TVSquad

(S03E01) If you were a little disappointed with last year's strike-shortened season, not to mention that horrible diversion south of the border and that other lengthy one to feudal Japan, Heroes is looking to get back on track with its third season. "Volume 3: Villains" begins with tonight's two hour premiere, and continues for the first thirteen episodes before giving way to "Volume 4: Fugitives" for the remainder of the season.

We know that "Villains" will feature a re-powered Sylar and introduce a whole slew of more super powered baddies to the Heroes universe. I can't say that this was the most accessible place for potential new viewers to jump into the storyline, unless they caught that "red carpet" extravaganza before the episode began, but if you were able to keep up with it, they're certainly looking to turn things on their ears this year.

That said, Sylar without powers was incredibly disappointing last season, though he still managed to be menacing. Sylar powered back up is downright terrifying. Zachary Quinto continues to be just amazing in this role, you can always feel that scared and unloved little boy underneath his heartless monstrous behavior. Just a little, but it's enough to make his portrayal amazing.

Chapter One - "The Second Coming"

Peter Petrelli, Nathan Petrelli & Matt Parkman
We started things off four years in the future. Nathan's speech in which he revealed his powers to the world has lead to camps where people with abilities are kept. Claire, holding a gun on Peter said, "I'm sorry Peter. I always loved you." before firing. And yes, Claire is all in black with slicked down hair. Did you know everyone wears black in the future? It's way more bad-ass that way! But why does she think shooting Peter would work. Good lord, she knows his abilities.

So of course Peter froze time, dodged the bullet, took the gun and vanished. Future Peter returned to the point where last season left us, and we discover that he was the shooter. Present Peter chased the shooter into a bathroom, but when Matt got there only one Peter remained. Matt, suspicious, confronted Peter and learned everything before disappearing himself.

Nathan awoke suddenly and went to a church, where he was followed by a news crew tracking his story. He preached that people are all connected and that we must save ourselves to save the world, and then he passed out. Later he told Peter, "We could be angels, all here to do God's bidding." And that he'd changed his mind about revealing to the world their powers. After Peter left, Linderman appeared (but isn't he dead!?) "It seems you and I are meant for great things, Nathan," he said.

We cut then to Captain John Sheridan, I mean Governor Malden (guest star Bruce Boxleitner) with Niki, only now she's Tracy Strauss and she works for him. And bangs him. They're checking out this wacky news story about crazy Nathan Petrelli rambling about his connection to God. "I think we've found our guy," Malden said. So is this the real Niki, or is it the real Jessica or is it just a new personality in Niki's body?

Angela Petrelli appeared and confronted Peter. "By shooting him, you screwed up everything." Did we already know she could see the future in dreams. God, how long has it been since we've seen a new episode of this show? We find out that Future Peter, who is inhabiting Present Peter's body sent Present Peter's consciousness into one of the prisoners in Level 5, where the Company keeps super powered baddies. And apparently Noah (HRG) as well.

Meanwhile, in the middle of nowhere, Matt woke up in a desert and came upon a rock with a painted image of a split world. Here we go again with the paintings foreshadowing the end of the world. Maybe they need to stop the Hadron Collider from being fixed. Does it have to be global destruction every volume? Come on, there are other threats to the world, you know. Britney Spears is still out there making music.

Hiro Nakamura & Ando Masahashi
Well, our little Hiro is all grown up and has taken over his father's business. But that's boring. He described himself to Ando as "a man without a destiny." All of that changed when he received a DVD of his father. One of those "If you are seeing this, then I am dead" deals. Papa Nakamura said Hiro is "to be the sentinel of a dangerous secret." There is something in his personal safe and Hiro is to never open the safe.

Of course, Hiro cracked into it and the TV came on with his father chiding him for opening it. I'm not sure if that was a manifestation of some ability or his father just knowing curiosity would get the better of his son. The secret object was half of a piece of paper, containing half of a formula. His dad ends by saying there will be "a chosen one among you who carries the purity of blood, the 'light' to safeguard against the darkness."

In the coolest special effect of the night, when someone snatched the paper at lightning speed and Hiro froze time, we got to see their speed force frozen and Hiro finds that it's a cute little blonde American. Somehow, though, she came out of being frozen and knocked Hiro out, taking off again with the formula. I'm not sure why she'd start off frozen and then be not frozen. Was she figuring out what speed to go to match the time stoppage?

