Heroes - "Four Months Later"

It's been a terrible long wait, filled with withdrawal, but tonight, Heroes finally returned with a strong season premier. Picking up four months after the events in the season one finale, it had a lot of catching up to give to us, introducing us to many (but not all) of the characters' new situations. As such, it couldn't be one of the fast-paced, all-action episodes, but it did leave us with several cliff-hangers to explore through the rest of the season. Most episodes would only give one solid one. Now on with spoilers and speculation... Let's start with Hiro, since he's everyone's favorite. He managed to catapult himself back over four hundred years to feudal Japan. It was obvious that Hiro was going to meet his hero, Takezo Kensei, the mighty Sword Saint of Japanese legend. I should have know things would wind up pretty twisted, with Kensei turning out to be an English expatriate who was making his way through Japan by hiring people to pretend to be him while he picked off enemies from hiding, and doing it all for the gold. Hiro was naturally crushed, but they set him up perfect to become Takezo Kensei. He had his whirlwind training session with his father last season that left him a passable swordsman, and can definitely learn even more from the swordsmith's daughter. It's a bit of a cliché to have her turn out to be a great warrior, but it wouldn't surprise me much at all. Bruce and I discussed it after the episode and we both agreed that Hiro will probably run off to rescue the swordsmith and fall for the daughter, then disappear back to the present, leaving the Englishman to take the credit. He will wind up the hero of the very tales his father told him as a boy. I'm also really looking forward to meeting the swordsmith himself, who probably originated that "godsend" icon which now adorns everything related to the mutants in the future. Unfortunately, his return will probably be a sad event indeed, as we saw the elder Nakamura apparently killed by another member of the Company. It's possible that Nakamura Senior has some kind of power to keep himself alive; they've not yet told us what powers he or Mrs. Petrelli or any of the twelve ranking Company founders might have (except Linderman, of course). But at this point it looks like he's pretty dead. Since he was taken over the edge by his assassin (who he recognized as another member of the Company!) I really want to know what powers that assassin has to pull it off and survive. My tv isn't the best, but I'm pretty sure I only saw one body splattered on the pavement below. It saddens me greatly that George Takei has been taken out. Maybe Hiro will reappear in the present in time to snatch him out of the air, and the assassin's body is the one we saw there. With superpowers, anything's possible, right? Yeah, it's a bit of a reach. I was glad to see Matt finally get his detective's shield. They didn't touch very much on his family life, except to say he was now divorced, so I'm going to be very interested to see what happens with his child. It will almost certainly be a mutant child, carrying the "godsend" gene. I wonder if part of the reason for the divorce is to hide the very existence of the child (and suddenly, given his wife's infidelity, I wonder if it's even his). He, of course, is busily establishing his new life with Molly Walker, who is having terrible nightmares and drawing visions of the one who can see her when she looks at him, along with the ubiquitous "godsend" symbol. I've a feeling it's going to be a very long while before we meet this creature or person directly. Matt, though, had the excellent idea of pulling thoughts out of her head while she was in the throes of one of her nightmares. He heard the other's voice too, and I think his ability is going to be key to finally tracking him down. I was totally taken in by Mohinder and Bennet's little game to infiltrate the Company. Since we've only ever seen two people suffering from this "plague" Mohinder lectures about, and one of those was cured by Mohinder's own blood, I have to wonder if there really is a plague, or if he's pushing that idea solely to sucker in the Company. It certainly worked, and got him his contact in Egypt. But having seen the intricate plots the Company has woven over the years, I have to wonder who is being played. The Company would love to get their hands on Claire, and the only way to pull that off would be to use Mohinder to find the Bennets. And speaking of them, Claire has brought us someone else who appears to have a repeat power, again of flight. Who is this kid going to turn out to be? I have my doubts about his benevolence, and I wonder if flight is really his true power, or if he's another Empath. Or even something new and different. I can't wait to find out. The biggest addition to the story looks to be Alejandro and Maya. The writers are playing things close to the vest with them, revealing only tidbits of information. First just that they're on the run for America, then showing they're running from murder charges. In the end, we can guess the circumstances of whatever dead people they've left behind. They left me burning to know what Maya's power really is. When I first saw her victims, my first thought was of the effects the Ghost Rider movie used for the penance stare. It looked like the eyeballs were still in the sockets, but had been burned and blackened. It's clear whatever happened was self defense, but that she couldn't control her power enough to limit the effect to only her assailant. Alejandro almost certainly has some kind of power of his own, but we weren't even given a hint of it. Maybe he doesn't even know about it yet (like Peter in the beginning). And speaking of Peter, how's that for a final cliff-hanger? How did he end up in that cargo container in Ireland, of all places? Did Nathan lock him up like that? My impression is no, since Nathan doesn't seem to even know he's alive. I figure Peter shoved him away at the top of their upward flight, right before exploding, and the guilt of letting that happen is why Nathan now lives inside a liquor bottle. And who, exactly, are these people who are going to take Peter and who, according to scenes from later in the season, have his identity in a box? I'm definitely left hungering for more. They fed us a steady diet of new questions throughout the hour, and still haven't touched on the fates of half of the cast. The next week is going to be a painful wait, but at least I know it'll be a short one this time.