Monday, November 24, 2008

Heroes - “The Eclipse – Part 1” S3E10 (airdate 11/24/08)

Is there any chance that this show will pay any attention to continuity today? Stay tuned and find out … At any rate, to recap the recap, because of the eclipse everyone loses their powers and no one really handles it very well at all.

In the prologue, as Mohinder rambles on, Arthur is still sketching with the white eyes of prophecy: Sylar and Elle smooching, Bennet carrying a bleeding Claire in his arms, that damn eclipse.

Elle and Sylar are still working out his new power at Pinehearst. He’s anxious to get it down, feeling the need to prove himself. To whom? Elle wants to know. Arthur interrupts and tells Sylar that he needs him to bring Claire back to Pinehearst. Elle volunteers to help, being a good Company girl and all. Arthur approves. “Let’s go get the cheerleader,” smiles Elle.

Angela is storming through the Primatech halls, Claire scurrying to keep up. Angela has a plan and has given her team their assignments: Parkman is to collect Hiro, Nathan is after the Haitian. Claire wants to know what her job is. “… [t]o keep from getting caught. Just stay out of harm’s way,” says her grandmother. Claire is all, I’m sick of hiding – I can fight! Angela brings her down to the Level 5 cells where Bennet greets her. “Hello, Claire-bear.”

Peter reads from a file that the Haitian is in Haiti after another bad ol’ Level 5er (Baran, a/k/a “Voodoo God of Death”) and tells his big brother that it’s too dangerous. He wants to go with Nathan to help. Like, how are you going to help, unpowered guy? Nathan caves, grabs his brother in a clinch and they shoot off into the sky.

At the Primatech lab, Mohinder is dissecting one of his failures. His hands pain him something fierce as he is continuing to change into whatever it is he’s changing into and he busts into Arthur’s office, complaining that he needs the catalyst now! Arthur shows him the picture he drew of Claire in her father’s arms. Mohinder says but that’s impossible – Claire can’t die. Arthur agrees with him, but says it’s going to happen today anyway. Mohinder posits that today’s eclipse may take away everyone’s powers just like it inflicted them in the first place. (See my previous recap for my issues with that line of thinking/plot.) If Claire dies, the catalyst dies with her, mopes Mohinder, as does any chance of my cure. Arthur shows him another drawing of something dire (Mohinder thinks it’s of himself, dead, and I can only hope it’s true) and says if Claire dies, everything and everyone will be FUBAR.

Daphne is unhappy about having to chase after Hiro, saying he’s a spaz. Well, she’s not wrong. She’s way wound up, mostly scared of Arthur. Matt calms her down and asks her to just help him find Hiro. Fortuitously, Ando and Hiro teleport right to their apartment door just then because their comic book tells them that Parkman will undo what Arthur did to Hiro. Parkman lets them in and Hiro dashes for the bathroom. Daphne stares after him, muttering “We’re all going to die.” Later, Parkman tries to read Hiro’s mind but it’s all in Japanese – he can’t help. Daphne freaks out – I’m sorry, but I gotta get out of here – Parkman tries to stop her, taking a peek into her mind and getting “Lawrence, Kansas,” before she superspeeds out of there.

Bennet and Claire drive up to Steven Canfield’s house (the dead vortex guy). Bennet says they’ll be safe there. Claire has reverted to her snippy teenagery self and is annoying. Meanwhile, Sylar and Elle are trying to pick up their rental car – but Elle is concerned about him. She tells him that they are powerful and shouldn’t be following orders from anyone – either Primatech or Pinehearst – and that it’s wrong that these people are trying to manipulate him. To prove her point, she has told the rental car guy that Sylar is a serial killer who has kidnapped her. RCG comes out of the back room with a gun, all agitated and pumped about having captured a murderer. Sylar is like totally annoyed while Elle just grins wickedly. RCG hits Sylar in the face with his gun, crowing about being a hero, but the cut just heals instantly. Sylar: “I hate heroes.”

Ugh. Mohinder is blathering on about the eclipse, which seems to be accelerating his physical changes. But not fast enough for me.

Claire is bored already, until her dad pulls up a floorboard and tells her to hit him with it: If you want training, let’s do it. Claire is full of herself – I caught the puppet guy and I don’t need your help. Bennet: So hit me. She takes a swing, which he easily catches, and spins her into a headlock. Bennet: You’ve got the strength, but you’re clumsy, slow and obvious. He gives her some pointers and tells her to try again.

Tracy makes a call to Arthur, snitching that Nathan is haring off after the Haitian on Angela’s orders. Arthur has no time for Tracy’s whingeing today and tells her to head to Parris Island: every war needs an army. Angela has overheard some of the conversation, although it’s not clear how much; Tracy covers by saying it was “Washington” calling. Angela is completely not convinced by her act and is onto her.

Parkman convinces Hiro to teleport him (and Ando) to Daphne’s house in Kansas. As they make their way towards the house through the cornfield, the eclipse has begun. And now this is ANNOYING - a montage of all Arthur’s drawings coming true as the eclipse moves inexorably ahead: Mohinder stuck to the wall in a web of his own making; Nathan and Peter plummeting out of the sky as Nathan’s flying power dissipates. Also, Sylar and Elle drive off in a snazzy red convertible, compliments of the presumably dead rental car guy. And Claire practices whacking her floorboards against a pillar while Bennet looks on approvingly.

