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This is the LONGEST eclipse ever. I looked it up. The average one lasts about 7 minutes. This one takes about two hours.
Mohinder has gotten a copy of the World Book Encyclopedia and is learning all about eclipses. He's also got an address for Maya, which is in NJ, and makes me want to leave the state. Flint is being a dick and flicking his Zippo so much that it gives me a migraine. Mohinder and Flint get in a scuffle, and surprisingly and quite implausibly, Mohinder wins. He heads off to see Maya (NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) but he chickens out because he's disgusting. Then he goes back to the lab, now that he's all scale-covered and gross again.
Peter and the Haitian run through the jungle during the full on eclipse (which they both look at, despite the whole burning retina thing). Peter wants to prove he can be a hero without his powers. Nathan is chained up, speaking French and having a discussion with some prostitute girls when he's interrupted by The Haitian's self-proclaimed "God" brother. But since God is powerless during the eclipse too, the boys are able to take him down. Peter sends Nathan and The Haitian and the prostitutes off, and he and his death wish stay behind to buy some time. But then The Haitian and Nathan sneak back and save him. God is about to unleash his deadly wrath as the eclipse comes back. Nathan gets kinda badass. Then The Haitian layeth the smackdown on his brother in some sort of sick Vulcan mind meld thing. Peter and Nathan are all about the brotherly love, for a millisecond. Until Nathan gets the crazy eyes and becomes irrationally excited about the prospects of giving people powers, so they can be awesome like The Haitian. Peter is, of course, against this idea. Nathan flies off. Peter's left alone in the dark jungle with nothing but a prostitute and a flashlight.
Matt looks like a moron and has to have Daphne explain using little words that she has cerebral palsy. Daphne takes off as soon as she's free of the crutches. Matt's back to doing the head tilting on her dad. There's some annoying conversation about a scarecrow. Daphne shares a moment with her dad, which I would find touching, if I cared about this storyline at all.
Hiro and Ando are at Sam's Comics, goofing around with Breckin Meyer and Seth Green (woo hoo!). Hiro scans some back issues of "9th Wonders" (which makes me wonder who is writing/drawing this psychic comic since Isaac -- the original author is dead). Breckin puts together the whole eclipse thing. Freakin' highly-educated doctor doesn't get it, but second banana at comic store totally figures it out. Duh. Hiro has a panic attack and doesn't want to grow up. Seth has to give him a pep talk, even though he doesn't believe that he's really the guy from the comic book. The nerd boys analyze the comics in all their glory for clues on how to get Hiro's memory back. Hiro blinks off to save the cheerleader -- his goal again, just like the good old days. He leaves Ando in the middle of the store.
Matt and Daphne come to the comic shop. They want more copies of the comic, but apparently that was the last posthumous Isaac issue. See, I don't buy that. Isaac's stuff always seemed pretty of the moment, but whatever. Then Seth tells the tale of a mythic bike messenger who has Isaac's sketchbook. Wonder if he's a speedster too, like Hermes!
Sylar and Elle do it (and by "it" I mean sex) at the House of Vortex. They talk about the chance to reinvent themselves. Then a laser from HRG's gun points at Sylar's head. which causes Sylar to start running around half naked. Elle gets shot. They make their way to a drug store, where they take some ace bandages and scare a hapless clerk. HRG is busy hunting down Sylar and Elle when he gets a call from Sandra saying that Claire's in the hospital. He's all kinds of pissed off. Sylar, or Gabriel, as Elle prefers, protects her and goes after HRG. They have a rockin' knock down drag out fight. It's kind of the best thing I've seen on this show in ages. It involves a box cutter. No! Not the hair! No! Not the throat. HRG's a total badass and slices through Sylar's jugular.
Claire is rushed to the hospital. The hospital is skeptical that she's never been sick. Claire complains that it hurts and Sandra pushes her to take some drugs. I foresee a very special episode where Claire gets hooked on pain killers and has to go to rehab. She starts seizing, which is actually pretty convincing. She even gets her chest cracked and "dies", but then the eclipse is over and she's magically alive again and they've got some 'splaining to do. They bust out of the hospital and head for home, where finally Claire gets to confront HRG. She's all angry that he's never around.
