Heroes: Fallout from the bomb

I don't care what anybody says — the first season finale of "Heroes" was lackluster (at best).

I mean, they build up this huge confrontation with Sylar and Kirby Plaza all year, and all we got were a couple of superpunches from Nikki, a bit of Sylar/Peter action and Hiro (after "extensive" Japanese sword training) simply running Sylar through with the all-important Takezo Kensei sword.

At the time, I just chalked it up to "Heroes" being a TV show and not having the FX budget crappy comic book movies have. Entering its second season as a YOOOGE hit for NBC, that certainly wouldn't be a problem this year, right?

Well, not so much. But I'll get to that in a bit.

Instead, I'll actually talk about stuff I liked after the first installment of "Heroes" in four months. In fact, I just realized that whatever disappointment seeps into this recap stems from how much I missed the show while it was gone.

And although a lot of the episode, entitled "Four Months Later", was disorienting because we're picking up the action an undetermined amount of time after the "showdown" at Kirby Plaza, I'm confident the storylines established last night will eventually pay off.

For instance, the fact that the show had been away for a while and a good chunk of the episode was dedicated to Alejandro and Maya two people we've never seen before, was kind of annoying. Apparently, the siblings are wanted for murder (or "homicidio" as they say in Honduras), but from what we saw last night it seems like Maya is the one with the uncontrollable homocidio-al tendencies. (Shades of Nikki/Jessica who was MIA last night.)Though her brother Alejandro was mostly serving as her protector, I'm thinking he might have some power too because they're related and also because I'm going to assume anyone new has powers.

And why not, seeing as how two other (more interesting) people we met last night showed off their skillz. First, there was the Company man with the Midas touch (what a specific power) played by Stephen Tobolowsky, who tried to recruit Mohinder so they can help find a cure for a virus that is apparently targeting our "Heroes". Not enough attention was paid to this last night, and I'm actually interested to see where they go with this.

Slightly more annoyingly making his debut was Nick D'Agosto as a flighty (see what I did there?) new schoolmate of Claire now that the Bennetts, er Butlers have relocated to Costa Verde, California. Although I liked the "hiding your talents and how much it sucks to strive to be ordinary" plotline better when I saw it in "The Incredibles", I enjoyed the Butler's last night. I especially enjoyed Mr. Bennett (aka Noah) almost breaking the fingers of his stereotypically annoying/petty boss, who I have NOT ruled out as a person with powers. Also, it's always good to see Mr. Muggles (who OBVIOUSLY has some power.)

Meanwhile, everyone's favorite hero, Hiro, was stuck in 17th century Japan alongside his (disappointing) idol, Takezo Kensei. I wasn't really feeling this storyline at the beginning, but after careful consideration, I dig the idea that all of the exploits Hiro admired Kensei for are actually going to turn out to be performed by Hiro himself. Also, I wonder what power Kensei has. He's got one, right?

Back in the present, Hiro's father was marked for death, along with Nathan's mom, Angela Petrelli. Apparently someone is hunting this older generation of "heroes" and by the end of the episode Kaito Nakamura (pictured) had taken a swan dive off a building in the most exciting "action sequence" since Peter and Sylar plunged a few stories in "Homecoming".

So who was that hoodied figure that pushed Kaito off the roof (and presumably also marked Angela for death)? Although the simple answer is Sylar (who, according to the previews, is inexplicably alive as is everyone else) I'm going with Nathan. I spotted him in the crowd right before Ando handed Hiro's dad the newspaper with the marked for death pic on him and he was talking to his mom right before Angela found hers. Also, he could easily push Kaito to his death, and fly to safety.

The only problem with this theory is that I have no idea why he would do such a thing. I think there's probably more to it than Nathan just being distraught over Peter's "death", as illustrated by a solid Ron Burgandy/Jack Shephard "I don't give a damn about life" beard.

Anyway, what did YOU think of the season premiere? Where you slightly underwhelmed like me? How exactly did Matt survive being shot four times in the chest? Also, who is the boogeyman Molly keeps seeing in her dreams? Finally, why is Peter in Ireland, where did he get the necklace with the ubiquitous symbol and that power he used to blast one of those guys? And the haircut?