Ah, now this is more like it, “Shadowboxing”, the latest episode of Heroes, is what Heroes should be about.  The Ink Man’s mind shows through, cracks appear in the relationship between father and daughter and Matt once more proves he can’t do anything right.

In this episode, we get a chance to see the brains of the Ink Man.  Yes, he has been plotting all along, but in this episode his schemes with the Invisible Girl and Claire come unraveled and yet quickly he respins a story that actually manages to push a wedge between Noah and Claire.  He created an oepning that the father walked right through, cracking his daughter’s faith.  Intriguing.  Of course, on the other hand, he just put himself right in front of Noah and this isn’t over.

Matt on the other hand falls into classic Parkman blunders.  When we last left him, he was riding shotgun in his own body while Sylar was driving.  The telepath thought he could control Sylar, but that quickly was dispelled.  Ultimately Parkman takes the ultimate step–he sets up Sylar and himself to be killed by the police.  It won’t work.  But that’s Parkman’s luck for you.

The other story-lines in this episode surrounded Peter and Emma.  I still haven’t figured out Emma and her role in this season.  As a character, I think she is a poor example of a Deaf person–she conveys the idea of “poor deaf girl” and some of her actions make me raise my eyebrow.  In this episode, we find out that her nephew died, because she couldn’t hear his distress.  That’s not a very positive light to show a Deaf character.  But I understand what they’re doing–they want to show someone redeeming their life.  And that’s what puzzles me even moreso.  Heroesis a show about good versus evil; this kind of melodrama is usually placed within that context.  So far, her storyline has been completely separate from the threat of Sylar or the Carnival.  How do they plan to bring these things together? Or do they?

The final storyline is Nathan.  For weeks the Sylar body has been walking around with no one at the helm, but a nascent personality.  This night, Nathan woke up, escape the carnival and headed straight to Peter.

All around, this is what I’ve been waiting for.  A little bit more of a threat materialized, Parkman acting like Parkman, and Sylar getting more and more dangerous.  The Ink Man feeling like a threat.  Now, if they can just follow through.