Then it all comes down to Casa Bennet. Sylar's alive, and he's got Sandra, and he's got his powers back. He and Elle want Claire, and a little bit of revenge against HRG. HRG says that the Petrellis aren't his parents, and Elle knows the truth. Dun-dun-dun. Just then Hiro blinks in, snags "bad man" (Sylar) and wooshes him off somewhere, comes back, and does the same with Elle. Sylar and Elle are on a beach together, which nearly leads to more sexytimes, until he slices her brain open. Hiro comes back again for Claire, says "save the cheerleader," and he takes her back to the day that she was foisted on HRG. It's almost like the show I used to like. Almost. -- Angel Cohn
Want more? The full recap starts right below!God, what a massive, colossal waste of time almost every bit of these last two episodes have been. "Game-changer," my ass -- the only meaningful development is the loss of Kristen Bell, which as ideas go is up there with putting Maya and Mohinder together and having two Peters running around at once. With its bloated budget, I would not be shocked if the network found a way to axe the show mid-season. But ranting is not going to make this recap go any faster, so...
...we start back in Haiti, where Peter is running to keep up with The Haitian, who lets us know -- again -- that he has no powers. Peter points out that The Haitian told him all this happened for a reason: to test their resolve. He... did? Has my memory been tampered with, just like Hiro's? It would explain why I don't remember the eclipse having fuck-all to do with anyone's powers, at least. Peter makes the point that Samedi's abilities are gone at the moment as well, but The Haitian trumps that argument by reminding us about the private little army from which they just got a lot of cardiovascular exercise fleeing. The Haitian doesn't add that if he had his powers, he'd be able to take Samedi's away, but that will be addressed soon enough. Instead, he tells Peter that Samedi's followers think he's a god, so Peter suggests they disabuse them of that notion. The Haitian asks Peter why he came there, and astutely doesn't buy Peter's first response that he came to bring The Haitian back to stop his father, so Peter confesses that he "needed to know he could be a hero without his powers." I'm in favor of this experiment, given that it will prove that Peter's a douchebag loser with or without abilities, but somehow I doubt he's going to see it that way regardless of what happens. The Haitian apparently is moved by this argument, and they head off, but not before Peter incurs more corneal damage by looking up at the damned eclipse AGAIN.
An ashen Claire is being wheeled urgently down a hospital corridor on a gurney, telling us that she's in pain as Sandra hustles alongside to keep up with her. One of the medics then disengages from the crowd and stops Sandra by asking her when the injury occurred, and, when Sandra responds that it just happened, curtly says it would be better if she were honest here, as Claire's whole system is infected, which means either Sandra's lying or "she's never been sick in her whole life." Is that actually true, or another retcon? I feel like maybe that was actually said at one time, but it makes no sense if everyone's powers were supposed to have been turned on by the first eclipse. Whatever, they don't care, why should I, right? Anyway, Sandra balks, so the nurse tells her she'll have to come clean to the police, and adds that she doesn't know if Claire is going to be okay. She departs, and Sandra watches worriedly through the glass.
Establishing shot of an eclipse. Wait, what? Why don't they tell us about these things?
So despite the fact that we left off with Bennet ready to splatter Sylar's brains all over like an overripe grapefruit, Elle and Sylar are now on the floor, having just Done It. So did Bennet just decide that he needed a cup of coffee at that moment? Or is he just into Villain porn? If it is the latter, he was probably disappointed, since they're chastely covered up by some blankets, like, nice of Vortex Guy to leave them lying around. This show. If it were supposed to be a comedy it would be a whole lot better. Elle wonders if their powers going away is a permanent thing, like, OBVIOUSLY not, and seems happy about the prospect even though she was freaking out about the possibility before. Then again, she likely just got devirginized, which certainly can affect your outlook on things. Sylar says it would be what she wants -- a chance for them to reinvent themselves without powers. The only way to get through the writing in this subplot is to adopt a Guy-Pearce-in-Memento-like memory capacity, so that's what I'm going to have to do. Sure, that's exactly what she wants! If only I could remember her name! Blonde Girl says that whatever they were just talking about is "scary," and Guy With Eyebrows agrees and adds dreamily that it's "unexpected." Before the schmoop can continue, though, we see a red dot on Guy With Eyebrows's forehead, and he and Blonde Girl roll to the side just in time to avoid getting shot. The two of them scramble for their clothes, which I guess means they were just fooling around, even though I wouldn't have guessed that's Guy With Eyebrows's thing. Blonde Girl is pretty cute, though. The two of them manage to get their clothes on before a man with the cutest Horn-Rimmed Glasses busts in the front door. Less cute is the enormous gun he's wielding, which he then puts down for some reason in favor of drawing a handgun, so I wonder what the point was of bringing in the massive weaponry, especially since it might be used against him. What was I talking about? Oh, that HRG (seems like a good nickname) stupidly cocks his gun, which gives away his location so that Blonde Girl can shoot at him with another handgun. Blonde Girl and Guy With Eyebrows then try to run out the front door, but they do so without any covering fire, so it's not a big surprise when Blonde Girl ends up taking one in the leg. Oh, dear. I mean, I get the vague feeling that I'm supposed to be rooting against her, but she's just so darned cute!