Rather than go to the past to stop her, as he vowed never again to go to the past because he knows what that does to viewer satisfaction and the show's ratings, Hiro decided to go to the future to see if the world was indeed destroyed due to the formula being stolen. What a handy thing that would be. I don't feel like going to work today. Let me jump ahead a few weeks and see if I'll get fired for that.

In the future, Hiro saw Ando and himself facing off over the formula with Future Hiro saying Ando betrayed him. Then Ando attacked Future Hiro with some cool red lightning powers, before taking the formula. Of course, I guess none of that really mattered because then future Tokyo started to explode. Again with the massive destruction. Maybe Britney is behind it somehow.

Claire Bennett & Sylar
Claire opened the door to find Sylar standing there. Do you think he was waiting for her to open the door for dramatic affect? Like he could have knocked or just busted in but he thought this would be much cooler? In the end, let's face it, Claire is no match for Sylar. She can heal but that doesn't means he can do much to stop people hurting her in the first place.

So of course Sylar managed to get her down and slice the top of her head off. But there he found that she's not like the rest of the people he's done this too. And for Claire, who only ever wanted to be normal, this is even worse news. Now she's not even like the other freaks with abilities.

Sylar doesn't eat her brain, but he does do something to the inside of her head before slapping the top of her skull back on so she could heal. And he did get her power somehow during the process. But she still has it, too, and isn't dead. Apparently, she'll never die and now neither will Sylar.

Maya Herrera & Mohinder Suresh
Without her annoying brother and the lame storyline from last year, Maya is actually pretty interesting this time around. We don't see much of her ability, but she's looking much hotter than usual and is set up now as the voice of reason in Mohinder's rapidly collapsing world of sanity. Unfortunately, she helped him with a major breakthrough by almost killing him and then reigning in her ability. He realized that it was the adrenal glands that provided the genesis of abilities manifestation.

He didn't, however, find any sort of cure for her but instead created a way to grant abilities to normal people. And of course he gave it to himself, triggering a sudden onset of superhuman strength when he was attacked at the harbor. And behind him is that same image of a splitting world that Matt saw in Africa. How the hell is that possible?

Chapter Two - "The Butterfly Effect"

Claire Bennett
While cleaning up with her mother from Sylar's unexpected visit, Claire discovered that her power had changed. Now, not only does she heal from any wound, but she no longer feels the pain of those wounds. So we see her at the train tracks filming suicide attempts again. "If you can't feel anything, do you still have a soul? Will I live forever? All of these questions. I need to prove that I'm still alive."

However, right before a train could smash into her, Peter flew by and saved her. "I just needed to feel something," she explained. She's tired of being a victim. Her power doesn't even allow her to defend herself. Damn straight woman, you need to learn to be a bad-ass. Find Chuck Norris and get him to train you and you'll be unstoppable. But, as this is Future Peter, he can't help her. Doing so could change everything. So why is he sticking around, then. He can't help anyone and he's already screwed things up. Go home, already!

Angela Petrelli & Peter Petrelli
The scene opened with one of Angela's visions. She saw Hiro with his sword through his chest, Parkman's throat slit, HRG dead, Peter impaled through glass and Claire's head getting chopped off (she's back in her cheerleader outfit). The fearsome foursome behind these misdeeds is revealed to be Adam, Niki/Tracy/Jessica/Whatever, Matt's father and some black guy I don't recognize; maybe a Level 5 baddie. Then Sylar came up behind her and she snapped out of it. She confronted Future Peter, telling him he needs to go back to his time to avoid creating a butterfly effect. He'd already hurt Claire by convincing her to stay home longer so Sylar could find her.

Maya Herrera & Mohinder Suresh
Maya came in to Suresh's lab to find him hanging from the ceiling all buff and cocky. He'd gained heightened senses, agility, energy and strength. And apparently he can climb walls now, though I'm not sure how that works. Maybe he got bitten by a spider while he was passed out on the ground. His libido was ratcheted up a notch, and I guess that was enough for Maya. Never mind that he won't cure her anymore, do you see those flexing pecs? Bang that guy and deal with the consequences later. Those consequences appear to be that when Mohinder woke up the next day, he discovered that his body had begun morphing and pieces of his back were falling off. That can't be good.

