Heroes Volume Three, Chapter Eleven: The Eclipse, Part Two

The eclipse continues. And continues, and continues, and continues…

In Haiti, Baron Samedi chains Nathan up in a cell along with a couple of scantily-clad women. Samedi, who has impenetrable skin on eclipse-free days, mistreats the women and strokes his chin in a sinister way. This eliminates any lingering doubt about his status as a villain. Peter and the Haitian rescue Nathan and the women, but Peter stays behind to hold off Samedi’s heavily-armed forces.

Los Angeles: Sylar is strangely chipper about his lack of powers. He tells Elle being powerless will give them a chance to start a fresh new life together. Great. The Sylar and Elle relationship is back to being sort of barfy. Despite having a sniper rifle trained on the lovebirds at the end of last episode, Mr. Bennet still hasn’t gotten around to shooting them. Instead, he waits until they drop out of his line of sight and start having sex on the floor before he opens fire. Elle gets nicked in the leg, and she and Sylar run and hide in a nearby junkyard. While searching for them, Bennet strolls around out in the open and yammers loudly on his cell phone to Sandra, who has taken Claire to the hospital.

A doctor informs Sandra that Claire’s whole system is badly infected. On the phone with her husband, Sandra freaks out because the police have been called in. Sheesh, doctors. They get so hung up on rules and regulations when you bring in a gut-shot teen girl and refuse to explain how it happened. The Father of the Year award slides a little further out of Bennet’s grasp when he won’t stop his pursuit of Sylar and Elle long enough to visit his dying daughter. After two and a half seasons of complaining about wanting to be normal, a powerless Claire finally realizes a super-healing ability can really come in handy at times. Having made this discovery, she flatlines and dies.

Bennet pursues Elle and Sylar through a warehouse. Sylar locks Elle in the freight elevator to save her and takes on Bennet by himself. Fisticuffs ensue. While Elle watches in horror, Bennet slits Sylar’s throat with a box cutter.

Back at Pinehearst, Mohinder is still trying to puzzle out what eclipses and super-powers could possibly have in common. When Mohinder tries to explain his research results to Arthur and Flint, Flint responds, “You keep talking, but all I hear is ‘blah, blah, blah’”. Aw, heck, Flint, that’s all any of us hear from Mo a good thirty or forty percent of the time. Just tune him out and enjoy the pretty accent. At Arthur’s request, Flint manhandles Mohinder some more; I have high hopes of this becoming a weekly ritual. While trying to escape, Mohinder whacks Flint upside the head with a microscope. A perfectly splendid fistfight breaks out, which Mohinder improbably wins. He knocks Flint out, steals his security pass, and escapes from Pinehearst.

In Kansas, Daphne explains to Matt that she gained her super-speed ability during the last eclipse, which also had the nifty side effect of clearing up her cerebral palsy. Eclipses: is there anything they can’t do? Meanwhile, down the road at the comic book store, Hiro reads through back issues of 9th Wonders in the hopes that his past adventures will jog his memory. He becomes traumatized by the events in his life shown in the comic (Sylar murdering Charlie, Hiro impaling Sylar, Adam murdering Kaito) and locks himself in the bathroom.

At long last, the eclipse finally ends. Finally! Everyone’s powers return. Claire’s healing ability kicks in, and she comes back to life. Sandra smuggles her out of the hospital.

Hiro insists he doesn’t want to grow up, if being an adult means his father has to die. Special Guest Stars Seth Green and Breckin Meyer give him a pep talk about being a hero. They trot out the very first issue of 9th Wonders, which shows the events that took place sixteen years ago, when Kaito Nakamura, with a pre-adolescent Hiro in tow, gave baby Claire to Mr. Bennet. One of the panels shows the present-day versions of Hiro and Claire secretly observing this transaction. Hiro teleports off to find Claire.

Matt and Daphne have a heart-to-heart chat in the cornfield. She tells him a poignant tale about how she made a really cool scarecrow when she was thirteen, Matt ruminates on how they’re both flawed but good people, and they patch up their relationship and head over to the comic book store to find Hiro and Ando. Seth and Breckin inform them that the most recent 9th Wonders is the last issue Isaac Mendez completed before his murder. However, according to comic-geek legend (and as we all saw back in the first season), Isaac bequeathed his sketchbook to a bike messenger before his death; the sketchbook might contain the next installment of Hiro’s adventures.

Back at the Bennet house, Claire is resentful that her father was too preoccupied with hunting down Sylar and Elle to check on her in the hospital. As much as I hate it when Claire gets self-righteous, she’s got a damn good point. Elle and Sylar (who, like Claire, came back to life when his powers returned) invade the home to kidnap Claire for Arthur. Bennet drops the bombshell that Sylar is not Angela and Arthur’s son: they’ve just been “leveraging (his) mommy issues” to manipulate him into helping them. Oh, that’s awesome. Please let that be true, because that’s a fantastic twist.