Outside, a man with Horn-Rimmed Glasses (I think I'll call him HRG) follows a trail of blood that came from someone or other. Oh, it's a blonde girl and a guy with bushy eyebrows, who lurk fearfully nearby as HRG yells at them to run, and that he wants them to be scared, just like someone named "Claire" was at some point in the past. HRG adds, "This ends today." That's meaningless to me, but I'm sure a lot of people out there care! You, apparently, are watching "Heroes." If you get a moment, maybe you could explain to someone with no memory exactly why that is?
Okay, that amused me momentarily. Back in Haiti, Nathan is chained up in a cell he's sharing with two terrified sisters, and after struggling with his bonds a bit, he introduces himself in French and assures them he's their friend. The older sister responds to his greeting, but Samedi ruins the moment by entering and babbling about the power of names or some shit, and then some of his minions start hauling the older one out of there as Samedi explains that like all his prisoners, she'll be sold. Nathan hammily yells that he's not going to let Samedi do this, and Samedi displays better manners than I expected by not actually laughing in his face.
Mohinder's reading about eclipses in a book, like I'm so sure that (a) he's going to find anything related to mutant powers in what looks like an encyclopedia, and (b) if, as seems to be the common wisdom now, everyone's powers manifested in the first one, he wouldn't have DONE THIS RESEARCH SOME TIME IN THE PAST. Even worse, we then see that Mohinder has written Maya's address on a Post-It note, although I find it strangely hilarious that she's living in Montville, NJ. I mean, of course to get Mohinder to her during the eclipse they had to place her near Pinehearst, but the fact that they didn't put her someplace hipper like Hoboken or even Jersey City suggests even the writers have some idea how boring she is. We then hear some noises from behind Mohinder, and as he looks back we see that Flint is in the room, apparently keeping an eye on him as he plays with a lighter like Pyro in X-Men. Arthur then enters, and when Mohinder offers him no explanation about their powers not working and whines that Arthur is holding him there against his will, Arthur tells him that being powerless makes him vulnerable. Despite the seemingly obvious truth of that statement, Mohinder opines that Arthur is "paranoid," and Arthur replies, "Very much so." Well, paranoia is usually at least mildly interesting to watch, so add that to the list of things Arthur can suck the life out of. Flint manhandles Mohinder for a bit, and then Arthur leaves with this: "I'm counting on your help, Doctor." Considering the eclipse will be over in a couple hours (or minutes in real life), maybe he could help you by suggesting you CHILL THE FUCK OUT.
Bennet gets a call on his cell (nice not to have it on vibrate, agent) and Sandra, in a panic, tells him what's happened, and adds that she doesn't know what to tell the police. Bennet suggests the radical notion that she lie, and demonstrates what he's talking about by adding that he'll be right there. Also, Sandra, using your cell phone in a hospital? Are you trying to kill your daughter? Because that would make you a VILLAIN. Bennet then comes across a bloody handprint on a fence door, goes through, and starts following the trail again.