Matt Parkman
Not much happened with Parkman in this chapter. He was discovered in the African desert by a native African man, who revealed that not only does he know Parkman's name, but he's the one who painted the splitting world image Matt saw on the rock. What all of that means and what he means by saying the future isn't how he painted it anymore remains to be seen.

Elle Bishop
Elle, still trying to live up to her father's unrealistic expectations, told her father that they wouldn't need to find Sylar as the existence of Level 5 and it's enhanced inmates would bring him to them. Too bad, she was right and Bob paid the ultimate price at Sylar's hands. She freed Noah to help, but it was too late.

Sylar revealed Bob's "Midas touch" ability before trying to steal Elle's power. Unfortunately, he didn't anticipate that doing so would unleash a massive storm of lightning and destruction. Later, Angela Petrelli arrived revealing that upon Bob's death she was now in charge of the Company. And in thanks for a lifetime of service, she fired Elle. But hey thanks for capturing Sylar. Sure you let loose another dozen super-powered deranged villains, but we got one. Nice job. Loser.

Noah Bennett
After escaping from Level 5, Noah went home where he showed Claire the files on the escaped inmates, including one who gains strength by fear, one who's a flame thrower, one who controls magnetic energy and Jesse (the body Present Peter is trapped in), who has "Sound manipulation" on his file but Noah would only say of him: "You don't want to know." In order to keep Claire and his family safe, he brings Claire's mother in to stay with them. While it's nice to see a nod to the past in bringing her back, I'm not sure why Noah would trust her with something this important. Nor why she would agree to do it.

Hiro Nakamura & Ando Masahashi
Using his company's resources, Hiro tracked down the location, Paris, and name, Daphne Millbrook, of the speedster. He and Ando flash to Daphne's apartment where they see the Mona Lisa among other stolen items. While there and searching for the formula he confided in Ando what he saw in the future.

When Daphne showed up, he attempted to trade her sentimental high school track medal for the formula, but she threatened Ando's life and took both. Hiro revealed to Ando, who was none too pleased at being cut, that he'd put a tracking device on the medallion.

Niki/Tracy Strauss & Nathan Petrelli
Tracy agreed to go to Nathan and offer him the position of junior Senator for New York. On her way, she was confronted by a reporter who told her he was going to run a story on her having been a stripper, which she denied.

In the hospital, she presented the offer, but appeared to have no prior knowledge of Nathan. Later, Peter came to talk to Nathan, revealing everything but not sending Nathan to Africa. Parkman would be so pissed! He even confessed that he was the one who shot Nathan. He'd stopped the future he knew but changed everything in the doing, possibly for the worse. Still later, we find out that only Nathan can see and hear Linderman. Too bad it was a bit obvious. Not sure what it means, though.

Nathan called Tracy and told her he'd take the Senator position but only if he gets her on his staff. She agreed, and upon getting out of her car is again confronted by the same reporter. He's going to run with the story, he swears, showing footage of her making out with Nathan in Vegas. The video may have triggered some memories, putting her into a confused panic. She snapped and froze the poor guy solid to the point he broke apart. That's a new ability, Ms. Strauss.

Peter Petrelli
At the end, we saw Peter, still trapped in Jesse's body, traveling with some of the other escaped inmates. From this point, apparently they're going play it like Quantum Leap where we saw Sam Beckett during his leaps instead of the bodies he was inhabiting, unless he was looking in a mirror. I get why they're doing it, but I would have almost liked to have seen the actor playing Jesse stay the one we saw. Milo Ventimiglia has plenty to do with playing Future Peter right now.

BOTTOM LINE
Damn, even trying to keep this concise there's just too much going on in this two hour premiere to keep it short, unless you want to ignore tons and tons of major storylines. With villains on the loose, Sylar captured and at the hands of Angela now, Matt trapped in Africa, Mohinder losing his mind while gaining abilities and that's not even touching Nathan and Niki/Tracy and Peter. The only thing noticeably absent was Micah and Monica. There's still a lot of story to be told there. Especially with Niki's personality possibly still inside Tracy.

The bottom line for me is that it looks like Heroes is back, bigger and better than ever. The stakes are as high as they've ever been, and at least for now there isn't a single storyline that I'm not absolutely mesmerized by and anxious to see what happens next. That definitely wasn't the case last year, so unless something slows down dramatically, I think we've got our show back! Next week the show's only an hour, so this should be a whole helluva lot shorter. There was just so much to catch up on!