Not yet through with his mind games, Bennet tells Elle that Sylar killed her father. Mind you, she already knows this, and already fought it out with Sylar, and already cried a lot about it, and already slept with Sylar anyway, so I’m not sure why she’s looking so stunned and horrified all of a sudden. Sylar starts to kill Bennet. Is Sylar evil? Is he good at heart? Do his powers force him to kill? Is he just a psychotic rat bastard? Does he want powers? Does he want a normal life? I’m so confused. And evidently, so is Sylar. It’s looking grim for the Bennets… but then Hiro teleports in, teleports Sylar and Elle off to parts unknown, then teleports with Claire to Charles Deveaux’s balcony in Manhattan sixteen years ago, right at the moment when Kaito (good to see you again, Mr. George Takei) hands off the infant Claire to Bennet.

Back in Haiti, Peter runs amuck with an assault rifle and has a grand old shootout with Samedi’s forces. Nathan and the Haitian return to help him out. The Haitian wipes his brother’s brain, or kills him, or something (hey, this just occurred to me: Baron Samedi, the evil brother, named himself after a god, so is this why the Haitian, the good brother, has no name? To compensate? Maybe?). After Nathan and Peter bid adieu to the Haitian, Nathan decides to go back to Pinehearst, because he (somehow) thinks Arthur’s crackpot scheme to give powers to half the world is a really, really good idea. Good luck with that, Nathan.

Mohinder pounds on Maya’s door, then glances at his hands and realizes the icky crud has returned. I repeat, THE ICKY CRUD HAS RETURNED. Worse, it’s finally spread to his face. Heroes, I had so hoped the “Mohinder is a crazy, evil, hideous bug-man” chapter was behind us. I feel betrayed. He slinks away before Maya sees him, ashamed of his hideousness. He skulks back into Pinehearst, where Flint is evidently in a coma from the beating he received (which still seems improbable: Flint is a big, strapping thug, whereas Mohinder is a fine-boned geneticist). Mohinder tells Arthur he’s going to continue working on the formula.

Elle and Sylar, having been teleported to a deserted beach, get horizontal. All is not bliss, however: now that Sylar’s powers are back, he tells Elle, he realizes nobody ever really changes. And then he slices open Elle’s head and kills her.

Soooo…. This means Sylar’s bad, right? I liked this episode a lot, but seriously, Heroes, knock it off with Sylar’s flip-flopping. One final note: while there was no Tracy in this episode, it was preceded by that swell The More You Know NBC public service announcement where Ali Larter and Sendhil Ramamurthy talk about how it’s way cool when different cultures come together; I’m sure it’s supposed to be an important message about tolerance, but it somehow ends up seeming more like an advertisement for the world’s hottest interracial dating service. Which I’m sure is a message we can all throw our support behind.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Wait, so HRG waited until after Sylar and Elle baked ziti before trying to kill them? That means he was watching the whole thing through his gunsight. Ew! Bu then he redeemed himself by stalking them with the cold precision I expect from him. Well done!

Aw, Girl-Morgan got her weekly dose of Mo-rotica! And Mohinder actually got the drop on Flint!

Peter, never mind that the AK-47 is the most ridiculously easy rifle in the world to use, I still don't buy that you know what you're doing with it, Mr. I'll-hold-them-off. Yeah, you ran out of ammo, huh? Moron.

OMG! HRG cut Sylar's throat! That is bad ass! I am, however, really disappointed that someone so "highly trained" failed to kill both targets. But it works out since Sylar is back to his season one eeevilness. We can only hope he stays that way.

I think by now everyone on the show has a firm grasp on Sylar's achilles heel: Confusion. All one needs to do to Sylar to get the drop on him is contradict anything anyone has ever told him.

Arthur: I'm your dad.

HRG: No he's not.

Sylar: (eyes glaze over)


Sadly, Elle couldn't think of a way to effectively exploit his weakness before he chopped off her forehead. Damn the bad luck. She had nice legs.
Morgan Richter said…
I liked HRG's stalking technique. So nonchalant: "Hey, you two, I'm so certain I'm going to be able to hunt you down and slaughter you that I'm just going to stand here out in the open chatting on the phone with my wife until I'm good and ready to find you. So just sit tight for a while, okay?"

Aw, but Peter looked so adorable toting that prop rifle around. The Peter-Nathan-Haitian plot reminded me of some kind of elaborate playground game: "Okay, Nathan will get captured, and then the Haitian and I will run away, but then we'll come back and rescue Nathan, but then I'll stay behind and hold them off, but then I'll get captured, but then the Haitian and Nathan will come back and rescue me, but then Nathan will make a weird arbitrary decision to join in on his dad's evil world domination plan."

Can Sylar just be evil now? Straightforward no-frills evil? I mean, the script pounded us over the neck and shoulders with the idea that Sylar is now morally gray like HRG (Sylar almost had a verbatim line of something like, "I'm morally gray now, just like you!"), but I'll be much happier if they simply allow him to be nasty.

Speaking of nasty: killing Elle. Whoah. Between that and HRG slitting Sylar's throat, they sure weren't pulling their punches this week. (So... are any of the new kids from Volume Two still around? Adam, Maury, Elle, and Bob are dead, Monica's a no-show, and Maya has been sidelined.) I like Elle, but if offing her puts a declarative end to Sylar's sentimental pie-and-ziti phase, I'll consider it a draw.
Anonymous said…
The Peter-Nathan-Haitian plot reminded me of some kind of elaborate playground game

Shawn, Jake (You remember Jake?), and I would sneak out of my house in the middle of the night, go to Lincoln park and play war, much like in the way Nathan and Peter did in this episode. Those were good times.

