Heroes: Here Comes The Sun

Heroes, the most wildly inconsistent show on TV has done it again!  After a string of at least three episodes marked with drastically convoluted stories, hazy character motivations, and plain ol’ stupidity, the Villains arc shifts focus towards its endgame with an hour that, while still recovering from certain mistakes, manages to bring the thrills with more action, quality writing, and emotional impact than we’ve seen in months.

Last week’s “Sylar in the crosshairs” cliffhanger pays off nicely when Noah catches the powerless Sylar & Elle in a moment of passion.  His bullets miss, so he storms the house in a blaze of glory, wounding Elle and giving him a trail to track his prey by.  Is it too much to ask of the writers to have Noah kick in a door wielding a massive rifle every week?  ‘Cause that was sweet.  Meanwhile, Daddy’s little Claire Bear is fighting for her life, suffering from what happens when you get an infection in a body that’s never been sick.  Noah hunts Sylar down and after a moment of suspense that had me believing Noah would taunt Sy with a dose of his own forehead slicing, sticks with the tried and true method of cutting his jugular.

Hiro still thinks he’s 10 (why, dammit, why!), but things start to move along when the comic geeks they’ve taken refuge with make the obvious deduction that everyone’s powers will return when the eclipse wanes.  And there’s light shed on the 9^th Wonders foolishness when it’s revealed that Isaac’s final post-mortem issue has been published, but rumors exist of one final sketchbook out there.  I like the notion of giving all the precog art an expiration date since it really has a tendency to become a story crutch and makes the characters feel like they lack free will.  A closer inspection of that final issue shows Hiro & Claire as spectators at the moment Kaito Nakamura gave Claire to Noah, so it’s off to the past once again!  Elsewhere in Lawrence, Kansas, Matt takes a moment to get weepy, tell Daphne once and for all that she belongs with the good guys, and convince his speedy lady to reconcile some issues with her dad.

Once the sun starts shining again (and not a moment too soon-I hated how dingy everything looked) Claire regains her vitality, wakes up from at least her second death, and makes a hasty trip home.  Unfortunately, this means that reports of Sylar’s demise are also greatly exaggerated and the Bonnie & Clyde of superpowered crime show up to brutalize the Bennets.   Sy pins Noah to his own mantle and starts cutting, so Noah tries to break his concentration with the claim that he’s not Angela & Arthur’s son after all, just a pawn in their messed up power game.  That’d be fine by me.  Suddenly, Hiro shows up as a hilarious deus ex machina sending Sylar & Elle into parts unknown and grabbing Claire for their stroll down memory lane.

Down in Haiti, Peter & Nathan slog through a mostly pointless adventure in helping the Haitian take down Samedi, his temporarily powerless warlord brother.  Peter gets to feel like a hero again by going all Rambo on some jungle commandos, and it makes for a sweet visual when, post-eclipse, Nathan takes flight at ground level to slam Samedi into the grill of a Jeep.  It’s conflict neutralized when the Haitian makes the tough decision to obliterate his big brother’s memories.  A particularly blunt piece of foreshadowing what’s to come for the Petrellis, especially considering that the story ends with Nate senselessly abandoning Peter and deciding to see things from dad’s point of view.

After catching Hiro’s one way ride to a random beach, Sylar’s insufferable good/evil struggles finally gain resolution when after far more conversations about their natures than necessary, he gives into his hunger and kills Elle.  I have every confidence the writers will find cause to bring her back for flashbacks or some such, and I say more power to them.  Her death was a great story move, but she will be missed.

Mohinder had a few scenes, but I tuned them out.  I’ll let you know when he does something relevant.

With only two episodes left in the Villains arc, Heroes is well positioned to go out on top.  Tracy’s building an army of supersoldiers, Nathan’s going bad, and times seem pretty dark for the good guys.  But once again, I’m eager to see where it’s all heading.  The show may have some drastic dry spells, but when going strong, it’s awesome TV.

Season 3, Episode 11: The Eclipse Part 2 (originally aired December 1, 2008)

For another take on this episode, check out Inisia Lewis’ review here.

For more on Heroes, click here.

Mondays at 9/8C on NBC

Photographs courtesy of NBC