‘Heroes’ fills out the plot, finally

No need to pile on about the fact that Monday’s “Heroes� episode, bridging last season to this season, should have been done a few episodes ago. There are enough critics doing that. The show’s creator, Tim Kring, knows his mistake, and has admitted as much with his highly publicized apology in Entertainment Weekly. It’s understandable to lead the season with a bit of intrigue and mystery, but sooner or later you have to bring everybody up to speed.

Be patient, was the mantra from writers, actors and favorable bloggers. They were right, to a point. The episode titled “Four months ago� answered some questions. How did Nathan survive Peter’s explosion? What happened to D.L.? Where did the wonder twins come from -- well, they were new, so we didn’t need that explained. Discoveries: We found out that Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) exploded, but was unharmed and saved a badly burned Nathan (Adrian Pasdar). We saw that Niki (Ali Larter) had another split personality (Gina) rise up and take over, resulting in D.L. (Leonard Roberts) being shot after he went to find her. We saw that Bob was everywhere, trying to “help out� Niki and capturing Peter with the help of Elle and the Haitian. We further discovered that Elle is just plain crazy (sociopath crazy -- and Kristen Bell is really good in the role), and I’m starting to think the Haitian (Jimmy Jean-Louis) is the most powerful hero. Except that a simple gun could probably bring him down, but more on that later. . . .

The episode was not spectacularly mind-blowing, but definitely up to the standards that the show had set in its first season. Updates on some issues such as why Noah (Jack Coleman) ran with Claire (Hayden Panettiere) to California (yes, to protect her, but why not form a group to take down the Company?) and how Sylar (Zachary Quinto) was rescued and transported would have been nice, but weren’t necessary. A solid effort.

Strike news: Last week, Kring told the Hollywood Reporter that he wasn’t sure what to do about the strike. The crew is scrambling to finish 11 episodes. They have set a Dec. 3 finale if the strike continues. So it won’t affect us viewers for a while, which is probably one of the reasons that networks and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are willing to let this continue. And in case this continues awhile, there’s always comic books -- like the “Heroes� one recently released.

During the show, we also got a dose of synergy as NBC.com’s new create-a-hero feature was hyped. It apparently will let you design your own hero, which may be used in an episode sooner or later. But could your character take out . . . the Haitian?

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