'Heroes' S03E10: 'The Eclipse - Part One'

The advent of the highly-anticipated eclipse doesn't only rob the heroes of their powers, it seems to sap the show of its potency too. Not even the ever impressive art direction can compensate for the flat pace and ponderous story.

The sibling squabbling between Peter and Nathan is the stuff of mundane daytime soaps, the prophetic image depicting a slayed Claire has been done before in the first season, ten-year-old Hiro is increasingly annoying and Matt's mission to find Daphne takes too long to get anywhere. However, at least the revelation of Daphne's true crippled self is fairly eye-opening when it finally does arrive after much pottering about in the corn fields.

At least a certain character's horn-rimmed glasses aren't affected by the eclipse, as it's great to see Noah Bennet back on butt-kicking form when he batters the freshly impotent Sylar. In defence of Heroes, it's perhaps unfair to judge the merits of this episode on its own. It wasn't called 'The Eclipse - Part One' without reason. It's just a shame that the scene-setting for the inevitable payoff isn't more interesting.

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