Matt actually asks Daphne what her leg braces are, and if Greg Grunberg didn't at least try to have that line changed I will have lost respect for him forever, because ARE YOU KIDDING? Daphne tells him she has cerebral palsy, which she fucking does not, and also, I've enjoyed Brea Grant this season but either her acting isn't up to the challenge of this scene, or she's already checked out of the show, not that I'd blame her. Either way, she's got no affect at all as she hobbles around and tells him that until the first eclipse, she could barely move, but then she could walk, then run, and finally superzip. Of course, that medal of hers from high school means either she just graduated, or her high school had its own version of the Special Olympics, or that the show is once more full of shit, in increasing order of likelihood. Matt at least looks affected by this speech, but Daphne mistakenly takes this as skepticism and thus tells him to read her thoughts, which is the opening for him to explain that his powers are gone too. Daphne thinks Arthur is behind it, which is at least a reasonable alternative explanation, but then boo-hoos that she deserves it, as she's a VILLAIN. Matt barfily tells her she's a good person, but she snaps that he doesn't know and can't help her. Daphne's father then returns, and she tells him that Matt was just leaving. Matt watches her hobble away in concern.
The sun's starting to poke out from the other side of the moon, and then we see Mohinder preparing an injection for Flint, which he says will track what's going on inside his body. Flint asks if he really thinks he's that stupid, and with that kind of setup you can hardly blame Mohinder for sneering, "Honestly? Yeah. I did." Heh. As if to demonstrate, he clocks Flint in the head with a microscope, and although Flint temporarily gains the upper hand in the ensuing fight, Mohinder displays some agility in blocking a punch and kicking Flint in the face, then finishing him off with several haymakers. Seems unlikely on the surface, but Flint's ponderous enough even without having been bashed in the head, so unlike so many other things on the show, I can buy this. Mohinder quickly checks Flint's pulse, which I'm guessing means he's gone to That Great Big Trailer Park In The Sky, and then grabs his jacket, Flint's security access card, and Maya's address, and gets the hell out of there.
Oh, Lord, it's 9th Wonders again. So Seth Green is the Scully to Breckin Meyer's Mulder here, as Seth doesn't believe this is really Hiro and Ando even though they keep matching the comic book exactly. Also, Seth is sporting a thick beard so ridiculously trimmed that it looks like part of a Halloween costume, so if the idea is to make him look more grown up, the comic effect is seriously getting in the way. Anyway, Ando begs them to help figure out why Hiro's lost his power and how to get his memory back, and when he meets with slackjawed silence, Hiro grabs a box of back issues of the comic to try to figure out what's going on. Good luck to you there, son. Seth then pulls an Apu about this not being a lending library, so Hiro takes out his company credit card that has a limit of two billion dollars and buys the lot. He then turns back to the comic and literally breathes, "Best. Day. Ever." Since we're apparently using expressions more tired than Rip van Winkle, let me offer this: NOT!
So despite the fact that Elle has left a trail of blood that makes it clear she needed a tourniquet, like, yesterday, Sylar has managed to get her into the first-aid aisle of some supermarket or large drugstore heretofore unnoticed. Finally, though, some idiot clerk comes by and asks -- no lie -- "May I help you?" Sylar doesn't come back with something smart, not that I blame him because where would you start, but gets up and tosses a bunch of money at him in an effort to get him to go away. Instead of taking it, though, the guy now gets the bright idea to call the cops, and I'm guessing he's not making assistant manager anytime soon. Sylar, who suddenly has blond highlights in his hair for some reason, like maybe he grabbed some Sun-In on his way to Aisle Five, tells Elle that Bennet will be showing up soon, although it's a wonder he's not here already, what with him NOT HAVING BEEN SHOT IN THE LEG. I mean, even Daphne in her current condition would have caught up with them already. Sylar tells Elle that they have to split up, but Elle nixes that idea, pointing out that Bennet is far better trained than either of them and will surely kill Sylar. Sylar wonders if he deserves it, but Elle tells him he's changed, like he didn't just COMMIT A TOTALLY CAPRICIOUS MURDER HOURS AGO, my GOD. Elle suggests they let Bennet follow them and set a trap, and Sylar likes the sound of that, so he gets Elle to her feet and helps her out of there.
In Haiti, Samedi is on the way to do something unspeakable to the woman from before when The Haitian clocks him in the head with a rifle butt from behind. The woman worries aloud about her sister, but The Haitian assures her they'll save her, and tells her to run. Once she's gone, they turn to Samedi, who's recovered enough to note that they made him bleed. He asks his brother if he's going to kill him, as it's the only way to stop him. Peter's like, "Yeah, I couldn't even do that right." The Haitian takes a long moment before viciously hitting his brother in the face with his gun, knocking him out, and Peter takes the opportunity to tie him up before running off to hug his own brother for like ten minutes straight.
