"The Butterfly Effect" is the second episode of the third season of the NBC superhero drama series Heroes and thirty-sixth episode overall. It was written by series creator/executive producer Tim Kring and directed by Greg Beeman. The episode aired on September 22, 2008 immediately after "The Second Coming" as part of the three-hour premiere event.
Contents
Plot
In the subterranean Level 5 prison facility, Elle Bishop unlocks Noah Bennet's cell, gives him a gun, and warns him that Sylar is loose in the building.
Shortly after, Sylar tracks Elle down and attempts to steal her power by cutting open her head.
Overwhelmed and terrified, Elle screams, unleashing a massive, devastating electrical discharge (blue lightning) that knocks Sylar out and shorts out the facility's security system. The electronic locks fail, opening all the cells and allowing Level 5's most dangerous supervillains to escape.
Hiro Nakamura and Ando Masahashi teleport to Daphne Millbrook's apartment in Paris to retrieve the stolen half of the formula.
Hiro spots a childhood track award belonging to Daphne, slips a tracking device into it, and confronts her, offering to trade the award back for the formula. Daphne outsmarts them, grabbing both the formula and her award before speeding away.
Following Bob Bishop’s murder by Sylar, Angela Petrelli steps up as the new head of the Company.
Angela's very first executive action is to fire Elle for her catastrophic recklessness that allowed the inmates to escape.
Because of her cranial interaction with Sylar in the previous episode, Claire discovers she can no longer feel physical pain. Disturbed and trying to prove to herself that she is still human, she films a video testing her resilience before her father returns.
Noah Bennet arrives back home, shocked and relieved to find Claire alive after the future timeline mess. Recognizing the danger posed by the escaped Level 5 villains, Noah and Sandra recruit Claire's biological mother, Meredith Gordon, to stay with Claire and protect her.
Future Peter (trapped in the body of Jesse Murphy) teleports down to Level 5, only to find that the prisoners have already fled.
Angela Petrelli confronts Future Peter, angrily berating him for the "Butterfly Effect"—the cascading disasters, ruined timelines, and prison break caused by his reckless time-travel interference.
Nathan Petrelli is recovering and adjusting to his miraculous survival, fielding political opportunities as a newly minted Senator alongside Tracy Strauss (who looks identical to Niki Sanders).
In his hospital/apartment room, Nathan plays chess and talks with Mr. Linderman, though it is revealed that Linderman is a psychological manifestation/vision visible only to Nathan.
While at the docks, Mohinder Suresh wrestles with the complex feelings and the unstable formula data.
Rejecting the idea of destroying it, Mohinder decides to test the formula on himself, injecting it directly into his back. He collapses to the ground in intense agony as physical transformations begin.
Amidst the chaos, the Company manages to recapture Sylar, strapping him down to a containment bed.
Angela Petrelli enters Sylar's cell alone, unstraps him, and offers him comfort, dropping a massive bombshell twist by telling him: *"I am, dear, I am"* when he questions if she is his mother.
Production
Actor Stephen Tobolowsky had been thrown off of a horse in Iceland and broke his neck in five places between filming for seasons two and three of Heroes. Although he will make a full recovery, due to his injury he was only able to play his role as Bob Bishop in two brief scenes, confined to Bob's office chair and with severely limited levels of movement.
Critical reception
Sean O'Neal of The A.V. Club rated this episode, together with the previous episode, a B+.
Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode 6.7 out of 10.
Music
"He's Frank" by Brighton Port Authority, featuring Iggy Pop.