Tracy: "People have to know."
Nathan: "No. The last time I tried to tell anybody anything like this, my brother came back from the future and shot me. Twice."

Lots of build-up-y stuff to, I assume, the looming eclipse. Or I guess we could call it the Apoca-Eclipse. An amazing amount of couple-y stuff, too. And many reminders of early season one episodes, like Hiro and Ando talking about superheroes and Star Trek, and Claire jumping out of a window and plummeting to the ground.

Gabriel/Sylar and Elle were my favorite part of this episode. The deadly antagonism turning into romantic vibes felt a lot like Battlestar's Starbuck and Leoben; Elle kept venting her rage and grief on Gabriel, killing him over and over again, and he let her do it. As he did pennance with Elle for his past misdeeds, Gabriel reached a new power plateau and became exactly like Peter used to be. Life and death super sado-masochism that was oddly sexy. Maybe it was the dark room. Maybe it was Elle burning Gabriel's clothes off. Maybe it's because the two of them could well be our two strongest Heroes actors. Yes, it's unlikely that Elle and Gabriel would completely change their spots the way they have this season, but you know, I'm liking it. So there.

Peter and Claire made some progress, too. (And they still feel like a couple, somehow.) Claire was determined to protect Peter, and Peter tried his best to save Claire from herself. He finally told her the truth about her future. And now we know Claire herself is the third part of the superhero equation. That explains why Kaito took Claire from Meredith and gave her to Noah to raise. And you know what? Maybe Claire's catalyst thing has something to do with the change in Gabriel. It was implied, wasn't it?

Nathan and Tracy have been joined at the hip for awhile now; I wonder why she just betrayed him and made a deal with Arthur? Not that we weren't expecting it; I seem to remember her as one of the bad guys in Angela's future dream. So Arthur has Gabriel, Elle, Tracy, Knox, and Uncle Flint, while the rest of our Heroes await them at Primatech. But are Gabriel and Elle still bad guys? All those sparks, all that angst about being good. And Gabriel did indeed save Peter from their father.

Bits and pieces:

-- The title screen went back to normal.

-- Matt and Daphne made some progress, too, as he was saving Angela. Daphne confessed her unwilling betrayal, and Matt continued to have faith with her. Must be love.

-- I was sort of bored with Hiro as a ten-year-old. Will he stay ten? If so, how could we tell the difference? (I take that back; it was sort of mean.) It was confusing, too. What did Arthur do to Hiro? Obviously, he didn't zap Hiro's powers, and I thought that was what Arthur does.

-- The big fight in the basement was Claire's Uncle Peter versus Claire's Uncle Flint. :)

-- Usutu was back in Matt's vision and holding a big staff, sort of like Obi-wan Kenobe.

-- Where did the Ninth Wonders comic come from? Other people who can paint the future, I guess? Like whoever is doing murals on buildings of the earth splitting into two parts?

-- Mohinder is developing scales and turning people into monsters. It didn't look all that convincing, though. Sort of like someone has gotten him with a bedazzle kit.

-- Arthur is such a misogynist. Let's add that to his long list of really horrible characteristics. Except I think he let Angela go in the end. Probably so that his minions could kill her.

Quotes:

Ando: "How is this going to help you remember? It's a comic book store."
Hiro: "Correction, my grown up friend. This is the source of all knowledge."

Hiro: "I don't get it. How could this happen? Captain America DIED! Spider-man revealed his secret identity! And the Hulk is red?"

Another better episode. Three out of four stars,

Billie Doux
Reviews by Billie Doux