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.

Monica's power is very interesting and I'm curious to see how she works with other heroes. Will she be able to mimic their abilities just by watching them? I had one little problem with this storyline though: I understand the poignancy and timeliness of the inclusion of Hurricane Katrina, but I could have done without the projected images when Monica was sitting outside with her co-worker. Though we may not ever experience it ourselves, we all can grasp what her family must have gone through; it came off as heavy-handed and could have been done in a much more subtle way.

Next up: The Wonder Twins and their new friend Derek. I didn't notice it last week, but it turns out their Nissan Rogue formerly belonged to Claire – Derek was the one who stole it. Traveling product placement! Their trip comes to a halt when they come across a body in the road. It's Sylar, who peps up once he's in the car talking about Dr. Suresh with Maya. Interestingly enough, it appears our baddy is not so bad anymore: when asked what his name is, he glances at his broken watch and says, "Gabriel. Gabriel Gray." I love that we get to see that Sylar is not invincible – that samurai sword really did some damage and he's paying for it. It's great to see him struggling when he was cocky and power-hungry all last season.

Over on the East Coast, Bearded Nathan visits his young sons at school, promising them he'll come home soon. Soon enough, he's back in New York, clean-shaven and ready to rock. Angela is in the hospital from that crazy attack in the interrogation room, but instead of implicating whoever roughed her up, she confesses to murdering Kaito Nakamura and says her wounds were self-inflicted. Of course, she was confessing to Parkman, so she told him in her mind to just let it go and accept her confession. Fueled by the knowledge that the killer is still out there, Parkman waltzes up to Nathan and does something I've been waiting for since this show started: he says he knows Nathan can fly and since he (Parkman) can read people's minds, they should work together to solve this case. Finally, a hero was honest, straightforward, and wants to work with another hero right off the bat!

Nathan goes through his mother's things and finds the original picture that Kaito and Angela's marked photos came from, and it is a group of some familiar faces and some new ones. We see Mr. and Mrs. Petrelli, Linderman, Charles Deveaux, Bob (aka Midas to me), and… Parkman's father! Parkman knows that his father wasn't a great guy – he left Matt when he was 13, he stole a lot of money from a lot of people – so Parkman thinks he could be the killer. But how to find him?

Good thing Parkman has a little girl in his apartment with the power to locate anyone anywhere. Molly agrees to give it a shot but backs off as soon as she sees the picture – Parkman's dad is the man she sees in her dreams – he is the nightmare man.

After Parkman leaves, Nathan is left alone with the boxes of family photos. He picks out a few shots of Peter and puts them up on the mirror. He glances up from the Peter's mid-90s haircut to see a gross, melty version of his own reflection, like he saw in the bar in the season premiere. Why does he keep seeing this? It clearly upsets him, as he bloodies his knuckles punching the mirror. Is it what he looked like after he flew Peter away when he exploded? If so, why does he look normal now? Third degree burns take longer than four months to heal, and no beard could have hidden that damage. Maybe it's just a manifestation of his guilt, but I'm thinking there's some other explanation.

The Last Five Minutes weren't quite as exciting as mind-blowing as they've been in the past, but things definitely gained momentum. After Derek finds a newspaper with Maya and Alejandro's mugshots on the front page, Sylar takes matters into his own hands. He kills Derek and then confronts Maya and Alejandro, asking them if they really are murderers. Maya gets all worked up and starts to cry, and we know what that means. Sylar starts to get the black eye but Alejandro is able to calm Maya before she does any damage. Sylar gets that special look in his eye and tells the twins that he understands what it's like to do things that you can't control. Would Sylar really want the crying power, since it's so clearly tied to emotion? Maybe he's Emo Sylar now.

After Claire lies to him about trying out for the cheerleading squad, Mr. Bennet meets up with the Haitian in the backyard. He has a lead on the paintings and they have to travel to the Ukraine. Japan, Mexico, the Ukraine; our heroes are certainly earning their passport stamps this season.

Finally, back with My Two Dads, Molly agrees to try once more to find Parkman's dad. She pinpoints him in apartment 9 on the third floor of a building in Philadelphia, but then he "sees" her and Molly goes into shock. The last thing we hear is her yelling to Parkman in her thoughts.

Next week: Kristen Bell finally starts her guest stint, looking as sassy and smart-assed as ever. I can't wait!

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.

Our other heroes in a foreign country, the Wonder Twins, are still somewhere in Mexico running for the border. Alejandro gets the genius idea to steal a car in broad daylight in front of a policeman so, duh, he winds up in jail next to a drunk American. Maya comes to the rescue, killing the guards and the drunk American with her scary black tears of death. The cool thing about this time was she did it on purpose. She got mad and purposely provoked the guards, which makes this the first time she hasn't used her power by accident. She springs Alejandro and he works his magic to suck out her tears and bring everyone back to life. Maybe it's because I've got Pushing Daisies on my mind, but I wonder if there's a time constraint on when Alejandro can neutralize Maya's power. Just a thought.

Claire's back at school trying to convince Wes that she was just giving herself a really dangerous pedicure when he saw her slice off her pinky toe. He's not taking it and embarrasses her in science class by asking weird questions about lizard-human hybrids. He catches up to her later and she reads him the riot act about being different and having a secret and Wes shuts her up by taking her for a little ride. I didn't notice it until they were flying, but Nicholas D'Agosto (who plays Wes) really looks like Tom Welling from Smallville.

