“Under the Mask,” opens with Malina, an Evo we know little about. She’s in the Arctic, using her powers to do something or other that affects the Northern Lights. She’s apparently trying to hold off something bad, and it’s getting harder for her to do it. Malina is accompanied by some kind of odd guide. There’s a lot of implied menace in this scene, but we don’t really know what’s going on. 

In warmer climes, Texas in this case, Noah and Quentin end up stealing a truck so they can keep looking for answers. And speaking of stolen cars, Luke and Joanne, our husband and wife killer team, are enjoying the files they found in Noah’s car. Joanne is clearly still relishing their self-appointed mission, but Luke is having second thoughts. Given what we find out about him later on, I wonder if that’s at least partially his subconscious speaking.

Spanning the globe, Miko and Ren are still looking for Miko’s missing father. Their quest gets rapidly more complicated as they run afoul of yet another Evo, Harris. I have a theory about what Harris’ power actually is, as opposed to what we see, but I’ll hold that in case of spoilers. I will say he’s damned impressive, as Miko finds out.

One of the things that happened a lot on the original series of Heroes was that the different plot threads stayed disconnected, and you ended up wondering when they’d finally cross paths. Possibly because this is a limited series, they are linking the stories together faster. Miko and Ren, through Harris, encounter Erica Karvid, who runs Renautas. Renautas is the big evil company, taking over from the apparently destroyed PrimaTech in the original series.

Renautas is also playing a part in Noah’s story, and are the people who captured Molly Walker. We learn more about Tyler, a hunter we met last episode, and her man Francis, a telekinetic. There are lots of links to different stories here, and the complicated web is getting very tangled. Interestingly, when Harris captures Miko, he and Erica both know her sword belongs to Hiro, and seem to know who he is.

Out in Los Angeles, Oscar is still dealing with all the chaos coming from his brother’s death. Carlos had a lot of secrets, and Oscar is trying to live up to them. His new life takes a lot of unexpected twists, and he hasn’t even found out about his nephew Jose’s big surprise. Oscar tries to take up at least some of Carlos’ responsibilities, and finds out how much he doesn’t know about what’s going on. He gets a lot of surprises as he tries to do the right thing.

Noah’s quest for information is going badly because of his memory loss. The source of that amnesia makes the whole situation even more ironic. Noah is learning that he can’t even trust his old allies, and doesn’t know why, or what happened. He does get a clue that he needs the help of someone from the first series who we haven’t seen yet, and I’m really looking forward to that.

In one of the other ongoing stories, Tommy is learning new ways to use his powers. He, Emily, and Tommy’s mother Anne get several surprises. Anne apparently has a link with the still nameless Penny Man, and they share some kind of knowledge about Tommy and his future. Anne and Tommy also get a nasty surprise as the episode ends.

What I liked: Oscar stepped up a lot more, and I like what he’s trying to do. Noah’s steely determination is always impressive. Renautas is a big bad that is very well-organized and knows a lot. They are going to give the good guys a run for their money.  Tommy’s stereotypical teen scene was probably inevitable, but at least they made it short for us. The Penny Man is very interesting, both power-wise and in his apparent goal.

What I didn’t: I’m sure they’re going somewhere with Joanne and Luke, but I’m finding I just don’t care. Joanne has no redeeming qualities, and Luke not many. I don’t like either one of them. I understand giving out information slowly, but this sometimes gets irksome. I had to get a lot of the names I use in this review from IMDB. At least let us know who we’re dealing with.

I’ll give this episode a high 3.5 out of 5, and I’m really looking forward to more.