Heroes: Four Months Later

Noah: "From now on, you have to be entirely unextraordinary."
Claire: "Right. Don't stand out in any way."

So much goodness. Where to begin?

The Company: Nakamura talked about the gifted ones as if he and Angela weren't in their number. Which means that he's not going to get up and walk away; he really is dead. He said he'd wronged them and Hiro was his redemption. Hiro is nearly thirty. The Company was formed thirty years ago. This can't be a coincidence. What exactly did he say about The Nine? (Wasn't that cancelled? :) Will Angela Petrelli escape the curse of the Twenty-four Hour Death Photo?

Cairo, Egypt: So Mohinder has more of an edge this season; he was just recruited by the Company, but he's undercover and cahooting with Noah. And Matt is living in Mohinder's apartment in New York. The three of them are working together. I like it.

San Cristobal, Honduras: Maya appears to be the season two version of Ted Sprague, except she fries every brain within reach instead of exploding or burning the crap out of people. Does her brother Alejandro have a power, too? Maybe he has superluck, because he was out of reach when she accidentally killed everyone. Unless he did the killing by remote control.

Kyoto, Japan: Are they going to start every season with an eclipse? Did Hiro change the future by accidentally preventing Kensei from saving the village of Otsu and marrying the swordsmith's fiery daughter? And may I say that, other than the extreme weirdness of Kensei turning out to be a Brit, which would be extremely unlikely in seventeenth century Japan, I am so happy that they cast David Anders. He absolutely rocked as the amoral Julian Sark on Alias. Maybe he and Greg Grunberg will get to work together again.

New York: Matt survived four bullets in the chest, got a divorce, went back to police work (after cheating on his detective exam), and is now Molly's foster father. All good plot-related choices for the writers to make, because I was bored with his marriage. But what about the baby?

Molly is having nightmares. She's been creating drawings with the broken helix and lots of yellow eyes. (Maybe our big villain is the Yellow-Eyed Demon from Supernatural.) Okay, the unspoken man that Molly talked about in the season one finale is obviously going to be important this season, I get it.

What on earth (or in the air) happened to Nathan? Why isn't he a congressman? What was with his burned image in the mirror? Did he acquire Candice's power and is disguising how he really looks, or is he developing a mirror alter ego, like Niki? And whatever possessed him to grow such an ugly beard?

Costa Verde, California: No more cheerleading for the cheerleader who saved the world. Hey, Claire wouldn't want to be on that squad of vicious bimbos, anyway. And she was being pursued by a rather cute guy named West who can fly, just like her biological father. Was this the first time we had a repeated power?

I get such a charge out of the Bennets. I loved Noah's smackdown of his smarmy little boss, and Sandra speaking French to Mr. Muggles, undercover show dog. I don't know why Mr. Muggles strikes me so funny, but he does. And it's not like I'm making fun of Sandra. I'd carry my cats around all day if they'd let me.

Cork, Ireland: Finally, in the last few minutes, I got what I was waiting for when Peter showed up with short hair and no memory. But he still has powers that he appears to be using instinctively. Why was he in a cargo container and wearing the broken helix? And if he's using his powers and absorbed DL's, how come he didn't just walk out of the handcuffs as well as the container?

Bits and pieces:

-- Some cast changes, but not as many as I expected. James Kyson Lee (Ando) is now in the cast instead of on the guest star list. Dania Ramirez (Maya?) was also added. No sign of the entire Sanders/Hawkins contingent, but maybe they'll arrive later. And of course, Isaac and Simone are gone, probably because they're dead.

-- The subtitles were back, but in yellow. Why yellow? English translations from Japanese are in white, Spanish is in yellow. Will they do translations from French in pink?

-- Mohinder said there was a plague that will only target our special people.

-- Nathan is no longer with his wife and kids. He's drinking a lot, and Angela said he'd driven his family away.

-- The Bennets are now the Butlers, and Noah is an assistant manager for Copy Kingdom. Still in the paper biz, which is just really funny. How can he afford that house? Did Matt cash in the diamonds and give him moola?

-- Claire's class was on evolution.

-- Molly told Matt that his watch was slow.

-- The storage container was 9109. I have no idea if numbers mean anything, but I'm a Lost fan so I'm recording the number.

-- The broken helix was everywhere. On Molly's drawings, around Peter's neck, and on Kensei's flag and sword. (Did that have something to do with time travel? How would they know what a helix was in 1671?)

-- In every episode, at least one character talks about being a hero. Here, it was Hiro and Kensei. I wonder what Kensei's English name was?

-- Claire now has straight hair. Peter has short hair. Nathan has a huge beard. And they wisely gave Mohinder a shave and a haircut; he looked yummy. Of course, he always did, even when he was fuzzy.

-- The Copy Kingdom looked like the same location as Nathan's campaign headquarters.

-- Maya was reading a Spanish translation of Activating Evolution.

-- Our new Company bad guy, played by Steven Tobolowsky (whom I will forever see as Ned the insurance guy in "Groundhog Day") literally has the Midas touch. Which explained how the Company was funded.

-- Noah's terrified boss had a Sylar-like scar across his forehead. Was that deliberate? If it wasn't, it was a remarkable coincidence.

-- I usually hate product placement, but I'd like to personally thank Nissan for the limited commercial interruption. Plus I thought it was hilarious that Claire got a Rogue.

Quotes:

Hiro: (picking arrows out of the air) "The past isn't a very safe place."

West: "Are you a robot or an alien? Because everybody in the world is either one or the other." Is that a code phrase? Are you a normal human or one of us?

Nathan: "To think I almost listened to you. You're evil, Ma."

Copy Kingdom Manager: "The paper business is dog eat dog. You gotta live it and breathe it, you gotta want it. Do you want it, Butler?" Well, do you, punk?

Noah: "Eighty-six straight days of sunshine. You just can't beat that." This is probably funnier if you live in L.A. I miss rain. I really, really do.

I thought the first season opener/pilot was fairly weak, so I was pleasantly surprised. I don't know if it was four out of four stars, though. Let's say a strong three edging into a weak four?

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

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