The Heroes are having a rocky re-adjustment to their post-fugitive lives, though they each seem to want to move toward integration back into society. But somewhere between their desires and their brains, someone's put a massive wall of "Say what??!!"

Claire Bennet is the personification of this wish, with her attempt to simply go to college like all the other girls. Problem is, of course, she's not just like all the other girls. When Junior Scooby Wannabe Gretchen wants to investigate the death of Claire's roommate by using a test dummy, Claire decides, Hey, wouldn't it be a great idea to just use myself instead?!  So she does, with reckless disregard for who might happen to be watching. And of course, someone is.

Matt Parkman, back on the police force, struggles with the addiction to his power, aware that the dark side took over his father (have we heard this story before?) and turned him into a bad guy. Determined to succeed without his ability, he soldiers on, despite a little slip in the last episode where his insecurities (and Head Sylar) made him use his mindzap to chase off a guy getting too chummy with Matt's wife. When Head Sylar returns to save his life during a bust, Matt decides maybe he can trust Sylar. Because Sylar's looking out for him, right?

Peter Petrelli, on the other hand, has been a regular superhero of the paramedic set, saving people right and left, to the extent he's actually caused a wave of resentment in his fellow aid workers, and even the suspicion that he's a glory seeker who may be causing the very accidents where he's saving people. Then he gets served with a lawsuit from one of those patients. Trigger the insecurity avalanche!

Maybe that was the theme of this week's episode, because these three heroes have been particularly drenched with a lack of confidence from the get-go. Parkman is a very capable guy, with his heart in the right place, but it's almost universally remarked that he needs to grow a set. Peter is the first in any scene to trust the wrong person and make the wrong choice because of his feelings. Claire seems to storm ahead with a contrived teenage angst/ bravado/rebellion that seems to fly in the face of anything that makes rational sense for someone in her position.

While as a writer, I understand that one shows character development in the way characters handle bad times, at some point that's supposed to lead to development, not just the same bad choices every single time. After awhile this will strain even the most devoted viewers.

Meanwhile, the mysterious carnival folk intrude even farther into the lives of the heroes, which keeps things a little interesting. Samuel's agenda seems to include adding some of them into his little magic family. He is revealed as a very dangerous man in this episode; how far will he go to get what he wants?