And here is approximately where the episode's cheese factor went through the roof.

Not only was Claire flying around like Lois Lane, but Hiro was writing Ando a love letter. That's right, he wrote him a letter on little scrolls and stuck them in a sword (which I assume he then teleported to Ando, but they never showed it). This letter was completely pointless. It simply recounted everything we'd seen happen to Hiro since he went back in time. Oh, and in case you hadn't noticed, Hiro has a crush on Kensei's girlfriend. And he decides to stay back in the past so he can continue to ogle her from afar. The only thing that came from this storyline is that Kensei realized he had the power to heal himself, like Claire. Pretty disappointing.

Was anyone surprised that Sylar was still alive? Not me. He's on the mend in Maui with a hottie named Michelle - oh wait. Actually, that was an illusion and he's bleeding on a folding table in a creepy shack in the woods with Candice, who, since Missy Peregrym is on Reaper now, has transformed herself into a redhead named Michelle. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you like your villains), Sylar can't use any of his powers. Michelle says he'll be able to reacquire them once he's fully healed, but he doesn't want to wait that long. Which brings us to...

The Last Five Minutes: Sylar kills Michelle/Candice, who turns into her former not-quite-as-svelte self, but when he tries to use her power, he can't, and we leave him in the middle of the woods, doubled over in pain.

After mercifully not killing the brother who wanted to steal the money, Peter gets initiated into the family by getting their crest tattooed on his arm. He has the Identity Box now, but he's not sure he wants to open it, because what if he doesn't like who he was? I'll tell you what he does like: making out with Irish chicks. Because whenever I have amnesia and can inexplicably shoot blue fireballs out from my palms, and there's a box containing clues to my past sitting right in front of me on the table, the first thing I think is, "Man, I really want to make out with an Irish chick right now." I'm right there with ya, Peter.

Next stop on the Makeout Express: Claire and Wes's romantic island getaway. Some flirty teasing naturally leads to a kiss. (One quick thought here - since Wes can fly and so can Nathan, is there a possibility Claire and Wes are related? Gross!) Claire notices two small marks on his neck, and we know that means Mr. Bennet and the Haitian must have found and tagged him at some point. Claire soon finds out that Wes remembers being watched and captured by a man with horn-rimmed glasses.

Earlier in the episode, Niki had visited DL's grave (sad) with Micah, then dropped him in New Orleans with a grandmotherly looking woman who clearly has a power, though we don't know what yet. Niki then turns up at the Company, talking to Mr. Midas, asking him to cure her. He says she has something he wants. How much you want to bet that something begins with an M and ends with an H? And I'm not talking about her pet wooly mammoth.

Mohinder was given a Company lab to work in, even though he would have liked a little more freedom so he could do his secret investigations. He manages to sneak away while Midas is talking to Niki on the phone and finds the eighth painting - the last one in the series. He sends it to Mr. B. The series begins with the painting from last week, showing the death of Kaito Nakamura, and ends with Mr. Bennet lying dead on the ground with a bullet hole in his glasses, and Claire in the background kissing a boy.

I'm really glad they managed to keep the paintings as a plot device even though Isaac was killed off. It helps the suspense factor immensely. Though the paintings depict the future, they still remain somewhat ambiguous because we know that they are not always what they seem: remember how the dead blonde cheerleader wasn't really Claire? Maybe Mr. B doesn't really die in front of his slutty daughter.

Next week: It looks like Nathan finally shaves his Beard of Sadness and Regret! Also, Parkman does some detective work on the symbol and Molly creepily whispers about the "nightmare man."

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.

Note to producers: I think I speak on behalf of all heterosexual female Heroes fans when I say please feel free to include many more storylines that feature Milo Ventimiglia without his shirt on. Thank you for your time.

Maya and Alejandro, who shall heretofore be known as the Wonder Twins, are still on the run for the border, and I don't mean they're jonesing for Taco Bell. They stop at the house of a woman named Nidia who seems to be an old family friend and who promises to help them cross. Nidia has a friend at the house who is a healer and offers to help Maya but tells her she is cursed and warns Nidia not to help them. She does anyway, leading them to a tunnel that goes underground into the United States. Nidia and Maya make it into the tunnel but Alejandro has to wait until some cops finish doing a really poor job of surveying the area (Alejandro was hiding behind like four pieces of grass a couple yards away from them!). The Wonder Twins have been separated – I think we know what that means. Sure enough, Maya gets scared and starts to cry, but her tears sure don't look like mine. Her eyes go all black and black tears stream down her face; she warns Nidia to run but it's too late. Nidia drops dead with black coming out of her own eyes.

Alejandro manages to find them and we see their powers in action for the first time. They hold hands and Alejandro seems to soak up Maya's tears into his own eyes, while also reviving Nidia, who calls them the devil and runs away. That's the thanks they get for bringing her back to life? Some people are so ungrateful.

