Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
Six weeks after Nathan’s death, Peter is a paramedic and Claire starts college, while Hiro and Ando try to help people. Matt is haunted by Sylar’s consciousness, which remained in his mind after he used his power to plant Nathan’s memories in Sylar’s body. Sylar later takes control of Matt’s body and returns to his own, but the identities continue to clash: the shape-shifting body still carries Nathan’s memories and sometimes takes his face. Samuel Sullivan gathers people with abilities at his travelling carnival, where their presence makes him stronger.
Peter meets Emma Coolidge, a file clerk who sees sound as colour, while Claire investigates attacks at college and Hiro revisits the past to save Charlie, the diner worker Sylar once took from him. Hiro finds that Charlie has lived a full life in the decades since and lets her remain there. Near the end, Matt traps Sylar in a nightmare inside his own mind, a blank city where Sylar is alone. Peter enters to reach him. They break through a wall after years in the dream; Peter forgives Sylar over Nathan’s murder, and they escape the mental prison and their physical confinement.
Samuel’s plan culminates in Central Park, where he means to expose his powers by causing a disaster before a crowd. Tracy rescues Claire and Noah from Samuel’s burial trap. Having escaped Matt’s nightmare prison, Peter and Sylar join forces, and Matt reluctantly allows them to leave. Sylar saves Emma from Eric Doyle and chooses to spare him. Peter takes Samuel’s power, then Hiro, supercharged by Ando, transports the carnival’s powered members away, leaving Samuel weakened. Peter defeats him. With the press watching, Claire climbs a Ferris wheel and jumps, revealing her healing to the world.