Mohinder’s eyes pop open and he tears himself out of the cocoon with a mucousy slither. He appears to be healed. Damn. The Petrelli boys pull themselves out of a pond. Peter wants to know what happened. Nathan: “I was flying, and then I wasn’t – I was falling really fast.” Heh. Peter notices the eclipse overhead and thinks it might be relevant. Nathan just wants to make tracks and they head off into the Haitian jungle, arguing about which way to go.

Parkman knocks on the farmhouse door but Daphne doesn’t want to talk to him. He then tries to mind-mojo her dad into letting him inside but, because of the eclipse, it doesn’t work and her dad just thinks he’s weird. Hiro discovers that his powers are gone too. Inside the house, Daphne is sitting on her bed looking miserable. Her dad wants to know what’s going on. Daphne, sadly: “It’s happening again.” Her dad’s face falls, and he says he’s sorry. “I’ll go get ‘em,” he says.

Nathan and Peter are strangely angry at each other, their argument escalating, all sorts of stuff coming out (Nathan: I keep having to save you and you kill me for it; Peter: you pick Dad’s side in the future, you big jerk). Then, suddenly, the Haitian is there with them. He puts his finger to his lips, sshhhing them.

Claire is nearly exhausted from her workout but Bennet hands her another piece of wood and insists that she take a swing at him. She gets some of her groove back when she taps into her abandonment issues. Just then, Elle walks in the front door, Sylar in the back. They each try to work their powers on the Bennets and are surprised to find nothing doing. Bennet pulls his gun that Sylar knocks across the room; then they have some quick and dirty fisticuffs, with Bennet quickly getting the upper hand and dislocating the younger man’s shoulder. As this is happening, Elle grabs the gun, aiming at Bennet. Claire, not realizing that her power is gone, jumps in front of the bullet and drops like a rock. Bennet viciously slashes Elle across the face with a floorboard, then scoops his daughter up and heads for the door. Sylar, his dislocated arm useless, drags himself across the floor to the gun but he’s too late. Bennet and an unconscious Claire get away.

They go to the Bennet house. Sandra wants to take Claire to the hospital but Bennet’s like, this is a surface wound, and we can deal with it. Claire is in a fair amount of pain, but is grateful for it: “It sucks but it’s wonderful.” Her dad thanks her for saving his life and she replies, “Anytime.” Aw, they’re friends again.

Ugh again: Mohinder is in complete remission, all scales and abilities gone. “Is there a correlation to the eclipse?” Well, duh. Oh great, now he’s looking up Maya (nooooooooo!!!!) on the computer but Arthur, with Flint sidekicking, says that Mohinder needs to figure out a way to get everyone’s powers back.

Back in Kansas, the three stooges are back in the cornfield, stymied about the loss of their powers. Then, Hiro decides that Parkman needs to help Daphne even without his powers, and the big guy trudges off to try. Hiro, meanwhile, has a plan to get their powers back: they need the next 9th Wonders comic and walk into Lawrence to find a comic shop. And then the best thing to happen to this show in ages happens: my totally not-so-secret crush, SETH GREEN, is the clerk at the comics shop. Breckin Meyer is his buddy who hands him the new issue of 9th Wonders, which has Hiro and Ando on the cover. Everyone goggles at each other. I looooove Seth Green.

Back in Haiti, the Petrellis tells the Haitian that their father is alive and he needs to come back with them to stop him. The Haitian says okay, but this eclipse is screwing things up, plus I’ve got to stop this Level 5 bad guy: he’s my brother and his skin is impenetrable by gun, knife or fire. Except for right now, buddy, ‘cuz of the eclipse like you just said. Sigh. Then the jungle explodes in gunfire and Nathan is captured right away. Seems Arthur warned Baran (or whatthefrak his name is) that the Petrelli boys were coming. As Nathan is dragged away, Peter and the Haitian watch from the underbrush, unable to do anything.

Claire is resting comfortably now, her dad watching over her. He says he’ll figure out what’s happening to her, but for right now she needs to rest. Bennet goes out into the hall and Sandra pounces on him: You’re leaving – you can’t leave now. Bennet hears what she’s saying but tells his wife that there’s something he needs to finish. A short time later, after he’s gone, Sandra takes a tray into her daughter. Something has gone wrong, however: there is blood all over the bed and Claire is unresponsive.

Parkman watches Daphne’s dad drive off and then knocks on the door again. When she won’t come to the door, he talks to her through it, refusing to give up on her. He’s in love with her, you know. She lets him in: she is crippled, with leg braces and crutches. “I just didn’t want you to see me like this.”

At Canfield’s house, Elle is trying to shove Sylar’s arm back into its socket. He is very unhappy about not being able to heal himself, I tell you what. She tells him to stop being such a baby. At first they still not quite realizing that their powers are gone but when it sinks in, Sylar breathes: “We’re just human.” He’s okay with that, calling it a relief, but Elle is wigging out: “We can’t take what we want anymore!” Sylar: “Says who?” and grabs her, pulling her in for a sound kissing. And the camera pulls back to show Bennet watching them through the scope of a long-range rifle. He takes aim.

Previously on Heroes / next time on Heroes

No comments:

Post a Comment