Hiro's reading and babbling about his past exploits when Matt comes in, saying he thought they were going to figure out why their powers aren't working, even though THEY CAME UP WITH THAT PLAN AFTER HE LEFT THEM IN THE CORNFIELD. My God, forget about Season One, but what does it say when the show can't keep continuity within a two-parter? Anyway, Matt has the temerity to refer to Seth and Breckin as "bozos," and Breckin ignores him, as he should, in favor of advancing the idea that everyone's powers might return after the eclipse is over, like, YOU DON'T SAY. I mean, he should be made immediate King of the World for being the only one on the show to figure that out. Anyway, Matt flips forward in the most recent edition, like HIRO AND ANDO SHOULD HAVE DONE ALREADY, and finds a picture of Daphne running and the sun being out, so he heads back to her house. Whatever, except for the part where Breckin excitedly says that was Matt Parkman, and Seth scoffs, "Yeah, I'm Matt Parkman." It's all in the delivery, trust me. But it's right back to "whatever" territory, as Ando excitedly says that Hiro will get his powers back, and then they'll figure out how to restore his memory, but Hiro pouts that he doesn't want to grow up, and runs and locks himself in the bathroom. At least that means we won't have to see the pee-pee dance again. Ando looks at the comics and sees some of the death Hiro's wrought, although I have my doubts whether any of that actually happened, just on general principles.
Nathan tells the other sister that he knows she can't understand, but someone like him with power and influence should have been looking out for people like her. Well, she certainly isn't going to understand if you speak to her in English, dude. Should have paid more attention in French 105. He tells her he's sorry, and while the sentiment seems genuine enough it still feels kind of shoehorned in, especially given that Nathan's going to use it to justify his silly position to Peter later in the episode. Peter and The Haitian then come in and free the two of them, but outside, Peter tells them all to run while he holds the troops off. Nathan's obviously resistant to the idea, but Peter tells him he's the important one. "I'm expendable." It's less fun when he says it. Nathan and the other two take off, and as Peter shoulders his rifle he thinks, "It should have been a little harder to convince him, no?"
In the hospital, Claire is not looking so hot, although she is on a morphine drip, which I can tell you is more fun than a kick in the teeth, at least. She asks about Bennet, and we get the old song and dance where Sandra covers for him and Claire sees through her and whines about it, like, accept it at this point already, honey. Claire then opines that she was being stupid when she wished for her power to go away, and while hindsight is 20/20 she makes a good case. Two cops then show up and tell "Mrs. Butler" (good on Sandra for at least thinking to use a fake name) they need to talk to her, and Sandra whispers to Claire that she has to be brave. Claire, however, is distraught, and says how stupid she is and how she wanted to be more than she was. "I'm sorry. I ruined everything." This at least was somewhat affecting on first viewing, I'll admit, and suddenly, Claire convulses and flatlines, prompting Sandra to completely flip out as she calls for help, like even Shirley MacLaine would be all "Damn, girl." The nurses rush in and get to work.
Sylar and Elle have made it all the way to the storeroom of the place they were just in, and on a security monitor they see Bennet. Elle panics that their location is too open, so Sylar rushes her over to the freight elevator, hits a button, and closes the gates after he steps off. She yells "No!" at him as the elevator descends, which I guess makes her the John Connor in T2 and Sylar the Sarah in this situation. If that's the case, get ready for Skynet. Meanwhile, Bennet has made it to the storeroom, and after Sylar tackles him from behind, they start slugging it out. And while Mohinder did beat Flint before, I have the feeling the underdogs have used up their quota of luck for the episode.
Claire's gone into "septic shock," and the lead doctor calls for an underling to "crack the chest." They cut Claire open, and even someone who's witnessed as much as Sandra has should not have to see this.
Sylar's talking instead of hitting, saying that Bennet has to be in control, and then asking, "What if Claire could see you now?" Wow, it's like he's psychic! Does that mean the eclipse is over? There's an absolutely atrocious editing gaffe when Bennet goes to hit Sylar, who's on the floor, but then gets grabbed from his right side by... Sylar. Yeesh. Sylar knees him in the abdomen a couple times...
...and then Claire is seriously cut open and getting the paddles directly on her organs. Aieee!