So with Elle dead now, who's on the deadpool scoreboard?
Ingrid Richter said…
Fine episode, fine review, but I'm seriously skeptical about the medical profession: if Claire has an all-over body infection, will chopping her open and electrifying her stomach really save her?

Ah the Haitian and the Baron! Reminds me of Thanksgiving with Morgan.

Farewell, Elle! Hiro was just plain awesome this episode.

P.S. Josh, I remember doing the same thing with Jason & Jeff on the Gonzaga campus. Oddly enough, the campus police don't take kindly to high school students sneaking around in the bushes attacking each other at night...
Morgan Richter said…
Those doctors were awfully eager to slice Claire open, won't they? My brain sort of fanwanked over it by assuming this was a legitimate technique for draining septic fluids (I think there was a throwaway line to that effect, maybe?). Seemed improbable, yet somewhat less absurd than Suddenly Kung Fu Mohinder beating the crap out of Flint.

(By the way, I'm not sure Mo deserved Arthur's sanctimonious little lecture about dealing with The Monster Within. I'm not an advocate of violence, but I think when you're being held captive and getting manhandled and threatened by thugs, it's probably okay to whack one of them upside the head with a microscope when you're making your escape attempt. Also, I really hope we don't end up with a whole plot arc about The Monster Within, unless said monster is revealed to be fuzzy and sweet-natured and adorable.)

Shawn, Jake (You remember Jake?), and I would sneak out of my house in the middle of the night, go to Lincoln park and play war

I can't place Jake, though the name is ringing some bells. Bear in mind that I haven't seen you since, oh, 1991. (Here's a fun bit of trivia for everyone else on this thread: Josh and Ingrid and I were all in a school play together circa 1989, in which Ingrid was the feisty heroine, Jake was the dastardly villain, and I was hilariously miscast as the town sexpot. Ah, memories).
Morgan Dodge said…
But Sylar can't just be evil. We saw in the future, and he cooked waffles. Waffles I tell you! Waffles!

Hiro makes a better hero in ten year old mode than he was doing in adult mode. Maybe if adult-brain Hiro spent more time getting pep talks from faithful employees of comic book stores?

I think the question we all need answered: While Sylar and Elle were enjoying each other's various parts and dimples, did HRG get a good look through the scope?

Are we sure Elle is really dead though? I mean, it's just one cut. Hell, for them maybe that's just foreplay?
Morgan Richter said…
Are we sure Elle is really dead though?

This being Heroes, yeah, she's probably not really dead. That pesky brain incision will probably only slow her down for a bit, and then she'll rebound. By the way, I dig how Sylar does his head-slicing thing even when he doesn't need to get at the brain and steal powers. It's his fave default method of killing.
Ingrid Richter said…
Heh. How very "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" of Angela and Arthur Petrelli to mess around with Sylar ("I'm your mother!" "No, your mother tried to drown you!")

They'd both be a kick at cocktail parties...
Morgan Richter said…
Yes, I like to think Arthur came up with his "Your mother tried to drown you at birth!" claim on the spur of the moment, just to mess with Sylar's head a little bit more. Too bad HRG exposed this brilliant web of lies, because I think Arthur and Angela could have spun this out for a while longer ("I took you to the carnival when you were four, Gabriel. Don't you remember? I bought you cotton candy and took you on the Ferris Wheel, and you told me I was the best mother ever!")

Also, isn't it sort of a relief Sylar isn't really a Petrelli? Everyone's already too interrelated on this show. It's nice to keep Sylar a loose cannon.

While overall the episode moved at a nice zippy clip, time stood still during those Daphne/Matt scenes. I drifted off when Daphne started babbling about her favorite scarecrow.
Lou said…
Good episode, great review as always Morgan. I particularly liked confirmation of a villain. Without chin stroking how indeed would we ever tell?

Im not so sure Elle is dead, he seemed to stop halfway through. I think he's just as confused by his evil vs good seesaw as we are. Poor lamb. I think the blonde death Ive heard so much about in the spoilers was Claire's. Tsk. What a cop out.

Speaking of whom at least now she might stop whining all the time about how she wants to be normal. Oh and really bad wig in her death scene. Looked like she was wearing Mr Muggles as a hat.

HRG being a badass killing Sylar really was sexy to me. Is that wrong? Hmm dont answer that. And Sylar is probably not a Petrelli afterall. If so I hereby reinstate my initial theory that Claire could be the mother of his future son Noah. Just a hunch.

Nathan Nathan Nathan. When will you learn? Listen to your emo brother, please. He was right about things last time. He's right again. Seriously, pigeons learn faster than you.

