Another fantastic episode of Heroes this evening. The character development continues apace, with Hiro and Ando providing both comic relief and some flyaway musings on the nature and responsibilities of being a superhero. Hiro even for a moment considers getting himself a costume. I really enjoy Hiro’s enthusiasm for his newfound powers and how he allows comic book lore and ideals to dictate his behaviour.Claire Bennett’s storyline takes a sinister turn as the high school footballer she has a crush on forced himself on her and attempts to rape her. After a brief scuffle between the two of them, Claire falls and impales her skull on a spike and appears dead. As the episode ends, we see an unidentified hand remove the implement from her head. As the camera pans back, Claire wakes to discover her torso has been stripped back to reveal her ribs.

The likable telepathic police officer, Matt Parkman, discovers that his power has its downside. After an encounter with Sylar, Matt returns home to an angry wife - he’s missed a shared appointment. However, she’s so incensed that she doesn’t listen to his story and he heads for the bar. Unfortunately, he finds out that he can’t control his telepathy and can hear the morbid thoughts of everyone around him. He sees a mysterious black man (wearing a strange symbol on a chain - more on that later) and immediately afterward passes out.

The Niki Saunders saga continues with her burying her assailants and visiting her son’s grandmother. They argue about Micah’s father, as Niki suspects him of having killed a man and buried him in the desert. At exactly the same spot as her mirror-based alter ego conveniently left her a shovel? I have my suspicions about that…

Mohinder Suresh and his friend discover a hidden diary in his father’s laptop and discover an address for Sylar. They visit his apartment and break in to discover a bizarre room with plastic-covered furniture and in freakishly good order…until they discover a secret room that holds a map similar to Mohinder’s father’s and a smaller room with “Forgive Me” scrawled across the walls. They lead the police to the apartment, but when they return, it’s been freakishly cleaned out and there’s nothing left.

I think that’s it for Chapter 3 of Heroes, let me know if I missed anything poignant. Has anybody else noticed the weird symbol that seems to appear around the main characters?