Must See: Heroes-Villains

The two-hour season premiere of the NBC hit series, Heroes, brought much to the table.

Season one was about "save the cheerleader and save the world," but when Sylar literally picked Claire's brain, he found that she can't die even if he tried to kill her.

Hiro's father has entrusted him with a formula that could end the world as we know it and he let's a female speedy Gonzalez nab it a moment after he discovers it. And in a quick venture to the future, when the world is imploding, Hiro witnesses his death at the hands of his sidekick, Ando.

Future Peter Patrelli travels to the past to shoot his brother to prevent future calamity, but his mother, Angela -- herself a future-seeing hero-ette -- tells him his attempt at heroics resulted in a butterfly effect -- and a future that will leave all of the heroes dead.

The noble Mohinder Suresh, who spent two seasons studying the heroes and searching for a cure, has grown envious of the mutants he's trailed for two years and has developed a serum (like Promison in 4400) that gives abilities. In a move that's not so altruistic, he injects himself, transforms into something of a shirtless Spider-man before waking up and pealing away flakes of skin in a moment that reminded us of The Fly.

The ice queen with the double personality, Niki Sanders, has reemerged as a literal ice queen whom, we're told, is NOT Niki Sanders (where was Micah, by the way, in this season opener?).

Near death at the hands of his brother has turned Nathan Patrelli into something of a Jesus freak with unclear and certainly impure motives for accepting a deputy governorship.

Sylar is back! And cooler than ever. But when he's immobilized after an explosion -- caused when he tries to saw off the head of the electromagnetic psycho Elle -- is inducted into the service of The Company by Angela Patrelli, who tells him that she's his mother!

And let us not forget the five uber-psycho villains who escaped from Level 5 (among them is Peter Patrelli, implanted into the body of a villain by his future self). In their first few moments of freedom from imprisonment, they torch mortals and steal cars. Truly a what the f*%k moment when the camera pans to the scorched body.

These are just the highlights. TVGuide has a more thorough recap. The point, though, ain't lost on me. If season two was a bore for some folks, the writers returned from their season-killing strike and pumped some serious life into this show.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the season.