Ive been reliably informed that I shouted (and I quote) "Dont hurt the pretty!" not just once but twice during this episode. First when Flint was punching the magnficient bone structure. Second when Roadtrip boy guessed the powers would come back. And sure enough there were the cruddy scales again. Dammit. Oh well it was nice to see Mo win a punching fight. Improbable but nice.
Morgan Richter said…
Lou, there's a theory floating around that Sylar cut open Elle's head and used his ability to rearrange her brain to give her his healing power. This makes absolutely zero sense plotwise, and is therefore undoubtedly exactly what happened.

Somehow I have this fond mental image of Quinto showing up on set each week and reading through his script, and drawing those magnificent eyebrows together in confusion and concern, and wondering if there's any way he can have a chat with the writers about concepts like "in-character behavior" and "appropriate motivation" without sounding too overly serious and actor-y, and finally glumly deciding not to make waves. Because it seems like there's a new and different Sylar in every scene.

I don't know what Nathan's problem is. Yeah, he should know better by now. Stick with Kid Emo, Nathan! He'll keep you on the straight and narrow.

So, so upset about the scales coming back. He was pretty and unblemished again! And now they've spread across his face! Mohinder's plotline is turning into an epic tragedy.

The action scenes were really, really good in this one. Not so much the running amuck with guns in Haiti, but both the Sylar-HRG fight and the Mohinder-Flint battle royale (and, really, the Sylar-HRG-Elle-Claire-Sandra-Hiro standoff as well) were nicely choreographed. Mohinder should hit someone with a microscope at least once an episode. It can be his new trademark.

(Where was Lyle, by the way? Not that I've missed him, but it's weird how Claire, y'know, died, and her brother was nowhere around.)
Morgan Dodge said…
You know ya'll complain about Mohinder getting his scales back, but did any of you notice that the facial scales highlight his cheekbone structure? I think that the makeup department has found the perfect way to highlight his features.

Curiously, every hand in my house went up in approval when Claire declared that she is "just a teenager" on her death bed. I wanted that to go further. "I'm just a whiny, complaining, soul-suckingly annoying little brat of a teenager," but I'll take what I can get.

Where was Lyle, by the way? Not that I've missed him, but it's weird how Claire, y'know, died, and her brother was nowhere around.

Who is Lyle again? Oh? Claire's brother you say. I don't recall any such character existing. Huh.
Maybe he was walking Mr. Muggles?
Dan said…
Can anybody explain to me why The Haitian had never Funky-Minded his brother prior to this episode? Based on last episode's dire warnings, I'd assumed The Chin-Stroking One was somehow immune to the Haitian's ways.

But nope. He could have just strolled in and sorted him out any time he felt like. Sure, he had a lot of monkey business to attend to with HRG during Seasons One and Two, but maybe during his vacation he could have popped down and sorted things out in the ol' hometown?

Hey, speaking of old home towns, exactly how bad a farmer is Daphne's dad? Needed his twelve year old daughter to introduce him to the notion of a scarecrow:

"What's that you say, Daph? A 'Scared-um Crow'? A fake man to sit in the field all day? Oh, you and your book-learnin'. Still, it's so crazy it just might work. Just you make sure that head goes on perfectly straight."

I did like Daphne's response when Matt tried to reassure her she was good, however. "You don't even know me!" So true, and one of the few downsides to InstaLove™.

Also, did Isaac really get out the magnifying glass to draw in a tiny Hiro and Claire-Bear in the background of his comic? Boy. Dude was dedicated. Makes George Perez look like a broad stroke weenie.

And, yeah, Girl-Morgan. Arthur's whole speech about The Monster Within brought a smirk to my face too. Particularly considering from whom it was coming. Still, Arthur's probably just mind-gaming again:

"What, you think it's right to implausibly beat a thug into a coma simply because he was threatening your life? I pity your moral upbringing, Mohinder. Perhaps Angela and I were wrong to give you up to that Indian geneticist to raise."
Morgan Richter said…
The Haitian has always been delightfully whimsical. Remember in season one when he decided not to wipe Claire's brain of all knowledge of Bennet's shenanigans, just to add a fun random factor to events? He'll get around to defeating his evil brother when he's good and ready, and not one second before.

I did get a kick out of Mohinder skulking back into Pinhearst: "Yeah. So. I guess I sort of put one of your employees into a coma, huh? Can I have my job back?"

Isaac Mendez: undisputed king of comic book Easter eggs.

Boy-Morgan, you're right about Mohinder's scales at least being in flattering, cheekbone-accenting patterns. It's a step up from last season when his nose was swaddled in plaster for something like six episodes. Still, I vastly prefer dewy, unblemished Mohinder. And he's still using too much gunk in his hair this season.
Dan said…
Hmmm... now I'm not generally the kind of person who would suggest the Heroes writers don't always think their ideas through to their logical conclusion (despite the insertion into the Heroes mythos of the little understood celestial phenomenon that is 'the geographically all encompassing double episode eclipse').

But here's the thing.

The Ninth Wonder comic book.

As a fun little quirk of Hiro's character back in Season One, it was fine. A nice little throwaway idea. And if it just followed Hiro's and Ando's zany adventures I'd probably still be okay with it.

But from the detailed geek discussions of Seth and Breckin, it appears very much as if Isaac has essentially chronicled the entire show we've been watching.

