First of all, I believe the evil bad guy stalking the older generation of meta-humans is Kensei from ancient Japan, setting up a nice bit of moral and physical conflict when Hiro returns from the past to discover the avaricious monster he created must now be stopped. I could be way off base here, but the whole regeneration power would lend itself to a kind of Vandal Savage immortality, don'tcha think? If nothing else, he'd be pissed as all get-out at Hiro for dumping him in the midst of 90 angry ronin.

Those Kensei legends added some colorful background in season one, but now they're reduced to little more than macguffins. What's the point? Kensei has to get the Fire Scroll because that's what Hiro remembers the legend as saying he does. That recursive, self-fulfilling prophecy. Utterly pointless. Sloppy, lazy writing. I'm very disappointed.

The Peter Petrelli storyline has degenerated into a concocted mess every bit that rings ever bit as hollow as the worst writing from season one. He's willing to take on armed bank guards and toss armored cars around with his telekinesis to get back a cigar box that may or may not hold the secret of his true identity, but not willing to use those same powers to simply take that box from the punter who tortured him earlier and is forcing him to participate in the afore-mentioned heist? And once he does get the box, decides to kiss the Irish lass instead of opening it because he might not like who he once was!? Because, yeah, being a super-powered thug in a Dublin gang is so much more respectable than anything else you might be. Hollywood writing at it's absolute worst.

So Cheerleader Clair finally tells creepy stalking flyboy her secret, and he shows her his. They kiss. She learns her dad abducted him as a kid and did nasty experiments on him. Who else thinks this will end well?

The less said about our south-of-the-border Wonder Twins the better. It's not just that the scenario this week was contrived--it actually fit in with the rest of the episode nicely in that regard--but that it was contrived so badly. "Hey, my sister has blisters on her feet, even though she's walking normally. So I'll try and steal this expensive Cadillac in broad daylight in front of the fat police officer and let him run me down like the plot device that I am. Then my sister can break me out of jail by bleeding black oil and killing everyone shortly after she tells them she's a murderer. Sounds like a plan." Ugh.

Sylar's alive. Big surprise, that. He kills the hot illusion-making chick to steal her powers. Big surprise, that. How stupid are these people that keep giving Sylar all these chances to kill them and take over the world? Idiot plot, coming right up. The only redeeming elements of this segment are the facts that 1) Sylar can't access his stolen powers (although he can apparently still harvest his bloody crop) and B) he's been marooned on the Lost island to wander around, bleeding out the chest, until a passing alien space ship beams him up and turns him into Mr. Spock.

There's been some grousing online about the first two episodes of season two, but I've liked them a good deal. They both unfolded at a deliberate pace, but there was definite narrative progress being made each week. This week, not so much. My biggest complaint about season one were the filler episodes in which everything went around in circles for an hour and nothing of consequence happened. I'd hoped that was a relic of the past, but it looks like I was wrong.

Now Playing: Alanis Morissette Jagged Little Pill