The Dope Box TV Blog

Heroes: Our Father, NBC TV series recap & review blog

My favorite villain is back! More on that in a bit…

Hiro and Claire are hanging out in their joint past. They’re viewing the moment, sixteen years ago, when Claire was given to Noah by Mr. Nakamura. After the past Bennets leave, Hiro’s parents discuss the catalyst. Since his mother has something to do with the dispersal of the catalyst, and she’s close to death, she wants to make arrangements to complete the task. Claire is the chosen target (of course). Following his mother’s miraculous healing of a sick dove, Hiro and Claire split up. She goes to prevent the catalyst from being injected into her infant self; he goes to have his mother heal his memory.

Claire finds baby-Claire and her mom and claims to be some relative of a neighbor to gain entry into their apartment. In one of the mind-warpiest Heroes moments in recent memory, Claire changes her own diaper. She seems eager to do it, actually. Personally, if given the option of whether I’d like to change baby-me’s nappy, I think I’d take a big fat pass. When Noah (with noticeably absent horn-rimmed glasses) comes home, he sees through her deception immediately and asks who she really is. Without giving him the full truth, she tells him she is there to help and, when the phone rings, explains that the Company wants to “do something” to the baby. I guess early Noah was an easier sell than present-day Noah because he takes the strange teenage girl’s word for it and ignores the phone.

Meanwhile, back at the Nakamura’s, Hiro reveals who he really is to his dying mother. After she heals his memory, he gets to tell her about his life, about being a hero. It’s the kind of moment most adults would love to spend with a parent who has passed. He asks her to give him “the light” so he can defend it. The light, it turns out, is the catalyst. Mrs. Nakamura expels the light from her body into his and dies.

In the land of Petrellis, Nathan learns of Tracey’s involvement with Arthur’s company. Nathan gently suggests that he should take over. Geez, why didn’t anyone think of that before? Daddy Petrelli doesn’t relinquish his post but allows his son to join in the project. They plan to make a troop of super Marines when they get that darned formula right. As for the other Petrellis…Angela hands a gun over to Peter so he can kill his father. He and the Haitian go on an assassination road trip towards Pinehearst.

Claire has returned to the Nakamura residence in time for Arthur to pop by, take the catalyst away from Hiro, and toss him off the side of the building. He says, “Tell Angela it’s over. I win.” Parkman, Daphne, and Ando manage to track down the fabled bike messenger who had Isaac’s last sketches. When they open the book they see Hiro is literally stuck in the past. On a flag pole. It’s gotten to the point where the writers can’t fake me out anymore. I never believe anyone is actually dead…

Except for Elle. Who is really, seriously, brain-sawed-open-then-set-on-fire dead. Although I’m delighted to see Sylar back (using his sinister husky voice to prove he’s bad), this kill confused me. He’s driven by the hunger, but he already has Elle’s power. Why did he need to kill her? Why would he saw her brain open? Anyway, he makes a little call to Arthur with his recently deceased girlfriend’s cellphone. He’s done being a boy scout. In fact, now that he has a virtual rolodex of powers to feast upon (via Elle’s phone), he’s going to go on a little road trip of his own.

His first victim is a human lie detector. A group of horrified party-goers arrive as he’s in the midst of, well, whatever the hell he does. Literally caught red-handed, he nonchalantly says, “Cake?” Upon completion of his power collecting, Sylar decides to casually take the elevator. He’s covered in blood splatters and red-soaked from his elbows to his fingertips. The guy standing next to him in the elevator sweats bullets and looks like he could shit himself at any moment. He asks: “Is anything wrong?”  And when the poor guy says no, Sylar gets a tingle, the camera shakes, and there is an uber-cheesy sound effect that means: He done told a lie.

Arthur shoots some light into a container of red goo…so the formula is ready to go. He comes across his youngest son, gun in hand, with the Haitian putting the kibosh on his powers. Instead of just shooting the bastard, like any real assassin would, Peter has a conversation. The Haitian warns him that he can’t hold out much longer but still, the boy hesitates. When he finally pulls the trigger, the bullet is stopped midstream. Sylar appears and asks the senior Petrelli if he’s really his dad. Cue cornball sound effect and camera movement! His newest power is a handy one, indeed. Sylar lets the bullet fly and down goes Artie. Dead again…but probably not for long. He should have the ability to heal himself since he took Peter’s powers. There is a specific spot one would have to hit in order to kill him and I’m pretty sure they failed to hit it. Aren’t any of them smart enough to notice how the dead keep rising? Shouldn’t they stick around long enough to make sure their enemies are completely dead?

