HEROES 3.10 "THE ECLIPSE"

The title for last night's episode was "The Eclipse". There were two other working titles- "Longest Freaking Eclipse Ever" and "Reset Button". Just kidding.

The first half of 'the episode was basically a set up for the scenarios the Heroes would be in, the moment the eclipse took away their powers. The second half was how they reacted when their powers were gone.

Once the eclipse hits Parkman, Ando and a retarded, ten year old thinking, Hiro, the trio ends up stranded in Lawrence, Kansas, at Daphne's family's home. Parkman is intent on getting Daphne over to his side, even though she feels like she has betrayed him. Parkman no longer has his power to place thoughts into the minds of others, but he is determined to get Daphne, no matter what.

Hiro and Ando leave Parkman to find the newest copy of 9th WONDERS. They head over to the local comic book store, which just so happens to be run by Seth Green and that other, not-so-famous actor that does voices on 'Robot Chicken'. Though what these quasi- celebrities will bring to the show will be seen in the next episode.

Parkman gets into Daphne's house, where we see the biggest shocker of the episode- Daphne has to use leg braces and metal crutches, when she does not have her powers! Unfortunately, the girl who plays Daphne isn't the best actress, and her portrayal of a semi-paraplegic is somewhat comical.

Mohinder cocoons himself right before the eclipse occurs. I was getting a little worried about this, because I thought he was going to mutate into some sort of Guyveresque/Power Ranger monster villain. Luckily, he returns to his de-powered self. I prefer the regular Mohinder to the cicada version, but I know most viewers would prefer it if he just kicked the bucket. Mohinder was in the recent "Top 5 TV show characters that have to go" list at Yahoo.com. It looks like Mohinder is here to stay, however. Arhtur Petrelli and a de-powered Flint threaten Mohinder and tell him that he needs, now more than ever, to work on the hero creating formula.

Alot of the action, last night, was between Sylar, Elle, Claire and H.R.G.. When Sylar and Elle confront Claire, they act as if they have the upper hand, since they have such deadly abilities, but little do they know the eclipse has canceled them out. The funniest moment of the episode is when a tough talking Sylar goes to use his telekinetic powers and and all that happens is that he makes an effeminate gesture with his hands. H.R.G and Claire F- the duo up, but at the battle's end Elle Shoots Claire in the side. The 'to be continued' moment comes when Elle and Sylar embrace each other, while H.R.G. has them both in the sights of a suped up sniper rifle, ready for revenge.

Before that though, there is a scene with the de-powered Petrelli brothers in Haiti. Peter has found the Haitian and wants to take him back to the U.S. Nathan gets captured by the Haitians evil brother, and seems to be in store for some torture.

For those of you who still watch 'Heroes', wouldn't it be ideal, if the eclipse that temporarily shut down all of the current Heroes' powers actually did permanently remove their abilities?

Those who have bashed the current state of the show have hoped and prayed that 'Heroes' would somehow return to the glory days of the first season. Imagine if Claire actually died in the next episode (as the trailer for the next week's episode suggested) and therefore the "catalyst" for the Hero-making formula was gone. That might be the best possible solution for the show, which is dropping in ratings with every episode.

The show could be rebooted by the second half of the third season. We could have a brand new cast of characters, uncovering new powers for the first time. This worked wonders for the X-MEN, a comic that (even though the producers will never admit it) is extremely similar in nature to 'Heroes'.

At one point, the original team of X-men was presumed dead. A different team was brought in with new characters, like super fan favorite, Wolverine as well as Storm and Colossus. That reboot took a book that wasn't very popular and turned it into one of the biggest comic book franchises ever.

We all know 'Heroes' is not going to experience this reboot though. The story will continue to be focused on the characters that we have gotten used to, over the course of 3 seasons. Here is hoping that the next few episodes are at least entertaining, otherwise we are all going to wish that the next time an eclipse occurs, it will wipe our memories of ever watching this show.