Apparently this was the conversation going on last night while I was watching the prank play out.

Dad: "What's you're sister laughing at?"

Lil'Bro: "Probably something inappropriate."

Also, in keeping with my constant irritation at race portrayals, I am getting so sick of seeing the many ethnic minority characters being manipulated or subservient to their Caucasian bosses/counterparts.

You know, I think your irritation is happening because this is in fact constant, not because you are oversensitive. And it is easy for someone who is white to overlook until it is pointed out.

I thought the "prank" was supremely fucked up and made me dislike Claire on par with my dislike of West.

I'm hoping it's deliberate. I also hope it's a deliberate evocation of Claire and the other cheerleader being in danger from Sylar during last year's Homecoming.

I don't have a ton of confidence, though.

I thought the "prank" was supremely fucked up ...

Maybe I'm missing some ethical bits, but I don't see it. Claire and West were fighting back against a bully. It was self-defense. I don't think people are objecting to the mere fact of fighting back. So how is this over the line?

So how is this over the line?

Claire died in front of bitchy!cheerleader in a bloody and gruesome fashion. Whether Claire healed later or not is irrelevant, that's pretty horribly traumatizing.

I once saw a young kid get hit by a car when I was a teenager. Even though the kid lived and it was relatively bloodless I still had nightmares about it for weeks. I can't imagine the effect seeing someone crash to the ground in a broken, bloody heap right in front of you would have on a person.

I can't imagine the effect seeing someone crash to the ground in a broken, bloody heap right in front of you would have on a person.

And then the flying guy in a black mask chased her. I would be traumatized as hell.

But does she think it was real? When she sobered up why would she? She doesn't know there has been a mutation and the world is now riddled with people who are doing weird things.

I think the prank was really fucked up and also out of proportion with the teasing that we saw the lead Heather inflict on Claire. I also think it was completely in character for Claire (although I don't think alone she'd have ever been that cruel so one more thing we can blame on West's influence). I don't equate it to crashing the car with her rapist inside of it though because, hello, he tried to rape her and then killed her and dumped her naked body in a river. Which doesn't mean that I condone the car crash, but it was a heck of a lot more justified than what she pulled last episode.

Also, it continues a theme that I love about this show which is that there are no white hats (except for Hiro). Even the "good" people have done some very dark deeds. Torture, murder, psychological trauma . . . heck, even Micah stole money from ATMs and rigged an election and he's cute as a button! It's all good in the Heroes-hood.

think the prank was really fucked up and also out of proportion with the teasing that we saw the lead Heather inflict on Claire.

I don't agree with this. I think it underestimates how fucked up bullying really is to the person suffering it. Now admittedly Claire had not suffered it very long, but it looked like overall a lot of people had. I don't think a severe trauma is too severe a punishment for a chronic bully, especially if it reduces her ability to bully in the future.

Something I've finally come to terms with in my life. I was bullied through middle school and most of high school. And I took Karate, and that helped but karate was really the wrong marital art for me -- too much speed and coordination required, I really couldn't win against the bullies with my slow kicks, where they could easily grab my leg, hold me helpless and continue their fun. By my Jr year in high school, I was thinking seriously about suicide.

And I said fuck it all instead. Fuck the rules they've taught me in Karate. Fuck everything. They are not going to get me for free anymore. And the next person who tried to beat me up for sport just got grabbed. No technique. I just held on, ignore everything they did to me, and hurt them any way I could. I banged their head against a brick wall. I bit. Yeah, I know little kids techique , unsantiatry. But you know what the kid who was beating me was bleeding where I took a bite out of them. Had to go to the hospital for a shot too, cause biting is very unsanitary. And the bully actually complained, I was sent to the Vice Principle. And the VP explained that real men didn't bite. I said that anyone who did not want to get bitten had a very simple option - to not use me as a punching bag. And you know maybe what I did was out of proportion. I mean the bullies had never seriously hurt me physically. But I'm not sorry.

And so when I saw this Heather who live to humilate other get get traumatized, my reaction was to cheer. Cause even though it was different kind of bullying humilation she was inflicting, I really don't think she was suffering anything worse than she was inflicting. Bullying if goes on for a long time is not something you shrug off. And the way to keep from going on for a long is to strike back hard the first time it is inflicting on you. I wish I'd taken up biting when I was first bullied, and not waited for it to build up for years and years. So I don't see what Claire did as out of proportion to what the Heather was doing, not just to Claire, but to others in front of her.