Heroes, the movie was open on a series of sketches of the future as Mohinder talks about the moments in a war when things change. Characters state their objectives up front, and how they feel about them; later, they arrive where they said they were going, and have short, pointed discussions about what they hope to do there; something small happens, then they talk about what just occurred and discuss what’s next. Think about how you’d explain each individual story thread each week.


In the part one of a two-parter, though, wasn’t half bad. Actually, it was: It was half-bad. Some plotlines flatlined, as usual. But overall though, “The Eclipse” is once again, HEROES at its grade A crap level. It’s too complicated, too confusing and it’s obvious that once the Eclipse passes, the heroes will have their powers back.


Here’s what you can could gather from this episode:



* Arthur (Robert Forster) begins drawing pictures of what will be happening to everyone in the episode. Hence, a “why do I have to watch the whole episode, if it’s spelled out in the first five minutes.”


* Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) and Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) fly to find the Haitian for some strange reason in a foreign country and end up being taken hostage by the military. I think this is what happened, but the episode was color timed so dark, I was pretty lost by the time this plot point came around.


* The good old doctor Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy) is starting to turn all Fly Guy again, and wraps himself in a cocoon, but when the eclipse happens, he’s all back to normal.


* H.R.G. (Jack Coleman) trains Claire (Hayden Panettiere) to more of a fighter – since she’s getting sloppy and it turns into some really tired, “why were you away so much daddy” melodrama.


* Sylar (Zachary Quinto) and Elle (Kristen Bell) go to retrieve Claire for Arthur, but since they lose their powers, Sylar gets his arm broken, and Claire takes a bullet to save dear old dad. Since she too has last for invincibility powers, she’s on death’s door. But you know she’ll live come next episode, so what’s the point in caring anyway.


* H.R.G. also has a sniper rifle pointed at Sylar and Elle at episode’s end.


* Then there’s Matt (Greg Grunberg) who professes his love for Daphne (Brea Grant), but she has a deep dark secret and heads back home to Lawrence, Kansas. Her big secret -–she’s big metal crutches – she can’t really walk. But Matt loves her anyway. Boo-hoo.


* Meanwhile, Hiro (Masi Oka), with the mind of a ten-year-old helps Matt get to Kansas, while he and Ando (James Kyson Lee) attempt to find a comic store that has a new issue of 9th WONDERS! that tells the story of all the heroes and the future.