But Nathan (at the very least) is a public person. He won a NY Senate election. And cheated his way to it, to boot. Sure, comic books are a niche medium, but maybe somebody might have noticed the eerie parallels? Heck, all it would take would be one comic book forum discussion and one person in Nathan Petrelli's campaign to have set up a Google Alert for his name. And then the cat's out of the bag.

If I was in the Company (and, once again, hope to be so one day), I'd have set up a standing order at my local comic book store for that comic. Save me a lot of senseless running around trying to track down Arthur and Maury Parkman and Adam Monroe and Claire-Bear's boyfriend West or whoever the villain of the moment might have been.
Ingrid Richter said…
Dan, we all know that you're a Company Man - it's one of the worst-kept secrets on this board. Odd-numbered street addresses equal special powers, my ass.

I, too, wondered about the Heroes comic vs. the Heroes TV show twist. Of course, that makes us all the Seth/Breckin characters in real life (and, since I worked in a comic book store in college and geek out over Isaac's missing sketch book, this is uncannily true).

Heh. Heroes writers don't think too highly of us, do they?
Morgan Richter said…
Now look here, Dan. Just because a geographically all encompassing double episode eclipse has never before taken place in recorded history doesn't mean one will never happen. And sheesh, everybody knows senators don't read comic books. I concede your point with the Google Alert, though, as it seems highly probable that Nathan obsessively monitors all online references to himself (which are probably vast and varied: after all, he's the New York Senator from a shady family with rumored connections to organized crime, who won in a suspicious landslide, then was badly burned over most of his body, then magically healed up, then resigned from office, then became a drunk, then got riddled with bullets on national television, then magically healed up again, then was appointed to the Senate under fishy circumstances. That's worthy of a few snarky blog posts on Wonkette at the very least, most of which probably come about from tips sent in by someone calling himself "Kid Emo").

I do think Isaac could have been a little more proactive with his prognosticative powers, frankly, particularly since he personally knew many of these people he was drawing. Would it have pained him too much to, say, pick up the phone and call HRG to say, "Hey, FYI, I just painted this gnarly picture of you shot through the eye"? Or to tell his good buddy Hiro that he sketched an amusing tableux of his dad's broken body lying in a puddle of blood?

Also, if Isaac really had sketched out everyone's continuing adventures, shouldn't his last words to Sylar have been, "They defeat you, and you die... except you don't, but everyone assumes you're dead, and you lose your powers for a while and get stuck meandering all over Mexico, but then you get your powers back, and then it turns out you're madly in love with this crazy electrical chick, and you think you're a Petrelli for a while, except it turns out you're not, and then..."

Agreed, Ingrid. I hereby nominate Dan as Most Likely to Secretly Be a Company Man.
Dan said…
I do think Isaac could have been a little more proactive with his prognosticative powers, frankly

But... what about spoilers?? His editor would have killed him. Admittedly, not much of a threat in his case. But still...

I don't see why you mock Nathan's chequered history. Didn't President-Elect Obama go through a similar series of far-fetched adventures during his campaign?

I have no comment on these slanderous and unsubstantiated Company Man rumours. And nor does my invisible partner.
Morgan Dodge said…
I hereby nominate Dan as Most Likely to Secretly Be a Company Man.

Secretly?

If you reread the comics and find the cell where Hiro and the special little Claire-bear are barely visible in the window? Now get out your microscope. Behind them in the rooftop shurbs you'll see Dan wearing his "I heart Primatech Paper" t-shirt. Go on, look. I dare you.
Dan said…
(furiously shaking first at sky)

MEN-DEZ!!
Dan said…
Or, indeed, 'furiously shaking fist'.
Morgan Richter said…
Ha! It's Isaac's final act of revenge from beyond the grave! Dan, consider your cover blown.
Morgan Richter said…
So we have two more episodes left in this volume, then, according to today's Hollywood Reporter, Volume Four ("Fugitives") will start up on December 2nd. Thus, we're looking at a Heroes-free January, but considering last year's impromptu nine-month hiatus, I shan't complain.

How much wrapping up of current plotlines are we going to see in the next two episodes? Is Arthur going to bite it, and if so, who's going to do the deed: Nathan, Peter, Sylar, or Angela? Are we finally going to see some point to Tracy, or is she going to continue to wander enigmatically through scenes? Is this business about being the all-important catalyst going to make Claire totally insufferable? Do they have time to squeeze in one more tedious Claire-Bennet squabble before the end of the volume? Is Mohinder ever going to do something about his hair? I have so many questions.
Dan said…
Okay, I'm game.

How much wrapping up of current plotlines are we going to see in the next two episodes?

Not as much as one might reasonably expect.

Is Arthur going to bite it, and if so, who's going to do the deed: Nathan, Peter, Sylar, or Angela?

Skulky The Turtle Wonder

Are we finally going to see some point to Tracy, or is she going to continue to wander enigmatically through scenes?

My money is on the enigmatic wandering. Perhaps even some enigmatic wondering.

Is this business about being the all-important catalyst going to make Claire totally insufferable?

Like, totally.

Do they have time to squeeze in one more tedious Claire-Bennet squabble before the end of the volume?

Always.

