Oh, how long was the summer of our geeky discontent, making do with dribs and drabs of news about casting on Heroes and little, disconnected spoilers from Comic-Con. No more, for season two began Monday night.

(Spoilers, and lots of 'em, coming right up.)

The show had a lot of ground to cover, introducing a whopping nine new characters (and giving a glimpse of a tenth) who will be around for a while and catching us up on most of the surviving regulars from last season. That's a tall order, but the show handled the sprawl quite nicely, pinging between scene-setting, exposition and a couple of big reveals with a commendable efficiency.

And, aside from a brief bit of Suresh voiceover at the beginning, next to no mention of last season's shrug of a finale. I was somewhat enthusiastic about it on first blush last May, but as I thought more about it my opinion settled into the "Eh" range. As we pick up four months into the future (or in Hiro's case, 336 years in the past), though, the places our characters have come to feel pretty honest and right. So let's do a quick rundown:

Hiro: As we saw at the end of last season, Hiro landed in feudal Japan, circa 1671, after blinking away from the final battle with Sylar. There he meets up with the legendary samurai Takezo Kensei (more on him below), and as is often the case when you meet your hero, is bitterly disappointed. Masi Oka has not lost his gift for comedy; among the night's best shots was his reaction to seeing Kensei's face, mutely putting back on the glasses he'd taken off moments before.

Ando: Hanging around New York, sharply dressed in a dark suit, and assisting Hiro's dad (see below) in whatever way he can.

The Bennets: HRG and family have moved to Costa Verde, Calif., where he's assistant manager at a Copy Kingdom -- for a mini-Dwight Schrute -- and Claire is just starting at a new high school, where her dad instructs her to be "entirely unextraordinary." Claire being Claire, she doesn't entirely succeed, catching the eye of a bitchy cheerleader and a cute boy who goes on about aliens and robots. HRG gets maybe the second-best laugh of the night when he takes down the petty tyrant. And he's also got something cooking with ...

Suresh: Lecturing in Cairo, he makes an impassioned plea for help in stopping the virus that killed his sister, and which he now believes threatens everyone with a genetic advantage. He catches the eye of the Company, just as he and HRG had planned.

Nathan: Now we know why Adrian Pasdar was sporting such a luxurious beard over the summer. Nathan is still broken up about the loss of his brother, and thus has taken to drinking, not shaving, seeing visions of a disfigured Peter in barroom mirrors and lashing out at his mom.

Parkman: Now with the NYPD, Parkman uses his abilities to ace a training exercise and earn his badge. He's also caring for Molly, the "security system," who's drawing a pair of evil eyes with the Godsend symbol and having some terrible nightmares, including one in which Parkman hears a male voice say "I can see you."

Peter: This probably won't surprise you, but the younger Petrelli is not dead. No, he's inside a shipping container in Cork, Ireland, with no memory of how he got there. This was intended as the night's big reveal, but to me the more interesting information came from ...

The elders: RIP, Kaito Nakamura (and darn if I won't miss George Takei, assuming Kaito really is dead). Both he and Angela Petrelli received pictures of themselves (two halves of the same photo, actually) with the Godsend mark across their faces. This, apparently, means they're marked for death. Kaito mentions that with the deaths of Linderman, Deveaux and Angela's husband, "now there are nine" -- i.e., nine founders of the Company still alive. Now it's eight, as a hooded assailant sent him tumbling off the roof of the Deveaux building. I was prepared to theorize that it was Peter, off his rails after nearly destroying New York, until he showed up in the next scene in that shipping container. The next logical guess is Sylar, who we didn't see tonight, but whoever sent Kaito to his death looked a little stockier to me.

The elders also tie into one of the most intriguing newcomers, an as yet unnamed character played by the always good Stephen Tobolowsky -- we'll call him Ned Ryerson for now. He provides a good bit of exposition on the Company -- it was founded 30 years ago by a group of "like-minded individuals" with powers, for the purpose of "finding and protecting" others with abilities. The Company would prefer to help folks realize their abilities and help train them to do good. Of course, that doesn't always work, so sometimes people have to be taken out. Oh, and Ned can turn things into gold. Sweet.