Mohinder gets his first assignment from Mr. Midas (real name: Bob) – he has to go to Haiti to try to cure a hero who has been stricken with the virus. Hmm, who do we know who might be in Haiti? The Haitian! (Remember him? He worked with Mr. B last season and has the power to erase people's minds.) He and Mohinder have a somewhat pointless religious debate about the treatment (Haitian says, "God gave me this power and apparently I'm not supposed to use it anymore." Mo says, "But God gave me the power to heal you so what's up now?") and the Haitian gives in. Are lizards known for being ungrateful? Because that seems to be a recurring theme – as thanks for curing him, the Haitian erases Mo's memory so that he's sitting with Mr. Midas, still in Haiti, but thinks he's in New York and has just been given his assignment. Midas knows that means the Haitian has been cured, so score one for the Company.

Speaking of the Company, Matt Parkman is investigating the death of Mr. Nakamura (a death that was predicted in one of Isaac Mendez's paintings – the first in a series of eight that Mr. B and Mohinder are looking for). Their prime suspect is Angela Petrelli, so she's brought in for questioning-slash-mind-reading by Parkman. They found the picture of Mr. Nakamura's face with the symbol drawn on it, so he asks her what it means. Out loud, she says it was the logo of her husband's law firm, but in her head Parkman hears, "He did something terrible and now someone wants revenge." Parkman goes a little overboard with his questioning, so Angela requests a lawyer out loud and then mind-yells at Parkman, "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Needless to say, he's thrown for a loop.

Parkman goes to meet still-bearded Nathan who has come to pick up his mother, but soon enough, they hear Angela screaming like a banshee from inside the interrogation room. The doors are mysteriously locked, so Parkman busts through the one-way mirror with a chair – but there's no attacker in sight. Angela's head is all bloody and we saw some really cool shots from the perspective of her assailant – is this the new bad guy? Oh I hope so! Apparently he can make himself disappear and he's also freakishly strong, and if it's the same guy Molly knows about, he can see where she is at all times. All good qualities in a villain, if I do say so myself.

Poor Claire is sick of acting normal. In science class, they're learning about lizards that can regenerate, and Claire asks a bunch of questions that pique the interest of that weird flying stalker kid, West. He tries to talk to her about Chandra Suresh's book but she blows him off in the parking lot, right before she realizes her brand new Nissan Rogue (can I get any love for the product placement?) is missing. She goes to the Copy King to tell her dad but instead of sympathy or an offer to call the cops, she gets a lecture on not testing the limits of her power. We all know that one went in one ear and out the other.

This week's Last Five Minutes weren't quite as crazy as last week's, but we still got some great set-up for the next episode. Peter learns that he beat up McSorley's son and he'll have to pay for it, unless he helps Caitlin's brother with one last favor. In return, he'll get everything he had on him when the thugs found him – including his identity.

After defeating the bad guys and winning the girl, Hiro goes to the real Kensei to let him take over from there. His new girlfriend rewards him with her father's sword and then Hiro and Kensei go off on their next mission, to save her father. Unfortunately, the bad guys return and shoot three arrows smack dab in the middle of Kensei's chest. Hiro freaks out because Kensei can't die or else none of the legends will be true. As he's staring at Kensei's chest, something happens – I'm not sure if the blood moved or what – but Kensei opens his eyes. Does he have a power, or did Hiro do it?

The Haitian shows up at the Copy King and I wish they had somehow played, "Reunited and it feels so good" over the loudspeaker, but my wish was not granted. Mr. B is ready to find the other seven Mendez paintings.

Finally, the basis for the title I chose for this column: Claire cuts off her toe. I'm serious. She takes some sewing scissors and just cuts her baby toe off. She wants to see if her healing power will regenerate a limb, and she's right – the toe grows right back. She's not the only one who saw it though. West is peeping in the window, but when she runs out to the driveway, she sees Suresh's book but West is no where to be found.

So, kids, don't cry if your tears are black, don't read people's minds if they're going to mind-shout back at you, don't travel back in time and change things even if your hero turns out to be a British drunk, and especially don't try to cut off your pinky toe with sewing scissors. More lessons next week when Mohinder finds another Mendez painting and we finally see Niki and Micah.

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.

Everyone's favorite regenerating cheerleader has moved to California with her dad, everyone's favorite paper salesman. Except now she's Claire Butler and she's completely ordinary in every way, and he works at a copy center for a class-A douche bag. Claire tries to lay low on her first day at her new high school but of course that doesn't pan out. She's got a weirdo showing up in her classes asking her if she's a robot or an alien, which is some high school cliché I've never heard of, and judging her whenever she follows the crowd. Come on man, following the crowd is what high school's all about! Claire tries to stand up for a nerdy girl named Martha (aren't they always named Martha?) but chickens out at the last minute from doing a back tuck flip thing so as not to stand out. What happened to her bad-ass-ness? Did she leave it in Texas? Apparently not - she does the flip after hours when the mats aren't there and her leg makes a bad crunchy sound but she fixes it up in no time. And whaddya know, weirdo kid walks in right as she straightens out her leg.

Mr. B (even though now we know his name is Noah, he'll always be Mr. B to me) is taking things easy at the Copy Kingdom - a little too easily according to his boss, who gets on his case for taking a long break. Mr. B doesn't mess around - he twists the guy's finger and tells him never to speak to him again. Since when is Mr. B so strong? And is that a scar going across the boss's forehead? If that's Sylar pretending to be Mr. Bennet, I will find you, Tim Kring, wherever you are, and yell at you because that's just mean.