Sylar punches Bennet's stunt double a couple of times, knocking off "his" glasses, but Bennet turns the tables and gets Sylar down on his knees, facing away from him. Um... didn't mean to write myself into a corner there. As Elle, who's gotten the elevator to come back up, at least, watches, Bennet grabs a handy utility knife, and after some limited speechifying, slits Sylar's throat. Elle watches in horror as her man bleeds all over the floor, although I still think she lost more blood tramping all over on that leg.
The sun has almost completely reappeared, and moments after Sandra lifts the sheet to take a last look at her dearly departed daughter, the eclipse is over, and Claire awakens and heals. So the regeneration power includes reanimation as well? How are we ever going to get rid of these people? Sandra admirably controls her emotions enough to focus on what's important: "We gotta get you out of here."
Matt's back at Daphne's house, but the sun is fully out, and her father emerges with a leg brace in hand and the news that Daphne's gone. Matt then realizes his power is back, as he hears not only the dad's thoughts but Daphne's as well. The father thinks that if he'd done more, Daphne would have stayed, and Matt kindly tells him not to think that. I like Greg Grunberg too much to stay mad at Matt for long, although he sure asks for it sometimes. Matt shakes the man's hand and takes his leave...
...and in the cornfield, Daphne's thoughts are coming through more clearly, as she expresses regret for stealing the formula and blah, and no one thinks in this linear and conversational a manner, of course, except that when Matt comes upon Daphne, she's tending to a scarecrow, and explains that she's been coming to talk to "Ray" ever since she was thirteen. Matt tells her that she was trying to take something back from life after being dealt a shitty hand, and adds that, powers or no powers, they're all flawed. I'll certainly agree with that, probably far too heartily for his taste. He reiterates that she's a good person (ugh) but points out that she came back "to set something right" (her legs?) so she should "go do it, sweetie" (SPEEYACK). Daphne manages to superzip through the treacle back onto the porch, and when her dad emerges, she gives him a big hug, like, THAT'S IT? That's the extent of the healing of the rift between them? I've seen tougher conflict resolution on, like, Family Affair. Matt watches this reunion appreciatively. Shut up, Matt.
Back in Haiti, Peter stupidly hits a bunch of the soldiers head-on, and is lucky not to get shot before taking cover behind a truck. However, he quickly uses up the ammunition in the gun, and since he apparently DIDN'T THINK TO GRAB ANY MORE, his only option is surrender. I'm surprised they didn't shoot him anyway, given the nefariousness of this crew, but maybe Samedi ordered that his enemies be brought in alive if possible for his own amusement. Anyway, the soldiers warily move forward to take Peter, but suddenly The Haitian appears and incapacitates two of them with his power, while Nathan deals with another one and Peter takes advantage of the distraction to knock the lead guy out. I'm assuming that once Nathan and The Haitian realized their powers had returned, they decided to come back to help Peter, and Peter thanks Nathan for that. Samedi then appears and tells them in French that they should have stopped him when they had the chance, and after some more posturing, Nathan suddenly flies at Samedi, grabbing him and taking him for a quick ride before letting go and throwing him into a truck, collapsing the front end. Try explaining that one to the insurance company. Pretty cool, though. Samedi looks dead, but then with some crunching sounds, he sits upright, which... is not exactly how I thought his power worked. Impenetrable skin does not mean automatic healing of broken bones, no? And if the skin absorbed the impact, he shouldn't have seemed hurt at all. Anyway, Peter points his gun at Samedi and tells The Haitian to dampen Samedi's ability so he can shoot him, which I guess answers the question of whether The Haitian can turn on his power at will. The Haitian, however, prefers to deal with the situation himself, and as a suddenly worried Samedi begs him not to do this and opines that he must still love him, The Haitian grabs the top of his head and seems to suck out his life force. Whether that also gives him Samedi's power is yet to be determined, but for now The Haitian's apoplectic visage takes us into a commercial break.
Mohinder knocks on Maya's door and calls in to her, and she actually sounds like she's going to answer, but he balks when he suddenly takes note of the scales that have reappeared on his hand, like, he couldn't FEEL THEM? My God. Anyway, he bails in advance of her opening the door and finding the Post-It with her address on it, and that's it for Maya. Even the old regulars on House must be jealous of how little Dania Ramirez has to do for a paycheck.
