Arthur flexes his artistic muscles, we finally find out what Arthur has on Daphne, HRG teaches Claire how to fight, Nathan and Peter engage in some sibling rivalry and meet the Haitian's brother, Matt begins the Hero's Quest, and Hiro and Ando find the fountain of knowledge in bumfuck Iowa.
The show opens on a collection of Arthur's sketches foreshadowing upcoming scenes in tonight's show, but the camera pays special attention to one that looks like HRG cradling a bloody Claire in his arms. Arthur seems especially interested by this one, too, and rushes off to find Sylar.
Sylar is receiving training from Elle on the offensive capabilities of his new electricity powers when Arthur storms in to ask him to find Claire and bring her to Pinehearst. Sylar eagerly agrees and Elle insists on going along, which Arthur thinks is a brilliant idea.
The first stop is to pick up a rental car. Elle waits inside while Sylar reports in to Arthur. I don't know why Arthur didn't tell them this before they left, but he's drawn the conclusion from his sketch that Claire is likely to be with HRG. Elle thinks this will make things more difficult, but Sylar's confident that he's gotten into HRG's head and knows where they'll go. Elle's disturbed by the kinder, gentler, tamer Sylar and usesher time alone in the rental office to convince the clerk that Sylar is a serial killer who kidnapped her to see what Sylar would do. As the clerk holds Sylar at gunpoint, Elle taunts Sylar by telling him that everyone's trying to turn him into something - a boyscout, a monster - and now he needs to decide what he wants to be. The clerk muses that he'll be a hero for catching a serial killer and pistol whips Sylar. Sylar glares at the man while his cheek heals and says that he hates heroes.
We never see what happens to the clerk, but Sylar and Elle smirk at each other as they get into their car and drive away.
Claire is complaining to her grandmother that she doesn't get to do anything to help against Arthur. Mama Petrelli is bitten by the exposition fairy and rattles off what the other heroes are up to - Matt and Daphne are looking for Hiro, Nathan's off to Haiti to find the Haitian - and notes that Claire, as the catalyst to the formula, has the most important job of all - to stay safe and hidden. They walk into the Level 5 prison and Claire sarcastically asks if Mama Petrelli is going to lock her up while the puppetmaster drools over her. Mama P retorts that she seriously considered it, but came up with a better idea. This is obviously HRG's cue to walk up and greet Claire like nothing's ever been wrong.
The Bennetts head back to the house of the vortex dude from several episodes ago that Noah tried to have kill Sylar so Claire can hide out and Noah can teach her how to fight. He begins breaking th e banister off of the stairs and other boards loose to teach Claire the proper way to swing.
While Nathan's trying to leave for Haiti, Peter begs to be taken along. He whines to Nathan about not having a purpose in his life since his powers are gone and gives Nathan the puppy eyes until Nathan relents and piggy-backs Peter up up and away.
At this point, I need to point out a small problem here - how did Nathan plan on bringing the Haitian back? He can't fly, since the Haitian cancels out powers. My friend has pointed out that the Haitian can selectively restore others' powers if he chooses, but I say that's just a lame Deus ex Machina because the writers got lazy. Regardless, later events make this a moot point.
Back at Matt's apartment, he's trying to explain to Daphne that they need Hiro because he's essentially a walking reset button for when Arthur gets everyone all twisted while he tries to find Hiro's phone number. Hiro and Ando make their search much easier by showing up at Matt's door asking Matt to help Hiro with his mental powers. Matt tries to read Hiro's mind, but 10-year old Hiro doesn't know English yet and only thinks in Japanese. Daphne chooses now to freak out about getting caught playing double-agent and takes off when Matt tries to read her mind to find out what Arthur has on her.
All Matt got was the name of a town that Hiro recognizes from his 9th Wonders comic. Taking a cue from the comic, they teleport to the cornfield shown and arrive just as Elle speeds into a nearby house.
...and then the eclipse happens and we get a montage similar to the one that typically comes at the end of an episode. Similar to his pose when the first eclipse came, Hiro is staring up at the eclipse while Matt and Ando look on. Nathan, now without powers, crashes into the ocean just short of Haiti. Suresh, inspecting the corpse of his last test subject, goes into convulsions and spins himself into a coccoon. Sylar and Elle get into their car and smirk at each other, as I mentioned before. Claire practices her swing against a doorpost.
