Recapping Heroes, a WWE executive embarks on a Senate campaign and more Pakistan-India hostilities, good times!

- Tonight’s episode of Heroes was all over the place – literally – and it was a good thing, not a bad thing. There were trips to Florida, California, Virginia, New York and parts unknown. The central storyline revolved around Noah Bennet, a.k.a. H.R.G., and his quest to find Samuel Sullivan and his elusive carnival full of people with powers. With the help of his lady friend Lauren Gilmore, H.R.G.’s apartment turns into a command center for the search for Samuel. Lauren helps him find a woman named Vanessa Wheeler, whose family owned the estate that Samuel grew up on, the same one we saw Samuel destroy earlier this season by turning the ground beneath it into a giant sinkhole. Lauren unearths photos of Vanessa and Samuel together recently and tracks down her phone number in Los Angeles. H.R.G. calls her but she hangs up on him, so he flies to L.A. to find her. Before approaching Vanessa in person, he enlists the help of Matt Parkman, who is finally free from having Sylar trapped inside his mind and has elected to stop using his powers of mind control to become a stay-at-home dad. H.R.G. pleads for Matt’s help under the premise that just as Samuel is trying to recruit his own daughter, Claire, to join his family of misfits, he could someday come after Matt’s own son. Parkman agrees to help and the two of them meet Vanessa as she leaves practice for the Los Angeles Orchestra. Vanessa doesn’t want to talk to them and walks away, but Parkman uses his power to mind-trick Vanessa into talking to them and helping them. She reveals that Samuel has been obsessed with her lately, showing up at her apartment building in the middle of the night and talking about how they will be together. Because she knows how to contact Samuel, H.R.G. decides to use her as bait. He has Vanessa call Samuel and invite him to come see her. Samuel takes the offer, but H.R.G.’s plan to trap him fails when Samuel brings along the Replicating Man, Eli, and manages to distract H.R.G. and Parkman long enough to snatch Vanessa. H.R.G. pursues and comes face to face with Samuel in the street, but Samuel uses his power to control the earth and its elements to cause the street to buckle and fold up between he and H.R.G., unleashing a dust storm to cover his escape. H.R.G. and Parkman pursue in a van by following a tracker they’ve planed on Vanessa, but the only find an empty field and a carnival flier despite being just two minutes behind Samuel in their pursuit. Afterward, Parkman continues to suggest to H.R.G. that he mend fences with Claire, repair their relationship and get on with life. Lauren suggested the same thing, in part because Claire has one of the compasses that help locate the carnival. In the end, H.R.G. does visit Claire at her dorm room and talks about rebuilding the bridge between them. Claire is wary of his intentions, but she at least hears him out. The parent-child relationship between Peter and Angela Petrelli is no less strained, but the strain takes on a new dimension. Peter’s day begins with a jolt as he is awakened after receiving some sort of bizarre telepathic transmission from Lydia, the Tattooed Woman at the Sullivan Bros. carnival. He bolts awake to find the compass tattoo that appeared on his arm after meeting Samuel earlier this season has reappeared. As he walks the streets of New York trying to figure out why, he is drawn to the apartment of his new friend Emma as she plays the cello that Samuel gave her. When the conversation turns to Samuel, Peter warns Emma about how dangerous he is. She counters that he taught her a new dimension to her power and that power was to draw people to her with music, just as she drew Peter in by playing the cello. As they continue their chat at Peter’s apartment, he shows her a picture of Samuel taken from the bus crash earlier in this season, the crash Peter rescued Samuel from. At that time, Samuel claimed his name was William Hooper. Moments later, Angela Petrelli walked in and the reception she gave her son’s new friend was chillier than chilly. After Emma left, Angela explained that she had a dream about the future in which Emma is responsible for killing thousands of people. She tells Peter that he cannot save Emma and although the details of her dream aren’t all clear, she knows Emma spells disaster. Rather than take her word for it, Peter takes her arm and absorbs Angela’s power. With it. he has his own dream of the future and sees Emma playing her cello in the hall of mirrors at the carnival, weeping and wearing an anguished look on her face. Out of nowhere, Sylar appears and says he is there to save her. Spurred on by the dream, Peter rushes to Emma’s apartment, blows right past her as she opens the door and smashes the cello to pieces in an attempt to prevent his dream from coming true. He attempts to explain his reasons for doing so, but Emma won't hear of it and asks him to leave - permanently. One unanswered Peter-related question was what became of the voicemail he left for H.R.G. early in the episode about his compass tattoo. Will H.R.G. make use of this unconventional compass to get him back to the carnival? That answer will come in time, but H.R.G. also received an interesting visit at the end of the episode from none other than Hiro Nakamura, Ando and Mohinder Suresh. Their odyssey began when Hiro and Ando made their way to the Riverdale Psychiatric Hospital in Belgrade, Florida, where Hiro had placed Suresh following their run-in at a motel in Texas earlier in the season. He saved Suresh’s life then, but needed Samuel to think he wad dead so that he wouldn’t look for Suresh any more. Now, Hiro must break Suresh out. His plan meant committing himself as a patient, then helping Suresh rediscover his super-strength power to break out. Ando hangs around also under the auspice of visiting Hiro, then gets involved by swapping out Suresh’s medication with aspirin so he won't be in a drug-induced haze and can use his power. Hiro, still speaking in his comic-book/fantasy land talk (Star Trek, Batman, Sherlock Holmes, etc.), knocks on the door of Suresh’s cell and is able to demonstrate to a now-coherent Suresh how to use his power. After breaking out of his straight jacket and breaking down his cell door, Suresh joins Hiro in escaping. They fetch Ando - who had been rendered immobile by accidentally ingesting Suresh’s sedatives - and make a run for it. The hospital’s security guards and orderlies attempt top stop them, but Ando’s power to shoot electricity from his hands and Suresh’s super strength are too much. The three men break out and go on the run through a nearby swampland. As the pursuing guards and orderlies close in on them, Suresh suggests Hiro uses his power of teleportation to evade their pursuers. Ando explains that Hiro’s current medical condition won’t allow him to do so. Suresh counters that to treat him at the mental hospital, electroshock therapy would have been use. He counters that Ando’s power would do the same thing and sure enough, when Ando gives Hiro a jolt, his friend stops talking nonsense and returns to normal. Hiro grabs his two friends and teleports them out of harm’s way just as the police dogs are about to find them. The trio teleports all the way from Florida to…….H.R.G’s apartment in New York just as H.R.G. and Lauren are enjoying a romantic kiss. “Hello boys,” H.R.G. greets them, not the least bit surprised to see them. Overall, it was a pretty interesting episode and involved quite a few key characters, so I’d rate it as one of the better ones so far this season. Tune back in next week for another round of action……….