Hiro's still in the fucking bathroom, and Seth has just about had it with this nonsense, a sentiment Ando is all too willing to translate. Hiro calls in that Seth and Breckin never grew up, as they read comic books and eat junk food. Hiro, have you heard of Comic-Con? Check out the average age sometime. Seth looks at Breckin, and Breckin hilariously displays the candy bar on which he's currently munching. Seth then offers that if Hiro were Hiro -- "you're not, but if you were" -- he'd know that saving the world comes before everything else. Hiro points out, in more diplomatic language, that he sucks ass at being a Hero, which is the smartest thing I've heard anyone on this show say in quite some time, but Seth tells him that he gives people hope, and shows them that "even a lowly office drone" can do great things. Breckin amusedly points out that Seth said he didn't believe any of this, and Seth irritatedly avows his disbelief while adjusting his shirt to conceal the fact that his heart just grew three sizes. Hiro opens the door and thanks Seth, and then Breckin, who's engrossed in the very first 9th Wonders, calls their attention to an illustration that depicts Teenaged Claire and Adult Hiro surreptitiously watching Kaito give Baby Claire to Bennet, and what's more, in the drawing, Hiro's wearing the same clothes he is now. Of course, Hiro's wardrobe is generally about as variable as that of a Scooby-Doo character, so I'm not sure this signifies as much as Seth seems to think. Breckin, however, suggests that Hiro has to take Claire there to get his memory back, and since Hiro's memory loss thankfully has made him forget his stupid promise never to go back in time again, he gets the location of the Bennet house and pops out of there posthaste. Upon seeing this demonstration, Seth lights up: "Best. Day. Ever!" Well, he's a Buffy alum, so he gets a pass for that one.
Claire's home in bed when Bennet finally turns up, and she overacts as she upbraids him for not being there again and blah, but when she reveals that she actually died, he does the Sylar-related math and gets serious real fast. At first I thought maybe he should have done something to Sylar's body, like cut him up into pieces or cremate him or something, but given that Claire's ability includes regeneration, we might have just ended up with seventeen Sylars that way. Regardless, Bennet's too late, as when he gets downstairs, Elle, Sylar, and a ridiculous T-shirt on Sylar's torso menace the Bennets, including Sandra, who's in Elle's power. Sylar telekinetically grabs the gun away from Bennet and throws and holds him against the wall, but when Claire takes the opening to go for the weapon, Elle shocks Sandra in the neck (ouch) and tells her to stay back. Sylar declares his intention to take Claire, prompting Bennet to note scornfully that he's trying to be a good boy for his Daddy. Sylar counters that he's actually trying to be like Bennet, as he's willing to do what it takes for his family. To demonstrate, he chokes Bennet in his invisible grip, prompting Claire to say she'll go with them if they'll just leave her parents alone. Bennet, however, chooses this moment to inform Sylar that the Petrellis aren't his parents -- he's read Sylar's files, and the Petrellis are just manipulating him. Argh. Okay, on the one hand, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for Arthur and Angela, on opposing sides of this war, both to tell Sylar the same lie, especially since Bennet claims that "they" (Arthur and Angela together) are leveraging his "mommy issues" to turn him into "their weapon." But Elle and Sylar's reaction both suggest that Bennet is telling the truth here, although it also doesn't make sense that Elle, an underling and an untrusted commodity at The Company, would even have learned about Sylar's parentage. Anyway, there will be a new retcon week, I'm sure, so why bother. Bennet sneers that Sylar and Elle could never have a normal life, and adds that Sylar killed Elle's father, like, unless she thought Bob had a little accident with a Ginsu knife, I'M PRETTY SURE SHE KNOWS. Anyway, it's written all over Sylar's face that he believes Bennet, but that doesn't stop him from starting to slit his throat, just like Bennet did to him. However, just at this moment, Hiro pops in, and with a blithe "Bad man," he pops Sylar out of there. Bennet falls to the floor, and a moment later, Hiro reappears and pops Elle away, and then, with a "Save the cheerleader," he does the same with Claire. The Butlers...er, "Bennets" stare at each other into the last commercial break.
