Now I'm confused about when "now" is. Fall 2006 elections?

Yep. We're still back in November.

(Hiro and Ando haven't interacted with Jessica and D.L., right?)

Not since Hiro and D.L. saved the car crash victims. And while Ando interacted with Nikki, they haven't met Jessica.

I'm still wondering what Nathan will do when he finally meets Claire's adoptive father... and finds out it's the man who once tried to kidnap him. I'm looking forward to those two going at it.

I wonder if they're going to skip forward a year after the finale, or if we're going to get farther and farther out of step with Real Time, which would be a problem for the kids.

At this point, Nathan's really lucky he can fly, because he's quickly running out of (moral) legs to stand on. Even with Bennet's past, I'd say he's still done far better by Claire, in particular. Does Bennet know that Nathan is Claire's father?

I believe HRG knows who "the Haitian" is working for (at least did know until TH took his memory), so yes, at some point he knew who Claire's father is.

Does Bennet know that Nathan is Claire's father?

If he remembers trying to kidnap Nathan, he might have put it together once Claire told him Peter was her uncle. He didn't know before then, though, because as he said in the last episode, they didn't tell him everything.

I wonder if he would remember Nathan, though, or if he saw so many people through his capture-and-release program that Nathan was just another one of them. Matt seems to have a similar issue in regards to Molly, whom he didn't recognize in the last episode.

But then again, kids tend to look alike to me, too.

Also, screaming child held at gunpoint by your ally maybe not the best circumstances for recognition.

Matt is a Box of Hair, most of the time. As opposed to Mohinder, who is a Box of Curly Hair.

Molly was the first person whose thoughts Matt heard, wasn't she? Nothing to conclude from that, it just struck me.

Molly was the first person whose thoughts Matt heard, wasn't she?

Good point. At the very least, his initial encounter with her was the first time he (eventually) realized he was hearing someone else's thoughts.

Matt is a Box of Hair, most of the time.

I adored Greg Grunberg when I played fan liaison for him at the first Destination: L.A., but I just started liking Matt in the last episode with his response to Bennett's withering intensity: "OK. A simple 'no' would have done the trick." And, of course "... ... the porno."

I've also finally started to like DL. Too bad they let the character wither on the vine for most of the season. They do need to do more with the women on the show, so I can see why Nissica gets featured, but there's just something cool about a guy who can reach into someone's head and pull out their brain.

And then I got distracted by that mention of the Linderman Act... so that he came to signify the threat that the mutants (I don't know what to call them) pose to normal humanity.

I sort of prefer the idea that they found out mutants killed him and named the act in his honor.

Yeah, I hope we see a lot more of DL in further seasons. He's got a cool power and what little what we've seen of his character seems appealing. I liked his threat to leave Jessica stuck in a wall. That would put marzipan in her pie plate.