Your other newbies are: Maya (new regular Dania Ramirez), who has a lethal power she can't really control and is headed to New York with her brother Alejandro (Shalim Ortiz) in search of Suresh; Kensei (former Alias bad guy David Anders, trotting out his English accent again), an Englishman looking to make a fast buck in Japan; the sword-maker's daughter (Eriko Tamura); Wes (Nicholas D'Agosto), the aliens-and-robots kid from Claire's new high school, who can fly (it seemed pretty obvious he'd have some kind of power, didn't it?); Parkman's boss at the NYPD, played by Michael Mann regular Barry Shabaka Henley; the aforementioned bitchy cheerleader (Dianna Agron); and the gangster (Holt McCallany) who was looking for a stash of iPods and found Peter instead. We also saw a brief glimpse of new regular Dana Davis during the opening voiceover.

Where's it all going? Tough to say, although the teaser for later this season showed us a very alive Sylar (on a beach, apparently) and Niki, who was missing from tonight's festivities. The overarching theme for the season is "Generations," so we can probably expect a lot more information about the Company and whatever sins it's visited on this new generation of supers. I do know that the bad taste from the finale is out of my mouth, and I'm ready for the ride again.

Your thoughts on the season premiere?

Comments

Did you notice the mark on the "Takezo Kensei" sword is the Godsend mark? Also, I think the delicious twist for Hiro is that he is his own Hero--I think he will take the mask and become Takezo Kensei. In my blog I posted about the Nissan commercials. How annoying were they!

Eric Beland | Sep 24, 2007 8:53:30 PM | #

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As much as I know that there was a need to rebuild based on the finale, it felt too much like the pilot: Claire adjusting to powers in high school, HRG keeping his identity a secret, Mohinder lecturing, Parkman trying to make it on the force, etc.

Outside of Nathan, we saw very little growth in these characters compared to last season, and that to me defeats the purpose of the show's finale which itself failed to pay off.

One would hope that it would be possible for it to bounce back, but with Kring at the helm and Bryan Fuller having moved on, I don't foresee the show reaches its highpoints at midseason last year any time soon.

Myles | Sep 24, 2007 9:22:25 PM | #

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I missed the premiere. How can I see it?

Alanna | Sep 24, 2007 9:24:20 PM | #

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It was enjoyable, but a bit slow (and the next couple will probably be slow as well, as they finish introducing/reintroducing everyone). I was expecting a bigger final scene. It was no surprise that Peter was alive, although the fact that he has no memory will probably lead to some more twists.
And was anyone else saddened by the fact that Parkman is divorced, especially since his wife is/was pregnant. Nathan's family is apparently gone as well.

Billiam | Sep 24, 2007 9:24:52 PM | #

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The mark on the sword has always been there since last season. The Nissan commercials were annoying. I'm really looking forward to this season.

Did you guys notice the new power that Peter has picked up? He practically "shocked" the guy out of the container. And apparently doesn't remember anything. Additionally Peter is now sporting a godsend necklace very similar to the Hatians.

Speaking of the Hatian we haven't seen him since last season, wonder if he'll reapear. They said that Parkman divorced his wife but I don't remember they're being any mention of the baby his wife was carrying, is she still having it?

Greg | Sep 24, 2007 9:31:54 PM | #

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I think there was some growth in these characters because unlike last season, they now have a better awareness of who they are. There's no more discovery of their powers but as in the case of Parkman they have started using them more for their gain. Even Claire's character who evolved from a "robot" cheerleader last season to being someone not in the "in crowd" has continued to grow in this episode. And Mohinder who was a clear skeptic last season is now taking matters into his own hands in bringing down the "Company" with his knew found knowledge and confidence.

Greg | Sep 24, 2007 9:37:01 PM | #

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Alanna,

Heroes will be on at 8pm on Sat. Sept. 29th.

I'm guessing it will also be on nbc.com sometime soon - but if you aren't a U.S. resident you won't be able to stream it from there.

Rishi | Sep 25, 2007 2:06:31 AM | #

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Did I miss Lyndsy Fonseca's character? Or did they just edit out her part since she took a regular role on Desperate Housewives instead of the recurring role that she signed up for here (she was supposed to be in only this ep. b/c of the DH role)?

I have to say as a whole there seemed to be way too much set up rather than advancement of plot. I hope that this is the only poor ep. of this year as last year only had 1 bad ep - unfortunately that happened to be the finale.

