In this third episode, Season 3 of 'Heroes' is finally hitting its stride. The four parallel stories focus on Nathan's crusade, the strained relationship between Claire and Noah Bennet, the 'road trip' Sylar and Luke are on and Hiro's adventure with Ando in India. Here's a recap:

After the grand failure that was last episode's focus, Nathan Petrelli (Adrian Pasdar) is trying to get increased funding for his little crusade against all people with powers. In the process, he gets a new boss from DHS who is very skeptical that people with "magical powers" exist and wants to shut the whole operation down.

Her conviction is strengthened when she see their only prisoner, Tracy Strauss (Ali Larter), who she knows from when Tracy was a lobbyist. She finds the way Tracy is being held -- tied to chair with numerous heaters beaming down on her -- abhorrent.

She storms off to get the paperwork done but, upon her return, Tracy tries to escape and dramatically kills a random flunky by freezing him and throwing him up against a wall, and he shatters into little pieces upon the floor. Witnessing this turns Nathan's boss' thoughts on the project completely around.

Later, Nathan goes to gloat over Tracy. But she accuses him of loosening the chains and leaving the door unlocked on purpose. Since Nathan did no such thing, he realizes The Hunter (Zeljko Ivanek) did it and confronts him. They have a little argument over ethics and the loss of one life to save the project.

Luke (Dan Byrd) is really getting on Sylar's (Zachary Quinto) nerves. He's running off about how his mother never took him on road trips and can they stop at a road side dinner for greasy food. Then he tells a string of lies about Sylar's father.

Sylar pulls the car over and threatens Luke. Of course, they just happened to pull over near a bridge, which has a camera, which -- despite the long angle -- is able to scan Sylar's face, thus tipping off Nathan's group of Sylar's whereabouts.

Dutifully docilified, Luke tells a true story about Sylar's father. They end up stopping at a road side diner and over the meal have a heart to heart about when to use your powers. Touched, Luke gives Sylar the address of his father.

In step government agents and commandos. Luke helps Sylar escape, but then Sylar leaves Luke behind. The government guys zap him, drug him, and dump him in the back of a black van. The commandos jump in, close the door and all hell breaks loose inside. Turns out Sylar's in there. He kills all the government guys and then takes off with a laptop and Luke.

Over a strained breakfast, Sandra Bennet (Ashley Crow) asks Claire (Hayden Panettiere) and Noah (Jack Coleman) about their trip to various Ivy League colleges. Claire's brother, Lyle (Randall Bentley), quizzes Noah about what a consultant does. The compounding lies really get to Claire, so she storms off to her room.

HRG follows, and they end up discussing the lies they keep and how important it is they keep on keeping them. Claire doesn't seem convinced.

Meanwhile, Rebel -- the mysterious sender of text messages -- sends a message to Claire asking her to warn Alex of his impending capture. Who is Alex, you ask? Turns out he's a guy who works at a local comic book shop and can breathe under water.

Of course, when Claire is at the comic book shop warning Alex, guess who walks in the door? HRG. Claire hides, Alex acts non-chalant and then they make a break for it.

Claire is eventually able to prevent Alex from being captured, but in so doing causes some friction between HRG and The Hunter, as well as putting further strain on her relationship with her father.

When she gets back home, she is unable to lie to her mother any more. Sandra and Noah exchange a few words and Noah packs off to "become a better man, husband, father." Yeah, right. Oh, and Alex is hiding in Claire's closet.

Meanwhile, back in New Delhi, Hiro and Ando are scoping out the wedding from Matt Parkman's (Greg Grunberg) painting. Hiro believes he must stop the wedding in order to get his powers back. But then Ando, in a flirtatious way I might add, gets the bride to call off the wedding. Turns out she didn't really want to marry the guy, but was being forced into it because he's a powerful fellow in the area.

Of course, the groom storms in, threatens the bride and then ends up kidnapping Ando as collateral to keep the marriage on. So, just as pictured, Hiro stops the wedding, saving the day and learning that he can be a hero even without powers.

The episode ends with HRG having a few drinks at a local bar. He's staying the night in the hotel and is looking for an apartment. But, his last drink was drugged. Before he fully collapses, Matt and company "help" him out the door.

What Worked

I love the way Sylar's character is so well-rounded. Yeah, "technically" he's a serial killer, but he's also a lost little boy looking for answers to why he is the way he is. He didn't have to rescue Luke ... he could have grabbed the laptop and left Luke behind. But he didn't. Sylar is conflicted, something that came out while he was good Gabriel last season, and continues to come through in this re-invented Sylar of Season 3.

The strain between Nathan and The Hunter is growing. How long will Nathan put up with his shenanigans? And once he's had enough, will he be able to follow through on his veiled threat of this season's first episode? Or will it be too late. Stay tuned to find out.

What Didn't Work

Why did Tracy kill that guy? That scene seemed a bit contrived. It seemed to me that Tracy saw the DHS lady and could have acted all innocent and gotten away. But she didn't, and that seemed out of character to me.

How was that camera able to scan Sylar's face? The angle was pretty extreme. It seems to me that the roof of the car would have been in the way.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

"Building 26" was written by Rob Fresco and directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan. "Heroes" airs on NBC Mondays at 9 p.m. ET.