"Heroes" Episode 10

“Chapter Ten: The Eclipse - Part 1”

Spoiler Alert

Summary: The global eclipse brings huge changes for the heroes. Papa P draws a bunch of pictures showing the future. Peter and Nathan go to find the Haitian. Hiro, Ando & Matt follow Daphne to Kansas. Papa P sends Gabriel and Elle to find Claire.


• If fans will remember, many — if not all — of the heroes’ powers manifested after an eclipse in the first season. Well, another eclipse flies onto the scene and does the opposite. Now the heroes have to deal with being normal again. Perhaps the most artistic scene of the whole episode was a montage showing the pictures that Papa P drew and the heroes who starred in them, and the eclipse. It brought back a lot of memories of the show’s pilot.

• Tracy, who’s joined Papa P, informs Papa P of Nathan’s mission. When Mama P finds her talking on the cell phone, I’m sure she knew what Tracy’s doing. (She’s an ambitious string-puller herself, after all.)

• Mama P sends Nathan to Haiti to find the Haitian — the man with the ability to stop powers, and in this case, the only person who can stop Papa P. Peter wants to come, and reluctantly Nathan lets him. After the eclipse, Nathan can’t fly, and he gets him and his brother lost. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen some good Nathan/Peter brotherly interaction, and I enjoyed seeing it again. Peter, who’s been acting like a moron most of the season so far, really put Nathan in his place for once with his “you’re dad’s puppet,” and “you’ve always done what dad wanted” comments. I think hearing that will really have an effect on Nathan in future episodes.

• The brothers run into the Haitian, who won’t leave until he’s captured Level 5 escapee and Haiti warlord, Baron Samedi. Also known as the Haitians brother, it turns out. While the three of them wander in the jungle, they get shot at by Baron’s men, and Nathan gets captured. There’s an obvious parallel between the Haitian and his brother and Peter and Nathan. The Haitian is perhaps an extreme version of Peter (they both seem to have the tendency to “jump first, ask questions later,” anyway), while Baron is perhaps the extreme version of Nathan (both are natural leaders and somewhat arrogant, but Nathan is not nearly as blood-thirsty).

• Claire’s dad, Noah, takes Claire to a safe house (remember last week it was discovered that her blood was the “Catalyst” part of Formula H — the only way to make it work correctly). Claire’s sulky that she’s not fighting, but Noah gives her a reality check: that she’s indestructible, but it’s made her careless and puts others in harms way. So, he begins to show her the proper way to fight. Gabriel and Elle arrive, suddenly without their powers, and Noah easily overtakes them. When Elle tries to shoot Noah, Claire gets in the way. But without her power, she’s just as helpless as anyone else. Noah takes her home, and while he goes after Elle and Gabriel, Claire starts to bleed out. It’s been a while since Claire and Noah have been in a “heart-to-heart” scene. I think Noah was saying a lot of what audience members are thinking about her attempts to fight back. She needed to hear them, and as mad as she has been at him lately, I think he’s the only one who she would listen to.

• Gabriel is trying to be a good little agent while on the hunt for Claire, but Elle encourages him do and take what he wants. When the attempt to catch Claire fails, he seems like he’s genuinely happy he doesn’t have them anymore. Elle, on the other hand, is upset that “they can’t take what they want anymore.” Gabriel says “Said who?” and out of blue starts kissing her. As they’re making out, Noah’s aiming at them outside the window with a sniper’s gun. It’s interesting that Gabriel doesn’t mind not having powers. It shows him coming a long way from him wanting to be “special” in the first season, to just wanting to live without the hunger of his ability. If there’s one thing we know about Noah, it’s don’t mess with his daughter. Now that Gabriel doesn’t have his ability, he’s just an ordinary person — and a rather weak one at that. I’m predicting a lot of pain and suffering on Elle and Gabriel’s part at Noah’s hands.

• Ando and Hiro, who still thinks he’s ten, arrive at Matt’s apartment thanks to the “9th Wonders” comic book that Ando and Hiro have been using as their guide. Matt can’t seem to help him. Daphne, scared of what Papa P could do to them, the fact that their shot at saving the world thinks he’s ten, and that Matt may not trust her, runs away. Matt uses his mind power to find out she lives in a corn farm in Kansas. The comic book says that Ando and Hiro are supposed to go to Kansas, and so the three of them teleport just before the eclipse. Matt can’t read Daphne’s Dad’s mind when he tries to get in. He doesn’t have his power anymore, and feels he can’t save Daphne without his “mind-thingy.” Hiro convinces Matt not to give up, and later that evening, once Daphne’s dad leaves, Matt tries again. She calls him in, and in the weekly “wth” moment, it turns out that without her power, Daphne is a cripple. I think this moment has a lot more than the “surprise!” factor we’re used to. This answers a bunch of questions: why Daphne always chickened out when Papa P talked about sending her to her old life, and why she seems to value freedom so much. It’ll be interesting to see how Matt takes it next episode.

• While Matt’s tries to save Daphne, Hiro and Ando go to a comic book store to find the latest issue of “9th Wonders.” Where they find a couple of comic geeks (Seth Green and Breckin Meyer from “Road Trip”) who recognize them from the same comic. I’m a big fan of both Green and Meyer, so I’m really excited to see them in the next episode.

Praise: This episode is really monumental in terms of the true relationship between the heroes and their powers. Like Peter when he lost his abilities, most of the characters have come to value their powers a lot more than they care to admit. Nathan wishes he could fly to make their search easier. Matt thinks he can’t save Daphne without his powers. Elle feels like she has no control on getting what she wants. As much as they gripe and complain about how much the abilities are a bother, they have come to really depend on them. It’s like a person who grew up without a microwave. He/she finally gets one, only to have it taken away shortly afterwards. In a hero’s quest, there’s always a point when the hero must be vulnerable and show their worth as a hero, not just a person with heroic abilities. This is that moment for all of them, and I’m looking forward to seeing who it ends.

Complaints: The constantly going back to the eclipse every five minutes was slightly tiring after a while. We know it’s a bad thing without having to be constantly reminded. And there is a little confusion about the whole eclipse/powers connection. First the abilities are because of the genes in their adrenalin, now it’s because of an eclipse? I’m not sure what’s going on and I'd wish the writers would make up their mind.

Favorite Part: When Hiro tries to convince Matt to save Daphne and “fulfill his mission,” powers or no, there’s an amusing scene where Hiro tosses corn at Matt and yells that the “corn will keep coming” and “only you can stop it.” Afterwords, when Matt finally does, he looks really pissed and Hiro gives him a funny “please don’t hurt me” look. I thought the thing was really funny, and it involved three of my favorite characters, so that made it even better.

Grade: B+