"Heroes" Review: Is "Heroes" Back?

Those of you who are longtime readers know that I absolutely fell in love with “Heroes” during its first season…

And then there was that dreadful first season finale. And then the even more dreadful second season.

And after episode three of that second season, I called it quits and declared myself done.
But ever since Comic-Con, where attendees saw the first hour of the third season premiere, all I’ve heard is how “Heroes” is back. So curiosity got the best of me and I had to see for myself. Thankfully, the fine folks at NBC obliged by sending me the first hour of the premiere.

So, is “Heroes” back?

Yes…and no…

The first 15 minutes are awesome. In fact, I would strongly recommend you not have anything liquid in your hands during the first 15 minutes because you will jump out of your seat (even though you’ll see it coming). But then, it starts to lose some momentum…

That’s not to say there aren’t some good twists because there are, but there’s some confusing ones too. And somehow the show has lost the charm that made me fall in love with it in the first place.

In fact, I’m hard pressed to remember what it was about the show that I loved so much. It all seems so far away now…

Warning: If you don’t want to know anything about the “Heroes” premiere, stop reading right now. However, there are only mild spoilers ahead…

After an interlude in the future, the premiere opens exactly where the finale left off as Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) is preparing to expose his abilities at a press conference. But Nathan is shot and we learn the shocking identity of the shooter (and it is shocking). That sets in motion a whole new chain of events involving a governor and his female friend, Tracy, who looks just like Jessica/Nikki (Ali Larter). Matt (Greg Grunberg), meanwhile, comes face-to-face with the shooter, only to be sent into a completely different adventure.

And Peter (Milo Ventimiglia)? Well, I can’t tell you anything about him without giving stuff away. Let’s just say he’s VERY important to this first hour.

Claire (Hayden Panetiere) has her own problems as she comes face-to-face with Sylar (Zachary Quinto), who’s come for Claire’s power. This story provides a lot of great action until it comes to its resolution, which is meant to kick off a mystery, but instead comes off as a little anti-climactic (at least for me). We do, however, get a little more insight into what Sylar does to people.

Hiro (Masi Oka) and Ando (James Kyson Lee) are back in Japan as Hiro has taken over his father’s company. But Hiro is bored because he feels like he’s not fulfilling his destiny. That is, until he gets a DVD message from his father urging him to protect a secret that will destroy the world. But Hiro being Hiro, he screws it up and now has to chase down the speedster Daphne (Brea Grant), as well as deal with a shocking revelation from the future.

And Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy) decides to go back to India, until Maya (Dania Ramirez) helps him make a discovery about the origin of powers—one he hopes will help him receive some of his own.

There’s no doubt that this hour is better than any of the hours I watched during season two, but I just can’t get over one nagging doubt about the show.

No one ever dies.

Now I know that sounds like a good thing, but when that’s the case you just can’t believe in any of the twists. And that keeps you from becoming emotionally invested in the characters.

And maybe that’s my biggest problem. I just don’t care about any of them anymore.

Sadly, I guess I’m still done…

“Heroes” premieres Monday, September 22nd at 9 p.m. on NBC…