Ah, what the eclipse tooketh away, the return to normal sunlight has giveth (giveneth?) back. The heroes (and villains, I guess) regain their powers after a harrowing eclipse, and everyone has learned a little something about him or herself. I really liked that spooky gray-light that the eclipse cast on everything. It added an element of drama that perhaps has been missing lately on Heroes [1].

To chat about this episode, .

• Peter and the Haitian are still in the forest and Nathan has been taken in by Haitian's brother Baron Samedi. Peter reiterates that all this is happening (the eclipse taking away their powers) to test their resolve, and that "maybe that's a good thing." He and the Haitian return to where Nathan is chained up and has been babbling on to a girl about wishing he'd protected her. Peter and the Haitian free the woman and Nathan, and after a bunch of fighting the Haitian overpowers his brother. He's a real. . . wait for it. . . hero.
• Sylar and Elle, getting it on. Sylar says the eclipse could be a good thing — a chance to reinvent themselves without powers — but then HRG comes at them with a gun and Elle catches a bullet in the leg.
• In the Kansas comic store, Hiro and Ando ask for the latest issue of 9th Wonder, and Ando shows them that what they're saying shows up in the comic book. Hiro delightedly opens up a box of back issues. "Best. Day. Ever." Breckin Meyer suggests that maybe their powers will return once the eclipse is over, but Hiro is not happy about this. He doesn't want to grow up — "Not now! Not ever!"
• The irony of Seth Green (I don't much care what his character's name is, he's just Seth Green) yelling "Everyone needs to grow up!" is pretty great.
• Mohinder is all pissed off, but Arthur is feeling and vulnerable and paranoid without his powers, and won't let Mohinder leave. So, Mohinder beats up Flint and runs away. He gets to Maya's apartment just as the eclipse ends and he realizes his scaly things are back.
• Daphne has cerebral palsy and tells Parkman she's a villain. When he protests, she insists he doesn't know her and can't help her. Eclipse ends, Daphne and Parkman get their powers back. Parkman tries to convince her she's a good person, she hugs her dad, feels better.



• Hiro's having doubts about why he should bother being a hero, but Seth Green says it gives people hope. Then, in a slightly ridiculous move, Breckin Meyer deduces that, in order to get his memory back, Hiro has to bring Claire back to the point in time when Hiro is 10 and HRG is getting the baby Claire.
• Having been shot while her powers are gone, Claire's "whole system has been infected" and the police are starting to become suspicious about her case. Claire is sad because she wished for her ability to go away, and now it's gone. "I'm not brave. I'm just a stupid teenager." Ah, the bummers of being a normal human being. The doctors work on her (gross! She's all ripped open!) while we see HRG angrily beating the snot out of Sylar and ultimately slitting his throat with a box cutter while Elle watches in horror.




• So, now it appears that Sylar and Claire are dead, but there's no real drama in this show because we know they aren't going to turn out to be truly dead. That whole thing with Claire on the table feels like it was a waste of time.
• Nathan is starting to think that his dad might be onto something. Give the powers to "the right people," and stop all the suffering in the world. He flies off into the night.
• Claire and HRG have yet another chat about how crappy a dad HRG was to her before Sylar and Elle show up. Sylar needs to get Claire, and he starts to hurt HRG who suddenly tells him his parents are not Arthur and Angela Petrelli. Then Hiro shows up and grabs Sylar, Elle and Claire.
• Sylar and Elle end up on a beach. Sylar is worried that HRG might be right about his parents. He says nobody really changes, and that they're both just damaged goods. Then he starts to open Elle's head! Sylar, nooooo!
• At least they eventually explain the whole Isaac-Mendez-is-dead thing, saying that 9th Wonder book is the last posthumous issue. But Seth Green has heard a legend that one more 9th Wonder story exists. "The day he died Isaac Mendez bequeathed his sketchbook to a humble bike messenger. You find that messenger, and you find your story."
• Arthur: "I think this eclipse showed us all exactly who we are: Desperate. Angry. And weak." He tells Mohinder to take care of the monster inside of him.
• Hiro brings Claire back in time and together they watch Kaito Nakamura give HRG the baby Claire.

Photos courtesy of NBC [2]