Hiro is right where we left him, in the middle of a samurai battle in 1671 Japan during a solar eclipse. He stops time and some arrows to save himself and his hero Kensei by teleporting the heck out of there. Turns out that wasn't the best move - not only is Kensei really a white British dude who made money by protecting poor people, but Hiro has effed with history by not letting him save a village. He tries to set things right by talking Kensei into following a swordsmith's daughter (in the legend, that's how Kensei got the sword that Hiro would later covet), but Kensei knocks him out and he's left with a goat licking his face. Hard to believe, but we know he's been in worse situations and he'll figure it out.

The elder Nakamura is in New York City with Ando proclaiming that he will wait for Hiro to return from wherever he is. Mr. Nakamura might not have time because he finds a picture of himself with the symbol drawn over his face in red, meaning he will be dead in 24 hours. Nathan Petrelli and his mother are in Peter's apartment when she finds a similar picture of herself just outside the door. I should also mention that Nathan has a beard, a drinking problem, and one less wife than he did four months ago, and Mrs. P is saying Peter is dead but Nathan disagrees.

Now that we've caught up with our old friends (for the most part), let's meet some new ones, shall we? Maya and Alejandro may look like a Latino version of Peter and Claire, but they are a brother and sister on the run in Honduras trying to get to the US. We know one of them is special because Maya is reading Chandra Shuresh's book, and there is a big emphasis on Alejandro staying with Maya at all times. I'm thinking they're like the Wonder Twins and need each other to activate their powers, but that's not quite the case. After accepting a ride towards the border from an extremely sketchy truck driver and a dispute over the cost of said ride, the siblings are separated. Alejandro chases after the truck and eventually finds it… with the driver, his buddy, and all the passengers in the back dead with blood trickling from their eyes. Maya is crying on the side of the truck, but Alejandro makes her get in so they can make their way to the States. So what's her power? Making people's eyes bleed? And why is she so unstable when her brother's not around?

And now, a new feature of my Heroes columns I'd like to call The Last Five Minutes. We all know that's where a lot of important action happens, so I'll sum it up each week.

Mr. Nakamura and Ando are on the top of the Deveaux building. Mr. Nakamura tells Ando to go get him a sword as Mrs. Petrelli approaches with the matching half of his picture. Mrs. Petrelli says that since Charles Deveaux, Linderman, and her husband are dead, there are nine of them left (who is "them"? Good members of the Company or bad ones?). Mr. Nakamura says he has redeemed himself by helping Hiro, so how did Mrs. Petrelli help her son? By slapping Mr. Nakamura in the face, that's how. Soon enough, a hooded figure arrives and Mr. Nakamura says, "I never thought it would be you." They both go over the edge of the building just as Ando arrives, but he only sees Mr. Nakamura's body on the ground.

During a boring dinner at the Bennet house (with what appears to be a different actor playing Lyle, but I could be wrong), Mr. B gets a call from his old pal Mohinder. Turns out they planned on Mohinder luring in someone from the Company at one of his lectures, and Mr. B tells him to keep him close because "you and I will bring this whole Company down." I love it.

Nathan is alone in a bar when Claire calls him. He barely says anything to her then hangs up and looks in the mirror... and sees a grotesque, melty face that more resembles Peter's than his own, mostly because of those pesky emo bangs. I'd know them anywhere. It took me until 9:52 to realize that we hadn't seen Peter yet, so at this point, I was worried, even though I knew Milo Ventimiglia's contract was renewed. Also noteworthy: weirdo kid from Claire's school was spying on her through her bedroom window, and he can fly. Maybe they're related!

My worry about Peter's fate didn't last long. We're taken to Ireland where some thugs are skulking around a storage facility looking to bust into a certain unit. They find the right one, but it appears to be empty. Except for that superhero chained up in the back. It's Peter! And he cut his bangs! He seems out of it, but manages to do my favorite move - the throw-the-guy-against-the-wall-with-his-mind move - to one of the thugs. When the thug leader asks him what his name is, all he can say is, "I don't know… I don't know."

There you have it. The questions: Who did that to Peter and why did they do it? Is Sylar masquerading as any one of our heroes right now? Who killed Mr. Nakamura? Where are Niki, DL, and Micah (it seems like we'll see them next week)? What happened when Nathan and Peter flew into outer space? When do we get a peek at the new bad guy? Plenty to think about for the next seven days. In the meantime, I think I'm going to go out and buy a Nissan Rogue. I'm not sure why, but I really want one.

It's the morning after, and I'm still trying to gather my thoughts about the season finale of Heroes. There are just so many things to address. Peter and Nathan might be dead. Parkman might be dead too. There's a baddy out there worse than Sylar, and he can "see" Molly. Niki finally gained Jessica's strength and bad-ass-ness. Hiro killed Sylar but not really because of the cockroach I called out way back in January. Oh and we found out Mr. Bennet's name, finally. It's Noah. I'm sure there's an arc metaphor in there somewhere, but I have way too many other things to think about right now.

Apparently the answer to the title, "How to Stop an Exploding Man," is get his older brother to fly him into the stratosphere. I've read a few blogs and columns by people who are complaining about this resolution, including EW.com's Gilbert Cruz and our own Elaine Liner. Why couldn't Peter fly himself into oblivion without Nathan's help? Easy - Because he couldn't even control his nuclear hands, much less summon another power simultaneously. And also, Nathan needed to redeem himself, big time. He's been acting so power-hungry and heartless lately, and you could see in his eyes that he didn't really want to be a hero in the way his mother and Linderman had in mind. He did it his own way. He saved the world without sacrificing .07% of the population; his only sacrifice was himself. And maybe his brother; I'm still not sure if Peter could regenerate from something like that.

