YAY! I was so excited by the end of this episode, in which the most boring storylines of the season all got majorly ratcheted up. There are very few characters I'm uninterested in anymore. Let's dissect, but first know this: SPOILERS ABOUND. If you haven't seen the episode but plan to, read at your own risk.

-Simone is dead! I was getting sick of her holier-than-thou attitude, and now she has the physical holes to match (bad pun, but I couldn't resist). As I've said from the beginning, Simone's entire purpose on this show was to die. She is the Gwen Stacy to Peter's Spider-Man. She was a plot device to strengthen Peter's ambition to do the right thing. Sorry, but it's true. I just never imagined she'd go out in such an awesome way, shot by her own ex-lover (Isaac was firing wildly to take out invisible Peter, who confronted Isaac about selling him and Invisible Jackass to Bennett's goon squad). There's a chance that maybe Simone will have some stupid power, like coming back from the dead or something. But here's hoping she really is worm food. It's her only point.

-Matt finally does something! Unfortunately, it is not kicking his cow of a wife out of their house. He can do NOTHING to please this woman. And I get that "stealing" the diamonds (they were technically offered to him...) is maybe not the smartest move, but who else is going to get them? First he's too goody two-shoes for him, now he's a screw-up. I just hate her guts. Anyway, Matt is called to a midnight meeting by Radiation Roy (I'd completely forgotten they knew each other) where he joins up with our new hero, Wireless, the walking Blackberry. I'm not convinced that she's not working for Bennett or something even shadier --- she has a LOT of info, and has that spy look about her --- but the three form a Band of Losers and in the end break into Bennett's house. I guess Mr. Mindwipe is going to be awfully busy next episode!

-Claire Bear continues to do the dramatic heavy lifting on the show, as this episode her adoptive mom has a full-on brain hemorrage ostensibly brought on by too many mindwipes. Sad. I really like her mom. She recovers, but Claire has had it and lays everything on the table for Mr. Bennett --- she knows who she is, who he is, and what he's done to their family. And she ain't havin' it! The fam returns home as Loser Squad busts in, so we'll see where this goes next week. But I am convinced that regardless of what Bennett has been doing behind the scenes with other heroes, he legitimately is trying to protect Claire and his family. So this is killing me. I'm also curious about when he'll hip to Mr. Mindwipe lying to him about wiping Claire. That should be a fun conversation.

-Mohinder and Sylar --- who is pretending to be the hero he killed last episode --- track down another name from the list, a mechanic with super hearing. This storyline is delicious, and Mohinder --- the most clueless scientist EVER --- is going to crap himself when he realizes that he's basically chauffering the super-powered serial killer who offed his dad to more super-powered brains. It seems he might be getting the hint that "Zane" isn't quite all there prior to going to their hotel rooms, not to mention his "spells" when they find the mechanic's body the morning after, but Mohinder is as dense as he is pretty and nothing comes of it. Sylar gets a super-hearing snack, and at first I kept wondering why on earth he would want what on the surface appears to be a fairly irritating power to have. And then while Inviso Pete and Isaac fought, it hit me: Super-hearing cancels out invisibility. It levels the playing field. It's another case of a character being nothing more than a plot device (SIMONE), but in this case, I love it.

-Hiro and Bill Fagerbakke track down the apparently non-powered Hope and Ando, and a firefight breaks out. Ando gets hit in the shoulder and Hiro realizes he can't live with Ando's blood on his hands. He breaks up with his platonic life partner, and Stan Lee (really) drives him off to Linderman. I hope. Get this plotline moving already! I sincerely doubt we've seen the last of Ando --- he is the squire on Hiro's knight's quest --- and I'm also hopeful that Hiro's powers fully come back. He used them again this episode when Hope was about to blow his head off, reversing time to send the bullet back into the gun.

-Finally, Nathan appears briefly as Simone (prior to her shooting) tries to convince him to go public with his powers and the news of the heroes in an effort to track down Peter. Nathan does not respond well to this suggestion, as you might imagine. He tells her that the minute the public finds out they exist they'll be hunted down and burned at the stake. It's what he would do, he says. But I'm betting that at the end of the season, the news about the heroes does come out. That's the cliffhanger. It would totally change the series, kicking it into the next level. And the big NY showdown with Pete and the rest of the characters would certainly grab some media attention. You read it here first, y'all.