares his assault. He idly wonders if Sylar is ready.

Ando and Hiro enter a movie theatre to wait for the exchange between the Haitian and whoever else is making the exchange. Daphne pops up behind them, and they chat in an amazingly amiable fashion while they wait for the exchange. Daphne also plants the seed with Ando (coupled with Hiro’s recent distrust/mistreatment of him) that he shouldn’t be so subservient to Hiro. The Haitian leaves the theatre, briefcase in hand, and Hiro follows him.

Parkman is still browsing the paintings that tell the story of his life. The African explains that the future has recently changed, and he begins to re-do the paintings. He puts on headphones as he goes in to his painting trance. (Apparently music does for him what Heroin did for Isaac.)

Jesse/Peter talk to Knox about what they do while they wait for Bennet to come. Peter suggests that he no longer wants revenge. Knox then tricks Peter into revealing that he doesn’t know Jesse’s actual life, and Knox attacks him, wondering who Peter really is. Just then, Sylar and Bennet arrive. Bennet asks Sylar if he realizes that Angela is playing them. When they get there, Bennet tries to tell Sylar to hang back – but instead Sylar adopts a very take charge persona as an FBI agent, and takes control of the scene, leaving Bennet dumbfounded.

The Haitian goes to get the formula, and explains that the movement of it is on Angela’s orders, due to “recent events”. While the Haitian is involved in this process, Hiro and Ando sneak into the meeting area.

Bennet prepares to go in to the hostage situation, unarmed, in exchange for the hostages. Sylar makes sure he realizes that he’ll get himself killed, and Bennet says he knows. He also says he doesn’t want Sylar anywhere near the escapees.

Tracy tracks down Nikki’s address, and finds Micah – at Nikki’s funeral. At first Micah thinks that Tracy is Nikki, but then he realizes that she’s someone else. Tracy comments on the fact that she and Nikki looked so identical, but that she doesn’t know why. Micah asks if she has a power, just like Nikki did. He tells her about Nikki’s strength, and his own abilities with machines. Tracy gives him her last name, and Micah does the super-computer hacking thing to find that Nikki and Tracy were born at the same day and time in the same hospital, and delivered by the same doctor. He then hugs her.

Hiro intercepts the Haitian and distracts him while Ando konks him upside the head. Hiro wonders why Ando changed the plan, to which Ando says he made his own plan. Hiro begins to accuse Ando of falling for Daphne’s efforts to drive a wedge between them when Daphne zips through to steal the briefcase. Before Hiro can chase her, the Haitian wakes up, preventing Hiro from using his own powers to chase Daphne down.

Bennet enters the bank and is thrown to the ground by Knox, where Knox verbally assaults him for what happened on Level 5. Bennet remains calm, almost smug, as he justifies what happened to Knox at the company’s hands. When Peter/Jesse tries to tell Knox that he doesn’t have to take things this far, he finds out what Jesse’s powers are, as he uses sonic shockwaves to lay waste to Knox and the other Level 5 inmates. The scene then freezes as future Peter arrives. Future Peter takes Peter out of time to explain what happened and why he is here, leaving Bennet alone with the Level 5 inmates. Bennet tries to thank “Peter” for saving him, at which point Jesse grabs him saying “Peter’s not here anymore.”

Meredith takes Claire to a storage unit where she gets Claire ready to learn how to fight. Immediately she superheats the storage unit, and tells Claire that she’ll have to learn to survive first. Knox and Jesse prepare to finish off Bennet, when Sylar arrives. He telekinetically stops Knox and Jesse, and then when flamethrower guy tries to hurt Sylar, Bennet shoots him (non-fatally). Bennet tells Sylar that he told him to stay put, which Sylar thinks Bennet did to make sure he wouldn’t.

Meredith, meanwhile, tries to actually scare/hurt Claire by suffocating her by burning all the air out of the unit. Meredith tries to break Claire down, to find out why Claire really wants to fight the bad guys, saying she doesn’t think it’s to “help people”. Finally, Claire, on the verge of suffocation, breaks and says it’s so she can hurt them as badly as they hurt her.

Bennet and Sylar lock the Level 5 prisoners down, and Sylar wonders what the plan is. Bennet says it’s to take them in to Level 5. Sylar, instead, uses his TK to lock Bennet out of the main room and allows Knox to escape. Bennet tries to tell Sylar he can fight the impulse to kill, but Sylar says he can’t. It’s a hunger that must be fed, and carves open Jesse’s head to get to Jesse’s power.

Meredith apologizes to Claire for taking the lesson that far. She says it was for her own good, and tries to explain that Claire has a good family and a good life, and that Claire needs to learn to save herself before she can save the world.

Parkman watches the African paint a new scene of Parkman’s future, where Parkman is holding a woman’s body. Parkman thinks that this image, and trying to prevent it, is why he’s here.

Meredith is sitting on a couch reading when Sandra returns. Sandra wants to know why Claire wasn’t at school, and when Meredith tries to explain, they get into a shoving match about taking care of her. Meredith says she did what was needed to keep Claire here. Just then, one of Claire’s friends arrives, and Claire goes off for a “cheerleader sleepover.”

Tracy goes to meet Doctor Zimmerman. He recognizes her immediately, but calls her by the wrong name. She introduces herself, to which he says “Oh, the one from Beverly Hills.” Tracy wonders how he knows her. Zimmerman cryptically says that of course he knows her - he created her.

Parkman is undergoing spirit ritual under the guidance of his new African friend, while we get a montage with the various characters trying to find their purpose. We get another one of Mohinder’s cryptic monologues as we see what each character is trying to do – Nathan is reading the Bible, Micah is remembering his mother and looking at old pictures of him and Nikki, Claire is not at any “cheerleader sleepover”, but has instead taken the car – along with Noah’s files on the Level 5 escapees, Hiro and Ando are now imprisoned at Level 5, and Noah and Sylar take Flint back to Level 5 as well.

No sooner do Noah and Sylar put Flint in his cell than Angela hands him back his “prisoner clothing”. Sylar looks at Angela and says “I guess you were wrong about me,” to which she answers “We’ll see.” Sylar returns to his cell, and Noah and the Haitian look on. The Haitian asks if he’s been replaced, to which Noah says that any replacement is only until he finds Sylar’s weakness – at which point, he’ll kill him.

A pretty good episode, all in all, and fun double-meaning in the title One of Us, One of Them. I can’t wait for the next seven days to pass for The Year of Our Lord.