Other extremely cool parts of this episode were Claire's escape from Mrs. Petrelli (seriously, what is that lady's power?) and Peter's dream/vision with Mr. Deveaux. Claire first - She already has a family! So she jumped out the window! I loved that shot - from however many stories up, Claire jumps, lands, and then gets up, brushes herself off, and continues on her way. I love it when the heroes are so sure of their powers. I'm glad she didn't go through with shooting Peter. Nathan's appearance was more satisfying, and Claire needs to go home with her dad and try to be a kid again, without the guilt of murdering her uncle holding her back.

Mr. Deveaux's appearance made me wish he had been around for more of this season. There was no explanation of how exactly the scene occurred, but he offered Peter plenty to chew on. Apparently, it all comes down to love. Since Peter is capable of unconditional love, he's able to save the world. I'd argue that Nathan's the one with the unconditional love because he made the bigger sacrifice, but that's cool. Whatever gave Peter encouragement, it worked.

My favorite line had to be, "Didn't I kill you before?" from Sylar with Peter's response, "Didn't take." And Ando telling Hiro he looked badass was awesome. Micah showing Molly his power by fixing the elevator was cute as well. Honestly, there was so much good stuff in this episode, I'm willing to overlook the fact that Peter and Sylar's fight was a little blah. Niki whacking him with that parking meter was great though, and I'm so glad she finally gained Jessica's super-strength.

Mohinder's voiceover in the beginning of the episode didn't make much sense, but at the end, I liked the sentiment of, "Our shared experience of the fantastic and the mundane, the simple human need to find a kindred, to connect, and to know in our hearts that we are not alone." That's truly what this season has been about. In the beginning, each of the heroes was very alone and confused, and in the end, they wound up probably still a little confused, but at least they knew they had each other. All season long I was begging for the heroes to come together, and they finally did. I'm satisfied but still left with enough questions to keep me antsy for next season, and that's good enough for me.

Be sure to read why Elaine Liner thought the Heroes finale was disappointing.

Read more about Heroes.

That's it? The Petrelli brothers zoom into the heavens and...kaboom?

Somehow, after 22 episodes of thrills, chills and tests of wills, the season finale of NBC-Universal's Monday night drama hit Heroes packed a less than explosive punch. There were a couple of surprises and the right bad guys died, but come on...that's all there is?

Click here to read the rest of Heroes Season Finale: Up, Up and Away

Three deaths. One maybe-death. One fixed election. One training montage. Two people with the power to blow up New York City. Add those all together and what do you get? This week's episode of Heroes, the last one before next week's season finale. In some shows, the episode before the finale can be a little slow or consist mostly of filler, but this one sure packed a punch. Or should I say, a fist through the back of the head?

Click here to read the rest of Heroes: Tick, Tick, Boom?

Another team working together was Team Sanders, who ran into Team Bennet-Parkman in the building where both the Walker Tracking Device and Linderman were hidden. Jessica and DL have gotten the hang of phasing together, and they were quickly able to surprise Linderman in his office. I'm just about sick of the "give me back my son" thing, so when Linderman shot DL, I wasn't too upset. Linderman wins for best death so far this season though. I wonder what his cause of death will be listed as. "Fist phased into brain"? DL is the maybe-death I mentioned above, since he was shot in the stomach (I think) but I'm pretty sure I spotted him looking alive in the previews for next week.

I love Mr. Bennet and Matt Parkman working together. Parkman really has a handle on how to use his power, and Bennet is great at encouraging him to do so. Death number two came when Thompson interrupted their plan to find Molly Walker and was met with two bullets to the head from Mr. Bennet. Who knew this guy was so ruthless? I guess I'd be mad too if I were part of a secret organization and had to fake my own death to protect my daughter.

I don't think this new and improved Bennet has it in him to kill a little girl, though. I'm surprised he held that pose with Mohinder for so long, but he'll cave next week, I'm sure. Molly's a little girl with a power, Claire was a little girl with a power, so how could he possibly kill her? I think he should take her in, now that Thompson's out of the picture, and then he can control who she locates.

While these teams were working together, another team broke up. During Hiro's samurai sword training montage with his father, Ando bought himself a sword and split, assuming he'll just try to kill Sylar himself. This seemed a little out of character, as Gilbert Cruz noted over at EW.com: "Did Ando really have to run off like that because he was convinced that Hiro had given up his mission? Dude, knock on the door!" Does this mean Ando will die anyway, even if the heroes are able to prevent the explosion? If all of Hiro's hard work turns out to be for naught, I'm sure we'll have a very different character on our hands next season.

As was expected, Candice used Micah to give Nathan Petrelli his landslide victory. I'm glad we got to see Micah use his power, and there was a neat parallel between how he behaved and how Molly Walker behaved when she used her power. Micah said something like, "it says they're all connected by a network", not worrying about how the computer was saying it - that's just how he understands it. Molly "just thinks about someone" and knows where they are. These kids aren't concerned with how their powers work or why they have them; they just use them.