- The two sides are selling different stories at to what really happened, but all I need to know is that Indian border guards really did fire four rockets into Pakistan on Saturday and if that’s true, then I am a happy man. The story being sold by the Indians on this incident is that they were retaliating to a similar fire from the other side, but of course, Pakistan denied that claim. Things appeared to go haywire after two unexploded rockets were traced after midnight near an Indian outpost along the border dividing the Punjab region between the two countries. From there, it was freaking on, yo. "We have standing instructions to retaliate and retaliate heavily," said K. Srinivasan, a deputy inspector-general of India's Border Security Force. Sounds good to me, K. He added that Indian border guards also fired about 50 gunshots, although no casualties or injuries have been reported and the firing has stopped as of now. Speaking on behalf of the Pakistan Rangers, spokesman Nadeem Raza disputed Srinivasan’s claims. Raza said that an explosion was heard at about 11:30 p.m., after which Indians fired mortars into Pakistani territory. No matter who fired the first shot or why, it was a nice capper for a day highlighted by a long gunfight Indian security forces and militants took place in Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu and Kashmir state. And of course, tensions are always high in the eternally disputed Kashmir region on the border between India and Pakistan is. The Indians accuse the Pakistanis of fueling an insurgency and he two nations have fought three wars over the territory since their independence in 1947. Shots are fired along the border more frequently than right-wing, anti-Obama sentiments are spouted on Fox News these days and the border is also known as the Line of Control, so you know it’s an important area. There was a 2003 ceasefire agreement, but tensions between the two nations have remained high. The fact that both of these nations have nuclear capabilities only makes the battle all the more fascinating. The Indian government kicked things up a notch when it hinted Friday that Pakistan was behind this week's attack in Srinagar. "The two militants who were killed were in communication with their handlers outside India," said a statement issued by Home Minister P. Chidambaram. "The incident highlights the fact that the country, especially Jammu and Kashmir, remains vulnerable to militant attacks sponsored by forces from across the border." Whatever you want to imply, P., I’m fine with it. Just as long as you two are still firing rockets back and forth and keeping the possibility of a massive border war alive……………

- Can a couple decades of being a key figure in one of the biggest, most elaborate soap operas in all of the entertainment world be overcome enough to land a seat in the United States Senate? That is the challenge facing Linda McMahon, the longtime CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. McMahon, wife of WWE chairman Vince McMahon, is one of the Connecticut Republicans battling for the senate seat now held by Christopher Dodd, a Democrat. She has not only been the CEO of WWE for a long time, she has also appeared on the company’s multiple televisions shows regularly throughout the years and has done her fair share of kicking dudes in the junk, slapping people and seeing her husband force other women to do degrading things like crawl around the ring and bark like a dog. Can she now transcend that persona and earn a Senate seat? If she can’t, it certainly won't be because of a lack of resources. She recently gave an interview in which she pledged to will spend $50 millions of her own money on the campaign. Other contenders for the seat and political pundits have taken notice of her candidacy, especially after Dodd's announcement Wednesday that he would not seek re-election in 2010. What will be interesting to watch is the effect her pro wrasslin’ background will have on McMahon’s campaign. On one hand, her immense wealth is due almost entirely to the industry, but on the other hand you have the allegations of steroid abuse, the premature deaths of some wrestlers and the aforementioned WWE story lines that have featured sexist, violent and vulgar behavior. Also, I doubt that whatever chunk of WWE's 16 million weekly television viewers who reside in Connecticut will turn out in high numbers to vote for her. Call me cynical, but the people I see when I catch any of the WWE’s television programming don’t strike me as the sort of people who are politically minded and active in civil affairs – unless you include buying copious amounts of WWE merchandise, making signs on fluorescent posterboard and painting their faces as civil affairs. McMahon is saying all the right things so far, painting herself as a fresh face that the people of Connecticut badly need in Congress. "Talking with people all around the state, what I'm really hearing is that they want outsiders. They don't want more of the same. They want someone with fresh ideas. They want new blood, new faces," she said recently after a public appearance. That may be true, but the question is whether they want someone like Linda McMahon as that fresh face……….

