Previously on Heroes: Samuel’s going to go public with his powers by killing a whole lot of people. Claire and Bennet are buried in a trailer. Peter released Sylar from his mental prison so he could stop Emma from killing thousands. There was no sign of Hiro.

You know, this is the season finale. And since we don’t have a renewal yet, this may very well be the series finale. That makes it sort of hard to approach this episode, as there’s a lot they need to do to wrap up the series. But they probably don’t want to play most of those cards unless the series is definitely ending. I feel like this could end up a little unsatisfying, but let’s see how it plays out.

We begin in the sunken trailer. Claire unties her father, which is a good start. They make a lot of noise, but unless a helpful mole passes by, that’s not going to do much. Indeed, we see Lauren wandering around above their heads, trying to find some sign of them.

As Matt makes a sandwich, Eli and a dozen copies appear in his kitchen. He says he’s talking care of loose ends. Matt tries to influence him, convincing Eli that he’d rather leave. It doesn’t work, because only one of them, the original Eli, has any free will to begin with. So Matt tries to stab him instead.

At the Carnival, now located in Central Park, Samuel gives one of his rabble-rousing speeches. He says tonight will be the night that finally changes everything, and that they’ll reveal themselves to the world. He leaves out the part about all the killing, since that doesn’t usually play well.

Clearly the stabbing didn’t go so well, as the Elis overpower Matt and start pounding on him. A group of them all take knives and prepare to get all stabby. And then they disappear one by one. Peter and Sylar arrive at that moment, and Peter tend’s to Matt’s wounds. Sylar throws the last Eli to the ground – he either knocked the original unconscious or killed him. Since this is Sylar, I know where the odds are.

Emma finds Samuel in the Carnival, and he tells her it’s time for her solo. Her job is to attract the crowds with her music. She asks Samuel about Peter’s dream, and rather than continue to lie, Samuel basically tells her to do what she’s told. To hedge his bets, he turns her over to Puppetmaster Doyle. Who knew he’d be the longest running character from last season?

In Hiro’s hospital room, he and Ando reminisce about the good times, and Hiro decides he’s going to help. To prove that he has his powers back, he rewinds time five seconds, which is pretty cool. A nurse comes in and gives him a note that says “Is it really you? Come find me.” It is accompanied by an origami swan. Charlie?

Matt is angry that Sylar’s up and around, but given that Peter went down to his basement for the express purpose of releasing Sylar, he really shouldn’t be surprised. Matt tries to convince Peter that Sylar’s a monster. To prove his point, Peter reads Eli’s mind to reveal Samuel’s plan. Hey, Eli’s not dead after all! They set out to leave, but Matt uses his powers to convince Sylar that he doesn’t want to help.

Claire and Bennet try to dig, but Bennet realizes that they’re too deep down. They’ll run out of air before they get out, and while Claire’s lungs will regenerate, she’ll have to watch her father die.

Emma plays the cello outside the Carnival as Doyle directs, luring people in. Because nothing draws a crowd like a cello. Meanwhile, Hiro runs through the hospital looking for Charlie, and he finally finds her, only she’s very old. In fact, she claims they met 65 years ago. Oh, poopy.

Back in the trailer, Bennet tells Claire that there’s no plan. He wants to spend his last moments making things right. He tells her that the memories she saw were true, but they aren’t the whole story. He says that he’s worried that the world can’t accept her kind – all it takes is one Sylar for people to turn on them. “Things change but people don’t.”

Peter and Matt argue – Peter says that Sylar repented for all his murders, after they spent what seemed like five years trapped inside his head. Sylar offers to let Matt inside his brain to see that he’s trying to be a good person. Even reading his mind, Matt doesn’t believe it, but Sylar says he can prove himself. Matt finally relents and tosses them out of his house, and then turns his powers on Eli.

A sobbing Emma continues to play the cello, and we can see that the Carnival is absolutely packed. Samuel and Knife Guy talk about how everybody’s come to see them, and Knife Guy seems to suspect an ulterior motive. There are TV cameras there, and there’s a certain irony that more people would probably watch that local newscast than watch Heroes.

Old Charlie says that an old man caught her coming out of the Diner and sent her to Milwaukee, 1944. She got a job in a munitions factory! Hiro apologizes for everything that happened, and it’s really quite sweet.

Bennet is running out of air, and he tells Claire how she changed him from being the man he was in those memories to the man he is today. They profess their love for one another, and Bennet asks her to promise that she’ll hide. She can blend and doesn’t need to be exposed like Samuel’s people. He calls it his dying wish, and then he passes out. Claire starts digging madly, which lets water into the trailer. Water that congeals into the form of Tracy! She says she’s going to get him through 30 feet of dirt, as long as he can swim.

So, I sort of understand what they’re going for, but not quite. Tracy turns to water and flows out the hole she made, but she pulls Bennet along with her. I’m not sure how she displaced enough dirt to get him through, but considering that we’re talking about somebody who turns into water, this probably isn’t the place to stop suspending my disbelief. Anyway, it works and she manages to get both Bennet and Claire to the surface. Lauren is waiting for them, and she already called a helicopter to get them to Central Park. Tracy disappears into the puddle, having done her good deed for the day.