I know that there was a lot of speculation before that the part Kristin Bell will be playing will the the 'more evil than Sylar' part, but any confirmation? And anyone know which ep. she will appear in first? Unless of course it was her character than knocked over George Takei (although I was hoping that it was the invisible man - wouldn't make sense b/c why make yourself visible when you're about to kill someone)?

Is Leonard Roberts (DL) returning this year?

Rishi | Sep 25, 2007 2:13:16 AM | #

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Just thought of one thing.

This is 4 months after the conclusion of last year - so wouldn't that just be March 2007 (election was Nov. 2006)? If it is, why did they make it seem like it was the first day of school for Claire, not just the first day at her new school?

Rishi | Sep 25, 2007 2:14:37 AM | #

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Great comment about the mini-Dwite Shrute, thats exactly what I was thinking. The speach he gave sounded so much like the ones Dwight was giving Ryan in an episode last year I was wondering if it was the same speach as an omage.

I thought the episode was a pretty good start. No complaints, although the Claire scenes seem a little too cliche and forced. And he fall of the Petrelli clan also was a little tired.

Lastly, the events that ended the season last year seem to have been forgotten or ignored by the world as a whole, as if the Heroes characters exist in some kind of vacuum. That doesn't seem to be 100% realistic especially given the high profile stakes of what was going on last year (for example what happened with the election and the fallout of Nathan just dropping out apparantly).

But I'll bide my time for now, the feel of the show was great.

sac | Sep 25, 2007 4:37:16 AM | #

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Rishi - I didn't see Lyndsy Fonseca either, although she was credited at the beginning of the episode. Your guess is probably right - they moved her to the background since she won't be around again.

And good point on Claire's first day of school. It could just be that HRG held his kids out till now, since it was her brother's first day too.

Rick | Sep 25, 2007 5:50:00 AM | #

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I have a feeling the first day of school thing was just a case of writer laziness...it's been 4 months since the season finale in real life, and in real life the finale was on in May. Therefore, 4 months later is September, and a new school year is starting. They forgot that the finale took place in November. The only thing that doesn't make sense in that scenario is that it seems like Molly Walker has been in school for at least a few weeks, and it seemed to be pretty cold in NY (everyone was wearing jackets), too cold for September, but right in line for early March. So maybe it's just that the Bennett's just moved to Cali and this was their first day at the new school.

Also, Nathan didn't "drop out of the race" last season. He won. He gave an acceptance speech. He should be a Congressman right now. Either A) he's off to a start as one of the worst Congressman ever (becoming an alcoholic at home in NY...at least move to DC before becoming an alcoholic like the rest of them!), B) the writers plan to address his resignation in an upcoming episode, or C) another case of potential writer laziness, and the writers forgot that they had him win the election last season.

| Sep 25, 2007 6:20:29 AM | #

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It seemed to me that whoever killed Kaito was one of the elders. He told Angela he thought it was one of the elders killing off the rest and then just before they went over on the roof, he said, I never thought it would be you. I am also thinking the invisible man of last season. He seemed to know all of the elders, as he knew about the Petrellis and was hiding from the Company. I assumed he was the first of the elders to realize the error of their ways.
Oh and I loved the twist of Takezo being the character played by David Anders. I missed Sark from the Alias days and was very pleased to see Anders playing a similar character here. I am interested to see how this will play out.

Mandy | Sep 25, 2007 6:34:58 AM | #

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I don't think it seemed like the first day of school at all. I seriously doubt the chemistry teacher would be breaking out the bunsen burners on the first day. It simply was Claire's first day at a new school.

I have a feeling there are going to be some big things happening for Ando this season. Working as Kaito Nakamura's "right hand" over the past several months, it seems like he's destined for something great.

As for Kaito being dead...I'm guessing Hiro will try to do something about that when he returns to the present!

Big joe | Sep 25, 2007 6:57:32 AM | #

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It definately wasn't the first day of school. The cheerleading squad was all set and practicing - it didn't seem like tryouts. Also, I don't know about N.Y., but there are days in September in Massachusetts when you need a jacket (except for the horrible, freakazoid day we're having today when it's supposed to get to 90 degrees - yuck!). On to other things - boy are you people critical! I thought the episode was very satisfying. Showing us what most of the characters have been up to since we left off, introducing the new characters, a death, a surprise (Kenzai being an Englishman). I think it's pretty obvious that Hiro is going to be his own Hero. As far as the rest of the world ignoring the events that ended last season - I don't think they knew about it. Yeah, I'm sure some people noticed what was going on, but nothing cataclysmic ended up happening.