I'm surprised it took me this long to realize it, but I'm very disappointed in Nathan. He seems to not really do anything himself and not make any of his own decisions. Linderman convinced him exploding New York would be a good thing and also healed his wife (something Nathan could never do), Micah fixed the election (which he wasn't going to win on his own accord), and Nathan is mostly ashamed of his power. This guy needs to grow a backbone, and fast. Preferably by next week, please!

The last of the three deaths was a long time coming, but it didn't make it any less worth it. Sylar finally got his hands on Ted Sprague's brain and quickly got a handle on his new set of radioactive hands. After visiting his mother last week, Sylar certainly got his mojo back and is at the height of his creepiness. Seriously, this guy is such a great villain, I smile whenever he's onscreen because I know something good is coming. At least now our exploding man suspects are down to two, and the face-off between Peter and Sylar next week should be awesome.

So will anyone explode? If so, who? What will the death count be? Which of our heroes will make it out alive (I did not like the glimpse we got of a dead-looking Parkman in the previews)? The finale will likely be one of the best hours of television this year, so set your DVRs, TiVos. VCRs, alarm clocks, and kitchen timers. We all better be ready.

How appropriate that tantalizing tidbits about Heroes would be revealed in the midnight hour.

On the syndicated late-night radio show Loveline, actor Greg Grunberg, who plays the telepathic policeman Matt Parkman on the NBC-Universal series (airing its finale at 8 p.m. Monday, May 21), chatted with host Dr. Drew Pinsky about what's coming up on the show. The season-ender, he said, will "set up the second season perfectly." One main plot turn will see the cheerleader (Hayden Panettiere) having to choose between "someone she loves and saving thousands of lives."

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I have to make a disclaimer: When I watched this week's episode of Heroes, I was in the throes of a stomach virus. It could have been the fever or the wooziness, but I thought the episode was a little off. Of course, an off episode of Heroes is still all kinds of awesome, so I'm not complaining.

I'll clarify: By "off" I don't mean bad. It was just a different type of episode than we've been used to in the past few weeks. There was a little less action and a lot more character development, especially with Sylar. Does he actually have a conscience? He really doesn't want to blow up millions of innocent people? Coulda fooled me. Whenever I need a good pep talk, I call my mom, and so does Sylar. Turns out Gabriel got his desire to be special from his mother, who tells him he can be so much more than just a watchmaker; he "could even be President." Maybe Sylar's mom and Mrs. Petrelli should get together and see who's better at son-encouraging.

In the midst of all that mother-son time, Hiro stopped time but then chickened out of taking Sylar down. While time was stopped, either Hiro lost control or Sylar gained it, but the bad guy glanced over (and I covered my eyes) and froze Hiro's sword so that it broke. I never really believed that Hiro was going to go through with killing Sylar (not at that moment at least), so this twist wasn't huge for me. I guess I'm just waiting for the finale for huge, game-changing stuff like that to happen.

There was a pretty big game-changer in this episode though, and her name is Molly Walker. Mr. Bennet only knows her as the Walker Tracking Device, but she's actually a little girl with the power to locate anyone in the world simply by thinking about them. Unfortunately, she has some kind of virus that prevents her from using her power and will ultimately kill her. Mohinder Suresh to the rescue! Apparently his sister had the same virus (and maybe the same power?) but his father came up with a cure a few months too late, after she had died. Mohinder winds up giving Molly some of his own blood as an attempt to cure her. I hope it works, because I'd like to see her power in action. Does she make a face, like Hiro does, or do her eyes turn a weird color, like Isaac's did? Also, according to Thompson, she's the key to eliminating Sylar, so that's important too.

I'm really liking the scenes with Peter and Claire. Even though I know they're uncle and niece, there seems to be a more tender connection there. It probably has to do with that saving-each-others'-lives thing. Claire doesn't go to Paris, but stays in New York City with a gun so she can shoot Peter if he starts to go nuclear. I highly doubt she'd do it, but couldn't they just pull the bullet out of his head anyway? I'm still convinced it won't be Peter doing the exploding, so I wasn't that worried about his fire hands at the end of the episode.

I am worried about poor, conflicted Nathan though. Any plotlines involving Linderman kind of confuse me, but I hope Nathan is a good guy at heart and doesn't go through with fixing the election and/or approving the big explosion. How exactly is Linderman in charge of the explosion, if Peter seemed to encounter Ted by accident? Just how many strings is Linderman pulling up there?

Some stuff happened with DL and Niki/Jessica, but it was mostly just a way to get them to New York with the rest of the crew. Candice is holding Micah hostage until he can do whatever it is Linderman wants him to do, so DL and his wives went to rescue him. There are a lot of pieces up in the air right now, and I can't wait to see how they fall into place. Molly Walker, Micah, Claire and Peter... and who will explode? Even in my feverish haze and even in a filler week, this show still has me hooked.

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Let's see... Last week I used "awesome", so how do I describe this week's episode of Heroes? Cool? Super-cool? Super ridiculously awesomely cool? Hmm, that last one sounds about right.

I'm not even sure where to start. Hiro and Ando traveled five years into the future and learned what would have happened if whoever the exploding man was actually succeeded in exploding. Initially, we're led to believe that Sylar exploded, which led to backlash towards those with powers, which led to some heroes going rogue, some heroes capturing other heroes, and one certain hero, President Nathan Petrelli, wanting to flat out eliminate them. Our friendly Professor Mohinder reminds him that would be genocide, but Nathan doesn't care.

