As shown by the title of the episode, season 2 takes place 4 months after season 1 and unfortunately the show has lost a bit of focus along the way. Of course, some of that can be attributed to having such a final episode end the season (minus the Hiro tease), that it’s going to take some time to really set it’s mark again.

Some stories are already set up though, one of which involves Mohinder. It seems that Suresh has been touring the country speaking on genetic abnormalities and the possibility of a virus coming to wipe them out. A man named Bob (Ned Ryerson?) approaches him and offers a job within the company. Bob shows that he is one of those genetically abnormal individuals as he has the Midas Touch.

We soon see that that is exactly what Mohinder was hoping would happen…Mohinder and Bennet. The duo are going to attempt to take down the company from within.

The Bennets or should I say Butler, are now in Costa Verde, California and trying to adjust. We are quickly introduced to a young man named West who challenges her to be herself rather than a robot. After everything Claire has been through she is having a hard time fading into the background as she challenges the head cheerleader, Debbie who is bullying a young girl. She backs down though as she remembers she wants to fade.

Meanwhile Parkman, apparently divorced from Janice and now in Brooklyn is taking care of Molly at Suresh’s apartment. Parkman is a NYPD detective now, due to some help from his telepathy, something Molly admonishes him about, saying he cheated.

When picking up Molly at school, her teacher worries about Molly who is having frequent nightmares and is drawing pictures of eyes looking out at her.

Parkman tries to talk to Molly about her problems, bribing her with pizza, but she explodes at him saying she doesn’t want to talk about it. That night Parkman watches her sleep and through his telepathy he can hear a voice saying that he can see her. Molly awakens and goes to Matt.

In an interesting side, we learn along with Hiro in 1671 that the legends of Takezo Kensei were false. Kensei was actually an Englishman who used tricks and cons to win his battles. Hiro is shocked and thinks that he has changed the past.

One story already has taken over as useless in my eyes. The tales of the twins. Alejandro and Maya. Their powers are…strange. When Maya gets distraught or emotional she causes some kind of terminal illness in whomever is around as black liquid starts flowing from her and her victims eyes. Alejandro can calm her down and stop it, but it is rare. They are traveling to find Suresh as she has read his father’s book and hopes he can cure her. I’m all for new characters…I liked Bob for example, but for whatever reason these two are boring, unexplained, and simply a waste of my time.

Nathan Petrelli is still alive, somehow. It is never explained how he was able to live through the nuclear explosion of his brother, who at this point is assumed dead. He has become an alcoholic who has been left by his wife and children. He turns to his reflection which showcases a monster of sorts, with burns all over his face. It is very unclear what this is to represent. Is it simply Nathan’s memories of himself…if so how did he heal so quickly? Is it something else? It’s intriguing but done in such a way that there is very little to go on.

We discover that West has a power too…and it’s the same as Claire’s father as he floats and watches Claire for a moment and then flies away.

In separate incidents both Angela Petrelli and Kaito Nakamura find a picture of themselves defaced with a red helix. They both seem to understand that it means they will be murdered in 24 hours. After they pontificate on possibilities, Kaito tells Angela that he is heading back for Japan and she leaves.

Then Kaito is attacked just as Ando is delivering a sword to him. Ando watches as Kaito and his attacker tumble over the roof. Ando runs to see and only sees Kaito’s body.

Hiro, feeling responsible tries to turn Kensei into a hero, even as he lets the city burn that he was supposed to save, alienating the woman he was supposed to have fall in love with him. As Hiro pleads, Kensei gets annoyed and knocks Hiro out. It’s definitely a swerve from what we’ve seen…a swerve which has great potential.

We shift to Ireland where some Irish thugs break into a storage unit expecting to find a shipment of I-Pods and instead…find Peter Petrelli, chained to the unit wearing only pants, and the Haitian’s necklace.
They demand to know who he is and Peter replies…

He doesn’t know.

It’s not a horrible episode, it’s just a little slow to develop in some areas and some dramatic choices don’t quite ring true. The main problem seems to be that unlike the first season, there is no overall focus to the show, which is one of the things that really drove the show. So far, it’s very disjointed and seems more like an epilogue in someways.

C+

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