Charlie tells Hiro that “everything is about to give out”, and Hiro offers to fix everything. Ando takes Hiro aside and suggests that might not be the best idea, and that Hiro’s being kind of selfish. Hiro doesn’t see it that way.

Emma is still playing the cello and trying to fight Doyle’s control. Her fingers have started to bleed. Bennet and Claire are at the Carnival now, because their helicopter was just that fast, yo. They split up to try and find Samuel. Meanwhile, Peter and Sylar have also arrived. Peter is able to start putting his dream in context. Sylar goes off to find Emma, while Peter looks for Samuel. Bennet calls for Hiro, and then Knife Guy holds a knife to his throat. Sylar finds Emma. He tries to pull the cello away, but Doyle takes control of his movements. You know, I really like Doyle. He’s nice and creepy, and he doesn’t have to be the focus of every episode he appears in. Still, dude is way out of his league if he thinks he can take on Sylar.

Samuel looks out on the crowd that’s assembled. Claire finds the rest of the performer and tells them that they have to get away from Samuel – he’s just using them. Samuel confronts her in front of everybody, and it turns out that none of them believe her.

Knife Guy pulls Bennet behind a trailer, as Bennet explains that he’s only here to stop Samuel from killing everybody. Knife Guy finds that a worthy goal. He can’t kill Samuel in front of all his friends, but he’s betting that Bennet has a plan. See, this is a guy who’s been watching the show.

In the hospital, Hiro explains his time traveling plan to Charlie, and she does not seem excited about it. See, she’s already lived a full life. Her granddaughter runs in to see her, and Charlie beams. It sinks in for Hiro – Charlie doesn’t want to give up the life that she had. If she goes back and starts over, her children and grandchildren would never exist. Hiro reluctantly agrees not to forcible alter her timeline. At that point, Ando comes in to tell him that Bennet needs their help.

Sylar asks Doyle to let him go so they can save all the people at the Carnival. Doyle doesn’t buy that Sylar is trying to help anybody. But with Doyle distracted, Emma plays the cello right at Doyle, knocking him over with a blast of emotional force. Or something. That gives Sylar the upper hand, and he uses his telekinesis to choke Doyle. Sylar assures him “I’m a hero”.

Samuel and Claire debate whether or not he’s evil in front of everybody. The weird thing is that Claire tells everybody that if they leave, Samuel will be “ordinary”. Most of the things he’s done have been done with few, if any, super-powered individuals in the vicinity. He’s still going to be able to kick ass without followers, frankly. She then announces that Samuel killed Joseph, which creates some consternation in the crowd. Knife Guy and Bennet then step up to confront him, and they brought back a spare Eli, who admits to pulling the trigger on Lydia. Samuel’s followers disburse.

In a panic, Samuel runs out to the stage and announces it’s time for a show. As the public applauds, he starts to make the earth shake. Claire and Bennet try to herd people out of there, but it’s a mass panic. And then somebody flies in and tackles him – it’s Peter Petrelli! Who does not currently have the power to fly! It doesn’t matter, because he copies Samuel’s power and they blast seismic waves at one another. Samuel tries to convince Peter that they’re the same – they both lived in the shadow of a brother who let them down. It occurs to me that two people using earthquakes to fight one another is phenomenally dangerous.

Claire spots Hiro and asks him to teleport all of the carnies to safety. Luckily Ando is there to supercharge his powers! Bennet stays behind to finish it up, and as soon as the carnies are gone, Samuel’s power disappears. He takes a swing at Peter, who trounces him handily. Samuel freak out, yelling for his people to return to him. Finally, he collapses, almost catatonic. And that is the “End of Volume Five”.

Volume Six picks up almost immediately after, and seems a little unrealistically optimistic. Peter and Emma are reunited at the Carnival, and she tells him that Sylar saved her. Peter finds Sylar and a tied-up Doyle. Astonishingly, Doyle is still alive. Seems that Sylar likes being one of the good guys.

The police take Samuel away, as Bennet explains that the cover story is a gas main rupture and special effects. Once again, Claire complains about having to keep this secret. A clutch of reporters rush up, asking questions. Claire tells them that she has something to say. She then begins to climb up the Ferris Wheel, while Bennet yells at her. Finally, he just watches, heartbroken. The rest of the cast watches Claire’s climb. When she reaches the top, she jumps off. Now, they do a cool thing where we see the fall and her recovery through a video camera, just like all her tests in the first season. “My name is Claire Bennet, and this is attempt number… I guess I’ve kind of lost count.”

And this is why I can’t stand Claire. This was phenomenally selfish on her part – she’s already seen that when people are aware of the Heroes, the reactions are fear and persecution. They’ve already been rounded up by the government once. But because she’s in a snit, she decided to open them up to that all over again. I just don’t think she’s justified in making a decision on everybody’s behalf. God, I hate her!

So if this is where the series ends, I guess it’s appropriate that it goes out with Claire being selfish and unpleasant. If there’s another season, I’ll meet you here in September. However, on Friday you might want to check out “How I’d Fix Heroes”, my proposal for a new season. Until then, let’s just simmer in our dislike of Claire for a bit.