Hayden Panettiere on HEROES Season 4 Premiere – Recap

So what did you think of Hayden Panettiere’s performance on Monday? Wasn’t she just awesome as Claire Bennet (“daughter of Noah Bennet”).

So let’s recap Claire’s story line for HEROES season 4 premiere, which was a two-hour show of the episodes “Orientation” and “Jump, Push, Fall”.

Like it’s been spoiled many times, Claire Bennet enrolls as a Freshman college in Arlington, Virginia. Claire meets an irritating, overachiever named Annie (Rachel Melvin). On orientation day,  Claire meets an outside named Gretchen (Madeline Zima) who seems to show up where Claire is, and knows who she is from the Union Wells attack (Season 1).  Stacker is what she is!

So Claire tries to fit in and gives Annie a chance, so she takes an advance Math placement test, but it just wasn’t for her. I think Claire is still paranoid from the craziness of the government round-up and she imagines a laser pointing at her from snipers ready to kill.

Claire gravitates to Gretchen to get away from Annie’s intense attitude and the new friends play a bad Guitar Hero at an after-school party. Unfortunately, Claire comes home into her dorm room and finds Annie dead on the sidewalk below. An investigation reveals a suicide note, which Claire doesn’t believe, and Gretchen suggests a way to find out the truth – a theory called “jump, push, fall” that she saw on Crossing Jordan (a mention to Tim Kring’s former show). Unfortunately for Claire, she tests the theory and her powers were exposed! Claire finds Gretchen looking down at her mangled body from the dorm window.

Well, what do you think of Gretchen? I bet you she isn’t as dorky as she looks. It’s too much of a coincidence that she just shows up around Claire too much. I think she may even be part of the Carnival, although there are no clues yet. But Claire’s face surfaced on the Carnival’s Tattoo Lady, and Samuel seems interested in gathering people with powers into his gypsy family.

But I wonder if Hayden Panettiere knows how to play Guitar Hero.

Images: NBC/Chris Haston and Justin Lubin