Other characters changed quite a bit in the five-year span. Matt Parkman, as Michael Canfield at TVSquad.com puts it, is "one of the most sympathetic of the series regulars, and one always struggling the fit in in the normal timeline; [in the future] he has found his confidence but lost much of his humanity." Parkman was working for Homeland Security to find and capture heroes, but he was also teaming with Mr. Bennet. Bennet delivered dangerous heroes to Parkman and in return, Parkman let Bennet help the harmless ones. It seems that Parkman was also purposely not finding Claire, and Bennet may have been protecting Parkman's wife and son as well. Here's a question: Does Parkman's wife think he's dead, or did they become estranged at some point?

My pick for the best future version of a hero goes to Peter Petrelli. Take one look at him: a huge scar going diagonally across his face, just the right amount of future-stubble, and that slicked back hair... If that's not a badass, I don't know what is. He seems to have complete control of his plethora of powers, and a hot babe on his arm as well. Jessica is long gone, but Niki lives on, hardened by the deaths of her alter ego, her son, and her husband. At first I assumed they all perished in the explosion, but Nathan/Sylar uses DL's phasing power late in the episode, so I wasn't completely right.

We had seen the future version of Hiro before, but now we know why he's so dark and dreary. Ando died in the explosion, and Hiro blamed himself, so it became his personal mission to pinpoint the moment in time that he could change things so Ando would live. Pretty heavy stuff. He made progress with his "save the cheerleader, save the world" message, but now he showed our Hiro the issue of 9th Wonders depicting Hiro killing Sylar. In the midst of a hot-cold blast fight between Sylar and Peter, Hiro and Ando return to the present (are you confused yet?) with renewed hope - just what Hiro needed.

I'm sure I missed some stuff (like Claire being an engaged brunette working at a diner, Nathan/Sylar killing Claire, Mohinder killing the Haitian), but trust me, it was all super-cool. Since it took place in a future that may indeed (fingers crossed) never happen, this episode didn't do a whole lot to advance the plot. The stakes were raised, since now Hiro knows what he needs to do to save New York, but other than that, it was just plain fun to watch. I've read some articles picking apart the inconsistencies in the timeline and criticizing the show for taking storylines from X-Men and other comics, but you know what? I had fun last night. Afterward, I felt like I had just watched a really good movie. What else on TV these days can make you say that?

Next week, the super-cool saga continues as we inch closer and closer to the date of the explosion. Will Hiro succeed in killing Sylar? Will anyone explode, and if so, who will it be? Who is Molly Walker and what is her power? I don't know the answers, but I sure can't wait to watch.

Read more about Heroes.

After one super-long hiatus, Heroes is finally back, and can I say "with a vengeance"? My inner comic book/action hero nerd was in full effect last night as I watched this episode - my jaw dropped, I talked to my TV, and I even almost cried. Almost. Come on, Isaac dying after realizing you can't fight the future? Admit there was a pang in your heart during his death scene. And doesn't "Fight the Future" sound like the title of a Journey song?

So many storylines, I don't know where to begin.

Linderman further showcased his mysterious ways by asking Jessica if he could borrow Micah for a while. Micah is a technopath, so what does Lindy need him for? I loved the reveal of Candice posing as Jessica, but I wasn't such a fan of Jessica this episode. I think I don't like her unless the struggle with Niki is there - that's the interesting aspect of the character(s). Watching Jessica act like a badass is fun for a minute but it gets old. Maybe Niki will come out when she realizes Micah has been borrowed by the big boss.

Over in Odessa, Mr. Bennet, Ted, and Matt Parkman are all imprisoned in different cells. Mr. B seems to have the power of "being able to really focus his thoughts" because he thinks to Parkman how to get the three of them out of there. It was very cool to see Ted focus his power to do something positive, and I hope it gave him a little reassurance, since he's kind of a downer all the time. Now the three musketeers are off to New York City (of course) to try to track down the Organization's tracking system. There's something about these three - they just seem like regular guys, so their interaction is like that of three buddies in a bar at happy hour or something. Also, I just love Greg Grunberg, so maybe that has something to do with it.

Mohinder is definitely off his game. First he tried to take on Sylar all by himself, which resulted in getting firmly planted on his own ceiling, then he thinks Peter Petrelli is dead. This is when I started talking to my TV: "Pull it out! Just pull the glass out and he'll be fine!" This is Regeneration 101, people. Thankfully, Claire knew the trick and saved her uncle. Too bad she's getting shunned and sent to Paris for a week because of Nathan's forthcoming election. Why Paris though, if it's only for a week? That townhouse looked pretty big; I'm sure they could find a place to stash her. Any guesses yet as to what Mrs. Petrelli's power is? It seemed like she was leaning toward regeneration too, but she probably has something crazy we've never even heard about.

To backtrack just a little, I've got to say that whole throwing-things-around-with-your-mind power that Sylar and Peter have is my favorite. Maybe I just like the sound effect that goes with it. He was a little gentler when he mind-threw Isaac, probably because he knew he was about to cut his head open. And so we are short one future-painter, but it looks like Sylar didn't quite absorb Isaac's artistic ability - those paintings looked like they were done by an eight-year-old. Maybe this will lead to confusion in the future - Sylar paints a scene but someone is unrecognizable or confused with someone else because of his inaccuracy? Hey, a girl can dream.

