Niki is a curious character because her dark side is really quite evil. I'm not sure how the ability to turn into a thief/prostitute/psychotic murderer whenever it suits makes her a hero. Unless she begins to use her powers for good I'll have to assume she's not actually *meant* to be one of the heroes. Perhaps she should start working for Sylar.

Somebody had a theory I read a while back about Sylar actually being Peter after he encountered Ikin and absorbed her power. I like that theory, though I'm less inclined to buy it these days. Maybe Ikin *is* Sylar? She certainly has the ruthlessness, and if she thought it would somehow benefit Micah that she went around killing all the heroes, maybe she'd do it?

I agree with you that it's hard to see Niki becoming a hero at this point--*how* many people has Ikin killed by now? Upwards of 15? Though it's certainly an interesting moral dilemma she's in. If you found out you had an evil alter ego who was a mass murderer, what would you do--kill yourself? But she has to take care of Micah, so she can't really do that. I'm really intrigued to see where they can possibly go from here with her character.

And Claire's gay best friend is the cutest.

With luck we will get lots of Nathan next week!