Matt and Daphne return to the comic-book store and wonder where Hiro is. Ando tells him he's gone, and when Matt suggests they check the comic book, Seth tells him that "the last posthumous issue" is the one they just read. I seem to vaguely recall that Isaac said he could only see up to the explosion, which makes sense since then no one would have FLIPPED OUT ABOUT IT, but hey, such is Season Three. What more needs to be said? Oh, God, poor Seth has to tell them about a "legend" about one more 9th Wonders story existing, as the day he died, "Isaac Mendez bequeathed his sketchbook to a humble bike messenger." You see what I mean about this show's comedy potential? Pair that line with a slide whistle and I'm falling over laughing. As it is, though, I'm horribly embarrassed for everyone involved, even though Seth tries his hardest to sell the dialogue: "You find that messenger, and you find your story."
It's night in Haiti as the sisters tearfully reunite, and how sad is it that I care about them more than most people on the show? The Haitian says he'll take them back to their parents, and Nathan thanks him for the sacrifice he made in killing his brother. When they're alone, Peter asks Nathan if he's okay, and Nathan basically apologizes to Peter for the nasty things he said last episode. You'd think this is where they make out, but Nathan's getting to the bad news, so he limits contact to a hand on Peter's shoulder as he says he's going back to Pinehearst -- while he'll forgive Arthur for what he did to them, he thinks his idea of giving people abilities is brilliant. And to be honest, one of the many, many problems this season is that no one's really been able to articulate what's wrong with Arthur's goal. Sure, he's cartoonish and evil and his means are abhorrent, but frankly, it seems to me that Primatech has done a lot worse things to the world than Pinehearst. Not, mind you, that Nathan's explanation to Peter for his new position makes even the slightest bit of sense, or that Nathan isn't demonstrating once again how incredibly, pathologically wishy-washy he is. Anyway, Nathan tosses Peter a flashlight and gives him the name of someone at the Embassy to call to get him home, and just like that, he flies up into the sky. Which is seriously cold, but it's Peter, so it's tempered with hilarity.
Mohinder reenters the lab at Pinehearst to find Arthur watching over Flint, who seems to be alive after all. Arthur tells him that the eclipse showed them all who they are -- "desperate, angry, and weak." Sure, we'll go with that. He asks Mohinder if he's ready to get back to work, and Mohinder, whose epidermal issues have spread to his face and neck, seethes, "Look at me. Where else could I go?" Arthur affably says they'll find a cure for his condition. "But that monster inside of you -- that's something you're gonna have to take care of all by yourself." Well, last episode he had himself webbed in place -- why not try that again?
Elle materializes (without Hiro transporting her? Lame) to find herself on a beach at night. Sylar is already there, and as she limps up to him, he asks about what Bennet said. She seems severely weakened from the blood loss as she denies that what Bennet said is true, but when they sit down, Sylar reaches his hand to her head, and she understandably flinches. She lets him through the second time, though, and they fall to the ground as he kisses her. He then clasps his hand in hers and tells her that he's been contemplating what she said about finding themselves free of parents and powers, and she smiles as she asks what about it he was thinking. His tone turns dark: "You were wrong." He goes on that nobody ever really changes, and when she plays the only card she has left in her hand by opining that he changed, he demurs, looking evil as he says that was temporary, "and then I got my powers back." Well, no -- first you learned to control your "hunger," then you learned that you could use empathy instead of your finger, then Elle goaded you into killing someone, then the stupid eclipse happened, THEN you got your powers back. Shit, why did I start remembering things again? He says he understands now that he's never going to change, and neither is she, "because we're both just damaged goods." She tells him he's hurting her, and the old Sylar is back: "I know." He raises his finger, and she closes her eyes, which I took to mean as submission -- it wouldn't shock me if after everything this season and in her weakened condition, she wants to die, and it would explain why she didn't try to repel him with that burst of energy like she did the last time. Of course, he's already got her power, so I don't think he's feeding his hunger here, just killing one of the best actors left on the show. Sigh. I mean, the whole plotline has been awful from soup to nuts, but they could have separated these two without killing off Elle. But I'm too close to the end to mourn...
...so let's move on to Hiro and Claire popping into the greenhouse. The relevant part of the scene from the comic book plays out as expected, and as Claire starts to exclaim, "Holy sh__," Hiro claps a hand over her mouth as we're told the story will be continued. Don't remind me.
See what HRG himself has to say about this episode.