Finally, Hiro and Ando are still on the roof of Simone's father's building, five years in the future, looking down on… not much of New York City. Hiro is still all disappointed about not stopping the bomb, so he decides to pay a visit to Isaac to … I don't know, see how he's doing? I kind of lost Hiro's reasoning here, but I'm going with it. Hiro and Ando don't find Isaac in his studio, but instead are greeted by a none-too-pleased Super-Samurai Future Hiro.

Whaddya know - a perfect set-up for next week! Our next episode takes place five years in the future, as though the heroes were not able to stop the explosion. I really can't wait. Who's still alive? Is Sylar still around, tormenting the heroes? Does the Organization still exist? Most importantly, when and why did Claire dye her hair brown? Good thing we only have to wait seven days to find out!

Click here to read more about Heroes.

Good grief, after what seemed like a lifetime, "Heroes" finally returned last night. Of course, I had forgotten many of the characters names (thanks NBC!). Let's see...let's see...what did we learn. Oh yeah, that Linderman guy has powers too. He can heal. And he is the mastermind behind all this (well, you probably already knew that). He wants the bomb to go off so he can help heal the world and bring humanity together. And besides, only .07% will be killed by the bomb he says. He promises Nathan the White House for his cooperation. Ut oh, me thinks Nathan is about to turn bad guy.

Click here to read the rest of Heroes Returns!

If there was a fall finale episode of Heroes back in early December, what would you call this one? A mid-winter finale? A February-sweeps-is-over-so-
we're-holding-back-new-episodes-till-April finale? Either way, I like these sort of mini-seasons we're getting with Heroes. There's been plenty of action packed into the first two thirds, so I'm okay waiting until April 23rd for the final chunk of episodes. (Hint to Lost: splitting the episodes 11-7-4 is way better than 6-16.) And what do viewers want most from their mid-winter/February-sweeps finales? A good cliffhanger, and we got several with this episode.

A big theme with Chapter 18 in the Heroes story (creepily titled "Parasite") was characters getting the rug pulled out from under them. There's probably a more eloquent way to describe it, but that's basically what happened. Nathan thought he was being super sneaky teaming up with the FBI to turn in Linderman, but Jessica was right - it was pretty stupid of the FBI to run surveillance in Linderman's own hotel. Amateurs. Old Lindy was several steps ahead of Nathan. Not only did he know Nathan was working with the FBI, he also knew about Nathan and Peter's powers, Claire, and who knows what else. I don't know about Nathan, but it would be hard for me to turn down pot pie and the chance to be Vice President.

Speaking of guest roles, Missy Peregrym has been doing a turn as Candice, a hero with the power to create illusions (according to this Wikipedia article). If you watched the cancelled-too-soon ABC dramedy life as we know it a couple years ago or paid actual money to see the gymnastics comedy Stick It, then you remembered Missy as Jackie and Haley respectively. She's a meanie as Candice though, huh? Torturing Isaac with visions of a resurrected Simone and then tricking Mr. Bennet by posing as his wife - she's sure got a mischievous streak. Mr. B. just can't win these days. His love for his daughter and the rest of his family is very moving, so I hope he gets back on track soon.

Back to the rug-pulling-out theme, Mohinder sure got it the worst this week. At first I was so proud of him for being a lot less dumb than I had thought, but then again, if he was planning on drugging a super-villain, he probably should have arranged for some backup in case said super-villain got the upper hand. And boy did he. Though Mohinder did a very good Jack Bauer impression while getting information and spinal fluid from Sylar, Sylar definitely got back at him by bloodying him up and pinning him to the ceiling. Poor, troubled Peter Petrelli went to Mohinder for help at the worst possible time and wound up getting the can opener treatment on his forehead. I have to admit I chuckled when part of Peter's super moody bangs fell to the floor, but I'm psyched to see the Peter-Sylar showdown that's sure to come when the show returns.

Claire also thought she was too big for her britches when she escaped from the Haitian only to be met by her paternal grandmother, Mrs. Petrelli, and the Haitian himself at Peter's apartment. I liked that Claire thought Peter was the only person she could trust (the issue of trust also arose when Niki told Nathan to trust her, so we could call it a mini-theme of the episode); it's interesting that we know they're related but they made a connection on their own. With Mrs. P. in cahoots with the Haitian, Linderman knowing all of Nathan's dirty details, and Mrs. Bennet faking memory loss, the new slogan for the final episodes could be, "Who Knows What?" If NBC uses that, I'm totally suing.

Wrapping up the rest of the storylines, Niki is slowly gaining power over Jessica, Ando made a triumphant return to help Hiro get the sword, and Isaac is back on smack. Serves him right for using - he wound up painting a picture of himself with his head cut open. Now remember, Hiro saw a headless Isaac in his initial visit to the future, so there's still a chance it could change, but hasn't everything in Isaac's paintings come true up to this point? Are Isaac's paintings warnings or the unchangeable truth? What will happen to Peter's bangs??

If you'd like a spoiler to tide you over for the next few weeks, check out the latest Vine show from E!'s Kristin Veitch here. It seems bigger than it actually is, but it'll get your brain turning a little bit. And in case you're wondering, as I'm writing this, there are 47 days until April 23rd. We can do it - reruns on SciFi will help.