- I wish I could say that I expected more from the players on the Washington Wizards’ roster, but that woukd be a lie. After gun-toting teammate Gilbert Arenas was suspended indefinitely by the NBA on Wednesday for his actions in bringing three guns into the team’s facilities and allegedly bringing those guns out during a dispute over a gambling debt with teammate Javaris Crittenton, at least one of his teammates had Arenas’ back. Guard DeShawn Stevenson, a man with a troubled past of his own, repped Arenas’ nickname, Agent Zero, by taking to the court during pregame warm-ups for Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Hornets with the words "AGENT" and "ZERO" written in red capital letters on tape wrapped just above his ankles. "He's still a part of the team, right?" Stevenson said. "He's still part of the team, he's my brother, so I'm going to stick to him through rough times. It's like my little tribute." Like I said, I wouldn’t expect anything else from these guys, especially Stevenson, After all, dude did go out in the offseason and have an Abraham Lincoln tattoo inked right on the front of his neck, so he’s clearly a weird dude. But pro athletes are a breed unto themselves, completely engrossed in their own culture and brotherhood to the extent that they often have very little grasp on reality as the rest of us know it. Things the vast majority of society would view as aberrant and offensive, these guys slough off as typical behavior. Carrying, brandishing and discharging guns in inappropriate and illegal places ranks high on that list of behaviors. Rushing to the defense of a guy who violated local gun laws, NBA rules against firearms inside team facilities and the basic tenets of common sense seems idiotic to you and I, but it’s S.O.P. for these guys. Never mind that Arenas is in no way a victim here and basically made light of the situation by breaking out his imaginary six-shooters during warm-ups of the very next game after the story of his run-in with Crittenton broke and pretending to shoot up his teammates in the pregame huddle. Never mind the fact that he was cracking jokes and having fun with his gun play right up to the point where NBA commissioner David Stern suspended him. Forget those things and defend a guy whom the Wizards are taking steps to eradicate from every inch of their facility, promotional materials and team store. Stevenson’s mini-homage came as the team pulled all Arenas-related merchandise from the Verizon Center, edited him out of the pregame video and hung a new multistory banner on the facade of the arena, replacing the one that had featured Arenas. The new banner is emblazoned with the slogan: "On your team, on the court and in the community, Wizards care." They care and they like to play with guns and honor those who do, that is……………

- Could it be? Could another Asian or Middle Eastern country truly be on the verge of having its citizenry terrorized by the menace that is Blackwater Worldwide/Xe? After the reign of terror Blackwater went on in Iraq, (allegedly) gunning down dozens of innocent civilians (although all involved Blackwater personnel were acquitted in federal court on all charges related to the killings) and generally acting like a bunch of renegade, gun-happy fools who didn’t answer to anyone and could do as they pleased, you had to wonder if and when they would get another significant chance to peddle their wares on the international scene. Now, just a couple years and one name change after its role in the Mess O’Potamia, Blackwater/Xe is hoping to ride high into Afghanistan, where it's a contender to be a key part of President Barack Obama's strategy for stabilizing the country. Technically, the company now goes by the name Xe Services, but whatever you call it, it is in the running for a Pentagon contract potentially worth $1 billion to train Afghanistan's embattled national police force. What with its reputation as a bunch of homicidal mercenaries, Xe has been shifting its focus to training, aviation and logistics work. That paradigm shift may not be enough to win over Democratic lawmakers, who have held an extremely low opinion of the company ever since the Iraqi deaths. Secretary of State Hank Clinton was big on Blackwater-bashing during the Democratic primary in 2008 and Hank backed legislation to ban Blackwater and other private security contractors from Iraq. When Xe had its license to operate as guardian of U.S. diplomats in Iraq ripped, the State Department, with Clinton at the helm, elected not to rehire the company when the contract expired in 2009. It’s worth nothing that although a federal court in this country dismissed criminal charges against five of the Blackwater guards involved in the killing of those Iraqi civilians because of repeated missteps by federal prosecutors, the Iraqi government has vowed to pursue the case. That doesn’t bode well for the company, nor does the fact that on Thursday, two former Blackwater contractors were arrested on murder charges in the shootings of two Afghans after a traffic accident last year. Color me cynical, but I’m just having a difficult time seeing Blackwater/Xe getting a shot to do its thing in Afghanistan in light of all of this…………