Heroes, The Eclipse Part 1, NBC TV series, Episode Recap & Blog

Arthur does some cloudy-iris prophecy sketching, revealing that Claire is gonna die and everything is about to change. Frankly, I thought the sketch looked inconclusive. It merely showed her bleeding and being carried (which is not an unfamiliar visual for us). Highly unlikely that they’ll ever kill her off. She’s far too integral to every facet of the show.

Interrupting Gabriel’s electro-slinging lesson, Arthur requests he go retrieve Claire. Non-Sylar snaps right to it, eager to prove himself. Elle volunteers to go, seemingly to look out for Gabie-poo, amid raised eyebrows from both men. They end up at a rental car agency where Elle has told the owner her companion is a serial killer. Her reasoning for this action is a bit muddled. She wants to see if Gabriel is a “monster or a boy scout.” Is she now daring a guy with a problem controlling his hunger to slice open people’s brains?

In super gooey news: Suresh is mad that they haven’t figured out how to cure him yet. He continues getting scaly and emitting stringy glop from his pores. It’s like he’s turning into a combo of Spiderman and the Fly, except he’s kind of an a-hole.

In the meantime, Noah has taken Claire to the abandoned house to train her. Finally! Too much of the show is taken up by Save the Cheerleader plotlines; it’s time she learned to save herself. She asks her father why things always happen to her. A question we’ve all been asking for a couple seasons now. Noah starts the lesson with a little floorboard swinging and she asks if this is a Tai Kwon Do technique. He replies, “No, it’s baseball.” So I guess she has to start carrying around large blunt objects. Do they make a holster for that?

Ando disrupts the Daphne/Parkman lovers quarrel (“You don’t trust me!” “Uh, sure I sort of do!”) to get help. Hiro still thinks he’s ten years old and would much rather hang out with the nodding turtle than participate in hero activities. Daphne has an episode of self-doubt and vanishes. The boys figure out that she went to her childhood home on a corn farm (of course) and blink their way after her. By the time they arrive, the eclipse has started, making them lose their powers. Parkman finds this out the awkward way when he tries to influence Daphne’s father’s mind and ends up looking like a head-tilting spaz. Accepting defeat, he trudges back into the corn field where Hiro inspires him to try again by throwing corn in his direction (huh?). Daphne’s dad leaves, Parkman pledges his love through the closed door. When he enters, he sees Daphne in leg braces and crutches. Is she devoted to Arthur because she thinks he’s responsible for giving her the gift of speed, thereby healing her busted up legs?

Nathan and Peter spent this week slogging through the jungle, looking for the Haitian, arguing with each other over who is the most needy and spineless. Hmm, tough call. When they locate the elusive Haitian, he tells them they must find his murderous brother (at least this sibling isn’t a Petrelli). Since they’re lost, have no powers, and are now competing with each other for the biggest tough guy trophy, they agree. Unfortunately for them, finding big bad bro also means finding a team of his soldiers who are armed with automatic weapons.

Elle and Gabriel/Sylar (can’t exactly refer to him as either since he’s sort of a mix now) find Claire. It’s the only fight scene I can remember where no one has any powers. Seeing Gabe/Sylar flicking his fingers to no avail was kinda funny. It shows how much they’ve all become dependent upon their powers. The rumble ensues, Noah bashes G/S around, Elle shoots the Cheerleader (she’s been itching to that for a while, eh?), Noah smacks Elle with a floorboard and carries his wounded daughter to safety. He tells his wife they can’t take Claire to a hospital since there will be questions. Shortly after he leaves, Claire becomes comatose and bleeds out. Uh-oh.

Back at the abandoned house, Gabriel screams like a sissy as Elle resets his bones. He’s relieved to be human since the hunger isn’t plaguing his senses. Elle feels guilty for pushing him to be naughty. And…they make out while Noah spots them through the scope of his gigantic gun.

This episode had a lot of heroes wondering… “What’s happening to us?” Why did most of them have so much trouble figuring out the eclipse was the cause?

“I hate heroes.” -Sylar