Sue | Sep 25, 2007 7:15:33 AM | #

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After sleeping on it, I must say I enjoyed it. Im a little confused on of the 9 new people last night, How many are staying around. And what happened to Clairs friend from her last school? What about Kristin Bell. What is her role? I cant wait for more.

Ray | Sep 25, 2007 7:44:59 AM | #

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The most obvious person that sent Kaito off the roof was BAD Peter - and we saw confused GOOD Peter in the storage container. It seems that Peter split into two after the explosion in the sky! Think about it! Good and Bad Twins! It makes for an interesting storyline!

Jason | Sep 25, 2007 10:25:17 AM | #

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"Suresh, Suresh, is that you?" Ned Ryerson - I am glad that you mentioned that because I kept saying "Phil, etc." when S. T. was on the screen.
The only other thing that bothered me was how damn old Nathan's mother looked. She is less than a year older than me, so hopefully, they had her "aged". If not, well, moisturize, moisturize, moisturize!!
I loved Hiro, Ando looks really nice, I knew HRG HAD to take down his "boss" at the copy place (haven't we ALL wanted to do that, at some time in our lives?).
Anyway, I am looking forward to the new season and the new secrets that will be revealed.

tricia | Sep 25, 2007 10:28:03 AM | #

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Wut happen to hana and missy who fought nikki last year n maybe peter did split in to cause he dous have nikkis power they meet in the finaly last year which means he has all of sliars hior and mollys powers just think of it tel me wut u think

matt | Sep 25, 2007 11:02:11 AM | #

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O ya and ddint u think clair was going to get hit by a car or bus when she said by to her dad n that nuthing was going to happen lol

matt | Sep 25, 2007 11:09:07 AM | #

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I think the murder of Mr. Nakamura will turn out to be the work of Peter and Nathan's father. He did come up in conversation between Nathan and Ma.

tom | Sep 25, 2007 11:12:36 AM | #

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So is DL dead? And what about the Haitian?

coocoo | Sep 25, 2007 12:20:33 PM | #

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Not a bad opener for season two, but I wondered at the somewhat tired performances from the main actors. Even Hiro seemed somewhat lackluster compared to last season. The only exception to this was Adair (what the hell kind of name is that for a young girl? Oy vey...) Tishler, who seemed to grow out of the constantly-scared little girl she was the last few episodes of season one. Molly's tirade whenever she was getting tired of being questioned about her dreams was among the best performances of the episode, in my opinion. Surprised she didn't break her hand on the table. And my temporary thrill at the idea of two former Star Trek stars being reunited was dashed quickly. With Nichelle Nichols coming on soon, it would've been cool to see her and George Takei in the same episode, but alas, 't'will not be thus. My problem with the Hiro storyline is that as soon as his hero removed his mask and was revealed to be a smarmy Brit, I was reminded of The Last Samurai. Thank God it wasn't Tom Cruise under the mask, but still...I hope that plot is wrapped up quickly, especially if it is only being played as comic relief to the rest of the show. And is it just me, or does Hayden Panetierre (forgive if it's misspelled, but she does have a helluva surname) look really, really angry? It's almost as if the bright, shiny actress from season one has been replaced by a surly-looking body double. Hopefully that's just for the character, but still...Anyway, glad the show's back, to the point that I even smiled when Mr. Muggles made an appearance (and I absolutely LOATHE Pekes). Sophomore malaise, I'm sure, but things'll pick up.

Dark Disciple | Sep 25, 2007 12:34:46 PM | #

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I think the mysterious character is sylar's mom.

