Heroes Volume Three, Chapter Ten: The Eclipse, Part One

As an eclipse looms, Arthur Petrelli sketches prophetic doodles of doom. He orders nauseating lovebirds Sylar and Elle to find Claire so Mohinder can use her as the catalyst in his formula. Meanwhile, Mohinder conducts an autopsy on the test subject he snuffed last episode. Mohinder’s own transformation is accelerating--he’s developed a hacking cough, and the scaly crud has spread over his hands and face--which spooks him deeply.

At Primatech, Angela Petrelli gathers her forces together. She sends Nathan and Peter to retrieve the Haitian, then assigns Bennet the task of protecting Claire from Arthur. Bennet takes Claire to Bubbles’s old house to give her a crash course in self-defense, which entails calling her a spoiled brat and goading her to hit him with a floorboard. Which Claire does, repeatedly and with much gusto.

Sylar and Elle, in pursuit of Claire, try to rent a car in Los Angeles. Elle, who is back to her usual gleefully bonkers self after two episodes of baffling and distressing good behavior, provokes a confrontation by telling the rental car agent that Sylar is a serial killer. When the guy tries to apprehend Sylar, Sylar decides being good is for suckers and embraces his old evil ways. And about time, too! After apparently murdering the poor guy, Elle and Sylar zip away in a sporty convertible.

Hiro, meanwhile, still thinks he’s ten years old, thanks to the whammy Arthur placed on him. Guided by the prognosticative 9th Wonders comic book, Ando takes Hiro to New York to seek help from Matt. In the middle of all this, Daphne pitches a fit that Matt doesn’t trust her (which, considering she was still trying to betray him as recently as last episode, seems only sane and reasonable of him) and speeds off to her Kansas home, which is apparently smack in the middle of Smallville. At Matt’s request, Hiro teleports Matt, Ando, and himself after her. While they stand around in a corn field and ponder their next move, the eclipse comes.

The eclipse makes Mohinder dissolve into a puddle of goo. He walls himself up inside a cocoon, from which he later emerges, sticky and naked, but no longer covered in unflattering scales. I feel it is very important and necessary to point out that we catch a precious glimpse of Mohinder’s bare ass. Post-eclipse, his corrupted abilities have gone into complete remission. Hooray! He’s dewy and beautiful again! Giddy with delight about no longer being a crazy bug-man, he decides to leave Pinehearst and go search for Maya. Arthur and Flint, both powerless and not at all happy about it, manhandle Mohinder and bully him into searching for a way to reverse the effects of the eclipse. This is oddly satisfying: as much as I adore Mohinder, he could stand to be manhandled at least once every episode.

At Daphne’s home in Kansas, Matt (hilariously) tries to use his mental abilities to persuade Daphne’s father to let him inside, but discovers the eclipse has made him powerless. Dejected, he rejoins Hiro and Ando in the cornfield. After Hiro gives him a rousing pep talk, which somehow involves pelting him with ears of corn, Matt marches back to the house and convinces Daphne to let him inside. He finds her powerless and crippled.

Hiro takes Ando to a comic book store to pick up the new issue of 9th Wonders. Hiro is instantly recognized as 9th Wonders’s time-traveling hero by the store clerks, who are played, in a bit of sheer casting brilliance, by geeks extraordinaire Seth Green and Breckin Meyer.

The effects of the eclipse hit Nathan as he’s flying with Peter over Haiti. They plunge into a lake, then bicker their way through the jungle. They locate the Haitian and tell him Arthur Petrelli is still alive. Gun-toting lackeys of the Haitian’s evil brother, Baron Samedi, open fire on them. The Haitian and Peter escape, but Nathan gets nabbed.

In Los Angeles, Claire and Bennet reenact pivotal scenes from The Karate Kid, only with an added dose of tedious inter-familial squabbling. Sylar and Elle burst in and attack them (Elle greets Bennet and Claire with a saucy “Hey, girls!”, which reminds me how much I like Elle when she’s not baking pies and fretting over Sylar). Mid-attack, it belatedly dawns on Sylar and Elle their powers are gone. A fistfight ensues, which culminates when Elle swipes Bennet’s gun and shoots Claire. Bennet manages to incapacitate Sylar and Elle, then carries a wounded Claire back to his home. He slaps a bandage on Claire’s bullet wound (Claire, by the way, is overjoyed about feeling pain again. This is kinda weird and loopy, but bless her for not complaining about no longer being able to heal herself), then storms off to wreak terrible vengeance on Sylar and Elle. When Sandra checks up on Claire, she finds her unconscious and hemorrhaging.

Bennet spies on Sylar and Elle making out. He trains a sniper rifle on them, then pulls the trigger.

Hey, that was pretty awesome, from start to finish. It was fast-paced and funny, Sylar and Elle were back in fine evil form, and Mohinder showed his ass. As far as I’m concerned, these are the ingredients for an instant classic. Heroes, you’re on a roll; let’s hope Part Two next week keeps up the lunatic energy.