Is Mohinder ever going to do something about his hair?

Yes. He's going to grow scales all through it. Gorgontastic!
Ingrid Richter said…
Er, what Dan said.

I'm going to throw my vote in for Sylar offing Pa Petrelli, just because I think he hasn't killed nearly enough people to warrant that great ending to Season 2 ("I'm back!" Cue: Villains)

Is Micah the only Season One character that they got rid of this season?
Morgan Richter said…
Is Micah the only Season One character that they got rid of this season?

I think so, yeah, unless Molly counts. (She doesn't).

(I guess you could make a reasonable argument that they got rid of Niki, too, except Niki and Tracy are THE SAME CHARACTER. Tracy is a little smirkier, that's all. And, y'know, ice powers. Maybe she's a little evil, though it's hard to say for certain. I'm so confused as to the whole point behind replacing Niki with Tracy. Maybe it will all become brilliantly apparent in the next two episodes.)

My pick for the who-kills-Arthur pool: Nathan. Hey, this might be the first volume to date that ends without something catastrophic happening to Nathan (i.e. exploding with Peter, getting riddled with bullets by Peter).
Dan said…
... exploding with Peter, getting riddled with bullets by Peter

Nathan's probably wondering just how Pete managed to get the reputation as the nice brother.

Sure, Kid Emo wasn't wholly responsible for Nathan's explodiness in the first chapter. (At least, not in the same way he was responsible for the bulletiness in the second chapter.) Nathan did kind of swoop in and sacrifice himself there.

But, having said that, what else was he going to do? When your flaky younger brother is on the verge of nuking himself and most of NY, sometimes you have to step in and sort that shit out.

I know. I'm an older brother myself. Can't count the number of times I've had to stop my idiot siblings from destroying a major metropolis with their thoughtless skylarking.
Morgan Dodge said…
I chose to only speculate about central characters. The secondary characters aren't solid enough for me to trust the writers with.

So, to that end, Skulky the Wonder Turtle is going to begin teaching Parkman important things like how to walk the rice paper lightly, and how to limbo so very low. He will also teach Parkman how to properly woo a woman, or speedster as the case may be. He'll teach Parkman all about Barry White and champagne in the hot tub. (Water beds went out in the 70s. I mean really, come now.)
This pivotal plot line will, of course, be what leads to his own spin-off: "Skulky the Wonder Turtle of Love." (In the international market it will be "Skulky the Turtle Wonder of Love," but don't bring it up as that particular licensing deal still puts him in a bad mood.)

I can't hazard a guess about any of your characters of lesser importance.
Ingrid Richter said…
Turtles make love veeeeerrrrry slowly. These should be some interesting lessons!
Morgan Richter said…
Nathan's probably wondering just how Pete managed to get the reputation as the nice brother.

It's grotesquely undeserved. Peter has:
--knocked over an armored truck in Ireland.
--helped a random gang of thugs knock over a bank.
--stranded his girlfriend in a plague-ridden future.
--helped an immortal madman get his hands on a lethal plague.
--murdered Future Nathan by slicing open his head for no particular reason.

Granted, Nathan went along with his mom's crazy plan to blow up New York, but that's pretty much been it for him as far as evil deeds. Kid Emo's definitely coming out ahead here.
Dan said…
Wow, I didn't realise just how much mischief Kid Emo had indulged in. I guess it's true what they say:

With great power comes great dickwadness.
Dan said…
Boy-Morgan, I'd like to see Skulky given a roving commission to go from character to character sorting their lives out. Why should Parkman (and, indirectly, Daphne) be the only one to benefit from his turticular wisdom:

* He could remind Nathan he has two sons and that maybe he should try and reconnect with them. (Granted, Arthur's set a powerful 'bad father' precedent, but that doesn't mean Nathan should look to top it). Heartwarming!

* He could book HRG into a laser eye surgery clinic. Eye-opening!

* He could buy Ali Larter an address book - just for herselves. Organised!

* He could book Arthur and Angela for a brief six-week off-Broadway stint for their two-person show 'The Petrellis: Parents At Large' Spectacular!

* He could eat Claire-Bear's cheerleading uniform and then, when she inevitably whined about it, vomit it up all over her. Punk'd!

* He could give Mr Muggles a prosthetic shell. Evolutionary!

And much, much more. This, my friends, is a show to look out for!
Morgan Dodge said…
It hadn't even occurred to me, Dan, what possibilities there are here. I had been so very narrow in my concept for the show. What you've come up with is downright Turticular!
Morgan Richter said…
He could book Arthur and Angela for a brief six-week off-Broadway stint for their two-person show 'The Petrellis: Parents At Large'

When it finally hits Broadway, it'll be recast with Glenn Close and John Malkovich. Arthur will naturally respond by having Malkovich whacked.

Turticular!

Just checked my Google stats. Boy-Morgan, don't think your keyword searches for "turticular" and "skulky rocks" have gone unnoticed. (Other awesome new search terms: poor masi oka, heroes eclipse improbable, heroes volume 3 when will we find out who else is adopted, how to have peter petrelli bangs, sendhil ramamurthy smile, sendhil ramamurthy stubble, naked mohinder, beautiful mohinder, suresh bare ass, flint/mohinder, and, my personal favorite, let mohinder bone. Yes, by all means, let Mohinder bone.)
Ingrid Richter said…
I'm a little disappointed that no one has searched for "Mookies" yet. I thought for sure that would be a hot ticket item.

