Heroes: A Bunch of Regenerates

After a scattershot premiere episode, the second season of "Heroes" finally started going places. I have no idea where it's going, but it's going places.

For example, after finally getting a glimpse of Maya and Alejandro's "power", I'm still not quite sure of what I saw or how they're going to weave these two into the rest of the cast (though I'm sure they will eventually). Following a not-so-subtle scene in which a token crazy lady told Maya she could kill the devil himself (does she mean Molly's boogeyman?! Or Keizer Soze?!) we learned that Maya oozes X-Files-esque murderous black oil from her eyes, seemingly when she's separated from her brother, who is the only one who can calm her down (and maybe bring those afflicted back to life).

I like the idea that these two siblings' powers are linked, but it makes them sort of limited. Also, I still don't care about them.

Some people I DO care about, the Bennetts, again had some of the better scenes in the episode, entitled "Lizards". Claire learned in Biology class (because she apparently is only taking Biology and Gym) about reptiles regenerative powers and wondered if she had some of those abilities. That eventually led to a nice scene with her "dad" (by the way, Jack Coleman is CLEARLY the best actor on this show) where he showed genuinely fatherly concern as he told her that if she subjected herself to testing the limits of her power, it would only lead to unimaginable pain. I love how Coleman plays these scenes just as well as scenes where he's lying to everybody.

Of course, Claire pretty much forgot that scene happened as she cut off her own pinky toe toward the end of the episode. Who else here thought it wasn't going to grow back (though it was a pretty cool effect when it did)? The only problem is that her new friend (and I use the term loosely) from school, Peeping West, seems to have spotted her and flew away before he could catch her (come on, Claire! Even Mr. Muggles knew where he was!). Before he took off, West left behind Chandra Suresh's "Activating Evolution" which, as my good friend Johnny correctly pointed out, is apparently the best-selling obscure textbook in the history of the world (Seriously, why does EVERYONE have a copy?!)

Meanwhile, back in feudal Japan, Hiro continued to created the legend of Takezo Kensei, who we found out is kind of indestructible, like Claire. I wonder if he knew this beforehand and, if he didn't, if it will encourage him to be more heroic. I also wonder what Hiro is going to do about that princess who he's clearly falling in love with in the Kensei guise. Finally, I wonder if David Anders, who plays Kensei, is just a TV version of Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind).

Back in the present, Parkman and his boss investigated Kaito Nakamura's death. His boss remarked that maybe the killer flew away before hitting the ground (hello, Nathan!) and Parkman got an interesting clue from Ando, who revealed the mark on the photo of Kaito (and Angela Petrelli and Peter's necklace) is the "kanji", which means godsend.

Speaking of Peter, he still has no idea who he is, and he rediscovered a few of his powers this week, as he was interrogated by some Irish goons. It seems the goons were hired to steal something from the crate in which an amnesiac Peter was hanging out in. I don't care for amnesia storylines (they're played out), but I find it interesting that Peter (pictured, right) seems to have a loss of memory, while wearing what seems like the same necklace the Haitian wore most of the first season. I'm not smart enough to figure out the link between the two, but there's something there, right?

Ah the Haitian. He made his return as Mohinder cured him from the mysterious virus that's been attacking certain heroes. My favorite part of this episode was the simple-but-very-cool edit in the scene where he erased Mohinder's memory and Mohinder was suddenly sitting in front of the Company guy with the Midas touch (what's that guy's name again?).

So what'd you think of this episode? I get that Claire is from a small town, but leaving your car unlocked? Really, Claire?! How much better did Mr. Muggles make this episode toward the end, watching himself on TV? (He's so vain, he probably thinks this column is about him.) How much longer until the Company find out that Mohinder and Mr. Bennett are playing them? Do they already know? Why did the Irish guys put all of Peter's possessions in such a overly nice and ornate box?

Who (or what) attacked Angela Petrelli? Although she seemed genuinely scared, I'm not sure that she wasn't putting on a little show (since she knew Parkman had been inside her head). Finally, who else misses Sylar? Looks like we'll see him next week, along with Nikki/Jessica and Micah (who I don't miss QUITE as much).