Matt goes to the house and asks the man who answers if he can see Daphne. The man tells him that she isn't home, but Matt yells for her and she yells back that he needs to go away. Matt then tries to mentally force the man to let him in, but his powers are gone and the man just thinks he's crazy and slams the door in his face laughing. The man asks Daphne what's going on and she tells him that "it's happening again." The man looks worried and says that he'll go get "them" out of storage.
Back in the cornfield, Hiro realizes that his powers are gone, too. Matt wants to give up, but Hiro makes a speech about the Hero's Quest and begins pelting Matt with corn until he agrees to keep trying to help Daphne. Matt finally agrees and goes back to the house after the man leaves. Matt lets himself in and goes looking for Daphne.
It's at just this moment, before we're actually shown exactly what Arthur has on Daphne, that I put all of the pieces together. The track medal being so very very precious to her, Arthur's threat to let her go back to her old life (which I finally realize probably indicates taking away her powers), and the man's statement that he'd go get "them" out of storage - Daphne was somehow crippled and no longer able to run until she got her powers.
Two seconds later, Daphne hobbles out with crutches and leg braces, looking ashamed and horrified.
While Matt's in the house, Hiro and Ando are off to find a center of knowledge, along the library of Alexandria or the Hall of Justice. They find the local comic shop, run by guest stars Seth Green and Breckin Meyer, and hear the line that almost had me throw my remote through the television - "Don't worry, we have plenty of Red Hulk for everybody!" First, Jeph Loeb's blatant self-promotion is sickening. Second, his run on Hulk sucks and is better never spoken of. If they'd said something like "Ultimates 3 is awesome", I'd be dropping Heroes right now. Anyway, the comic shop owners stop cold when they recognize the precise scene that they're in is on the cover of 9th Wonders.
Nathan and Peter drag themselves onto land and promptly disagree on how to get to the Haitian's village. Peter reads the map and wants to go one way, but Nathan saw the village from the sky and wants to go another. Peter is eventually proven right, and they launch into an argument over Nathan always treating Peter like a stupid baby brother and Nathan feeling like he has to bail Peter out.
I'll settle this right now, boys. Peter is a doofus, but Nathan's a douche. There, now we can move on.
The boys run into the Haitian and try to convince him to come back to Primatech with them, but the Haitian explains that the man he's there to capture is his brother and his responsibility to stop. Nathan wants to go back home without the Haitian, but Peter wants to stay and help. Nathan tries to patronize Peter by saying he's proven his bravery, but he shouldn't be stupid. Peter verbally smacks him right back by pointing out that the Haitian's brother is a criminal that needs to be stopped and they won't be able to go back without the Haitian anyway - if Nathan won't help for the right reasons, he should at least do them for the selfish ones.
At that moment, they're attacked by guerillas and Nathan surrenders. He tells their leader that he's a US Senator, but the leader (The Haitian's brother) recognizes him and reveals that Arthur warned him about the boys coming. They knock Nathan out and take him prisoner.
Suresh falls out of the cocoon in a gush of all sorts of nasty goo and realizes that he's completely healed, though his powers are gone, too. He plans on leaving to find Maya, presumably hoping for another chance, but he's stopped by Arthur and Flint, who demand that he find a way to restore everyone's powers.
HRG is still teaching Claire how to fight when Sylar and Elle show up. They try to use their powers to subdue the Bennets, but they don't work. HRG beats both their asses until Elle gets hold of his gun and tries to shoot him. Claire, not realizing her powers are gone, too, jumps in the way and takes the bullet for her dad. HRG knocks out Elle with a wooden beam and carries Claire home.
When they arrive home, Mrs. Bennett wants to call the hospital, but HRG talks her out of it by asking what will happen when Claire's powers kick back in while she's in the ER. Instead, the Bennetts patch Claire up with their first-aid kit (impressive first aid kit!).
Once HRG thinks Claire is okay, he tells his wife that he has some unfinished business and leaves. Shortly after he's gone, Mrs. Bennett goes to check on Claire and finds her unconscious and bleeding out all over the bed.
Back at Vortex Guy's house, Elle is resetting Sylar's dislocated shoulder and they make plans to go after Claire and HRG, since he knows where they live. While they're kissing, we zoom out through the window they're standing in front of, across the street, and see HRG in the bushes with a sniper rifle.
To be continued...