I'm going to make "Let Mohinder Bone" t-shirts and sell them at Cafepress until they shut me down...
Morgan Richter said…
I'm going to make "Let Mohinder Bone" t-shirts and sell them at Cafepress

And I just found Christmas presents for everybody on my list.

Perhaps all the hordes of people searching for "Mookies" (speaking of the perfect Christmas gift!) were discouraged when their Google Image searches only brought up photos of enormous breasts.

(Actually, I just tried it, and my search results were depressingly tame. Mostly I ended up with a bunch of photos of cookies, most of which looked like they wouldn't smell deliciously like Mohinder's hair.)
Morgan Dodge said…
Apparently, a little over a year ago someone posted a recipe for "Mookies." In this case they appear to be the clever bastardization of muffins and cookies. Since I'm not sure anyone has trademarked the name yet I suggest you get on that right quick like.
While I'm at it, these "mookies" don't see like a bad way to go for our Mookies, so as to increase the market share you see. They may not be in the shape of Mohinder's head, but can their beauty really compare anyway?

I have no idea what you're talking about, Girl-Morgan. For the past month I've been working on boosting your "Mr. Muggles Kicks Ass" search results.
Morgan Dodge said…
PS: Put me down for a "Let Mohinder Bone" t-shirt as well. That'll take care of Grandma on my X-Mas shopping list.
Morgan Richter said…
I'm maligning you as usual, Boy-Morgan. It's probably someone else in the bay area who's been obsessively searching for "turticular" and "skulky rocks". No need for me to jump to conclusions and fling wild accusations at innocent parties.

The phrase "Let Mohinder Bone" is oddly evocative. Who on earth is preventing Mohinder from boning? And why would they feel the need to stop him? I think it has the potential to be the single greatest T-shirt slogan since the "Free Winona" craze.
Ingrid Richter said…
Also, "Let Mohinder Bone" rhymes with "Leave Britney Alone!"...

(they're not all deep thoughts on a late Friday afternoon)
Anonymous said…
A 30-second ad for "let Mohinder Bone" T-shirts could be the PSA spot at the end of the show.

So I picture Claire, who is the most appropriate cast member to give a tear-filled rant, giving the "let Mohinder Bone" speech(shouted to the tune of the original leave britney alone rant):

How fucking dare anyone out there make fun of Mohinder after all he has been through.!

He lost his dad, scared away his girlfriend. He had a pet lizard!

He turned out to be a bug-man, a mad scientist, and now he's growing scales. All you people care about is….. superpowers and making money off of him.

HE'S A HUMAN! (mostly) What you don’t realize is that Mohinder is making you all this money and all you do bully him with stupid bald retards.

He hasn’t gone on a date years. He can't make the formula work because all you people want is MORE! MORE-MORE, MORE: MORE!.

LEAVE HIM ALONE! You are lucky he even throws on a labcoat for you BASTARDS!
LEAVE MOHINDER ALONE!…..Please.

Arthur Petrelli talked about the monster within and said if Mohinder was a real scientist she would’ve pulled it off no matter what.

Speaking of professionalism, when is it professional to hold someone hostage in their own lab who is going through a hard time?

Leave Mohinder alone Please…. !
Leave Mohinder Suresh alone!…right now!….I mean it.!

Anyone that has a problem with him you deal with me, because he is not well right now.

LEAVE HIM ALONE!
Ingrid Richter said…
I think I just found my new favorite monologue...

Let Mohinder Bone! Please!
Morgan Richter said…
Heh. I should mention that I got an email from an undercaffeinated Josh earlier this morning wondering if I could adjust his comment to add the pleas of "Let Mohinder bone!"s where appropriate. And sadly, as my own typo-ridden comments would indicate, I can't. I spent some time this morning visiting sites that give meticulous step-by-step instructions for editing comments on Blogger, and all of them ended with a cheery, "BTW, this will no longer work as of 2007." Which is probably just as well, because it greatly relieves the temptation to go back and edit all of your comments to say "Morgan is soooooooooo awesome!"

I think that would make a fantastic audition monologue, though. Any casting director would be impressed.
Ingrid Richter said…
"Morgan is soooooooooo awesome!" Hmm, looks to me like it's working :-)

Aw, Josh, we all know exactly what you meant. I think I even read "bone" instead of "alone"..
Anonymous said…
Aw, Josh, we all know exactly what you meant.

*sigh*

Sometimes I rise to the occasion, and sometimes I need more coffee.
Morgan Richter said…
Josh, I feel your pain. Being funny in the wee hours is damn hard. That's why this week I wrote and posted my recap right after the episode aired instead of waking up at three in the morning and writing it then. Actually, it really should have occurred to me to start doing that about eleven episodes ago.

Oh: if y'all will take a look at the sidebar on my blog, I now have a Twitter. The story behind this is sort of convoluted, but rest assured it's all Dan's fault.
Dan said…
Heh. I, too, take my victories where I find them.