Vaayadi | Sep 25, 2007 1:11:17 PM | #

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To those who have been asking about Kristen Bell, Her first episode will be the fifth episode, She has interviewed that her character is partly good and partly bad, Not sure what that means but can't wait to see her

Bubb | Sep 25, 2007 2:56:02 PM | #

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Well, I definitely enjoyed the episode for what it was...in essence, another pilot. One of the few things I did like about last season's finale is that the writers clearly set us up for a completely new second season storyline. In the sense that they had a lot of new exposition to cover and ALSO had to update us on our returning character's lives, I thought they did very well. (If you think about it, all a good pilot really does is make you want to see more. Hopefully there's an episode further into Season 1 where the show really hits its stride. From that perspective, I was so disappointed by the end of Heroes' season 1, that I wasn't all that keen on what they had developed for season 2's plot. This episode got me interested in the second season storyline. Hopefully it will get more interesting as the season progresses.)

As far as Peter is concerned, I'm liking the idea of Peter being split after the "explosion" (Especially if it has something to do with having net Nikki/Jessica, if only because it would be a really great way to continually interconnect the characters) but mostly because it's a great idea that I didn't think of. I don't remember how close Peter and N/J got in the finale last year, but my impression of Peter's abilities suggest that he can't just be in a room with someone and pick up their abilities, but rather that there has to be some sort of connection. It seemed to me that while Peter and N/J were in the same PLACE at the end of last season, that they didn't really have any sort of contact with each other throughout the final battle, but again, my memory could just be failing me. (On a sidebar - Nathan's past four months WILL be explained in a future episode. I will be the first to admit that even good writers sometimes get lazy or have trouble keeping ALL of the minute details straight, but even the worst of writers wouldn't just forget that they had elected a major character senator!)

And finally, in regards to the Hiro plot-line, I thought for sure that George Takei told Hiro during his training toward the end of last season that the Nakamuras were descended from Kensei and that this was the basis of their powers, or that it was, at least, implied. (Even in this episode Mr. Nakamura talks to Ando about passing down his legacy to Hiro.) Is it possible that Hiro decides to live out the tales of Kensei when David Anders decides that he won't, and that Hiro becomes the Kensei of myth, and that he even (I hope you see where I'm going with this!) wins over the swordsmith's daughter and becomes his own great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather?

I certainly can't wait to find out.

David | Sep 25, 2007 3:07:16 PM | #

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Thanks for the update Bubb. Starting the countdown clock now :)

Rishi | Sep 25, 2007 3:14:53 PM | #

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David,

If I remember correctly, Peter was close enough to Nikki in Kirby Plaza to put a hand on her shoulder when he told her to go to her family. Plus, right after that he started pounding Sylar with (I assumed) Nikki's newfound super strength. So it would be pretty neat if he also picked up a less savory aspect of her ability.

Rorschach | Sep 25, 2007 5:27:05 PM | #

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Just finished watching it at nbc.com - thought it was pretty good! My only question at the moment is: Is the new Big Bad really Sauron? I mean, that whole "I see you!" was straight out of LOTR! Maybe Molly was a ring-bearer in another life...

Dan | Sep 25, 2007 6:25:03 PM | #

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Claire's new school seems to be in the San Diego area. As a native Calfornian, I can tell you that there are bright sunny days year round in that area (in between the rainy days), so it could have been HER first day of school at her NEW school. It did seem like all of the classes were in full swing and she even mentioned that all of the electives were filled up 'last semester' (i.e. she wasn't there at the time to get the choice picks).

Matt, if you re write your questions in plain English, you might get an answer. To be honest, I'm not quite sure what you said (sorry).

Watcher | Sep 25, 2007 7:13:17 PM | #

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You are completely right Rorschach. Thanks for reminding me!

David | Sep 25, 2007 8:34:45 PM | #

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well, i'm certainly glad to see it back, but i was a little disappointed in this ep. one of the greatest features of heroes for me last season was the continual, unrelenting tension...even in the pilot. i didn't feel any tension at all in this show. well, maybe when hiro was shot with the arrows.

there could even have been a little more drama when claire went up to do her backflip, but that fizzled, too.

it's good to see everyone again, particularly peter, but for my money not much happened in this ep except exposition.

oh, and i know this is just the fantasyland of tv, but could someone please tell me how a $10/hr copy store job could put hrg's family in what was surely a $500,000 house in california? since i'm considering a $10/hr job, and living in the money pit that southern cal definitely is, i couldn't suspend my belief quite that far.

KR | Sep 25, 2007 9:20:50 PM | #

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Glad it's back!! Hopefully it'll be another good year!!

Michele | Sep 25, 2007 10:54:03 PM | #

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