Heroesville: Heroes, Season 3, Episode 10 – “The Eclipse, Part 1″ (Nov 25)
Claire’s back to being a victim, with Angela forcing her into hiding. We get a glimpse of the current residents of Level 5, the Puppeteer, Danny Pine (Did he not escape with the others? Is he still locked up from when Meredith busted him way back when?), and Bennet. Yeah, Bennet!
We also get a reference to Baron Samedi, apparently another escapee who’s holed up in Haiti. In voodoo lore, Samedi represents an aspect of Baron. Specifically, Samedi represents the dead, as well as sexuality. And yes, the fact that the same guy represents both somehow makes voodoo even creepier. Anyhow, Nathan and Peter head off to Haiti to find the Haitian (which makes sense). Nathan’s not happy about it, though. Man, this whole episode is people getting paired up against their will. Only Nathan and Peter are less likely to make out.
Mohinder’s performing an autopsy on that guy he euthanized last week, and now his gooey hands are actually oozing out of his gloves. Eeew. I mean, he’s handling a guy’s heart and he’s sticking to it. Arthur shows him his drawings, including one that looks like a dead Mohinder. Yep, the eclipse is going to mess some stuff up. Of course, a couple of scenes later, Mohinder webs himself to the wall, so that eclipse can’t come soon enough.
I love Matt calling Hiro “a walking do-over”, by the way. Daphne seems legitimately afraid of Arthur, and especially of losing her powers. I didn’t pick up on that until the big reveal at the end, by the way. Anyway, Hiro and Ando show up at Matt’s door, which freaks out Daphne (since she saw Ando die). Matt has no luck reading Hiro’s mind, since 10-year-old Hiro doesn’t speak English. Meanwhile, Hiro is fascinated by the spirit turtle. Hee. Daphne panics, because she’s not sure Matt trusts her. Nice – her heightened speedster senses dragged out his barely perceptible pause into an eternity. Matt reads her mind for the first time ever here, and gets “Lawrence, Kansas” from her.
We almost have a nice moment with Claire and Bennet, except that Claire’s totally being a brat here. It’s not like Bennet hasn’t had a good excuse to be out of town lately. Man, Claire doesn’t like when it’s all about her, but she also can’t stand it when it’s not about her. Poor kid. Still, Bennet starts training her, and is taking his life into his own hands. “Yeah, I know you’re upset. Hit me with a board.”
Now, the car rental place where Elle and Sylar go is “Hotspur Rentals”. That name rings a bell, but I can’t place it. Sure, he’s a character in Henry IV, but that’s not usually my go-to. For now, I’m going to assume that the name was used on Lost, since both shows also used “Gannon Rentals” earlier on. Those guys rent their cars through the same chains! Anyway, Elle is a little crazy here, setting up her “serial killer” fantasy. So, apparently she’s trying to bring back Crazy Sylar. Well, she’s good at it, at least. And Sylar has a major setback when he falls for it. (Dear promotions guys, probably you shouldn’t promote the show with the scene of Sylar saying “I hate heroes”.)
Tracy is trying to protect Nathan, but Arthur seems to want none of it. I can’t decide if Tracy really wants Nathan safe because she cares or because he’s her meal ticket.
Now, there’s something inherently funny about Hiro teleporting everybody. He sends them to Kansas. Specifically, to a cornfield. Remember the Twilight Zone episode about the little boy who wishes people to the cornfield? Yeah, the Heroes writers definitely do. Daphne’s dad is not impressed by Matt’s Jedi mind trick, because the Eclipse has started, and his powers don’t work anymore. In short order, we see the Petrelli Boys fall from the sky, and Mohinder emerge from his cocoon with skin. Like a real live boy!
Peter and Nathan disagree about which way to go once they hit the ground. Now, in this situation, I would assume that Nathan is right. I mean, I’ve watched the show.
While Claire has her cathartic moment, Elle and Sylar sneak up on the training session. But since those two have been getting lazy about relying on their powers, they’re a little sloppy here. And in an awesome scene, Bennet beats on Sylar. It is a serious beatdown, too. I mean, Bennet whips his ass. And you know what? I cheered a little. But then Elle puts a bullet in Claire, and Bennet pauses for only a second to slug her before getting out of there.
You have to admire that he’s an old-school pragmatist. Bennet knows he can’t take Claire to the hospital, not only because they report gunshot wounds, but because her powers might come back at any second. And it’s no surprise that he knows how to treat a gunshot wound with common household items. Now, I was at first surprised that Bennet was caught off-guard by the eclipse. Generally, he knows everything. However, I have to think this is the first time it’s happened. Evidence: 800 years of Adam Monroe. Once he lost his powers, he turned to dust because he’s incredibly old. If everybody’s powers had pooped out at any time before, that would have been it for Adam.
Even as a 10-year-old, Hiro’s still the motivator. Sure, throwing corn at Matt to teach him about the Hero’s Quest may be a little obscure, but he’s working with what he has. He sends Matt on his way, and he and Ando head off to “where the wise men gather”. Hee. By the way, I think they went a little crazy with the color filters in the post-eclipse scenes. It’s an eclipse – they’re not suddenly living inside a whale!
The newly-human Mohinder immediately looks up Maya, which is probably what I’d do, too. Arthur has other plans, though. Specifically “Figure out what went wrong, and fix it.” Arthur doesn’t do things halfway, does he?
Hiro and Ando end up at “Sam’s Comics”. (Named after the late son of former Heroes producer Jeph Loeb.) Well, of course. Wednesday is new comic book day, after all. Good thing 9th Wonders comes out a little more regularly that certain comics written by certain members of the Heroes writing staff, cough cough. Celebrity nerds Seth Green and Breckin Meyer show up as employees, which is pretty funny, in and of itself.
Over in Haiti, Peter and Nathan find the Haitian. I like that everybody in the episode assumes the Haitian made them lose their powers, by the way. The Haitian tells us that Samedi is his brother, and that he’s indestructible. Now, the way he says it, it sounds like he’s not a healer like Claire – he’s just invulnerable. If you shoot Claire, the bullet goes through her but she gets better. Shoot Samedi, and that bullet flattens against his indestructible skin. I’m assuming. Samedi knows Nathan, by the way. Man, that guy hasn’t even started his term and everybody knows him. Well, the fact that his Dad goes around and tells people to feel free to kill him may play into it.
OK, this was surprising. Matt gets into Daphne’s house, and we find out what she’s been hiding, and why she’s so afraid of losing her powers. She has to wear braces to walk without them! That was such a great reveal, I audibly gasped.
Finally, Claire’s mother walks in on her to find that her wound has reopened. Cut back to Sylar trying to get his shoulder back in place. Yeah, Bennet messed him up. Once his limbs are where they’re supposed to be, he and Elle kiss. And who’s watching them through a sniper scope? Bennet! This is going to be messy.
OK, I am officially on the edge of my seat. Wouldn’t this have been a good time for a two-hour episode? Yes. Yes it would have.