In other news, I shan't be aboard next week's episode comment-fest (family holiday, don'tcha know). Have fun without me - if somebody can chime in with insults about Claire-Bear and claims that Skulky is the secret powerhouse behind the goings-on in the episode, I'm sure I shan't be missed.

Boy-Morgan, I think I'm looking at you here.
Anonymous said…
Oh: if y'all will take a look at the sidebar on my blog, I now have a Twitter.

Girl-Morgan, I'm not sure what's more bizarre(entertaining); that you follow Wil Wheaton, or that you used y'all in a sentence. Awesome!

In either case, I will probably have the giggles for the next several hours, or until the zinfandel wears off.
Morgan Richter said…
Wil Wheaton is my personal spiritual guru. Actually, in complete seriousness, Wil rocks. I'm addicted to his blog, he's written a couple of durn funny/insightful books, and he writes Star Trek reviews over at TV Squad that really do make me, yes, LOL (nobody can rant about Wesley Crusher's puke-colored sweaters quite like Wheaton).

Dan, you shall be missed next week. If Boy-Morgan, Ingrid, Josh, Lou and I each bring 20% more funny to our comments, we might be able to compensate. (By which I don't mean to imply that we're usually 20% less funny than Dan... just that five of us... multiplied by 20%... makes up a complete person... see where I'm trying to go with this?)

(Josh, I have no idea where the "y'all" came from. Most peculiar. I haven't even been hitting the zinfandel.)
Lou said…
Im out for a few days sick and miss so much hilarity. Bye for now Dan, you shall indeed be missed. Girl-Morgan I will try my best to be 20% funnier...

Love the Google Analyticals. Oh and please add me to the "Let Mohinder Bone" t-shirt list. I'll have one in every colour.

Hurrah, someone else on Twitter. I joined a few weeks ago then realised most of my friends are luddites who can barely use Facebook.

Sorry this post wasnt too funny was it? Really there's only one way to end it on a funny note, indeed a phrase of genius...

Let Mohinder bone.
Morgan Richter said…
I hope you're feeling better, Lou. "Let Mohinder bone" is now going to be my default punchline whenever a conversation starts to lag. It's a great all-purpose rejoinder and is appropriate for every situation. The fact that it makes an awesome t-shirt slogan is just icing on the cake.
Anonymous said…
It could be a toast, or a drinking game. Whenever anyone says "Let Mohinder Bone", everyone else raises their glass, says "cheers," and drinks.

So next week I have to be 20% as clever as Dan? This may sound facetious, but that's kind of a tall order. It's a feat for me to be 100% as clever as myself. Now I have to be 120% clever? Daunting, to say the least.
Ingrid Richter said…
"I've giv'n her all she's got captain, an' I canna give her no more..."

20% more funny?!? Impossible!

Dan, have a fantastic break, and Lou, feel better!
Anonymous said…
Morgan, you are a psychic! Look at your post of December 2, 2008 12:37 PM:

Too bad HRG exposed this brilliant web of lies, because I think Arthur and Angela could have spun this out for a while longer ("I took you to the carnival when you were four, Gabriel. Don't you remember? I bought you cotton candy and took you on the Ferris Wheel, and you told me I was the best mother ever!")

You predicted the Carnival!

From Lou's post of December 2, 2008 2:01 PM:

Claire could be the mother of his future son Noah. Just a hunch.

A Sylaire prediction!

To the legitimate question of WHY this comment appeared here:

I've just had a discussion with a Syelle shipper on Twitter (I solemnly swear I won't get into such things again. 140 characters limit makes me write "love" instead of "need for support, excitement over her first "real" romantic relationship, lust, beginning of something more profound"). In short, she's mad at Sylar for killing Elle out of nowhere. I say that he died protecting her, and after that finding out she knew Arthur and Angela were not his parents really stung (of course, it doesn't excuse killing, but it explains his motivation; in his book, betrayal must be punished). She replies with "Was that confirmed?" (the fact that Elle knew). And then we disagree. I rewatched the scene to make sure, and Noah is taking "hey, if you don't believe me, ask her!" approach, explicitly saying that Elle had access to Gabriel's file. And then it's just Elle's "oh, shit! :(" facial expression. Later on, Elle doesn't even try to say something in her defense or fight Sylar on the beach. I say it's because she felt guilty. She replies it isn't so. I get confused, but decide to wind up the discussion, because it clearly upsets the person I'm talking to a lot.

So I was looking through this review and the comments to see what people here think. And suddenly come across all that psychic stuff! Cool and a little bit creepy.
Morgan Richter said…
Ha! That's funny about the Carnival and Lou's prediction of Sylaire (well, to the extent that anything about Sylaire is funny...).

I agree with you about Sylar and Elle. Mind you, I think it was a lousy reason for him to kill her, but I do think that's exactly what Sylar's motivation was: She knew he wasn't Angela's and Arthur's son, and he considered that a betrayal that made her no better than anyone else who had deceived him, so he killed her. I think, as with so many things with this show, the whole plotline could have been executed better and clearer, but I think that was the reason, such as it was...