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By Lisa LaValle

After a touchy-feely episode last week, things picked up a bit this week on Heroes. Though I was a little disappointed by the absence of Shirtless Milo Ventmiglia (my own personal hero), the new characters, the introduction of a brand new power, and one huge plot development almost made up for it.

Poor Claire. She likes this super-cute boy but her daddy has forbidden her from seeing him! Unfortunately, the superhero twist on this age-old storyline didn't breathe any new life into it. Claire lies and sneaks off with West, they fly to the Hollywood sign, they talk about trust, they kiss, she comes back late and lies to her dad again. I understand that Claire needs someone she can identify with, but the cheese is laid on a bit too thick with these two. One correction from last week: I mistakenly said West's name was Wes because that's how it was listed on IMDB last week. They've fixed it now, but just for safety's sake, I consulted Greg Beeman's blog, since he's an executive producer and all. West it is and West it shall remain.

By Lisa LaValle

If I had a problem with the title "Lizards" last week, then I have a bigger problem this week with "Kindred." Okay, it does make sense - Niki left Micah with a relative on DL's side of the family, Peter got initiated into the Stereotypical Irish Rogue family, Claire realized she wasn't the only one in her high school with a secret - but I think a much better title would have been "Make Out Party." There was more kissing in this episode than in all of last season; it was kind of out of control. I'm not sure what you're trying to do here, Mr. Tim Kring, but if I wanted to watch a soap, I'd turn on Gossip Girl.

By Lisa LaValle

The title of this episode was "Lizards" and I'm struggling to figure out what that had to do with any storylines other than Claire's. Do lizards shoot blue flame/spark things from their hands? I don't think so. Do they cry black tears and kill people? Not the last time I checked. Do they live in Haiti? Why yes they do. I still think it's a weird title choice, because lizards certainly don't travel back in time and disguise themselves as samurai warriors.

We last left Peter getting his ass kicked in a storage facility, and this week we find him getting his ass kicked in the back room of a bar. Apparently the thugs thought he stole something that they were actually trying to steal, but poor Petey doesn't remember a thing. If he doesn't start remembering soon, some fella by the name of McSorley is gonna be pissed. He gets a little TLC from Caitlin, the head thug's sister, but as she's sponging the blood off his face, she realizes there are no wounds underneath. This is news to Peter, but not to us. I'm a little worried here – since Peter seems to have lost his memory, do we have to watch him learn about his powers all over again? That was what last season was all about.

By Lisa LaValle

Wow. After a summer filled with shows about karaoke and fraternity parties, the season premiere of Heroes reassured me of something I'm always glad to remember each fall: TV can be awesome. Come on now - subtitles from not one but two foreign languages, samurai swords, bleeding eyeballs, someone locked in a storage facility in Ireland for who knows how long... All of that on one show on network television? You betcha. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to season two of Heroes.

I don't know where to start, so let's begin at the beginning: A Mohinder voiceover! Oh, how I've missed them! As usual, I'm not sure if he made any sense whatsoever, but he's in Egypt giving a speech about the virus that killed his sister and was in the process of killing little Molly Walker last season. After his speech, he's confronted by a nerdy-looking stranger who offers him a job. Mohinder first decides to shove him against a wall but then agrees to have a drink with him. Turns out he's part of "The Company" - which we remember from season one as the alliance of all the older heroes like Mrs. Petrelli and Mr. Nakamura - and our friendly stranger just wants to help Mohinder "protect" people with special abilities. Mo agrees to let the Company fund his research because he wants to protect Molly and oh yeah - the stranger can turn things into gold, so there's plenty of money to go around.